night.

Lin Chaoxi came downstairs after taking a shower, with a towel around his neck and an IC card in his hand, ready to go to the public phone to call the director's mother as agreed.

The little boys playing with Lego downstairs were still there, but there were fewer people around. What surprised Lin Chaoxi was that Pei Zhi was not playing with Lego either. He was sitting on a small beige sofa, and the light and shadows made his little face as white and smooth as porcelain.

He lowered his head, still playing with the chess pieces, his eyes focused, as if immersed in another world.

Lin Chaoxi walked over and asked with a smile, "Where are Huajuan and Lu Zhihao?"

Pei Zhi raised his head.

At the same time, the little boys in the next building screamed: "Ah!!!"

"Why!!!!"

"Stinky ball!!!"

Looking inside, the main building was brightly lit, and the living room was crowded with little boys' hairy heads. It was the World Cup, and the little boys were crowded together to watch the game.

Just as she leaned forward, Pei Zhi lowered his head and fiddled with the chess pieces.

He pinched the chess pieces with his slender fingers, skipped one, and threw the skipped one into the chess box. His movements were quick, and the chess pieces on the chessboard fell into the chess box one after another, making a light clicking sound.

The living room is cozy and quiet, perfect for thinking alone.

Lin Chaoxi stopped disturbing him and walked to the public telephone mounted on the wall in the other corner of the living room. He inserted the IC card, picked up the phone, and started dialing.

The first call was to the dean's mother. The receiver rang twice on hold and was quickly picked up.

"Dean's mother!" Lin Zhaoxi called in a low voice.

"Brother Xi, Brother Xi, Brother Xi." The cheering voice of little boy Lin Aimin came from the phone.

I don't know what Lin Aimin did today, but he was full of energy. Lin Chaoxi pulled the microphone away from his ear, put his mouth close to him and asked with a smile: "What's the matter, are you so happy when I'm not here?"

"Mother Shen bought me a pistol today!" said Lin Aimin.

Lin Chaoxi took a moment to process who Mother Shen was, and then realized that Lin Aimin was talking about Professor Shen and his wife who were going to adopt him.

As expected, she didn't need to ask. Little Lin Aimin was already talking to him in the microphone about Professor Shen and his wife taking him to the amusement park, and said that they would come to see her together next weekend and asked her to be prepared.

Lin Chaoxi could only respond with "hmm" and "ah" and wondered what excuse he could come up with to avoid her next week.

After a while, perhaps because he was annoyed that Lin Aimin kept talking too much and wasted phone bills, the party chairman finally took the call.

"How are you today?" The woman's voice, as calm as water, rang out.

Lin Chaoxi shuddered, and the many scenes of the exam in the morning, the training at noon, and the grouping in the evening reappeared in her mind.

It’s only been a short day, how come it’s so exciting?

"It's okay today!" She chose a very neutral word.

"What do you mean it's okay?"

"It's just... it's OK..." Lin Zhaoxi said with a smile. She glanced at her classmate Pei Zhi who was sitting on the sofa and playing chess quietly, and said, "Today we had an exam and were divided into groups. I'm in a group with a super awesome classmate!"

"Study hard and don't always think about playing," said the dean.

"Okay!"

"One must listen to the teacher."

"no problem!"

"Don't cause trouble to your classmates."

"Absolutely not." Lin Zhaoxi smiled.

"That's it, then." The dean's mother said as she was about to hang up the phone.

"Dean's mother..." Lin Zhaoxi called softly.

"What's wrong?"

"If I...if I don't win the championship...but I just tried my best, can I not go to Professor Shen's house?" she asked shamelessly.

"Of course... no." The dean answered straightforwardly, but with a smile at the end of his voice, and then hung up the phone.

Lin Chaoxi curled her lips and thought to herself, you are really stingy.

Outside the window was the suburban night, and the moon looked brighter than anywhere else.

The pay phone was right next to the window. She hung up the phone but didn't take out the card right away. She sat on the window sill with her hands, swinging her legs and feeling the night breeze. A string of phone numbers appeared in her mind.

The metal keys of the dial pad gleamed in the dim light. She reached out, took the receiver back, and dialed the familiar number.

Beep...beep...beep...

The long waiting tone lasted for a long time, actually only a few dozen seconds. Lin Chaoxi couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or what other emotion he was feeling. In a different world, even dad is no longer a dad, so it is normal that the phone number is different.

However, just like in all movies and TV shows, when she was about to hang up, a deep voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, who is this?"

Unlike the rogue and long-drawn voice of Lao Lin now, this voice was very sober, a little hoarse, but without any impatient temperament. She was distracted for a while, wondering if it was still Lao Lin?

