Chapter 66 Strategy: The Sixty-Sixth Day - Pity Her
Since it was her first time visiting Bai Jiangxin's house, Xiang Di took it very seriously. She had been looking disheveled from the exams these past few days, so she made sure to go home first to wash her face, change her clothes, and even buy a lot of desserts from the bakery downstairs before meeting Ye Minjia.
Ye Minjia laughed when she saw the desserts she bought.
"Our future Mrs. Bai is quite polite; she even prepared a gift for her visit."
Liang Qianqian had teased her like that before, Xiang Di thought with a blush, they really were a match made in heaven, even their teasing habits were the same.
Ye Minjia seemed very familiar with the route to Bai Jiangxin's house, and asked Di if he often went to his house to play.
Ye Minjia nodded: "I've been there a few times. Their home theater is amazing for playing games, the immersion is incredible."
Xiang Di asked curiously, "Does he have a home theater?"
“Otherwise, why would I call you Young Mistress?” Ye Minjia said. “You see, although his father doesn’t really care about him, he has never shortchanged him materially. The house he lives in now was specially bought in our district by his father for his convenience in going to and from school. Although it was bought for school, it is still a large duplex of more than 300 square meters. You can run around in it for 800 meters, and his home theater can be used to throw a party.”
As she spoke, Ye Minjia sighed, "Back in our first year of high school, our class had a team-building activity. I thought we shouldn't waste his home theater. It would be no fun if just the two of us played together. It would be more lively if everyone played together, and we could also save some class funds, right?"
Xiang Di's tone was complicated: "He won't agree, will he?"
How could Bai Jiangxin, a person with such a strong sense of boundaries, possibly agree to a group of people coming to his house to play?
“Yeah, he didn’t agree.” Ye Minjia shrugged. “He said if I ever try to go to his house again, I can forget about ever going there again.”
It was at that time that Ye Minjia realized that Bai Jiangxin and he had completely opposite personalities.
Bai Jiangxin would rather stay alone in the huge house from morning till night, with no one to talk to, and do nothing at all, than have his private space invaded and disturbed.
Yeh Min-chia once asked him, "Don't you feel lonely spending all your time alone?"
He said that's better than being driven crazy by a bunch of people.
"Don't be fooled by his seemingly respectable demeanor at school, like he's a social butterfly. He's only that kind of person on the surface. In reality, he's just a game addict."
Xiang Di: "Does Bai Jiangxin really enjoy playing games?"
“He doesn’t like to join in the fun, and he doesn’t like to go out. He’s a total homebody. He doesn’t like going to internet cafes either, because he thinks they’re too smoky. When he’s on vacation and has nothing to do, he just stays home and plays games,” Ye Minjia said. “He doesn’t really like playing competitive games either. He’s afraid of getting dragged down when he plays solo, and he’s too lazy to find teammates. He just likes to play single-player games by himself, so he has a lot of game consoles at home.”
He's a lone wolf, and even prefers to play games offline. So when did he start getting used to being with other people?
Ye Minjia looked at the girl in front of him.
It seems that it all started when Xiang Di appeared next to him.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"
Xiang Di: "Ask away."
"How did Bai Jiangxin fall for you? Of course, I'm not saying there's nothing likable about you, I'm just curious what qualities he was attracted to in you?" Ye Minjia's lips curled up, her tone quite incredulous: "To be honest, before you, I really couldn't imagine Bai Jiangxin dating anyone. I thought he would be a bachelor for life. I thought you would like him first and then pursue him, but it turns out that's not the case."
He had asked Bai Jiangxin before, but Bai Jiangxin told him to mind his own business. So, he had no choice but to ask another person involved.
Ke Xiangdi shook her head and said softly, "To be honest, I don't know either."
"You didn't know?!"
Ye Minjia clicked his tongue. He told Xiang Di not to worry. He would organize a few more rounds of Truth or Dare at the dinner party in a couple of days and secretly manipulate things. He was sure he could get Bai Jiangxin's true feelings out of him.
Although this sounds a bit coercive, sometimes you have to push a man like Bai Jiangxin, who is both aloof and secretly passionate.
-
Security in upscale residential areas is quite strict, and you have to scan a code to register. Fortunately, Ye Minjia was familiar with the process and directly gave Bai Jiangxin's building and apartment number.
Just then, a car was about to enter. The person in the driver's seat rolled down the window and politely said, "Hello, sir, I'm looking for Mr. Bai who lives here. I called him but he was busy and didn't answer. Could you please let him know?"
"Hello, there are several households with the surname Bai here. Which one are you asking about?"
