Ever since He Qianmin knew that Jiang Chen was the one who saved him back then, he had become more clingy than ever. The boy used to call only when there was something, now he sent at least ten text messages a day. If Jiang Chen hadn’t stopped him, he would have wanted nothing more than to clock in at Yan No. 1 High School every day after school.

A week flew by under such frequent contact, and Children’s Day happened to be on a weekend. This was also the day when old Mr. Miao and Miao Miao would be moving into the city.

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Jiang Chen had given Chen Fang the job of finding a house before, but Chen Fang not only helped find a second-hand house that was just sold in Jiang Chen’s community, but also helped Miao Miao settle her household registration and new school, such that she could directly join the kindergarten nearby after moving.

Ever since Yang Si knew about Jiang Chen and old Mr. Miao’s relationship, she had always wanted to thank the Miao family. After learning that old Mr. Miao was going to move to their community, she was looking forward to it, just waiting to help out when they came.

With Yang Si’s help, the Miao family’s move went very smoothly. Everything from furniture to cleaning and even to the decoration of a bedroom suitable for a little girl was carefully prepared in advance, so it took less than half a day to arrange everything.

After tidying up the house, old Mr. Miao brought Miao Miao to the Jiang family’s house for lunch.

After the meal, Miao Miao wore the new little dress Yang Si bought for her, holding Jiang Chen’s hand and looking around. Her dark eyes were full of curiosity and joy, without any timidity.

“Big Brother!” Miao Miao pointed to the cabinet by the wall and said, “What is that shiny thing!”

“That’s a trophy.”

Miao Miao didn’t understand: “A trophy? Is it for drinking water?”

“It can be used to drink water.” Jiang Chen picked up Miao Miao and sat her in his arms, letting her see the trophies displayed in the cabinet more clearly. He said with a smile: “But this cup is too big, Miao Miao won’t be able to hold it.”

“When Miao Miao grows up, I can drink water from this cup!”

“Okay.” Jiang Chen said, “When Miao Miao grows up, this big brother will give you this cup.”

Yang Si and old Mr. Miao sat on the sofa, watching the warming scene between the two children, with smiles on their faces. Old Mr. Miao said: “Xiao Yang, I really caused you trouble today. After everything is cleaned up in a few days, you must definitely come over with Jiang Chen for dinner.”

“What’s the trouble?” Yang Si’s gaze was on Jiang Chen and Miao Miao, an unconcealable smile on her face: “Miao Miao is so cute, I always wanted to have a daughter before, thinking that if Chen Chen had a little sister he would definitely be a good brother. Who knew that Miao Miao suddenly showed up.”

Yang Si really liked this clever little girl who liked to cling to Jiang Chen from the bottom of her heart. Because of her parents’ patriarchal views, she had always had a wish to give birth to a little girl. And then shower all the love she never got on her. It could be regarded as making up for the regrets of her childhood.

Later, Jiang Chen was born, and watching him grow up, to her, it didn’t matter whether he was a boy or a girl, because in her and Jiang Zhuo’s eyes, Jiang Chen was the most precious and beautiful gift from heaven.

Old Mr. Miao could also see that Yang Si sincerely liked Miao Miao. When he met Jiang Chen before, he thought that Jiang Chen’s family members should be very good. But meeting them today, no matter how brief, he now knew why Jiang Chen was so polite and sensible, and only then did he know that this family was even better than he imagined.

Miao Miao had no father and no mother. He was also getting old and many things could not be taken care of. It was hard to predict how long he would be with her. If she could have more contact with Jiang Chen’s family as a child, it would have a great impact on her growth and future. There were only advantages and no disadvantages.

Old Mr. Miao’s affection for the Yang family reached its peak when Yang Si immediately asked Jiang Chen to go out and buy a gift and a cake for Miao Miao after learning that today was Miao Miao’s birthday and she had never eaten a birthday cake before.

Yang Si reminded: “Remember to buy a prettier cake, one that girls like.”

Jiang Chen nodded in agreement, but just as he was about to go out, Miao Miao hugged his leg and refused to let go. The little girl had tears in her eyes, her lips pouting, and she said in a milky voice that she didn’t want gifts. She didn’t want cakes either, so long as big brother was with her.

There was a round, heavy lump hanging on Jiang Chen’s leg, refusing to let go no matter how hard he coaxed. Seeing the tears in her eyes, his heart softened, and he discussed with oldbMr. Miao: “Grandpa Miao, why don’t I take Miao Miao with me? Don’t worry, I will definitely bring her back safely.”

Old Mr. Miao smiled kindly, and agreed directly without hesitation: “Take her, you two have fun.”

Just like that, Jiang Chen led a chubby little girl out the door.

Miao Miao had been living in the countryside since she was born, and had never seen so many new things. From the cars to the shopping mall, she looked this way and that way all the way, her face full of delight, but even so, her little hand was still holding Jiang Chen tightly, and she never let go no matter how curious she was.

Jiang Chen had no experience in dealing with children before, and he anticipated it would be awhile, but he didn’t expect her to be so well-behaved, holding his hand without making noise or needing to be carried. Even if she saw a beautiful doll, she just stared without blinking while being led by Jiang Chen, and when she lost sight of it, she simply retracted her gaze. She behaved very differently from the kid rolling around on the ground in a temper tantrum in the next aisle.

Because of this, Jiang Chen felt it would not be right to not buy her something. When he came out of the department store, he held a stuffed animal about the size of Miao Miao in his arms, and Miao Miao, whom he was leading, also held a doll in her hand. If reason hadn’t led him away from the children’s toy area, maybe he would have bought more.

After the two of them bought the present, they were ready to buy a cake. When passing by a bookstore, Miao Miao stopped for the first time, pointed curiously at the person sitting on the floor reading a book, and asked, “Brother Jiang Chen, is that a book? “

Jiang Chen knelt down and said with a smile, “Miao Miao, do you want to go see?”

“Yes!” Miao Miao nodded heavily, her dark round eyes were innocent but serious, and her small face was full of longing and pride: “Grandpa said that only when I grow up reading and studying can I be as smart and capable as Big Brother.”

Jiang Chen picked her up, pushed open the door of the bookstore and said, “Then Big Brother will buy books for Miao Miao. When Miao Miao grows up, you will be as capable as Big Brother.”

Miao Miao hugged the doll and buried her head in Jiang Chen’s shoulder. Before Jiang Chen stepped into the bookstore, she suddenly said, “Miao Miao doesn’t want the doll anymore. Brother, can we return the doll to the auntie?”

“Why do you want to return it to the auntie?” Jiang Chen paused, “Doesn’t Miao Miao like these dolls?”

Miao Miao glanced at the doll in her hand and then turned to look at the bookstore. She frowned and looked conflicted. After a few seconds, she finally made up her mind and said, “Miao Miao doesn’t like dolls, but books.”

Jiang Chen had never been very good at guessing people’s thoughts, but the four-year-old girl’s froning chubby face seemed to be able to speak, and he could tell what she was thinking just by looking.

Jiang Chen bounced her in his arms, and said with a smile: “But Big Brother likes dolls, so, if Big Brother buys books for Miao Miao, these dolls will also be kept. When Big Brother goes to Miao Miao’s house, how about Miao Miao let Big Brother play with it?”

Miao Miao’s eyes lit up, and she was instantly lured by Jiang Chen’s proposal. She wanted to nod, but became entangled: “But buying books and dolls cost a lot of money. Making money is very hard. You can’t buy everything.”

Jiang Chen was taken aback, it was hard to believe that he heard such words from a four-year-old child. He looked at Miao Miao’s serious face, his heart softened, and he said softly: “Today is Miao Miao’s birthday. It is also Children’s Day, and all children can get gifts on these two days, so Miao Miao can have two gifts.”

“What is Children’s Day?”

“Children’s Day is a festival for children.” Jiang Chen said with a smile, “As long as they are kind and lovely children, they will receive gifts.”

“Miao Miao too?”

“Yes.” Jiang Chen carried her to the children’s section: “Because Miao Miao is a kind and lovely child.”

Two bookshelves away, a girl with shoulder-length black hair looked carefully at this side without blinking her eyes.

“Qian Yu, what are you looking at?” Li Xiao picked out the supplementary books, and when she saw her friend leaning on the bookshelf with half of her face hidden by books, looking at who knows what, she called out curiously.

He Qianyu touched her lips with her index finger, and after a shush, she immediately turned her head to look back, and was relieved when she saw that the people over there hadn’t noticed any movement here.

“What are you looking at?” Li Xiao looked in the direction she was looking at just now, but didn’t see anything strange, and asked in confusion, “What’s going on over there?”

He Qianyu immediately covered her mouth, pulled her behind the bookshelf, and said in a low voice: “Be quiet, don’t be discovered by them.”

“Why?” Li Xiao was confused and curious: “You looked like you were peeking just now, who were you peeking at?”

“I wasn’t!” He Qianyu immediately denied it, and seeing Li Xiao’s expression of disbelief, she muttered, “I really wasn’t, it’s just that I just saw a profile face that looked like my second brother.”

“Your second brother?” Li Xiao stretched out her head to look over there again, but there was no one there, so she turned her gaze back: “But you can look openly, why are you sneaking around.”

