AHDIBCB Chapter 27

Inside Ji Hua University, there is a river. Starting from the Law School, it flows past the Medical School, then passes through the Liberal Arts School and continues outward to the outside world. Back then, Yuan Yi had met the Medical School’s dean, Qiao Yuanshan, who was doing morning exercises by this very river.

At this moment, the night was deep, the riverside was quiet and deserted, with only countless mosquitoes flying in groups, searching for new targets.

A big one had come today, but just as they were about to enjoy a feast, that fellow vanished into the river like a ghost.

About an hour and a half later, on the surface of the Rong River in Lanshan Park, half a human head slowly emerged.

No one saw what this person was doing, because he only surfaced for a few seconds before diving back into the water.

The next day, Yuan Yi got up in the morning and memorized his books in the pavilion in the courtyard. The air here was good, with a natural breeze blowing—it felt especially comfortable. Ever since he came to the Li family, most of his mornings had been spent this way, but today seemed to be a little different.

It sounded a bit lively outside, as if quite a few people had come to do something.

“Did it disturb you?” Professor Jian came out while watering the flowers and said, “Early this morning, the management group said there was a problem with the sewer. It’s been there for many years. Some workers will come to fix it, and the construction is said to take about two days.”

“No wonder. But it’s always better to deal with a problem early than to let it drag on. Good morning, Mom.”

“Good morning to you too, Xiao Yi. How did you sleep last night?”

“Not bad.” With Li Mian telling stories, he had slept fairly peacefully. Although he had many dreams, at least he didn’t wake up in the middle of the night.

“Don’t tire yourself too much—take it easy. With how hard you study, you’ll definitely get good grades.”

“Mm. I made red date and lotus seed millet porridge. Mom, would you like to have some before going to school?”

“Sure.” Professor Jian turned off the tap and said with a smile, “That’s exactly what I’d love.”

Clearly, it could all be controlled by smart tech—there was no need to water manually—but she always said that people should feel the joy in life more. She liked to do many things personally.

Yuan Yi liked her attitude toward life, and continued memorizing for a while.

Even though he had slept fairly well, after waking up early, his eyelid kept twitching—it twitched in an uncomfortably weird way. He wasn’t sure if it meant he was going to fail the exam.

He had already submitted the application, and tomorrow he would go to the school to take the exam for switching majors. The holiday was coming soon. As long as he passed this time, he would officially be a medical student at Ji Hua University starting next semester.

He had also carefully looked into the exam procedures. Because there had been fierce arguments on the school forum earlier, many people suggested that the exam should be open and transparent. The school, worried about potential negative impact, finally decided to let lab mice “draw the questions”: they would put three white mice into a box filled with multi-colored mouse food, and see which color they ate—each color corresponded to a numbered question set, which would then determine the test questions.

The medical school had no shortage of white mice. No one knew who came up with this idea, but it matched the medical school’s style—both rigorous and a bit unhinged.

So, as for the exact content of the test, he didn’t know yet. He only knew it would last four days: three days of theory, one day of practical. Frankly speaking, it was pretty much like a final exam.

Everyone used questions from the same question bank, except his had a scoring requirement. Out of a total of 720 points, he had to score at least 650 to pass.

In the afternoon, Yuan Yi went to check the exam room and found that quite a few others would be taking the exam in the same room. They weren’t necessarily from the same department. They shared the exam room, but the content of the tests was completely different.

Ji Lan even specially came over to see him and brought him a pen engraved with “Pass Every Exam.”

“Use this—you’ll definitely pass!”

Yuan Yi hadn’t expected him to be so superstitious, but it was a kind gesture from a friend after all. He took it with a smile and said, “If I fail with this, I’d feel bad for all the time you spent making it.”

Ji Lan immediately spat three times, “What are you saying? You have to pass! Good luck!”

Yuan Yi nodded. “Thanks, I’ll make good use of it. Has Zhou Xingran come to school in the past couple of days?”

Ji Lan said, “No. How could he still have the face to come? I heard he took a long leave. But that’s probably for the best—saves him from doing anything bad again. That day, when I heard from a classmate that you got into a fight with him, I was scared to death. I never thought you’d actually throw a punch at him. You used to be really afraid of him, so I’m guessing… was it General Li who gave you the courage?”

Yuan Yi replied without even thinking, “Could be. After all, that’s the power of the undead.”

“Pfft! Cough cough cough…” came a burst of choking coughs.

“Senior Yanwu?” The two of them turned around and saw He Yanwu, wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, pounding his chest desperately. “Are you okay?”

Li Heng waved his hand, “I’m fine!”

Ji Lan asked, “Senior Yanwu, why are your dark circles so heavy?”

Li Heng rubbed his eyes. “I pulled an all-nighter gaming. I was digging trenches and setting landmines—got a bit too into the killing. What are you two doing here?”

Ji Lan said, “Xiao Yi came to check out the exam room, I came to find him.”

Li Heng asked Yuan Yi, “Is there anything you still need to cram? If so, I’m free right now—we can go to the library.”

Yuan Yi did indeed bring some questions with him, and upon hearing this, said, “Thanks, Senior Yanwu. Ji Lan, coming with us?”

Ji Lan shook his head like a rattle-drum. “No way. Every time I step into your medical school’s library, I feel like an idiot. Only the art school makes me feel normal. You go ahead—I’ll catch you during the holidays.”

After saying that, without waiting for Yuan Yi to respond, he quickly waved and ran off.

Yuan Yi watched his friend’s rabbit-like fleeing figure and couldn’t help but smile.

