Chapter 76 [Under Talks.]
Ji Tong took two bites and then stopped. Looking at the marked teeth marks, she felt they were a bit too heavy.
He lay down on top of Gu Lin, his right forearm supporting Gu Lin's chest, and stretched out his left hand, poking the teeth marks he had just made with the pad of his index finger.
"Does it hurt?"
"pain."
Ji Tong knew he was doing it on purpose, but still lowered his eyes and blew twice.
This position required supporting her neck for a long time, which was not very comfortable. Ji Tong didn't force herself to stay in this position. She pulled a high pillow from beside her and let Gu Lin use it as a cushion. Then she tilted her head and let it droop, resting half of her face on Gu Lin's chest.
Ji Tong served as Gu Lin's blanket, and Gu Lin served as Ji Tong's pillow; they lay there like that, one on top of the other.
Since Li Yuan and the others left, the apartment has been empty except for the two of them. Gu Lin cooks lunch and dinner, and they don't order takeout. The doorbell hasn't rung, and it's been quiet, but Ji Tong always feels busy.
If you really want to know what I've been busy with, it doesn't seem like I've been busy with anything.
Gu Lin washed and dried the bed sheets and clothes, and he also cooked and washed the meals. He tried to help, but Gu Lin wouldn't let him.
While Gu Lin was cooking and washing dishes, Ji Tong would hold a box of blueberries and wait for him by the kitchen door, occasionally going up to feed him a blueberry. When Gu Lin was hanging up laundry, Ji Tong would sit on the sofa, his hand resting on a cushion, his chin on the back of his hand, watching the figure on the balcony.
The body did nothing, but the mind was busy to the point of exhaustion.
What are you busy with?
Busy confirming Gu Lin's presence.
Ji Tong accepted this state calmly and thought he would remain in this state for a long time until now, when he rested his head on Gu Lin's chest and listened to his regular heartbeat.
Ji Tong's restless heart suddenly settled down without warning.
It was quiet and peaceful, without any noise or commotion.
It was so quiet that even lifting a finger felt like a commotion to him.
It's like a little grass growing in my heart, warmed by the sunlight, swaying gently in the breeze.
Ji Tong closed her eyes and called out to him, "Gu Lin."
"Um?"
"I remember you said before that you were born in Jiangcheng, right?"
"Um."
"Jiangcheng is rainy, and so is Berlin," Ji Tong thought.
The area is consistently damp, with long rainy seasons.
"Do you like rainy days?" Ji Tong suddenly asked.
Gu Lin tapped the back of his neck with his finger: "It's alright."
“A sunny day is better,” he added.
Ji Tong: "Why? Because you don't need to use an umbrella?"
Gu Lin always forgot to bring an umbrella during high school.
Gu Lin: "The sun will rise."
This was the first time Ji Tong had heard this. He raised his face, resting his chin on Gu Lin's chest: "You like sunny days? How come I've never heard you mention that before?"
"How should I put it, grab a megaphone and shout it out?"
Ji Tong imagined the scene, chuckled, and nudged him again: "You still haven't told me why you like sunny days."
What does "the sun rises" mean?
Do you like the sun?
Ji Tong himself didn't have any particular favorite weather. As long as it was comfortable, he liked sunny days and cloudy days. He also occasionally enjoyed the novelty of extreme weather. This was the first time he knew that Gu Lin had a weather preference.
"Hmm." Gu Lin's hands seemed to be constantly busy, always touching something, and now he touched the spinous process at the back of his neck.
He took Ji Tong's hand, placed it on the bed sheet, and wrote a word in his palm, stroke by stroke.
"Do you know them?" Gu Lin asked.
Ji Tong, with her neck stiff, said, "I don't know her."
“Then I’ll teach you,” Gu Lin smiled, “It means the sun is rising and the sky is just beginning to lighten.”
Ji Tong's palms and throat itched, as if a blade of grass was being scraped around on them.
He paused for a while, then lowered his head: "What cheesy pickup lines? Where did you learn that? It's all fancy stuff, who would believe you?"
