Chapter 3

Just as the novel described, Shu Baiyu was still attending university.

When he returned to the dormitory that night, no one else was there. Shu Baiyu thought about the group of disreputable friends who usually surrounded the original character and decisively ignored them, climbing straight into bed to sleep.

However, he had returned too late. When he woke the next morning, he was still groggy but had to rush to an early class.

Quite a few people kept turning around to look at him along the way. At first, he paid them no attention. With his eyelids drooping, he entered the classroom, gave it only a cursory glance, and went directly to the corner of the last row.

The original character attended the same university and studied the same major as him: finance.

Shu Baiyu had not paid much attention to his studies even before transmigrating, and he certainly had no intention of doing so now.

As soon as he sat down, he pulled up his hood, folded his arms on the desk, and went back to sleep.

This was a large lecture class, so there were many students and plenty of noise. After he had been lying there for a while, the surrounding commotion only grew louder.

That would have been tolerable, but during what seemed to be a break midway through the lesson, the person sitting in front of him turned around and began talking without lowering his voice, making it impossible for Shu Baiyu to sleep.

“Brother Lu, whose little Omega did that pheromone scent on you last night belong to? Tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone else.”

Wei Li had twisted half his body around and was speaking to the silent man sitting in the innermost corner with his eyes lowered.

When Lu Xingzhou finally looked at him, Wei Li immediately raised one hand and swore to the heavens.

“Hey, I’m the most loyal one among all our friends. Trust me. I definitely won’t tell the others that you had a romantic encounter. Oh, and I won’t tell your fiancé either… Your fiancé deserves it, anyway. He has a top-tier Alpha like you waiting for him, yet he still runs off chasing someone else.”

Lu Xingzhou said nothing, but the disdain in his gaze was unmistakable.

“I’m just saying…”

Wei Li was already accustomed to being looked at that way. Instead of stopping, he leaned closer to continue whispering.

However, the person sleeping beside them suddenly raised his head.

Wei Li abruptly froze.

The Omega he had met the previous night lifted his eyelids and swept an indifferent gaze over him. Although he said nothing at first, the oppressive air surrounding him made his displeasure obvious.

“Huh…?” Wei Li’s brain short-circuited. “Aren’t you that promiscuous fiancé?”

Shu Baiyu’s expression did not change. He glanced at him and then lowered his eyes again.

“You’re noisy.”

Wei Li choked.

Lu Xingzhou, who was seated on the inside, turned his gaze toward them.

He had recognized Shu Baiyu from the beginning, but the other man had seemingly failed to notice him. Shu Baiyu had sat directly beside him, trapping him in the corner.

When Wei Li returned after going out to buy breakfast, he had no choice but to sit separately in the row ahead.

Lu Xingzhou had deliberately remained silent, wanting to see how long it would take Shu Baiyu to notice him.

Yet after speaking, Shu Baiyu simply lay back down, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Wei Li had just realized that he had been gossiping about someone directly in front of the person concerned. A thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Only after seeing that Shu Baiyu had apparently fallen asleep again did another thought belatedly occur to him.

“Wait, why is he here? That doesn’t make sense.”

Lu Xingzhou usually did not participate unauthorized copy in their gossip. He had only occasionally overheard a few rumors around the university and did not know the details.

Hearing this, he raised his head.

“What doesn’t make sense?”

Wei Li cautiously glanced at the person lying on the desk before quietly explaining, “…Qi Yan is also taking this class. Shouldn’t Shu Baiyu be clinging to him? Why did he come sit here today?”

Lu Xingzhou raised his eyes slightly and looked toward the front of the classroom.

Sure enough, he spotted an Alpha near the third row who happened to be looking back in their direction.

However, Qi Yan’s gaze only paused briefly on the hood-covered head beside Lu Xingzhou before he quickly turned away.

There was an unconscious irritation in his eyes.

Lu Xingzhou’s gaze shifted slightly.

“Qi Yan doesn’t like him?”

“Damn, you really don’t care about your own fiancé at all. Then again, he doesn’t treat you particularly well either. You two really are perfectly matched.”

Wei Li could not help exclaiming. After Lu Xingzhou glanced at him, he rubbed his head and continued, “It’s not exactly that Qi Yan never liked him… At first, Shu Baiyu concealed the fact that he was engaged. After pursuing Qi Yan for a while, the two of them got together.”

“But once the truth came out, Qi Yan immediately broke up with him. Even if they had some feelings for each other before, there definitely aren’t any left now. Shu Baiyu only has himself to blame for continuing to pester him after the breakup. He follows Qi Yan around constantly. No Alpha would be able to tolerate that.”

More importantly, Wei Li felt rather sorry for his good friend.

He was being cuckolded openly and without the slightest attempt at concealment.

After listening, Lu Xingzhou’s expression remained unchanged. He did not react at all.

Wei Li knew he probably did not care. He secretly leaned a little closer and offered him advice.

“Since neither of you likes the other, why don’t you just cancel the engage—”

Before he could finish, Lu Xingzhou cast him a calm glance.

His fingers loosened, and the pen in his hand rolled across the desk before falling to the floor with a sharp clatter.

Class had just resumed, and the classroom was extremely quiet, making the sound especially conspicuous.

Several students immediately turned to look at them. Even the lecturer coughed and shot them a warning glance.

Lu Xingzhou’s expression did not change.

“My hand slipped. I dropped it accidentally.”

Wei Li: “…”

He also watched helplessly as Shu Baiyu, who had supposedly been sleeping for so long, slowly raised his head.

