YPSSS Chapter 21

Getting into a minor conflict with his classmates was unexpected for Xia Shiruan.

Since childhood, Xia Shiruan had always been quiet and reserved. Most of the time, he remained immersed in his own world, doing his own things. He rarely bothered others, let alone get into arguments.

During his undergraduate years, the learning system was relatively flexible, and there wasn’t a strong emphasis on collective activities. Besides attending classes, he could decline all social activities if they weren’t mandatory. Over those four years, Xia Shiruan read through more than half the books in the library, yet couldn’t even recognize all his classmates’ faces.

But graduate school was different.

Being in the same lab, seeing each other day in and day out, caused emotions to become magnified, and some situations became impossible to avoid.

Like how he had always known his classmates held certain opinions about him, but he had grown accustomed to pretending not to notice.

However, since that last gathering where they pressured him to drink, Xia Shiruan understood that some people and things couldn’t be avoided no matter what.

Fortunately, Liu Yutong suddenly came in, breaking the ice-cold atmosphere in the room and preventing the situation from getting worse.

Xia Shiruan didn’t stay any longer. He grabbed his bag and left.

After leaving that small space filled with scents he disliked, Xia Shiruan realized his face had turned red. But he wasn’t sure if it was from anger or from sheer frustration.

Walking under a row of phoenix trees, Xia Shiruan finally let out a long sigh.

The university campus covered a large area, and outside vehicles weren’t allowed inside. To get home, Xia Shiruan had to walk through the long campus streets before reaching the subway station across from the school.

He passed by a campus convenience store and went in to buy a drink.

He frequented this store and headed straight to the beverage section. He picked out his usual brand of soda water.

While choosing, a bright and cheerful voice called out from behind, “Ruan-ge!”

Still holding the soda water, Xia Shiruan turned around slowly and saw Chen Rongxin.

He was wearing casual clothes and waving at Xia Shiruan with a sunny smile, but there was someone else beside him.

Xie Ji looked up after Chen Rongxin called out, and his eyes met Xia Shiruan’s.

For a brief moment, Xie Ji seemed surprised, as if not expecting to run into Xia Shiruan here. He quickly composed himself and looked at him for two seconds. His gaze then dropped to the soda water in Xia Shiruan’s hand, and he raised his eyebrow slightly.

Xia Shiruan looked at him, and those unpleasant memories he had suppressed began floating up in his mind again, causing his grip on the bottle to tighten.

Xia Shiruan shook his head lightly, feeling frustrated.

He really didn’t expect that night’s memories would affect him so deeply, to the point where just thinking about it made him feel anxious.

Then, for reasons unknown even to himself, he put the soda water back.

Chen Rongxin let out a laugh and walked over, casually throwing an arm around his shoulder. “Ruan-ge, you’re shopping here too?”

Xia Shiruan replied, “Yeah, just getting a drink.” After saying this, deliberately avoiding Xie Ji’s gaze as he pretended to browse the shelves.

The three of them stood in front of the shelf, with Xia Shiruan in the middle, Chen Rongxin and Xie Ji on either side.

Picking out a drink took quite a while.

Chen Rongxin was a chatterbox, and his mouth never stopped talking.

He first asked Xia Shiruan why he hadn’t gone to eat at this hour, then talked about how he was bored on Saturday, so he came to play basketball with Xie Ji, but all the courts at the university were occupied, so they left.

When he talked, it was all “Ruan-ge” this and “Ruan-ge” that, which made Xia Shiruan quite uncomfortable.

Most people either called him by his full name or Xiao Xia, and those closer to him at most called him Xiao Ruan. Chen Rongxin’s way of saying “Ruan-ge” always reminded him of gang members and their subordinates.

And then it easily brought back memories of those years when they were close.

Back then, Chen Rongxin would follow behind him and Xie Ji with a runny nose, softly calling them “Ruan-ge” and “Xie-ge,” while Xie Ji always called him by his full name “Xia Shiruan.” Despite being half a head shorter, he refused to give an inch when it came to forms of address.

The weather was still hot, and since it was lunch time, many other students soon came in to buy drinks.

Many people were sweaty, and pheromones after intense exercise were always released more strongly than usual.

This might not have much impact on ordinary Alphas or Omegas who used blockers. For Xia Shiruan who used medical suppressants, it was just a slight difference in smell, not enough to make him uncomfortable.

Despite this, Xia Shiruan instinctively leaned to the right when he detected these subtle differences.

Like a small animal instinctively seeking the safest shelter.

His exposed warm skin touched Xie Ji’s forearm, and Xie Ji glanced at him.

Xia Shiruan’s jaw was tense, completely unaware of his own action as he stood close to Xie Ji, slightly raising his toes to reach for drinks on the top shelf.

The shelf was very high, and Xia Shiruan was struggling to reach.

Xie Ji stared at him for a few seconds, then reached out an arm, tapped the shelf, and asked, “Which one do you want?”

