Chapter 42: I Won’t Come to Find You Again
On the other side, the four members of the News Club saw it was getting late and were afraid the school gates would be locked when they returned. In the end, they decided to eat together at the cafeteria: free, convenient, and not bad tasting.
In the second half of the meal, Lin Qizheng and Zhang Lin played on their phones out of boredom. Wen Rong, adhering to the principle of not wasting food, silently digested the remaining dishes.
Zhang Jincheng also started checking his phone.
Wen Rong, who rarely played on his phone, sensed the silence in the air and felt it was a bit strange. He thought for a few minutes to come up with a topic everyone could participate in.
“There doesn’t seem to be any big news lately.”
Lin Qizheng’s eyes were glued to his phone. “You’ll get used to it. The News Club was like this before you came.”
Wen Rong: “Were there no big events before?”
“Of course not. Who besides you could date Leon and Shi Ye at the same time?”
Date… at… the… same… time!
Wen Rong dropped his chopsticks and hurriedly explained, “Senior, we are not dating.”
Lin Qizheng finished a round of his game, put his phone on the table, and pointed to his own eyes. “I saw it all. Those two… Mmph mmph mmph.”
Before he could finish, his mouth was covered by Zhang Lin, and he made muffled sounds with difficulty.
Zhang Lin held on tight and said with feigned lightness, “Nothing, he’s talking nonsense.”
Wen Rong: “?”
Lin Qizheng struggled free and glared at him openly. “Why didn’t you let me say it? Shi Ye and Leon obviously want to pick up the Youngest.”
Wen Rong tilted his head. “Pick up?”
Zhang Lin held his forehead. “I knew he wouldn’t understand. Stop talking. If you expose things that the people involved haven’t even clarified, do you still want to live?”
Lin Qizheng considered carefully for two seconds and blew out a breath. “Alright, alright. Youngest, I was just talking nonsense just now. Don’t take it seriously.”
That being said, the topic should have been passed over. However, Wen Rong frowned slightly, and the phrase “so strange” slipped from his mouth.
Lin Qizheng’s eyes lit up, thinking Wen Rong had enlightened, and said enthusiastically, “Right, right? They definitely have feelings for you.”
Wen Rong casually pointed to two boys nearby with their arms around each other’s shoulders. “Are they dating?”
Lin Qizheng looked over, then turned back. “No.”
“At my old school, if a boy and a girl stood a bit close, even just talking, everyone would make a fuss saying they were dating.”
Lin Qizheng said proudly, “My old class had that too, but it was always girls liking me.”
“Why is there such a misunderstanding when boys talk to boys too?”
“What?”
Amber eyes reflected shallow light, looking again at the two boys with arms around each other. “I haven’t even acted like that with the Senior and Shi Ye.”
He continued, “I thought before that you wrote gossip to entertain everyone, Senior. I didn’t expect you really thought they had that kind of relationship with me. Why? I know boys can be with boys, but I interact with them very normally, just like I do with you seniors. Must boys avoid suspicion when interacting with boys too?”
Zhang Jincheng silently picked up his chopsticks and pretended to eat.
Zhang Lin: “…”
Lin Qizheng was dull for a few seconds before exclaiming in shock, “You can’t tell they like you? Like Liangzi Lixue kind of like.”
This topic of “like” again.
Wen Rong now had some concept of “like.” Senior Liang’s like was the kind for building a family, while his own like was the kind for friends.
And he knew the reason Senior Liang wanted to build a family with him all too well—the face Mom and Dad left him was good-looking.
“I know Senior Liang likes my face. Many boys in school suddenly like me especially because my face looks good.”
Lin Qizheng: “Mm-hm.”
“But Shi Ye never mentioned I look good. I can feel it; he feels guilty for bullying me at the start of school, so he’s been compensating me. And Senior Leon… he treated me very well even when I was ugly, never changing.”
“Leaving Shi Ye aside for now, haven’t you thought about why Leon treated you well from the start?”
Wen Rong got a bit stuck. His dazed expression satisfied Lin Qizheng. “Because he liked you from the start!”
Wen Rong shook his head instinctively.
