PA chapter 8

Qu Baiyuan was dressed in all black sportswear, with a duckbill cap covering half of his face, but Lin Sheng still recognized him at a glance.

He stopped at the edge of the children’s training area and waved to Lin Sheng. Lin Sheng blinked in surprise, and heard Qu Baiyuan say, “I’m waiting for you here.”

Lin Sheng glanced at his sports watch. There were still 20 minutes left in the class. He nodded at Qu Baiyuan and resumed teaching. He could feel Qu Baiyuan watching him, and this overly obvious gaze made it hard for him to focus on the class. His thoughts were scattered, and he momentarily forgot where he had left off.

“Coach!” a crisp voice interrupted his distracted thoughts. A little boy pointed at Qu Baiyuan and asked loudly, “Is that your boyfriend?”

Lin Sheng suddenly felt like a cat with its tail stepped on, his fur standing on end as he snapped, “No! Focus! Stop looking around!”

The few little rascals weren’t afraid of him at all and giggled along.

Lin Sheng dared not look at Qu Baiyuan, and discreetly raised the focus pads higher, shouting, “One more time! Keep your legs straight!”

The children’s kicks landed on the focus pads with less force, making light thudding sounds. Lin Sheng dealt with it effortlessly, but his mind wandered.

On the day he returned from the mountain, he felt so miserable that he wanted to cry. The image of him begging Qu Baiyuan for pheromones kept replaying in his mind, wishing he could go back and give that person whose brain was controlled by his heat cycle a good beating.

He almost fled, not daring to stay by Qu Baiyuan’s side for another second. Their lives had no intersection to speak of, at most just tenant and part-time worker. After returning home separately, they were strangers, perhaps never to meet again.

On the first night, he had many dreams again. He dreamed of his mother, of the cold morgue and graveyard, of the bustling scene of the fighting competition.

Finally, all the scenes turned into the bright room of Yan residence inn, illuminated by sunlight. He asked Qu Baiyuan if he could give him some pheromones, and this time Qu Baiyuan didn’t refuse him.

When he woke up, he had to take another suppressant, so he got up and despairingly went to the store to buy some Lipton red tea. The store had three brands, and Lin Sheng asked the salesperson to give him a taste of each. He chose the one that was closest to Qu Baiyuan.

He had just started to feel a little better when the person he thought he would never see again showed up.

Yan Leyan told him that Bai Ji asked for the gym’s address, and for a moment, he actually felt a bit hopeful, despising himself for being so desperate. And when Qu Baiyuan actually appeared in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel excited.

Then he remembered that his facial injury hadn’t healed yet, and he felt a bit amused. It seemed that every time they met, he was in a sorry state.

Twenty minutes wasn’t a very long time after all. The timer beeped automatically, and the children automatically lined up, sitting on the ground to start stretching.

Usually, Lin Sheng would chant slogans and do the stretches with them, but today he didn’t want to do such childish things in front of Qu Baiyuan, so he just watched.

They disbanded after they finished.

After the class ended, the little boy who asked Lin Sheng if Qu Baiyuan was his boyfriend ran over again and waved to Lin Sheng, “Coach! Coach!”

Lin Sheng recognized this child. His name was Su Wenwen, six years old, especially naughty. But he was very cute and sweet-mouthed, quite likable.

“What’s up?” Lin Sheng squatted down and met his gaze.

Su Wenwen whispered in his ear, “Your boyfriend was just secretly taking pictures of you.”

Lin Sheng’s breath hitched for a moment, and he lowered his voice, “He’s not my boyfriend. Don’t talk nonsense, or you’ll end up with a long nose in the future.”

Su Wenwen made a face at him, “Blah blah blah, you’re the one with the long nose!”

Lin Sheng frowned and shooed him away, “Hurry up and change your clothes and go home for dinner!”

Qu Baiyuan stood on the street corner, holding his phone in one hand and putting the other in his pocket, still watching him.

Lin Sheng walked through the group of children running around and hadn’t spoken yet when Qu Baiyuan lightly touched his left cheek with his hand. “What happened here?”

Lin Sheng pursed his lips. “My grandfather did it.”

Qu Baiyuan frowned. “He hit you?”

“No,” Lin Sheng said, “just normal combat training.”

Qu Baiyuan was silent for a moment. “Does normal combat training get this intense?”

“Not really,” Lin Sheng turned his face away a bit nervously. “I was distracted during the sparring.”

“Oh…” Qu Baiyuan lowered his voice, speaking slowly with a hint of coaxing, “then why were you distracted?”

Lin Sheng didn’t answer, just asked him, “Did you need something from me?”

Qu Baiyuan said, “I just happened to be passing by.”

Lin Sheng looked at the old street outside, with old houses on both sides, dating back decades. Besides their boxing gym, there were only convenience stores and small restaurants along the street. He wondered what Qu Baiyuan was passing by for.

“Have you eaten?” Qu Baiyuan looked at him with what seemed like deep affection. Lin Sheng shook his head, and Qu Baiyuan continued, “Neither have I. Is there anything good to eat around here? Let me treat you.”

“No,” Lin Sheng lowered his eyes, his eyelashes hiding his emotions. He said, “Let me treat you. I’ll go change my clothes.”

