Chapter 80 Graduation Photo

"Tongtong, what are you doing at No. 3 Middle School?" Li Yuan asked.

Ji Tong picked two grapes from the fruit platter that had been presented to him, ate one himself, and then put another into Gu Lin's mouth, casually replying, "Nothing much, just went to take a look."

Li Yuan was about to ask another question when Cui Mingying tugged at him: "Have you forgotten that Brother Lin took the college entrance examination in Jiangcheng?"

"I know, but Lin only stayed for about thirty days. Yongjie said that Lin only got to know him a little bit, and he didn't even know everyone in the class. It was like he spent a month in the library. How could there be any feelings between them?"

“This isn’t about feelings, it’s…” Tian Zixuan sighed, “Forget it, I can’t explain it to people like you who don’t have partners.”

Li Yuan: "...?"

Ji Tong turned to Chen Yongjie and asked, "When are you going back?"

“I’ll head back after class on the 30th,” Chen Yongjie said, “but there will definitely be a lot of people at the airport and train station. Why don’t you and Lin Ge stay a couple more days?”

Ji Tong thought for a moment and nodded.

The school is right there, unlike some people who can run away on their own, so Ji Tong isn't in a hurry.

"By the way, can we go to school during the holidays?" Ji Tong asked again.

Chen Yongjie: "I'll definitely get in. I know the security guard very well. If that doesn't work, I can call my teacher to register. But there will definitely be few people at school during the holidays, so it will be really boring. How about we go to the lecture together on May 6th?"

Ji Tong wanted a small number of people.

“I’m just wandering around,” he said. “The college entrance exam is coming up soon, so I won’t bother your juniors.”

Chen Yongjie thought that was a good idea: "Okay, then once you and Brother Lin have set a time, feel free to contact me. My home is near No. 3 Middle School."

"Thanks." Ji Tong raised her juice and clinked glasses with him.

Chen Yongjie: "Why are you being so polite with me?"

Li Yuan watched the two talking as if no one else was around and said, "Brother Lin didn't get a word in edgewise. Anyone who didn't know better would think that Tongtong and Yongjie were classmates."

Another burst of laughter erupted from the surrounding area.

Tickets for long holidays are hard to buy, but they're not impossible.

Back in her apartment, Ji Tong took a shower, changed her clothes, and settled on the sofa to look at her plane tickets.

Anjing is more than 1,000 kilometers from Jiangcheng, but it only takes two hours by plane.

Ji Tong chose a suitable flight, and landed at noon.

After booking the tickets, he sent the flight information to Gu Lin, and then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he sat up from the sofa.

When Gu Lin came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, she saw her boyfriend rummaging through drawers and cabinets in the master bedroom. He seemed to have been doing this for quite a while, and there were boxes of all sizes all over the sofa and table.

"What are you looking for?" Gu Lin walked over and rubbed his forehead with his finger. "You're covered in dust."

Ji Tong sat next to a giant suitcase containing Gu Lin's information.

There was a stack of them brought back from Jiangcheng, which Ji Tong had just turned to.

"Your graduation photo." Ji Tong's hands kept moving.

Gu Lin took the towel off his neck and casually placed it on the sofa. He then picked up his phone from the bedside table, unlocked it, opened the photo album, selected a photo from "My Favorites," and handed it to him: "Here."

"You have it on your phone?" Ji Tong's eyes lit up. She grabbed Gu Lin's wrist, propped herself up, and looked at his phone with her chin raised: "..."

“That’s not what I meant,” Ji Tong said speechlessly.

On Gu Lin's phone was the graduation photo of Class 1, Grade 1, the one next to Ji Tong with an empty space next to him and Gu Lin's name printed on the back.

Ji Tong had no choice but to explain to him, "I meant No. 3 Middle School."

Gu Lin: "No photos were taken."

"No graduation photos are taken at No. 3 Middle School?" Ji Tong was shocked for two seconds before coming to her senses.

wrong.

Ji Tong suddenly remembered this because during the dinner party earlier, Li Yuan and the others mentioned that this year's graduates of Anhui University were going to have their graduation photos taken in advance, and then they started discussing graduation photos based on this topic.

Chen Yongjie casually mentioned that their graduation photos were taken very late because it had been raining for a long time, which caused the base of the school's iconic sculpture to collapse. It took about half a month to repair, and they finally managed to take the graduation photos on a sunny day at the end of May.

Gu Lin went to No. 3 Middle School on May 6th.

“There was a bidding war at No. 3 Middle School, but I didn’t go.” Gu Lin sat down next to Ji Tong.

Ji Tong stopped what she was doing, turned her head, and paused for a moment before speaking: "...Didn't I call you?"

Gu Lin: "They called, but I didn't go."

Ji Tong wasn't feeling much better.

He originally planned that once Gu Lin found the graduation photo, he would deliberately find fault with it, such as saying that the No. 3 Middle School uniform didn't look as good on him as the No. 1 Middle School uniform, since Gu Lin had a perfectly good guaranteed admission qualification and went to Jiangcheng instead.

