FIMA Ch141: Notes

No matter what, someone like Xie Fengqing, who is thin-skinned and cares about face, would never admit to stalking Gu Siyuan.

He raised the corners of his mouth, revealing a set of neat, white teeth, “Gu, you must be mistaken. We both came out of the restaurant and are both heading to school. This is the shortest and safest route. Why talk about stalking? That’s too scary…”

Gu Siyuan lazily said, “But if I remember correctly, Xie Fengqing is a day student who lives at home?”

“…” Xie Fengqing.

That’s the downside of having an ex; they know all your secrets.

Xie Fengqing raised his chin slightly, “I came back to school to borrow notes from a classmate. With finals coming up, don’t you think I need to study hard? Not everyone can be like Gu Siyuan, idle and unmotivated.”

Gu Siyuan looked at him, dressed in a spotless white down jacket, his long neck and proud expression, looking just like a little swan.

He nodded, “Then I wish Xie Fengqing gets a perfect GPA.” He then turned and continued walking.

“Of course,” Xie Fengqing immediately followed.

After a while, Xie Fengqing noticed something was wrong. They should have reached the school gate by now, but Gu Siyuan suddenly turned right.

This direction was completely opposite to the school. Where could Gu Siyuan be going so late at night?

“Gu Siyuan, aren’t you going back to school?”

Gu Siyuan raised an eyebrow, looking at him, “Who said I was going back to school?”

“Ah…” Xie Fengqing was surprised.

At that moment, a series of popping sounds suddenly came from a distance.

Colorful fireworks blossomed in the night sky.

The people passing by also started cheering, “Ah, it’s New Year!”

“A new year has begun!”

“Happy New Year!”

Xie Fengqing suddenly realized and looked up at the sky.

It was midnight; it was already New Year’s Day.

In N City, New Year’s Day is one of the rare days when fireworks are allowed.

Near the university town, mostly young people lived, and many stopped to close their eyes and make wishes under the fireworks.

Xie Fengqing looked at Gu Siyuan’s still indifferent face and asked, “Aren’t you going to make a wish?”

Gu Siyuan frowned and glanced at him, “These fireworks don’t last as long as the alcohol I just drank. If my wishes depended on them, what hope would there be in this life?”

“…” Xie Fengqing.

How has this buzzkill not been beaten to death yet?

After a moment, the commotion quieted down.

Gu Siyuan waved at him, “Come here.”

Xie Fengqing was confused but still raised his neck and walked over, pretending to be proud. “What is it?”

Gu Siyuan: “Does your phone still have power?”

Xie Fengqing instinctively raised his phone to check: “Over 40 percent.”

“That’s enough.” Gu Siyuan nodded, pointing to a taxi parked beside them and said indifferently, “Get in and go home!”

“No…”

Xie Fengqing looked up, meeting Gu Siyuan’s half-smiling face, and suddenly realized that he had probably already been exposed.

He puffed out his cheeks and stubbornly continued, “I haven’t gone into the school to get my notes yet.”

Gu Siyuan’s voice turned slightly cold: “Stop messing around, get in the car and go home now. Tomorrow, I’ll organize all the notes for you and send them.”

Neither in the past nor recently had Xie Fengqing ever heard Gu Siyuan speak to him so coldly.

For a moment, he was genuinely scared.

By the time he snapped back to reality, he had already been shoved into the back seat of the taxi by Gu Siyuan, as if being kneaded like dough.

Xie Fengqing glared at him, unwilling to give in, and asked, “I’m going home, but you’re not going back to school? Where are you going…”

Gu Siyuan raised his hand and pointed to a spot not far away.

That area was brightly lit, mainly filled with various types of budget hotels, inns, KTVs, and some services that were better left unsaid.

Xie Fengqing blinked, pointing angrily, “You… you’re spending the night there?”

Gu Siyuan nodded, “Something like that.”

“…” Xie Fengqing.

Heh… Sending me away so you can enjoy yourself, huh? Maybe you’ve even booked a room and arranged a date already?

Maybe it’s that annoying Qi Yue again. Could it be that you secretly arranged it back at the restaurant?

“Good for you, Gu Siyuan…” Xie Fengqing was about to jump up and curse this scumbag when the taxi driver suddenly stepped on the gas, and the car sped off, filling his mouth with cold wind.

Xie Fengqing became even angrier.

He looked up and glared at the driver, complaining softly, “Driver, did you use to race in F1? How come you’re so quick? I hadn’t finished talking yet.”

The driver, having driven around the university town for a long time, had seen countless strange young people. Hearing this, he wasn’t offended but rather curious, “Hey, young people sure talk a lot. What’s your relationship with that tall guy? Your boyfriend? He sure looks imposing.”

