FIMA Ch13: Irrelevant

Xie Chengfeng was puzzled, “What do you mean, it won’t happen?”

Xie Qingxiao brushed the hair by his ear, seemingly nonchalant, “There will be no further connections with the Shen family, and there will be no relationship with Shen Ting anymore.”

Xie Chengfeng listened but seemed not to grasp the meaning immediately.

After a while, he stared at Xie Qingxiao and said, “What did you say… no further connections, what do you mean, have you broken up?”

Xie Qingxiao nodded, “Yes, more or less.”

Xie Chengfeng glared at him fiercely. If there weren’t so many people around, one might suspect he would rush over and strangle him.

Xie Qingxiao tried his best to ignore his gaze, looked down at his watch, and said, “Didn’t you say you need to prepare for a business trip to B City soon? The flight is at seven tonight. If you don’t leave now, you’ll miss it.”

Xie Chengfeng seemed not to hear him, continuing to frown and ask, “Why did you break up? Did you throw another tantrum? I’ve told you many times, don’t always act so aloof. Since you’re good-looking, smile more and learn to please others. Can’t you do even that?”

Xie Qingxiao lazily replied, “Shen Ting has someone he likes.”

Xie Chengfeng responded, “That’s because you’re not capable. Otherwise, why would he like someone else?”

Xie Qingxiao narrowed his eyes.

At that moment, Xie Chengfeng’s phone rang in his pocket. It was his secretary reminding him to head to the airport.

Xie Chengfeng spoke a few words into the phone, then pointed at Xie Qingxiao with his right hand holding the phone, “You… wait until I get back from B City, and we’ll have a proper talk.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the school.

This time he was going to B City to negotiate a cooperation with a major supplier, something he couldn’t afford to delay, otherwise…

“Hmm, have a safe trip.”

Xie Qingxiao squinted, watching his father leave, a mocking smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

…

Gu Siyuan was in a good mood today. After dinner at the cafeteria, he returned to his dormitory to continue programming.

Judging from Xie Qingxiao’s attitude toward Madam Shen earlier, it was clear that things between him and Shen Ting were almost over. So, his task was roughly half completed.

It seemed that breaking up a relationship was quite easy.

The tragedy of Xie Qingxiao’s previous life was partly due to Shen Ting’s irresponsibility and partly due to his own money-grubbing father and stepmother.

With Shen Ting’s problem solved, next up was dealing with his parents.

When it comes to money-related issues, they are the most complicated yet the simplest in the world.

As Gu Siyuan wrote his program, he chatted with a WeChat friend who messaged him from time to time. This friend was Jiang Hefeng, whom he had met a few days ago.

Ever since Gu Siyuan and Jiang Hefeng became WeChat friends, they frequently discussed programming issues.

Jiang Hefeng mentioned that he was writing outsourced programs for a company his mentor introduced, which was tedious and troublesome.

After hearing this, Gu Siyuan gave him some advice, which immediately impressed Jiang Hefeng.

Subsequently, Jiang Hefeng added Gu Siyuan to his work WeChat group, and when this small project was completed, the benefits would naturally include him.

However, Gu Siyuan joining this WeChat group wasn’t for the small profit from the outsourcing chores.

But things had to proceed slowly.

After all, he was still a senior in high school and needed to first demonstrate enough skill to earn others’ trust, form a team, and start real business ventures.

High school life often seemed calm on the surface, like an iceberg beneath the deep sea, waiting for the day to erupt after a long period of accumulation.

Even though the parent-teacher meeting yesterday made for a very memorable day for everyone, the next day returned to normal because the next round of comprehensive exams was about to begin.

There was not enough time to fully grieve and reflect.

However, before fully settling down to study, Xie Qingxiao had one more thing to wrap up.

“Shen Ting,” Xie Qingxiao called softly.

Shen Ting acted as if he didn’t hear and turned to talk and laugh with Lu Jiayang.

He had heard, but he was still very annoyed with Xie Qingxiao’s words and actions yesterday, so he pretended not to hear and ignored him.

This actually wasn’t the first time he did this.

Ever since he impulsively confirmed his relationship with Xie Qingxiao on the Qixi Festival, he occasionally felt annoyed by Xie Qingxiao’s initiatives. Whenever that happened, he would pretend not to hear or see anything.

Speaking of which, Xie Qingxiao was actually a pretty perceptive person, usually knowing when to leave in silence.

However, today was clearly different from usual.

Xie Qingxiao stood in front of his desk, knocked on the table, and said loudly, “Shen Ting, I need to talk to you.”

The people in the surrounding seats were attracted by the commotion and glanced over.

Shen Ting finally looked up, but openly responded perfunctorily, “I’m busy right now, let’s talk later!”

