Is It Really That Hard to Be the Big Brother of Two Top-Alpha Twins? - Chapter 8

The unexpected turn of events threw the scene into chaos. Two mechs landed one after another as Huo Lin led a large group of people forward.
[Cockpit ejection countdown]
[3]
[2]
[…]
[Co-pilot ejection error!]
The mech’s hatch opened, and Jiang Xun—who had just disembarked and rushed over—froze at the sight before him.
Inside the cramped cockpit, Jiang Ling, still in his school uniform, was being held protectively in the arms of the slightly thin Chen Luan, his head pressed against his chest as he tried to calm down from the shock.
Fortunately, both of them seemed unharmed.
“Are you alright?” Huo Lin was the first to jump onto the mech and pulled Jiang Ling out of Chen Luan’s arms.
“We’re stuck,” Chen Luan said evenly, turning slightly to the side.
Only then did Huo Lin notice the situation—because of the cockpit’s deformation from the hard landing, and Chen Luan’s poor self-preservation maneuver, his left arm had been caught between the seat and the cockpit wall.
It was bleeding heavily.
“Hey, Chen Luan, you—” Jiang Ling, who was being helped out of the mech by several people, turned around and froze when he saw the bl00d on his sleeve. His pupils shrank.
“What’s with that look?” Chen Luan said with a hint of amusement. Jiang Ling’s expression was a jumble of irritation, worry, and guilt. “It’s fine. My arm’s not broken—just a scrape.”
He shifted slightly, allowing the mechanic behind him to get a better angle to remove the seat.
“What happened over there?” Chen Luan asked, tilting his chin toward the other mech that had nearly collided with them.
“Take care of your arm first. I’ll check it out,” Huo Lin replied before heading off.
The two mechs had landed not far apart.
After Chen Luan climbed out of the cockpit, he jumped to the ground on his own. A school doctor was already waiting nearby with a first-aid kit, accompanied by Jiang Ling and Jiang Xun.
The torn, bl00d-stained shirt was getting in the way, so Chen Luan simply unbuttoned it and shrugged it off.
His fair, lean upper body was instantly exposed to the twins.
Though slim, Chen Luan wasn’t fragile. Years of training at the military academy—beta program or not—had given him a light layer of muscle that accentuated his figure.
He was, frankly, handsome.
Without a hint of self-consciousness, Chen Luan stretched out his arm toward the doctor, revealing a four- to five-centimeter gash near his upper shoulder. Bright red bl00d traced a slow path down his arm.
“Hey! How could you just take off your clothes in public?!”
Startled by the shout, Chen Luan looked up—only to get hit in the face with his school uniform jacket.
Pulling the coat off his head, he draped it loosely over his shoulders. He looked at Jiang Ling, whose face was bright red, then at the bewildered school doctor fumbling with the first-aid kit, and finally at Jiang Xun, confused.
“What’s the problem? How else are you supposed to treat a wound? You’d have to cut the sleeve off otherwise.”
“You—but you—!” Jiang Ling sputtered, face flushing deeper.
“Chen Luan, you’re a beta,” Jiang Xun sighed.
“Yeah, and? Aren’t male betas still men?”
Jiang Xun: “…”
Jiang Ling yanked the jacket properly over his shoulders and growled through gritted teeth, “I can’t even explain it to you! Just put it on!”
“Fine, fine. I’ll listen to you.” Chen Luan raised both hands in mock surrender.
At that moment, the hatch of the nearby mech opened as well.
For some reason, the crowd went quiet the instant it did.
Both Jiang Ling and Jiang Xun turned their heads, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Luan asked.
“That guy inside just differentiated,” Jiang Ling muttered, rubbing his nose hard. “Ugh—what’s that smell? It’s awful.”
“Here?” Chen Luan was surprised.
Normally, alphas would find a safe place to undergo differentiation—it was a vulnerable process, with unclear consciousness and the risk of pheromone loss at any moment.
“He probably differentiated early by accident,” Jiang Xun said. “If he doesn’t have an inhibitor, he needs to be taken to the hospital immediately. Otherwise, it could get dangerous.”
Chen Luan turned toward the school doctor.
The doctor quickly pulled an emergency inhibitor from the first-aid kit.
“Alright, you go handle that. I can take care of this small wound myself.”
Chen Luan took the bandage from the doctor, holding it between his teeth as he grabbed the disinfectant and anti-inflammatory spray from the kit and waved them off.
“How are you going to treat that with just one hand? With your mouth?” Jiang Ling rolled his eyes as he watched the school doctor leave, then reached out and pulled the bandage from Chen Luan’s mouth.
Jiang Xun took the medicine from Chen Luan’s hand.
“Hand.” Jiang Xun’s tone was short, but it left no room for refusal.
Chen Luan: “…”
Chen Luan: “Fine.”
His fingers were long and slender, the joints on the backs of his hands slightly prominent and tinted with a faint bluish-white hue.
Jiang Xun held Chen Luan’s wrist, almost able to feel the pulse beating beneath the cool skin.
The wound looked scary, but it wasn’t deep.
After a simple cleaning and disinfection, it could be bandaged.
Jiang Ling wrapped the bandage around Chen Luan’s arm several times before finally tying an incredibly ugly knot. Jiang Xun hesitated to say something—then thought better of it and stayed silent.
Chen Luan looked at the messy knot but didn’t unwrap it to redo it.
After all, it was a kind gesture. Whether it looked nice or not didn’t matter.
Meanwhile, the crowd around the mecha next door finally began to disperse.
