“No money, he’s just an old man; give money, he’s the Emperor. What a moving father-son relationship,” Xiang Di rolled her eyes.
She’d rather be home alone.
She was eighteen and didn’t have separation anxiety.
She could live without an adult in the house.
Now with Xiang Sheng around, she had to clean up after him.
It wasn’t that she was so diligent or loved cleaning; it was just that her brother was too untidy, and she couldn’t stand it, so she had to clean.
Housework didn’t belong to men, nor to women; it only belonged to those who couldn’t stand the mess.
She collapsed onto her bed, closed the group chat, and suddenly noticed a red dot she hadn’t tapped.
She immediately sat up again.
Her brother had made her so angry that she’d forgotten Bo Jiangxin had added her as a friend!
She quickly added him to her contacts.
Bo Jiangxin’s profile picture was a very handsome Ragdoll cat, which she guessed he probably owned.
This profile picture wasn’t unfamiliar to her; after all, even before they were friends, she had secretly scrolled through his profile several times in the group chat.
Back then, they weren’t friends, so even if she clicked on his profile picture, she couldn’t see anything.
Now, finally, as a friend, she could observe his Moments.
Xiang Di excitedly clicked in, but there was still nothing.
If it were any other guy, Xiang Di would just think, “He’s so pretentious, acting all cool.” But since it was Bo Jiangxin, she thought, “Hmm, as expected of him, very much his style.”
After adding him, Xiang Di didn’t expect Bo Jiangxin to message her first.
She sent a cute emoji, then sent him a red packet.
Xiang Di: [Money for milk and bread~]
After a few minutes, Bo Jiangxin replied: [No need, it wasn’t much.]
Xiang Di found it strange.
Didn’t he tell her to transfer the money to him afterward? Why was he saying no now?
Xiang Di: [If you don’t want the money, then why did we add each other?]
Bo Jiangxin didn’t reply for several minutes.
Xiang Di thought he was busy, so she sat at her desk, listened to music, worked on her practice test, and waited for his reply.
When the music in her headphones was suddenly interrupted by a message notification, Xiang Di immediately unlocked her screen.
Bo Jiangxin: [If you don’t want to add me, you can delete me now.]
Xiang Di: [No, no, I really wanted to add you!]
After sending that, she felt it was too undignified.
She wanted to retract it, but retracting would make it even more obvious that she was hiding something, so she added another sentence: [Actually, I’ve always wanted to add you. There are some problems I don’t know how to do, and I don’t know who to ask when I get home. Can I ask you about problems I don’t understand on WeChat in the future?]
Using studying as an excuse, this should make her seem less eager.
Xiang Di applauded her own cleverness in her heart.
Bo Jiangxin: [You can just ask me at school.]
Xiang Di: [Oh, oh, I was mainly afraid of bothering you.]
Bo Jiangxin: [Just asking about problems won’t bother me.]
Did that mean asking about other things would bother him? Had she ever asked him about anything else?
Xiang Di pondered for a while, but she couldn’t think of anything she might have done to bother him.
She felt that she had always been quite polite and mindful around him.
Could it be that she had offended him in some way she hadn’t noticed?
It must be; no wonder he said he wanted to change seats!
Hesitated for a few seconds, Xiang Di still decided to probe.
Although she didn’t expect Bo Jiangxin to like her, at least she couldn’t let him dislike her, right?
Xiang Di: [Can I ask you something?]
Bo Jiangxin: [Mm.]
Xiang Di: [Why do you want to ask the teacher to change seats? Is it my problem?]
Xiang Di: [If there’s anything I’ve done that made you uncomfortable, please tell me. I’ll definitely be careful in the future.]
Her tone was exceptionally sincere; even through the phone screen, one could almost see her genuine expression at that moment.
After a long pause, Bo Jiangxin replied: [No.]
No? Then why did he want to change seats? Was it simply that he didn’t like her as a person? So, she didn’t even have room to try?
Dislike without a reason was essentially just not having feelings.
Xiang Di didn’t know how to continue asking and planned to end this unpleasant conversation with silence.
She wasn’t the kind of person who would stubbornly push herself on someone even if she knew they didn’t like her.
