ABMSI Chapter 26

After the flag-raising ceremony, Duan Wei started to notice something strange about the people around him.

Especially the younger students from first and second year — sometimes, the way they looked at him reminded him of one phrase: “When love rivals meet, their eyes burn red.”

But what made him even more uncomfortable were the other students — the ones who looked at him with shy, bashful expressions. At first, he thought it was just his natural charisma at work. But slowly, he realized that those shy looks grew even stronger whenever he was with Fu Duqiu.

Then one day, while walking past the tree-lined path on campus, he overheard a few students gossiping behind his back.

“Did you check in today? I’m already at Level 3,” one girl said.

“Have you seen it yet?” the other asked, her voice full of excitement.

“I have! It’s absolutely perfect — I don’t know who edited it, but with all that material, I bet it’s someone from Class 8.”

Duan Wei started catching words like Tieba, Fu Duqiu, edit, and then — his own name. That was the final straw. He turned around with his best friendly smile and asked,

“Hey, what are you girls talking about?”

The two girls, who had been deep in their fangirl chatter, froze as if struck by lightning when they saw Duan Wei standing right behind them.

Duan Wei hadn’t even been trying to look intimidating, but his instincts told him something was definitely off. So he said,

“Come on, let me take a look?”

The two girls went pale, speechless with panic. While they stood there frozen, Duan Wei caught a glimpse of what was playing on one of their phones.

It was Tieba.
An 18-filter, heavily edited video — starring two very familiar faces.

The longer he watched, the darker his expression became.

Holy shit. Was this… a fan edit of him and Fu Duqiu?!

In that instant, everything strange that had been happening lately clicked into place. So that’s why people had been acting weird — they were secretly shipping him and Fu Duqiu?!

He grabbed the phone and saw the name of the forum thread: “QiuWei.”

“What the hell is this? Sounds more like Okra than a ship name!”

Scowling, Duan Wei scrolled further down — only to be bombarded with titles that shattered his worldview.

“Captivity.”
“Fanfic.”
“Forced Love.”
“Fated Childhood Friends.”
“Tortured Romance.”

It looked less like a school forum and more like the pure love section of Jinjiang Literature City.

“S-senior…” the little underclassman whimpered, clutching her phone as if afraid he might smash it.

Duan Wei took a deep breath, forced himself to stay civil, and handed the phone back. Internally, he swore that he would find the bastard who made that video.

Fortunately, those edits hadn’t gone too viral yet, so once he explained things, the rumor died down — more or less.

As for the other main character of the story — Fu Duqiu — he was completely unfazed. When he heard about it, he even clicked on a fanfic titled “Love and Hate” and, after watching Duan Wei being tortured half to death in it, calmly said,

“Not bad.”

“…Get lost,” Duan Wei snapped.

A while back, Old Qin had mentioned that after the monthly exams, the school would organize a winter camp — and soon enough, the not-too-far, not-too-close trip began.

Before leaving, Peng Yan learned that they could pick roommates and bring personal stuff, so he smuggled several bottles of alcohol and a deck of cards, ready for a long night of drinking and poker.

Duan Wei, in comparison, was much more restrained. He packed a few changes of clothes, some toiletries — and a large bag of inhibitors.

By his calculations, his heat would probably hit sometime this week. Qiao Ying had originally forbidden him from going, worried that his first heat would be painful and that he wouldn’t be able to handle it. But after relentless pleading, she gave in.

Once everything was packed, Duan Wei slung his backpack over his shoulder and lazily boarded Class 8’s bus. There were about twenty minutes left before departure; most of the seats were already taken, except for two — one next to a Beta, and one next to Fu Duqiu.

Naturally, Duan Wei had no intention of sitting beside Fu Duqiu, so he headed toward the seat next to the Beta.

Just then, a flustered Omega girl from Class 8 rushed onto the bus. When she saw that the only seat left was the one beside Fu Duqiu, she froze, her eyes darting nervously to Duan Wei as if she might burst into tears.

Duan Wei sighed. Despite everything, he still considered himself a gentleman — the kind who looked after delicate Omegas. So he gave up his chosen seat and sat down next to Fu Duqiu instead.

The bus engine rumbled to life.

“See? No one wants to sit with you,” Duan Wei said wryly after sitting down.

Fu Duqiu, wearing a cap and earphones, smiled faintly and replied,

“You sure it’s not because they’re afraid of you, and that’s why they didn’t sit with me?”

“…What does that have to do with anything?” Duan Wei asked, clearly not understanding.

Sitting in front of him, Peng Yan finally couldn’t hold back anymore. He turned around and said,
“That’s because everyone thinks you two are dating now, so no one dares sit next to him.”

“……” Duan Wei was speechless. “What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be??”

