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Translator: Rin    Editor: dedaign    Proofreader: Amber.es

Fan Nian had been a worry-free child since he was little. Although you couldn’t say his grades were top-notch, he could still reach the middle and upper ranks in City A where learning was competitive.

Even though he was from a single-parent family, Fan Nian’s character didn’t turn out bad. He was a well-behaved, good boy.

Fan Nian’s father died early and left behind a large inheritance for him and his mother. Naturally, neither of them needed to worry about the rest of their lives. Fan Nian’s mother was very virtuous and frugal. Even with a lot of money, she was reluctant to spend it, instead thinking to leave it for Fan Nian to marry a wife.

At that time, Fan Nian hadn’t yet reached the differentiation period and always thought that he would definitely differentiate into an Alpha. He obeyed his mother’s wishes, planning to marry an Omega that had a 100% match with him in the future.

The start of Fan Nian and Jiang Junshen’s relationship could also be traced back to before his differentiation period. Back then, Fan Nian successfully went from middle school to high school in City A by ranking in the top 200 citywide.

Many boys’ heights started to increase in high school, everyone secretly competing with each other. Whoever was taller would end up being a high-quality Alpha. It was actually a paradox of medicine, but for all those boys who were full of energy, it was a good confidence booster.

Fan Nian always had a smile on his face and he never mentioned his height. However, it was something he really cared about. He secretly competed with himself and got up every morning to measure his height.

What a pity that, after one full year of high school life, his height only increased by a mere centimetre.

When he couldn’t help but envy his classmates for being tall, a handsome and tall Alpha transferred to their class.

That’s right—a high-quality Alpha that had successfully differentiated.

“Jiang Junshen tongxue, why don’t you introduce yourself?” His homeroom teacher was a young Beta woman. When she saw Jiang Junshen’s appearance, she felt joy in her heart and unconsciously her tone grew softer.

Jiang Junshen glanced at the students sitting before him and uttered a simple introduction. “Hello everyone. My name is Jiang Junshen.”

The homeroom teacher waited for Jiang Junshen to expand, but, after a long silence, she awkwardly smiled. She explained, “Jiang Junshen was studying abroad, but upon returning to City A, because of some particular reason, he transferred over to our class to study with everyone here. He’ll be studying with our class until third year graduation. Jiang Junshen has already differentiated, but not everyone else has. If you have any questions about differentiation, you can ask him. I hope everyone gets along well.”

“Okay!” The students before him answered in unison. Only Fan Nian, with his mouth half open, didn’t say a word.

Afterwards, the homeroom teacher directed Jiang Junshen to sit in the empty seat in the last row because he was tall.

Fan Nian’s gaze followed him. He sat in the first row of the fourth group and Jiang Junshen sat in the last row of the first group. It was diagonally across the classroom at the furthest distance.

Since then, Fan Nian would always find himself inadvertently observing Jiang Junshen.

The reason? Jiang Junshen was simply an adolescent male god for Fan Nian who hadn’t yet differentiated but wanted to be an Alpha.

As a result of his constant observation, Fan Nian unintentionally knew a lot about Jiang Junshen.

For example, Jiang Junshen was three years older than him, but was in his second year of high school the same as Fan Nian. It was said that he had been studying constantly for three years.

For example, Jiang Junshen’s pheromones smelled like red wine—mellow and intoxicating.

For example, Jiang Junshen didn’t like to laugh and was rather quiet, but he played basketball very well.

The first time the two of them talked to each other was when they were filling out the registration form for the school party. Because of his easy-going personality and coordination and organizational skills, Fan Nian was a member of the class’ entertainment committee. City A’s middle school held a Double Celebration Party 1 every year at the end of December. The students would gather in the auditorium to watch the participating students put on performances.

After Fan Nian sent everyone the party’s registration form, he stated the deadline for submitting the form and also emphasised that even if someone didn’t sign up, they must still write their name and student number and hand in an empty form.

When the deadline was approaching, Fan Nian realised that he was missing one copy.

After checking the names on the list one by one, Fan Nian found that Jiang Junshen hadn’t submitted his.

Fan Nian walked to Jiang Junshen’s desk holding a stack of papers. “Your form.”

Jiang Junshen raised his head from where he was drawing something on a piece of paper. His long eyelashes cast a shadow that made it impossible to clearly see the emotions in his eyes.

Immediately, Fan Nian heard him ask, voice indifferent, “What form?”

“The registration form. For the party.” Fan Nian thought to himself: For the sake of your handsomeness, I’ll explain it to you.

Jiang Junshen was stunned for a moment. His eyes moved from Fan Nian’s face to the stack of registration forms he was holding in his hand. After a while, he found a blank form in his table’s drawer.

“Sorry, wait a moment.”

Fan Nian didn’t know if he’d forgotten to fill it out or not, but, seeing that he had a good attitude, he kindly didn’t pursue it. “It’s okay, you can fill it out slowly.”

“En,” Jiang Junshen quietly responded. He wrote quickly, only filling out his name and student number.

Fan Nian stretched out his neck to see that he didn’t plan to fill out anymore and tried to use his persuasion skills. “Aren’t you thinking about signing up for a show or something?”

Jiang Junshen was silent for a while. He looked up at Fan Nian, seeming to wonder if there was something wrong with what had been said to him.

