YPSSS Chapter 24

Xie Ji forced Xia Shiruan to sit by the window, while he took Xia Shiruan’s original seat.

He sprawled his long legs wide open, as if wanting to take up space for two people. With his hands in his pockets and a gloomy face, he glanced around on both sides before tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

Even with his eyes closed, his eyebrows remained furrowed.

Shi Yi was probably annoyed by his look too. She turned to give him a side-eye and sneered, “How childish can you be?”

Without opening his eyes, Xie Ji coldly spat out two words, “Not as shameless as you.”

Shi Yi choked. She immediately turned away and couldn’t be bothered with him anymore.

Xia Shiruan hugged his backpack to his chest, sitting close to the window, wide awake and quiet as a mouse throughout.

After realizing that Shi Yi had been flirting with him earlier, besides a bit of surprise, Xia Shiruan felt more uncomfortable than anything else.

Due to his personality, Xia Shiruan rarely made close friends.

Except for Yi Junya, he seldom received genuine compliments from his peers. After entering university, people occasionally praised his intelligence, but nine out of ten times, those compliments carried a hint of sarcasm, making it impossible for the recipient to feel truly happy.

For Xia Shiruan, seeing undisguised “you’re attractive, I’m interested in you” in someone’s eyes felt more novel than anything else.

He’d been too nervous earlier to properly look at Shi Yi’s appearance. Now in the complete silence, Xia Shiruan couldn’t help wanting to steal another glance at her.

But just as he turned his head, before his gaze could even land on Shi Yi, the person on his right, whom Xia Shiruan thought was asleep but was actually just pretending with his eyes closed, opened his eyes.

Xie Ji turned his head, his stare firmly gripping Xia Shiruan, precise as if he’d been waiting right there to catch him.

Their eyes met.

There wasn’t a trace of sleepiness in Xie Ji’s eyes. They were completely clear, and upon meeting Xia Shiruan’s gaze, quickly filled with a hint of mockery as if saying “caught you.”

Xia Shiruan: “…”

His breath hitched for half a second as he hastily turned his head back.

Even though he avoided Xie Ji’s gaze, Xia Shiruan could still feel him staring at the back of his head.

“Xia Shiruan.” Xie Ji seemed to lean in closer, his breath brushing against Xia Shiruan’s hair as he lowered his voice, soft and deep, speaking behind him, “Stop sneaking looks.”

After two seconds, as if afraid of being misunderstood, he added, “At anyone.”

Xia Shiruan: “…”

He stared at the van’s blue rippling window curtains, thinking that Shi Yi’s earlier assessment was incredibly accurate.

So childish.

It was already past noon when they arrived at Mount Xia. The group made their way to a famous restaurant at the foot of the mountain for lunch, then returned to the hotel for a short break.

The rooms seemed to have been booked in advance, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

Chen Rongxin collected several room keys from the front desk and distributed them along the way.

“You guys are still staying in one room, right? Okay… Yi-jie, would you like to switch to a single room? Hold on, let me ask.” Chen Rongxin jogged over to ask the staff, then returned with both disappointment and relief on his face. “They said there are no extra rooms! It’s peak tourist season, good thing I booked online in advance.”

The others said it was fine to keep the arrangements as they were.

After sorting out rooms for everyone else, Chen Rongxin held out the last key card. He looked up at Xia Shiruan and Xie Ji, then froze for a moment before suddenly slapping his forehead. “Oh!”

Xia Shiruan’s hand paused mid-air as he reached for the key card, still confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, you and Xie-ge sharing a room?” Chen Rongxin scratched his head awkwardly, internally scolding himself for being so careless. “Would that bother you?”

Chen Rongxin looked at Xia Shiruan apologetically, his expression genuinely asking if, as a Beta, he would mind sharing a hotel room with an Alpha.

At this question, everyone else turned to look at them.

Xia Shiruan couldn’t help glancing at Xie Ji, who was silently watching him without saying a word.