He Qianyu: “It’s strange to stare at others openly, okay?”

“But it’s even more strange to peek at others furtively, isn’t it?”

“I…..” He Qianyu was at a loss for words, and after a few seconds of pause, she kicked the bookcase lightly, and said with a pursed mouth, “Why don’t I have such a big brother.”

“What?” Li Xiao didn’t hear clearly.

“Nothing.” He Qianyu picked up the books she wanted to buy, and glanced over there again. Seeing that the people there were no longer there, she lowered her eyes a little in disappointment, and said, “Let’s go, Dad is coming to pick me up later.”

“Your eldest brother is injured so he probably won’t go to your grandparent’s house today. Will your second brother go?”

“Go.” He Qianyu curled her lips and said, “As long as Eldest Brother goes, Second Brother will not go, and if Eldest Brother does not go, then Second Brother will definitely go. Besides, Brother Qian Yang will also go to my grandparent’s house today, and he can also play games with him.”

Li Xiao nodded and said as she walked, “Then let’s go to pay.”

Jiang Chen was also at the cashier, Miao Miao was holding the fairy tale book he had just bought in her hands with adoration. Her chubby little hands were tightly clutching the book, and even though she was clearly illiterate, she still stared at the pictures in the book seriously.

Just after paying the money, he heard a hesitant voice: “Jiang Chen?”

Jiang Chen turned around, saw Li Xiao, and nodded with a smile, “You also come to buy books.”

“That’s right.” Li Xiao looked at Miao Miao beside him curiously, and said, “Is this your little sister? She’s so cute.”

Miao Miao raised her head, blinked at Li Xiao, and shyly hugged Jiang Chen’s leg.

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Jiang Chen was taken aback for a moment, he had always thought Miao Miao was an extroverted little girl this whole time, but he still hugged her and said with a smile, “She’s not my sister, she’s the child of a neighbor.”

Li Xiao nodded, and then remembered her friend, and introduced with a smile: “This is my friend, last time you went to see the ballet performance, she was on stage, her name is…..”

“Qian Yu.” A handsome man pushed the door open and entered, showing a doting smile, and walked straight to his daughter. He touched her head and asked, “Have you finished shopping for the books?”

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Jiang Chen and He Qianmin looked at Huo Bo at the same time, with the same expressions of surprise and confusion. Those brown pupils were clear and beautiful, and the dimple slightly sunken in the left corner of the mouth was also faintly visible on both.

Huo Bo’s gaze froze slightly, and what he was going to say was instantly forgotten. He finally knew why he kept getting a familiar and strange feeling after seeing He Qianmin.

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The knuckles of He Qianmin’s fingers holding the bandage turned white, he let go of it quickly, curled his fingers into fists, and tensed his jaw: “Why do you think so?”

Huo Bo didn’t say a word, his eyes shuttled between Jiang Chen and He Qianmin. After going back and forth dozens of times, he suddenly got up, looked at Jiang Chen expressionlessly and said, “Come out with me.”

Jiang Chen sighed helplessly in his heart. Just when he saw Huo Bo looking back and forth between him and He Qianmin, he knew that Huo Bo must have guessed something, and sure enough.

Seeing Huo Bo’s eyes, He Qianmin somehow felt that what he wanted to say to Jiang Chen was very important, not only to Jiang Chen, but also to him. He wanted to get up as well, but was pressed down by Jiang Chen. He rubbed his head: “We’ll just be out for a bit to talk about something, you just sit here obediently.”

He Qianmin’s slightly opened mouth was pressed shut under Jiang Chen’s restraining eyes, and finally he could only frown, watching them go out.

As soon as Jiang Chen and Huo Bo left, Shen Xu came over with three sauce dishes. Seeing that He Qianmin was alone at the table, he asked strangely, “Where are the two of them?”

With a sullen face, He Qianmin leaned back: “Went out.”

“Went out?” Shen Xu glanced at the door, shrugged and said, “It must be to buy drinks, let’s eat first.”

He Qianmin looked in the direction of the exit with a tense expression: “No.”

Shen Xu was puzzled: “No what?”

“…..It’s nothing.” He Qianmin glanced at the direction the two left in again, then looked away and asked Shen Xu: “You, Huo Bo and my big brother, did the three of you grow up together?”

“Practically, yeah.” Shen Xu fished out the ingredients he ordered earlier, put them on their respective plates according to Jiang Chen’s and Huo Bo’s respective tastes, and left a portion for He Qianmin, and said while adding more: “I have known Jiang Chen since kindergarten, and Huo Bo since the first grade of elementary school, and the three of us have been together since then until now.”

“How did you guys meet?”

“Jiang Chen and I? We were in the same class.” Thinking of something, Shen Xu suddenly let out a “pffft”, lowered his head and held back his laughter, saying in a low voice, “Don’t look at your big brother like this now, he was quite funny when he was young. The teachers in our kindergarten school loved to tease him. I don’t know who he learned from but he loves to reason with others. Even if a child snatched his toys, he never got angry. He would just move a small bench over and sit wherever the other kid was playing with the snatched toy, and he would seriously reason with the other hahahahahahaha……”

He Qianmin imagined that scene, and also couldn’t help but laugh out loud, but when he looked up and saw the scene of Shen Xu rubbing his stomach with laughter, he was a little unhappy, and said: “This proves that my big brother is more mature than you all since he was a child.”

“Indeed, from childhood to adulthood…..” Shen Xu put the freshly served crispy meat in front of He Qianmin: “Your big brother specially ordered it for you, try it——Huo Bo and I were responsible for causing trouble, and he was responsible for cleaning up the mess. Countless times he was the scapegoat for us, and the most amazing thing was that even though he took the blame on himself, those teachers would refuse to believe that he did it. But because he admitted to it, the teachers couldnt do anything to me and Huo Bo, so the two of us could get away with it every time.”

He Qianmin was eating the crispy meat, and thinking of something, his eyes dimmed. Seeing this, Shen Xu changed the subject: “Don’t you have an elder brother? Then you two grew up together, did you often fight?”

……

Outside the hotpot restaurant.

Huo Bo cut to the chase and said, “Who the hell is He Qianmin? He looks so similar to you, don’t say it’s a coincidence”

“My little brother.”

Huo Bo crossed his arms, furrowed his brows and said, “I remember that your only blood-related brother is Yang Shengmao.”

The corners of Jiang Chen’s mouth slightly curled up, “Now there is one more.”

Huo Bo: “One…..more?”

Jiang Chen suppressed his smile and said seriously: “I know you have many doubts, but before the truth is investigated, I can’t tell you a guess without evidence. Huo Bo, I know you are worried about me, but I can only deal with it myself, don’t intervene and don’t ask too much, when the time comes, you will know.”

Huo Bo stared at him quietly, and after a while, he said, “I just want to ask one question, does the Sun Zhi matter have anything to do with what you want to investigate?”

Jiang Chen: “Yes.”

Huo Bo’s eyes darkened: “If you encounter any possible danger, you must tell me.”

Jiang Chen chuckled, and the two knocked fists, tacit understanding in their hearts.

……

When Jiang Chen and Huo Bo went back, Shen Xu was waving his chopsticks to teach He Qianmin to fight: “…..if someone sneaks up on you from behind, just do it like this, elbow back first, and then lower your body, and while he isn’t paying attention, poke his eyes, use the eagle claws move, got it? Just like that! Never show mercy, and if…..”

Huo Bo and Jiang Chen looked at each other, rolled their eyes and suppressed a smile.

“You guys came back just in time. I’m teaching the secret manual of the Shen family. Little brother Min has good comprehension skills, but his attitude towards learning is a bit…..”

He Qianmin: “Shut up.”

Shen Xu shook his head and said, “The child can’t be taught”, then put away the chopsticks and asked them, “What were you two talking about, it’s been so long.”

Huo Bo: “Just chatting.”

“If it’s just chatting why go outside.” Shen Xu took the drinks they brought back, took out the milk, kept one for himself and handed the other to He Qianmin: “This is for you.”

He Qianmin’s eyes landed on the milk box for a second, then turned to look at Jiang Chen who had just sat down: “Big Brother, what did you guys do out there?”

“Buy drinks.” Jiang Chen helped him open the milk: “There is only beer here, so I bought a few bottles of milk.”

“But just now…..”

As soon as He Qianmin started talking, Jiang Chen’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the number, raised his hand to signal to the few people, got up and walked to a quiet place.

“D.” The other party’s voice was a little raspy and vague, with a hint of a smile: “The little favor you asked me to do yesterday has been completed, I wonder if you are satisfied?”

Jiang Chen stood by the window, watching the people coming and going outside on the streets, the smile on his face fading: “What happened on his side?”

“Nothing happened except trying to find out who beat him up, but I found something interesting.”

“What is it?”

“He Qianjian was in contact with a man recently and gave him a sum of money. The amount was not large. It seemed that he wanted to ask him to do something.”

“Who?”

“A man named Yang Tianci, I checked. He has no background and had no contact with He Qianjian before. Do you need me to find out how they met?”

“No, continue keeping watch on him, and let me know if there is any change.”

“Okay.” The man paused, and said, “There is one more thing, I wonder if you would like to hear it.”

“Please go ahead.”