Fan Nian waved his hand. He probably didn’t have any talent. “Forget it. Don’t force yourself if you don’t have anything to perform. Hand me the form.”

As he watched a white slender hand stretch out in front of him, Jiang Junshen stayed silent. After a moment, he wrote two words in the performance column.

Fan Nian picked up the form and looked it over. Piano Solo.

“You can play the piano?”

“…Yes,” Jiang Junshen said. He still cherished his words like gold.

Fan Nian chose not to embarrass him. “I look forward to your performance.”

After arranging the forms he’d collected, Fan Nian walked out the back door of the classroom. He had to give the forms to the homeroom teacher before class started.

From that day on, the students and the several teachers in the student council who were in charge of the Double Celebration Party quickly decided on the program. The budget to be applied and the equipment that needed to be borrowed were put into the schedule.

Soon, the students signed up for the evening party performance received notice from the school and began using the evening self-study time for rehearsal.

Fan Nian found that after every evening self-study period, the faint aroma of red wine in the classroom would disappeared. When he looked back to Jiang Junshen’s seat, it was empty, signalling that he’d probably gone to rehearse.

Time passed quickly and it was soon the night of the Double Celebration Party. Fan Nian’s class monitor directed their class to the section assigned to them. The school was very considerate and had even placed light sticks on their seats.

Fan Nian lit a glow stick and glanced at the empty dark stage with an inexplicable feeling of anticipation.

The party officially started with a melodious piano sound. The curtain on the stage parted. Fan Nian saw that Jiang Junshen, originally handsome and extraordinary, was sitting upright in front of an ivory piano wearing a black and white suit.

Even though he was blocked from view by the piano, Fan Nian could still imagine Jiang Junshen’s slender fingers flying across the keys.

At that time, Fan Nian thought, Perhaps it would be fine if I wasn’t an Alpha. Or, if I differentiate into an Alpha, maybe Jiang Junshen would still like it?

Dangerous thoughts swirled around his head. It wasn’t until the end of the party, when all the hustle and bustle returned to tranquillity, that Fan Nian realised that he seemed to be caught in a vortex that he couldn’t get out of, all because of that performance.

Gender differentiation generally began on the day you reached adulthood at the age of 18. A small number of people would differentiate early because of their unique nature and a small number of people would differentiate later due to some physical reasons.

City A’s high school had always had a differentiation testing room. Under the leadership of their homeroom teacher, each class would go for testing after final exams ended in the second semester of Senior Two to finally determine their gender.

Jiang Junshen had already differentiated and didn’t need to go, but, because it was a collective activity, he still followed his class to the testing room.

A group of people line up outside, waiting for the doctor in the testing room to call the class number. They would then go in for the test in groups.

Fan Nian worked hard to stand at the back when queuing up and he finally ended up in the same group as Jiang Junshen. In the same group were two very beautiful girls.

“Jiang Junshen, what kind of person do you like?” one of the girls boldly asked.

Jiang Junshen glanced at her and didn’t answer.

Since she knew that Jiang Junshen had this kind of character, the girl wasn’t affected by his silence. Instead, she became more and more courageous. “I heard that the reason you were transferred to our class was because of repeating grades?”

A question like that seemed a little dumb and Fan Nian was uncomfortable upon hearing it. Was she really not mocking Jiang Junshen?

Fan Nian thought that he wouldn’t answer, but Jiang Junshen unexpectedly spoke, saying a simple, “No.”

Although Jiang Junshen’s expression was still cold, it didn’t seem right. It was like he was a little angry.

The girl didn’t realise the problem and still continued asking. “Then why?”

Jiang Junshen glanced at Fan Nian who had been staring at him and explained, “Since I’ve been taking online classes at home, I could only get my graduation certificate if I transferred here.”

“Hmm? Didn’t you go to high school abroad?”

“No, I have tutors at home who teach me.”

“Wow, that sounds awesome.”

Jiang Junshen didn’t say a word.

“Then, which university are you going to attend?”

“That depends,” Jiang Junshen said. After those two words, no matter what the two girls asked afterwards, he didn’t respond.

Fan Nian could feel that Jiang Junshen was in a bad mood, so he pursed his lips, not daring to utter a single word. But he also had a clear understanding of Jiang Junshen’s identity. Jiang Junshen’s family condition seemed very good—being able to afford private tutoring these days and having those tutors teach for ten years in one go was impressive.

Moreover, Jiang Junshen’s grades were very good and he had always ranked first in the whole grade. He’d probably come here just for a graduation certificate.

The doctor in the differentiation testing room suddenly called the class. “Senior Two, Class Three!”

For a moment, Fan Nian was frozen. Then, he began to get nervous.

Jiang Junshen noticed how his body had tensed and couldn’t help but ask, “What do you want to differentiate into?”

“O-Of course Alpha. My mother even prepared the money for me to marry a wife.” Despite being nervous, Fan Nian still repeated what he’d been saying for many years.

Jiang Junshen fell silent for a while. When Fan Nian realised what he’d said, he wanted to sew his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he couldn’t explain it further or he would seem strange.

After a long silence, Fan Nian heard Jiang Junshen vaguely say something. “Is that so?”

Christmas and New Yea