CH 29

“Dang.” Shen Xu rubbed his arms, shrunk his shoulders and said, “Why do your words make me feel goosebumps.”

Pan Liuyi also couldn’t believe it: “Impossible, even if He Qianjian cheated, he couldn’t have cheated in every exam. Could it be that Chenghua’s proctors teamed up with him to deceive everyone? It doesn’t even make sense, him doing this is meaningless.”

“Why is it meaningless?” Shen Xu said, “If he wants to go abroad and won’t take the college entrance examination, the usual test scores will be an important basis.”

“No.” Li Xiao shook her head: “The He family is relatively traditional. Grandpa He does not allow the descendants of the He family to study abroad, so it is impossible for him to go abroad, and speaking English is He Qianjian’s shortcoming. He cannot communicate well in the language so going abroad is useless.”

“Not going abroad?” Shen Xu rubbed his chin: “Then it really doesn’t make sense for him to cheat. He could bribe Chenghua’s teachers, but he can’t bribe the college entrance examination invigilator. Thinking about it this way, there is only one explanation.”

Li Xiao and Pan Liuyi looked at him at the same time, Jiang Chen also raised his eyes with great interest, waiting for his next words.

“That is——” Shen Xu leaned back, brushed his hair back, shook his head and said, “Little friend, you think too much.”

Li Xiao glared at him, “What I said is true.”

“Then tell me.” Shen Xu crossed his arms and said, “If He Qianjian cheated, he has been in Chenghua for more than ten years from elementary school to high school. Why didn’t those teachers notice at all? Didn’t you say that from his problem-solving logic and reading comprehension one can tell whether it is by the same person? Why couldn’t Chenghua’s teachers see this?”

“Taking a step back, Chenghua’s teachers just couldn’t see it or really teamed up with him to cheat. Let’s go back to the original question, what is he trying to do? There must be a motive for his actions.”

Li Xiao’s expression tightened, wanting to prove that she was right, but when she opened her mouth she couldn’t find a convincing reason to explain He Qianjian’s behavior, because she herself couldn’t figure out what He Qianjian’s reason for doing all of this. She opened and closed her mouth, and finally she could only say stubbornly with a huffy face: “I will definitely find out the cracks in his mask, just wait!”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen, who hadn’t spoken much, put aside his ponderings, and said to Li Xiao, “Although I have no position to say this, I still want to remind you that you’d better not delve into this matter.”

Being questioned and then stopped, Li Xiao raised her chin, sat up straight and looked at Jiang Chen with a stubborn face: “Why?”

“First, you are in the attached secondary school, and he is in Chenghua. It is not convenient for you to check his affairs.”

“Second, whether He Qianjian cheated or not, it doesn’t matter to you, but if he really cheated and you found out about it, with the means he has been able to hide from everyone for so many years, you are not his opponent.”

“Thirdly, there is no doubt about the power possessed by the He family. Maybe the rest of the He family will not use this power indiscriminately, but it does not mean that He Qianjian would not use the power he has holding against you. If he has made up his mind to deal with you, what do you think will happen to you?”

Li Xiao looked into Jiang Chen’s eyes and said, “Thank you for your reminder, but I don’t agree with the second point you said. He Qianjian’s grades really have no effect on me whether they are good or bad, but if he got his grades by cheating, then someone must have been a stepping stone for him, and I don’t know if that person knows or don’t know, and if they don’t know, I think they would want justice.”

Facing her immature and stubborn eyes, Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment, then curved his eyes and smiled.

“If someone really had something taken away from them without knowing it, I think it might be a good thing not to know.” Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered slightly: “Because the person who owns it will not really lose it, and those who steal it may not be able to truly own it.”

Li Xiao frowned: “What do you mean?”

“It means…..justice is never given by others, but by oneself.” Jiang Chen took out a candy from his pocket, spread his palm, and smiled slightly: “But I want to thank you in the place of that person who had his things stolen from him. Thank you for your kindness and wisdom.”

