You Qi reached out to hang up the video call. As soon as his hand blocked most of the screen, loud booing erupted from the other side. They had just managed to cast the screen—why stop now?
“And you call yourself a model student? Hanging up on your classmates like that?”
“I’m telling the teacher—‘Teacher! You Qi won’t let me watch his early dating!’”
“Please, I won’t say a word, just let me watch!”
“What could possibly be inappropriate for the class rep to see?”
“I’m the literature class rep, let me check your grammar in real time!”
The comments were getting increasingly ridiculous.
You Qi’s hand froze. He shot the class rep a speechless look—is that really something you should be saying?
Zhou Mu actually got distracted by the nonsense and asked You Qi, “Was what I said just now okay?”
“It was fine, but you never answered my question…” You Qi had already been feeling uncertain, and seeing Zhou Mu get sidetracked by these trivial details just made him more unsure.
He thought of how Zhou Mu hadn’t spent much time living in human cities. Did Zhou Mu treat him differently because he was You Qi, or just because it was all new and novel?
Zhou Mu lowered his head and said a little shyly, “I did say we were in an early relationship… but I didn’t say you could kiss me.”
The word ‘shy’ was rarely seen on Zhou Mu—he wasn’t using it as a disguise like when tricking prey. It was just that… thinking about You Qi suddenly kissing him like that, well…
Basically—it was fine if he joked around, but how could You Qi suddenly act on it like that?!
For fierce beasts, both education and instinct warned them: never let others get too close. A kiss definitely counted.
But You Qi picked up on something else. Zhou Mu’s words didn’t sound like a rejection at all.
He held his breath. “Then… can I now?”
Zhou Mu looked up and calmly calculated, “Nope. You kissed me once just now. I have to kiss you back once to make it even. Then we can continue.”
That line made You Qi feel like his bones had turned weightless—like he could float right off the mountain in bliss. He suddenly wanted to scoop Zhou Mu up, kiss the tips of his ears, chin, and fingers… even those soft, slightly pink lips.
But Zhou Mu clearly played by the rules. You Qi couldn’t touch him—so he just inched closer and closer, close enough to almost touch, but not quite. He whispered, “You can kiss me back anytime.”
Zhou Mu just had to move slightly and he’d be brushing against You Qi’s face. He’d never felt like this before. Every word he said came with a secret smile that leaked out from his eyes. “If you’re prepared, it doesn’t count as sudden.”
You Qi was just about to reply, when his eyes happened to flick downward—and met the gazes of dozens of faces on the screen.
You Qi: “…”
Classmates: Grinning and waving.
You Qi: …Zhou Mu still hadn’t ended the call!!
As someone who rarely used phones, Zhou Mu truly had no awareness of this area, and You Qi had completely forgotten that they had an entire audience watching.
You Qi reached to end the call again.
“NOOOOOOOOO—”
“We didn’t say anything! Why are you hanging up on us?! This is injustice!”
“Brother Mu, say something for us!”
Zhou Mu peeked into the frame. Seeing how earnest they looked, he said, “Maybe just let them watch a little longer? They all came to celebrate my birthday—they’re pretty nice people.”
You Qi: “…”
…That’s not a reason to reward them with this.
At that moment, He Shi came riding over on a horse and called out, “Time for dinner. If you’re late, don’t expect food.”
Zhou Mu instantly panicked and pulled at You Qi. “Let’s go, let’s go—my mom eats a lot.”
“A lot” was an understatement, You Qi thought.
“What? Mom??”
“You’re meeting his parents?! I want to meet her too—”
“Does Mumu look like his mom?”
Between all the shouting, You Qi finally gave up and ended the call. The rowdy crowd of classmates vanished from the screen, wailing.
He Shi was up ahead. Zhou Mu ran to catch up. You Qi followed half a step behind. Even with a parent right in front of him, You Qi couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss that never quite happened—about that need to do something to confirm Zhou Mu really meant it.
You Qi stretched out his hand in front of Zhou Mu. Remembering the earlier lesson, he didn’t try to grab him directly.
Doing something like this behind a terrifying elder like He Shi took courage. He stayed alert, watching Zhou Mu with quiet hope.
Zhou Mu mouthed, “That’s not really appropriate—”
You Qi insisted, mouthing back, “But you want to too, right?”
A faint blush rose on Zhou Mu’s cheek. Then he opened his mouth and chomp—gently bit down on You Qi’s finger.