A boy was carried out, face flushed, eyes shut, curled up on a stretcher in pain. He was breathing heavily as they loaded him into an ambulance.
Chen Luan couldn’t smell pheromones.
But judging by the other students’ expressions—boys nearing the differentiation age who could smell them—the scent must have been… intense.
At that moment, Huo Lin arrived with a middle-aged teaching assistant dripping with sweat.
“I’m so sorry, Teaching Assistant Jiang, Young Master Jiang.”
The man bowed nervously to Jiang Ling as soon as he approached. “I sincerely apologize for startling you. The Wu family’s young master suddenly underwent premature differentiation during the aerial drill and lost control. He even accidentally activated his weapon. I was affected by the pheromone burst as well and reacted too slowly to stabilize the situation in time—”
“Why are you apologizing to me? I’m not the one who got hurt.” Jiang Ling crossed his arms, his tone impatient.
“R-right…” The assistant quickly turned toward Chen Luan. “I’m sorry, Assistant Jiang, I injured you.”
“It’s fine, just an accident. A few scrapes, nothing serious.” Chen Luan helped him up. “We’ll be colleagues from now on—just call me Chen Luan.”
“Ah, yes, Teacher Chen.” The man wiped his forehead, relieved. At least this one was easy to talk to; offending the Jiang family would’ve been disastrous.
Huo Lin sighed. “Let’s wrap up for today. Tch, now I’ve got to write a report for this mess. Assistant Zhang, you’ll need to submit a self-criticism by tomorrow.”
He scratched his head in frustration. “Chen Luan, you’re injured, so take the day off. I’ll approve it.”
Chen Luan, who had been injured on his first day and was now on leave, replied blankly, “…Okay.”
“By the way, I remember your employment file said your mech practical exam grade was B-, right?”
Chen Luan: “…”
I didn’t know that. Jiang Luan didn’t tell me.
“Hm… right? Is that a problem?” he improvised.
“Did you underperform on your graduation test? Based on what I saw today, you should at least be an A+.”
Chen Luan: “…”
He closed his eyes and bluffed smoothly, “Yeah, probably. My brother was in the cockpit with me that day, so I got nervous and…”
“I see. You two have a great relationship. Guess you really can’t believe all those rumors.” Huo Lin nodded. “Alright, head back. I’ll start my report. See you tomorrow.”
He turned and muttered to himself, puzzled, “Wait, that batch just graduated this year… How come I never heard of a beta getting an A+ in training?”
His voice was too soft for Chen Luan to hear, as Chen was already turning around, grinning, and waving at the Jiang twins.
“So, are you heading back? Want a ride?” he called.
“No, we’ve got afternoon classes. There’s a school bus waiting at the gate,” Jiang Xun replied.
Jiang Ling frowned, watching Huo Lin’s departing figure, then turned back to Chen Luan. “When did we become so close?”
“Just now.”
Seeing Huo Lin glance back, Chen Luan immediately threw an arm around Jiang Ling’s shoulder like an old friend and waved goodbye.
“Let go! Are you crazy?!” Jiang Ling’s hair practically stood on end as he grabbed Chen Luan’s arm. “Are we that close, Chen Luan?!”
“Ah! Ouch—my arm, my arm hurts!”
“???” Jiang Ling froze, afraid to move.
When he turned his head, Chen Luan was grinning, half his weight leaning on him.
“…Chen Luan!”
But this time, Jiang Ling didn’t shove him off, letting him hang on with a dark expression.
Jiang Xun: “…”
Two overgrown children.
Then, before he could react, Chen Luan pulled him in too—one arm around each twin, laughing. “Everyone gets a share!”
Jiang Xun’s face stiffened instantly.
Seeing that, Jiang Ling couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Ha! Serves you right!”
The three of them walked toward the school gate, jostling and tugging at each other, drawing curious glances from passersby.
“Hey, isn’t that the Jiang family?”
“Looks like it.”
“They seem to get along really well.”
“Huh? Wasn’t there a bullying rumor a few days ago?”
“Fake, right? Can’t trust those gossip accounts.”
“…”
When they reached the school gate, Chen Luan was still wearing Jiang Ling’s school jacket.
The over-1.8-meter-tall Chen Luan, shirtless beneath the slightly small jacket, had a strip of skin showing at his wrist—it looked a little cramped. Jiang Ling frowned, realizing for the first time that this beta was taller than he was.
Still, he wasn’t worried. After their second gender differentiation, alphas would undergo another growth spurt.
It was only a matter of time.
“You can keep that jacket for now. Just have the maid wash it later.” Jiang Ling shoved his hands in his pockets and boarded the school bus in his shirt.
“I’ll call the driver to pick you up,” Jiang Xun added, following behind.
“Okay, go ahead.” Chen Luan stood outside the bus, waving cheerfully.
The act of a doting big brother seeing off his younger siblings left the twins a little uneasy.
But the next moment, a familiar silver-gray sedan pulled up beside the bus.
The window rolled down, revealing a very unwelcome face.
“Chen Luan, I’ve been waiting for you. Want to grab lunch together?”
The man in the car—wearing a suit, gold watch, and silver-rimmed glasses—smiled warmly. “A little celebration for your first day?”
Jiang Xun’s hand, halfway to dialing the driver, froze. He pocketed his phone, eyes downcast.
Jiang Ling, noticing the bus had already started moving, leaned out the window and shouted furiously, “Chen Luan! If you wear my clothes on a date with him, I’ll kill you!”
Chen Luan: “…”
“Long time no see, Boss Zhou.”