Chapter 23 "Cohabitation Relationship"

Zheng Huan obeyed and rolled upstairs.

Xue Yiqing initially thought her boyfriend had just seen some emo short videos and was acting crazy in the middle of the night, but when he got closer, she noticed that he actually smelled of rice, a characteristic aroma of steamed buns.

Xue Yiqing: "?"

Xue Yiqing read the text message again, confirming that it was true, and became curious: "Who was steaming something downstairs just now?"

"Honey, I can't take it anymore. That bastard Lin Miao dragged me into 30 games, I'm so sleepy..."

Wait--

Zheng Huan had originally planned to lie down and pretend to be asleep to avoid his girlfriend's questions, but upon hearing this, he was instantly wide awake.

"Guess," Zheng Huan said, running over.

Xue Yiqing: "A boy?"

Zheng Huan nodded repeatedly.

Xue Yiqing gave three names in a row.

One of them already has a family, while the other two are pursuing someone.

Zheng Huan clapped his hands and said, "Honey, you think this kind of thing is something you should do to your girlfriend, right? I knew it. Gu Lin seems so cold and indifferent, but I didn't expect him to care so much about his friends. This junior is pretty good. I like him."

Zheng Huan was so engrossed in his own words that he didn't notice Xue Yiqing had fallen into a long silence.

“It’s Gu Lin and Tongtong,” Xue Yiqing said after a while, patting Zheng Huan on the shoulder. “Then it’s alright, go to sleep.”

Zheng Huan: "?"

What do you mean by "If it's Gu Lin and Tong Tong, then everything will be fine"?

Confused, Zheng Huan went to take a shower. When he came out, Xue Yiqing was already asleep. He lay down, intending to clear his WeChat Moments before going to sleep, but when he opened it—

[Wife: I had a good meal at midnight.]

Zheng Huan: "???"

Where did the food come from?

-

After eating two yam buns and drinking a cup of honey water, Ji Tong felt less hungry, but still felt uncomfortable. After a heated three-minute verbal exchange with Gu Lin, she successfully won the "right to take a bath".

He quickly took a shower, changed into his pajamas, and came out at 3:43.

Gu Lin was still lying in bed, looking at his phone.

Ji Tong strode over: "I told you to go to sleep first, why are you still playing?"

Ji Tong confiscated the phone and tossed it on the bedside table: "Go to sleep. I'm turning off the light."

"Snap!" All the lights in the room went out.

Gu Lin rubbed his throbbing temples and felt a little sleepy.

After an unknown amount of time, just as Gu Lin was starting to feel dizzy, he suddenly heard a slight noise behind him.

Just as he was about to open his eyes, the mattress behind him suddenly sank down.

A warm body, carrying a familiar scent, groped its way closer in the darkness.

The blanket was pulled back, and Gu Lin's hand tensed.

He opened his eyes, and the person behind him scurried in, looking disheveled.

"Ji Tong," Gu Lin called out in a deep voice.

"Hmm?" Ji Tong's voice was clearly sleepy. "The pillows and blankets over there smell of alcohol. It's uncomfortable."

Gu Lin: "..."

Gu Lin didn't know if the person behind him was conscious, but he knew he was conscious.

Gu Lin was about to get up and change beds when he was pulled back by a force.

As if she had anticipated Gu Lin's actions, Ji Tong grabbed the hem of his pajamas the moment she lay down.

Ji Tong's consciousness was already blurred, her brows were furrowed, but her voice was unusually clear: "Go to sleep, I'm so sleepy."

After saying that, he pulled down hard.

The person who had fallen into a deep sleep finally released his hand, and his burning breath fell evenly on Gu Lin's earlobe, like one warm breeze after another.

The other bed was a few steps away, and the person next to me was already fast asleep. I could just get up and have another quiet night.

But the wind kept blowing, leaving Gu Lin with only one thought: just a little while longer.

One second after another.

Gu Lin closed his eyes.

The next day, Ji Tong was woken up by the vibration of his phone. When he opened his eyes in the bedside, he was stunned for half a minute before vaguely remembering that Gu had climbed into his bed the night before.

There was no one around.

Ji Tong subconsciously reached into the blankets.

It was still a little warm.

Gu Lin must have slept in this bed last night as well.

But what about the people?

