Damn it, I'm surrounded by insane Alphas!

(Hi hey! Today's sweet cookies are here~ Enjoy!)

Shi Ran is very uneasy today.

To be precise, he had been feeling uneasy since last night, his mind filled with thoughts of today's quiz in his major course.

He had missed too many classes in the early stages, and I heard that the professor in charge of his major courses was already very dissatisfied with him, so his participation grade was in jeopardy.

Now you have to get full marks on all these quizzes to barely pass the final exam.

So he only slept for three hours last night, spending the rest of the time cramming for review, or rather, previewing.

He was leaning against Song Yu while waiting for the elevator, making the most of his time to close his eyes and rest.

The system's gloating voice echoed in his mind: "Actually, it's not entirely hopeless. I can be lenient and help you."

Shi Ran suddenly opened her eyes, [Are you even human?! How many times did I ask you last night, and you said you couldn't help!]

No, it's artificial intelligence.

Shi Ran was so angry that he was about to jump up and down, and was about to curse back when his human-shaped cushion, Song Yu, suddenly bounced up.

Suddenly, he lost his support and his body lurched forward, almost falling face-first into the mud.

As luck would have it, she bumped into the person who came in.

A pleasant woody scent wafted over, clean and crisp, like a forest in late autumn.

Shi Ran paused for a moment, a thought flashing through her mind: Could it be such a coincidence?

What era are we living in? Stop with this melodramatic nonsense!

"Are you alright?"

Wen Yiheng’s gentle voice came from above.

Shi Ran closed her eyes helplessly and cursed under her breath.

He quickly withdrew his wrist, which was being supported, and took half a step back to create some distance.

"It's okay, I'm sorry, teacher..."

Wen Yiheng stared at her empty palm, a smile spreading across her lips. "It's alright."

Just then, Zhou Lin, who was also attending a professional class, walked over from behind and saw Wen Yiheng, looking a little puzzled.

"Teacher Wen? What brings you here?"

"Your Professor Chen has an academic conference coming up in the next few weeks, so I'm here to cover for a class."

Upon hearing this, Shi Ran and several classmates from the same major fell silent for a second before bursting into cheers.

Wen Yiheng is substituting for them? Wen Yiheng, whose general elective courses are so popular that it's hard to get a seat, is actually teaching them a private class on their major!

It's so cool too!

Just then, the elevator doors opened.

Wen Yiheng went in first, turned to the side, pressed the door open button, and waited for everyone to come in.

The students filed in, chattering excitedly about the unexpected good news.

Shi Ran was still a little dazed, standing still, her mind still processing what had happened.

Song Yu waved to him from inside the elevator, "Shi Ran, come in quickly."

Shi Ran glanced at the crowded elevator and realized that the only way to get in was to sit right next to Wen Yiheng.

"It's okay, I'll wait for the next one."

"No, you can squeeze a little!" Song Yu cried out anxiously, turning around to shout, "Zhou Lin, can't you tuck in your stomach?!"

Wen Yiheng leaned against the elevator wall, not urging anyone, but quietly pressing the open button, her face still bearing that gentle smile.

Shi Ran gritted her teeth and went inside.

The elevator doors closed, and the space was even more cramped than he had imagined.

He was practically encircled in Wen Yiheng's arms, his back pressed against his chest, and he could feel the other's body temperature through two layers of clothing.

The woody scent emanating from Wen Yiheng was right next to his nose, and he could even feel the heartbeat of the person behind him, steady and rhythmic.

Shi Ran froze. He dared not move, dared not turn around, and dared not even breathe heavily.

It's really strange, he's been to all of them.

Standing next to him, Song Yu was completely oblivious to his discomfort, overjoyed, and looked up at Wen Yiheng with a grin, asking:

"Teacher, since Teacher Chen isn't coming today, does that mean we don't have to do a quiz?"

Wen Yiheng's voice came from above, tinged with laughter.

"What quiz? I have no idea."

Another cheer erupted in the elevator.

Song Yu was overjoyed and turned to tease Shi Ran, "Now someone can rest easy. I studied until 3 a.m. last night before going to sleep."

Shi Ran's body stiffened; Song Yu's mouth was truly...

He looked up and his gaze met Wen Yiheng's.

The man was smiling again, and his amber eyes appeared even lighter under the elevator lights.

"Really? You're working that hard?"

Wen Yiheng said, her tone carrying a hint of profound meaning.

Shi Ran gave a wry smile, and was about to say "No, no," when she heard him continue.

"How about we get tested?"

Wen Yiheng paused, tilted her head slightly, as if seriously considering the suggestion.

The elevator was immediately filled with wails and screams of "No!"

Shi Ran stared blankly at him, while Wen Yiheng ignored the other voices and kept her gaze fixed on him alone.

He wasn't asking the whole class, but only Shi Ran.

The tone wasn't really asking for his opinion; it was more like an intimate joke directed at him alone.

The power of life and death over the entire class fell so easily into the hands of Shi Ran alone.