Boyfriend, my ass!

Imposing, my ass!

Just a flashy scumbag, rotten to the core.

Xie Fengqing grumbled unhappily, “No, just a regular classmate. That guy, don’t be fooled by his looks. He’s actually…”

The driver laughed heartily, “Looking like that, what else can you say? Hey, he looks just like me when I was young. I was quite the charmer back then too, with lots of girls and boys chasing after me…”

Xie Fengqing glanced at the driver’s side, noting his beer belly and the emerging bald spot on his head. He imagined Gu Siyuan looking like this in a few years.

By then, he’d probably even struggle to cheat and be a scumbag.

He felt a mix of joy and sorrow, his emotions extremely complicated: “Driver, thanks for the blessing…”

…

Gu Siyuan watched the taxi disappear from sight, then turned and walked towards the brightly lit area.

What he had said earlier wasn’t a lie; he was indeed spending the night there, but not in any of the hotels or inns.

He walked past the street full of hotels and KTVs, heading towards a quieter residential area behind them.

Swiping his access card at the gate, he smoothly entered one of the buildings, took the elevator to the fourth floor, and unlocked the door to a one-bedroom apartment.

This was the place he had just rented yesterday.

The apartment was move-in ready, with everything he needed. During the day, he had already moved most of his belongings from the dormitory.

In half a month, the semester would end, and winter break would begin.

His father had passed away early, and his mother had remarried. Whether he went home for the New Year or not didn’t matter.

Gu Siyuan didn’t want to make the trip back, so he rented a place near the school and planned to move in when the break started.

After washing off the smell of alcohol in the bathroom, Gu Siyuan sat at the desk and turned on his computer.

He habitually checked his email first, and sure enough, there were two unread messages from the client of the freelance programming job he had taken.

One was a routine confirmation and expression of thanks.

The second one was more intimate, asking about his internship plans for the next semester and if he was interested in joining their company, offering to handle the formalities for an early entry.

The company was a well-known tech firm, not just in N City but nationwide. Any typical student would have been thrilled to receive such an offer.

Gu Siyuan, however, remained indifferent.

He had taken the freelance job because he was short on money temporarily, but he had no interest in working for someone else long-term.

Nevertheless, he politely replied to the email.

He was currently preparing to develop his own website, and once it was completed, he would need financial support and promotional channels.

The company he had worked for was one of the potential angel investors he was looking to attract.

After handling the emails, Gu Siyuan checked the stock market. The stocks he had invested in were growing well.

At that moment, his phone lit up.

He picked it up and saw a message from Xie Fengqing.

He remembered that after he had cheated, Xie Fengqing had blocked him on all social media. He didn’t expect to be unblocked now.

What a childish behavior.

The message was brief: “Are you done?”

Gu Siyuan squinted, not sure what he was referring to.

But… this late, it was probably asking if he was asleep.

He casually replied with two words: “Almost done.”

On the other side, Xie Fengqing quickly caught his phone, which almost hit his nose, and angrily cursed a few times.

He then stared at the two words from the reply.

Almost done?

So, he was still in the middle of it… chatting while doing that?

“…” Xie Fengqing immediately sent back a shocked emoji.

Gu Siyuan stared at the emoji for a while, unable to imagine what the person on the other end looked like.

He simply asked directly: “What exactly do you want to say?”

Lying on the bed, Xie Fengqing puffed up his cheeks and slowly typed: “I just wanted to remind you not to forget to organize the notes for me as promised.”

Gu Siyuan: “I won’t. I’ll send them to you tomorrow morning.”

Xie Fengqing: “Oh…”

Gu Siyuan took one last look at his phone, saw that there was nothing else to reply to, and turned it off.

Xie Fengqing held his phone for a long time, but the familiar avatar did not flash again.

He grumbled, feeling irrationally upset, not even getting a good night or a happy new year…

Then, he fell asleep holding his phone.

When he woke up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky.

Xie Fengqing rubbed his eyes and hurriedly reached for his phone on the bed.

It was already past ten. When he checked his social media, he immediately smiled with joy at the sight of an unread message from a familiar avatar.

He gently and slowly opened it, as if it were a precious treasure.

But then he got angry at his inexplicable feelings.

Why did he seem so expectant?

Why should he look forward to a message from Gu Siyuan? What’s so special about that scumbag?

Humph, he was probably just looking forward to the organized notes from Gu Siyuan.

The message contents appeared before him.

“…” Xie Fengqing looked at the cold, compressed file labeled ‘notes’ and threw his phone aside.

