Chapter 66 "I'll Protect You"
Huh? Who? Me?
As soon as Ji Tong finished speaking, everyone in the front hall, with looks that seemed to say, "It's one thing for them not to stay home on the first day of the Lunar New Year, but to take their juniors out to play in this cold weather," all pointed to the second-floor corridor.
Song Zhenshu was still leaning on the railing with both hands, his forehead and the corner of his mouth twitching.
That's how the cat in the house got corrupted.
Song Zhenshu took a deep breath and was about to speak when the solid wood staircase began to creak.
The culprit rushed up, looking at Song Zhenshu with a face full of apology from an angle where Song Xutang and the others couldn't see him. His lips were wrinkled and his eyes clearly said, "Uncle, please help me, please."
Song Zhenshu sneered.
You think he'll fall for that, huh?
I--
“Yes, I’ll take him to play with Xuyao, and he’ll come back tomorrow morning,” Song Zhenshu said expressionlessly.
Song Xutang: "Ayao isn't just anyone. You could have just called him over. Why did you have to go out all the way?"
Song Zhenshu remained expressionless: "It's inconvenient."
Song Xutang: "Why is it inconvenient?"
Song Zhenshu glanced at Ji Tong.
Ji Tong: "-".
Uncle, hurry up and make this up.
"...Ayao prepared a birthday gift for Tongtong," Song Zhenshu could only make up a lie in broad daylight with a face full of despair, "It has to be seen in person, it's not easy to move."
Song Jiahe: "What gift? If it's hard to move, just get a few more people to help."
Heaven knows what kind of gift it was—
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Song Zhenshu's mind.
Two seconds later, he glanced at Ji Tong.
"I don't know, it was brought back from Germany."
Ji Tong's spine suddenly straightened.
Song Zhenshu tapped his fingers on the railing: "1.8 meters long."
"It was 'brought back' by a plane in the early morning."
"It just landed, so it's very precious."
With each word Song Zhenshu spoke, he would tap his hand once.
The movement was very light, but it felt like a thunderbolt to Ji Tong.
Song Zhenshu glanced at Ji Tong, who was drenched in sweat and looked as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and felt a sense of relief wash over him.
"Repatriated from Germany? 1.8 or 1.9 meters tall?"
It sounds like a living thing.
Ji Yuanfeng felt increasingly uneasy as he listened: "What kind of random things did Ayao buy? Don't do anything reckless."
Song Zhenshu said casually, "Brother-in-law, don't worry. It wasn't bought. It entered the country legally. It won't stay long. It will be sent back to Germany around 10 a.m. tomorrow."
Ji Tong almost died on the spot.
Before Ji Yuanfeng could ask any more questions, he immediately interrupted, "Dad, it's late. My uncle and I have to go. Take good care of Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandpa. I'll come back early tomorrow."
After saying that, he waved to the other elders and, before the group in the front hall could react, pulled Song Zhenshu into the elevator.
The elevator goes directly to the garage.
With a "ding," the elevator doors opened, jolting Ji Tong's numb nerves awake. She turned to look at Song Zhenshu.
Song Zhenshu had been holding it in all the way, but finally broke into a laugh at this moment.
"Was there something wrong with what Uncle said?"
"Was it brought back from Germany? Was it transported by plane? Does it need to be sent back by 10 a.m. tomorrow?"
Ji Tong covered her ears, manually muted her microphone, sat in the passenger seat, and sent a message to Gu Lin.
JT: I'll be at the apartment in about an hour.
[The child under guardianship: Did I sneak out?]
Ji Tong turned on the camera, took a picture of Song Zhenshu in the driver's seat, and sent it to him.
[JT: It wasn't sneaking out.]
[JT: He brought his uncle out with him.]
Song Zhenshu drove slowly and leisurely, and it was already dark when he arrived at the apartment.
Song Zhenshu didn't go upstairs, but stayed in the car: "What time is the flight tomorrow?"
Ji Tong: "10:44."
Song Zhenshu: "Then I'll sleep until 9 o'clock and come over."
Ji Tong paused for a moment, then asked in a coquettish tone, "Where will Uncle sleep tonight?"
Song Zhenshu, with one hand on the steering wheel, turned around and said, "Now you know to ask where your uncle is staying tonight? Why didn't you think of that when you told your grandfather you'd be back tomorrow?"
"On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I can't go home."
"Where else can I sleep? In the car."
Ji Tong noticed that her uncle's mouth had become unusually sharp since returning to China; it was the kind of sharpness that could poison her with a single purse of his lips.