Wei Li’s expression stiffened.

“You… You weren’t asleep?”

Shu Baiyu said nothing. His expression also showed no change, as though he had not been listening to Wei Li gossip about him at all.

Thoroughly embarrassed, Wei Li scratched his head and turned back around.

Lu Xingzhou withdrew his gaze from Wei Li and let it rest on Shu Baiyu’s face for a moment.

A red mark had been pressed into the side of Shu Baiyu’s face, standing out vividly against his pale skin.

Only after seeing him up close did Lu Xingzhou realize that Shu Baiyu was bailiantales.comextremely fair. It was not an ordinary healthy paleness, however, but something closer to a sickly pallor.

His bones were prominent.

Lu Xingzhou had briefly held him the previous night and had also seen him beat someone up, so he knew Shu Baiyu was not actually as frail as he appeared.

He had a relatively small frame, covered by a slender and delicate layer of flesh. Only when he fought could one see the elegant curves formed by the movement of his muscles.

They were thin and subtle, yet astonishingly beautiful.

Lu Xingzhou unconsciously rubbed his fingertips together.

Shu Baiyu had already recognized him.

However, the fact that Lu Xingzhou had not agreed with Wei Li or joined him in gossiping behind someone’s back slightly improved Shu Baiyu’s impression of him.

Shu Baiyu bent down, picked up the pen that had rolled beside his foot, and handed it back.

Lu Xingzhou quietly thanked him, his gaze sliding across Shu Baiyu’s face.

For the remainder of the class, no further noise came from beside Shu Baiyu.

Before returning to the university the previous night, Shu Baiyu had bought inhibitors from a roadside convenience store.

First, he had never used such a thing before.

Second, after Lu Xingzhou helped him in the restroom stall, he had almost completely recovered. Only a few lingering effects remained—his body temperature was slightly elevated, and he felt somewhat sleepy.

Therefore, he had not used the inhibitors.

However, to avoid future trouble, he had followed the cashier’s recommendation and purchased many other items as well.

He could not distinguish [bailiantales.com]their actual functions at all, though, so he had bought an entire pile and was still studying them.

Since he was bored and had no intention of seriously attending class, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two unopened boxes.

Another box that he had casually stuffed into his pocket that morning fell out.

When Shu Baiyu saw Lu Xingzhou bend down to pick it up, he paid little attention and concentrated on the two boxes before him.

According to their labels, one contained suppression patches, while the other contained pheromone-blocking patches.

He shook the boxes, causing their contents to rattle.

Just as he used his fingernail to pry open one of the packages and examine it, Lu Xingzhou finally held out the item he had picked up.

“Thanks.”

Without raising his head, Shu Baiyu took it and placed it on the desk.

Lu Xingzhou’s gaze followed his movement and froze for a moment. He then turned toward Shu Baiyu, who was carefully opening the packages.

After pursing his lips, he ultimately spoke, though his tone was complicated.

“…You’re going to open all of those right now?”

Shu Baiyu nodded and casually pulled out a small white square resembling a medicinal patch.

As he began opening the next package, he said, “Help me open this one too.”

Lu Xingzhou remained frozen in place, staring at him for a long moment as though he wanted to say something but could not.

Shu Baiyu sensed his gaze but did not react.

“Forget it if you don’t want to.”

“…”

Lu Xingzhou glanced at the box sitting openly on the desk.

After a brief silence, he picked it up and opened it as instructed.

Shu Baiyu lifted the suppression patch to his nose and sniffed it. It did not have any strange odor, and from its texture, it did not seem like an old-fashioned medicinal plaster either.

Just as he was about to tear it open and touch it directly, a small stack of condoms was suddenly held out in front of him.

He followed the hand upward and saw Lu Xingzhou’s face.

The face that normally showed no interest in anything now had its lips pressed into a slightly tense line. His narrow eyes tilted faintly upward as he silently watched Shu Baiyu.

“For you.”

Only then did Shu Baiyu shift his attention to the package Lu Xingzhou had opened.

Printed blatantly across the front were the words:

CONDOMS

Shu Baiyu’s temple twitched.

“Oh.”

He did not take them.

“You can have them.”

The hand before him paused, then withdrew.

Shu Baiyu continued what he was doing.

He stared at the long instructions for quite a while but still seemed unable to understand precisely what the two types of patches were for or how they differed.

Eventually, his patience ran out. He stuffed the instructions back inside and turned his gaze toward Lu Xingzhou, who had already faced forward again and resumed listening to the lecture.

Lu Xingzhou had put the box away.

He did not know what the Jian family’s youngest son was planning. After quietly redirecting his attention to the class for a while, two gland patches suddenly appeared on his thigh.

Only a few strands of Shu Baiyu’s long bangs protruded from beneath his hood. With his eyes lowered toward Lu Xingzhou’s leg, he asked:

“Which one should I use?”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

His Adam’s apple moved as his gaze returned to the Omega who clearly had no sense of how suggestive his actions were.

Suppression patches and pheromone-blocking patches were considered private items for an Omega.

Shu Baiyu’s behavior was practically equivalent to openly seducing him.

Yet when Lu Xingzhou’s gaze landed on Shu Baiyu’s face, he discovered that the other man genuinely appeared confused.

When he did not receive an immediate answer, Shu Baiyu urged him again.

“Which one?”

Lu Xingzhou lowered his arm.

His fingertips hovered between the two patches for several seconds before selecting the pink suppression patch.

His Adam’s apple rolled once more.

“…This one.”