Chapter 3: 02

Two days later, on Monday, Xu Xiangle headed to his tutoring job with a heart full of trepidation. Fortunately, the student’s mother opened the door with her usual enthusiasm, and the tea and snacks were exactly as they always were. He breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed Gu Ye hadn’t gone behind his back to badmouth him.

Although same-sex marriage was legally recognized and the LGBTQ+ community could walk proudly in the sunlight, society still held a biased view. Most parents would not want to hire a gay tutor.

“For this type of problem, you should solve this part first, then this part… Look at the problem, don’t look at me,” Xu Xiangle tapped the textbook with his pen.

“Teacher, do you have a girlfriend?” Chen Junming asked, resting his chin on his hand, looking like a curious child.

“I’ve told you, don’t ask questions unrelated to your studies. Besides, you’ve already asked this question. The answer is no.”

“Then do you have a boyfriend?”

“Unfortunately, no. Don’t get distracted. Look here; you’re going to solve the other problem for me in a moment.”

Chen Junming watched him solve the problem, his mind clearly wandering. A moment later, he interrupted again: “Hey, Teacher, you look so good; how can you not have a girlfriend or boyfriend?”

Xu Xiangle suppressed the urge to poke the boy in the head with his pen. He wanted to scream, I don’t want a girlfriend or boyfriend. I just want to find a fuck buddy and have some casual fun. I just want to satisfy my physical needs; I don’t want to waste time and money on falling in love.

Of course, he couldn’t say that. What if he accidentally corrupted a minor?

Chen Junming was in his third year of middle school—a critical moment for high school entrance exams. Xu Xiangle had been tutoring him since the second year. He taught math and science on Mondays and Wednesdays, and English on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two hours per session, at 1,000 per hour. Everyone envied him for finding such a stable, high-paying tutoring gig, especially with a student who wasn’t too difficult to teach.

In fact, his pay started at the market rate of 500, but ever since he began teaching Chen Junming, the boy’s grades had steadily climbed. Chen’s parents were thrilled and had raised his rate step by step. 1,000 was now the top market rate for middle school tutoring.

He didn’t want to lose this precious income, so he was exceptionally dedicated, spending a lot of time preparing teaching materials and lesson plans.

The only downside was Chen Junming’s tendency to ask personal questions unrelated to academics—useless talk like whether he was dating anyone. Once, the boy even whispered, “Teacher, I remember a few days ago was your twentieth birthday. Did you lose your virginity?”

Xu Xiangle glared at him, reasonably suspecting Chen Junming was trying to hit on him. Kids these days were so precocious, going through their hormonal, teenage-angst phase, with their brains filled with dirty thoughts.

So what if I’m a virgin?

Does the law state that being a virgin at twenty is a crime?

Virginity is precious, okay?!

“It’s very rude to ask about other people’s privacy. You have high school entrance exams next year; don’t think about these messy things. Focus your mind on your exams,” Xu Xiangle put down his pen and scolded him lightly. “Student Chen, don’t forget, my tutoring fee is very expensive.”

“It’s just 1,000 an hour. It’s less than my monthly allowance,” Chen Junming boasted with a “rich kid” attitude. “How about I ask my mom to raise your hourly rate to 1,500?”

“I’m truly grateful,” Xu Xiangle wanted to roll his eyes. Rich kids were essentially an invitation for resentment. Being rich wasn’t a sin, but being naively flashy about it was. “Young Master Chen, who is wealthier than me, please focus your attention on this problem, or I’m going to complain to your father.”

“Alright, alright!”

Chen Junming finally stopped asking questions and focused on the math.

Xu Xiangle saw that the boy was solving problems fairly fluently. After correcting a step, he realized that while Chen couldn’t quite apply knowledge to new scenarios yet, he caught on after being taught a few times. He was a smart student.

Two hours of explanations and problem-solving flew by. At 9:00 PM, the session ended.

The door suddenly opened from the outside, and Gu Ye’s voice drifted in: “Yo, still working so hard today.”

Xu Xiangle turned to look and couldn’t help but feel a shock, freezing slightly. Lu Xingzhou had actually appeared with Gu Ye. Seeing the two of them standing there together, his heart couldn’t help but tremble.

Although their temperaments and appearances were vastly different, both Gu Ye and Lu Xingzhou were extremely handsome and charming.

Gu Ye, true to his name, carried a wild, masculine energy. His brows were sharp, his features well-defined, and his lips slightly full, making him look exceptionally sexy.

