Chapter 70 "If you're afraid, remember it."

Outside the window, the waning crescent moon was just rising, hanging high in the sky.

The moon, which Anjing can see by looking up, cannot shine on Berlin.

Only one phone call bridged 7,300 kilometers and a 6-hour time difference to re-establish the coordinates.

Gu Lin leaned back on the carpet next to the sofa in the apartment.

The living room lights were off, only the faint glow of a cell phone and the thin moonlight from outside the window illuminated Gu Lin's body and face, casting a frosty, cold light.

Gu Lin remained motionless, like a dark gray stone tablet, leaning against the night.

His panting finally subsided, but his stomach was still churning, pressing against his throat, and Gu Lin couldn't utter a single word.

It's only been one day.

Ji Tong sat on the shuttle bus and rolled down the window.

A faint chime came from outside the window; the shuttle bus driver said it was a new traffic clock installed at the airport.

In Berlin, a city home to the World Clock, hearing this chime is not unusual.

Ji Tong wondered if Gu Lin had heard of it, but he didn't ask. He simply reached out the window and grabbed a handful of the wind that Gu Lin had been breathing since childhood.

"Are you scared?" Ji Tong finally asked.

"Um."

Even though it was just one syllable and he hadn't even opened his mouth, Gu Lin's voice was still hoarse.

"If you're afraid, just remember it."

"If you ever secretly take your medicine, secretly don't sleep well, or secretly write some nonsense will again, I'll disappear again."

Song Zhenshu was stunned. After replying to Ji Yuanfeng and Song Jiahe with the message "landed safely," he put away his phone and looked at Ji Tong beside him.

From the moment Ji Tong answered the phone, Song Zhenshu listened intently to every single word.

After hearing the phrase "If you're afraid, just remember it," Song Zhenshu immediately heard the words "If you do it again in the future," and he subconsciously thought the next sentence would be "If you do it again in the future, like in your senior year of high school, disappearing without saying goodbye for half a year, I will disappear as well," but he didn't expect to hear this.

Before today, Song Zhenshu always thought that what angered Ji Tong the most was the blank six months. So after receiving the drug test report, he took the next available flight, landed, transferred, and took off again, traveling for more than ten hours to reach Germany.

It turns out that's not the case.

Now, as the wind blows through Berlin, Song Zhenshu realizes that what Ji Tong is most bothered by is that Gu Lin didn't have a good time during those six months of silence; he had a terrible time.

Song Zhenshu suddenly remembered that two months after Gu Lin left, he received a call from his sister and went back to Anjing.

What did Tongtong say back then?

It seems like he didn't say much. He rarely even heard the name "Gu Lin" from Ji Tong. The only thing Song Zhenshu clearly remembered was the night before he flew back to Africa. The two of them drank some wine, and perhaps because they were relaxed by the alcohol, Ji Tong finally mentioned Gu Lin.

He gripped a can of beer as if he were squeezing someone's head, then snapped it flat with a "pop": "Just leaving like that? Who does he think he is!"

"It's alright. In a few days, I'll go to Puguang Temple with my grandfather for a vegetarian meal. After that, I'll go to pray to the Bodhisattva and complain about Gu Lin to him."

Song Zhenshu found it amusing: "How are you planning to sue him? What punishment do you intend for the Bodhisattva to give him? Will he buy a can without a pull tab, or eat instant noodles without a seasoning packet?"

Ji Tong was momentarily dazed by the alcohol, then said, "Don't eat instant noodles, they're bad for your health."

Song Zhenshu paused, and after a long pause, asked, "What will the punishment be?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Tong seemed to think for a long time before continuing to hold the can of beer, her gaze unreadable, and slowly said, "No punishment, it's just... Gu Lin can't be happier than me anyway."

What was Song Zhenshu thinking at that time?

It seems so. He's still just a child; even his complaints are spoken so softly.

Song Zhenshu is now listening to German broadcasts on the radio.

It turns out that even the complaint made to the Bodhisattva was a lie.

Gu Lin was having a hard time, and he was more upset than anyone else.

Song Zhenshu leaned back, his forearm resting naturally on his leg, and continued listening.

The shuttle bus passed through a new gate.

The airport clock on the gate struck again.

“Gu Lin,” Ji Tong’s voice was as clear and resonant as a bell, and as calm and serene as an alarm clock, “you’re not the only one who can’t be found.”

"It's only Berlin now, and I've only had my phone off for a day. If I answer your call, you can reach me."

