Chapter 10 - 10 10 The Confused Future

Words : 1438 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

10: Chapter 10 The Confused Future 10: Chapter 10 The Confused Future Watching Lan Jie walk out of sight with a thoughtful expression, Qiao Yu finally turned around to go home. “Why did it take so long? Did you even take that Teacher Lan back to school?” As soon as he opened the door, Qiao Xi’s lazy voice reached Qiao Yu’s ears. Qiao Yu glanced at the opened bottle of red wine in Qiao Xi’s hand, frowned slightly, and said, “Drink less, the teacher just said that drinking too much is bad for your health.” Half-leaning on the sofa, Qiao Xi didn’t speak, just looked pitiably and pointed at her temple with another hand. Qiao Yu had nothing to say. He had also searched online, and for the condition of neurovascular headaches, there wasn’t much of an effective treatment, but dilated blood vessels after drinking could indeed provide relief. Of course, whether the headache was real or not, only Qiao Xi knew. After all, she is his mom, his actual mom. “That math teacher is quite cute,” Qiao Xi commented. “Indeed, and he probably is still single,” Qiao Yu plopped down on the other end of the sofa, adding his own comment. “Oh? How do you know he’s still single?” Qiao Xi was clearly interested, asking gossiping questions with a curious face. “He said if I join the math Olympic competition and win the national gold, he would give me his prize money. Also, today in the office, he gave me a hundred bucks just to solve a problem. A man with a family to support surely wouldn’t say such things or do such things.” Qiao Yu shrugged and affirmed. After speaking, he glanced at Qiao Xi and added, “But what a pity, he’s too much of a good guy; such a person is prone to losses and not suitable for you. Otherwise, I could go off to study, and he could care for you.” “Pffft, Qiao Yu, what do you mean? Are you saying I don’t deserve a good guy?” “You deserve anyone, but living with a teacher who’s too responsible can be exhausting.” “Let’s talk about something else.” Qiao Xi rolled her eyes, then curiously asked, “You’re really good at math?” Thinking about what Lan Jie had said earlier, Qiao Yu replied uncertainly, “I guess so. That Teacher Lan values me greatly, doesn’t seem fake. Plus, he said the two problems I solved today were variations of previous international competition problems, but I didn’t find them difficult.” “So you really know how to solve problems, huh. That’s great! Our Qiao Family has a problem solver now,” Qiao Xi blinked and commented happily, then raised the wine bottle to take a couple of swigs. Sitting nearby, Qiao Yu seemed quite puzzled. This was somewhat different from the life plan he had envisioned for himself. “So, are you seriously supporting me in participating in that competition, right?” “Of course, Qiao Yu, studying more might truly get you ahead in life! That teacher even said you could get into top universities like Shanghua Qing and Yanbei! If you happen to become someone important in the future, making money would only become easier, right?” “First of all, getting into Shanghua Qing and Yanbei is only a possibility. Moreover, even if I do get into these two universities, it doesn’t mean I’ll become someone important. Just last time, the news reported a Yanbei graduate selling pork.” Qiao Yu casually retorted. “So he’s still famous, isn’t he? With so many selling pork nationwide, and he still made it to the news, it shows that getting into Yanbei University is still valuable. I looked it up online earlier, students from Yanbei University make good money doing tutoring. The wealthy households in Beijing buy into this elite university business. Even if, by a long shot, you end up working as a game streamer after graduating from Yanbei, it’s bound to be more attention-grabbing than other streamers, isn’t it? And you’ve mentioned it just now, that Teacher Lan is a good guy. When a person like him is helping pick your path, how could you doubt it?” Qiao Xi dismissively made a few remarks, which worked well, leaving Qiao Yu thoroughly speechless. In the mother-son debate round, the mother finally won a game. Of course, if he wanted to continue arguing, Qiao Yu could always proceed, but he wasn’t fond of arguing for the sake of it; he was merely discussing another possibility in life based on his extremely sparse life experience with another who was also not so experienced in life. So Qiao Yu just sighed and said, “Math is really difficult; you should check out that book in my room, ‘Introduction to Riemannian Geometry,’ and you’ll get it. All those metrics, connections, curvature tensors, and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem… I truly have no idea how those people who do math come up with such things.” For Qiao Yu’s complaint, Qiao Xi merely raised her head, drank another sip of the wine, then helplessly shrugged. No way around it, she knows only a little about math, casually saying, “I know, it’s reasonable because it’s hard! If it were as simple as learning English, why can’t someone with good English and translation skills get directly accepted into Shanghua Qing or Yanbei, right?” If Lan Jie were here at this moment, he might have looked at Qiao Xi differently. After all, this analysis is quite logical. The entire human mathematical system is built upon logical reasoning, so math teachers naturally place more emphasis on logic. Unfortunately, women these days who can point straight to the problem’s core through logical analysis like that are becoming fewer. Qiao Yu didn’t argue but looked at Qiao Xi and asked, “How much money do you have left?” “Seven or eight thousand in total.” After speaking, Qiao Xi hesitated for a moment, pursed her lips, and seriously said, “We can cut costs a bit. No need to buy such good wine, don’t order takeout every day, I can also start learning to cook.” Qiao Yu shook his head, sighed, and said, “Are you starting to learn cooking now? Forget it, I still have more than thirty thousand yuan here, which is enough for careful use over half a year. The good guy said if I participate in the competition this year and win a gold medal in nationals, the school will reward me with a hundred thousand. S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There are also rewards for entering the national team, but I feel those are like pie in the sky, just like those studio guys. I’ll first try to participate in this competition to see if I can really easily win a national gold medal.” Qiao Xi’s lips curled into a beautifully arching smile, and she said, “You just said that Teacher Lan is a good guy, and now you’re comparing him to those studio folks promising the moon. So you also know you’re not quite good at judging people, right?” Hearing this, Qiao Yu suddenly felt a bit saddened. If people’s hearts were transparent, how wonderful would that be? Black or red, it would be clear at a glance; then his dear mom probably wouldn’t have become like this. Only, he couldn’t admit defeat verbally: “Still better than you slightly; back then if you had focused a little harder, we wouldn’t have ended up just relying on each other.” “Qiao Yu, my little friend, let me remind you, if not for you back then, I would be a wealthy housewife now!” “Alright, alright, you win.” Qiao Yu sighed in his heart; ultimately, it’s too hard to argue with his mom–too many weaknesses. “Then let’s settle it, starting tomorrow, you’ll dutifully go study. Go join that so-called math competition. Try to get into Yanbei University; your grandpa would surely be jumping with joy once he knows.” Qiao Yu earnestly nodded and said, “Then, when notifying him, make sure to seal the coffin lid first.” Qiao Xi ignored Qiao Yu’s remark and simply glanced at the bigger clock in the living room, which was two years older than Qiao Yu, and said wistfully, “Let me tell you something, Keke didn’t go to the evening study session today.” “Knock, knock, knock…” In the next moment, the door was knocked. “Aunt Qiao, I’m here to keep you company!”

Chapter 10 - 10 10 The Confused Future

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