Chapter 25 "First Place in the Contest to Make Someone Angry"

Seven eco-friendly bags filled the entrance hallway.

Gu Lin glanced at it and saw that everything was available, from fresh fruits and vegetables to baked goods, breakfast foods, beverages, snacks, and dried goods.

He knelt casually in the entryway, bent his knees, fiddled with the snack bag with his fingers, and smiled after a moment.

"Gu Lin...Gu Lin?"

Ms. Yang Yin, who was casually "placed" on the shelf, stared at the ceiling for twelve minutes before finally unable to hold back and spoke up.

If it weren't for the occasional rustling sound of plastic bags coming through the receiver, Yang Yin would have almost thought that Gu Lin had gone out with the deliveryman.

"Put your phone up; the light from your entryway ceiling is making my eyes dizzy."

As Yang Yin finished speaking, the video camera returned to a normal angle.

Gu Lin propped his phone against the wall.

As Yang Yin turned around, she saw the "supplies" scattered all over the ground.

"You're experiencing a famine?"

Yang Yin pressed her eyes, knowing it was a pointless question, but still asked, "Did Du Jitong buy them?"

Gu Lin: "Mm."

After holding it in for a long time, Yang Yin was finally able to speak.

"When did Ji Tong become your 'guardian'? If he's your guardian, then what am I?"

Gu Lin didn't answer, and Yang Yin could only watch in the camera as her son stretched out his long arm, took a bag, and walked towards the kitchen.

Yang Yin vaguely saw a box of blueberries and guessed that it must be a fresh fruit and vegetable that needed to be refrigerated.

A few seconds later, Gu Lin's calm voice came along with the sound of the refrigerator being opened.

"Whatever you prefer."

Yang Yin: "..."

Gu Lin's figure disappeared from the camera's view, but the large bags on the ground remained.

"Do you usually cook for yourselves at the apartment?" Yang Yin asked.

Whether in Germany or later in Anjing, Yang Yin rarely saw Gu Lin enter the kitchen, nor was it necessary, since there was a nanny.

Gu Lin tidied the refrigerator and replied, "Very few."

Since Gu Lin entered high school, Yang Yin has always treated him like an adult. Apart from the Ji Tong incident, she has hardly interfered with any of his decisions, including his life.

Yang Yin always felt that she had done a good job.

Even today, seeing this apartment, Yang Yin began to reflect on whether her relationship with Gu Lin as mother and son was too "standardized".

At least... she wouldn't think of buying these.

Perhaps it was because Ji Tong was "omnipresent" in this apartment that Yang Yin's thoughts suddenly drifted away.

She recalled that when Gu Lin was a sophomore at No. 1 High School, she met Ji Tong for the first time at a parent-teacher conference, and she also met Ji Tong's mother.

Song Jiahe, the daughter of renowned calligraphers and painters Song Xutang and Lin Shiyu, comes from a scholarly family and naturally possesses outstanding temperament. However, she transforms completely when facing Ji Tong.

How do other mothers and children get along?

Instead of calling them by name, they use reduplicated words, and sometimes they even blurt out "baby".

Yang Yin opened her mouth, paused, opened it again, paused again, unable to utter even the repeated words, let alone those two words.

Yang Yin tapped her index finger twice on the conference table, as if she wanted to smoke.

She sat at the head of the long table in the conference room, as if she were dealing with some tricky problem. When she spoke again, at most she softened her voice and called out "son".

"Son, you're all alone in Anjing..."

"Ms. Yang Yin."

"Um?"

Gu Lin's voice was even calmer: "Speak normally."

Ms. Yang Yin: "..."

She was unaware of the dynamics between Ji Tong and Song Jiahe, mother and son.

But Ji Tong would definitely not say "speak normally" to Song Jiahe.

Forget it, each child should be raised in their own way. She can't learn Song Jiahe's methods, and Gu Lin is clearly not Ji Tong's "sweetheart baby."

Yang Yin secretly breathed a sigh of relief and returned to normal: "This apartment is a short-term rental. You have to go back in a hurry. The procedures in Beishan haven't been completed yet. I asked around, and it will probably take another half a month. You're used to living there, so you can go back to stay there on weekends from now on."

"It's close to your school, so you can stay here if you want. Just ask the landlord to extend the lease a little longer."

"It's been renewed." Gu Lin finished tidying up the refrigerator and came out of the kitchen.

Yang Yin asked one more question: "Until when?"

Gu Lin: "January next year."

Yang Yin: "?"

Yang Yin: "So long?"

Gu Lin: "He continued it."

Yang Yin: "..."

Who asked?

Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, it took Yang Yin a while to remember: "You're planning to stay at Peninsula for the rest of the time? Not on campus anymore?"