Li Xiao met his eyes, and the resistance in her heart dissipated a lot. She looked away: “You are not the one who had your things stolen, why thank me for them.” Although she said so, she still picked up the candy in his hand. After putting it in her mouth, she raised her eyes expectantly and asked, “You said so much and also don’t want me to check it out because you believe what I said, right?”

Jiang Chen took a sip of the milk tea, but didn’t answer yes or no.

“Then…..” Li Xiao bit on the straw, hesitated to speak a few times, and finally asked: “Do you really think that if I find something, there will be danger?”

“Yes.” Jiang Chen raised his eyes and answered without the slightest hesitation: “Towards a person who can work hard for one thing and persist for ten years and will soon achieve his goal, you can’t imagine what he could do if his hard work of so many years faced the prospects of being destroyed.”

“But that’s just investigating cheating on exams…..”

“Li Xiao, I know you’re very smart.” Jiang Chen said seriously, “But I hope you don’t challenge the evil of human nature with a curious attitude. If someone could pick up a butcher’s knife and stab someone for the benefit of a dollar, then someone would kill to silence others for the sake of preventing sabotage to years of planning.”

Jiang Chen’s voice was clear, his tone was calm, and his unhurried words made Li Xiao pale.

No matter how mature and intelligent the little girl who was already called a genius at the age of twelve was, she still couldn’t help being afraid when faced with the danger and darkness of another’s straightforward analysis.

“Jiang Chen!” Pan Liuyi hugged Li Xiao into her arms like a hen protecting a chick, and said with discontent, “Why are you scaring my little cousin!”

Shen Xu was also a little dissatisfied: “Why are you yelling at Jiang Chen? What Jiangzi said is the truth…..” He coughed and lowered his voice a little: “Although it’s a little bit…..but if He Qianjian really does have a problem, it is really dangerous for your cousin to investigate, okay?”

“But still you can’t…..”

“I’m fine, cousin.” Li Xiao grabbed Pan Liuyi’s hand. Although her complexion was not very good, she said seriously to Jiang Chen, “I know you’re not trying to scare me, and I know the seriousness of this matter. I won’t continue to investigate.”

Seeing her pale face, Jiang Chen felt a little guilty in his heart, but as the only person in this world who knew the truth about this matter, it was impossible for him to watch a twelve-year-old child run into danger when he knew it was dangerous. What he said before was not an exaggeration. If the book was to be believed, then judging from what He Qianjian had done in the book, it was entirely possible for him to ruthlessly kill an underage child.

He slowed down his voice and comforted: “You don’t have to be afraid. What I just said is the worst possibility after you are discovered. In fact, there are more good people in this world who will not use these methods to deal with others.” But worried that the little girl would put down her defenses too much after hearing him say this, he added: “Under any circumstances, don’t use your own safety to gamble the possibility of a few tenths of a percent. Once danger happens to you, it is 100%.”

Hearing this, the little girl who had been pretending to be a little adult on purpose, refused to show timidity even if she was afraid, finally smiled lightly: “I see, thank you Brother Jiang Chen.”

Seeing that Li Xiao smiled, Pan Liuyi relaxed, and said with an embarrassed smile, “I’m sorry just now, and thank you, Jiang Chen.”

Jiang Chen smiled lightly: “You’re welcome.”

It was getting late when they came out of the cold drink shop.

Jiang Chen and Shen Xu sent Pan Liuyi and Li Xiao back first, and then took a taxi back to Shen Xu’s house together.

After making such a detour, it was almost the early AMs when they arrived at Shen Xu’s house. Jiang Chen came to stay at the Shen’s house quite a few times. There was a room reserved for him in the Shen’s house. There was a change of clothes in the room that he didn’t take away before, and there was still school tomorrow morning. So he simply washed up, set the alarm clock and fell asleep.

The next day, Jiang Chen was woken up by Shen Xu.

“Jiangzi, Jiangzi!” Shen Xu grabbed his shoulder and shouted, “We forgot to do our homework when we went to see the ballet! Today’s first period is M2 class! We can’t finish his questions in one morning of self-study! We are done for! Ah this is too miserable…..”

Jiang Chen glanced at the time, turned over and buried his head in the quilt: “It’s in my schoolbag.”

