2: Talk About Exams and Suddenly No One’s Sleepy
Qian Kun glanced back.
Shen Jin was sitting by the window, replacing a pen refill. Beside him, someone waiting to copy homework looked frantic, but Shen Jin’s movements remained calm and unhurried.
His back was straight, his lines soft and clean. The fair skin at the back of his neck was covered by a suppressor patch, his gland concealed tightly beneath it.
Liu Qimai was stunned. After a long moment, he muttered, “But with a face like that, come on. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
As an alpha, he was instinctively drawn to delicate, beautiful omegas. Not to mention, Shen Jin had just given him a cold glance earlier, and his heart had actually skipped a beat.
If he hadn’t been steeped for years in Qian Kun’s utterly sexless aura, he might’ve already been led astray by good looks alone.
In his ingrained understanding, betas rarely looked like this…
He couldn’t find a suitable word right away. Liu Qimai smacked his lips, still feeling unsettled, and turned to the person beside him. “Zhou You, you tell me. Where does he look like a beta?”
“If Brother Kun says he is, then he is.” Zhou You had long witnessed Qian Kun’s observational skills. “And does Brother Kun look like a beta?”
That sounded painfully reasonable. Liu Qimai couldn’t refute it at all.
If someone like Qian Kun could be a beta who looked more alpha than alphas, then why couldn’t there be a beta who looked even more omega than omegas?
Logic complete. I really am a genius.
Zhou You had transferred to Nanhu High School together with them. Truthfully, none of them quite understood what Qian Kun was thinking. When they first received the transfer notice, they’d already locked in another private high school in the city with strong faculty.
Then Qian Kun suddenly changed his mind and chose Nanhu’s main campus instead.
The school administration already felt guilty, so all their transfer procedures were expedited at top speed.
At first, they thought there must be something here that attracted Qian Kun. But two weeks passed, and nothing happened.
There were even people on the forum saying Qian Kun’s first love was here, which was why he couldn’t let go. Zhou You had always scoffed at that kind of rumor, but now, even he wasn’t so sure.
Once Qian Kun and his group left, the classroom immediately grew lively again.
Earlier, with both sides locked in a standoff, even if people wanted to speak, they’d had to hold it in hard.
Looking at Shen Jin again, he was still as steady as ever.
When it came to Shen Jin, regardless of who you were, everyone was treated equally.
Shen Jin carried an air of untouchable, noble coolness. Even after being classmates for a year, only a few omegas like Luo Ying dared to speak to him from time to time. In the hearts of the class’s little omegas, no matter how aloof Shen Jin was, he was still one of their own and couldn’t be bullied by these outsider sharks.
Since the start of the new semester, ever since those young masters joined the class, class tensions had naturally formed.
Once a bigger conflict appeared, the smaller ones from before became negligible.
These young masters were particularly willful and unruly. They criticized everything about the school, complaining that the bathrooms were outdated, the uniforms were ugly, and the main campus followed a cramming-style education system. There was nothing they didn’t look down on.
They skipped classes and got into fights without restraint. Whether their grades were good or not was unclear, but judging by their behavior, they certainly didn’t look promising.
Everyone had seen this group’s past “achievements” on the forum and knew that someone like Shen Jin, who’d offended them face-to-face, probably wouldn’t have an easy time.
Someone suddenly shouted, “Brother Jin, we’re not afraid of them!”
“Brother Jin, fly bravely. Class 9 will follow you forever!”
“Why are you gilding your own faces? Do you see Shen Jin paying you any attention?” one of the transferred boys sneered.
“So funny. He even dared to provoke Brother Kun. Does he really need backup from a bunch of weaklings like you?”
“Commoners just like to huddle together.”
Maybe it was because Qian Kun’s group had just been punished to stand earlier, which the transferred students took as proof that they weren’t welcome here. That was why they couldn’t help mocking them now.
Over this period, they’d already figured out the general situation of the class. They knew Shen Jin was famous, but he was a lone wolf. He didn’t associate with alphas, and he didn’t even bother with omegas of the same gender. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be Nanhu’s unanimously acknowledged Frost Flower.
He probably didn’t even recognize all his classmates yet. What was this act of deep classmate affection supposed to be?
They weren’t stupid. Saying things like this was intentional. If things went smoothly, they could drive a wedge between Shen Jin and his classmates, making it easier to pull one side over later.
The boy speaking swallowed the rest of his words under Shen Jin’s sideways glance.
Class 9 students had tempers too. It was just that things had never exploded on a large scale before, so both sides had remained in a delicate balance.
Several of Class 9’s alphas stood up.
“Don’t go too far!”
“Yeah, if you were so tough before, stay at your old school. What are you showing off here for?”
“Oh wow, we almost forgot your entire campus got flattened. Homeless now, huh?”
Some of Class 9’s students could be pretty vicious with their words, always poking exactly where it hurt most.
Just as both sides were on the verge of fighting, Shen Jin suddenly stood up.
The sound of the chair moving wasn’t loud, but it made everyone look at him again.
Under everyone’s gaze, Shen Jin said calmly, “Thanks. I’ve never been afraid.”
The first sentence was in response to his classmates’ “we’re not afraid.” The second was clearly aimed at the outsiders.
