A Pen and a Tab

Zhao Shu’s sudden intervention left Zhang Gengxin completely stunned.

For a moment, he even forgot there was still a fight to be had, craning his neck to watch Zhao Shu drag away the black-haired young man who had originally been about to get beaten up.

It took him quite a while to come back to his senses and turn to look at the situation downstairs.

Li Ying casually righted a barstool and sat on it.

She exhaled smoke in languid streams, her expression cold and severe as she frowned at Lan Yin crying.

After watching for several minutes, she impatiently asked whether he was done crying, because the show was about to start.

Lan Yin rubbed his eyes and said he wasn’t.

Li Ying couldn’t be bothered with him.

As if long accustomed to such scenes, she tossed out, “Then cry your fill,” before turning to discuss adjustments to the setlist with the band’s bassist—since the drummer was out of commission, they would move forward a few songs that could barely survive without percussion.

Only after settling Lan Yin did Zhang Gengxin head upstairs.

Halfway up, he heard Zhao Shu’s cold voice drift down—

“What are you doing here? Is this the kind of place you should be?”

The second floor fell into silence, likely because the person being questioned found the sheer audacity of the question utterly speechless.

After a long pause, a mild, unhurried voice finally sounded.

“Between the two of us, isn’t it you who has a monthly exam tomorrow? Zhao Shu, you scored twenty in geography last time.”

Zhang Gengxin: “?”

Zhang Gengxin: “…”

“If you were first in the grade instead of Pei Qingyu… do you have some issue with me, making me lose face in the faculty office?”

This time, the second floor descended into absolute dead silence.

…

Zhao Shu’s geography really was terrible.

He couldn’t tell north from south beyond the Mingyuan River.

If he were a private jet captain, he’d probably trust autopilot to handle direction.

As for the effects of a cold front crossing a region, the weather forecast would broadcast it accurately anyway.

He displayed extreme confidence in his ignorance and firm faith in modern technology.

So when questioned in class, he could still flash his geography teacher a mocking smile and say, “Why would I have an issue with you? Don’t flatter yourself.”

It was, in fact, the honest truth.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have only recognized his “fiancé” face-to-face the day after receiving the “fiancé” photo—realizing that his so-called fiancé was his geography teacher.

Which fully proved that for a very long time, Young Master Zhao hadn’t so much as lifted his head during geography class.

Looking at the extremely confident, foolish face before him, Wu Qie had nothing to say.

At that moment, Zhang Gengxin came upstairs and asked what exactly was going on.

Wu Qie could hear the Alpha’s voice turning ominous, restless.

He had no doubt that the only reason he was still standing there unpunched was entirely because Zhang Gengxin was showing Zhao Shu face.

The second Zhao Shu said something like “We have no relationship at all,” Zhang Gengxin’s fist would land squarely on his face.

So Wu Qie immediately turned to look at Zhao Shu.

He could fight.

But there were many Alphas on the second floor.

They seemed to move in groups, clearly together.

Did they expect him, a lone Beta, to take on a crowd of Alphas by himself?

Even if you handed the pen to Andersen, he might not be able to write a happy ending for that.

Feeling the black-haired young man’s gaze land on his face, Zhao Shu suddenly felt his blood run smoothly.

Perhaps because he was a little nervous, those dark eyes gleamed even in the dim light.

Being watched like that, something in Zhao Shu straightened.

He gave a derisive laugh and sat back on the sofa, lazily propping his long legs on the coffee table.

“He’s a teacher at our school.”

Wu Qie blinked.

“What?” Zhang Gengxin sounded surprised.

“Lan Yin said he was just a geography teacher at some ordinary college… what, your school?”

Zhao Shu shrugged carelessly, as if being from their school made no difference.

“Yeah, I guess. It was dark just now. Didn’t see clearly it was him.”

As he spoke offhandedly, he glanced at Wu Qie.

When the black-haired Beta stayed silent, he seemed even more dazed.
Quiet.

Without pheromones, without scent.

Almost no presence at all.

Slow.

Easy to bully.

What was someone like that doing in a nightclub instead of preparing lesson plans at home?

Delivering himself up?

To that Alpha who reeked of old age just now?

With his habit of never letting questions linger overnight, Zhao Shu couldn’t resist asking again why Wu Qie had come to “Xishen.”

This time, he clearly wouldn’t let it go without an answer.