The other laughed: “The person I found to do the deed might have been a little bit too rough. He Qianjian not only broke his right hand, but also suffered some injuries to his head. He passed out for a while and remained unconscious in the hospital. The doctor helped him do a brain examination, but unexpectedly they actually found that there indeed seemed to be some problem with his head. It just so happened that the He family arrived to see him, and the doctor suggested He Qianjian to have a comprehensive examination. Who knew that when his blood was drawn, he suddenly woke up.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed: “And then?”

“Refused to agree with it. Apparently, he almost hit the nurse who took his blood for this. The He family rushed to the ward in time to stop it.”

“Was his blood drawn?”

“No, he said that he had just had a blood test a few days ago, and there was no problem with the blood. The He family didn’t insist anymore, and there were no problems in other aspects, so he was discharged from the hospital. What’s interesting is that when the He family just walked out of the hospital gate, a Taoist priest walked by them. The Taoist priest shook his head when he saw He Qianjian. When the old madam of the He family asked, he said that He Qianjian had no fate with the He family, and that he could not see his future clearly because his fortune was messed up, entangled in the fortune of several people. He also persuaded He Qianjian to commit less crimes.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered slightly: “Is that person really a fortune teller?”

“Not necessarily.” The other side said with a smile: “Perhaps it was someone who disliked the He family who came to try to upset the He family. He not only said He Qianjian had no fate with the He family, he also claimed that the He family had a heart that faced towards the benevolence and originally should have been protected by virtue for a hundred years, but because of strange powers they would meet with great danger, within three years there would be a catastrophe, and only one person could solve it. If this is not a curse then I don’t know what is, no wonder the old gentleman of the He family raised his cane.”

The other side obviously only regarded this incident as a joke, but Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. He didn’t think that the appearance of the Taoist priest was a coincidence, and those words he said…..some of them were actually not wrong, but, he really wanted to know if the Taoist priest was a real Taoist priest or if there were other forces that he didn’t know were targeting the He family or He Qianjian. If there was another wave of people, he really wanted to know what the purpose of that person was.

“Go and check that Taoist priest.”

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Chen returned to his seat. Seeing that He Qianmin hadn’t moved his chopsticks, he couldn’t help asking, “You don’t want to eat?”

“No.” He Qianmin put down his chopsticks, sat upright and looked at Jiang Chen. He wanted to say something several times but couldn’t say it. After almost two minutes he finally said, “Just now I said that He Qianjian’s hand was broken. That I think it’s retribution. Do you think I’m…..cold-blooded and ruthless?”

Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, “Of course not, why do you think so.”

“Because I’m jealous of him.” He Qianmin looked at Jiang Chen stubbornly, and enunciated word by word: “Because he is better than me in everything, because he dominates me in everything, because I am insensible and in a rebellious period, because…..a lot of people think so, why don’t you think so.”

“Why do we have to think like this?” Huo Bo raised his eyes and said lightly, “Of course I have eyes to see for myself.”

Jiang Chen sighed, rubbed He Qianmin’s head and said, “There is no unreasonable hatred in the world. If you don’t like him, it’s because he did something that upset you.” He said softly, “Before you said, it happened quite a few times like the last time you got cut by a fruit knife, you hating He Qianjian, it must have something to do with this.”

He Qianmin was stunned for a moment, and then hesitated for a while before saying: “…..How do you know?”

Jiang Chen didn’t answer, but continued to ask, “Didn’t you tell your parents?”

“I did once.” He Qianmin lowered his eyelashes: “They didn’t believe it, and I haven’t said it since then.”

Shen Xu couldn’t help but interject, “What fruit knife? You mean that your elder brother purposely caused your injury, then why didn’t you say it?”

“Who would believe something without evidence.” He Qianmin laughed self-deprecatingly at himself and said, “If I told you that I had a car accident when I was twelve years old, and I was sitting in the back seat with He Qianjian at the same time. He sat on the left and I on the right, but when the car in front hit us, I suddenly switched places with him out of thin air, would you believe it?”

Shen Xu was a little hesitant, looked at Jiang Chen and then at Huo Bo, unable to see what they were thinking, so he could only probe: “…..How to switch places out of thin air? Teleportation? Superpower? Could it be that back then you…..”

He Qianmin interrupted Shen Xu: “At that time, I was hurt too seriously, and it left a psychological shadow, especially when I was seriously injured to the point of being unable to move, I saw He Qianjian who was only slightly scratched, so I was stimulated and the dissatisfaction accumulated over my elder brother exploded all at once, but the accumulated negative emotions were not conducive to the recovery of the body, so my brain started to protect itself and fabricated that memory privately. Is that what you want to say?”

Shen Xu said dumbly: “I…..”

Jiang Chen: “I believe it.”

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Shen Xu looked at Jiang Chen helplessly, and Huo Bo also raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He Qianmin trembled, and turned his head to stare closely at Jiang Chen’s eyes. After a few seconds, he turned his head and said, “Liar.”

“I saw it.” Jiang Chen said lightly, “I was the one who dragged you out of the car back then.”

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When the school day was over, Jiang Chen received a call from He Qianmin.

He said with disappointment that something happened at home, and he couldn’t come to No. 1 High School today to find him. The dissatisfaction in his tone was obvious, and he was clearly not happy that family affairs had delayed his original plan.

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Jiang Chen didn’t ask him what happened, he just said a few words to comfort him, waited until his little temper was appeased, and made an appointment for another time before hanging up the phone amidst the other’s reluctance.

Huo Bo was walking beside him, and seeing the smile in his eyes, he turned his head to look at Shen Xu, and asked silently, “Who is this?”

Shen Xu replied directly: “His little brother.”

“Yang Shengmao?” Huo Bo blurted out. In his memory, Jiang Chen only just had such a younger brother, but he also remembered that Jiang Chen didn’t like this younger brother very much. (TN: in China, cousins are referred to as brothers and sisters)

“No.” Shen Xu said: “A kid, he has nothing to do with Jiangzi, just always like to call him big brother.”

Seeing that Jiang Chen had hung up the phone, Huo Bo asked, “When did you get yourself a little brother?”

Jiang Chen said with a smile: “A long time ago. When he comes to No. 1 High School, you can meet him then.”

Hearing this, Huo Bo’s expression became even more astonished. Jiang Chen seemed aloof but was actually very easy to talk to, but being easy to talk  to didn’t mean it was easy to get close to him. He knew Jiang Chen very well. If Jiang Chen didn’t really treat the other as his little brother, he would never acquiesce to Shen Xu’s explanation of the identity of the person on the other end of the line. There was a set of old-fashioned and serious logic in Jiang Chen’s thinking. For example, for others appellations might be just a casual name to others, but to Jiang Chen, any appellation he recognized, all represent a kind of responsibility.

Huo Bo was surprised from the bottom of his heart. He was very curious about the reason why Jiang Chen got a little brother in the half a year he was gone, but he didn’t ask any more questions, he would just wait to see the other.

However, Huo Bo didn’t expect that he would meet him after school the next day.

Under the big tree at the gate of Yan No. 1 High School, He Qianmin was wearing the school uniform of Chenghua Junior High School, and was talking to a boy wearing the school uniform of Yan No. 1 High School with a cold face, seeming as if they were about to get in a fight.

Shen Xu glanced over and recognized He Qianmin at a glance. He grabbed Jiang Chen and said, “Jiangzi, it’s your little brother!”

Jiang Chen was talking to Huo Bo. Hearing this, he raised his eyes and saw He Qianmin. He Qianmin stopped after hearing Shen Xu’s voice. The boy next to him also glanced this way, then turned around and left.

“Big brother.” He Qianmin walked up to Jiang Chen in three big steps. After nodding to Shen Xu, he glanced at Huo Bo standing on the side.

“This is Huo Bo.” Jiang Chen hooked Huo Bo’s neck, and introduced to He Qianmin: “The other friend who grew up with me, you can also just call him brother.”

He Qianmin pursed his lips, obviously unwilling, but Jiang Chen looked at him, and still reluctantly he called out: “Brother Huo.”

Shen Xu was also unhappy: “When I met He Xiao Min before, why didn’t you tell him to call me brother! Why do you just tell him to call Huo Bo brother!”

He Qianmin rolled his eyes at him and didn’t speak, but the words “in your dreams” were clearly written on his face.

Shen Xu let out a “hey”, pointed at He Qianmin and said, “Jiangzi, look at your little brother, he actually looked down on me!”

Jiang Chen had a smile on his lips, as if he didn’t hear what Shen Xu said, he walked up to He Qianmin and said, “You guys go back first, I’ll take him to go eat.”

He Qianmin proudly raised an eyebrow at Shen Xu.

Shen Xu squeezed in between the two of them, raised his eyebrows at He Qianmin’s glare, and said with a smile: “What are you going to eat, I’m going too, and it’s the first time since Huo Bo came back to meet little brother He, eating a meal together is the only right thing to do.”

He Qianmin was dissatisfied: “Don’t always call me nicknames.”

“Unhappy? He Xiao Min? Min Min?” Shen Xu even amused himself, covered his stomach and laughed, “Min Min, how cute! From now on this brother will call you Min Min.”