Qu Baiyuan waited at the door for a while, and Lin Sheng came out wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans. He seemed to have just taken a shower, with a hint of shower gel scent on him, and a slightly sweet milky smell when you sniffed closely.

As the sky darkened, the neon lights on the street shone on his face. Despite his injured face, there was a kind of decadent beauty about him, and Qu Baiyuan felt that he was even more beautiful now than when they first met.

The two of them arrived at a small noodle shop not far from the boxing gym. Qu Baiyuan’s aura didn’t quite fit in here, and people at nearby tables turned to look at him. But he remained calm, seemingly accustomed to being stared at.

Lin Sheng went to the cashier to order one signature noodle for each of them. As soon as they sat down, a strong hand patted him on the shoulder from behind, calling him, “Lin Sheng!”

The person who came was a tall Alpha, with a buzz cut and wheat-colored skin. Small eyes, high nose bridge, looked a bit fierce. There was a dragon-and-phoenix tattoo on the right side of his neck.

Lin Sheng turned to see the person, his eyes curved. “Chu ge, come sit with us.”

Chu Liang was Qin Tai’s martial arts student, roughly the same generation as Lin Sheng, but much older. He was not as decent as his master.

Lin Sheng didn’t want to introduce Qu Baiyuan to him, so he said vaguely, “He’s a friend I just made.”

Chu Liang made a colorful joke, “Are you young people categorizing friends so finely nowadays?”

Although Lin Sheng was used to his frankness, he felt extremely embarrassed at the moment. He glanced at Qu Baiyuan and reluctantly said to Chu Liang, “You’ve told this joke many times, and it’s not funny at all.”

Qu Baiyuan’s eyes watched as Chu Liang put his hand on Lin Sheng’s shoulder. He was beginning to dislike this vulgar Alpha.

Lin Sheng, however, seemed very accustomed to it and didn’t push his hand away. He leaned close to him and said, “Uncle Tai said you’re going to the big forest tomorrow night for a bounty match?”

“Yeah, I’ll be on stage at 8:20, will you come watch?”

Lin Sheng smiled at him again and said, “Sure.”

Qu Baiyuan’s mood became extremely restless, and even Lin Sheng’s smile to others seemed glaring to him. He really wanted to stand up immediately and take Lin Sheng away.

At this time, the owner of the noodle restaurant, Hong Jie, personally served them their noodles. Her noodle restaurant had been on this street for decades, and she had watched Lin Sheng grow up.

Hong Jie greeted them with a smile. “Today, Xiao Lin brought such a handsome friend.”

Chu Liang immediately interjected, “Hong Jie, it’s not the first day you’ve known me. You just noticed I’m handsome today?”

Ignoring him, Hong Jie glanced at Qu Baiyuan a few more times and said, “Enjoy your meal.”

The large pieces of braised beef on top of the noodles emitted a tempting aroma. She pushed the bowl with obviously extra meat towards Qu Baiyuan and Lin Sheng and placed the other bowl with the regular portion in front of Chu Liang.

Chu Liang immediately protested, “Boss, are you even doing business properly?”

He had flirted with Hong Jie before, and she had always held a grudge, so she rolled her eyes at him and walked away.

Lin Sheng exchanged his bowl of noodles with Chu Liang’s, saying, “Alright, stop fussing, there are other customers here.”

Qu Baiyuan had been silent all this time. Now he pushed his bowl towards Lin Sheng and exchanged it with the one that had less ingredients in front of him.

Chu Liang immediately gave Lin Sheng a knowing look, raising his eyebrows ambiguously. Lin Sheng shook his head at him, indicating that it wasn’t what he thought. Chu Liang smirked, picked up a pair of chopsticks from the holder, and started eating on his own.

Lin Sheng handed the chopsticks to Qu Baiyuan. “Hong Jie’s cooking is very good, you should try.”

Chu Liang kept stealing glances at the two people next to him while eating, showing no self-awareness of being a third wheel, and even seemed to have more presence than anyone else.

Lin Sheng, on the other hand, felt relieved. Luckily, with Chu Liang around, he didn’t feel as awkward facing Qu Baiyuan.

After dinner, Chu Liang left first. Lin Sheng asked Qu Baiyuan where he was going, and Qu Baiyuan said he was going to drive home. So the two of them walked side by side along the street.

The streetlights cast their shadows, stretching and shrinking. Lin Sheng absentmindedly stared at the entangled shadows on the ground, drafting many thoughts in his mind but not saying a word.

He couldn’t figure out what Qu Baiyuan was thinking, why he had rejected him at that time, and now he came looking for him again.

Did he figure out that I like him? The sudden thought made Lin Sheng’s heart suddenly tense.

It was already past eight o’clock in the evening, and there were still many half-grown children running around on the street. A child suddenly rushed out of the shop on the street, almost bumping into Lin Sheng, but Qu Baiyuan pulled him back.

Lin Sheng whispered a thank you, but Qu Baiyuan’s hand on his arm didn’t let go. Instead, it slowly slid down to his palm and gently held it.

Lin Sheng glanced at him, but he didn’t say anything. Qu Baiyuan still looked nonchalant, walking forward without looking sideways.

So he let him hold his hand until they reached where he parked his car.

Qu Baiyuan let go of his hand and said, “Well, I’ll be going.”

“Yeah.” Lin Sheng watched him open the car door and waved at him, but he didn’t say what he wanted to say in the end.