But Tan Jing was seriously listening this class, sitting ramrod straight.
He Siheng grew impatient, wondering if he should tempt him into slacking, when his peripheral vision caught Tan Jing tearing off a scrap of draft paper, writing something, and passing it over.
He Siheng took it suspiciously and saw the words: Today counts as day one?
He Siheng was baffled: Day one of what?
Tan Jing wrote back: First day of dating.
“…”
What the hell? How was it suddenly the first day of dating?
He Siheng scribbled a huge question mark on the note and passed it back.
Soon, Tan Jing’s note came again.
Tan Jing: Besides liking me, I can’t think of a reason why you’ve been sneaking peeks at me. Perfect, we’re mutually in love.
“…”
If they weren’t in class, He Siheng would’ve jumped up from his chair and cursed him out shamelessly.
But caught red-handed peeking, he felt embarrassed too.
He Siheng gritted his teeth and wrote back: Who’s mutually in love with you!
He unceremoniously crumpled the note and tossed it over.
Tan Jing unfolded the ball, saw his forceful denial, and let out a short laugh.
He tilted his head slightly.
He Siheng was glaring at him with wide eyes, like a bristling kitten whose sensitive spot had been touched.
Glared at so fiercely, Tan Jing was in a good mood anyway, his lips curving pleasantly as he wrote: Then I’ll try harder.
…Try harder my ass.
He Siheng flushed and crumpled the note into a ball, tossing it into his desk drawer. No more talking to him—he could try harder for nothing.
Two days after getting this damn mission, He Siheng still hadn’t found a chance to snap Tan Jing slacking, and he didn’t want to get caught peeking again. He figured he’d just quit the group.
He told the admin, who tried hard to retain him: Don’t quit in a hurry! No punishment for failing the mission—just pass it to someone else. Our group management is super lax!
He Siheng: If it’s so lax, can you change my title first?
He was sick of posting under Tan Jing’s Jingle Cat.
Admin: No way, it took tons of brain cells to come up with that.
He Siheng: …
Those brain cells that died were all yellow ones, huh?
After haggling with the admin for a while, He Siheng still didn’t quit. The admin said there was no deadline anyway, so he’d bide his time until Tan Jing slipped up.
He focused on final review first, to take back number one.
On Friday evening, after showering, He Siheng sat at his desk to study when his phone beside him buzzed.
He picked it up— it was a message from his cousin Shu Yichen, asking to borrow money.
Shu Yichen was Lady Shu Qiu’s brother’s son, three years younger than He Siheng. He’d always idolized him since childhood, following him around whenever he visited the He Family.
He Siheng set down his pen and replied: How much?
Shu Yichen usually didn’t lack pocket money, but this time he asked for three thousand outright.
No matter how vague He Siheng was about money, he knew that was no small sum for a junior high kid.
Something odd was up. He Siheng called him directly.
He’d replied instantly to the message, but the call rang several times before Shu Yichen reluctantly picked up.
He Siheng cut to the chase: “What do you need so much money for?”
On the other end, Shu Yichen hemmed and hawed, dodging the question: “Bro, no one stole my phone—it’s me asking to borrow money.”
Confirmed it was him; He Siheng asked, “Did someone kidnap you?”
“…Would kidnappers only ask for three thousand? At least thirty million!” Shu Yichen bristled, then muttered softly, “Forget it if you won’t lend.”
Before He Siheng could ask more, Shu Yichen hung up, visibly guilty.
He Siheng frowned, wondering if Shu Yichen was being bullied at school. But the kid had hung around him growing up and picked up his temper fully—no way he’d be the one bullied.
His aunt and uncle’s birthdays were in the first half of the year, so not gifts. And the guilt didn’t fit.
As He Siheng puzzled it out, there was a knock at his door. Shu Qiu’s voice came from outside: “Heng Heng, you free now? Need to ask you something.”
He Siheng agreed, and Shu Qiu opened the door, standing there to ask, “Did Chen Chen contact you?”
He Siheng looked around his room. “Did you install cameras in here?”
Shu Qiu chuckled a bit. “He really did find you?”
“Just hung up after two sentences. What’s up with him?”
“He’s throwing a runaway tantrum.” Shu Qiu sounded helpless. “He skipped school for days; his class monitor showed up at the door. Your uncle just found out he’d been holing up in an internet cafe instead of school, got a harsh scolding. In this cold weather, the kid ran out without even a coat.”
He Siheng inwardly griped— no wonder the brat wanted three thousand; turns out running away included a shopping spree.
“Chen Chen’s always been close to you; I figured he’d reach out,” Shu Qiu said. “See if you can get him to come out and talk to him?”
“Sure, I’ll drag him back.”
He Siheng stood from his chair, grabbed a down jacket from the closet, and headed out. As he walked toward the complex entrance, he ran smack into Tan Jing, who had just finished walking Great Handsome.
They used to be fated enemies crossing paths; now their relationship wasn’t purely adversarial anymore, yet they still bumped into each other all the time?
Blame the families living too close.
He Siheng turned his face slightly away, trying to pass naturally, but the leash suddenly slipped from Tan Jing’s hand. The unleashed Golden Retriever Puppy bounded joyfully toward him, wagging its tail enthusiastically at his feet for pets.
He Siheng had no choice but to squat down and ruffle its head. “Alright, alright, I know you’re enthusiastic.”
Tan Jing stopped in front of him, glancing at the paper bag of clothes in his hand, half-teasing, “Packing up to run away from home?”
He Siheng stood and rolled his eyes. “How old do you think I am? Still pulling runaway stunts?”
“Fair point,” Tan Jing agreed. “We’re both adults now, old enough to get married—no more childish stuff.”
Omegas and Alphas who had completed Differentiation reached marriageable age at 18.
Though Tan Jing echoed him, He Siheng still felt that the words sounded strange. Before he could figure out what was off about it, he heard Tan Jing ask, “You’re heading out on business at this hour?”
“My cousin ran away from home. I’m going to drag him back.”
“That cousin of yours whose brain doesn’t work too well?” Tan Jing also knew that He Siheng had a cousin—a guy who was more of a die-hard fan than a relative. The cousin idolized He Siheng and had a massive grudge against Tan Jing.
