Chapter 10 "What is our relationship?"

The car stopped at the west gate of the Peninsula Apartments.

As soon as Ji Tong got out of the car, the first thing she did was grab Gu Lin's shirt at the waist. She raised her hand to lift it up, but Gu Lin pressed her down again.

"There's someone there."

“I know,” Ji Tong greeted the old man at the security booth, indicating that she “not only saw someone, but also greeted him,” and then continued to say to Gu Lin, “Let go.”

"It didn't press on the wound." Gu Lin knew what he was worried about.

"You know that already? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" Ji Tong squinted at him.

Gu let go before he died.

Ji Tong lifted the corner of her clothes a little and carefully checked it over. She only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that she hadn't been pressed down.

If the bleeding continues, he will definitely take people to the hospital immediately.

Ji Tong smoothed out Gu Lin's clothes and poked his arm: "Go ahead and lead the way."

Although he was supposed to be leading the way, the two walked side by side.

After entering the residential area, Ji Tong didn't say much, observing the layout of the apartment complex. It was enclosed, with views from the windows, a strong sense of community boundaries, good lighting and green space, and a decent environment.

During this time, Gu Lin said a few words, and Ji Tong responded briefly without saying anything more.

The elevator dinged as it arrived at the 21st floor.

Ji Tong originally thought that Gu Lin was also renting a small apartment, but there were only 4 apartments on the entire 21st floor, so the area should not be too small.

"Go open the door first, I'll send a message to Ayuan."

Ji Tong opened the dormitory group chat in front of Gu Lin, as if to say, "I'm not kidding you, you really have to reply to the messages."

After saying that, she turned around without waiting for Gu Lin's reply.

Saying it was to reply to Li Yuan and the others was just an excuse.

Ji Tong hadn't forgotten at all that Gu Lin had said the apartment hadn't been cleaned on Friday night.

In the adult world, silence is a form of refusal, and Ji Tong is not unaware of this.

Ji Tong felt he was being a bit "pretentious," after all, Gu Lin had already told him the password, and even used "01," but his "tolerance threshold" for Gu Lin seemed to be extremely low, so low that he couldn't tolerate even the slightest "rejection."

It's terrible.

Ji Tong absentmindedly typed on the keyboard, and a short while later, a new message appeared in the dormitory group chat.

[JT: Like a howitzer, even if you want to see me, you can't get any vitamin B complex.]

[A Yuan:? 】

[Ah Tian: ?]

[Mingying: ?]

Ji Tong: "..."

Ji Tong deleted the garbled text, simply posted "I accidentally pressed the keyboard" in the group, and then listened intently to the sounds behind him.

It's been three minutes. Gu Lin should have opened the door by now, right?

Ji Tong was thinking when she was about to turn around—

"Have you finished talking?"

Gu Lin's voice was so close it seemed to be right next to Ji Tong's ear.

Ji Tong's fingers trembled, and he turned around. He was stunned for a long time before he managed to compose himself: "I... I told you to go open the door first, didn't I?"

Gu Lin didn't answer, but just looked down at him and repeated it in a low voice.

"Have you finished talking?"

"...Okay, all done."

Just as Ji Tong was about to ask him why he was standing there, before she could even open her mouth, Gu Lin had already raised his hand and grabbed Ji Tong's wrist, leading her towards room 2104.

Ji Tong was led around in a daze and stopped in front of the door.

He saw Gu Lin raise his hand and casually press a few keys on the combination lock.

The combination lock emitted a series of beeping sounds, but the tone didn't sound like someone was entering a password.

"Didn't you say the password was 01..."

"fingerprint."

The two spoke at the same time.

Ji Tong: "What?"

Gu Lin suddenly pulled down the hand that was holding Ji Tong's wrist, and grabbed Ji Tong's hand.

Gu Lin's palms were wide and cool. Before Ji Tong could react, a "beep" sounded, and Ji Tong's fingerprints were recorded.

The system notification suddenly sounded, saying "Welcome home," and the door lock opened immediately.

Ji Tong was so stunned by this series of actions that he could barely move his feet.

