TAO | Chapter 97

During the long Friday break, the classroom was noisy with chatter as everyone discussed their weekend plans. A bunch of people were planning to hit the library to cram, especially with finals just around the corner.

Then suddenly, the commotion came to an abrupt halt—like someone hit the pause button.

Wei Xiaochi sensed something was off. He slowly looked up.

Jiang Zhan walked into Class 1 with those long legs of his, placed a stacked bento box in front of Wei Xiaochi’s desk, and said:

“Fruit.”

He didn’t explain any further. His gaze met Wei Xiaochi’s for a brief moment, then he turned around and left.

Everyone froze, mouths forming perfect O-shapes.

Wei Xiaochi quickly reached out, pulled the lunchbox over to himself, stuffed it into his desk cubby, then buried his head and continued sorting through the test papers from this semester.

A full forty seconds passed in stunned silence. As soon as Jiang Zhan left, the whispering started. Small groups formed, whispering and glancing toward Wei Xiaochi now and then.

Somehow, the rumor about Wei Xiaochi’s father coming to the school had spread. Since morning, he’d been the target of a bunch of curious looks. Things finally calmed down after morning reading.

In reality, no one in class actually knew what happened—they just heard that the principal called in both Jiang Zhan and Wei Xiaochi’s parents for a talk.

As for why, it was a complete mystery. The rumor mill naturally kicked in with several theories, one of them being that the two were dating.

Other guesses included Jiang Zhan bullying Wei Xiaochi, or that he dragged him into some shady mess and they both got in trouble, etc.

Recently the two had been hanging out quite a lot. For a few days straight, Jiang Zhan even came to the classroom looking for Wei Xiaochi every day.

But back then, Wei Xiaochi was tutoring the basketball team. Li Suilin also frequently asked him about make-up lessons between classes, so no one thought too much of it.

Now with this move from Jiang Zhan… it pretty much confirmed they were dating, right?

This couple felt way too unreal—left a lot of people completely shook. They looked at Wei Xiaochi with newfound respect.

Damn. You actually got Jiang Zhan, that volcano of a person? Who knew you had it in you, Xiao Wei.

—

Seeing Wei Xiaochi’s slightly red ears, Zhang Mingyang sneered, “Wow, you really made a splash today.”

Wei Xiaochi was scanning a test paper, eyes flying over ten lines at a time, occasionally marking spots with a red pen.

He took a deep breath at Zhang Mingyang’s comment but didn’t respond.

Zhang Mingyang, relentless as always, added, “Early romance, and it even got reported to the principal. You’ve really done Class 1 proud.”

Wei Xiaochi put down the paper, turned his head. “Are you done? The principal already handled it. What’s it got to do with you?”

“If you’ve got a problem, go talk to the principal yourself. Better yet, go be the principal of No. 2 High, then you can handle it however you want.”

“And another thing, I don’t want to discuss this with you again.” Wei Xiaochi’s tone was serious. “So stop bringing it up!”

Seeing how firm he was—none of that guilty, sheepish attitude from a few days ago—Zhang Mingyang’s throat moved, but he didn’t say anything.

After that, Wei Xiaochi ignored him and went back to sorting through the papers.

Jiang Zhan had made a military-style vow to the principal: he had to jump at least ten ranks in class for finals. Wei Xiaochi didn’t have any fancy teaching methods, so he chose the most old-school approach—digging through all their old tests and marking the questions that might show up again.

Zhang Mingyang stared at Wei Xiaochi for a few seconds, then slumped back in his seat like a defeated rooster.

—

Right before the third period, Wei Xiaochi sneakily opened the lunchbox.

He glanced around, then quickly lowered his head and stuffed two pieces of cantaloupe into his mouth, chewing with his face buried in his arm.

Now that Jiang Zhan was Wei Minzhen’s “key watch” target, sneaking off to their usual spot behind the trees was no longer an option. If they got caught in a “secret rendezvous,” there’d be no way to explain themselves.

Jiang Zhan figured, well, everything was already out in the open—might as well be bold about it. So today’s “extra treat” got delivered straight to the classroom.

Thanks to that, Wei Xiaochi was now being observed like a rare monkey in the zoo. Even eating felt like he was stealing something.

—

At noon, Jiang Tang came to pick up Wei Xiaochi to go to the local office and change his gender designation.

She had called ahead, so her friend stayed through lunch to wait and help process the change.

Jiang Tang was in the driver’s seat, applying lipstick. When Wei Xiaochi and Jiang Zhan got into the car, she capped the lipstick and tossed it into her bag, then adjusted the rearview mirror.

In the mirror, the delicate-faced Omega sat a little stiffly in the back seat, and greeted her politely. “Tang-jie.”

“‘Tang’-jie? Just call me jie,” Jiang Tang teased.

She was so straightforward that Wei Xiaochi wasn’t sure how to respond.

Jiang Zhan stepped in to help, “Stop teasing him.”

Jiang Tang clicked her tongue and finally got serious. “Did you bring your ID and hospital letter?”

Wei Xiaochi quickly replied, “I did. Are those two things enough?”

He’d looked it up online and heard they might need a household registration booklet too—that was partly why he hadn’t changed it earlier.

Jiang Tang fastened her seatbelt again. “My friend said the ID and proof are enough.”

Wei Xiaochi relaxed and thanked her.

Jiang Tang glanced at the rearview mirror again. Jiang Zhan was sitting next to Wei Xiaochi, shifting awkwardly, looking like he didn’t know where to put those long legs of his.

“Stop squirming. You look like a maggot,” Jiang Tang said as she started the engine. “Sit still. I’m driving.”

“Why’d you bring this tiny car?” Jiang Zhan grumbled, clearly uncomfortable.