His face was good-looking, and that was the only point that attracted people. Senior Leon indeed treated him very well from the start, and it seemed unrelated to his face.
Then why treat him so well?
Hmm…
Wen Rong carefully recalled all his interactions with Senior Leon and quickly concluded—because Senior Leon was a good person with a sense of responsibility.
Just like the three seniors in the News Club, who didn’t care from the start that he was a “Special Recruit.”
So the cause wasn’t in Wen Rong himself, but because they were all good people.
Wen Rong figured it out completely and continued speaking to Lin Qizheng, “Senior Leon treats me well because he is a good person. You seniors are good people too; you didn’t mind my identity as a Special Recruit and have always helped me unconditionally. So my relationship with Senior Leon is the same as my relationship with you.”
Lin Qizheng: “…”
Lin Qizheng was speechless because he was persuaded by Wen Rong.
Scratching his head, he looked at Zhang Lin, opened his mouth wide, then closed it awkwardly.
Finally looking back at Zhang Jincheng, Zhang Jincheng ate silently.
“Senior?”
Lin Qizheng closed his mouth. “Youngest, you’re right! Maybe because I see their kind making friends so rarely, I misunderstood.”
Wen Rong nodded, “Mm-hm.”
Time flew, and the weekend ended.
On Sunday night, along with the new week’s schedule came the grades.
Even the world’s top university couldn’t escape the ranking of grades as a measure of students.
Wen Rong’s ranking in every class was unsurprisingly at the bottom. He was mentally prepared, but when it actually happened, his heart still felt cold.
After a while, a new message popped up in the Black Pigeon backend.
He looked at the content first: about sixty books related to mathematics, listed from top to bottom.
Just as he wondered what this was, a new message popped up.
Xu Qiu: [Finish reading these books. If you still don’t understand, don’t come to my class in the future.]
Xu Qiu was the female teacher who took a helicopter to class.
Wen Rong automatically filtered out the not-so-good tone, marveling that Teacher Xu Qiu was such a good person to care about a student with poor grades like him.
Immediately filled with hope because of this bit of concern, he quickly looked up the locations of the sixty-plus books and made a plan in his small notebook, striving to finish reading them as soon as possible.
The new week was the same as the last: classes, studying in the library, eating.
Wen Rong rushed to complete the “mission” assigned individually by Teacher Xu Qiu while catching up on class content. Time passed extremely fast. Because Zhang Jincheng was busy turning cocoons into silk over the weekend and there was no big news, Wen Rong spent all three days in the library.
seeing the grades again on Sunday night, they were slightly better than last week. Wen Rong clicked open the chat window with Teacher Xu Qiu, expecting new messages from the teacher.
However, the teacher had no new messages. Instead, he inadvertently saw Shi Ye ranked first, suddenly realizing that Shi Ye had been terribly quiet this week.
He was so busy with classes that he didn’t notice Shi Ye’s activities. recalling now, he found that Shi Ye’s face in his memory fragments was gloomy, as if he had encountered something unhappy.
He’s so rich and has good grades; what troubles could he have?
Wen Rong quickly got the answer from Lin Qizheng.
Lin Qizheng: [Youngest, are you there? Are you there?]
Wen Rong: [Here, Senior.]
[Big news. Quick, join the group video call.]
Wen Rong hadn’t used this function before. With the System’s help, he opened the video.
Dun dun dun dun, four faces occupied the computer screen.
Zhang Jincheng was in a car, the background dark, scenery moving outside the window.
Zhang Lin was applying makeup, his eyeliner almost flying to his temple.
In comparison, Lin Qizheng’s camera was far away. Not only was his whole person in the frame, but there were also three keyboards and three mice by his hand. He hadn’t turned on the lights; there must have been many screens in front of him, reflecting a layer of blue light from his collar to his pants.
Lin Qizheng tapped the keyboard and said excitedly, “Everyone’s here. Let’s work.”
Zhang Lin: “You busy yourself; I still have to shoot a video.”
Zhang Jincheng: “I’m still driving.”
