◇ Chapter 70: Ten Years of Secret Love

The screen changes very quickly, like accelerated pages of a book, skipping over all the unimportant parts and turning them over in one go.

Dreams are abstract and vague. The people involved do not feel anything wrong; instead, they feel as if they are actually there.

Physical education class, dismissal. Zhou Zheng wandered outside the class, standing in the farthest corner, with a purple-red mark on the corner of his mouth, his hands in his school uniform pockets, his eyes blank and his mind empty.

A group of young girls crowded around, and Zhou Zheng quickly moved to the side. They chattered at the poster board in front of them: "These are all outstanding graduates. Let me see if there are any handsome ones..."

"Those who go to this kind of thing are all nerds, there can't be any handsome ones among them."

"Hey, don't say it, the quality is very good. Look at the first and third ones, they are both very handsome and have good grades!"

"Let me see... Wow, it's real!!!"

"The fifth one isn't bad either!"

"I like the first one the best. He is the best looking. When he smiles, his eyes are curved like a crescent moon."

Zhou Zheng heard this description, and he blinked and reacted a little, looking up. At the first place on the honor list was a familiar face, with the same outline as the boy, and a frown on his face.

It's him. Looking down, it's marked as Grade 6 (Class 3), Lu Fangchi. He's an excellent graduate, and he attended a provincial key junior high school...

Zhou Zheng's eyes, which were as dark as a male ghost, lit up and he stared at the photo intently.

After knowing the name and the school, Zhou Zheng seemed to have regained his direction. He no longer stared at the ceiling after class, but wrote furiously. After wasting a stack of draft paper, he finally wrote a thank-you letter that he thought was perfect.

On a Friday of a certain week, he skipped his last class, put the thank-you letter of which he had written countless drafts in his pocket, walked for an hour following the map, and arrived at Lu Fangchi's school.

It was still early, and there was no one at the school gate. Zhou Zheng found a corner of the wall and stood there, staring at the school gate, his palms sweating, and he was mumbling about his opening remarks in his mind.

Time passed by bit by bit, and when the bell for the end of class rang, the melody of music for going home sounded, the door at the school gate slowly opened, and the laughter of adolescent boys and girls came from inside.

Zhou Zheng stood up straight, subconsciously took two steps forward, then stepped back, stretched his neck and stared at the school gate, afraid of missing that familiar figure.

About ten minutes later, Lu Fangchi's outstanding figure appeared at the school gate, followed by the thin boy from that night and two other teenagers. One of them had dark skin but a bright smile, a wristband on his hand and a basketball in his pocket; the other wore frameless glasses and would occasionally extend his middle finger to push the frame of his glasses. He looked very bookish and must be a top student.

They all looked very outstanding and dazzling, and they were completely different from the rat in the gutter like him. If he went forward at this moment, he would definitely destroy this harmonious scene. Zhou Zheng's feet were nailed to the spot, and he didn't move a step until their figures walked away and the students at the school gate dispersed.

He returned home in a daze that day, and it was completely dark. Li Xia was not home as usual, and luckily Zhou Dawei was not there either. Zhou Zheng escaped a beating and lay on the bed alone, digesting the inferiority complex...

The grass that can grow from the cracks of rocks is always resilient, and so is Zhou Zheng. After that day, he did not continue to be depressed, but was full of energy. He had a goal to pursue. He wanted to study hard and get into Lu Fangchi's school, to be worthy of him, and to stand beside him openly one day.

Zhou Zheng seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and began to study very hard. He was far behind, and Li Xia and Zhou Dawei could not afford to give him extra lessons, so he went to the teacher's office again and again to ask.

No teacher would reject a hardworking and motivated child. He was smart and quick to learn. He worked hard at night to make up for his shortcomings. He climbed to the middle of the class in half a year, and rushed to the top in a year. In the last semester, he made steady progress and entered the top ten in his age group. He was admitted to the No. 1 junior high school, Lu Fangchi's school.

On the day of the graduation ceremony, in the early morning, a thin figure sneaked into the school, ran to the honor column, took out a knife that he had prepared in advance, cut the curtain open, and took away the photo of the first place winner.

On the road of chasing Lu Fangchi, Zhou Zheng is always a step behind. There is an unbridgeable torrent and an awkward age difference between them, three years.

