During the lunch break, Lu Guifan didn’t nap on his desk as usual but was gone for a full hour. Jiang Ruotang guessed he had gone to talk to Director Wang about changing seats, which made him too excited to sleep.

Lin Lu, though lying on his desk, was facing Bai Yingchuan’s direction, watching his every move. At this moment, Bai Yingchuan was reading a script, but his peripheral vision kept glancing towards Jiang Ruotang. This made Lin Lu feel uneasy and curious. What was it about Jiang Ruotang that had attracted Bai Yingchuan’s attention?

He turned to Jiang Ruotang and found him propping his chin on his hand while scrolling through his phone, a happy smile on his lips like a little fox that had just tasted honey. Just looking at his expression inexplicably put one in a good mood.

And… a pleasant scent emanated from Jiang Ruotang’s body, carrying the clear sweetness of apple and the refreshing translucence of mint. It was the first time Lin Lu had smelled such a scent, more delightful than any fruit tea.

“Lin Lu, what are you doing?” Jiang Ruotang turned his head to look at him, amused.

Only then did Lin Lu realize he was too close to Jiang Ruotang; his nose was almost touching his shoulder.

“S-sorry, it’s just that you have a really nice smell on you. Did you change your body wash? It smells a bit like apple, and a bit like mint…” Lin Lu asked.

This question also made Bai Yingchuan, who was reading his script nearby, pause and wait expressionlessly for Jiang Ruotang’s answer.

Jiang Ruotang mentally patted his chest. He had just been too excited thinking about becoming deskmates with Lu Guifan and had probably released a little bit of pheromones.

He smiled without a hint of a blush or a racing heart and said, “At breakfast, Sister Juan made apple juice and added a bit of mint syrup. I spilled a little on my collar while drinking it.”

“Oh.” Hearing this, Lin Lu nodded.

Bai Yingchuan, however, turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the back of Jiang Ruotang’s neck. The collar of his school uniform shirt snugly covered the skin that sparked one’s imagination.

Just then, Lu Guifan walked through the classroom door and passed by Jiang Ruotang’s desk.

Jiang Ruotang was about to grab him and ask about the situation, but the guy’s long legs moved so fast that he was out of reach in a single step. Moreover, the guy’s face was tense. It seemed his chat with Director Wang hadn’t gone well.

Could it be that his dream of being deskmates was shattered?

Jiang Ruotang’s face fell. He quickly typed on his phone: [They say it takes ten years of cultivation to cross a river in the same boat, and a hundred years to share a pillow. May I ask if my cultivation in my past life is enough to be your deskmate in this one?]

Lu Guifan glanced at the message that popped up on his phone, especially the line “a hundred years to share a pillow.” A faint heat rose to his face, and he quickly replied: [Stop talking nonsense.]

Jiang Ruotang looked at the message and gave himself a thumbs-up in his heart.

Hehe, Lu Guifan is shy again.

A little while later, a second message from Lu Guifan unexpectedly popped up: [Pay attention in class. Stop letting your mind wander.]

Seeing this message, Jiang Ruotang smiled. It seemed the seat change matter was mostly settled.

Jiang Ruotang waited and waited, enduring and enduring, and finally made it to the end of the afternoon classes.

Director Wang entered the classroom, coughed once, and the students who were still discussing what to eat for dinner immediately fell silent.

“You are all in your third year of high school. Some of you have grown taller, and some have the need to help each other with studies. The teachers have discussed it and decided to adjust your seats.”

Indeed, the long-awaited moment had arrived!

Only this time, they weren’t asked to line up in the hallway by height. Instead, Director Wang made adjustments based on his visual assessment of their height changes.

Zhao Changfeng was the first to be called up, moved back one row, right behind and to the side of Lu Guifan.

Even Jian Sha and Cai Ji were called up, but Jiang Ruotang’s turn was slow to come. He was getting anxious, tapping his feet under the desk, wondering how much longer Director Wang was going to drag this out.

Lin Lu noticed Jiang Ruotang’s anxiety and whispered comfortingly, “Ruotang, don’t worry, your seat won’t be changed…”

It seemed Lin Lu still thought Jiang Ruotang was pining for Bai Yingchuan.

Even Geng Yu, sitting behind Bai Yingchuan, started mocking Jiang Ruotang: “After all the trouble to get so close to Bai Yingchuan, of course he’s reluctant to give up such a prime spot. Lin Lu, I say you should just switch with him, let him stick close to Bai Yingchuan. Too bad Jiang Ruotang is just a beta and can’t smell Bai Yingchuan’s pheromones.”

Who knew that Jiang Ruotang wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he turned back to look at Geng Yu: “Geng Yu, I hear you’re also an alpha. What does your pheromone smell like? Rotten eggs? Or stinky tofu? Good thing I can’t smell it, otherwise sitting so close to you would be so uncomfortable.”

“You…” Geng Yu was initially angry, but upon meeting Jiang Ruotang’s beautiful eyes, he somehow swallowed his anger.

Just then, Director Wang glanced coldly at Jiang Ruotang: “Jiang Ruotang, you switch seats too. Otherwise, you’ll just be thinking about chasing celebrities all day, how will you have the mind to study properly!”