Shi Ran subconsciously shook her head.

Wen Yiheng immediately laughed, granting a general amnesty, "Then there's no chance of anything happening."

The elevator erupted in laughter again, with everyone saying things like, "Thanks to Shi Ran!" and "Shi Ran, you are our benefactor!"

Song Yu excitedly nudged Shi Ran's arm, winked at him, and whispered, "It's your fault."

Shi Ran twitched the corner of her mouth, but didn't actually smile.

He felt a chill run down his spine.

This person is so skilled; everything is done without making a sound.

Invite and wait discreetly, relinquish power to those in positions of authority without making a sound, and subtly indebted to them without revealing your true intentions.

Like a net, so fine that you can't see the threads, so soft that you can't feel its weight.

You think you're still walking freely, but by the time you realize you can't move, the net has already tightened.

The elevator finally arrived, and Shi Ran was the first to get out, following the crowd into the classroom.

Shi Ran looked around and found that the last row of seats against the wall was empty, and the tables were piled with clutter.

Very good, he found his place accurately.

Shi Ran walked over, took out a tissue and started wiping the table, when a voice sounded in front of him.

"Did you take a long leave of absence? Are you sick?"

The tone of his voice sounded like he genuinely cared.

Unhurried and gentle, as if asking a long-lost friend.

Shi Ran looked up and saw that Wen Yiheng had walked to his table at some point.

Before Shi Ran could even speak, Zhou Lin leaned out from the front and answered for him with a grin:

"Teacher, he just has a disease that will kill him if he doesn't go to internet cafes."

Shi Ran suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She was about to say something to salvage her image when she turned around and met Wen Yiheng's gaze.

There was no mockery in his eyes; he simply smiled faintly.

Then, out of nowhere, a pack of wet wipes appeared and was placed on Shi Ran's table, with a note attached.

"It's good that he's not sick."

Shi Ran stared at the wet wipes on the table and suddenly felt a dull ache in her heart again.

He didn't have much contact with Wen Yiheng, but he seemed to ignore all the teasing, mockery, and curiosity from others.

His gaze is only fixed on the people he cares about, and he only cares about the things he wants to care about.

Even though Shi Ran knew in her heart that this special treatment of being singled out and having a spotlight shine on her was just a deliberate tactic by Wen Yiheng, she couldn't help but be drawn in.

But Shi Ran never expected that Wen Yiheng knew why he had missed so many classes.

He not only knew that Shi Ran was missing class, but he also knew that Shi Ran was likely to fail the course.

If a student needs this grade, then he needs to be present in that class.

So, an extra spot was added to the German academic conference, and Professor Chen happened to be able to buy the last ticket. So, when someone came to Professor Chen for help, he was given the task in a time of crisis.

"Thank you so much, Professor Wen. I couldn't schedule any of the other teachers' classes."

"Don't mention it, it was nothing."

"Can you handle three weeks of classes?"

"Three weeks? That's enough."

"Um?"

"It's nothing."

----

This lesson is about glands.

Shi Ran breathed a sigh of relief; at least it wasn't that hardcore.

Wen Yiheng is an expert in this field. I heard that the paper he was promoted to associate professor through special procedures was about the effects of glandular hormones on hormones.

In her paper, Wen Yiheng argued a very bold conclusion:

Regarding love, humans believe they possess free will, but in reality, they are merely slaves to glandular hormones.

To prove this point, he designed an experiment that sparked some controversy in the industry.

The subjects of the experiment were two groups of newly weaned mice.

He injected mice in Group A with an oxytocin analogue, which would only make the mice feel pleasure and satisfaction when they were near another specific individual.

If you are near any other individual, your hormone levels will not change, and there will be no reward.

If you stay away from it, it will trigger mild withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, restlessness, and repeated searching.

The result was chilling.

Within three days, Group A developed a strong attachment to the "designated object." Even when separated, they would desperately try to return to the other person's side and even refuse to eat.

When researchers replaced the "designated object" with another unfamiliar individual, the original attachment completely disappeared within a week.

They begin to obsessively pursue new targets, appearing just as intimate and inseparable as before.

But everyone knows that love has simply been reprogrammed.

At the end of her paper, Wen Yiheng wrote: The essence of emotion is the reward and punishment feedback of glandular hormones on behavior.

What we call love is nothing more than a script that evolved to perpetuate our genes.

If we could rewrite this script, then love could be created, transferred, or even deleted at will.

And now, Wen Yiheng is standing in front of him, explaining the experiment to the students in the classroom.

He spoke calmly, as if describing a common biological phenomenon, then paused, his gaze sweeping across the classroom before finally settling on Shi Ran, and slowly began to speak:

"If I said, I like you."

Shi Ran was taken aback, then heard Wen Yiheng continue, "When I say those words, how much of it is my own voice, and how much is just hormones speaking for me?"

Someone in the classroom chuckled quietly, thinking he was joking.

Shi Ran didn't laugh. He looked at Wen Yiheng, and Wen Yiheng was also looking at him.

