Chapter 19: He Doesn’t Care About These Things
“Senior—Senior Song!”
A hushed voice called from outside the window. Song Yinxing snapped back to his senses and saw a girl crouching outside sneakily.
Zheng Ying from Class 11, Grade 11. She had been coming every day lately; Song Yinxing had already grown used to seeing her.
“Is Senior Xia not here today?” Zheng Ying poked her head in and glanced around.
“She’s not. She took the day off to shoot for a magazine.”
“Oh…” Zheng Ying’s face immediately fell. “Did she say when she’ll be back?”
“She only took today off, and the shoot is in Jiangcheng. She should be back tomorrow.”
“In Jiangcheng? That’s great!” Her dim eyes instantly lit up. “I’ll ask my dad if he can help me arrange a set visit!”
“Thanks, Senior Song.” Zheng Ying stuffed two cups of coffee into Song Yinxing’s hands. “Since Senior Xia isn’t here, you can give the extra one to your deskmate.”
Looking at the coffee, Song Yinxing recalled what had happened the other day. “Next time, just buy one cup. I’m only walking a few steps—it’s not necessary to buy one for me.”
“It’s fine! You work hard in class, Senior. A cup of coffee helps. I’ve already bought it—one more doesn’t matter.”
Song Yinxing explained softly, “I’m a special-admission student and receive financial aid. If someone who doesn’t know that sees me drinking such expensive coffee, it might cause misunderstandings.”
Zheng Ying hadn’t considered that. Her brows knitted immediately. “Is someone giving you trouble over this?”
“It’s fine. It’s already been handled.” Song Yinxing shook his head, though he couldn’t help recalling last night’s dream, a shadow settling over his heart.
“The bell’s about to ring. You should head back,” he reminded her.
After glancing at the time, Zheng Ying hurried off, reminding him before leaving that he could come to her if he had any difficulties.
Back in her classroom, with a few minutes before class started, her friend teased her, “Went to see that senior again?”
Zheng Ying admitted it openly. Noticing a milk tea on her desk, she blurted out, “Did Shen Mingjun come again?”
“What? No! You heartless thing!” Her friend pretended to hit her. “I bought it!”
“He’s been pestering me nonstop. Lately he’s quieted down a bit, though. That scared me just now.”
“Didn’t you hear? The Shen family’s in big trouble! He doesn’t have time to chase you—he’s barely holding himself together.”
“What trouble?” Zheng Ying asked.
Her friend lowered her voice. “The Gu family. You can’t find anything online anymore—it’s all wiped clean. A few days ago, everyone was gossiping.”
“The Shen family runs a PR firm, and yet they can’t even clean up their own mess before provoking the Gu family. Who knows how this will end?”
From the back row, Gu Qingxu looked up at them with a faint, knowing smile.
Zheng Ying nudged her friend, and both quickly returned to their seats.
Another call was rejected.
There was no need to guess who it was from.
On the Wanyin app, anyone within the Wanhe school-enterprise system could search internal contacts. Shen Shan couldn’t reach Gu Yuhui, so he had sent his son to beg Gu Qingxu instead.
Even though Shen Mingjun and Gu Yang were in the same class—and Gu Yang was the direct victim—Shen Mingjun still took a long detour to contact him.
Stupid, perhaps. But at least he knew who really held power.
The phone didn’t even ring long before being hung up. It was obvious: it wasn’t unheard—it was intentionally ignored.
Shen Mingjun clenched his phone, face ashen.
Everything was over. How had things escalated to this point?
He had only wanted to disgust Gu Yang.
His father had done similar things before—publishing ambiguous press releases, using scandals as leverage for private negotiations.
Even his own placement into Class 11 had been arranged by Shen Shan.
So why had it exploded like this for him?
It was all that damned employee’s fault.
He had bought him a phone, given him money—and yet that employee used the new iPhone to post their chat records in the company group, tagging him and saying: “Mission accomplished for the young master.”
His carefully prepared excuse collapsed instantly. Shen Shan locked the door and beat him with a golf club.
Now Shen Shan had ordered him to resolve this matter—even if it meant kneeling to apologize.
“You’re standing at the classroom door for what, Classmate Shen? Class is about to start,” He Ming’an reminded with a smile as he walked in holding a file folder.
Shen Mingjun jolted awake, looking at He Ming’an like his last lifeline.
“Class monitor,” Shen Mingjun began, “there were some incidents these past few days, but please believe me—there’s been a misunderstanding. I want to explain to Gu Yang. Could you…”
He Ming’an looked at him, still smiling. “There’s nothing to explain. A’Yang doesn’t care about these things.”
Shen Mingjun froze.
It was true. Gu Yang had been far too calm.
The day the scandal hit trending.
After it was removed.
Even when Shen Shan dragged him to the Gu residence to apologize.
No reaction.
Cold—as if it had happened to someone else.
It had always been like that. Shen Mingjun’s targeting and mockery never seemed to register. Gu Yang treated him the same as anyone else.
He didn’t even know how to begin.
“What is he even thinking? Is he sick—”
Before he could finish, He Ming’an’s gaze silenced him.
When He Ming’an smiled, his eyes curved warmly. But when his expression turned cold, it was intimidating.
“He just doesn’t care about anything,” He Ming’an said flatly. Then softer, almost to himself: “He clearly doesn’t care about anything…”
The bell rang.
“Stop overthinking. What happens next isn’t your concern. Focus on class,” He Ming’an said, returning to his seat after tossing the folder onto the podium.
“What were you talking about with Shen Mingjun?” Gu Yang asked lazily from the back.
“You care about that?” He Ming’an looked down at him. “It was about the trending topic from before.”
“Oh. That.” Gu Yang propped his head on one hand. “Old news.”
After saying that, he fell silent for a long while.
“Gu Yang, I need a few minutes. I want to talk,” Shen Mingjun approached again, forcing himself to speak.
Unexpectedly, Gu Yang neither mocked nor ignored him.
He slowly covered his ears.
“Don’t bother me.”
Shen Mingjun’s prepared speech died in his throat.
“You—”
Seeing him persist, Gu Yang tore a piece of paper, wrote down a number from his contacts, and handed it over.
“This is Gu Qingxu’s number. Go find him. He loves handling this kind of thing.”
Shen Mingjun nearly lost control.
He couldn’t get through to that number—that was why he had no choice but to lower himself to Gu Yang.
Suppressing his anger, he softened his tone. “I really need to explain this to you. There may be some misunderstanding between us.”
“Since March, my account’s been logged into from different locations multiple times. Including this time. Someone used my account to message company employees. Doesn’t that sound terrifying if you think about it?”
Others in the class pretended to focus on their work, but their attention was clearly on them. Hearing this excuse, Yu Bai shot him a surprised look.
Shen Mingjun remained calm. He thought the explanation was flawless. Gu Yang looked easy to fool.
Gu Yang sighed.
[How strange.]
His lips didn’t move. It was his inner voice.
Shen Mingjun’s stomach dropped. Whenever that inner voice appeared, nothing good followed.
[Shen Mingjun once secretly added slow-acting poison to the first wife’s nutritional supplements to secure his position, causing her to fall ill. Combined with constant provocation from his mistress mother during treatment, her condition worsened, and she passed away within a few years.]
[I clearly emailed all relevant parties with witnesses and evidence. What are they doing? Why hasn’t anyone acted yet? How is he still jumping around here?]
