Chapter 84 IF Route: Childhood Sweethearts ②

During the long summer vacation when Ji Tong was five years old, her clingy first priority was successfully changed from her uncle to her older brother.

Both sets of parents tacitly approved of the two children's relationship and were happy to see it happen. Ji Yuanfeng even joked with Song Zhenshu in private, saying that if Tongtong were a girl, she could be engaged to the neighbor right now.

Song Zhenshu expressed strong opposition.

"If Tongtong were really a girl, in the TV series, she would most likely meet her true love in high school. And that true love would most likely be a broken boy who is unloved by his parents and extremely indifferent to Tongtong, making Tongtong feel that 'he is so special.' Unfortunately, Gu Lin, who has occupied the absolute territory of his parents since childhood, is the second male lead, not the male lead."

Ji Yuanfeng: "..."

Although Song Zhenshu was a little jealous, children also need social interaction, and for Ji Tong, Gu Lin was "new".

The right timing, the right location, and the right people all contributed to this "novelty".

But it's destined not to last long.

Based on Song Zhenshu's experience, it would be at most September, because Gu Lin would have to go to school in September.

However, to Song Zhenshu's surprise, Gu Lin did not go.

It wasn't that he was unwilling, nor that the Gu family was unwilling, but rather—

Ji Tong cried until the sky seemed to collapse and the earth seemed to split open.

The school Gu Lin was going to attend was chosen by Yang Yin before she returned to Germany. It was a private bilingual international school, far from Haiyuan, so Gu Lin chose to board there.

No one expected that such a big "change" would occur with "Ji Tong" during the three months of summer vacation.

When Ji Tong learned that she would not see her brother for five consecutive days, and could only see him seven or eight times a month at most, and that many of her brother's friends would be around, Ji Tong felt like her world had collapsed.

This was the first time he had ever cried so hard.

Ji Tong is usually like a little train that bounces around on its own once it's wound up. With that kind of personality, when she cries, she'll probably wail and wail. But the truth is quite the opposite. When Ji Tong cries, she's quiet and can even find things to do, like sitting on the carpet playing with toys. You can't tell she's crying unless you look closely, but once you get close, you can see that she's cried out a map-like pattern on the carpet.

This time, there is clearly more than one map.

Ji Tong cried and sobbed until her throat became inflamed, her nose became stuffy, and her whole face turned red.

Yang Yin was worried, but Song Jiahe said, "It's okay, it'll be fine tomorrow. It happened the same when I took Xiao Shu to school before. I won't go to your place today, and don't let Gu Lin come over either, he'll make a scene if he sees you."

Yang Yin agreed.

However, things began to go off track.

That night, perhaps due to the influence of her emotions on her stomach and immune system, Ji Tong began to vomit. After vomiting, she developed acute urticaria and bronchial swelling, followed by wheezing during breathing.

He was admitted to the emergency room that night.

Ji Tong was admitted to the hospital at 1 a.m., and Gu Lin arrived at the hospital at 1:30 a.m.

He stood by Ji Tong's bedside, looking at his left hand, which was swollen from the injection and had to be removed.

Actually, it's not very good-looking.

Because of urticaria, Ji Tong's exposed arms, neck, and face were covered with large and small red welts, and even her ears were swollen. The welts were also covered with white and pink powder, making them look mottled.

As if she had cried herself to sleep, Ji Tong did not wake up, but she still sobbed occasionally in her dream, looking pitiful as if she had been abandoned by the whole world.

Gu Lin had no idea that a person could cry themselves sick.

He reached out, but dared not touch him too much. He only wanted to touch the swollen left hand, but as soon as he touched it, his fingers were tightly grasped by the sleeping person.

He gripped it tightly, like a drowning person grabbing a piece of driftwood.

Gu Lin let him hold him until the doctor came in.

When Gu Lin walked out, Yang Yin was chatting with Song Jiahe.

He walked up to Yang Yin and Song Jiahe and said calmly that he was not going to school anymore.

But it doesn't mean she won't go to school. Just like in Germany, she will be homeschooled for a year. Once Ji Tong finishes her preschool-to-primary transition at home, they will all start school together.

Song Jiahe knew he disagreed because of Tongtong, but Yang Yin said, "Let him be. If he says that, it means he's made up his mind. It's okay if it's a year later."

