Ch80 - A Fence Can’t Separate Two Beating Hearts

Winter in the north was bitingly cold.

At noon, the sun was high in the sky. Li Cheng and his roommates had lunch in the cafeteria and lazily basked in the sun for a while. After the training in the afternoon, the north wind suddenly became extremely strong, the piercing wind going straight into the collar of the down jacket. 

It got dark very early in winter. It was barely half past five but the sun had already set, leaving only a thin orange-red remnant light on the horizon.

Li Cheng pushed open the gate of the swimming pool and wrapped his down jacket tightly, thinking about what to eat in the cafeteria in a moment.

The food served in the training center was truly excellent. All their meals were planned by professional nutritionists. Li Cheng’s favorite food was the beef noodle soup. It was a ladleful of piping hot noodle soup served in a large bowl. The dish was large in portion and topped with a generous layer of beef and lots of vegetables. It was a perfect balance of carbs, protein and greens. Slurping that bowl of noodles made one feel nice and warm.

Thinking of it, Li Cheng couldn’t help but gulp his saliva. He speeded up and headed towards the cafeteria. 

“—ChengCheng!” At this moment, Li Cheng vaguely caught a familiar voice in the wind.

Li Cheng’s footsteps halted and he tilted his head subconsciously to search for the source of the familiar voice.

But when he looked around, there was only the whistling wind in his ears.

… It should be that he missed Xiao Yiheng too much, making him daydream about hearing his boyfriend’s voice.

  I wonder what that guy is doing now. Maybe he is painting in the art classroom in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

Li Cheng subconsciously put his hand in his pocket to take out his phone and send a text message, but in the end he felt nothing – in order to prevent the coach from discovering that he had kept his phone on the sly, he would secretly hide it in the quilt during training every day.

It was so depressing that the two of them could not celebrate Yiheng’s first birthday after they started dating.

Li Cheng scratched his hair in chagrin. Suddenly, a pair of big hands stretched out from behind him and covered his eyes. 

Li Cheng’s world suddenly turned dark. He was startled, a ridiculous idea jumping into his mind.

He couldn’t restrain the excitement at the corner of his mouth and immediately grabbed the hands with his and pulled them away as he turned around – then his face fell in an instant.

“Damn, Zhou Jian, are you a kid?” Li Cheng’s lips pursed, his eyes filling with disappointment.

“Sorry, I wanted to scare you when I saw you in a daze.” Zhou Jian was a northerner and an alpha. He was very tall and had to bow his head slightly every time he talked to Li Cheng. 

Both of them specialized in freestyle. Although one of them was a long distance swimmer while the other was a short distance swimmer, they usually trained together. There were a total of six events in the men’s freestyle, and eleven reserve players. Because Li Cheng was an omega, he had become a very special presence in the team. Li Cheng’s performance was outstanding, his strength causing extreme jealousy in the other players. This envy, coupled with his thorny character, caused the other team members to feel he was difficult to deal with… Over time, Li Cheng had no friends in the team. He could only say a few words with Zhou Jian.

Seeing Li Cheng shrink his neck due to the cold, Zhou Jian took off his scarf at once to wrap it around Li Cheng’s neck. He was a rich second-generation, so even an ordinary scarf was expensive. Even Li Cheng recognized the logo on it.

Li Cheng immediately stepped back and waved his hand to refuse: “Don’t, don’t, you can wear the scarf yourself, don’t give it to me.”

Zhou Jian was put on the spot by his refusal, “… …Why not? It’s so cold, you will be warm after wearing it.” 

Li Cheng: “I feel out of breath when I wear a scarf. I feel as if someone is choking me.”

Zhou Jian: “… …”

Zhou Jian silently wore back the scarf.

Li Cheng felt that Zhou Jian was strange. It had been more than two weeks since Li Cheng accidentally discovered that Zhou Jian often stared at him during training. 

Sometimes when Li Cheng turned his head, he would catch Zhou Jian’s gaze that was too late to withdraw. Those eyes were full of deep meaning, making Li Cheng’s whole body break out in goosebumps.