You Qi: “…………”
Even though He Shi didn’t turn her head, nothing ever escaped her attention. She turned back with a deliberately wicked tone, “I knew you two were already…” Then she saw Zhou Mu with You Qi’s finger in his mouth and paused, muttering, “Huh, well that I didn’t expect.”
With that, she rode off.
You Qi couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.
Thankfully, Zhou Mu had only been gently holding the finger in his mouth. You Qi pulled his hand back. “I didn’t say you could… bite.”
“I didn’t bite.” Zhou Mu blew lightly on the faint teeth marks on You Qi’s finger, gesturing, “That was so light—I just touched it.” Then, he held out his hand to You Qi. “You should bite me too. Then let’s hurry and catch up to my mom. She probably thinks I’m eating you, so she won’t save us any dinner!!”
“…I’ll collect that later!” You Qi transformed into his beast form in a flash. “Hop on.”
It was Zhou Mu’s first time seeing You Qi’s true form. The wind under his feet was already gathering, pressing the grass around them flat. Zhou Mu gave a delighted cheer and leapt on. “Charge!”
……
You Qi spent nearly the whole weekend at Zhou Mu’s house and only went home late Sunday night.
Back at home, he was oddly restless—completely opposite from other students who looked forward to the weekend. The next day, Monday, he went to school together with his mother.
You Qi’s mother worked for a special enforcement division. As a fierce beast, she was pretty laid-back. She originally hadn’t even bothered with a name—her superior and husband gave her one: You Yun. When she had You Qi, she named him with a homophone of their species name, “You Qi” (from “You Qi” the mythical beast).
You Qi had assumed You Yun would be too busy with work to come and would just send a subordinate instead. But when he mentioned that Zhou Mu’s parent was He Shi, You Yun’s expression changed.
“He Shi? Do you know your classmate’s bloodline?” she asked urgently.
“Taotie…” You Qi looked at her, realizing she seemed to know He Shi. “You’ve met?”
“No, but I’ve heard a lot.” You Yun was clearly excited. He Shi was a well-known figure in Office 404, especially among other beasts in the system. You Yun had seen plenty of classified files with her name in them. She couldn’t say much due to confidentiality rules, but her attitude alone said a lot. You Qi wasn’t surprised—he could guess the rest.
You Yun was filled with emotion. She’d known He Shi had moved to the area, but never thought they’d meet like this.
“I’ll take Monday off and go with you to school,” she decided instantly. Then, with a surprising hint of concern, she asked, “By the way, can you make that relationship official?”
That was probably the closest thing to school-life interest You Qi had ever heard from his mother…
You Qi: “…I’ll do my best.”
When You Qi got to school with his mother, he first stopped by the classroom to drop off his bag. As soon as the other students saw him, they broke into applause and whistles. “You better get to the office—Zhou Mu and his mom are already there talking to Teacher Lin!”
“Wuwuwu, you two better be happy together—!”
“Hurry up and tell me if you actually kissed! We didn’t get to see the sequel that day and it’s killing me!”
Everyone was saying something. You Qi rubbed his forehead—he couldn’t even be mad. After all, they were the ones who accidentally livestreamed everything. This was just karma.
Impatiently waiting at the classroom door, You Yun asked, “Are you done yet?” She was clearly eager to go see He Shi—uh, no, the teacher.
Her presence was overwhelming—tall, striking, and beautiful. Even the rowdiest students went completely silent.
You Qi quickly led her to Teacher Lin’s office.
As expected, He Shi and Zhou Mu were already there. When the door opened, both looked over—one at Zhou Mu, the other locking eyes with You Yun.
“You’re… Ms. He Shi?” You Yun’s eyes lit up, and she quickly stepped forward to shake hands.
He Shi, though equally beautiful, had a gentler aura. “Nice to meet you, You Qi’s mom.”
“Since both parents are here,” said Teacher Lin with a cough, “I assume you have some idea why You Qi and Zhou Mu were called in?”
You Yun nodded with heartfelt emotion. “Yes, I’ve heard all about it. Truly… what a stroke of fortune!”
Teacher Lin: “…Excuse me??”
You Qi’s inner voice: Mom, what the heck are you saying??
“Oh, nothing! I just meant—Zhou Mu is an excellent student,” You Yun quickly backtracked.
“That’s still not something you call a ‘stroke of fortune’! This is early dating we’re talking about!” Teacher Lin was baffled. She stood up, frustrated. “Ms. You, don’t you want You Qi to go to university? He has such good grades! Have you even asked him what university he wants to attend?”
