The Self-cultivation of Omega Running with the Ball

"You are like a potted flower."

Lan Ze held the watering can, raised his head from the flowers and plants he raised, and looked at the speaker. His silky black hair fell down and was casually tucked behind his ears. His round little cat eyes opened wide, looking a little confused.

"I feel that as long as I water it every day and get some sunlight, it will grow well. It's not talkative, but it's very beautiful and smells good..." Wen Zhiyao counted on his fingers the reasons why he was a pot of flower, and nodded as if he felt he was right. Suddenly, a splash of water fell from the sky - Lan Ze pointed a watering can at him.

“Hahahaha sorry, I was wrong—” Wen Zhiyao laughed and covered his head to avoid the water. The water droplets under the clear sky sparkled and reflected the light of the rainbow. “Don’t water me. I will rot if I touch the water. Because I am a cactus!”

Lan Ze stopped his hand, panting slightly from the chase and play, and was amused by him again, with curved eyelashes and a raised mouth. Wen Zhiyao looked at him and completed the unfinished words in his mind - his smile was also like a flower.

The flower-like little Orchid grew up with him inseparable, blooming all year round, beautiful and quiet every day, and blooming beautifully on its own without much effort.

Wen Zhiyao thought that this kind of life would continue indefinitely, just like an amusement park that would never close. But on the day before high school enrollment, Lan Ze made a solemn request to him: "In school, can you pretend not to know me?"

"Ah...what?!" The handsome boy at that time was holding a popsicle in his mouth. With his 1.80-meter tall stature and handsome face that was popular among the whole school, he showed the expression of a puppy that was abandoned, "Ahhh why?!"

"No reason." Lan Ze scooped the fruit smoothie with a small spoon unmoved, because he knew Wen Zhiyao was just pretending to be pitiful, and he knew the reason very well.

Being a good friend of a genius is very tiring. After hearing that Yao De is well-rounded in intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, she also developed him, often dragging him to participate in projects and competitions, and giving him free tutoring after class. Lan Ze never thought that he had "motivation to study" in his life, but he unknowingly became the second place for a long time, and he also held a lot of gold medals in group projects.

In addition, he was rumored to be Wen Zhiyao's boyfriend even though there was nothing between them; even if Wen Zhiyao really had a rumored girlfriend, he would be inexplicably honored as the "first wife". With his face, no Alpha dared to confess to him in the three years of junior high school, after all, "no one dared to touch Wen Zhiyao's people".

It's like Lan Ze originally wanted to be a dim star, but had to be lifted up by the sun's reflection and become the moon. Unfortunately, he doesn't like crowds, and most of the time he just wants to be alone. When to grow leaves and when to bloom and bear fruit is his own business.

"Then you won't come to my house to play anymore? No, you said you would play with me until the end!"

"After school, I will go there by myself." Lan Ze warned, "Don't let your driver drive a Rolls-Royce to pick me up, don't organize a surprise party for the whole class on my birthday, and don't skip class and fall asleep on my shoulder..."

As he spoke, he seemed to be getting a little angry. "Just pretend you don't know me from now on, okay? I want to spend a normal high school life."

Wen Zhiyao wiped his eyes and said, "Wuwuwuwu..."

After Lan Ze left because he couldn't stand it anymore, he stopped whining and took the leftover fruit smoothie and ate it one spoonful at a time in frustration.

/
Childhood sweethearts is a very important word, which means becoming a part of each other's life habits, becoming something that is imperceptible and indispensable like oxygen. After high school started, Lan Ze took a long time to adapt to the loss of Wen Zhiyao.

He was lucky to be assigned to two floors with Wen Zhiyao, and they rarely had the chance to meet each other due to their heavy study schedule during the day. From then on, no one would come to his desk during breaks, no one would steal meat from his lunch box, no one would lie on the desk with him and listen to music with headphones on, and naturally no one would talk about their relationship.

It was as if the hardworking little bees that came to collect honey on time every day were gone, and the flowers would feel lost. Lan Ze took a long time to get used to it, but Wen Zhiyao was not the same.