It was too weird! The two of them had different specialties, and there was no conflict at all in the competition for the final places. Why did Zhou Jian regard him as an imaginary enemy?

If Zhou Jian knew what Li Cheng was thinking, he would definitely be depressed for casting pearls before swine during this period of time, right?

It was too cold to linger outside. Li Cheng wrapped his down jacket tightly, stuck his hands into his pockets, and trotted towards the cafeteria. Zhou Jian followed him every step of the way, his eyes gazing at Li Cheng’s nape as if imperceptibly. 

They passed through the cold wind, pushed away the heavy hanging screen of the cafeteria door, and finally returned to the arms of the heater.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Li Cheng scampered to the beef noodle soup window and took a bowl of freshly-made beef noodles. The chef in charge of the meal was afraid that he would not have enough nutrition and topped the big bowl with two full ladles of beef. It piled up into a small hill and looked particularly spectacular.

“Sja wbgf qgbaflc jcv ifrr mjgyr,” Ktf mtfo qea atf yffo cbbvifr bc Ol Jtfcu’r agjs, rjslcu, “Tbecu wjc, mbwf jcv jvv wbgf lo sbe vbc’a tjnf fcbeut wfja.”

Itbe Aljc, ktb kjr rajcvlcu yfrlvf tlw, kjcafv ab fja atf rjwf jr Ol Jtfcu, jcv rjlv lwwfvljafis: “Vlg, ulnf wf j ybki abb.” 

The chef looked at the noodle pot and said, “Student, you will have to wait a few minutes. The noodles are used up, I will roll them out now.”

Zhou Jian hesitated, but agreed.

Li Cheng ignored him and first went to find a seat holding his beef noodles. It was the break before the next training session and the canteen was packed with hundreds of athletes. Li Cheng looked for a long time before finally finding a vacant seat in the corner.

It just so happened that his roommates were sitting in the three chairs around the empty seat. 

Who knew what topic the three omegas were discussing about. Chen Miao, the most talkative among them, looked radiant with delight, his face exuberant with thoughts of love.

Li Cheng walked over with the tray, put it down carelessly, and slung his arm around Chen Miao’s shoulder: “Hey, it seems that you are not tired from training this afternoon. What are you talking about so happily?”

Chen Miao was taken aback by his sudden appearance, and asked angrily, “Who said I’m not tired? I’m about to die of exhaustion. I have dived thirty times in a row this afternoon. My partner, that fool, is always a step slow. It’s infuriating.”

Li Cheng teased with a grin, “But you don’t look like you… huh, did something good happen?” 

Chen Miao coughed twice, saying mysteriously: “Don’t you dare make it public—I saw a particularly handsome alpha just now on my way to the next training!”

Li Cheng: “…”

Li Cheng was not at all interested in this kind of “girly topic”. With a “tsk!”, he lazily withdrew his arm from Chen Miao’s shoulder, and attacked the beef noodles in front of him.

He was physically exhausted and had been famished for a long time. He immersed himself in the “hard work” of eating while allocating a bit of energy to listen to Chen Miao, the love-struck fool. 

Chen Miao was the type of omega that looked cute, and coupled with his short stature, he was very popular in the training team. It was a pity he despised the alpha in the training team. He thought they all had well-developed limbs but simple minds.

Chen Miao gushed, “That alpha must be more than 1.85m tall. I am sure his legs must be at least 1.8m long.”

Li Cheng’s thoughts: Is this even a human? This is simply the essence of a pole, okay?

Chen Miao: “He is not a member of our training camp. He stood outside the fence and kept looking in the direction of our swimming pool. When I went out, I just happened to swing in that direction—Aiya, I saw him standing there surrounded by darkness, only the place he was standing was bright. The light from the sky fell on him. He was so dazzling, it made me wonder if I had seen a god descending to the earth!” 

Li Cheng’s conjecture: It’s absolutely impossible for any god to descend on earth. There are only two possible sources of that beam of light: one is the street lamp overhead, and the second is a UFO that wanted to beam up the alpha.

Chen Miao: “I admit that I was bewitched by his beauty! I mustered up the courage to walk over and talk to him.”

