Chapter 105
For a while, Wei Jiayu stood there, dazed. He then said, “Con-congratulations.” He turned around, schoolbag on his back and ran away, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
The driver drove away. Qiao Shao looked at He Shen, and asked, dumbfounded, “What is he congratulating us for?”
Without Da Qiao watching him, He Shen dared to say, “Probably congratulations us for tying the knot?”
Qiao Shao: “………” He really asked the right person!
He Shen also had to go back to the rental apartment. Although no one in school would recognize his clothes, it was better to put on a school uniform to keep a low profile.
Qiao Shao, of course, wanted to go with him. The two of them walked and talked along the way.
Qiao Shao said, “We just scared Wei Jiayu to death.”
He Shen comforted him, “He definitely thought it was my family’s car.”
Qiao Shao thought so too. He then suddenly though of something. “Does he know that your original surname is Xie?”
He Shen said, “No one knows except Lao Lou.” He and Lou Xiao had been in the same middle school. Later, Lou Xiao had been fed up with his classmates insulting him by saying he had a □□ mother and he then went to East High, this unknown school.
Qiao Shao understood. “Wei Blue Hair thinks your family is a normal rich family.”
He Shen smiled. “More or less.”
Qiao Shao sighed, “I also want to be a normal rich person!” Being richer than Wei Blue Hair would have been fine too, as long as no one finds out that his dad was Qiao Zongmin. This was all Da Qiao’s fault! Always hogging the limelight! Fine, it’s actually his own fault too for picking the wrong point of reference…
He suddenly thought of Chen Su. Qiao Shao quickly said to He Shen, “Can you help me keep it a secret for now?”
He Shen didn’t ask much. “En.”
Qiao Shao explained, “My main concern is Chen Su. He’s finally become a lot more optimistic…” If his fellow sufferer, comrade-in-arms, best friend suddenly became rich overnight…the psychological blow might be too great.
He Shen smiled and said, “I think you’re overthinking this.”
Qiao Shao looked at him. “Huh?”
He Shen said, “True friends would only wish the best for their friends.”
Qiao Shao thought about it and had to agree. Chen Su might be shocked, but he certainly wouldn’t break off relations with him just because of it. But he still said, “Let’s wait a bit anyway.”
He Shen understood him. “I know. Things are going well now so there’s really no need to change, right?”
“Yes, yes!” Qiao Shao said a little embarrassedly, “I really like how things are now.”
Once his identity was exposed, the entire East High would be shocked to their core. From students to teachers, even the principal and the cafeteria aunt would want to come round and have a look at him.
Qiao Shao enjoyed his relaxed life now. He didn’t want to be treated like a giant panda.
While talking, they arrived at the rental apartment. He Shen took out the key and opened the door.
It was early in the morning and the corridor was very quiet. Qiao Shao could only hear the click as the door unlocked and swung open. For some reason, Qiao Shao’s heart slammed against his chest and his mouth went a little dry.
Qiao Shao’s throat felt a bit tickled, and he suddenly didn’t know what to say. “Um …”
He Shen took him into the apartment. He closed the door and kissed him on the lips.
Qiao Shao’s eyes opened wide. He felt all his blood rushing to his brain, hitting him with a bout of dizziness.
He didn’t know how long it had been. Qiao Shao began to run out of air. He Shen reluctantly let him go. Qiao Shao was stuck on the wall like a soft cotton cloth. If He Shen hadn’t been helping support him, he would have slid to the ground.
He Shen rubbed the tip of his nose intimately. “Shao Shao.”
Qiao Shao blushed. “What was that for?”
He Shen had been holding back for two days and now he could finally tell him. “I will always cherish you.”
Qiao Shao bit his red swollen lower lip and nodded lightly. “En.”
He Shen hugged him hard and was content.
This week, Lou Xiao finally finished negotiations with a club and he set off for City C two days later.
Because of this Wei Jiayu was screaming his heart out in their dorm room. “Oh, f*ck, f*cking f*ck! Xiao Ge is so cool! Amazing! He’s actually going to be a professional player!”
