Chapter 31 ID Card
Gu Lin used the hand that wasn't holding the cigarette to check Ji Tong's neck temperature.
"Are you cold?"
Ji Tong shook his head, his forehead pressed against Gu Lin's shoulder, as if rubbing against him.
"It's not cold."
"What time is it?" Ji Tong asked with her eyes closed.
Gu Lin: "A little after three o'clock."
The long, silent night.
They should have gone back to their rooms to sleep, but neither of them moved.
They snuggled together, as if in a dream where they shared each other's warmth.
Ji Tong didn't know why she suddenly woke up or why she suddenly came out.
But it was as if a voice was urging him, urging him to open that door and go out.
He did as instructed.
Ji Tong nestled against Gu Lin's shoulder for a while, her nose twitching slightly.
"Did you light a candle? Why is there smoke?"
Gu Lin: "You smelled it wrong."
Ji Tong's consciousness worked very slowly: "Really?"
"Hmm," Gu Lin replied calmly.
"So you were on the balcony just now?"
"Um."
"Why are you going to the balcony so late?"
“It’s windy,” Gu Lin said naturally. “The balcony window was open, and it woke me up.”
Ji Tong was getting a little tired of standing, so she changed her posture, leaning against Gu Lin's collarbone and tilting her head slightly. The little elephant doll on the coffee table came into view.
Ji Tong stared at the elephant's trunk for a long time.
"Don't you like that doll?"
In the new "zoo" themed arcade machine, there were only two elephants. Ji Tong wanted to buy them all, so he grabbed the first one and immediately stuffed it into Gu Lin's hand.
After catching the second one, he completed his mission and then turned to look at Gu Lin.
Ke Gu was distracted.
His gaze seemed to be fixed on the doll in his arms, yet also as if he were looking far away through the doll.
Ji Tong inexplicably felt that the problem lay with the doll.
So Ji Tong, who originally planned to catch two cats and be done with it, ended up catching a whole cart full and ended up bringing an extra cat with her.
"No," Gu Lin said.
"Don't try to deny it. You were daydreaming when I gave you the doll."
This time, Gu Lin was silent for a moment before confessing, "My distraction wasn't because of the doll."
Just as Ji Tong was about to ask why, she heard Gu Lin's voice again.
When is your uncle coming back?
"My uncle?" Ji Tong regained some of her senses.
Ji Tong was somewhat surprised to hear Gu Lin mention his uncle.
Ji Tong was very attached to Song Zhenshu, but because he rarely came back throughout the year, he didn't mention it often. Most of the time, when it came to the topic, it was him who spoke and Gu Lin listened.
“Grandpa said it would probably be during the winter break,” Ji Tong straightened up. “What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly ask about my uncle?”
"curious."
"What are you curious about?"
Those few words from my dream kept echoing in my ears.
Gu Lin stood against the light, making his eyebrows and eyes indistinct.
He was like a persuasive and subtle aggressor.
"Is he in Kenya now?"
"Um."
"I've been abroad for several years."
"Around 1989, I think."
"You went abroad when you were ten years old?"
"Um."
"You went abroad right after graduation?"
"Um."
After paralyzing their prey, the invaders reveal their final fangs.
Did they say why you went abroad?
Ji Tong shook his head truthfully: "No."
“I asked him.”
"He said Anjing was too small, the world was too big, and he wanted to be a 'world cleaner' for fun. My grandfather and the others agreed..."
Ji Tong suddenly fell silent, went through Gu Lin's series of questions in her mind, and looked at Gu Lin suspiciously.
Why are you so curious about my uncle?
He forgot that this person had a history of "just packing and leaving".
Kenya, went abroad right after graduation, and spent several years there...
"Do you know how many vaccines you need to get to Guinea?" Ji Tong suddenly asked.
"Yellow fever vaccine, must be given when going abroad. There are so many mosquitoes in Guinea that it makes your scalp tingle. You may get sick if you are not careful. Get it at least 10 days in advance. In addition to this, there are also meningococcal vaccine, cholera vaccine, typhoid vaccine, hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine, and you also need to prevent malaria."
Ji Tong took a deep breath.
“If you ever dare to even think about becoming a ‘world cleaner’ or a ‘world backpacker,’ you’re finished, Gu Lin.”
Gu Lin sometimes really didn't know what his brain was thinking all day long.
