ABMSI Chapter 66

“I’m walking with you.”

When Fu Duqiu spoke, his gaze locked onto Duan Wei. His tone allowed no room for refusal. Even Peng Yan, standing beside them as a fellow Alpha, couldn’t help but take a small step back.

Peng Yan gave Duan Wei a look and sighed.

Go ahead, keep messing around. Step on the tiger’s tail, see what happens.

Even someone as slow as Duan Wei finally sensed something different in the air. He paused, feeling that Fu Duqiu seemed oddly eager, yet he didn’t dare turn him down outright. Caught between advancing and retreating, he could only laugh awkwardly to smooth things over.
“Then how about… we don’t split up? We just walk together?”

Seeing him back down, Fu Duqiu’s expression remained unchanged, but he did loosen his grip on Duan Wei’s clothes. For some reason, Duan Wei caught a fleeting emotion in his eyes—like jealousy… and a hint of sadness.

But it happened so fast he thought he imagined it.

The little incident passed quickly. The four of them continued toward the long path of lantern riddles. Red lanterns lined both sides of the street, still carrying traces of festive celebration. They stopped in front of a stall filled with prizes. Peng Yan pointed to a folding fan at the center and said, “Xiao Wei, check out that one. Isn’t it nice?”

It was a folding fan with a white surface, and when opened, it revealed a painting of jade-green mountains and rivers. The vendor handed it to them for a closer look. The fan felt cool to the touch. With his father’s influence, Duan Wei had picked up a bit of taste. He could tell at a glance that, although it wasn’t a rare artwork, it was still worth collecting.

Seeing that the group was interested, the vendor said, “This is the final prize from my stall. You can only win it by solving riddles.”

“No problem. We brought a genius!” Duan Wei grinned and patted Fu Duqiu’s shoulder. Fu Duqiu didn’t respond out loud, only staying silent as a form of agreement.

They looked like students, so the vendor didn’t take them seriously. He plucked a string of bamboo slips from a branch above him, each one covered in riddles. Duan Wei grabbed the bunch and glanced through them. It was like looking at math problems—you don’t know me, I don’t know you. Perfect strangers.

Xiao Jianian studied the slips, deep in thought. Then she picked one up.
“I know this one. ‘Following the example set above.’”

Duan Wei looked over. The slip read: ‘The moon walks, and I walk with it.’
This time he managed to understand without Fu Duqiu’s explanation. The top character has “walking,” the bottom character “following.” That would be ‘shàng xíng xià xiào^[1].’

Peng Yan suddenly understood too and solved a few more. A clueless Duan Wei watched them work through the slips and eventually reached a conclusion: riddles are worthless creatures. Once you get them, they’re ridiculously easy; if you don’t, you could bore a hole through the bamboo with your eyes and still get nothing.

By the end, Peng Yan and Xu Jianian—man and woman pairing—had solved most of them. Duan Wei had 100% participation and 0% contribution.

Finally, when they couldn’t figure out a few remaining slips, Xu Jianian passed them to Fu Duqiu.

Fu Duqiu swept his eyes over the riddles. Even solving lantern riddles—one of the most poetic festival activities—his expression was exactly the same as when he solved math problems in class: calm, composed, utterly unruffled.

Riddle: “The bright moon rises, illuminating the garden.”^[2]
Fu Duqiu: “Yen.”

Riddle: “The moon hides behind tall trees.”^[3]
Fu Duqiu: “杳 (yǎo).”

Riddle: “Wish to ascend the moon palace to pick laurel branches (guess an idiom).”
Fu Duqiu: “Unreachable^[4].”

After about a dozen rounds of this, the vendor’s face transformed from self-assured to completely defeated. When Fu Duqiu set down the last slip, the vendor surrendered entirely, handing over the folding fan Xu Jianian had chosen earlier.

They had spent almost half an hour solving riddles, and the surrounding tourists had all started watching. Most visitors came just to play around—it never occurred to anyone that someone could solve every riddle so effortlessly.

After the prize was wrapped, the four of them left the stall. The lively alley seemed to quiet instantly as they walked away, as if all the vendors feared Fu Duqiu might come solve their riddles too.

They wandered around the lantern street for a while before finding a place to rest.

Not far away was the music fountain at the center of the lake. From their seats, they could faintly hear the music—sometimes gentle, sometimes lively—lifting their spirits without effort.

As soon as he sat down, Duan Wei stretched carelessly and let out a long sigh. He had always loved strolling at night, then finding a quiet spot to sit for an hour. His friends always joked that he was “retired ahead of schedule.”

The four gathered around a round table. Xu Jianian couldn’t take her hands off the folding fan, opening and closing it repeatedly. Other than photography, this was the first time Duan Wei had seen her so genuinely fond of something. He smiled.
“You really like that fan, huh?”

“Yeah,” Xu Jianian grinned as she tucked the folding fan back into its bag, “it’s really pretty.”

“I think so too,” Peng Yan agreed from the side. “You’ve got good taste.”

Hearing that, Xu Jianian glanced at him with a sweet, bashful smile in her eyes.

