Xia Siqiao assumed he was only being polite. He lowered his eyes casually, smiled, and waved. “I'll pass. You guys have fun.”
“No way. You're one of today's biggest heroes. You have to come.” Ren Weiyang blocked him, while Su Boran and several other omegas surrounded him completely. Seeing that the road in front of him had been sealed off and realizing they weren't merely being polite, Xia Siqiao stopped refusing and spoiling the mood. “Fine.”
They went to a barbecue restaurant. All thirty-nine students in the class attended; not a single person was missing.
Even Zhou Jiawei, whose sick leave had caused him to miss the sports meet and accidentally helped Class 1 win first place, received a video call from Fang Yuan so the class could express its heartfelt gratitude.
Gratitude for being absent.
Zhou Jiawei laughed and swore at them before hanging up the video call.
There were so many of them that they practically took over the entire skewer restaurant, spreading out across several large tables. Fang Yuan and the other sociable alphas drifted from table to table like social butterflies, deliberately engineering collisions and elaborate excuses to trick other people into drinking.
When seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds went wild, they looked ready to tear a corner off the sky. Cases of beer were carried in one after another. The servers hurried around bringing food and opening bottles while constantly dodging students running all over the restaurant like unruly monkeys.
Xia Siqiao sank into the broad-backed chair with his feet resting on its crossbar. After being made to drink quite a lot, his eyes were slightly unfocused as he slowly brought a lamb skewer to his mouth.
The restaurant's ceiling lights held nothing back, pouring harshly over everyone. The glaring brightness seemed to make the surrounding noise and chaos feel even more intense.
The restaurant was so loud that his eardrums throbbed. Xia Siqiao rubbed his ears, pulled on his jacket, grabbed the cigarettes and lighter Fang Yuan had left on the table, and stood to go outside.
The night in the distance was deep black, while the signs along the street before him flashed brilliantly. The two kinds of light overlapped across Xia Siqiao's face, glazing his smooth pale skin with a cool sheen.
People moved along the street in scattered streams. The night wind dispersed some of the alcohol around him. Xia Siqiao took a cigarette from the pack and put it between his lips. Just as he reached into his pocket to search for something, a lighter suddenly appeared in front of him. He looked up.
The thumb opposite him flicked lightly, and a spark flared.
He Pei, Fang Yuan, and the others came out of the restaurant. Fang Yuan ruffled his hair as he walked and muttered, “What the hell? I left it right on the table.”
“Sorry, I've got my own.” Xia Siqiao's voice, slightly husky from drinking, suddenly reached their ears.
He Pei looked toward the sound. Xia Siqiao was leaning lazily against the wall, holding up the lighter Fang Yuan treasured like a precious heirloom.
An alpha stood opposite him, smiling as he held out a flame. The wind made the fire flicker, lighting Xia Siqiao's face in flashes and making his lashes look like raven feathers while his lips appeared a deep crimson.
Hearing the movement by the entrance, Xia Siqiao lazily turned his head with the cigarette still between his lips and met He Pei's gaze directly.
He Pei wore a sharply tailored black coat and stood tall beneath the illuminated sign, his face looking almost colorless and his eyes pitch black.
At first glance, he looked like a frame from a slow-motion film.
That was, if one ignored the broad, hulking Fang Yuan standing beside him and ruining the composition.
Fang Yuan stared soulfully at his lighter and murmured, “Isn't that my light—”
“My brother?” Seeing Xia Siqiao slowly raise his eyelids toward him, Fang Yuan had a flash of inspiration and, for once, generously acquired a functioning brain.
Several people had suddenly appeared, but the alpha didn't seem angry at being rejected in public. He withdrew his hand with a smile. “It's fine. I was actually just trying to strike up a conversation with you.”
“Oh.” Xia Siqiao lowered his eyes halfway and lit the cigarette himself. Holding it between his fingers, he took a drag and slowly exhaled a thin cloud of gray-white smoke. It blurred his expression, leaving only his slightly hoarse, alluring voice clear.
“I haven't differentiated yet. Sorry.” As Xia Siqiao spoke, he lifted his left hand and touched the back of his neck, which felt faintly warm, then stiffened slightly.
Since arriving here, he had read a physiology textbook. It said that warmth at the back of the neck was a sign that differentiation was approaching.
“I could tell. I just wanted to take a number early, in case I get a chance later.” The alpha looked toward his neck, heat entering his gaze.
He Pei's eyesight was exceptional. Even in such dim night light, he could clearly see the alpha's expression. He calmly looked away and adjusted the frame of his glasses.
“But I don't like men.” Xia Siqiao cleared his throat, his tone carrying a little more of a teenager's awkward innocence.
After he said that, Fang Yuan and the others, who had been openly pricking up their ears to eavesdrop, all looked faintly surprised. He Pei paused, then casually lit a cigarette as if nothing had happened and looked out into the night.
The alpha opposite him was surprised too. He raised his voice slightly. “You don't like men? Then what if you differentiate into an omega? How will you get through your heats? Are you going to keep using suppressants forever?”
“I don't think that's really any of your business.” Xia Siqiao gave him a small goodbye gesture and walked toward Fang Yuan. As he went, he added, “Besides, who I like has nothing to do with their secondary gender.”
Xia Siqiao reached Fang Yuan, tossed the lighter and cigarette pack back to him, and said, “I'm drunk. Everything's doubled in front of me. I'm heading back to the dorm.”
He had genuinely been a little tipsy at first, but after standing in the night wind for a while, most of the alcohol had already cleared from his head. His eyes were bright and his thoughts perfectly lucid, yet he stood there with his eyes open and declared himself drunk in pronunciation clear enough to pass at least Level Three of a standard Mandarin proficiency test.
What could Fang Yuan possibly say?
He could only watch as Xia Siqiao walked farther and farther away with steady steps in a perfectly straight line.
Several beats too late, Fang Yuan scratched his head and muttered, “Little Xia doesn't like men? Then before, when he…”
In the middle of talking to himself, he instinctively glanced at He Pei and immediately shut his mouth.
He Pei gave him a cold look, extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and went back into the barbecue restaurant.
Fang Yuan slapped himself on the cheek. “Damn this mouth of mine.”
Lu Yan, whose lips had performed exceptionally well by staying sealed all evening, finally laughed. “I've been holding it in forever, waiting for you to speak first. Hah, sure enough, you're the one catching the stray bullet today.”
“Fuck off.” Fang Yuan laughed and shoved him.
Their homeroom teacher, Mr. Yan, was already waiting in the classroom early the next morning. He looked at more than half the class lying listlessly over their desks and knew perfectly well what they had done the night before. He didn't expose them. Instead, he set his water cup on the podium with a smile and asked, “What was yesterday?”
The class immediately perked up and answered over one another. Fang Yuan led the charge with a booming shout: “First place in the sports meet!”
“Right. Our class took first place yesterday. So do you know what happens one week from now?” Mr. Yan clasped his hands behind his back and paced across the podium as he asked.
The students froze for a moment. Before they could react, Mr. Yan's expression changed and his smile disappeared. “Midterm exams are in one week. Apart from Xia Siqiao and the others who transferred in after the last monthly exam and are still in their grace period, several students in this class already have yellow warnings. If you mess up again this time, who knows how long it'll be before we see each other again.”
Anyone who transferred into Class 1 had ranked in the top twenty of another class. After entering Class 1, they received a three-month grace period. Once that ended, a serious decline in grades earned a yellow warning, and after the third warning, the student would be reassigned to another class.