"No." Gu Lin said, both helpless and amused.
"Really not?"
"Um."
"Then why are you asking such detailed questions?"
"We might meet again in the future and learn more about each other."
Ji Tong seemed to accept this reason and nodded.
Gu Lin felt increasingly helpless.
When it's time to delve deeper and ask more questions, accept it so easily.
They didn't even bother to ask why "we'll see each other again later."
When Ji Tong went back to her room to sleep, she cautiously took the little elephant doll from the coffee table, as if worried that someone might start to yearn for the African continent after seeing the doll.
Gu Lin thought the matter was over and lay down when his phone buzzed a few times.
[Everything you're saying is true, listen carefully: [Article: Middle-aged man on a business trip to Africa was bitten by mosquitoes, diagnosed with 'severe malaria,' and is in critical condition.]]
[Everything he said is true, listen carefully: [Forwarded: Chat log with "Uncle"]]
[Uncle: The roads here are really bad; I had three flat tires yesterday.]
[Uncle: He spoke Swahili; it took me a year to barely understand a little.]
[Uncle: The day before yesterday, a bed bug got into my bed, and I have this terrible allergic reaction.]
Ji Tong was rummaging through Song Zhenshu's ten-line book, where eight lines mentioned "not quite enough," "the tourism industry here is already very mature," and "giraffes are so cute," searching for negative reviews to intimidate someone with a criminal record.
Just as they were searching, there was a knock on the door.
Ji Tong almost dropped her phone.
Knowing it was Gu Lin, Ji Tong didn't even get up, and simply called out, "The door wasn't locked."
Gu Lin pushed open the door and walked in. He went around the foot of the bed and went straight to Ji Tong's bedside. He reached out, took Ji Tong's phone, locked the screen, and put it on the bedside table.
"It's late, time to sleep."
"I'm not sleepy yet, wait a minute..." Ji Tong sat up from the bed, reached for her phone, and then turned around, her movements visibly paused.
His gaze was fixed on the bedside table.
The bedside table, which was originally empty except for the aromatherapy diffuser, now has two more items: a cell phone and a red rectangular notebook underneath it.
The word "passport" caught Ji Tong's eye.
Ji Tong was stunned for a while, then realized something. In front of Gu Lin, she took the passport, and as soon as she opened it, a white hard card fell out.
Ji Tong lowered his head.
--ID card.
Both documents bear the name "Gu Lin".
Ji Tong remained silent for a long time.
Gu Lin asked him, "Can you sleep now?"
Ji Tong was speechless.
After a long silence, he put Gu Lin's ID card back into his passport, closed it, placed it beside his pillow, lay down, and closed his eyes.
"…good evening."
-
The impact of returning to school after the National Day holiday is no less than that of starting school again.
The first day back at school was filled with Monday classes, all scheduled for 8 a.m., and the whole classroom was filled with a sense of gloom.
Most of the students in Class 9 were slumped over their desks, still jet-lagged.
Some people appear to be alive, but in reality, they are already dead.
Yang Ping, the assistant counselor for Class 9 of the Computer Science Department, walked in through the back door with the message that "although the National Day holiday is over, we are about to have the midterm exam for advanced mathematics, the sports meet, physical fitness tests, and so on."
Before he could finish speaking, the classroom erupted in boos, and pens and papers flew everywhere.
Yang Ping, having achieved psychological satisfaction and finished his merriment, walked over to Gu Lin and began to discuss serious matters.
"Brother Lin, your counselor asked me to tell you that the college's approval process for you was originally scheduled for after the National Day holiday, but you arrived half a month early, so it was a special approval from the college. It hasn't been fully processed in the system yet, but we'll enter your information today."
"You need to supplement the reporting materials."
"Prepare a copy of the admission notice, ID card, examination admission ticket, household registration booklet, a few one-inch and two-inch ID photos, and your Youth League membership card, etc."
Duan Qiwei, Chen Yongjie, and a few others, having nothing else to do, came over and sat down next to Gu Lin.
"Brother Lin, you haven't submitted your application materials yet? No wonder your student card was a temporary card last time I saw it, and it didn't have a photo on it."
"Brother Lin, is your student card still temporary? Perfect, just give me your ID card. I need to go to the student service center this afternoon to get the student train ticket discount card and confirm the transfer of my Youth League membership. I'll also go to window number three to get you your student card."