Ha, he really could predict the future.

That guy didn’t add a single extra word.

That morning, Gu Siyuan, as usual, woke up at seven, had breakfast, organized the notes for the specialized courses, sent them to Xie Fengqing, and then left for school.

The website he was creating had no technical or operational issues, and he didn’t plan to rely solely on angel investors for funding.

Now in his junior year, he could apply for the school’s entrepreneurship incubation fund.

He was preparing the necessary materials these days and was in contact with relevant professors. If things went well, he could get around 500,000 yuan in funding this time.

So, for the next period, while all the students were deeply engrossed in their final exam reviews, Gu Siyuan barely looked at any books, running around the city instead.

Occasionally, when his phone rang, he would check it after half an hour or an hour.

As for games, he hadn’t logged in for several days.

It wasn’t until the final exam period that he saw Xie Fengqing, Tao Xiangwen, and others again after several days.

N University was indeed one of the top universities. Even Tao Xiangwen, an online game addict, had cut down on gaming time a week before to immerse himself in studying day and night. With a regular schedule, he looked a bit healthier.

As for Xie Fengqing, it was unclear what had happened these days, but he would look at him with eyes full of disdain, as if he were an incurable scumbag.

Gu Siyuan had already grown somewhat accustomed to this target’s strange thought process and couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.

They had seven specialized courses in total, taking four days to complete all the exams.

After that, everyone went their separate ways.

With the end of the final exams, the previously silent students became active again, especially Tao Xiangwen.

Since their last dungeon run together, Tao Xiangwen kept bugging him to team up whenever he was free.

Gu Siyuan refused every time, only reminding him to notify him immediately if he saw the ID ‘Bu Zhan’ interacting with Xie Fengqing in the game.

“Hehe… Hehe…” Tao Xiangwen immediately let out a knowing laugh: “Regretting it, huh? Want to get back together with God Xie?”

Gu Siyuan ignored him.

With the start of the winter break, students of all levels were on vacation, making the game world of ‘Great Wilderness’ particularly lively.

Previously, Gu Siyuan’s ‘Amurf’ had gained some fame from two livestreamed dungeon runs. Later, he wrote a dungeon guide for forum points, earning his ID even more recognition.

Especially among regular players, his dungeon guide was a must-read for everyone.

That evening, Tao Xiangwen pestered him several times to team up for a dungeon run. Coincidentally, he wanted to log in to check if Xie Fengqing and Ying Ning had any interactions.

As soon as he logged in, his computer screen was overwhelmed with countless private messages.

Uninterested in discerning everyone’s intentions, he marked them all as read and set his notifications to silent.

“Siyuan, you’re popular now. Everyone wants you to lead them…”

Tao Xiangwen chatted with him while running the dungeon.

Gu Siyuan ignored him, fingers flying over the keyboard, casting a series of powerful combo moves that killed the hidden boss, Shadow Leopard, instantly.

[Kill successful! Congratulations to the ‘Smurf’-led team for killing the hidden boss, Shadow Leopard, dropping rare materials Speed Heart, Shadow Fur, Shadow Claw, and a skill book…]

Only then did Gu Siyuan speak: “Speed Heart, Shadow Fur, and Shadow Claw are mine.”

At this point, Tao Xiangwen snapped out of it and shouted, “Damn, how did it drop Speed Heart? I want that too…”

Ignoring his complaints, Gu Siyuan disbanded the team directly.

He turned around and saw that the world channel was bustling again.

“Damn, damn, damn, another hidden BOSS taken down?”

“Our server has only spawned five hidden BOSSES in the past two months, right? Including the last time with the Cangxuan Snow Sculpture, ‘Smurf’ has taken down two of them?”

“This is not just a pro; this guy’s also incredibly lucky… Why is life so unfair, having both skills and luck in one person?”

“‘Smurf’ has gotten good stuff from both times, with Ice Heart and Speed Heart, while the other three hidden BOSS drops only yielded one Power Heart…”

“This is amazing. Who is ‘Smurf’ anyway?”

Tao Xiangwen, looking at the chat in the world channel, thought of something amusing and continued chatting with Gu Siyuan: “Siyuan, you haven’t logged into your main account for a while, right? I wonder if anyone’s still persistently cursing you?”

Gu Siyuan: “I don’t know.”

He didn’t care at all. If it weren’t for the convenience of the task, he wouldn’t be interested in playing games.

Tao Xiangwen laughed heartily: “If they found out that the ‘noob’, ‘gold-digger’, ‘scumbag’ they curse every day is the same person they praise as ‘Smurf’, I wonder what a beautiful scene that would be?”

…