"Don't forget to disinfect that wound," Jiang Wei said, pointing to the back of his own left hand as a reminder. "You'll be in for it if it gets infected tomorrow."
Shen Yannan let out a sharp whistle. "Got it. It’s been a month already; you really ought to take off that ugly bandage of yours. It’s practically turned black from all the rubbing."
"Shoo, shoo."
Once evening self-study ended, Xia Shan and the others dashed off more eagerly than anyone, as if missing a single minute meant they wouldn't get a chance to shower. That left only Tang Zihe and Jiang Wei to trudge slowly up the stairs.
But even though Jiang Wei was walking at a snail's pace, Tang Zihe remained as silent as if he’d taken a vow of silence.
Jiang Wei carefully considered his words. He decided to sell Shen Yannan out while making sure to gloss over the details that shouldn't be mentioned. "Hey, let me tell you... when I went to the restroom tonight, I ran into Shen Yannan just as he was coming out. I was going to wait for him so we could walk back together, but for some reason, he seemed to be in a terrible mood. He just straight-up punched the mirror in the bathroom..."
Normally, Jiang Wei could find the perfect opening for a conversation, but for some reason, even though he was trying his hardest to find a topic now, Tang Zihe still looked like he couldn't be bothered to respond.
"...His left hand was a bloody mess in an instant. It was terrifying. But then he just calmly told me he didn't want to get caught, so I ended up dragging him along and lecturing him the whole way back..."
Jiang Wei stole a glance at Tang Zihe and pouted, his voice sounding a bit aggrieved. "Don't you have anything to say?"
*Maybe Tang Zihe is just in a bad mood and needs to work through it himself,* Jiang Wei thought, trying to find a reasonable explanation for the current situation—even though he had no idea why Tang Zihe would be in a bad mood in the first place.
*Was it because there was no hot water left in his thermos?*
"So you reminded him to remember to disinfect it when he got back?" Tang Zihe finally opened his golden mouth. Even though it was a redundant question, Jiang Wei felt a sense of relief.
"Yeah, it really hurts once a wound gets infected. Better to avoid it if possible..."
By the time they both returned to their dorm, Jiang Wei had regained the good mood he’d had during self-study when he and Tang Zihe were huddled together looking at the game.
After finishing his nightly routine, he looked at the bandage on his hand. Because it was constantly being rubbed and bumped against the edges of his desk, he had to change it every day, and by evening, it would turn from white to grey. He decided to just tear it off and toss it in the trash—out of sight, out of mind.
Shen Yannan was right, though. Jiang Wei sat on his bed and examined the wound closely, running a finger over it. It really had mostly recovered. The flesh beneath the skin had knit itself back together unnoticed, and it no longer felt uneven to the touch. The only thing was that the new skin was a different shade than the rest of his palm—it looked a bit too pink and tender, making it somewhat obvious.
Still, his hand was finally fit to be seen by others. There was no need to keep it wrapped in bandages anymore.
Jiang Wei rolled to the edge of the bed, turned off the light, then rolled a couple of times back to the center of the mattress, pulling the quilt over himself.
Time to sleep.
***
"Morning." Tang Wanbai had been in the classroom since early morning rushing through her homework. She looked up as the group walked in and noticed something was off. "Jiang Wei, what happened to your hand?"
"Took the bandage off." Jiang Wei openly displayed his palm in front of Tang Wanbai.
"That's a pretty long scar. Was it a knife cut?" Tang Wanbai frowned, instinctively reaching out to touch it.
The scar was indeed long, running almost vertically across his entire palm. There were four spots where the marks were significantly deeper than the rest.
"A knife wouldn't leave such an irregular shape unless someone was trying to carve a flower into his palm." Tang Zihe subtly blocked Tang Wanbai's hand and changed the subject. "Was there anything you struggled with on yesterday's math homework?"
Hearing this, Tang Wanbai looked up at the "Study God" in horror, as if the person standing before her was possessed by a ghost.