He Qianmin’s face was sullen, with a cold light in his eyes. Shen Xu hid behind Jiang Chen, and said confidently: “If you call me brother, brother will stop calling you Min Min, come on, call brother.”

“Enough.” Seeing He Qianmin’s face getting darker and darker, Jiang Chen pulled out Shen Xu and nudged him lightly: “Don’t bully him.”

“How did I bully him!” Shen Xu was extremely wronged, and complained aggrievedly: “He has been bullying me, okay? I say Jiangzi, since you have a little brother, you have been so partial and bias! Fortunately, He Xiao Min is not a girl, I can hardly imagine what you would be like if he became your little sister!”

Huo Bo withdrew his subtle scrutiny, and said casually after hearing the words: “How hard is it to imagine?”

“Towards a little brother he is already like this, towards a little sister he would practically spoil her up to the skies.” Shen Xu said with a chuckle, and said: “But if it’s Jiangzi’s little sister, then I also don’t have any other way. Who told me that I don’t have a little sister? Jiangzi’s little sister is my little sister. And one must dote on one’s little sister, right?”

The corner of Huo Bo’s mouth twitched, he turned to Jiang Chen and said, “If you have something to do, go ahead first, Shen Xu and I will go back by ourselves.”

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment, and asked for He Qianmin’s opinion: “How about the four of us have dinner together?”

He Qianmin looked at Huo Bo, then at Shen Xu, and nodded: “I want to eat hot pot.”

“It’s so hot——” Shen Xu met He Qianmin’s eyes, and his words turned a corner: “But it’s the perfect time to eat hot pot.”

The four of them entered the hot pot restaurant they went to last time. This was the place where Jiang Chen and his friends had eaten frequently since junior high school. He Qianmin could not feel too obviously the kind of tacit understanding that seemed to be born from not needing to verbalize anything or understand the other when it was just Shen Xu before. But now seeing the three of them ordering food, although their words and actions were very ordinary, they seem to have an aura that excluded others.

He Qianmin swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. He pursed his lips slightly, lowered his eyelashes, and suppressed the sudden feeling of disappointment in his heart.

Don’t know why, but he always felt that he should be the person who have the closest and most tacit understanding with Jiang Chen, but the reality was that even though no one here rejected him, he was still invisibly rejected by the tacit understanding formed from a friendship of many years.

Shen Xu was the first to notice He Qianmin’s abnormality. He paused the hand that was checking the menu, and called Jiang Chen in a low voice.

Jiang Chen was talking to Huo Bo in a low voice as Shen Xu usually did the ordering. He was very familiar with his and Huo Bo’s tastes. Occasionally, when he encountered a new dish and was not sure whether he wanted to eat it, only then would he ask them. So hearing his voice, Jiang Chen subconsciously thought that he was struggling with which new dish, and Huo Bo was the same.

The two spoke almost simultaneously:

“Order it.”

“Order if you want to eat it.”

Shen Xu clicked his tongue and tilted his chin slightly to one side, motioning him to look at He Qianmin.

Jiang Chen turned his head puzzled, and saw that He Qianmin hung his head, not knowing what he was thinking. He froze for a moment, and then remembered that he was only talking to Huo Bo just now, and didn’t ask him what he wanted to eat: “Qian Min, what do you want to eat?”

He Qianmin raised his eyes, glanced at him, then lowered his eyes, and said casually, “Whatever’s fine with me.”

Jiang Chen didn’t think about it too much, he looked away and said to Shen Xu: “Order more beef, see if there is any sweet and sour crispy meat today, and order one dish too.”

“Okay.” Shen Xu beckoned to the waiter, and after ordering the crispy meat, seeing Jiang Chen continuing to talk to Huo Bo again, he sighed in his heart, got up and handed the menu to He Qianmin: “See if there is anything else you want to eat.”

He Qianmin scanned it over casually, and was a little surprised to find that he had ordered all the dishes he liked, and handed the menu back: “That’s enough.”

Shen Xu nodded, handed the menu to the waiter, turned around and saw that He Qianmin was still looking sullen, and so he struck up a conversation: “En…..you are in the third year of junior high school right, that means you are about to take the high school entrance examination. Are you under a lot of pressure?”

Facing such an official and polite topic, He Qianmin didn’t react much, and just said lightly: “It’s okay.”

Shen Xu laughed dryly, “Hahaha indeed, you are seventh in your year ranking, and you can go straight up to Chenghua’s high school division, so there is really no pressure.”

He Qianmin was silent for a few seconds, and then said in a slightly lower voice: “I’m not going to study in Chenghua.”

“Not in Chenghua?” Shen Xu was a little surprised, “Then where do you want to go for high school?”

He Qianmin glanced at Jiang Chen who was still talking with Huo Bo, pursed his lips, and said, “I haven’t decided.”

But Shen Xu became interested, and said enthusiastically: “I heard from Li Xiao before that your family doesn’t seem to be allowed to go abroad. It seems that it is indeed meaningless to study in Chenghua. You have been in a private school the whole time. You can try a public one. Our Yan No. 1 High School is not bad, and you can go to the same school as your big brother, how about it?”

After Jiang Chen and Huo Bo finished talking, they happened to hear Shen Xu’s words. He thought for a moment, looked at He Qianmin, and said seriously: “Shen Xu is right, if you don’t want to continue in Chenghua, come to Yan No. 1 High School.”

He Qianmin didn’t speak, and Shen Xu said: “Come to Yan No. 1. When the time comes, us brothers will cover you. And with your big brother Jiang Chen here, you don’t have to worry about your grades. There is also me and your brother Huo. I will take you to eat and play with you. And your brother Huo will let you walk sideways in Yan No. 1.” (TN: walk sideways: do whatever you want and don’t care about any rules or what others think)

He Qianmin quietly glanced at Jiang Chen whose gaze was on him, then looked away and said, “Do you want me to come to Yan No. 1 High School?”

Jiang Chen: “I do.”

The corners of He Qianmin’s mouth slightly raised, but he quickly suppressed it. He lifted his chin slightly and said, “Then I’ll come to Yan No. 1 High School.”

“Okay, when the time comes, us brothers will take you to play, and…..” Halfway through the conversation, the waiter brought over the hotpot soup base. Shen Xu got up and said, “I’ll make the sauce, what do you want to put, I’ll make it for you. “

“Coriander, garlic paste, sesame oil and hot sauce.”

Shen Xu glanced at Jiang Chen, then looked at He Qianmin, stroked his chin and said, “As expected of one who calls Jiangzi big brother, your tastes are the same, okay let me——”

“Change to another.” Jiang Chen interrupted him: “Your wound hasn’t healed yet.”

He Qianmin was stunned for a moment, and Shen Xu remembered that he still had bandages wrapped around his arm. He was afraid that the child would refuse, so before he could speak, he said, “Then I’ll make you a non-spicy one. Believe in this brother’s skill in making sauces, it’ll definitely be delicious.”

He Qianmin pursed his lips: “I want to eat spicy.”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen finally noticed that He Qianmin’s mood had not been high all this time. He glanced at his left hand, which was lightly grasping the injured right arm, and guessed, “What’s the matter? Your hand is still uncomfortable? Or is there something else that is making you unhappy?”

He Qianmin’s eyelashes flickered slightly, pressed down the corners of his mouth that was about to rise, and shook his head: “No.”

Jiang Chen: “Because of what happened back home yesterday?”

He Qianmin pursed his lips: “No, it’s none of my business, why get unhappy.”

Shen Xu came over with a light sauce dish, and just happened to hear this sentence, and asked curiously: “What are guys talking about?”

The corner of He Qianmin’s mouth twitched. He looked at Jiang Chen and then at the bowl in front of him, after a while, he said, “It’s nothing.”

Jiang Chen was thoughtful, Huo Bo glanced at He Qianmin, and said to Jiang Chen while ordering the food: “You make up lessons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, and you have to help me make up lessons on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, will it be too much?”

“No.” Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze and looked at Huo Bo: “Helping you make up lessons is also a refresh of my knowledge, and…..”

“Big brother.” He Qianmin suddenly interrupted the conversation between the two, and when Jiang Chen looked over, he said, “He Qianjian’s right hand was broken by someone.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

His words had no beginning or end, it could be said that they came out of the blue, but Jiang Chen was not surprised at all, and calmly answered, “What do you think?”

He Qianmin’s left hand on his right arm curled, pinching the protruding bandage, lowered his eyes and said, “If I say it’s retribution, do you think I lack compassion and take pleasure in other’s misfortunes?”

Before Jiang Chen could speak, Huo Bo suddenly said, “He hurt your arm?”

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Monday, Yan City No. 1 High School.

On the flag-raising platform, a young man in a plaid shirt was giving a speech: “I am honored to be invited by my alma mater to give a speech to my juniors…..”

“…..An incident that happened this morning made me deeply appreciate the enthusiasm and kindness of our Yan No. 1 High School students. When I rode my bike to the school in the morning, I was a little dizzy because of a cold, and I almost went off the road in a daze. If it wasn’t for an enthusiastic student who pulled my bike in time to remind me, there might be unforeseen consequences. I mentioned this small matter to everyone to remind everyone that you need to stay awake when doing anything, especially studying…..”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“There are so many things to say about dozing off on a bicycle, I’m truly defeated.” Shen Xu rolled his eyes from below, leaned closer to Jiang Chen and said, “Say, what does old Fu want with you, even deliberately pulling you to stand in front.”

