Chapter 55 Should I Beat Him Up First or Kiss Him First?

Knowing Li Yuan's slow pace, it would take him at least ten minutes to go back and find a card holder, Ge Guang was just about to go to the restroom when Li Yuan walked up from the end of the corridor.

"Why are you moving so fast today? Is it because of... that expression?"

Li Yuan suddenly jerked as if waking from a dream, staring blankly at the card holder in his hand. After a second, two seconds, he threw it to Ge Guang.

"Something dirty, there must be something dirty!"

Ge Guang: "??"

Ge Guang was in a hurry to resolve his personal matters, so he casually stuffed the wallet into his pocket: "Okay, okay, I'll hold it for you, so you don't lose it later."

"Mingying and the others are all at the door. You go wait there first, I'll go—"

Before Ge Guang could finish speaking, Li Yuan grabbed him.

Li Yuan, still shaken, asked, "Where are you going? To the private room??"

"Who went to the private room? I'm going to the restroom to relieve myself."

"There's a restroom to the right of the reception desk, why did you insist on going left?"

"This needs to be controlled?"

"Hold it in!" Li Yuan grabbed Ge Guang and dragged him out without another word.

Ge Guang: "???"

When Cui Mingying and the others saw Li Yuan pulling Ge Guang out together, they were a little surprised. Li Yuan's expression and pace were very hurried, urging people to hurry out. He managed to push nearly twenty people out by himself.

Tian Zixuan: "By the way, did you tell Tongtong...?"

Li Yuan: "I didn't see anything!"

Tian Zixuan: "...I'm asking if you told Tongtong when you're going to pick up the sound system from his and Lin Ge's 'love nest'."

Li Yuan: "..."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Li Yuan said nothing, yet it seemed as if he had said everything.

A group of people walked silently toward the golden hot spring.

Meanwhile, in the three private rooms of the Rhine River, Ji Tong was covering her face with a scarf, leaning against the sofa chair with her back to Gu Lin, who was lying dead.

Gu Lin found it amusing and pinched his index finger.

"Don't touch me." Ji Tong's voice carried a serene tranquility, as if she had seen through the illusions of the world.

Are you angry?

Ji Tong lay there for almost half a minute before suddenly lifting her scarf and sitting up: "I already told you not to do it outside."

"Going home is fine, right?"

As she spoke, Gu Lin stood up from the sofa and leaned down to hug her boyfriend.

Ji Tong slapped his hand away.

"What are you doing?"

"go home."

"Are you changing the subject again? Do you believe I'll lose my temper?"

"Never seen it before," Gu Lin chuckled, pausing for a second with a hint of teasing, "Send one?"

Ji Tong was stunned for a long time, then casually grabbed a tissue from the table and threw it at Gu Lin: "Are you asking for a beating?"

Gu Lin caught the tissue with one hand and casually put it back on the table.

"I didn't say no." He lifted Ji Tong from the sofa and tidied her hair, which was messed up by the scarf.

"You really want to be beaten up?"

"Um."

He couldn't bring himself to beat Ji Tong, since Gu Lin was so prone to scarring; how could he possibly beat him?

But I can't say that.

Ji Tong slightly bent her knee and nudged him with it: "Let's go back."

"Don't wash your dirty linen in public."

"You have to beat someone up at home."

The sweater cuffs were completely dry under the warmth of the radiator in the private room. Gu Lin pressed them with his hand to make sure there was no dampness, then took away the cotton towel that was placed there, straightened the cuffs, and went to get a coat for Ji Tong to put on. Only after he was dressed did he lead the person out.

It was past midnight when we got back to the peninsula.

After running around outside all day, Ji Tong took off his cotton-padded coat and threw it directly into the tomato-shaped laundry basket in the entryway.

"You can leave your coat here too. We'll have someone take it to the dry cleaners tomorrow," Ji Tong said to Gu Lin as she changed into her slippers.

She reeked of alcohol and the unidentified perfume from the KTV lobby. Ji Tong disliked the smell, so she leaned against the wall to change into slippers, said "I'm going to take a shower first," and ran into the master bedroom without looking back.

After washing her hair and taking a shower, Ji Tong felt like she had come back to life.

He changed his clothes and came out of the bathroom. The hot water washed away all his fatigue.

