Take a Whiff: The Alpha's Hidden Scent | Chapter 19 | Quite Impressive | Novela.app

Ms. Liu was also a bit surprised. After a brief moment of stunned silence, she smiled and said, "It's good that you two deskmates are so caring toward each other, but it would be even better if you talked a little less during class." Xia Shan chimed in, "Don't worry, Teacher. With Brother Tang's current condition, there's no way he can chat with Brother Jiang." "Then I'll have to trouble you to chime in less during class as well, Xia Shan." As Ms. Liu walked toward the front of the classroom, Tang Zihe stretched out his leg and gave Xia Shan's chair a kick. However, Xia Shan wasn't wrong. Thanks to the "blessing" of having a mute for a deskmate, Jiang Wei hadn't been this quiet since the start of the semester. With no one to talk to, he was bored to the point of nearly molding by the time the lunch break finally arrived. As he let out his umpteenth sigh, Shen Yannan, who was about to bury his head in his arms for a nap, kindly offered a suggestion. "If you're really that bored, you can go browse the school forum. The content is quite... fascinating." Shen Yannan’s meaningful phrasing immediately piqued Jiang Wei’s interest. Adopting the mindset that he might as well join the fun if he was bored anyway, he opened the school website. The top post was still: *[The "Ziwei" CP's High-Energy Sweet Moments (Updated)]*. The only change was that it had been marked as a "Featured" post. Jiang Wei: ??? *Do people really read this kind of completely baseless content?* [Sisters! I was shocked to hear this morning that the Academic God’s voice is hoarse. I was silently mourning that beautiful voice of his when...] Jiang Wei raised an eyebrow. *Beautiful?* [...I heard even more shocking news!] For no reason at all, Jiang Wei felt his right eyelid twitch. [His deskmate, Jiang Wei from Class 1 (yes, the one who’s amazing at reading self-reflections), actually snuck out of school during class! Braving the cold wind and the risk of being caught—which would mean a ten-thousand-word reflection read under the national flag and a public reprimand—he bought a warm pear-and-rock-sugar drink for our Academic God!] Jiang Wei: ... [And after class, I saw him with my own eyes carrying the Academic God’s water bottle past our classroom door to get him hot water!] [I don't care! They are real!! If they aren't a thing, I'll cut off my own legs!!!] *Are the students in this school all eagle-eyed?* Setting aside the truth of the matter, with this level of observation, reaction speed, and imagination, being a mere poster on the school forum was a waste of talent. Also, why did this person recognize Tang Zihe’s water bottle? Wait, no. Jiang Wei rubbed his temples. His focus was being pulled in the wrong direction. Unable to control his curiosity, his fingers moved on their own to scroll down to the comments. [To hell with "deskmate brotherhood"! This is more real than many actual couples in our school! Sisters, I’m shipping this first.] [Is this what they mean by "internal consumption" of handsome guys? Are they leaving any hope for the rest of us?!] [Unpopular opinion: It's impossible for two Alphas to be together. Did you all skip biology class?] [To the person above, I think you're the one who skipped biology. The teacher clearly said it’s possible for two Alphas to be together; it’s just a tiny probability of 0.1%. It’s not completely impossible. Also, I’m only saying this to tell you that my ship will not sink for that reason, thank you.] ...Jiang Wei really, really wanted to tell these people that while Tang Zihe was indeed an Alpha, and their "Double A" ship was fine in theory, the problem was that this guy could never be with an Omega like him! They had the wrong targets from the very beginning! Fortunately, his rationality reminded him of the fact that everyone believed he was an Alpha. He didn't impulsively start typing—though doing so would likely just result in everyone on the site labeling him a lunatic. ... [Am I the only one who feels like the roles in this ship are reversed... Does no one ship Great God on top and Academic God on bottom?] [I’ve found my people! I feel like a guy like Great God Jiang, who has a smile for everyone, is very suited to be the one on top! Someone like the Academic God, who is like an unreachable flower to strangers, should have a contrast—like being "taught a lesson" in bed or something...] [Careful, or your account will get banned.] [Thank you, sisters, I can already see the picture in my head.] Jiang Wei was deep in his own imagination when he felt a poke on his arm. He