PA chapter 5

“Wait for me,” Qu Baiyuan said gently.

He called Yan Leyan’s room, and two minutes later, Yan Leyan hurriedly came down from upstairs.

He had been sleeping soundly and had received a call from Qu Baiyuan saying that Lin Sheng was going into heat, which almost made him faint. Now, seeing Lin Sheng still standing there looking composed, nothing like what he had imagined, he breathed a sigh of relief. Although Lin Sheng spent all day hanging out with Alphas practicing martial arts, he was really as clueless in emotional matters as a straight guy from the pre-sexual revolution era, and his reactions were slow. Yan Leyan was afraid that Qu Baiyuan might take advantage of Lin Sheng’s vulnerability to do something to him.

He rushed to the cabinet next to the refrigerator, pulled open a drawer, and took out a suppressant, handing it to Lin Sheng.

Qu Baiyuan stood by, holding a laptop to block his reaction, his expression unchanged. He watched as Lin Sheng took the suppressant, then Yan Leyan thanked him, and he nodded before going back upstairs.

All the doors and windows on the first floor were opened, and the ambiguous smell in the room was blown away by the mountain breeze. But Lin Sheng still felt the lingering scent of high-mountain red tea on the tip of his nose, and the scent of the Alpha, faint yet present, seemed to be flowing into his blood and marrow little by little.

The next morning, everyone woke up late, with dark circles under their eyes, except for Bai Ji, who looked refreshed and energized.

They sat around the long table for breakfast. Bai Ji looked around suspiciously and asked, “Did you guys ditch me last night to go clubbing or something?”

No one answered him. Lin Sheng inadvertently glanced at Qu Baiyuan, who happened to be looking at him. Their eyes met, and Lin Sheng felt a bit flustered. He couldn’t help but think of Qu Baiyuan’s appearance and what he had said last night, as well as his scent.

At that moment, Yan Leyan, holding a teapot, asked, “Who wants tea?”

Yan Xue said she did, so Yan Leyan poured her a cup and then asked Lin Sheng, “Do you want some? This is your favorite Da Ji Ling red tea.”

Qu Baiyuan’s hand with the spoon paused. His pheromones were Da Ji Ling red tea.

Feeling a bit hot in the face, Lin Sheng said gruffly, “I don’t want any! I’ll have milk!”

“Tsk, if you don’t want any, just say so, why so fierce? Qu ge want some?” After getting to know each other, Yan Leyan also started calling Qu Baiyuan “Qu ge” like Bai Ji and the others.

Qu Baiyuan smiled imperceptibly and said calmly, “I’ll have some milk too.”

Yan Leyan didn’t realize until after breakfast that Qu Baiyuan had ulterior motives in his words, subtly teasing Lin Sheng. He hadn’t had time to ask yesterday why Lin Sheng suddenly went into heat, why the two of them were on the first floor in the middle of the night, and why it was Qu Baiyuan who called him to bring the suppressant.

He was curious, scratching his head, but Lin Sheng seemed to still be mad at him and didn’t pay much attention to him.

After breakfast, Bai Ji strongly insisted on going to Xishan Xiaolongchi to play. It was a series of small pools formed by the river flowing down the mountain. The water was clear and transparent, with a bluish-green color resembling seawater due to its rich mineral content. It was jokingly called“Xianbenna City Split”. The pools were not large, nor were they deep, so many tourists would go in for a dip.

Yan Leyan suggested they go early because it would be crowded later. “Just follow the road outside the door and go up, it’ll take about ten minutes. Don’t drive, there’s nowhere to park. There’s an old man renting bamboo rafts next to the top pool, just tell him you’re staying at my place.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Bai Ji draped his arm around Yan Leyan’s shoulder familiarly. “Come with us! There won’t be any other guests anyway.”

Of course, Yan Leyan had no objections to joining them. He was just afraid that Lin Sheng wouldn’t want to go. He said, “Wait a moment, I’ll ask Lin Sheng if he wants to go.”

Lin Sheng declined without hesitation, citing that he had homework to do.

It was an irrefutable reason, and Yan Leyan felt a bit dejected. Lin Sheng patted his head generously and said, “You go with them.”

Yan Leyan pretended to be reluctant, “Is it okay to leave you alone at home?”

“Get lost, your presence only slows down my studying.”

Yan Leyan: “…”

He wanted to say, “Can you understand the questions without me?” but wisely chose to keep quiet.

Watching them leave in their swimsuits, Lin Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he was at peace, indeed it was more comfortable being alone.

He claimed to be doing homework, and he actually was. Throughout the summer vacation, he spent all his time either hanging out with friends or in the boxing gym, neglecting his homework entirely.

His grades were poor because he was always absent due to training camps and competitions.

His grandfather was a martial arts fanatic and had imparted everything to his only grandson, but at the same time, he had high expectations, seemingly wanting Lin Sheng to fulfill dreams he had never achieved himself. This obsession sometimes left Lin Sheng feeling lost, unsure of what he really wanted.

