Lu Guifan froze. Jiang Ruotang was practically leaning against his chest. Through the school uniform, he could feel Jiang Ruotang’s body temperature, as well as the endless waves of pheromones. It was sweet but not cloying, so clear that it seemed to penetrate every cell in Lu Guifan’s body, reaching deep into his brain.

Even though Jiang Ruotang was the one who had suddenly entered his heat, it was Lu Guifan whose heart was pounding.

Jiang Ruotang closed his eyes, resting in Lu Guifan’s embrace. A thin sheen of sweat had formed on his forehead, causing a strand of his bangs to stick to it. His eyelashes trembled slightly, looking both innocent and alluring.

Lu Guifan was about to take a deep breath, but the scent of apple mint made his throat constrict. He could only hold his breath, carefully unbuttoning the back collar of Jiang Ruotang’s shirt, afraid he might accidentally touch him.

Who knew that Jiang Ruotang would murmur something, his nose nuzzling against Lu Guifan’s chest as if dissatisfied with how slow Lu Guifan was moving. Because of this, Lu Guifan’s fingertips brushed across Jiang Ruotang’s gland.

As Jiang Ruotang trembled slightly, Lu Guifan also felt an inexplicable shiver. The feeling, like an electric current shooting from his heart straight to his brain, was unprecedented.

He couldn’t delay any longer. Lu Guifan raised the inhibitor and sprayed it on the back of Jiang Ruotang’s neck. The inhibitor spread rapidly like a mist, neutralizing the pheromone scent in the air. This also gradually alleviated Jiang Ruotang’s heat.

More importantly, Lu Guifan could finally breathe again.

“It still hurts so much…” Jiang Ruotang said, sounding a bit wronged.

Although his mind had cleared up a lot and his body was gradually regaining its balance, he still didn’t want to leave Lu Guifan’s embrace. Especially the area of his gland on the back of his neck, which, while no longer burning, still ached.

Lu Guifan’s hand hovered over the gland. He wanted to comfort Jiang Ruotang, but that place was very special. He felt it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to do so.

He empathized with Jiang Ruotang’s pain at that moment. He remembered what Dr. Yang had told him: Jiang Ruotang had rapidly differentiated under his influence, so Lu Guifan’s pheromones had a guiding and soothing effect on him.

The scent of cliff cypress wood gently lingered around Jiang Ruotang’s gland, like a barely-there veil of gauze. Jiang Ruotang’s head moved, and his furrowed brow relaxed. This finally made Lu Guifan breathe a sigh of relief.

He gently patted Jiang Ruotang’s back, waiting for him to recover.

After a while, hearing someone walk past outside the microwave room, likely to get hot water for coffee, Jiang Ruotang realized they had been locked in for too long.

Lu Guifan looked at him, assessing his current state.

Jiang Ruotang took an inhibitor patch out of his pocket. Without a word, he just held it out in front of Lu Guifan.

Lu Guifan sighed. Jiang Ruotang had only differentiated a short while ago and wasn’t yet as skilled as other omegas at applying the patch to his gland.

“Turn around, I’ll help you put it on,” Lu Guifan whispered.

Jiang Ruotang turned around and obediently lowered his head. The reddened area was gradually returning to normal.

Lu Guifan tore off the backing and, through the inhibitor patch, touched Jiang Ruotang’s gland. That place was fragile and delicate, seeming to truly need careful protection. He smoothed the patch on, and it gradually merged with the skin on the back of his neck.

“Let’s go, time to get out.”

“Mm.”

Lu Guifan opened the door first. After confirming that the person who had come for water had gone far away, he led Jiang Ruotang back to the classroom.

There were still over twenty minutes before class started. Jiang Ruotang didn’t think much of it and lay down on the desk to continue sleeping. He hadn’t slept well earlier, and after using the inhibitor, he was so sleepy that he fell into a deep sleep within three seconds.

A few minutes before class, students started to get up one by one. Some went to the restroom, some went to get hot water, and some went to wash their faces to wake up.

Bai Yingchuan and Lin Lu were in line to make coffee. Geng Yu, who was standing in front of them, suddenly closed his eyes. “Hm? What’s this smell… like apple and mint…”

Lin Lu, in the back, felt a stir in his heart. He thought of the scent he had smelled on Jiang Ruotang that day.

And Bai Yingchuan, in the front, actually turned his face towards the microwave room, closed his eyes, and seemed to be seriously experiencing and distinguishing something. Lin Lu had never seen such a focused expression on Bai Yingchuan’s face. His heart felt a sharp pain, as if pricked by a needle.

After filling his cup with hot water, Bai Yingchuan didn’t turn back to the classroom but walked towards the microwave room.

Lin Lu immediately followed. “Yingchuan, what are you doing?”

“I’ve been here for a long time, but I’ve never been inside the microwave room,” Bai Yingchuan’s expression was faint, making it impossible to guess his inner thoughts.

After they went in, they found it was actually very simple inside. There was only a table for placing lunch boxes while queuing, and the microwave at the very back. The smells of various dishes still lingered, and Lin Lu wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like the smell in here.

Bai Yingchuan lowered his eyes. His keen sense of smell allowed him, despite the interference of various scents, to distinguish the intertwined pheromones of apple mint and cliff cypress wood. His brows furrowed, and he turned and walked out.