Jiang Chen was thinking about the email he received in the morning, and he was slow for a few seconds when he heard Shen Xu’s words before returning to his senses: “What?”

“I’m saying, that big brother whose bicycle you pulled to a stop this morning is chattering non-stop, talking more than me and M2 scolding students. After he finishes talking, the new vice principal will speak, I don’t know how long we will have to stand here for, and old Fu even pulled you to the front…..” Shen Xu complained halfway when he saw Jiang Chen looking down distracted. He stopped and said, “Jiangzi, why have you been a little distracted since this morning? Did you not sleep well?”

Jiang Chen: “No, I was just thinking about one thing.”

Shen Xu became interested: “What’s the matter?”

“In the second year of junior high school, the little boy who was in the car accident.”

“What are you thinking about him for?”

Jiang Chen didn’t answer, but a chill flashed in his eyes. This morning he received an email from the private detective he found some time ago, which contained things that happened to He Qianjian from childhood to adulthood. One of the past events made him very concerned: He Qianjian and He Qianmin were in a car accident together.

The timing of the car accident was very coincidental. It was in the second semester of his second year of junior high school, and it was exactly at the scene where he called the police and the ambulance. What he cared about was not whether He Qianmin was the one he rescued, or whether it was because he saved He Qianmin that He Qianjian noticed him and began to send someone to follow him.

What he cared about was——before the car accident, he saw He Qianjian, but after the car accident, he was obviously sitting in the wrong position in the car.

After seeing that email and the picture of the car accident scene attached to the file, Jiang Chen found this dusty memory in his mind in an instant.

It was old lady Yang’s birthday that day, and it was not pleasant as usual. He also left the Yang’s house early on the excuse of going home to review for the final exam. Because he was in a bad mood at the time, he didn’t take the nearby bus directly, but chose to walk a few stops before taking the bus to cool off.

There were few people and cars on the roads in the suburbs, and the empty road was very quiet. In the afternoon when the evening was approaching, the afterglow of the sun shone on the ground, as if he was the only one on the whole road. At that time, Jiang Chen noticed that car, not only because it was the first oncoming car since Jiang Chen walked on this road, but also because he felt eyes glued to him. Feeling it, he turned his head and saw a teenage boy in the car looking at him. He didn’t take it seriously at the time, but when he was about to look away, he heard the sharp screeching sound of brakes.

The whole car went from being hit to overturning in just a split second. When Jiang Chen turned around to look, there was only silence and buzzing after the loud noise in his ears. There were no other pedestrians on the side of the road. The two cars that collided were leaking oil, and the situation might be critical if the people were not rescued in time.

Jiang Chen hardly thought about it. He just took out his mobile phone to call the police and ambulance, and immediately ran to the side of the car, pulling everyone out of the car.

The first one was the least injured teenager, the second was the unconscious driver, and the third was a little boy covered in blood whose face could not be seen clearly. The first two were relatively easy to rescue. But it took Jiang Chen a lot more time to find a way to rescue the little boy from the car.

At that time, the little boy was still a little conscious, probably because he was afraid and seemed to want to say something, so he held on to the edge of his clothes tightly. He hugged the boy and was about to comfort him, but suddenly received a call from his mother crying. Thinking that his mother might have been bullied again by the Yang family, Jiang Chen instantly became anxious. An adult happened to pass by at the time, and after handing over the little boy to the adult, he quickly returned to the Yang family.

Later, the noise and unhappiness in the Yang family made Jiang Chen unable to think anymore about the car accident in the evening.

If Huo Bo hadn’t brought up this past event again yesterday, plus the email this morning, Jiang Chen might never have thought of it again, but it was such a coincidence that the same past event was mentioned two days in a row, and there were even photos from that time.

Almost at the moment when he saw the photo, that memory and those doubts that were fleeting but never ended up being pursued appeared in Jiang Chen’s mind:

——Before the car accident, the location of He Qianjian he saw was the location where he rescued He Qianmin after the car accident. In that car accident at that time, apart from the driver’s seat, He Qianjian’s original position was the one that was hit the hardest.

The details were connected to each other, almost in the blink of an eye, and Jiang Chen got the answer: He Qianjian had very likely used the system in his head to switch places between him and He Qianmin at the critical moment, allowing himself to sit in the relatively safe rear right of the driver’s seat.

Back then, the reason He Qianmin held him tightly and was so scared. He was afraid that apart from the car accident itself, there was also being inexplicably switched places while in a waking state, and he had to face the great panic caused by a life and death situation and the betrayal of a close family member.

Jiang Chen’s eyelashes trembled slightly, thinking of He Qianmin’s attitude when he mentioned He Qianjian, remembering the accident where He Qianmin was cut by a knife after He Qianjian failed to steal his blood last time, thinking of He Qianmin’s self-deprecating and pretending to be indifferent attitude when he said that no one believed him…..His fingers curled up by his side, gradually forming fists.

“Jiangzi? Jiangzi!” Shen Xu bumped Jiang Chen’s shoulder, saw him come back to his senses, and worried, “What’s the matter with you? Why is your complexion so bad?”

Jiang Chen restrained the emotions in his eyes before raising them. He was about to speak, when Fu Jinyu walked over, patted Jiang Chen on the shoulder and said, “Come with me.”

Jiang Chen nodded to Shen Xu, and followed Fu Jinyu back to the teaching building.

In the office of the year two group, the young man who was giving a speech just now was sitting at the desk, dozing off with his head propped on a hand.

Fu Jinyu knocked on the door, and the young man sat up in startlement, heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the person at the door, rubbed his eyes and said, “Old Fu, was it necessary for you to scare me? I thought it was Teacher He. “

“If you’re afraid of him, why do you still dare to sit in his seat and doze off.”

“Didn’t I just graduate?” The young man yawned and said, “I have to find a balance for myself, and I was so excited last night that I didn’t go to bed until three or four o’clock, but I woke up at six o’clock this morning, just to come to give a speech, otherwise would I almost…..eh? Aren’t you that warm-hearted and kind junior brother!”

Jiang Chen nodded slightly: “Hello senior brother.”

Fu Jinyu was a little surprised, but he was also quite happy: “You guys know each other? That’s good, Jiang Chen, didn’t you say you wanted to apply for the computer major before? Mo Xi, your senior, is a junior majoring in computer science at Yan University. He’s also one of six people who attended the IMO, and you two can have a talk.”

Mo Xi smiled and said, “Hello, junior brother.”

“You guys can chat here.” Fu Jinyu said to Mo Xi: “Tell him about your experience in the National League.”

“League?” Moxi hesitated for a moment, then reacted quickly, and said with a smile: “Okay.”

Fu Jinyu glanced at Jiang Chen, and a trace of sadness flashed across his eyes. He nodded to the two of them and walked out.

When there were only two people left in the office, Mo Xi stretched his back and slumped in his chair. Seeing Jiang Chen looking at him, he propped his head up weakly and said, “Understand me a bit, your senior, I was smashed by a pie falling from the sky yesterday, and I didn’t fall asleep all night, and now I’m sitting in a familiar place, and I can’t help feeling sleepy.”

Jiang Chen smiled slightly, and said lightly, “I don’t mind.”

Mo Xi asked: “This is the first time old Fu asked me to help him guide a student. I thought you would be the candidate to realize his dream of cultivating a mathematics bigwig, but I didn’t expect that you wanted to study computer science. By the way, I haven’t asked your name yet. What’s your name, junior brother, why do you want to major in computer science?”

“My name is Jiang Chen.” Jiang Chen said, “My purpose of studying computer science is to specialize in this direction in the future.”

“Specialized research?” Mo Xi sat up straight: “Which aspect? Theory, system or…..”

“AI.”

“AI…..” Mo Xi thought for a while, organized his words, and said sincerely: “Junior brother, with all due respect, if you plan to enter a domestic university, and then don’t plan to go abroad to study for a PhD, I suggest you  change your direction, but having said that, if you want to study AI, you should be preparing for graduate school, so it is quite suitable for you to apply for my major as an undergraduate.”

“What is senior brother’s major?”

“Computer system structure.” Mo Xi smiled and said, “Will you be my junior brother in uni as well?”

Jiang Chen smiled and said nothing, Mo Xi continued: “But if you go in this direction, it’s the same if you choose applied mathematics, and old Fu will definitely be happy. It’s rare for me to see him care so much about any student. He didn’t care about me this much back then…..” In the middle of speaking, he folded his index finger and thumb together, leaving a little distance, and said with a conflicted expression: “I don’t know if I should ask, but I am really puzzled…..”

“Please go ahead.”

“Why did you participate in the league this year? According to how much old Fu cares about you, he should have pulled you to participate in the competition in the first year of high school. According to the time, you should be just coming back from the training team by this time and preparing for the IMO in October. “

Jiang Chen smiled: “I also participated in the competition in my first year of high school, but only in physics. Due to some reasons at home, I was unable to participate in the winter camp and training camp, so I only participated in the math competition this semester.”

“Then IMO?”

Jiang Chen smiled and said, “I will only participate in the October league.”

