Chapter 14: He Liked Someone Because of…

“You,” Lin Zhi stood up straight, staring blankly. “Why are you here?”

“Didn’t I tell you yesterday that I’d come visit your dad another day?” Lu Liu handed over the flowers. “Give these to your dad later. Wish him a speedy recovery.”

Wasn’t “another day” just a perfunctory phrase? Who would have thought Lu Liu would show up the very next day?

“Thanks, but since you bought them, you should give them to him yourself,” Lin Zhi said after some thought. “I don’t think I mentioned the exact time of the surgery, though?”

“Yeah,” Lu Liu said, fiddling with the kraft paper wrapping the bouquet. “I asked Doctor Lu last night.”

Lin Zhi understood and smiled. “You didn’t have to go to so much trouble.”

It was normal to visit a classmate’s father after a chance encounter, but Lu Liu’s actions felt a bit excessive given the scope of their relationship.

“What’s wrong with this?” Lu Liu asked softly, his gaze slightly lowered. “We’ve been classmates for two years, and your dad’s surgery is being performed by my uncle. It’s perfectly reasonable for me to be here, isn’t it? Yao Wenjing has been with you the whole time, hasn’t he?”

Yao Wenjing: “?”

“Xiao Jing is…” Lin Zhi began to explain but paused, realizing it would make him seem ungrateful. Seeing a hint of “hurt” on Lu Liu’s face, he quickly apologized, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just worried about wasting your time. With senior year coming up, I didn’t want to interrupt your studies.”

“It’s fine,” Lu Liu smiled, his expression relaxing. “This doesn’t take much time.”

Lin Zhi: “…Alright then.”

Top students can be willful.

Lin Zhi didn’t pay much attention to how long the surgery lasted, it felt like a long time. When the “Under Surgery” light finally turned off, he rushed to the door of the operating room, anxiously peering inside.

The first person to come out was a nurse in sterile scrubs, who opened the door fully.

“Excuse me,” Lin Zhi swallowed nervously, “Was the surgery successful?”

The nurse’s eyes crinkled above her mask as she smiled. “The surgery went very well. Rest assured.”

Lin Zhi exhaled deeply, his shoulders visibly relaxing. Behind him, Lu Liu and Yao Wenjing also broke into smiles.

Not long after, the surgical gurney was pushed out. Lin Qingye was still unconscious, with Doctor Lu following behind.

Lin Zhi checked Lin Qingye’s condition first, then turned to Doctor Lu and bowed slightly. “Thank you, Doctor Lu.”

“No need,” Doctor Lu nodded at him. “The anesthetic hasn’t worn off yet. Your dad will probably wake up in about an hour.”

When Lin Qingye opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was his son’s handsome face. The pain from the surgical wound, now throbbing post-anesthesia, made him wince and hiss.

“Dad, don’t move,” Lin Zhi said gently, pressing his hand lightly on him. “Be careful not to tear the wound. How are you feeling? Doctor Lu said he’d come check on you after you wake up.”

“Not bad,” Lin Qingye said, his pale face contorting into a weak smile. “Just a bit tired.”

“You’ve worked hard, Dad,” Lin Zhi said, half-serious, half-teasing. “But enduring short-term pain is better than prolonged suffering.”

“Yeah,” Lin Qingye replied, exhausted. “You’ve worked hard too, son.”

“I’ll go inform Doctor Lu,” Lin Zhi said, picking up the thermos. “I’ll get some hot water while I’m at it.”

“Xiao Zhi,” Yao Wenjing reached out. “I’ll go. You stay and talk to your dad.”

“No need, we’ll have plenty of time to talk later. Please look after my dad,” Lin Zhi said, glancing at both Yao Wenjing and Lu Liu. Then, turning to Lin Qingye with a grin, he added, “Dad, Lu Liu came too, and he brought flowers for you. Have you ever received flowers from anyone before?”

“You little brat, who are you looking down on?” Lin Qingye chuckled. “When I was young, I was handsome too.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you were,” Lin Zhi nodded as he walked out. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have turned out so handsome.”

Lu Liu smiled and walked to where Lin Zhi had just been sitting. “I wish your uncle a speedy recovery. I’ll leave the flowers by the bed for now, if that’s okay?”

“Sure, thanks,” Lin Qingye said sincerely. “Thank you all for coming to see me, and for keeping Lin Zhi company. It’s not easy for a kid like him to be running around because of me, really…”

“Uncle, don’t say that,” Lu Liu said gently. “Lin Zhi and you are the closest. His biggest wish is for you to get better. And we’re in our senior year, we’re not kids anymore.”

“Yeah, Lin Uncle,” Yao Wenjing nodded in agreement. “Xiao Zhi is very independent, and he definitely doesn’t want you to keep treating him like a child. He just wants you to get well soon.”

“I’ve been narrow-minded,” Lin Qingye laughed at himself. “You young people understand young people better.”

Doctor Lu checked on Lin Qingye, gave some post-surgery advice, and then explained that he would need to stay in the hospital for recovery, including some chemotherapy and medication.

Yao Wenjing could only take a three-day leave, so he left in the afternoon of the second day after the surgery. Lin Zhi also went home to grab some books and brought them back to the hospital. There wasn’t much to do post-surgery, so he spent his free time reading and reviewing.

Soon, Lin Qingye’s friends, colleagues, and relatives began to visit, and whenever that happened, Lin Zhi would grab his books and go somewhere else to study.