"But the world is not just Berlin and Anjing."

"Guess where I'll be next, how long my phone will be off, and when I'll answer your call."

Hearing the breathing on the other end, Ji Tong finally regained some of her usual tone.

"Don't forget, your nephew, Uncle Xiao."

"If you provoke me again, I'll follow my uncle all over the world and see if you can find me."

"You'll be scared to death."

Song Zhenshu: "..."

"Did you hear that?" Ji Tong said finally.

They listened quietly on the other end for a long time.

"Um."

“'Hmm' what 'hmm'? Say 'I heard you, I won't do it again'.”

The person on the other end of the phone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I heard you, I won't do it again."

His voice was so dry it sounded like coarse sand rubbing against his earlobe. Ji Tong lowered his eyes and clenched his fingers in the air: "Go get some water."

"I'm not thirsty."

"..."

My voice is so dry, yet I'm still not thirsty.

"Just drink it, stop talking nonsense, right now."

Ji Tong heard a slight rubbing sound, like a hand rubbing against the leather of a sofa.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

Ji Tong was very familiar with the layout of the apartment; he could even simulate Gu Lin's route just by listening to the sounds.

He was in the living room, probably sitting on the sofa or on the rug next to it. Now he got up, walked towards the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took out a bottle of ice water.

Gu Lin took a sip, but his voice was still not much better when he spoke again.

"Did you go alone, or did someone accompany you?"

"With my uncle."

Gu Lin only took a sip and didn't move again, just leaning against the refrigerator.

As he listened to Ji Tong's voice, his back, which had been tense for so long, could no longer relax.

Gu Lin felt no relief at surviving the ordeal, only an overwhelming, subtle pain and a deep, visceral longing.

"When are you coming back?"

"have no idea."

Gu Lin's still stiff arm finally moved. He took out his phone, put it on speakerphone, and opened the ticket purchase interface.

Due to frequent travel, the destination was automatically located in Berlin.

Gu Lin raised his finger and pressed the query button.

Are you searching for flights from Anjing to Berlin?

A voice came from the other end of the phone.

Gu Lin did not answer.

"No need to search, I've already taken your passport and ID card."

"I only asked my counselor for five days off."

"I will go back."

"Don't come looking for me. Just stay in Anjing and wait for me at the apartment."

Gu Lin remained silent.

Ji Tong ignored him and said, "Say 'I understand'."

Gu Lin closed his eyes, like a specimen that had just thawed, relieved of his strength, and leaned back against the refrigerator.

"knew."

The phone screen started to get hot. He held it close to his ear, then took it off and saw that the battery was only 8% left.

"My phone's about to die," Ji Tong said, "Can we talk later?"

"Don't hang up," Gu Lin's voice could no longer hide his exhaustion. He blurted it out, then seemed to remember something and added, "Is that okay?"

Ji Tong's chest felt uncontrollably swollen.

"I'm not lying to you." Ji Tong knew that Gu Lin was thinking about yesterday. Yesterday, he used the excuse that "my mother came to see me," said "I have to talk to you now," hung up the phone, and then disappeared for a day.

"It's really out of power, only 8% left. Shall I send you a screenshot?"

"Um."

"..."

Having no other choice, Ji Tong actually took a screenshot and sent it to Gu Lin's WeChat.

After sending the message, Ji Tong looked at the Anjing time on the screen.

“It’s late, you should go to sleep,” he said softly. “You have class tomorrow morning.”

Gu Lin fell silent again.

Whenever topics like "Don't book tickets," "Don't come looking for him," or "Hang up the phone" come up, this is the reaction.

Ji Tong didn't know whether this was a rejection or a resistance.

"You're not going to sleep, are you?" Ji Tong said coldly, her voice turning icy as well. "Should I order you a sleeping pill?"

Song Zhenshu: "..."

The person on the other end of the phone opened their mouth, and finally responded in a low, deep voice, "I'm going to sleep."

After a few seconds, Gu Lin spoke again.

"I'll sleep on the sofa."

"The surveillance cameras are on."

Now it was Ji Tong's turn to remain silent.

In the past, it was Ji Tong who needed that surveillance to confirm Gu Lin's presence.

Tonight, however, it was Gu Lin who took his place.

It was as if he needed it to confirm that he was being watched.

"Okay," Ji Tong said sullenly. "I'll go back to the hotel to charge my phone and then check the surveillance footage."

"Um."

"...Go to sleep."