Ji Tong naturally knew that the "sleeping in the car" comment was a joke, but he couldn't stand Song Zhenshu saying, "There's no such thing as 'not being able to go home.' The apartment is mine, so it belongs to my uncle."
Ji Tong continued, "Then let's sleep in the apartment. They have clothes, towels, toothbrushes, and everything else upstairs. Let's go."
Song Zhenshu chuckled and joked with him, "How come the apartment is yours? Is it in your name? It's a rental..."
"Yes, they've put my name on it, but it's still going through the process."
Song Zhenshu's voice was swallowed up.
He stood there stunned for more than ten seconds in the driver's seat, then looked up and glanced in the direction of the apartment: "When did you buy it?"
“He bought it,” Ji Tong said.
Song Zhenshu realized: "A birthday present?"
Ji Tong: "Mm."
The tall buildings outside the window stood against the cold wind. Song Zhenshu looked away, and after a brief moment of surprise, he wasn't surprised at all.
If you can write a will, what's an apartment?
He returned to the previous topic: "The apartment only has two rooms, so you're letting your uncle sleep on the sofa?"
“How could I let you sleep on the sofa?” Ji Tong would rather sleep on the sofa herself than let Song Zhenshu sleep on the sofa. “You sleep in my room.”
"And what about you?"
"I sleep next door."
Song Zhenshu thought about the layout of the apartment.
"So Gu Lin is sleeping on the sofa?"
Ji Tong bent down to unbuckle her seatbelt and said bluntly, "No, I slept with him."
It's not "I slept with him," it's "I slept with him," which adds an ordinary "of," but the amount of information is vastly different.
Song Zhenshu lowered the car window to let in some fresh air before speaking: "I'm going to find your Uncle Yao. I'll pick you up at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
"The two rooms are designed for two people to sleep in, each sleeping in their own room."
"They're not even married yet, what kind of talk is it for boys to sleep together all the time?"
"If you sleep in another room, I'll have someone buy a bunk bed for your bedroom tomorrow, you hear me?"
"…oh."
Ji Tong was thus "forced" off the bus.
Gu Lin prepared dinner and also bought a small cake.
Ji Tong took a couple of bites and found it quite delicious. While eating the cake, he told Gu Lin about the "bunk bed warning".
After dinner, Gu Lin washed the dishes, and the two of them did nothing else but snuggle up on the sofa and watch a science fiction movie.
It was almost ten o'clock when the movie ended. Ji Tong got up from the sofa and pushed Gu Lin into the bathroom to wash up.
"The flight is 9 hours tomorrow, so I'll go to bed early tonight."
After washing up together, the two left the bathroom but did not go into the room.
Ji Tong pressed her hand on the doorknob of the master bedroom, pausing it several times: "...Let's sleep separately."
Gu Lin asked with a half-smile, "Are you worried that your uncle will buy you a bunk bed?"
“No…” Ji Tong looked down at the pattern on the slippers, then at the palm of her right hand. “Sleeping separately makes it less likely to get a sore throat.”
After Ji Tong finished speaking, he opened the door and went inside, only showing his head, and said, "Good night."
The "goodnight" was said at 10:11 PM, and the guest room door was opened from the outside at 11:08 PM.
The guest room was pitch black.
Ji Tong didn't dare turn on the lamp, so she grabbed her blanket and slowly crept inside until she reached the foot of the bed.
He took off his slippers and was groping his way to the side when a hand scooped him up like a blanket and pulled him into its embrace.
"I knew you weren't asleep," Ji Tong said preemptively.
Gu Lin pressed down on the back of his neck: "You made such a racket, you woke me up."
Ji Tong was wrongfully accused: "I made a lot of noise? I took ten breaths in one go after I came in!"
"How did you inhale it?" Gu Lin looked down at him through the darkness and chuckled softly. "Never seen it before."
"Take another one, let me see."
Ji Tong kicked his shin.
"Who said we should each sleep separately?" Gu Lin said.
Ji Tong also wanted to sleep separately, but she couldn't fall asleep even after tossing and turning in bed in the master bedroom for an hour.
Gu Lin's flight is at 10 a.m. tomorrow, so logically they should part ways tomorrow. But now that they can't touch or meet, Ji Tong has the illusion that they've already separated.
This illusion successfully banished all sleepiness, and as time passed, it grew increasingly intense.