Gu Lin: "Look at him."

"What does the school think?" Yang Yin asked again.

So Gu Lin brought up the matter of transferring classes with Yang Yin.

To facilitate unified management, Anhui University will also change dormitories for all students who change their majors.

Yang Yin had originally applied for Gu Lin's reporting time after the National Day holiday. However, due to the special circumstances, the school did not arrange dormitory for Gu Lin for the time being. Unexpectedly, Gu Lin submitted his own application and returned to school in early September, along with a form for off-campus accommodation.

I originally applied for a one-month visa, but then something unexpected happened.

Ji Tong moved in.

The day after Ji Tong bought the "Around the Planets" jigsaw puzzle, Gu Lin submitted the application for an extension of his overnight stay.

The reason is quite valid: he will transfer to Computer Science 1 next semester.

The implication is that there's no need to change dormitories later.

The application was eventually submitted to the vice dean.

Gu Lin was called over. The vice dean looked at the application, then stared at Gu Lin, slowly took a sip of tea, and after finishing it, said nothing else but asked two questions.

The first sentence.

"Gu Lin, do you know how many people want to pass the Computer Science Level 1 exam?"

The second sentence.

"Can you get in?"

Then I signed it.

Gu Lin spoke, and Yang Yin listened.

Yang Yin hadn't had such a long video call with Gu Lin in a long time. If she hadn't accidentally glanced at the top of the screen and seen the "42:07" notification, she wouldn't have realized that almost an hour had passed.

Most of the topics were related to Ji Tong.

This experience is amazing.

Yang Yin felt a sense of novelty that she hadn't experienced in a long time. It felt just like when she first sat in the "chairman's" seat in the conference hall when she was young. She was about to continue talking about "sweetheart baby" when she heard her son's voice.

"mom."

"Um?"

"Is there anything else?"

That's it?

"Let's leave it at that for now."

Yang Yin's maternal love was met with a resounding rebuke.

"What's wrong? Is something the matter?" Yang Yin asked.

Gu Lin: "Yes, he sent a message."

Yang Yin: "..."

"Okay, okay, I'm hanging up."

Yang Yin hung up the phone and turned her head. A robin that looked like a plump dumpling landed on the windowsill. It was probably a small male bird. Its cheeks, chin, throat and chest were orange-rusty. When the sunlight shone on it, the colors became even more vivid. It looked like the sun, or a chubby lantern.

The little sparrows chirped, and Yang Yin looked down at the message box that read "Call duration 44:29," and unconsciously thought of Ji Tong's appearance.

She smiled, took a picture, and sent it to Gu Lin.

It does look quite similar.

-

Ji Tong received a delivery notification from Dujiao half an hour ago, but he was with his grandparents at the time, so he didn't look for Gu Lin. He only opened Gu Lin's WeChat after returning to his room.

Take a look.

No news.

Ji Tong: "".

He didn't send a message because he was busy. Why didn't Gu Lin send one either?

Ji Tong thought for a moment and then typed.

[JT: I was just helping my grandpa tidy up his study, so I didn't have time to send a message.]

It is reasonable and well-founded, with both cause and effect.

Logically, Gu Lin should have explained to him why he hadn't sent a message.

However--

[XX: Finished?]

Ji Tong: "..."

[JT: Finished getting ready, now in my room.]

[JT: What were you doing just now? Why didn't you send me a message after you signed for the package?]

Ji Tong was waiting when his phone suddenly flashed.

Gu Lin sent a screenshot, which looked like a chat log with someone, and the profile picture on the right side of the phone was Gu Lin.

Ji Tong was initially just puzzled, but the moment she saw the nickname Gu Lin had given that person, she sat up in bed.

"Ms. Yang Yin," Gu Lin's... mother.

Ji Tong had taken Gu Lin's phone countless times. He could change the nickname Gu Lin had given him to "You're all right, listen carefully" without any guilt. He could use Gu Lin's phone to make payments, post on social media, and even secretly share Ding Zhi's business card with him.

But Ji Tong never opened Gu Lin's chat history with his family.

Even when Gu Lin returned to Anjing covered in injuries, during the days when he was most angry and confused, he didn't open it, or even have the thought of doing so.

But Gu Lin just sent over the chat history like that.

I didn't even take a screenshot.

Ji Tong first saw the video recording that lasted more than forty minutes.

My gaze unconsciously drifted upwards.

[September 15, 18:22]

[Ms. Yang Yin: How is your injury?]

[Gu Lin: Alright.]

[September 12th: 19:21]

Ms. Yang Yin: Why didn't you answer the phone?

[September 7th: 16:20]

[Ms. Yang Yin: You're back in China today? What happened?]

