When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 245: Out of Tune

During the three days he stayed in the piano room, Pei Yan chose to use silence and fasting to gain Pei Donghan’s attention.

Just as Assistant Jiang had said, the chairman was too exhausted. If he continued to escape reality through endless busyness like he had five years ago, his body would surely collapse completely.

So, five years later, Pei Yan wanted to alleviate his father’s pain in his own way.

The relationships between fathers and sons in this world vary; some are naturally incompatible, while others are affectionate and filial.

He and Old Pei were huddling together for warmth.

After arriving at school, Jiang Shuyao first put her suitcase back in the dormitory and tidied up before heading to the base.

As soon as she entered, everything before her eyes suddenly went dark, and by the time she realized it, she was already enveloped in Zhang Xinxin’s tight hug.

"Yaoyao, thank God you’re alright. I was scared to death."

Zhang Xinxin said this as she felt all over Jiang Shuyao’s body, checking to see if she was missing any arms or legs, while Jiang Xubai watched awkwardly from the side, hurriedly stepping forward to stop her.

"Didn’t you say you were going out for dinner with your roommates? You should hurry along."

"Oh, what’s the rush? It’s still early."

Everyone was obviously shocked by the incident that night, and of course, curiosity wasn’t excluded either.

Jiang Shuyao finally escaped from the clutches and had just sat down for a moment when several senior brothers pushed the door open, consoling her upon seeing Jiang Shuyao, "Junior sister, we heard you were kidnapped. Are you okay?"

She: "..."

Zhang Xinxin stuck out her tongue and slowly shuffled over, sheepishly explaining, "After your incident, I was restless when I got back, and I accidentally let it slip."

"It was indeed a kidnapping," Jiang Shuyao said calmly. "The perpetrator had lustful intentions and had been plotting for a long time."

Zhang Xinxin’s mouth gaped open.

"Lustful intentions!"

"Why kidnap you and not me?"

"Don’t I look good enough?"

Unable to listen anymore, Jiang Xubai rubbed his temples, got up, picked up Zhang Xinxin, and walked her out the door.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

"Let’s go to the skewer shop we went to last time tonight, see if anyone has designs on you."

Hehe, Xiao Bai being humorous was adorable.

"Sure, let’s not delay and head out right now." Zhang Xinxin, dreaming of a romantic date with her dear Xiao Bai tonight, was already scheming in her heart.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xubai stopped in his tracks, suddenly let go, and without another word, walked back to his workstation as if nothing had happened.

Angered, Zhang Xinxin stamped her foot and shouted behind him, "Jiang Xingwang!"

Everyone: "..."

What.

Xing? Wang?

The senior brothers laughed unabashedly.

Anyone smart would know that was Jiang Xubai’s childhood nickname.

Jiang Shuyao did know some of the reasons behind it and couldn’t help but smile when it caught her off guard.

Jiang Xubai was the only child in his family and had been weak and often ill since childhood. The older generation always valued offspring, and giving the eldest son this milk name was to pray for the prosperity and abundance of the Jiang Family.

However, reality could be cruel.

The Jiang Family had a single heir for five generations, and with Jiang Xubai’s parents’ generation, the curse remained unbroken.

Once a barefooted Taoist had divined the Jiang Family’s fortune, saying that if they could marry a girl born at the third quarter of the hour of the horse (between 11 AM and 1 PM), the family line would flourish and be filled with descendants.

And no kidding, Zhang Xinxin swore that Taoist was not a shill hired by her family.

Coincidentally, she happened to have been born at the third quarter of the hour of the horse.

After learning about Zhang Xinxin’s birth details, the Jiang Family’s Grandmother was so overjoyed that she knelt and prayed to God, wasting no time in rallying the entire family’s efforts to arrange a betrothal for the two.

From that point on, the entire Jiang Family pinned all their hopes on Jiang Xubai.

Zhang Xinxin was originally in the same class as Jiang Xubai, but that year, Jiang Xubai missed Rong University by a mere two points.

To ensure that both children could attend the same school, Jiang’s parents took a hard stance and made their son repeat his senior year.

Repeating a year, Jiang Xubai’s college entrance exam scores were far above the Rong University acceptance line.

In fact, his dream school was Hong Kong University, but due to parental pressure, he ended up here.

Jiang Shuyao still remembered the shock she felt when, drunk at KTV, Zhang Xinxin told her about all this.

To break the tradition of only passing the family legacy to a single child, the family forcefully imposed such a heavy burden and mission on one kid.

Ordinary people would have probably crumbled under the pressure.

Luckily, Jiang Xubai was naturally gentle and had always been obedient since childhood, unwilling to defy his elders, so he begrudgingly accepted it.

But really, it was ridiculous.

Once, when she mentioned this to Pei Yan, he just chuckled upon hearing it, "The reason Jiang Xubai is so submissive is that he hasn’t yet met the person who can awaken his courage to rebel."

The same matter, yet the two viewed it from entirely different perspectives.

Jiang Shuyao was concerned about human rights, while Pei Yan tended to approach it from a more human nature standpoint.

That was the difference between rationality and emotion.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Pei Yan returned from outside and organized a project meeting for everyone.

Jiang Xubai was holding a task distribution list, looking at the dense and endless catalog with life-questioning dullness in his eyes.

According to the original plan, company registration should have begun after the National Day holiday, and to manage the base at the same time would be almost an impossible task.

Jiang Shuyao saw Jiang Xubai’s reaction, instinctively looked up at the person opposite her, and sent a WeChat message.

"What are you thinking?"

"What else?"

He was obviously playing dumb.

Jiang Shuyao cut to the chase, "If you want to delay the establishment of the company, I can find some time to talk to Jiang Xubai about it."

After sending the message, there was no reply for a long time.

The sound of the keyboard beating was a torment for her.

Finally, Pei Yan showed some reaction.

Just one simple word.

"Okay."

She: "..."

She could probably predict that the pain Pei Yan felt from the death of his godmother needed time to heal slowly.

She believed Jiang Xubai would understand.

That evening, she found an opportunity to speak privately with Jiang Xubai about it.

It was inevitable to feel disheartened when a loved one passes away.

Jiang Xubai sighed in relief, "It’s fine, we’re only sophomores, there’s no need to rush. Taking it slow is good."

That ’taking it slow’ ended up lasting until the end of the semester.

Boss Pei, besides attending classes on time, spent all his other time cooped up at the base writing code.

The projects he took on became more tricky every time, with clients being difficult and cunning, working day and night, pulling all-nighters, as if he had gone mad.

If you compared the workload from his freshman year to now, it was so small it wouldn’t even fit between his teeth.

Everyone was amazed at Pei Yan’s craziness, as he had never been to the extent of sleeping at the base for an entire semester, no matter how hard he previously worked.

On the other hand, the number of times the ’lady boss’ appeared at the base had clearly decreased significantly.

Those in the know were aware that Jiang Shuyao was spending most of her time preparing for next year’s mid-year National Youth Art Competition.

For others, it didn’t matter that much.

But Jiang Xubai was puzzled.

He couldn’t understand what kind of riddle the couple was playing. Without any certainty about the company’s establishment date, as the base’s older members gradually left for internships one by one, his heart grew increasingly unsure.