The Marked Alpha Is Extremely Hard to Coax - Chapter 1

“Roll(Get out of my way).” The night breeze brushed his eyelids, and Jiang Yunbian’s voice was cold.

 

He often uses the word “roll” with strangers, his tone always sounding like a threat, his gaze as dismissive as he pleases.

 

Usually, anyone who is sensible has already quickly moved away from him without needing a count, but there are a few who dare to silently confront him, and the one in front of him, with an equally penetrating gaze, is the first.

 

It was 8 PM, and there had been an accident on the heart street of South City.

 

A luxury car had hit a bicycle, knocking over a girl and scattering a bag of goldfish. Jiang Yunbian was the owner of the bicycle, and one of the goldfish struggling on the sidewalk was his, now stranded and puffing up its cheeks.

 

Zhou Die, with his long lashes lowered, glanced at the dying fish and then looked up with no visible emotion: “Big temper for a scam?”

 

Jiang Yunbian retorted, “Scam? Did you lose your eyes or something?”

 

There was more sarcasm to his words, but Jiang Yunbian first caught a whiff of the cedar scent in the air.

 

Pheromones?

 

This Alpha isn’t planning to pick a fight here, is he?

 

Zhou Die didn’t pay attention to his gaze and tapped his right hand with a watch: “I’m in a hurry. Just say how much you want.”

 

“Are you rich people’s brains broken or something?” Jiang Yunbian struggled to restrain the impulse to kick the small wings off his car emblem. “You guys don’t watch the traffic lights while driving, hit her, and I’m dragged into it. Got it?”

 

The driver, who had been standing by, finally couldn’t hold back and said to Jiang Yunbian, “Kid, clearly you were having a public argument with this girl. She threw herself onto our young master’s car, and now you’re trying to scam us?”

 

The driver was referring to the girl crying on the ground.

 

Jiang Yunbian’s temples throbbed: “I don’t know her!”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Die let out a sneer, clearly thinking Jiang Yunbian was making things up.

 

When Jiang Yunbian locked eyes with him, a sudden chill spread over the back of his neck, like a thin needle had scratched his skin.

 

It was at this moment that the traffic police arrived. The driver got out of the car and explained the situation to the police. After a brief conversation, the police officer nodded to Zhou Die.

 

“I’m not sure if rich people have brain issues,” Zhou Die said, casually glancing at Jiang Yunbian while holding his phone, “but you definitely need to relearn road safety from the traffic police uncle.”

 

“You…”

 

As Jiang Yunbian raised his hand, the sharp cedar scent pierced his skin, causing his right hand to go numb.

 

When he came back to his senses, Zhou Die had already gotten into a taxi, casting a mocking glance at him: “Next time, don’t pick a fight in the middle of the street.”

 

As the car drove away, the cedar scent brushed his neck, and Jiang Yunbian’s hand, which hung by his side, clenched into a fist.

 

The driver, having finished the negotiation, sighed as he looked at Jiang Yunbian’s retreating figure: “Kid, my young master’s temper isn’t usually like this. He’s just in a hurry today and happened to run into you arguing with your girlfriend…”

 

“How many times do I have to say it?” Jiang Yunbian picked up his bicycle with a blank expression. “She has nothing to do with me.”

 

The driver frowned, looking back at the girl who was limping and considering how confusing young people’s relationships are these days. Then he heard the boy warn him, “I don’t know you. Stop bothering me.”

 

The girl pretended to be frightened and hid behind the driver, her gaze sticking to Jiang Yunbian as he walked away.

 

The driver scratched his head and said to the girl, “Kid, go to the hospital for a check-up. We’ll cover all the compensation.”

 

—

 

Jiang Yunbian rarely shows such rudeness to girls, but his temper had indeed gotten out of control just now.

 

— That arrogant young master’s pheromones actually suppressed him?

 

Damn, how is that possible?

 

The front wheel of his bicycle was almost detached from the frame, making it unrideable. Jiang Yunbian, feeling restless, pulled out his phone and dialed.

 

Three calls went unanswered.

 

The goldfish in the plastic bag in his palm had turned belly-up, its lifeless body drifting into his peripheral vision.

 

Jiang Yunbian pushed the bicycle to the side of the road, took a deep breath, and dialed another number.

 

“Hello.” A woman’s slightly impatient voice came through the phone.

 

Jiang Yunbian lowered his voice: “Mom…”

 

“Stop.” The woman’s voice was cold. “I gave you a chance. Yun Yi has been waiting for you here for over an hour. It’s you who didn’t come back.”

 

Jiang Yunbian’s Adam’s apple bobbed: “I had an accident.”

 

“You always mess things up. You only care about yourself, and no one else matters to you. Even when your sister couldn’t go to school and threatened me, you didn’t care and left her here to starve. Jiang Yunbian, don’t you have any sense of responsibility?”

 

Jiang Yunbian lowered his eyes, licked his parched lips trying to explain, but then heard his mother say, “Let your sister go, and let yourself go too.”

 

The call ended, and the phone blinked twice before returning to a black screen. Jiang Yunbian saw his disheveled reflection on the screen.

 

He slowly got up, pushed his old bicycle to the riverbank, and shook the dead fish from the triangular plastic bag into the water.

 

This was meant to be a farewell gift for his sister.

 

Jiang Yunbian sat by the roadside, feeling the heat from his phone for a while before he finally mustered the courage to send a message to his sister: [Listen to mom when you go back.]

