Chapter 85 IF Path: Childhood Sweethearts (The End)

The lists of students to be admitted to universities through the recommendation system are being released one after another, and all 32 students in Class 1 of the Senior Three Competition have passed the entrance examination.

The pressure of long-term training and competition is no less than that of the college entrance examination. Even Ji Tong breathed a sigh of relief the moment he received the qualification certification.

"Tongtong, when are you and Lin Ge planning to leave school?" Li Yuan asked.

Ji Tong hadn't decided yet: "Staying at home is fine, let's talk about it next semester."

As the two were talking, someone knocked on the back door of the classroom; it was a junior from the second year of high school.

"Senior," the junior waved to the class monitor, "the teacher asked me to give you this form so you can record the height and weight of everyone in the class. The school needs to prepare formal attire for your awards ceremony."

The class monitor took the registration form, gave her an "OK" sign, and even handed her a piece of bread.

The junior student, holding a loaf of bread, said with tears in her eyes, "Senior, please send me some magical energy. I want to improve."

“Every time I come to your class, I feel like I’m being purified.”

"But I often feel out of place because I am not 'progressing' enough."

The people in the back row laughed heartily.

"Come in, junior, have a seat."

Class monitor: "It's okay, you'll be on this list again next year at this time."

The junior student happily accepted the senior student's blessing.

"By the way, senior, winter break is in a month. What are your plans? Will you be coming back to school next semester?"

"We don't know yet," the class monitor said.

As the bell rang for the morning self-study session, a younger student called out, "When we meet again, I hope you'll be happy. It doesn't matter if I'm not in your world, just be happy! Senior, take me with you, how can I live without you?" and walked away.

The classmate's interruption brought the class back to life.

"Since you've asked me, junior, tell me your plans."

"My plan is to eat some fries on the pier."

"My plan is to contribute to the future development of our motherland."

"I will ascend to the heavens and reach for the moon."

"I am determined to grow into the ambitious young people that the people expect!"

I want to be in a relationship.

"…………"

“We’re all so ambitious here, and you give me this ‘dating’ thing? You’ve ruined the whole thing… I want to date too.”

"I'm uneducated, just like everyone else."

"Come on, someone like you, who has to send his report card to confess to a girl from Class 3, making Class 3 think that our class sent you to provoke them, and you still want to date?"

"..."

"Let's get in line first. Tongtong and Brother Lin haven't even talked yet, what's the rush?"

"There's a queue for this kind of thing? Forget it then. If Tongtong and Lin were going to date, they would have done it already. They don't even have the concept of 'dating' and don't want to date at all. They're just wasting their good looks! I strongly condemn this."

Ji Tong was sitting perfectly fine in his seat when he was suddenly labeled as a "waste of resources," which was an utterly undeserved disaster.

“I don’t mean I don’t want to talk,” Ji Tong said casually.

As soon as he finished speaking, the whole class fell silent.

Gu Lin paused, his hand holding the pen still.

Li Yuan: "Tongtong? You want to be in a relationship too?"

The sound was so sharp it cracked.

Ji Tong leaned back in his chair.

It's not so much that he "wants" it, but he probably doesn't resist entering into a close relationship, it's just that—

Ji Tong seemed to be thinking of something, and the pen he was twirling between his fingers suddenly stopped.

This was the first time anyone in the class had heard Ji Tong bring up this topic, and Li Yuan immediately turned around from the front row.

Ji Tong pinched his mouth shut: "Can't I talk?"

Li Yuan slapped Ji Tong's hand away: "I didn't say you couldn't date, it's just too sudden. I thought you were naturally uninterested in 'romantic relationships' or other intimate connections."

“I didn’t,” Ji Tong said.

"So what kind of person are you looking for? Do you have a specific ideal type?" Li Yuan pressed on.

Ji Tong was taken aback.

Because a figure flashed into his mind.

Although the outline was blurry, he knew it so well that he didn't need to look closely to know who it was.

She was sitting next to him.

Ji Tong felt completely unwell, and her back stiffened instantly.

Why would he think of Gu Lin at a time like this?

This doesn't make sense, does it?

Ji Tong felt a sudden, inexplicable panic.

A sense of chaos, like a bolt from the blue, descended upon them.

What should I say?

