Hearing what Gu Yuan said, Lin Che laughed twice, extending his hand to give the phone to Gu Yuan.
“Thank you.” Gu Yuan received the phone and turned his head, wanting to escape quickly.
Lin Che looked at the half-smoked cigarette extinguished on the ground, “Littering garbage everywhere is not good, is it?”
Gu Yuan had just taken two steps, but upon being spoken to by Lin Che, his legs froze in place.
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, turned around, and pinched up that cigarette with half a stub remaining from the ground.
Just as he wanted to run off, he was called back by Lin Che again, “Do you want to avoid walking with me that badly?”
Gu Yuan thought to himself: Yesterday, wasn’t it you who ran off without a trace after finishing your bath?
Even so, he still responded, “No.”
“Then why are you walking in such a rush?” Lin Che took a few steps to catch up to Gu Yuan’s side, looking at Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan turned his head slightly to avoid Lin Che’s gaze, the two walking side by side just like that.
“Do I look very fierce?” Lin Che asked suddenly.
Gu Yuan looked at Lin Che before his eyes, a youth who was a head shorter than himself and whose teeth were white and lips red when smiling.
According to logic, he truly could not be associated with the word “fierce,” but yesterday afternoon Gu Yuan had indeed seen Lin Che with eyes full of murderous intent.
Only after a long while did Gu Yuan squeeze out, “Probably not.”
Lin Che pressed further, “Then why are you so afraid of me?”
“Probably not.”
“So, are you a repeating machine?”
“…”
The two engaged in a conversation that seemed awkward and was in fact extremely awkward, continuing all the way to the bottom of the residential building.
Just as they walked downstairs, Lin Che saw a woman leaning against a long bench under a streetlight smoking a cigarette. Smoke drifted upward along the light from the streetlight, drifting into the sky and slowly fading.
Gu Yuan beside him ran over small steps the moment he saw that woman, while Lin Che followed behind him with quick steps to keep up.
Gu Yuan snatched the cigarette in the woman’s hand, pinched it out with his fingers, and then tossed it into the trash can along with the trash in his hand, “Mom, why did you run downstairs, and why are you smoking again?”
Lin Che watched the two from the side, thinking to himself: Sure enough, this family has inherited it.
Chen Chunyan smiled and stroked Gu Yuan’s hand, saying, “Oh, didn’t I come down to take a look seeing that you didn’t come home so late?”
Gu Yuan began outputting like a machine gun, “Mom, I am already seventeen.”
“And didn’t we say that school only lets out at this time?”
“Even so, you cannot smoke either. The doctor said you need to quit smoking.”
Chen Chunyan said with a smile, “Why still care about these things, I am already…”
Before Chen Chunyan could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Gu Yuan, his tone somewhat firm, “Chen Chunyan, I do not allow you to talk recklessly.”
The dialogue turned somewhat awkward. Chen Chunyan raised her head to look, seeing Lin Che standing behind Gu Yuan, and hurriedly diverted the topic, “Is this your classmate?”
“Correct, the two of us are in the same class,” Lin Che answered ahead of him.
“Does he also live in this building?”
“He lives across the hall from us.” This time, just as Lin Che wanted to open his mouth, Gu Yuan beat him to it.
“Great! My family’s Gu Yuan just transferred here to attend school and is not very familiar with anything. Come to my home to have a meal this weekend when school lets out, as Auntie will cook delicious food for you boys.”
Gu Yuan only thought that the two were merely classmates, and even after his own remedy could barely be counted as a classmate relationship, coming directly to his home to eat a meal was far too presumptuous. He was thinking about how Lin Che would refuse, only hoping Lin Che would not refuse too directly.
“Alright.”
Listening to Lin Che’s affirmative answer, Gu Yuan looked back at Lin Che with some disbelief.
This boy under the streetlight appeared as though his entire person were glowing, his eyes full of gentleness and brightness.
“Rest assured Auntie, Gu Yuan and I are good friends, so I will definitely try my best to help him more,” Lin Che smiled at Chen Chunyan and explained.
Reaching the fourth floor, each returned to their own home.
Just as Lin Che wanted to wave his hand to say goodbye, with a thud the door had already closed.
