TAO | Chapter 5

Wei Xiaochi hadn't expected to run into Jiang Zhan here, and his mood suddenly became complicated.

Han Ziyang and Jiang Zhan were always inseparable, like Meng and Jiao from the idiom "Meng and Jiao never part."

Today was no exception. Han Ziyang stood not far from Jiang Zhan, a phone clamped to his ear, his eyes scanning around. He frowned and said something to the person on the other end of the line.

At the same time, Wei Xiaochi heard a voice in his ear, "Why aren't you talking?"

Very unluckily, Han Ziyang's mouth also shaped the words 'Why aren't you talking?'.

Holy crap!

Wei Xiaochi's pupils shook in shock, and as Han Ziyang's gaze was about to sweep over, he hastily turned his back.

Jiang Zhan, this damn dog, has money for cold drinks but no money to pay back debts!

If it weren't for his professional ethics, he really would have spat in Jiang Zhan's drink.

Wei Xiaochi cursed in his heart, but his words were polite, "I've already seen you, are you wearing a red basketball jersey?"

Last semester, Han Ziyang dyed his hair red like Sakuragi Hanamichi and got caught by Wei Minzhen, the dean, who shaved his head bald at the school entrance.

Today, he wore a Sakuragi Hanamichi style No. 10 basketball jersey, with matching sneakers, looking quite flashy.

"Yeah." Han Ziyang said bossily, "Hurry up and bring it over, how long have I been waiting here?"

Then he hung up.

Wei Xiaochi sneakily glanced at Jiang Zhan - he had already come down from the court, leaped over the rest area, propped his hand on the railing, swung his long legs over it, and headed towards the bathroom.

Wei Xiaochi stared at Jiang Zhan's back, full of resentment, like Sadako possessing him.

Afraid that a late delivery would cause Han Ziyang to leave a bad review for the milk tea shop, Wei Xiaochi withdrew his gaze and pressed down on his cap.

To avoid being recognized by Han Ziyang, Wei Xiaochi took off his glasses and put them in his pocket.

Han Ziyang was covered in sweat and wanted to follow Jiang Zhan to wash his face, but he had to wait here for the cold drinks.

"Hello, did you order eight drinks?" Wei Xiaochi kept his head down, deliberately lowering his voice to a muffled tone.

Han Ziyang gave a casual 'hmm' and took the cold drinks.

Seeing the drinks delivered, a group of people gathered around, chanting 'Thanks to Brother Han for feeding us', and skillfully divided the drinks.

"I ordered coconut fruit."

"Mine was plain milk tea."

"Holy shit, who ordered the whole family bucket, aren't you afraid of choking?"

Han Ziyang squeezed into the circle, shouting, "The lemonade is for Brother Zhan, keep your paws off his cup, you'll get fingerprints on it, and Brother Zhan will get mad."

Wei Xiaochi, not wearing his glasses, didn't dare to look up at these people, unable to tell who was who.

But he prejudicially thought that those who hung out with the school tyrant must be bad students, just like nerds only sticking together with other nerds.

Taking advantage of Han Ziyang, this gatekeeper, being distracted by the drinks, Wei Xiaochi, with a heart full of mischief, went to look for Jiang Zhan in the bathroom.

The sports square was on Wei Xiaochi's way home, but this was the first time he had been here since it was built.

When Wei Xiaochi followed the signs to find the place, Jiang Zhan was standing at the door.

The well-fitted dark gray casual outfit outlined the alpha's lean waist. He seemed to have just washed his face; his hair in front was completely wet, with water droplets soaking his sharp, slanted eyebrows. His dark eyes were in a standoff with a stray dog's big, wet, black eyes.

The dog had brown fur, with half-drooping ears, its eyes shiny and black, legs short and fluffy, barely reaching the alpha's calves.

The man and dog stared at each other for a dozen seconds, the atmosphere quite bizarre.

Jiang Zhan's brows were tightly knit, looking like he was facing a formidable enemy, which left Wei Xiaochi full of questions.

Before he could delve into the relationship between Jiang Zhan and this little puppy, his phone in his pocket vibrated. Wei Xiaochi took out his phone.

It was Zhou Yun's call; Wei Xiaochi quickly answered.

Zhou Yun asked, "Xiaochi, did you deliver the milk tea?"

Wei Xiaochi felt a bit guilty, "Delivered it."

"That's good." Zhou Yun clearly breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "He didn't think we were slow, did he? Did he say anything?"

The peak hours for customers had just passed, and Lu Fanfan, holding cold noodles, overheard Zhou Yun's question and curiously interjected, "Who ordered this, why do we have to deliver it? Sister Yun, is this your friend?"

Zhou Yun laughed, "My friend doesn't have that much face. This little ancestor is the boss's son."

Wei Xiaochi's mind boomed like a thunderclap; Zhou Yun's words 'This little ancestor is the boss's son' replayed three times in his head.

Tea-Color Tea Art is an internet-famous milk tea shop that has risen in popularity over the last few years, focusing on first-tier cities, with about thirty to forty stores nationwide.

Han Ziyang was actually the little prince of this milk tea shop!

Zhou Yun reminded Wei Xiaochi on the phone to be careful on the road before hanging up.

Wei Xiaochi was still in shock, holding his phone, feeling at a loss, he looked up blankly at the notorious Jiang Zhan in front of him.

Jiang Zhan was still in a standoff with the little puppy, adopting a stance of "I won't move if you don't."

Wei Xiaochi hesitated to approach, but then Han Ziyang's voice came from behind, "Brother Zhan."