In the past, upon hearing Director Wang’s scolding, Jiang Ruotang would have stuck his neck out and argued with him.

But on this day, Jiang Ruotang asked, “Where am I moving to?”

“You switch places with Lu Guifan’s deskmate.”

Hearing this, Geng Yu gloated. Lu Guifan was a big block of ice, completely uninterested in anything but studying. Being his deskmate would not only be boring to death but also incredibly stressful.

Sure enough, Lu Guifan’s deskmate quickly packed his things as if fleeing a disaster and eagerly arrived at Jiang Ruotang’s desk.

Before Lin Lu could even comfort Jiang Ruotang, he saw him sweep up his things from the desk and leave without a moment’s hesitation!

The whole class was expecting Jiang Ruotang to have a big showdown with Director Wang. Even before Geng Yu could start his taunts, Jiang Ruotang was gone?

Director Wang, standing on the podium, was also taken aback. Although Lu Guifan had come to talk to him today, Director Wang had said Jiang Ruotang would never agree. He hadn’t expected this guy to be actually willing to sit with the class president. Was he really going to study hard?

Just as Jiang Ruotang sat down and was about to stuff his schoolbag into the desk drawer, Lu Guifan reached out and stopped him. “Wait a moment.”

“What’s wrong? These books are heavy…”

“Put them on the desk for now.”

After speaking, Lu Guifan turned to the side, bent down, and pulled out some trash from the drawer—things like leftover banana peels, plastic bags from breakfast, and even a spicy gluten strip wrapper.

Jiang Ruotang was stunned, wondering if Lu Guifan’s former deskmate had some kind of trash hoarding habit.

After Lu Guifan put all the trash into a plastic bag he had prepared, Jiang Ruotang pulled out some wet wipes from his schoolbag.

“Give them to me.” Lu Guifan held out his hand to Jiang Ruotang.

Jiang Ruotang thought he wanted to wipe his hands after taking out the trash, so he gave him the wipes.

Who knew that Lu Guifan would very deftly wipe the inside of the drawer and the area under the desk before saying to Jiang Ruotang, “You can put your things in now.”

The whole class was silent.

Jian Sha tilted her head and said, “Is there something wrong with my eyes, or am I hallucinating? Lu Guifan is actually helping someone wipe their desk?”

Jiang Ruotang happily arranged all his things. Among the people surrounding Lu Guifan, only Jiang Ruotang was smiling. He couldn’t even resist tugging on Lu Guifan’s sleeve under the desk.

The scent of apple mint diffused through the air.

Lu Guifan’s heart was enveloped by this warm, soft pheromone. This was the first time in his entire life that someone was so carried away with joy just by becoming his deskmate.

Lu Guifan gently tapped the back of his hand and reminded him in a low voice, “It’s leaking.”

“Oh.” Jiang Ruotang quickly reined in his emotions.

Now that the seats were all changed, everyone could leave the classroom to eat dinner.

Zhao Changfeng, sitting in the back row, looked listless, slumped over his desk.

Jiang Ruotang poked the crown of Zhao Changfeng’s head. “Hey, aren’t you eating dinner?”

Zhao Changfeng mumbled, “Not eating. I’m in my susceptible period, no appetite.”

Jiang Ruotang’s eyes lit up. He asked, “Then how often does your susceptible period come? Once a month? Three months? Or a year?”

“About once every two months.”

“Then besides having no appetite, do you get a fever? Do you want to watch porn? Do you…”

“If you ask one more question, I’ll punch you.”

“Then let me ask one last question. What does your pheromone smell like?”

Zhao Changfeng looked up, his expression somewhat exasperated. “You’re a beta, why do you care about the smell of pheromones? You can’t smell them anyway.”

“I’m curious!”

“My pheromone scent is dark chocolate.”

“Wow, sounds delicious,” Jiang Ruotang deliberately continued to tease him.

“It’s not milk chocolate, it’s not sweet. I don’t know where you get your appetite from.”

Jiang Ruotang pretended to stand up and leave, but he secretly bent down, wanting to smell what dark chocolate pheromones were like.

The next second, Lu Guifan’s hand pressed over his nose and mouth, pulling him up.

“Hurry up and go get your takeout.”

Jiang Ruotang was a little disappointed, but he caught the faint scent of cliff cypress wood from Lu Guifan’s wrist and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Lu Guifan felt the tip of Jiang Ruotang’s nose brush against his wrist and immediately pulled his hand back as if electrocuted.

Who knew that Jiang Ruotang would grab his wrist and take another sniff, but sadly, there was nothing left.

“If I could smell this during an exam, it would be so refreshing and clear my head. I could score a hundred points!”

“Scoring a hundred on a one-hundred-and-fifty-point paper isn’t exactly a compliment to this scent, is it?”

The two walked downstairs together, brushing past Meng Yang and a few other jocks.

Meng Yang paused and looked back at Jiang Ruotang’s retreating figure. “Hey, is that Jiang Ruotang from Class One? I heard he fainted and was hospitalized before. How did he suddenly become so much more pleasant to look at after coming back?”

“Hahaha, Meng Yang, are you so disliked by Omegas that you find even a beta handsome?”