Ji Tong said "Goodnight" to himself before hanging up the phone.

Song Zhenshu gave him a moment to be quiet before speaking: "Is your phone dead?"

"Um."

Why didn't you bring a power bank before you left home?

Ji Tong only looked down at the broken screen.

He deliberately didn't bring it.

I'm afraid I won't be able to resist contacting him.

He disappeared from Gu Lin's world for a day.

But it wasn't just Gu Lin who was waiting.

Gu Lin also disappeared from his world for a day.

Absolute fairness.

Ji Tong pressed her sore eyes, about to look at the scenery of Berlin, when her phone suddenly vibrated again.

Ji Tong subconsciously thought it was Gu Lin, but when she looked down, the screen displayed "A Yuan".

Ji Tong: "?"

It's almost 1:30 a.m., why aren't you asleep yet?

Fearing the phone wouldn't last until the call ended, Ji Tong hung up first, then took Song Zhenshu's phone and called Li Yuan back.

"Hey." Ji Tong only said one word before hearing Li Yuan's incoherent voice.

"Hello? Hello? Is this Tongtong?"

"Yes, my phone died, so I'm using my small phone..."

"Damn, it got through! It's Tongtong. Ah Tian, ​​you don't need to call anymore... Okay, okay, I'll put it on speakerphone."

The noise on the other end was so loud that Ji Tong's ears hurt.

When they spoke again, the speaker had changed from Li Yuan to Cui Mingying.

"Tongtong, where are you?"

“Germany,” Ji Tong replied, “why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“Your phone is off all day, how can anyone sleep?” Li Yuan retorted. “My God, how did you end up in Germany?”

Unable to discuss the will and medical records, Ji Tong vaguely replied, "Something came up."

"Even if it's something important, you should at least let me know! How could you just run off without a word, especially to Germany, which is so far away!"

“I didn’t leave without telling anyone; I asked my counselor and course instructor for leave.”

Li Yuan was practically going crazy: "Who said the counselor? I meant Brother Lin!"

Hearing the name "Gu Lin" from someone else always felt different. Ji Tong paused for a few seconds before continuing, "There is something to say."

Ji Tong wasn't lying; his phone had been off for a day, but he had indeed sent a message to Gu Lin.

However, it wasn't him who sent the message, but Song Zhenshu.

The time was just before they went to the airport.

“My uncle sent it to him,” Ji Tong said.

"Are you referring to that message, 'He's gone for a few days, no need to contact him, he's safe, don't worry'?"

Ji Tong: "..."

Gu Lin made four phone calls to Song Zhenshu in the morning.

Song Zhenshu didn't answer either, but before going to the airport, at Ji Tong's prompting, he sent a message to Gu Lin.

Ji Tong, fearing she might not be able to resist, neither looked at nor listened, letting Song Zhenshu edit it herself.

He only just found out the details of the text message.

"Uncle, what message did you send to Gu Lin this morning?" Ji Tong turned to Song Zhenshu to confirm.

Song Zhenshu: "He's been gone for a few days. Don't contact him. He's safe and sound. Don't worry."

Exactly the same word.

At the same time as Song Zhenshu's voice, Li Yuan's voice also broke down.

“‘Don’t worry about me, I’m safe and sound.’ Listen to this. It was sent from my uncle’s phone, and it was a text message. There wasn’t even a phone call, and I didn’t hear a voice. What’s the difference between this and ‘missing, don’t worry about me’?”

"..."

Ji Tong casually turned on speakerphone, and Song Zhenshu heard everything.

"Didn't you say that just letting me know you're safe would be enough?" Song Zhenshu shrugged innocently.

Before Ji Tong could say anything—

"Tongtong, you've already asked your counselor for leave, why don't you give Lin a call while you're at it?"

"In the morning, the class monitor went to the counselor to get your leave slip and came back to register it. Then everyone in the class went to ask Lin Ge where you were going for five days off, and then..."

Then they discovered that Lin Ge didn't know either.

Even the class monitor found out about Ji Tong's leave a few minutes earlier than Lin Ge.

"You didn't see how Lin-ge looked back then..."

Li Yuan hesitated for a long time before speaking.

"Tongtong...did you and Lin Ge have a fight?"

Ji Tong turned off the speakerphone. His nose was red from the cold wind. He choked up and said, "No."

Both ends of the phone went silent.

"Tongtong," it was Cui Mingying who spoke, "did you call Brother Lin?"

"I called, just hung up."

The three people breathed a sigh of relief.