Since it had never been specifically mentioned, everyone in the car except Xie Ji still thought Xia Shiruan was a Beta.

In modern society of New Calendar year 399, setting aside other factors and speaking purely of gender awareness, Beta was a rather difficult gender to define in relation to Alpha.

Betas possessed moderate fertility, and compared to Alphas whose fertility was practically zero, they couldn’t be completely excluded from the category of “the opposite sex.” But Betas weren’t troubled by pheromones or heat cycles, so in some ways, they were even safer than Alphas, whose pheromones could make each other agitated.

This meant that in today’s world, where A/O dynamics required massive effort and advanced scientific research just to maintain stable lives due to heat cycles and pheromones, people unconsciously viewed Betas as a convenient group that “didn’t need special consideration.”

At the very least, while almost every country had countless regulations about how to sentence those who violated Omegas, how to provide aid, and how to handle social insurance, there were few specifically for Betas.

When out in public, Alphas actively avoided Omegas, but with Betas, a polite “would that bother you” was probably the height of courtesy.

The difference was clear.

Did it bother Xia Shiruan? Of course not.

Besides, saying “I’m actually an Omega” right now would not only be pointless but would create unnecessary trouble.

He hesitated, about to say “it’s fine,” when Shi Yi, who had been somewhat distracted nearby, suddenly came over with a grin. “Senior, if you don’t want to room with Xie Ji, why don’t we switch? You can room with me.”

Chen Rongxin coughed loudly.

Xie Ji’s face darkened considerably. He quickly stepped forward and snatched the card from Chen Rongxin’s hand, tossed a “let’s go” in Xia Shiruan’s direction, then turned to give Shi Yi a warning look.

Shi Yi raised her eyebrows and moved her lips, silently mocking him.

–

All three rooms were on the same floor, and as luck would have it, Shi Yi’s room was right next to Xia Shiruan and Xie Ji’s.

Before they entered their room, Shi Yi, whether intentionally or not, called out to Xia Shiruan with excessive enthusiasm. “If you’re not happy with the sleeping arrangements, you can always come to my room~”

Xia Shiruan was really not good at handling this kind of conversation and only managed an “…Oh.”

The next second, Xie Ji forcefully opened their door and said, “Xia Shiruan, get in.”

When the door closed, all other sounds and scents disappeared, and Xia Shiruan could clearly tell that Xie Ji was angry.

The rise and fall of his chest and the intensity of that caramel scent both indicated that this Alpha was on the verge of exploding.

Since they were going to share a room, Xia Shiruan looked at his back and felt he probably needed to explain something.

Xia Shiruan organized his thoughts, first recalling Xie Ji’s mood changes since this morning, planning to address everything at once.

“Stay away from people like Shi Yi,” Xie Ji suddenly spoke.

He turned around, eyes downcast, staring directly at Xia Shiruan, “Shi Yi loves to play with male Betas who are older than her and naive.”

“You probably don’t know what kind of person she is,” Xie Ji smiled slightly, watching Xia Shiruan’s expression, “A woman who could make Betas get three abortions before she was even of age, you’d better not get involved with her.”

Xia Shiruan froze.

After a long while, he struggled to ask, “Aren’t you friends?”

Xia Shiruan could guarantee there wasn’t any doubt or sarcasm in his question. He just purely thought that since they were good friends, it might not be right for Xie Ji to talk about her like this to him.

But Xie Ji seemed to interpret it differently, his expression growing even darker.

He stared at Xia Shiruan for a moment before coldly spitting out a few words, “I’m not like her.”

The room was quiet with good soundproofing. They couldn’t hear anything from outside, only the shallow breathing of the person standing in front of them.

“When I like someone, it will only be that one person,” Xie Ji said.

Xia Shiruan pressed his lips together, not understanding why the topic had turned in this direction.

After a while, he could only respond stiffly, “…Oh.”

When you don’t know how to answer, playing dumb is the only option.

Xie Ji let out a breath, his expression still stormy, and just said, “These next few days, you stick close to me, got it?”