Li Heng didn’t say anything to interrupt.

Counting carefully, Yuan Yi had already been pregnant for over a month. This period also happened to be when omegas tend to have a relatively strong need for alphas during pregnancy.

But honestly speaking, during the time he’d spent with Yuan Yi, he hadn’t sensed any such need from him. Except for that one time in front of the library when Bai Wanzhe lost his mind and Yuan Yi showed obvious anxiety, most of the time Yuan Yi gave off an air of calm composure—serene and somewhat distant.

He had observed carefully, and it wasn’t just him who felt that way. Yue Zhen and Pan Yuezhen had the same impression too.

This omega wife of his—even when smiling, it was a faint smile, as if separated by a thin layer, not the kind of person who came across as enthusiastic. If one were to use something from nature as a metaphor, Yuan Yi was like a crescent moon on a clear night. He had light, but not warmth; he had edges, but they didn’t cut.

He had rarely met someone like this in real life. Most people in the military were full of passion, overflowing with an unending stubborn energy that seemed like it had to be released. Even he himself sometimes needed intense exercise to burn off the excess energy.

But Yuan Yi was different. He seemed more like someone who kept all his energy stored inside. So he always gave people the impression that whatever he did, he had a plan, had willpower, and whether or not he had an alpha didn’t really matter.

That’s why, when he first heard Winter Wolf say that Yuan Yi had been sleeping poorly, he was actually a bit confused. He had thought it was because Yuan Yi was pushing himself too hard and had voluntarily cut back on sleep—not because he couldn’t sleep well. After his susceptibility period ended, he came back and asked Yuan Yi, and Yuan Yi had said the same thing.

But there’s a fundamental difference between the two.

“Senior Yanwu?” Yuan Yi turned around and saw that He Yanwu had zoned out.

“Mm. Are you close with Ji Lan?”

“We’re alright. He’s lively and enthusiastic—full of the energy someone his age should have.”

“What about you?”

“Me?” Yuan Yi himself didn’t even notice that his gaze had gradually returned to being cool and quiet. “I probably just wasn’t born with that kind of thing.”

Li Heng was momentarily startled by his gaze.

Looking at him like this, he really did seem a bit too mature. It was easy enough to guess that it was because he hadn’t been cherished growing up, so he had learned to hold back in everything he did. But Li Heng had to admit—he really liked Yuan Yi like this.

If it had been in the past, anyone who said a thirty-year-old man liked a nineteen-year-old college student, he would’ve scolded them for having impure intentions. But now he realized—his own thoughts were hard to keep pure. Facing Yuan Yi, his mind would uncontrollably fill with wicked thoughts.

As they walked, Yuan Yi suddenly noticed He Yanwu hadn’t kept up. Puzzled, he asked, “Senior Yanwu? Why are you barefoot?”

Li Heng took off his shoes, barefoot, the ground a bit prickly beneath his feet, but his heart finally felt calm. He said, “I needed to shake off some bad thoughts, so I took off my slippers. You don’t get it—just keep walking.”

Yuan Yi: “……”

•  

The exam time was set fairly early, because there were many subjects to be tested and the duration was long—students had to arrive at school by 7 a.m.

Yuan Yi entered the exam room at 7:40 and was surprised to find that in the room, besides him—a student trying to transfer into the medical school—there was also someone who seemed to already belong to the medical school.

He had seen this person in the library before and remembered that his surname was Luo, called ‘Luo Chuanxin’.

He had asked previously and learned that all students here were taking the interdepartmental transfer exam, so that person must be trying to transfer out of the medical school to another major.

Unfortunately, no talking was allowed after entering, so Yuan Yi couldn’t ask. After he sat down, he saw other test-takers gradually entering the exam room as well.

There were twelve people in one room, spaced far apart. Once everyone had arrived, the large screen on the podium displayed the paper-drawing process. A few white mice were placed into a cage with food, and before long, each made their choice.

Different colors of food represented different numbers, and soon the exam questions for this room were determined.

The test paper set corresponding to the current exam room number was sealed in a cardboard box and brought in. After distribution, Yuan Yi began answering the questions.

The desks and chairs had been cleaned in advance before the exam, so in theory, they should’ve been quite clean. But after Yuan Yi sat down, he somehow felt that his desk was a bit greasy.

It was warm weather, and everyone was wearing short sleeves. He raised his arm and took a look—there did seem to be something there. But when he sniffed it, there wasn’t really any smell, and it didn’t look like something that would contaminate the exam paper. Looking at the other desks, they all seemed about the same. The desks all looked pretty shiny.

Just then, the answering prompt sounded, and Yuan Yi saw that no one else seemed to care. He didn’t have time to investigate further, so he casually wiped it twice with his hand and started working on the exam.

Nothing happened during the process. When time was up, he handed in his paper and used a blank sheet to jot down the questions he wasn’t sure about. This subject was medical psychology—he basically didn’t expect any issues with it.

What he was most worried about were medical chemistry and pharmacology.

But those were also the ones he had spent the most time reviewing, so he should be okay.

For three consecutive days, Yuan Yi did his best to maintain early sleep and early rising, with a regular diet. By the fourth day, he turned in an impressive performance on the practical exam as well.

Whether it was dissection or suturing, he did exceptionally well—so much so that even the instructors believed his suturing skills were on par with those of a seasoned physician.

The medical school instructors, after observing his performance, all felt that this round was in the bag for sure.

But when the exam results were released on the afternoon of the fourth day, Yuan Yi was completely stunned.

He didn’t pass?!

Missed it by four points!