OEBSAS |Chapter 30

The snow had already fallen very thickly, wrapping the Shao family garden into a world of silver and white, covered in snow.

The three of them wore snow boots, leaving one string after another of footprints in the garden.

“Xianxian, you be the referee for the two of us,” Qian Wenjie said with high spirits. “Today I absolutely have to teach Chen Baizhou a lesson!”

Shao Xian smiled and looked at Chen Baizhou.

The child’s expression was calm, his lips lightly pressed together. Perhaps because the cold wind was raging, his cheeks had frozen pale, the tip of his nose a faint red. With his black hair and snow-white skin, he looked just like a crystal-clear snowman.

He really was quite good-looking.

“Since I’m the referee, then I’ll state the game rules. Whoever breaks the rules not only has to admit defeat, but also has to accept punishment.”

As he spoke, Shao Xian bent a dead branch and drew two opposing rectangular areas in the snow, using them to confine them.

“When you two duel, you can only run within this area. Once you step out of it, the match ends immediately. Aside from that, snowballs are not allowed to hit the head. Hitting the head deducts one point. Hitting the other side’s body parts adds one point. I’ll keep the score for you. The duration is ten minutes. Begin now.”

The moment he finished speaking, Qian Wenjie bent over and grabbed a snowball, then hurled it at Chen Baizhou with a dashing air!

Chen Baizhou naturally would not sit still and wait to be beaten.

He dodged nimbly, and at the same time pinched up a snowball, then with lightning speed threw it straight at Qian Wenjie.

The snowball pleasantly struck Qian Wenjie’s butt, and Shao Xian smiled as he added one point for Chen Baizhou.

Qian Wenjie shouted in anger, and he and Chen Baizhou got more and more excited as they pelted each other.

Young people were always full of energy. Even quarreling and fighting was only because they were too energetic, with nowhere to vent it.

After ten minutes, the two of them had stubbornly refused to step outside the fixed area, and Shao Xian immediately called for a stop.

The two stopped fighting and both looked at Shao Xian, waiting for the result of the battle.

Shao Xian shook the notebook in his hand and said with a smile, “Come look for yourselves.”

Qian Wenjie ran over and craned his neck to look. He immediately felt extremely unwilling, and glared resentfully at Chen Baizhou. “How is that possible!”

“What, you don’t trust my fairness?” Shao Xian lightly tapped his big head with the notebook and gave a soft laugh.

Chen Baizhou slowly walked over, sat beside Shao Xian, and did not care about the final score at all. He said flatly, “A bet is a bet.”

“A bet on what?” Qian Wenjie asked in surprise. “Did the two of us even have any stakes?”

Shao Xian was also curious and turned his head to look at Chen Baizhou.

Half of Chen Baizhou’s face was hidden inside the scarf. Fine snowflakes had settled on his soft hair, some mischievously hanging on his forehead, setting off a pair of faintly blue eyes that became even clearer and brighter.

“There were stakes,” he looked at Qian Wenjie seriously. “If I won, that means the dispute we just had already had a result. You have to obey it.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Qian Wenjie frowned tightly. “When did I agree to that?”

Chen Baizhou asked very seriously, “Why did we fight a snowball battle?”

Qian Wenjie froze, then suddenly reacted and could not help retorting, “How does that count as a stake?”

However, facing Chen Baizhou’s calm gaze, he found it hard to continue arguing, and could only seek help from the referee, Shao.

“Xianxian, come judge fairly. Did he and I ever talk about stakes?”

Shao Xian looked at Qian Wenjie, then at Chen Baizhou. He suddenly stood up and smiled slightly. “That has nothing to do with me. You two settle it yourselves.”

After saying that, he took off his shoes and went into the living room.

The living room was well heated. He took off his down jacket, wore a white crewneck sweater, and flopped onto the sofa, saying lazily, “In a few days it’ll be New Year’s Eve. Baizhou, we have to go to the old residence to spend the New Year with Grandpa.”

Chen Baizhou answered, then brought three cups of warm water over and set them on the coffee table.

Qian Wenjie reached out to take one, just in time to see Chen Baizhou glance at him.

He was dazed for a moment, then as if he remembered something, said helplessly, “Fine, fine, fine, I’m convinced by you. I’ll do whatever you say from now on, okay?”