The omega sitting opposite him immediately grabbed his hand and asked, “What did you say to him?”

Chen Miao answered with a coy smile: “I said: ‘Classmate, do you need help?'” 

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘No need.’”

Li Cheng : …

Chen Miao spreads both hands: “So, I left.” 

Even though Chen Miao’s “love story” ended abruptly, the protagonist of the story was mysterious and handsome enough to set off a heated discussion among the three omega at the table.

Although the tall and aloof alpha only said two words, Chen “passion for fantasy” Miao, had already fabricated a romantic tale full of ups and downs for him.

“He was standing outside the fence, and from his point of view, he could only see the gate of the swimming pool. He kept staring there, so he must be waiting for someone!” Chen Miao put his hands on his cheeks, “and he only wore a woolen jacket over his school uniform. He seemed to be very cold.”

Li Cheng snarked: Wearing only one coat in minus ten degrees weather? What a show off! Who needs warmth when you can have poise, right? 

The roommate sitting opposite said: “School uniform? But there is no school nearby.”

Chen Miao: “Then I don’t know. Over half of his school uniform was covered and I only saw the words ‘No. 1 High School’ on it.”

Roommate: “Oh! Is it the Capital No. 1 High School? That school is quite famous. The school uniforms are of the British style. Boys wear suits and ties, but they are fashionable.”

“Ah? No, no, that’s not right.” Chen Miao shook his head, “That boy’s school uniform looked sporty in blue and white colors.” 

Li Cheng’s chopsticks suddenly stopped moving.

Blue-and-white sports school uniform… “No.1 High School” school badge on the chest… In such freezing weather, wearing only a woolen coat that could not keep out the cold… A handsome, tall and extraordinary alpha with a cold personality… and the most important thing… When he walked out of the swimming pool, he heard the familiar “ChengCheng”…

Several clues gathered together, and a guess that Li Cheng found hard to believe exploded into his mind.

His brain blanked and his lips trembled slightly. He abruptly got up from his seat and ran outside desperately. 

The roommates were startled by his actions and yelled his name to his back. But those voices were all left behind by him, completely inaudible.

When he rushed out of the canteen, he almost collided with Zhou Jian. The tray in Zhou Jian’s hand shook, and most of the noodle soup spilled out.

“Li Cheng, you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Li Cheng’s figure had disappeared into the night. 

… …

Cold. It was bitterly cold.

On this winter night in the capital where the temperature had plunged to a freezing ten degrees below zero, stood Xiao Yiheng under the street lamp. He leaned against the fence, cupped his hands around his mouth, and exhaled gently, trying to warm the cold palms of his hands.

In the instant when the exhaled hot breath came into contact with the cold air, it turned into a white mist right away due to its liquefaction into small droplets. 

And this scene made Xiao Yiheng’s eyes soft for a moment as he recalled the silly question raised by Li Cheng.

He turned his gaze to the swimming pool again, looking at the brightly lit stadium from a distance.

The directions given by the guard were spot on. It only took him ten minutes to get around from the main gate to this side. The entire training center was surrounded by tall iron lattice fences as pointed out by the guard uncle. Several cameras were mounted at the top of the fence walls to monitor the area in all directions.

He tried to text Li Cheng, but Li Cheng probably left his mobile phone in the dormitory and did not see his message. He could only stare at the entrance of the stadium without blinking, and he had prepared for the worst in his heart. 

The fence was far away from the gate of the stadium. Fortunately, he could clearly see the people entering and exiting it.

Xiao Yiheng waited there quietly for several hours, his whole body was freezing cold as he waited for the athletes in the swimming pool to come out during their break.

When the blond boy walked out of the stadium, he immediately shouted Li Cheng’s name loudly, but the howling cold wind blew his voice away. He saw Li Cheng stop and look around for a while before seeing a tall alpha suddenly appear and interrupt Li Cheng’s search.

Xiao Yiheng knew that man—he was Zhou Jian—when he heard his name from Li Cheng’s mouth for the first time, Xiao Yiheng immediately searched for his information on the Internet. 