Ji Tong kicked off her slippers and was about to get into bed when there was a polite knock on the door.

Ji Tong stood at the foot of the bed and turned her head to look. Gu Lin was wearing pajamas and leaning against the door frame.

Even though the door is wide open, they still knock twice.

"What did you forget, boyfriend?" Gu Lin's voice was lazy, as if he were reminding him.

"What?"

"Should I hit you first or kiss you first?" Gu Lin remained calmly leaning against the wall.

Ji Tong paused for a second, then realized what she meant: "When did I say I wanted to kiss you?"

He only said he wanted to beat them up.

"I said so."

Apart from that night, the two have been sleeping separately for the past two weeks, because they are afraid of accidentally answering each other's calls again, since the probability is really high.

Ji Tong had no choice but to walk over and ask, "You're going to sleep after the kiss?"

Gu Lin: "Mm."

Ji Tong leaned closer.

A quiet kiss, devoid of any passion.

Ji Tong had just applied face cream, and before it was completely dry, some of it rubbed onto Gu Lin's chin as their skin touched.

"You switched to a new face cream?"

Their lips were still touching, not completely separated, whispering sweet nothings between their lips.

When Gu Lin kisses Ji Tong, he always holds the back of Ji Tong's neck and rarely closes his eyes, just looking at him with his thin eyelids slightly lowered.

“Hmm,” Ji Tong’s breathing was a little erratic, “The last bottle is finished.”

"What does it taste like?"

"It looks like a camellia."

Gu Lin pressed the back of his neck twice with the pad of his index finger: "It smells very good."

Ji Tong asked groggily, "You like it?"

"Mmm," Gu Lin said, his lips parting slightly, as if sucking and biting. Then, his hand, which had been covering the back of Ji Tong's neck, moved upwards, cupping the back of Ji Tong's head and pulling him forward slightly. He said slowly, "I like it."

Ji Tong let out a sound, feeling that he had reached his limit, and pushed him with the heel of his palm.

Gu Lin then slowly let go.

Ji Tong leaned against him with a "thud": "Are you sleeping here?"

The scent of camellia cream still lingered on Gu Lin's nose. Because of the rising body temperature of the person in his arms, the fragrance became even stronger, as if it were emanating from within the skin and flesh.

Gu Lin knew that Ji Tong meant nothing by it.

"I can't sleep," he said.

The door was closed by Gu Lin.

Ji Tong lay back on the bed with her lips reddened. In her hazy state, she heard the bathroom door open outside.

-

The next day, Ji Tong was awakened by the aroma of porridge, a fragrance of rice mixed with the umami of fish slices and dried scallops.

Ji Tong grabbed a thin blanket from the side, draped it over herself, went into the bathroom for a quick wash, and then opened the door and went out.

It rained in Anjing today, the sky was gloomy, the living room lights were off, only the kitchen lights were on.

Ji Tong stopped and looked through the transparent glass window to see Gu Lin standing in front of the stove and casserole dish.

He held a small tablet in his left hand, the cuffs of his pajamas were rolled up, and he wore thin-rimmed silver glasses. He was scanning the tablet and adding shredded ginger to the casserole.

Ji Tong rarely saw Gu Lin wearing glasses. He would only wear them occasionally when he was staring at the computer for a long time. At certain times and places, he was always working on his papers.

This was the first time Ji Tong had seen him wear it at such a time.

The glasses suddenly had a different feel to them.

Ji Tong watched quietly for a while, then slipped into the kitchen like a cat walking on snow.

Just as Gu Lin was about to close the lid of the casserole, a hand suddenly appeared at his waist.

"Did you make boat congee?" Ji Tong noticed.

Gu Lin's tablet screen was still frozen on the porridge-making tutorial.

"Um."

Ji Tong asked, "What time did you get up?"

Gu Lin: "7 o'clock."

I ordered ingredients as soon as I woke up.

"Didn't you say you wanted to eat it yesterday?"

"I was just saying it offhand," Ji Tong said casually after drinking yesterday, adding that she was craving boat congee. "Ordering takeout is fine too."

Ji Tong buried her face in the back of Gu Lin's clothes and glanced around.

"I didn't ask you to do it."

"It's already done, so what can we do?" Gu Lin turned the heat down to a low setting. "Would you do me the honor of having a bite?"

