76: Extra 1 - Shen Jin Who Doesn’t Date
When Shen Jin saw Qian Kun hadn’t come down yet, he turned around and banged his forehead against the corner wall a couple of times.
Thinking about Qian Kun’s shocked look just now made Shen Jin want to knock himself a few more times to wake up. How the hell did he end up being that proactive?
When Qian Kun caught up, he found that Shen Jin hadn’t gone far at all. He was waiting for him at the corner.
Having just touched the other’s lips, neither of them dared to look the other in the eye. Not once did their gazes meet. They walked downstairs “calmly,” or at least, they thought they were.
Outside on the lawn, the lights were brilliant and the crowd was bustling.
Qian Kun’s face stayed composed, but his mind was a mess. “That was my… first kiss.”
So, I’m a bit inexperienced, could you give me another chance?
That was the subtext.
Even now, everything that had just happened, and Shen Jin’s response, still didn’t feel real to Qian Kun.
Did he really have this person’s affection?
Shen Jin pretended he didn’t understand. He pressed his lips together. “It was mine too.”
“Huh?”
Shen Jin immediately sensed something was off. His eyes sharpened. “What do you mean, ‘huh’?”
Why are you so surprised? Don’t tell me you thought I had experience?
Qian Kun had, in fact, assumed Shen Jin had experience. After all, Shen Jin had been engaged for nine years. Anything they did would’ve been completely proper. And in those ignorant, impulsive teenage years, it was hard to suppress attraction toward the opposite sex.
Qian Kun didn’t plan to dwell on the past. That would only affect what they had now.
Even if he was jealous to the point of going insane of the guy who “had” Shen Jin for nine years.
Besides, they were both Alphas. Qian Kun could tell that even though Ke Minghuai had an emotional deficiency disorder, he cared about Shen Jin a lot. You could see it in countless small details. And then there were those globally famous rabbits. Ke Minghuai had been willing to pour energy into promoting them for so long. Deep down, he wanted everyone’s recognition.
How did he even hold back?
Ke Minghuai definitely wanted to, so the issue had to be—
Qian Kun’s gaze turned razor-sharp. He said softly, “You didn’t let him kiss you.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
If you’ve guessed it, don’t say it so bluntly.
Kissing was an intimate act. Shen Jin couldn’t even imagine doing that with Ke Minghuai.
Qian Kun’s eyes burned. Even without asking, Shen Jin could tell Qian Kun’s joy was spilling out of him.
Shen Jin was really not good at dealing with a Qian Kun when he was practically on fire like this. He didn’t want to answer. He’d only taken a few steps when he felt a large hand brush the gold confetti off his shoulder.
It had fallen onto him when the flower balls opened earlier.
On the other side, Liu Manning asked Qian Kun to come over. The old master had something to discuss with him. Qian Kun answered, and as he passed by Shen Jin, he leaned close to Shen Jin’s ear and let out a soft breath. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
Class Nine was trying to figure out how to dance the tango. Seeing people dancing by the fountain made them a little envious. Zheng Zhepeng happened to spot the two big shots walking out from another building. “They’re back!”
Everyone looked over and sucked in a breath.
These two were standing way too close. They also looked ridiculously ambiguous, especially the way Kun-ge brushed past Shen Jin, turning his body sideways. It looked like he was about to kiss him.
At that moment, some classmates remembered that when they’d been teasing them into a pair, Shen Jin had even said he agreed.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, no way!!!
Were you two pulling an “under-the-table swap” right under our noses?
Luo Ying: …You’re only realizing this now?
Shen Jin stood there and took several deep breaths. He walked a few steps, and in the direction Qian Kun had left, he saw an elderly man with an alert, vigorous air staring straight at him.
When Shen Jin noticed him, the old man didn’t avoid his gaze. He only nodded calmly, then took Qian Kun away, looking strangely mysterious.
When Shen Jin returned to his classmates, the flush on his face still hadn’t fully faded.
Zhou You handed him a cup of corn juice. Shen Jin took a few sips, his thoughts slowly settling back into place, and then he realized everyone’s eyes were acting… weird.
Shen Jin asked quietly, “What’s with everyone?”
Zhou You’s eyes held a smile. “Maybe they’ve finally noticed some very obvious hints.”
Ever since the fake boyfriend agreement began, the two of them hadn’t deliberately hidden anything. It was just that no one had ever thought in that direction.
Now the “relationship agreement” existed in name only. They were already turning fake into real, so the people around them were only just starting to catch on.
No one came to question him either, which suited Shen Jin just fine.
Having finally escaped the “claws” of Shen Jin’s classmates, Shen Xie’an brought his big brother a plate of skewers. Shen Jin ruffled his brother’s hair and received one soft, cute look in return.