He stood quietly at the door for a while, looking down at the floor tiles peeking out from the crack in the door.

"I remember the password," Ji Tong coughed.

The result of opening the door was the same, but with a password and a fingerprint, it seemed a little different.

"It will be more convenient in the future," Gu Lin said.

The last time I heard the word "convenient" from Gu Lin was when he said, "It's not tidy up yet, so it's inconvenient."

Ji Tong didn't want to appear to care about this, but the truth was, he did care a lot.

…Although the “fingerprinting” incident made him less angry, Ji Tong still asked the question.

"So the house is all tidied up today?"

Ji Tong waited for Gu Lin to say "It's done," but Gu Lin didn't answer. He just left a single word as he led her into the house.

"without."

Ji Tong entered the house in a daze, wanting to ask what "no" meant, but suddenly smelled an extremely familiar scent.

?

Orange grove?

Ji Tong sniffed gently, then turned her head to look at the fragrance.

That's right, it smells like an orange grove.

"Where did you buy it?" Ji Tong asked with a hint of surprise, reaching out to pick up the aromatherapy diffuser from the entryway cabinet and shaking it.

It's the scented oil he uses most often.

There are many Orange Tree fragrances on the market, but Ji Tong's favorite one is quite hard to find, with a blend of orange and tangerine scents.

“Germany,” Gu Lin said.

Ji Tong paused for a few seconds: "The bottle at home is almost empty."

"I still have some," Gu Lin said casually.

Ji Tong looked at him with some surprise.

He clearly remembered that Gu Lin didn't have the habit of using aromatherapy.

Before he could think further, Gu Lin had already taken a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet. He bent down slightly and handed them to Ji Tong's feet.

Ji Tong slipped on the slippers, checked them, and found they were his size, just right.

The scent of the orange grove, combined with a pair of perfectly fitting slippers, suddenly gave Ji Tong a sense of belonging, as if this were her territory.

He always did as he pleased, and now his eyebrows were slightly raised as he shuffled inside in his slippers, turning his head to observe the apartment layout like a curious cat.

He was so focused that he didn't notice the person behind him leaning against the wall of the entrance hallway, quietly watching him.

How long has it been?

There were only the two of them.

Gu Lin had heard a saying long ago: people who have been apart for too long are not suitable to reunite.

6 months and 11 days, 195 days.

How long?

It doesn't seem like long, just two seasons have passed, but one spring and summer are missing.

Not long?

It seems like a long time, so long that the latitude and longitude scale has changed from Anjing to Jiangcheng, to Germany, and then to one time zone after another.

The lights inside the house were off, except for a small entryway light that cast a soft glow.

The scent of orange and soapberry lingered in her mind. Orange groves are naturally a light fragrance, and Ji Tong didn't know how Gu Lin managed to make a light fragrance sound so strong.

"Didn't you open the window today? It smells so good it's almost cloying."

"Um."

"How many times have I told you, don't always just use the ventilation mode, natural ventilation is best, what a bad habit."

As Ji Tong spoke, she strode to the large French windows in the living room and, with a "whoosh," pulled back the curtains.

The vibrant neon lights of the tall buildings across the street suddenly caught Ji Tong's eye.

Gu Lin's eyelashes twitched.

For a fleeting moment, even though it was already night, he felt as if sunlight were streaming in.

"Where's the light switch?"

"On the right."

"Is that the bathroom?"

"Um."

What is this room?

"Guest room".

"That's your room?"

"Um."

"I want to see."

Gu Lin remained silent.

Ji Tong's walk around the room wasn't in vain. While looking at the layout, he also looked for signs of "not being tidied up" that Gu Lin had mentioned. The windows were bright and clean, without a single stain.

The problem then becomes quite obvious.

Gu Lin remained leaning there.

Ji Tong walked over, head down, and stepped on the back of Gu Lin's slipper, leaving no room for argument.

"I'll give you two minutes to tidy up, I'll check on you later."

Gu Lin remained silent and motionless.

Ji Tong stomped on it again: "Did you hear that?"

"I heard you." Gu Lin finally straightened up and walked towards the master bedroom.

