Chapter 12 Desire is like a boulder rolling down a mountain
During his senior year of high school, Gu Lin analyzed a sentence on a test paper.
It says: Desire is like a boulder rolling down a mountain; once it starts, it cannot be stopped. It challenges reason and urges you to sink into depravity; you can only obey its every word.
Analysis question, 5 points.
He got a perfect score.
Two years later, he answered the questions again.
The test questions were right in front of him.
"Speak," Ji Tong said before he could get a reply.
Gu Lin avoided his gaze.
"There's ointment on my back, which gets on the blanket."
Ji Tong was puzzled.
"Then let's divide the blankets."
Gu Lin: "The medicinal smell is strong."
Ji Tong: "I applied all the medicine myself, why would I care if you smell of medicine?"
Gu Lin didn't answer this time.
“So many excuses again,” Ji Tong realized. “It’s not that the medicine smell is strong; you just don’t want to sleep with me.”
Gu Lin's other hand, hanging by his side, bulged with veins, and he closed his eyes.
Gu Lin was still applying medicine. Ji Tong didn't want to argue with him or make a fool of herself, so she kicked off her slippers, stepped onto the sofa, and walked towards the head of the sofa bed.
"Then I'll sleep here, and you can sleep in the master bedroom."
It's just a matter of taking a nap, it doesn't matter where you are.
He'll be leaving at six o'clock tomorrow morning.
No, five o'clock.
Ji Tong was setting an alarm for a specific time to leave when Gu Lin, unaware of what time had passed, crossed the foot of the bed, walked to her right side, and pulled her aside.
The sofa bed wasn't high; when Ji Tong turned around, there was only a section of sofa cushion between them.
Ji Tong saw Gu Lin's lower lip move slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it back. When he spoke again, he said the same thing.
"It's late, go back to sleep."
Ji Tong thought Gu Lin would come up with some clever excuse, but after hearing this, she was convinced and could only present the facts.
"This is your apartment. Do you think I would let a patient sleep here? You've..."
"Just one?"
Ji Tong suddenly got stuck and didn't understand for a moment.
"What?" He frowned and repeated it.
Gu Lin raised his eyes, his voice calm.
Is there only one patient?
"..."
For some reason, Ji Tong's accumulated momentum quickly dissipated, like a balloon with a hole in it.
He remained silent for a few seconds.
"I'm all better now."
"Who was taking medicine just now?" Gu Lin gave him no way out.
Ji Tong also didn't give the answer: "Then who was it that just applied the medicine?"
The two seemed determined to stand on opposite sides, neither willing to give way.
Gu Lin was the first to speak. He bent down and picked up the slippers that Ji Tong had kicked away.
"Get down."
Ji Tong was afraid that he would aggravate his wound, so when he bent down to pick up his slippers, she instinctively wanted to come over, but then she held back.
Gu Lin placed the slippers on the side of the bed.
"Bruises are not contagious, but colds are."
"Let's talk about it after you're better."
Ji Tong had been "fighting" against fate for so long that she almost forgot that colds are contagious.
Ji Tong looked at Gu Lin, who was fiddling with his slippers.
Who sleeps where is a trivial matter. The reason he has been arguing for so long is not because he is obsessed with who sleeps in the master bedroom and who sleeps on the sofa, but because he was able to sleep together in high school but not now.
He desperately needed solid evidence to prove that his relationship with Gu Lin was still the same as in high school, to prove that the six months they were apart were insignificant and nothing had changed.
He thought Gu Lin would eventually give in.
Because he was always successful in front of Gu Lin.
Can--
Compared to reasons like "the ointment will stain the blankets," "the medicine smells strong," or "sleeping together will spread the infection," this is barely a passable excuse.
But Ji Tong just felt that Gu Lin was lying.
That's it, it seems like our feelings have really faded.
Ji Tong was a little annoyed by this thought, but she didn't want to cause internal strife.
All objects have inertia, and they may separate as well; this follows the theorem.
Gu Lin could sleep on the sofa if he wanted.
Ji Tong had figured it out. She strode down, put on her slippers, and headed towards the master bedroom. But halfway there, as if she was still angry, she suddenly turned back, stepped on Gu Lin's foot, and then walked towards the master bedroom without saying a word.
With a "bang," Ji Tong slammed the door shut.
He was just about to lie down in bed to process the feeling of loss when his phone vibrated before he could even get into bed.
[WeChat message: From "XX".]
What message can you send just through a door?
Ji Tong clicked on it with a puzzled look.
[XX: Lock the door.]
Ji Tong stared at those two words for a full two minutes and thirty seconds, then looked up at the nickname and profile picture before she was sure she hadn't misread them.
"?"
If the previous "sofa incident" was just a bit of a hindrance, then this "lock the door" is basically igniting a fire.
Would he really dare to go out and bother him in the middle of the night? And lock the door? Is Gu Lin trying to protect himself from him?
Ji Tong paced back and forth in the room twice in anger.
If Gu Lin hadn't been injured in the back, he would have wanted to punch him right now.
Ji Tong kept a straight face, locked the door, blocked the person again, got into bed, turned off the light, and did it all in one go.
Whether locking the door or turning off the lights and getting into bed, Ji Tong didn't hide her emotions; the signal that "I'm angry" could almost be heard through the door.
The room was well soundproofed and not really noisy, but to Gu Lin's ears it sounded like a long and unbearable tinnitus.
Gu Lin closed his eyes.
The bruises on his back throbbed with a sharp pain again. He instinctively opened the coffee table drawer, but stopped just as he touched the medicine bottle.
It has already collapsed.
