Just before the first period in the afternoon, when Fu Jinyu told him that the homeroom teacher of class 1 year 1 was looking for him, Jiang Chen was at a loss for a moment. However, standing at the door of the office and seeing the two boys standing by the wall, he immediately understood.
Jiang Chen gently knocked on the door: “Hi, I’m He Qianmin’s brother, Jiang Chen.”
Sitting at the desk by the door, the female teacher who was about 30 years old pushed up her glasses and looked up: “Student Jiang Chen? Come in.”
He Qianmin turned his head when he heard the voice and looked at Jiang Chen. He pursed his lips guiltily, but there was a slight smile in his eyes.
“Please have a seat.” Teacher He looked Jiang Chen up and down, and said inexplicably, “When He Qianmin said you are his brother, I thought he was lying, but I didn’t expect that student Jiang Chen really came.”
Jiang Chen sat down opposite the teacher, with a slight upward curve to his mouth, and said with a light laugh, “Teacher He, my little brother may not be very well-behaved normally, but he never lies, I’m sure of that.”
Teacher He was noncommittal: “I have always heard that student Jiang Chen is an only child, so He Qianmin is your…..?”
“Little brother.”
“Student Jiang Chen.” Teacher He said seriously: “I know your grades are very good, but lying is not allowed here, and He Qianmin is my student. Only by making it clear to his family about his situation can he grow up better, and it will not do him any good if you come here and pretend to be his brother.”
The man who was just about to step into the office paused, then retracted his leg, and waited to see how the boy inside would respond.
Jiang Chen smiled lightly, and said to He Qianmin, “Qian Min, come here.”
He Qianmin obediently walked to Jiang Chen’s side: “Big Brother.”
Jiang Chen: “Squat down a little and smile.”
He Qianmin was puzzled, but obediently obeyed.
Jiang Chen tilted his head slightly, facing Teacher He at the same angle as He Qianmin, with the dimple at the corner of his mouth faintly visible: “Don’t you think He Qianmin and I are brothers?”
Teacher He stared back and forth between the two faces with a profile similarity of nearly 90%, and her eyes fell on the dimples of the two that were exactly the same. She couldn’t help but become more believing: “You are really brothers? But…..”
“I can prove that they are indeed brothers.” The man knocked on the office door with a smile on his lips. After saying this, he stepped through the door and came in. He stretched out his hand and said, “Teacher He, right? I’m Shi Fengyue, Shi Ao’s uncle.”
Teacher He immediately stood up, shook Shi Fengyue’s hand, and said gently, “Mr. Shi, hello, I am He Yuan, Shi Ao’s homeroom teacher.”
Shi Fengyue nodded slightly, and when he lowered his head, his eyes collided with Jiang Chen’s, who was looking up with raised eyebrows. He blinked slightly and Jiang Chen looked away, lowering his eyes and smiling lightly.
Teacher He didn’t notice the small movements between the two of them. Her gaze stayed on Shi Fengyue’s face for a few seconds, and then recalled the question just now: “Mr. Shi, you said you can prove that Jiang Chen and Shi Ao are brothers. How can you prove it?”
Although she was still digging to the bottom of the matter, her tone now was much softer than the aggressive tone before.
The corners of Shi Fengyue’s lips curled slightly, and the smile in his eyes faded a little: “Our family and the He family are considered family friends, and He Qianmin and Shi Ao grew up together, so do you need me to call He Qianmin’s father, He Yanfeng, to prove to you that I am telling the truth?”
Seeing that Shi Fengyue had already taken out his mobile phone, Teacher He recalled what she had heard about Shi Ao and He Qianmin’s family background before, and she now 80% belief immediately turned into 100% belief. She immediately shook her head and said: “No need. “
However, if He Qianmin was Jiang Chen’s younger brother, then what about his father’s car accident that caused a lot of uproar in the school before? And she also know that He Qianmin had an older brother who was also in the third year of high school, but his older brother was Chenghua’s He Qianjian.
Just when Teacher He was full of confusion, Shi Fengyue said: “Teacher He, may I ask, what did Shi Ao do this time?”
“Please have a seat.” Teacher He came back to her senses, pulled over a chair, and placed it next to Jiang Chen. When Shi Fengyue sat down, she also sat down and began, “I asked you and Jiang Chen to come here because Shi Ao and He Qianmin were caught fighting at school at noon by the director of the teaching office, but neither of them admitted that they were fighting.”
