What to Do If Beta Cannot Be Marked? - Chapter 40.1

After receiving that love letter, Lu Zhi frantically searched for the person who had slipped the envelope into his desk drawer.

No matter how long the deceitful mastermind hid, they would eventually be exposed under the sun.

The person who signed off as “Little Rose” on the envelope had others relay the message: “If you agree to be with me, then I’ll meet you.”

Lu Zhi said, “I need to see you first.”

After several rounds of back-and-forth, they exchanged contact information and communicated on their phones for a while.

Lu Zhi was a stubborn and unyielding youth; once he said something, it remained unchanged and unchangeable from the moment it left his lips.

But he took responsibility for every word he spoke.

He promised that if they met, they would be together, he made this vow with the utmost seriousness and sincerity.

It had been a long time since he had seen the boy from his memories; the last fleeting glimpse was when he went berserk and fought with Ai Duoyan.

Lu Zhi said, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Can we meet?”

His tone was so humble it sounded as if he were begging.

Yet the other party kept delaying setting a time.

After two weeks of anxious waiting, Lu Zhi suddenly realized, the other person was not Little Rose at all.

That boy, who had the vibrant color of a fiery red rose, would never adopt such a hesitant, almost timid attitude, unwilling to take a step forward.

When Ren Yiran finally faced him, Lu Zhi already knew he had read his notebook.

But at that time, he still spared the other some dignity and didn’t lay everything out in the open.

It wasn’t until the incident with the replaced Suppressant, when Ren Yiran confessed about the notebook as if ready to die, that Lu Zhi truly felt his reverse scale had been trampled on.

If not for the past decade or so, he really would have resorted to violence. Just like when he nearly beat Ai Duoyan to death.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” A sudden question by his ear pulled Lu Zhi’s thoughts back entirely. He glanced sideways at Jiang Jin.

Jiang Jin laughed, “From far away, I saw you staring at the ground with droopy eyes, walking like a zombie, clearly lost in thought.”

Lu Zhi withdrew his gaze and stepped onto the school building’s stairs. Jiang Jin quickly followed, saying, “Who pissed you off so early in the morning? It wasn’t Cash, was it? Is he ignoring you again?”

At that, Lu Zhi abruptly halted his steps, looking at Jiang Jin almost indifferently, as if reminding him to watch his words.

His eyes were filled with displeasure.

“Okay, he’s paying attention to you. He is. I misspoke,” Jiang Jin corrected himself, raising his hands in surrender. “Can you stop staring at me like that? It’s creepy.”

Lu Zhi: “You can still be scared?”

“Of course,” Jiang Jin feigned timidity, patting his chest several times to calm himself, and sighed, “Who would dare provoke you?”

“But why are you here so early today?” he asked casually as they walked upstairs together.

Lu Zhi kept his eyes forward, replying, “There’s someone else at home.”

“Lu Wan hasn’t returned to school yet?”

“Nope.”

“Tsk.” However, it wasn’t appropriate to comment too much on others’ family matters, so Jiang Jin dropped the subject and steered the conversation back. “So, what were you thinking about just now? Care to share?”

As they spoke, they reached the third floor. After a few more steps, they arrived at Class 10, Grade 12.

Watching Lu Zhi reach for the back door handle, Jiang Jin felt he wouldn’t hear anything more from this guy and didn’t hold much expectation. Just as he lifted his foot to leave, Lu Zhi suddenly spoke: “I was wondering what kind of sickness I had back then to think that anyone could easily impersonate him.”

Jiang Jin’s ongoing steps halted abruptly at these words, leaving him as stunned as his frozen figure.

He looked utterly bewildered: “Huh?”

Lu Zhi pressed down the door handle, pushed the door open, and murmured to himself: “He’s too dazzling. No one can replace him.”

Jiang Jin’s mouth fell slightly open, more confused than ever: “Huh?”

How could he go back to his own class now? Lu Zhi must be insane! What’s with the suspense so early in the morning!

Seemingly nailed to the spot, Jiang Jin had no intention of returning to his class. After a moment of serious thought, he turned around, pushed open the back door of Class 10, Grade 12, and walked in.