Both Qiao Shao and Chen Su knew almost nothing about it.
Wei Blue Hair sat cross-legged on his bed and excitedly began to educate them. “Do you guys know MOL!”
New generation, handsome and stern youth Chen Su indifferently brushed away the topic. And good baby Qiao Shao ignorantly shook his head. Wei Jiayu excitedly told Qiao Shao about how powerful a game MOL was, about how popular it was around the world, and how big a game it was, with numerous domestic and international competitions, about how Lou Xiao could win glory for the country. He told Qiao Shao a whole bunch of things and Qiao Shao exclaimed, “Then he really is amazing!”
Wei Jiayu almost jumped down from his bed. “Of course he’s amazing!”
Qiao Shao said, “I didn’t expect Lou Xiao to have such a pursuit.”
Wei Jiayu was very proud. “Didn’t I say it before? Xiao Ge is definitely no ordinary person. But you guys didn’t believe me. Let me tell you. In the future, Xiao Ge will become famous, and he’ll earn tens of millions in minutes!”
Qiao Shao blinked.
Wei Jiayu continued to intimidate him. “You heard it right. Tens of millions. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to make that much in their entire lifetime!”
Qiao Shao Shao did his best to support and attend. “Tha-that’s great!”
Chen Su looked over at Qiao Shao and said, “If you put your heart in what you do and bring it to its pinnacle, you will surely be rewarded.”
Qiao Shao felt warm in his heart. He knew what Chen Su was trying to say. “Don’t worry. I will only play for fun.” He wouldn’t be able to play in a competition even if someone threatened to beat him to death.
Wei Jiayu let his thoughts wander. “Unfortunately, I suck. If I had half of Xiao Ge’s ability, I would go with him!”
Chen Su gave a cold snort.
Wei Jiayu said, irritated, “What are you implying, Four-eyed Chen?”
Chen Su threw to him a set of exercise sheets. “If you have time to envy others, then you might as well revise your homework!” It turned out that he had been looking over Wei Jiayu’s homework.
Wei Jiayu really was a lot more well-behaved now. “If Laozi were only as awesome as Xiao Ge, I wouldn’t have to do this sh*tty homework!” While mumbling, he looked over his homework carefully and howled, “Chen Su, I’m going to tell on you to your mother. Even the teacher only makes me copy it once, why are you asking me to copy it twice! ”
Chen Su said, “Because you’re too stupid.”
“Say that again!” Wei Jiayu got angry and rolled up his sleeves to fight Chen Su.
Qiao Shao hurriedly tried to smooth things over saying, “Okay, okay, Chen Su is doing this for your own good. You missed this question last time. You really shouldn’t have gotten it wrong again.” He then turned to Chen Su, “Wei Jiayu was just a little careless. There’s no need to be so fierce with him.”
Now that he had blocked them, they couldn’t fight. But they began to sulk.
What could Qiao Shao do, except to pick up his phone and send a message to his boyfriend …
The day before Lou Xiao was scheduled to leave, he called out his roommates for a meal.
It was a room for four but had five people. Sounds about right.
Wei Jiayu was still in the middle of a cold war with Chen Su. After seeing him, he said, “What are you doing here?”
Chen Su would never give him face. “Were you the one who called for this meal?”
Wei Jiayu was about to fly into a rage when Lou Xiao narrowed his eyes at him … Blue hair instantly wilted. Forget it, forget it. Today was Xiao Ge’s big day. They shouldn’t do anything to make him unhappy.
The school tyrant was a proper generous ‘don’t worry it’s all taken care of’ kind of man. He wasn’t the type for sad goodbyes and he said happily, “Just order whatever you want. I’ll pay.” In particular, he threw a look at Qiao Shao.
Qiao Shao glanced at He Shen. He felt very embarrassed.
In the past, he was pretending to be poor and he did so quite naturally. But now that there was someone who knew…a different kind of embarrassment flooded his heart.
He took the menu and used it to block his face. He Shen pulled it away. “I know what you like to eat.”
