WHI – Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The words were ambiguous yet perfectly polite, and Lin Ting couldn’t help but think of that unspeakable topic.

“If you see me every day, what else is there to think about? If you want to think so much, set my photo as your wallpaper and stare at it,” Lin Ting dodged the meaning that both of them were well aware of, trying to steer the conversation away.

“Setting it as wallpaper won’t do. I’m afraid if I look at my phone outside… what will happen then?” Wen Lan’s eyes grew deeper, his words laced with alluring affection. “Besides, how do you know I haven’t been looking at your photo at night… staring at it?”

He knew they shouldn’t be studying here. Something was bound to happen.

Lin Ting steadied his breathing and closed his eyes. Just as he was about to speak, Wen Lan released his hand and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Ting asked.

“I seem to have lost my phone.” Wen Lan fumbled in his pockets for a long time. “Oh no, I still have 108 photos of you that I secretly took saved on it, and they’re not backed up to the cloud.”

Lin Ting couldn’t be bothered to respond to the latter half of his sentence and began searching with him in his bag and coat pockets.

Nothing.

Wen Lan sat at the end of the bed and thought for a moment. “I must have been too rushed when I left. I probably left it at the washbasin. I’ll go home. You wait here.”

Lin Ting quickly grabbed their jackets from the coat rack. “How will you get a taxi without your phone? I’ll go with you.”

From the most prosperous part of the city center where Wanye Club was located, to the residential area, the road wasn’t too long, but encountering a weekend, taxis crawled along, inch by inch.

Wen Lan sighed, looking out the window, muttering about how he shouldn’t have forgotten his phone and regretting that he shouldn’t have mentioned it even if he had forgotten it, and that they would have to wait two more hours.

Lin Ting glanced towards the front and saw the driver busy chatting on WeChat while listening to an audiobook, not paying attention to the back. He reached out and squeezed Wen Lan’s fingertips.

To comfort him.

However, Lin Ting was still very glad that Wen Lan had forgotten his phone. Given the atmosphere just now, it was easy for things to develop into unspeakable territory.

Tsk, unspeakable.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the way Wen Lan looked at him in the room just now was clearly aggressive, like a beast waiting for its prey to follow its planned path, only to be devoured piece by piece.

Wen Lan seemed to have misunderstood something…

It was he who should have been devoured.

Thinking of this, Lin Ting couldn’t help but increase the pressure on Wen Lan’s fingers, causing Wen Lan to turn and glare at him.

By the time the car finally stopped at the Wen family’s doorstep, it was almost lunchtime. Wen’s father was sitting in the dining room, drinking soup and reading the newspaper.

The housekeeper seemed to have just finished eating and was walking towards the kitchen with the dishes. She was startled to see them. “Oh, I didn’t know you two would be eating at home, I haven’t prepared…”

“It’s fine, I forgot my phone. I’ll just grab it and go,” Wen Lan said, then pointed to the sofa, asking Lin Ting to wait, and went upstairs himself.

“Hello, Uncle Wen,” Lin Ting greeted Wen’s father at the dining table, feeling a bit awkward.

Hello, Uncle, I’m your son’s boyfriend;

Hello, Uncle, your son might be taken advantage of by me any day now.

Tsk.

Lin Ting’s mind was in a turmoil from Wen Lan’s words, ‘I missed you,’ and he felt that just sitting there, Wen’s father could see right through him.

“You’re… Lin, classmate Lin, right?” Wen’s father finished his soup in one gulp and walked over with his newspaper. After sitting opposite Lin Ting, he placed the newspaper in a corner of the coffee table. “Wen Lan mentioned that you’ve been tutoring him during this time? I saw his mock exam results; he’s improved a lot. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, we’re just classmates helping each other.” Lin Ting felt embarrassed to say that he was currently staying in your hotel. Although the other party probably wouldn’t mind, it still sounded bad to say he was ‘a homeless wanderer.’

Wen’s father sighed deeply. “Wen Lan, this child has been mischievous since he was young. His academic performance has always been worse than his brother’s, especially after his mother passed away. He’s been hanging out with all sorts of questionable friends, rich heirs and spoiled brats. None of them are as studious as you.”

Lin Ting, being somewhat protective, couldn’t help but say, “Wen Lan is actually quite intelligent. He basically understands after I teach him once. His exam results have been improving rapidly during this time. Uncle, I think you’ve always underestimated him.”

Wen’s father didn’t respond, just managed a weak smile.

An awkward silence fell in the living room.

“Cough, cough… The incense has burned out. I’ll go light some incense,” Wen’s father said, probably feeling awkward. He got up and pointed to the altar table.

Lin Ting watched the stairs leading to the second floor, waiting for Wen Lan to come down. His peripheral vision inevitably swept over the altar table below the stairs.

The first time he came to the Wen family’s home, he felt that Wen Lan’s mother looked familiar. Lin Ting had always been a bit face-blind and couldn’t remember who she resembled after thinking for a long time.

The photo of Wen Lan’s mother, aged seventeen or eighteen, wearing a pale yellow floral dress, smiling radiantly in a sea of flowers, bending slightly towards the camera with a daisy in her hand.