Ji Tong smiled and said, "Then let's have a taste."

There were also cleaned mushrooms and shrimp in the sink.

What else do we need to do?

"Stir-fried mushrooms and carrots, and scrambled eggs with shrimp."

"Together."

"The casserole is too hot, go wait outside."

“No,” Ji Tong took the thin blanket down and hung it on the shelf in the entryway, then came back in. “I’ll help you.”

Ji Tong reached past Gu Lin to grab a knife to cut carrots, but her hand was pressed down, and the next second, she had a small bowl of cherry tomatoes in her hand.

"Wash it clean."

Ji Tong turned to face the sink, washed two of the pearls, tasted one herself, and found it quite good. So she reached out and put the other one into Gu Lin's mouth.

Gu Lin's phone rang at that moment.

"Take it," Gu Lin said.

Where's the phone?

"pocket."

Ji Tong put down the draining bowl, took out a tissue to dry her hands, took out her phone from the chest pocket of Gu Lin's pajamas, and was about to answer when she stopped abruptly upon seeing the caller ID.

"Mom...no, your mom, Auntie's phone call."

It's a little past 10 in Anjing. Germany is 6 hours behind Anjing, so it's only 4 a.m. in Germany?

A phone call in the early hours of the morning?

Gu Lin looked at his suddenly wide-open eyes and said, "My hands are dirty, take it first."

Ji Tong was so nervous that his mouth felt dry. The phone had already rang four or five times. Worried that something urgent had happened on the other end, he raised his hand and made a zipping motion over his mouth to answer the call. In that position, he held the phone to Gu Lin's ear.

"What are you doing? Why did it take you so long to answer?" Yang Yin's voice leaked a little through the screen to Ji Tong's ears.

Ji Tong pretended not to hear and focused on looking at the floor.

How about I put this on speakerphone and send it here, while he goes back to his room first?

“In the kitchen,” Gu Lin said.

Yang Yin: "Haven't you had breakfast yet?"

“Hmm,” Gu Lin glanced at the person next to him, “He got up late.”

Ji Tong looked up at Gu Lin as if struck by lightning, her eyes filled with shock, as if asking, "What are you talking about?"

Fortunately, Yang Yin didn't hear clearly: "What do you mean, 'slept in'?"

"I woke up late," Gu Lin said casually, as if it really was just a slip of the tongue. "What's wrong, Mom? Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Just got back from Sydney, still jet-lagged," Yang Yin said. "Have you bought your ticket back to Germany?"

Upon hearing the word "ticket," Ji Tong lowered her head again, her brows furrowing unconsciously.

"It's still early."

“Your grandfather asked yesterday, and once you've booked your ticket, he sent me the flight information.”

"Um."

"Book early to avoid crowds."

"knew."

"Have you packed everything?" Yang Yin asked again.

"There's nothing to pack." Gu Lin put down the knife in his hand, bent down to turn on the tap, squeezed out a pump of hand soap to wash his hands, and rinsed them.

Ji Tong's thoughts were drawn to the word "plane ticket," and she didn't notice Gu Lin's actions. She only knew that Gu Lin had taken a step to the side, and fearing that the phone was too far away to hear, she followed suit.

"I stepped on it," Gu Lin suddenly said in a low voice.

This was clearly not said to the person on the other end of the phone.

Ji Tong noticed it, and Yang Yin on the other end naturally noticed it as well.

So when Ji Tong heard Yang Yin say "What did you step on?" through the leaked syllables, he immediately got angry.

Ji Tong: “*#&%￥”

At this moment, Ji Tong's slippers were still on Gu Lin's shoes, but he didn't care. He could only raise his hand and frantically gesture to his mouth.

What are you talking about?!

Do you know who's on the other end?

Ji Tong's heart pounded wildly, and even his raised arm trembled slightly. Just as he decided to turn on speakerphone and return to his room, the next second—

"mom."

"Um?"

"The porridge is ready, I'll serve it first."

Gu Lin paused deliberately, and then—

"Have him chat with you for a while."

The moment Gu Lin grabbed Ji Tong's wrist and pressed it down, pressing the phone screen displaying "Mom" against Ji Tong's ear.

Ji Tong clearly heard the "beep" sound of her heart stopping.