He understood thoroughly that Zhou Jian harbored errant thoughts towards his ChengCheng, and had launched a fierce offensive; he also knew clearly that his ChengCheng had no idea about it, and carelessly only regarded him as a teammate… When Xiao Yiheng saw Zhou Jian cover Li Cheng’s eyes with his hands, an uncontrollable rage burst forth and swept away the alpha’s calm.

He was Li Cheng’s alpha, only he could touch Li Cheng’s body!

Across the fence, he called Li Cheng’s name again, but… he watched Li Cheng’s figure go further and further away.

Xiao Yiheng tried to call Li Cheng again, but as expected, there was no answer. 

Now… should be the time when ChengCheng has dinner in the cafeteria, right?

Xiao Yiheng heard Li Cheng say that dinner break was about an hour, and then the team members would return to the swimming pool to continue their evening training. The problem was that Xiao Yiheng didn’t have enough time. He had just missed an opportunity to meet with Li Cheng. If he waited any longer, he wouldn’t have enough time to go to the airport.

But to just turn around and leave like this? … Xiao Yiheng was not reconciled.

While planning the trip from Huacheng, he just wanted to see Li Cheng from a distance. But when he really saw Li Cheng from a distance, he couldn’t be satisfied at all. 

He wanted to hold his hand, he wanted to kiss him, he wanted to hug him tightly and tell him he was jealous.

Xiao Yiheng gave a wry smile, took out his phone and looked at the time again – there were only ten minutes left.

Would a miracle happen in those last ten minutes?

Just as he lowered his head, a clear shout drifted along the wind and blew in his ears. 

—”Xiao Yiheng!!”

It was the voice of a miracle.

Along with that voice came the sound of rapid footsteps, and Xiao Yiheng looked up with surprise and joy. From a distance, a blond figure was rushing towards him.

The figure passed through the dark night, stepped on the dead leaves all over the ground, and rushed towards him with endless heat. 

It was Li Cheng. It was his ChengCheng.

He was thinner, had distinct edges and corners, and his facial features were sharper; his hair was longer, and his blond hair was tied into a lively little knot on the top of his head; his eyes were brighter, like two shining stars.

Li Cheng came directly from the cafeteria, catching the wind and riding the clouds on the way. His chest was undulating violently, and at the same time, a hopping rabbit, a tail-swinging cat, and a fluttering fish gasping for air were stuffed into his chest.

Li Cheng stopped at the fence, his eyes widening in disbelief. But after seeing the figure a few meters away, he had to believe it. 

“…Xiao Yiheng.” He called his name again.

They were separated by a fence, the grid-like railing keeping them apart, but it could not sunder two beating hearts.

“ChengCheng, it’s me. I’m here.” Xiao Yiheng looked at him, his voice very soft.

Li Cheng didn’t know how to describe his feelings. He felt as if a magical iron had smoothed the wrinkles in his heart, as if a handful of soil had filled up the emptiness in his heart. 

They hadn’t seen each other for 20 days. Li Cheng regretted countless times that he didn’t have a photo with Xiao Yiheng. When he missed Xiao Yiheng, he didn’t even have a picture of him to look at.

And now, Xiao Yiheng appeared in front of him. It was like those dreams he had after countless exhausting training sessions.

Li Cheng suspected that Xiao Yiheng was not real, but a dream he had imagined because he missed him too much.

He couldn’t wait to stretch his hand across the fence, and grab Xiao Yiheng’s hand. 

Xiao Yiheng was dressed very lightly, his fingers were icy from the cold, but his palms were still hot.

Li Cheng gripped Xiao Yiheng’s hand with both hands, trying his best to transfer his body heat to him.

“Why are you here?” Li Cheng asked. The cold wind was so strong that it whipped at his hair, whisking away the damp heat from the corners of his eyes.

Xiao Yiheng held his hand, slowly and firmly weaved his fingers through Li Cheng’s fingers, and interlocked their fingers: “I said, my birthday wish is to see you.” 

— As an adult, this was the first daring decision he made on his own.

The alpha flew thousands of miles on his eighteenth birthday, bringing summer into the omega’s winter night.