Song Jiahe, however, felt uneasy: "Tongtong—"

“Auntie,” Gu Lin interrupted Song Jiahe, “it’s not just him.”

“I also want to go to school with him.”

And that was the end of it.

At the age of five, Ji Tong cried for the first time in her life, which kept Gu Lin with her.

Summer ends, and the next summer begins.

Originally, Ji Tong was supposed to attend that private bilingual international school with Gu Lin, but that school only offered boarding. Song Jiahe and Ji Yuanfeng were really reluctant to let her go, feeling that boarding in elementary school was too early. They were just about to discuss it with Yang Yin and the others when Yang Yin spoke up first, and her idea coincided with that of Song Jiahe and the others.

After discussing it, the two families finally chose an international primary school that was in a moderate distance from the school and also offered bilingual education.

And so, Ji Tong took a milestone step in her life and became a proud primary school student.

Perhaps it's because they're at this age and officially entering the awkward stage of appearance, the boys in the class are usually not as good-looking as they were in their childhood. In addition, they are active and like to run outside, so they are all two shades darker than when they were young, except for Ji Tong and Gu Lin who are all in white.

Especially Ji Tong, whose baby fat on his cheeks hadn't completely disappeared, and whose naturally abundant blood and energy gave him a radiant, fair complexion. Not to mention in his class, you couldn't find anyone more handsome than him in the entire school.

Facial perception is ingrained in human genes. Even babies tend to spend more time observing the faces of people that adults deem more attractive, let alone elementary school students who already have a concept of beauty and ugliness.

On the day of enrollment, seven or eight little boys surrounded Ji Tong and said they wanted to be his deskmate.

Ji Tong's hand remained firmly in Gu Lin's.

Gu Lin was a year or two older than everyone else, and his appearance was equally outstanding, but he gave people a completely different feeling from Ji Tong. He was tall, rarely smiled, and didn't even need to speak to scare away a group of little kids.

On their first day of school, the two rode in the same car to school and back home.

When they got home, Song Zhenshu took Ji Tong's schoolbag, hugged him and kissed him, asking him if school was fun.

Ji Tong said, "It's not fun, it's too noisy."

Ji Tong liked lively atmospheres, and Song Zhenshu thought he would like them too, but he didn't interrupt. He carried Ji Tong to the bathroom on the first floor to wash his hands while listening to him speak.

Many areas of Haiyuan No. 1 were designed specifically for Ji Tong, such as the small door next to the main entrance and the small washbasin on the wall of the first-floor bathroom.

Song Zhenshu placed Ji Tong in front of the mini washbasin and watched him wash his hands.

After washing and drying his hands following the handwashing procedure taught by Song Jiahe, Ji Tong leaned down to hug Song Zhenshu, but Ji Tong suddenly raised his upper arm, grabbed Song Zhenshu's hand, and squeezed it twice like cotton, saying, "Uncle's hands are very big."

Just as Song Zhenshu was about to speak, Ji Tong added, "There are a lot of hands in the school."

Many hands?

Song Zhenshu was startled and quickly squatted down, asking in a steady voice, "What do you mean 'many hands'? Whose hands? Did they touch you?"

Ji Tong: "No, I mistook your hand for mine."

Ji Tong started speaking early and has a large vocabulary. However, because she had chubby cheeks when she was little, her speech was still a bit slurred last year, but this year her speech is very clear.

"At noon, the teacher led us to the cafeteria for lunch and asked us to line up and hold hands as we walked. I held the wrong hand and held another classmate's hand instead."

Not only did she hold the wrong hand, but she also called the wrong person, calling that classmate "brother".

When Ji Tong realized that something was wrong with the "feel," she turned around and saw an unfamiliar face.

The boy scratched his head, blushed, and replied "Brother," adding, "Hello, little brother."

Ji Tong turned her head again, and Gu Lin was standing a few steps behind them, looking at their clasped hands with a blank expression.

Ji Tong immediately let go of the classmate and ran towards Gu Lin.

"Gu Lin seems a little angry."

At lunchtime, Ji Tong wanted to pick out some broccoli for Gu Lin, but Gu Lin told him to finish it himself.

Song Zhenshu almost laughed when he heard this: "Gu Linsheng... wait a minute."

