In July, the results of the college entrance exam were announced, and Huainan No. 1 High School remained the top school in Huai City.

However, this year, the number of students who made it into the top 2 was half of previous years, and compared to other key high schools in other cities, it lagged behind.

The principal couldn’t swallow this bitter pill and was eager to see the next batch of students redeem the school’s reputation. So, the incoming senior students were informed to start early, with classes beginning in mid-August, 15 days earlier to enter the review phase.

Chu Tao and Chu Xingning received the sudden notice and rushed back from their grandmother’s house in the countryside, bringing a lot of wild jujubes.

On the first day of school, the campus was relatively empty, and even the small supermarket near the school gate hadn’t opened yet.

Chu Xingning had planned to buy a drink, but it seemed impossible now.

He took a washed wild jujube from the plastic bag and popped it into his mouth.

As he ate, he tilted his head to look at Chu Tao. A few seconds later, Chu Xingning handed the rest of the wild jujubes to Chu Tao. “Take these to class and share them with the others. I don’t have too many close friends.”

Aside from Xi Xun, Chu Xingning didn’t get along well with the other Omegas in the class. It would feel awkward to suddenly give them local specialties, and he thought Chu Tao probably needed them more, especially since Jiang She was involved.

No matter what, Jiang She had really helped Chu Tao a lot, so out of both reason and emotion, he felt it was right to show some appreciation.

Chu Tao pursed his lips but didn’t refuse. “Okay.”

He took the wild jujubes from Chu Xingning’s hands and held both bags in his grasp.

After the hall cleared, Chu Tao walked upstairs alone.

It was still the summer, so even though school started early, the rules weren’t as strict as usual. The school required students to arrive before eight, but Chu Tao still had the habit of coming at seven.

The corridor was empty, not many people around.

When he reached the third floor, he unexpectedly collided with Su Jingtong, who had fallen down the stairs.

“Ah!” Su Jingtong cried out in pain.

Without thinking much, Chu Tao quickly ran over and caught Su Jingtong with his body, absorbing the impact so he wouldn’t crash to the ground.

Su Jingtong hit Chu Tao’s chest firmly, his arms instinctively wrapping around Chu Tao’s waist.

He was shorter and weaker than Chu Tao, and as he pressed against Chu Tao’s body, he realized that although Chu Tao was slim, his muscles were surprisingly solid.

Su Jingtong felt a little uncomfortable. He had never thought much of Chu Tao, especially since Chu Tao had once given him the cold shoulder, and he had also witnessed Su Jingtong’s most embarrassing moment in front of Liang Yitian.

But today, Chu Tao had been the one to catch him, without hesitation, risking being knocked over.

Su Jingtong swallowed silently, feeling the fresh, pleasant scent of pine surrounding him.

Moreover, being so close, he could faintly smell Chu Tao’s pheromones. Though covered by suppressants, Su Jingtong still felt his face warming slightly.

Chu Tao had never been hugged by a delicate Omega before, and he immediately felt uncomfortable. He frowned as the scent of Su Jingtong’s pheromones mixed with his perfume filled his nose, making him feel dizzy.

Omega pheromones generally had some effect on Alpha individuals, and since Su Jingtong didn’t like using suppressants, the sweat from his shock of falling down the stairs only made his pheromones evaporate faster.

Chu Tao immediately pushed his hands away and stepped back.

Su Jingtong, still in Chu Tao’s arms, was dazed and didn’t expect to be suddenly pushed away. He lost his balance and gasped sharply.

“It hurts so much…”

Su Jingtong lifted his left leg slightly, unwilling to put weight on it. His eyes quickly filled with tears, and he bit his lip tightly.

A pain like needles shot up from his ankle, making his vision blur with the intensity.

Chu Tao looked down at his ankle.

Su Jingtong had changed into his school uniform, with the pants now tight, exposing a small stretch of skin. His ankle was swollen, and it looked like it had been badly twisted.

Su Jingtong sniffled, grabbed the railing, and bent over to touch his ankle.

The moment his fingers made contact, the pain felt like it was burrowing into his bones. He immediately pulled his hand away.

“Ah!” Su Jingtong flinched and hopped slightly, lifting his red eyes to look at Chu Tao.

Chu Tao paused for a moment. “Should I take you to the infirmary?”

