The Pitiful Guy I Saved Is a Possessive Big Shot - Chapter 7

To prepare for Shi Qingning’s return to school, the Shi family held a special family meeting.

The meeting was arranged very formally, with every family member expected to attend. Shi Qingning had already met his mother and brother, but he had yet to meet his father—the legendary richest man in Haicheng.

Mrs. Shi said that his father was on a business trip in Yancheng and couldn’t make it back in person because of some important matters. Because of this, his father could only join the meeting online. Mrs. Shi even apologized to Shi Qingning in advance, asking him not to be angry.

Shi Qingning was no longer a child; he understood how busy a person of that status could be. He had seen news about his father before. As the head of the family, Mr. Shi’s schedule was even more packed than his eldest son’s. It seemed Shi Yi had inherited his father’s personality, as both were equally silent and serious.

Two big ice blocks in one family? Shi Qingning thought. How does a family meeting even work? Does Mom do all the talking?

Shi Qingning had prepared to watch from the sidelines, curious about the daily life of “icebergs.” But when the meeting finally happened, he missed it.

He overslept.

The doctor had ordered plenty of rest for the young master to recover after surgery, so the family simply didn’t wake him up. However, only Shi Qingning knew that while he slept for a long time, he didn’t sleep well.

Dreams are reflections of the subconscious, and dreaming itself is the brain’s way of organizing memories. Since Shi Qingning’s memories were a mess, his dreams were naturally restless. But compared to his body getting stronger every day, the bad dreams were a small price to pay.

As the young master’s health clearly improved, the plan for school was finalized. Shi Qingning had just turned sixteen, so he would start as a high school freshman. He had always been enrolled in school, but because of his illness, he rarely went and mostly studied with private tutors at home.

The school they chose was Haicheng No. 29 High School. The family didn’t pick it for its grades or ranking, but for its facilities and environment.

Haicheng is a peninsula city surrounded by the sea and mountains. The roads are often steep, and bicycles are rare because climbing the hills is too difficult. Among the dozen high schools in the city, No. 29 High School was the only one built on flat ground. For the sake of the young master’s heart, the family chose this one.

Shi Qingning had no objections. He wasn’t picky; he just wanted to go to school. Since it was winter break and school wouldn’t start for another month, he had enough time to recover and get used to a student’s rhythm.

While Shi Qingning was excited, Mrs. Shi was worried.

“The vice-principal of No. 29 High School contacted me. He said they are very welcoming and will do their best to provide a suitable environment for Ning,” Mrs. Shi said, frowning slightly. She was a famous beauty, and even her frown made people want to comfort her. “But he also said their ranking has been rising every year, and they are very strict about academics. I’m worried Ning won’t get used to such a stressful pace.”

“Actually, High School No. 4 might be a better choice. Many students there plan to study abroad, so there are more activities and less homework,” Mrs. Shi sighed. “But No. 4 is built on a mountain. Ning definitely wouldn’t be able to handle all those slopes and stairs.”

Shi Yi said shortly: “He already chose No. 29.”

“I know, but Ning hasn’t really been to a real school before,” Mrs. Shi said. “What if he can’t keep up? What if he feels frustrated and fails?”

“Yi, when you were in school…” Mrs. Shi wanted to ask her eldest son how he felt when he didn’t do well, but then she remembered his perfect grades and stopped. After a moment, she whispered, “You were always excellent, but Ning’s situation is special. I’m worried about his state of mind.”

In the end, because of Mrs. Shi’s worrying, Shi Yi went upstairs to check on his brother.

As the two of them reached the door of Shi Qingning’s study, they ran into the private tutor coming out. He was holding a pile of plastic packaging from new books.

Shi Yi looked inside and saw the boy sitting seriously at his desk, focused on a brand-new textbook.

The tutor said with a smile, “I just brought the full set of textbooks from elementary school to high school for the Second Young Master. His foundation is very good, so attending the first year of high school shouldn’t be a problem. The only real difference will be the teaching style between a school and a one-on-one tutor.”

“He even told me himself that he wants to go through the textbooks from the beginning to adapt to the school’s way of thinking.”

“It’s great that he has this much initiative. I think he will do just fine at school.”

Mrs. Shi felt relieved hearing this. But as Shi Yi looked at the boy in the study, he paused.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the cover of the textbook Shi Qingning was holding said…

First Grade Mathematics – Volume 2.

As if to prove what Shi Yi saw, the electronic reading pen in the boy’s hand spoke in a clear voice:

“1+2 equals 2+1. How magical! Are you smart enough to learn this?”

