Take a Whiff: The Alpha's Hidden Scent | Chapter 36 | The Unspoken Truth | Novela.app

"I'm looking for you..." For what? Jiang Wei racked his brain for a moment before it finally clicked. "Right! I'm here to ask you a question!" *Why on earth did I pace outside the door for ten minutes, afraid to knock, over something like this?* "It's that... the pre-exam intensive training paper General Shi handed out. There's a problem on the back of the second page I can't quite figure out." Jiang Wei pursed his lips and avoided the other's gaze. Something seemed to have crossed his mind, making him look a bit awkward. Tang Zihe stepped aside to let him in and closed the door. He was quite perceptive and noticed that Jiang Wei wasn't in the right headspace, instantly guessing the reason. "My mom has always been like that. You can just ignore what she said at the dinner table. Don't let it get to you." Jiang Wei blinked, letting out a soft "mm." However, Tang Zihe truly hadn't expected this. Usually, when Jiang Wei was joking around with Xia Shan and the others in class, he seemed completely unfiltered, as if he didn't have a care in the world. Yet, a single teasing remark from Ms. Tang had left him acting awkward until now. It turned out his skin wasn't nearly as thick as Tang Zihe had imagined. *Kind of cute.* Tang Zihe watched Jiang Wei sit down casually on the floor next to his desk and reined in his wandering thoughts. Jiang Wei glanced around the room, realizing that Tang Zihe’s style had seemingly never changed. The walls and ceiling were painted a pale blue, devoid of any other decoration. On the cream-colored desk sat only the homework he had taken out of his bag, a pencil case, and a water bottle. The surface was so spotless it looked as if someone wiped it down every five minutes. Next to it was a matching cream-colored bookshelf, its top shelf packed with various Grade 12 supplementary materials—a comprehensive and diverse collection. On the other side stood a two-meter-tall black wardrobe, its surface also free of a single speck of dust. No matter how one looked at it, the owner of this room seemed like a total clean freak. Jiang Wei suspected that after he left, this guy would probably mop the floor again. People really did change; after all, he had never thought of this guy as being so obsessed with cleanliness before. Tang Zihe, however, made no comment on the matter and walked straight back to his desk. "This one." Jiang Wei placed his test paper on Tang Zihe’s desk. The desk was a bit too high for someone sitting on the floor. Even when Jiang Wei craned his neck, he could only see the things sitting right at the edge. Tang Zihe didn't look at the paper. Instead, he gave Jiang Wei’s shoulder a nudge. Jiang Wei looked up, confused. "Scoot over," Tang Zihe said, crouching down and bracing one hand on the floor. "Make some room for me." "No need, no need. I can just stand and listen." Jiang Wei shot up instantly, his movement so sudden it startled the person beside him. Tang Zihe frowned, seemingly unable to understand his behavior. "What's wrong with you?" "Me?" Jiang Wei scratched his head, once again avoiding eye contact. "Nothing's wrong." "If it's just because of what happened at dinner, I apologize." Tang Zihe leaned his back against the wall, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Wei. "But if it's about something else, I hope I have the right to know." Because it was glaringly obvious that he was the one being treated differently right now. Jiang Wei’s hands, hidden behind his back, suddenly clenched. He remained silent for a long while. Perhaps it wasn't because of the dinner. He couldn't quite explain what was wrong himself, but certain intangible things had undergone a subtle, creeping change the moment his identity as an Omega was exposed. Why hadn't he felt this way before? Because before, he could calmly deceive everyone who didn't know the truth. He could hypnotize himself over and over: *It doesn't matter if I've become an Omega. As long as I'm back, life will be the same as it was before.* He told himself repeatedly that it was fine; after all, there was no fundamental difference between an Alpha and an Omega. To deceive others, one must first deceive oneself. In this regard, he had always felt he was very successful. But the person who had unexpectedly poked a hole through that paper-thin barrier was Tang Zihe. He was the person Jiang Wei wanted to deceive most, the only person he wanted to keep the truth from with all his might. As a result, all the psychological defenses he had painstakingly built with lies had completely collapsed. He could no longer keep up the charade and had to admit from the bottom of his heart: Alphas and Omegas were different. The disparity was so vast it could circle the Earth. An Alpha's pheromones held a fatal attraction for an Omega. Even he, when wearing the other's school jacket and being "wrapped" in his pheromones, had harbored greedy thoughts. This was the most primitive, most uncontrollable instinct. It was also the source of his tangled, chaotic emotions. But he couldn't say it. These things could only—and only deserved to—rot in his heart. "It's nothing." Jiang Wei put back on his eternal, standard smile and sat back down on the floor. "I was just worried you'd find it awkward, but I didn't expect you to be so nonchalant about it. It makes me look like the weird one." "Really?" Tang Zihe clearly didn't buy that explanation. "Really. More real than real." Jiang Wei even scooted a bit closer to Tang Zihe, trying to use his actions to prove his point. He just needed a little time to wrap himself in a new layer of disguise. Maybe he couldn't make it as airtight as before, but he would at least try to make it indestructible. If all else failed... he just had to hold out until the end of senior year. At worst, he could flee to another city when it was time to apply for colleges. If