"Bai Guang, do you know that he also has a son named Bai Jiangxin?"
Upon hearing Bai Jiangxin's name, Ye Minjia and Xiang Di exchanged a glance.
The security guard said, "Oh, it's Mr. Bai's place. Please get out of the car and register."
The driver parked the car on the side of the road and then got out.
A very tall and elegant woman, dressed in a camel-colored business pantsuit, carrying a Birkin bag in the same color, and wearing polarized sunglasses.
Upon hearing the security guard say that the two children with him were also going to Mr. Bai's house, the woman paused and took off her sunglasses.
Xiang Di and Ye Minjia then got a clear look at the woman's features.
Bai Jiangxin's face is stunning whether he's a man or a woman; as a man, he's aloof and handsome, and as a woman, he's intellectual and beautiful.
Based on their resemblance in features alone, both men could roughly guess the woman's identity.
The woman asked them if they were Xin'er's classmates. After receiving an affirmative answer, she introduced herself: "Hello, I am Xin'er's mother. My surname is Jiang, and my given name is Jiang Ruya."
What a coincidence, we actually ran into Bai Jiangxin's mother.
"Since you know that Xin'er lives here, you must be his good friends."
After confirming each other's identities, Jiang Ruya politely said to them, "Would you like to go for a coffee nearby? I have a lot to say to you about Xin'er."
-
[You dare break my promise? I'm bringing Xiang Di to arrest you.]
Bai Jiangxin was taking a shower at the time and did not see the message.
When he came out of the bathroom and returned to his room with his hair still half wet, he learned that Ye Minjia had brought Xiang Di to his house forty minutes earlier.
Half an hour ago, Ye Minjia sent several more messages.
[Oh my god, I ran into your mom at the door! You and your mom look quite alike.]
【[Location]】
Your mom wants to treat us to coffee. What would you like to drink? I'll pack some for you to take up later.
[Brother, I'm so sorry! I told Xiang Diqu that your mom is her future mother-in-law, and she overheard me. = = Your mom's expression is really weird right now, what should I do?]
The latest message was sent fifteen minutes ago.
Your mom said she wants to talk to Xiang Di alone, so I'm going home now.
I've booked a private karaoke room for tonight. I've already posted the address in our class group chat. If you don't want to go, that's fine too.
Bai Jiangxin exited the chat interface with Ye Minjia.
During this time, Ye Minjia sent him so many messages, but the sunflower avatar never sent him a single message.
Bai Jiangxin called Xiang Di directly, but she didn't answer. He then called Ye Minjia.
After a long wait, the call was finally answered. Bai Jiangxin said in a deep voice, "What did she say to you?"
There was a silence of more than half a minute before someone asked with difficulty, "You... can you really hear what other people are thinking?"
Ye Minjia's tone was incredulous and tentative. His tone was not harsh, and could even be described as very cautious, but Bai Jiangxin was stumped by his question.
When his deepest secret was revealed by his best friend, he was stunned and felt a sharp pain in his eardrums, as if he were being pierced by a buzzing electric current.
But there was no point in hiding it any longer, so Bai Jiangxin simply admitted it.
Having revered nature and science for eighteen years, Ye Minjia had always thought that mind reading was something that only appeared in science fiction and fantasy movies. Now that this thing had appeared in his real life, and in the hands of his close friend, the impact was simply too great.
Ye Minjia stammered, "You...you give me some time to process this..."
Bai Jiangxin said, "It's okay if you can't digest it, I understand."
From the day he met Ye Minjia, Bai Jiangxin was prepared that they wouldn't be best friends for life.
He always wanted to let Ye Minjia return to a normal life and make normal friends, instead of letting him stay with this monster who had no sense of boundaries.
He was mentally prepared, but not for the other person.
He can't let go.
-
When Bai Jiangxin arrived at the coffee shop, he only saw Jiang Ruya inside.
He frowned and walked straight up to her.
Jiang Ruya was still leisurely drinking her coffee when she noticed her son had arrived. She looked up and called out "Xin'er," marveling at how tall he had grown. She asked him what he wanted to drink and inquired why his hair was still wet.
Bai Jiangxin coldly looked down at his mother, ignoring all her questions, and asked directly, "What gives you the right to tell them?"
Jiang Ruya asked softly, "Am I wrong? Don't your friends have the right to know what kind of person they are facing every day?"
Bai Jiangxin: "That's none of your business to say."
“If I don’t tell them, they’ll never know, because you would never tell them, Xin’er, you simply don’t dare to tell them.”
"In this lifetime, who can guarantee that they will never have dark and lewd thoughts? When pushed to the limit, they may even have thoughts of murder and arson."