It wasn’t realistic for Su Jingtong to hop all the way to the infirmary. Although he wasn’t close to him, they had at least met before.

“Okay!” Su Jingtong immediately agreed, afraid Chu Tao might change his mind.

Every time Su Jingtong had seen Chu Tao, he always seemed cold and distant, clearly not someone easy to get along with.

“Then spray your suppressants first.”

“Oh.” Su Jingtong reluctantly took out his suppressants from his pocket and sprayed it on his neck twice.

His suppressants were also strong, and when mixed with his perfume, the smell was so overpowering that it made people not want to get too close.

Chu Tao tied the wild jujubes bag and stuffed it into his backpack, then, forcing himself to endure the discomfort, he moved to support Su Jingtong’s arm.

Su Jingtong glanced at him sideways, then carefully leaned his weight on Chu Tao.

Chu Tao raised an eyebrow but didn’t refuse.

Su Jingtong blinked, taking small steps forward, while breathing in the scent of pine that clung to Chu Tao’s body.

This was the first time he really looked at Chu Tao. Honestly, Chu Tao was good-looking, with some resemblance to Chu Xingning.

Before, Su Jingtong had been so focused on Jiang She and dealing with Liang Yitian, he hadn’t really noticed Chu Tao.

Given Chu Tao’s appearance, he should have remembered him after meeting him once.

Moreover, Chu Tao was the most aloof person Su Jingtong had ever met, even the scent of his suppressants was distinct.

Enduring the pain, Su Jingtong whispered, “I heard… when Class 3 fought with the vocational high school, you were the one who defeated their leader?”

Previously, a lot of vocational school Alphas had pursued him, and he enjoyed the attention. He even boasted about his uncontainable charm. Later, he learned that some of the people from the vocational school had insulted the Omegas from the first high school online.

Su Jingtong was furious and even began to think those insults were directed at him. But being fragile and delicate, he couldn’t do much about it. When he heard that Jiang She had led a group to confront the vocational school, Su Jingtong’s admiration for Jiang She grew even stronger.

But to his surprise, the news spread, and people were saying it was Chu Tao, the class leader of Class 3, who had defeated the vocational school’s leader.

Su Jingtong often mingled with the Alphas and had asked several people. They all said that it was Chu Tao who had made the move.

In other words, it was Chu Tao who had stood up for the Omegas from the first high school.

Chu Tao had nearly forgotten about this incident, but upon hearing it, he was momentarily stunned, then briefly responded with a simple “Mm.”

Su Jingtong, curious, asked, “You’re really good at fighting?”

He knew the vocational school’s leader was big and strong, not someone easy to mess with. Aside from Jiang She, no one else dared to confront him.

“En, I’m okay.” Chu Tao didn’t think being good at fighting was something worth bragging about.

Su Jingtong recalled the firmness of Chu Tao’s muscles when he had crashed into his arms and couldn’t help but feel a slight shiver.

When they reached the infirmary, Chu Tao had him wait outside, helped him register with his student card, and then escorted him into the consultation room.

Su Jingtong sat on the bed, took off his shoes, and the doctor began examining his ankle, pressing on it. Su Jingtong immediately yelped in pain.

Chu Tao calmly said, “Don’t make noise, the doctor is checking if you have a fracture.”

Su Jingtong was in agony, but hearing Chu Tao’s words, his cries involuntarily quieted down.

He sniffled quietly, cast a pitiful glance at Chu Tao, then lowered his head and hugged his knees in silence.

The doctor said, “Try to move it, don’t be afraid of the pain.”

Su Jingtong sucked in a sharp breath and cautiously lifted his foot.

“I can move it, but it hurts.”

The doctor twisted his foot a little more: “The bone doesn’t seem to be broken, but it’s twisted badly. It will take at least a month to heal completely. I’ll apply some medicine for you.”

Seeing that Su Jingtong’s injury wasn’t serious, Chu Tao said softly, “You can stay here and have the medicine applied. I’ll head back first.”

With that, he turned and walked out.

Since there was a medical record, even if he was late, it didn’t matter. Moreover, the teacher in the infirmary could contact the class teacher, so there was nothing else he needed to do.

“Hey.” Su Jingtong called out urgently.

Chu Tao turned his head, his peach blossom eyes lifting, and asked, “Is there something else?”