He himself didn’t care much about winning awards, but rather wished he could study peacefully at school like Yan Leyan and the others. When he was in junior high, he didn’t meet the physical standards to compete, but his grades were decent enough, and he barely managed to get into a good high school. Now, he was falling far behind in his studies due to the heavy workload.

He had even been removed from the school’s list of beauties at the end of last semester due to his poor grades.

Plus, his chosen sport was too niche and offered no help for further education. His teachers had advised him many times to quit, saying it was meaningless, but Lin Sheng didn’t want to disappoint his grandfather.

Sitting at the dining table, he opened his new math workbook. The first question was a multiple-choice question on plane vectors, and he was confident since he had attended several classes on plane vectors. After calculating for a while, he arrived at an answer, only to realize that the option wasn’t even listed in the question.

“This question must be wrong,” he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a voice said in his ear, “Choose D.”

He had been so focused on the question that he hadn’t noticed someone beside him.

Lin Sheng jumped in surprise, turning his head to see Qu Baiyuan’s head less than ten centimeters away from him. For some reason, ever since he smelled Qu Baiyuan’s pheromones last night, his mind was uncontrollably filled with thoughts of this person. He really wanted to smell his scent again, to be held by him and talk to him up close.

This thought frightened him, and he nervously flipped the draft paper over the workbook. “Aren’t you going to Xiaolongchi?”

Qu Baiyuan sat down on the chair beside him, opened his laptop, and said, “I didn’t go. I don’t want to be in the sun.”

Lin Sheng nodded, lowering his head. He felt inexplicably nervous; he had never experienced this before—an Alpha who made his heart race just by sitting next to him.

Qu Baiyuan didn’t say anything else, putting on Bluetooth earphones and watching a video on his laptop. Lin Sheng glanced at it; it was a foreigner lecturing, with incomprehensible foreign words and formulas on the blackboard.

Lin Sheng shifted his attention back to the first question about plane vectors.

He calculated it for the second time. This time he arrived at a different answer, but unfortunately, the option still wasn’t there in the question. He felt a bit frustrated and twirled the pen between his fingers rapidly, feeling the impulse to tear up the workbook.

Qu Baiyuan paused the video, reached out to take Lin Sheng’s draft paper, and listed the solution steps on it.

“Can you understand it?”

After he finished writing, he pushed the paper in front of Lin Sheng. His handwriting was elegant and neat, standing out against the messy scribbles on the draft paper.

Lin Sheng stared at his handwriting for a moment, then glanced at him, his face clearly expressing the words “I don’t understand.”

Qu Baiyuan took off his earphones and placed them on the table, saying, “Let’s work on it together.”

“Huh?” Lin Sheng was startled, and Qu Baiyuan said again, “Let’s solve the problems together.”

Lin Sheng felt he must be doing it on purpose, but his expression seemed very serious, and for a moment he couldn’t find a reason to punch him.

Qu Baiyuan leaned in close while explaining the problem, and Lin Sheng could smell the clean shampoo scent from him, but he had concealed his own scent very well. Lin Sheng tried to discern it carefully but couldn’t smell the fragrance of muscat grapes mixed with high-mountain red tea anymore.

Their heads were too close together, and Lin Sheng felt like he could almost touch his face if he tilted his head slightly. He didn’t catch a single word of what Qu Baiyuan said.

“Do you understand now?”

Lin Sheng nodded, saying, “I understand.”

“Then explain it to me.”

Lin Sheng hesitated, “…”

“You haven’t learned any of this knowledge before, have you?”

If it were anyone else asking, Lin Sheng would have thought it was provocation, but Qu Baiyuan looked very serious and concerned.

The words of rebuttal circled in his mouth, but in the end, Lin Sheng said, “Yeah, I’ve been preparing for the national competition last semester, so I didn’t go to school much.”

Qu Baiyuan didn’t say anything, seeming to think for a moment, then asked, “Just last semester? You haven’t studied before then?”

For some reason, Lin Sheng felt a sudden aura of dominance emanating from him, making him feel small in his presence. He could only be honest, “I haven’t studied much since high school.”

“How many years until you graduate?”

“Next semester, I’ll be a sophomore.”

“Me too. High school courses are simple; you’ll catch up quickly.”

“Very simple…” Lin Sheng felt his intelligence had been insulted, “But I find it very difficult.”

As he spoke, a slight furrow appeared between his eyebrows, and his lips formed a pout, making Qu Baiyuan want to kiss him. But it was too hasty at the moment, not the best timing.

Qu Baiyuan had his own rhythm, he didn’t want to rush, didn’t want to appear too eager. He hoped Lin Sheng would be gradually drawn to him according to his planned pace, everything should be orderly.

His gaze lingered on Lin Sheng’s lips for a moment, then he turned his head slightly, creating some distance, “It wouldn’t be so difficult if you let me help you.”

Hearing him say such arrogant words seriously, Lin Sheng couldn’t help but quip, “Even our head teacher isn’t as confident as you.”

“That’s because I’m not your head teacher,” Qu Baiyuan said matter-of-factly. He pushed the laptop away and tapped the table, “Let’s start with math.”