BDBE 5

Chapter 5 Going to School

The next morning at 6:09 AM. 

The biological clock ingrained by years of early rising completely disregarded its owner’s well-being. Even though the owner had stayed up all night, it still activated the forced wake-up program at the set time. 

Shen Wanchao slowly woke up. He groggily turned over and stretched out his arm to touch something. 

“Zhou Hui, what time is it…?” 

However, his outstretched hand touched nothing, and his question went unanswered. 

Shen Wanchao slowly sat up in bed; he looked around before realizing he was actually sleeping in the guest room, with no sign of Zhou Hui beside him. His mind not fully clear, he put on his slippers and left the room. 

The sound of pots and pans clattering came from the kitchen. Shen Wanchao followed the sound and saw Zhou Hui making breakfast with a bright yellow daisy apron tied around his waist. He stopped at the door. 

Zhou Hui noticed his arrival, glanced at him, and continued cutting tomatoes. He politely said, “Awake so early? You could actually sleep a little longer. I’ve already messaged Teacher Yang and asked for leave for you and Xiao Chen. You two don’t need to go to morning reading today.” 

Shen Wanchao frowned disapprovingly: “Again, asking for leave? You’ll spoil the child like this…” 

He stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly remembered his current identity, and quickly shut his mouth. 

Fortunately, he hadn’t spoken loudly, and Zhou Hui hadn’t heard him clearly. He stopped wielding the knife and asked, “What did you just say?” 

Shen Wanchao changed his words: “I said, Uncle, you’re really good to Zhou Mingchen.” 

It was just a simple, polite remark, but it must have touched a nerve with Zhou Hui. He suddenly became smug and asked, “Have you seen the TV series ‘Model Dad’?” 

Shen Wanchao was taken aback, not understanding why the topic had suddenly jumped to TV series appreciation. 

Zhou Hui pointed to himself with a thumbs up and smiled brightly: “It was filmed based on me.” 

Shen Wanchao: “…” 

Breakfast consisted of sandwiches and milk, the same for everyone. 

Since waking up, Shen Wanchao’s stomach had been aching slightly, and he really had no appetite. 

But he knew the reason for his stomachache: he hadn’t eaten breakfast or dinner yesterday, and hadn’t eaten much at lunch due to his troubled mind. 

If he didn’t eat today, his stomach would feel even worse. 

Shen Wanchao forced a few bites of his sandwich, feeling a bit choked. He glanced at the milk beside him several times, but ultimately, disgust overcame his thirst, and he didn’t reach for it. 

Zhou Hui took in the expressions on his face. He concealed a smile, and asked, “Xiao Shen, don’t you like milk?”

Shen Wanchao stopped chewing, and glanced at Zhou Hui. 

Then he suddenly picked up the milk cup and took three big gulps, and said, 

“Uncle, you misunderstood. I really like drinking milk.” 

“Oh, really?” Zhou Hui smiled as brightly as the sunlight outside the window. “We also have oat milk and juice at home. I was saying that if you didn’t like milk, I would give you something else. Now it seems that you don’t need to change it. Would you like another cup?” 

Zhou Hui was definitely testing him on purpose. 

It made his stomach hurt even more. 

Shen Wanchao gritted his teeth inwardly while maintaining a fake smile: “No, Uncle. Drinking too much milk will make you fat. Thank you, Uncle.”

Zhou Hui, who was called ‘Uncle’ twice, used all the skills he had accumulated in the first half of his life to barely maintain his composure. 

The two of them were almost finished with their fiery breakfast when Zhou Mingchen finally got up. 

Upon seeing the well-prepared breakfast on the table, Zhou Mingchen blurted out in surprise, “Did the sun rise in the west? You actually made breakfast?”

Shen Wanchao immediately looked at Zhou Hui, his eyes seeming to say: ‘Model dad?’ 

Zhou Hui, unfazed by his son’s ruthless undermining, remained as calm as an old dog, pointed to Zhou Mingchen’s breakfast, and invited, “Come and eat.”

After breakfast, Zhou Hui personally drove the two to school. In Qiongying City’s morning rush hour, everyone was treated equally; the million-yuan aybach and the 100,000-yuan BYD moved side-by-side at a snail’s pace, neither more noble than the other. 

Shen Wanchao’s stomach was already upset, and the undigested breakfast, coupled with the constant rocking in the car, made him feel even worse. He leaned back in the back seat with a pale face.

Two hundred meters from the school, a pink electric scooter nimbly weaved through the Maybach and BYD, sputtering away in a cloud of dust. 

At the same time, the cheerful bell rang from the school. 

Mr. Zhou Hui, the luxury car owner who had lost to the electric scooter, was helpless. He turned to the two in the back seat and said, “Why don’t you two get off here and walk?”

It was as if some reclusive master had set up a barrier at the school gate, preventing any private car from entering within 200 meters of the gate during school hours, especially during rush hour. 