She may be sharp-tongued, but her ears turn red.
Gu Lin pretended not to see it, pinched his ear, and waited for his ear to cool down before continuing, "Where's the coat you put back on?"
"On the sofa outside."
"Not that one."
Ji Tong was puzzled and was about to ask when Gu Lin added, "Grayish-blue."
Ji Tong: "..."
Gu Lin's mention of it brought up everything, and Ji Tong immediately remembered it all, saying irritably, "I don't know."
Gu Lin reached for his phone.
Ji Tong grabbed his forearm and asked warily, "What are you doing?"
Gu Lin: "It's possible the hotel front desk didn't deliver it. I'll call and ask."
"..."
“I had Uncle Kang take it back,” Ji Tong snatched the phone and glared at him. “Why are you telling Auntie all this nonsense?”
"It's one thing to ask her to get a down jacket, but she even had to pick out the color."
"When did I stop liking black?"
"You like black?" Gu Lin asked again, as if to confirm.
Ji Tong: "Mm."
Just as he was waiting to hear what else Gu Lin might ask, he suddenly heard a completely unrelated sentence—
"So, do you like Berlin?"
Ji Tong was taken aback by the sudden change of topic, but he still thought about it carefully for half a minute before replying: "I like it."
Gu Lin propped himself up on the bed with one hand and slowly sat up from the high pillow. In this position, he let Ji Tong straddle him. Afraid that Ji Tong's legs would be uncomfortable, he moved his arm around Ji Tong's waist down to Ji Tong's thigh and pulled him towards the head of the bed, so that they went from straddling each other to embracing face to face.
Gu Lin pressed Ji Tong's head into his neck and asked very softly and casually, "Then let's go to Berlin to get our marriage certificate, okay?"
Ji Tong's heart skipped a beat, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up slightly before she suppressed it.
After a while.
"When?" he asked.
Gu Lin: "Graduation."
Ji Tong grabbed Gu Lin's hair and twirled it around her finger: "You suddenly asked this, I thought you wanted to get it right now."
"It's still early," Gu Lin said.
Ji Tong was silent for a moment, then suddenly hissed, put his hands on Gu Lin's shoulders, tilted his head back, and stared at Gu Lin for a long time: "You don't still remember what I casually said in the second year of high school, 'We'll get married after graduation,' do you?"
Gu Lin remained silent.
Ji Tong knew he had guessed correctly.
Ji Tong was both amused and exasperated, yet found it rather endearing: "Gu Lin, your heart is as small as a sesame seed."
Gu Lin raised an eyebrow: "Yes, that's me."
“Alright,” Ji Tong leaned back on his shoulder, “Let’s date for three years first.”
"But whether or not you get the marriage certificate depends on your performance."
"After a bachelor's degree comes a master's degree, and after a master's degree comes a doctorate, I understand..."
Before Ji Tong could finish speaking, he was picked up and suddenly suspended in mid-air, causing him to instinctively tighten his grip on Gu Lin's neck: "What are you doing?"
Gu Lin carried the person towards the bathroom: "To make a good impression."
Ji Tong: "..."
Ji Tong was still in pain, so he didn't do it. Gu Lin gave him a bath, applied the medicine again, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him to the sofa.
Ji Tong still had things to do.
The suitcase was opened, and the stack of medical records, along with the drug tests Ji Tong had done at Botai, were taken out and placed on the coffee table.
The medical records are very clear, including when Gu Lin stopped taking the medication.
The two flipped through the pages one by one. The records were all in German. Occasionally, Ji Tong couldn't understand some of the technical terms, so he asked Gu Lin to translate them.
Ji Tong didn't talk much, but she wasn't as "hysterical" anymore.
He couldn't say he was enlightened, nor could he be completely at peace with it; he still felt heartache. But he began to accept the gaps that had formed between him and Gu Lin as they grew closer, due to their clumsiness and stubbornness.
Just like my uncle said, feelings can't always be light and carefree. With responsibility comes weight, and with weight comes the inevitable pain.
