Chapter 24

Lin Wuyu was not accustomed to eating in other people’s homes, or rather, he was not accustomed to eating together as a family; consisting of the elders and children, no matter whose family they were.

He didn’t even want to go to Xu Tianbo’s family. He was already this old. Except for Old Lin’s house, he hadn’t eaten at any classmates or friends’ homes. Even when he went to Old Lin’s house for dinner, he was with his classmates, while Old Lin was at home alone.

Today, he was a little lonely.

Which was why he agreed to come to Ding Ji’s Grandma’s house for dinner.

He had started feeling lonely when he came out of the examination room.

Whether they had done well on the exam or not, whether they went back to school first or went home directly, the students around him will eventually go home for dinner.

Meanwhile, there was no one in the dormitory.

This feeling of emptiness was completely different from what he felt during the weekends.

It was like suddenly, his entire high school life had disappeared.

Very lonely.

If Ding Ji hadn’t asked him to eat with him, he would have probably not gone back to the dormitory after he went home to take his things, and instead gone to a hotel to stay for a night to recover his mood.

Xu Tianbo had sent a message an hour ago asking him where he was at night, and Lin Wuyu had only seen it after he had finished smacking the cucumbers.

— Going back to the dorm after having dinner with my friend

— If there’s anything, just tell me, I have been idle these days

— Then you continue to be idle

— Why are you being like this 1 !

— I don’t play with people with lisps

Lin Wuyu smiled and put the phone back in his pocket, and then saw that under Ding Ji’s operation, the cucumbers had turned into black smacked cucumbers, “You dare say that mine is the pickled cucumber, isn’t yours also pickled smacked cucumbers too?”

Ding Ji hesitated while holding the sesame oil bottle, “Do you want to put sesame oil? I think this smell smells a bit too strong now.”

“What about this,” Lin Wuyu said, “Since the sauce is too much, you can pour some out?”

“Smart.” Ding Ji nodded, took the plate, went to the sink, and carefully dumped the excess soy sauce and vinegar.

“Like this can also be considered smart, isn’t it your IQ that’s a bit lacking?” Lin Wuyu took the plate.

“I can take the smacked cucumber to smack your face,” Ding Ji said, “What position are you in to call me lacking? Take it out!”

Lin Wuyu turned around and took the plate of cucumbers out.

“Aiyo, so dark,” Grandpa glanced at the cucumbers on the plate, “Is Xiao Ding the one who made this?”

“Mhm.” Lin Wuyu nodded with a smile.

“Isn’t that great!” Grandma said next to him, “Nowadays, there are few children who can cook, and they don’t even enter the kitchen. Look at this supernatural being of a child, making smacked cucumber salad and smacked as though a heavenly maiden was dispersing flowers…”

Looked like Grandma really loved Ding Ji.

In order to support Ding Ji, she did not hesitate to step on the friend whom she had met for the first time.

Lin Wuyu laughed, “I don’t know how to do it at all.”

“This kid has a better temper than Pengpeng,” Grandpa said.

In order to save him face, Grandpa did not hesitate to step on Liu Jinpeng.

Liu Jinpeng was so pitiful.

Lin Wuyu held back his laugh the whole time.

“Eat,” Ding Ji took the bowl and chopsticks and put them out, and pulled Lin Wuyu to sit down next to him, “Try my Grandma’s and my craftsmanship.”

“Craftsmanship my ass.” Grandma said.

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“Be more civilized,” Ding Ji said, “I have a guest here.”

“What guest,” said Grandma, “Isn’t it just a kid… Xiao Yu, don’t be courteous, our family doesn’t have any rules, just eat.”

“Okay.” Lin Wuyu nodded.

“Eat more, don’t feel embarrassed.” Grandma put two spare ribs in the bowl for him, and then put two in Ding Ji’s bowl, “I’ve been too tired for a while, but now I’m alright, so you two don’t have to worry about eating, drinking, having fun.”