He hadn't taken more than two steps.

"Stand still."

Ji Tong, who planned to sneak up on him: "..."

It really has eyes in its back.

It's so annoying.

"Okay, okay."

-

Gu Lin entered the room and closed the door.

The voice from outside the door could still be heard.

"Just a quick tidy-up; the doctor told you not to move around too much."

"I don't mind your messiness."

The two were separated by a door.

Gu Lin listened to him mutter without missing a single word before walking over, gathering the cigarettes on the table in his palm, hiding them, standing quietly by the table for a few seconds, and finally walking towards the bedside table.

The moment he bent down and pulled open the drawer.

A school badge with that person's photo on it lay quietly in the middle of the drawer, and below the badge was a piece of paper.

The piece of paper was twice the size of the school badge, and the top of it was printed with three words in regular script: "Wish Coupon".

Gu Lin looked down and picked up the piece of paper.

The coupons were issued by the school.

On the eve of New Year's Day in the first semester of senior year, as the calendar was about to turn to the new year, the school, which is full of ritual, distributed "wish coupons" as usual, one for each student.

They called it a "wish," but actually they were writing down their preferred universities.

But that person didn't write it.

Perhaps it was because of the guaranteed admission, or perhaps... there really is nothing that cannot be obtained. The person simply rested his chin on his hand, held the wish ticket and waved it around. Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he lowered his head, signed the two characters "Ji Tong" in the lower right corner of the card, and handed it to him.

"Write down what you want, and I'll exchange it for you," the man said.

Memories are like burn marks.

What did he reply at that time?

It seems like I didn't reply to anything.

The "wish coupon" in his palm was tinged yellow by the night light. Gu Lin looked down at the two characters "Ji Tong" in the lower right corner, with the date written below: 01.01.

It's 01 again.

Gu Lin locked the wish coupon and school ID card in a hidden compartment of the drawer, and then his phone rang.

[Everything you said is true, listen carefully: your throat is dry, you need to drink water.]

[Everything you said is right, listen carefully: Come out now.]

The moment the door opened, a head peered over Gu Lin's shoulder and began "searching" inside.

He pushed aside someone blocking his view and, like a king on inspection tour, carefully scanned the area.

The blankets were neatly made, the table was clean, and there wasn't even any trash in the trash can.

So where exactly was cleaned up?

"Are you all packed?" Ji Tong asked tentatively.

"Um."

“.

Ji Tong turned around and blocked Gu Lin's path, looking up at him intently.

You have a secret.

"Um."

"You still say you didn't, but I... um?"

Ji Tong originally wanted to take this opportunity to lash out, because he was sure Gu Lin would deny it, but the reality was quite the opposite.

Admitting it so quickly?

How did he have his episode?

Gu Lin took a step to the side, but was blocked by Ji Tong with a stride.

"What secret?" Ji Tong quickly pressed for an answer.

"Look up the meaning of 'secret' on Baidu," Gu Lin said.

It means that once it's said, it's no longer a secret.

Ji Tong blurted out, "What kind of relationship do we have? Why did you have to hide it from me? I already..."

Before Ji Tong could speak, Gu Lin suddenly interrupted her.

"What is our relationship?"

Ji Tong was stunned.

Gu Lin finally looked at him.

"Ji Tong, what is our relationship?"

He asked again, his eyes heavy in the darkness.

An eerie silence filled the room.

Ji Tong felt like Gu Lin had asked him this question before. His mind went blank for a moment, and he answered from memory, "My best friend, my best brother, didn't I tell you? It's the kind of friend you'd give your wife and children to..."

Before Ji Tong could finish speaking, a hand appeared in his line of sight.

Gu Lin pinched his face and lifted it up.

Perhaps it was the lighting, but Gu Lin's expression inexplicably appeared somewhat gloomy.

Ji Tong's chin was pressed against Gu Lin's tiger's mouth, and the soft flesh on both sides of her cheeks was stretched into a slight curve.

?

"what."

"Isn't it a dry throat?"

"Speak less."

Gu Lin released his hand, rubbed his fingers which still retained warmth, and turned to walk out of the room.