River City was in the north. In mid-February, the snow still had not melted.
It was the coldest part of winter, and the chill seemed determined to burrow into every crack between a person’s bones.
The school had announced that Grade Eleven and Grade Twelve students had to return a week early.
The moment Luo Yun pushed open the door and his warm body met the cold air, he instinctively stepped back and tucked in his neck.
He wrapped a scarf around himself, casually grabbed a hat from the cabinet by the entrance, and bundled himself up from head to toe.
The cold wind lifted the sheer curtains, and a fine layer of mist had condensed on the mint leaves growing on the balcony.
Luo Yun tucked his hands away like a little cat hiding its paws and hurried toward school before the sky had even brightened.
As he passed the corridor outside the classroom, someone by the window called out to him. The sports committee member caught hold of him, scratching his head and looking slightly anxious.
“Class Monitor, um… can I borrow your papers to use as a reference?”
The Alpha, usually domineering and forceful, now had eyes as harmless and bashful as a bewildered deer.
The boys sitting around him were also sneaking glances at Luo Yun from the corners of their eyes.
The sports committee member was not particularly confident either. Under normal circumstances, no student would have the nerve to shamelessly ask the class monitor for “homework reference material.”
But Luo Yun was not the sort to make trouble over every little thing. He did everything at an unhurried pace and had a cool, laid-back personality. If he had not been forced into becoming class monitor, everyone suspected he would have abandoned the job long ago.
Luo Yun never used a tiny bit of authority as an excuse to throw his weight around. Even though he had occupied first place in the grade year after year, he was never arrogant about it, and he never hoarded what he knew when it came to studying. He always spoke softly when discussing schoolwork with them, so most of the students in Class Three liked him.
Because he was afraid of the cold, Luo Yun was dressed entirely in white and bundled up like a polar bear. A chestnut-colored knitted hat pressed down his soft, tousled hair, and a pale-blue mask covered his face. Only a pair of amber, phoenix-shaped eyes showed above it, clear and pure.
Luo Yun blinked. Meeting the sports committee member’s expectant gaze, he shifted slightly to the side.
The sports committee member’s hand immediately fell away, and he lowered his head in disappointment.
He felt like an idiot. Of course. How could the class monitor possibly join them in doing something underhanded?
Then he noticed that Luo Yun had not left. Instead, Luo Yun turned his back to him, revealing a small strip of clean, pale skin at the back of his neck when he lowered his head.
Sports Committee Member: “?”
“Take them yourself. My hands are cold.” His voice was clear and bright, muffled behind the mask until it sounded a little soft.
The sports committee member understood at once. He stood, bent over, unzipped Luo Yun’s backpack, and found the stack of test papers.
With tears of gratitude practically filling his eyes, he shouted, “Class Monitor, I love you to death!”
The Alphas around him immediately joined in the commotion:
“Boo-hoo, what a movingly wonderful class monitor!”
“I suddenly don’t feel cold anymore!”
“If the class monitor were an Omega, I’d definitely be the first one to chase him!”
“Count me in!”
Luo Yun: “……” There was really no need.
“Thank you for saving my life, Class Monitor. I’m copying first!”
Luo Yun, who had only taken two steps away, turned around and said in an even tone, “They’re for you to use as reference material.” He looked as solemn as a little old man when he said it.
Several Alphas slapped their foreheads in sudden understanding. “The class monitor is right. Reference material. It’s reference material.”
The other students in the classroom saw the scene and quietly burst into laughter.
Those who had not finished their homework crowded around the set of standard answers and continued working furiously.
***
Luo Yun pushed open the door and looked toward the inside of the lectern. Just as he had expected, the air-conditioner display was dark and the heating was off. The air conditioners had been installed throughout the school a few years earlier, but the old electrical supply could not support them, so they had been connected to a dedicated power grid. Since they had returned early while the middle-school division and Grade Ten students were still absent, the school could not be bothered turning it on specially for them.
Luo Yun let out a soft breath, his delicate brows and eyes drooping listlessly.
This week was going to be a little hard to endure.
He made a trip to the bathroom and had no choice but to wash his hands. The water was cold too, leaving his fingertips slightly red from the chill.
Luo Yun walked into the classroom and found his desk different from what he had imagined.
It did not have the layer of dust expected after sitting untouched for an entire winter break. Someone had wiped it until it practically gleamed, and the wood-grain surface was still streaked with watermarks that had not completely dried.
The desk beside it was the same, clean enough to shine.
Seeing Luo Yun’s confusion, Shangguan Yi in the row behind him curled his lips into an ambiguous half-smile.
“Lin Ke came over and wiped them down just now.” He lazily added, “Lin Ke wiped Brother Ye’s desk first, then did yours while he was at it.” He deliberately emphasized the order in which the desks had been cleaned.
