OEBSAS |Chapter 12

“One hundred and thirty million once!”

“One hundred and thirty million twice!”

“One hundred and thirty million three times! Sold!”

With one bang of the gavel, it was settled.

Shao Xian woke from his dream once again, looking somewhat helpless.

The scene in the dream just now was of an auction he attended to buy a birthday gift for his grandfather. He had taken a fancy to one of the lots and originally planned to bid it in order to honor his grandfather, but it was snatched away by someone else.

Only afterward did he learn that the person who spent one hundred and thirty million to buy it was Fu Baizhou.

Though he was angry, there was nothing he could do when his assets did not match the other party’s. He could only blame himself.

However, on the day of his grandfather’s birthday banquet, that lot still appeared among the gifts, under Fu Baizhou’s name.

Shao Xian sat quietly on the bed for a while, then could not help but rub his forehead and laugh.

Who could have imagined that the Chen Baizhou now helping people do homework for fifty cents would, later on, not care at all about that one hundred and thirty million?

There were quite a few punks at Ruihong Elementary School. These punks did not want to do homework, but also did not want their parents called in, so a business of helping with homework had emerged among the students.

Shao Xian had not known about it before, but now he did.

There were probably about twenty homework notebooks in Chen Baizhou’s schoolbag. At fifty cents each, he could net ten yuan.

The reason he could get such a large order was mainly because he could imitate handwriting.

Because of that, the homework he helped write never made mistakes.

Shao Xian still clearly remembered, to this day, the bright-eyed look on Qian Wenjie’s face after he heard that Chen Baizhou could imitate handwriting.

After understanding the situation, Shao Xian did not make any comment. He was not qualified to judge whether this was right or wrong either.

Before this, Chen Baizhou had relied on this to avoid starving. What reason did he have to stop him?

The clock hand pointed to one in the morning, but Shao Xian was somewhat unable to sleep.

He got up and opened the door, then quietly walked to Chen Baizhou’s bedroom door. Through the crack under the door, he could still see a faint light.

In his previous life, there had been rumors that Fu Baizhou’s childhood was very miserable.

He had originally been just a detached bystander, but now, the more contact he had, the more he understood, and the more he understood, the more heartbroken he felt.

He thought for a long while, and was just about to knock, when the door was opened from inside.

Chen Baizhou was wearing Shao Xian’s kawaii pajamas and stood at the bedroom door, saying softly, “I heard your footsteps. I heard you hadn’t left.”

Shao Xian entered his room with a serious face, looked at the homework notebooks on the desk, and asked, “How many are left?”

“The last one.”

“When are you returning them?”

“Tomorrow morning at six-thirty.”

Ruihong Elementary School started morning reading at seven. Completing the transaction at six-thirty was indeed more reliable.

But it was already almost one-thirty now. If Chen Baizhou planned to go to Ruihong at six-thirty, then if he did not take a car, he would have to leave at the latest by six. In other words, his sleep time would be a bare four hours.

The more Shao Xian thought about it, the worse he felt.

“Tomorrow morning I’ll get up early too, and have Uncle Fang take us to Ruihong. We won’t go with Qian Wenjie anymore.”

Chen Baizhou was stunned. “Shao Xian…”

“Chen Baizhou, do you know how much the prize money for the math Olympiad competition is?” Shao Xian suddenly asked.

Chen Baizhou opened his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating.

“Looks like you know,” Shao Xian frowned. “Then I won’t waste words. With your brain, if you studied seriously, you definitely wouldn’t be worse than others. If you can win a prize, even the prize money for third place would be enough for you to help people write homework for a whole semester.”

Chen Baizhou froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed. The tear mole under his eye was tugged along, as if it had come alive.

That pair of eyes was brimming with vitality.

Shao Xian had always known that Fu Baizhou was good-looking, but he had not expected that when he was little, he would be this well-behaved and pretty.

He was different from Shao Xian’s kind of pretty. Shao Xian had big, round eyes, and as a child he looked more cute, but Chen Baizhou’s features were exquisite, his eyes slightly long and narrow, naturally carrying a bit of cold pride and sharpness, only it had not yet shown at such a young age.

“You figured it out?” Shao Xian asked.

Chen Baizhou did not answer, but instead asked, “Shao Xian, if I go back to the Chen family tomorrow, can I still go to and from school with you in the future?”

Shao Xian clearly had not expected him to return to the Chen family tomorrow, and could not help frowning. “You’re really going back?”

“Mm,” Chen Baizhou felt that always staying in someone else’s house was not appropriate. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

He was young, but not stupid.

So many people at school wanted to get close to Shao Xian just to climb onto the Shao family’s connection.

And now, in the eyes of the Chen family, he had already latched onto Shao Xian, so the Chen family, considering Shao Xian’s face, would not make things difficult for him anymore.

But he did not want to be used by the Chen family. Shao Xian was his bottom line. No one could touch him.

“How about this, you come to my house every day to do your homework, and have a meal while you’re at it. Go back after you’re done,” Shao Xian suggested.