He didn’t mock him for being short.

Xia Shiruan pointed to a sugar-free one.

Xie Ji paused, but grabbed a different bottle and tossed it to him, saying, “The sugar-free version of this brand tastes bad.”

Xia Shiruan held the drink, looking down at the text on the bottle.

Normally, Xia Shiruan definitely wouldn’t accept this drink, since he neither liked sweet things nor people changing his decisions without asking.

But perhaps because he hadn’t tried this brand before, Xie Ji’s comment about the sugar-free version tasting bad had some merit; or maybe because he’d just gone through an unpleasant experience today, having something slightly sweet wouldn’t hurt.

It might also have been because the bottle said caramel latte, which reminded him very much of that sweet scent he liked so much.

Xia Shiruan pressed his lips together and said, “Thanks.”

Strangely, the gloomy mood that had plagued him all morning suddenly dispersed, as if a hand had swept away the dark clouds.

As if it was all because of a bottle of caramel latte.

Both Xie Ji and Chen Rongxin picked their drinks, and at checkout, Xia Shiruan offered, “Let me pay for all of them.”

As the oldest and their senior, it felt like the right thing to do. This was one of the few social niceties Xia Shiruan understood in his world.

Chen Rongxin didn’t hesistate at all and quickly said, “Thanks, Ruan-ge!”

Xie Ji smiled, his tone carrying that hint of mockery familiar to Xia Shiruan, and suddenly asked, “Is this another thank-you gift?”

Xia Shiruan froze, then replied, “No, just treating you both to drinks.”

Xie Ji said, “Oh,” and didn’t argue further. After Xia Shiruan paid, he twisted open his bottle and took a sip.

After drinking, he weighed the bottle in his hand and suddenly said something seemingly out of nowhere.

“Xia Shiruan, you really are interesting.”

You don’t care about anything, yet you instinctively do things that can easily be misunderstood. You get happy or angry for no apparent reason, because these actions might not have anything to do with the person in front of you.

Too many misunderstandings, and in the end, it’s you who ends up feeling awkward.

While Xia Shiruan didn’t know how to respond, Chen Rongxin ran out of the convenience store with several bags of snacks in his arms, shouting from a few meters away, “What did you just say was interesting, Ge?”

Xie Ji threw Chen Rongxin’s water bottle into his arms, “Nothing interesting.”

Chen Rongxin: “…”

He felt his Xie-ge was acting strange today. He seemed happy yet unhappy, basically like a different person after seeing Xia Shiruan.

Then he remembered what Xia Shiruan had said about “Xie Ji not looking for him anymore,” and his heart skipped a beat. He realized that the two of them might have some unresolved issues, and he had called out to Xia Shiruan without thinking. Now, the atmosphere between them might be a bit awkward.

But it was too late to do anything about it; it had already been over ten minutes.

The three of them walked toward the school gate, with the oblivious Chen Rongxin still leading the conversation. He talked about the upcoming short break and asked how they planned to spend it.

Xia Shiruan said, “Just staying home.”

Chen Rongxin shook his head at his holiday plans and enthusiastically invited Xia Shiruan to join their trip.

“We’re planning to go to Xia Mountain!” Chen Rongxin said, “That tourist spot in the neighboring city. We’ll rent cars both ways, three days and two nights. Want to come along?”

Xia Shiruan refused without hesitation, “No thanks, you guys go ahead.”

Even if Yi Junya invited him to go out, Xia Shiruan would still consider it carefully and check if he had other things to do, let alone going with Xie Ji and the others. They weren’t close enough for that kind of trip.

Xie Ji suddenly looked up, meeting Xia Shiruan’s gaze, and Xia Shiruan added four more words: “…hope you have fun.”

Chen Rongxin was disappointed but didn’t press further, quickly changing the topic.

The three walked together all the way to the subway station outside campus.

Although Xie Ji and Chen Rongxin weren’t taking the subway, Chen Rongxin insisted on walking Xia Shiruan to the gate.

Xia Shiruan’s personality wasn’t really suited to handling overly enthusiastic people. And, with Xie Ji standing there wearing that inscrutable expression and barely speaking, Xia Shiruan felt this wasn’t like him.

But once he started thinking about it, certain scenes kept playing in his mind uncontrollably.

Xia Shiruan decided it was better not to think about anything related to Xie Ji anymore.

He wondered if it was the pheromones at work. Every time they met, his heart wouldn’t settle down.

But today his suppressants hadn’t worn off at all.

Xia Shiruan dug out his subway card from his bag and said to Chen Rongxin, “Thanks for walking me here. I’m going now.”

Chen Rongxin waved. “Yeah, let’s meet up again sometime.”

Xia Shiruan: “Mm.”

He turned to look at Xie Ji, who was also looking at him, still holding the caramel latte he’d bought earlier.

Xie Ji had chosen the same drink as Xia Shiruan.

“See you tomorrow,” Xie Ji said.