“Yet old Fu still cares about you so much?” Mo Xi rubbed his chin, took out a piece of paper from the table, picked up a pen and wrote down a question before pushing it to Jiang Chen, and saying, “Try and solve this?”

Jiang Chen took the pen and quickly wrote down the steps and answers almost without thinking.

The edges of Mo Xi’s eyes raised slightly. None of the numbers he gave could be quickly calculated mentally: “Mental calculation? Wait, do another one.”

After Jiang Chen quickly gave a step-by-step answer again, Mo Xi asked a few questions in succession with disbelief, and then directly wrote down this week’s homework he hadn’t done yet.

Seeing Jiang Chen help him finish his homework, Mo Xi blinked his wide eyes, swallowed, pretended to nonchalantly fold the draft paper and stuffed it into his pocket. He coughed, and said: “Junior brother, in terms of competitions, this senior brother has nothing to teach you, but about computers, I’m not just boasting, I promise you will benefit a lot. So go ahead, what do you want to know, this senior brother will definitely tell you everything I know.”

Jiang Chen thought for a while, and said, “I want to know the current situation of several major game development companies in China.”

“What do you want to know about this for?” Mo Xi chuckled: “But you are asking the right person, senior brother, I just sold a small game a while ago, and I accepted a big business deal yesterday, stumbled on great luck——no, it should be said that I bumped into a great god, this great god is a top figure in the hacker world, within two weeks he…..”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

He cleared his throat excitedly and wanted to tell about his great luck from beginning to end, but from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Jiang Chen who did not seem to show interest or admiration for the “great god” he was talking about. Thinking of the two pages of homework just now, he could only suppress the desire to show off regretfully, shook his head and sighed: “Forget it, you are still young, this field is too advanced for you, I will tell you after you learn programming, now I will talk about the game companies you want to know…..”

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After Huo Bo thought for a while, he recalled the memory of that time. He asked Jiang Chen: “Do you still remember the time when you were hit by a bicycle two days before the final exam in the second semester of our second year of junior high school?”

Jiang Chen nodded: “My hand was injured, and I didn’t finish my Chinese composition during the exam.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“Oh! I remembered that too!” Shen Xu slapped the table: “It was the semester when Jiangzi saved a little boy from a car accident. At that time I said he did a good deed saving someone, only to be hit by a bicycle a few days later, it was so miserable! I still remember that the teacher only gave him five points for the essay because he didn’t finish the composition, but his total score was still the first in our year.”

“That was the time.” Huo Bo said, “The person who hit you with the bike was Sun Zhi.”

“One week before the final exam, probably a few days after you saved someone, I found out that someone had been following us after school, but I never could catch him, so I skipped the last class in the afternoon the day before the final exam, and waited at the school gate to see who was following us and for what purpose, only to see you be hit by a guy on a bike.”

Shen Xu said: “It was Sun Zhi who hit Jiang Chen that time?”

Huo Bo hummed, and said: “It was also at that time that I realized that he was not following us, but Jiang Chen, but at that time he only admitted that he hit Jiang Chen while riding a bicycle, but he did not admit that he had followed him before. When I caught him that day, he argued that he only followed him because he felt guilty and wanted to apologize to Jiang Chen.”

“The second year of junior high school…..” Shen Xu frowned and muttered: “So Sun Zhi had been secretly watching Jiang Chen for a long time, but why? Also Zhang Zhipeng said that Sun Zhi didn’t have anything against Jiang Chen himself, but that someone behind him has it out for Jiang Chen. Who is that person?”

Huo Bo: “Zhang Zhipeng? The one in your class who wears glasses?”

“He doesn’t wear it now.” Shen Xu said, “It should be because he had myopia surgery during the winter vacation, so he didn’t wear it this semester, but that’s not the point. Why did Sun Zhi who was only in the first year of junior high begin to stalk Jiang Chen and why did he hit him with his bike. Also, why does he want to attack Jiang Chen now, damn it, these questions are giving me a scary feeling.”

“What’s so scary?”

“Isn’t it scary?” Shen Xu lay down on the table, made a ferocious expression, lowered his voice and said slowly: “In a place we don’t know, there has been a pair of eyes staring at us. It may have been three years or even longer, you don’t know the purpose of what they want to do, and you don’t know what they will do in the future, isn’t that scary?”

Huo Bo raised his eyebrows: “Not scary.”

“If this isn’t scary, then what do you think is scary?”

“It is impossible for a person to spy on another person for no reason, nor would they attack a person for no reason.” Huo Bo said lightly: “And it was so early on, which shows that there must be something we don’t know. As long as we know the inside story, this matter won’t be scary anymore.”

“It’s still scary even after knowing the inside story!” Shen Xu grabbed a cat and hugged it in his arms. The cat quickly jumped away from his arms with a “meow”. He looked up at the cat climbing frame in disappointment, then tucked his neck and said : “Besides, we don’t know why yet!”

Huo Bo turned his head and looked at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen stroked the blue cat beside him, without looking up.

Huo Bo sat up straight, knocked on the table and said, “Why does Sun Zhi bother you, do you know?”

Jiang Chen lowered his eyes. Shen Xu glanced at Huo Bo’s expression, and was about to ask, when he saw a young man in an apron standing by the table holding a palm-sized kitten.

Xu Chang handed the cat to Shen Xu: “This is a male.”

Shen Xu was taken aback, pointed at the tip of his nose, and said blankly: “You’re giving it to me? But why give me a male one.”

Huo Bo also turned his head to look over. Xu Chang put the cat in his palm, and said calmly: “It’s still young, so it’s not picky, it’ll let you pet it for a while.”

Shen Xu took the kitten carefully, held it in front of his eyes and looked at it without blinking, his whole face glowing with a special kind of brilliance, “Jiangzi, Huo Bo, look, it likes me! It is licking my hand!”

Jiang Chen heaved a sigh of relief, and smiled at Xu Chang. The young man gave him a slight nod, and turned to leave.

Interrupted by such an interruption, Shen Xu was completely immersed in the joy of stroking the kitten, while Huo Bo glanced at Jiang Chen when he smiled at Xu Chang, and pursed his lips tightly. But he didn’t bring it up again.

……

After arriving home, Jiang Chen went straight into his room and turned on the computer.

His inbox showed that there was an unread email, and he clicked on it to see that there was only one word in it: Accepted.

After closing his inbox, Jiang Chen clicked on the browser, entered a string of extremely complicated URLs, pressed the Enter key, and the screen suddenly went black, then a crash page appeared. He did not panic, his fingers jumping on the keyboard. A few seconds later, the blue screen returned to white. After a few seconds of freezing, lines of codes appeared quickly. Jiang Chen’s fingers were faster than the codes. After each line of code appeared, he would type a string of codes below that line of code. After three or four pages of the code quickly slid by, the screen went completely black again, and only a pair of white wings animation flapped in the middle. After the wings trembled a few times, an unusual forum appeared on the screen.

Jiang Chen swiped the mouse, browsing ten lines at a glance. Suddenly a bell-shaped icon flickered in the lower right corner, he moved the mouse down, and clicked on the message.

[196: Brother, I have heard of you for a long time, let’s be friends.]

Jiang Chen raised his finger lightly, and just as he was about to exit the dialogue interface, another message popped up.

[196: Don’t close the dialog box, everyone is friends in the same forum, I actually came to you to discuss a business deal with you.]

Jiang Chen paused his finger and typed on the keyboard:

[D: What business deal.]

[196: F**k! Oh, Great God, you finally responded back to me! F**k, f**k, if it wasn’t for the forum not being able to take screenshots, I would have definitely taken screenshots to show off and put them in my heirloom folder! This is the first time I’ve spoken to one of the Alphabet!]

Jiang Chen twitched his fingers, wanting to close this interface.

[196: Great God, Great God! Don’t close it! I won’t talk nonsense anymore! I really want to discuss a business deal with you! 1 million yuan, you seven and I three, how about it?]

Before Jiang Chen could ask any more questions, the other had already started to explain:

[196: It’s actually very simple. It’s to help an Internet company strengthen and renovate their firewall, but while it’s easy, it’s also hard. I don’t know if the company offended someone but for three days in a row, their server was attacked no less than ten times. Almost every time they were attacked just after it was rebuilt, so the loss is heavy. If we want to take on this job, it won’t be a one-time gig, and there may be post-maintenance to do, so the payment is slightly higher.]

[D: Why me?]

[196: Because you are a recent hot topic, less than a month after you registered, your code name has changed from five digit numbers to D, and from the number battle to the ranking battle, and there is not a single battle that was not exciting. Everyone is curious about who you are, just which great god deigned to come down to our forum to play. I am also curious, so I messaged you, if you agree, I’ve earned, and if you disagree, I would not lose anything either.]

[196: The most important thing is that as long as one of the 26 Gods takes this order, I can still raise the price of this order.]

[D: I remember that X specializes in firewalls.]

[196: That’s right, but God X has set up a block, and ordinary people can’t send private messages. No, it should be said that all the Alphabets have blocked private messages from non-friends, and only you can be contacted.]

[196: Besides, aren’t you ranked higher than God X?]

