Chapter 17: Almost a Misunderstanding

Wen Yuzhi fled into the bathroom as if escaping.

He soaked his hair with water and scrubbed at it hard. But no matter how much force he used, the silver strands—flowing under the light with a sheen like silk—refused to fade in the slightest.

As if this was how it had always been meant to look.

“Monster! He’s a monster!”

Amid the rushing sound of water, Wen Yuzhi seemed to hear again the shrill, terrified scream Wen Xingyan had once let out in childhood.

That was the first time he had followed his parents to visit Old Master Wen. It was also the first time he had met the man who was nominally his grandfather.

Old Master Wen had been indifferent toward him, but still allowed his son and daughter-in-law’s family to stay overnight at the estate.

Then the next morning, while Wen Yuzhi was still asleep, Wen Xingyan heard that he had come to see Old Master Wen and stormed into the room in a fury.

In his half-dreaming state, Wen Yuzhi only remembered hearing a child’s piercing cries and the entire Wen household thrown into chaos.

He didn’t remember clearly what had happened that day. He only knew that Wen Xingyan’s terrified shriek had frightened him too. After Wen Che and Madam Jilanya hurried back and brought him home, Wen Yuzhi came down with a high fever that very night.

Afterward, Wen Yuzhi had once tried to find out what had happened, but his parents only told him that he’d been sick at the time, and that was why Wen Xingyan had gotten frightened that day.

In a small voice, Wen Yuzhi had asked Madam Jilanya what illness he had.

Madam Jilanya held her child close, her voice gentle beyond measure. “Just a little skin condition. Nothing serious. It’ll get better very soon. But Zhizhi mustn’t take off the face cloth these next few days, or it won’t heal.”

“Then... do I look ugly right now? Like a monster?” The cub lowered his head, looking at how tightly he was wrapped up from head to toe, his voice suddenly dropping.

“How could that be! My Zhizhi isn’t a monster. You’re the most beautiful angel Mommy has ever seen!”

There wasn’t a hint of falsehood in Madam Jilanya’s words. She was certain—deeply convinced—that their child was the cutest cub in the world.

“Zhizhi is a gift heaven sent to us. Mommy is honored to have you.”

Her voice had been so gentle that Wen Yuzhi had never once imagined what it would mean if Wen Che and Madam Jilanya weren’t his biological parents.

Now, caught in a swirl of irritation and unease, the first person Wen Yuzhi thought of was his online friend.

He sent a message:

【If one day you found out your parents were actually someone else, what would you do?】

He added three stickers: sad kitten.gif, crying kitten.gif, self-isolating kitten.gif.

But right after sending it, Wen Yuzhi remembered that the other person should still be in assessment. After thinking for a moment, he hurriedly withdrew all the messages.

Yet in those two minutes of hesitation, Xi Heyan had already seen what Wen Yuzhi sent.

He had just finished his assessment. Groups of students were walking out of the virtual training room in twos and threes.

The moment they saw Xi Heyan, they almost instinctively slowed down. Their expressions turned restrained, and even their conversations dropped to hushed tones.

Clearly, Xi Heyan’s performance in this assessment had once again refreshed everyone’s understanding of this commoner chief.

What did it mean to wipe out an entire camp of three hundred Padar people alone?

If this had been a real battlefield, that level of military merit would have been enough for Xi Heyan to instantly rise beyond the rank of ordinary soldier and formally enter the ranks of officers.

Even within the First Military Academy, what Xi Heyan had done had completely shattered the historical assessment record.

As those who had witnessed it firsthand, the gazes they cast at him were extraordinarily complicated.

It was a look that blended daze and shock with something like: Who am I? Where am I? How can a useless person like me be in the same class as a big shot?

Yet Xi Heyan, receiving attention from both sides, paid no mind to any of it.

He went straight to a lounge, entered the shower area, and stripped off his gear. Just as he pressed the switch for the showerhead, his light-brain wristband suddenly chimed with a notification.

Xi Heyan’s eyes flickered. He opened the message interface and happened to see the message Wen Yuzhi had sent and withdrawn.

The animated crying kitten face came into view, forming a stark contrast with the smiling white duck avatar above it.

Combined with how hurriedly the message had been withdrawn—

Even through the screen, Xi Heyan could almost feel Wen Yuzhi’s flustered and uneasy mood at that moment.

He pretended not to have seen the withdrawn message.

Instead, he replied to Wen Yuzhi’s earlier message.

【The assessment went very smoothly.】

【I’m first place.】

Wen Yuzhi hadn’t expected that just after he withdrew his message, the other person would reply.

He hurriedly looked at his light-brain.

Seeing that the reply referred to his earlier message, Wen Yuzhi couldn’t quite tell whether he felt regret or relief. But when he saw “first place,” he instinctively felt happy for his friend.

【That’s amazing!】

【Scattering flowers.jpg】

Wen Yuzhi had found that “scattering flowers” emoji in the built-in sticker panel. Before sending it, he hadn’t realized it came with special effects.

