FIMA Ch10: Analysis

Xie Qingxiao licked his lips.

After a while, he said quite helplessly, “I told you, it’s a friend.”

Gu Siyuan completely ignored his sophistry and said directly, “The answer is very simple: because Shen Ting likes Lu Jiayang.”

Xie Qingxiao stared at the person opposite him. “You… think so too?”

For a moment, he didn’t know how to describe the feeling in his heart. It felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal a clear sky and the dust had settled, yet there was also a sense of bizarre, unacceptable defeat.

Gu Siyuan raised his eyebrows, sincerely mocking him: “Didn’t you say it was your friend?”

Xie Qingxiao had no intention of arguing with him further. He merely lowered his eyes and gave a low laugh.

A moment later, fingering a black chess piece, he asked with a voice tinged with bewildered confusion, “But… setting aside the fact that Lu Jiayang is also an Alpha, they’ve clearly known each other since childhood. After so many years, since they like each other, why must they…”

Why must they… drag me into this ridiculous game of chess?

Xie Qingxiao didn’t say the rest of the words, nor could he bring himself to say them.

The pure black chess piece danced back and forth between his jade-white, slender fingertips, making his fingers look as if they were truly carved from fine jade.

Gu Siyuan accurately tossed the empty ice cream tub into a trash can not far away. Shaking his head, he said, “Who knows the romantic games you youngsters play?”

Xie Qingxiao’s somewhat low spirits were provoked again by these words.

He looked at the person opposite him, gently rolled his eyes, and said, “We are youngsters. Are you middle-aged or elderly?”

After saying that, he wrinkled his nose, grabbed the remaining tub of ice cream next to Gu Siyuan’s hand, and viciously scooped out a large spoonful.

In this early winter weather, this large spoonful entering his mouth immediately chilled him to the core. Xie Qingxiao couldn’t help but hiss, then continued asking, “If their feelings are mutual, then what does that make me?”

Gu Siyuan looked at his forcefully commandeered ice cream, feeling a bit of heartache. He said in an icy tone, “A passerby, what else?”

Xie Qingxiao laughed out of anger. He looked up and glared at him with slight annoyance.

After a while, speaking as if he were mocking himself, yet also venting, he said: “You might not even believe it if I say it out loud. On Qixi, it was clearly Shen Ting who took the initiative to give me a gift. Lu Jiayang also actively calls me ‘sister-in-law’ on a daily basis. I didn’t do anything, but now it seems I’ve become the unluckiest one…”

Gu Siyuan fell silent as he looked at the ice cream being poked into a mushy mess.

However, Xie Qingxiao was a persistent person. His wet, round eyes stared at Gu Siyuan pitifully like a fawn, filled with a pure, almost newborn-like obstinacy.

Gu Siyuan coughed lightly. As someone with zero romantic experience, he actually had to act as a relationship counselor now. He just hoped he wouldn’t lead anyone astray…

He thought about it and tried to analyze it as rationally as possible. “In a love triangle, regardless of who is right or wrong, the person who isn’t loved will definitely end up being the most pitiful and unlucky in the end.”

“You do sound very innocent, but matters of the heart are hard to force. You only have two choices right now: one is to cut your losses in time and completely sever your feelings for Shen Ting; the second is to rise up and take revenge, making the two of them pay the price.”

Hearing the first choice, Xie Qingxiao looked incredibly bored, his expression even dimming; hearing the second choice, his eyes widened slightly, and he appeared very interested.

Gu Siyuan thought to himself, No wonder he went astray later on. He’s a wolf down to his bones.

Considering the nature of his mission, Gu Siyuan continued to analyze, “However, you are a high school senior right now. It’s best to prioritize the college entrance exam. Tossing and turning over a relationship, delaying your time, and expending your mental energy is actually putting the cart before the horse.”

Thinking of the college entrance exam, and then thinking of his strange family…

The reason he could still save some face in front of Xie Chengfeng and make Gong Li and her children repeatedly suffer secret losses was, undeniably, heavily reliant on his academic performance, which could barely be called “excellent.”

Thus, Xie Qingxiao puffed out his cheeks and continued to poke at the ice cream with his head down, looking deeply discouraged.

“Of course, that’s just one point. The most important point is that Shen Ting’s family has power and influence, and he himself is a formidable character. With your small frame, fighting alone, there’s a ninety percent chance you wouldn’t be able to do anything to them at all. You might even anger Shen Ting, ultimately bringing about unpredictable consequences—consequences you cannot afford to bear,” Gu Siyuan concluded decisively.

Xie Qingxiao couldn’t even continue poking the ice cream.

He looked at Gu Siyuan and said, “Then should I just let it go like this? Was I just used for nothing…”

Gu Siyuan asked, “Pardon me for asking, but are your feelings for Shen Ting that deep? Does it have to be him? Why?”

Xie Qingxiao paused. A trace of awkwardness and shame that hadn’t been seen in a long time surfaced on his face.

After a long while, he curled his lips and said, “Actually, I’ve known him since I was very young. He helped me out of a tough spot once. Even though it was unintentional, for some reason, ever since then, his figure has been deeply imprinted in my heart…”

“…” Gu Siyuan gave Xie Qingxiao a deep look. Very promising, having puppy love at such a young age.

…

Time during the senior year already passed faster than usual, and a one-day holiday ended quickly.

Monday is not a happy day for most people in the world.

And for the students of Class 1, Grade 12 at Beichuan, this Monday was especially unhappy because of the upcoming parent-teacher meeting in the afternoon.