Ms. Yang Yin: Gu Lin, I need an explanation from you.

[September 7th: 20:08]

Ms. Yang Yin: Please call me back after you land.

Ji Tong had no idea that this was Yang Yin and Gu Lin's normal way of communicating and their tone of voice. He also didn't know that Ms. Yang Yin, who took "maximizing efficiency" as her basic principle, disliked social apps such as WeChat and text messages that didn't allow her to contact the other party immediately, and preferred to resolve matters by phone.

As a result, Ji Tong became increasingly alarmed.

It turns out that Gu Lin's aunt didn't know he had returned to China.

Between September 7th and 12th, there is also Gu Lin's birthday.

On his birthday, he didn't even send Gu Lin a birthday greeting.

Ji Tong had guessed that Gu Lin's relationship with his family was probably not harmonious, but she never thought it would be like this.

Ji Tong turned around and looked at the forty-minute video recording again.

Gu Lin wasn't the type to chat about everyday things with his family, and he and his aunt weren't the type to have a peaceful, casual conversation about family matters.

So what did the two talk about during those forty minutes?

Did Gu Lin get scolded?

Ji Tong's breathing became slightly damp involuntarily.

Gu Lin's message popped up again.

[XX: I didn't send a message because I was worried it might be inconvenient for you.]

[XX: What are your plans for tomorrow?]

Ji Tong couldn't describe how she felt; all she knew was that her fingertips were cold while she was typing.

JT: I'm sleeping at my grandparents' house tonight.

[JT: I'm going back to Haiyuan tomorrow at noon, and in the afternoon I'll accompany my mom to a charity donation event.]

[XX: Okay.]

Song Jiahe felt sorry for her son, who had been working non-stop for three days. She hadn't originally planned to take Ji Tong with her, but she had been doing this donation work all along, always in Ji Tong's name. Ever since Ji Tong started elementary school, whenever he had free time, he would go with Song Jiahe, and this time was no exception.

Upon hearing this itinerary, Ji Tong and Gu Lin both knew that tomorrow would be even busier than today.

Ji Tong scrolled through his chat history with Gu Lin over the past few days. From the 30th until now, they had barely exchanged a few words.

He would only have a little free time in the evenings to make a video or voice call to Gu Lin, but often after only a few words, the fatigue of the day would begin to erode his consciousness.

Gu Lin was too familiar with Ji Tong's every micro-expression. He didn't even need to wait for Ji Tong to yawn. As soon as Ji Tong slowed down his speech slightly and blinked his eyes rapidly at an unnatural frequency, Gu Lin knew that he was sleepy. So he said "Good night" and hung up the phone.

Ji Tong originally thought that after returning to school, his time would basically belong to Gu Lin, while the time allotted to the elders on both sides would only be one day, which was already very little.

But now, seeing that sentence, "I didn't send a message because I was afraid it would be inconvenient for you," that feeling of frustration has returned.

Ji Tong long-pressed the message "I didn't send a message because I was afraid it would be inconvenient for you," and quoted it—

[JT: It's not like the college entrance exam, what's inconvenient about it?]

[JT: Send it whenever you want. I'll mute WeChat tomorrow so it won't be noisy. If I'm busy, I won't reply until I see it.]

The two chatted for another half hour before Ji Tong hung up the phone.

Before washing up, Ji Tong stared at the note at the top of Gu Lin's chat interface for a long time.

When I added him back as a friend, I was angry and only added "XX" as a nickname without even a name.

What was his nickname for Gu Lin in high school?

It seems quite ordinary, just "deskmate".

Oh right, during my second year of high school, I even had a nickname for myself: "First Place in the Annoying Contest".

Thinking of this, Ji Tong smiled, clicked on Gu Lin's profile picture, went to the profile settings, deleted "XX" and changed it to "deskmate".

Half a minute later.

"Desk mate" was deleted again. Ji Tong pondered for a long time before typing—

[Note: Person under guardianship]

-

Ji Tong slept relatively well, and woke up the next day just after 8 o'clock.

My neighbor downstairs is practicing Baduanjin, and occasionally a little music can be heard.

Ji Tong reached for her phone to check the time, but instead saw a message from Gu Lin.

[The person under guardianship: I'm awake.]

[Time: 06:22]

[Guardian: Photo.jpg]

[The ward: Jiang Taigong's hat fell off.]

[Time: 06:57]

[Child under guardianship: It's cold today, wear a jacket when you go out.]

[Time: 07:18]

[The child under guardianship: The mint has sprouted new shoots.]

[Time: 07:35]

[Guardian: What time will you return to Haiyuan?]

[Time: 07:56]

Ji Tong: "...?"