This high school in Jianghe City has staggering tuition fees and provides the best aristocratic education in the country. The students are either rich or noble. If it weren't for Uncle Wen who funded his tuition from childhood to adulthood, Lan Ze wouldn't even be qualified to step into the threshold.

Among this group of students who received an elite education, Wen Zhiyao never mentioned his family background, but he quickly became a campus legend - a proud child like the sun, unable to hide his brilliance. He soon had many new friends, new activities, new loves, and new gossip friends.

Wen Zhiyao was well-educated by his family. He has a cheerful and lively personality, is warm and friendly to everyone, and is much more mature than his peers, so he always takes good care of the people around him. He would generously carry injured classmates to the infirmary, protect classmates who were bullied by school bullies, and organize the whole class to prepare surprises for the teacher on Teacher's Day...

Everything he would do to himself, he would also do to others, except that he came early enough, so he got the most.

This is exactly what Lan Ze hates most about him.

After the physical education class that day, Lan Ze was walking slowly towards the classroom alone. He heard a hearty laugh towards him, which made him raise his head as if he had been electrocuted - Wen Zhiyao and two friends were walking towards him, talking and laughing.

Lan Ze dodged to the side in an attempt to hide himself, his eyes subconsciously following the glowing figure in the crowd. But Wen Zhiyao walked towards him naturally, as if he had never known him before, without even glancing at him.

The two ALPHA boys next to him couldn't help but look over, and then poked Wen Zhiyao's side: "Hey, Zhiyao, look at that Omega from Class 7, she's so pretty..."

"Seems like a cold beauty. I've never seen him talk to anyone."

"Hmm?" Wen Zhiyao tilted his head, his eyes lightly swept across Lan Ze's face, and said nonchalantly, "I think it's okay."

Lan Ze believed that he was telling the truth. After all, if he went home every day and looked at Uncle Wen's face, he would be immune to all the beauties in the world. Moreover, he and Wen Zhiyao had been friends since childhood, and they were so familiar with each other that they had lost their concept of each other's appearance.

"Haha, you are worthy of being Zhiyao, you have such a high standard!" The hearty laughter of the boys swept over his shoulders. Lan Ze held the book in his arms and continued to walk forward. Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder, "Classmate."

Lan Ze turned around in shock and saw Wen Zhiyao's face close to him, almost burning his eyes. He frowned slightly and asked with great concern: "Classmate, how did your knee get hurt?"

Following his gaze, Lan Ze saw his knee that was broken during the PE class. It was just a little skin broken and bleeding. He subconsciously wanted to retract his leg to hide the wound, but Wen Zhiyao suddenly squatted down, held his ankle tightly, and then took out a band-aid from somewhere and helped him to carefully apply it.

His hair had just been cut, and the short stubble at the back of his head had turned into a warm golden color under the sunlight, looking very nice to touch. Further down was the boy's white neck and flexible back lines...

Lan Ze's eyes flickered, and he suddenly turned away from him and said softly, "Thank you."

The older boy squatted on the ground, looked up at him and chuckled, "Well, that's much better. Be more careful next time!"

After saying that, he flew away happily like his group of good little birds.

Lan Ze stared at his departing figure, pinched the flat edge of the band-aid, and tore it off along with the newly formed scab. Blood oozed out again, but he didn't feel any pain. Instead, he rubbed the wound gently with his fingers, as if he was fascinated.

——If there is no sunlight for a long time, the plants will grow their roots too long, penetrate deep into the ground, and absorb nutrients from the darkness.

/
This school is filled with talented students from all walks of life. It is itself a miniature jungle society. Everyone is labeled with their background and no one can escape this scrutiny.

Wen Zhiyao knew that he was good enough, but unfortunately it was not enough, and his happy days did not last long.

Wen Qiu and Pei Du did not attend the parent-teacher meeting in the first half of the first year of high school due to their busy work, so Wen Zhiyao invited Grandma Zhao - the nanny who had taken care of him since he was a child - to attend the meeting for him.

Zhao Xiaoqin dressed herself up carefully, wearing the most solemn clothes according to her own aesthetic taste, and came to school. However, her hunched back, rustic dress and the roughness of a laborer that could not be concealed still attracted many eyes.