Ch80 - A Fence Can’t Separate Two Beating Hearts

Winter in the north was bitingly cold.

At noon, the sun was high in the sky. Li Cheng and his roommates had lunch in the cafeteria and lazily basked in the sun for a while. After the training in the afternoon, the north wind suddenly became extremely strong, the piercing wind going straight into the collar of the down jacket. 

It got dark very early in winter. It was barely half past five but the sun had already set, leaving only a thin orange-red remnant light on the horizon.

Li Cheng pushed open the gate of the swimming pool and wrapped his down jacket tightly, thinking about what to eat in the cafeteria in a moment.

The food served in the training center was truly excellent. All their meals were planned by professional nutritionists. Li Cheng’s favorite food was the beef noodle soup. It was a ladleful of piping hot noodle soup served in a large bowl. The dish was large in portion and topped with a generous layer of beef and lots of vegetables. It was a perfect balance of carbs, protein and greens. Slurping that bowl of noodles made one feel nice and warm.

Thinking of it, Li Cheng couldn’t help but gulp his saliva. He speeded up and headed towards the cafeteria. 

“—ChengCheng!” At this moment, Li Cheng vaguely caught a familiar voice in the wind.

Li Cheng’s footsteps halted and he tilted his head subconsciously to search for the source of the familiar voice.

But when he looked around, there was only the whistling wind in his ears.

… It should be that he missed Xiao Yiheng too much, making him daydream about hearing his boyfriend’s voice.

  I wonder what that guy is doing now. Maybe he is painting in the art classroom in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

Li Cheng subconsciously put his hand in his pocket to take out his phone and send a text message, but in the end he felt nothing – in order to prevent the coach from discovering that he had kept his phone on the sly, he would secretly hide it in the quilt during training every day.

It was so depressing that the two of them could not celebrate Yiheng’s first birthday after they started dating.

Li Cheng scratched his hair in chagrin. Suddenly, a pair of big hands stretched out from behind him and covered his eyes. 

Li Cheng’s world suddenly turned dark. He was startled, a ridiculous idea jumping into his mind.

He couldn’t restrain the excitement at the corner of his mouth and immediately grabbed the hands with his and pulled them away as he turned around – then his face fell in an instant.

“Damn, Zhou Jian, are you a kid?” Li Cheng’s lips pursed, his eyes filling with disappointment.

“Sorry, I wanted to scare you when I saw you in a daze.” Zhou Jian was a northerner and an alpha. He was very tall and had to bow his head slightly every time he talked to Li Cheng. 

Both of them specialized in freestyle. Although one of them was a long distance swimmer while the other was a short distance swimmer, they usually trained together. There were a total of six events in the men’s freestyle, and eleven reserve players. Because Li Cheng was an omega, he had become a very special presence in the team. Li Cheng’s performance was outstanding, his strength causing extreme jealousy in the other players. This envy, coupled with his thorny character, caused the other team members to feel he was difficult to deal with… Over time, Li Cheng had no friends in the team. He could only say a few words with Zhou Jian.

Seeing Li Cheng shrink his neck due to the cold, Zhou Jian took off his scarf at once to wrap it around Li Cheng’s neck. He was a rich second-generation, so even an ordinary scarf was expensive. Even Li Cheng recognized the logo on it.

Li Cheng immediately stepped back and waved his hand to refuse: “Don’t, don’t, you can wear the scarf yourself, don’t give it to me.”

Zhou Jian was put on the spot by his refusal, “… …Why not? It’s so cold, you will be warm after wearing it.” 

Li Cheng: “I feel out of breath when I wear a scarf. I feel as if someone is choking me.”

Zhou Jian: “… …”

Zhou Jian silently wore back the scarf.

Li Cheng felt that Zhou Jian was strange. It had been more than two weeks since Li Cheng accidentally discovered that Zhou Jian often stared at him during training. 

Sometimes when Li Cheng turned his head, he would catch Zhou Jian’s gaze that was too late to withdraw. Those eyes were full of deep meaning, making Li Cheng’s whole body break out in goosebumps.