She looked somewhat similar to Wen Lan, but in terms of facial features, Wen Lan resembled his father more.

She must have resembled some actor or star.

Lin Ting shifted his gaze and simply started looking at English vocabulary on his phone.

“Wen Yan, Wen Lan’s college entrance exams are coming up soon. Although he’s not as good as you, he’s been focusing a bit recently… If you were still here…” Since sitting at the altar table, Wen’s father seemed to have transformed, his spirit sinking completely as he rambled on to the photo.

Lin Ting could understand this state very well. After Lin He passed away, he often saw him at home. If reason hadn’t suppressed his emotions, he wouldn’t have been able to move on for who knows how long.

“Chen Song, I miss you so much,” Wen’s father continued.

Chen Song…

Lin Ting’s head snapped up from his phone at the mention of the name.

“If only I could have accompanied you to Yuzhou…”

Yuzhou…

Countless fragments suddenly wrestled their way from his buried subconscious and leaped before Lin Ting’s eyes. All sounds in the world instantly vanished from his ears, leaving only a sharp, unvarying high-pitched tone that pierced through both ears, shattering all reason in his mind into pieces.

“Uncle Wen,” Lin Ting saw himself stand up and walk slowly towards the altar table.

“Can you tell me about your beloved?”

When Lin Ting came to his senses again, he was already out of the club room, with his meager luggage, squatting at an unknown intersection.

He took out his phone to check the map and found that his silenced phone had dozens of messages and missed calls from Wen Lan.

His finger paused on the screen for a moment. Without opening them, he directly opened the navigation app, found the nearest budget hotel, and checked in.

Starting tomorrow, he would have to look for a short-term rental.

Wen Lan must be very confused about his sudden departure, and he simply didn’t have the strength to explain everything to Wen Lan.

He was a coward, just as Wen Lan said. He didn’t even dare to tell the Wen family that he was the son of the ‘murderer’ who ‘killed’ Chen Song.

He said nothing. After quietly listening to everything Wen’s father said, he found an excuse and slipped out.

Lin Ting, oh Lin Ting, there really is no place for you in this world.

He remembered that the first time he saw Chen Song’s photo, he found it familiar. Unfortunately, the vision was blurred by the rainy night. The distorted face, soaked in blood, and the smiling eighteen-year-old girl in the photo were like two unrelated memory fragments, only now pieced together.

He finally remembered that the night filled with the smell of rust in his memory, besides the smell of rain and alcohol, there was also a faint scent of sandalwood.

It was all like retribution, drawing him to S City from afar, and then being drawn again by this scent of sandalwood, finally shattering his last refuge.

If this is fate, then struggling is meaningless.

Lin Ting spent the afternoon in a daze at the budget hotel. It wasn’t until the evening that he remembered to order takeout.

Wen Lan on the other end of the phone was still sending messages continuously, from worry at first to anger later.

Lin Ting didn’t open them. Alone in the pitch-dark room, he watched the messages pop up on the screen, the screen lighting up and then dimming, reflecting faintly on Lin Ting’s face.

The next morning, Lin Ting replied with a ‘Sorry.’

Their relationship had been unclear from the beginning, without a formal start, so they didn’t have the right to say ‘break up.’

The screen showed ‘Typing…’ but no message came for a long time.

Lin Ting waited for the phone on the other end. When the words ‘Typing…’ disappeared, he put his phone back in his pocket and went out to a nearby real estate agency.

The real estate agency had just opened early in the morning. A plump man was cleaning with a vacuum cleaner. He looked up in surprise when he saw Lin Ting and checked the clock on the wall.

“Hello, sir. We don’t open for another half an hour. Perhaps you could wait…”

“It’s fine, I’ll just wait here for a while.”

Although there was no mirror, Lin Ting knew that his face must not look very friendly.

When he had no expression, his lips were always pursed, and his eyes held a fearless ferocity.

He had seen it before when he looked in the mirror; he had scared himself when he wasn’t fully awake.

The plump man was probably scared by his appearance. Hearing this, he didn’t chase Lin Ting away. Instead, he carefully placed a cup of hot water on the coffee table in front of Lin Ting. The water surface rippled irregularly due to his trembling hand.

“H-here, sir, please have some water. I just opened the system. I’ll need to wait… wait a moment.” After placing the cup of water, the plump man wiped the fine sweat from his forehead with the cuff of his white shirt.

Lin Ting didn’t say much, just picked up the cup and took a sip.

It was a bit hot, it seemed.

The plump man was even more frightened when he saw Lin Ting expressionlessly drink the scalding hot water. He threw down the vacuum cleaner and took a tablet, squatting in front of Lin Ting and starting to introduce himself. “Sir, how about I introduce our company to you first? Our company is a large enterprise, and you can enjoy peace of mind…”

“No need. Come find me when you’re ready. I just need to rent a cheap short-term place, preferably one I can move into right away with all the furniture.” Lin Ting interrupted him.

The plump man was quite diligent. In the end, Lin Ting didn’t take half a day to find a place close to school. Although the price was a bit high, it was within Lin Ting’s budget, and most importantly, he could rent it only until the end of August.

When Lin Ting came out, Wen Lan had replied.

– I like you.