CH 40

Chapter 40 Card

Zhang Yang applied for an independent study room in the library. The environment was quieter, and there was a long table for four people to study. He and Jian Chi chatted for a while between turning on the computer, and eventually only the keyboard and rustling of strokes across the paper was left.

Jian Chi rubbed his sore eyes that had been staring at the screen for a long time, and saw Zhang Yang’s miserable face on the opposite side. His finger on the mouse did not move for a long time, then he asked, “Have you encountered a problem?”

“I can’t see which ionic equation is wrong,” Zhang Yang hurriedly moved the computer and the chair over, pointing to the fourth-to-last multiple-choice question, “Isn’t it all correct?”

Jian Chi glanced, “Look at C, the hydrolysis equation of sodium bisulfite is wrong, it should be…”

After spending five minutes answering the two multiple-choice questions, Zhang Yang’s expression was still one of half-understanding. Embarrassed to continue asking, he went to the computer and researched it on his own. Jian Chi was now able to face Zhang Yang’s various strange questions calmly. Once, he spent two hours explaining a big topic to Zhang Yang. After talking too much, Zhang Yang still confusedly pointed out: “Why do you have to use this formula?”

Jian Chi once asked Zhang Yang why he chose chemistry. Zhang Yang believed that compared with other courses where he had no foundation at all, for chemistry, he could at least get a few questions right, and every time he took the exam, he would be stable at the bottom of the list. Wen Chuan’s grades were a little better than Zhang Yang’s, just a little bit. Once, Jian Chi accidentally saw the exam paper he was handed back, which was a few multiple-choice questions away from the passing score.

The textbook was pushed from over from the side, with Wen Chuan’s deep voice breaking into his ears: “I can’t understand the fifth question.”

Jian Chi just happened to be about to review the book. He took the book and read it for a while, then slowed down and explained it. After speaking, he looked at Wen Chuan, “Do you understand?”

Wen Chuan’s head was a little close, and he could smell his faint scent on his body. It wasn’t a pungent perfume or a floral scent, but the simplest and most common smell of laundry soap. The light in his eyes flickered indistinctly, he nodded, “Understood.”

Jian Chi didn’t fully believe this sentence. At the beginning, Zhang Yang also said ‘understood’ for every question, but he still couldn’t solve it when he encountered it again. Wen Chuan took back the book and lowered his head to solve it. His profile looked serious. After a few minutes, he put down the pen and silently pushed the book in Jian Chi’s direction, “Is this right?”

The black handwriting was clean and neat, and the boring problem-solving process looked more smooth. Jian Chi unexpectedly scanned the process and the answer and nodded, “Yes, you understand everything?”

“You explained it very clearly.”

Jian Chi knew that even if he explained it clearly, it was Wen Chuan’s own understanding that made him solve it. He turned over the previous page of the textbook, and the question on it was even cleaner than Wen Chuan’s face. The question just now was the only question in the book for which the answer was written.

“You didn’t write the ones before?”

“No time.”

Jian Chi couldn’t help thinking of his part-time job every night, and pursed his lips and couldn’t express his feelings, “Have you not reviewed before every exam?”

Wen Chuan lowered his eyes and said lightly, “I have something to do at night, so I don’t have time to review.”

He did not review but did better than Zhang Yang who vomited blood after reviewing again and again? Jian Chi didn’t know whether to feel sorry for Zhang Yang first or admire Wen Chuan.

He closed the book and faintly realized that he seemed to have underestimated Wen Chuan’s true strength. After thinking about it, he asked, “How much did you understand when you tested before?”

He tried to avoid the sensitive content in his words, but Wen Chuan did not show any strangeness, he answered calmly: “I used to be able to do most of the questions, but after I dropped out of high school, I didn’t read the textbook again and I forgot almost everything.”

Zhang Yang, who was still struggling with multiple-choice questions, looked at him blankly, not understanding how the topic went to ‘drop out’. Jian Chi regained his senses, turned away and said, “No wonder you understood so quickly, your foundation is much better than Zhang Yang. I’ll give you a few key points, you should memorize them first, and then slowly make up for the missing courses from the beginning after the exam is over next week.”

“Thank you.” Wen Chuan looked into his eyes and said solemnly.

The book did not describe in detail the reasons for Wen Chuan dropping out of school, it only vaguely mentioned that he was inseparable from Wen Chuan’s adoptive parents. The husband and wife adopted Wen Chuan originally out of good intentions. Later, they had their own child, and gradually gave more energy and financial resources to their biological son. This may be human nature, but it would always cause indelible scars to the other child. 

He didn’t ask, because he didn’t want to touch Wen Chuan’s scar.

Jian Chi walked down the stairs of the dormitory holding the book. The deadline for several economic textbooks borrowed before was approaching, and he had to return it before the day after tomorrow. When he went downstairs, he saw a familiar figure crouching at the entrance of the stairs. The sound of footsteps probably alarmed him. Bai Xiyu turned his head in fright. Seeing Jian Chi, his tearful eyes lit up, and then dimmed as if remembering something. 