It was too weird! The two of them had different specialties, and there was no conflict at all in the competition for the final places. Why did Zhou Jian regard him as an imaginary enemy?

If Zhou Jian knew what Li Cheng was thinking, he would definitely be depressed for casting pearls before swine during this period of time, right?

It was too cold to linger outside. Li Cheng wrapped his down jacket tightly, stuck his hands into his pockets, and trotted towards the cafeteria. Zhou Jian followed him every step of the way, his eyes gazing at Li Cheng’s nape as if imperceptibly. 

They passed through the cold wind, pushed away the heavy hanging screen of the cafeteria door, and finally returned to the arms of the heater.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Li Cheng scampered to the beef noodle soup window and took a bowl of freshly-made beef noodles. The chef in charge of the meal was afraid that he would not have enough nutrition and topped the big bowl with two full ladles of beef. It piled up into a small hill and looked particularly spectacular.

“Sja wbgf qgbaflc jcv ifrr mjgyr,” Ktf mtfo qea atf yffo cbbvifr bc Ol Jtfcu’r agjs, rjslcu, “Tbecu wjc, mbwf jcv jvv wbgf lo sbe vbc’a tjnf fcbeut wfja.”

Itbe Aljc, ktb kjr rajcvlcu yfrlvf tlw, kjcafv ab fja atf rjwf jr Ol Jtfcu, jcv rjlv lwwfvljafis: “Vlg, ulnf wf j ybki abb.” 

The chef looked at the noodle pot and said, “Student, you will have to wait a few minutes. The noodles are used up, I will roll them out now.”

Zhou Jian hesitated, but agreed.

Li Cheng ignored him and first went to find a seat holding his beef noodles. It was the break before the next training session and the canteen was packed with hundreds of athletes. Li Cheng looked for a long time before finally finding a vacant seat in the corner.

It just so happened that his roommates were sitting in the three chairs around the empty seat. 

Who knew what topic the three omegas were discussing about. Chen Miao, the most talkative among them, looked radiant with delight, his face exuberant with thoughts of love.

Li Cheng walked over with the tray, put it down carelessly, and slung his arm around Chen Miao’s shoulder: “Hey, it seems that you are not tired from training this afternoon. What are you talking about so happily?”

Chen Miao was taken aback by his sudden appearance, and asked angrily, “Who said I’m not tired? I’m about to die of exhaustion. I have dived thirty times in a row this afternoon. My partner, that fool, is always a step slow. It’s infuriating.”

Li Cheng teased with a grin, “But you don’t look like you… huh, did something good happen?” 

Chen Miao coughed twice, saying mysteriously: “Don’t you dare make it public—I saw a particularly handsome alpha just now on my way to the next training!”

Li Cheng: “…”

Li Cheng was not at all interested in this kind of “girly topic”. With a “tsk!”, he lazily withdrew his arm from Chen Miao’s shoulder, and attacked the beef noodles in front of him.

He was physically exhausted and had been famished for a long time. He immersed himself in the “hard work” of eating while allocating a bit of energy to listen to Chen Miao, the love-struck fool. 

Chen Miao was the type of omega that looked cute, and coupled with his short stature, he was very popular in the training team. It was a pity he despised the alpha in the training team. He thought they all had well-developed limbs but simple minds.

Chen Miao gushed, “That alpha must be more than 1.85m tall. I am sure his legs must be at least 1.8m long.”

Li Cheng’s thoughts: Is this even a human? This is simply the essence of a pole, okay?

Chen Miao: “He is not a member of our training camp. He stood outside the fence and kept looking in the direction of our swimming pool. When I went out, I just happened to swing in that direction—Aiya, I saw him standing there surrounded by darkness, only the place he was standing was bright. The light from the sky fell on him. He was so dazzling, it made me wonder if I had seen a god descending to the earth!” 

Li Cheng’s conjecture: It’s absolutely impossible for any god to descend on earth. There are only two possible sources of that beam of light: one is the street lamp overhead, and the second is a UFO that wanted to beam up the alpha.

Chen Miao: “I admit that I was bewitched by his beauty! I mustered up the courage to walk over and talk to him.”