"Wrong number?" the person on the other end of the line murmured.

"Dad...Master! It's me!" Lin Chaoxi shouted, and the change of words almost made her bite off her tongue.

"What the hell?" Lao Lin asked, not paying attention to the first syllable she got wrong.

Lin Chaoxi could clearly hear the sound of Old Lin putting down his pen. It was strange that even though he sounded so impatient, he still put down his pen and talked to her?

Lin Chaoxi perked up and said with a smile: "Master, did you miss me? I'll call you from the Oasis Base!"

"Is the phone bill expensive?" asked Lao Lin.

Lin Chaoxi was touched for a moment. Old Lin was still worrying about her phone bill. She hurriedly said, "It's OK. It's just an IC card. 30 cents a minute?"

"It's so expensive, why don't you hang up the phone?" Lao Lin said in surprise, "Wait, do I have to pay for the phone call?"

Lin Zhaoxi: “…”

At that moment, the subtle thought of "I wanted to tell Dad about it because I fulfilled a little wish of Dad" had disappeared.

She took a deep breath, told herself not to get angry, and replied, "It's free for you to answer the phone!"

The surroundings were getting quieter and quieter. The children in the next building were probably holding their breath and waiting for the goal to be scored. She seemed to be able to hear the sound of wind turning the pages of a book on the other end of the phone.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Are you studying hard?"

"Xiaolin classmate..."

"arrive!"

"What am I doing? Why should I tell you?" Lao Lin said in a pretentious tone, and this tone was very similar to the later Lao Lin.

"I met a very good guy at the Oasis Base today. He even gave us a Kongming chess set!" Lin Chaoxi glanced at the time on the LCD screen. 55 seconds had passed. This card only cost 30 yuan, and she had to keep calling the dean's mother for a month, so she stopped chatting with Old Lin and started to talk to herself. "Our teacher said that the guy called Daniu is a very famous person in the mathematics world. He is so good that the students of Sanwei University can't even hear him in class!" Lin Chaoxi paused and asked, "Do you know Sanwei University? They say it's a super good school!"

"Oh." Lao Lin only responded with one syllable.

The less he cared, the more he cared. Lin Chaoxi knew that Old Lin would be a little unconvinced, so she deliberately said, "You don't even ask who Daniu is!"

"Who else could it be but Zeng Qingran?" Old Lin said casually.

"Master, is Daniu so great that even you know about it?" Lin Chaoxi continued.

On the other end of the phone, Old Lin was indeed choked. Lin Chaoxi could even imagine his angry expression when he said, "What do you mean even I know that?"

Old Lin said casually: "The Anning people, who fooled primary school students into playing Kongming chess, who else is the master of Sanwei except Zeng Qingran?"

"Master, you are really amazing."

"hehe."

The night wind blew through the trees, and occasionally the sound of children's low laughter drifted away. Perhaps these scenes were too peaceful, Lin Chaoxi couldn't help but think of the same quiet moment in the auditorium again.

She wanted to share this with Lao Lin: "Master, Professor Zeng gave a speech today. He said that exploring the unknown is wonderful and asked us to study mathematics well." Lin Chaoxi said, "If I study hard in the summer camp and study mathematics well, will I be able to explore the unknown world in the future?"

"hehe."

Old Lin's sneer came to his ears again, and Lin Chaoxi felt as if he had been poured with cold water.

"Is he wrong?" Lin Chaoxi asked.

"That's what he said. Why do you want to study mathematics?" asked Lao Lin.

Lin Chaoxi was speechless for a moment, not knowing why Old Lin suddenly started to torture his soul again.

Her first reaction was because of the last time...

Because last time, you wanted me to learn these things well, but I didn't seize the opportunity.

But putting all this aside, she couldn't answer.

He worked hard to learn Olympiad mathematics, take exams, and attend training camps. Even though he did so in the name of wanting to be free to choose an adoptive family, why did he do all this? Was it just to make up for Lao Lin's unfulfilled wish last time?

But now, Lao Lin was no longer by her side, she was alone, with almost no ties. However, even so, she was still drifting with the flow, and was naturally pushed forward step by step.

Does she really know where she is going?

On the other end of the phone, Lao Lin had already hung up. The sound of beeping made Lin Chaoxi feel that she had lived again, as if she was just repeating the same old path of her previous life in a familiar way, with no difference at all.

Outside the window, there was still the sound of children playing games before bed, and in the living room there was the clatter of chess pieces falling into boxes.

If you could do it all over again, would you really be a different person?