Shen Jin left as well. Only then did Class 9 truly explode.
On one hand, they were shocked that Shen Jin had actually thanked them. On the other, they felt a sense of pride standing up to those young masters.
Shen Jin ducked into the bathroom. The pale skin of his face slowly flushed red, and even his ears turned crimson by the end.
He’d never had people rally behind him like that before. If he didn’t escape quickly, he’d completely give himself away.
Ahem.
They were… kind of cute.
*
By the third class of the morning, Shen Jin was already feeling drowsy.
His differentiation period hadn’t fully passed yet. His body was still experiencing stress responses, making him especially prone to fatigue and weakness. Even his pain receptors were unusually sensitive.
The area around his gland felt sore and swollen.
He made himself a cup of instant coffee, which helped a little.
Shen Jin was then called to the office by the homeroom teacher, who asked about his health. Seeing that Shen Jin didn’t look too well, the teacher said with concern, “If you’re uncomfortable, you could’ve come back to school later. Why did your parents let you return so soon?”
Any family with a child going through differentiation would treasure them like a priceless gem. Why had Shen Jin been sent back early? How were his parents taking care of him?
Shen Jin said he was fine. He didn’t want to stay at home and preferred returning to school earlier.
“Then don’t push yourself,” the homeroom teacher said, before asking about what had happened during morning self-study. “If Liu Qimai gives you trouble, tell me.”
Shen Jin agreed verbally, but unless it was something serious, he wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t have the habit of tattling.
When Shen Jin returned, the class had already settled back into its usual state.
Only a subtle tension lingered in the air. What had once been a surface-level truce now had undercurrents brought openly into view.
Liu Qimai had also heard about what happened earlier. He propped both legs up on his desk, leaning back on the chair’s rear legs. “Brother Kun, I can’t swallow this anger. This is him running wild right over your head!”
The watching Class 9 students: it’s coming, it’s coming, he’s about to stir things up.
Ever since the conflict surfaced, everyone had been holding their breath, waiting for this group’s reaction.
Liu Qimai’s voice wasn’t quiet. Shen Jin heard it too, but he was explaining a problem to Luo Ying and a few omegas and didn’t bother responding.
Qian Kun knew Liu Qimai loved making a fuss. He already found Shen Jin a little strange to begin with, so he merely raised an eyebrow.
Zhou You looked up from his homework. “What are you planning to do?”
“Heh. I’ve never seen anyone crazier than me,” Liu Qimai said, teeth itching. He directly declared war. “Shen Jin, one-on-one after school. You’re a beta, right? Then we’ll send out a beta too. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
Anyone could see that Shen Jin was about to get jumped.
He’d just differentiated, and his body was far from being as strong as an average beta’s. Even though his proportions were good, with a slim waist and long legs, he used to be an omega. He wasn’t even one meter eighty tall, while these rich second-generation kids were all tall and solid.
Luo Ying protested, “What kind of skill is fighting? If you’ve got guts, compare grades. Our Brother Jin’s grades are excellent!”
Hadn’t they heard of “second only to Gu Yue”? Among Nanhu’s first to third classes were all rocket classes, Q University prep reserves. Gu Yue ranked first there. Other than that monstrous top student, their Brother Jin towered over everyone else.
Liu Qimai didn’t want to play house, but just then, Qian Kun, who usually couldn’t be bothered to join any discussion, suddenly spoke. “How good?”
It was Luo Ying’s first time speaking to Qian Kun. Truthfully, no one in the class really dared disturb him.
Qian Kun wasn’t showy, but his presence was impossible to ignore.
Before the class reassignment, she’d even fangirled over this top-tier handsome guy on the forum. Being directly asked by him, she panicked a little. “Very, very good. Better than you can imagine!”
You country bumpkin private-school kids probably forgot about studying while you were busy with extracurriculars, right?
Let me show you what a real top student looks like!
Other classmates stopped what they were doing as well, all eyes locked on how things would develop.
Liu Qimai laughed. “You’re probably unaware. Brother Kun’s been first place since he was little. He’s never taken any other ranking.”
Luo Ying sneered. As if all schools were the same.
Class 9 was instantly fired up. Talk about exams, and suddenly no one was sleepy.
Other things they might lose at, but studying was non-negotiable.
If Shen Jin went up against them, wouldn’t that be a dimensionality reduction strike?
Shen Jin wasn’t nearly as optimistic as everyone else.
Out of curiosity earlier, he’d downloaded their usual test papers. The difficulty was nearly on par with the rocket classes’. Anyone who could maintain first place on exams like that definitely wasn’t someone to underestimate.
When Shen Jin got nervous, he started spinning his pen. The black pen rotated rapidly between his fingers.
A fine sheen of sweat formed on his palm.
Qian Kun watched Shen Jin’s seemingly aloof demeanor, as if he didn’t take him seriously at all.
Was he that confident he’d win?
He’d originally had no interest in such a boring competition, but now, a sudden urge to conquer surfaced.
A bit restless.
Qian Kun had never been stingy about expressing himself. He smiled and asked, “What’s the wager?”
Author’s Note:
Shen Jin: Nonsense. I’m panicking like crazy.
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