Lin Che turned around and opened his apartment door, the house being quiet as always.
He pulled out his phone, placed it on the desk, took off his school uniform, and took a simple shower. However, after taking a shower he still needed to blow-dry his hair, and every time Lin Che found blowing his hair very annoying.
He was thinking that Gu Yuan’s short hair probably did not even need blow-drying to dry, so it should be very convenient.
Just after blow-drying his hair dry, the moment he opened the door he heard his phone buzzing continuously with vibrations.
Without surprise, it was Sun Kai, one of the few people who had not been muted by him yet.
Presumably this guy had started going crazy again, Lin Che thought in his heart.
Picking up his phone to look, it was unexpectedly a message from the class group chat.
Liu Jingming: Today I have almost finished grading the test papers. Tomorrow after the scores are released we will adjust seats and divide into study groups of two.
Below were the wails of the classmates. Normally speaking, group chats with teachers present did not have many messages, but Liu Jingming’s relationship with the students was fairly good.
Lin Che turned on silent mode, placed his phone to the side, and pulled out a set of math papers to start writing. Pulling open his pencil case, what caught his eyes was that box of candy.
“Quite exquisite.”
Lin Che opened the iron box with force, and a folded piece of paper fell out.
Written on the strip of paper was: I am truly sorry about noon today, I did not do it on purpose, followed behind by o(╥﹏╥)o.
Lin Che raised his head, bringing Gu Yuan’s expression into the scenario of saying this sentence in front of him, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curving upward by several degrees.
He tapped open the class group chat again to check the person who had just been invited in, Gu Yuan, tapping on Gu Yuan’s profile picture, which was a very middle-school-syndrome black and white style anime profile picture.
Taking one look at his screen name, Lin Che almost could not hold it in, Gu De, good? This kid sure knows how to play with homophonic puns.
The friend verification passed in seconds directly.
Lin Che: Hello.
Gu Yuan: Hello.
Lin Che: Good.
Gu Yuan: …
Lin Che took a photo of that strip of paper and sent it over.
Lin Che: I forgive you.
Gu Yuan: …
Lin Che: Turned into a repeating machine again?
Gu Yuan: I am not.
Finishing one math paper, Lin Che picked up his phone to look, finding that an hour had passed, and the message returned by this kid Gu Yuan still remained maintained at those few periods.
Lin Che turned off the lights and lay on the bed, picking up his phone to glance at it again, the phone still having zero movement.
Lin Che tossed his phone onto the chair, buried himself in the blanket, and fell asleep.
The next day, Lin Che was awakened by a string of ding-dongs. Lin Che felt for his phone by the pillow, feeling around for a long time without touching it, clearing up a bit only after a few minutes.
Only then did he remember that his phone had been tossed onto the chair by himself last night, “Damn it!” Lin Che shouted, but still got up to pick up the phone on the chair.
Picking up his phone, he saw that his WeChat screen had been flooded by Sun Kai.
Lin Che: ?
Lin Che: Not letting me sleep on the weekend.
Sun Kai: It is already past ten o’clock.
Only now did Lin Che see that he had already slept for almost twelve hours.
Lin Che: What is the matter?
Sun Kai: Aren’t we going out to hang out today?
Sun Kai: I am already downstairs.
Sun Kai: Also with Brother Yuan together.
Lin Che: ??
Lin Che brushed his teeth, washed his face, casually grabbed a jacket, and sprinted out.
Reaching downstairs, he saw Gu Yuan and Sun Kai sitting on a bench scrolling through their phones.
Following a soft cough from Lin Che, Gu Yuan and Sun Kai raised their heads and stood up.
“Where are we going?” Lin Che asked Sun Kai.
“Let’s go eat first. We haven’t eaten after waking up in the morning, so we are all hungry,” Sun Kai said.
Sun Kai walked in front, with Lin Che and Gu Yuan following behind.
“Why didn’t you reply to my message last night?” Lin Che asked Gu Yuan beside him.
“I replied,” Gu Yuan answered with some confusion.
Lin Che originally wanted to open his phone to question him, but upon opening his phone to look, Gu Yuan had indeed replied with three periods. He could not very well say that he had waited an hour for Gu Yuan’s message.