Tang Zihe wasn't actually looking for an answer. Seeing Jiang Wei head toward the back row, he followed, leaving poor Tang Wanbai standing there with her brain stalled in confusion.
Jiang Wei dug through his desk like he was rummaging through a trash heap until he found his assignments, then asked Tang Zihe to help hand them over to the various subject representatives.
As soon as Tang Zihe sat back down, he placed his hand on Jiang Wei's desk. "Hand."
After a night's rest, his impressive recovery rate had mostly healed his voice, which had previously sounded like it was being rubbed with sandpaper.
"Oh? Your throat gets better and you start giving me orders?" Jiang Wei dropped his bag on the floor and lifted his chin haughtily. "What are you looking at? I'm. Not. Giving. It. To. You~"
Tang Zihe didn't get annoyed. He just tapped his fingers twice and softened his tone. "Fine... No one wants to carve flowers into your hand. I was just speaking out of turn. Don't hold a grudge."
Jiang Wei gave a soft, non-committal hum.
"Can I see it now?"
"That's more like it." Jiang Wei smiled and spread his hand out over the other's palm.
Tang Zihe chuckled. He looked down for a few seconds, then his brow furrowed. He gave Jiang Wei a meaningful look as an uncertain thought formed in his mind. Just as he touched the scar on Jiang Wei's hand, the other boy flinched as if he’d been electrocuted. Before Tang Zihe could say anything, the sound of someone spitting out water came from the front—
"What are you two doing?" Xia Shan wiped the corner of his mouth, looking like he hadn't quite processed the scene. "He was touching your hand last night, and now you're touching his this morning. Are your hands conjoined or something? Isn't it awkward for two Alphas to be this close?"
"Screw off," Jiang Wei retorted instinctively. "Watch your mouth first thing in the morning. Your Brother Tang is just showing the appropriate curiosity toward something new. Don't make our pure brotherhood sound like the sappy clinginess of a couple in the honeymoon phase, alright?"
Tang Zihe's hand paused. He thought to himself that if the tips of Jiang Wei's ears weren't flushed with a pink that gave him away, he might have actually been fooled by the righteous tone the boy was using.
Tang Zihe withdrew his hand at the right moment, acting as if he didn't care. "I can't smell anything, so what's there to be awkward about?"
Xia Shan felt choked up. He felt like something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what the problem was.
"An... anyway, you two..."
Before he could finish, Jiang Wei ruthlessly interrupted him.
"Xia Shan, that's where you're wrong. I'm just sharing a man's medal of honor with your Brother Tang. Why is your mind so impure?" Jiang Wei wagged a finger at him, speaking with mock gravity. "I think it's not us who are weird—it's you."
A flash of confusion crossed Tang Zihe's eyes. "What medal?"
Jiang Wei clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied that his teammate hadn't caught his drift. He spread his palm and tapped the scar. "This. A scar is a man's medal of honor. Haven't you heard that saying?"
Tang Zihe: "..."
"What are you bragging about?" Shen Yannan walked in just as the bell for morning self-study rang. As soon as he entered, he saw Jiang Wei holding up his hand and gesturing. Curious, he asked what was going on.
So, Jiang Wei repeated his statement.
"That injury really was quite serious. It's been this long and it's still not fully healed." Shen Yannan turned his chair ninety degrees, pretentiously holding a Chinese textbook to look busy during the morning session.
"Wait a second," Xia Shan said, his eyes catching something as Shen Yannan's right hand flashed by. "Your hand... is injured too?"
"Shh..." Shen Yannan put a finger to his lips. "Keep it down. This is a 'hush-hush' matter."
"What matter?" Xia Shan glanced at everyone, feeling like he was the only one being kept in the dark. "Did you two make a pact to get injured together?"