She sat in the audience, listening to the class teacher introduce Wen Zhiyao's deeds, and watching Wen Zhiyao speak on stage as a representative of the freshmen, her eyes were wet with excitement. Thinking back to the first time she saw Xiao Zhi, he was still a tiny kid in Wen Qiu's arms! This poor little kid who didn't even know who his biological father was, a tearful little kid in her arms, has grown up in the blink of an eye!
She couldn't help wiping away tears and blowing her nose loudly, and couldn't help but proudly say to the parents next to her, "Look, that's my child. He has been excellent since he was young, just like his mother..."

She couldn't understand those slightly scrutinizing and contemptuous looks, but Wen Zhiyao could. He understood, but didn't care. He accompanied Zhao Ma to visit the school, invited her to eat in the student cafeteria, and showed her the trophies and certificates he had won displayed in the school hall.

It was a very meaningful day for Wen Zhiyao; when he came to school the next day, his desk was covered with insulting words carved on it with a knife.

It turns out that there is a group of school bullies who have nothing to do but are rich and have been looking down on him for a long time. Before, because he was a top student, popular and loved by teachers, the group of people didn't dare to touch him, but after the parents' meeting, they seemed to have suddenly sensed some signal that they could take action.

Wen Zhiyao glanced at the table, not even stopping chatting and laughing with his friends, and put his backpack back on his back, "I'll go talk to the teacher."

His friend was filled with righteous indignation and said he would help him, but Wen Zhiyao patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, don't argue with an idiot."

He reported the incident to his teacher, who promised to investigate it. After that, the bullies seemed to have calmed down a bit, but small troubles continued, sometimes homework was lost for no apparent reason, sometimes dead cockroaches were found in the desk, and sometimes strange rumors and slander.

The teacher called him over again and said it would be best to call both parents over for a meeting. This time Wen Zhiyao shook his head firmly, saying there was no need to alarm them and he could handle it himself.

The next day, he went to find the bully leader, Ou Mingyuan.

At that time, Ou Mingyuan was hiding in the sports equipment room smoking alone. The door suddenly opened, and Wen Zhiyao walked in unsteadily with a backpack on his back.

"Cough cough cough!" When Ou Mingyuan saw him, he was immediately choked by the smoke. His feet jumped up as if they were equipped with springs, and he clenched his fists - damn it, he had to be alone at this time!
Wen Zhiyao was two grades younger than him, but taller than him. He had his hands in his pockets, looking at him with a smile.

Somehow, Ou Mingyuan had never been intimidated when gangs and cliques were looking for trouble in the past, but now he began to get nervous when facing him alone. If anything, his ALPHA instincts had sensed some unspeakable danger, telling him to stay away from this predator that had rashly barged in. "Senior," Wen Zhiyao called out, and walked briskly in front of him, "Are you from the model airplane club? I've seen your work, it's so beautiful."

"Ah?" Ou Mingyuan had adjusted his body into a fighting stance. He didn't expect him to say this suddenly. He was completely confused.

Wen Zhiyao took out a half-finished model airplane from his backpack and looked at him sincerely: "I encountered some difficulties when I was making this. Teacher Qian from the club said that I could ask Senior Ou for advice, so I came to you."

"Uh..." Ou Mingyuan's eyes fell on his hands. Wen Zhiyao's hands were more slender and white than those of ordinary ALPHAs, and his nails were trimmed round and clean. But Ou Mingyuan would not doubt the strength of that hand. Not long ago, in a physical education class, this guy performed a one-handed pull-up in public, which caused a sensation.

He was a little absent-minded for some reason, and Wen Zhiyao came over and called out again in a crisp voice: "Senior, is it okay? How about I treat you to fried chicken tonight?"

Being so close, Ou Mingyuan suddenly realized that his eyelashes were incredibly long, shading his emerald green eyes. As an ALPHA, Wen Zhiyao was better looking than those OMEGAs - this realization suddenly entered Ou Mingyuan's mind, messing up his adolescent brain.

I wanted to grab his collar and tell him to stop playing dumb, and I wanted to curse him and spit on his face, but what came out of my mouth was, "Okay."

