Chapter 9

Xie Ling found Qin Han’s words a bit baffling, but they rolled off his tongue easily enough: “I’m flexible everywhere.”

Qin Han seemed to think of something just then, and two more creases appeared on the paper cup. He smiled. “Yeah, you’re the best.”

With that, he walked over to the water dispenser, filled the battered paper cup to the brim, and gulped down the water.

His fair Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with each swallow. Xie Ling watched for a moment before suddenly saying, “Thanks for what happened today.”

Qin Han froze.

Xie Ling coughed lightly and looked away. “Even though you had your own agenda, the end result was you helped me out. I’m the kind of guy who keeps clear accounts on favors and grudges.”

Qin Han saw that Xie Ling seemed to be in a good mood and suggested, “After school, want to head to the hospital and get checked out for why you’re always so anemic? I can go with you. If anything comes up, it’ll be easy for you to boss me around.”

Deep down, Qin Han still harbored some lingering doubts.

Alphas generally had robust physiques, and symptoms like anemia and weakness were more typical of omegas. Qin Han worried there might be other issues lurking in Xie Ling’s body.

Of course, Xie Ling had no intention of agreeing.

“No need. It’s only happened twice. After school, I’ve got to take Brother Gu Ran home. No time for that stuff.”

Your own body matters more than his.

Qin Han swallowed the words that nearly escaped his lips.

If this were before, he would’ve dragged Xie Ling to the hospital by any means necessary. But now…