It was not an accident to meet Bai Xiyu here, his dorm room was upstairs. Jian Chi raised his head and looked not far away, another slender figure was disappearing in the corner, it was too late to see clearly. If there was no accident, it should be Bai Shuyun.

With the conflicting views between them, Jian Chi didn’t want to intervene, so he simply said hello to Bai Xiyu and walked down the stairs with the book in his arms, when he was suddenly stopped by a trembling cry: “Jian Chi, do you hate me too??”

Jian Chi suddenly stopped and looked at Bai Xiyu sitting on the stairs. Bai Xiyu clasped his hands tightly on his knees, his legs folded into a small ball, and there were tears on his white face. When he cried, he did not make his face as wretched as others, but allowed it to quietly flow out, looking a little pitiful. Jian Chi felt it a little hard to be fierce because of this look.

“Of course not.”

They had different personalities that were not suitable but he cannot be said to be annoying. Jian Chi had no reason to pay attention to Bai Xiyu, he just treated him as an ordinary classmate. Bai Xiyu may have misunderstood something from his help a few times in the past, but now, crying and questioning him like this, Jian Chi couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. He was most afraid of others crying in front of him.

“But, but I thought we were friends,” Bai Xiyu said as expected, wiping the more and more fierce tears with the back of his hand, “Brother… Bai Shuyun is the same, I thought I could have a good relationship with them after returning to the Bai house. Why do they have to do this to me? Did I do something wrong?”

Jian Chi couldn’t care less about Bai Xiyu’s easy disclosure of this important secret, and quickly looked around to make sure that there was no one. He sighed silently in his heart, and walked over.

Since the first two ‘flood disasters’, Jian Chi had always brought a pack of tissues with him. In his life, he must probably need to fight against water, so he took out a piece and handed it to Bai Xiyu, toning down his voice: “Wipe your tears. What you said just now, don’t tell others about this matter, I will keep it a secret for you, go back to the dormitory early to rest.”

After Bai Xiyu took it, his fingernails were deeply dug into the tissue paper. Without wiping away his tears, he raised his wet eyes to look at Jian Chi, mixed with deep and incomprehensible emotions, “I trust you, Jian Chi. Did you already guess this matter long ago? I can’t hide the secret. I don’t know how many people have guessed the truth. They must also be like my brother secretly scolding me for not being worthy of the Bai family. But I don’t want this, if my mother didn’t die, I would never have known this secret. Maybe I would still be studying in Jiangcheng, and I would never come to Chuanlin in my life. Jian Chi, do you believe me? I really didn’t think about taking his things away.”

Jian Chi could probably guess what Bai Shuyun had instilled in Bai Xiyu. He walked up a few steps and looked at him, comforting: “I believe in you, don’t take Bai Shuyun’s words to heart, wipe away your tears first, it’s alright.”

“In Saintston, only you and the vice president are willing to help me,” Bai Xiyu’s expression darkened a little when talking about Ji Huaisi. His tears dried up, then finally he could barely hold a smile, his dimples were not as natural as before, “Thank you Jian Chi, Brother he… He thinks too much about some things and can be willful. He not only thinks that I stole eldest brother and father, but he also thinks that you stole Shao Hang. I don’t know what happened, but he seems to hate you, you must be careful in the future.”

Jian Chi was a little surprised, not because Bai Shuyun was hostile to him, but because Bai Xiyu would tell him so directly. He nodded slightly for a while, “Thank you for reminding me, I will remember it.”

Jian Chi would not agree to classify Bai Shuyun’s vicious words and deeds and his future behavior that could almost be called a crime as ‘willful’. Along the way, he pondered over the last few words of Bai Xiyu. If he remembered correctly, didn’t Bai Xiyu always favor his brother? Why did he show that little complaint, and suddenly tell him to be careful? Maybe Bai Xiyu really regarded him as a friend and reminded him out of kindness, but no matter what, the last sentence was a little strange to his ears.

Even if he knew all the plots, Jian Chi didn’t understand anyone in this story, including Bai Xiyu.

Fortunately, when Jian Chi returned to the dormitory, opened the door with the key, he suddenly stopped thinking about those things when he saw the things on the table, tangled in a mess. He walked forward step by step, stopped in front of the delicately packaged black gift box on the table, picked up the card placed on it that had no blessing or signature. Together with this strange gift box, it appeared out of thin air in his dormitory.

There was no sign that the lock had been picked, someone had apparently entered his room openly. Jian Chi pulled off the ribbon on the gift box, held his breath and opened the lid, his heart seemed to have been hit by something, and after the sting, it tried it’s best to beat again.

Inside was a model airplane covered by a square glass cover. The fuselage was all white, and it was extremely familiar. It was the one he pointed to in Shao Hang’s lounge.

He flipped open the back of the card, and a line of handwriting with flying phoenix words were reflected.

We will see each other soon – Shao Hang