Qiao Huaiyao couldn’t help but laugh and moved back a bit with his notes in hand, asking, “Shall I go on my own tomorrow?”
“Let the driver pick you up,” Bai Jinyan replied.
Qiao nodded, “Alright.”
Buzz, buzz…
The phone on the table kept vibrating. Qiao put down his pen and noticed that there were several messages in the group chat from their military training days.
Wang Zhan: [I speak for myself, I hate class groups so much!]
Qiu Shufeng: [Why did they decide to assign homework when the vacation is almost halfway through? I don’t understand. I’ve already planned my time for the rest of the break.]
Yu Luofan: [It’s just an analysis of experimental data for a PPT, and there’s no requirement for the number of pages, so it should be simple. The challenging part is presenting the PPT on stage, and we should be preparing for that.]
Qiu Shufeng: [@Qiao Huaiyao, has the study god seen the homework in the group chat?]
When Qiu Shufeng was organizing the group chat members, he noticed that Qiao Huaiyao hadn’t sent a message and reminded him in a smaller chat.
Whether Qiao replied or not was secondary; they couldn’t afford to delay their homework. With Qiao’s grades, winning scholarships was a sure thing, and money wasn’t an issue. The main thing was the honor. If they missed out on the scholarship because of a small practical assignment, that would be really unlucky.
Qiao Huaiyao: [Just saw it.]
They hadn’t had an experimental data analysis class before their military training, so they probably needed to wait until the actual class to do the assignment.
Qiao Huaiyao hadn’t brought his computer with him; he had left it in his dorm during military training. Although laptops were portable, it was still a hassle to move them around.
Homework was best done early. He wanted to complete it while he had some free time, so he wouldn’t have to rush later when other things came up.
Qiao Huaiyao got up and said, “Brother, I’m going to use your computer.”
Bai Jinyan was watching the program schedule for the awards ceremony the next day. “Sure.”
Buzz, buzz…
The group chat on Qiao Huaiyao’s computer was active, with messages constantly coming in. Qiao noticed and replied, [After I finish, I’ll send it to you all.]
The group chat exploded with messages like [Thank you, genius] and [We’re not worthy.]
Qiao Huaiyao chuckled, put down his phone, and focused on making the PPT. As he filled in the data, he couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss.
“Brother!” The study was eerily quiet, and Qiao Huaiyao, with a trembling heart, called out, “Where did you put the original documents from that competition in high school?”
Back in high school, many of their competition materials were stored here. They were usually kept in boxes, but since he hadn’t come back in a while, Qiao Huaiyao didn’t know where Bai Jinyan had stored them.
Bai Jinyan’s voice came from the living room, “On the right bookshelf, back row.”
Qiao Huaiyao went to the back and found the box. “Found it,” he said as he opened it. Inside were stacks of files. Qiao Huaiyao and Bai Jinyan had stored their competition materials separately for easy access.
However, when he opened one of the folders, Joe was taken aback. The label on the folder indicated that it contained materials related to Bai Jinyan’s activities, not the competition documents.
He had grabbed the wrong box.
But when he saw a notebook on the left side, Joe was momentarily stunned. Why was this notebook here? It should have been in Bai Jinyan’s room. This notebook was one of the prizes Bai Jinyan had won in a competition, and it had a special significance. Joe had given it to Bai Jinyan as he didn’t write diaries, but the notebook had Bai Jinyan’s name on it.
Qiao Huaiyao’s lips tightened as he realized that when he opened the box, he had inadvertently lifted the notebook slightly. He couldn’t read the words, but he could see that there was writing on it.
He had been right in his guess. Bai Jinyan had written his name in the diary. The first time he had distanced himself from Qiao Huaiyao wasn’t because he regretted it afterward but because the diary with Joe’s name on it had been there before the distancing.
Qiao Huaiyao’s fingertips trembled slightly as he touched the notebook. He didn’t want to uncover the truth, but he needed to know. He had missed so much during the period of their estrangement.
Qiao Huaiyao tapped the notebook gently, without picking it up, and flipped it open. As he saw the pages filled with his name, his heart tightened.
He had been right all along.
In his previous life, Qiao Huaiyao had assumed that Bai Jinyan had written his name in the diary out of regret for distancing himself from him. But now, after spending time with him since his rebirth, Joe had a growing suspicion that something else was going on.
This diary confirmed his suspicions. Bai Jinyan had written Qiao Huaiyao’s name in the diary not after distancing himself from him but before.
This raised a crucial question: Why had Bai Jinyan suddenly distanced himself from him after the college entrance exam?
Qiao Huaiyao’s throat felt dry, and he closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. He wanted to know the reason, but as he stood on the precipice of uncovering the truth, his heart trembled.
With trembling fingertips, Qiao Huaiyao gently tapped the diary, not picking it up but merely flipping through its pages. The diary was filled with entries, and he couldn’t read the words, but he could see his own name written repeatedly.
Qiao Huaiyao had never been one to keep a diary, and he had given this special diary to Bai Jinyan as a gift. The diary even bore the name of the competition where Bai Jinyan had received it as an award.
Qiao Huaiyao pressed his lips together, closed the diary, and picked it up before rushing out of the study.
“Brother!” Qiao Huaiyao called out as he held the diary, his voice not quite steady, “Why did you suddenly distance yourself from me after the college entrance exam?”