Lin Ke was an Omega from Class Two next door. He was delicate-looking and fair-skinned, though not especially bright.
During an exam last semester, he had sat directly in front of or behind Luo Yun, and they had gradually started talking. After hearing that Luo Yun explained questions clearly and thoroughly, the somewhat slow-witted Lin Ke began visiting Class Three often to ask Luo Yun for help with problems.
From time to time he brought milk tea or breakfast, being a little too attentive. Shangguan Yi was not the only one who noticed; everyone else could also tell that Lin Ke seemed to like Luo Yun, because his face was constantly turning red around him.
Just when everyone thought a few sparks of forbidden school romance might start flying, Lin Ke suddenly confessed to Feng Ye.
Everyone said Feng Ye had definitely done it on purpose.
Poor students and top students had never gotten along since the beginning of time, and Feng Ye had been caught red-handed by Luo Yun several times while climbing over the wall to skip school and go online.
There was probably a long-standing grudge between them.
Shangguan Yi was another unlucky fellow Luo Yun had caught several times. He had written so many self-criticism essays that practice had made him perfect, and he could crank them out at astonishing speed.
He especially wanted to see Luo Yun get knocked down a peg.
Shangguan Yi gave him a false smile, mockery curling at the corner of his mouth. “Brother Ye is still the popular one. What use are good grades anyway?”
“Oh. Got it.” Luo Yun lowered his gaze. His eyelashes were fine and dense, as though each strand had been traced in smoky black ink.
He took out his phone and tapped Lin Ke’s profile picture.
Taking advantage of an Alpha’s height, Shangguan Yi straightened his upper body and craned his neck, catching sight of Lin Ke’s pale-pink rabbit avatar.
“Already in a hurry to settle accounts with him? If you ask me, it’s only natural for Lin Ke to like Brother Ye. Alpha-Omega relationships are the norm, after all.”
“Unlike you, you’re only a Beta. Don’t go taking your anger out on Lin Ke. He did wipe your desk for you, didn’t he?”
The classmates around them felt a little alarmed when they heard Shangguan Yi repeatedly stirring up trouble.
They had only just had a peaceful New Year. School had not even officially started yet, so why were these two already at each other’s throats?
“Taking my anger out on him?” Luo Yun lifted his pale eyelids slightly, his tone neither warm nor cold. “I only wanted to thank him.”
After putting away his backpack, Luo Yun sat down and typed. Once he had sent a message saying thank you, he placed his phone on the desk.
Seeing how calm he looked, Shangguan Yi thought he sounded as though he actually meant it. He snorted and leaned toward Luo Yun’s phone.
The phone suddenly vibrated, and the rabbit avatar happened to pop up: [It was nothing, no need to thank me. I’m the one who should thank Brother Luo for tutoring me!]
Damn, he really was thanking him. Shangguan Yi looked embarrassed. “Lin Ke switched his affections to someone else. You’re really not angry?”
“Switched his affections?” Luo Yun found the wording inexplicable. The people in front of and behind them looked over eagerly for gossip. After thinking about how to phrase it, he asked, “Are you saying Lin Ke used to like me?”
Shangguan Yi was starting to lose his composure. He stiffened his neck and said, “You seriously never noticed?”
The other students watching the drama were equally shocked.
No way, no way. Could their dear class monitor really be as oblivious as a single-celled organism?
Luo Yun grew a little awkward under all those stares. He did not know how to respond and, after a long silence, finally forced a sentence from his throat. “Then… sorry?”
Everyone: “……” For some reason, they suddenly felt as though they had been toyed with.
Shangguan Yi raked a hand through his hair and cursed under his breath. Feeling that he had lost face, he hurried to recover. “Anyway, Brother Ye is still the most popular.”
Everyone nodded. Luo Yun nodded too. Shangguan Yi felt as though he had punched a wad of cotton. He decided not to talk to an idiot and went back to finishing his homework instead, lest the homeroom teacher arrive and lose her temper again.
While he was copying away, the standard answers were suddenly pulled out from under him.
Shangguan Yi looked up and met Luo Yun’s clear, bright eyes.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The owner of those eyes smiled at him. “Didn’t you say good grades were useless?”
Even the same crude words sounded almost refined when Luo Yun said them, gentle and pleasant to the ear, as though wrapped in a handful of snow.
Shangguan Yi suddenly had a bad feeling. “So?”
Luo Yun smiled again. “Then you probably don’t need to use my papers as reference material, right?” As he spoke, he gathered up the papers that had made a round of the classroom, leaving Shangguan Yi alone and devastated in the cold wind.
“……” Shangguan Yi ground his teeth, pulled out his phone, and complained to Feng Ye:
-Your deskmate is provoking me!!!
