Chapter 35

Before bed, Su Yu picked up his phone again and remembered that he had forgotten to reply to Young Aunt's message. He opened it and saw that Young Aunt had said she would not be able to make it back tomorrow, so she had asked him to take Yun Shang to school.

[Su Yu: Okay, leave it to me.]

He had originally planned to take Yun Shang to school anyway.

Young Aunt did not reply, probably because she was busy.

Su Yu's alt account was still receiving a flood of friend requests, most of them from Su Wang. The other party seemed to be using the verification messages as a chat window, sending him messages nonstop. Su Yu ignored every single one.

What caught his attention was that Su Hui had also tried to add him.

What was going on?

Could that idiot Su Wang have given him his contact information?

Su Hui's verification message read: I have something to discuss with you.

Luckily, he recognized Su Hui's profile picture. Otherwise, he would have thought it was someone looking to discuss business with him.

Without a second thought, Su Yu tapped reject.

He was not adding a white lotus.

He had barely rejected Su Hui when Su Wang's friend request came through the next second.

[Why did you reject my little brother?]

Su Yu: "???"

What, he was not allowed to reject him?

Oh, right. He had forgotten that Su Wang was an extreme little-brother fanatic who could not bear to let Su Hui suffer even the slightest grievance.

Then he would keep rejecting him. Every time Su Hui tried to add him, he would reject him once.

Su Yu ignored the other party and exited WeChat.

*

That morning, Gu Lin summoned his assistant to the office and said he had an extremely important task for him—one that had to be completed within half a day.

The assistant waited anxiously for Gu Lin to explain the task. If he was being given half a day, it surely would not be simple. He had already braced himself for a challenge.

"Find me a streamer."

A streamer?

Why did the president want to find a streamer?

Though he was puzzled, he did not dare ask. He continued waiting for Gu Lin's next words. The office remained silent for a long while before Gu Lin looked up at him and said, "You can start."

The assistant: "?"

There was no information?

How was he supposed to find someone?

"I sent the details to your phone. Go find them."

Once outside the office, the assistant looked at the information on his phone. He had to admit that the president had tried very hard to describe the person.

[Omega. Local IP address. Plays the recently popular RPG genre. Game UID is 183***. Username is The Landlord's Foolish Son. Talks a lot. Did a livestream at seven-thirty last night and collaborated with the game's official channel.]

Wait, he was not entirely sure, but that seemed rather specific.

Specific enough that it sounded like the president knew this person.

The assistant began filtering streamers who played that type of game. Soon, he found the replay of last night's official game collaboration stream. There were four streamers in total, two Alphas and two Omegas. At a glance, he spotted one Omega whose game streaming username was The Landlord's Foolish Son—Ruthless Little Fisherman.

He had found him that easily?

Half-convinced, he opened the streamer's homepage. The game videos he had posted displayed both his UID and username, which matched President Gu's description exactly.

Without hesitation, the assistant shared the streamer's homepage with Gu Lin.

It had been too easy. He suspected the president was questioning his ability to get things done.

[Su Yu: You said that before you came to pick me up last night, Gu Lin asked for my game ID and username?]

Because the game had opened a new map, the two of them had logged in early in the morning to grind. Even breakfast had been brought over by the housekeeper. Su Yu and Yun Shang had played for nearly two hours before Yun Shang was forcibly logged off by the anti-addiction system.

Yun Shang nodded.

Gu Lin had seen him playing yesterday and casually asked. Yun Shang had not wanted to tell him, but Gu Lin threatened that if he did not, he would not be allowed to visit next time. So Yun Shang told him.

Su Yu frowned after hearing that. What kind of bizarre move was that? Why had Gu Lin asked for his game ID? And he had even threatened Yun Shang.

Could he have discovered something?

That would be wonderful. He should hurry up and find out. Then perhaps Su Yu could finally speak freely.

"Was I... not supposed to tell him?"

Su Yu took a bite of his apple and generously indicated that it was fine. Tell him—he could tell Gu Lin anything he wanted to know.

"Then... then why did he not ask you?"

Even if Gu Lin had asked, Su Yu could not have told him. His body would not allow him to expose too much information, and besides, he was proud by nature. Did he look like someone who would ask Gu Lin such a question?

After thinking for a moment, Su Yu slowly typed a few words into his notes app: He just likes secretly prying into my affairs.

Yun Shang fell into deep thought as he stared at those words.

He did not quite understand, but it felt a little perverted.

A little after three in the afternoon, Yun Shang packed his things and prepared to head to school. Su Yu went with him and even ordered dinner at their cafeteria.

There were not many people in the cafeteria at that hour, and it was fairly quiet. Su Yu sat in a corner and waited for Yun Shang, who had gone to buy drinks.

Lu Heyun sent him a photo of the two barrel cacti Su Yu had given him last night. Lu Heyun had placed them beside his piano.

[Lu Heyun: If I put them here, I won't forget them.]

Su Yu replied with an OK sticker.

[Lu Heyun: What are you doing now?]

[Su Yu: I came to school with my cousin. We're eating in their cafeteria.]

[Lu Heyun: Cousin?]

Lu Heyun had already figured out the Su family's relationships and found this puzzling. Since Su Yu was an illegitimate child, he presumably was not close to Mother Su's side of the family. Where had this cousin come from?

Completely unaware that Lu Heyun had already uncovered his background, Su Yu replied: Yeah, the boy who was beside me last time.

Then he added another line.

[Su Yu: The boss's cousin.]

