Chapter 4: Boyfriend, oh boyfriend, when will you…

In the past, Lin Zhi never thought he would meet Lu Liu. Now that he didn’t want to have too much contact with him, he kept running into him in various ways.

Is this what they mean by ^[1]“the flowers you plant with intent do not bloom, while the willows you plant unknowingly grow into shade” is a Chinese proverb that suggests how sometimes, things that you consciously try … Continue reading”the flowers you plant with intent do not bloom, while the willows you plant unknowingly grow into shade”?

While thinking this, Lin Zhi was correcting Lu Liu’s exam paper while comparing the answers on the blackboard.

He was lazy, so he didn’t bother to check marks. Instead, he just crossed out the incorrect answers that Lu Liu had originally written and wrote the correct ones beside them.

By the time he turned the page, Lin Zhi had only marked one option in the last listening question.

On the second page, there were only two mistakes, and Lin Zhi clicked his tongue in surprise—correcting a top student’s paper really saved ink.

Lin Zhi had no idea whose hands his own exam paper had ended up in, nor did he know how accurate his answers were. After finishing the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, the paper still needed to be handed in for the English teacher to grade the essays.

The timing was just right. The bell for the end of evening study rang right after they had turned in their papers.

As a former academic underachiever who lived twenty years in his past life, Lin Zhi successfully demonstrated his lack of memory.

As soon as class ended, amidst the complaints from other students like “Ah, I got so many wrong in the listening section,” and “It’s so hard to fill in the blanks,” Lin Zhi quickly packed up his bag and prepared to return to the dormitory to study for another two hours.

In order to avoid being hungry later, Lin Zhi grabbed a bowl of beef noodles at the cafeteria. The moment he swallowed the first bite, he felt like he had forgotten something.

The next second, his phone vibrated. Lin Zhi received a message from “Yao Wenjing.”

Right, he hadn’t contacted Yao Wenjing for the past seven or eight hours since returning.

【Yao Wenjing: Xiao Zhi, I won’t be going home tomorrow. Can you bring me a desk lamp when you come on Sunday? The one I had broke.】

The new campus of J City No. 2 Middle School was located on the outskirts. To ensure student safety, the school adopted a semi-closed teaching system, requiring all students to stay on campus. They could only leave after school on Saturday mornings and had to return before Sunday evening study.

Lin Zhi met Yao Wenjing on the bus home during their first year of high school.

At that time, Yao Wenjing had been so car-sick that his face turned pale. The other passengers avoided him as much as they could, afraid of getting thrown up on. Only Lin Zhi had helped him when his arms and legs went weak, offering him an unopened bottle of mineral water.

For Lin Zhi, it had been a small favor, and he forgot what Yao Wenjing looked like as soon as he got off the bus.

However, Yao Wenjing remembered him. Later, when they met at school, Yao Wenjing insisted on thanking Lin Zhi.

After some back and forth, they gradually became friends. Since they lived close to each other, they started meeting every week to go home and return to school together.

Lin Zhi learned that, like him, Yao Wenjing didn’t have a mother. The difference was that Yao Wenjing’s mother had divorced his father when he was very young, while Lin Zhi’s mother had been driven away by his alcoholic and gambling father.

【Lin Zhi: Of course, I can.】

【Lin Zhi: Do you need anything else? I’ll bring it all for you.】

Lin Zhi had always known that Yao Wenjing’s dream was to go to college and escape his current life, especially from his father.

But just as Yao Wenjing was about to realize his dream, he suddenly lost contact with him.

Their next meeting was during the summer vacation of Lin Zhi’s first year in college. At that time, Lin Zhi’s father, Lin Qingye, was seriously ill. Feeling frustrated, Lin Zhi went alone to a bar to drink and happened to run into Yao Wenjing, who was in the arms of a rough-looking guy.

Yao Wenjing never told Lin Zhi the reason he had disappeared before the college entrance exams. He also didn’t explain what had happened in the year and a half since then. The only thing he did after learning about Lin Zhi’s father’s condition was secretly slip most of his savings under Lin Qingye’s pillow.

Although Lin Qingye passed away before the money could be used, and although Lin Zhi and Yao Wenjing could never return to the relationship they had in high school, Lin Zhi was still deeply moved and really felt for Yao Wenjing, whose dreams had been shattered.

【Yao Wenjing: It’s gone.】

【Yao Wenjing: Thank you, Xiao Zhi.】

【Lin Zhi: It’s fine, I’ll call you when I come.】

Going back three years, helping Yao Wenjing achieve his dream was still part of Lin Zhi’s plan.

The dormitory conditions at No. 2 Middle School were such that each room housed four people. When Lin Zhi arrived at the dorm, the other three roommates hadn’t come back yet.

Even though it had been two years since he left high school, Lin Zhi was still very familiar with his own bed, having stayed there for three years. After freshening up, he climbed into bed and started reading.

Before long, his roommates returned. Just as Lin Zhi was about to put on his headphones, Chen Guyang came into their dorm.

“Lin Zhi,” Chen Guyang went straight to Lin Zhi’s bed, “Why did you leave so quickly after school? Didn’t we agree to ask Brother Liu about that question together?”

It turned out that Lin Zhi had forgotten about this matter.

But who said we agreed? You said you’d make sure and then tell me.

Lin Zhi pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Ah, I forgot. Did you ask Lu Liu?”

“I did,” Chen Guyang replied.

“Then tell me about it,” Lin Zhi opened his notebook. “Thanks.”

