Chapter 23: Linhexi Road

You Chong guessed what he was thinking, and his face darkened slightly. “What are you looking at?”

Lin Hexi didn’t hide it at all, and with a slightly teasing look, he explained, “I’m checking if you are really You Chong.”

You Chong snorted coldly and ignored him, turning around to open the door. “What do you want from me?”

Lin Hexi said, “I came to get the medicine I was prescribed at the hospital earlier.”

“Medicine?” You Chong opened the door and went inside. “I don’t have your medicine here.”

Lin Hexi followed him in. “I left the medicine here that night, and I forgot to take it when I left.”

You Chong turned around suspiciously, “Where did you put the medicine?”

Lin Hexi thought for a moment and said, “It should be by the dining table in the living room.”

He changed into indoor slippers at the door and walked straight toward the living room. The dining table was still in its original position, but there was nothing on it. Lin Hexi paused for a second, then turned his head and asked, “Did you throw away my medicine?”

Upon hearing this, You Chong slowly narrowed his eyes and said, “Did you really leave the medicine here without taking it?”

“What else?” Lin Hexi was also a bit exasperated at this point. “Do you think I’m using the medicine as an excuse to deliberately come and see you?”

To his surprise, the other person glanced at him leisurely and said, in a lukewarm tone, “It’s not entirely impossible.”

Lin Hexi paused for a moment, then slowly smiled. He turned around and unhurriedly sat down on the sofa, even leaning back relaxedly, propping his long legs up on the sofa. “Since you put it that way, it would be a bit unreasonable if I didn’t sit here for a few hours.”

You Chong’s gaze swept over his legs, and a faint look of disdain appeared in his eyes. “Put your legs down.”

Realizing belatedly that he was wearing shorts, Lin Hexi didn’t say anything, and obediently lowered his legs. He raised his eyes and casually glanced around the entire living room, then lazily asked, “Where’s Fantuan, my little darling?”

“Fantuan, the little darling?” You Chong slowly repeated his words, his face full of ridicule. “When did my dog become your darling?”

“It’s just a nickname,” Lin Hexi blinked at him, deliberately teasing. “If you like, I can call you that too.”

Sure enough, You Chong couldn’t stand it, his expression slightly angry. “Lin Hexi, you better know when to stop.”

Lin Hexi comfortably crossed his legs and sighed softly. “But I only promised you that I wouldn’t have any overly intimate physical contact with you,” he said, drawing out the last word with a teasing tone. “You Chong, darling.”

By this point, You Chong’s face was icy, and his sharp gaze fixed on Lin Hexi’s face.

Only then did Lin Hexi stop joking around, murmuring softly, “Don’t your parents ever call you ‘darling’ at home?”

“They did,” You Chong, who was still angry, replied with an unchanged expression. “But that was when I was under three years old.”

Lin Hexi couldn’t help but imagine what You Chong might have looked like at three years old, and after a moment, a smile curved his lips.

Unaware of what Lin Hexi was really thinking, You Chong was annoyed by his smile and coldly retorted, “Does your family still call you ‘darling’ at twenty?”

Upon hearing this, Lin Hexi’s smile faded from his face.

After a long silence, Lin Hexi looked up, and said with an expression as calm as ever, “My biological mother never called me that.”

You Chong’s expression faltered slightly, but he said nothing.

As if he hadn’t noticed the brief tension in the air, Lin Hexi raised the corners of his lips nonchalantly and asked with some curiosity, “Is there any special meaning behind your name?”

You Chong replied, “I never asked.”

Lin Hexi nodded in understanding. “Then take a guess, what do you think my name means?”

You Chong clearly wasn’t interested in guessing, his tone somewhat perfunctory. “How could I guess that?”

“Isn’t it pretty easy to guess?” Lin Hexi tilted his head slightly, his expression softening, but he stretched out the word with some dissatisfaction. “‘He’ can symbolize a harmonious and beautiful life. As for ‘Xi,’ it doesn’t have any particularly good meaning—probably just something to do with the timing of my birth.”

You Chong raised his eyebrow slightly, and said with indifferent tone, “I can only think of the name of a station on Metro Line 3.”

Lin Hexi suddenly turned his gaze toward him, smiling brightly. “See? That wasn’t so hard to guess, was it?”