Lu Xingzhou’s contours were much softer—elegant, refined, and scholarly. He had the vibe of a Korean star, yet his eyes revealed a sharp edge.

Standing together, they were quite the visual feast, radiating hormones.

Xu Xiangle had long ago confirmed his sexual orientation was “as gay as it gets,” and he was a “pure bottom.” Regardless of whether he had a female body hidden inside, these two were undeniably his favorite types—the ones he fantasized about most often. It would be a lie to say his heart didn’t skip a beat.

After all, before his rebirth, he had been completely at the mercy of these two fuck buddies. Whatever they wanted to do, he would obediently let them do it; he was incredibly well-behaved.

As for the rebirth, he was still confused and found it hard to believe. After calming down, he felt more and more that it must have been a melodramatic dream. It was just so vivid and real, and he had read too many “rebirth” novels online, causing him to confuse reality with fantasy.

But why, even though he hadn’t met Lu Xingzhou before, did he recognize him instantly? Why did it feel so familiar?

I guess it really is a rebirth.

Since heaven had given him a chance to do it over, he had to learn his lesson and stay as far away from them as possible.

Thinking this, Xu Xiangle’s expression turned increasingly cold, tossing his previous infatuation to the winds.

Heartthrob value is precious, but fuck buddy price is higher. For the sake of my life, both can be abandoned.

“Is this the legendary, highly skilled tutor?” Lu Xingzhou smiled gently, taking the initiative to greet him. “Hello, I’ve heard much about you. My name is Lu Xingzhou.”

“…Hello,” Xu Xiangle hesitated, nodding in return.

Logic dictated that he shouldn’t know this man yet. He wanted to dodge them, but they were running straight at him. Could the rebirth be causing a butterfly effect?

Xu Xiangle lowered his head to pack his materials, unwilling to engage. If he could, he would vanish from their sight immediately. He didn’t want to face these two nightmares from his past life.

Don’t let Lu Xingzhou’s gentle, polite appearance fool you; he was a refined degenerate, and his methods of messing with people were even worse than Gu Ye’s.

He wasn’t impulsive or rough like Gu Ye; instead, he was incredibly patient. His foreplay alone could last an hour or two, and he had a penchant for all sorts of methods and props, leaning towards BDSM tendencies, making people beg him until they couldn’t take it anymore… Ahem, ahem!

Xu Xiangle hurriedly cut off his straying thoughts. Whenever he encountered them, his “life reel” couldn’t stop running. He was whispering “Cherish life, stay away from men” internally like a mantra.

“Do you know each other?” Gu Ye caught his hesitation. Even though Xu was cold, that momentary look of surprise in his eyes suggested he already knew Lu Xingzhou.

Lu Xingzhou said, “It’s my first time meeting Teacher Xu today.”

Xu Xiangle slung his shoulder bag over his shoulder, ready to leave, but the two troublemakers were blocking the door. He could only say coldly, “Excuse me, please.”

Lu Xingzhou invited, “Would you like to have a cup of coffee with us before you go?”

Xu Xiangle politely declined: “Thank you, but I don’t drink coffee at night.”

Gu Ye curled his lip: “You’re not a girl; no need to be in such a rush to go home.”

“I have a habit of early to bed, early to rise. Sorry, can you please let me pass?”

“What if I say no?” Gu Ye placed his hands on the doorframe, asking with a cocky grin: “Do you want to crawl between my legs?”

Xu Xiangle frowned. The hookup attempt hadn’t worked, and the scene was awkward. Gu Ye was clearly looking for trouble. Not wanting to get entangled, Xu Xiangle actually stooped down, pretending he was about to crawl between Gu Ye’s legs.

A tingling rush of heat surged into Gu Ye’s lower body. That posture… it was almost like he was going to perform oral sex on him…

“Cousin, why are you bullying my teacher!” Chen Junming angrily threw down his textbook and rushed over, shoving Gu Ye away.

“You brat, pretty bold of you to play the ‘hero saving the beauty’ at your age.” Gu Ye ruffled his hair, hard enough to almost twist his head off.

“Teacher, it’s getting late, you should go!” Chen Junming said, swatting Gu Ye’s hand away.

“Okay, don’t forget your homework for tomorrow’s English class.” Xu Xiangle brushed past them quickly.

Lu Xingzhou’s shoulder brushed against him intentionally. Xu jumped back, terrified. This was the man who had bought his “one corpse, two lives” fate with a bank card worth millions. The psychological trauma was immense.