was so startled he dropped his phone directly into his drawer. Turning his head, he saw Tang Zihe lying on the desk, looking at him idly. "Holy crap, you scared me to death." Jiang Wei patted his chest. He had thought Director Li was coming by to check on the lunch break. Tang Zihe pointed at his drawer. "Nothing, I wasn't looking at anything, really." Jiang Wei waved his hand dismissively, then couldn't help but add, "If you see any strange rumors later, just ignore them." Tang Zihe tilted his head in confusion, withdrew his hand from Jiang Wei’s arm, and reached into his own drawer for his phone. Jiang Wei realized he had let something slip because he was too nervous. He quickly pressed down on Tang Zihe's hand, deciding to try and fix it through persuasion. "Look, you're sick right now." "You should rest well, right?" "So, playing on your phone secretly during lunch break is wrong." Listening to Jiang Wei’s tone, which sounded like he was coaxing a child, Tang Zihe looked down at his hand. He let go of his phone without a word, seemingly accepting Jiang Wei’s "coaxing." "Mm." A hum, deeper than usual, reached Jiang Wei's ears. The word he had just seen on the forum popped into Jiang Wei’s mind—*beautiful*. It was a minor detail he had never paid attention to before, but now it lingered in his mind for some reason. *It does sound a little nice...* Jiang Wei froze for a few seconds. When he snapped out of it, he realized his hand was still resting on the other's. He gave a dry laugh, withdrew it, and lay down on the desk with his head turned away. "I'm going to sleep. Remember to wake me up when class starts." They were both guys, good friends, and even... "both" Alphas. It was just touching a hand. Jiang Wei closed his eyes, unable to understand why he had felt a momentary, inexplicable sense of awkwardness. ———— Boss Shi walked into the classroom with a chuckle. After scanning the room, he spoke slowly. "Look at those ravenous eyes... I knew it. If I don't talk about the monthly exam results first, there's no way you'll listen to the lesson, right?" Everyone stared straight at Boss Shi with a mix of tension and excitement. "Everyone performed well this time. As for the rankings... except for a few individuals, there haven't been any major changes." Boss Shi understood his students' feelings perfectly, yet he still wanted to keep them in suspense. "The class average is still undoubtedly first in the grade. Please keep up the good work." "Also, since the interval between this monthly exam and the placement test was so short, you've probably barely warmed up your new seats. We won't be adjusting them this time. We'll wait until the midterms to do a full reshuffle of classes and seats as a one-stop service." Boss Shi pushed up his glasses. "Of course, students who need an adjustment can come see me privately." Although Boss Shi had said a lot about the exam, he had avoided almost all the important details the students wanted to know. It was a total feint, but it wasn't enough to fool this group of students who valued their grades more than their lives. The atmosphere in the class gradually became restless. "Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry." Boss Shi raised both hands in a downward pressing motion, and the chattering in the class weakened. "The grade rankings will be posted on the wooden board at the end of the hallway. You can go see for yourselves after class." "However... I have also summarized your grade rankings into a table. Yes, it's this piece of paper I put on the podium when I walked in. If you want to know sooner, you can come up and look later..." Jiang Wei gritted his teeth in the back row. "I'm really curious... is it physically impossible for Boss Shi to speak without taking these long pauses?" "He's always been like this. He's successfully bluffed us countless times with this trick. You'll get used to it after a few more times..." Shen Yannan didn't forget to pop a gummy from his drawer into his mouth while talking. "Look at us; we aren't nervous at all now." Jiang Wei looked at Xia Shan, who was currently rubbing his hands together, and exposed the lie. "Yeah, why would someone who's consistently in the top five of the grade be nervous?" "..." Shen Yannan thought for a moment and chose to change the subject. "Want a gummy?" "...No thanks." Boss Shi had already taken out the test papers to start the lesson, clearly determined to make his poor students endure these forty-five minutes of agonizing suspense. So, the moment the bell rang, the students in the front rows sprang up like coiled springs. With lightning speed, they snatched the paper from the podium and began searching for their names. "Holy! Brother Tang! You got a 728!" A student in the front row turned around and shouted, even holding up his fingers to gesture the three digits. "7! 