Qiao Shao’s heart was filled with sweetness, thinking that He Shen was really gentle.
Then He Shen added, “The expensive ones, right?”
Qiao Shao: “…………” Gentle, my ass! He was nothing but a scoundrel who laughs at him!
With Lou Xiao gone, there was an empty bed in their dorm.
Qiao Shao encouraged He Shen. “You should live on campus with me.”
He Shen looked at him. “Qiao Guai Guai, you should be more careful.”
Qiao Shao: “Ah?”
He Shen said it with flair. “I pray that you speak less of this matter of minors cohabiting together.”
Qiao Shao was amused by him. “Then based on what you said, the whole male dorm is just minors cohabiting together?”
He Shen continued, “I can’t control what others do but I am a good citizen who abides by the law.”
Could Qiao Shao ever win in a debate against him? He urged, “Why won’t you come? You don’t have to stay up all night to make money anymore. So it’s fine if you can’t use the computer at night. Is it so bad to live in the dorms?”
He Shen said, “I’ll climb into your bed in the middle of the night.”
Qiao Shao said, warmth flooding his cheeks, “It’s not just the two of us in the dormitory!”
He Shen sighed. “Yes, that’s why dorm living is so boring.”
Who did he just call a law-abiding good citizen! His brain was obviously filled with indecent thoughts!
Qiao Shao was in a bad mood. “Come if you want, don’t come if you don’t want!”
He Shen was very reserved. “Then I’ll think about it.”
Qiao Shao pulled out his hand. He wasn’t going to hold his hand anymore!
There was a class quiz on Friday. He Shen finished his in 20 minutes. He still had time to help Qiao Shao “criticize” his paper.
Qiao Shao really admired this brain of his. After class, he whispered quietly, “You could already take the college entrance exams when you were eleven, why are you studying at a second year high school level at seventeen?” Stop dealing mental blows to these high schoolers and deal them to adults instead!
This was something He Shen hadn’t been willing to speak of before, but now he could talk about casually, it like it was some other person’s matters. “I don’t want to do as they wish.”
Qiao Shao froze for a moment, realizing that he had stepped on a mine.
But He Shen wasn’t the least bit offended. On the contrary, he explained carefully, “I used to listen to everything grandfather said but now I don’t want to listen to him any longer.”
Xie Yongyi had him skip grades and become a prodigy who can enter the highest educational institution at the age of eleven. He didn’t want to. Xie Yongyi had him engage in the company’s affairs and had him comprehend all the regulations. He didn’t want to. Xie Yongyi wanted him to continue developing the Xie clan, to multiply their family fortune many times over. He wanted that even less.
Qiao Shao held his hand and said, “Ignore him. In the future, you should do whatever you want.”
He Shen curved his lips into a smile. “En.”
“Speaking of …” Qiao Shao was really curious. “Do you have anything you want to do?”
He Shen was dazed by his question.
Qiao Shao counted off with his fingers. “Lou Xiao went into e-sports. Wei Jiayu wants to enter Beiying. Chen Su has his eyes set on Peking University. And I’m … Well, I’m a little bit useless. I want to spend more time with my family, and study design from my granddad along the way… ”
Qiao Shao even counted Song Yixu’s wish to become a silly husky. Qiao Shao looked at He Shen. “What about you, what do you want to do in the future?”
God He Shen, for whom no problem posed any difficulty, was stumped by this question.
What does he want to do … What does he want to do …
Qiao Shao guessed from his expression, and was surprised. “It can’t be that you haven’t thought about it.”
He Shen looked at him and forced a smile. “I haven’t.”
If Qiao Shao hadn’t known about his family situation, it would have been fine. He wouldn’t have thought much of it. But now that he knew about his childhood, hearing these words made Qiao Shao feel like he was being stabbed in the stomach.
He Shen said, “When I was young, my only thought was to stay with my mother and to take her out for a walk.”
For this, he obeyed Xie Yongyi unconditionally. He accept all his arrangements and did everything he expected.