What kind of discussion should we have?

To resist this sense of disorder, Ji Tong knew she should say something, not only something, but something completely opposite to the image in her mind. But as soon as she thought about it, her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and she couldn't utter a single word. Her peripheral vision was filled with the presence of Gu Lin.

His body seemed to activate some kind of self-defense mechanism, and he finally managed to utter only three words in haste—

"A little higher."

"Taller? That's it? What kind of ideal is that... You like the mature, older woman type?"

"…………"

“A little higher… Ouch,” Li Yuan clapped his hands, “I get it! Like Senior Tu Jing?”

It would have been better if Tu Jing hadn't been mentioned; once Tu Jing was brought up, Ji Tong felt even worse.

The first image that popped into Li Yuan's mind the moment he mentioned Tu Jing was Tu Jing's eyes.

Those eyes looked a lot like Gu Lin's.

Oh no, I must have done something wrong.

Ji Tong's body was numb on one side.

His fingers curled up and then relaxed, then curled up and then relaxed again.

We can't listen anymore, and we can't let A-Yuan continue talking, or he'll die!

Ji Tong mumbled "uh-huh" twice, then used the excuse of going to the restroom to leave... escape the classroom.

He didn't see that the second he left his seat, Gu Lin put down his pen, lowered his eyes, and leaned back in his chair.

-

A week before the final exams at No. 1 Middle School, the school held an awards ceremony to recognize students who had been admitted through the guaranteed admission program. Ji Tong, dressed in a custom-made suit, gave a speech as a student representative.

After the conference ended, he stepped down from the podium but did not see Gu Lin.

"What about him?" Ji Tong asked Cui Mingying.

Although Ji Tong was on the stage, her gaze was always fixed on Gu Lin. After the last ten minutes or so, she was pulled aside by the section chief and the principal for a chat, and then she disappeared.

Cui Mingying glanced around: "It seems like he's looking for the old teacher for something. I saw him walking with the old teacher."

Ji Tong took out her phone to call Gu Lin when she looked up and saw Li Yuan running over from the side door of the auditorium. He was running in a mess and bumped into six or seven junior students because of the crowd leaving the auditorium.

"Sorry, juniors, excuse me. I have something urgent to attend to. Come to the senior building with this and I'll treat you to milk tea." Li Yuan bowed to them and jumped over, bracing himself against the back of his chair.

The younger students looked down and saw the trophy with the words "Li Yuan" and "Ankyung University" printed on it.

It was just issued at the commendation ceremony.

The group was instantly blinded by the brilliance of the top university.

Indeed, genius is unconventional.

The unruly Li Yuan stumbled and twisted every three steps, then a big one every five, lunging towards Ji Tong. Ji Tong caught him with her hand: "What's wrong? Is a ghost chasing you?"

"Something's happened! Brother Lin..." Li Yuan was panting heavily.

A group of people around them all stood up.

Ji Tong's mind went blank. She suddenly let go of Li Yuan's hand and ran out, but was stopped by Cui Mingying.

"Wait, Tongtong, wait until Ayuan finishes speaking! With so many sects, where are you going to run to!" Cui Mingying's voice was also anxious as she turned to look at Li Yuan. "What happened? Tell me quickly."

"I just went to get the flowers, and I heard Lin Ge and the teacher talking backstage. They were talking about 'giving up the guaranteed admission qualification' or something. I thought I misheard, so I went over. Then I heard Lin Ge say that he might go to Germany, so I immediately went over... Sigh!"

-

When Ji Tong arrived backstage, the auditorium was already empty.

Only Gu Lin, dressed in a black suit, stood in front of the lounge window.

Ji Tong entered the room, closed the door, and then locked it behind him.

Gu Lin heard the sound, turned around, and saw Ji Tong's bloodshot eyes.

Ji Tong didn't go forward, but leaned against the locked door and looked at Gu Lin.

Tears welled up in that instant.

Just like when he was five, he cried quietly without making a sound, only large, hot tears falling down his face.

Gu Lin's heart stopped beating. He slammed the window shut and walked over.

He cupped Ji Tong's face in one hand, wiping his damp cheek with his thumb.

"Why are you crying?"

Ji Tong was still crying.

Gu Linsong reached for a tissue, but Ji Tong grabbed his fingertip just as he was about to leave.

