Many times later, Lin Chaoxi wondered what his mood was like at that time.
Has she really "thought" about giving up? The answer is yes; but has she really "wanted to give up?" the answer is no.
The more you interrogate someone, the more likely they are to sober up, but it takes time to sober up. For Lin Chaoxi, she didn't delete the file at that time just because Lao Lin called her suddenly.
She felt hot all over and stroked Lao Lin's name on the Nokia screen. For a moment she didn't want to answer the phone.
She couldn't explain why, but it was probably an instinctive reaction when she wanted to escape. When she realized this, she picked up the phone and put it close to her ear.
"Are you free tonight?" There was a lot of noise on the other end of the phone, and Lao Lin's voice was a little hoarse.
The moment he heard Lao Lin's voice, Lin Chaoxi's nose felt sore, but his mood suddenly softened.
“It wasn’t there before, but it is now,” she said.
"Then come out for dinner. Lao Zeng wants to see you."
Lin Chaoxi took a while to react before he realized who Lao Zeng was. He couldn't help but stutter, "Lao... Zeng, why does Professor Zeng want to see me?"
"It must be that you performed so well during the intensive training at Sanwei University that Professor Zeng was impressed."
Lin Chaoxi murmured: "How could Professor Zeng remember me? We had never met him at that time."
"So, he just politely said, 'Ask your daughter to come along,' and I was just politely calling to ask for your opinion."
This is Old Lin. Lin Chaoxi felt a lot of fresh and real breath. She wiped her tears and said, "I'll go."
"Girls should be gentler and not swear easily," said Lao Lin.
Lin Chaoxi was choked again, but she could hear the smile in Lao Lin's words. She exhaled a breath of stale air and said, "I'm talking. I'm going to eat."
"The hotel is near the guesthouse. I'll pick you up later."
"kindness."
——
When Lin Chaoxi left the Internet cafe, he didn't even take his schoolbag, but he still remembered to take his medicine.
She was sitting inside the guesthouse wrapped in a scarf, waiting for Lao Lin. The first snow cast a layer of background color on the deserted alley.
She was drowsy from the heating, squinting her eyes on the sofa, and vaguely heard the sound of "squeaking" and "squeaking" of footsteps on the snow. She looked up and saw someone in the dark night, walking towards her on the snow in the empty alley, wearing the dim light of a street lamp.
The background was a pitch-black night, the door curtains were shaking gently, and Lin Chaoxi rubbed his eyes, feeling as if he was dreaming.
Lao Lin lowered the curtain and put his hand on the door. He looked a little tired from days of revisions, but his smile was still gentle and cunning.
"What a coincidence." He asked with a smile, "Has classmate Xiaolin had dinner?"
Lin Chaoxi was stunned for a moment, then replied, "What a coincidence, Master Lin, where is your daughter? Is she out of school?"
"Let me look for her." Lao Lin looked around, and finally his eyes drifted over and smiled at her, "Isn't my daughter right here?"
Looking at Lao Lin's smiling eyes, Lin Chaoxi suddenly remembered that she was powerless. Her chest felt like it was stuffed with heavy cotton. She couldn't save Lao Lin like this.
There was silence for some time.
Old Lin seemed to sense something was wrong. Before he could say anything, Lin Chaoxi got up from the sofa with a grumble, went up to hold Old Lin's arm, and sniffed: "I'm starving."
"How hungry am I? Do you want barbecue or hot pot? Do you want some hot pot tripe and beef? Do you want some boiled baby cabbage until it's soft and dip it in beef sauce?"
"..." Lin Chaoxi swallowed his saliva. He was not hungry at first, but now his stomach started to growl.
——
In order to prevent Lao Lin from discovering that she was sick, she pretended to be full of energy and talked to Lao Lin all the way.
It was not until she was brought to the door of the mutton soup shop and saw the small half-table of people sitting inside through the foggy glass window that she realized the scale of this party.
Professor Zeng sat at the back, and next to him sat three middle-aged men. They looked about the same age as Old Lin, but one of them, Lin Chaoxi, whom I later met on the wall of the Mathematics Department of Sanwei University, was a master in the study of the mathematical structure of canonical fields, so the identities of the remaining two were self-evident.
Lin Chaoxi stood outside the door for a moment, not knowing what to do with her hands and feet. But Old Lin didn't seem to notice anything wrong and led her in.
Lin Chaoxi felt like he was standing in front of the table like a wooden man. He listened to Lao Lin introduce the people present one by one, and could only shout "Hello, professor".
Several professors just nodded and said "yes". Finally, Professor Zeng said politely: "Zhao Sheng's daughter is already so big."
"Haven't you seen it before?" Lao Lin asked back.
Professor Zeng was embarrassed for a moment, and then he decided to go for broke: "If we don't pretend it's our first meeting, what do you want me to say?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to see my daughter?" Lao Lin led her to a seat. "Why are you all so socially awkward nowadays?"
