Can you be sure you're not a beta?

Jiang Lan didn't know whether his "don't need it" referred to the tissues or the umbrella.

Seeing that Wen Zhiyan still hadn't moved, he simply stuffed the tissues into his hand, then took his suitcase and headed toward the omega dormitory area.

Before leaving, he glanced back at the other omegas nearby carrying sun umbrellas, envy on his face.

After all, omegas had delicate skin, and using umbrellas in summer was normal.

Alphas, on the other hand, were all thick-skinned. Even when the sun made their skin sting with burning pain, they wouldn't carry umbrellas outside.

Partly because it was a hassle, and partly because they were afraid other alphas would laugh at them.

So plenty of alphas at the university secretly found omegas to be their umbrella partners.

The alpha could buy the umbrella, carry it, and hold it up. All the omega had to do was walk beside him, providing cover for this roundabout approach to sun protection.

Wen Zhiyan looked at the blazing, utterly shadeless road ahead and seemed to see through Jiang Lan's thoughts. He said to Jiang Lan:

"Then go find another omega. Walk them over. I can go by myself."

His tone wasn't particularly gentle. There was a touch of irritation beneath the coldness, and he sounded as though he was sulking.

Since Jiang Lan had already picked Wen Zhiyan up, he naturally couldn't just abandon him here alone again. He looked back at Wen Zhiyan and joked with a smile:

"Listen to you. You almost sound jealous."

As he pushed Wen Zhiyan's luggage forward, he kept his head turned toward him and continued spouting nonsense before Wen Zhiyan could object:

"I already have you. Why would I look for another omega?"

His voice wasn't quiet, and he happened to run into Xiao Bai, his classmate and fellow student council member, who was returning after escorting a new student.

As Xiao Bai walked up to Jiang Lan, he caught those exact words.

Not knowing what was going on, Xiao Bai greeted Jiang Lan with a "hey," then tipped his chin at Wen Zhiyan and asked with a goofy grin:

"Hey, Lan-ge, is this your boyfriend?"

Only when he heard the voice did Jiang Lan notice someone approaching. He turned, grinned, and denied it:

"He's a freshman. What boyfriend?"

Xiao Bai looked Wen Zhiyan over a couple of times, perhaps thinking that he and Jiang Lan looked well matched.

Unconvinced, he said, "No wonder so many people chased you last year and you didn't give a damn, like you'd renounced all worldly desires. Turns out your boyfriend's this gorgeous. Not cool, Lan-ge, keeping him such a secret."

Jiang Lan had only been joking with Wen Zhiyan. Now that someone was actually getting the wrong idea, he hurried to explain, "He really isn't. Don't make things up. I was joking."

He glanced at Wen Zhiyan, whose expression wasn't looking too good, and quietly told Xiao Bai:

"Also, stop staring at him. He might gouge your eyes out."

Wen Zhiyan: "..."

He couldn't be bothered to dawdle with Jiang Lan and the others under the blazing sun. He took his luggage back and continued forward.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan winked at Xiao Bai again, then hurried after Wen Zhiyan.

Xiao Bai was left standing alone, watching Jiang Lan and Wen Zhiyan's retreating backs. He clicked his tongue and curled his lip:

"And he's still saying that's not his boyfriend? Does he think I'm stupid?"

With that, he took out his phone and sent a message to his roommate group chat:

[Huge gossip! I just ran into Lan-ge and his boyfriend. They're having a spat. I bet his boyfriend caught him talking to some o, and now he's chasing after him to coax him.]

At that moment, Jiang Lan knew nothing about this.

He escorted Wen Zhiyan to the dormitory building, intending to help carry his luggage upstairs once he got his omega dorm access pass.

But after Wen Zhiyan presented his identification to the dorm supervisor, she stopped him outside.

"Your ID information hasn't been updated."

Wen Zhiyan looked at his ID card. "I updated it just this year."

The dorm supervisor still refused to let Wen Zhiyan in. "Your second gender is blank."

Seeing this, Jiang Lan stepped forward and asked Wen Zhiyan, "What's wrong?"

Wen Zhiyan took his ID back from the supervisor and told Jiang Lan, "She won't let me in."

Jiang Lan was puzzled. "Why?"

Wen Zhiyan looked at Jiang Lan. "Because I'm not an omega."

Jiang Lan looked Wen Zhiyan up and down for a long moment.

No matter how he looked at him, Wen Zhiyan looked exactly like an omega.

Beautiful, refined, pleasing to the eye.

It was just that getting anything out of him, one answer per question, was like squeezing toothpaste. Pretty annoying.

Jiang Lan frowned. "Tell me everything in one go."

Wen Zhiyan lowered his eyes. Whatever his impression of Jiang Lan, Jiang Lan was his senior and was specifically responsible for escorting new students. When he needed help, he still had to ask for it.

So he showed Jiang Lan his ID and said evenly, "I haven't differentiated yet."

Jiang Lan took Wen Zhiyan's ID, looked at the information on it, and said in surprise:

"You're eighteen and a half, and you still haven't differentiated?"

Wen Zhiyan said nothing, only nodding lightly.

For most people, secondary differentiation should have happened during puberty, as early as twelve or thirteen, or as late as sixteen or seventeen.

Only a tiny minority remained undifferentiated after reaching adulthood, and they fell outside the university's usual considerations.

That made arranging a dorm room a little troublesome.

Jiang Lan had never encountered this situation before. "Can you be sure you're not a beta?"

Wen Zhiyan nodded again and pulled up his medical examination report on his phone for Jiang Lan to see.

His hormone levels showed that he was indeed still undifferentiated.

Some of the values were also unusual. Jiang Lan could just about recognize them as indicators unrelated to betas.

That meant Wen Zhiyan could only differentiate into an omega or an alpha.

Jiang Lan returned Wen Zhiyan's ID:

"How did you fill out your enrollment information before coming here? Did you discuss it with student affairs?"

Wen Zhiyan kept his head lowered. He didn't say how his information had been submitted, only saying, "I didn't discuss it with them."

In the past, Wen Zhiyan's Mother had arranged everything for him and hadn't allowed him to make any decisions himself.

Wen Zhiyan's ability to look after himself was concerning. He had come to Haicheng early and stayed in a hotel for a month, dropping all his laundry off at the dry cleaner downstairs. It had never occurred to him that his unusual circumstances meant he needed to discuss things with the university beforehand.

Jiang Lan felt he had taken on a headache.

But looking at Wen Zhiyan, so socially awkward and pitiful, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to leave him here alone to fend for himself.

So, in the spirit of solidarity, friendship, and mutual assistance, Jiang Lan contacted student affairs, contacted Wen Zhiyan's counselor, and took Wen Zhiyan to the campus hospital for an examination.

Only after obtaining a test report stating that Wen Zhiyan had a ninety percent chance of differentiating into an omega did he fill out the special circumstances form and go to several departments to get it stamped and submit the documents.

Because the semester had just started, not all the staff in the various departments had arrived yet. The campus was huge, and tracking people down was a hassle. Jiang Lan had to borrow a little scooter and spend the entire afternoon running around with Wen Zhiyan before finally sorting out his accommodation before dark. With the university-stamped paperwork in hand, he successfully brought Wen Zhiyan back to the omega dormitory area.