Lin Wuyu didn’t like other people serving him food. Whether it was hygienic or not was not the most important thing. After all, he was also a person who dared to drink water from Ding Ji’s bottle, even more than that was uncomfortable. But at the moment he wanted to politely refuse, he pressed down the hand he wanted to raise.

The way Grandma served food for him was not like greeting a guest, without a trace of politeness, as if serving food for her two grandchildren, it was natural and gentle.

He suddenly felt very warm.

Not from friends, classmates, or teachers, but the unconditional 2 love from family and elders.

“Don’t mind him,” Ding Ji quickly picked a piece of ribs from Lin Wuyu’s bowl, “I tell you, he is a bottomless pit, if you don’t stop, this table is not going to be enough for him to eat.”

“Why are you still grabbing food from other people’s bowls!” Grandpa glared at him, “Isn’t yours on the plate!”

“If I eat slowly, there won’t be anymore left for me to eat.” Ding Ji ‘hehe’-ed happily, with a little mischievous expression on his face like a child.

Lin Wuyu sometimes felt that Ding Ji was indeed very careful and sensitive. He didn’t even reckon that his hand moved, but Ding Ji still noticed it.

When Ding Ji was about to snatch the second rib, Lin Wuyu slapped the back of his hand.

“Ah!” Ding Ji shouted.

“Deserve!” Grandma said.

“Do you believe that my hand will definitely bruise into blue later!” Ding Ji glared at him.

“I believe, I was the one who slapped it, how can I not believe it?” Lin Wuyu picked up the spare ribs from before from his bowl and smiled at Ding Ji.

Ding Ji looked at him for a while and laughed, then leaned into his ear and whispered, “That’s more like it, very enthusiastic.”

“Very good.” Lin Wuyu nodded.

In order to celebrate the end of the college entrance examinations, Grandpa opened two bottles of red wine, and as per Ding Ji’s request, he decanted the wine one hour in advance. After eating a few mouthfuls, he felt that they should also drink alcohol, only to remember that he hadn’t taken the wine out yet.

“I’ll get it.” Grandma got up.

“Don’t move,” Grandpa stood up, “You’ve been busy preparing the meal, now you should rest.”

“Resting doesn’t mean being motionless,” said Grandma. “I’m telling you that if I don’t move, I’ll recover even more slowly. I have no problem strolling around the house every day.”

“Listen to Grandpa.” Ding Ji rubbed Grandma’s hand.

“It’s no problem for me even to smack you.” Grandma slapped him.

Grandma seemed to be recovering well, mainly because she was not too old. Ding Ji said that she had always been in good health. Looking at it now, except for the fact that she was walking slowly, her complexion was very good.

“Where did you put the decanted wine?” Grandpa asked.

“The room on the balcony.” Grandma said.

“Alright,” Lin Wuyu was a little surprised, looking at Ding Ji, “Does your family always drink red wine, and even have a decanter?”

“Decanter my ass,” Ding Ji raised his chin in Grandpa’s direction, “We decant it with a bottle of cold water.”

Sure enough, after a short while, Grandpa brought out a one-liter open glass cold water bottle with wine in it.

“There is no red wine glass either,” Grandpa said, “Take the tea cups?”

Ding Ji took out four tea cups and put them in a row, then took the cold water bottle and poured four full cups.

“Your mother said pouring a little is enough.” Grandma said.

“In any case, the wine still has to be poured, let’s just taste it, who can tell if it’s good or bad,” Ding Ji said, “These cups that we are using are also not right, they have no stems, once your hand holds the top, the warmth will change the taste of the wine.”

Grandma thought for a while and took a sip of the wine as she reached the mouth of the cup and tasted it a little. She held the cup with both hands, after waiting for a few seconds, she picked it up and took another sip.

“There’s no difference?” She tasted it.

Grandpa and Ding Ji laughed out loud, and Lin Wuyu couldn’t help but laugh along with them.