-Provoking me!!!
-Bro, stop sleeping and get over here already!
The string of messages made Feng Ye’s phone buzz again and again.
A hand emerged from beneath the dark-green quilt. The fingers were long, the knuckles well defined, and a thin layer of muscle covered the forearm in smooth, attractive lines. The arm led to a shoulder, collarbone, and neck, while the rest of his body was completely bare.
Feng Ye was used to sleeping naked, his skin pressed intimately against the soft quilt.
Half asleep, he fumbled for his phone, irritably shoved it beneath the pillow, and went back to sleep without caring in the slightest about the school’s notice.
In weather this cold, anyone who went to school was an idiot.
……
River City No. 1 High School was the best private school in River City. It had both a middle-school and high-school division, a strong teaching staff, a sprawling campus, excellent dormitories, and first-rate cafeteria food. Although it had not been founded very long ago, the school had money to burn, and within only a few years its admission rate to top-tier universities had risen dramatically.
Luo Yun had ranked first in the entire city on the high-school entrance examination, and schools everywhere had competed to recruit him. He chose No. 1 High for two reasons. First, it was close to home, only a thirty-minute walk away. Second, the student dormitories were double rooms, which would be convenient if he needed to live on campus during Grade Twelve.
Most importantly, they had simply offered him far too much.
But because it was a private school, there were inevitably a few rich young masters and young ladies who had been admitted through connections. The administration distributed such favors evenly, and when those favors reached Class Three, they took the form of Feng Ye and the group around him.
On top of that, the principal was Feng Ye’s maternal uncle, so the school’s teachers usually turned a blind eye and could not be bothered controlling him.
Most of the students had already arrived in the classroom. The teachers were still in a meeting, and everyone had more or less finished making up their homework.
Luo Yun looked around the room. The only person missing was his deskmate, Feng Ye.
The weather was cold, so he curled up in his seat like a little ball. His classmates whispered among themselves; the Spring Festival had only just ended, everyone was restless, and no one had any mind for studying.
Luo Yun sighed, took out his phone, and tapped the young master’s profile picture. It was a single brush-written character meaning “wild,” rendered in bold, forceful strokes that looked arrogant and untamed, every hook and turn full of flair. He had heard Feng Ye’s grandfather had written it.
This was the troublesome part of being class monitor. Their homeroom teacher taught physics and was a female Omega. Although she was already over forty, she had an innocent personality and a touch of naive romanticism. Every time Feng Ye misbehaved and she could not control him, the aggrieved look in her eyes made even Luo Yun feel sorry for her.
He started a voice call. The classroom was noisy, and with all the layers making him look round and padded, Luo Yun had to struggle before he managed to bend down and hide beneath his desk.
The ringing tone sounded in a steady rhythm. With a soft click, the call connected.
Before Luo Yun could speak, a deep, magnetic, drowsy voice came from the other end. “Wife—”
Feng Ye was not fully awake. His eyes were half closed, his black hair wild and disheveled from sleep, and his phone rested against his ear with the call screen open.
Luo Yun’s profile picture sat in the center of the black screen. Beneath it was the contact name: [Wife]
In his half-conscious state, Feng Ye had accidentally read the name aloud.
Feng Ye rested one hand against his forehead and narrowed his eyes slightly. His high nose made his brows and eyes look deep-set and sharply defined.
He had absolutely no idea what nonsense had just come out of his mouth.
Luo Yun thought he might have tinnitus, or perhaps Feng Ye was talking in his sleep.
Otherwise, Feng Ye had finally done the last thing high school students were not supposed to do.
—He was dating too young.
And he had mistaken Luo Yun for the person he was dating.
Luo Yun’s thoughts ran wild. “You’re not coming to class today? Didn’t you get the school notice?”
Rustling came from the other end. “Not going. I got it. Anyone who goes is an idiot.”
After a moment of silence, Luo Yun lowered his voice. “Does that mean you’re calling me an idiot?”
Listening to that clean voice that always made his heart stir, Feng Ye blinked sleepily. His voice was still hoarse from having just woken up. “How could I insult my wife… I meant the school administration. The school administration are idiots.”
“……” This time, Luo Yun was certain he had not misheard. After a long pause, he hesitantly said, “Feng Ye, are you secretly dating someone? As class monitor, I think I have a responsibility and an obligation to remind you that school rules say minors aren’t allowed to date.”
Feng Ye was still fooling around on the other end. “I’m already an adult, and besides…”
He suddenly went silent.
Feng Ye glanced at his phone. His eyes flew open, and he could not stop himself from blurting, “Fuck.”
Author’s Note:
The story is starting! I’m writing something sweet to get us through the winter =v=