Her tone was exceptionally sincere. Even through the phone screen, it seemed one could see how earnest her expression was at this moment.

After a long while, Bai Jiangxin replied: 【No.】

No—then why did he want to change seats? Was it simply that he didn’t like her as a person? So did that mean she didn’t even have room to try anymore?

Dislike without a reason was, in truth, just having no feeling. For a moment, Xiang Di didn’t know how to continue asking. She planned to end this not-very-happy conversation with silence. She wasn’t the kind of person who would keep forcing herself closer even after knowing the other party didn’t like her.

And then Bai Jiangxin said again: 【It’s my own problem.】

His problem? What problem could he have?

If he didn’t say, Xiang Di couldn’t possibly ask further in a presumptuous way.

She could only try one more time: 【You don’t have to shift the blame onto yourself. If you have any opinions about me, you have to tell me, so I can change.】

She added another especially polite line: 【You’re first in the grade. If sitting with me affected your studies, the teacher would hammer me to death orz¹orz is an old-school internet emoticon. It represents a person kneeling and bowing down in defeat or embarrassment..】

Bai Jiangxin: 【No. You’re very good. It didn’t affect me, and I don’t have any opinion about you.】

Xiang Di froze for a moment.

Bai Jiangxin… said she was very good.

Even though she knew that this “very good” was basically no different from a nice-guy card—he didn’t feel anything for her, he just didn’t dislike her.

But Xiang Di was already very happy. At least this could show that even if they weren’t deskmates, there was still a possibility for them to be good friends.

That was already pretty great! Happy! Hehe.

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

Xiang Di sent over a little smiling kitty sticker and asked whether he’d gotten home yet.

Bai Jiangxin said not yet. She told him to be careful on the road and to send her a message to report he was safe once he got home.

Bai Jiangxin said okay.

She originally wanted to mischievously tease him with a line like, even good-looking boys need to be careful walking alone at night. But after thinking about it, not sure whether Bai Jiangxin could accept that kind of teasing, she didn’t say it after all.

Bai Jiangxin took a taxi straight home. The aunt at home knew his studies were hard, and every night she would make him some nutritious late-night food, waiting for him to come back to eat.

It was the same when he got home today, except the aunt had made an extra bowl of late-night food.

Looking at the man sitting in the dining room, drinking porridge while looking at a tablet, Bai Jiangxin frowned.

The man was still wearing a suit, not even having taken off his jacket—clearly he had also just returned from a business engagement.

Bai Jiangxin resembled him somewhat. His features were upright and handsome, with cool, distant brows and eyes, but in the man’s brows and eyes there was a bit more of the tempering of time.

Today, when he got home, it was the same as usual—except the aunt had made one extra bowl of late-night food.

Looking at the man sitting in the dining room, drinking porridge while looking at a tablet, Bai Jiangxin frowned.

The man was still wearing a suit, not even having taken off his jacket—clearly he had also just returned from a business engagement.

Bai Jiangxin resembled him somewhat: upright, handsome features, cool and distant brows and eyes, but in the man’s brows and eyes there was more of the tempering of time.

President Bai, who was usually busy with countless affairs every day, was actually at home eating late-night food today. Bai Jiangxin didn’t say anything and directly sat down across from the man.

After more than ten seconds of silence, it was the man who finally spoke. “Does evening self-study for third-year high school really end this late?”

Bai Jiangxin didn’t like explaining things he felt were unnecessary. Even facing his father, he simply gave an “Mm.”

After that, there was no more conversation. Bai Guang frowned, put down his porridge spoon, and looked at his son.

Bai Jiangxin seemed not to notice at all. He didn’t even lift his head, keeping it lowered as he ate his porridge, his manner refined. The lowered lashes blocked the eyes where emotions could be detected.

Bai Guang brought up the matter of the upcoming school parents’ meeting. This was the final parents’ meeting of third year, so the teachers had long since notified all parents in the group chat that those who could attend must attend.

Bai Guang was busy, but not so busy that he couldn’t spare a few hours to attend a parents’ meeting. His hesitation about whether to go was purely because he was used to being absent. After all, his son had never made any mistakes at school. Even if he went, he would just be pulled by the teachers into a round of praise. He had already heard far too much flattery in his work-related engagements and didn’t want to deal with teachers again.

On top of that, the relationship between father and son was truly not close.

Bai Jiangxin hadn’t always been like this from childhood. When he was young, he still had the manner of a child and was more willing to be close to his parents. But ever since he and his ex-wife filed for divorce, his son’s attitude toward him and toward his ex-wife had instantly turned cold.