The omega sitting opposite him immediately grabbed his hand and asked, “What did you say to him?”

Chen Miao answered with a coy smile: “I said: ‘Classmate, do you need help?'” 

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘No need.’”

Li Cheng : …

Chen Miao spreads both hands: “So, I left.” 

Even though Chen Miao’s “love story” ended abruptly, the protagonist of the story was mysterious and handsome enough to set off a heated discussion among the three omega at the table.

Although the tall and aloof alpha only said two words, Chen “passion for fantasy” Miao, had already fabricated a romantic tale full of ups and downs for him.

“He was standing outside the fence, and from his point of view, he could only see the gate of the swimming pool. He kept staring there, so he must be waiting for someone!” Chen Miao put his hands on his cheeks, “and he only wore a woolen jacket over his school uniform. He seemed to be very cold.”

Li Cheng snarked: Wearing only one coat in minus ten degrees weather? What a show off! Who needs warmth when you can have poise, right? 

The roommate sitting opposite said: “School uniform? But there is no school nearby.”

Chen Miao: “Then I don’t know. Over half of his school uniform was covered and I only saw the words ‘No. 1 High School’ on it.”

Roommate: “Oh! Is it the Capital No. 1 High School? That school is quite famous. The school uniforms are of the British style. Boys wear suits and ties, but they are fashionable.”

“Ah? No, no, that’s not right.” Chen Miao shook his head, “That boy’s school uniform looked sporty in blue and white colors.” 

Li Cheng’s chopsticks suddenly stopped moving.

Blue-and-white sports school uniform… “No.1 High School” school badge on the chest… In such freezing weather, wearing only a woolen coat that could not keep out the cold… A handsome, tall and extraordinary alpha with a cold personality… and the most important thing… When he walked out of the swimming pool, he heard the familiar “ChengCheng”…

Several clues gathered together, and a guess that Li Cheng found hard to believe exploded into his mind.

His brain blanked and his lips trembled slightly. He abruptly got up from his seat and ran outside desperately. 

The roommates were startled by his actions and yelled his name to his back. But those voices were all left behind by him, completely inaudible.

When he rushed out of the canteen, he almost collided with Zhou Jian. The tray in Zhou Jian’s hand shook, and most of the noodle soup spilled out.

“Li Cheng, you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Li Cheng’s figure had disappeared into the night. 

… …

Cold. It was bitterly cold.

On this winter night in the capital where the temperature had plunged to a freezing ten degrees below zero, stood Xiao Yiheng under the street lamp. He leaned against the fence, cupped his hands around his mouth, and exhaled gently, trying to warm the cold palms of his hands.

In the instant when the exhaled hot breath came into contact with the cold air, it turned into a white mist right away due to its liquefaction into small droplets. 

And this scene made Xiao Yiheng’s eyes soft for a moment as he recalled the silly question raised by Li Cheng.

He turned his gaze to the swimming pool again, looking at the brightly lit stadium from a distance.

The directions given by the guard were spot on. It only took him ten minutes to get around from the main gate to this side. The entire training center was surrounded by tall iron lattice fences as pointed out by the guard uncle. Several cameras were mounted at the top of the fence walls to monitor the area in all directions.

He tried to text Li Cheng, but Li Cheng probably left his mobile phone in the dormitory and did not see his message. He could only stare at the entrance of the stadium without blinking, and he had prepared for the worst in his heart. 

The fence was far away from the gate of the stadium. Fortunately, he could clearly see the people entering and exiting it.

Xiao Yiheng waited there quietly for several hours, his whole body was freezing cold as he waited for the athletes in the swimming pool to come out during their break.

When the blond boy walked out of the stadium, he immediately shouted Li Cheng’s name loudly, but the howling cold wind blew his voice away. He saw Li Cheng stop and look around for a while before seeing a tall alpha suddenly appear and interrupt Li Cheng’s search.

Xiao Yiheng knew that man—he was Zhou Jian—when he heard his name from Li Cheng’s mouth for the first time, Xiao Yiheng immediately searched for his information on the Internet. 

