ABMSI Chapter 45

“Grr—”

Duan Wei’s stomach, which had been empty all morning, broke the brief silence.
Fu Duqiu, for once, didn’t react in time. He paused, then saw the person before him slowly cover his belly. When he lowered his head, a small tuft of hair at his crown stood up — making him look a bit silly.

“Hungry?” Fu Duqiu asked softly.

They had just done a marking not long ago; although Duan Wei had gradually calmed down, a faint, unnatural blush still remained on his face.

He nodded, then belatedly asked, “Where’s my lunch?”

“…”
Fu Duqiu remembered that he’d just returned the big bag of takeout to that Alpha earlier. He stayed silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll take you to get something to eat.”

Upholding his principle of “if you can freeload, you freeload,” Duan Wei looked up at Fu Duqiu when he heard that. He really seemed famished and didn’t bother to ask about his mysteriously vanished takeout.

Lunchtime was already more than halfway over; there weren’t many people left in the cafeteria, and naturally, there wasn’t much food left either. Duan Wei wandered back and forth in front of the serving window for so long he nearly started chatting with the cafeteria auntie.
Eventually, he finally took a plate piled with food and ambled to a seat.

Fu Duqiu sat across from him. Seeing Duan Wei immediately start wolfing down food, he asked, “You went to pick up the takeout with your new deskmate?”

“Yeah,” Duan Wei answered casually. “A bunch of us ordered. The two of us lost at rock–paper–scissors, so we went to pick it up. Who knew we’d run into a teacher.”

After speaking, Fu Duqiu didn’t seem to care about getting caught at all. Instead, he asked, “A bunch of people? You didn’t order just with your deskmate?”

Hearing this, Duan Wei stared at him in confusion, not understanding the point. He just nodded and stuffed a mouthful of shredded potatoes into his mouth, mumbling, “Yeah, he looks tall and reliable, but he’s worse than me. Once he heard the teacher’s voice, he ran faster than Liu Xiang^[1].”

He shook his head speechlessly and buried his head back into his food.

Listening to this “explanation,” Fu Duqiu’s mood gradually eased, and he didn’t pursue the matter. He stood up, went next door to the milk tea shop, bought a drink, and placed it beside Duan Wei.
Then, in high spirits, he just watched him eat.

The other person lowered his head slightly — the mark at the back of his neck was clearly visible. When the breeze passed, you could even smell the intertwining of their pheromones.

Fu Duqiu watched him for a while. After a long moment, he finally withdrew his gaze.
No one noticed that, just a second earlier, a flash of indescribable Alpha possessiveness had passed through his eyes.

Busy eating, Duan Wei noticed nothing. His brain, eternally carefree, instead bubbled up with a bit of gratitude: Fu Duqiu had already helped him with temporary marking twice — what a good guy.

He really deserved to win a beauty in the future!

After the meal, they walked around the track for a bit. The afternoon sun had come out; the warmth felt comfortable all over.
But the two of them showing up together on campus was far too eye-catching, so they didn’t stay long. After a short walk, Duan Wei went upstairs.

There were only a few people scattered around the classroom. His new deskmate, an Alpha, lit up when he saw him return.
But the moment he noticed Fu Duqiu behind him, he instantly shrank back and didn’t dare say a word.

Duan Wei shot a suspicious glance at Fu Duqiu, who remained calm — looking like it had nothing to do with him.

He walked to his seat in a few steps.
The Alpha sitting next to him first checked Fu Duqiu’s expression; seeing that nothing happened, he cautiously leaned in and whispered, “Brother Duan, are you okay?”

“What could be wrong with me?” Duan Wei looked baffled.

Hearing that, the Alpha immediately remembered what he’d seen earlier in the stairwell.
That natural, superior pheromone pressure from Fu Duqiu — just recalling it made his knees feel weak.

Any Alpha could overpower an Omega with pheromones if they wanted.
What had just happened, plus Fu Duqiu’s “I’m-going-to-devour-you” gaze, made the Alpha think Duan Wei must have suffered.
Who knew he’d come back completely unharmed — and both pheromone scents on him clearly showed he’d just been soothed during heat.

“T–The school grass… soothed you?” the Alpha asked — recklessly brave.

Their situation was already known throughout the school. Duan Wei couldn’t be bothered to explain. He nodded.

“Just a temporary mark?” the Alpha confirmed yet again.

“Otherwise what did you think?” Duan Wei rolled his eyes. “Stop reading trashy stuff.”

Hearing that, the Alpha swallowed.
He wanted to say he didn’t need to read the school forum to tell something was off between them — you could just feel it —
but after thinking it over, he shut his mouth.

After a long silence, his pitiful stare finally annoyed Duan Wei.
Duan Wei frowned. “What do you want?”

“Brother Duan,” the Alpha raised a finger, his face full of pleading. “Just one last question.”

