“Pair of tens.”

“Check.”

“Pair of aces.”

“Check again.”

In the basement lounge of the Royal Medical College, the rare sound of cards being played was heard.

In the end, they were young people and greatly adaptable. The day before, they had cried with joy when something lost was returned to them, and today they were all playing cards around a table.

After removing his makeup, Ling Yi was still the familiar Ling Yi they knew. But across from him, Bo Rui was distracted as he kept seeing a different face.

He cleared his throat and thought of ways to sound him out: “Ling Yi, can I ask…..”

“No,” Xi Lei said, dealing three sixes. “Play your cards and don’t ask questions you shouldn’t.”

Bo Rui immediately snapped back: “Who asked you? If we weren’t short one player, who would want to play poker with such a poker-faced guy? Three jacks! Ling Yi, what is your relationship with His Highness Oser?”

Ling Yi had his eyes lowered to look at the cards in his hand, and didn’t even bother to raise his eyelids: “What do you think?”

The answer couldn’t be clearer from the kissing and the hand-holding, but Bo Rui just wanted to deceive himself.

“You killed his uncle, and he admires you? Or…..he gives you benefits, and you play a role-playing game with him? You still haven’t told us how you managed to survive an exploding prison van.”

Da Lun put down three kings and said: “Didn’t you finish writing those ten pages yesterday?”

Ling Yi looked at the three queens in his hand with hatred: “Can’t afford it.”

Bo Rui muttered softly: “I don’t have any weird ideas. I know Ling Yi is an Alpha. If he was an Omega, I would have weird ideas.”

Xi Lei gave him an unreadable look.

Ling Yi raised his eyebrows: “You interested?”

Bo Rui’s neck stiffened and he said: “You’re not, and why would I be interested? I’m straight!”

Da Lun deliberately changed the subject: “Ling Yi, are you coming back to school?”

Xi Lei: “If he wants to go back to school, the news that he’s still alive will have to be made public. Otherwise, if he comes back to life, all of the teachers and students will be scared to death.”

Bo Rui argued: “He came back to life in front of me. Why wasn’t I scared to death?”

“You may not have been scared to death, but one of you is stupid to death and the other is seeking death.”

“Do you believe I won’t strangle you to death right now?”

Whoosh—

A card flew past the two heads that were about to clash and lodged itself in a crack in the opposite wall.

Ling Yi played with the remaining cards in his hand as if nothing had happened, and both of them fell silent immediately.

Bo Rui obediently ran to get the card, and when he turned around, he looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Holy shit!”

“What’s wrong?” Ling Yi asked curiously.

Bo Rui pointed to the door in horror. The three of them turned their heads as one and saw Luo Li leaning delicately against the door, staring at them with an inscrutable look on his face. It was unknown how long he had been there.

Ling Yi: “Need to take my temperature? Nan Ting took it this morning.”

Luo Li shook his head a few times, then pressed his hands to his chest and took a deep breath with the fluttering of love in his heart: “Is this the youthful scent of young Alphas?”

The three Alphas present: “……”

“You guys have your fun.” Luo Li threw them a very lethal wink and left, humming a little tune.

The three Alphas who had never seen the world were terrified.

Da Lun: “Who was that just now?”

Ling Yi: “My caretaker.”

He received sympathetic glances.

“What’s that for? Don’t judge a person by appearances. He’s very skilled at his trade.” His makeup skills were amazing.

Da Lun: “Why does your temperature need to be taken? Are you sick?”

Before anyone else could speak, Xi Lei quickly got to his feet.

Ling Yi couldn’t endure it: “What’s wrong now? You’re so jumpy!”

Xi Lei stood at attention: “Your Highness Oser!”

Bo Rui and Da Lun also stood up hurriedly to greet him, with Ling Yi alone staying seated.

Oser reclined in the same position as Luo Li: “Is the branch school open again? What classes do you have today?”

Bo Rui and Da Lun were still anxious at the sight of His Highness Oser. They had used up all the commoner jargon they knew and could not dredge up another word more.