He didn’t like many of these people. During his father’s previous serious illness, they weren’t like this.

But Lin Zhi didn’t really have any reason to blame them. He knew that it’s easy to help when things are going well, but much harder when someone is in need. Helping him was out of kindness, not helping was only natural. Seeing their smiling faces reminded him of how they had once avoided him in his past life.

The day after Lin Qingye was diagnosed with lung cancer, he took a long-term leave of absence. Lin Zhi planned to encourage him to quit his job after he was discharged, mainly because Lin Qingye’s illness was likely related to his work environment, and the surgery would require a long recovery period. His job was just too exhausting.

Once again, a colleague of Lin Qingye’s came into the room holding a bag of fruit. Lin Zhi greeted him with a smile, then excused himself, saying he didn’t want to disturb them and took his paper and pen to leave the room.

He thought about heading to the recovery garden downstairs to study. Even if he couldn’t concentrate, it would be nice to take in the scenery. As he was turning around, he almost bumped into someone coming in.

“Sorry,” Lin Zhi quickly stepped back, then realized it was Lu Liu.

Lu Liu was dressed in his usual clean and refreshing style, holding a delicate fruit basket.

This time, Lin Zhi wasn’t too surprised by his arrival since the last time, Lu Liu had said he would come back “another day,” and here he was—true to his word.

“You’re here,” Lin Zhi said, tightening his grip on his pen.

“Mm,” Lu Liu scanned Lin Zhi. “What’s going on?”

“Some of my dad’s colleagues are here, talking about work stuff I don’t understand,” Lin Zhi said, pouting. “I’m going downstairs to do some practice questions.”

“Then I…” Lu Liu hesitated for less than a second. “I’ll join you.”

It’s customary to treat visitors as guests, so Lin Zhi didn’t want to chase Lu Liu away. He nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

“What about this?” Lu Liu raised the fruit basket. “Should I take it inside first?”

“No need,” Lin Zhi said. “They have food inside. We’ll eat while studying. Thanks.”

“Alright.” Lu Liu smiled slightly, though Lin Zhi didn’t see it.

The sun was high and the light blindingly hot, and few people were out in the recovery garden at this time. Lin Zhi and Lu Liu sat in the center of the garden, on a long bench, with a small distance between them.

Lin Zhi was focused on his multiple-choice questions, occasionally checking an answer, while Lu Liu’s gaze drifted toward a patient practicing walking in the garden.

“It must be boring,” Lin Zhi glanced at Lu Liu.

“Not at all,” Lu Liu slowly withdrew his gaze. “It feels… pleasant.”

“Really?” Lin Zhi replied softly, feeling completely uncomfortable, his whole body uneasy. “Don’t you think it’s a waste of time? As Brother Wu would say, the time spent daydreaming everyday could be used to complete a whole set of exercises.”

“Balance work and rest for better study efficiency,” Lu Liu glanced at the study materials spread across Lin Zhi’s lap. “If there’s something you don’t understand, I can teach you.”

“Thanks,” Lin Zhi didn’t say whether it was good or bad, only asking, “Class monitor, are you always this enthusiastic about our class?”

“Usually, they come to me first,” Lu Liu said with a hint of meaning.

“I mean…” Lin Zhi swallowed the rest of the sentence, “Forget it, I’ll focus on math, it’s not too bad, there aren’t many questions I don’t know how to do.”

The results for the final exams had just been released a couple of days ago. Lu Liu nodded and said, “Your math score has improved a lot compared to before.”

Under normal circumstances, Lin Zhi would have noticed the implication in Lu Liu’s words, but his mind had already wandered.

Actually, Lin Zhi’s grades were pretty good before high school, even though he often copied homework.

He usually paid close attention when the teacher was explaining new content in class, but rarely practiced afterward, and still managed to score well on exams.

This was also why he ended up in the same class as Lu Liu. Their class was considered a key class at the Second High School, and Lin Zhi was at the tail end of the class, while Lu Liu was at the front.

He had gotten used to that learning style and continued it through high school, especially after he developed a crush on Lu Liu. He often sneaked glances at him during class, which led him to become one of the underperforming students in a key class.

He barely made it into a second-tier university, and his knowledge from high school had mostly faded away. The reason his math score still wasn’t bad was thanks to “Zhi.”

Lin Zhi’s university major was economics, which required advanced mathematics. During his first year, he didn’t focus much on his studies, and his already poor math performance worsened.

After “Zhi” found out, he unreservedly shared his study methods with Lin Zhi. Whenever Lin Zhi didn’t know how to solve a problem, he would send the question to “Zhi,” who would write out the solution steps in detail and send it back, along with similar problems for practice.

Lin Zhi once thought that “Zhi” would definitely get a perfect score in the final advanced math exam, until he later met a law student and found out that law students don’t even have to take advanced math.

“Zhi” had bought textbooks and self-studied after Lin Zhi complained about how hard the subject was, and then taught him.

Lin Zhi was deeply moved when he found out, and his heart raced when he asked “Zhi” to confirm it. It was also because of this that, in a moment of impulse, he confessed to “Zhi,” and they started an online relationship.

“Ah,” Lin Zhi smiled, thinking of “Zhi,” “I like math.”

Some people fall in love with a city because of someone, and for him, he fell in love with a subject because of someone.