"Do I look like I have the words 'I'm crazy' written on my face?" Jiang Wei rolled his eyes, thoroughly disappointed by Xia Shan's train of thought. "My wound is almost healed, while he's got four or five band-aids on his hand. It's clearly a new injury. Could you please use your little brain when observing new things?"
"Then what's the 'hush-hush' matter?" Xia Shan looked puzzled. The school didn't exactly provide places for these two to go around committing arson or murder, so what earth-shattering event could have happened?
"It really is a small matter. It's just that your deskmate broke another school rule, that's all." Jiang Wei finally found his Chinese textbook in his desk and tossed it open on the table.
Xia Shan immediately relaxed. "What's so 'hush-hush' about that? Breaking school rules is like daily bread for people like us."
Jiang Wei was almost moved to laughter by the guy's straightforward logic. "You should be glad Tang Zihe didn't follow school tradition and become the Student Council President. Otherwise, he'd have written you up for that comment right now. And next week at the flag-raising ceremony, they wouldn't need to find anyone else to give a speech—they'd just send you up there to read your self-reflection."
Tang Wanbai had told him about this while they were chatting. She said No. 4 High School had many traditions, large and small, and the selection of the Student Council President was one of them. Usually, the president was chosen based on a comprehensive evaluation of grades and popularity. Grades were determined by the grade-level rankings, and popularity... that was decided by a vote from the current and previous members of the Student Council.
Although Tang Zihe looked cold and aloof at first glance and didn't smile much at strangers, his face was undeniably handsome, earning him a legion of admirers. Furthermore, he was basically always willing to help his classmates with academic questions. Combined with the fact that he consistently held the top spot on the grade rankings, everyone back then thought he was a shoo-in for Student Council President. It was a sure thing.
But the guy hadn't even signed up. He’d just casually dropped a "not interested" and turned back to his back-row seat to continue his romance with his exercise books.
Shen Yannan couldn't withstand Xia Shan's persistent pestering and whispered, "I'll tell you, then. Last night, I accidentally tripped in the restroom and smashed into the mirror."
"It's too embarrassing, which is why I was being vague about it."
"Holy crap, for real? Did you get hurt anywhere else? Are you okay?" Xia Shan's heart jumped again, though he didn't quite understand how tripping in a stall could lead to smashing the mirror above the sink—perhaps the layout of the Omega restroom was different from the Alpha one.
"I'm fine. See? I'm sitting here in one piece." Shen Yannan expressed appropriate touched-ness at Xia Shan's concern.
Xia Shan felt like his mood this morning was like riding the tallest roller coaster in the amusement park, complete with a 360-degree loop.
"Wait... then what school rule did that break? Is tripping not allowed in the bathroom?"
Jiang Wei: "..."
Shen Yannan: "..."
Tang Zihe: "..."
Jiang Wei had thought Shen Yannan's lie was seamless, and he’d believed that no matter what bizarre question Xia Shan came up with, the other would have a ready answer.
But looking at the situation now, he wasn't just wrong; he was catastrophically wrong.
He and Xia Shan—at least one of them—must have read a fake version of the school rules.
The group was silent for a long time until Tang Zihe, unable to watch any longer, spoke up.
"School Rule Number Nine: Damaging public property is not permitted. For minor cases, compensation must be paid at the market price; for serious cases, in addition to compensation, a warning or disciplinary action will be issued."
"...Don't you get it yet? What your deskmate is afraid of isn't the school rules. It's the fine."
***
**Glossary**
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 家常便饭 | Daily bread / Commonplace | Literally "home-cooked meal," used idiomatically for something very common. |
| 闭口禅 | Vow of silence | A Buddhist term for a meditative practice of not speaking. |
| 勋章 | Medal of honor | Used here in the phrase "a man's medal" (scars). |
| 检讨 | Self-reflection / Written apology | A common punishment in Chinese schools where students must write about their mistakes. |
| 学生会会长 | Student Council President | |
| 四中 | No. 4 High School | Short for the school's name. |
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