Anyway, Xianxian wasn’t a soft and cute little girl, so not touching him meant not touching him.

Shao Xian watched from the side and could not help thinking of some things from his previous life.

In his previous life, Qian Wenjie often complained about Fu Baizhou in his ear, and that showy smugness had always stayed in his mind.

Anyway, whenever Qian Wenjie openly argued with Fu Baizhou, he had never won.

Thinking of this, he could not help but laugh.

“Xianxian, what are you laughing at?” Qian Wenjie asked curiously.

Shao Xian took a sip of water, his eyes half-lidded, and said carelessly, “Nothing.”

A few days later, New Year’s Eve arrived.

The Shao family gathered at the old residence as usual, accompanying Old Master Shao to stay up through the year.

Chen Baizhou had also spent the past two years at the old residence, and Old Master Shao was already very familiar with him.

It was impossible to hide from Shao Qingshan that the Shao family had taken in one more child.

Shao Qingshan made no comment on the matter. Anyway, the Shao family was not incapable of raising one more child. As long as the child’s heart was upright, cultivating him into talent was not a bad thing either.

After two years of observation, although Shao Qingshan clearly understood the deep feelings between Chen Baizhou and Shao Xian, he was still not very reassured.

Sometimes being too dependent was not necessarily a good thing.

If he were only being cultivated as an assistant, Chen Baizhou would just need to be loyal to Shao Xian. But clearly, Shao Xian had not really been cultivating the child as a future assistant.

Shao Qingshan had lived a lifetime, seen countless people, and Chen Baizhou was after all just a child, while Shao Xian was after all his grandson, so the two of them were seen through at a glance.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Shao Xian sat by the table, accompanying Shao Qingshan and Chen Baizhou in a game of chess.

Ever since Old Master Shao taught Chen Baizhou how to play chess, every time they came to the old residence to visit him, the old master would have to play several rounds with Chen Baizhou.

A chess path can reveal a person’s heart.

Shao Qingshan wanted to observe Chen Baizhou’s nature through their matches, and Shao Boyuan had seen through this. Shao Xian, however, thought that the old master simply wanted to find a playmate.

Over two years, Chen Baizhou’s chess skills had become increasingly refined, and sometimes in matches with the old master he could even split wins and losses evenly.

Today he seemed especially serious. At the start he was like a crouching tiger in hiding, and by the middle he gradually became aggressive, killing off a large swath of Old Master Shao’s pieces.

Fortunately, Old Master Shao’s overall perspective far surpassed the child’s, and in the end he turned the situation around and beat Chen Baizhou.

“Not bad,” he praised.

He had the temperament of someone who could accomplish great things, but he was still too young and needed carving and polishing.

Shao Qingshan appreciated such a junior, but privately he still did not hope that Chen Baizhou would overshadow Shao Xian.

After all, Shao Xian was his grandson, so it was only natural that he was biased toward Shao Xian.

After playing a few rounds, seeing that the old master’s energy was running low, Shao Xian acted coyly and said, “Grandpa, you really haven’t grown old yet!”

His eyes rolled, and Shao Qingshan knew what he was thinking, so he laughed heartily and said, “You little rascal, you’re so clever. This old body of mine really can’t pretend to be young anymore. You young people go play whatever you want. I’ll rest here for a while.”

Hearing this, Shao Xian immediately pulled Chen Baizhou along. “Come on, let’s go watch fireworks.”

Not long after, the country would introduce a policy banning fireworks, and they would rarely be able to see fireworks in full bloom again.

People often only know how to cherish something after it is gone.

Shao Xian did not understand that before. Now he did.

Although Chen Baizhou did not understand what was so pretty about fireworks, Shao Xian had always liked watching them, so he also felt that fireworks were beautiful.

The two stood together on the balcony, quietly waiting for the New Year’s welcome feast at midnight.

“Bang…”

The moment midnight passed, fireworks in the city bloomed one after another in the night sky, competing with the neon lights for splendor.

One after another, they sparkled brightly above the city, blooming in colors before their eyes.

Shao Xian rested his arm on the windowsill, a smile blooming in his eyes, brows, and lips.

