Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Because of the New Year's Eve, Chen Mo found himself attending one family gathering after another until the sixth day of the New Year. He suddenly became the center of attention, with distant uncles and siblings appearing as if they had never been estranged.

Chen Mo never refused their invitations, accepting their compliments and listening to their advice.

However, whenever anyone inquired about what good things the old man had given him or tried to "borrow" those items under the pretense of having urgent matters, Chen Mo simply ignored them.

Before the New Year festivities were over,

the enthusiasm around him waned.

When relatives mentioned him again, they would grimace and say he was good at holding onto money, almost directly calling him stingy.

Whether Chen Mo was stingy or not, those who knew him understood.

"Another payment?" Not long after the second semester of his senior year began, Old K sent a message: "The investor you introduced has decided to invest in us after an assessment. We are already very grateful for this."

The other party immediately used a respectful title.

This made Chen Mo, who was secretly using his phone during self-study, feel uncomfortable.

Chen Mo: "Just call me Chen Mo."

Old K: "Alright, Boss Chen."

Chen Mo: "…"

Although he knew that the other party was unaware of his identity and had instructed Su Qianran not to reveal any information about him, he still couldn't picture himself as the person sitting in an office from his past life while surrounded by high school students.

Moreover, he didn't like it.

He disliked the clear hierarchical structure of such an office environment.

Every day, there were endless documents to sign, meetings to attend, and personnel issues to resolve.

He recalled when he was very young,

in a backward and isolated village, the awe he felt when he discovered a remote-controlled toy car brought back by the parents of his neighbor's child who worked outside.

That was the first time he developed a spirit of exploration towards the world beyond the mountains.

Even though he was in dire straits.

During his junior high years in the county town, through books and various emerging environments like KTVs and internet cafes, he clearly understood that not all parents were like Chen Jianli and Li Yunru, and life was not limited to the small world he could see.

His relentless studies were his subconscious way of escaping.

Although later, when he returned to the Yang family, he faced another kind of self-identity crisis, this did not stop him from never giving up on searching deep down.

This was also why he later had the opportunity to meet Old K and collaborate with him.

He loved the ever-changing world.

He was fascinated by cutting-edge technology and its origins.

As long as he was part of it, he felt like he was just his original self.

Chen Mo replied to Old K, "This investment is my official entry into the company; the previous ones don't count. However, I have conditions: I will not participate in any form of decision-making or management, and within five years, I cannot guarantee providing mature technological support."

Although he held shares, it sounded like he was giving away money for free.

The other side did not respond for a long time.

Chen Mo, who had been looking down, suddenly heard two taps.

Looking up, he saw his homeroom teacher, Xiang Shenglong, standing beside him, staring at him with a death glare.

"Hand it over." Xiang Shenglong extended his hand.

This commotion was enough to draw the attention of the entire class.

Chen Mo, caught off guard, rubbed his nose, resignedly turned off his phone, and handed it over.

Xiang Shenglong confiscated the phone and lectured, "It's only been less than a month since the start of the semester, and you're already so indulgent. Did your good grades in the final exams last semester make you complacent? You still have a long way to go."

"I'm sorry, Lao Xiang." Chen Mo recognized the situation and apologized.

Xiang Shenglong: "What Lao Xiang? Pay attention to classroom discipline and be serious."

The class burst into laughter.

Xiang Shenglong turned and walked to the podium, annoyed. "What are you laughing about? Get back to studying. Look at Xi Siyan; he flew to the capital for a competition right after the start of the semester. If everything goes well, he'll complete the entire Olympiad process by the end of his second year, already far ahead of most people. And you're still here, leisurely without any sense of urgency."

There were groans all around.

"Lao Xiang, studying is already hard enough. Do we really need to be humiliated by someone like Brother Yan, who is a dimensional transcender?"

"Exactly! We're just ordinary folks following the rules. Why do you need to be so ruthless?"

Students in the experimental class were never short of eloquence.

Chen Mo found this amusing and glanced at the empty seat next to him, feeling a bit nostalgic.

It was March, and the cherry blossoms at the base of the teaching building were in full bloom.

Everyone in the classroom who claimed to be ordinary was striving hard toward their future.

A sense of urgency welled up inside Chen Mo.

It was clearer and more straightforward than ever before.

A few days later, Chen Mo received project materials from Old K about their team's ongoing research on the application of intelligent technology in new media.

Chen Mo was no stranger to intelligent technology, having led related projects in his previous life.

This did not stop him from delving into a large amount of material. His dorm room table was piled high with thick professional books.

He started from scratch, and as his exchanges with Old K increased, the content of their conversations became increasingly specialized. At this time, Old K, still just a college student, became more and more serious.

Chen Mo, with his high school student identity, naturally could not reveal his true information to the other party.

The people in the dorm began to find it strange.

After all, Young Master Yangsheng recently didn't seem very health-conscious.

Not that he stopped soaking his feet, drinking tea, or wearing long johns, but rather, his overall demeanor had changed.

The laziness that had always clung to him disappeared.

In its place was a sense of calm determination.

"What is all this?" While being sweet with his girlfriend online, Qi Lin flipped through one of Chen Mo's incomprehensible English books on the table, shocked. "I can't understand any of this."

