winter vacation
Lin Li went home; Lin Hu brought her.
He hadn't expected Lin Hu to be so dedicated to his studies. Given Lin Hu's usual personality, he'd probably expect him to spout some "studying is useless" theory.
It's a pity that the game isn't available for now. I don't have a beta test qualification, so I'll have to wait another year to play it.
For the next few days, Lin Li's schedule was completely reversed until her father returned.
"Bang bang bang!" The knocking on the door was urgent and heavy.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Li was fast asleep, shirtless and curled up in bed. He had gotten into the habit of staying up late recently, and was sleeping soundly so much that the knocking on the door didn't wake him at all.
With the arrival of winter, his sleep time has increased significantly; the day before yesterday, he even slept for eighteen hours straight.
Sleeping naked with an electric blanket is simply the most comfortable thing in winter. At first, he wasn't used to it, until one day he woke up and found that he had taken off his clothes without realizing it, and he slept exceptionally well that night, and he has been unable to break the habit ever since.
The knocking continued for several minutes before stopping.
Lin Li unconsciously scratched her stomach, then turned over and continued sleeping.
The next second, the phone rang.
He then woke up groggily.
Who is it...? He rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen—it was his dad.
He suddenly came to his senses.
"Lin Li! Are you home? Open the door!"
Lin Li was instantly jolted awake when her father's voice came through the door.
Dad's home!
He grabbed the sweater from the bedside and put it on, not even caring that his slippers were on the wrong feet, and hurriedly went to open the door.
As soon as the door opened, a middle-aged man carrying large and small bags squeezed in.
"Sleeping in again?"
Lin Li didn't want to argue and turned to go back to sleep.
"Where are you going? Can't you see your dad is carrying so much stuff? Why don't you lend a hand!" Lin's father shoved the luggage into Lin Li's hands in an annoyed manner, then turned around to get the rest.
Lin Li took it in a daze, and her hand suddenly felt heavy.
"hiss--"
I almost strained my muscles. I haven't been exercising much lately, and lifting something this heavy all at once was a bit too much for me.
He put his luggage in the storage room, and seeing that Lin's father was still moving things, he felt a little guilty. It didn't seem right to just go back to sleep like this.
So Lin Li took the things from her father's hands.
"Hey, you can't move it, let me do it!" Lin's father quickly stopped him when he saw him about to move the machine.
Lin Li took a deep breath and lifted it up in one go.
"Heh heh, what's a little weight?" he said through gritted teeth.
It was definitely heavy. I don't know what kind of machine it was, and I have no idea how my dad managed to carry it back by himself.
Looking at his son whom he hadn't seen for half a year, Lin's father saw that he had grown taller and more sensible, and his eyes showed relief.
Lin Li carried the machine into the storage room, wiped his sweat, and came out to ask, "Dad, how did you get back? This thing is so heavy, you didn't take the high-speed rail or a bus, did you?"
Lin's father shook his head: "I drove back with your Uncle Wang."
"Why don't you invite them up for dinner?"
Lin's father works in X province, which is hundreds of kilometers away from home.
"They were in a hurry to go back, so we didn't keep them."
Lin Li gave an "oh," but didn't know what else to say. The father and son sat silently on the sofa.
Lin's father said, "I passed by your school on my way back today."
What grade are you in now?
He thought Lin Li was still in elementary school.
"It's the third year of junior high..."
Lin Li wasn't surprised. When he was in elementary school, his homeroom teacher asked parents to sign his homework, and Lin's father once wrote his name as "Lin Li," which caused him to be scolded by the teacher.
Lin's father smiled awkwardly: "So fast? I thought you were still in elementary school."
Lin Li hummed in agreement and went back to her room to continue sleeping.
night.
"Dinner's ready!"
Lin's father called from outside the door.
Lin Li sat up but didn't respond immediately—he needed to wake up.
"Why are you locking the door?" Lin's father twisted the doorknob, but couldn't open it.
"Dinner's ready!" He knocked on the door again, the sound deafening. Hearing Lin Li get up, Lin's father turned and left.
Lin Li irritably threw off the covers, opened the door, and went out.
He sat down at the table and was taken aback when he saw the sumptuous meal laid out before him.
To be honest, he hasn't had a decent meal at home in a long time.
Lin's mother gives him 800 yuan a month for living expenses—200 yuan less than in his previous life. The reason is that there is rice and vegetables at home, so he can cook for himself at night.
Lin Li: Cooking? Impossible.
He had tried cooking in his past life, but his skills were limited, and the food he cooked was inedible even to himself; ordering takeout was far better. At least takeout helped him maintain his weight. During the week he cooked for himself, he completely lost his appetite and lost ten pounds. Even Tang Yue joked that she wanted to move in with him to "lose weight."
Getting back to the main point. Looking at the food in front of her, Lin Li felt a warmth rising in her heart—
Lin's father served the last dish of egg drop soup, took off his apron, and began his lecturing, which was ingrained in his DNA:
"I looked around, and my house is full of takeout bags! Do you order takeout every day?"
"Eating downstairs is better than ordering takeout!"
"You're just lazy! I have to beg you three or four times to get a meal."
"How will you live on your own when you enter society like this?"
The newly formed warmth vanished instantly. Lin Li listened with annoyance; it was so irritating! Just like her grandmother, once she started talking, she couldn't stop!
He pursed his lips and shoveled rice into his mouth, treating it as background noise.
How am I supposed to live? He scoffed inwardly. In his past life, they always worried that I wouldn't be able to survive without them, but what happened? I didn't even have a chance to truly enter society before I was gone.
Lin Li finished her meal in a few bites, picked up her bowl, and tried to sneak back to her room.