Shi Yi: “…”

His mother’s worry was completely unnecessary. This kid’s state of mind was better than anyone’s.

The tutor and Mrs. Shi continued talking at the door. To avoid disturbing the young master, the door was gently closed. The quiet room made the reading pen’s voice sound even louder.

“Do you understand why 1+2 equals 2+1?”

Shi Qingning whispered to himself, “Because it is an Abelian group.”

The reading pen played a cheerful tune. “Congratulations! You have mastered the Commutative Law of Addition!”

Shi Qingning turned the page and continued listening to the energetic voice. “Next, let’s learn the next rule. The Associative Law of Addition!”

As he studied, Shi Qingning organized his thoughts. He realized his memory loss was very similar to his knowledge of school subjects. He knew the final results, but he lacked the foundation. His whole mind was like a castle in the sky, no path leading to it and no place to land.

Shi Qingning had thought about just bringing Bai Yexi to the Shi family to raise him. That seemed like the easiest way to break the plot. The protagonist wouldn’t have to face those scumbag pursuers, and in Haicheng, no one would dare mess with the Shi family.

But if he chose such a forceful way just to get a “happy ending,” would it really work?

Sun Ming had told him a few days ago that they sent people to protect Bai Yexi, but Bai Yexi had lost them every time. The boy was extremely alert, and he lived such a quiet life that they couldn’t find a single friend or hobby of his.

Shi Qingning didn’t want to upset Bai Yexi, so he told Sun Ming to stop bothering him. Based on this, the chance of forcing the anti-social protagonist under the Shi family’s protection was basically zero.

And as for the Shi family, Shi Qingning stared at the textbook and frowned. In those restless dreams about the novel, it wasn’t just the protagonist’s tragedy he saw. Sometimes he woke up at midnight with a flash of a memory. The Shi family’s own ruin at the end of the story.

Gentle laughter came from outside the door; his mother was still talking to the tutor. Shi Qingning looked down. Even though he knew the plot of the novel, he didn’t dare to relax.

Two days later, at the Shi villa.

A small party was held to celebrate the young master’s recovery. Only close family and friends were invited. Even so, there were thirty to forty people. The villa was decorated grandly, showing how much the family loved their youngest son.

Shi Qingning’s job was easier than he expected. He showed up at the start, then was tucked away by his mother on a soft sofa in the corner to eat cake. Mrs. Shi was worried he didn’t eat enough, so she had a friend bring a private chef to try some new flavors.

Shi Qingning sat alone on the high-back cashmere sofa. Every time his mother looked over, he would take a scoop of cake. When she looked away, he would quickly put the empty spoon down.

Many people looked at the sofa, but few came to talk to him. Perhaps it was because he rarely appeared in public, or because of the rumors that he had fought with his family. People were a bit afraid to get too close.

Shi Qingning looked through the crowd as usual, but he didn’t find any new information. Since the young master used to stay home all the time, he didn’t recognize many faces. He was thinking about how to move the cake so his mother wouldn’t realize he hadn’t eaten much, when he heard a sweet female voice.

“Hello~” A girl in a black-and-white pleated skirt and boots pointed at the sofa opposite him. “Can I sit here?”

Shi Qingning looked up and nodded. “Go ahead.”

The girl sat down happily, resting her chin on her hands. She blinked at him. “Do you even remember who I am?”

Shi Qingning smiled. “Xiao Lin?”

“Aww…” Shi Xiao Lin sighed. “That smile is cheating!”

She grabbed a lollipop from a tray and put it in her mouth. With one cheek bulging, she said, “I thought after not seeing me for so long, you’d have forgotten your cousin.”

Shi Qingning just smiled. Before the party, he had looked at family photos. Shi Xiao Lin was his cousin, two years younger than him. If he were the original young master, he probably would have forgotten.

“Congrats on leaving the hospital. I heard…” Xiao Lin blinked. “Your first wish after getting better was to go to school?” Her eyes were bright, and her thoughts were easy to read. Shi Qingning liked her.

“Yes.”

“You’re such a good kid going to school!” Xiao Lin made a sad face. “I wish I could get sick just to skip school!”

Shi Qingning asked, “Why don’t you want to go?”

“School is so boring!” Xiao Lin offered him a milk candy. When he shook his head, she unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth along with the lollipop. “I don’t want to go to school at all. I’m bored of games too. Right now, I just want to—” She chewed quickly. “I want to time travel.”

Shi Qingning raised an eyebrow. “Time travel?”

“To a world without homework,” Xiao Lin said with a laugh. “Have you seen that popular time travel drama? Everyone in my class has seen it. we even made a list of worlds we want to travel to.”