All registered users of this forum were named with letters or numbers. The first 26 registered users were the English letters of the alphabet, and the subsequent users were sorted from 1. The number of the registered users who came later the longer it was, but there were exceptions, which was a special characteristic of this hacker forum. Everyone called it the “number battle”.

As the name implied, it was a competition between hackers represented by different numeric usernames. Often, the hacker with the larger number username would challenge the hacker with the smaller number username. If the former won then they could take over the latter’s username and the username displayed on the forum would also be replaced by the number of the defeated hacker they challenged.

In addition to the number battle, there was also a ranking battle. The number battle ranged from one digit to five digits. As long as it was a number and the username was a number, you could initiate a challenge. There was no limit to the size of the number. The hacker whose username was 99999 could challenge the hacker whose username was 1, but the ranking battle was different. There were 26 hackers whose username followed the alphabet, and they were nicknamed the “26 Gods” by everyone in the forum, so the ranking battle was also called “ascension battle” or “godhood defense battle”.

The “ascension battle” referred to the challenge of number username hackers to letter username hackers. If a number username wanted to obtain a letter username, they must start the challenge from the last letter, Z. The “godhood defense battle” was a battle between hackers with letter usernames. If you want to keep your alphabetical order, you must withstand the challenges from the lower letters.

Therefore, everyone’s default ranking was equivalent to strength. From Z to A, the further up you go, the stronger the strength was, and the more difficult it was to challenge. This was a fact. In the ten years since the establishment of the forum, the rankings of K and the letters before had hardly changed. But a newcomer with a five-digit username who just registered on the forum, within two weeks, managed to changed their username from five digits to 1, and then from 1 to D, which could be said to have set off a frenzy of heated discussions.

[196: God D, can I ask a question.]

Jiang Chen was thinking about whether to accept this business deal, when he saw the words that jumped out on the screen, he replied:

[D: What’s the question.]

[196: Why don’t you challenge God C? Why did you stop at D, we all thought you would directly challenge God A.]

[D: I like the letter D.]

[196: … I accept this answer!]

Jiang Chen tapped his fingers on the table, pondered for a few seconds, and typed:

[D: For the business deal you mentioned, send me the information, if there is no problem, I will accept it.]

[196: Really? ? ? ! ! !]

[D: En.]

After sending this message, Jiang Chen closed the dialog box and concentrated on completing the small program he was designing.

On the other side, a certain floor of the male dormitory building of Yan University.

Mo Xi expressed his shock and joy with three question marks and three exclamation marks, and forced himself to wait for the answer on the other side. When he finally saw “en”, he jumped up from his chair and danced like crazy: “F**k, f**k, I actually hitched a ride with a bigwig! A pie fell from the sky! Just sitting at home, and 300,000 yuan came down from the sky! F**k!”

The roommate next to him pulled down the earphones, turned to him and asked, “Have you gone crazy from writing the speech?”

“Hahahahahahahahahaha I think I’ve gone crazy too hahahaha…..” Mo Xi ran to his roommate’s table in a flash, knelt down and grabbed his hand and said, “Third, pinch me, immediately, let me see if I’m hallucinating.”

The roommate pinched him hard on his thigh, and there was a scream accompanied by a laugh, which made everyone who had already gone to sleep jump up in horror.

“F**k, why are you screaming in the middle of the night!”

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“A pie from the sky fell down on me, am I not allowed to scream!” Mo Xi was jumping excitedly, unable to stop for a moment.

The roommate on the bed covered his head with a quilt, yawned, and said sleepily: “You have to go back to Yan No. 1 High School tomorrow to give an outstanding graduate speech, save some energy, and don’t stand on the flag-raising platform with a look of kidney deficiency tomorrow. If your expression makes your juniors think that us Yan Uni students were like this, it will ruin our Yan Uni’s century-old reputation.”

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“Drunk?” Jiang Chen looked him up and down, and asked calmly, “Are you sober now?”

“Yeah…..” He Qianmin was about to nod his head, but when he looked up and saw Jiang Chen’s expressionless face, he immediately changed his words: “No.”

Jiang Chen’s gaze shifted from his face to the corner of his clothes stained with blood.

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Seeing that Jiang Chen only looked at him but didn’t speak, He Qianmin took half a step forward and took his arm, groaning, “It’s just a small injury, I’m used to it, there were a few times before that were much more serious than this, this one will be fine in a few days.”

“To now in the third year of junior high school, you’ve been drinking, you’ve gotten used to this?” Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows.

“No…..” Seeing Jiang Chen angry for the first time, He Qianmin was flustered and at a loss: “Big Brother, that’s not what I meant…..”

The several boys from Chenghua saw He Qianmin like this for the first time. After exchanging glances, they all came forward to smooth things over. A chubby boy smiled and said, “Big Brother, don’t scold him anymore, he just got stitches. He howled so loudly that people could hear it on the third floor, he’s quite pitiful, and he didn’t drink on purpose, it was…..”

Jiang Chen interrupted the boy, and said to He Qianmin, “Tell me yourself.”

He Qianmin pursed his lips tightly, still  grabbing his arm, and lowered his head without saying a word.

The chubby boy looked at Jiang Chen and He Qianmin, and gave the others winks.

A person stepped forward and said: “Big Brother, it’s really not what you think. We just had dinner together. I don’t know who changed Qian Min’s drink into wine. This guy stopped drinking after taking a sip, but he got drunk after one sip, and in a daze, he thought the fruit knife on the table was a cup, and then cut his hand.”

The other person also quickly said: “Yeah, Big Brother, it’s really not Qian Min’s fault, we were all surprised, there were only drinks there, don’t know who was that immoral to put the fruit knife there. When we go back to school the day after tomorrow, we must find that person and bring him out to show you!”

“You guys are saying——” Jiang Chen raised his eyes suddenly, “There was originally a drink, but without you knowing, the drink was replaced with a fruit knife?”

“That’s right!” The chubby boy quickly added: “Big Brother, you must believe us, we really didn’t lie to you, Qian Min was really unlucky this time, don’t know who put the fruit glasses. Even if one did not see wrong, one would be cut if accidentally taking the drink next to it. Besides, he was so dizzy after drinking alcohol, he stretched out his hand and grabbed the knife directly——” He angrily said: “If I know which idiot did it, I will definitely…..”

“Okay.” He Qianmin interrupted the chubby boy, glanced at Jiang Chen, turned his head to look at the ground, and laughed self-deprecatingly: “You don’t believe it right, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me, I’m fine, you can now…..”

Jiang Chen: “I believe it.”

He Qianmin froze, looked up at Jiang Chen: “You believe what they said?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Jiang Chen hid the chill in his eyes and asked, “You said earlier that you were injured a few times more seriously than this time, and it was also because of this kind of inexplicable situation?”

He Qianmin nodded blankly, the tip of his nose turning red: “Big Brother, do you really believe me?”

Jiang Chen saw his clear and crystal-like eyes gradually misting over and his heart pulled painfully. He raised his hand and rubbed his head, “I’m your brother, of course I believe you.”

He Qianmin blinked, then quickly turned his head and said, “You, then that’s good.”

The chubby boy rushed forward and said to Jiang Chen with a smile, “Big Brother, I haven’t heard Qian Min mention you before. My name is He Yunlong, and I’m Qian Min’s classmate.”

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, nodded and said, “Hello.”

The several other people also came up to introduce themselves one by one, all of them were cheerful and friendly, and it could be seen that they had a good relationship with He Qianmin.

After Jiang Chen finished greeting, he said with a slight smile, “I’ll trouble you to take care of Qian Min today, and I’ll treat you all to dinner when I have a chance.”

“Don’t leave it to later!” The boys love to boo, seeing that Jiang Chen was not aloof they quickly treated him as one of their own. Hearing him say this, they all laughed and said, “Make it today! I was so scared that I didn’t have time to eat just now. I’m so hungry!”

Jiang Chen glanced at the time and agreed. He took He Qianmin and the group of young men to a nearby porridge shop.

“Qian Min is injured, so he can only drink porridge. Next time, I’ll treat you all to something else.”

He Qianmin sat next to Jiang Chen, curved his lips upward when he heard this, and said, “It’s already too nice of you to treat them to eat, how can there be so many complaints.”

The boys also responded with grins: “Yes, Big Brother, this place is good, we all like it.”

“That’s right, that’s right, my dad said, one must cultivate health at night, you need to eat these digestible things.”

“Big Brother, how old are you? Why haven’t we heard Qian Min mention you before?”

He Qianmin finally couldn’t bear it anymore, kicked the boy opposite him lightly and said: “This is my  Big Brother, what are you all doing calling him so familiarly, and also, do I have to report the eighteen generations of my family’s ancestors to you guys. “

The boy didn’t get angry when he was kicked, he dodged while saying: “Big Brother, you don’t know how domineering He Qianmin is at school, and he isn’t how he behaves in front of you at all normally, please teach us the secret! Let us also…..He Qianmin, your shoes are made of iron, right?”

He Qianmin warned him: “If you talk too much, I will kick you to death.”

“Big Brother!” The boy looked at Jiang Chen: “Did you see that! That’s how He Qianmin bully us weak classmates at school!”

“That’s right, that’s right!” The other people watched the excitement and only fanned the flames, all shouting to have Jiang Chen stand up for them.