Gu Lin rubbed his throbbing temples. The scent of the orange grove was overwhelming, drowning out all the medicinal smells. Gu Lin was immersed in it, and the image of that crimson waist and abdomen kept appearing before his eyes.
He slowly raised his eyes to look at the wooden door that was only a few steps away.
He won't be able to talk to me properly tonight.
It's for protection against people.
It's not about protecting the person inside.
It's to protect himself.
-
The scent of orange groves lingered on Gu Lin's bed.
Ji Tong initially thought the fragrance came from the living room, but as the scent persisted and grew stronger, she turned her head and discovered there was another bottle on the bedside table.
Ji Tong: "..."
Gu Lin's master bedroom has its own balcony. Ji Tong rolled over and got up, grabbed the bottle of aromatherapy from the bedside table, and walked to the balcony in a few quick steps, where she put it down.
With a "thud," the aromatherapy diffuser was locked outside.
I don't want to smell it today.
Lock yourself outside.
Back in bed, Ji Tong tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and took out her phone.
A message popped up on the WeChat account that Ji Tong had subscribed to about the "Rome Art Exhibition." Ji Tong glanced at the time; it was 10:30 p.m. in Anjing, so it would be 4 p.m. in Rome.
He smelled the fragrance of the orange grove inside the room and clicked on Ms. Song Jiahe's profile picture.
JT: Mom, I want this.
[JT: Aromatherapy Photo.jpg]
Ms. Song Jiahe replied to the message almost instantly.
[Top decision-maker: Aromatherapy gone?]
[Top decision-maker: Okay, Mom will take care of her.]
[Top decision-maker: Did you take my temperature?]
[JT: I took your temperature, no fever. You've asked six times today.]
[Top Decision Maker: Haiyuan is still too far. Your Aunt Yang said you rushed back to school this morning without even having time to eat. Next time, go back to Jingming Bay; it's closer to Anhui University. Mom is asking Aunt Yang to move to Jingming Bay too.]
[JT: No need. Aunt Yang is used to living in Haiyuan, and I don't go back often. The project will be very busy soon, so I might only go back once every month or two.]
Ji Tong asked Ms. Song Jiahe about her upcoming itinerary and chatted about the weather in Rome, glancing out the window every now and then.
In the end, I let out a long sigh.
[JT: Mom, if you can buy some aromatherapy oil, please bring me an extra one.]
[Top decision-maker: What's wrong?]
Two minutes passed before any new information was received.
[JT: Someone seems to be poisoned by the orange grove.]
Song Jiahe: "?"
After ending her conversation with Ms. Song Jiahe, Ji Tong finally calmed down.
Ji Tong thought he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow today, having only gone to bed around 4 a.m. last night. However, he tossed and turned for more than ten minutes without feeling sleepy at all.
Ji Tong stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.
…Even though I took out the aromatherapy diffusers, Gu Lin's pillow still smells like Orange Grove.
In the past, when Ji Tong occasionally suffered from insomnia, he would do practice problems to help him fall asleep. But today, he didn't want to use his brain, and he didn't want to do anything strenuous. He just wanted to clear his mind.
What do A-Yuan and his friends do when they can't sleep?
Half a minute later, Ji Tong clicked on the short video.
He rarely browsed such software that only provided instant gratification and was distracting, but today he needed to distract himself the most, otherwise, once he calmed down, all he could think about was the injury on Gu Lin's back.
He suddenly realized that locking the door was a good idea.
The entertainment-oriented short videos were all pretty much the same. Ji Tong quickly browsed two, but neither was his target audience. Just as he was about to exit, his phone automatically popped up with the next video—
Why did you leave without saying goodbye back then? Why didn't you just leave with a word?
A hoarse, desperate voice can be heard in the video.
With just one sentence, he left behind the suspicious Ji Tong.
His finger, which was already swiping down, paused. He instinctively picked up his phone and looked at the screen.
In the video, a man in a suit is pulling a woman in business attire as they stand on a street in a torrential downpour.
The lights on both sides of the road kept flashing, and the background music, like drumbeats, gradually became more and more exciting in sync with the frequency of the flashing lights.
A rapid flashback of memories: the girl is soaked in the rain, her breathing becoming heavier, about to reveal everything.
Ji Tong listened attentively.
Finally, at the climax of the chorus, the girl, with red eyes, cried out in anguish—
"Because I'm pregnant! Because you said you didn't want the child! So I'm running away from you! Are you satisfied now?!"
Ji Tong: "………………"
Ji Tong walked away expressionlessly.
Five precious minutes of life were wasted.
The video scrolls down to another video as you swipe with your finger.
Similar rainy days, similar streets, similar background music, even the moment the male and female protagonists appeared, Ji Tong closed her eyes.
Ji Tong, with his relevant expertise, knew better than anyone that the five minutes he spent watching the video were enough for big data algorithms to deeply analyze the user's "interests" and "needs," enabling customized push notifications and precise targeting.
Sure enough, Ji Tong scrolled down five videos in a row—
"She had a terminal illness, and to avoid burdening her lover, she lied and said she was materialistic and wanted to break up and go abroad. He then became famous and went on a rampage to retaliate..."
Five years ago, she stabbed her own uncle and was imprisoned. In order not to leave a stain on his life, she broke up with him in tears. When they met again, she found that...
Gu Lin didn't have a terminal illness.
Uncle, it seems Gu Lin doesn't have one either.
Child, Gu Lin seems to be...
What is he thinking?
"..."
Ji Tong closed the software with a blank face and turned to stare at the direction of the master bedroom door.
This account is now useless.
It's all Gu Lin's fault!!
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