Song Zhenshu noticed something was wrong and picked Ji Tong up: "Why are you calling 'Gu Lin'?"

Didn't we always call him "brother" before?

They're already calling my name after only one day of school?

This time, Ji Tong remained silent.

Song Zhenshu was even more intrigued: "Did you two have a fight?"

“No,” Ji Tong said, looking like she wasn’t very happy, “They’re copying me.”

Song Zhenshu pieced together the whole story from Ji Tong's few words.

Ji Tong and Gu Lin were both good-looking and had entered school together, so they were inseparable. Naturally, the other children in the class were curious. When they heard Ji Tong call Gu Lin "brother," they asked about their relationship. Ji Tong answered truthfully that they were not biological brothers, but neighbors. He called Gu Lin "brother" because Gu Lin was two years older than him.

Gu Lin is more than just older than Ji Tong.

Then someone called out "Brother" first, and the rest of the people followed suit.

Ji Tong was unhappy.

He didn't like Gu Lin being called "brother" by so many people, so since they all followed his lead, he stopped calling him that.

Song Zhenshu found it amusing after hearing this, dismissing it as just a child's impulsive nature and not taking it seriously.

Unexpectedly, Ji Tong never called him "brother" again after that.

Spring comes and summer goes, autumn harvests and winter stores. As Ji Tong gets older, the baby fat on the sides of her face gradually disappears, revealing an increasingly refined and superior profile.

Young people are like bamboo shoots growing taller, constantly gathering strength, taking root downwards, and growing upwards.

Third grade, fifth grade, elementary school graduation, junior high school graduation... Under the sunshine and rain, Qingzhu grew taller day by day, finally stepping into the last stage before adulthood, high school.

As with every enrollment, Ji Tong and Gu Lin caused a sensation on campus the day they arrived.

Because it was a high school, it was even noisier than before. Even the senior students, who were usually oblivious to the world around them and focused solely on their studies, would take advantage of the break between morning exercises to peek into Class 1 of the first year of high school.

After learning that the two were childhood friends and neighbors, the gossip intensified, and it only calmed down after a whole semester.

Ji Tong still has the same temperament as when he was young, clinging tightly to Gu Lin. But Gu Lin is not the only one around him now. Since junior high school, Ji Tong has shown amazing "social appeal". In high school, it was even more terrifying. Not to mention classmates, senior students, even the dean of students was on his friend list.

God knows how shocked Li Yuan and the others were when they saw the dean of students had liked a post on Ji Tong's WeChat Moments celebrating Gu Lin's long-distance running victory on Ji Tong's phone on the day of the school sports meet. They were almost paralyzed with fear.

The school is a boarding school, but that doesn't affect the pick-up and drop-off service at Haiyuan.

Ji Tong and Gu Lin still returned together on Fridays and were dropped off together on Sundays, but the nanny van that took them there was never seen until the day of the trip, so no one knew which company it belonged to.

During Gu Lin's first year of high school, Yang Yin and her husband temporarily settled in Germany due to business acquisitions and expansions. Gu Lin still lived in Haiyuan, but would return to Germany around the Spring Festival during the winter vacation, and would also stay in Berlin for half a month during the summer vacation.

On the 21st of his second year of high school, as usual, Ji Tong saw Gu Lin off at the airport.

"I saw on the news that the flu is quite serious in Berlin recently. You should stay home and stay with your grandparents. Don't go out and about, okay?" Ji Tong said reluctantly, pulling on the handle of Gu Lin's suitcase.

Gu Lin was used to it; every time he was about to return to Germany, this man always had this expression.

"Understood." Gu Lin's gaze fell slightly downwards, settling on Ji Tong's hand, signaling him to let go.

Ji Tong didn't let go; he was still holding on. He looked up and glanced at the airport's large screen.

“We can chat for another half hour,” Ji Tong said, pulling her suitcase over and bumping her head against Gu Lin’s shoulder repeatedly, like a woodpecker. “Let’s chat a little longer? Twenty minutes? Fifteen minutes? Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.”

Afraid that he would get cold, Gu Lin finally led him into the second floor of the airport food court and picked a Cantonese restaurant that served stewed soup.

Ji Tong managed to stall for another twenty minutes, and just in time, she sent Gu Lin through the security checkpoint.