Just then, Bo Jiangxin said: [It’s my own problem.]
His problem? What problem could he have?
He wouldn’t say, and Xiang Di couldn’t presumptuously ask.
She could only try one more time: [You don’t have to blame yourself. If you have any opinions about me, you must tell me so I can change.]
She then added very politely: [You’re ranked first in our grade. If being my deskmate affects your studies, the teacher will hammer me to death, lol.]
Bo Jiangxin: [No, you’re good. You haven’t affected me, and I have no opinions about you.]
Xiang Di was momentarily stunned.
Bo Jiangxin… said she was good.
Even though she knew that “good” was no different from a “friend zone” card, meaning he didn’t have feelings for her, just didn’t dislike her.
But Xiang Di was already very happy.
This at least meant that even if they weren’t deskmates, there was still a possibility of them being good friends.
That’s pretty good! Happy! Hehe.
Xiang Di sent a smiling cat emoji and asked if he had arrived home.
Bo Jiangxin said not yet.
She told him to be careful on the way and to send her a message to let her know when he got home.
Bo Jiangxin said okay.
She had originally wanted to playfully tease him, saying that handsome boys should also be careful walking alone at night, but then she thought it over, unsure if Bo Jiangxin would appreciate such a joke, so she didn’t say it.
Bo Jiangxin took a taxi directly home.
The auntie at home knew he studied hard and would make him a nutritious late-night snack every evening, waiting for him to come back and eat.
It was the same when he got home today, except the auntie had made an extra bowl of late-night snack.
Looking at the man sitting in the dining room, drinking porridge while looking at his tablet, Bo Jiangxin frowned.
The man was still wearing a suit jacket, apparently just returned from a social engagement.
Bo Jiangxin resembled him somewhat, with well-defined, handsome features and cool, detached eyebrows and eyes.
But the man’s eyes held more traces of time’s refinement.
General Manager Bo, usually swamped with work, was actually home eating late-night supper today.
Bo Jiangxin didn’t say anything and directly sat opposite the man.
After more than ten seconds of silence, it was finally the man who spoke: “Evening self-study for third-year high school students ends this late?”
Bo Jiangxin didn’t like to explain things he felt were unnecessary.
Even when facing his father, he simply hummed in response.
Then there was no more conversation.
Bo Guang frowned, put down his porridge spoon, and looked at his son.
Bo Jiangxin seemed not to notice, not even lifting his head, continuously eating his porridge with a refined manner, his lowered eyelashes concealing his expressive eyes.
Bo Guang brought up the parent-teacher conference that would be held soon.
This was the last parent-teacher conference for third-year high school, so the teachers had already notified the parents in the group, urging everyone who could attend to do so.
Although Bo Guang was busy, he wasn’t so busy that he couldn’t spare a few hours for a parent-teacher conference.
His hesitation about whether to go was purely because he was used to being absent.
Anyway, his son had never made a mistake at school, so even if he went, the teacher would just pull him aside and praise him.
He already heard too much flattery during work engagements and didn’t want to deal with teachers.
Plus, the father and son were truly not close.
Bo Jiangxin wasn’t always like this since childhood.
When he was little, he still acted like a child and was more willing to be close to his parents.
But ever since his parents filed for divorce, his son’s attitude towards him and his ex-wife instantly turned cold.
Later, the court ruled to dissolve his marriage with his ex-wife, and their property was divided.
Bo Jiangxin was very young then, so the judge favored awarding custody to the mother, but Bo Jiangxin’s mother refused.
Bo Guang asked his son if he wanted to live with him, and Bo Jiangxin said he wanted to live with his grandfather.
His grandfather had retired many years ago.
The old man only liked peace and quiet and didn’t like dealing with people.
He and his wife lived permanently in a nearby second-tier city.
Bo Jiangxin lived with his grandfather until he graduated from elementary school.
Later, for further education and better educational resources, he returned to his father’s side when he entered middle school.
After his son returned, his own father specifically instructed Bo Guang to be careful about what he said in front of Xin’er from then on and not to complain about work or relationships to him.
Bo Guang said he had never complained to his son, and his father then said, “Not even in your heart!”
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