“Sorry, Your Highness Oser! We’re leaving now!”

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Aren’t you having fun?” Oser’s words nailed them to the spot. “Go on, let me see what young people play when they get together.”

The two people couldn’t tell if his words were genuine or sarcastic.

Xi Lei ran to the next room, retrieved a chair, and placed it next to Ling Yi’s.

Oser was magnanimous: “Continue with your game. Just pretend like I don’t exist.”

Bo Rui and Da Lun naturally wanted to pretend like he didn’t exist, but Oser’s pheromones were too strong. Him sitting there doing nothing only increased their stress.

Although Xi Lei wasn’t much better off, he was still happy at the knowledge that this was His Highness Oser, whom he admired.

Throughout the history of the empire, there were likely few military academy students who experienced being watched by the crown prince while playing cards. Four more entries were added to the record this day.

Bo Rui played distractedly, occasionally stealing glances at Oser’s hand on Ling Yi’s shoulder. He suddenly felt a pain in his foot.

“Ah!” Bo Rui jumped in shock and asked Xi Lei, “Why did you step on me?”

Xi Lei fixed his eyes on the cards in his hand and didn’t look away: “It’s your turn.”

Bo Rui angrily threw out two cards: “Pair of sevens!”

Xi Lei: “I play four of a kind, and you play a pair of sevens?”

“…..”

Oser smiled and said: “I didn’t expect this civilian game to be so interesting.”

Xi Lei immediately stood up. “Does Your Highness want to play? You can have my seat.”

“No need,” he declined. “Ling Yi and I can play together.”

Ling Yi went with the flow, but instead of handing the cards to Oser, he played whichever cards Oser pointed to in the spirit of cooperation.

After several rounds like this, the two of them won two consecutive games while the other three suffered bitter losses.

Ling Yi suspected that this was not the first time he had played: “I can’t believe it. Your Highness is also an expert at this commoner game?”

Oser’s tone was as arrogant as ever: “The rules are so simple. I can understand it at a glance.”

Bo Rui was depressed, and took it out on Xi Lei: “It’s obvious that you’re letting them win. You ignore His Highness Oser’s moves, but you focus on mine!”

“Prove it. I’m not ignoring His Highness, I’m ignoring you.”

“Why pay attention to me instead of His Highness Oser?”

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Oser threw the cards in his hand on the table and gave them a meaningful smile.

“No nesting dolls allowed.”^[1]

Everyone: “……”

Ling Yi thought: Could it be that Oser read all thirty pages?

Oser seemed to have the ability to read minds: “Not only did I read them, I memorized them.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to have any communication problems with you.”

There were five people in the room, and three of them felt redundant.

Bo Rui was inexplicably depressed: “I can’t win even if I fight, so I don’t want to fight anymore.”

Oser leaned back and said: “It’s fine if we don’t play cards. Let’s chat.”

Da Lun asked cautiously: “What does Your Highness want to chat about?”

“We can chat about anything, as long as it’s related to Ling Yi.”

Everyone exchanged glances, and Da Lun was the first to pose a topic.

“In a few days, there will be an underground motorcycle race between Luban Military Academy and the Royal Academy. In previous years, Ling Yi always represented the team.”

“Right, right.” Bo Rui grew interested when the topic of motorcycles was brought up. “Ling Yi and that guy surnamed Lei from the Royal Academy were always neck-and-neck every year. They even made a bet: whoever loses this year’s race will never be able to ride a motorcycle again.”

“Surnamed Lei?” Oser repeated.

“What was his name…..” Bo Rui pondered.

Ling Yi: “Lei Yue.”

“That’s it!”

Oser raised an eyebrow.

Da Lun revealed a piece of information that even Ling Yi didn’t know.

“On the day of the school’s memorial service, Lei Yue also came to pay his respects.”

Ling Yi was rather surprised. He and Lei Yue were just rivals on the field. “Why was he there?”

“He came to fucking show off!” Bo Rui jumped up. “I’ll show you how it went!”