As his words fell, the black-haired young man who had been standing absentmindedly by the railing turned his head.

As though waking from a daze, he lifted his gaze and looked straight toward the corner.

Zhao Shu froze for a moment and followed his line of sight—

In the corner sat only one person, head lowered the entire time, playing a game on his phone without once looking up: Pei Qingyu.

But before Zhao Shu could savor any implication, Wu Qie’s gaze shifted away, as if it had merely been a casual glance.

“I just moved to Jiangcheng not long ago. I don’t know many people. Sister Li Ying has always taken good care of me.

Even though Lan Yin and I broke up, we’re still friends… she asked me to come tonight, and I couldn’t refuse.”

The black-haired young man’s voice returned to its usual warmth.

“If I’d known it would cause such chaos, I wouldn’t have come. Sorry, Young Master Zhang.”

He turned to Zhang Gengxin as he said the last few words.

In the dim light of the second floor, the figure by the railing lowered his brows gently, looking almost sincerely remorseful.

Zhang Gengxin, confronted with such a swift and well-mannered apology, found it hard to press further.

And since the man was Zhao Shu’s teacher, he couldn’t exactly pin him down and settle things by force.

After a vague grumble, Young Master Zhang said unwillingly, “Forget it.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the black-haired Beta smiled.
The corners of his lips curved upward.

He nodded lightly.

“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll cover drinks for the whole venue tonight.”

As he spoke, the band downstairs struck the first prelude of their opening song.

No one said anything.

Wu Qie went downstairs on his own.

…

A few minutes later, one of the lackeys came up to report that Wu Qie had truly left, hailing a taxi the moment he stepped outside.

Not long after, the bar’s beverage team announced that all customers tonight would receive a complimentary drink package.

The first floor erupted in cheers.

The brief chaos was forgotten, and the atmosphere quickly returned to its original liveliness.

The drink packages were delivered.

Not the most expensive, but far from the cheapest.

The venue was nearly full, and Zhang Gengxin’s place was no low-end establishment.

The total bill would be no small sum.

Young Master Zhang was dumbfounded.

He leaned toward Zhao Shu and asked what background that teacher had.

Did their school run charity programs, paying teachers that well?

“The Wu family of Bincheng.”

From the corner, Pei Qingyu, still focused on his game, suddenly spoke.

“They dominated tobacco and jade in Bincheng in the past. No idea how much cash flow they’re holding. Came to Jiangcheng just before the New Year.”

Zhao Shu and Zhang Gengxin both turned their heads.

Zhang Gengxin looked devastated.

“Then that Patek Philippe he gave Lan Yin was real?!”

Zhao Shu: “He gave your little boyfriend a Patek Philippe?”

Zhang Gengxin: “I swore it was fake! Said no public school teacher could afford that watch, I’d report him a hundred times if he could… ahhh!”

Zhao Shu: “…”

At that moment, the staff carried up the drink packages to the second floor as well.

Zhang Gengxin’s eyebrows nearly flew into his hairline when he realized their section was included too.

Drinks kept arriving.

The last staff member set down a snack tray.

Pei Qingyu, previously indifferent to the complimentary drinks, unexpectedly noticed a small plate of preserved plums on the tray.

He paused.

Put down his phone.

Picked one up and dropped it into his freshly opened sparkling water.

“Where’d these plums come from?” Zhao Shu kicked Zhang Gengxin.

“Your place serves kid snacks now?”

They did not.

Amid Zhang Gengxin’s denial, Zhao Shu arched a brow and looked suspiciously at Pei Qingyu.

The latter didn’t spare him even a sidelong glance.

After a while, Zhao Shu stood and leaned over the railing to look downstairs.

Every table had a plate of preserved plums.

Only then did he slowly draw back.

“Pei Qingyu.” His eyes narrowed slightly.

“You knew Wu Qie before?”

Finishing the plum-infused lemon soda in one gulp, Pei Qingyu sounded satisfied but replied coolly, “He teaches our class too.”

“Not close?”

“Should we be?”

“Then how did he know you’re first in the grade?”

Pei Qingyu looked over the edge of his phone and gave Zhao Shu a speechless look, clearly unwilling to waste even a punctuation mark on him.

He dropped another plum into fresh sparkling water and started a new round of his game.

…

Wu Qie hadn’t been lying.

The next day truly was the school’s monthly exam.