He understood thoroughly that Zhou Jian harbored errant thoughts towards his ChengCheng, and had launched a fierce offensive; he also knew clearly that his ChengCheng had no idea about it, and carelessly only regarded him as a teammate… When Xiao Yiheng saw Zhou Jian cover Li Cheng’s eyes with his hands, an uncontrollable rage burst forth and swept away the alpha’s calm.

He was Li Cheng’s alpha, only he could touch Li Cheng’s body!

Across the fence, he called Li Cheng’s name again, but… he watched Li Cheng’s figure go further and further away.

Xiao Yiheng tried to call Li Cheng again, but as expected, there was no answer. 

Now… should be the time when ChengCheng has dinner in the cafeteria, right?

Xiao Yiheng heard Li Cheng say that dinner break was about an hour, and then the team members would return to the swimming pool to continue their evening training. The problem was that Xiao Yiheng didn’t have enough time. He had just missed an opportunity to meet with Li Cheng. If he waited any longer, he wouldn’t have enough time to go to the airport.

But to just turn around and leave like this? … Xiao Yiheng was not reconciled.

While planning the trip from Huacheng, he just wanted to see Li Cheng from a distance. But when he really saw Li Cheng from a distance, he couldn’t be satisfied at all. 

He wanted to hold his hand, he wanted to kiss him, he wanted to hug him tightly and tell him he was jealous.

Xiao Yiheng gave a wry smile, took out his phone and looked at the time again – there were only ten minutes left.

Would a miracle happen in those last ten minutes?

Just as he lowered his head, a clear shout drifted along the wind and blew in his ears. 

—”Xiao Yiheng!!”

It was the voice of a miracle.

Along with that voice came the sound of rapid footsteps, and Xiao Yiheng looked up with surprise and joy. From a distance, a blond figure was rushing towards him.

The figure passed through the dark night, stepped on the dead leaves all over the ground, and rushed towards him with endless heat. 

It was Li Cheng. It was his ChengCheng.

He was thinner, had distinct edges and corners, and his facial features were sharper; his hair was longer, and his blond hair was tied into a lively little knot on the top of his head; his eyes were brighter, like two shining stars.

Li Cheng came directly from the cafeteria, catching the wind and riding the clouds on the way. His chest was undulating violently, and at the same time, a hopping rabbit, a tail-swinging cat, and a fluttering fish gasping for air were stuffed into his chest.

Li Cheng stopped at the fence, his eyes widening in disbelief. But after seeing the figure a few meters away, he had to believe it. 

“…Xiao Yiheng.” He called his name again.

They were separated by a fence, the grid-like railing keeping them apart, but it could not sunder two beating hearts.

“ChengCheng, it’s me. I’m here.” Xiao Yiheng looked at him, his voice very soft.

Li Cheng didn’t know how to describe his feelings. He felt as if a magical iron had smoothed the wrinkles in his heart, as if a handful of soil had filled up the emptiness in his heart. 

They hadn’t seen each other for 20 days. Li Cheng regretted countless times that he didn’t have a photo with Xiao Yiheng. When he missed Xiao Yiheng, he didn’t even have a picture of him to look at.

And now, Xiao Yiheng appeared in front of him. It was like those dreams he had after countless exhausting training sessions.

Li Cheng suspected that Xiao Yiheng was not real, but a dream he had imagined because he missed him too much.

He couldn’t wait to stretch his hand across the fence, and grab Xiao Yiheng’s hand. 

Xiao Yiheng was dressed very lightly, his fingers were icy from the cold, but his palms were still hot.

Li Cheng gripped Xiao Yiheng’s hand with both hands, trying his best to transfer his body heat to him.

“Why are you here?” Li Cheng asked. The cold wind was so strong that it whipped at his hair, whisking away the damp heat from the corners of his eyes.

Xiao Yiheng held his hand, slowly and firmly weaved his fingers through Li Cheng’s fingers, and interlocked their fingers: “I said, my birthday wish is to see you.” 

— As an adult, this was the first daring decision he made on his own.

The alpha flew thousands of miles on his eighteenth birthday, bringing summer into the omega’s winter night.