Later, the court ruled that he and his ex-wife dissolve their marriage and divided their property. At that time, Bai Jiangxin was still very young, so the judge leaned toward awarding custody to the mother’s side, but Bai Jiangxin’s mother refused.

Bai Guang asked his son whether he wanted to live with him. Bai Jiangxin said he wanted to live with Grandpa.

Grandpa had been retired for many years. The elderly man liked quiet and didn’t like dealing with people. He lived long-term with his wife in a nearby second-tier city. Bai Jiangxin lived with Grandpa all the way until graduating from elementary school. Later, for the sake of advancing to a higher level of schooling and obtaining better educational resources, he returned to his father’s side when he started middle school.

After bringing his son back, his father specifically instructed Bai Guang to be careful with his words in front of Xin’er in the future, not to talk about work or emotional grievances in front of him.

Bai Guang said he had never complained to his son. His father then said that even thinking about it in his heart wouldn’t do!

Bai Guang felt rather helpless. He wasn’t a carefree child—an adult had to face all kinds of pressures from work, family, and society. How could it be possible to have no grievances at all?

If even having a bit of grievance in his heart wasn’t allowed when facing his son, then he would rather avoid him.

He had no demands of his son, and his son had no demands of him. One was responsible for providing material support, the other for studying well. After his son became an adult and left the family to live independently, he, as a father, would be considered to have fulfilled his duty of support. Father and son thus lived under the same roof for many years as strangers.

For the final parents’ meeting of third year, Bai Guang also instinctively didn’t want to go. But the teacher had said it several times in the group chat, and he felt that since it was the last time, maybe it wouldn’t be appropriate not to go.

This time, Bai Guang brought it up on his own, yet Bai Jiangxin’s attitude was still the same as always. “If you don’t have time to go, then when the time comes, having your secretary or driver go in your place is fine.”

After saying that, he pointed to the aunt who was cleaning nearby and said, “If your secretary and driver are also not free, letting the aunt go is fine too.”

The aunt heard this. Without even taking off her gloves, she hurriedly waved her hands. “The final parents’ meeting of third year—how could I stand in for that? It would be better for you, Mr. Bai, to go in person.”

Hearing this, Bai Guang looked at Bai Jiangxin again.

Bai Jiangxin said lightly, “Anyone going is fine.”

Then he put down his spoon and said he was done eating. Bai Guang glanced at his bowl and frowned. “You barely ate a few bites. No appetite?”

“I bought some dessert on the way back. I’ll eat that.”

Bai Jiangxin stood up. As he passed by Bai Guang, Bai Guang happened to notice that a small leaf was stuck to the back of his school uniform collar, so he subconsciously reached out to help remove it.

Who knew that his fingertips had barely touched it when his son reacted like a conditioned reflex, turning around and pushing his hand away.

If the earlier awkward conversation between father and son hadn’t been much, then this action really made Bai Guang feel like he couldn’t save face.

Bai Guang said in a low voice, “There’s a leaf on your collar.”

Bai Jiangxin froze slightly, reached up to take it—and indeed grabbed the leaf.

He parted his lips, not having time to say anything, when Bai Guang spoke first. “Bai Jiangxin, I’m your father, not your enemy.”

“If you don’t want to see me this badly, then after you get into university, live wherever you want. I can’t be bothered to manage you anymore.”

He thought this would intimidate his son, but Bai Jiangxin suddenly curled one corner of his lips into a smile, raised his cold, sharp brows, and looked at his father with that kind of keen, mocking gaze.

“Sure.” He said lightly, “Just don’t forget to transfer my living expenses every month when the time comes.”

Children are the ones who know best how to anger their parents. This kind of soft-and-hard-resistant, lightly flippant, indifferent tone was the most effective at stirring an adult’s rage.

At school, Bai Jiangxin wasn’t particularly warm either—cool and distant, making people feel he wasn’t easy to approach. But at least toward classmates and teachers, he was reserved yet polite, never like this.

Bai Guang completely lost the mood to stay at home. He straightened his suit and turned to leave.

Seeing the homeowner about to leave again, the aunt hurried after him. “You’re not staying the night at home?”

“No.” Bai Guang left behind a sentence. “Help me change the bed sheets back.”

The front door was pushed open with a bang and left unclosed. It was still cold out, the heating system hadn’t been shut off yet, and cold wind whooshed into the empty living room.

The aunt rushed to close the door. When she came back, Bai Jiangxin was still standing by the dining table, eyes lowered, his pale face showing no expression at all.

The aunt walked over and gently patted his arm.

“Don’t take it to heart with your dad, okay? Get some rest early.”