They had indeed arrived quite early today. Not only were the day students absent, but even the boarders attending self-study were few.

Scanning the room, aside from Lu Zhi and himself, Class 10, Grade 12 only had three other students, all seated in the first two rows.

Accompanied by footsteps beside him, Lu Zhi glanced over, slightly puzzled. When he saw Jiang Jin heading toward Chi Jinxian’s seat, intending to sit down and talk face-to-face, Lu Zhi’s eyes instantly darkened. He stretched his long leg over the crossbar under the desk and shoved Chi Jinxian’s stool into the corner.

The force was so strong it nearly hit Jiang Jin’s calf!

Jiang Jin smiled amiably and asked politely, “What’s the matter?”

Lu Zhi gestured with his eyes toward the seat next to Chi Jinxian: “Sit there.”

“…” Jiang Jin took off his backpack and casually placed it on the desk, saying, “Isn’t this Alpha possessiveness of yours a bit misplaced?”

Lu Zhi lowered his gaze, put on his earphones, and seemed uninterested in responding.

Only his foot remained propped on the crossbar of the front stool.

Jiang Jin nodded, reached out an arm, and tapped Chi Jinxian’s desk with his fingertip, asking, “You were talking about him just now, right?”

Although there weren’t many people in the classroom, there were still some. Jiang Jin didn’t want to openly say the name and let others analyze it.

Moreover, Lu Zhi’s attitude was clearly not straightforward enough.

Hearing this, Lu Zhi still ignored him.

This damn tight-lipped gourd Jiang Jin couldn’t help cursing inwardly. Once he was financially independent, he’d definitely buy this bastard a mouth. But when he spoke again, his tone was purely curious: “Then why did you say you hated him?”

“None of your damn business.” Lu Zhi lifted his gaze and glared at him fiercely, annoyed by the chatter.

“Wow, you’re cursing again.” Jiang Jin patted his chest to calm down, clicking his tongue. “But it’s not the first time I’ve heard you curse. Who are you trying to scare?”

Lu Zhi: “…”

Jiang Jin snorted, “Hurry up and tell me, or I won’t go back to.”

Click.

“class today.” Jiang Jin widened his eyes to look at the back door, barely managing to finish his sentence without biting his tongue.

“Huh? Why aren’t you going back to class? What’s wrong?” Chi Jinxian walked in, first greeting Lu Zhi cheerfully, then attempting to step past Jiang Jin to return to his seat, startling Jiang Jin into quickly standing up to clear a smoother path for him.

“Thanks, Brother Jiang,” Chi Jinxian said, a smile in his eyes. “But why are you here, Brother Jiang? Discussing something with my brother?”

“Yeah right,” Jiang Jin chuckled awkwardly, saying, “Came too early, nothing to do back home anyway, so I thought I’d hang out in your classroom for a bit.”

Regarding the matter of “hatred,” although Chi Jinxian was one of the parties involved, if it were truly spoken aloud, Lu and Chi might immediately sever ties. Judging by Lu Zhi’s demeanor, if they broke up, he’d probably go mad. Not wanting to be targeted by a madman, Jiang Jin quickly changed the subject: “Ah, Cash, why are you here so early today? You don’t usually come this early.”

As soon as he said it, Jiang Jin remembered there was a time, during the period when Chi Jinxian was ignoring Lu Zhi, Chi Jinxian arrived first every day just to avoid a direct confrontation with Lu Zhi.

So he laughed and said, “Except.”

Lu Zhi’s icy glare seemed to materialize, piercing straight into Jiang Jin’s eyes as if warning him not to say anything that would upset him.

Of course, Jiang Jin understood perfectly, but his smile only widened, completely unfazed. He chuckled lightly, nodded, and shut his mouth, saying, “Never mind.”

Chi Jinxian had just stuffed his backpack under the desk and missed the exchange of glances and smiles between them. Sighing dejectedly, he answered Jiang Jin’s previous question: “I was still asleep when my dad dragged me out of bed and kicked me out of the house.”

Hearing this, Jiang Jin laughed and asked, “Really? Why?”

Chi Jinxian first hummed in affirmation to emphasize the truthfulness of his words, then said, “I made fun of him yesterday, and he’s holding a grudge.”