However, it must be admitted that Wen Yiheng is very attractive in her professional field.

Completely different from last night's general education class, this was a genuine back-and-forth interaction, explaining complex concepts in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

He listened with great interest until Wen Yiheng said, "Let's call it a day. Since there's no break between classes, we'll end ten minutes early." Only then did he realize that two hours had already passed.

The sound of packing up echoed in the classroom. Wen Yiheng stood on the podium, closing her lesson plan as she spoke:

"By the way, we'll be doing a presentation next class. You'll be in pairs, so please form your own groups. If everything is fine, we can go home."

As soon as they finished speaking, everyone exchanged glances with their familiar partners.

After all, we've already done several presentations, the class size is just right, and the groups have been fixed for a long time.

But that was before, back when there was no Shiran in the class.

Shi Ran was sitting in the last row, watching everyone finish their group assignments. Soon, he was the only one left in the classroom with nowhere to go.

Wen Yiheng seemed to have noticed.

He walked down from the podium, passed through rows of tables and chairs, and finally stopped at Shi Ran's table.

"There will probably be one person left," he said. "If you don't mind, you can team up with me."

Shi Ran was stunned for a moment.

"Can I still be in a group with the teacher?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than two figures rushed towards him from the front.

Zhou Lin darted to Shi Ran's side in a flash. "Teacher, I haven't been grouped yet!"

Song Yu followed closely behind, "Teacher, I haven't been grouped either."

Wen Yiheng's smile froze for a moment, so brief it was almost imperceptible, yet it was still noticeable.

Zhou Lin walked around to Wen Yiheng's other side and began enthusiastically promoting himself: "Teacher, Song Yu and Shi Ran are good friends, let's pair them up, and I'll go with you—"

Just as Zhou Lin was about to succeed, Song Yu suddenly gritted his teeth and grabbed Zhou Lin's arm.

"What are you saying? Zhou Lin, I wanted to be in your group."

Zhou Lin: ?

He turned to look at Song Yu and said, "Are you sick in the head?"

Wen Yiheng immediately said, "Okay, it's settled then."

Shi Ran watched the scene unfold from the sidelines, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Song Yu's performance showed that he would rather be in a group with Zhou Lin than let Zhou Lin succeed in being in a group with Teacher Wen.

Who would have thought?

Instead, it fulfilled someone's wish.

When Wen Yiheng turned around, she met Shi Ran's amused smile.

He glanced at Shi Ran and deliberately asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Shi Ran smiled and shook her head, looking directly into the eyes of the person in front of her.

"fine,"

Shi Ran remembered Song Yu saying that his dimples were very pretty when he smiled, so she laughed and said, "I'm so happy to be in a group with the teacher."

Shi Ran pronounced the last three words very lightly, with the final sound rising slightly.

Wen Yiheng looked at him for two seconds, then said, "That's good."

On the way back to the dormitory, Song Yu was going crazy.

He kept repeating the same few phrases: "Ran, tell me, buddy, wasn't I good enough this time?"

Shi Ran walked beside him and said, "That's too much. It's like sacrificing oneself for others, like a moth drawn to a flame."

Song Yu didn't catch the sarcasm in his words and was still indulging in self-pity:

"Don't let my sacrifice go to waste! Try your best to develop a relationship with Teacher Wen, and ideally, get his WeChat! Let me see what his WeChat Moments look like—"

Shi Ran took out her phone and waved it in front of Song Yu.

"The teacher has already added me."

Song Yu stopped abruptly. "What?"

"WeChat," Shi Ran said, "I just added you."

"Is the progress this fast?"

He caught up with her and leaned close to Shi Ran, "But isn't Teacher Wen very protective of her privacy? She probably doesn't post on WeChat Moments..."

"No," Shi Ran swiped the screen, "I see that it has been open for the past year."

Song Yu fell silent.

He stood there, his expression shifting from shock to disbelief.

He heard that Teacher Wen never adds students on WeChat, and even his class representative contacts him via email.

But he's only had a few classes?

Shi Ran didn't notice his strange behavior and had already clicked into Wen Yiheng's Moments.

The content is limited, mostly consisting of academic conferences and journal articles forwarded as favors.

He swung down twice, then suddenly stopped.

I just posted this last night.

Is it a photo, or a bowl of... lotus root and pork rib stew?

It was placed on the kitchen countertop, bathed in warm light, like a kitchen light in the evening.

The caption was just three words: New recipe.

Song Yu leaned over for a look and immediately exploded.

"Teacher Wen can cook!!! Wow! He's so virtuous! I'm going to marry him, it's a done deal."

Shi Ran quietly watched Song Omega Yu spouting wild words in front of her, too lazy to even pay him any attention.

Song Yu was still chattering away beside her, saying things like, "Teacher Wen must be the kind of good man who would cook for his wife every day after they got married," but Shi Ran didn't hear a word he said.

He lowered his head and gave a thumbs up, with only one thought in his mind.

This guy's really showing off!