Xi Lei coughed hard: “Don’t use such uncouth words in front of His Highness Oser.”

“Don’t disturb me when I’m getting into character. I’m going to recreate the scene that day for His Highness—”

His expression immediately went solemn and he walked straight forward, his right arm bent at an angle as if he was holding something under it.

Then he walked to the table, took the thing under his arm, and placed it on the table with both hands.

Ling Yi had a sudden realization. The thing he put down had to be a helmet.

Bo Rui stared into space as if he was looking at Ling Yi’s portrait: “You agreed to compete with me, and that the loser would never touch a motorcycle again. I didn’t expect you to cancel on me in such a way.”

“Ling Yi, I lost this battle.”

He finished his performance vividly, then ended with an exaggerated vomiting gesture: “Bleh…..”

Ling Yi didn’t quite believe Bo Rui’s performance, feeling that there might be some embellishments, so he looked at Da Lun for confirmation.

“That’s how it went.” Da Lun had to admit that his acting was very good.

“Is he crazy? Who would want to beat him in this way? He doesn’t have to use me as an excuse if he doesn’t want to ride anymore.”

“Well said!” Bo Rui waved his fist. “Ling Yi, since you’re still alive, why not beat him fair and square? Otherwise, it’ll seem like we won by default!”

Ling Yi was about to say something, but he glanced at Oser first and said: “Forget it.”

“Why?” Bo Rui asked in an overdramatic tone.

“Why? The fact that I’m alive can’t be made public for the time being. Lu Hulun is still trying to find a way to assassinate me.”

“I’ll fucking z@#$%^(*) that……” A string of swear words streamed from his mouth.

Xi Lei slammed the table and stood up: “Shut up!”

The situation once again devolved into two people fighting and one person trying to separate them. This time, it was Ling Yi and Oser’s turn to be redundant.

“Be honest.” There was only Ling Yi in Oser’s eyes. Everyone else was invisible.

“It’s not a formal competition. We have a private race with the Royal Academy every year. My record against him is one win, one loss, and one draw. This match isn’t important, so I don’t have to go.”

“When and where?”

“This Saturday night, Banma Mountain.”

“Do you want to go?”

Ling Yi pretended to think: “Hmm…..”

“When he suggested beating him fair and square, your eyes lit up.”

Ling Yi was thwarted: “Is my acting worse than Bo Rui’s?”

“Put on your makeup and suppressant cuff before going, and come back after the match.”

Ling Yi’s eyes lit up again: “You agree?”

“If I don’t agree now, won’t you seduce me until I do? When I do the math, I seem to have suffered a loss.”

Ling Yi stood and grabbed Oser’s collar with both hands, pulling him in as he leaned down and kissed him from above.

The background trio: O口O！！！？

After finishing a round of ruthless attacks, Ling Yi seemed to have just noticed them: “Ah? Why are you still here?”

The three people: Is our presence so unnoticeable?

“Are you free this Saturday night?”

Bo Rui replied mechanically: “F-for what?”

“Meeting Lei Yue on top of Banma Mountain.”

. . . . . .

Before the start of the match, the peak of Banma Mountain was already filled with students from the two schools.

“I thought the match was canceled this year. Without Ling Yi, what’s the point, ah?”

“It’s said that they brought a last minute substitute. What’s the appeal of watching a substitute?”

“That’s right, even if they come, won’t they just be defeated by our Lei-ge?”

In the darkness of night, a black Soaring Eagle drove in a low-profile manner up the road ringing Banma Mountain.

Bo Rui touched things left and right in the back row, unable to hide the envy in his eyes.

“This car is so cool! The interior is completely customized. Even in the Soaring Eagle class, this is a king-class configuration.”

Da Lun kindly advised him: “You’re a royal too. Don’t act so inexperienced.”

“You know how much I count as a royal. His Highness Oser and I only share 12.5% of our bloodline.”

“No wonder you can’t be compared to him.” Xi Lei’s voice came from the front seat.

Bo Rui stuck his head between the driver and passenger seats: “I was just about to ask, why are you allowed to sit in the passenger seat?”