Lu Xingzhou found Xu Xiangle’s “frightened bird” behavior interesting and curious. Why was he afraid of him? Compared to Gu Ye, shouldn’t he appear harmless and like a perfect gentleman?

“I’ll drive you back,” Lu Xingzhou offered.

“No need.” Xu Xiangle rushed downstairs, bid farewell to the Chen family, and hurried away.

“He seems very afraid of me,” Lu Xingzhou rubbed his chin, deep in thought, wondering what he’d done wrong.

“Are you sure this is the first time you’ve met him?” Gu Ye wasn’t happy. “I feel like he recognizes you.”

“I don’t know. But I have a strange feeling about him too. I feel…”

“Feel what?”

Lu Xingzhou leaned close to Gu Ye and whispered, “I really want to fuck him.”

Gu Ye crossed his arms and glared at him. “First come, first served. I was the one who saw him first; I get to go first.”

Lu Xingzhou patted his shoulder, noncommittal.

“Cousin, Brother Xingzhou, I heard that!” Chen Junming watched them with a dark look, pointing angrily: “You two beasts, don’t have any inappropriate thoughts about Teacher Le, or I’ll tell my mom!”

“And then let your mom fire him?” Lu Xingzhou laughed. “That’s even better. Then we won’t have to worry about you anymore.”

Chen Junming choked on his words, glared at them angrily, and said, “I like Teacher Le too, for real. I’m not dirty like you guys.”

“Teacher Le, calling him so affectionately.” Gu Ye rubbed his head again, messing up his hair.

While the brothers were playing around, Lu Xingzhou smiled, said goodbye to the Chen parents, and chased after Xu Xiangle.

He was just too curious about this person.

In his twenty-five years of life, no one had ever made him want to fuck them at first sight. Xu Xiangle was the first.

He had a strange illusion about him, as if they had known each other for a long time—as if they were intimately familiar. He could even imagine him naked: delicate bones, long and shapely legs, his nipples and areolae a soft, girly pink, and a small, heart-shaped purple birthmark on the inside of his buttock. It looked adorable, yet against his fair skin, it was incredibly seductive.

If he didn’t have that birthmark, he thought, I’d have someone tattoo one on him just to realize this strange, erotic fantasy.

Sure enough, he saw Xu Xiangle at the bus stop, wearing earphones, listening to music on his phone, a hazy look in his eyes, wondering what he was thinking about.

Xu Xiangle’s mind was running his “past life” reel again. Seeing Lu Xingzhou so early in this life, he had a bad premonition. He knew he didn’t have a very strong will, and he was terrified of being easily seduced by them again.

Lu Xingzhou parked his car in front of him, rolled down the window, and leaned over: “Teacher Xu, let me drive you back.”

“Thank you, but really, there’s no need.” Xu Xiangle stepped back, alert, as if avoiding a venomous snake. He couldn’t help it; compared to the straightforward Gu Ye, he feared this man with a belly full of schemes even more.

If Gu Ye would eat his skin and meat, Lu Xingzhou would gnaw his bones until nothing was left.

“I have no malicious intent; I’m just going your way,” Lu Xingzhou didn’t give up. Patience had always been one of his greatest strengths.

“My bus is here, goodbye, Master Lu.” Xu Xiangle waved and sprinted toward the bus slowly pulling up, even though it wasn’t the bus he needed to take. He just needed to run first.

How did he know I’m the eldest in the family? Gu Ye shouldn’t have had the chance to mention me to him yet.

Lu Xingzhou paused slightly. Unlike Gu Ye’s wild and unbridled personality, he had always kept a low profile and never interacted with public media. Though the Lu family was a wealthy dynasty spanning both politics and business, most people only knew the name “Lu family,” not the internal details.

His curiosity toward Xu Xiangle intensified. To borrow a classic line from a romance novel—

Man, you have successfully attracted my attention.

Although Xu Xiangle didn’t want to attract his attention at all and was avoiding him like the plague, he got off the bus three stops later and had no choice but to run to the other side to catch a bus back to the original stop.

Unfortunately, Lu Xingzhou happened to see him on the bus, going in the opposite direction. Now he was certain: Xu Xiangle was avoiding him.

Is it because I’m Gu Ye’s friend, or is there another reason?

Lu Xingzhou called Gu Ye and laughed: “A-Ye, he really is interesting.”

“Hey, he’s my catch. At least let me have the first turn.”

“How about this? Let’s play together.”

💝 Support the Team

April0427

✍️ Translator

💙 PayPal