"Are you going back to Germany?" Ji Tong finally asked.

"Yes, around the 23rd."

“That’s not what I meant!” Ji Tong’s voice trembled as he stared straight at him. “I meant giving up the guaranteed admission to Anhui University and going back to Germany.”

Gu Lin was stunned.

Ji Tong pressed on: "Is that right?"

Gu Lin didn't answer. He had forgotten that he didn't bring any tissues, so he could only use his sleeve and the back of his fingers to wipe Ji Tong's tears: "Who told you that?"

"Just say 'yes' or 'no'."

“No,” Gu Lin said.

Ji Tong didn't let up: "I felt something was wrong with you a month ago. I talked to the teacher several times, and I've been receiving more calls from your aunt. I just didn't think about it that way."

“You want to go back to Germany. You’ve considered giving up your guaranteed admission. You don’t want to go to Anhui University anymore…” Ji Tong paused for two seconds, “and you don’t want me anymore either, right?”

Ji Tong's tears never stopped from beginning to end, and they fell even more fiercely when Gu Lin said "no".

"Gu Lin, are you annoyed with me?"

As he said this, Ji Tong trembled like a leaf.

"No." Gu Lin's Adam's apple bobbed heavily. He used all his strength to barely control his emotions and force himself not to kiss him.

"Then why did you leave?!"

Gu Lin's emotions, which he had suppressed for so many years, finally burst forth in response to Ji Tong's heart-wrenching question, just like Ji Tong's tears.

"Because of this." Gu Lin calmly lifted Ji Tong's chin and lowered his head to kiss her.

He thought he would only indulge himself this once, just once.

But she sensed a tentative response from that person.

Ji Tong was initially stiff and dazed, but after a few seconds of blankness, she suddenly opened her mouth.

Gu Lin's Adam's apple bobbed, and he looked down at him. The next second, he raised his hand, grabbed Ji Tong's nape, and pressed him forward.

Ji Tong finally stopped crying, and her tears stopped flowing.

Because of his stuffy nose and inability to breathe, Gu Lin's kiss was deep but short-lived.

After crying her heart out, Ji Tong was exhausted and leaned forward onto Gu Lin's shoulder, still sobbing as she did so, looking quite pitiful.

Gu Lin's hand was still on the back of his neck, pressing it soothingly.

"Just because of this?" Ji Tong's voice still trembled with sobs.

“If I stay, it won’t just be for this,” Gu Lin touched his eyelids, “I will want you to marry me, do everything a married couple does, and be together forever.”

"Getting a marriage certificate, becoming a legal spouse, signing my will, even surgical consent forms and death certificates."

Ji Tong trembled all over.

Perhaps the word "death" was too heavy, so heavy that Ji Tong forgot to say anything and could only raise her hand and hug Gu Lin tightly.

for a long time.

“Ah Yuan said I’m not interested in ‘intimate relationships’ like ‘romantic love,’ but I argued with him. I’m not against it, because I’ve always been in an ‘intimate relationship,’” Ji Tong said slowly.

"It started when I was five years old."

“He asked me about my ‘ideal type,’ and I said ‘a bit taller,’ because at that moment, you were the one I was thinking of.”

"I thought there was something wrong with me."

"When you kissed me just now, I only had one thought in my mind: it turns out I'm not the only one who's 'abnormal'."

"Gu Lin, you said 'to be together forever,' but I was always yours."

This time, it was Gu Lin who was stunned.

"You were always mine."

"It was decided the day you moved to Haiyuan when you were five years old, and no one can change it."

Ji Tong wrapped her arms around Gu Lin's back and gripped his shoulders, her tears staining Gu Lin's shoulder in a map-like pattern.

Just like when we were kids.

"Don't go." Ji Tong's voice trembled, and she seemed about to cry again.

Gu Lin gently lifted his face and kissed away his tears.

He gazed at those eyes with deep affection.

"I'm not leaving."

"Don't cry."

-

When she was five years old, Ji Tong kept Gu Lin with a good cry.

At the age of eighteen, Ji Tong also used a big cry to keep Gu Lin with her.

This time, the timeframe is forever.

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The next chapter is the final epilogue! We're getting married! Yay! [Kiss][Kiss][Kiss]