The Perfect Relationship

Chapter 91 Say It and Do It

Eventually, Shao Junling chose the comprehensive class, which was a class designed for domestic college entrance examinations. Students who hadn't decided their future development direction yet generally also remained in the comprehensive class.

At first, Yin Chang wasn't in a hurry, thinking that Shao Junling had just entered high school, and it wouldn't be too late to consider the issue two years later, but unexpectedly, another year passed in the blink of an eye.

In the evening, Yin Chang had a night shoot and returned home quite late. When he entered the bedroom, he saw that the desk lamp in the study was still on. He walked over and took a peek but didn't see Shao Junling's figure. Only the sound of water faintly came from the bathroom.

Shao Junling's laptop, which he had only just replaced after starting high school, was placed on the desk with its display screen on.

Yin Chang didn't intend to look, he just happened to glance over and saw several overlapping windows on the bright screen. The top two, one was the official website of L University, and the other was...

An offer from L University?

Looking closer, the beginning of the recipient's address turned out to be Shao Junling's.

Yin Chang was shocked...Shao Junling was only in his second year of high school, how could he have received an offer from L University?

After reading a few more lines, Yin Chang found that it was a conditional offer. The two conditions mentioned below were that Shao Junling had to take the TOEFL exam, and provide all his transcripts before high school, with certain requirements for scores and GPAs.

Oh, Teacher He had told him on the phone during the day that Shao Junling's participation in some robotics competition had attracted the attention of two prestigious universities. Could this so-called "attention" be acceptance letters?

Yin Chang's mind was in chaos. He heard the sound of the water shut off. He retreated to the bedroom.

After a while, the bathroom door opened. Shao Junling saw Yin Chang and slightly paused, "Brother, you’re back."

Yin Chang calmly asked, "Hmm, taking a shower?"

After a few years of acting, Yin Chang's skills had improved. He acted as if he hadn't seen anything, but the corner of his eyes followed Shao Junling's movements.

While still wrapped in a bath towel, he casually walked to his desk, closed the computer and turned off the desk lamp. After that, he walked back while wiping his body, picked out a clean T-shirt, and went to the bathroom to change his clothes.

If Yin Chang hadn't just seen that acceptance letter, he wouldn't have paid attention to these details at all.

However, the order of Shao Junling's actions was obviously problematic. Why did he turn off the computer before changing clothes? Couldn't he have finished changing clothes before turning it off? What was he trying to hide?

By the time Yin Chang finished washing, Shao Junling was already in bed, seemingly chatting with someone on his phone.

Maybe it was because of Teacher He's phone call earlier that day, or maybe it was because he had accidentally seen that acceptance letter, but Yin Chang was particularly attentive to Shao Junling's state.

Seeing Shao Junling lying on the pillow with long arms and legs, Yin Chang felt strange. It felt like only yesterday, that kid could still fit in his embrace. Now he could occupy half of the bed alone...

Yin Chang opened the quilt and laid inside, and casually asked Shao Junling, "I heard that you got first place in that F-something robotics competition?"

"FRC," Shao Junling completed the abbreviation that Yin Chang had forgotten, and put down his mobile phone, "How did you know?" He paused, "Did Teacher He tell you?"

Yin Chang set up the pillow and half leaned against it, intending to have a good chat with Shao Junling.

"He seemed quite happy for you," Yin Chang recalled Teacher He's implied expectation and couldn't help but ask, "What's FRC? Is it impressive?"

"It's okay." Shao Junling's tone sounded very calm, as if he didn't regard this award as a special honor at all.

Seeing Yin Chang's curiosity, Shao Junling explained a few words offhand. However, there were too many technical terms, such as circuit control, robot programming, and Yin Chang didn’t understand them very well. Later, his attention shifted to Shao Junling's voice and demeanor when he spoke.

Shao Junling's voice changed when he was thirteen or fourteen years old. His voice was much deeper now, with a slightly hoarse echo, but still had a kind of freshness of adolescence, magnetic, and pleasing to the ear.

Although this guy was still usually quiet, whenever he tried to convey something, he was methodical and logical, completely different from the anxious and stuttering child he had been before. Especially when it came to his areas of expertise, Shao Junling radiated a faint self-confidence.

Watching him talk with a sense of mastery, Yin Chang was proud.

Just then, Shao Junling suddenly stopped.

Seeing Yin Chang's distraction, he bluntly asked, "Do you not understand?"

Yin Chang: "..." How come this brat talked like this? Was his comprehension ability really that bad? He just wasn't interested in things like AI and robots…

Shao Junling helplessly said, "Forget it, just understand it as a robotics sports meet. Although the robots are involved in the competition, it is actually the intelligence of the designers that's being compared."

"Then it's pretty impressive that you got first place," Yin Chang said. Just now, he heard that this competition was open to high school and college students worldwide. Shao Junling was only in his second year of high school.

Shao Junling looked at him and asked, "What did Teacher He tell you?" His ability to grasp the main point was becoming more and more powerful.

Yin Chang didn't mention the acceptance letter he saw and simply said, "He said you are the core member of your team. Because of this competition, foreign universities have paid attention to you, and he asked if I considered letting you study abroad."

"Oh," Shao Junling said indifferently, "Teacher He is exaggerating. This is the team's honor, everyone contributed, and there wasn't just me in the core programming group, there was also my classmate."

Yin Chang smiled. Unexpectedly, this kid was quite modest. "So, are you considering going abroad?" he asked.

Shao Junling looked at Yin Chang, was silent for two seconds before saying, "No."

