When Lin Wangye came back to school, he was first welcomed by a wave of classmates showing concern. But before he could even relax, Zhao Yuyou hit him with some insane gossip that spread during class break.
What the hell?
I was gone for just over a month in the hospital, and somehow my dad and Lu Chengxuan were spotted holding hands, strolling across campus, like they were making their relationship public?
Huh??
Am I losing it, or has the whole world gone crazy?
The moment he heard that, Lin Wangye seriously doubted whether it was his hand that got injured—or his brain.
How could something this ridiculous even happen?
Luckily, Shi Yuan had already figured out the whole story and told him the truth that Zhao Yuyou had deliberately kept from him, dangling it like a mystery.
Turns out, it was just because of temporary blindness caused by bright light hurting his dad’s eyes.
Hearing that, Lin Wangye finally let out a breath.
Of course, that explanation made sense.
Zhao Yuyou’s version was just way too absurd. Even in his dreams, Lin Wangye couldn’t come up with something that wild.
He and Shi Yuan were still a low-key couple that nobody even knew about yet, and now his dad was supposedly announcing a romance?
And the supposed partner was Brother Lu?
No way! Absolutely impossible!
He’d rather believe Lu Chengxuan was actually Emperor Qin Shi Huang reborn than buy the ‘holding hands on campus’ story.
After being stuck in the hospital so long, even though he got tutoring every day, Lin Wangye’s grades still dropped a lot. The first test after he came back showed him falling way down the rankings.
Shi Yuan, on the other hand, had long since nailed down all the basics. Even though he spent every day in the hospital with Lin Wangye instead of going to class, his grades barely took a hit. He was still sitting at the top—and had even climbed back into the top ten for the whole grade.
Ever since he switched into Class Seven, the number one spot had always been his. Nobody else had touched it.
When Fu Xuexue was around, her grades went up and down so much that the others still had a shot at competing.
But against the A-Class genius? That fight was brutal.
Every practice exam basically turned into a battle for second place.
Before, when Lin Wangye looked at the grade rankings, the gap between him and the top scorers was too wide to bother comparing. He knew his own limits and never dreamed about getting first or second place.
But now that they were in the same class, staring at the results sheet and seeing how far his own name was from Xu Suiyan’s, the gap felt like a punch to the gut.
Shi Yuan was just way, way too hardworking.
Lin Wangye had a hard time accepting that, so he threw himself into studying like his life depended on it. He’d say ‘good night’ to Shi Yuan so he wouldn’t worry, but in reality, he often stayed up way too late, stuck on a single problem he just couldn’t figure out.
One more point was still a point.
One more rank was still a rank.
All he wanted was for his name to inch a little closer to the person he liked—closer and closer.
By contrast, Lin Shen was the complete opposite.
From the very start, his goal had been Ningchang University. As soon as his grades were steady enough to stay above the admission line for the school’s management program, he just… slacked off.
It’s not that he didn’t study at all, but the moment he felt sleepy, even one extra second of studying seemed like a loss.
So he lived by one rule: as long as his grades didn’t drop, that counted as progress. He went to class when he had to, did homework when it was assigned, but outside of that, he took it easy. Never once did he force himself. He was the textbook example of the kind of student teachers always nag about—‘If he’d just put in some real effort, he’d definitely soar.’
When Lin Wangye got serious and stopped playing with him, Lin Shen put a little more effort into studying.
Just a little.
Meanwhile, Lu Chengxuan had been rock solid since the day he entered school—always in the top ten.
Keeping that kind of stability was no small feat.
But the crazy part was, he never even seemed to be trying.
It was like classes, exams, and pulling decent grades were nothing but routine for him. Going to school felt like just another box to tick off in life.
In short, the vibe he gave off could be summed up in two words: badass.
In the blink of an eye, the college entrance exam was right around the corner. The sign at the school gate now read: ‘1 day until Gaokao.’
Every school in Ningchang shut down three days early to prepare the exam venues.
At that point, cramming last minute wasn’t going to do much good anyway.
The four of them were assigned to different exam centers.
After checking out their exam rooms the day before, they had nothing better to do, so after chatting in their group chat, they decided to hang out at Lu Chengxuan’s place to relax before the big day.
Shi Yuan lived the farthest, but in the end it was Lin Shen who dragged his feet and showed up last.
When he walked in, the housekeeper led him straight to the backyard garden. From a distance, he spotted Lu Chengxuan sitting under a parasol, sipping tea and reading. A little further off, Lin Wangye was crouched on the grass feeding a rabbit, while Shi Yuan stood beside him holding rabbit food.
Normally, animals you won from amusement parks ended up as meat rabbits.