“曈曈，我不是要帮临哥卖惨，就是…”李原舔了舔嘴唇，“谈恋爱嘛，吵架偶尔也是有的，你要生气，揍一顿或是打一顿都可以，实在不行，你不住公寓了，回学校住两天也行啊，别这样呗。”

"If your uncle's text message had been sent any later, Lin-ge would have gone to Haiyuan to look for you."

"You don't know... he didn't eat lunch or dinner, and he didn't attend his afternoon classes."

Ji Tong's eyelashes fluttered twice.

"Around 9 p.m., Mingying was worried that Lin Ge's stomach wouldn't be able to handle not having eaten all day, so the two of us brought some food over."

“Ah Tian was originally going too, but he was worried that you might suddenly go back to school, so he stayed in the dormitory.”

"When we got to the apartment, we didn't knock, because we were worried that Lin Ge might be sleeping and we would disturb him. We just entered the password."

“You don’t know, we were standing in the entryway, the apartment was pitch black, not a single light was on, and when we called Lin Ge, no one answered. I thought Lin Ge was really asleep, but when I took off my shoes and went in, I saw Lin Ge sitting next to the sofa, calling you.”

"He didn't even change his clothes; I don't know how long he's been sitting there."

"They didn't say anything to us. We just put our things down and came back."

"They probably didn't eat the wontons either."

"Anyway..."

Well, how should I put it?

It was very unlucky, but Li Yuan had to admit that Lin Ge sitting there really looked like the widower he had seen in a TV series a while ago.

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he didn't say anything more, and Cui Mingying and Zhou Tian were equally silent.

Only when the shuttle bus came to a smooth stop and Ji Tong saw Qin He wearing sunglasses did she suppress the stinging feeling in her nose and say, "I understand."

"I'll go back once I've finished dealing with this."

Li Yuan said "okay" three times, then cautiously added, "We won't turn it off, right?"

"Hmm, don't turn it off."

"Anyway... well, it doesn't matter whether we answer the phone or not. Brother Lin... you're so generous, please answer it when you have a spare moment."

"I understand," Ji Tong said. "It's late, you should go to sleep early. We can talk when I get back."

Li Yuan finally felt relieved: "Okay, then you go ahead and get busy, we'll hang up now."

“Mm,” Ji Tong said, looking at the ground. “Goodnight.”

"Good night, good night, please give our regards to your uncle."

"Um."

Ji Tong ended the call and handed the phone back to Song Zhenshu.

Upon seeing them, Qin He pushed his sunglasses up to his head and waved to the uncle and nephew.

The wind is strong in Berlin tonight, blowing the corner of Ji Tong's windbreaker.

He raised his hand to adjust his collar, took out his phone with only a few percent battery left, opened the ticket purchase interface, bought a ticket, took a screenshot, opened WeChat, and opened the pinned profile picture.

As Ji Tong typed in the message box, he called out, "Uncle."

"Um?"

"I'll finish things tomorrow and book a flight back to Anjing at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. It's a direct flight, no transfers. Uncle Kang will pick me up when I land, so you don't need to worry."

"You stay in Germany and spend some time with Hege before going back."

With just a few words, the five-day trip was suddenly halved.

Song Zhenshu was both surprised and unsurprised.

He didn't object, but asked, "After Uncle Kang picks you up, will he take you to Haiyuan or Peninsula Apartments?"

Ji Tong did not answer.

No answer is the answer.

Song Zhenshu offered him an unnecessary way out: "You still have classes on Thursday and Friday, right?"

Ji Tong followed up with a soft "Mm".

Song Zhenshu smiled and said, "That's a bit rushed."

"Yes," Ji Tong admitted.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Tong finished typing the message in the message box.

He pressed send.

JT: Eat well and sleep well.

[JT: Ticket screenshot.jpg]

Song Zhenshu: "Have you bought the tickets?"

Ji Tong: "Mm."

“We’ll arrive in Anjing around midnight on Wednesday morning at nine o’clock. It’s such a tiring round trip,” Song Zhenshu paused, then said, “We’ll know where you are now, so it won’t make a difference if we wait a little longer.”

Ji Tong looked at the pinned profile picture, and a cool breeze seeped into her bones through her skin, following her sleeves and collar.

"Never mind." Ji Tong's chest rose and fell slowly as he suppressed the stinging in his eyes and raised his hand again to gather the collar of his coat.

Ji Tong sniffed.

"The wind in Berlin is too cold."