2! 8!" ...Jiang Wei suddenly didn't want to know his score that much anymore. A thirty-point difference... that meant he would have had to score around 700 to have a chance... He was doomed. Completely doomed. The phone in his drawer vibrated. Childish Ghost: [I'll give you a chance.] Childish Ghost: [It's not too late to change the condition to forty points.] Jiang Wei: [No.] Jiang Wei: [Way.] Tang Zihe chuckled. He watched his deskmate pretend nothing was wrong as he coolly walked toward the students in the front. Jiang Wei carefully read the score sheet from top to bottom. Boss Shi was right; the overall rankings hadn't changed much. Many people only fluctuated by two or three spots, not to mention a certain someone who sat firmly on the throne with a score that didn't even seem human. Shen Yannan was second, with a 706. Only those two in the entire grade had broken 700, making Jiang Wei suspect he must have been delusional to believe their nonsense earlier. Looking back at his own score starting with a 6, he actually felt a hint of shabbiness. "I'm so awesome! I was only one point away from 660!" Yang Xiangtong grabbed Tang Wanbai’s wrist and screamed. "Jiang Wei, did you see your score? You got a 679!" Jiang Wei gave a faint "mm." "Don't compare yourself to inhuman standards just because the person next to you is freakishly strong." Shen Yannan, chewing on something, glanced at the score sheet as he passed by and patted Jiang Wei on the shoulder. "13th in the grade. That's quite impressive." Jiang Wei sighed and gave a helpless smile in return. "If you put it that way, you aren't exactly human either." The two people he was closest to in this class were both freakishly strong. It wasn't Jiang Wei's fault that his basic judgment of certain things had been skewed from the start. He silently shuffled back to his seat. Childish Ghost: [I heard. 679.] Jiang Wei: [Yeah.] [Didn't reach 698.] Even if he added the ten points he missed from the listening section, it was only a 689. He hadn't even crossed the 690 threshold. Jiang Wei bit the bullet and continued messaging during the break: [You win. What do you want me to do?] But Tang Zihe didn't take the bait. Childish Ghost: [To improve by 9 points on a paper like this.] [Is very impressive.] This was the second time in five minutes Jiang Wei had heard the words "very impressive." When the same words came from different people, the listener's mood seemed to change accordingly. [Your rank improved too. Very impressive.] [Congratulations.] The stoic expression Jiang Wei had been maintaining finally broke, his lips curling up into a very obvious arc. But he hadn't forgotten the most important thing. Jiang Wei: [Stop praising me against your conscience.] [The more you praise me, the more uneasy I feel. You aren't going to ask for some nefarious condition, are you?] Just as the message was successfully sent, the bell for class rang. Jiang Wei could only put his phone back in the drawer with his heart hanging in suspense. When he took it out again while the teacher wasn't looking, Tang Zihe had replied at some point. Childish Ghost: [I'll keep it on tab.] [I'll tell you... when the time is right.] *** **Glossary** Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation ---|---|--- 滋味 | Ziwei | The CP name for Tang Zihe and Jiang Wei. "Zi" from Zihe, "Wei" from Jiang Wei. Also means "taste" or "flavor." 撒糖 | Spreading sugar / Sweet moments | Internet slang for when a couple (real or shipped) has sweet, romantic interactions. 加精 | Featured / Stickied | Marking a post as high-quality or important on a forum. 双A | Double A | A relationship between two Alphas in the ABO setting. 大神 | Great God | A term of respect for someone highly skilled (often in gaming or academics). Here refers to Jiang Wei. 高岭之花 | Unreachable flower / Flower on a high peak | A metaphor for someone who is beautiful but cold and distant. 被教做人 | Taught a lesson / Put in one's place | Literally "taught how to be a person." In shipping contexts, often implies being dominated. 月考 | Monthly exam | Standard periodic exams in Chinese schools. 年级第一 | First in the grade | The student with the highest total score in the entire year level. 施总 | Boss Shi / Shi Zong | A nickname for Teacher Shi. "Zong" is a suffix for a high-level manager or boss. 一条龙服务 | One-stop service / All-in-one service | A metaphor for a complete, start-to-finish process.