Back around New Year, the little gray bunny had been tiny—small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. But rabbits grow and breed fast, and in just a few months, it was already the size of a full-grown tabby cat.
And clearly, it had been spoiled rotten. It sat there on the grass, fat and round like a little dumpling.
“Yo, it’s grown this big already!” Lin Shen, wearing sunglasses, strolled lazily along the stone path with a cocky whistle. “We’ll eat it tonight to make sure I crush it tomorrow!”
Lin Wangye shot him a glare. “Don’t you dare! You even try!”
“Hahaha!”
Lin Shen laughed as he walked over and squatted down beside him. Maybe his steps were too heavy, or maybe animals just naturally disliked him, but the little gray rabbit that had been happily munching on alfalfa twitched its three-petal mouth, then suddenly hopped a meter away, leaving the rabbit feed scattered on the grass untouched.
A second ago, Lin Shen had clearly seen it behaving like a good little thing when Lin Wangye was petting its head.
Now, looking at its stubby gray tail pointed straight at him like it was doing it on purpose, he couldn’t help but look surprised. “This little brat is seriously rebellious. Today I’m taking it with me and giving it a proper lesson. Does it even know who saved it from ending up in a pot and brought it into a rich family to live the good life?”
With that, Lin Shen lunged toward the rabbit.
“If it weren’t for me, you’d have been stew ages ago! And you dare give me attitude? Get over here!”
“Hey! How can you just start bullying—bullying a rabbit like that!”
Lin Wangye tossed aside the alfalfa in his hand and rushed after him. But two legs chasing four? No contest. And rabbits had crazy jumping power—once it bolted, there was no way they could catch it.
Sure enough, after a bit of chaos, the rabbit darted straight into a bush and refused to come out.
The Lu family’s garden was groomed daily by professional gardeners—spotless, no spiderwebs, no dust. But the shrub was huge, thick with tangled branches, and sticking a hand inside was basically impossible.
Lin Shen tried once to grab it, then instantly gave up.
Lin Wangye ran over, tossed the rest of the rabbit food down near the bush, then planted both hands on Lin Shen’s back and shoved him away.
“You’re so annoying! Look, you scared Little Gray off!”
“What kind of lame name is that? Terrible.” Lin Shen let him push him away from the bush, then turned his head and said, “The name I gave it is Gray—Runs From Me On Sight—Bites Everyone—Alexander.”
“It doesn’t even bite people!” Lin Wangye shot back immediately. “And it doesn’t run from anyone else, only you. Maybe reflect on yourself for once, Shen—Rabbit-Repellent—Alexander!”
“Hah, you’re actually kinda funny.”
Lin Shen, grinning, let himself be pushed to the seating area, plopped down on the sofa like he owned the place, crossed his legs, and waved his hand grandly.
“Serve me tea.”
Lu Chengxuan, who’d been sitting quietly like a spectator the whole time, put his book down. He leaned forward, poured a cup of tea, and handed it over.
After washing their hands, Lin Wangye and Shi Yuan sat down across from them. Lin Wangye picked up a little cake, handed it to Lin Shen, and his eyes sparkled with pride, like he was waiting for praise. “Try it—I made it!”
Lin Shen was more than satisfied with being treated so nicely.
He accepted the cake with mock elegance, lounging lazily on the sofa. He took a bite, chewed twice, and suddenly froze—something was off. He sat upright, not sure whether to swallow or spit it out, and in the end, since there was no trash can in sight, he forced it down.
“What the hell is this flavor?”
He pulled off his sunglasses and examined the cake closely. It looked picture-perfect: soft sponge at just the right sweetness, a swirl of cream on top, and a shiny cherry for decoration.
The problem? The cream was green.
“Matcha?” Lin Shen wrinkled his nose, holding it farther away in disgust. “Ugh, I hate matcha the most. Bitter and weird, it’s nasty.”
“Ah…”
Truth be told, Lin Wangye had no idea what his dad actually liked or disliked eating.
In his last life, the two of them barely ever shared meals. And even when they did, it was always proper sit-down dinners. On those occasions, Chairman Lin never once showed a clear preference toward any dish—not extra fond, not annoyed.
Taste was the easiest thing to figure out—just a casual question could give you the answer.
Even though Chairman Lin never had time to be around his kid, he still always knew what his son liked. Every meal they had together, he made sure the nanny cooked dishes that were Lin Wangye’s favorites.
Lowering his eyes, Lin Wangye suddenly realized he hadn’t been paying enough attention to his father. A guilty pang hit him, and he quickly grabbed another cake from the tray.
“What about this one? Chocolate?”
Lin Shen glanced at the little cake topped with a swirl of chocolate cream and dusted with cocoa powder. He nodded with satisfaction. “This one works. I like it.”
Hearing that, Lin Wangye hurried to hand it over.