“So let’s just say, let’s just drink if we don’t understand red wine,” Ding Ji said merrily. “After drinking this in a while, we still have to take the jar of wine under my grandfather’s bed.”

“Drink, drink, Xiao Yu won’t go home anyway,” Grandma said, “Just don’t drink too much. I won’t help you clean up if you vomit, and your grandfather won’t bother.”

Lin Wuyu was stunned, and glanced at Ding Ji.

“She meant that you don’t have to go home, and you won’t be told off,” Ding Ji whispered, “I didn’t mean to let you stay here, don’t be nervous.”

“No,” Lin Wuyu also whispered, “How does she know I don’t have to go home?”

“I didn’t say it.” Ding Ji waved his hand quickly.

“I know.” Lin Wuyu said.

“My grandmother sometimes is divinely inspired,” Ding Ji said, “I don’t know if it was a guess or a real calculation, but as soon as you finished the exam, you carried your luggage and ran to my house for dinner… Few people would be like this, under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t not go home.”

“…Right.” Lin Wuyu nodded.

Grandma’s cooking skills were very good. Of course, it was also possible that it was because Lin Wuyu had only tasted food from canteens and street restaurants, his experience of home-cooked food was not too much. Mother’s handicraft was basically like eating an undead person, that kind of grade.

Grandma’s dishes were not only delicious, they were also quite generous. All the plates were full, and there are some soup pots that are still used for the dishes.

Lin Wuyu ate a lot.

He was as surprised as Ding Ji’s grandparents that he was able to eat so uncontrollably and happily in other people’s homes.

He also drank two tea cups of the wine Grandpa had stored. He didn’t know what kind of wine it was, the alcohol content was not high, but it was very fragrant.

When he finally put down the chopsticks, he couldn’t help but whisper: “I seem to have eaten too much.”

“Did you just realise?” Grandma was a little worried next to him, “You have eaten as much as a pig… Xiao Ji, go find a packet of digestive tablets for him.”

Lin Wuyu leaned back on the chair and laughed for a long time, “Grandma, you’re so descriptive.”

“Eat so much but you still don’t get fat,” Grandma squeezed his face, “I have to kneel down for you and ask for the way to not grow fat, I need to let Xiao Ji and his sister-in-law know.”

Ding Ji brought a packet of digestive tablets over, picked out a few tablets and handed them to him, “Hurry up, eat it.”

“In a moment,” Lin Wuyu sighed, “I can’t drink water now.”

“This is for chewing, so you don’t need to drink water.” Ding Ji said.

Lin Wuyu directly lowered his head and took a bite in Ding Ji’s palm, bit the pill into his mouth and chewed, frowning, “Not tasty.”

Ding Ji sighed, searched for a lollipop from his pocket and took it out, and handed it into his mouth, “Milk lollipop.”

“Thank you.” Lin Wuyu held the lollipop in his mouth.

After he rested for a while, he no longer felt full to the point of bursting.

There was still a lot of food left on the table. If he wasn’t there today, there would have been more than half of the food left on the table.

Grandpa and Grandma were really very warm-hearted and hospitable.

That was probably why they had a grandson like Ding Ji with that sort of personality.

Lin Wuyu stood up, helped Ding Ji clean up the table, and then stood by the sink, watching him wash the dishes and conveniently assisting.

“Don’t go back to the dormitory later,” Ding Ji said, “It’s too late, so just stay here today.”

“Is it convenient?” Lin Wuyu asked superfluously. Before Ding Ji could speak, he rushed to answer himself, “Convenient.”

Ding Ji laughed, “Pengpeng often spends the night here, as if it’s his own home. I also used to have other classmates who didn’t dare to go home after doing badly on exams. Or the neighbor’s children who wanted to hide after quarrelling with their parents. My grandparents are used to it.”

“Your home is like a Jianghu 3 .” Lin Wuyu smiled.

