Morning study had just ended when Teacher Gao walked into the classroom carrying the test results.

From the rosy glow on his face, it was easy to see he was very pleased with the midterm scores.

The students in the class let out a collective groan when they saw the papers in his hand; their unwilling faces contrasted sharply with the expression on Teacher Gao’s.

“You all know you did badly, huh? What were you doing earlier? Class monitor, come up and post the results.”

“The exam paper was rather difficult this time, and the school’s average score wasn’t high, but there were still a few students who improved a lot. The first and second in the grade are both in our class—only one point apart! Look at the gap between them and the third place; you should learn from them…”

The grade report was posted on the back board. Zhou Shiyi glanced at it: aside from Chinese dragging the score down, math and science were full marks, and foreign language lost five points—he still didn’t know where he lost them.

Second place was He Yanqing.

He Yanqing did very well in Chinese and foreign language, only a point or two short of full marks; his science composite wasn’t perfect.

In the original novel, He Yanqing took first place in the entire grade on his very first exam and became famous overnight.

Gu Sheng also noticed the student behind him at that time.

It seemed the plot could be altered; as long as it made sense, the world-consciousness wouldn’t interfere with the course of events.

Zhou Shiyi turned his head and saw He Yanqing gathered with others to look at the grade list.

Both of them were at the last table, so they didn’t take long to arrive.

Zhou Shiyi and He Yanqing exchanged a glance, each seeing fierce determination reflected in the other’s eyes.

He Yanqing was dissatisfied with being one point behind Zhou Shiyi, while Zhou Shiyi was full of confidence at having deviated from the original plot.

But that was only how it looked to them.

At least, once he was late for a morning study session and came in through the back door, Gu Sheng no longer saw him that way.

From his angle, he could clearly see the interest and the mental excitement in Zhou Shiyi’s eyes toward He Yanqing.

The only things that could catch this person’s attention were experiments or people he cared about.

In his past life, the only person Zhou Shiyi cared about was his grandmother. So why was Zhou Shiyi interested in He Yanqing now—is it because they’re both betas?

Gu Sheng thought nastily; his gaze finally shifted away from Zhou Shiyi and fell on He Yanqing, who was half a head shorter than Zhou.

A few classmates gathered around He Yanqing, all asking how he could be so amazing—how he managed such a high score on such a hard test—and, learning he hadn’t joined the class group yet, they volunteered to add him.

Not wanting to refuse them, He Yanqing’s ears flushed. He took out his phone and added one of the classmates.

Just then, He Yanqing felt as if someone had started staring at him.

The gland beneath his school collar throbbed faintly.

An omega’s keen, animal instinct told him he seemed to have drawn the attention of a large carnivore.

He turned his head and happened to meet Gu Sheng’s appraising gaze; their eyes locked in midair.

He Yanqing felt bewildered and puzzled. When he realized the person was the desk mate he’d never spoken to, he was quite surprised—the desk mate seemed to hold a great hostility toward him.

Gu Sheng’s provocation was more malicious; he wanted to see what kind of person had made Zhou Shiyi look at him differently. His eyes were full of bloodshot veins, and the scene he saw was a wash of crimson.

In his world, he could only see Zhou Shiyi and He Yanqing.

It was unsurprising that He Yanqing’s gaze was drawn to him; Gu Sheng wanted to taunt him a little to see how Zhou Shiyi would react.

Zhou Shiyi also noticed the interaction between the two and thought to himself that even if the plot had diverged a bit, the top protagonist was still showing interest in the other lead.

Being interested in someone is the beginning of a heartbeat.

Zhou Shiyi didn’t want to get involved between the two of them. He reined in his competitive spirit, boredly skirted the crowd, and headed back to his seat.

So when he saw Gu Sheng looking at him provocatively, Zhou Shiyi was very puzzled.

Could it be that at a time like this, Gu Sheng was developing possessiveness over He Yanqing? Just because a minor extra glanced at the protagonist uke, was he to be warned by Gu Sheng?

Was this extra supposed to also play the rival to the protagonist seme?

He felt it was all very absurd. Did this world hold such malice toward bit players that not only did they have to be the uke’s rival, they also had to cameo as the seme’s rival?

Seeing Zhou Shiyi look back at him in confusion, in Gu Sheng’s eyes it meant Zhou Shiyi had no interest in him—just one glance and his lack of interest was obvious.

Gu Sheng’s anger flared hotter and hotter, as if his whole body were being roasted over a fire.

He wanted to rush over, grab Zhou Shiyi by the collar, and make those perpetually calm, unreadable eyes see only him.

He really wanted to do it; his foot moved slightly, he was about to go, when someone bumped into him from behind.

The bump pulled Gu Sheng out of that state where he wanted to drag Zhou Shiyi down to hell with him.

He woke with a start—what was he about to do just now?

If he had really stepped forward and done it, then what?

Even if that pair of eyes had seen him, there would still come a day when they looked away.

The boy who bumped into Gu Sheng looked up and realized he’d run into this particular ancestor; he even stammered a little when he spoke.

“Sheng, Sheng-ge, are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Gu Sheng pushed the boy aside and stormed out of the classroom, ignoring the shocked cries and the calls of his name behind him; he just kept his head down and left.

The physics teacher, who was about to start class, also saw Gu Sheng as he went out the back door.