"It's about robots," Chen Mo glanced over and said.

Qi Lin: "...Robots? Why are you reading this stuff?"

"Just because I like it."

Chen Mo reached out to take the book back, weighed it in his hand, and smiled. "Actually, it's quite interesting."

"I don't get your world." Qi Lin said, bewildered. "I used to feel this way only about Xi Siyan, thinking we were from different worlds. Brother Mo, are you going to follow in his footsteps now?"

"I'm not," Chen Mo casually swiveled his chair. "Xi Siyan is involved with everyone, while I'm just doing what makes me happy. Besides, I just got my phone confiscated by Lao Xiang and have to borrow yours to send messages."

As he spoke, his black phone vibrated.

Chen Mo had already logged out of his social apps, so he handed the phone directly back to Qi Lin. "There's a call."

"It must be my girlfriend." Qi Lin looked sweetly embarrassed, hesitated to take the phone, and answered without checking the screen, calling out, "Honey."

Chen Mo shuddered in his chair.

The next moment, Qi Lin's face turned grim.

Stuttering, he said, "X...Xi, no, honey, damn! I didn't mean to call you honey."

He tried to explain for a while, then, with a black line on his forehead, handed the phone back to Chen Mo. "It's for you."

"For me?" Chen Mo confirmed before taking the phone and, seeing it was Xi Siyan calling, sympathetically glanced at Qi Lin before putting the phone to his ear. "What's up?"

The signal seemed poor on the other end.

There was a static sound, but Xi Siyan's steady voice soon came through, "Where's your phone? You haven't replied to my messages for days."

"Did you send me messages?" Chen Mo was taken aback. "My phone is with Lao Xiang; it was confiscated during class."

Chen Mo spoke candidly, and Xi Siyan seemed to accept the explanation with a simple "Hmm."

Chen Mo knew Xi Siyan was currently in the capital but wasn't sure about the progress of his competition.

He asked, "Where are you now? What are you doing?"

"I'm about to leave for an international competition," Xi Siyan said. "I'm heading to the airport."

Chen Mo: "So soon?"

Xi Siyan: "Yes."

At this point, Chen Mo heard someone calling names on the other end.

"Go ahead," Chen Mo said with a smile. "Good luck, and may you have a bright future."

Xi Siyan responded, "Thanks."

Then added, "Communicating abroad will be tricky. Leave a message if there's anything urgent."

Chen Mo agreed.

After the incident during the New Year, Chen Mo seemed to have gotten used to Xi Siyan knowing everything about him and trusted that if he needed help, Xi Siyan would not hesitate.

Though he actually had no problems.

Yang Qi'an had been busy trying to please him lately, doubling his allowance.

Zhou Yaoqiong, perhaps after another lecture from the Zhou family matriarch, suddenly implemented a fair policy after the New Year. Apart from occasionally dealing with the driver bringing soup and tonics, she hadn't caused much trouble.

As for Yang Zhi, Su Qianran had been extremely busy with the project recently. He might have developed a sense of crisis and had no time to pay attention to other things. After all, according to Chen Mo's knowledge, Yang Shule, after using his biological father and being used in return, had not stopped interacting. Photos of them dining together at restaurants had been released, yet the Yang family had not intervened.

And the platform that had been following Yang Shule was unaware.

They brought up his background again.

The headline was quite heartwarming:

*"Rising Star and His Plain and Simple Father."*

Yang Shule must be busy covering up this matter and doesn't have time to appear before me.

Until he hung up with Xi Siyan, Chen Mo didn't think to ask what he wanted.

On the other side, at noon when the sun was high, the bus heading to the airport had been waiting for a while.

This trip abroad was in the form of a team competition.

A few young students, both male and female, sitting at the back, were leaning out the open windows, looking outside.

Seeing the person who finally put away his phone and returned.

Several of them excitedly asked, "Captain, who were you talking to on the phone?"

"Male or female?"

At this age, they cared about such things.

"Can't be a girlfriend, right?" A girl, seemingly jealous but actually asking in a low voice, said, "We just got out of jail, and you couldn't wait to call someone. Captain, tell us, who's that important?"

The person being teased wore a badge representing their nationality.

Showing no visible reaction to the teasing, he walked without hesitation to the door, reminding them, "Don't stick your heads out so far; it's dangerous for traffic safety, you know."

This was met with a chorus of scoffs.

After he got on the bus and sat in the window seat at the back,

someone persisted, "Captain, you haven't answered us yet. Was the person you called male or female?"

"Male," Xi Siyan replied with his eyes closed.

That one word extinguished most of their enthusiasm, making them exclaim how boring it was.

A boy muttered, "At such an important moment, calling a guy is pointless."

Xi Siyan opened his eyes and turned his head. "It's quite interesting."

"... Ah?"

Xi Siyan stopped responding to these questions.

He closed his eyes and slept.

During the journey to the airport, he had a brief nap.

He had a short dream-like scene.

The same road leading to the airport, but lacking the phrase "a long journey ahead," the regret seemed irreparable.

So when the plane soared into the sky at ten thousand meters,

the world appeared small, and the person here typed a line into their notes.

— May the road ahead be vast, and may the wind be favorable for you.