“That’s still incomparable, they are all kids, the Jianghu can’t support them,” Ding Ji handed him a washed bowl, “Then you can sleep in my room, my bed is big.”

“Oh.” Lin Wuyu paused.

“Ah,” Ding Ji was a little embarrassed suddenly, “Or I can sleep in my sister-in-law’s room, you sleep in my room.”

“Hm?” Lin Wuyu looked at him.

“No,” Ding Ji explained, “It’s just, if you don’t want to sleep in my room, just… you go to my sister-in-law’s room…”

“Liu Chapeng 4 , your classmates, friends and neighbors, where do they sleep?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Everyone squeezed a bed with me,” Ding Ji rubbed his nose, “It’s convenient to chat at night.”

“Then why did you ask me to sleep in your sister-in-law’s room?” Lin Wuyu laughed.

“Aren’t I… afraid of you being uncomfortable?” Ding Ji said.

“Why would I be uncomfortable?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“… Who knows why you are uncomfortable!” Ding Ji was a little annoyed, and viciously pushed a washed bowl into his hand.

Then you’re the one who is uncomfortable.

In normal times, Lin Wuyu would definitely say this sentence.

But he didn’t say it today. Today, Ding Ji had been feeling a little awkward after helping him with his mother. He didn’t want Ding Ji to continue to be embarrassed.

After the incident of him shouting on the rooftop, people who were familiar with him expressed tolerance and support, but the amount of malice he received was also not little. The biggest malice even came from his parents.

Although Ding Ji was surprised at first, he was always honest afterwards.

At this point, he didn’t want Ding Ji to be awkward either.

Fortunately, Ding Ji returned to normal after washing the dishes, and went back to the state that he had been after he had drank.

“We’re going for a walk!” He stood in the living room and said to his grandparents.

“Go.” Grandma waved her hand. “Seeing you makes me dizzy.”

“Let’s go!” Ding Ji waved to Lin Wuyu.

Lin Wuyu followed him out.

After going downstairs, he looked around. This kind of old community was a bit crowded, and much of the street lights were broken. When he came out at ten in the evening, there was no one in the vicinity.

But he looked up and saw that there were so many stars tonight, he felt quite comfortable.

“Where are we going to walk?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Usually I accompany my grandma on a walk by going out from the opening over there, walking into the main street, then going around the street and coming back from the opening where we came in by taxi today.” Ding Ji gestured.

“Sure.” Lin Wuyu said.

Ding Ji took a few steps and stretched his waist, “Aiya— Usually I would be getting ready to stay up late at this time, but now I’m so idle all of a sudden, I’m really not used to this.”

“Then why don’t you find some questions to do?” Lin Wuyu took out his mobile phone.

“Are you crazy!” Ding Ji quickly stepped aside to avoid him, “Have you not been abused enough yet?”

Lin Wuyu laughed, “You’re the one who’s not used to it.”

“I have never worked this hard before,” Ding Ji said, “I don’t even know what the final score might be.”

“It has to be in the top three no matter what.” Lin Wuyu said.

“Why don’t you say first place?” Ding Ji snorted.

“Because of me.” Lin Wuyu smiled.

“Fucking arrogant,” Ding Ji glanced at him, “What did you fill in as aspirations 5 ? Your parents should be answering a lot of calls these days right?”

“Mhm.” Lin Wuyu replied.

“H University?” Ding Ji asked.

“Are you planning to declare H University?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Should be, I don’t have any opinions, anywhere is fine. My parents were from H University. They definitely want me to go,” Ding Ji said. “I don’t plan to be obstinate about this matter. I don’t have any plans to go to other schools anyway. I’ll do them a favour.”

Lin Wuyu laughed, “What you said.”

“What about you?” Ding Ji asked again, “Should also be H University, right?”

He really wanted to know where Lin Wuyu would go. He had hoped to go to the same school as Lin Wuyu but he was also a little worried. Lin Wuyu, this person, had many plans and a lot of ideas. Who knows if he would unexpectedly play a card out of expectations.

