WHI – Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The next morning, Lin Ting was awakened by a gentle tugging sensation on his wrist.

He opened his eyes to find Wen Lan already awake, holding the long tail of the Red String and tying it to the loop on his own wrist.

“Finally awake. If you don’t get up soon, they’ll find out when you go back to your room,” Wen Lan said with a smile, tying a tight knot on the Red String. “I don’t mind, though.”

Lin Ting looked at the Red String, which had been tied again, and glared at the person opposite him. “What are you doing?”

“Bored, just playing. Don’t be so grumpy first thing in the morning, bro,” Wen Lan said, suppressing a smile. He reached for the lighter on the bedside table and held it towards the Red String. “I’m going to burn it.”

Lin Ting reached out and tugged. “Don’t. Get scissors.”

“Don’t have any.”

“Didn’t you always carry a folding knife?”

“It’s over there, out of reach.” Wen Lan gestured with his chin towards the coat rack. Lin Ting knew he was referring to his still-damp jacket hanging there.

“Let’s go,” Lin Ting tugged his wrist and got up, walking towards the coat rack without paying attention to Wen Lan behind him, who was shouting for him to stop.

After cutting the string, Lin Ting finally returned to his own room and felt that it was all too unbelievable.

He had kissed Wen Lan last night?

Could he be gay??

Lin Ting could swear to heaven and earth that he had never known he was gay. Now, what was this? Secretly taking advantage of someone?

Lin Ting thought for a moment and decided he couldn’t define his sexual orientation so hastily. After all, this was the first time he had had such a “desire to take advantage” of a human, let alone a man.

Pah! Lin Ting, Lin Ting, how could you? Whether you’re gay or not, how could you take advantage of someone!

He suddenly wanted to smoke, but he didn’t have any.

“Should have asked Wen Lan for one just now…” Lin Ting muttered to himself, but before he could finish, he cursed himself again.

No, what kind of decent person, after taking advantage of someone, would feel bad about it and then ask the person they took advantage of for a cigarette to relieve their emotions?

Lin Ting, think about it, is this reasonable!

He took several deep breaths, then grabbed the bottled water on the hotel table and drank half of it. He took out his phone and searched online:

– Is sexual orientation innate or acquired? Can it be changed?

The online opinions were varied. After reading them, Lin Ting summarized with his excellent academic mind:

If it’s innate, it’s basically unchangeable. But his should be acquired, as he hadn’t encountered anything like this in his first 17 years. Therefore, it could be changed. Currently, the treatment with the fewest side effects and that wouldn’t be noticed by others is drinking Chinese medicine. However, he searched Taobao for specific medicinal ingredients for a long time but couldn’t find any for sale.

Lin Ting thought for a moment and opened “Chinese Medicine Forum” to register an account.

Netizen 523745 posted: It’s like this, I accidentally kissed my deskmate’s nose tip while they were asleep. How should I treat this situation? We are both guys.

There was no reply for a while after posting. It was indeed only a little past 6 AM. For modern people’s sleep schedules, 6 AM on a weekend morning was still late at night.

Ding! —

His phone received a message.

It was from Wen Lan.

– Hungry. Shall we go for breakfast?

When Lin Ting saw this message, his stomach rumbled. Only then did he realize that neither he nor Wen Lan had eaten since last night.

The others, however, had ordered takeout and eaten their fill after returning to the hotel. The group chat not only had photos of them eating takeout in Yu Zhile’s room but also photos of them getting poker from the hotel reception and watching horror movies.

Tsk, these guys were scared by a few dolls when they went on an adventure, and they still watched horror movies.

After looking through the group chat, Lin Ting temporarily pushed the strange feeling to a corner of his mind. He hesitated for a moment, deleted “Not hungry, you eat by yourself” from the chat box, and replaced it with “Okay, meet downstairs.”

When Lin Ting opened the door and saw Wen Lan standing there, he was so startled that he took a big step back. “Didn’t you say meet downstairs?”

Wen Lan turned back and pointed to his room, then turned his finger back. “It’s just this close.”

“Alright then.”

The hotel breakfast wasn’t very good. Lin Ting hadn’t expected much from a hotel in the middle of nowhere, but as he passed the reception, he caught sight of a large area of red and black on the computer screen – that urban legend website!

The receptionist was smiling and typing away on the keyboard.

OK, fine, thank you, and you.

After they finished breakfast, packed their things, and waited in the lobby for several hours, everyone finally started coming downstairs one after another.

“Why were you guys so late getting up? What did you do last night?” Wen Lan impatiently picked up his large bag from the sofa.

Song Mi yawned widely. “Brother Wen, Brother Lin, you guys are up so early. How was that villa last night? Are you guys okay?”

Lin Ting glanced at Wen Lan. Wen Lan’s eyes widened, trying to convey “If you speak, I’ll silence you” with his gaze.

Lin Ting smiled. “Who knows?”

“That’s not right, Brother Lin. I’ve seen Brother Wen wear these clothes before,” Yu Zhile said, showing off his excellent memory with a complete lack of tact.

“…” Lin Ting looked at Wen Lan, trying to telepathically ask how such a simple and unpretentious outfit could leave such a deep impression.