"In a couple of days, you'll come back to our hometown with me," Lin's father said in a commanding tone as he sat at the dining table, picked up a piece of food, took a sip of wine, and spoke.
Lin Li stood at the doorway and clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Are you getting impatient?" Lin's father frowned. "Your brother Shi Hong has passed away, we have to go back."
"Who is it?" Lin Li searched his memory but couldn't recall. He seemed to have gone back to his hometown for a feast around this time in his previous life, but he hadn't asked any questions then.
"He's your great-aunt's grandson. I even went to his house for a feast when I was little, don't you remember?"
"Brother?" Lin Li caught the key word, which meant he was still very young...
"How did he die?" he asked curiously as he sat back down at the table.
"Why are you asking so many questions, kid!" Lin's father took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and lowered his voice, "Brain cancer. Don't ask any more questions when you get there, understand?"
"How many days of feasting will it last?" Lin Li asked, changing the subject.
"I'll be back after having dinner."
"Why? Isn't it usually a two-day feast?" The white banquet here is usually held for two days, with the main banquet taking place on the second day.
“Although he’s thirty-five, he’s not married, so he only needs to eat for one day.” Lin’s father exhaled a smoke ring, his voice somewhat muffled.
Lin Li fell silent. If you're not married, does that mean you're not considered an adult even at thirty-five? He inexplicably thought of himself.
"Does not being married mean you're not a person?" he heard himself ask.
"That's not true," Lin's father flicked his cigarette ash. "The old ways aren't popular anymore. If the family values it, we can still have a grand celebration."
"If I die before I'm married, will you handle things properly for me, Dad?" These words slipped out without thinking.
“Of course—” Lin’s father instinctively began, then abruptly stopped, his eyes widened, and he slammed his chopsticks on the table: “What the hell are you talking nonsense about!”
"You're always saying such unlucky things!" Lin's father was so angry that the veins on his forehead throbbed, and he grabbed a feather duster from the sofa and swung it at him.
"Children speak without thinking! Children speak without thinking!"
Lin Li covered her arm and jumped away, tears welling up instantly.
It wasn't an act; it really hurt. This time, Lin's father didn't hold back.
A burning pain shot up, even worse than the one I got in PE class last time.
"If I hear you talking nonsense again, I'll beat you to death, you believe me?" Lin's father angrily threw the feather duster aside, looked at Lin Li who was covering her arm and wiping away tears, and fell silent. He didn't explain anything, but just solemnly cleared away the dishes.
Lin Li only shed a few tears out of physiological reasons, and did not feel wronged.
He once thought his father didn't love him—he couldn't even remember which school he attended or what grade he was in, he was rarely home, and when he did come back, he would either scold or beat him. As a child, he even fantasized about his parents divorcing so he could get rid of his father. For a time, he even thought his father was deliberately tormenting him.
When Lin was in elementary school, his mother asked his father to wake him up for school before she left for work. However, seeing that he was sleeping soundly, his father not only didn't wake him but also turned off the alarm clock. Lin didn't wake up until eight o'clock, and as a result, he was punished by his teacher and made to stand in the corner all morning.
Later, he gradually realized that Lin's father probably felt that the child was sleeping soundly and couldn't bear to wake him. Just like the video he saw online: a child was reluctant to get out of bed, and the comments section was full of people saying, "It's okay to skip school once in a while," and "Let the child sleep if he wants to, how can you bear to wake him up when he's so cute."
It turns out Dad didn't mean to mess with him.
After working hard for half a year, it's normal to scold your child when you come home and see them lying in bed sleeping late, glued to their phone and ignoring you, and needing to be begged to eat.
So, Dad still cares about him, but he's inconsiderate. If he had just remembered to ask the teacher for leave, he wouldn't have been punished by standing in the corner—what a terrible dad!
Moreover, his funeral in his previous life was quite respectable; everyone who was supposed to attend came. Speaking of which, did the driver who hit and killed him pay any compensation? It was raining heavily that day. He was riding his electric scooter and habitually applied the front brake, causing him to slip and fall. The driver behind him was too close and couldn't brake in the rain…
"Shouldn't he have been compensated?" Lin Li was a little worried; he didn't seem to have bought insurance for the electric scooter.
Why think about these things! He shook his head, trying to shake off his worries.
Lately, I keep thinking about the mess I made in my past life.
Back in her room, Lin Li stuck her bruised arm out from under her sweater collar and turned to look at it.
The two deep red welts were swollen high, with blood seeping from the edges, and they stung painfully. He stared at the wounds, knowing in his heart that he deserved to be hit for what he had just done.
"If I die before I'm married, will you still arrange a normal marriage for me, Dad?"
That's incredibly hurtful. Even if I said it to my mother's face, I'd still get a scolding.
The fear of "a single word becoming a prophecy" is something even non-superstitious parents worry about; they fear that unlucky words might actually bring bad luck. So they often rush to say things like "children's words are innocent" or "spit it out," trying to psychologically "cancel" the words and create a protective barrier.
Thinking of this, Lin Li quickly patted her mouth: "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
You can't say things like that again!
Looking at the shocking injuries, he grimaced and gasped for breath, but a sly glint flashed in his eyes.
Then, with a wicked grin, he picked up his phone and deliberately found an angle that made the wound look the most grotesque and pitiful, and snapped a picture.
"Tsk, this crappy phone, it's terrible at pixel quality..." he muttered, not quite satisfied with the effect of the "prop". So he skillfully opened the photo editing software, increased the contrast and saturation, making the redness and swelling more intense, and the shadows more pronounced, almost creating a visual effect of torn flesh.
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