You Yun had no idea. She never went to college herself—it wasn’t a thing in her time. She composed herself and smiled. “I’m not sure… Zhou Mu, do you know?”
Teacher Lin couldn’t believe how overly pleased this mother was with her son’s love interest. This was a whole new level of bizarre.
Zhou Mu, for his part, also had no clue what university You Qi wanted to attend. But he had seen some ads for schools he liked. “There’s that Xin X Fang Culinary School—I think it’s pretty good. We could study together and work hard to get in…”
You Qi’s pupils shrank in horror. He slapped a hand over Zhou Mu’s mouth.
Too late.
Teacher Lin clutched her chest. “Work hard to get in?! Just because I stopped your romance, now you’re rebelling by giving up on normal college?!”
At this point, He Shi finally stood up. Calm and unhurried, she said, “Teacher, please don’t be upset. Zhou Mu was just joking. I’ve already discussed things with him at home and scolded him properly…”
She walked over to stand beside the teacher, ready to have a heartfelt chat about parenting.
Their goal now was simple: convince the teacher they’d had a serious talk with the kids, and that both students had agreed to break up and focus on school.
You Yun couldn’t help but feel a little awkward—it really was the senior who had better composure, knowing how to talk circles around the teacher.
The very next second, He Shi calmly reached into her bag and pulled out a fox that had clearly been hidden there for who knows how long. The fox spirit locked eyes with Teacher Lin, and just like that, she was entranced. The fox immediately began a pre-prepared hypnosis: “Zhou Mu and You Qi are not in a relationship. They were simply misunderstood as being in one and, feeling awkward, moved their seats apart of their own accord. You must teach them that they must sit together…”
Even Zhou Mu had no idea when his mother had stuffed a fox into her bag!
He Shi couldn’t be bothered to come up with a believable story—she just brought along a fox adept at charm magic to confuse the teacher. After it was done with Teacher Lin, she turned to Zhou Mu and said, “Who else knows the truth? The Director of Discipline, right? Go take care of it.”
The fox stood upright and bowed to her, then went off to handle the situation. According to the fox’s plan, as long as they confused the key people’s memories with some mild tampering, there was no need to bother charming every student who knew the truth—that would be way too much work.
Just moments ago, You Yun had been admiring He Shi for her patience. Now she was in awe. “No wonder she’s the legendary senior He Shi… so decisive.”
He Shi gave a small smile. “You Yun, right? I know you. Since our kids are classmates, you can treat me to lunch today.”
You Qi: “……”
You Yun, of course, was more than happy to. While Teacher Lin was still sitting there dazed, processing her new ‘memories,’ the two of them quietly left the office together.
You Qi and Zhou Mu exchanged a look, then tiptoed out as well, quietly closing the door behind them.
……
At the same time, in another office, the Director of Discipline had just had some ‘new memories’ implanted by the fox and was now pacing by the window in deep thought.
Early dating might be inappropriate, the director thought, but it shouldn’t be demonized. If they were simply misunderstood, we shouldn’t let that ruin a good friendship. That class of Teacher Lin’s really does offer some textbook cases—we should guide the teachers to better shape the students’ values…
As he mused, his eyes landed on two boys standing in the hallway during morning self-study—instantly drawing attention because they were facing away from the office door, so their faces couldn’t be seen.
The director narrowed his eyes. Which class are they from? Called to the office during morning study already?
At the door, You Qi and Zhou Mu exchanged a smile.
You Qi said, “Let’s go, time to head back to class…”
He had only said half the sentence when Zhou Mu suddenly tiptoed up and planted a loud kiss right on his lips. “Mua!”
You Qi froze on the spot, his ears burning red. Zhou Mu had said he’d suddenly kiss him back, but this was way too sudden—right in school, in broad daylight—he was completely flustered and didn’t recover for several seconds.
“…Then can I make a request now?” You Qi asked in a low voice.
Zhou Mu nodded with a mischievous gleam of victory. But before he could say anything, a familiar roar exploded from behind them: “What class are you from?! No early dating allowed in school!!”
You Qi: “…………”
Seriously?! A second round?!
Despite being a fierce beast, once again he’d lost to the Director of Discipline’s sharp attention.
Thankfully, they had their backs to the director. You Qi quickly flared his jacket open, wrapping it over both their heads, and under the uniform, he gave Zhou Mu quick kisses on his ear, chin, and lips.
A bit of light seeped through the fabric, but inside the uniform, they couldn’t hold back their laughter.
Over the sound of the director’s furious footsteps and yelling, the two held hands and shouted: “Run!”
