The Silent Battlefield
Shi Chongyuan's order finally came, in an unquestionable manner.
On the last weekend before the provincial competition, Yunya was asked to go home. This time, it wasn't a discussion, but a notification. The driver drove directly to the apartment building where Yunya and Yunying shared, waiting there silently and resolutely.
Shi Xu stood by the window, his eyes cold as he looked at the familiar black sedan below. He knew this wasn't an ordinary family gathering; it was a trap. Shi Zhiyuan's "performance" in the lab and his warning about "redundant processes" were merely the prelude to this battle.
“I’ll go with you.” Yunxi walked to his side, her voice not loud, but unusually firm.
Shixu shook his head, his tone leaving no room for negotiation: "No."
He couldn't let her step into that place; it was his battlefield, his alone.
Looking at his tense profile, Yunxi didn't insist, but gently took his hand: "Then come back soon. I'll be waiting for you."
Her palms were warm, carrying a reassuring strength. Shi Xu grasped them in return, squeezed them tightly, then released them, turned, and went downstairs.
Back in that cold villa, the atmosphere was even more somber than Shi Xu had imagined. Shi Chongyuan sat in the main seat of the living room, a tea set in front of him, but he didn't touch it. Chen Wanru sat beside him, her face still bearing that perfect, gentle smile, but there was a hint of barely perceptible tension in her eyes.
Shi Zhiyuan, on the other hand, sat on a single sofa a little further away, with a thin laptop on his lap. His fingers were rapidly typing on the keyboard, as if everything in front of him was irrelevant, just a set of data that needed to be processed.
"Sit down." Shi Chongyuan raised his chin, gesturing for Yunya to sit on the sofa opposite him.
Shi Xu sat down, his back straight, and said nothing.
"How's the preparation for the provincial competition going?" Shi Chongyuan asked directly, his tone calm but carrying an invisible pressure.
"Prepare as usual." The timing response was equally concise.
“What I want is not ‘normal’.” Shi Chongyuan frowned. “What I want is absolute certainty. The Shi family cannot afford to lose face like this.”
A barely perceptible, cold smile tugged at the corner of Shi Xu's mouth. It was the Yun family again. In his father's eyes, all his efforts and achievements were ultimately just for the sake of the "Shi family."
"I heard you've been getting quite close to that girl named Yunxi lately." He changed the subject abruptly, his gaze sharpening as he looked at Shixu.
It's here. Shi Xu's heart sank, but his face remained expressionless.
“She is my classmate and also my teammate in the competition,” he replied calmly.
"Teammate?" Shi Chongyuan scoffed. "A 'teammate' who came in last in the provincial competition? What help can she offer you, besides distracting you!"
His voice suddenly rose, carrying an unquestionable authority: "I warned you, don't waste your time and energy on unimportant people! What is your goal? It's to win the provincial first prize, enter the national training team, and pave the way for the Shi family and your own future! Not to play some childish emotional games!"
Shi Xu's hands, resting on his knees, clenched quietly, his nails digging into his palms. He forced himself to meet his father's gaze, his voice still steady, yet trembling slightly: "She is not an insignificant person."
This sentence was like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pond, instantly creating ripples.
Shi Chongyuan's face darkened completely. Chen Wanru's smile also froze, and she subconsciously glanced at Yun Chongyuan.
Yun Zhiyuan, who had been typing away on the keyboard, finally stopped. He looked up, his overly clear eyes staring at Yun Ya, as if recording an unusual data stream.
“Brother,” Shi Zhiyuan began, her voice flat, “According to data models, stable emotional relationships may provide short-term positive incentives for some individuals during high-pressure competitions, but in the long run, the average decision-making error rate increases by 15%, and the risk of deviating from the target increases by 37%. Father’s analysis is consistent with big data patterns.”
Once again, he used his cold, hard logic to provide "scientific evidence" for his father's assertions.
Shi Xu felt a sense of suffocation. He looked at Shi Zhiyuan, at his face that was somewhat similar to his own but devoid of warmth, and a mixture of anger, sorrow, and helplessness surged in his chest.
"Did you hear that?" Shi Chongyuan said coldly. "Even Zhiyuan understands this principle! You are my son, Shi Chongyuan's son. You should know better than anyone what kind of person is worthy of standing by your side!"
He stood up, looking down at Shi Xu, and issued his ultimatum: "Before the provincial competition, don't have any more contact with that girl. Focus all your energy on preparing for the competition. If I find out you're distracted by her again..." He paused, the threat in his tone unmistakable, "...you know the consequences yourself."
After saying that, he didn't look at Shi Xu again and turned to leave the living room. Chen Wanru quickly followed, giving Shi Xu a complicated look as she passed by, but ultimately said nothing.
Only Shi Xu and Shi Zhiyuan remained in the living room.
Shi Zhiyuan closed his notebook, stood up, and walked to Shi Xu. He didn't look at Shi Xu; his gaze was fixed on a point in the void, as if he were talking to thin air:
"For optimal system operation, redundant processes and potentially conflicting programs need to be cleaned up regularly. This is a basic maintenance principle."
After saying that, he nodded slightly, as if he had completed a system self-check, and turned to go upstairs.
In the empty living room, Shi Xu sat alone on the sofa, like a cold sculpture. The sky outside was darkening, and twilight streamed in through the huge French windows, but it could not dispel the chill emanating from him.
His father's words and Shi Zhiyuan's logic were like an invisible net, tightly binding him. They tried to define his life in their own way and clear away the "impurities" in their eyes.
The cold touch of the pebble he was clutching tightly to his chest was the only anchor that reminded him of his real existence.
He knew that in this silent war, he had nowhere to retreat.
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