Lin Chaoxi thought that not everyone is like you who has no problem meeting anyone, but of course he didn't dare to say it out loud.
The clear soup lamb pot in the middle of the table was bubbling with steam, and the side dishes looked cooked to perfection, dispelling the winter chill.
She told herself not to think about the procedure or the accident, and just took the bowl to scoop the soup. She first handed the scooped mutton soup to Lao Lin, then took the chopsticks for him, and finally scooped a bowl for herself. When she looked up again, everyone else at the table was staring at her.
Lin Chaoxi drank two sips of soup and looked at Lao Lin in confusion.
"Two of them have sons, and two are still unmarried. It's not easy for them to have never felt the love and care of a daughter at their age." Lao Lin was very direct.
Lin Chaoxi was almost scolded.
"Mr. Lin is going too far."
"I am heartbroken."
The professors at the table finally started to shout, and even Professor Zeng pointed at Lao Lin.
Lin Zhaoxi smiled and pretended to be enlightened: "No wonder."
"cough."
"Cough, cough, cough."
The professors all stared at Lao Lin, and finally one of them said, "We didn't believe you when you said your daughter was found. Now we see that your daughter looks exactly like you."
Hearing this, Lin Chaoxi was somewhat happy.
It wasn't because they said she looked like Lao Lin, but because she could tell that these professors were old acquaintances of Lao Lin.
Such gatherings were what Lao Lin should have enjoyed, and now, all these years later, in this world, he finally did not miss one.
The dinner table became warm and cozy because of Lao Lin's two complaints. The adults began to talk about some math problems, which were very professional and Lin Chaoxi could not understand.
She didn't think about these things, but simply enjoyed the last moments with Lao Lin in this world. She drank the mutton soup, and it seemed that even the aches and pains caused by the high fever in her body had subsided.
Outside the window, the snow was falling heavily. The light from the French windows could illuminate a small area of the road, making the snow look sparkling. The lights of thousands of homes in the world seemed equally perfect.
Lin Chaoxi finished a bowl of soup and ate a few mouthfuls of rice, but he had no appetite because of the high heat.
When she put down her spoon, she suddenly noticed a professor in a black and white checkered shirt sitting at the table. He didn't say a word from beginning to end, but it seemed that he listened carefully to every word.
At this moment, the middle-aged man seemed to have noticed her gaze and suddenly spoke: "Didn't your daughter die at birth and then suddenly found? How can you be sure that she is your daughter?"
The surroundings suddenly became quiet.
The professor in a black and white checkered shirt spoke slowly but seriously. His words were incoherent, but it seemed like he had been thinking for a long time and couldn't figure it out, so he asked questions when he didn't understand.
The other professors at the table didn't react much either, treating it as a routine question.
"We did a DNA test." Lao Lin replied.
"Oh, that's right."
There are no other issues. For them, the results of science are everything, and the process is not important.
"Dead".
Lin Chaoxi repeated this sentence in her heart, thinking that her mother probably used this reason to hide it from Old Lin. But she didn't know why Old Lin in the real world discovered this lie, but Old Lin in the parallel space didn't.
"We've finished eating, we're leaving first." Lao Lin put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up and greeted them.
Lin Chaoxi was shocked. He didn't know why Old Lin wanted to leave suddenly. Under normal circumstances, this would be a quarrel. But the professors at the table didn't think there was anything wrong with leaving after eating, and Old Lin didn't look unhappy.
Lin Chaoxi was a little confused, then she received Lao Lin's gaze and stood up quickly. "Bye, goodbye." She bowed and trotted to catch up with Lao Lin.
Walking out of the mutton soup shop, a bright yellow snow umbrella was opened in the night, and heavy snow was splashing on the umbrella.
Lin Zhaoxi looked up and found that it was a cultural umbrella from Sanwei University. When it was illuminated by the street light, he felt unreal: "Dad, why are you unhappy?"
she asked.
"What do you think?" Lao Lin rarely used a rhetorical question.
"I think professors in the mathematics department always speak directly. You don't have to worry that I'm unhappy. I don't care about such things."
Lin Chaoxi was talking to herself, but she noticed that Lao Lin suddenly stopped and looked at her with an inquiring look.
"What, what happened?"
Lao Lin covered her forehead with his hand and said to himself, "Is she crazy?"
Lin Zhaoxi: “…”
After a while, Lao Lin took his hand back and continued walking forward. Lin Chaoxi could only continue to follow. She thought she acted well, but she didn't know that Lao Lin had already seen through it. Lao Lin left the table early not because of those words, but because she had a fever.
Lin Chaoxi could only be cautious: "Dad."
"It's all Dad's fault for not taking good care of you." Old Lin sighed, "My daughter got a high fever and you had to hold it together without telling Dad."
"I'm... I'm sorry." After thinking for a long time to explain, she could only utter these few words.
Lin Zhaoxi looked at the snow-covered streets ahead and felt that it was not the way back to the guesthouse: "Where are we going now?"
"hospital."
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