Because the lake was nearby, the evening breeze carried a sharp chill that made Duan Wei shiver. Xu Jianian sneezed from the cold too. Seeing this, Duan Wei instinctively looked over at Fu Duqiu.

Put the jacket on her, put the jacket on her!

He raised his brows, darting glances between Fu Duqiu and Xu Jianian, so obviously hinting that even Peng Yan couldn’t bear it anymore. He shut his eyes, unable to watch the disaster unfold, and kicked Duan Wei’s leg hard under the table.

But Duan Wei noticed nothing, still signaling wildly with his eyes. And Fu Duqiu seemed to understand his “message.” He took off his jacket.

Duan Wei nodded in satisfaction.

But in the next second, he felt a weight fall over his shoulders. Fu Duqiu had draped the jacket over him instead.

“…” Duan Wei automatically reached up to take it off, but as soon as he moved, Fu Duqiu pressed his hand down, stopping him.

His hand was ice-cold, making Duan Wei shiver as Fu Duqiu’s low voice came:

“Keep it on.”

The atmosphere was so strangely charged that even Peng Yan couldn’t bear to look. Wearing an expression like he’d just witnessed a tragedy, he quickly took off his own jacket and draped it over Xu Jianian.

Then he blurted out, “Do you want milk tea?”

As soon as he said it, Xu Jianian acted like she’d gotten a secret signal. She slapped the table and said, “Yes!”

And without waiting another second, the two of them shot up from their seats at the exact same moment. They turned and ran off, as if terrified Duan Wei might chase them down.

Left behind, Duan Wei sat back down awkwardly. With Xu Jianian gone, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. He leaned forward, palms on the table, staring at Fu Duqiu.

“What is your problem?”

“…”

Fu Duqiu looked at him calmly, giving no answer.

Seeing how cold and unresponsive he was, Duan Wei felt like everything he’d done tonight had been for nothing. He hadn’t accomplished a thing, and he was getting attitude on top of it. His brows knitted tighter.

“That day you said you didn’t know how to confess? You weren’t lying. You really, truly, absolutely don’t know how!”

“So the only thing you remember from that day… is that one sentence?” Fu Duqiu shot back instantly. His quick retort stunned Duan Wei into silence.

What? Did he say something else that day? Did Duan Wei… forget?

Seeing him speechless, Fu Duqiu’s brows furrowed deeper. At first, he’d thought Duan Wei was just pretending not to understand his feelings. But after these past few days, he’d realized the truth.

Duan Wei wasn’t pretending.
He genuinely didn’t understand.
He had no idea how much Fu Duqiu liked him.

So tonight, Fu Duqiu knew he had to do something. Just as he was about to speak, a group of people suddenly appeared nearby.

They carried filming equipment and wore special passes around their necks — the TV crew they’d seen at the entrance earlier.

They had actually been watching the two boys for a while. The pair stood out easily in the crowd. Even from afar, they drew attention naturally.

Seeing a perfect moment, the crew set up their camera by the lakeside. A reporter stepped forward with a microphone:

“Hello, we’re from XX Broadcast. May we conduct a short interview with you?”

“Uh…” Caught off guard, Duan Wei nodded in a daze. He stood up with Fu Duqiu and answered, “Sure.”

The reporter smiled and started firing questions mechanically.
“How did the two of you find out about tonight’s lantern festival?”

“We heard about it from a taxi driver,” Duan Wei answered politely, smiling with ease. He didn’t shy away from the camera at all, talking smoothly and confidently.

The reporter instantly warmed up to this Omega.

“And what would you say is your biggest gain from tonight’s event?”

Duan Wei: “We solved riddles and won a folding fan for our friend — though all the credit goes to him.”

He patted Fu Duqiu’s shoulder with a big carefree grin.

The reporters all glanced at Fu Duqiu then. Even silent, this Alpha demanded attention. His flawless face would look amazing even on screen, easily surpassing many actors.

More questions followed — for both of them. They answered effortlessly.

Finally, the reporter paused, then held the microphone in front of Fu Duqiu.

“Here’s the last question — on behalf of everyone watching, both men and women: Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

The people around them even chuckled, but Fu Duqiu’s expression tightened.

It was as if everything had been orchestrated, leaving him with no reason to stall any longer. The emotions burning in his chest surged, overflowing.

Time seemed to stop.
The music fountain roared softly in the background.
The breeze brushed past the crowd, who closed their eyes and enjoyed the quiet moment.

Only in this small space by the lake… was something about to explode.

Fu Duqiu seemed to make up his mind. He turned to the camera and smiled faintly.

“I do.”

Before Duan Wei could even react, Fu Duqiu turned his head, locking his eyes onto him.

Those dark eyes softened, curving ever so slightly — like rippling spring water overflowing with gentleness.

Duan Wei stared blankly back, feeling something bloom uncontrollably in his chest, like a beating drum trying to jump out.

Without waiting for another breath, before anyone could speak, under everyone’s shocked gaze —

Fu Duqiu looked straight at Duan Wei and said, without hesitation:

“I like you.”

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Author’s Note:
Confession meter: 100%✔️