[Lu Heyun: That sounds exhausting. I didn't expect you had to look after his cousin too. This job really covers everything.]

[Su Yu: It's fine. My cousin is much easier to get along with than he is. I'd rather spend time with my cousin.]

Lu Heyun replied, but before Su Yu could read it, he heard a commotion. He looked up and saw a crowd gathered around the drink machine in the distance. Yun Shang had been shoved into the machine, and the two bottles of drinks in his arms rolled onto the floor.

Su Yu hurried over. Empty-handed, he borrowed a broom from one of the cafeteria workers, then charged into the crowd and stood in front of Yun Shang. When the Alpha who had taken photos in the restaurant saw him, he could not help taking a step back.

Su Yu had never seen the Alpha leading them. He was tall and burly, with a spiky buzz cut and a sleeveless hoodie, looking like someone not to be messed with. He glanced at the Alpha beside him and said, "You're that scared? You're afraid of an Omega?"

The Alpha said, "Th-this isn't an ordinary Omega. He's the one I ran into at the restaurant last time."

The spiky-haired Alpha looked Su Yu over from head to toe. "So it's you. What, standing up for him again?"

Su Yu felt that Yun Shang's presence here somewhat affected his ability to perform, because he could not speak, which put him at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.

The spiky-haired Alpha did not take him seriously at all. He even had to lower his head to look at this Omega. Their builds were simply too different; Su Yu had no chance of winning.

Still, Su Yu stood straight, showing no fear. The Alpha took a step toward him, and Su Yu frowned. The other party reached out and snatched away his broom. Su Yu did not let go at first and was nearly pulled off balance by the broom. Alpha strength was simply beyond anything he could match.

He had been careless.

He could not speak.

It was so stifling.

In everyone else's eyes, the outnumbered Omega kept backing away, looking utterly terrified, just like a trembling rabbit forced into a corner.

At that moment, Su Yu wondered whether an outsider like him would get arrested for hitting a student. And if he did get arrested, would Gu Lin bail him out?

Before he could think it through, Yun Shang, who had been standing behind him, suddenly rushed forward. He slammed straight into the Alpha and knocked him to the ground. The two quickly began fighting. The people nearby hurried forward to separate them, and the scene descended into chaos.

More than ten minutes later.

In the office, the dean sternly reprimanded the two students who had caused trouble. Looking at the spiky-haired Alpha with an expression of utter disappointment, he said, "Your mother entrusted you to my class, not so you could spend every day fighting and breaking school rules. If you really do not want to study, then go home."

The spiky-haired Alpha shrugged indifferently. "If you have the ability, I'd be thrilled. Hurry up and expel me."

Sitting to the side, Su Yu looked slightly puzzled. Were rich second-generation kids all this arrogant?

When he had been one, he had never been this arrogant.

The dean was so angry that his blood pressure rose, yet he could not find anything to say in retort. He turned to Yun Shang instead, wearing the same helpless expression. "You too. I never thought that a student with such good grades would get into fights."

"The two of you will each write a thousand-word self-criticism and read it aloud during Monday's flag-raising ceremony. If you can't do it, I'll call your parents."

Su Yu slapped the desk in objection. All three people turned to look at him. The dean frowned and said, "And which class are you from? I nearly forgot about you."

With Yun Shang here, Su Yu could not speak at all.

Without thinking, Su Yu dragged the dean out of the office. The students eavesdropping outside quickly made way, watching the two leave with bewildered expressions.

"Student, student, what are you doing? Let go, let go now! Otherwise, you'll be writing a self-criticism too!"

Su Yu dragged the dean down the corridor before releasing him. Now that Yun Shang was not around, he could finally speak.

"Teacher, Yun Shang was acting in self-defense. You can't make him write a self-criticism without distinguishing right from wrong, much less make him read it beneath the national flag."

"Back in the office, one of them wouldn't speak, and the other couldn't be bothered to explain himself. What else could I do but make them write self-criticisms? Besides, Yun Shang hitting someone is a fact."

Su Yu muttered quietly, "What he hit wasn't even a person."

"What did you say?"

"I mean, they were the ones who started it."

Su Yu explained what had happened to the dean, then continued, "Look at Yun Shang. He's normally quiet and barely talks, and his grades are good too. How could he possibly hit someone for no reason? They were the ones who attacked first, and they even wanted to hit me, a helpless Omega with no strength to defend myself."

"Are you telling the truth? They actually wanted to hit you too?"

Su Yu nodded and said with utmost sincerity, "Absolutely true. There were cafeteria staff there at the time; they can testify. The cafeteria also has surveillance cameras. You can check them."

"All right. I'll investigate this matter first."

"Those troublesome little brats... students, they often bully Yun Shang. I think you need to keep an eye on that."

"I understand."

"Oh, right, Teacher. Could we exchange contact information so it's easier in the future..."

Su Yu had just taken his phone from his pocket when it was confiscated. He looked at the dean in confusion, while the dean stared back at him sternly. "You're carrying your phone during class? Confiscated. Which class are you in?"

"...Teacher, I'm a parent."

"Stop trying to fool me." The dean looked him up and down and snorted. "You aren't even wearing your uniform, and you're lying too. Your class won't get the rotating red flag this week."

"I really am a parent."

"All right, all right. Go back to class. This has nothing to do with you anymore."

"Teacher, my phone..."

"Come get it from me after school on Friday. Stop playing on your phone all day and go study properly."

Su Yu followed behind him, trying to explain. "I really am a parent."

"Try fooling me again, and I'll call your parents!"