“Later …” He Shen lowered his eyes, “I just wanted to draw a clear line between me and the Xie family. I would have fulfilled that naive agreement and paid off ten million so that I wouldn’t owe them anymore …” And then he wouldn’t have any misgiving about fighting back against them with all he’s got.
Qiao Shao felt so distressed that he quickly said, “It’s okay, it’s not too late now.”
He added, “Your life has just begun. Find what you want to do and we’ll work hard at it together.”
He Shen’s heart began to race and words rushed out of his mouth.
But Qiao Shao interrupted him. “Being with me doesn’t count. This is definitely something possible but not what you need to do.”
He Shen was stunned.
Qiao Shao said, “He Shen Shen, you’re so smart. Don’t waste it!”
He Shen smiled. “I know.”
Qiao Shao went so far as to help him figure it out. “Our family isn’t short of money. Do you want to engage in scientific research and contribute to humanity?”
He Shen couldn’t hold back the smile from his mouth. “In which field?”
Qiao Shao made a prompt decision. “Physics. You can explore the mysteries of space, the origin of the universe!” As he said this, he thought, “Or biology. You can study humans and contribute to the field of medicine. Ah, chemistry is also good …”
After naming six college courses, Qiao Shao Shao became worried. “You have full marks on every subject. You don’t have any good or bad subjects. It’s really difficult to choose.”
He Shen couldn’t help it. He put up the textbook and kissed him on the cheek.
Qiao Shao was scared to death. “This is in the classroom!”
He Shen said, “There’s no one in the back row.”
Qiao Shao was quaking with fear. He wished he could draw the 38th parallel. “No overstepping the bounds.”
He Shen curved his eyes and called him, “Qiao Shao.”
Qiao Shao watched him cautiously, “En?”
He Shen didn’t say anything. “It’s nothing.”
There were so many things he was thankful for that he didn’t know how to say it. For the first time, He Shen knew what it was like to be taken care of by others.
During these seventeen years, his mother feared him, his father ignored him, and his grandfather took advantage of him. Only Qiao Shao thought about his life wholeheartedly.
He Shen’s life, and not Xie Shen’s.
That weekend was a long break and Da Qiao had arrangements for the both of them.
They were taken home as soon as they left school.
Qiao Shao comforted He Shen, “Don’t worry. Da Qiao won’t bully you.”
He Shen returned his hold. “I know. If Mr. Qiao hated me, he wouldn’t have me go back with you.”
This comforted Qiao Shao instead and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Once they arrived at home, Qiao Shao saw Da Qiao coming out of the kitchen.
Comrade Da Qiao was filled with the dignity of a father. He had his left hand behind him. “I have something to discuss with the two of you.”
Qiao Shao’s heart suddenly jumped. He was afraid his dad would throw a bomb.
He Shen was relatively calm. “Okay.”
Qiao Zongmin glanced at his son and said inwardly, ‘This little whelp with his elbows turned outward! I can kill this stinky boy you know!
President Qiao was fuming inwardly but he let nothing show on his face. “Starting next week, you won’t be boarding at school anymore. You’ll both come home after school ends.”
Qiao Shao: “???
He Shen was also startled, absolutely surprised.
Qiao Zongmin moved his left hand from behind his back, and he placed a thick book on the coffee table. “If you guys stayed on campus, then this wouldn’t be a diary anymore now would it?”
After saying so, he left.
On the light green cover that represented hope, there was a number stamped in gold — 2019.
Qiao Shao’s eyes turned hot. He walked over and opened the book. On the page with today’s date, there was Da Qiao’s flamboyant handwriting. ‘I made three dishes today. If anyone thinks they taste bad, I’ll break their legs!’
It was an heirloom diary … One that belonged to them.
Qiao Shao stared at it for a long time before he returned to his senses.
He Shen also saw it and he was even more shocked, rooted on the spot.
Qiao Shao returned to his senses and handed him the pen. “You write first.”
He Shen squeezed the pen tightly. He finally looked like the teenager that he really was. “Ca-can I?”
Qiao Shao smiled, with tears in his eyes. “Of course, this is our family’s diary!”
A new family, a new diary, and a new beginning.