YPSSS Chapter 18

It took Xie Ji three minutes to reply, and his response was incredibly concise.

[Xie Ji: ?]

Xia Shiruan, who had been staring at the chat window, quickly sent his prepared message as soon as he saw the question mark.

[Xia Shiruan: These are all my notes from undergraduate public courses. You might need them. Hope you like them.]

Xie Ji sent an ellipsis, followed by: “A thank-you gift? For what?”

Xia Shiruan replied: “For taking me home yesterday, and for taking me to the hospital last time.”

The other end went quiet.

Xia Shiruan let out a relieved sigh, but he felt a bit disappointed. Maybe he was unsatisfied with his first gift recipient’s lukewarm response.

It was over 60 megabytes of materials, covering all public courses from freshman to senior year.

Some were notes Xia Shiruan had written in his notebook, others were high-resolution photos of blackboard writing. There were also materials from lectures given by famous scholars at the Science University. Everything was clear and complete – a unique collection that only Xia Shiruan could have.

The other end didn’t reply, and Xia Shiruan didn’t wait anymore. He closed the chat window and prepared to focus on his own work.

He opened his feasibility study document and started organizing his thoughts.

After thinking for a while, just as he’d worked out the next subheading, he noticed the icon in the bottom right corner of his computer screen flashing again.

[Xie Ji: Nothing else?]

Reading this message, Xia Shiruan was taken aback.

What else?

Since Xie Ji’s return, they’d only met three times. Excluding the first time, he’d helped during the other two occasions. Thanking him for these two things seemed perfectly reasonable to Xia Shiruan.

But if he meant the other night…

His mind had been a bit hazy that night, and although he felt he hadn’t blacked out and remembered everything clearly, there was still a possibility he’d done something else.

Xia Shiruan remembered his words “let me lick it,” and his fingers curled involuntarily around the mouse.

He exhaled, pushing away the sweet-flavored scene floating around in his mind.

Xia Shiruan calmed himself down and typed: If I did anything else that night that bothered you, I apologize.

The other end didn’t reply again.

—

Second floor of C City International Tennis Center.

Rock music played in the court while several people were having an intense game nearby.

Another ball flew out of bounds. Chen Rongxin lifted the hem of his T-shirt to wipe his sweat and turned around to curse, “Can you turn off the damn speaker? We’re playing tennis here, why are you playing music? I can’t even hear the ball.”

Shu Jian laughed but didn’t turn it off. He just switched to another song. “Don’t make excuses just because you’re playing badly. Come on, have some water.”

They had been playing for quite a while and were all sweating. Hearing this, everyone put down their rackets and went to sit on the long bench.

Shu Jian passed water bottles to everyone.

Chen Rongxin twisted open the cap and drank about half, instantly feeling refreshed. He wiped his mouth and started loudly discussing where to eat dinner.

After suggesting several places, they realized Xie Ji hadn’t said a word.

Chen Rongxin glanced at him. “Ge, what are you doing?”

Xie Ji wore black sportswear, his top clinging to his back with sweat, outlining his elegant back muscles. He still held his tennis racket under his left arm, tilting his head back to drink water while keeping his eyes lowered on his phone.

“Ge, I’m talking to you,” Chen Rongxin called out again.

Xie Ji made a sound of acknowledgment but kept his eyes on his phone, saying casually, “You guys decide, I’m fine with anything.”

Nothing irritated Chen Rongxin more than hearing “fine with anything.” It just rubbed him the wrong way.

While grumbling “you can’t just say ‘anything’, you have to pick one,” he pushed himself up from the ground and walked over to Xie Ji’s side, trying to peek at his phone screen.

He barely caught a glimpse of what looked like someone’s message before Xie Ji quickly locked his screen and pocketed the phone. A faint smirk still played on his lips as he turned his head. “What are you looking at?”

Having missed his chance, Chen Rongxin pouted. “I just wanted to see what’s got you so distracted!”

“Oh right, Xie-ge,” Shu Jian asked, “Didn’t you go to that new restaurant near the university last week? How was it? Should we eat there? It’s not far anyway.”

“Nothing special,” Xie Ji wiped his sweat with the towel hanging on the chair back and said, “Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Alright then.”

Chen Rongxin seized the opportunity to complain, “Weren’t you just saying anywhere was fine? Should’ve known better than to trust you.”

When they left, they drew quite a few glances from other players. Some had been watching their game from the sidelines. Many of them were Omegas.

Chen Rongxin ran a hand through his hair, bragging, “Honestly, it’s only times like these that make me realize there are perks to being friends with Xie-ge.”

Xie Ji didn’t even glance their way, just kept walking with his jacket slung over his shoulder. He let out a sneer but didn’t bother responding.

Shu Jian found it amusing and said, “Shouldn’t you be used to this feeling? Isn’t it the same when you go out with your brother?”

As soon as his brother was mentioned, Chen Rongxin bristled like an angry cat, veins popping on his forehead, instantly getting worked up.

At the restaurant, Chen Rongxin was still making a fuss, trying to force Shu Jian to admit he was more handsome than his brother.

Being friends for so many years, Shu Jian didn’t have the heart to hurt his pride and avoided the topic, so he changed the subject instead. “Speaking of which, it reminds me of that short video Xiao Xin took of Xie-ge. It’s still everywhere. I met an Omega from an arts school and her friends recently, and they even had it on their phones. They asked if I knew the guy—like I’d dare say I know him in person!”

He clicked his tongue twice and added, “Xiao Xin used to say every Omega had a copy. I thought he was exaggerating, but now I’m not so sure.”

Chen Rongxin’s attention was successfully diverted, and he laughed along.

This video had become an old joke between the brothers. Usually when it came up, they’d tease about it, calling him things like “popular idol” or “king of avi clips,” and these days Xie Ji wouldn’t get genuinely angry anymore.

But when he first learned he’d become the dream of millions of Omegas in this way, Xie Ji wasn’t even eighteen. His temper was even worse than now, and while attending boarding school in the capital, he immediately made a video call to Chen Rongxin and yelled at him for five straight minutes.

But yelling couldn’t change anything. Fortunately, although Xie Ji was nearly half-naked in the video, his face wasn’t shown. Eventually, Xie Ji stopped caring and let them joke about it.

Today, however, their fooling around brought a different scene to Xie Ji’s mind.

He remembered the dark back seat of the car, the kitten-like whimpers, and the scent of an Omega.

After a pause, Xie Ji asked Chen Rongxin, “That video.”

Chen Rongxin: “What about it?”

“Do you still have it?”

Seeing he wasn’t joking, Chen Rongxin’s eyes slowly widened, saying cautiously, “What are you planning? Didn’t you say we were past this? Why bring it up again? I’m telling you, I won’t do anything if you try to use this against me! The video’s out there, we can’t take it back now!”

Xie Ji looked at him for a moment, suddenly reached out to pat his face, and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you panicking? I’m not going to do anything to you.”

Chen Rongxin clearly didn’t believe him. “Don’t tell me you’re going to praise me for doing a good job?”

Xie Ji couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, yes.”

Chen Rongxin: “…”

Even after finishing dinner, Chen Rongxin was still questioning reality.

When leaving, he and Shu Jian whispered behind Xie Ji, just loud enough for him to hear.

“I feel like Xie-ge’s in a really good mood today.”

Xie Ji clicked his tongue and stopped walking. “What’s that supposed to mean? Can’t I be in a good mood?”

Chen Rongxin said, “Well, would you mind sharing what’s got you so happy?”

Xie Ji glanced at him and said, “I received a gift, of course I’m happy.”