He frowned, and his impression of that student dropped quite a bit.

The physics teacher also knew the student’s background; among the many wealthy and influential students, his family was one of the top ones.

He usually paid attention in class, but recently Gu Sheng either slept through lessons or simply didn’t show up.

His midterm scores had also slipped a lot, and now, to make things worse, he dared to skip class right in front of him.

When class ended, he still had to talk with the students’ parents.

When he walked in holding the test papers, the classroom was a scene of wailing—so miserable that even the physics teacher was amused.

“Alright, it’s okay to know you didn’t do well. No matter how your grasp of the material is, at least your attitude must be correct. These questions were hard, but as long as you’re earnest, I’ll give partial credit as appropriate. Now come up and collect your tests.”

When the physics teacher read out a name, a student stood up looking utterly defeated; the teacher checked his lost points and said those marks shouldn’t have been dropped.

The student accepted the feedback humbly.

When the teacher read He Yanqing’s name, his expression softened considerably.

“You didn’t get the last subquestion of the big problem at the end. That question isn’t as hard as you think—maybe you just haven’t seen that type before. Try practicing some new problem styles and discuss them with your classmates.”

He Yanqing humbly accepted the teacher’s advice. He thought about that last question for a long time but still couldn’t solve it; he knew where his problem lay.

“Zhou Shiyi.” The physics teacher held up Zhou Shiyi’s paper and finally showed a smile.

“The only student in the entire sophomore year to get a perfect score in physics — you should all learn from him. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can discuss it with each other.”

The other students in the class let out a sound of admiration.

After handing back the tests, the physics teacher casually slipped one unreturned paper into his lesson plan and began analyzing the exam questions.

Zhou Shiyi glanced over and, looking at the only empty desk in the class, knew the owner of that exam paper hadn’t returned yet.

After charging out of the classroom, Gu Sheng used his key to unlock the iron door leading to the rooftop.

He stood on the rooftop, feeling the cold wind.

The hand in his pocket buzzed; he answered without even looking.

It was Nian Meilan.

Nian Meilan didn’t ask why Gu Sheng had answered her call during class.

She spoke softly on the phone, chatting about some amusing things she’d encountered, and even asked Gu Sheng if she should call the teacher to request a long vacation so Gu Sheng could have a good time and relax.

The hand holding the phone tightened slowly; the metal edge of the phone pressed so hard into Gu Sheng’s hand that it left red marks, but the owner of the hand didn’t notice.

“Mom, find me a psychiatrist.”

There was the faintest hint of a sniffle in Gu Sheng’s voice; Nian Meilan paused on the other end for a moment.

“Shengsheng, have you come to your senses? The psychiatrist has already been arranged—one of the top specialists in the country and abroad. You can see them whenever you want.” Nian Meilan sounded a little excited, then, thinking of Gu Sheng’s current state, she added with worry,

“Shengsheng, don’t feel pressured. Mom doesn’t know exactly what happened to you, but you must know that we’ll always be behind you. Whenever it is, you can come home and face it together with the family, okay?”

He remembered that in his last life, at the final moment, he heard someone on the phone saying his family was already doing their best to get there, but he still couldn’t wait to see them one last time.

Gu Sheng’s vision blurred. He nodded, then thinking the person on the other end couldn’t see him, choked up and said, “Okay.”

Nian Meilan could naturally hear that his voice sounded off and was very worried, so she asked if she should come pick him up now.

He said he wanted to be alone for a while.

Nian Meilan could only agree.

After hanging up, Nian Meilan called the psychologist she had long since booked and told her not to postpone this time — they would bring Gu Sheng over.

Mr. Gu looked up from the documents, saw her hang up the phone, still wearing that worried expression, restless, and asked, “Didn’t Shengsheng agree? What are you still worried about?”

“Aren’t I worried about Shengsheng? Aren’t you the same—what’s on that page is some national-level contract; why are you staring at it for so long?”

Seeing his thoughts had been seen through by his wife, Mr. Gu feigned a cough to cover it.

Nian Meilan sat on the sofa, took off her gold-rimmed glasses, and rubbed her temples.

“What do you think happened to Shengsheng? What did the people you sent to investigate say?”

Mr. Gu thought of the reports his subordinates had brought: “I sent several teams. They all said Shengsheng seemed fine during that period. It was only after he fell ill that something seemed off. We took him to see doctors, and physically he was fine.”

Nian Meilan thought back over that time and Gu Sheng’s behavior. If he weren’t her biological child, some of his little gestures and habits were still exactly the same as before—she would have suspected Gu Sheng had been taken over by someone else.

They tricked Gu Sheng into going for a checkup, but the moment he saw the doctor in a white coat, he trembled all over and broke out in a cold sweat. If his older brother hadn’t held him down tightly, he would have almost broken free.

Later, after the doctor took off the white coat, Gu Sheng forced himself to finish the rest of the check-up.

As soon as the physical report came out, Gu Sheng flipped to the page that checked the glands; when he saw everything was normal,

Gu Sheng put one hand on his glands and clenched the report in the other. He finally laughed with relief, and as he laughed he began to cry.

Now Gu Sheng had finally agreed to see a psychologist — it couldn’t have been better for the Gu family.

📘 The complete novel is available for download in PDF via the link below.