Actually, Chi Jinxian had woken up too early this morning. When he went out, he discovered his dad asleep outside the bedroom door.

Yuan Si Bai hadn’t just locked the door; he’d also sealed the windows shut. Unable to climb in, Chi Sui had no choice but to curl up pitifully outside the door and sleep there all night.

Seeing his dad in such a miserable state didn’t evoke pity in Chi Jinxian; instead, it stirred up a sense of schadenfreude.

Slapping his slippers as he shuffled over to Chi Sui, he crouched down and poked his forehead and cheeks, saying, “Big Chi, Big Chi. Tsk, how did you end up so pathetic? Serves you right for acting up.”

Then he heartlessly burst into laughter.

The poking was genuinely irritating, and the floor was too cold. Chi Sui irritably ran a hand through his hair, and upon opening his eyes, he was met with Chi Jinxian’s features twisted from laughter. His face went blank.

In the end, before he could even finish breakfast properly, Chi Jinxian was grabbed by the back of his collar and kicked out of the house by Chi Sui.

But he couldn’t share these details otherwise, his dad would lose all dignity in public. Chi Jinxian amended his story: “I just woke up early today, and there was nothing to do at home, so I came ahead of time.”

“Didn’t expect my brother and Brother Jiang to be here so early too.”

Jiang Jin knew his name had been an afterthought in that sentence and smiled good-naturedly.

He said, “Alright then, you two lovebirds can enjoy your sweet time. I’m off. Bye.”

With that, coming and going like the wind, Jiang Jin pulled open the back door and left.

Leaving Chi Jinxian slightly bewildered by his words, he murmured, “Lovebirds?”

At the same time, he secretly cast a scrutinizing glance at Lu Zhi, thinking to himself, Is this how Jiang Jin sees his relationship with Lu Zhi now? If even Jiang Jin thinks that, then others must well, you know.

Chi Jinxian blinked and couldn’t help voicing his thoughts to Lu Zhi: “Brother, in other people’s eyes, we’re already almost lovers.”

Lu Zhi met his gaze and said, “Are you ‘other people’?”

“…” Chi Jinxian shook his head, “No.”

Lu Zhi continued, “Am I someone else?”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

Lu Zhi: “Who can someone else replace?”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

With no other thoughts in mind, Chi Jinxian just wanted to sigh. He felt that Lu Zhi was really good at irritating people now he wanted to sew his mouth shut!

So, before Lu Zhi could ask another “inhumane” question, Chi Jinxian preemptively said, “Stop talking, you’ll piss people off. Lu Zhi, you have no heart.”

Lu Zhi: “…”

Chi Jinxian: “I need to study, don’t disturb me.”

After saying this, he even more preemptively turned his body away, not catching the other’s nearly speechless expression.

He really didn’t know who was chasing whom anymore.

The students had already spent a month in school and were welcoming the autumn campus sports meet.

After this Saturday and Sunday, the following Thursday and Friday of the new week would be the sports meet dates. First Interstellar Alliance High School was different from other schools. Normally, anyone could sign up for the sports meet events.

But Interstellar Alliance High School claimed it was to let senior three students focus on their studies, so they weren’t allowed to participate in the sports meet events. Classes would proceed as usual on Thursday, and Friday would be free activity time.

Who knew what the point of having them attend that extra day of classes was.

They could have just played the whole Friday.

Chi Jinxian hadn’t seen Ren Yiran for several days, not knowing what Lu Zhi had said to him that afternoon.

When he did see him later, Ren Yiran seemed to have learned his lesson, becoming a truly well-behaved and obedient student who didn’t even make eye contact with him.

But during this time, Chi Jinxian had seen Nan Mengbai. They met at the public sinks outside the restroom.

Nan Mengbai initiated the greeting: “Haven’t seen much of you lately.”

Chi Jinxian said, “Oh, really? I hadn’t really noticed.”

After that, both fell silent, the conversation stalling.

Although nothing had happened between them, it felt like there was a barrier now.

After a moment, Nan Mengbai couldn’t hold back and spoke: “Jinxian…”

But Chi Jinxian interrupted him: “Nan Mengbai.”