“There are twenty girls in my class,” she counted on her fingers. “And fifteen of them want to go to ancient times to be a royal concubine.”

Shi Qingning asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t! They have no imagination,” Xiao Lin said. “A palace is boring. If I travel, I want an adventure! I want to be a pirate queen, sailing a ship everywhere. How cool!” She waved her hand as if she were leading a crew. “I’d land and kidnap a prince! Then I’d wait for a knight to save him, lock them up together, and watch them fall in love!”

“…”

Shi Qingning’s hand shook, almost ruining the cake. His little cousin had quite a bold imagination. He coughed and asked, “Have you thought about how to sail a ship? Have you studied sailing, mechanics, or weather?”

Xiao Lin frowned. “I don’t need to learn. A pirate queen already knows that stuff.” She added, “Don’t you know? Time travel can be ‘body travel’ or ‘soul travel.’ I’d definitely do soul travel.”

Shi Qingning laughed. The kid knew a lot.

“With soul travel, I’d get the strongest, prettiest body. I’d know everything without studying because the body would do it for me automatically.” Xiao Lin was very confident.

Shi Qingning smiled gently. He put down his spoon, crossed his fingers under his chin, and looked at her. “Have you thought about the consequences of soul travel?”

“…Don’t look at me like that! I told you your face is cheating!” Xiao Lin covered her eyes with one hand but peeked through her fingers. “What consequences?”

“Soul travel means your soul enters someone else’s body.” Shi Qingning picked up a donut from a tray. It was soft, covered in sugar, with a fresh strawberry in the middle. He picked up another strawberry and placed it on top of the first one. “That means your memories and the original person’s memories are in the same brain.”

Xiao Lin watched him, her hand falling away. “Right.”

“Then do you know what happens when two people’s memories enter the same brain area at once?” Shi Qingning asked.

Xiao Lin looked confused. “What happens?”

Shi Qingning pushed down slowly, forcing the second strawberry into the already full hole of the donut. The two strawberries squashed together, their skins breaking and sweet juice leaking out. He didn’t stop until the strawberries were forced into the same spot and the soft donut suddenly cracked and tore open.

“Broken memories,” Shi Qingning said softly. “Or, a damaged brain.”

Xiao Lin shivered, her voice shaking. “No, that’s not possible! The brain isn’t that fragile.” She tried to argue, “And memories, they grow over time!”

“Memories grow, but it takes time,” Shi Qingning said. “What is the biological basis of memory? It’s the reaction of large groups of neurons. To put it simply, just like your stomach holds the food you eat, your brain needs enough neurons to hold what you learn.”

“You can’t eat a whole pig in one bite, so your brain can’t hold a whole person’s memories in one second.”

Xiao Lin looked stunned as she listened to his calm voice explain.

“Have you seen ‘mind-bending’ movies? They are called that because the information is so heavy it makes your brain hurt. If a two-hour movie that you only see and hear can do that, imagine a human memory covering sight, smell, touch, and more, lasting over ten years, suddenly being stuffed into someone else’s brain.” Shi Qingning asked softly, “Do you understand what would happen?”

Xiao Lin turned pale. She forgot to lick her lollipop. Looking at the beautiful, gentle boy in front of her, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Meanwhile, he acted like nothing was wrong. He spoke about such scary things with a normal face and even carefully placed the broken donut and strawberries on a waste plate. After cleaning up, he clapped his hands and looked up.

“High School Biology, Book Three,” Shi Qingning blinked. His long eyelashes shone in the light. “The chapter on the nervous system.” He smiled. “Study hard so you can time travel safely.”

There was actually nothing about memory swapping in the biology book, only basic nervous system facts. Shi Qingning only said it to encourage her to study. Opposite him, Xiao Lin was completely frozen.

“Shi Xiao Lin!”

An angry voice came from nearby. A fashionable woman carrying a leather bag walked over. “You’re eating candy again!”

She came to catch her daughter red-handed, but her daughter, who usually ran away fast, didn’t move. When the woman reached them, Xiao Lin suddenly stood up and hugged her tightly.

“What are you—” The woman was angry, but then she felt something was wrong. Her daughter’s shoulders were shaking; she was crying.

People nearby looked over in confusion. The woman ignored them and asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

The girl looked up with red eyes, biting her lip. After a long time, she finally sobbed, “I want to go to school!”

The woman: “??!”

As everyone watched in shock, a pale Xiao Lin wiped away her tears, held her forehead, and cried, “I’ll never skip class to watch dramas again. Wah! I’m going to study right now!”