"The service center is quite far away."
"Let me ask," Gu Lin replied.
The first student cards at Anhui University were all processed and distributed to individuals at the manual service window. If they are lost later, students can go to the self-service machine area to replace them.
Yang Ping thought he was asking about the reporting process, and waved his hand: "No need to ask, the process is the same."
“No,” Gu Lin took the phone and unlocked it, “My ID card isn’t with me.”
Several people: "?"
Duan Qiwei: "Not with you? Brother Lin, you lost your ID card..."
Before Duan Qiwei could speak, he looked down as Gu Lin reached for his phone and saw Gu Lin tap on the pinned WeChat message.
Duan Qiwei almost doubted that he had seen it wrong.
After Gu Lin finished sending the message, Gu Lin stared at him with wide eyes and asked, "Brother Lin, did you even leave your ID card with... with Ji Tong?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.
Everyone had different expressions, but Gu Lin remained calm.
"Um."
Everyone: "..."
Ten minutes later, when Ji Tong appeared at the entrance of Class 9 with Gu Lin's ID card, everyone in Class 9 was stunned.
These days, even couples don't keep their ID cards with each other, right?
For a moment, they couldn't tell whether it was more shocking that Gu Lin left his ID card with Ji Tong, or that it was more shocking that Ji Tong carried Gu Lin's ID card with him.
"Don't you have class in the second period?" Ji Tong handed her ID card to Gu Lin. "Don't wait for me. Go back to the apartment for lunch. I won't be going back at noon. There's a mobile framework building demonstration. Professor Wei has to catch a flight this afternoon, so he only has time at noon. We have to go to the converged computing network lab."
The people in the plan did not expect that after 8 a.m., it would be a morning of fierce fighting.
It was almost noon, and a group of people were still migrating towards the laboratory like wildebeest.
Ms. Wei, who was rushing to meet her schedule and could only squeeze in time, also felt apologetic. She carried her daughter in her left arm and a large bag of bread and snacks in her right hand as she ran down the corridor.
"I apologize for the last-minute change of time, everyone. Please eat whatever you like while I work on my presentation slides."
Snacks briefly soothed Ji Yiren's cold heart.
They had already learned about Professor Wei's recent "miserable situation" from other professors. Professor Wei's wife, Professor Wei, who also teaches at Anhui University, went abroad for a conference, and the nanny who takes care of the child at home took leave to go back to her hometown. Recently, Professor Wei has been taking care of his daughter alone.
Teacher Wei was sweating profusely as he adjusted the model, and the students below spontaneously helped him take care of the children, mainly in the following ways—
She carried the child to Ji Tong's side.
Professor Wei's daughter, nicknamed "Xin Xin," became attached to Ji Tong the first time Professor Wei brought her here.
Today was no different. As soon as she was placed next to Ji Tong, the little girl quieted down and used her chubby little hand to give Ji Tong candy.
"Tsk tsk tsk," the class monitor remarked from the side, "So young, with a tutor's dad, a professor's mom, and a super handsome older brother nestled in his arms."
"Holy crap, a triplet."
"Xin Xin, zuo zuo zuo, come sit here with your brother."
"Are you teasing a puppy? Sucking and sucking like that? I'll tell Teacher Wei on you."
"I couldn't see clearly from a distance before, but now that I'm up close, Xin Xin and Teacher Wei really look alike, especially their noses, they're practically identical."
"My little niece looks more like her father."
"I can't even imagine how beautiful Tongtong's daughter will be in the future."
Li Yuan took a bite of bread and walked over from the back of the classroom. Hearing their discussion, he joked, "I remember Tongtong told Lin Ge back in high school that she would get married after graduating from college."
"Huh?" The class monitor exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't realize that."
"Although late marriage is the mainstream now, many people still marry young. It's all their own choice, and it's fine," someone said.
Ji Tong held the child with practiced ease. Worried that the little girl might be uncomfortable with her body tilted to one side, she simply picked her up, placed her on her lap, and said, "High school was just something I said offhand."
"Gu Lin and I have agreed that we won't get married so soon."
The surrounding air suddenly became still.
Ji Tong teased Xin Xin, seemingly unaware of the ambiguity in his words, and continued speaking.
"We don't want children either."
Everyone: "…………"
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