"Even the most loving couples will have moments when they want to strangle each other. If you see a smiling person on the street, he might be jealous of his colleague who just got promoted and wish that his colleague would be hit by a car tomorrow. If you see a man with his wife and children, he might be thinking about which hotel to go to with his lover tonight."
After giving these unsettling examples, Jiang Ruya put down her coffee cup and calmly looked at Bai Jiangxin.
"This is the dark side of human nature; everyone has it. If someone heard this kind of thought, who wouldn't feel horrified?"
"So after I told them, they left immediately," Jiang Ruya said. "Especially that girl named Xiang Di, her face looked very pale."
Bai Jiangxin's pupils constricted sharply, and his hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists.
Jiang Ruya comforted him: "Xin'er, you can't blame your friend, and you can't blame that girl either. You have to understand them."
"It's fine to be friends, since you don't see each other every day. But if she's your girlfriend, or even if you're going to start a family together in the future, you'll be together sooner or later. Who can accept that? If that girl chooses to break up with you, that's perfectly normal."
"Because this is the choice a normal person should make," she said.
"Oh right, this is the dessert that girl bought for you. She asked me to give it to you. I didn't even know you liked desserts."
After saying that, Jiang Ruya pushed the paper bag containing the desserts in front of him.
Bai Jiangxin squeezed his eyes shut and said in a hoarse voice, "...What exactly do you want?"
I want to take you abroad.
Finally getting to the point, Jiang Ruya suddenly looked at him seriously: "Xin'er, actually, when you were very young, I vaguely noticed that you were different from ordinary people, but you were not close to me and would not tell me anything, and your father knew nothing about it either. When I asked your grandfather, he also kept quiet."
She then changed the subject: "I wasn't sure until last year when I discovered this rare genetic case in the medical records of the medical school where I worked."
The file is top secret. She has now become a U.S. citizen and cannot reveal too much, but at least she is certain that the genetic disease developed very early, even during the war.
Therefore, it is not hard to imagine that the fact that Mr. Bai was deeply trusted by the organization and moved freely in the intelligence field, and later received many medals, probably had some credit to this illness.
The old man has connections, so she can't confront him head-on; she can only start with her son.
At this point, Jiang Ruya stood up abruptly, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes: "There are so few cases of this disease in the world now. Out of a hundred doctors, there might not be even one who has heard of it. Xin'er, give me a chance to make up for the years I have neglected you. Even if I exhaust all my knowledge, I will try my best to help you return to a normal life."
She gently took Bai Jiangxin's arm and said to him sincerely, "Come abroad with me, Xin'er. When you're cured, you can come back and interact with people normally. Don't you want that?"
At the same time, she was also pleading in her heart for her son to give her a chance.
Faced with his mother's request, Bai Jiangxin looked down at him coldly, a hint of sarcasm flashing in his dark eyes, before suddenly smiling.
"You said that when I was very young, you already vaguely sensed that I could hear the thoughts of the people around me, is that right?"
Jiang Ruya nodded: "...Yes, but I'm not sure."
Bai Jiangxin said calmly, "So you knew I could hear your thoughts, why did you still call me a burden when you were going through your divorce with Dad?"
Jiang Ruya suddenly released her grip and looked at him in shock.
He still remembers things that happened more than a decade ago.
How could I forget? The harsh words from my parents have hurt me more than any other vicious words in the world. These words are like a needle, forever stuck in my heart.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Bai Jiangxin asked her.
“You’re afraid I’ll tell the lawyer that I want to live with my mother, and you’re afraid the court will ultimately award custody to you, which will disrupt your plans to go abroad.”
Jiang Ruya moved her lips, wanting to deny it, but was interrupted by his calm and straightforward inner analysis.
“Actually, if you didn’t want my custody back then, you could have just told me directly, instead of trying to maintain the image of a good mother by saying hypocritical things to others while blaming me in your heart for ruining your life.”
Bai Jiangxin still looked at his mother coldly, but his suppressed tone and slightly choked Adam's apple still revealed his somewhat agitated emotions at this moment.
He actually learned the idiom "honeyed words, dagger in the heart" from his mother.
"You said this case is very rare, and you want to cure me, really?"
Jiang Ruya quickly replied, "Of course it's true!"
"That's such a pity." Bai Jiangxin smiled slightly. "Wouldn't Professor Jiang be missing out on an opportunity to become famous?"
Jiang Ruya took a big step back.
She hasn't touched him yet, so why is she doing this?
"Don't worry, I can't hear you," Bai Jiangxin said calmly.