As students of Qiongya School, Shen Wanchao and Zhou Mingchen were already used to the power of this barrier and resignedly opened the door and got out of the car. 

When they entered the classroom, the first class had already started for five minutes. 

The math teacher was a middle-aged woman with a strong aura. Seeing that they were late, she didn’t say much, because her stern gaze alone was enough to make them feel ashamed.

The students glanced at the two of them while whispering about why they were both late. 

Only after finally sitting did Shen Wanchao breathe a sigh of relief. Even though it wasn’t his first time being a student, the reverence for teachers was still ingrained in the DNA of everyone who had ever read a book. 

Shen Wanchao opened his bag to get his books, but suddenly stopped. 

Someone had somehow placed a box of stomach medicine in his bag, along with a warm carton of oat milk and a cashmere scarf. 

Shen Wanchao was stunned into thought. 

“Shen Chao, you explain how to do this problem,” the math teacher’s authoritative voice rang out.

Startled, Shen Wanchao hurriedly stood up, and solved the teacher’s problem using three different methods. 

Fortunately, he had previewed the material. 

Or rather, reviewed it? 

The math teacher pushed up her glasses with a smile, but she still managed to lecture him: “Good answer, but don’t let your mind wander in class. Sit down.” 

On the other side of the aisle, Fang Chi whispered to his new deskmate, Lu Niannian, “Wow, you’ve got a rival now.” 

Lu Niannian, consistently ranked in the top three of the grade, arrogantly replied, “Hmph.” 

After class, Fang Chi strolled over to where Shen Wanchao and Zhou Mingchen were. 

“Chen’er, Shen-ge, wanna play some more games tonight?” Fang Chi’s eyes were full of excitement. “It’s Friday today, Tianqing and Young Master Huo are coming too, let’s have a fun five-player match.” 

Zhou Mingchen said indifferently, “Whatever.” 

Shen Wanchao glared at him and said to Fang Chi, “No.”

Fang Chi looked regretful: “Why? Is something wrong?” 

Shen Wanchao pointed at Zhou Mingchen and said, “He’s not going either.” 

Zhou Mingchen raised an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting to be implicated after just yawning. 

Fang Chi was even more confused: “You two have something going on?” 

Zhou Mingchen immediately clarified: “I’m fine.” 

Shen Wanchao was speechless for a moment; he realized that with his current status, it was impossible to get Zhou Mingchen to obey. He could only offer a weak reason: “Staying up late often is bad for your health, it will make you stupid, and your grades will drop.” 

Fang Chi and Zhou Mingchen gave him incredulous glances.

After a long while, Fang Chi suddenly patted Shen Wanchao’s shoulder, covered his face with his other hand in shame, and said earnestly, “Chao’er, there’s something I’ve kept from you for a long time, but today I have to tell you the truth…” 

Shen Wanchao looked at him blankly. 

Fang Chi cried out in anguish, “My grades have no room to drop any further!” 

Shen Wanchao said, “Tell me something I don’t know.” 

Fang Chi gritted his teeth, “I hate you.” 

Zhou Mingchen spoke up at the opportune moment, “If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. I won’t force you.” 

He wouldn’t force him, but he couldn’t just let him refuse. After saying this, Zhou Mingchen started discussing with Fang Chi whether they should go find the other two after school or meet up directly at the Extreme Speed Internet Cafe. 

Seeing that the two had already decided to stay up all night online, Shen Wanchao had a sudden inspiration and interrupted their discussion, “If you want to go online, you can have a match with me. If you win, I’ll go with you. If you lose, you’ll go home and sleep tonight.” 

Fang Chi looked at him in confusion, as if to say: We’re just going to go online, why do we have to have a match with you? 

Zhou Mingchen became somewhat interested and asked him, “What are we competing in?” 

Shen Wanchao raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and softly replied: “Sprint.” 

There happened to be a physical education class in the afternoon, and the news that Shen Wanchao was going to compete with Zhou Mingchen in a sprint quickly spread throughout the entire class. Everyone had been looking forward to it for most of the day, and finally the moment of the decisive battle arrived, and they all gathered around the 100-meter track. 

Almost everyone in the class came to watch. Besides the fact that high school life was extremely boring, the main reason was that the two protagonists of the competition were a transfer student with outstanding looks and a notorious school bully. The two of them facing off had a kind of legendary color of youth campus literature. 

Not only was there a class with a physical education class on the playground, but Class 13 on the other side had also just started their free time. 

Huo Tingsong had just finished helping an Omega move the equipment and came back to find Yu Tianqing staring at the 100-meter track. 

The end of the track was crowded with people, and the scene was grand. The two of them couldn’t help but be curious and walked over. 

Yu Tianqing spotted Fang Chi in the crowd and went up to ask, “What’s your class doing?” 