The morning light was soft, streaming through the window and illuminating half of Chu Tao’s face, one side bathed in sunlight, the other shrouded in shadow. His peach blossom eyes were naturally gentle and affectionate, and the light in his eyes seemed to carry a soft glow.

Su Jingtong stared for a moment, murmuring, “No, never mind.”

Chu Tao nodded thoughtfully, lowered his eyelids, and closed the door behind him.

After leaving the infirmary, he tugged at his school uniform collar and sniffed. It carried the scent of Su Jingtong’s perfume, with a hint of Omega pheromones.

Chu Tao sighed in frustration. He didn’t go back to class immediately but instead found a window near the classroom and opened it to get some fresh air.

The morning breeze passed through the windowpane, ruffling his hair and scattering the strong scent of perfume.

He looked out the window, shaking out his clothes, while watching the students slowly trickle onto campus.

After a while, he thought about checking his clothes again to see if the Omega scent was still noticeable.

Sometimes he thought to himself, “What am I doing just standing here in the breeze?”

But quickly, he also thought, “Jiang She is petty. I can’t let him know I’ve hugged an Omega.”

“Hey, class leader, why aren’t you going in?”

Chu Tao turned his head and saw Xu Yuan and Fang Sheng.

He quickly adjusted his collar, closed the window, and asked, “You guys are here, where’s Jiang She?”

Xu Yuan didn’t expect that Chu Tao’s first question would be about Jiang She.

He shrugged. “The yogurt shop wasn’t open, he was complaining about it, so he went out to buy some.”

“Yogurt?” Chu Tao raised an eyebrow.

Fang Sheng coughed twice, then meaningfully winked at Chu Tao. “The aloe vera flavored yogurt.”

Xu Yuan clicked his tongue. “I don’t know when Ah She started liking that flavor. I’ve seen others buy it, and they’re all giving it to their girlfriends. It’s expensive and the portion is small.”

Chu Tao: “…Girlfriend.”

Fang Sheng shot a helpless glance at Xu Yuan, then pinched his side. “Can you shut up for a second?”

Xu Yuan jumped and slapped the back of Fang Sheng’s head. “Xiao Sheng, I’ve noticed you’ve been a little too cocky lately, trying to control what I say.”

The two of them quickly got into a playful tussle.

Chu Tao, uninterested in their antics, said, “You guys fight, I’m heading back.”

He returned to the classroom and handed out the wild dates to Fang Sheng and Xu Yuan.

Both were friends of Jiang She, so he was fairly familiar with them.

“Thanks, class leader!” Fang Sheng happily accepted them.

Xu Yuan immediately picked one up to eat. “Wow, so sweet! I’ve never had jujubes like these. Class leader, you’re thoughtful, you’re even thinking about us.”

Before long, Jiang She entered from the door, holding the bottle of aloe vera yogurt. He had a slight sheen of sweat on his temples.

The nearest supermarket was a few hundred meters away, a round trip over a kilometer, so it was clear Jiang She had run to get it.

Seeing Jiang She return, Chu Tao’s eyes curved into a smile.

Although they hadn’t had time to meet during the summer, they had kept in touch, with hundreds of WeChat messages exchanged each day. Even so, he still missed him a little.

The thing Chu Tao looked forward to most about starting school early was being able to see Jiang She.

Jiang She smiled as he walked over and placed the yogurt on Chu Tao’s desk. Just as he was about to speak, he caught a faint scent of perfume.

This perfume smelled strangely familiar.

“Did you spray perfume?” Jiang She squinted at him.

Chu Tao’s eyelids twitched slightly. “No.”

Xu Yuan, munching on the dates, nonchalantly said, “No way, this scent is from the SINO7 series, Omega’s classic seductive fragrance. It’s probably from some Omega who brushed up against the class leader.”

Xu Yuan was familiar with the brand, and Jiang She recognized it immediately. He tilted his head and scrutinized Chu Tao.

Chu Tao felt a slight pressure in his temples.

Xu Yuan suddenly had an epiphany, slapping his palm. “Oh, I get it! I was wondering what kind of breeze the class leader was enjoying earlier. Is there something going on? Which class’s little cutie is it? Are they good-looking?”

His eyes lit up as he eagerly looked at Chu Tao, ready to dig up some gossip.

Chu Tao looked up at Xu Yuan and said, “Spit out that jujube!”