“You took the notebook with you, so I don’t know the exact question,” Chen Guyang pointed at the notebook Lin Zhi had opened. “So Brother Liu asked me to call you to our dorm. He’ll explain it to us.”

Chen Guyang and Lu Liu were in the same dorm, and Lin Zhi always remembered that.

When they were in high school, Lin Zhi had secretly tried to learn more about Lu Liu from Chen Guyang. He had even been secretly pleased that having a “spy” next to Lu Liu was convenient.

Now that he wanted to keep his distance from Lu Liu, this convenience had turned into an unbreakable connection.

“Huh?” Lin Zhi hesitated, “Did you tell him I asked?”

“Yeah,” Chen Guyang didn’t notice Lin Zhi’s subtle thoughts. “Hurry up and come down, Brother Liu’s waiting. He explains the topics much better than I do.”

Two minutes later, Lin Zhi stood in the middle of the dorm across the hall.

When he saw Lu Liu coming out of the bathroom, wiping his hair with a towel, Lin Zhi’s mind, which was flooded with countless thoughts, narrowed down to just three words: Is this a joke?

Lu Liu draped the towel around his neck and gave Lin Zhi a barely noticeable smile. “You brought the notebook? Let me see.”

Lin Zhi suppressed his gaze and handed the notebook over to Lu Liu, thinking that Lu Liu really seemed to like people who did well in their studies. Seeing him take the initiative to ask questions related to learning, Lu Liu’s attitude became much gentler.

“What don’t you understand?” Lu Liu asked, looking at Lin Zhi’s messy handwriting.

Lin Zhi hated being asked that question the most. Back in his second year of college, “Zhi” had tutored him in advanced mathematics remotely. At first, “Zhi” wasn’t clear about his level, and had asked similar questions.

“Uh,” Lin Zhi replied, “I don’t understand anything.”

Lu Liu nodded and began explaining from the basics. Not only did he clarify the parts Lin Zhi didn’t understand, but he also covered several related knowledge points.

At first, Lin Zhi felt a little awkward, but gradually, he was drawn into the atmosphere by Lu Liu’s detailed explanations and began to appreciate the charm of knowledge.

It turned out that he wasn’t uninterested in studying, he just hadn’t found the right method that worked for him.

“Did I make myself clear?” Lu Liu picked up his cup and took a sip of water.

“Clear, clear,” Chen Guyang generously praised, “Brother Liu, you’re so suited to be a teacher. You explain everything so well, so detailed.”

Lu Liu politely curved his lips into a smile and then shifted his gaze to Lin Zhi’s face, raising an eyebrow in question.

Lin Zhi quickly nodded. “Clear, thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” Lu Liu handed the notebook back to Lin Zhi.

Lin Zhi returned to his dorm. After getting into bed, he stared blankly for two minutes before picking up where he had left off in his reading.

The next day, as soon as school was over, Lin Zhi headed straight to the bus station at the school gate. The final exams were next week, and there were many students staying at school to review for the weekend, but Lin Zhi managed to grab a seat.

During his three years of high school, apart from campus life, the most memorable thing for Lin Zhi was the crowded bus rides where he almost got squeezed into a “meat sandwich” every time he went home.

This was also one of the reasons he became good friends with Yao Wenjing, as the two of them had “shared hardships” together.

After more than an hour’s ride, Lin Zhi got off at the station nearest to his home. He took care of lunch outside before heading back to the house.

Everything in the house was familiar to him.

Since he started high school, he had been staying in the school dorms. During his senior year, he would barely come home for more than a day and a half each month. In his first semester of college, he hardly came home at all unless it was a holiday.

Lin Qingye, a careless man, rarely bought new furniture for the house.

After Lin Qingye was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, Lin Zhi came home more often, but his enthusiasm for tidying up had diminished.

When Lin Zhi opened the door, he almost had a fleeting thought that he had just stepped out to meet “Zhi.”

The only difference was that many things were much newer than before he left, and the traces of life weren’t as heavy.

This was the home from three years ago, and also the home now.

Lin Zhi wandered around the house, sighed for a moment, and then remembered his plans. With still some time left, he decided to read for a while.

Normally, Lin Qingye got off work at six in the evening and would be home by six-twenty, Lin Zhi, on the other hand, buried himself in his studies until four-thirty.

“Ah—” Lin Zhi stretched lazily, forcibly trying to cram too much knowledge into his decaying brain, the consequence of which was that it felt like his head was going to explode.

No, he couldn’t retain much like this, Lin Zhi thought painfully. Why couldn’t he have a brain as smart as “Zhi’s”?

Lin Zhi took out his phone and re-entered “Zhi’s” phone number in the “New Friends” section of WeChat. It still displayed: “This user does not exist.”

Boyfriend, oh boyfriend, when will you appear?

Lin Zhi went out to take a stroll around the nearby supermarket. He bought a pile of vegetables, daily necessities, and the desk lamp that Yao Wenjing had asked him to bring.

It was just past 6:03 PM when Lin Zhi dialed Lin Qingye’s number.

“Heu,” Lin Qingye had just come out of the changing room, his voice still deep and booming, “Son.”

“Dad,” Lin Zhi was holding a spatula in his right hand, “Are you working overtime today?”

“No overtime,” Lin Qingye was striding out of the factory, “Anything you want to eat? I’ll bring it back.”

“Nope,” Lin Zhi turned off the stove, “Just come straight home, I’m cooking.”

During the time when Lin Qingye was ill, there were many dietary restrictions, and Lin Zhi learned how to cook. As long as he was home, the father and son had never eaten out at a restaurant.