Just as Ji Tong was about to call out, the bathroom door was pushed open, and Gu Lin, covered in steam and shirtless, walked out.

Their eyes met.

Gu Lin seemed surprised that he had woken up. He paused for a second, then walked to the small sofa with his eyes half-closed, took out a black short-sleeved shirt from his bag, and put it on: "It's still early, I'll sleep a little longer."

Gu Lin's shoulders and neck still had water stains, and his hair was wet. Ji Tong lingered on him for a few seconds.

Why are you taking a shower so early in the morning?

Gu Lin slightly lifted his eyelids, but before he could answer, the person on the bed said again, "Is it because of the smell of alcohol on me?"

"Hmm," Gu Lin replied without batting an eye, bending down to pick out clothes, "Which one do you want to wear?"

"You want that teen and nature collaboration one... It's been a whole night, and it still smells of alcohol?" Ji Tong looked down in confusion, tugging at the collar of her pajamas and sniffing.

I can't smell it.

The pajamas still smelled of orange groves.

It smells delicious.

"Do you still want to sleep?" Gu Lin's voice interrupted Ji Tong's thoughts.

Ji Tong shook his head.

"Then change your clothes and go wash up."

"…oh."

Amidst her many questions, Ji Tong got up, washed, changed her clothes, and went downstairs with Gu Lin.

We had a barbecue in the courtyard at noon, and played billiards, mahjong, and board games in the afternoon. The group played until it got dark, and then finally headed back to school.

I stole a moment of leisure from my busy schedule, and it was a really long break. Even the 8 a.m. hours of the week didn't feel so hard to endure.

Anjing's unusual rainy season, which lasted for half a month, finally came to an end before National Day.

With only three days left until the holiday, not only the students but also the cafeteria ladies are beaming with joy.

"That problem with Teacher Lu yesterday almost killed me. Do you know that despair of spending half an hour only to find out that you've only found out one given condition?" Li Yuan put down his plate, turned to his left, and saw Ji Tong.

"Oh, you probably wouldn't understand."

“You understand—” Li Yuan turned to the right and saw Gu Lin’s face again. “Oh, you probably don’t understand either.”

"Brother Lin, when did you come to my side? Weren't you with Tongtong?"

Cui Mingying was speechless: "Open your eyes and look! Who came this way? Didn't you just squeeze in by yourself?"

"Oh? Is that so?"

As the group sat at the long table in the restaurant, Li Yuan sighed, "But for the sake of our motherland's birthday, we'll forgive the whole world for now."

"Did you manage to snag a plane ticket to Xinjiang?" Ji Tong asked, taking a bite of rice as he watched his overjoyed expression.

Li Yuan nodded: "Hehe, I just managed to snag one."

Ji Tong: "What about those who came back?"

"Those who came back haven't managed to grab anything yet, but there shouldn't be any major problems," Li Yuan said. "If it really comes down to it, I'll just take two days off."

Besides Li Yuan, Zhou Tian and Cui Mingying also didn't spend the National Day holiday in Anjing. One went on a trip with her family, and the other went back to her hometown to attend her cousin's wedding.

"By the way, I saw it yesterday. It said the Rome art exhibition had a successful conclusion. Are your aunt and uncle coming back?" Cui Mingying opened a bottle of drink and asked.

Ji Tong nodded: "My flight is tomorrow night... This is delicious, you should try a piece."

Ji Tong picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork rib and put it into Gu Lin's bowl.

Cui Mingying: "Are you going back to Haiyuan for National Day? How many days will you stay?"

Ji Tong: "I don't know, I'll probably stay until after the National Day holiday."

Li Yuan: "What about Brother Lin? What are your plans for National Day?"

"No," Gu Lin said.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tian and Cui Mingying glanced at Ji Tong subconsciously. Seeing that he was eating as usual, they didn't say anything more and casually changed the subject.

Time flew by and it was the 30th. As soon as the professor of Information Processing Principles walked into the classroom, he looked at the noticeably sparsely populated classroom and said, "What, you look down on me so much? You can't even be bothered to find a substitute teacher?"

Laughter came from below.

After the last class, Ji Tong and Gu Lin went back to the Peninsula together.

The school was full of students dragging suitcases, and everyone had a cheerful look on their faces, like they had just been released from prison. Only Ji Tong had no expression.

Back at the apartment, Ji Tong packed a small bag of luggage.