Once Lin Shen took it, both his hands were full. He looked at the half-eaten matcha cake in his right hand, torn.
He couldn’t eat it. But tossing it felt wasteful.
“This…”
Just as he was hesitating, thinking maybe he could choke it down like bitter medicine since it wasn’t that big, he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye—Lu Chengxuan reaching out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“Oh.”
Relieved, Lin Shen passed it over without a second thought. After all, the cake had been made with Lin Wangye’s effort, and he didn’t want to throw it away himself. He figured Lu Chengxuan was just doing him a favor, helping him discreetly toss it.
Except—Lu Chengxuan didn’t throw it out at all.
Instead, the cake changed course midair and went straight into his mouth. He bit off half in one go.
Watching this happen right in front of him, Lin Wangye was so stunned he rubbed his eyes, then glanced at Shi Yuan. Only after seeing the same shock mirrored there did he confirm he wasn’t imagining things.
What the hell just happened?
Lin Shen was equally dumbstruck. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but there was nothing he could say. Because technically, there was nothing wrong with what Lu Chengxuan had just done.
The cake itself wasn’t bad—it was only his picky taste buds.
So giving it to someone less picky to finish was perfectly reasonable. Clean, no waste.
But still… it was food he’d already bitten.
Normally, Lin Shen never thought twice about stuff like that.
But the moment Lu Chengxuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, his whole face suddenly went hot. Like he’d been shoved straight into a sauna, every inch of him was burning.
“Cough…” Lin Wangye cleared his throat twice, then asked quietly, “Brother Lu… how is it? Sweet or not?”
What he really wanted was to know how Lu Chengxuan felt about his cake.
Because with desserts, if you made them too sweet, or not sweet enough, they turned out bad either way. It was hard to get the balance just right. And since Lu Chengxuan didn’t seem like the type who enjoyed sweets, the fact that he hadn’t touched any of the cakes or cookies before had always left Lin Wangye wondering.
But right after he said that, Lin Shen’s face burned even hotter.
Unbelievable!
Lin Wangye, you little brat—you did that on purpose, didn’t you?!
Matcha is matcha. Matcha tastes the same everywhere. What else could it possibly taste like?!
Something someone else already bit into—how good could it be anyway?
And sweet or not—you made it yourself, can’t you just eat a piece and find out? Why the hell are you asking him?!
Fuming with nowhere to vent, Lin Shen slammed his sunglasses back on, trying to cover it up, though it felt like a mushroom cloud of steam was billowing out above his head.
After slowly chewing and swallowing the cake, Lu Chengxuan finally gave his verdict, his tone calm and straightforward.
“Not bad.”
Getting his own handmade dessert praised lit Lin Wangye right up.
“That’s good, that’s good!”
Grinning ear to ear, he picked up another matcha cake, leaned happily against Shi Yuan, and raised it to his mouth. Shi Yuan tilted his head, opening up to take a bite—but just as he was about to, Lin Wangye suddenly twisted his wrist and stole a huge bite for himself.
“Haha!”
A mischievous smile spread across his face as he savored the sweetness.
Shi Yuan raised an eyebrow at the unexpected move. Then, without warning, he grabbed Lin Wangye’s wrist, lowered his head, and bit right into the cake himself, leaving only a tiny bit of sponge clinging to Lin Wangye’s fingertips.
Lin Wangye sat up, frowning in mock anger.
“Come on, at least leave me some cream!”
Shi Yuan chewed slowly, eyes warm and satisfied as he smiled at him.
Meanwhile, Lin Shen was dying inside, wishing he could dig a hole on the spot and bury himself all the way to the earth’s core.
The more he watched, the more damn ambiguous it all looked!
What the hell was wrong with Lu Chengxuan?
Was skipping that cake really going to starve you to death?!
Lin Shen forced himself to stay calm, trying to look cool by sitting in silence. Sunglasses on, ears burning red, he finally shifted his gaze toward the grass—and spotted ‘Gray—Runs From Me—Bites Everyone—Alexander’ sneaking out of the bush.
The little rabbit stood there, ears perked, staring at him warily while munching on the rabbit feed Lin Wangye had tossed earlier.
Thinking back to that awful matcha cake, Lin Shen swallowed hard, his whole body brimming with so much pent-up frustration that even the King of Hell would bow down. He stared at the rabbit and muttered darkly:
“It really does look delicious.”
*
Lin Shen: Where do you think you’re going, Gray—Runs From Me—Bites Everyone—Alexander!
Lu Chengxuan: Touch his rabbit and he’ll cry again.
Lin Shen: …
Lin Shen: Fine, forget it. Roast me a lamb tonight instead.
Little Gray: I won’t say a word until my lawyer gets here.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