Han Ziyang was now Wei Xiaochi's grim reaper, making his hair stand on end.

This job at the milk tea shop was extremely important to Wei Xiaochi; summer jobs were easy to find, but this particular part-time job on weekends was one of a kind, lose it, and it would be gone for good.

Recalling Han Ziyang's threat at the door of Class Seven last time, Wei Xiaochi didn't dare confront him head-on, so he hunched over and slunk away like a defeated dog.

Who could have thought that his journey as an ordinary beta to collect debts would be so twisty and complicated, with the debtor's friend being the son of his boss?

Is there anything more frustrating than this in the world?

Back at the shop, it was another peak hour, and no one paid attention to the dejected Wei Xiaochi.

He changed into the mascot costume in the changing room and went back out to distribute flyers.

After a day's work, Wei Xiaochi did his homework until 11 PM at night, not only his own but also in a different handwriting for the class bully.

On Monday, with the bell for morning reading ringing, Xu Yang stepped into the classroom, heading straight for Wei Xiaochi in the second row.

Wei Xiaochi quickly took out the exercise book and respectfully handed it over.

Xu Yang, with a soy milk straw in his mouth, casually flipped through a few pages, "Finished?"

"Yeah." Wei Xiaochi nodded, familiar with the routine, "The answers are not all correct, about half right."

Xu Yang was always at the bottom of the class, so the accuracy of his homework couldn't be too high, otherwise, it would be obvious.

"Not bad." Xu Yang tossed the exercise book back onto Wei Xiaochi's desk, satisfied, "Your skills haven't dropped, keep it up."

Wei Xiaochi forced a smile.

Not long after high school started, Wei Xiaochi had been roped into doing homework for Xu Yang.

Wei Xiaochi was used to this kind of thing. There were such bullies in his middle school class too, making him adept at mimicking four or five different handwriting styles to help others with their homework.

Xu Yang's bullying lasted less than half a year before the class leader caught on, after which he stopped bothering Wei Xiaochi.

"When the homework monitor collects the assignments, hand mine in too." Xu Yang took out two chocolate bars from his pocket and threw them to Wei Xiaochi, "Your reward."

Then he went back to his seat with his single shoulder bag.

Wei Xiaochi, lacking backbone, put the chocolates in his desk drawer and continued to memorize English words.

Zhang Mingyang beside him disdainfully remarked, "Lackey."

Wei Xiaochi wasn't about to tolerate his bad attitude, turning to tattle to Xu Yang, "Zhang Mingyang says I'm your lackey for doing your homework."

Zhang Mingyang's face turned green instantly.

Xu Yang gave Zhang Mingyang a cold, warning look, "Mind your own damn business."

Zhang Mingyang quickly lowered his head, avoiding Xu Yang's fierce gaze, not daring to say another word.

From a young age, Wei Xiaochi was always well-behaved, possessing many qualities of a 'good' student, such as being particularly obedient to teachers and loving to report misbehavior.

Especially in primary school, he was disliked by his peers because he reported too much, earning the nickname "teacher's lackey."

For this, he was even beaten once, after which Wei Xiaochi learned to be smarter.

Clearly, Zhang Mingyang was cut from the same cloth, always the teacher's informer from a young age, high scores but low capability, with tattling being his only solution method.

Unlike Wei Xiaochi, who reined in his behavior, Zhang Mingyang went all the way down this path, often reporting minor issues to the homeroom teacher, making him much less popular than Wei Xiaochi.

Now, Wei Xiaochi, busy earning money, had no time to be the homeroom teacher's informant.

After getting chewed out by the class bully, Zhang Mingyang visibly quieted down.

Wei Xiaochi, being petty, couldn't resist a jab, "You're the lackey, a traitor to Class One, the teacher's lackey."

If this had been in primary school, Wei Xiaochi wouldn't believe he'd ever say something like "You're the teacher's lackey."

Back then, he truly believed he was maintaining order in the class, and now... he still thought so.

So he could understand Zhang Mingyang, but he just didn't like him.

Since finding out Han Ziyang was the prince of the milk tea shop where he worked part-time, Wei Xiaochi's mood had plummeted, like pouring a bucket of ice water over a red-hot iron, extinguishing all enthusiasm.

He didn't know if it was fate or if the heavens were mocking him, but today he kept running into Jiang Zhan, this debt dodger.

During the big break when fetching water, Wei Xiaochi bumped into him at the staircase. At noon, when school let out, they had another encounter in the cafeteria.

During the afternoon physics class, the physics teacher sent him to the first floor of the administration building to get some printed papers. Class Seven was having PE, and Wei Xiaochi spotted Jiang Zhan on the playground.

When he got home after school, Wei Xiaochi realized he hadn't brought his English exercise book, returning to school for it, he encountered Jiang Zhan for the fourth time that day.

He had no strong impression of this school tyrant before; the occasional news he heard was always about fights or negative deeds.

Although they had been at the same school for two years, Wei Xiaochi felt like he had hardly seen Jiang Zhan.

But today, he had casually run into him four times.

The evening sky was painted red with clouds, tinting the basketball court. Several tall boys were on the court, wearing sleeveless and shorts for sports.

Jiang Zhan and Han Ziyang were part of the school's basketball team, scheduled to represent No. 2 High School in a match against other schools next month, so they trained for an hour after school every day.

The alpha bent his knees, dribbling the basketball, with a red wristband on his slender wrist.

A drop of sweat rolled from his forehead, hanging on his sharp jawline, and the light cast a frosty glow on his straight nose.