After eating a few skewers, Shen Jin noticed someone staring over. The girl in a small formal dress was Xie Hanzhu, someone he hadn’t seen in quite some time.
Shen Xie’an noticed too. His cute expression vanished instantly, replaced by obvious dislike. “Why is she here?”
Shen Jin reassured him. “She’s probably here with her date. Don’t mind her. She can’t affect us.”
However, Shen Xie’an still felt uncomfortable. He really wanted to walk over and kick her out.
Back then, when Shen Jin had been shuffled around among these branch-family relatives after the family split, whether it was at gatherings or even at his engagement, they’d mocked him openly and covertly. What they said had been vicious.
Shen Jin guessed correctly. Xie Hanzhu had come with her boyfriend.
This time, the Qian family invited many guests, including plenty of former private-school classmates. A lot of people didn’t know Xie Hanzhu had already been kicked out of Qian Kun’s social circle.
Qian Kun didn’t care about such a marginal person. Xie Hanzhu used that gap to quickly find herself a boyfriend from a family with some assets. For this birthday party, each guest could bring one romantic partner. That was how she’d managed to slip in.
She was afraid of being noticed by people in Qian Kun’s circle, so she kept dodging them. And since the party’s true focus was the Qian family, no one paid attention to her.
Ever since Ke Minghuai clearly demanded that they apologize, she’d contacted Shen Xie’an and passed along her apology. Whether Shen Jin accepted it was no longer something she could control.
After that, her family cut off her financial support.
Unlike her other branch-family cousins who’d been wailing and throwing tantrums, she had her own social accounts and could make some side money through product promos.
An event like this, just a few photos, could raise her “status” dramatically.
She didn’t want to offend the Qian family, so when no one was looking, she took a few selfies, intentionally catching a bit of the banquet atmosphere in the background.
Just a small edge of the scene, and even if the Qian family noticed, they likely wouldn’t bother arguing with her, right? That was exactly what she wanted.
She even posted the photos into the Xie branch-family group chat, instantly harvesting a wave of envy.
She didn’t expect that in one photo, the background captured the silhouettes of Shen Jin and Liu Manning, chatting as if they were getting along very well. Several sharp-eyed branch cousins noticed immediately, and the group chat filled with disbelief.
Xie Hanzhu had already accepted reality long ago.
Compared to them, she understood far better that after she’d said just one sentence about Shen Jin and gotten kicked out of a group, Shen Jin was very likely Qian Kun’s reverse scale.
[Why is he chatting with the Qian family’s madam like that?]
[This has to be fake. The Ke family getting dumped and still wanting to remarry is already absurd enough. Why do the Qian family like him too?]
[The Qian family and the Ke family aren’t even the same level. What makes Shen Jin worthy?]
[Maybe it's just normal pleasantries!]
They only just learned about the Ke family’s broken engagement, and then this bomb hit them right after. Even their typing in the group chat turned incoherent.
Xie Hanzhu had always felt she’d been dragged down by these relatives. As if getting revenge, she shattered their fantasy with one line:
[The young master is pursuing him and still hasn’t gotten him yet.]
Ji Zhen had taken leave for a while because of this, and it was famous at Shengsi High.
The entire branch-family group chat went dead silent.
Qian Kun was surrounded by elders, but he kept his attention on Shen Jin. His mother teased him with a glance more than once.
He quickly noticed where Shen Jin was looking, remembered who that girl was, and called over a staff member to give a few instructions. Very soon, Xie Hanzhu was politely escorted out of the venue, and all the photos she’d taken on a gamble were deleted.
As for the rich second-generation kid who’d brought her in, he regretted it so much he immediately cut ties to protect himself.
A cold wind blew. Xie Hanzhu hugged her exposed shoulders and shivered.
She stared at the Qian family’s doors, then looked down at her own trembling legs.
She’d once believed Shen Jin would always be that pitiful little thing who begged them for scraps of food. It turned out he’d already shaken off the shadows of the past.
Only they, that whole group, were still intoxicated by their former “lofty” status, not realizing they were the real clowns.
This was just a small interlude at the banquet.
Qian Kun and the old master made an agreement that he should hurry up and win his grandson’s future wife. After they finished talking, Qian Kun got swarmed by relatives again.
When he came back over, he saw a staff member about to pour red wine for Shen Jin. Qian Kun stopped them directly, replaced it with warm milk, tested the temperature with his hand, and then handed it to Shen Jin.
Now that they’d noticed something was up, Class Nine was watching them closely.
Jiang Yifan couldn’t hold back anymore. “Kun-ge, why is only Jin-ge’s a hot drink?”
Qian Kun was about to get called away again. He slipped something into Shen Jin’s pocket and said before leaving, “His stomach’s not good. Help me keep an eye on him.”