Ling Yi was in a very good mood tonight, and joked: “Only bodyguards sit in the passenger seat. VIPs sit in the back.”

The night breeze blew through the open windows. Long silver hair fluttered in the wind and brushed against Bo Rui’s face, and he couldn’t tell where he itched the most.

He glanced at Ling Yi through the rearview mirror, and still couldn’t understand why his own son looked so different after putting on makeup.

The corners of the rearview mirror reflected the headlights, and a flash of silver on the cuff of Ling Yi’s ear caught Bo Rui’s attention.

“What’s this?” He reached out to touch it.

But before he could, Xi Lei grabbed his wrist and he was unable to move at all. This seemed like a familiar scene.

Xi Lei gazed ahead: “I told you. If you dare touch him, you’ll lose your hand.”

The grip on Bo Rui’s wrist was so forceful that it hurt, so he could only withdraw it in frustration and mutter, unreconciled: “You really think you’re a bodyguard, sitting in that passenger seat.”

At the top of Banma Mountain, the Luban driver had yet to appear, and everyone was getting impatient.

“The match is about to start, and this substitute hasn’t shown up yet. Could it be that he heard his opponent is Lei Yue and was too scared to show his face?”

“Look, is that a Soaring Eagle? Is some bigshot from the Royal Academy coming to watch the match tonight?”

The Soaring Eagle stopped by the roadside, and Xi Lei handed Ling Yi a helmet before he got out of the car.

“Did you bring that?” Ling Yi asked in a low voice.

Xi Lei had expected this, but he still donned a gloomy expression as he slipped him the pill covertly.

Ling Yi tossed the pill into his mouth and put on his helmet, and the four people got out of the car one after another.

Someone in the audience recognized them.

“They’re not from the royal family, they’re from Luban. How could a Luban student possibly afford a car of this quality?”

“You might not know this, but that big guy is a relative of Grand Duke Sully. He’s the one who caused a scene at the ball a couple days ago.”

“Ah, I heard about that! Why is he going to the military academy instead of the Royal Academy?”

Some people were disappointed when they saw Ling Yi.

“That’s the substitute Luban found? Their hair is so long. They didn’t find a girl, did they?”

Bo Rui said loudly: “Are people from the Royal Academy sexist? We at Luban have crouching tigers and hidden dragons. Even if we found a girl or an Omega, we would still beat you!”

“You talk a big game. Don’t cry if you lose. Our Lei-ge isn’t good at coaxing girls!”

A burst of laughter erupted.

Ling Yi remained unmoved, walking straight toward his motorcycle.

The motorcycle he was using today had been prepared for him by Oser, and it had been sent to the top of the mountain in advance. Presently, it was parked right beside Lei Yue’s at the starting line.

Someone wearing a helmet was already waiting there.

“I’ve run this mountain road many times, and I’m very familiar with the road conditions. It would be unfair of me to compete with you here. Think carefully before making your decision.”

“Beat me first, then you can say your victory was unfair.”

“I feel I have an obligation to explain this upfront.”

Ling Yi got on his motorcycle: “Are you done with this nonsense?”

“Wait a moment.”

Lei Yue lowered his head and remained motionless for about thirty seconds.

Ling Yi: “What are you doing? Praying?”

“Taking a moment of silence for a deceased friend. Today’s match should have belonged to him.”

Ling Yi turned the handlebars and heard the roar of the engine, feeling secretly delighted.

This motorcycle was worthy of being sponsored by His Highness. It was much better than his previous one.

He couldn’t stop touching it, and patted the hood, wondering if he would have a chance to ride such a nice machine again in the future.

Lei Yue didn’t quite understand his behavior: “That old friend was also your schoolmate. Shouldn’t you be mourning him too?”

Ling Yi rolled his eyes behind his helmet.

“No need. Let’s get started.”

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[1] In forums, this means not to keep quoting someone else’s messages and creating a long string of nested messages. Basically, stop repeating each other. ⮐

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Chapter 28 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 30