He crumpled the empty paper cup into a ball and tossed it into the trash bin. Qin Han flashed Xie Ling a flawless smile. “Alright then.”

~~~

The two of them stepped out of the Medical Office just as third period let out.

Xie Ling had barely reached the second floor when he spotted Zhou Haoxuan and his crew shuffling out of the Moral Education Office like a herd of pigs marching to the slaughterhouse, all bedraggled and downcast.

Bringing up the rear, Director Cai was still unleashing a torrent of abuse as he herded them along. “Don’t think you’re the victims here just because you didn’t throw any punches this time. I’ve got the full picture—you lot started the provoking, you were the ones slamming into people with the ball, and you blocked your classmates from getting medical help, didn’t you!”

“Teacher, you can’t just take Xiao Yanfei and Zhang Chengrui’s side of the story—plus all those omegas, they’re definitely backing Qin Han and Xie Ling…”

“What side of the story? I know you punks inside and out! Hell, I can guess the stink you’re about to let rip just from how you shift your asses!”

In the heat of his fiery rant, Director Cai suddenly noticed two boys passing by a short distance away. They were doing their best to blend into the background, but they still radiated an effortless holy glow.

“Xie Ling! Qin Han! Get over here!”

Xie Ling knew Director Cai had heard about the afternoon fiasco. He’d tangled with Zhou Haoxuan’s group plenty before and been dragged in for lectures more than once, but this time was different. All he’d done was toss out a couple of trash-talk jabs on the basketball court—no hands thrown, pure victim.

Xie Ling strolled over with a cheeky grin, laying on the flattery thick. “Director Cai, haven’t seen you since summer break—how’d you get even more handsome? Our school ought to run a vote for the campus heartthrob by your standards. I’d cast my first ballot for you.”

“Save it—I don’t fall for that. You think I’m one of those young teachers you sweet-talk?” He straightened his suit collar as he spoke.

Everyone else: “…”

You’re lapping it up harder than those female teachers.

Qin Han snuck a glance at Xie Ling. Around anyone but him, the guy always came off as this laid-back slacker. Truth be told, back in middle school when they’d first crossed paths, Xie Ling had been exactly the same.

“How’s the body holding up?” Director Cai gave Xie Ling a once-over.

Xie Ling’s fox-like eyes tilted upward just a touch as he casually swept his gaze over Class 19’s bunch.

Class 19: “…” A sense of doom settled over them.

Sure enough, the next instant, Xie Ling clutched his head with exaggerated drama. “Teacher, I was actually still dizzy a minute ago. I never figured they’d come at me that hard—and with all of them piling on me alone, I didn’t have a prayer…”

“Xie Ling! Don’t you dare slander us! We never touched you—it was you who…”

“Shut your trap!” Director Cai jabbed a finger at Hedgehog Head, then eyed Xie Ling and drawled, “Cut the act. Their match? Last semester, weren’t you the one who soloed five of them straight into the hospital?”

Hedgehog Head: “Exactly! It was him!”

“I said shut it!” Director Cai felt like he needed a cardiac massage. “Your class has PE next, right? Blow it off—stand right here with me. Time to fix those attitudes of yours! And if you don’t climb at least fifty spots on next week’s diagnostic exam, that’s an extra fifteen hundred words of reflection on top!”

The group looked like they were attending their own funerals.

Xie Ling gloated shamelessly, snickering to himself, when Director Cai suddenly spun on him with a glare that mixed fondness and ferocity. “That goes for you too, Xie Ling! Victim or not this time, you’ve stirred up enough crap in the past. This semester…”

“Teacher, rest easy. This semester, I’ll make a total turnaround—nose to the grindstone, no drama, prime material for an outstanding socialist successor…”

“Enough already.” Director Cai nearly cracked a smile despite himself. “Bell’s about to ring—get to class. Qin Han, step in here with me.”

Word of Qin Han releasing pheromones to intimidate had spread across the school—a blatant rules violation.

By rights, Qin Han catching heat should’ve pleased him, but in the end, the guy had done it for his sake.

Xie Ling’s eyes tracked Qin Han.

Qin Han offered a gentle smile and murmured low, “I’m good. No need to worry.”

“Who’s worried about you?” Xie Ling turned his head away. “Don’t let the door hit you.”

Once Director Cai and Qin Han had gone inside, Xie Ling didn’t budge. He shot a glance at Zhou Haoxuan and the others, grinning slyly. “Need Daddy to tutor you for the diagnostic? One hundred ‘Daddy’s apiece gets you twenty minutes of pure genius from your Grade 1st Place whiz—can’t go wrong, no rip-offs.”

Hedgehog Head let out a disdainful tsk and sneered, “Xie Ling, don’t get too full of yourself. At the end of the day, you lost today. Forgot what losers owe?”

Shit. He’d nearly blanked on that. He’d never counted on losing, after all.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a proper loss—just a freak mishap—but Zhou Haoxuan’s crew weren’t the fair-play type.

Xie Ling wasn’t one to welsh on a bet, though. He tilted his chin up. “What do you want to chow down on? Order now, or you’ll be slurping Old Cai’s chrysanthemum tea later.”

Hedgehog Head’s blood boiled at Xie Ling’s cockiness even now. He was gearing up to really grind him down and humiliate him when a hand shot out to block his way.

Zhou Haoxuan stayed cooler than that, his expression mostly unruffled. “We’re not kicking someone while they’re down. You had an accident today, so we’ll table the win-loss for now.”

Hedgehog Head and the minions gaped. “Brother Xuan?!”

Xie Ling was caught off guard too. “When’d you turn so principled? Daddy approves.”

Zhou Haoxuan stayed silent, just gazing steadily at Xie Ling. That face—which no one could deny was striking—had lost its sickly pallor, and his smile blazed with wild confidence, every bit as mesmerizing as when he’d nailed that buzzer-beater…

His heartbeat inexplicably quickened. Right then, a piercing gaze laced with chill stabbed right through him.

It wasn’t just him; his crew sensed it too. By now, their bodies had a Pavlovian twitch to that presence.

Xie Ling, puzzled by the sudden shift in Zhou Haoxuan’s group’s faces, turned to look—and there was Qin Han, back already.

Xie Ling blinked. “That was fast.”

Qin Han smiled. “They got through it quick.”

“What’d they hit you with?” This mess was on him, after all. If the punishment was too stiff, he’d have to work Old Cai over.

Relationship or no, he didn’t want Qin Han shouldering blame for his sake.

“A thousand-word reflection.”

???

Class 19’s bunch sank into profound self-doubt.

Why them? Why did they—who’d barely provoked before getting flattened without landing a blow—have to pen three thousand words and forfeit PE, while this pheromones-flinging rule-breaker skated with just a thousand?

And they hadn’t caught a whiff of Director Cai’s signature lioness roar from outside. How cozy was that little chat?

Xie Ling couldn’t believe it either, eyeing Qin Han up and down. “You secretly named Cai Han or something?”

Last semester, some alpha who’d cut loose with pheromones got three full hours of reaming in there, a three-thousand-word essay, and a formal mark on his record. Qin Han’s deal was son-level pampering—make that favored-son-plus.

Or maybe Old Cai was pulling punches over the Qin Family’s clout?

Xie Ling felt like he’d snagged a juicy handle on the upstanding party member Director Cai.

Qin Han’s chest tickled at Xie Ling’s animated expressions. “I laid out the whole sequence for Director Cai. He bought that it was spur-of-the-moment self-defense to protect a classmate, so a thousand-word reflection as a token rap on the knuckles.”

What should’ve been a major infraction boiled down to a slap on the wrist for Qin Han. Xie Ling let out a chuckle. “Figures from an ex-Student Council President. Real smooth operator—got the teacher-eating routine down pat.”

He hadn’t meant a thing by it, but the words dredged up old memories out of nowhere.

The air turned awkwardly taut.

Qin Han acted like he hadn’t noticed, smiling at Xie Ling before turning to Class 19’s group. “Director Cai wants you in there.”

It was a perfectly ordinary sentence, even politely phrased with the word “please,” but to the ears of Class 19’s group, it rang no differently than “please drop dead.”

The group felt an inexplicable surge of irritation, but their bodies still remembered the domination of Qin Han’s pheromones not long before. Had they not quickly injected the soothing agent, none of them would be standing here right now.

Once Class 19’s group had filed inside, the dissatisfaction on Xie Ling’s face was practically overflowing like a river on the verge of bursting its banks.

Qin Han found the sight amusing, a trace of subtle indulgence threading through his tone. “What’s wrong?”

Xie Ling snorted. “Nothing. Just thinking Chairman Qin, you’re really something else. Look at how terrified they were of you—my bunch of ‘sons’ really are a disgrace.”

Qin Han smiled faintly. “I’m your man. They might seem scared of me, but they’re actually scared of you.”

Xie Ling found the words rather pleasing to the ear, though a few points needed straightening out. “Watch your wording. Right now, you’re just my outer-circle little bro.”

Qin Han tilted his head slightly. “Isn’t an outer-circle little bro a person?”

Xie Ling was at a loss for words. He usually trashed Qin Han without mercy, but the man had done him a huge solid today. Calling him inhuman out of the blue somehow felt wrong.

“Outer-circle little bros are people, and I’m your outer-circle little bro,” Qin Han said, his eyelids drooping in obedient fashion. “By simple substitution, that makes me your man.”