Fang Chi turned around, saw it was him, greeted him, and mysteriously replied, “Chen’er is contributing to our gaming spree tonight.” 

Yu Tianqing: ? 

Seeing his adorably clueless expression, Fang Chi mercifully explained what had happened. 

Yu Tianqing became increasingly surprised as he listened. He pointed to Shen Wanchao warming up on the track and said, “You mean he, an Omega, want to compete with Zhou Mingchen in a race?” 

“Yeah,” Fang Chi nodded, “I don’t know where he got the courage. He insisted that if Chen’er lost to him, it meant he had been staying up too late and damaged his body, and he had to break that bad habit. He even considered that Chen’er might lose!” 

It wasn’t that the guys looked down on Omegas; the odds might be 50/50 with others, but the difference in physical strength between Alphas and Omegas was an objective fact, beyond human control. Besides, Zhou Mingchen’s athletic ability was already very good. 

Yu Tianqing chuckled and said to Huo Tingsong beside him, “Then this Omega is definitely going to lose.” 

Huo Tingsong didn’t respond; his entire attention was drawn to the person on the track. 

Shen Wanchao had taken off his cumbersome school uniform jacket, leaving only a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and his pants in crisp athletic shorts. In the chilly spring breeze, he looked so frail that it made one shiver. 

When he was bundled up, Shen Wanchao appeared thin and frail, as if a gust of wind could blow him over, no different from other Omegas. 

Only after taking off his clothes did they realize that although he was thin, the muscles on his two straight, long legs were genuine, built up step by step through running. With each movement, they stretched and contracted, containing a predictable explosive power. 

Shen Wanchao was stretching his legs, though he wasn’t entirely confident. 

He hadn’t practiced sprinting in a long time and didn’t know Zhou Mingchen’s level. 

The suggestion of a sprint was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Shen Wanchao. He couldn’t very well propose a competition involving solving problems, as Zhou Mingchen would certainly disagree. So, he offered a suggestion that seemed fair to both sides. 

Meanwhile, Zhou Mingchen had finished warming up, and the two stood together behind the starting line. 

Zhou Mingchen clearly didn’t believe Shen Wanchao could win, “It’s not too late to give up now.” 

Shen Wanchao glanced at him and said calmly, “Are you scared?” 

“Damn it.” Zhou Mingchen chuckled, then squatted down to prepare. 

Once they were in position, Fang Chi shouted to Lu Niannian, who was in charge of giving the starting signal, “Niannian, you get ready too!” 

Lu Niannian raised the starting flag while loudly protesting, “How many times have I told you to call me by my full name! We’re not that close!” 

The flag fell simultaneously with the last word, and Shen Wanchao and Zhou Mingchen instantly ran forward. 

The two almost created a whirlwind, eliciting gasps of admiration from the surrounding students. 

Huo Tingsong was unable to look away from the figure wearing blue.

Fang Chi cupped his hands to his mouth like a megaphone and shouted, “Go Zhou Mingchen! Zhou Mingchen is awesome!!” 

On the track, Shen Wanchao stared at the finish line while taking deep breaths.

The early spring wind was still cold, but inhaling it made him feel refreshed. 

He hadn’t felt this relaxed and carefree in a very long time. From the moment he took his first step with this body that was almost twenty years younger, he knew he was going to win. 

The outcome of the 100-meter sprint was decided in just over ten seconds; almost as soon as everyone started cheering, the race was over. 

Fang Chi stood at the starting line, craning his neck to see, but couldn’t tell who crossed the finish line first. 

Amidst the anticipation of the students at the starting line, the two girls at the finish line, responsible for counting the seconds, shouted, “Shen Chao won! He was 0.2 seconds faster!” 

“Holy crap!” 

Fang Chi clutched his bald head. 

The other classmates were just as surprised as he was. Yu Tianqing raised his eyebrows and said to Huo Tingsong beside him with great surprise, “Tingsong, did you hear that? Zhou Mingchen lost to an Omega!” 

Huo Tingsong, however, seemed not to hear him. He was only focused on the person at the finish line a hundred meters away. He murmured with a gentle smile, “Shen Chao…” 

Zhou Mingchen panted with his hands on his hips. 

He hadn’t expected Shen Wanchao to be able to run so fast. He was really amazing; he was impressed.

Shen Wanchao’s chest heaved as he slowly walked to Zhou Mingchen, and handed him a bottle of water. At the same time, he raised his chin and asked, “How was it?” 

His figure was positioned against the light, the warm afternoon sun outlined his dazzling golden silhouette. Even though his face was hidden in shadow, the triumphant joy in his upturned eyes was undiminished. 

Zhou Mingchen was somewhat taken aback; Shen Wanchao really did look so much like his father, practically a younger version of him. 

But he had never seen such a radiant expression on his father’s face. 

Zhou Mingchen chuckled and took the water: “I’m completely convinced.