Bai Jiangxin thought with a touch of irony that his mother's exploitation of him was so obvious that he didn't even need to read her mind. Perhaps his mother had some genuine feelings for him, but those feelings paled in comparison to her scientific research.
Jiang Ruya turned pale after her thoughts were exposed. Bai Jiangxin didn't say anything more, picked up the bag of desserts, and left the coffee shop.
-
Xiang Di did not attend the class dinner that evening.
Even Xiang Rongqiang and his wife knew that tonight would be a very lively evening for the students who had just finished the college entrance examination. After the exam, the students really should relax.
They were prepared for their daughter to stay out all night. As long as she stayed at a reliable female classmate's house, they figured it wouldn't be a big deal to let her stay out once.
However, after dinner, Xiang Di was still sitting in the living room watching TV, showing no intention of going out.
Her phone, which was on the coffee table, kept receiving messages, but she didn't even glance at them. Instead, she hugged her cushion and stared intently at the TV.
Xiang Sheng walked over, kicked the sofa with her foot, and asked, "Hey, doesn't your class have any activities tonight? Aren't you going out?"
"Yes." Xiang Di buried the lower half of her face in the cushion. "I don't want to go."
"Why don't you want to go? Didn't you do well on the exam?" Xiang Sheng sat down on the sofa and patted her head. "Then you should make the most of your time to have fun before the results come out. Otherwise, you'll have even less time to play when you have to go to the repeat school."
Xiang Di glared at him fiercely: "You're the one who repeated it! You've already done it twice, three times, four times!"
"Sorry, I'm a graduate student admitted through the guaranteed admission program," Xiang Sheng said in a cheeky tone.
Xiang Di gritted her teeth, picked up a pillow, and was about to hit him.
The brother and sister started arguing on the sofa, and Luo Qinshu had to step in to stop them.
"Your sister just finished her exams, don't say such unlucky things."
She said a few words to her son, then said to her daughter, "Don't think about it too much now that the exam is over. You didn't have much of a break during your senior year of high school. Now that the exam is finally over, go out and have some fun. Don't stay home and make yourself miserable."
Xiang Di still refused to go out and insisted on staying at home.
Seeing that something was wrong with her, Xiang Sheng asked, "Did you have a conflict with someone in your class?"
"……No."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the phone on the coffee table lit up again. Xiang Sheng said, "Aren't you going to answer the phone? It must be one of your classmates calling to urge you to go out."
"Don't worry about it," Xiang Di said in a muffled voice. "I'll hang up in a bit."
Xiang Sheng scoffed, and taking advantage of her sister's inattention, she quickly reached out, grabbed her phone from the coffee table, and ran away.
Xiang Di immediately sat up from the sofa: "What are you doing! Don't answer!"
She chased Xiang Sheng to the wall and reached out to snatch the phone, but Xiang Sheng raised her hand so high that she couldn't grab it even if she jumped up.
"Let me see who called you." Xiang Sheng glanced at the contact name and laughed. "Bai Jiangxin, one of the Hundred Family Surnames? Are you a male or female classmate with the Hundred Family Surnames?"
Upon hearing this name, Xiang Di jumped even higher.
"Give it back!"
Seeing her suddenly become so agitated, Xiang Sheng had a feeling something was amiss, so he immediately pressed the green key to answer the call and then pressed the speakerphone.
A deep voice came from the other end: "You finally answered the phone."
Male?
Xiang Sheng frowned subconsciously, and at that moment, Xiang Di, with an unexpected leaping ability, jumped up, snatched the phone, quickly ran into the room, and closed the door behind him.
The call had already connected, and it wouldn't be good to hang up immediately, so Xiang Di had to carefully choose her words and softly say "hello."
Bai Jiangxin asked, "I called you several times, why didn't you answer?"
"...Oh, I was watching TV, I didn't hear you."
"Don't lie to me."
Xiang Di bit her lip and remained silent.
Where are you? Can we meet?
Xiang Di made an excuse: "...I'm not available right now."
"Don't worry, I can't hear you," Bai Jiangxin said.
He accurately perceived her thoughts and slowly explained to her, "Didn't she tell you? I need a medium to read minds. I won't know what you're thinking just by being face to face."
Xiang Di didn't want to see him.
But she really wanted to see him. They hadn't seen each other or talked much during the days of the college entrance exam. She had originally planned to hug him tightly when she finally saw him.
Seeing that she didn't answer, Bai Jiangxin asked again, pleadingly, "Can we meet?"
In the end, Xiang Di softened and sat down at the bus stop downstairs from her home to wait for him.