“Not necessarily, what if I go abroad?” Lin Wuyu said.

Ding Ji was stunned, staring at him for a while before he sighed, “Go abroad my ass, right now you don’t even have anywhere to go to, you can go to Vietnam.”

Lin Wuyu couldn’t stop laughing.

Nevertheless, this reaction had let Ding Ji know that he probably had regular plans. Since he doesn’t want to say it, then let it be. If he pushed too much, it might seem like he was interested in this person.

“What field of study?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Who?” Ding Ji didn’t react.

“What major are you declaring?” Lin Wuyu smiled.

“Engineering mechanics.” Ding Ji said.

“Ah.” Lin Wuyu raised his eyebrows.

“What? Do you know anything about this major?” Ding Ji asked.

“Did you declare it without understanding anything?” Lin Wuyu also asked.

“I think it sounds interesting,” Ding Ji said, “but I have to think about it after I get my score.”

“It’s quite interesting.” Lin Wuyu patted him on the shoulder.

The two people didn’t follow the route that Ding Ji had planned. After a few random turns, they returned downstairs, as if a ghost had hit a wall.

“We’re going back after just this?” Lin Wuyu was a little confused.

“Take you to see the stars?” Ding Ji pointed up.

Lin Wuyu looked up, “Do you look at them on the rooftop?”

“Yes,” Ding Ji nodded, “My grandpa reserved a small piece of land on the rooftop, and planted some peppers. It’s very clean.”

“Go.” Lin Wuyu was very enthusiastic.

The rooftop was quite big, and at first glance it seemed uninteresting. The clotheslines pulled by the various families were put up, and there were many empty flower pots and half-empty flower pots, it was a mess.

But when you get to the southwest corner, you feel comfortable right away.

This was the site occupied by Ding Ji’s Grandpa. There was a small open space separated by a wrought iron flower stand. In addition to peppers, there were also some unknown plants. There was a small wooden table and two bamboo deck chairs in the middle.

“How about it, not bad, right?” Ding Ji took a lighter from the table, lit the mosquito coils under the table, put it around a recliner in a circle, and then sat on it.

“Won’t you choke?” Lin Wuyu was a little amused.

“I can bear it,” Ding Ji shook his chair and pointed to the sky. “Do you see it, the Big Dipper?”

“Mhm.” Lin Wuyu sat on the chair and looked at the sky, “Have you researched on astrology?”

“No, we Jianghu swindlers’ divine teachings and astrology are different trades separated by mountains 6 .” Ding Ji said.

Lin Wuyu smiled and said nothing.

Ding Ji looked at the stars for a while, sat up, and turned to look at him, “I just calculated a word.”

“What word?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Wu.” Ding Ji said.

“And then?” Lin Wuyu put his arm on a pillow.

“Do you plan to apply for engineering mechanics as a major?” Ding Ji asked.

“How is this calculated?” Lin Wuyu also sat up.

“When I was talking just now,” Ding Ji pinched his finger, “Your reaction was obviously a bit surprised, and then you added that ‘It’s quite interesting’. It’s really not difficult to calculate, and this field of study is also related to drones… If I hadn’t had a drink today, I would have figured it out just now…”

“You call this a calculation?” Lin Wuyu held back a laugh.

“Ah,” Ding Ji nodded, “Did I calculate correctly?”

Footnotes

this is a bit hard to explain but XTB uses the word 亚子 (yazi) here instead of 样子 (yangzi), which is why LWY said the following. This apparently originated from a cartoon character whose Mandarin pronunciation was not standard and had been used as a joke/meme as in affection without any particular reason, but ‘unreasonable love’ sounds awkward having people wandering from place to place I think this is a typo, he should be talking about Liu Jinpeng high school students have to fill out a form declaring what they plan to do after graduating, like which school they’re going to, i suppose ie. they are vastly different