That one line instantly made several Omegas blush and their hearts race.
That’s way too swoon! What do you mean, ‘help me keep an eye on him’? Are you declaring territory? Kun-ge, come back and say it clearly!
If there’s nothing going on between you two, we refuse to accept it!!
When did this even start? The more they tried to trace the timeline, the less they could find, because the two had always looked like they were at odds. Even after they became desk mates, they didn’t seem to talk much.
Shen Jin took out what was in his pocket.
It was orange candy.
Shen Jin was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Qian Kun to carry this on him.
Like he was coaxing him.
It’s not like I’m a kid.
Even so, Shen Jin unwrapped one and popped it into his mouth.
Jiang Yifan leaned in mysteriously. “Jin-ge, you and Kun-ge, are you two…”
Thinking about how they had that agreement for so long only for it to end up completely useless anyway, Shen Jin lifted a mischievous smile. “Guess.”
At Monday morning assembly, after the principal finished his routine speech, he announced the names of students who had differentiated within the past year or two.
He hoped everyone would take extra care of those students so they could adapt to school life as soon as possible.
When the principal read the names, the final one he mentioned was Qian Kun.
The confirmed news hit like a hammer.
What happened in the exam room had been seen by far too many people, yet there’d been no official statement.
The principal’s words triggered an uproar below. This was also the school’s response to the recent red-hot forum posts.
After Qian Kun came of age, the paperwork regarding his true gender was officially approved. To avoid making it look too abrupt, the school read out the other differentiated students first, then included him at the end.
Below, the chatter ignored the grade director’s demands for silence and continued, heads pressed together:
“When Qian Kun was still a Beta he already wasn’t human. Now that he’s an Alpha, are we normal Alphas even allowed to live?”
“How are we supposed to ‘take care’ of him? By not kneeling too fast when he crushes us?”
“As expected of Kun-ge. The moment he differentiates, he’s already chilling in the stratosphere!”
The center of attention, Qian Kun, acted like the scorching gazes around him didn’t exist. He stood lazily in the back.
Last night he’d been watching classic TV and film kissing compilations and stayed up a bit late, so he was short on sleep.
Only when Shen Jin went up on stage did he finally focus.
Normally, Shen Jin didn’t care about giving speeches since it was just routine. Now however, the longer he stared at the script in his hands, the more guilty he felt.
What he was about to read wasn’t anything else. It was the school-mandated topic: promoting the dangers of early romance.
The school wouldn’t outright ban dating. That didn’t match reality. Otherwise, what were those “bride classes” for? Attraction between the six genders was instinct, and these were teenagers in a restless phase. How could you stop it entirely?
If they couldn’t forcefully intervene, the best they could do was cool people’s heads from the side.
Because he had to talk about this topic many times every year, Shen Jin found it annoying. Back in first year, he’d written a dozen-plus different speeches in one go. When needed, he just pulled one out and read it.
The grade director saw his own words weren’t working much, but the moment Shen Jin stepped on stage, the discussions below quieted significantly. The more he looked at Shen Jin, the more satisfied he felt.
His eye had been excellent. When Shen Jin transferred up, he’d immediately thought this was a seedling that absolutely would not date.
Anyone could date, but Shen Jin? Impossible!
Shen Jin stiffened and read the old script plainly from start to finish. He didn’t dare look toward the direction of Class Nine in second year once the entire time.
After Shen Jin finished, he accidentally met the gaze of a certain Alpha below.
His heart panicked. Going down the steps, he nearly tripped, but he quickly steadied himself. He didn’t notice that Ke Minghuai, behind him, had reached out to catch him, only for his hand to grab air.
Shen Jin returned to the end of Class Nine’s line. Right in front of him stood the tallest boy in the class, Qian Kun.
Shen Jin really hoped Qian Kun would display some gentlemanly grace, like forgetting what Shen Jin had just read.
Unfortunately, that speech had clearly poked at a sore spot for the Alpha.
Qian Kun didn’t let him off. His tone was almost amused, but his eyes, when he looked back, were heavy and dark.
“Jin-ge, there are a few lines in your speech. Would it be convenient for you to explain them?”
That form of address was off.
Shen Jin’s eye corners tightened. “Which line?”
“What do you mean, ‘dating at this stage is a waste of mental energy’? What do you mean, ‘love is nice, but love will betray you, while studying never will’…”
He quoted only part of it, but Qian Kun remembered every single word.
Qian Kun’s attitude was gentle, with a faint smile on his face.
However, Shen Jin knew.
His boyfriend was angry.
Author’s Note:
Shen Jin: How do I coax him?
Qian Kun: Is he trying to mess around and then abandon me?
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