That is to say, when Zhou Zheng entered junior high school, Lu Fangchi had just graduated from junior high school and entered high school. Zhou Zheng caught up with him until high school, and Lu Fangchi graduated again and entered university. After much difficulty, he followed him into university, which was finally a four-year system, but the damn internship period was waving at the freshmen, and Lu Fangchi was no exception. After the internship, he rarely came to school. This seven-year pursuit was always missed again and again.

Zhou Zheng's inner timidity and inferiority always came out to play tricks. He wrote countless thank-you letters but never delivered them once. He always took a look at them from a distance at the school gate and then backed off. He wanted to wait, wait a little longer. Wait until he was better, then appear in front of Lu Fangchi and surprise him with a single sound.

But opportunities never wait for anyone, and fate always plays tricks on him. Zhou Zheng realized that his seven-year pursuit and his obsession with gratitude had undergone a qualitative change. The incest after waking up from adolescence, the discussions about his imaginary sexual partners, and his pounding heart all reminded Zhou Zheng that this was love.

So this is what love is. Zhou Zheng looked up at Lu Fangchi, who was speaking on the stage as a representative of outstanding graduates, and his heart was filled with great joy.

For the first time, he felt grateful to himself seven years ago. Fortunately, he had worked hard, so he is not so far behind now.

But reality is always contrary to ideal. After the graduates finished their speeches, Zhou Zheng sneaked into the backstage to take a closer look at Lu Fangchi, but found that there was a delicate and cute omega next to him.

The omega pouted her red lips and offered water to Lu Fangchi in a coquettish voice, "Brother Chi, here's some water for you."

Zhou Zheng's Adam's apple trembled, and he told himself in his heart that this was all normal. Lu Fangchi had always been very popular and had been on the school's most popular dating partner list for four years in a row. It was normal for someone to show his attention to him.

Zhou Zheng saw Lu Fangchi reaching out to take the water, his Adam's apple rolling, some water flowing out of the corner of his mouth and flowing down his smooth and delicate neck. He raised the back of his hand to rub the corner of his mouth, and nodded to the omega who was acting coquettishly to him, "Thank you."

"I'm thirsty too, give me a drink." said the omega again.

Zhou Zheng frowned instantly. This was an unreasonable request...

Unexpectedly, Lu Fangchi hesitated for two seconds and handed the half bottle of water he had drunk to the omega.

The omega smiled sweetly and said in a more docile voice, "Thank you, Brother Chi."

The interaction between the two naturally caught the eyes of others in the background, and some people whispered, "Are they together?"

"Looking at the situation, it's almost certain."

"A virtuous woman is afraid of being pestered by a wolf. Xie Xing has been pestering him for a year, it's time to warm up even if he is a stone."

"Wow... my idol was taken down just like that? If I had known, I would have pestered him too."

"Ha, he looked like the kind of guy who would be good-tempered enough to get what he wanted by just pestering him."

"Forget it. Fortunately, Xie Xing is good-looking. After all, they are a good match in appearance. It's better than finding an ugly guy, right?"

"Wait for a breakup."

Falling in love and breaking up happened on the same day, like a roller coaster, soaring up to the sky one second and plummeting into hell the next. Zhou Zheng's heart was grasped and squeezed by a hand, and it hurt so much that he could hardly breathe. He was in a state of daze and staggered out of the backstage.

Then he stepped into a black vortex and kept falling down. It was pitch black all around him. Zhou Zheng thought he was going to die, but then he landed steadily on the ground.

The stage was full of flashing lights, which were blinding. A host asked, "Mr. Zhou, what do you think about winning this game?"

Zhou Zheng glanced to the right again. Lu Fangchi was less than half a meter away from him. They were receiving awards on the same stage. This realization made Zhou Zheng's heart beat wildly.

He should have been excited, happy, and enthusiastic. His hand was on the microphone handle, and his words came out uncontrollably, "It's good, it would be better if I wasn't with someone."

The insinuation was too obvious, and there was an uproar in the audience. Assistant Liu, who was sitting in the front row, blinked and winked frantically, and the faces of the executives of Lu Fangchi's company became more or less stiff and embarrassed.