He instinctively turned to look at Xu Jianian, only to see the female lead completely absorbed in her tablet, tapping away like nothing else in the world existed. She hadn’t been paying attention to their drama at all.

Duan Wei finally let out a sigh of relief. Thank god his heroine was this zen. Otherwise, with how absurd this story was getting, he’d probably lose his mind.

The trip was long—no way they’d just sit in silence for over an hour. So Peng Yan borrowed a microphone from the driver, and for the next half hour, the bus was filled with a chaotic mix of off-key wailing and ghostly shrieks.

At first, Old Qin couldn’t take it anymore. He got up from the passenger seat, intending to scold the bunch of little brats—only to end up caught in the bus karaoke fever himself.

And so, the bus echoed with the golden oldie classic:

“Mandarin ducks play in pairs, butterflies fly in twos,
The garden’s full of spring colors that make one drunk with beauty.
Tell me, oh holy monk, is this girl beautiful or not,
Beautiful or not…”

Old Qin sang with heartfelt emotion.

“Beautiful! Beautiful as hell!” the class roared back.

Duan Wei laughed so hard he could barely breathe. “HAHAHAHA—never thought Old Qin had it in him! Quick, give me the mic, I wanna sing too!!”

Fu Duqiu turned his head, glanced at him, and said dryly, “You’ve already got a mic in your mouth. With how loud you’re shouting, even Old Qin can’t out-sing you.”

“Shut up!” Duan Wei shot him a glare, then grabbed the mic. “You wanna sing one?”

“No.” Fu Duqiu refused instantly.

Duan Wei squinted at him. “What a prude.”

Then he bounded up to Peng Yan, snatched another mic, and started browsing songs. He didn’t know many—mostly old OSTs—so after a moment, he asked,
“How about The Offering of Love?”

“What do you mean The Offering of Love—Duan-ge, are you serious? That’s ancient!”

Peng Yan’s mic wasn’t muted, so his words blasted through the entire bus.
For some reason, everyone turned to look at Fu Duqiu.

Fu Duqiu, cap on and head down, gave away nothing.

“Then what should I sing?” Duan Wei asked. “Perfume Has Poison? Lotus Pond Moonlight? Love You for Ten Thousand Years?”

“……” Peng Yan’s gaze drifted toward Fu Duqiu again. After a moment of hesitation, he said,
“Duan-ge… how about Brothers, Let’s Hug?”

Duan Wei thought about it. Yeah, two grown men singing a love song together didn’t sound quite right. So he chose Brothers, Let’s Hug, something heroic and brotherly instead.

The prelude started, and Duan Wei came alive again—arms slung over Peng Yan’s shoulder, singing with wild energy.

The whole bus buzzed with laughter and noise. After the long grind of the monthly exams, everyone was bursting with pent-up energy—like monks who’d been meditating too long, ready to cause chaos over nothing.

After all that ruckus, Duan Wei finally got tired. He switched seats to sit by the window, next to Fu Duqiu again. Pulling a bottle of calcium milk from his bag (something Qiao Ying had packed for him), he took a few lazy sips through the straw and sighed contentedly.

Outside, ginkgo leaves drifted down with the breeze. Pale sunlight spilled through the window, and thin morning mist still lingered in the air, wrapping the distant mountains in a soft veil.

Peng Yan saw Old Qin had fallen asleep, so he pulled out a deck of cards from his bag and gathered a few classmates to play at the back. That left only Fu Duqiu and Duan Wei up front.

After watching the scenery for a while, sunlight made Duan Wei drowsy. He closed his eyes and mumbled, “Wake me up when we get there.”

Fu Duqiu hummed softly in reply. Soon after, Duan Wei slipped on his earphones, leaned his head against the window, and dozed off.

The bus jolted along the road, his head bumping gently against the glass with soft thuds.

Fu Duqiu turned his head. Light flickered across his face and hands. After a long moment, he slowly reached out and turned Duan Wei’s body slightly, letting his head rest on his shoulder instead.

Maybe sensing the movement in his sleep, Duan Wei murmured softly, shifted a bit, and nestled in closer, hair falling messily across his forehead.

He must’ve been deeply asleep—his grip on the calcium milk loosened, and it rolled right into Fu Duqiu’s hand.

Fu Duqiu looked down at the colorful cartoon character printed on the bottle, then at the pile of snacks stuffed in Duan Wei’s bag.
One thought crossed his mind: elementary schooler on a field trip.

No one knew how long had passed before Peng Yan finished his card game and came back.
He froze when he saw the two of them leaning against each other—Duan Wei, usually loud and rowdy, now asleep with his eyes closed, small and quiet, looking every bit the soft, delicate Omega.

Kinda… adorable.

But Peng Yan quickly tore his eyes away and sighed in relief.
Thank god we didn’t sing “The Offering of Love.”