He used to hate Gu Lin's scar, and after learning that the scar was for him, he felt even more upset, but now he is slowly accepting it.
Ji Tong turned to the last page of the record, closed it, and put it back on the coffee table.
The two lay down on the sofa again, still in the same position, one on top of the other.
Ji Tong lay face down on the side for a long time before saying, "I originally planned to come back next Monday."
"After Berlin, there's a second leg of the journey."
Do you know where it is?
Gu Lin paused for two seconds, then said, "I know."
Ji Tong: "Then you tell me."
Gu Lin: "Jiangcheng, No. 3 Middle School."
Ji Tong wasn't surprised, but he was also impressed by how well the man seemed to know everything.
"All you do is play the victim."
"You won't eat, drink, or sleep after just one day of not being able to contact me."
"If I don't contact you for a week, can I get that will right away?"
As Ji Tong spoke, he punched his shoulder blade.
Gu Lin grasped his hand, smiled, and caught all his emotions: "When do you want to go to No. 3 Middle School?"
Ji Tong originally planned to go on the weekend, but since she was unfamiliar with the area, it wouldn't be convenient to go without permission.
At that time, the decision to fly from Berlin to Jiangcheng was made because I had a grudge against myself.
Ji Tong lay on him, thinking for a long time: "Summer, I've already talked to Yongjie, I'll have him take me."
Gu Lin paused for a moment before speaking: "When will you decide?"
Ji Tong: "A long time ago, after the basketball game."
Ji Tong's desire to visit Jiangcheng No. 3 Middle School did not arise after she learned about the will.
Long ago, after reuniting with Gu Lin and learning that he had spent thirty-two days at Jiangcheng No. 3 Middle School, he wanted to go and see him.
Ji Tong has plenty of time to go; if she does, she can buy a plane ticket during winter break and fly there and back in a day.
He lacks the right season.
Gu Linchun left Anjing in early spring and went to Jiangcheng in early summer, where he stayed during the Beginning of Summer, Grain Buds, and Grain in Ear seasons.
“Yongjie said Jiangcheng is more beautiful in summer than in winter,” Ji Tong said, “so let’s go in summer.”
“Around May or June,” Ji Tong suddenly remembered something, turned to look at him, and teased, “I heard from Yongjie that the teachers at No. 3 Middle School had already invited him back to the school to give a cramming lecture, why didn’t they invite you?”
"Gu Lin, it seems you're not very popular at Jiangcheng No. 3 High School."
“Hmm,” Gu Lin met his gaze, “probably because I’m from Anjing No. 1 High School.”
Ji Tong was taken aback, never expecting to hear such a reply.
His nose suddenly stung with tears, and he avoided Gu Lin's gaze: "Which class were you in at No. 1 Middle School? I don't recognize you. You're not even in our class's graduation photo."
Ji Tong lied, but it wasn't true; it was half true and half false.
Gu Lin was indeed not in their class's graduation photo, but on the back of the photo, which read "Graduation Class Group Photo," the name "Gu Lin" was written in the empty space next to the name "Ji Tong."
Gu Lin didn't speak, but lifted Ji Tong's face and gave him a long kiss.
Ji Tong closed his eyes.
Those who leave in early spring return to their world in early autumn.
One spring is missing, one summer is missing.
But as the seasons change, spring returns to Anjing once again.
-
At 9:29 PM that evening, thousands of students at Anhui University saw the same post on WeChat Moments—
[JT: In talks.]
There were no photos, no special text, just two simple words and a punctuation mark.
The fastest in terms of both hand speed and reaction time was the Minister of the Student Union's Information Department, who immediately sent a second comment after three lines of "?".
[Wan Miaotong: Excuse me?? Just "in talks"? Where's the other female lead's name and photo? Where are their sweet photos together? Aren't you going to release any of them??]
Two seconds later.
[JT replied to "Senior Sister Wan Miaotong": The group photo was already in the previous post on WeChat Moments.]
Another second—
[JT replied to "Senior Sister Wan Miaotong": Not the "female lead," but the "male lead" [spinning]]
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