Early in the morning, he arrived to check invigilation assignments.

As expected, he had been assigned to supervise Class F, the exam hall of the bottom-ranked students—young masters and heiresses gathered together.

The invigilator could even play on their phone without consequence.

Even if their phones were confiscated and they cheated freely as a group, an entire classroom collaborating on one paper might still not pass.

Wu Qie traded a breakfast for the English teacher assigned to Class A.

Upon hearing of such a fortunate swap, the other teacher agreed without hesitation.

When asked why he suddenly wanted to change halls, the black-haired young man only smiled subtly.

The English teacher, a middle-aged Beta in his fifties, saw that shy smile and immediately thought of yesterday’s rumor about Teacher Wu and Young Master Zhao causing chaos in the classroom.

Apparently it had even alerted someone from the Zhao family.

Instantly understanding, he sighed and patted Wu Qie’s shoulder.
“You can dodge the first day, but not the fifteenth, Teacher Wu.”

Teacher Wu lowered his eyes and smiled softly.
“Mm.”

He picked up the sealed exam papers and headed for Class A.

Each exam hall had two invigilators.

When Wu Qie arrived, the other teacher was already there.

The corridor was noisy, but Class A was silent.

The top thirty students from the last exam were all seated and ready.

Wu Qie saw Pei Qingyu at once.

The boy sat toward the back, wearing a dark tracksuit, sleeves rolled to his elbows.

He had earphones in, one hand propping up his chin as he stared out the window at the trees.

A girl behind him tapped him softly with a question she couldn’t solve.

He refocused and turned around.

His elbow knocked his pen off the desk.

The pen fell to the floor.

Pei Qingyu bent to pick it up.

At the same time, Wu Qie withdrew his gaze.

Standing at the podium, he chatted casually with the other teacher, who was curious about yesterday’s commotion in Class F and asked whether the Lin family’s heir had really presented as an Omega.

“Not sure.”

“If he did, that would be interesting. Most of that generation’s heirs are Alphas. They’d be fighting over him.”

“I wouldn’t know. It’s the students’ business.”

He answered the gossip with gentle nonsense until the bell rang.

Wu Qie handed over the sealed papers to his colleague.

The other teacher, forced to stop gossiping, began distributing the exam papers row by row.

While that teacher explained the exam rules, Wu Qie walked past each desk, checking student IDs against the names on the papers.

He moved without a sound.

As a Beta without pheromones, he carried no scent.

For students already writing, his quiet verification disturbed no one.

After writing his name, Pei Qingyu happened to glance up and saw the black-haired man in the front rows lowering his eyes carefully to check information.

“…”

Even such perfunctory tasks, he did seriously.

Without the slightest impatience.

Pei Qingyu stared at him.

Not even subtly—his gaze carried sharp scrutiny.

Had it been directed at an Alpha or Omega, they might have felt pressured into looking back in alarm.

But the black-haired Beta seemed unaware.

In the sunlight streaming through the window, his long lashes trembled slightly.

He raised his eyes slowly, set down the verified ID, and moved to the next desk.

Pei Qingyu withdrew his gaze.

The first subject was Applied Language.

After finishing the multiple-choice section, Pei Qingyu frowned lightly during the first written response.

His pen, having fallen earlier, was now writing unevenly.

He quickly finished two questions, but the ink broke intermittently, making his handwriting look uneven.

He set the pen down and was about to request a replacement.

Suddenly, the light before him was blocked.

A pen of the same model was placed gently on his desk.

Pei Qingyu looked up expressionlessly at the person who had appeared beside him without a sound.

The other man merely smiled at him silently.

He offered no explanation for how he had noticed everything and descended like this.

After placing the pen down, he stepped away.

Pei Qingyu picked up the pen.

The barrel still seemed to hold the warmth of another’s fingertips.

It wasn’t brand new.

There were signs it had been used.

He completed the entire Applied Language exam with that pen.

After the exam, he didn’t get a chance to return it.

By the time he packed up and stood, Teacher Wu was already gone.

Pei Qingyu kept the pen for now, intending to return it next time.

As he left the classroom, he thought about when he should have returned it.

He should have done so when submitting the paper.

But he forgot.

And when Teacher Wu came to collect papers, he hadn’t reminded him either.

After collecting the papers, all the black-haired Beta did was lift his eyes—

And smile at him.