Wen Lan shrugged slightly and turned to Yu Zhile. “With your brain, you shouldn’t think too much. Be good, listen.”

“I didn’t…” Yu Zhile tried to speak, but Li Ziyao behind him covered his mouth and pulled him away.

Even though Lin Ting hadn’t said a word and hadn’t come home all night, there wasn’t a single message on his phone asking where he had been. It was only when he ran into Su Li coming downstairs that he was asked where his clothes came from.

“A friend’s,” Lin Ting said lazily, not wanting to explain further.

Su Li glanced at him and walked away.

To his surprise, when he reached the second floor and his hand was on the doorknob, Gu Yi came out of his room.

“These clothes… not your style.”

Lin Ting now deeply regretted not using the hairdryer to dry his clothes overnight. How could everyone be so interested in this unremarkable outfit?

“You remember my style? You care about me that much?” Lin Ting smiled at him with a smirk, then quickly returned to a cold expression, pressed the doorknob, and entered the room.

“Wen? The surname is Wen?” Gu Yi’s voice came from behind him as the door closed.

Lin Ting’s heart sank.

He himself didn’t care, but when Wen Lan was involved, Lin Ting felt uncomfortable. He opened the door, ready to have a good fight with this annoying guy, only to find that Gu Yi was no longer outside.

“So annoying,” Lin Ting said to the air before closing the door again, taking off his clothes, and immersing himself in the bathtub.

The monthly exam was coming up soon. This was his first exam since transferring schools, and Lin Ting was a bit nervous. Although the atmosphere at his previous school wasn’t good, and he looked like someone who didn’t study, he had suddenly changed environments, and the scope and focus of the questions would also change. It was a lie to say Lin Ting wasn’t worried.

He had always relied 70% on his brain and 30% on practice. Fortunately, he chose science. He could understand many things with one read, and he could remember the derivations of formulas after a few tries. If it were humanities, with his casual attitude and scarce study time, Lin Ting couldn’t guarantee how well he would do.

He stayed in his room and studied problems all day. He didn’t know what those three people were doing today, so he ate lunch and dinner alone, which was a relief.

When Auntie Fang was eating in the kitchen, Lin Ting called her to the table to eat several times.

“Anyway, I’m alone,” Lin Ting said.

Auntie Fang declined for a long time, talking about employment regulations and her inner ideals, until Lin Ting finished his meal listening to her lecture.

Did this count as eating with him?

Before going to bed that night, Lin Ting closed the “High School Physics. Comprehension and Application. Past Exam Analysis. PDF” on his phone and remembered the post he had made on the forum.

When Lin Ting clicked on it, he discovered that in just a few hours, the post had been pinned and marked as “hot” by the administrator, with a red “爆” (explosion) next to it.

This was truly damn absurd.

Lin Ting clicked into it and, amidst the many gossipy and teasing replies from netizens, finally found a serious reply from an “Old Chinese Doctor.” His nickname was indeed written like that, and his avatar was rows of solid wood Chinese medicine cabinets.

“Sha Yuan Zi, Fu Pen Zi, Rou Cong Rong, Yin Yang Huo…” Lin Ting said, jotting them down on his phone’s memo app, planning to buy some from a Chinese medicine shop after school tomorrow.

Then, he quickly deleted the post and deregistered his account.

The internet was truly terrifying.

The next day, when he arrived at school, Wen Lan was, as expected, already there.

“What? Still gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle?” Lin Ting pulled out a chair and sat next to him, placing the clothes on his desk. “I washed them clean for you.”

“Tsk, I’m worrying about tomorrow’s monthly exam. People who don’t study like you wouldn’t understand,” Wen Lan put the clothes into his schoolbag and looked out the window again.

Lin Ting followed his gaze and looked outside. “Then continue. I won’t disturb your sky-gazing, oh no, book-reading.”

Wen Lan withdrew his gaze and gave Lin Ting the middle finger. “You really are…”

“Be civilized,” Lin Ting flicked his finger and then turned to put on his headphones, pulled the hood of his jacket over his head, and propped his head on the desk. He had just bought a set of Physics Olympiad practice questions last night and wanted to look at them during class.

No one disturbed him the entire morning. Lin Ting’s learning efficiency was consistently high. He even looked at a few English cloze test questions. He just felt a strange gaze on him, but when he looked up to find the source of the gaze, it would disappear.

Never mind, studying is important.

It wasn’t until lunchtime on the way to the cafeteria that he was still listening to English listening comprehension through his earphones.

Then he saw a strange girl standing in front of him, blocking his way, holding a letter.

Lin Ting initially thought he was blocking someone’s path and moved aside, but when he realized the girl’s gaze was fixed on him, he knew something was wrong.

He took off his earphones and finally heard the noisy cheering from the surroundings.

This scene… it wasn’t the first time he had experienced it. Lin Ting had a premonition of what was about to happen.

“Classmate Lin…” the girl in front of him began.

Lin Ting sighed inwardly. The girl was quite cute. He felt a bit unbearable thinking about what expression would appear on that cute face.

“I’ve liked you for a long time. If you don’t have a girlfriend, can I…” The girl’s fair face was slightly flushed, her gaze towards Lin Ting but then lightly averted, her voice trembling slightly.