Ji Tong couldn't hold out any longer, surrendered his weapons, grabbed the only remaining "combat supplies"—a blanket—and fled to a neighboring city overnight.
"Let's sleep today," Ji Tong said, feeling Gu Lin's warm breath and feeling his body temperature. "We can each sleep separately tomorrow."
-
The next day, Song Zhenshu parked his car in the parking lot as usual. He thought he would have to wait at least 40 minutes, just like last time. So he found a good spot to park and was about to find a place to smoke when the passenger door was opened.
"How could it be so fast?" Song Zhenshu asked in surprise.
Ji Tong: "I came out after I delivered it."
Song Zhenshu: "Do I need to remind you? Last time someone took a full 49 minutes to see someone off at the airport."
Ji Tong climbed into the passenger seat and took off her scarf: "This time is different."
Song Zhenshu humbly inquired, "How are they different? Is it the terminal gate, the route, or the drop-off process?"
“The time is different,” Ji Tong fastened her seatbelt, “Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year.”
Song Zhenshu: "What happened in the second year of junior high?"
Ji Tong said, "He will be back on the seventh day of the month."
Song Zhenshu: "..."
Because you'll be back soon, that's why it's delivered quickly, right?
Once the second day of the Lunar New Year was over, the remaining days seemed to be on fast-forward.
Song Jiahe stayed at the villa until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year before flying to Venice.
Ji Tong decided not to go back to Haiyuan. Instead, she stayed at her maternal grandfather's place for a full week and went directly to the airport on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
Winter break is officially counting down.
The day before the Lantern Festival, Ji Tong finished her meal and leaned against Gu Lin while casually scrolling through her WeChat Moments. She saw that Li Yuan had posted a video with the long hashtags "#chestpain #highbloodpressure #lossofappetite #weakness #nausea #paleface" and asked in the comments, "Which hospital in Anjing is good at treating this? Please recommend one."
"Is A-Yuan not feeling well?" Ji Tong sat up from Gu Lin's lap and was about to send a private message to Li Yuan when the video started playing automatically. Only then did he notice that there was half a sentence hidden before Li Yuan's hashtag—
The thought of school starting the day after tomorrow makes me feel chest pain, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, weakness, nausea, and pale.
Ji Tong left a comment with a straight face.
[JT: There's no cure.]
[Li Li Yuanshangcao replied: What cold words, what a heartless man, he can't even say a nice word.]
JT's reply: There's no cure [rose][hug][heart]
Gu Lin chuckled.
No matter how many hashtags Li Yuan had or how severe his condition was, he ultimately couldn't find a hospital that could treat him.
Two days after the Lantern Festival, Anhui University welcomed the new semester on a sunny day.
The following morning, after a two-month hiatus, Ji Yi held a long-awaited class meeting.
The counselor gave a brief speech, followed by greetings, class affairs arrangements, and reminders of important matters in the near future, before finally moving on to the last segment.
"After the college's second selection last semester, our Computer Science Class 1 has welcomed six new students. Now, let's have the new students give a brief self-introduction. Please welcome them with applause."
The second round of selection involved 12 people, 5 of whom were from the computer science department.
The plan was divided into three parts.
After the other new students finished introducing themselves, it was the last person's turn.
The counselor, barely suppressing his laughter, coughed and said, "Last one, Gu Lin."
From the moment the counselor's mouth started to contort, there were already signs that things were about to break down, but out of consideration for Lin Ge and Tong Tong, everyone tried their best to hold back, until—
"So Gu Lin is also from our Computer Science Department?" the counselor asked, feigning surprise.
"Oh my god," Li Yuan covered his mouth, "Really? That's such a surprise."
The moment Li Yuan made that commotion, the crowd below completely lost its composure.
"I'm dying of laughter, this is just too unexpected!"
"This new classmate is so new."
"Who is it? Why don't you stand up and let us introduce ourselves?"
Ji Tong laughed so hard she almost fell over, but Gu Lin caught her with his hand.
"Is it funny?" Gu Lin asked.
Ji Tong nodded, smiled, and slowly sat up straight in the chair.
Amidst laughter and admiring glances, he slowly extended his hand towards Gu Lin—
"Gu Lin, is that right? Hello, my name is Ji Tong."
"It's not the 'tong' in 'pupil,' but the 'tong' in 'thousands of households are bathed in the bright sunlight,' which means the sun is just rising and the sky is just beginning to lighten."
Ji Tong smiled, her eyes crinkling, just like that year.
"From now on, you'll be my new deskmate. I'll protect you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com