Chapter 16 "I Shouldn't Have Met You"

After Ji Tong finished applying the medicine to Gu Lin and washing her hands, she took a moment to check her phone and saw the message Gu Lin had sent to Duan Pei.

"You just sent a location?" Ji Tong asked incredulously, turning her phone over to show Gu Lin. "Not even a word?"

Gu Lin took out a tissue and casually wiped away the remaining water stains on Ji Tong's forearm.

"say what."

“Just say something like, ‘Sorry, senior, I’m not at school tonight, so I can’t make it. Have fun, senior.’”

"The same meaning."

Ji Tong stared at him speechlessly: "Yes, the positioning is 'If you're not at school, you can't get through,' but we still need to package it a bit."

Gu Lin did not answer.

Ji Tong sighed.

"Sigh, you're such a fool when it comes to relationships, what can I expect from you?"

As for the others, Duan Pei is the project team mentor's prized student, and Gu Lin will inevitably have to interact with him when he gets in.

Ji Tong put her phone away: "I'll reply myself."

Gu Lin went to the kitchen and took a bottle of ice water from the refrigerator.

When he came out, he saw that Ji Tong had picked out "voluntarily standing as punishment" from his meme empire and sent it to Duan Pei.

Gu Lin didn't say anything, but opened the ice water bottle and took a sip.

After sending the emoji, Ji Tong thought that adding a tone of voice would make it sound more sincere, so she pressed the voice message button—

Gu Lin lowered his eyes and gently pressed his finger on the water bottle, which made a soft rustling sound as it was squeezed.

"Sorry, senior, I was busy just now and couldn't send a message, so I just sent my location. Also—"

The clash of hot and cold caused water droplets to condense on the bottle, making Gu Lin's palm feel icy cold.

“I’ve been staying with Gu Lin for a while now. Once his back wound has healed, we can go together next time. Gu Lin is also very interested in model optimization and deep inference, so I’ll have to trouble you to save me two tickets then.”

After Ji Tong finished speaking, he sent a voice message and then sent a "bowing" emoji.

Gu Lin loosened his grip.

Ji Tong sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking up at Gu Lin with a "learn from me" expression: "See, this is how you do it, understand?"

He expressed his inconvenience, apologized, and even showed Gu Lin his face to the senior, leaving a good academic impression.

In just two minutes, all his emotions surged through Gu Lin.

Destructive, aggressive, patiently enduring, constantly deformed and stretched in self-control, ultimately returning to nothingness.

Gu Lin closed his eyes for a long time.

For a fleeting moment, he even felt that he was the second "Duan Pei".

Gu Lin unscrewed the bottle cap and took another sip of cold water. He moved his fingers, which were stiff from being exposed to the cold air, and looked down at Ji Tong.

Who is the fool who doesn't understand human relationships?

-

Time flies, and it's the weekend.

Ji Tong was awakened by the sound of rain, and walked out of the master bedroom wearing her messy pajamas.

Gu Lin was making coffee by the island counter table.

Ji Tong was still a little dazed, and walked over with her eyes half-closed. She lowered her head and rested her forehead against the back of Gu Lin's neck.

Gu Lin's pajamas smelled of roasted coffee, a scent that Ji Tong liked.

"It smells so good," Ji Tong said. "Make me a cup."

Gu Lin: "Mm."

Gu Lin made himself a cup of charcoal-roasted coffee with lots of ice, making it refreshingly cold, but gave Ji Tong a hot latte instead.

Ji Tong didn't say anything, went into the bathroom to quickly wash her face, and then came out to relax on the sofa and drink coffee.

The whole city was gloomy, but the apartment was bathed in warm yellow light.

In just five days, the show flat-style house was filled with many new items.

On the balcony, a coral pink short-sleeved shirt, a tomato-shaped cushion on the sofa, a pear-shaped lamp, a melting wax lamp, a calla lily vase, an orange cat incense holder, and a seashell-shaped handmade cup... all boldly and colorfully occupy the space.

At noon, Ji Tong signed for a package.

"What is it?" Gu Lin asked.