On the other hand, the person involved, Lu Fangchi, smiled and magnanimously lowered his head to the microphone, "Thanks to your good words, Zira will be able to step onto a bigger award-winning platform."

It was a brilliant counterattack, and the audience burst into applause.

At the dinner, Lu Fangchi caught a glimpse of Zhou Zheng walking towards him with a champagne glass in his hand. He was about to slip away silently but was blocked by him.

If Lu Fangchi goes left, he will go left too. If Lu Fangchi goes right, he will go right too. He will definitely find something to cause trouble for Lu Fangchi.

Zhou Zheng half-raised his eyebrows and said in a sarcastic tone, "You don't like me?"

Please. Who dislikes whom? Lu Fangchi sighed in his heart, narrowed his eyes, and put on a fake smile, "How could it be."

"That's enough," Zhou Zheng interrupted his pretense and said unhappily, "There's no one else here, so stop pretending."

Lu Fangchi's smile disappeared in a second, and he looked at Zhou Zheng coldly, "Get out of the way."

Zhou Zheng ignored him and stood still like a wall. He raised his head and drank the champagne in one gulp. He looked deeply at Lu Fangchi and moved his lips. "You don't have any other impression of me?"

Lu Fangchi frowned, puzzled by the alpha's inexplicable words, "What other impression should I have?"

"Besides being arrogant, conceited and looking down on others." Zhou Zheng asked seriously, even with a hint of stubbornness in his eyes.

Lu Fangchi didn't understand, and thought he was having another attack. He raised his lips and sneered: "It seems you are quite self-aware."

As he finished speaking, the cell phone in his pocket began to buzz. Lu Fangchi took it out, looked at it, and put it back without answering it.

The phone kept ringing, again and again. Lu Fangchi frowned slightly and heard Zhou Zheng in front of him ask, "Don't answer it? Maybe it's something important."

These words seemed to touch Lu Fangchi's heart. He pursed his lips, took out his cell phone, put it to his ear, and raised his foot to go around Zhou Zheng to the corner to answer the call.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zheng was still unwilling to let him go. He used the same old trick again and blocked his way like an eagle catching chickens, raised his eyebrows and looked like he deserved a beating, "Take it here."

Xie Xing's voice rang out from the receiver. Lu Fangchi had no choice but to stand there and say "Hello".

"Brother Chi, I'm drunk, come and pick me up." Xie Xing's drunken voice rang out, followed by noisy heavy metal rock music.

Xie Xing's love of nightclubs was the trigger for their breakup. Lu Fangchi knitted his eyebrows together and reminded him bluntly, "Xie Xing, we've broken up. You should take care of yourself before drinking."

Xie Xing turned a deaf ear to these great truths and just kept repeating drunkenly: "Come pick me up, will you come pick me up?"

There was no way to communicate with the drunkard, and this was the result of a week of cold war. Lu Fangchi hung up the phone in disappointment.

Zhou Zheng's voice sounded in front of him, "Did you break up?"

It's funny, the alpha actually had a delighted look on his face, and even his brows were filled with joy.

Are you so happy to see yourself being laughed at? Lu Fangchi pursed his lips into a straight line and retorted: "Mr. Zhou's gossiping about other people's love lives is exactly the same as that of the village aunt."

Having said that, Lu Fangchi walked around Zhou Zheng and left.

Zhou Zheng couldn't stop the corners of his lips from rising, and as he thought about it, his mouth opened, revealing his neat teeth.

Perhaps he felt that he was laughing too wildly, so he restrained himself and straightened his back. He looked around and found that no one cared, so he laughed again.

He walked briskly in the underground garage, waving the key in his hand carelessly and whistling, as if something great had happened.

It is indeed a happy event. After three years, we are finally getting through this.

Zhou Zheng stepped into the car with his long legs, stepped on the accelerator and drove out. The car sped past one car after another on the elevated road, as brisk as his current happy mood.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened ahead, a white puppy ran into the middle of the road. Zhou Zheng's eyes widened, and he turned the steering wheel subconsciously, crashing the car straight into the viaduct. The airbag popped out instantly, and before he fell into darkness and coma, Alpha thought that he had not yet told Lu Fangchi about his secret love for him for the past ten years...

【Author’s words】

There will be another chapter later, maybe around 12 o'clock in the evening. Don't wait, you can read it when you wake up.