he couldn't hide, he'd run—run far away. He believed that distance and time could eventually make people forget. Both were silent for a few seconds before Jiang Wei finally gave in and changed the subject. "So, how do I solve this problem? Where did I go wrong?" Tang Zihe clearly didn't intend to dwell on the previous topic either, turning to pick up the test paper on the desk. "Here," he said after a minute or two, pointing at one of the equations. "You used the wrong formula here. When calculating this physical quantity, you can't use the conclusion you reached earlier. The margin of error for that conclusion is too large..." Jiang Wei listened intently at first, but once he realized he mostly understood, he couldn't help but steal glances at the person sitting beside him out of the corner of his eye. Until the other asked, "Understand?" If the situation weren't so heavy, Jiang Wei would have almost laughed out loud—this guy actually hadn't taken the opportunity to mock him. Today truly deserved to be commemorated. "Got it, got it." Jiang Wei nodded like a chick pecking at grain. He snatched the paper back, scribbled down a few messy formulas, and then walked out the door without looking back, leaving Tang Zihe sitting alone on the floor with the distinct feeling of being used and discarded. Jiang Wei returned to his room, not even bothering to close his door. He just found a spot to sit by his bed and spent a few minutes finishing the rest of the problem. Solving problems could always make one forget worldly troubles. But getting stuck on a problem... Jiang Wei scratched his head, repeatedly brushing his bangs back from his forehead while his other hand insisted on sketching and scribbling in the blank space of the test paper. *Why on earth is this paper so hard?!* Was the purpose of this paper really to help them train for the midterms? Wasn't it actually meant to ruthlessly crush their interest in learning? Jiang Wei thought indignantly, *This is too much.* He had only finished two problems before finding another one he couldn't do. But if he ran back to Tang Zihe’s room to ask now, wouldn't he look like a total weakling who knew nothing? *So annoying.* Jiang Wei stood up and dug out his English paper from the desk, deciding to finish that set before going back to Tang Zihe. He. Absolutely. Could. Not. Look. Like. A. Total. Noob. The difficulty of the English paper was much more normal, similar to the monthly exams. Excluding the essay and the listening section, it only took him about twenty minutes to finish. It was right on schedule. Jiang Wei timed it perfectly and knocked on Tang Zihe’s door again. Though he hated to admit it, there were probably only two people in their school who could finish this physics paper—and Tang Zihe possessed unquestionable ability in that regard. "Back again?" Tang Zihe was still sitting on the floor. When he looked toward the door, there was a faint smile on his face. However, in Jiang Wei’s eyes, that expression was only a hair's breadth away from the blatant "mockery" the guy usually showed him. Jiang Wei didn't respond, simply handing over the paper. "This one." Tang Zihe scanned the entire paper again before finally managing to find a circled problem number amidst a dense thicket of scratch work. He fell silent. "Wait a second." Leaving it at that, he turned to look for something on his desk. Jiang Wei took back the test paper that had been tossed back to him, reasonably suspecting that this guy didn't know how to do it either and was looking for supplementary materials as backup. Unfortunately, the other guy just pulled out a fresh test paper from the desk. "Your scratch work is too messy; I can't see the question clearly," Tang Zihe explained simply, waving his own blank physics paper. Jiang Wei: "..." So this guy hadn't even started writing yet, but he could find Jiang Wei's mistakes just by reading the questions? The damage was minimal, but the humiliation was peak. Tang Zihe was focused on the question, having no time to notice Jiang Wei’s rapidly shifting expressions. "This problem..." Before he could finish, the phone on the desk chimed a few times, drawing both of their attention. Tang Zihe walked over, checked it, and frowned. "I need to think about this one." Jiang Wei paused, suddenly feeling much more balanced. So even this guy encountered problems that required time to think. "Do me a favor." While Jiang Wei was busy feeling vindicated, Tang Zihe sat back down and tossed his phone to him. "For what?" Jiang Wei became instantly wary. He felt like nothing good ever came of this. "Gu Renwen asked about a few problems. Reply to him for me." Tang Zihe didn't even look up, his pen flying as he wrote down several equations. "I checked just now; you've already done those problems. It shouldn't be an issue, right?" Theoretically, of course, it wasn't an issue. Jiang Wei was very confident that the problems he had finished were correct, and explaining them wasn't a problem in itself. But using Tang Zihe’s account to explain things to someone else... it felt inexplicably weird. "I..." Jiang Wei racked his brain for a logical reason to refuse. Just as he was about to say that typing out explanations was a hassle and exhausting, Tang Zihe cut him off. "If typing is a hassle, you can just send voice messages." "I don't mind." Jiang Wei’s hand holding the phone trembled. *How does this guy know exactly what I'm thinking?! This is terrifying!* "...Fine." Jiang Wei pressed the screen and brought the phone to his lips. *** | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 施总 | General Shi | A nickname for a teacher (likely surnamed Shi). | | 考前特训卷 | Pre-exam intensive training papers | Specialized practice exams given before major tests. | | 谷仁文 | Gu Renwen | A classmate of the main characters. | | 伤害性不高，侮辱性极强 | The damage was minimal, but the humiliation was peak | A popular Chinese internet slang/meme. |