“Ask.” Duan Wei was already losing patience.

“School grass…”
The Alpha hesitated mid-sentence, then put on an expression like he was going to bravely die for the cause.
“Is he… fierce?”

Duan Wei: “…”

“Did it hurt when he bit you?” the Alpha pressed on.

Duan Wei: “Get lost.”

—

After the temporary mark, Duan Wei was clearly way more energetic. He sat through class taking notes, no trace of his earlier half-listening, half-napping state. He even managed to multitask: listening to the lecture and chatting with Fu Duqiu.

Back at winter camp, he couldn’t really talk deeply using the “school girl”’ account with Fu Duqiu since they weren’t in the same place. Aside from exchanging basic daily greetings, there wasn’t much. Things naturally got a little distant.

So while they were sitting apart the past few days, he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and build up their connection again.

His phone buzzed across the desk.
Fu Duqiu picked it up and saw a message:
[Senior, I don’t know how to do this problem… (image)]

He lifted his eyes toward where Duan Wei was sitting in the distance. Duan Wei, phone in hand, didn’t notice that he was being watched.

Fu Duqiu’s lips lifted slightly. He scribbled a few steps on scrap paper, snapped it, and sent it back.

Sure enough, Duan Wei immediately picked up his phone and started typing like lightning.

Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he looked around in full paranoia mode. When he seemed sure nobody was paying attention, he stuffed his phone into his desk drawer.

He didn’t know every little move had been witnessed.
Fu Duqiu chuckled inwardly. He looked at the string of cutesy “thank you” stickers and thought for a moment before sending another message.

On the other end, Duan Wei almost dropped his phone. The new text from Fu Duqiu was explosively bold:

[When are we meeting?]

!

Duan Wei stared, wide-eyed.
He locked the screen.
Unlocked it.
Checked again.

Nope—he hadn’t imagined it.
Panic spread across his face.

What did Fu Duqiu mean?
Why suddenly bring up meeting in person??

Sure, that was exactly what Duan Wei ultimately wanted, but he still felt weird about it. He had absolutely no idea what Fu Duqiu was thinking—this time was no exception.

Did Fu Duqiu… like the “school girl” already?

That thought made Duan Wei feel… complicated.

Just as his brain was melting into porridge, the phone buzzed again.

[I just think it’s easier to explain things in person than over WeChat. You might misunderstand if I text… don’t overthink it.]

For a moment, Duan Wei wasn’t sure whether to be relieved… or disappointed.
The emotional mess tangled up into a giant ball, leaving him dazed.

His hands reacted faster than his mind—he sent a message back saying something like “I understand, no need to trouble you,” shoved his phone away, and sighed long enough to fill a novel.

That little trick from Fu Duqiu made him think of a very real problem:
If they really had to meet face-to-face someday, would his original plan—pairing Xu Jianian with Fu Duqiu—actually work?

Not only does Xu Jianian seem to have absolutely zero feelings for Fu Duqiu, now he himself was beginning to hesitate.

Was what he was doing even right?

From his perspective it all made sense…
And yet, doubt still crept in quietly.

He leaned his head against his arm on the desk, staring blankly, expression complicated.

Across the room, Fu Duqiu watched all of this.
He wasn’t in a hurry to expose his intentions. That would only scare Duan Wei and ruin his goal.

This message was just a light probe.
As expected, Duan Wei instantly got spooked.

Fu Duqiu smiled to himself and slipped his phone back into the drawer.

The Alpha sitting beside Duan Wei finally noticed something was off, but didn’t dare ask. His eyes drifted to Duan Wei’s phone on the desk.

The screen was locked—no messages visible.
But when messages came in, the sender name still showed.
Right now, those three characters on the screen were clear as day: Fu Duqiu.

Seeing Duan Wei frowning, clearly troubled by a message he didn’t want to respond to, the Alpha thought he had it figured out.

The little couple must’ve fought…

With his mind tangled up, Duan Wei—who’d been energetic all afternoon—started spacing out again by evening.
During nighttime study, Teacher Tong called on him several times; he didn’t answer a single question right and ended up standing for the whole period.

After class, Peng Yan ran over.
“Duan-ge, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Duan Wei muttered.
“Just tired from studying.”

“Oh please. You spaced out the whole night.” Peng Yan didn’t buy it.

Duan Wei didn’t bother explaining. He just slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out.
The school gate was crowded, bustling with people.

Just as he reached the bulletin board near the entrance, he spotted a figure.

A man dressed entirely in black, face dark and unfriendly, glancing around. A few security guards nearby were watching him, ready to move at any second.

It was Fu Chengping—the same man who’d come to school and made a scene not long ago.

Recognizing him, Duan Wei immediately stopped.
He thought for a moment, then said to Peng Yan—who was still chattering beside him:

“Xiao-Yan-zi, go find a few of the boys.”