“If everyone else can sit just fine, why can’t you? Drama queen.” Jiang Tang pressed the gas. “Right, Xiaochi? Isn’t he fussy?”

Suddenly called on, Wei Xiaochi flinched. He looked nervously at the front, opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Jiang Zhan pinched his hand.

Wei Xiaochi turned and saw Jiang Zhan staring at him with a blank expression.

“…No, he’s not,” Wei Xiaochi said to Jiang Tang.

Jiang Tang gave a knowing smirk. “Someone’s not allowed to bully the sweet little O.”

Jiang Zhan snapped, “This is between us. Don’t stick your nose in.”

Jiang Tang, still focused on the road, said lazily, “If that’s the case, why’d you call me yesterday?”

That shut Jiang Zhan up. His brow twitched a few times, and he gave up arguing.

Seeing Wei Xiaochi glance over, Jiang Zhan frowned. “What?”

Wei Xiaochi shook his head. “Nothing.”

Things had been chaotic yesterday. Thinking back, Jiang Zhan’s sudden appearance at the principal’s office felt a little… too sudden.

Actually, it was Li Suilin who tipped him off.

When Wei Xiaochi got called away by Wei Minzhen, Li Suilin sensed something was off and told Jiang Zhan after class.

—

The gender marker update was quick. The whole process didn’t even take five minutes. Since it was lunch break, there were no other applicants.

The staff member handling the case was a very handsome Alpha—probably not a full-time clerk, and clearly unfamiliar with the process.

He fiddled with the mouse for a bit, then finally entered Wei Xiaochi’s info and hit save.

“All done.” The Alpha handed back the ID. “But this card can’t be used anymore. Come back another day to get it reissued.”

Wei Xiaochi thanked him politely. “Got it. Thank you.”

Before he could reach for his ID, Jiang Zhan snatched it first.

Everyone looks weird in ID photos, and Wei Xiaochi was no exception.

The pic was from two years ago—he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet. Skinny, pale, dull-eyed. He looked like some half-starved little vampire.

“Ugly,” Wei Xiaochi mumbled, trying to grab it back. “Don’t look.”

Jiang Zhan dodged his hand, kept inspecting the photo, holding it up, comparing it to the real person.

Wei Xiaochi’s face turned bright red.

Meanwhile, Jiang Tang was chatting with the Alpha who processed the paperwork. Turned out they were classmates, and he even knew Jiang Tang’s husband, Song Linzhi.

Jiang Tang: “Let’s grab dinner sometime. You pick the place. Lao Song and I will foot the bill.”

Alpha grinned, “You said it. I’ll rep the whole class and bleed you capitalists dry.”

“Looking forward to it.”

After the chitchat, Jiang Tang snatched the ID from Jiang Zhan and handed it back to Wei Xiaochi. “Don’t bully Xiao Chi. Let’s go.”

“What do you want for lunch?” she asked with a warm smile.

Wei Xiaochi quickly replied, “I’m not picky. Anything’s fine.”

Looking at the obedient Omega, Jiang Tang smacked Jiang Zhan on the shoulder. “Look at him. You should work on your picky eating habits.”

Jiang Zhan looked annoyed but held his tongue—he owed her a favor, after all.

—

Jiang Tang took them to a Cantonese restaurant.

“The shrimp dumplings here are pretty good. Try them, Xiao Chi.” She ordered a few dishes and passed the menu to Wei Xiaochi. “Pick one more thing you like.”

Wei Xiaochi nervously took the menu. He usually didn’t get to do things like this.

After flipping through a couple pages, he said, “How about… some pork intestines?”

“Oh right! Forgot to order that. If Song Langlang found out, she’d throw a fit. Loves the pork intestines here.” Jiang Tang sipped her tea and commented, “It’s actually not bad—very light. Do you like tea, Xiao Chi?”

Wei Xiaochi answered honestly, “My family drinks tea, so I drink it too. But I don’t know much about it.”

Jiang Tang pointed at Jiang Zhan. “He won’t even touch it. Says it tastes weird. No idea how his taste buds work.”

“Who said I don’t drink tea?” Jiang Zhan tilted his head back and took a gulp—only to burn himself and scrunch up his face.

Wei Xiaochi hurriedly handed him some ice water.

Jiang Tang watched her dumb little brother and laughed so hard her cheeks hurt—until Jiang Zhan shot her a deadly glare.

—

After lunch, Wei Xiaochi went to the restroom. When he came back, the siblings were at it again.

He didn’t know what Jiang Tang had said, but Jiang Zhan suddenly tilted his chin proudly. “He liked me first. He chased me.”

The moment Wei Xiaochi heard that, he knew exactly what Jiang Zhan was talking about.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard him say this. Every time, it made him want to dig a hole and disappear.

That afternoon, back at school, Wei Xiaochi asked Han Ziyang whether Jiang Zhan had ever told him “he liked me first, chased me.”

Wo shi ni Han ge: Wasn’t that the truth? You liked Zhan ge first. You chased Zhan ge.

Even through the screen, Wei Xiaochi could feel Han Ziyang’s tone of “what’s the big deal.” Clearly, Jiang Zhan had told him too.

Wei Xiaochi was in turmoil. He couldn’t help but message Han Ziyang again.

Wei Xiaochi: Actually, I didn’t chase him first. Should I tell Jiang Zhan the truth?

Before, he thought—whatever, let him misunderstand. Even though it made Jiang Zhan say all kinds of embarrassing things, it hadn’t actually caused problems in his life, so he just let it be.

But now Jiang Zhan was out here spreading this “truth” to everyone.

If this keeps going, where’s his face supposed to go?!