Chen Baizhou slightly turned his head, his gaze falling on his long, curling eyelashes, and he could not help but feel a sense of peace and harmony.

It seemed that only by Shao Xian’s side was the place where his heart could rest.

“Why are you looking at me?” Shao Xian noticed he was spacing out, so he pointed toward the distance and said, “Look at the fireworks!”

Chen Baizhou suddenly asked, “Do you really like fireworks?”

“I like them,” Shao Xian answered casually.

For something beautiful, what reason was there not to like it?

Chen Baizhou could not help but smile. The fireworks bursting in his eyes shone with brilliant light.

“They really are quite beautiful.”

Shao Xian spent the first day of the lunar new year at the old residence, then returned to the Shao family villa.

After the winter break, they would be facing the middle school entrance exam, so even he and Chen Baizhou could not relax completely.

Qian Wenjie was still visiting relatives and could not come back for the time being, so Shao Xian could only study with Chen Baizhou, reviewing junior high school knowledge in the morning and previewing high school courses in the afternoon.

Of course, the two of them did not forget to practice martial arts either.

After the last attack, Shao Xian was more serious than before, and Chen Baizhou was even more desperate than before.

Even Qian Wenjie said that Chen Baizhou’s strength had been getting greater recently, his appetite had increased quite a bit, and he had shot up in height very quickly.

The current Chen Baizhou’s height was enough to look down on his peers.

Shao Xian thought of how in his previous life he had grown to 182, and Fu Baizhou was a little taller than him, at least 185.

Judging by that standard, in this life the child would probably exceed 185.

Shao Xian felt both envious and proud in his heart, after all, he was the one who had raised him.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Qian Wenjie finally finished his New Year visits and came to the Shao family full of enthusiasm with a backpack on his shoulders.

“Xianxian, I got more than ten thousand in New Year money this year!” he said with a smug look, showing off his little treasury.

Ten thousand really was not much in their eyes, but this was money that truly belonged to him, and Qian Wenjie cherished it very much.

“Did Auntie Wang say she’d help you keep it?” Shao Xian could not help asking.

Qian Wenjie said cheerfully, “My mom said I’ve already grown up, and it’s time for me to save some money myself. In the future this will be my wife-fund.”

“Ten thousand is not enough to marry a wife,” Shao Xian could not help striking a blow at his enthusiasm.

Logically speaking, Qian Wenbi liked to appreciate beauty, and was himself the type to have wealth, looks, and status. There should be plenty of beauties wanting to marry him, so finding a wife ought to be easy, but in his previous life he had never gotten married, which was truly hard to believe.

“Then I can keep saving! My mom said she won’t take my New Year money anymore, haha.” Qian Wenjie said he was not at all discouraged.

Chen Baizhou suddenly spoke up. “You still have five years until you turn eighteen. Saving fifty thousand is pretty good.”

Qian Wenjie: “…”

Damn it! Saying it like that made it seem like it really wasn’t enough to marry a wife!

Why did marrying a wife cost so much money? If he could avoid marrying one, that would be great.

“Lacai, you can save this money. Don’t spend it casually,” Shao Xian said seriously. “After you graduate from high school, there will be many places where you’ll need money. Achieving your dreams won’t be possible without money.”

When dreams were mentioned, Qian Wenjie immediately became serious.

“Don’t worry, Xianxian, I’ll definitely work hard to save money!” He clenched his fist and vowed.

After the joking around, the three of them began to settle down and study.

But after not very long, Qian Wenjie seemed to suddenly remember something and could not help asking, “Xianxian, Baizhou, how much New Year money did you two get?”

“Probably… ten times yours,” Shao Xian said seriously and exaggeratedly.

The simple-minded Qian Wenbi believed it without hesitation. He widened his eyes in shock. “So much? Aren’t Uncle and Auntie afraid you’ll spend it recklessly?”

“When have I ever spent money recklessly?” Shao Xian shot him a sidelong look.

Chen Baizhou could not help but curl his lips. So Xianxian could lie too.

“A hundred thousand a year, over five years…” Qian Wenjie swallowed, then said with both envy and jealousy, “So that means the two of you will definitely get married before me!”

Shao Xian: “…”

That really might not be certain, after all, in their previous life, the three of them had never managed to decide a winner when it came to getting married.