"Great!" Wen Zhiyao laughed, "Can I come to see you at this time next time? It's too late today, let's go eat fried food first!"

As soon as he smiled, Ou Mingyuan began to feel dizzy. He nodded subconsciously, but then he felt embarrassed and added hurriedly, "I don't need you to treat me. The food in my house is carefully selected from my own farm. I never eat messy food outside."

He didn't realize that he had put on a pretentious face in front of OMEGA. Wen Zhiyao didn't care and put the plane back into his bag. "Okay, but you helped me a lot after all. Next time you need me, just tell me."

It was not until he heard Zhiyao walk away briskly with his schoolbag on his back that Ou Mingyuan realized something was wrong. Wait, was he drugged by some drug? Why did he obey that guy so well? No, even if he was good-looking, he was still ALPHA!
There was still a faint fresh scent in the air, which he had never smelled on a boy of his age. Everything about Wen Zhiyao seemed to be exposed to the sun, warm, fluffy, and soft. The more Ou Mingyuan thought about it, the more he felt that his sexual orientation was in jeopardy. He quickly took out a cigarette from his pocket and smoked another one to calm his nerves.

Over there, when Wen Zhiyao walked out of the sports equipment room humming a song, he saw Lan Ze leaning against the wall, as if waiting for someone.

He looked around and found that there was no one around, so he ran over quickly and hooked his shoulders, "Lan Ze! Are you waiting for me?"

Lan Ze nodded, reached out and touched his face, touched his hair, then lifted his bangs to look at his forehead, as if checking if he was okay.

He wanted to touch her, and Wen Zhiyao bent down with his hands on his knees to let him touch him. "Aren't you going to pretend that you don't know me? Why did you take the initiative to look for me today?"

Lan Ze thought that the way he looked up was like a puppy, and couldn't help scratching his chin. "When the get out of class was over, I saw you walking this way alone."

Wen Zhiyao let out a long "Oh", "So you followed me quietly because you were worried that I would be beaten by Ou Mingyuan?"

Lan Ze was never shy with him and admitted generously: "Yes."

Wen Zhiyao smiled, held his waist with both hands, and lifted him off the ground. "What's the point of you coming here alone? You are so light, like a dandelion. If our palm wind passes by, you will be blown away."

"No," Lan Ze couldn't stand steadily, so he put his hand on his shoulder and said seriously, "I'm afraid that you will hurt someone, and Uncle Wen will be called to school by the teacher to be scolded."

In order to consume Wen Zhiyao's excessive energy, and also for what Uncle Pei called "emergency situations", he was sent to learn Sanda for a few years, and also received practical education from Uncle Li. If a fight really started, the entire gang of school bullies would probably be enough for him to warm up.

"When have you ever seen a fight?" Wen Zhiyao put him down, "My dad always said that violence is the way barbarians and Uncle An solve problems."

Lan Ze asked in confusion: "Then why did you take the initiative to find Ou Mingyuan?"

"Well...I want to be friends with him."

Lan Ze frowned and asked, "Why do you want to be friends with someone who bullies you?"

"Isn't it very interesting?" Wen Zhiyao smiled indifferently, "He has never communicated with me properly, but he hates me inexplicably. So I want to talk to him and see if he will like me."

Wen Zhiyao's self-confidence came from the fact that he had been particularly likable since he was a child. Especially when he took the initiative to win someone's favor, he always succeeded.

When he said he wanted to make friends with Ou Mingyuan, he really meant it, not out of revenge. Soon Ou Mingyuan would become a beautiful signature in Wen Zhiyao's friend book. Lan Ze saw the future clearly, because this had happened many times when they were in junior high school.

Wherever there is a damp and moldy corner, the sun will shine brightly there, making everything bright and open, leaving no place for darkness to hide.

/
However, Wen Zhiyao failed to successfully conquer Ou Mingyuan this time, and his plan suffered a Waterloo.

Because on Friday, Wen Qiu took Lan Ze home for dinner, and Lan Ze casually told him about Wen Zhiyao being bullied at school.

Wen Qiu had a hard time pairing the two phrases "闻知尧" and "被bullied". What he worried about most since he was a child was that this child would attract bees and butterflies, but he didn't expect that he could also attract hornets.