Chen Baizhou smiled and nodded.

“It’s late, finish the last notebook and then sleep, understand?” Shao Xian added one more nagging remark before leaving.

Chen Baizhou did not feel impatient at all. He even hoped Shao Xian could keep caring about him like this forever.

The next day, Shao Xian got up early and went straight to Ruihong Elementary School with Chen Baizhou, and he did not forget to call Qian Wenjie.

After the money and goods were settled, the two of them came together to Yuying Elementary School. They came early, and there was no one yet in the classroom.

Shao Xian told Chen Baizhou to take out the Chinese and English materials, and the two of them quietly did the problems together.

Tuesday was not a wonderful day, because all three teachers took out freshly printed test papers and each gave an in-class quiz.

Apart from music class and PE class, the day was spent taking exams.

While writing the test papers, Chen Baizhou had been struggling. He was thinking whether he should deliberately write wrong answers or leave them blank like before, or strive for a good score and not let Shao Xian down.

Then with each stroke he put down, he became a little more determined.

He could not let Shao Xian down. He wanted to hear Shao Xian praise him.

After school, Chen Baizhou still went back to the Shao residence with Shao Xian. Chen Yu had never found a chance to teach Chen Baizhou a lesson, and he was so blocked up inside that he was miserable, but there was nothing he could do.

After becoming friends with Shao Xian, Qian Wenjie especially liked him. Every day he had to play with him, and even his usually most hated homework, he followed along and did seriously.

After the three of them finished their homework, Qian Wenjie hurried home to watch television and ran off in a flash.

Chen Baizhou packed up his schoolbag and was just about to go home when he heard Shao Xian ask, “My mom said she found a martial arts coach for me. In the future, would you like to learn with me?”

The child’s hand pulling at the schoolbag paused.

He already owed Shao Xian more than enough. He would never be able to repay it in this lifetime.

“I told Chen Changjian that in the future you’ll be my sparring partner, and he agreed,” Shao Xian’s calm tone sounded in the spacious room.

Chen Baizhou felt both guilty and secretly delighted.

He suddenly raised his head and said solemnly, “I will repay you in the future.”

After saying that, a faint flush could not help appearing on his face. He had self-awareness; he was nothing, so what could he repay Shao Xian with?

Shao Xian was stunned. Seeing that the child was shy but sincere, he could not help but laugh.

The reason he treated Chen Baizhou well was not because he wanted to receive his repayment in the future, but simply because he could not bear it.

But this kind of inability to bear it was very likely to leave a sensitive child at a loss.

Because being not needed was, for a person like Chen Baizhou, undoubtedly a heavy burden. He would fall into self-doubt.

Thinking of this, he turned his mind around and said with deliberate seriousness, “Chen Baizhou, do you know my identity?”

Chen Baizhou did not understand, but nodded fiercely.

Shao Xian kept bluffing him. “When I grow up in the future, I can’t embarrass the family. Whether it’s inheriting part of the family business or starting my own business, I won’t be able to do without an assistant. Would you be willing to help me?”

Chen Baizhou froze, and an enormous wave of surprise suddenly surged in his heart, as if he had been smashed by countless pies.

“I… can?” His voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz. He simply could not believe what he had heard.

Shao Xian reached out and patted his head, smiling very beautifully. “Why not? You’re good-looking, and your brain is smart too. You won’t embarrass me. How nice.”

Am I really this good? The child stared at him in a daze, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

He agreed to Shao Xian in a muddled state, then returned to the Chen family in a daze as well.

Chen Yu was sitting on the sofa watching television. When he saw him come back, he immediately said with contempt, “Since you latched onto Shao Xian, why aren’t you staying at the Shao family? What are you coming to my house for? Get lost already!”

Chen Baizhou was still immersed in the beautiful blueprint Shao Xian had drawn for him, and did not hear his barking at all. He walked straight upstairs.

Chen Yu, who had been ignored by him, was not having it.

He suddenly rushed over, grabbed Chen Baizhou’s arm in one motion, and was about to drag him down to teach him a lesson.

Chen Baizhou reacted extremely quickly, immediately shaking off Chen Yu’s hand and turning back to look at him.

Having been yanked so that he stumbled, Chen Yu almost fell to the ground. The anger in his heart could no longer be suppressed. He raised his arm and was about to hit him, but the moment he met Chen Baizhou’s gaze, he suddenly froze.

Those eyes were black and deep, as if there were not a single glimmer of light, just staring at him in a dark, eerie way. There was no hatred in them, no resentment or grievance, nothing but emptiness.

It was as if the one standing before him was a dead person.

A chill ran down Chen Yu’s spine, and he could not help but let out a strange cry: “What the hell are you looking at!”

Chen Baizhou withdrew his gaze and slowly walked upstairs.

He had not resisted before, only because he had no target worth resisting for. But now, he wanted to become Shao Xian’s most outstanding assistant, and simply did not have the time to go along with Chen Yu’s mess.