The moment the plane took off and landed, and his phone regained signal, the first message Gu Lin sent wasn't to his family, but to the person he had pinned to the top of his chat list.

[The ward: We've arrived.]

[Everything you said is true, listen carefully: Is Berlin cold?]

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

[You're absolutely right, listen carefully: When are you getting home? I want to video call you.]

[The child under guardianship: It's too late, it's past midnight in Anjing. You go to sleep first, we'll call tomorrow.]

Ji Tong didn't reply for three or four minutes.

I only replied with an emoji.

[Everything you said is true, listen carefully: I'll punch you.jpg]

Gu Lin looked at his phone, chuckled softly, and replied with "Goodnight".

As the year drew nearer, Ji Tong made at least two video calls to Gu Lin every day. She would make one when she went to her grandfather's farm, one when she was drawing with her grandmother, and one when she and her uncle went into the mountains to dig for bamboo shoots and searched for a signal until the video became a PowerPoint presentation. She never missed a video call until the 27th of the lunar month.

Ji Tong made two video calls, one in Anjing at 5 pm and the other in Berlin at 10 am. Gu Lin said he was out and it was inconvenient for him to answer, so Ji Tong hung up.

The second call was at 9 PM in Anjing and 1 PM in Germany. Gu Lin still refused to answer, saying he hadn't replied yet, so the two chatted via text for half an hour.

Ji Tong felt terrible after not hearing Gu Lin's voice all day and decided to call him one last time before going to bed.

So at 11:07 PM in Ankyo, or 4:00 PM in Berlin, Ji Tong made his third video call of the day.

Gu Lin still didn't answer.

Ji Tong finally realized that something was wrong.

He sat up in bed and made one call after another, from WeChat to text messages, from voice calls and video calls to transoceanic phone calls.

Gu Lin finally answered the seventh video call.

Ji Tong asked with a stern face, "Are you sick?"

Gu Lin did not answer.

Ji Tong was furious.

I knew it.

How could Gu Lin hang up on his video call just because he was out? In the past, even if he was taking a shower, he would always switch to voice call first, let alone being out.

"Is it the flu? Do you have a fever? What's your temperature? Have you seen a doctor? Where are you now? Are your aunt and uncle home? Is someone taking care of you?" Ji Tong paced back and forth in the room barefoot.

Gu Lin finally spoke.

"It's a mild flu, my temperature is not high, 38.5 degrees Celsius. My family doctor is here, and so is my mom."

Gu Lin's voice was terribly hoarse, not at all like the "mild" one he had described.

Gu Lin rarely got sick. The time that Ji Tong remembered most vividly was when he was five years old and Gu Lin was seven.

Hearing that the family doctor was there, Ji Tong felt somewhat relieved.

He was angry that Gu Lin hadn't told him, but he really wanted to ask, so he finally couldn't help but ask, "Did you take your medicine?"

"Just ate."

"Where's the food?"

"have eaten."

"What does the doctor want you to do next?" Ji Tong asked again.

Gu Lin said, "Let me sleep for a while."

Ji Tong knew that some Western medicines for treating the flu contained chlorpheniramine maleate, which could suppress brain nerves and cause drowsiness.

"Then why aren't you lying down?" Ji Tong sighed and sat back on the bed. "Lie flat. Don't hang up the video call on your phone. I'll hang up later."

Gu Lin's head was indeed heavy, so he lay down on his side and propped his phone up next to his pillow.

The two chatted, one sentence at a time, with Ji Tong staring intently at Gu Lin until the man closed his eyes.

Gu Lin fell asleep, but Ji Tong didn't end the call as she had said before, waiting for him to fall asleep.

Before sending Gu Lin back to Berlin, Ji Tong had looked into the flu. It was a seasonal viral infection, which is more common in winter and spring. The most prominent feature of this disease is recurrent fever, and if it is not treated in time, it may develop into pneumonia.

It's very similar to the H1N1 influenza that Ji Tong contracted in the second year of junior high school.

That bout of H1N1 flu terrified my family.

At that time, Ji Tong had taken fever-reducing medicine not long before, and the doctor also told him to take a nap.