“You did it? You did it?!” Shen Xu jumped up, pressed on Jiang Chen, hugged him and said, “F**k, I love you, I love you to death, Jiangzi, you are my savior! I’m going now, you sleep well! Have a good dream!”

Shen Xu came and went quickly, went through Jiang Chen’s schoolbag, took the homework, and went back to his room to copy it.

When Jiang Chen got up, Shen Xu had only one English composition left to write.

When Jiang Chen was brushing his teeth, he bit his pen and said, “Jiangzi, do you think what Li Xiao said yesterday is true or not?”

“What do you think?” Jiang Chen spit out foam.

“Tsk.” Shen Xu shook his head: “It sounded like fake to me, but I don’t know why it feels like it’s true, but when I think about it carefully, I don’t think it’s possible, so I don’t know, but——”

He leaned against the wall: “It’s a bit too much for you to scare the little girl so much~ She is only twelve years old. If you do that, she probably had nightmares last night.”

Jiang Chen wiped his face clean and said, “If things happen, it will be a real nightmare.”

Shen Xu paused, and stood up straight to go to Jiang Chen’s side: “You mean, do you really think that He Qianjian would do that kind of thing? You don’t even know him, and you just make such an assertion based on Li Xiao’s words?”

Jiang Chen paused in the middle of turning around, and just turned his head to meet Shen Xu’s eyes, wanting to laugh and sigh at the same time.

After two lifetimes, Shen Xu would always be the person to see through him the easiest, and Shen Xu would always be straightforward with his doubts.

“I’m not basing it on Li Xiao’s words.” Jiang Chen knew that Shen Xu had a keen intuition, and he didn’t want to lie to him, but there were some things he couldn’t say or explain clearly, so he could only divert his attention and said, “Qian Min told me some things about He Qianjian, I think He Qianjian is not a simple person, and Li Xiao is still young, so it is right to warn her.”

“He Qianmin?” Shen Xu pondered over the name, but he was indeed led astray. He clenched his fists and punched his palm and said, “I even forgot that He Qianjian is He Qianmin’s older brother!”

“Last time, that kid called you like you are his big brother. It turned out that his real older brother treated him badly, I almost couldn’t connect the dots. If not because he is from the He family, with that similar nose and dimple you two share, I almost thought he was Uncle Jiang’s with someone outside——”

Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows and looked over, Shen Xu immediately covered his mouth, and sheepishly said, “Mistake, mistake, I didn’t mean that, I mean…..”

“I and He Qianmin look alike?”

“Very.” Seeing that Jiang Chen’s attention was on this, Shen Xu breathed a sigh of relief, immediately stood up straight, shook his head and said, “At first glance, if you look at the front face, it doesn’t look very similar, but if you look at the profile, you two have noses that seem made from the same mold, very similar. But the most important trait is the dimple, the position is exactly the same, if you two purse your lips at the same time or laugh together, you two would look nearly identical, no one would believe that you are not blood brothers.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered slightly: “…..So similar?”

“It’s not just a physical resemblance, but also an indescribable feeling.” Shen Xu stroked his chin and thought for a while, then shook his head: “I can’t say it either, anyway, if you two stand together, everypne would feel that you two were born from the same parents.”

“That’s right.” Shen Xu patted his head and said, “I forgot after so many things happened yesterday. Didn’t Zhang Zhipeng say that Sun Zhi wanted to find you? When I was watching the ballet, I suddenly remembered something. In the second year of middle school, Huo Bo caught a person following you, and that person seemed to be Sun Zhi.”

AN: At present, the heights of the main protagonist and several main supporting characters are listed as follows:

Jiang Chen: 178cm (still growing)

Shi Fengyue: 186cm (no more growing)

Shen Xu: 168cm (huge potential (Shen Xu himself said))

Luo Ze: 182cm (the basketball team can still grow)

He Qianmin: 172cm (the younger brother is still growing)

Note: M2, the abbreviation of a machine gun, is also the nickname of Teacher He, the chemistry teacher of year 2 class 1. He got this name because he has a bad temper and scolds people with the speed and power of a machine gun, and his scolding also has a very wide range.