Lin Che said to Sun Kai in front, “Is it just the three of us today?”
“No, there are also Jiang Shuyue and Xu Zhe.”
“Where are they?”
“They will come after finishing their meal. Let me go eat first.”
Sun Kai hailed a taxi, opened the front door, and sat directly in the passenger seat. Lin Che and Gu Yuan sat in the back.
In the car, Sun Kai and the driver chatted extremely happily along the way, while Lin Che wore headphones, closed his eyes, and lay in the back.
As the car drew near, Sun Kai turned around and Lin Che had not opened his eyes yet.
He said to Gu Yuan beside Lin Che, “Brother Yuan, wake him up.” Seeing Gu Yuan’s somewhat confused expression, Sun Kai continued to explain, “Brother Che gets carsick, so you need to wake him up.”
Gu Yuan pinched Lin Che’s face, which was unexpectedly a bit soft.
Seeing that he did not wake up, Gu Yuan pinched Lin Che’s arm again, where there was still some muscle on the arm.
“Hiss, it hurts!” Lin Che grimaced and woke up.
Gu Yuan pulled up Lin Che’s sleeve, looking at the large purple-red bruises on his arm, which looked completely untreated.
“Did you not apply anything?”
“What are you making a fuss over? It will be fine in a few days.” Lin Che swiped away Gu Yuan’s hand and pulled his sleeve down.
“Awake?” Sun Kai asked.
“Awake,” Lin Che shouted toward Sun Kai.
The place they came to was a small hot pot restaurant.
This shop was also a place Lin Che and his group frequently came to eat at, offering affordable prices and large portions that filled one up. This was actually mainly targeted at Sun Kai, because Lin Che could not eat much to begin with.
Not being peak mealtime, there were not many people in the shop, and Sun Kai had already bought group coupons in advance in the car.
The boss said enthusiastically, “What soup base would you handsome guys like?”
“Extra numbing and extra spicy,” Lin Che said to the boss.
“No,” Gu Yuan directly refuted.
Lin Che furrowed his brows and looked at Gu Yuan beside him, “On what grounds?”
“Your injuries haven’t healed yet, so you cannot eat spicy food,” Gu Yuan said to Lin Che with a suppressed voice.
“I just want to eat it,” Lin Che said through gritted teeth.
“Then it isn’t impossible if you insist on eating spicy food,” Gu Yuan paused and then continued, “Then I will tell Sun Kai…”
Lin Che let out a “tch” and said, “Little hero, I didn’t expect you to actually be such a despicable person.”
“It is all for your own good.”
Lin Che gave Gu Yuan a white eye and then said to the at-a-loss boss before him, “Boss, change mine to clear broth.”
“Brother Che, why are you eating clear broth?” Sun Kai asked, looking at Lin Che who suddenly switched to clear broth.
“I feel like it, don’t bother me.” Lin Che turned around and found a spot to sit down.
Lin Che had no appetite in the morning to begin with, and plus facing this clear broth hot pot he was even more unable to eat.
The dishes before him had already made a round, yet Lin Che was still swishing the chopsticks in his hand.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Gu Yuan asked.
“Not hungry.”
“Then what do you want to eat?”
“Want to eat you, is that acceptable?” After speaking, Lin Che continued swishing the chopsticks in his hand.
Immediately following, Gu Yuan beside him let out an “oh” and walked straight out. Lin Che hurriedly pulled out his phone to send a message to Gu Yuan.
Lin Che: ?
Lin Che: Where did you go?
Gu Yuan: You will know in a moment.
Ten minutes later, only then did Lin Che see Gu Yuan’s figure appear at the doorway. Once Gu Yuan walked to his side, Lin Che asked, “What did you go do?”
Gu Yuan said nothing, pulling out an item from the tote bag and placing a small box of cake on the table in front of Lin Che, then opening the packaging and sticking a fork into it.
Lin Che scooped up a spoonful and ate it in his mouth, the honeydew-flavored cream paired with the cake tasting quite good.
“How did you know I like to eat this?”
“Probably because a certain someone often has candy dangling from his mouth, so I felt you would like sweet things.”
“Then I shall accept respectfully.” Lin Che continued to enjoy the cake before him.