When Xi Heyan received the message, rose petals began drifting down from above.

The holographic effect was extremely realistic. The petals not only had tactile feedback but even carried a faint floral fragrance.

In an instant, the narrow shower room was enveloped in the hazy scent of roses.

It was the first time Xi Heyan had ever taken such a fragrant shower.

He paused.

At the same time, Wen Yuzhi realized something was off and quickly sent another message:

【Sorry, I didn’t know it had special effects...】

【It’s fine.】

After sending that, Xi Heyan felt the tone sounded a bit stiff, so he added another line.

【Thank you for the flowers.】

Wen Yuzhi had just been worrying that the other person might not like the effect. Now he found himself amused and exasperated by that polite yet overly serious “thank you.”

That was way too proper.

【Now that your assessment is over, do you get to rest?】

【Mm. A few days off.】

【Are you tired? Assessments for military academy students must be pretty strict, right?】

【Not tired. It was fine. Not especially difficult.】

Xi Heyan glanced at his assessment results. It clearly read: Kill count: 451. A fault-line first place. The second place had 173—more than double the gap.

He wasn’t exaggerating. The school’s assessment really wasn’t that hard.

The so-called simulation of the most realistic battlefield environment was nothing more than children playing house—students who had never stepped outside the ivory tower.

The First Capital Military Academy was no longer the First Military Academy it once had been.

—

At first, Wen Yuzhi had only looked for Xi Heyan out of instinct, wanting someone to vent to.

But once they started chatting, he completely forgot about that.

Xi Heyan didn’t talk much. What they discussed were trivial daily matters.

Yet somehow, this kind of ordinary, almost boring conversation gradually soothed Wen Yuzhi’s restless mood.

【What’s life like at military academy?】

【Training, classes, assessments. Nothing particularly interesting.】

It sounded not much different from his previous days at the Omega academy—training on how to be a good spouse after marriage, studying how to comfort an Alpha.

Rules everywhere. Doctrine everywhere. Wen Yuzhi had found nothing interesting there either.

But hearing Xi Heyan say this, he suddenly grew curious about why the other person had enrolled in military academy in the first place.

【My father used to be a soldier.】

Wen Yuzhi felt immediate respect. No matter which world it was, soldiers who defended their country were the most worthy of admiration.

【He and my mother used to argue about what career I would choose in the future.】

Wen Yuzhi thought of Wen Che and Madam Jilanya.

His parents had been like that too. Wen Che loved adventure and hoped Wen Yuzhi would become an explorer like him. Madam Jilanya thought exploration was too dangerous. And since Wen Yuzhi had shown sensitivity to color and design from a young age, she believed he was better suited to become a jewelry designer.

They had argued about it more than once. Noisy arguments—yet now they were beautiful times Wen Yuzhi would never return to.

【So you joined the military academy because of your father?】

【No. I went against his original intention. I joined to get promoted faster.】

Wen Yuzhi had already assumed this would be a touching story of inheriting his father’s career. Instead, Xi Heyan’s reason was blunt and straightforward.

To get promoted faster.

Open and unashamed of his ambition.

Wen Yuzhi found himself amused by that honesty. He didn’t think it made Xi Heyan impure or flawed.

On the contrary, that small “imperfection” in someone he’d always thought of as serious and proper made him feel more real.

It was as if Xi Heyan could sense Wen Yuzhi’s mood even through the screen.

【Are you feeling better now?】

Seeing that sentence, Wen Yuzhi suddenly realized Xi Heyan hadn’t failed to notice the withdrawn message at all. He had simply been guiding the conversation to help him calm down first.

Wen Yuzhi pressed his lips together. In his heart, something felt like a feather brushing past.

Soft. Light.

【Much better. Thank you.】

He typed the words into the chat box and was just about to send them when Alvin, who had been waiting in the room for quite a while and hadn’t seen Wen Yuzhi come out, grew worried that something might be wrong inside and knocked on the door.

At the instant the knocking sounded, Wen Yuzhi startled. His finger, meant to press send, slipped slightly—

and tapped the button next to it instead.

That button was for video call.

Xi Heyan hadn’t expected a video call request from Wen Yuzhi either.

Years of training meant that before he had time to think, he had already tapped accept.

By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.

Xi Heyan’s brow twitched.

Wen Yuzhi heard the sound of water first.

Then what crashed into his sight was a man’s bare, firm chest. Wet droplets rolled down, disappearing into the deep lines of muscle.

Wen Yuzhi: “......”

Th-this...!

Heat rushed up his cheeks instantly.

At the same time, Alvin, who had gotten no response from knocking, had already begun to panic.

The moment Alvin pushed the door open—

In that split second, Wen Yuzhi only had time to stammer out an embarrassed “Pressed the wrong button!” before hurriedly cutting off the video call.

He didn’t even get to see Xi Heyan’s reaction.

Right now, Wen Yuzhi’s mind held only one thought—

Thank goodness Mr. Alvin probably hadn’t seen that just now.