【Tsk tsk, what a sin. A real father and son getting along like enemies. If I had a dad this rich, living in such a nice house, I’d be willing to kneel and serve my dad every day.】

【Rich people’s kids just have too many problems. They’re rich and still not satisfied, refusing comfort and insisting on suffering, walking around every day with a face like the whole world owes them money. If this were my kid, I’d have slapped him long ago and cut off all allowance—see if he’d still dare give me that attitude.】

Facing the worry on the aunt’s face, Bai Jiangxin didn’t want to look anymore and turned his gaze aside.

There was nothing to be angry about. Different living environments, different life experiences—the aunt’s work wasn’t easy, and she had to look at his face every day. Thinking that he was making a fuss over nothing was perfectly normal.

Just like back when his parents divorced—his mother hugged him and said she had no choice, that she couldn’t take him along. In reality, she was simply preparing to go abroad to start a new life with her new boyfriend. If she brought along this burden, her new boyfriend wouldn’t be happy.

His mother wanted to pursue her new life; there was nothing wrong with that. He had nothing to blame her for.

There were many people like that. Bai Jiangxin didn’t resent them, but he didn’t want to be close to them either.

So be it.

The aunt stayed behind to continue cleaning up the late-night food the father and son hadn’t finished. Bai Jiangxin told her “thanks for your hard work,” slung his backpack over his shoulder, and went upstairs to his room.

Sitting down at his desk, Bai Jiangxin took out the cream puffs he’d bought downstairs at Xiang Di’s place. She’d strongly recommended them, saying they were the best cream puffs she’d ever eaten—even someone like him, who didn’t like cream, had been talked into it a little.

He picked one up, took a bite, and frowned.

The crispy outer shell had already gone soft, and the cream inside had melted. Apart from a sticky, cloying sweetness, there was no other flavor.

He really did still dislike cream puffs. He put it down and picked up the milk instead—still a bit too sweet for him.

The phone in his pocket vibrated. He took it out and saw it was a message from Xiang Di.

A chubby orange cat avatar. Her WeChat name was Didi Dadida—even her screen name was noisy. Her signature was a string of meaningless numbers, followed by three even more meaningless emojis.

With a science student’s math-minded way of thinking, Bai Jiangxin was particularly sensitive to numbers that looked irregular, instinctively wondering whether there was some hidden pattern behind them.

Xiang Di first sent over a peeking-head emoji, then asked: 【You’re not home yet?】

Bai Jiangxin replied: 【I am.】

Xiang Di: 【That’s good then.】

Xiang Di: 【Oh right, did you eat the cream puff? I forgot to tell you—once it gets cold, the pastry goes soft and doesn’t taste good. You have to eat it quickly.】

Bai Jiangxin was speechless for a few seconds and replied: 【You said that too late.】

Xiang Di: 【My fault……】

But she quickly made up for it: 【Then don’t eat this one, I’ll bring you another serving.】

Bai Jiangxin wanted to say there was no need. As if she had already anticipated his refusal, she added: 【Give me a chance to make it up to you. I really want you to know how good this cream puff is.】

There was no feeling of being forced. It only felt like she wanted to give him everything she thought was good. But now the distance was too far—Bai Jiangxin couldn’t hear her inner thoughts. He pressed his lips together, unable to tell whether the feeling in his heart was emptiness or something else. He didn’t refuse her and replied with a “Okay.”

Xiang Di: 【Okay okay.】

Xiang Di: 【Then rest early, good night～】

Seeing her say good night so quickly, Bai Jiangxin suddenly felt that she was actually quite capable of picking things up and putting them down.

Wasn’t she supposed to like him to death? Didn’t she want to chat a bit more? She stopped talking the moment she said she would, not disturbing him at all.

His fingers slid a few times across the phone screen, and he suddenly asked: 【Let me ask you something.】

Xiang Di: 【Mm-hmm, go ahead.】

Bai Jiangxin: 【What does your signature mean?】

Xiang Di: 【Huh?】

Bai Jiangxin guessed on his own: 【A numerical code?】

Xiang Di: 【How could it be that fancy, I just typed it randomly when registering WeChat. It doesn’t mean anything haha.】

Since she didn’t say, Bai Jiangxin naturally didn’t ask further.

There was nothing left to chat about. Bai Jiangxin opened her profile picture again.

He continued staring at that string of numbers and those three emojis.

The numbers were 22454264946. The three emojis were, respectively, a tree, a painting—with murmuring flowing river water and lush green mountains in the picture—and finally, a star.

He didn’t know. He wasn’t in intelligence work, after all. But subconsciously, he felt that this probably wasn’t typed at random.

Footnotes

• 1
  orz is an old-school internet emoticon. It represents a person kneeling and bowing down in defeat or embarrassment.