Jiang Chen put a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs in He Qianmin’s bowl, curved his lips upward and said, “I’m his big rother, so naturally I only stand up for him.”

He Qianmin’s expressionless froze. When he turned his head and saw Jiang Chen’s smiling eyes, his ears turned red and he quickly looked away, but the corners of his mouth could not suppress their upward arc. He raised his chin and said: “You hear that, this is my big brother, so you guys can forget it.”

The others didn’t expect Jiang Chen to say that. After booing, a boy said enviously, “He Qianmin, I’ll trade my brother for your brother. Let’s switch.”

Another person also said: “I want to switch too!”

He Qianmin crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows: “Dream on.”

“He Qianmin, you’re gloating with glee!”

“He must be taught a little lesson!”

“Come on! Let’s get him together!”

As the boys fooled around, Jiang Chen looked at the porridge in the bowl, thoughtful.

It was getting late, and everyone dispersed when they were full.

Before He Qianmin got in the cab, Jiang Chen warned: “In the future, if this kind of thing happens again, call me as soon as possible, and also, come to my school to find me in a few days, and tell me about the situations that happened to you before.”

He Qianmin’s smiling eyes dimmed instantly, and he pursed his lips and said in a low voice, “There’s nothing to say.”

Jiang Chen looked at him sideways, but He Qianmin refused to meet his eyes, and looked forward expressionlessly, “You won’t believe it if I tell you, everyone thinks those things were just accidents. Without any evidence, no matter how many times I say it to anyone, the result will be the same.”

“He Qianmin.” Jiang Chen knocked on his forehead, and when he covered his forehead and glared over, he said, “I told you, I believe you.”

He Qianmin was startled, looking into his eyes: “Why?”

A smile appeared on the corner of Jiang Chen’s lips: “Because you call me Big Brother.”

……

The next day, Jiang Chen arrived at Yan City Second Hospital early in the morning.

Jiang Zhuo’s operation started at ten o’clock, and Shen Xu and Huo Bo also came. Jiang Chen sat on the waiting chairs outside the door with the two of them, watching Yang Si pace back and forth restlessly.

“Mom.” Jiang Chen walked up to her, pulled her and said, “Sit down.”

“I just ate too much, now I’m just taking a walk to digest.” Yang Si stopped and forced a smile as if to comfort herself: “Your dad’s operation will definitely be successful.”

Jiang Chen supported her: “There are still a few hours before Dad’s surgery is over, please sit down first.”

Shen Xu also came over, took Yang Si’s other hand and said: “Auntie Yang, Uncle Jiang must be fine, don’t worry, just sit down for a while.”

Yang Si took a deep breath, nodded and sat down with them.

Time passed by, and while everyone outside the operating room was waiting anxiously, the operating light finally went out.

When Shi Fengyue came out, Yang Si jumped up and walked over: “Dr. Shi, how is my husband?”

“The operation is successful.” Shi Fengyue said: “He will be sent to the ward later, but the effect of the anesthetic has not worn out yet, and it may take two hours to wake up.”

“Thank you Dr. Shi, thank you.” Yang Si thanked him again and again, her voice a little choked, but her face was full of smiles: “Thank you so much, Dr. Shi.”

Shi Fengyue said lightly: “This is my duty.”

Jiang Chen also came over and said sincerely, “Thank you, Dr. Shi, for your hard work.”

Shi Fengyue nodded, and left here together with the intern doctors who came out.

Shen Xu looked at the back of Shi Fengyue’s leaving figure, ran up to Jiang Chen and said, “Jiangzi, he was the one who came to our school last time, right? He can actually perform surgery at such a young age? So awesome.”

Huo Bo was curious: “He has been to No. 1 High School?”

“I saw him there once.” Shen Xu said, “It was the time when the results of the midterm examination came out. Did I tell you about the situation that day? You didn’t see it. When Jiang Chen and I appeared in a crowd of people, someone shouted ‘God Jiang is coming’, and everyone’s eyes were focused on us, their stares as eager as seeing a glass of water in the desert, a guiding light in the dark, and then a path opened up like the sea parting…..”

Huo Bo rolled his eyes at him, passed him and followed Jiang Chen and Yang Si.

Shen Xu jumped like a monkey and called, “Hey wait for me!”

Shen Xu chased after them, insisting on telling Huo Bo that wonderful and glorious moment. Huo Bo walked around from Jiang Chen to Yang Si’ side, and then from Yang Si to Jiang Chen’s. But Shen Xu was still always chirping next to him incessantly.

Seeing them like this, Yang Si couldn’t help laughing and said, “It’s been a long time since you three had fooled around together, Xiao Xu is still so lively.”

Jiang Chen also chuckled: “He hasn’t seen Huo Bo for a long time.”

“I remember when you went to summer camp when you were a child, you were away for an entire summer vacation. After you came back, Xiao Xu missed you as well and stuck to you like this, telling you what happened when you were not here during the summer vacation.”

That was a memory too long ago, and Jiang Chen only had some vague impressions in his mind, but just hearing his mother talk about it, he couldn’t help but curve the corners of his mouth upwards.

After seeing Jiang Zhuo, Yang Si took Jiang Chen and the others to have a meal near the hospital. After the meal, she went back to the hospital, and Jiang Chen and the others went to a cat cafe not far from the hospital under Shen Xu’s strong suggestion.

This kind of cafe was relatively rare at this time. As soon as Jiang Chen and Huo Bo walked in, they felt as if cat fur was flying all over the sky. Huo Bo frowned and stepped back in disgust, but Shen Xu forced him to go in.

The three sat in the booth by the window. After Shen Xu ordered their things, he looked around excitedly and said, “I saw this place on the forum before, and I’ve wanted to come here for a long time. There are so many cats here!”

Huo Bo gave him an eyeroll and said: “There is also a lot of fur.”

Shen Xu also rolled his eyes back, and said, “What do you know?” After speaking, he began to imitate meowing, grabbing the dried fish and coaxing a Garfield-like cat who was lying on the sofa not far away: “Come on, I have a small dried fish for you.”

The Garfield cat lazily buried its face without raising its head. Shen Xu could only divert his target after teasing with no success for a while. He grabbed the dried fish and coaxed all the cats nearby, and one cat finally took his dried fish only to run away fast, not letting him even touch a single hair.

“Are these cats afraid of strangers? They don’t seem to like strangers.” Shen Xu asked in frustration.

Jiang Chen lowered his head. A round orange cat sat on his shoe, as if it had decided to use him as a sofa.

“Or maybe it’s because the two of you don’t speak, especially Huo Bo, with a dark face, scaring away the kitties.”

Another chubby blue-gray cat came pacing over, lay next to Jiang Chen and nudged his hand, meowing twice coquettishly, and then purring.

Shen Xu said in amazement: “Jiangzi, how did you coax that cat here? Help me coax one too. It’s all because Huo Bo is sitting next to me, so not even one cat likes me.”

A cat jumped down from the cat climbing frame at the back, landed directly on Huo Bo’s lap, and rubbed against him affectionately, causing Huo Bo to lean back and freeze in place.

Shen Xu’s eyes widened: “What’s going on! Where did that cat come from! Why is it crawling on you!”

Jiang Chen rubbed the cat next to him, and Huo Bo also adjusted his posture, and carefully touched the cat on him. He was a little surprised at the feel under his hand, and couldn’t help petting it a few more times.

Seeing this, Shen Xu was even more annoyed: “Why didn’t one come towards me!”

The waiter who happened to be wearing a coffee apron brought the coffee and juice they ordered, and Shen Xu quickly asked: “Do your cats have any quirks, why do they only crawl on the two of them, or do they not like yellow because I’m wearing a yellow T-shirt.”

The waiter looked at Shen Xu coldly and said, “These are all female cats.”

Shen Xu didn’t understand: “What do you mean?”

“Look in the mirror.”

Shen Xu: “???”

“You, what do you mean?” Shen Xu slapped the table, “You mean I look…..Huh? It’s you?”

The thin and fair boy glanced at Shen Xu, nodded to Jiang Chen, and left with the tray.

“That’s…..” Shen Xu looked at the boy’s back and said, “Is that the lower year boy we saw in the stairwell before?”

Jiang Chen hummed lightly. Shen Xu clicked his tongue, shook his head and said, “Although his eyes are not very good, he looks livelier than before.”

Huo Bo raised his eyes: “You know him?”

“Yeah.” Shen Xu said: “When we saw him before, he was bullied by Sun Zhi in the stairwell on the second floor. If Jiangzi and I hadn’t rescued him, he would have been miserable.”

Huo Bo withdrew his gaze and said calmly, “He doesn’t look like one to be bullied in vain.”

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“How do you know?” Shen Xu curled his lips, paused, and said, “But speaking of this, I forgot to tell you that during the time you were not at school, that boy Sun Zhi was instigated by someone, and he has been wanting to find trouble for Jiang Chen. I have been having people keep an eye on him every day these days, and I don’t believe that I can’t dig out the person behind him. I want to see who is so stupid, hiding in the stinky sewers and looking for trouble.”

“By the way, didn’t you catch Sun Zhi when we were in the second or third year of junior high school? You said that he stalked Jiang Chen at that time. How did you find out and did you find out anything from him?”

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