Lin Lu still followed behind him. “I told you! There’s nothing to see in the microwave room, and the smell is really strong.”

Bai Yingchuan walked back to the classroom through the back door, which happened to pass by Jiang Ruotang’s desk.

Jiang Ruotang was fast asleep, his face turned towards Lu Guifan’s side, completely unguarded.

Bai Yingchuan suddenly bent down, half-squatting. Lin Lu was wondering what he was doing when he saw that he was actually tying his shoelace. But from Bai Yingchuan’s height, he could see the inhibitor bottle in Jiang Ruotang’s desk drawer. He froze.

When he stood up, he leaned on the corner of Jiang Ruotang’s desk and lowered his eyes, looking at the back of his neck. It was covered by the ends of his hair and his shirt collar, making it hard to see clearly.

The next second, Lu Guifan’s arm reached out and gently patted Jiang Ruotang’s head, conveniently blocking the back of his neck.

“Get up. Class starts in three minutes.”

Bai Yingchuan met Lu Guifan’s gaze. It was cold and full of warning. It was an alpha’s innate possessiveness and protectiveness over their omega.

No one knew how many rounds their gazes clashed. As Jiang Ruotang slowly sat up and rubbed his head, the hostility in their eyes vanished instantly, as if nothing had happened.

Jiang Ruotang tilted his head and glanced at Bai Yingchuan, seeming not to understand why he was by his desk. But he wasn’t interested. He just complained to Lu Guifan, “Ah, why did you wake me up so late? I wanted to get hot water to make coffee.”

Lu Guifan said calmly, “If you don’t mind, you can use the hot water in my thermos.”

“Okay! Okay!”

Jiang Ruotang’s happiness was too obvious. He twisted open his own cup lid, poured in coffee powder, and, as if afraid Lu Guifan would change his mind, opened his thermos.

“I’ll do it. You’re so clumsy, you’ll spill it on the desk.”

After speaking, it was Lu Guifan who opened the cup and poured half a cup of water for him.

Bai Yingchuan only glanced at them before continuing to walk forward, as if nothing had happened before.

Lin Lu looked at Bai Yingchuan’s back, a feeling of panic rising from the depths of his heart, the kind of panic from desperately chasing something you can never catch.

Another week’s gym class arrived. Jiang Ruotang was happy, saying he could play badminton with Lu Guifan again.

Zhao Changfeng said coolly from behind him, “Heh, you’d better not collapse from low blood sugar again. We’d have to call an ambulance for you again.”

Jiang Ruotang suddenly turned around and slapped Zhao Changfeng on the head. “You annoying ghost, you have no friends.”

Lu Guifan, who was usually not very enthusiastic about physical activities, took the initiative this time to go to the sports equipment storeroom. Using his height advantage, he got a pair of rackets and a shuttlecock tube.

Looking at the eagerly waiting Jiang Ruotang, Lu Guifan waved the racket, signaling him not to wait in line and to just go to the court and wait.

The two happily started a game of keeping the shuttlecock in the air. But they only played for half a class before Lu Guifan gave the rackets and the court to other students.

Jiang Ruotang was a little unhappy, but Lu Guifan leaned close to his ear and said, “Your pheromones are unstable. Excessive exercise can lead to a loss of control.”

That made sense. Jiang Ruotang then dragged Lu Guifan to watch Zhao Changfeng play basketball.

Today, their Class One was playing against Class Six in basketball. To put it bluntly, it was a showdown between Zhao Changfeng and Meng Yang.

Every time Zhao Changfeng got the ball, Jiang Ruotang would shout loudly. If Meng Yang’s layup was blocked by Zhao Changfeng, Jiang Ruotang would boo him without hesitation.

The spectating Class One students gradually followed Jiang Ruotang’s rhythm to cheer for Zhao Changfeng, and in the end, their class won the game.

As the players from both teams drank water and wiped their sweat, Meng Yang looked unhappily in Zhao Changfeng’s direction, because Jiang Ruotang was handing Zhao Changfeng a Coke and smiling so brightly.

“Tsk, did he move on to that idiot Zhao Changfeng after Bai Yingchuan didn’t respond?”

“I don’t think so… I feel like Ruotang has been strange lately. He seems to like hanging out with alphas with high pheromone levels, like the class president, Zhao Changfeng, and Cai Ji.”

Meng Yang turned around and saw it was Lin Lu.

Lin Lu looked as if he had said the wrong thing and quickly left.

Meng Yang picked up a towel to wipe his sweat. As he covered his face, something seemed to come to his mind.

After class, everyone returned the sports equipment to the storeroom and went back to their respective classrooms.

Jiang Ruotang took the rackets and shuttlecock tube, preparing to return them to the sports equipment storeroom.

“I’ll go,” Lu Guifan said.

“You went to all the trouble to get these rackets. How could I make you run all the errands?”

Jiang Ruotang smiled and followed the crowd into the storeroom. The lower shelves were already full, so Jiang Ruotang had to lift the rackets up to put them on the upper level. He was a little short. Luckily, someone from behind helped by giving the rackets a push.

Just as Jiang Ruotang was about to say “thank you,” a malicious voice came from behind his ear.

“Yo, Jiang Ruotang, I never knew you smelled so fragrant after sweating, just like an omega.”

Jiang Ruotang turned around and met Meng Yang’s gaze.