Caught off guard by those deeply hidden emotions in Lin Hexi’s eyes, a hint of surprise flashed across You Chong’s face.

In a slightly deeper voice, You Chong asked, “Guess what?”

“Guess the origin of my name.” His expression gradually became serious. “Actually, it has little to do with the subway station but a lot to do with Linhexi Road. You know my biological mother was the other woman, right?”

Without waiting for You Chong to respond, and without even looking at his expression, Lin Hexi continued, “There’s a hospital on Linhexi Road. She gave birth to me there. She didn’t like me, so she left me at the hospital and secretly left. The hospital’s surveillance cameras caught her face, and the police brought her back to the hospital to take me away.”

Finally, with a serious expression, he said, “Before she died, she once told me that Linhexi Road and I were the greatest shame of her life.”

You Chong looked at him with a complicated expression, clearly moved.

But then, without warning, Lin Hexi started laughing.

Realizing what was happening from Lin Hexi’s laughter, You Chong’s face grew darker. He pulled out his phone, opened the map app, and searched for a hospital on Linhexi Road, only to find that there were no results.

With a cold expression, he put his phone away, gritting his teeth as he spoke, “Lin Hexi, do you enjoy messing with me?”

Lin Hexi slowly stopped laughing, though remnants of his smile still lingered on his face. He didn’t say anything, nor did he apologize to You Chong. Instead, his gaze drifted downward, absent-mindedly sweeping over the floor.

He didn’t know why he told You Chong about these things. Although they weren’t important secrets that couldn’t be spoken of, neither the Lin family’s attitude nor the matter with his biological mother had ever been mentioned to anyone before.

Lin Hexi didn’t think it was due to carelessness or a mistake on his part, but he still couldn’t figure out why he did it.

The medicine was eventually found in the dog’s nest. The Alaskan Malamute had taken the bag that Lin Hexi had left on the table and played with it, completely unbeknownst to You Chong. After retrieving the medicine, Lin Hexi didn’t stay any longer and went back to his own place.

Before leaving, he casually patted the Alaskan Malamute on the head and affectionately called it “darling.” After saying that, he lifted his eyes and gave You Chong, who was standing in the doorway, a meaningful glance.

You Chong’s face was dark, with a vein faintly throbbing on his temple.

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the next time Lin Hexi saw You Chong was on a Saturday afternoon a few days later.

The elective teacher sent out a notice, instructing everyone to gather at the entrance of the school arboretum in the afternoon. The group of six first went to an outdoor equipment store off-campus to pick up tents and fishing rods.

They arrived at the meeting point promptly at 3:00 PM. After the teacher took attendance, they were led through the crowded park entrance, heading straight into the secluded depths of the arboretum.

The students put down their belongings at the designated tent site, and then they entered their group’s free activity time. Yang Juan and Zhao Du followed the teacher to pick wild vegetables, You Chong and Zhou Xuan planned to go fishing by the lake, while Lin Hexi and another person stayed behind to guard the camp.

You Chong had already picked up the fishing rod and bent down to grab the bag of bait and the fishing net. Lin Hexi, who was originally squatting on the ground in boredom, stood up and quickly picked up the fishing net for him, then turned back with a beaming smile and said, “I’ll go with you.”

Zhou Xuan tossed over two folding chairs, deliberately giving him a hard time. “You also need to carry the chairs.”

Lin Hexi stood still, his tone lazy as he asked, “Don’t you have hands of your own?”

Zhou Xuan immediately became furious. “If you’re planning to eat our fish tonight, you need to help us out now.”

“You make a good point,” Lin Hexi nodded in agreement.

Zhou Xuan shot him a sideways glance, urging him with a stern face, “Then what are you standing around for?”

Switching the long fishing net to his left hand, Lin Hexi appeared thoughtful. “By your logic, if I only eat the fish that You Chong catches, then I should only help You Chong carry his chair.”

He bent down to pick up one of the chairs by his feet, and just as he casually smiled and was about to say something more to Zhou Xuan, his hand suddenly felt lighter.

You Chong had already taken the chair from his hand, his expression cold as he said, “I’ll carry my own chair.”

Lin Hexi’s expression momentarily froze, but then he couldn’t hide the slight curve of his lips.

He didn’t miss the brief glance You Chong cast at his left hand, which was lightly covered by his long sleeve.