Although today is the last day of the college entrance examination, other people's lives continue to go on. Under the night sky, buses come and go. Xiang Di doesn't know whether she is looking forward to Bai Jiangxin's arrival or resisting it.
He finally arrived.
To get here as quickly as possible, he didn't ride an electric scooter or take the bus, but instead took a taxi.
Seeing the person she hadn't seen for days, Xiang Di felt an overwhelming urge to rush over and hug him. But remembering what his mother had said that afternoon, she lowered her head, clasped her hands together, and hid them behind her back.
The moment Bai Jiangxin saw her, he saw her sitting there waiting for him, wearing a thin dress and with her long hair down. He walked over and wanted to hold her hand behind her back.
Xiang Di's eyelashes trembled slightly as she subtly moved away from him.
She would never have avoided him before.
Bai Jiangxin had to withdraw his hand after missing its target. His expression darkened, and he explained to her, "Even if I had touched you, I wouldn't know what you were thinking right now."
"But your mother said that as long as you have physical contact with someone, or share a set of tableware with someone, you can hear what the other person is thinking..."
Xiang Di lowered his eyes in a disheveled state.
Thus, everything that happened before became clear, including their initial encounter.
It comes from that cup of milk tea I drank wrong.
From that moment on, he could always hear what she was thinking.
So he knew from the beginning that she had a crush on him, and had had a crush on him for a very long time.
She foolishly said she was going to tell him something important, but he already knew it and was just pretending not to.
Xiang Di bit her lip in utter embarrassment, lowered her head, and dared not look at him. Her hands nervously clasped together behind her back, as if she wanted to peel off even her fingernails.
The image she painstakingly cultivated in front of him, her feigned composure, and her little schemes now seem so awkward and foolish.
She was wearing clothes, but standing in front of Bai Jiangxin, she felt like she wasn't wearing anything at all.
Even if she is cheerful 24 hours a day, there will always be an hour when she feels resentful and negative towards the world. She will have a lot of lewd and gloomy negative thoughts in her mind that she cannot control.
He had already seen the side of her that she least wanted him to see.
Compared to her physical nakedness, Xiang Di felt that the nakedness of her heart made her even more ashamed in front of Bai Jiangxin.
Just thinking about all her scheming and fantasies about him, which had long been exposed to him yet she remained completely oblivious, pretending to be innocent and adorable, made her want to kill herself.
Feeling ashamed, humiliated, and utterly humiliated, her nose stung with tears. She didn't really want to cry, but all the embarrassment and negative emotions surged up in an instant, making it hard for her to breathe.
Her shoulders were trembling. Bai Jiangxin was taken aback and wanted to go forward to comfort her.
But she stepped back and dodged it again.
“I feel like I’ve been a clown in front of you all this time…” Xiang Di said, her voice choked with sobs.
Bai Jiangxin opened his lips: "...No."
Xiang Di didn't listen to what he said; instead, she got caught up in her own emotions.
So he's with her because he pities her?
It's pitiful that she had a crush on him for so long.
That makes sense; his sudden interest in her wasn't because he truly liked her.
He only stayed with her because he had no other choice.
He was so bothered by her lewd thoughts that he simply gave in.
She suddenly opened her teary eyes, stared at him blankly, and her tone became somewhat agitated: "So the reason you didn't want to be my deskmate before, and why you wanted to ask for leave to go home, was it all because of me, right? Because I was thinking about those things every day, and I bothered you..."
Overwhelmed with embarrassment and endless guilt, her tears flowed freely as she stammered, "I'm...I'm sorry. If I had known you could hear my heart, I would never have thought of those things to bother you..."
She sobbed, her shoulders shaking, and asked him worriedly between sobs, "Are you... are you okay with your college entrance exams these past few days?"
She really didn't know what to do if she caused him to perform poorly on his college entrance exam.
Hearing her worried, tearful voice, Bai Jiangxin was stunned for a few seconds. When he came to his senses, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he felt like crying and laughing at the same time.
How could there be such a person? She was clearly the victim whose inner thoughts were being spied on, yet she was still apologizing and worrying about him because her feelings were disturbing his life.
He had indeed been troubled and resentful about this at first, and wanted to stay far away from her, but now, hearing her apology, he only felt heartache.
Bai Jiangxin stepped forward, and she instinctively tried to dodge, but he didn't care. He forcibly hugged her and pulled her into his arms.
"It's okay, it's really okay." He patted her head and comforted her in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, I performed normally."
Hearing him say that he would perform normally, Xiang Di finally stopped crying and breathed a sigh of relief.
"...That's good, that's good."
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