 

Feeling it was a bit dry, he added a cat head-pat sticker.

 

After a long time, he received a reply: [Got it. I don’t blame you. Cat licking fur.jpg]

 

He smiled at the screen, got up his bike, and headed back.

 

When he returned to his rental apartment, he sat in the empty living room for half an hour before collapsing onto the bed.

 

With the long night came many dreams, and when Jiang Yunbian was woken by the alarm the next morning, his head hurt as if it might split open. He got up with a grim expression, washed up, and stiffened for a moment when passing the opposite bedroom, then pushed the door open.

 

Inside was only a neatly made bed, with no one in sight.

 

After staring blankly for a couple of seconds, Jiang Yunbian stood at the sink and noticed his ankle was sore.

 

He looked down but didn’t see any injury, probably just twisted it in the accident last night.

 

But he was so caught up in glaring at that arrogant idiot that he didn’t notice the leg pain, luckily it wasn’t serious.

 

“Damn it.” Jiang Yunbian hurriedly applied some ointment, changed into his school uniform, and packed his bag before heading out.

 

Today was the first day of the third year of high school, and he was supposed to go up on the flag-raising platform as the representative of his grade. The grade director had called him a week in advance to insist he must not be late.

 

Jiang Yunbian didn’t understand what his director was fixated on. He was practically branded with “delinquent” on his forehead; his behavior was no different from a school bully.

 

Aside from good grades and his gender being an A, he was nothing special.

 

Moreover, his speeches from the previous two years were nothing remarkable.

 

Some nosy girls recorded clips, and soon most of the students from the southern city knew that the famous school god from the Third Middle School’s opening ceremony had said, “Whatever,” “Boring,” “Depends on luck.”

 

Two lines in the first year, one line in the second year. Oh, in the second semester of the second year, he went on stage, yawned, and didn’t say a single word.

 

Last night, someone on the forum dug out the footage, and those three segments were back on the school forum’s homepage. The arrogant school god Jiang Yunbian, with his looks and bad attitude, had gathered a large group of new admirers.

 

Students from the Third Middle School were ready with their cameras, eagerly anticipating what kind of legendary speech Jiang Yunbian might give this year.

 

After all, a top school like the Third Middle School only sees such a delinquent school god once in a hundred years, which was indeed something to look forward to.

 

But just like nobody cared about kangaroos in Australia, Jiang Yunbian didn’t care about those idle admirers. He only wanted to find the idiot who hit him last night and punch him in the face.

 

The delinquent school god pushed open the door with a gloomy expression, only to realize it was raining on the first day of school.

 

*

 

The opening ceremony was moved to the auditorium for the break.

 

Jiang Yunbian threw his bag on a chair and slumped over the desk, falling fast asleep.

 

The classmate sitting in front of him glanced at his slender, fair wrist dangling over the desk, hesitating to speak.

 

Jiang Yunbian had a serious case of morning grouchiness, so his classmates usually didn’t dare to disturb him.

 

But the classmate in front could barely hold it in, having seen Jiang Yunbian on the city’s hot search.

 

Last night, there was a car accident on Shixin Street, rumored to involve two men fighting over a woman. The blurry but pretty half-face in the video was from the back seat of his car.

 

Only Jiang Yunbian could say “scram” so beautifully.

 

The classmate hesitated, feeling it was not worth disturbing Jiang Yunbian’s sleep for such a reason; he wouldn’t mind getting a few punches from him.

 

But when he noticed the empty seat behind Jiang Yunbian, he had an epiphany.

 

“Hey, Jiang, I have something to tell you.”

 

Jiang Yunbian remained motionless, lying on the desk, until the classmate said “Jiang, Jiang” several times. He then lifted his hand.

 

“Speak.”

 

The classmate was taken aback, thinking, damn, Jiang Yunbian is such a bastard.

 

“Your seatmate behind you is coming back to school today.”

 

Jiang Yunbian was silent for two seconds before recalling that there was supposed to be someone sitting behind him.

 

They were split into classes for the second year, and after the class was split, he had always sat in the second-to-last seat in the last row, with the seat behind him always empty.

 

He had heard it was some rich young master, who was so delicate that he had been on sick leave for a year.

 

No repeat year, and the teachers and directors who focused on grades didn’t care, making him extremely mysterious.

 

As the “mysterious person,” Jiang Yunbian inevitably heard some rumors.

 

The mysterious person was said to be the eldest son of the Zhou family, often absent in the first year, and in the second year, he donated two buildings to allow him to study at the school. The standout phrase was “money makes one capricious.”

 

Oh, and there was also a rumor about a marriage alliance.

 

The Zhou young master was said to have a fiancée, a high school senior Omega named Xu, from a wealthy family, a perfect match.

 

Jiang Yunbian was dismissive, thinking, what era is this for business marriages? Should they be given nicknames like Golden Boy and Jade Girl?

 

Delicate and a match in social status, in Jiang Yunbian’s imagination, the mysterious seatmate was becoming a fragile, wilting sprout.

 

At the moment Jiang Yunbian was buried in his desk, a tall figure appeared at the door.

 

In his sleep, Jiang Yunbian suddenly felt a pain in his neck.

 

Zhou Die, with the cold face Jiang Yunbian wanted to punch, scanned the classroom with a calm demeanor. Under various curious and excited gazes, he slowly walked to the last row with his bag.

 

When he reached the front, the classmate in front finally came back to his senses from his astonishment: “Zhou, Zhou, Zhou Die, your seat is in the back.”

 

—