As Ji Tong unpacked the package, she said, "It's scar removal cream. I asked my sister for it."

The package was a bit heavy, so Ji Tong shook it gently. When she opened it, there was a small box next to the scar removal cream.

Ji Tong was puzzled.

A small card was attached to the box. Ji Tong picked it up and took a look—

To: Those who love beauty.

My cousin's name was signed in a flamboyant style at the bottom.

Ji Tong: "..."

Gu Lin looked at the card: "Who is it for?"

Ji Tong didn't answer immediately, but opened the box, revealing a razor.

Ji Tong: "..."

Ji Tong stuffed the razor and card together into Gu Lin's arms: "Here, for you, Ai Meijing."

Gu Lin's wound has mostly healed, but it is still a bit red, so Ji Tong hasn't applied any scar removal cream to him yet.

Ji Tong didn't get enough sleep in the morning, so she took a nap at noon and didn't wake up until 3 pm.

There were about a hundred unread messages on his phone. He quickly scanned them and found that most of them were group chats. Just as he was about to move on, three messages popped up in the message box.

From: [Mom's Husband]

It's Dad.

Ji Tong snapped out of his daze and subconsciously glanced toward the door. The door was closed, so Gu Lin wouldn't come in, but he still cautiously checked again and again before opening the document sent by Ji Yuanfeng.

The data is very detailed. Cinda's market share, growth trend, assets and cash flow are all normal. There are no special circumstances or share transfers in the company. It just seems that there are signs of contraction in Anjing's product line.

Ji Tong flipped through the pages one by one until he reached the last appendix.

This refers to the condition of Beishan No. 5.

His hunch was right; the villa in Beishan was indeed being offered for sale.

Ji Tong sent her dad a picture of a little pigeon leaning against a big pigeon, with the caption "Dad is the most reliable," and then lay back down on the bed.

Thankfully, the worst-case scenario didn't happen.

When Ji Tong asked Ji Yuanfeng to help investigate Cinda Energy's data, he had made the worst-case scenario prediction, such as Cinda suffering serious losses, a broken capital chain, debts far exceeding assets, or even bankruptcy liquidation.

Ji Tong read the information over and over again three times.

Instead of a "disgraceful departure," it seemed as if they were severing ties between the Gu family and Anjing.

Ji Tong didn't want to consider from a "market" perspective whether Cinda was preparing to withdraw from Anjing or what new strategies it might have. From Ji Tong's perspective, all he could see was Gu Lin, and only Gu Lin.

Regardless of the reason or intention, the fact remains that they secretly investigated Xinda without Gu Lin's knowledge.

Ji Tong lay in bed for twenty minutes before finally forwarding the information to Gu Lin.

Half a minute later, a message came back from the other end.

[XX: Are you awake?]

Ji Tong didn't expect Gu Lin's first words to be like this.

JT: Hmm.

Another minute later.

"Open the door."

There was a knock on the door.

Ji Tong knew Gu Lin would come. He covered himself with the blanket for a moment, adjusted his breathing, got up, walked over, and opened the door.

Actually, both Ji Tong and Gu Lin knew the door wasn't locked, but they still knocked and opened it, as if they were adhering to a tacit understanding.

The door opened.

Ji Tong lowered his head.

A moment of silence.

"Go put on your shoes." Gu Lin's calm and natural voice broke the silence.

Ji Tong then realized that she had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she had gotten off the bed barefoot.

He responded, turned around, put on his slippers, and walked over.

The words "Awake?" and "Go put on your shoes"—two questions that were not in Ji Tong's mind—disrupted his train of thought, and for a moment, Ji Tong forgot what he was going to say.

It was Gu Lin who spoke first.

"What are you worried about?"

Like the rustling of leaves in the treetops, without questioning or accusation, it simply asks, "What are you worried about?"

Ji Tong recalled that in high school, Li Yuan and the others always said that Gu Lin was cold and aloof, and that Ji Tong had no temper.

But Ji Tong knew.

Actually, the person who truly has no temper is Gu Lin.

"Are you worried about Cinda going bankrupt?" Gu Lin asked.

