As soon as the elevator doors opened, the butler was already waiting respectfully outside. "Young master, dinner has been prepared as you requested."
"Mm." Ji Yanzhi took off his coat and handed it to a servant beside him. "Tell Ji Ting to come downstairs."
"Yes, sir."
Ten minutes later, Ji Ting came downstairs to the dining room.
When he entered, he found the table covered with vegetable dishes he hated, and froze for a moment.
Was the Ji family observing some kind of fast today?
Ji Yanzhi looked up from his phone and glanced at him, sneering inwardly.
This was their first meeting since Ji Ting had been confined. Ji Yanzhi had already anticipated the shouting and tantrums, perhaps even a hysterical breakdown.
But while rolling around on the floor might work on their father, it would get him nowhere with Ji Yanzhi.
He waited for Ji Ting to start making a scene. Instead, once Ji Ting recovered, he walked over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
That composure caught Ji Yanzhi completely off guard. He looked at Ji Ting with a more appraising gaze. "We haven't seen each other for days. Don't you have anything to say to me?"
"No," Ji Ting said evenly.
[The way to deal with a pathological control freak is for the victim to give no feedback. Deprived of the pleasure of control, he'll gradually lose interest.]
Hearing that thought, Ji Yanzhi almost laughed in anger.
So he hired tutors to teach him at home and kept an eye on him to stop him from going out and fooling around, and that made him a pervert in Ji Ting's eyes?
Ji Yanzhi threw his phone onto the table with a smack and folded his arms. "Nothing to say, is that it? Since you're so sure you're in the right, let's talk about why the first tutor said you cheated."
Ji Ting frowned, his tone slightly displeased. "I didn't cheat. I just got a perfect score on the test."
Ji Yanzhi sneered. "Oh, if you can get a perfect score without cheating, why would I hire tutors for you?"
Ji Ting's eyes widened slightly as he asked curiously, "Wasn't it to punish me?"
Ji Yanzhi gave another cold laugh, but sparks of anger had already flared in his dark eyes. "Then the second math tutor. Why did he keep insisting he couldn't teach you?"
"He said I'd set up the formula for one question incorrectly. I told him I hadn't, because the telescope conjecture involved in that question will be disproved in the future."
So now he could predict the future, could he?
Ji Yanzhi's patience had reached its limit, but he still took a deep breath. "Go on. Tell me about the new one today."
Ji Ting said calmly, "Xu Ren suddenly came up with a direction for his experiment, so he went back to school."
Ji Chengchuan watched him spout this without hesitation. "So you're saying he wanted to leave on his own?"
"Yes."
"Then do you know how much I pay him per lesson?"
"It has nothing to do with how much he's paid." Though Ji Ting was explaining, his tone remained flat. "A clear experimental direction is very important to his research. If it were me, I'd rush back to the lab right away too."
"If it were you?" Ji Yanzhi found that even more ridiculous. "You're a lousy student who scored a total of 213 on the college entrance exam. Since when did you learn to put yourself in a good student's shoes?"
Ji Ting's lips parted slightly, but in the end, he pressed them together in silence.
[With a score that low, there really isn't any ground to argue from.]
Hearing that he finally had some self-awareness, Ji Yanzhi's expression grew less cold. "We'll let the past go. From now on, stop all your scheming. Once your grades reach the cutoff for second-tier universities, I'll let you go out."
Ji Ting lifted his long lashes, looking somewhat surprised. "If that's all you wanted, you could have told me from the start."
His seemingly casual tone stirred Ji Yanzhi's suppressed anger again. "Oh? From the sound of it, you can take your pick of all the top universities?"
Ji Ting had been specially admitted to the Huake Academy of Sciences at fifteen and had never taken the college entrance exam. But given the original owner's past performance, he kept his answer restrained. "I should be able to."
The dining room fell silent for a full three or four seconds. Ji Yanzhi's expression turned icy. "Ji Ting, you don't want to leave this house for the rest of your life, do you?"
"I..."
"Shut up and eat."
Ji Ting fell silent.
Looking at the table full of leafy greens, he lowered his eyes. After a quiet moment, he asked, "Ji Yanzhi, have you ever believed me? Even once?"
Ji Yanzhi leaned back in his chair, his expression tinged with boredom and contempt. "Do you think someone like you deserves to be trusted?"
Those words seemed to extinguish Ji Ting's last hope. He gave Ji Yanzhi a long look, then stood and walked out of the dining room without looking back.
Watching his performance, Ji Yanzhi felt nothing at all. If anything, he found it rather laughable.
In the past, Ji Ting had at least squeezed out a few tears when putting on an act. This time, even his steps were light as he left. Like hell Ji Yanzhi would believe him.
Regardless of whatever antics Ji Ting got up to, Ji Yanzhi went to his study after dinner to handle work as usual.
Before he knew it, bedtime had arrived. He was still reviewing the R&D department's project budget when his phone suddenly vibrated.
"Hello."
"President Ji, I got in touch with Xu Ren. He said phones aren't allowed in the lab, which is why he didn't answer earlier."
Ji Yanzhi's hand paused, and his gaze shifted slightly. "He's doing an experiment?"
"Yes," his secretary said. "Xu Ren also apologized. He said he was in such a hurry to get back to school this afternoon that he didn't have time to obtain the guardian's permission, and he's very sorry."
Those words suddenly weighed on Ji Yanzhi's heart.
Something seemed to lodge in his chest, dragging it downward.
So Ji Ting hadn't lied. Xu Ren really had wanted to return to school on his own. Ji Yanzhi simply hadn't believed him.
After receiving no instructions for a long while, the secretary could only ask tentatively, "Mr. Ji, about this..."
Ji Yanzhi came back to himself, his fingertips turning faintly white around his phone. "Transfer today's lesson fee to him, then find another tutor."
The secretary agreed, then added, "Mr. Ji, Xu Ren also asked at the end whether he could have the second young master's phone number."
Ji Yanzhi's brows immediately drew together. "What for?"
"From what he said, it sounds like he wants to stay in touch with the second young master."
Stay in touch?
Xu Ren had spent less than an hour there in total. Why was he acting as though he knew Ji Ting so well? Ji Yanzhi instinctively suspected ulterior motives. "Don't give it to him."
"Yes, sir."
After ending the call, Ji Yanzhi sat alone for a long time.
Only when the computer screen automatically went dark did he seem to make up his mind. He stood and left the study.
At the same time, Ji Ting was sitting in front of his computer.
His hands were clasped against his lips. The screen's glow reflected in his amber eyes, bright yet particularly cold and solemn.
Ji Ting watched the evolving structures on the screen. "Strings" of varying curvature intertwined, split apart, and recombined, forming new force strings and gravitons.
He was watching intently when a small window suddenly popped up in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
[Human movement detected -- count: 1]
Two days earlier, Ji Ting had added two programs to the house's surveillance system. Anyone approaching his bedroom door would automatically be detected. Now, looking at the person on the screen, he tilted his head slightly.
Why was Ji Yanzhi standing outside his door this late instead of going back to rest?
Before you continue