Knowing that Gu Lin didn't take a graduation photo at No. 3 Middle School, she felt a pang of sadness.

Ji Tong wanted to say something, but then got a little angry and reluctantly shoved the documents back into her hands, saying, "After studying for three years, you can't even get a graduation photo. Aren't you ashamed?"

Gu Lin pointed to the empty space in the middle of the graduation photo on his phone screen: "Yes, isn't this the spot?"

"No, who said it was for you? The people just weren't standing in the right places." Ji Tong looked away irritably and went to close her suitcase.

After a while, he sat back down on the ground.

There's no air in it.

All my anger is directed at him because he's all alone.

“I asked you that last time, and you still haven’t answered me,” Ji Tong turned to face him again, “You’ve already come back from Berlin, so why did you go to Jiangcheng to take the college entrance exam instead of going back to No. 1 High School?”

“You’re already a student of No. 1 Middle School. If you want to come back, you don’t even need to go through the procedures yourself. Your homeroom teacher can take care of it for you right away. You don’t need to worry about anything. Just focus on your studies. If you want to go to a regular class, go to a regular class. If you want to stay in a class, stay in a class. Isn’t that better than being alone in Jiangcheng? Why do you insist on going to No. 3 Middle School?”

The environment is new, the classmates are new, the teachers are new, and even the food tastes new.

Jiangcheng is nice, but it also feels unfamiliar.

Ji Tong had never been able to figure it out. She had asked Gu Lin about it the night she returned to China with his medical records, but at that time he was too emotionally overwhelmed to delve into the issue. Now she was thinking about it again.

"Because Jiangcheng is far from Anjing." Gu Lin raised his hand and brushed away the stray hairs on Ji Tong's forehead that were damp with a little sweat.

Ji Tong glared back, her face clearly saying, "I'll give you one more chance. Take it back and say it again."

Gu Lin, however, was smiling.

"You think I can focus on my studies if I go back to No. 1 High School, right?"

"Isn't that right?" Ji Tong retorted.

Even at Anjing No. 1 High School, not many students get into Anjing University based on their raw scores. While the competition classes are outstanding, the school still needs a certain percentage of students who pass the general entrance exam. With Gu Lin's grades, let alone the paperwork, it wouldn't be a problem to assemble a teaching team for him overnight. Even if he's just in a regular class, they'll already know each other.

"No," Gu Lin didn't give Ji Tong a chance to ask any more questions, "I can't rest easy."

"No. 1 Middle School is too close to you, I'll want to come visit you."

Ji Tong was stunned. He remained silent for a long time before saying, "Then you didn't miss me when you were in Jiangcheng?"

This time, it was Gu Lin who was stunned, but he only paused for a moment: "I want to too."

Ji Tong pouted and fiddled with her suitcase with her head down: "That's fine then."

“It’s different,” Gu Lin lifted his face. “Jiang Chengyuan can’t find you. When I miss you, I can only find something to do.”

Ji Tong asked curiously, "What is it?"

Gu Lin: "Do the test paper."

Ji Tong: "..."

I'm impressed.

Ji Tong raised her hand and gestured around her face: "Where do I look like a test paper?"

Gu Lin smiled and kissed the corner of his lips.

Ji Tong: "Did you sleep well during that time?"

Gu Lin didn't speak.

Ji Tong sighed: "Did you take your medicine?"

Gu Lin: "Occasionally."

Ji Tong: "What if you can't sleep?"

Gu Lin closed the suitcase, pulled the person up from the carpet, and kissed him again: "Do your test papers."

Ji Tong: "…………"

Ji Tong gritted her teeth: "How are you going to sleep if you're doing so many practice papers? Won't you just find it harder to fall asleep? What's the point of doing so many practice papers? Are you trying to become the top scorer in the province?"

Gu Lin: "I was in Berlin before going to Jiangcheng. I hadn't practiced coding problems for more than a month, so I was unsure of myself."

Ji Tong didn't understand: "What are you unsure about? Are you afraid you won't be the top scholar?"

Gu Lin: "I'm afraid I won't be able to get into Anhui University."

Ji Tong was speechless; he had never known that Gu Lin had worried about this.

He opened and closed his mouth, but when he spoke again, his tone had softened: "Don't you know your own level? How could you possibly not get into Anhui University?"

Ji Tong couldn't even imagine how Gu Lin had studied back then, how many nights he had stayed up, and how many practice papers he had done.

It's astonishing that someone who could make it through a competitive class at No. 1 High School could have moments of such insecurity.

Gu Lin just smiled and used the excuse that her face was dirty to change the subject, then took her boyfriend into the bathroom to wash their faces.

Two days before the long holiday, Ji Tong sent a message to Haiyuan, saying that he was going to Jiangcheng during the holiday.

Song Zhenshu didn't say anything else, just told them to be careful.

Ji Tong bought tickets for the 3rd. She didn't rest during the first two days of the long holiday. She spent the day with Gu Lin at Ping'an Park and then spent the day at home working on her research paper.

The plane landed in Jiangcheng at noon.