“It will only take a minute.” Xie Qingxiao still looked at him coldly, his eyes seeming to hide fire within the ice.

Shen Ting frowned impatiently. Did this guy take the wrong medicine or something…

Lu Jiayang also sensed that Xie Qingxiao was not in the right mood. He pushed Shen Ting’s arm and said, “Your ‘wife’ has something to talk to you about, why are you still dawdling?”

Hearing this term, Shen Ting frowned in displeasure.

But when he looked at Lu Jiayang, his eyes were still gentle and tolerant. He ruffled Lu Jiayang’s hair, then nimbly stood up and jumped out, passing by Xie Qingxiao and said lazily, “Let’s go.”

Xie Qingxiao showed no emotion, nodded, and walked out first, leading the way for Shen Ting.

They walked to the corner of the classroom.

Their classroom was near the stairs, with a large open area where teachers would temporarily talk to students.

Xie Qingxiao had been holding a box in his hand, which he now handed to Shen Ting: “Returning this to you.”

Shen Ting frowned as he took it, examining it: “This is…”

Xie Qingxiao looked at him calmly and said, “What you gave me on Qixi Festival.”

Shen Ting opened it and looked inside, remembering that this was the gift he had spent a lot of effort to get. Although it didn’t end up in the right person’s hands, he still remembered it clearly.

Later, he made a more thoughtful gift for Lu Jiayang.

He casually squeezed it and said, “I already gave it to you. If you don’t want it, just throw it away.”

“Returning it to the owner is best,” Xie Qingxiao shook his head and continued, “Actually, you just threw this at me without saying anything, maybe I misunderstood back then. But now, let’s make it clear.”

“You want to break up?” Shen Ting seemed to finally understand what he was trying to do.

Xie Qingxiao couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile. Perhaps even he didn’t realize that this mocking curve was almost identical to Gu Siyuan’s.

He said calmly, “Saying ‘break up’… I’m afraid that’s presumptuous of me because I feel we were never really together. But since you mentioned it, that’s fine, let’s consider it a breakup. From now on, we’re just ordinary classmates.”

Shen Ting squinted his eyes and stared at Xie Qingxiao, as if meeting him for the first time.

A moment later, he threw the thing in his hand into the trash can with a bang.

He looked at Xie Qingxiao and said word by word, “Fine, whatever you want!”

The place where they were talking was just around the corner of the corridor, not far from their class and the neighboring class. Hearing the noise, some curious people stuck their heads out.

Xie Qingxiao didn’t like being surrounded, nodded at Shen Ting, and turned to leave.

Shen Ting also turned around, watching his departing figure with a strange emotion.

In just a few days, it seemed he had seen Xie Qingxiao’s back several times, something that had never happened before… Shen Ting was always the first to leave and let go.

When Xie Qingxiao returned to his seat, his deskmate Gu Siyuan was playing with his phone as usual, while Huo Yi was sitting in his seat, sneaking glances with a constipated expression.

According to school rules, mobile phones and other electronic devices were not allowed in school, otherwise, they would be confiscated.

However, this rule obviously didn’t apply to Gu Siyuan.

He had already been admitted to a university but continued attending classes because he had no place to stay for the time being and the school begged him to stay for the college entrance exam.

Xie Qingxiao casually asked, “What are you looking at?”

Huo Yi quickly jumped up, “Qingxiao, you’re back. Wow, the top student is looking at something strange, a bunch of numbers and red and green lines changing constantly. My head hurts just looking at it.”

Xie Qingxiao glanced at Gu Siyuan’s phone screen and, if he wasn’t mistaken, this thing was called stocks, right?

He looked at Huo Yi with a doubtful expression.

But then, he looked at Gu Siyuan with even more surprise.

Although he was still a high school student, he knew the popular saying, “Entering the market carries risks, invest with caution.”

Gu Siyuan was a loner, yet he played with such high-risk things. In the future, there wouldn’t even be anyone to cover for him.

However, it seemed he still had quite a bit of savings, so if it came to it, he could temporarily…

“Are you okay? Did you go fight with Shen Ting?”

Huo Yi pulled at Xie Qingxiao. He had just seen Xie Qingxiao and Shen Ting leaving the classroom with explosive expressions and came over to check on his friend.

Xie Qingxiao smiled and shook his head, “What are you thinking? Do you think I’m stupid? Could I beat him? I went to break up.”

Huo Yi widened his eyes in surprise.

Gu Siyuan, who had been playing with his phone, also glanced at him.

Xie Qingxiao sat back in his seat calmly but with a slightly smug tone, “That’s it.”

Gu Siyuan lowered his eyes and chuckled lightly, suddenly feeling that today’s stocks might continue to rise.