Yin Chang: "..."

No? So, that's why he didn't tell him about the acceptance letter?

...but compared to last year, Shao Junling hesitated for two seconds this time, which meant he "thought" about it for two seconds.

Yin Chang was deeply concerned about these details, but Shao Junling seemed to not want to talk about this topic anymore.

He shrunk into his bed to prepare for sleep, but Yin Chang grabbed him, "Why don't you want to go abroad? Mr. He said that research in this field is much better overseas than in China."

"Not by much," Shao Junling explained as he opened his eyes. "There is a gap, I know, but there are also several excellent universities in China, such as Tsinghua and Huazhong University of Science and Technology..."

Yin Chang interrupted him, "Do you want to apply for Tsinghua?"

"I don't know if I can, but I'll give it a try," Shao Junling replied.

Yin Chang thought about it and said, "Universities in China aren't as private as De International. If you study in China, you may encounter some troubles..."

Shao Junling looked at him, "Because of you?"

Yin Chang was very popular in the entertainment industry. From his debut until now, which had been six years, his popularity never declined. In the past two years, he was controversial for various reasons such as his strength and background. However, with the accumulation of works, his career became more and more stable.

However, because of his fame, Yin Chang always worried that he would bring trouble to Shao Junling. Coupled with Shao Junling's sensitive background, he still required a chauffeur to pick him up and drop him off, even when he went out.

Shao Junling guessed Yin Chang's concerns and smiled at him, "Brother, what are you worrying about? Do you think Tsinghua is a special place? Many celebrities have gone there to study, and most of them are at the level of Langzhi, their parents, Olympic champions, and Go prodigies... Compared to them, what am I?"

Yin Chang was stunned by Shao Junling's smile. Since his younger brother with a poker face rarely smiled, Yin Chang became dazed whenever he saw him smile. It was a strange psychological reaction he never told anyone about.

Shao Junling said again, "Moreover, I have not appeared in front of an audience for five years now, so there are not many people paying attention to me. Don't think too much of yourself. Many classmates in our robotics design group come from families that engage in scientific research. They don't follow celebrities, and don't even know who you are."

Shao Junling glanced at Yin Chang, who was still dazed, and said, "Okay, let's sleep."

A few minutes later, Yin Chang finally reacted to Shao Junling's sarcastic words just now and was so angry that he almost wanted to lift the covers and beat him. But looking at his brother who had already closed his eyes again, he had to hold back his anger.

He laid there for a while. The fact that "Shao Junling planned to stay in China" occupied his mind, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

Tsinghua... was quite good.

Although they were not in the same city, he often flew to the capital, so they should still be able to meet up frequently.

However, Yin Chang's joy did not last long, as something happened that completely changed his thinking about Shao Junling going abroad.

About a month after that night talk, Shao Junling had his winter vacation.

That afternoon, Yin Chang was supposed to attend the opening ceremony of a cooperation partner, but the venue had some problems and was suddenly canceled, so Yin Chang had no other plans and went home to rest early.

After he went upstairs, when the elevator door opened, Yin Chang heard a vague conversation in the living room. One of the voices belongs to Shao Junling, and the other sounded unfamiliar.

...there were guests at home?

From the content of their conversation, it seemed to be Shao Junling's classmate.

However, they hadn't noticed Yin Chang come back and were talking fiercely.

Yin Chang quietly changed his shoes and was about to pass through the entrance hall and greet them when he suddenly heard the stranger's voice rise, "Don't you want to go abroad with me?"

Shao Junling replied with a "Nope."

The person asked again, "Why not? Don't use Tsinghua as an excuse to avoid the topic. L University is the Holy Land of AI learning, which all of us interested in AI dream of. You know that only you and I have received the offer this time; it's a rare opportunity. Are you really going to give it up like this?"

Yin Chang stopped in his tracks and his expression slowly became serious.

"Family occupational reasons? Sensitive identity and can't leave? No way, your brother is a star, not like Mao Zi'ang's parents... Or is it that your brother won't let you go?"

The stranger made wild guesses, and Shao Junling immediately said, "No."

"Then why? You must give me an answer today."

After a few seconds of silence, there was Shao Junling's insipid voice in the living room. "I promised my brother that I would always be with him, so I can't go abroad."

Yin Chang stood in the entrance hall, completely dumbfounded.

"Damn... how old is your brother?! Why do you have to accompany him?" 

"... "At this moment, the stranger's roar expressed Yin Chang's thoughts.

They talked about something else later, but Yin Chang didn't listen carefully. At this moment, what flashed through his mind was the message that Shao Junling wrote for him five years ago when they participated in that parent-child variety show.

To be honest, Yin Chang never took the promise of an eleven-year-old child seriously. Because people grew up and he also considered that Shao Junling would eventually have his own thoughts, pursuits, and life.

At that time, Yin Chang had just joked, "Then you have to keep your promise"... He never thought that Shao Junling really took it to heart, until now. 

 Author’s Note: FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) robotics challenge is an industrial-level robot competition for high school and college students. Hosted by the American non-profit organization FIRST, it's recognized by hundreds of universities worldwide. Team members can apply for a total of about 30 million US dollars in scholarships every year, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University. Teams that rank first in the competition can even directly get the conditional offer for artificial intelligence majors from famous universities. The top 3 AI majors in the United States are said to be the University of Tennessee, the University of Washington, and Stanford University. "L University" is just a nickname. Let's just understand it as top 3 because Shao Junling is very smart ^^