Chen Yongjie picked them up from the airport. He chose a restaurant near No. 3 Middle School that served freshly cooked Jiangcheng-style dishes. After eating, the three of them didn't take a taxi but walked along the street towards No. 3 Middle School.

"The weather forecast predicted rain, but the sun came out and the weather is perfect," Chen Yongjie said as he walked. "How about it, Tongtong, is it a bit cooler in Jiangcheng than in Anjing?"

"Yes, it's a bit cooler," Ji Tong nodded, "and there are no willow catkins yet."

Chen Yongjie laughed: "This is the most comfortable time. In two months, July and August, Jiangcheng will be a furnace."

"Sigh, Brother Lin was unlucky; he missed the hottest time of the year," Chen Yongjie joked.

Ji Tong comforted him, "It's alright, Anjing is a furnace in July and August too."

Chen Yongjie: "Yeah, hahaha."

The three walked down a street, and not far ahead was a fork in the road. Ji Tong subconsciously asked Gu Lin, "Which way?"

Chen Yongjie replied, "Left, left. Tongtong, you don't need to let Brother Lin lead the way. It's probably his first time here too."

Ji Tong looked at Gu Lin: "?"

Gu Lin: "Mm."

Chen Yongjie: "Let alone outside the school, I suspect that Brother Lin didn't even explore the school properly. For that month, I saw him basically going between the classroom, dormitory, and cafeteria, a three-point line."

"Back then, it was the final sprint. The weather was getting warmer, so there were no more morning exercises in the senior year. The three rounds of review were also over. In the classroom, we would check our own for any gaps in our knowledge. Teachers from each subject would take turns sitting in the classroom to answer questions and occasionally explain a few problems."

"Lin Ge has a separate dormitory room. Once, I got up to get water in the middle of the night and ran into him by the water dispenser. It was probably around 2 a.m. He was still awake and said he was doing his homework."

"At that time, I was thinking, 'So even big shots from competitive sports backgrounds can be this competitive.'"

Just as Chen Yongjie was about to continue speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a female voice behind him.

"Senior!"

The three of them turned around and saw a girl in a school uniform.

The school uniform is printed with the school emblem of No. 3 Middle School.

Upon recognizing the person, Chen Yongjie immediately waved in response to the girl.

“She’s a junior from my club at No. 3 Middle School. She’s a senior this year and probably stayed at school to study during the holidays,” Chen Yongjie said, turning to look at the two of them. “Tongtong, why don’t you and Brother Lin wait for me under the tree for a while? I’ll go say hello to her and be right back.”

Ji Tong waved her hand and said, "It's okay, you guys chat for a while, we'll go to that milk tea shop over there and buy some milk tea while we wait. What do you want to drink?"

Chen Yongjie quickly agreed, "Whatever, I don't have any dietary restrictions. You and Brother Lin can order whatever you want, just have a drink."

Ji Tong: "Okay."

Chen Yongjie walked towards the junior, while Ji Tong pulled Gu Lin to the milk tea shop.

During holidays, everywhere is crowded, except for the area near schools, which is deserted.

Ji Tong ordered three coconut lattes and two extra seasonal recommended milk teas, which he would have Chen Yongjie bring to his junior later.

The staff quickly prepared the drink and handed it over. Ji Tong had ordered extra iced. He took the latte, returned to his seat, inserted the straw, and took a big gulp.

Gu Lin sighed helplessly, "Slow down."

Ji Tong took another big gulp, and half of his latte was gone in an instant.

Once the heat in her chest subsided, Ji Tong slammed the drink down on the table.

"...So what if he didn't get into Anhui University?" Even though Ji Tong already knew that Gu Lin had trouble sleeping during that period and had prepared herself in advance, hearing this from someone else was still a bit different.

“How much more mistakes can you make? There are so many schools in Anjing, and there’s a university town just a few streets away. Are you worried about not being able to go to school?”

Ji Tong had wanted to say something on the day Gu Lin said he was afraid he wouldn't get into Anhui University, but she held back.

But I couldn't resist today.

“As long as we’re in Anjing, we’re not in the same school, so how far can it be?” Ji Tong’s palms were wet from the cup, and the coolness seemed to seep through his skin. He unconsciously clenched his fist twice, lowered his eyes, and said very softly, “…I can accept a relationship between people from different schools.”

Gu Lin replied, "I cannot."

Ji Tong suddenly looked up.

Gu Lin grabbed a tissue from the table, ignoring the shop assistant watching from a distance, the couple waiting for milk tea at the next table, and seemingly unaware of how outstanding he and Ji Tong looked, or perhaps they were aware but didn't care. He simply took Ji Tong's wrist very naturally and used the tissue to wipe the water from his palm.

All eyes were fixed on them, freezing in their direction.

"Four years is a long time, even if we're only a few streets apart," Gu Lin said.

There is another reason.

Gu Lin wiped away the last trace of water from Ji Tong's fingertips, put away the tissue, looked up at him, and said slowly.

"besides."

"I'll make up for the graduation photo I didn't take with you at No. 1 High School last year at Anhui University."