Ji Tong lay there in a daze for a while, then felt thirsty and wanted to get up for a glass of water. But the glass was on the coffee table, so he lifted the covers and tried to get out of bed to get the water.

The moment he got up, his ears and brain suddenly buzzed, emitting a sharp whistling sound, and then everything went black before he completely lost consciousness.

When Ji Tong woke up again, he was already lying in bed, surrounded by people.

Song Jiahe was so frightened that her lips turned pale. She never expected that because she was worried that the sound of the phone call would disturb her son's rest, she changed the location to answer it, and when she came back, she would see her son lying on the carpet.

Gu Lin had just arrived from home and was faster than Song Jiahe. He immediately picked her up from the carpet, and Song Jiahe quickly called for a doctor.

Ji Tong later believed those two words—

"On the contrary".

From the time he was diagnosed, he was almost always accompanied by someone, except for a few minutes when no one was around, and it was during those few minutes that the accident happened.

Ji Tong was worried that this "unfortunate" thing would happen to Gu Lin as well, so he dared not sleep.

Gu Lin slept very restlessly, and when he woke up again, it was already night in Germany.

He raised his hand and rubbed his heavy temples, about to sit up—

"woke up?"

Gu Lin froze for a moment, looking somewhat lost in thought, as if afraid of disturbing something. He slowly turned his face and met the gaze of the person in the video.

Gu Lin was in Berlin, but his phone time hadn't been adjusted; it was forever stuck on Anjing time, where Ji Tong was.

Therefore, he could see the top of the video with perfect clarity—

05:36.

In another hour, it will be dawn in Ankyoreh.

The video call duration kept ticking, and the moment Gu Lin's gaze settled, it showed 06:21:41.

He slept for nearly six hours, and the video call lasted for more than six hours.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Ji Tong's voice was full of fatigue. He rubbed his eyes. "The doctor came in at 8 o'clock and took your temperature. It's gone down a little, but you still have a fever."

"Gu Lin, you're sweating a lot."

Ji Tong was referring to Berlin time.

Gu Lin remained silent.

Just as Ji Tong was rubbing her eyes, trying to wake herself up and get up, Gu Lin finally spoke.

Ji Tong wondered if it was just her imagination, but Gu Lin's voice seemed even hoarser.

"Stop rubbing your eyes, they're all swollen."

A few physiological tears welled up in Ji Tong's eyes from wiping them away.

"Have you slept with him?" Gu Lin asked.

"No," Ji Tong sniffed, "I couldn't sleep, and I was worried that you might get thirsty in the night, get up to drink water, and then fall again."

When the doctor came in, Ji Tong left the doctor's phone number.

If it falls, he will call him immediately.

Gu Lin fell silent again.

Ji Tong assumed he was just tired: "Has your fever gone down?"

"Refund."

"How can you just spout off like that? You didn't even measure it."

Gu Lin's chest heaved slightly as he picked up the ear thermometer from the bedside table and took a measurement.

37.1 degrees.

“37.1, it’s off,” Gu Lin put down the thermometer, stared straight at the person in the video, his voice low and hoarse, “Go to sleep.”

Ji Tong was still a little worried: "Then you can burn it again tonight..."

“I asked the nanny to put a bed in the room so the doctor can sleep there,” Gu Lin said.

Apart from Ji Tong, Gu Lin has never let anyone else sleep in his room.

This is the first time.

It was also for Ji Tong's sake.

Ji Tong: "Don't lie to me."

Gu Lin: "Mm."

Ji Tong, who had been holding his breath, relaxed instantly. He closed his eyes, and in his semi-conscious state, his last words to Gu Lin were—

"Don't get sick when I'm not around, I won't be able to take care of you."

Berlin time, 10:48 PM.

The doctor, staring at the persistent high heart rate alarm on the monitor, cried out "Ach Du lieber Himmel" (My God!) and stumbled in, only to find Gu Lin sitting quietly on the bed, dressed in black pajamas and wearing a monitoring ring.

The doctor's phone was still vibrating incessantly, it was very noisy.

Gu Lin could only hear the sound of his own heartbeat.

Gu Lin closed his eyes.

He did not resist.

He acknowledged it.

————————!!————————

Although it's an "if" scenario, many of the reasons for falling in love are the same as in the main story.

No matter which parallel lines they are on, they will always be attracted to each other.