“No, no, everyone stop for a sec. I’m talking about big news. According to what I just hacked from Leo’s computer, Shi Ye’s illegitimate half-brother is enrolling next week. Shi Ye was so angry he broke his leg. Youngest, you’re familiar with this matter. Provide some inside info.”
Wen Rong: “Huh?”
“Didn’t you save him?”
“What?”
Everyone was familiar now, and Wen Rong couldn’t hide things on his face; his confusion was too obvious. Zhang Lin couldn’t help reminding him, “The two you saved from the river, got a pennant for, and the school specially recruited you because of.”
Wen Rong finally remembered this outrageous plot point. He nodded “mm-hm” to show he remembered, then asked, “What about it?”
“…”
“…”
Zhang Lin held his forehead. “He enrolled. Qizheng is preparing to write a news article; give him some material.”
Wen Rong couldn’t say he transmigrated into a book, appearing at the school gate as soon as he arrived. Turning the conversation just now in his mind, he suddenly grasped an important piece of information. “Shi Ye’s father remarried?”
Lin Qizheng: “?”
Zhang Lin: “…”
Zhang Jincheng: “Based on my understanding of the Youngest, I suspect he only knows he saved people, doesn’t know who he saved, and doesn’t even read the news.”
Wen Rong refuted softly, “I read the news.”
“Then you don’t know that mother and son occupy the gossip news pages every day?”
“Sorry, I seem not to read gossip news.”
The three were speechless for a moment. Lin Qizheng let out a breath. “Alright, hang up the video. Youngest, you may leave. I decided to open past gossip myself for reference.”
“Wait a minute!”
Wen Rong intuitively felt this was news worth reporting. He quickly opened the browser and searched “Shi Ye’s younger brother.”
The search term was too funny. Luckily, Lin Qizheng was right; Shi Ye’s brother indeed occupied many gossip news pages. Wen Rong just searched vaguely, and many pictures and entries quickly came up.
Wen Rong habitually clicked into the first one.
[Shi Ye’s Heir Position in Danger! The Helmsman of the Shi Family and Screen Queen Zhang Wanfei Love Each Other Again After Thirty Years, Lovers Finally Together]
The author recounted how Shi Changyuan and female star Zhang Wanfei went from school uniforms to wedding suits in a ten-year romance marathon, unfortunately encountering a third party’s intrusion. Shi Changyuan was forced to marry a mysterious woman and gave birth to Shi Ye. Thirty years later, the mysterious woman died suddenly. Zhang Wanfei and Shi Changyuan reunited, becoming the new Madam of the Shi family. Zhang Wanfei’s son, after DNA confirmation of kinship with Shi Changyuan, also became an heir candidate with the same status as Shi Ye.
“Can Shi Ye compete against the son of true love? — Follow the author to view the content below.”
Wen Rong admitted he was hooked and clicked follow without thinking.
However, the author didn’t continue writing about Shi Ye but posted a new article: [Chosen First Madam of the Shi Family, Saved from River Jump, Original Wife Died of Illness, Zhang Wanfei Marries into Wealth with No Obstacles.]
The author said that after Zhang Wanfei was saved from jumping into the river, Shi Changyuan “regained what was lost” and vowed to marry Zhang Wanfei. A few days after these words were spoken, Shi Changyuan’s original wife died of illness, showing that Zhang Wanfei marrying into a wealthy family was “Heaven’s Will.”
Reading too fast, by the time Wen Rong reacted, it was too late.
He tilted his head and thought, Is this author a Buddhist? Why attribute everything to “destined by Heaven”?
And how can this author talk nonsense? Clearly cheating within marriage, angering the original wife to death—how can they have the nerve to call it true love and label the original wife as the third party?
Wen Rong found it hard to accept such family relationships.
He had beautiful expectations for parents. The couples he knew from books or the Spring Festival Gala, even if they had conflicts, were loving, supportive, and happy.
But now discovering a deformed relationship, praised by the author and many comments, completely challenged his cognition.
So having a mom and dad doesn’t necessarily mean happiness.
Wen Rong felt inexplicably annoyed.
His brain was still turning, integrating and calculating information. Finally, he paused abruptly.