Ji Tong was somewhat distracted.

"Look up at me."

Ji Tong then looked up from the floor and nodded.

"Well, because you said there was a problem at home, so... I asked Dad to check it out."

Now that the reason has been stated, everything else seems less difficult to explain.

Ji Tong finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind ever since he decided to investigate Xinda—

"Gu Lin."

"Is someone telling you to leave Ankyoreh?"

The weather forecast says that Ankyoreh will enter a long, unusual rainy season starting today, lasting throughout September.

Gu Lin looked into those eyes.

As Paterson once said, "Love is not a comfort, but a nail in the skull."

Gu Lin recalled the day he confessed to his family that he liked this person; it was also a rainy day like this.

“Ah Lin, I also like Ji Tong very much, but that doesn’t mean I agree to you staying by his side.”

“If the way that child looks at you is the same way you look at him, I won’t say another word.”

"But he isn't."

"You know how difficult this road is."

"Since he isn't, why should he accompany you?"

He couldn't refute it.

That same night, Gu Lin had a dream.

I dreamt that he locked that person up in a place where no one could find him.

In my dream, the person was crying and saying, "I shouldn't have met you."

Then he woke up at two in the morning and sat by the bed until dawn.

For three of the five hours leading up to dawn, he found himself uncontrollably thinking about places that only he could find.

How terrifying.

“Gu Lin, is that right? Hello, my name is Ji Tong. It’s not the Tong as in pupil, but Tong Tong… the Tong in Wang Anshi’s poem ‘New Year’s Day’, ‘Thousands of households are bathed in the bright sunshine’. It means the sun is rising and the sky is just beginning to lighten.”

As the sun rose and the sky began to lighten, he actually wanted to lock such a person up in a place where he couldn't see the sun.

He harbored countless chilling thoughts in the darkness, and each one ended with the sound of that person crying.

Grandpa said he was too young. When he was young, under the seductive deception of phenylethylamine and hormones, he thought that as long as he went long enough, he would get what he wanted. He was excited about the new bitterness he had never tasted before, but some desires are the curse of arrogance.

“You’re dragging someone down into the swamp,” Grandpa said.

"You have everything that others can hardly obtain, and you look magnificent, but in matters of the heart, if he doesn't like you, you're penniless."

So Grandpa said to give him time, to go to Germany, to a place where he wouldn't see that person, to wait four years, until he was no longer "young and impetuous," until he had grown up enough to bear all the "consequences," until he was sure it was "love" and not a new illusion caused by hormones, before talking about "the future."

But Grandpa overestimated him.

Four years is too long, and the longing is too long.

He couldn't hold on any longer, so he went to Jiangcheng, took the exam, and applied to Anhui University.

On the day he returned to China, his grandfather hit him four times with a rattan cane.

The first blow was delivered on his behalf, to make him take responsibility for all his decisions.

The second call was for my parents.

The third call was made on behalf of Ji Tong's parents.

The last one was for Ji Tong.

That was the first time he had been beaten.

The cane hurt, but he smiled as he was being hit.

Is someone telling him to leave Ankyoreh?

have.

No.

What could he say?

Looking into those eyes, what could he say?

Gu Lin stood there, as calm as ever.

In the city torrential rain, they were surrounded by reinforced concrete buildings and didn't get wet at all, but Ji Tong felt that Gu Lin was getting soaked.

The thought came suddenly, yet it was intense, so intense that Ji Tong's fingers trembled uncontrollably.

He stared intently at Gu Lin, watching every subtle change in his expression, his heart pounding faster and faster.

I won't ask anymore.

Ji Tong suddenly spoke, taking a step forward. He opened his mouth so urgently and anxiously, but couldn't say anything. He just raised his hand and hugged the person in front of him tightly.

"Gu Lin, I won't ask anymore."

Don't be sad.

His hot breath landed on Gu Lin's neck.

Look.

It's always like this.

Grandpa might be wrong about something he said.

It wasn't him who dragged people down into the swamp.

That was just him.

Gu Lin raised his hand and slowly pulled the person into his arms.

never mind.

Let's do it together.