Shi Fengyue’s lips curved upwards: “So you called me because Shi Ao was in a fight or because you think he is lying?”
Teacher He hesitated for a moment, and said: “Both, the two students have not been getting along since the beginning of school, and this fight almost violated school rules, so I want to ask the parents to mediate together.”
Shi Fengyue nodded lightly: “I understand what you mean.”
Teacher He thought that Shi Fengyue agreed to cooperate with her work, and felt relieved. She turned to look at Jiang Chen, and said, “Student Jiang Chen, since He Qianmin is your younger brother, how do you think this matter should be resolved?”
Jiang Chen suppressed the smile in his eyes, and looked up at Teacher He. His tone was respectful but he did not back down: “Teacher He, I think there must be a misunderstanding here, I believe my little brother, if he got in a fight, he would never deny it, so I hope to personally hear from the two of them what happened at that time.”
Teacher He frowned, but before she could speak, Shi Fengyue had already turned his head to look at the two boys beside him, and said lightly, “Which one of you are going to speak first.”
He Qianmin and Shi Ao looked at each other, and Shi Ao mouthed: You speak first.
“I’ll go first.” He Qianmin took a step forward and said, “I made an appointment with Shi Ao to play at noon, but when noon break came, I heard the news that my brother received early admission, so Shi Ao and I decided to go up to find him first. We didn’t expect he had already gone to the principal’s office, so we went to the office building and waited for him in the garden outside. While waiting, a wasp flew over. Shi Ao is afraid of insects so he hid behind me. While shooing away the wasp I accidentally hit him so we got in an argument. Director Liu probably misunderstood it, thinking that we were fighting.”
Teacher He was dubious. She looked at Shi Ao: “And what about you.”
Shi Ao basically repeated He Qianmin’s words, the only thing he added was a more detailed description of when the wasp was driven away, probably because the expression on his face was too full of disgust and fear, Teacher He believed most of it, but couldn’t help but question: “A big boy like you are afraid of insects?”
“What’s wrong with boys being afraid of insects?” Shi Ao said, “My entire family is afraid of insects.”
Jiang Chen turned his head and looked at Shi Fengyue with a half-smile.
Shi Fengyue said lightly, “I’m not afraid.”
Shi Ao added: “Only my uncle is not afraid, he is afraid of——”
Shi Fengyue looked at him: “You have a lot to say?”
Shi Ao instantly pursed his lips, he dared not speak further due to the underlying threat from his uncle.
When Shi Fengyue retracted his gaze, his eyes flicked across Jiang Chen lightly and quickly, before looking at Teacher He: “Teacher He, the matter has been clarified, is there anything else?”
“Nothing else.” Teacher He said: “It’s just that He Qianmin and Shi Ao often have disputes, and I hope that the two of you…..” She looked at the two young men who looked less like parents than the other, and her words halted. Skipping over the word “parents” she continued: “Communicate with them more, and I hope that this kind of misunderstanding will not happen again in the future.”
Shi Fengyue nodded lightly, and Jiang Chen said: “I will discuss this matter with Qian Min, please rest assured.”
Teacher He got up and said, “Then there’s nothing else, I won’t waste any more of your time, student Jiang Chen and Mr. Shi. The next class is about to start, you two should also go back to your classroom.”
He Qianmin and Shi Ao entered their classroom, and Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue walked side by side along the corridor to the stairs. There was still some time before the end of the lunch break, the corridor was lively and noisy, and some male students who had finished playing basketball were walking in small groups back to the classroom.
A boy in a basketball uniform rushed towards their way, holding a basketball in his hands. While running, he still didn’t forget to turn around and call to his friends behind him: “We have to enter the classroom ten minutes early, there is almost no time left!”
Seeing that the boy was about to bump into them, Jiang Chen pulled Shi Fengyue by the wrist to the side, avoiding the boy just in time.
The boy also braled in time, and when he saw Jiang Chen, he was taken aback, apologetic and pleasantly surprised: “God Jiang, I’m sorry, I didn’t hit you, right.”
Jiang Chen: “It’s okay.”
The boy excitedly said: “God Jiang, I heard that you have received early admission letters from Yan University and Hua University. Congratulations!”
