Lin Zong’s words were a bit vague, and he didn’t continue explaining what a big deal it was like he usually did.
Uncharacteristically, he shut his mouth and pushed Huo You toward home.
Huo You didn’t have the habit of prying, keeping his eyes lowered as he tried to calm himself down.
Skin-hunger syndrome didn’t have any set patterns for when it flared up. It often acted up even when he had no contact with Lin Zong previously, though it usually remained within a manageable range.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t yet experienced the pleasure of being soothed at that time, so the urge to be touched wasn’t as intense as it was now.
Huo You felt somewhat helpless. Why did all these strange things have to fall on him?
Whether it was his natural heterochromia or the skin-hunger syndrome he had contracted for unknown reasons, both made him extremely uncomfortable.
“Hey, Huo You,” Lin Zong suddenly called out. “Have you decided which school to apply for? A University?”
The thoughts that had just scattered were called back. Huo You turned his head to look out of the corner of his eye toward the back-left. Lin Zong was leaning his upper body sideways, seemingly waiting for an answer.
Huo You didn’t really feel like talking.
Speaking while his skin-hunger syndrome was flaring up would distract him and weaken his self-control. He didn’t want any accidents to happen, such as touching Lin Zong again.
Not getting a response, Lin Zong discontentedly gave the wheelchair a hard push, letting Huo You coast freely.
After the coasting stopped, Lin Zong exerted force again, repeating the same operation.
After being launched three times, Huo You finally compromised. When Lin Zong was about to launch him again, he quickly turned to the side and reached out to tap the back of Lin Zong’s hand.
“I can’t make it to A University,” Huo You’s nerves jumped violently for a few seconds, the brief contact helping him relax quite a bit. “I’ll probably stay local.”
“Why?” Lin Zong was extremely surprised, so surprised that he didn’t even feel the touch on the back of his hand.
“Too far.” Huo You casually found an excuse.
“Oh, true,” Lin Zong switched back to his serious wheelchair-pushing mode, muttering as he walked slowly forward. “I’m definitely not staying local. I’ve been living here for eighteen years and I’m already sick of it.”
As soon as those words fell, Huo You’s heart tightened, and he turned back to look at Lin Zong.
He was feeling conflicted.
Perhaps the discomfort brought by the skin-hunger syndrome hadn’t completely faded yet, as he had almost blurted out telling Lin Zong to stay.
It was very selfish, and very inexplicable.
Fortunately, though, Lin Zong spoke up before him: “Can you stop looking at me like that? You’re rolling your eyes all the way to heaven; anyone who didn’t know would think our horoscopes were inherently incompatible.”
Huo You turned back around to sit properly, habitually rubbing his left eye.
“Is there really nothing wrong with your left eye?” Lin Zong’s curiosity was piqued. “I noticed you squinting from time to time, and this time you even used your hand to rub it directly.”
Huo You’s hand paused, then slowly lowered.
“No.”
“Didn’t you say it felt uncomfortable last time?” Lin Zong caught onto his flaw. “Why don’t your before-and-after answers match?”
Lin Zong felt secretly smug inside.
Even someone as formidable as Huo You, who sat firmly on the throne of the top student in their grade, couldn’t possibly pull the wool over his eyes.
Huo You fell silent for a few seconds, only to be launched forward by Lin Zong once again.
With no other choice, he had to say: “A habit formed since childhood.”
“Oh,” Lin Zong said. “Then your habit is pretty bad.”
Yeah, it was pretty bad.
Huo You knew it himself. What good habit could blindly avoiding other people’s gazes possibly be?
“You just touched money, your hands are covered in germs, rubbing your eyes makes it easy to get infected,” Lin Zong poured out his limited experience, instructing him, “Don’t rub them next time.”
At the same time, he didn’t forget to emphasize: “And don’t roll your eyes at me either.”
Huo You: “…”
That was a bit difficult.
“This isn’t even hard,” Lin Zong slumped back into his gaming chair, pointing at the computer monitor. “Six hundred twenty-three.”
Inside the gaming room, which used to be a walk-in closet, five people were currently crowded, either standing or sitting.