However, it had no effect on Gu Siyuan.

Because a stock he bought the day before yesterday had a good upward trend yesterday.

Additionally, even though they had only met once in this life, his communication with Jiang Hefeng on WeChat was quite good. They had discussed quite a few useful things. Once he finished writing the mini-program, he could probably monetize it through Jiang Hefeng’s connections.

Time is just like that: the more you want it to slow down, the faster it goes.

The morning passed quickly. After the bell for the afternoon classes rang, the nervousness and absent-mindedness of most people were clearly palpable.

The official start time for the parent-teacher meeting was 4:00 PM, which was right after the second period in the afternoon.

However, some parents arrived quite early, such as Shen Ting’s mother.

The Shen family were shareholders of Beichuan High School, and Mother Shen was even an honorary board member. Taking advantage of coming to the school for the parent-teacher meeting, she also conveniently had a brief chat with the principal.

After the first period in the afternoon ended, Mother Shen came to wait outside their classroom for Shen Ting and Lu Jiayang.

Mother Shen held an exquisitely packaged afternoon tea and handed it to Lu Jiayang, her tone gentle: “Jiayang, I just specifically had someone buy this. It’s the pastries from your favorite shop.”

“Hehe, thank you, Auntie. I knew you treat me the best,” Lu Jiayang immediately took it with a pleasant surprise, wrapping one arm around Mother Shen’s arm and starting to act spoiled.

Seeing this scene, Shen Ting also spoke to his mother in a rare, spoiled tone: “Mom, why did you only bring some for him? Is there no portion for me?”

Mother Shen said very frankly, “Obviously, there is no portion for you.”

Shen Ting seemed used to this scenario and continued asking with a bit of a smile, “Mom, whose biological mother are you really?”

Mother Shen waved her hand and joked, “Of my good boy Jiayang, of course. We picked you up off the side of the road.”

Hearing this, Lu Jiayang immediately shot a smug look at Shen Ting, his expression incredibly triumphant.

Shen Ting didn’t mind in the slightest; instead, he smiled back at him dotingly.

Mother Shen also reached out and lightly patted Lu Jiayang’s head, cooperating with a smile that was both gratified and helpless. Yet in her heart, she sighed again, just as she had lamented countless times before: Why couldn’t Jiayang be an Omega? Otherwise, he could have married into our family…

Their family backgrounds matched, they knew everything about each other, and he was so well-behaved and sensible. How wonderful that would be!

After class, Xie Qingxiao was sitting at his seat sorting out test papers. When he looked up, his gaze calmly swept over Shen Ting and the other two.

He propped his chin up and appreciated the sight with great interest for a moment.

Hmm, looks truly harmonious. Only people like this seem like a real family.

“Pfft…” A soft chuckle sounded by his ear.

Without even thinking, Xie Qingxiao knew who it was. This guy truly picked the perfect time every single time.

He immediately pulled back all his thoughts, turned his head, and glared at Gu Siyuan with angry reproach: “Classmate, do you solely rely on mocking me every day for your amusement?”

Gu Siyuan raised his head from his book, looking at him with an innocent and bewildered expression: “What are you talking about?”

Xie Qingxiao slightly furrowed his brows.

In his eyes, Gu Siyuan had always looked intelligent, calm, shrewd, and capable. It was quite rare to see him look so blank and cute…

However, he still untrustingly sized up the tattered book in Gu Siyuan’s hand. The three familiar large characters Old Master Q on the cover entered his line of sight.

His expression changed slightly, and he gave a light cough, saying, “You were reading a book just now, so you must have been laughing at something in the book…”

“What else would it be…” Gu Siyuan nodded affirmatively.

Xie Qingxiao snorted with a guilty conscience and said no more.

Gu Siyuan thought for a moment, then cast a sidelong glance at him and said, “Or did you do something stupid again?”

Having spent a few days with Gu Siyuan, Xie Qingxiao had learned nothing else, but he had mastered a bit of the essence of this ability to spout nonsense without changing his expression: “I’ve been sitting here the whole time, haven’t even said a single word. What could I have done?”

However, these words seemed to subconsciously admit that he had indeed done many stupid things in the past.

The corners of Gu Siyuan’s mouth curled up slightly. He rummaged across his desk and handed over a math test paper. “Alright, your performance today was very good. As a reward, do some questions to relax and be happy.”

Xie Qingxiao grabbed it and glanced over it a few times, actually saying with pleasant surprise, “Where did this come from? The question types are very novel!”

The two students in the row behind them watched this scene, completely dumbfounded.

Doing math problems to be happy?
Wouldn’t that just make you more and more miserable?
Sure enough, I don’t understand the world of Academic Gods and top students!

However, Xie Qingxiao didn’t immediately lower his head to start writing on the test paper; instead, he got up to walk out.

“I just remembered. Old Wang told me at noon to go to his office and get a set of math test papers to hand out before the second period.”

Gu Siyuan said leisurely, “Mn, have a smooth trip. Even if you see something up close when you go out, don’t cry bitterly.”

Hearing this, Xie Qingxiao almost rolled his eyes.

But just as he walked past him, he suddenly remembered something. He pulled Gu Siyuan’s collar and said, “Didn’t you say you were reading a book the whole time, and weren’t laughing at me just now?”

Gu Siyuan: “…”

A miscalculation!
When this kid isn’t caught up in romance, he’s actually quite sharp…

Support me on Ko-fi