Driver Uncle Kang sent me a message saying he was already waiting at the West Gate of Peninsula.

Ji Tong stood at the door, clutching her phone.

"It's rush hour, we'll get stuck in traffic if we don't leave soon." Gu Lin took the bag from his hand.

Ji Tong: "...Do you want to come back with me?"

Gu Lin paused, then bent down to put on his shoes: "Next time."

Gu Lin bent down to tie his shoelaces, while Ji Tong stood by the shoe cabinet, looking down at the area on Gu Lin's back and shoulder blades.

The bruises on Gu Lin's back had disappeared, and the wound under his external oblique muscle had also healed, but a light white scar remained.

Ji Tong didn't understand why, even though she applied the scar removal cream every night and used up one tube after another, the scar just wouldn't go away.

Ji Tong was unhappy, but Gu Lin didn't seem to care, and even... seemed to like the scar.

Since asking, "Does anyone want you to leave Anjing?", Ji Tong has not mentioned the Gu family or the villa in Beishan that was being sold to Gu Lin even once in the past two weeks.

But she often dreams of Gu Lin's expression that day, of Gu Lin's eyes, of that embrace.

In his dream, he said to him, "It's okay, your grandfather doesn't want you, but I do."

After waking up, he couldn't say those words at all.

He cannot replace Gu Lin's position as "grandfather," and he is reminding Gu Lin that "loss" is not something to be happy about.

Having not seen her parents for over a month, Ji Tong naturally missed them, but the thought of Gu Lin having to stay in the house alone for seven days made her less happy.

What should I do? I want to put the person in my suitcase and take them with me.

But Gu Lin refused.

That's true. Bringing Gu Lin home and watching others have happy family reunions, what's the point?

Ji Tong composed herself.

"I'll be back on the afternoon of the 7th... or maybe the 6th, the numbers are auspicious. I'll come back a day early, on the evening of the 6th. Don't wander off, just wait here, okay?"

Gu Lin looked at him, chuckled, and nodded under his gaze: "Okay, I won't run around."

Gu Lin took the bag and saw the person downstairs.

As the car drove away from the peninsula and onto the main road, the driver, Uncle Kang, looked into the back seat through the rearview mirror.

The young boss didn't seem to be in a very high mood.

That's a bit strange.

-

Gu Lin watched the car merge into the traffic and leave the side road before turning back to his apartment.

Ji Tong only took a small bag. The planetary puzzle was still laid out on the sofa and coffee table. The lucky cat-shaped brass doorbell that had been added recently jingled as the door closed. On the island counter, half of the black tea brewed in the Jiang Taigong teapot was still left. Jiang Taigong had been brewing the tea bag all day, and the aroma of the tea was even stronger.

That person's traces are everywhere.

Gu Lin took out his phone and glanced at the time.

Only twenty-one minutes had passed.

Six days left.

Send me a message when you get home.

After sending the WeChat message, Gu Lin walked to the island counter, brought over the half-finished black tea that Ji Tong had drunk, placed it on the coffee table, and casually picked up a few puzzle pieces to pass the time.

The phone buzzed, and Gu Lin opened it.

[Everything you said is correct, listen carefully: Okay.]

Gu Lin's WeChat Moments was flooded with holiday messages. He swiped through them casually and saw a picture of a dog reading a book with the words "How to be a virtuous man" written on it.

That person just posted a message on their WeChat Moments.

[Ding Zhi, Senior: In the wilderness, people are born from mothers.]

Location: Panorama Ridge (Garibaldi Provincial Park)

Gu Lin paused for a moment, then clicked on the profile picture.

[Gu Lin: Transfer 27,000.00]

Ding Zhi, the landlord of the apartment, is also a graduate of Anhui University.

When Gu Lin first rented a place, he was just making do. He picked a new apartment and agreed to a one-month lease, which would expire right after the National Day holiday, but—

Gu Lin looked up from the jigsaw puzzle pieces scattered on the ground. He gazed at the small ornaments he had chosen, each one bearing the scent of Ji Tong, and for the first time, he felt fortunate that he had picked one that the other person liked.

[Gu Lin: Brother Ding, I'll continue renting the apartment, as you requested, payment every three months.]

[Ding Zhi, Senior: ?]

[Ding Zhi, Senior: [Refund Completed]]

[Ding Zhi, a senior student: Junior, didn't you already renew your rent on the 18th? It's extended to January.]