Lin Zong’s parents wore expressions that clearly said my boy is truly amazing.
Li Jianbing blocked the total score column out of fear of looking, while using a calculator to add up his scores for each subject.
And Huo You, who had just acquired computer usage rights and was calmly typing in his registration number.
As the person who knew his score first and performed normally, Lin Zong unceremoniously held out his hand toward his parents: “No reward?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Ms. Shen reached out, and Lin Dad immediately pulled a red envelope out of his pants pocket. She took it and slapped it into Lin Zong’s palm. “This cleverness clearly comes from me.”
Lin Dad let out an oh.
“Oh,” Ms. Shen understood, “the shamelessness comes from your dad.”
Before Lin Dad could even protest, Li Jianbing let out an exclamation: “Five hundred eighty! Extraordinary performance!”
“Looks like my parents were right to insist on relocating the ancestral graves. Looks like my aunt was right to go burn incense before my exam. Looks like my…” As he spoke, Li Jianbing caught sight of the monitor beside him, where the score was one hundred and two points higher than his. “Looks like my parents need to relocate the ancestral graves again, and my aunt needs to be a bit more sincere.”
Li Jianbing’s voice grew lower and lower, and everyone else crowded over as well, four heads pressed together, forcing Huo You to lower his head.
“A reward.” Ms. Shen was quite pleased, pulling out the remaining two red envelopes from Lin Dad’s pocket and giving one each to Li Jianbing and Huo You.
Having hung around Lin Zong’s house for many years, Li Jianbing was long accustomed to their reward-style education. His skin was already as thick as a city wall, and he accepted it without a shred of politeness: “Thank you, Uncle and Auntie. I voluntarily apply to become your second-child candidate.”
“Have some shame.” Lin Zong casually replied, his gaze nevertheless fixed on Huo You.
It was probably just a moment ago when several of them were huddled together, but Huo You’s complexion had suddenly turned rather unsightly.
At the same time, Huo You seemed to have grabbed his hand as well.
But it happened too fast; Lin Zong was now doubting whether he had seen it wrong. Was it actually just Li Jianbing getting too excited and grabbing him?
“Thank you.” Huo You raised his head slightly, looking at Ms. Shen, but didn’t reach out to take the red envelope.
Li Jianbing scratched his head and glanced at Lin Zong.
The atmosphere suddenly dropped from a great height, and Huo You wanted to salvage it, but didn’t know how to speak up.
He seemed to always excel at turning things awkward.
“Give it to me,” Lin Zong stood up and snatched the red envelope from his mom’s hand. “He can’t even go outside, so how is he supposed to use cash? I’ll transfer it to him digitally.”
“As expected of my son,” Ms. Shen smiled, completely free of the awkwardness of being rejected. “You thought of the exact same thing I did.”
Lin Zong smiled, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Huo You’s complexion was still looking poor.
So he began dispersing the crowd: “Go out first, it’s way too crowded in here.”
“Let’s go.” Lin Dad pulled out a pair of walnuts from somewhere, twirled them in his hand while gently pushing Ms. Shen out.
Li Jianbing wanted to stay and play games, but he also wanted to go home so his parents would reward him with another red envelope. After thinking it over, he hurried away.
Huo You also made a move, spinning the wheel of his wheelchair, but it didn’t budge.
“Don’t move,” Lin Zong pinched the brakes on the push handles behind the chair. “I want to ask you something.”
Huo You turned his head to listen.
Lin Zong released the brakes, walked around to stand in front of Huo You, and looked down at him thoughtfully: “Where are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Huo You cast a questioning look.
“Your complexion is terrible,” Lin Zong traced a circle in front of his own face, recalling the previous rumors about Huo You keeping strangers at a distance, and naturally guessed, “Is your dislike of being touched by others a pathological condition?”
Huo You locked gazes with him for two seconds, then looked away without a word.
“Then I’ll just assume it’s pathological,” Lin Zong said. “But there’s still one thing I don’t understand.”
Huo You wanted to change the subject, so he took the bait: “What?”
“Since you don’t like people touching you, what did you grab my hand for just now?”