After asking a few more questions, Lan Ze told him everything. Wen Qiu listened to the whole story and patted Lan Ze on the head. "Well done. You are always more stable than Zhi Yao. Remember to tell me about this kind of thing in the future."

"Yeah." Lan Ze nodded seriously.

Next, when Wen Qiu went to cook, he picked and washed vegetables to help in the kitchen; when Wen Qiu walked around to tidy up things, he followed her like a little tail; when Wen Qiu sat down to type on the keyboard to write the script, he sat next to her and read quietly.

Wen Qiu could hardly lift his arms, and could only smile indulgently. He simply dropped his work and held the child in his arms to chat - cats that have been raised from childhood are like this, extremely clingy, and you have to spend time with them.

The school cultural festival will start in a few days, and all parents are invited to watch their children's performances.

Wen Qiu and Pei Du, who missed the first parent-teacher meeting, came together this time and caused something of a sensation.

Lan Ze dared to say that the moment he saw the three of them appear together, the school bullies who had bullied him all showed expressions of seeing ghosts on their faces.

Pei Du has always been relatively low-key, even though Peiyuan Group has grown into an unimaginable behemoth under his hands over the years. Those children sensed some clues from the awe-inspiring expressions of their parents.

As for Wen Qiu, no one doesn't know him. Just the day before yesterday, he appeared at an award ceremony as an award presenter. Among directors of this generation, Wen Qiu and Lu Bing are known as the twin pillars. His works are as famous as his looks, and perhaps also his personality of not giving a shit to anyone and his unforgiving mouth.

It turns out that there is a reason why Wen Zhiyao has always been reluctant to talk about his family affairs. It's not because he has nothing to show for it, but because he has too much to show for it, so he always keeps a low profile.

Wen Qiu had a clear purpose for this trip. He put his arm around Wen Zhiyao's shoulder and went to have a friendly exchange with Ou Mingyuan and the parents of several other school bullies. The sharp thorns hidden beneath the smiling words made the parents on the opposite sides break out in cold sweats.

It was the first time that Ou Mingyuan saw his majestic father being scolded like this. He felt embarrassed and a little flustered. He couldn't help but secretly glance at the opposite side - Wen Zhiyao didn't look at him, and didn't even care. Wen Zhiyao was concentrating on eating a popsicle.

At the cultural festival, Wen Zhiyao participated in a skit, playing the role of a big bear, and then quickly went backstage to take off his costume and perform a piano solo. After donating a considerable amount of charity funds to the school, Pei Du also donated an astronomical observatory to the school, reportedly because Wen Zhiyao had recently become fascinated with stargazing.

The principal's face was flushed with excitement, and when he shook hands with Pei Du, everyone saw that his hands were shaking.

After the observatory was completed, Wen Zhiyao, as the owner of the gift, was the first to use the telescope to observe. In the lens that had been adjusted in advance, the first thing he saw were three stars next to each other - the stars that Pei Du bought and named after the three of them.

Lan Ze knew from childhood that Wen Zhiyao's family was rich, his father was a big boss and director, and he was very favored, and he was numb to it. But other classmates and teachers didn't know, so what Wen Zhiyao saw as a normal family interaction instantly became a hot topic in the whole school.

Wen Zhiyao actually had some complaints about this way of handling things. After all, the simple and crude justice from heaven would ruin his fun of solving problems himself. He really wanted to be friends with Ou Mingyuan, but now Ou Mingyuan would avoid him whenever he saw him. Wen Zhiyao had no choice but to throw the model airplane into the trash can out of boredom. He stopped playing with such a simple toy after he entered junior high school.

The children in this circle learned to curry favor with the powerful very early, or it can be said that it is human nature to admire the strong, so their attitude towards Wen Zhiyao is naturally different.

His enemies disappeared without a trace, while his friends grew day by day. The only thing that did not change was Wen Zhiyao himself, who still smiled heartlessly, was liked by everyone, and made friends with everyone.

He is like a transparent container. Sunshine, wind, rain and dew can all pass through him, but can never change him.

Lan Ze didn't know if he was the only one who felt that coldness.

(End of this chapter)