“Thank you.” Jiang Chen smiled and reminded: “Don’t run so fast in the corridor in the future, and remember to watch the road, don’t bump into others and hurt yourself.”
“I’ll definitely be careful next time!”
The other boys also caught up. When they saw Jiang Chen, they each greeted him with congratulations, their attitude very friendly and familiar. It wasn’t until Jiang Chen reminded them that class was about to begin did they rush off into the classroom.
Class was about to start, and the corridor gradually became quiet.
“I heard from Mo Xi that you planned to apply for Yan Uni before.”
“It hasn’t changed now.”
“Not afraid that Mr. Xiang would be angry?”
Jiang Chen smiled and shook his head: “Mr. Xiang seems not to be approachable, but he is actually very reasonable. After I explain the situation to him, he will understand.”
“That’s true.” The corners of Shi Fengyue’s lips curled up slightly, different from the smile he had in the office just now that was without any closeness but only aloofness, and the look in his eyes also became a little more indolent and casual: “After all, you are the best at reasoning with others.”
Jiang Chen: “If a reasonable person speaks reason to another reasonable person, it will naturally get twice the result with half the effort.”
Shi Fengyue glanced at him, and said with a smirk, “I sense an underlying meaning there.”
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows and looked back, seeming to agree tacitly.
Ever since he was enlightened by Shi Fengyue’s words last time, Jiang Chen found that he could see him in Li Nanfeng’s office from time to time. After meeting several times, naturally they began to talk more, and Jiang Chen also found that Shi Fengyue seemed to know everything, from medicine to computers to art, no matter how big the jump, he could always have something to say.
What surprised Jiang Chen even more was that Shi Fengyue had his own unique insights on the future development of computers, and most of his analysis could indeed match up with the future development of computers in history, and some of his views were even ahead of the interstellar era. Gradually, Shi Fengyue became the only person Jiang Chen could discuss specialized topics with.
However, there was never a lack of differences in opinions on the road of scientific research. Jiang Chen and Shi Fengyue would often get into debates regarding their respective views. At this time, Jiang Chen, who could normally seek common ground while reserving differences on other issues, would be particularly stubborn, hoping to use his own experimental data and his understanding of the future to convince Shi Fengyue, while Shi Fengyue still maintained his previous style, a man who was always unreasonable and would never be persuaded.
Therefore, Shi Fengyue often found opportunities to tease Jiang Chen for his fondness on reasoning with others, and Jiang Chen would also seize any opportunity to tease Shi Fengyue for being unreasonable, such that by now it had already become a habit.
When they reached the stairs, Jiang Chen paused and said, “Thank you for just now.”
Shi Fengyue also stopped, leaning on the railing: “Thank me?”
“If it wasn’t for you, Qian Min’s homeroom teacher might have asked more questions.”
Shi Fengyue leaned over to look at him with his hand still on the railing: “You not going back to the He family, is because of He Qianjian.”
That handsome face so up front and close had a very strong impact indeed, but Jiang Chen had no time to care more about it. His heart skipping a beat, he looked back calmly: “Why do you say that?”
Shi Fengyue picked up on the vigilance and wariness in Jiang Chen’s eyes and he straightened up. He did not answer Jiang Chen’s question, but said: “If you don’t plan to let the He family find out for the time being, then keep a distance from Xiang Hong.”
Jiang Chen recalled for a moment: “Mr. Xiang’s grandson?”
Shi Fengyue: “He and He Yanfeng are friends, and he works in the Affiliated Hospital of Yan University, as well as part-time as the family doctor of the He family.”
After a moment of silence, Jiang Chen raised his eyes and said, “What else do you know?”
Shi Fengyue tilted his head, and said with a half-smile: “Want information for free?”
Jiang Chen: “You know that’s not what I asked.”
The preparatory bell rang, and a teacher came out of the office at the end of the hall. Seeing the two people at the stairs, he quickened his pace.
Jiang Chen looked back at Shi Fengyue: “What do you want?”
Shi Fengyue chuckled lightly, and his slender fingers with distinct joints waved in front of Jiang Chen’s eyes: “You owe me five meals.”
The teacher got closer and closer, and Jiang Chen went up the stairs, taking four to five steps at a time. After reaching the last step of this floor, he paused and looked down, “I’ll pay you back with one meal first at noon this Sunday.”