Chapter 40: A Birthday Invitation and a Confession

Ding Wei and Yu Xi found out that Lu Shi, as soon as his foot injury healed, had gone straight to Chen Youxuan’s house with a cake and used it to wash the faces of Chen Youxuan and his friends. They couldn’t help teasing him in the group chat.

Ding Wei: After this battle, our Brother Lu’s bad reputation is going to spread far and wide.

Yu Xi: What bad reputation? It’s clearly a fearsome reputation!

Ding Wei: I get it now. You’re just a little fanboy of Brother Lu.

Ding Wei: But Brother Lu, why didn’t you call me to go with you? What if they ganged up on you? That would have been dangerous.

Lu Shi: Then I’d have a serious game with them and give them some education with love.

“Thump.”

The exercise book suddenly landed in front of him. The wrong answers were circled in red by Shen Zheming, with the solution written beside them.

The competition was coming up soon. This was the final sprint, and Lu Shi spent every day in the Minxing study room.

Shen Zheming sat next to him. While Shen Zheming was showing him the problems, Lu Shi happened to be bored. He couldn’t openly play with his phone, that would be too disrespectful.

So, like students do in class, he put his phone under the desk and secretly checked the group messages.

Unfortunately, he was a bit nearsighted. Without realizing it, he kept lowering his head to see better.

After a while, his neck started to ache. He gradually forgot himself and brought the phone up.

Lu Shi cleared his throat. Under Shen Zheming’s gaze, he silently locked the phone and tucked it beneath his book.

It was drizzling outside today. Lu Shi hadn’t brought an umbrella. He’d just put on a cap and dashed over, so the ends of his hair were misted with rain.

Shen Zheming leaned slightly toward him. “Since you already got the money, why are you still participating in the competition?”

Shen Zheming: “If I’m not mistaken, you entered the Aoqiao Cup for the prize money. What do you need the money for?”

Lu Shi licked his dry lips. “What if I said I want to start a business?”

He had lived a second life. He knew all the opportunities for making money in the next few years. He was also very familiar with how to lead a team and manage a company.

But that statement sounded shocking coming from someone who had just stepped out of a poor county and hadn’t even graduated high school.

Originally, he’d joined the Aoqiao Cup for the money. But now that he had the startup funds, participating was more about building a reputation.

If he founded a company with the fame of being a top-five math genius from the competition, plenty of big players would probably be willing to invest and cooperate with him.

Lu Shi figured Shen Zheming definitely wouldn’t believe him, so he didn’t plan to explain.

He wasn’t in the habit of sharing his plans. He’d just let it slip unconsciously.

Lu Shi bent his neck to look at the problems. Shen Zheming watched him quietly for two seconds. From that angle, he could clearly see the blocker patch on the back of Lu Shi’s neck.

“I believe you.”

Lu Shi’s pen paused. Before he could look up, Shen Zheming continued.

“But you don’t have to do it that way. If you want to start a business, I can help you.”

Lu Shi stared at Shen Zheming’s face for a long moment and saw that he was serious.

Truly, fortunes change. What he’d been unable to hear in his last life, he now heard without warning in this one.

Lu Shi’s heart swirled with emotion. He couldn’t help leaning sideways and saying, “Brother Shen, seriously, that’s the most beautiful love confession I’ve ever heard.”

“Love confession?” Shen Zheming’s calm gaze slid over from the corner of his eye.

Lu Shi: “…”

That wasn’t really the point.

“Thank you for being willing to support the needy.” Lu Shi straightened up and moved his wrists and neck a little. “But I don’t need it for now. I’d rather make Chen Qiming bleed a bit.”

Shen Zheming noticed that whenever Lu Shi encountered a topic he didn’t know how to respond to, his little habits became more frequent.

Right now, he was pretending to look at the problem, but actually he was twisting two strands of hair around his fingers.

Lu Shi didn’t need his help, so Shen Zheming didn’t insist.

Both of their phones vibrated at the same time.

Yu Xi and Ding Wei had been chatting in the group, sending dozens of messages in a row. When the other two still didn’t show up, they @-mentioned them.

Yu Xi: Brother Shen, Brother Lu, the third of next month is my birthday. Can I invite you to my birthday party? It’s at the resort next door. All expenses are on me.

A party?

That must mean a lot of people.

Lu Shi didn’t really want to go. He was lazy, and December was cold. He hated the cold.

Ning County was in the south; the temperature never dropped below zero all year. During his first year in the capital, he hadn’t adapted to the northern winter and kept catching colds and coughing. That made him hate going outside in winter ever since.

But scrolling up through the chat history, he saw that since it was his twentieth birthday, Yu Xi was especially excited and serious. He’d directly made a dozens-of-pages PPT for the party arrangements, covering everything from food to accommodation and transportation.

Lu Shi shook his phone and asked Shen Zheming, “Brother Shen, are you going?”

Shen Zheming didn’t answer directly. Instead, he countered flatly, “What about you?”

Lu Shi hesitated. He opened the PPT in the group and flipped through it page by page. “Of course I’m going. The exams will be over by the end of the month. I can go out and relax.”

Shen Zheming hummed in acknowledgment. Then he moved his fingers and replied in the group.

Shen Zheming: We’ll both go.

Ever since losing face in front of his friends, Chen Youxuan had been avoiding Lu Shi like a snake or scorpion.

Although there wasn’t enough proof that Lu Shi had planned everything that happened at Bihai Chenwan, Chen Youxuan knew Lu Shi was getting back at him.

He packed up his things at Minxing, stopped attending classes, and never came back.

It wasn’t until the day of the Aoqiao Cup competition that Ding Wei realized Lu Shi had never been studying junior high basics at all. He’d been studying Olympiad math.

Ding Wei was dumbfounded, his jaw nearly hit the floor.

Was this the same Brother Lu who slept in class and only scored a dozen points on the institution’s quizzes?

They’d seemed to be slacking off together, but was Ding Wei the only actual underachiever?

Yu Xi ruthlessly mocked him in the group chat.

Shen Zheming was busy with Jushang Group matters. He went back to the Shen residence, placed the work report summary on Mr. Shen’s desk, and was about to leave when Mr. Shen stopped him.

“You haven’t been back for so many days. Why are you in such a hurry to leave after less than five minutes inside?”

Shen Zheming didn’t hide anything. He told the truth. “I’m picking someone up.”

Lu Shi had finished his exams today. Ding Wei and the others had made a reservation at a restaurant, saying Lu Shi had overworked his brain today and needed to replenish his energy.

If Shen Zheming went from the Shen residence, he would pass right by the school where Lu Shi had taken his exams, so he could pick him up along the way.

After Mrs. Shen’s persuasion, Mr. Shen had gradually let go of his initial prejudice against Lu Shi. Upon careful investigation, he found that it was basically others who started it with Lu Shi.

As Mrs. Shen said, that child was neither humble nor arrogant. At least he wouldn’t let himself be bullied.

Mr. Shen revealed a meaningful smile. “When will you bring him home? Your grandfather has wanted to meet him for a long time.”

Although Old Master Shen had long retired to a life of leisure, he was still very well-informed.

When the rumor about Shen Zheming and Lu Shi first spread, he’d been very curious about Lu Shi, but Mr. Shen had held him back. Later, when Shen Zheming used a lot of connections to suppress the matter concerning Lu Shi, the old man couldn’t sit still any longer.

This time, Shen Zheming was either in a hurry to leave or had simply forgotten. He didn’t use the ‘we’re just friends’ excuse to shut Mr. Shen up.

A fleeting ripple passed through Shen Zheming’s eyes. He curled his fingers. “He might not be willing.”

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