—The people he saved were this mistress and the mistress’s child. He was also part of “Heaven’s Will.”
“Youngest? Why did you suddenly stand up?”
Hearing Lin Qizheng’s voice, Wen Rong finally came back to his senses.
Wen Rong sat down slowly. Trusting Lin Qizheng’s ability too much, he couldn’t help asking, “Senior, how do you plan to write it?”
“[The Son of True Love Descends: Only See the New Person Smile, Not the Old Person Cry.] How’s this title?”
Zhang Lin clapped. “Not bad, not bad.”
Exactly the same attitude as that “author.”
Wen Rong frowned in silence. Within a few seconds, infinite boredom grew in his heart, urging his mouth to open. “Does the Senior also think cheating within marriage is right?”
Lin Qizheng froze. “What?”
“That man is Shi Ye’s younger brother, meaning he is younger than Shi Ye, but he has a father-son relationship with Shi Ye’s father. This means… means many, many years ago, Shi Ye’s father cheated. If it was true love, why not marry her? Wasn’t the original wife married properly? Isn’t Shi Ye the original wife’s child? Why has the original wife’s child become a laughingstock instead?” Wen Rong’s mind was a bit chaotic, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “I think we should transmit normal values. We shouldn’t call the mistress’s child the ‘son of true love,’ nor should we insinuate ‘new person smiles, old person cries.’ Even gossip news shouldn’t invert right and wrong.”
After speaking, the three people in the video fell silent. Wen Rong saw “embarrassment” on their faces and realized he might have made them unhappy. He apologized hurriedly, “Senior, I didn’t mean to accuse you.”
Lin Qizheng paused, then laughed drily. “It’s fine. I think what you said is very correct.”
Zhang Lin hurriedly said, “Mm-hm, you’re right. This title indeed won’t do. Number Three, why are you licking Shi Jing’s stinky feet? Shi Ye is the Youngest’s friend; we stand with Shi Ye unconditionally.”
Not friends…
Wen Rong opened his mouth, guessing he hadn’t explained clearly, so the seniors didn’t understand his meaning and were just agreeing with him.
Realizing he was a bit excessive, he quickly apologized to the seniors, turned off the video, packed his things, and went out.
Sometimes he felt he was impatient; once he thought of many things, he was anxious to do them.
Like wanting Zhao Zeryang expelled last time.
Like now.
He wanted to talk to Shi Ye face to face.
“Young Master, if you keep hitting, your hand will be useless.”
The butler stood numbly by the sandbag to remind him.
No one in the villa dared to breathe loudly. Only the muffled thump thump of the sandbag could be heard.
Blood seeped through the white wraps. Shi Ye punched down; the sandbag didn’t deform, but his own arm trembled from severe pain, and his whole body was bounced to the ground.
“Young Master—”
The butler rushed to help, but Shi Ye pushed him away, dragging his injured leg to stand up again.
“Young Master, you can’t hit anymore.”
After the butler spoke, the security guard’s voice came from the walkie-talkie. “Young Master, your friend is here.”
“Tell him to scramble.” Shi Ye jumped up as if suddenly forgetting his leg, grabbed the walkie-talkie from the butler’s hand, and smashed it to the ground. “I won’t see him. Tell him to scramble.”
The air fell into dead silence. The security guard stopped speaking, and Shi Ye temporarily stopped moving.
Until a frightened voice came from the speaker. “Then… I-I’ll go back first.”
Shi Ye shook all over and stopped him. “Wen Rong.”
“I… I’m here.”
“What did you come to find me for?”
“I—”
Just as he opened his mouth, Shi Ye interrupted him irritably, “Scramble quickly. Don’t appear in front of me in the future, and don’t come to my place.”
“…”
The speaker was silent for a few seconds before returning two calm words, “Okay.”
Shi Ye felt relieved of a heavy burden. He returned to the sandbag and clenched his fist again. Because the wraps pulled at the wound, his arm trembled with pain.
“Um…”
A voice came from the quiet speaker again.
“I told you to scramble!”
“Can I finish speaking before leaving? Because I won’t come to find you again in the future.”
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