Class is over.
Students in the Brain Domain Development Environment immediately rushed out of the classroom eagerly.
Cheng Jinyang stayed behind leisurely, organizing the materials he received during class, still thinking about the Brain Domain Development and the Nightmare.
"Here." Cheng Yuexian walked over from the side and handed him a piece of paper. "This semester's schedule."
Cheng Jinyang took a look and saw that it was all related to mechanics and mathematics courses, with corresponding textbooks already given to him by Ah Zhi.
"If you have time, try to strengthen your theoretical foundation," Cheng Yuexian said earnestly, "Your potential doesn't just stop at seventh grade. If you waste too much time now, it will affect your progress later."
"I understand," Cheng Jinyang nodded in agreement.
"Also, someone has spread rumors about your relationship with Yuanzhi on the internet. The family is already investigating this matter," Cheng Yuexian continued, "There may be some descendants of the family with excessive secretion of male hormones who will bother you during this time. Don't pay too much attention to their harassment, just call me directly if you encounter any issues."
"Looking for trouble?" Cheng Jinyang pondered, "Like blocking me outside the classroom, does that count?"
"It does." Cheng Yuexian stepped outside the classroom and shouted at the students hiding across the courtyard, "I can see you! If there's any fighting happening next, regardless of your involvement, I will visit your parents!"
The students immediately scattered.
"Let me walk you back," Cheng Yuexian turned around and said, "Just to prevent anyone from ambushing you on the way."
"Thank you, Cousin," Cheng Jinyang replied.
The so-called "just in case" was obviously just an excuse; his cousin must have something to discuss with him.
Sure enough, as they left the area of the underground research facility, Cheng Yuexian spoke in a friendly tone:
"We recently obtained your blood test data from the past few years."
It should be the same data that Miss Wang falsified, Cheng Jinyang thought to himself, then heard his cousin continue:
"According to the lineage identification, you have about a seventy percent chance of reaching the peak of the sixth grade before the age of forty-five; additionally, there's a thirty percent chance of reaching the fifth grade before the age of forty-eight."
"If you can truly reach the fifth grade realm, then the Cheng family will certainly consider you the core of the family. It's safe to say that, based solely on this thirty percent probability, the family will invest a large amount of resources in you at this stage, to assist you in fully advancing to the fifth grade in over twenty years."
"So, I hope you don't harbor doubts and resentments towards the family because of past experiences."
"In fact, the family is not a unified entity with a single will. The vast majority of clan members... no matter how they may have opposed you in the past, are actually just being led by the collective atmosphere. They are not your true enemies."
"Um-hmm." Cheng Jinyang neither agreed nor disagreed, merely indicating that he was listening.
"As for your father's ordeal, I don't know much either," continued Cheng Yuexian, seeing his lack of reaction. "At that time, Grandfather's health had deteriorated significantly, necessitating his retirement to the hospital and the transfer of power."
"During that period, due to issues regarding marriage, there were rumors that your father's relationship with others had become strained. However, the specifics of the power struggle were unclear to everyone; only the five core members knew: Grandfather, Eldest Uncle, my father, Third Uncle, and your father."
"The position of the clan leader finally fell into the hands of the eldest uncle, while grandfather announced his retreat, and your father left the family. For the vast majority of the clan members, it was bewildering to discover that overnight, the power structure of the family had been completely reshuffled: the eldest uncle emerged victorious, while your father failed."
"As I mentioned in class just now: for the losers, the clan members will not show any mercy. The more they belittle your father, the more they can demonstrate their allegiance and loyalty... This is the worst aspect of human nature, but it is the reality. Conversely, if you can smoothly become the core of the next generation, all the slander directed at you and your father will quickly dissipate."
"Moreover, the potential you are showing now far surpasses that of your father. As for the son of the eldest uncle, neither his bloodline nor his computational ability is quite up to par. The gap between you and him is much larger than the gap between the eldest uncle and your father back then."
"So, as long as you stay steady, you'll be fine. Time is on your side."
She suddenly stopped in her tracks and whispered:
"And, don't expose any weaknesses."
Cheng Jinyang was momentarily stunned, feeling that his cousin had something more to say.
However, Cheng Yuexian seemed to have no further explanation, just a faint smile, saying:
"The guest room of Tingyu Pavilion is just ahead, I'll stop here."
"No need to trouble you, cousin." Cheng Jinyang nodded in thanks.
"It's nothing." Cheng Yuexian turned away, seeming to hesitate to speak, then whispered:
"It's not that I want to meddle too much, but... the class disparity is too great. The daughters of the Five Great Clans are not really suitable matches. I know Qingfeng's character well and can trust her. As for Princess Nankang, if you truly intend to become her husband, it's best to communicate with Grandfather in advance and avoid too much private interaction."
She waved her hand and quickly left. Cheng Jinyang watched her leave, sighing softly in his heart.
Sure enough, even returning to the family, there would still be a heap of power struggles and petty matters...
However, the good thing about this world is that there is a huge difference in strength between different individuals. As long as one steadily improves their supernatural abilities, there's no need to worry too much about those trivial matters.
No showing any weaknesses, right?
It wasn't until his cousin's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor that he finally let out a long sigh of relief, then turned around.
Arriving at the door of the room, he heard the cold voice of Ah Zhi from inside:
"Is it you who's playing tricks?"
"Of course not," Miss Wang's tone was unusually annoyed, "Would I use such a foolish tactic?!"
"If it's not you, then who could it be?" Ah Zhi still expressed doubt. However, based on Cheng Jinyang's understanding of her, he could tell from her voice that her suspicion had mostly dissipated, and at this point, she was just intentionally provoking Wang Wanrou to articulate her analysis.
"Who else could it be?" Miss Wang disdainfully said, "List out the people with motives, list out the people with abilities, narrow down the list to the intersection, rank them by intelligence, and there are only a few left at the bottom, right?"
Xing Yuanzhi: ???
"So who is it exactly?" Cheng Jinyang pushed the door open and asked directly, "Cheng Yizhou?"
On the way back just now, his cousin mentioned the feud between his uncle and father, then compared his uncle's son unfavorably to himself, and warned him not to reveal any flaws. The answer was already obvious, almost too obvious, just short of saying it directly.
But upon hearing Miss Wang say "someone with a motive" at the door, Cheng Jinyang suddenly realized.
"Of course not," unexpectedly, Miss Wang denied his judgment, "If it weren't for you, Cheng Yizhou's successor position would be a done deal. Now that you've appeared, regardless of whether he did it or not, he's the first one the outside world will suspect."
"Could that be an empty city strategy?" Cheng Jinyang hesitated, "Like the most dangerous place is actually the safest, a reverse logic like that?"
"The application of the empty city strategy relies on highly predicting the psychology of individual targets," Xing Yuanzhi shook her head, "It's absolutely not applicable to groups. If one person thinks 'because everyone would probably suspect him first, it's unlikely that he did it,' then there would be a thousand people thinking 'it must be him.' After all, for collective intelligence, slightly more complex logic is not appreciated."
"Right," said Wang Wanrou, "but we can't completely rule out his suspicion. After all, you never know how low the IQ of a foolish person can be."
Xing Yuanzhi: ...
"Anyway, it doesn't matter," Wang Wanrou lay down on the bed, yawning. "Just incited a bunch of licking dogs. But as long as you ignore them, how long can they persist?"
No, what they're actually licking is the imaginary goddess Ah Zhi!
The more Xing Yuanzhi ignores them, the more they mythologize her, and then they lick even harder!