Gu Lin: ?

[Ding Zhi, Senior: Huh? You didn't know?]

[Senior Ding Zhi: Screenshot.jpg]

[Senior Ding Zhi: This is the person who continued it.]

[Ding Zhi: He added me through the business card you shared and messaged me saying he wanted to renew his lease. When he messaged me, he also sent me a picture asking if I could hang a used lamp on the living room wall, saying he would give it to me for free later. When I saw the price of that used lamp, it was more than two months' rent for me, so I joked with him that I should take advantage of the deal.]

[Ding Zhi, a senior student: When I saw he was still in the apartment, I just renewed his lease.]

[Senior Ding Zhi: I asked him what your relationship was.]

[Ding Zhi, a senior student: He said he is your guardian.]

[Ding Zhi, Senior: That's why I didn't ask any more questions.]

[Ding Zhi, Senior: What's going on? Don't you know?]

Ding Zhi was still sending messages one after another, but Gu Lin stared at the profile picture of "Gu Linlin" in the screenshot for a while, lost in thought.

Gu Lin did not reply.

Ding Zhi, far away in Canada, with messy hair, hurriedly got out of bed. He took his phone, exited the chat with Gu Lin, scrolled down seven or eight pages, and found the profile picture of the person who claimed to be "Gu Lin's guardian".

Gu Lin's reaction clearly showed that he was unaware of this matter.

Ding Zhi had never encountered such a situation before.

The "guardian" renewed the rent for four months and even gave away a used lamp, clearly indicating that he was not short of money.

Didn't they tell Gu Lin?

Ding Zhi had seen Gu Lin before and knew what Gu Lin looked like, and he knew things were going badly.

What if it's some kind of "bad guy" trying to get close to Gu Lin this way... Damn, won't he cause trouble for Gu Lin?

Ding Zhi felt increasingly guilty, so he immediately clicked on the "guardian" profile picture to return the money.

Before returning the money, he wanted to see what kind of "little vixen" wanted to use him as a stepping stone to get close to Gu Lin, so he directly clicked on that person's homepage.

Take a look.

Ding Zhi was stunned.

Two weeks ago, when he added that person, he actually clicked to look at it once. The "guardian's" Moments only showed one month's worth of content. At that time, there was only one post about a cat, with the caption "A 5-pound kitten, a 4.99-pound rebellious cat," accompanied by a photo of a tabby cat.

But Ding Zhi clicked in today.

The "guardian" profile still only showed content from the previous month, but from September 15th to 30th, he posted five updates on his WeChat Moments, almost all of which were lively and bustling portraits of people.

The latest one is a silhouette of a group of people on the street.

The second one has even more people. It looks like a party is being held in a villa. There are nine pictures in total: five of the scenery, one of a dinner party in the courtyard, one of seven or eight people playing cards together, one of a group photo, and one of a guy barbecuing from behind... This guy looks a bit like Gu Lin.

Ding Zhi flipped through the pages again.

Of the remaining three, two are cats, and the last one is a classroom in the evening, where Gu Lin is also present.

As Ding Zhi flipped through the pages, he felt that some places looked very familiar.

Wait, isn't that the Anhui University of Technology teaching building in the background?

Ding Zhi went through all five posts on WeChat Moments, and through intersection analysis, finally determined that the person claiming to be Gu Lin's "guardian" was the best-looking little devil... oops, junior, who was in the very center of the villa gathering.

Ding Zhi's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was finally at ease.

For no other reason than that.

Gu Lin and this junior were clearly very familiar with each other, so much so that in almost every photo that seemed to feature Gu Lin, this person was always present.

In the villa-themed post on social media, the two were even shoulder to shoulder and hand to hand.

Ding Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, exited the "Guardian" homepage, and clicked on Gu Lin's profile picture.

[Ding Zhi, a senior student: Screenshot of "JT" homepage.jpg]

[Ding Zhi, Senior: Gu Lin, this is the one who renewed your lease.]

[Ding Zhi, a senior student: What's your relationship with this "JT"? Are you classmates?]

Gu Lin on the other end of the phone still didn't answer.

Just as Ding Zhi was doubting his guess and was about to go back to investigate further, his phone finally received a reply.

He clicked on it and saw—

Gu Lin: Yes, we're living together.