Unbridled 12

“…It’s quite sweet,” Ding Ji muttered.

 

“When I came out, I ate some ice cream,” said Lin Wuyu, “and now I’m feeling a bit full.”

 

“Your appetite’s so small that just a single ice cream filled you up?” Ding Ji stood up and went to the nearby shop to wash his hands. He then pushed his electric bike out.

 

“Three cartons,” Lin Wuyu rubbed his stomach. “I’m really feeling full now. Ice cream takes up more space than rice.”

 

“You’re trying to speedrun diarrhea, aren’t you?” Liu Jinpeng couldn’t help but say.

 

“Behave yourself,” Ding Ji got on the bike and tilted his head towards Lin Wuyu. “Get on.”

 

Lin Wuyu put the big bag in his hand on the pedal.

 

“Did you buy something?” Ding Ji asked.

 

“Yes, milk powder,” Lin Wuyu said. “Give me 200 yuan later. It’s a joint purchase between us.”

 

“Okay,” Ding Ji nodded.

 

When Lin Wuyu got on the bike, he tucked the hem of his shirt into his waistband.

 

“What village’s fashion trend is that?” Liu Jinpeng looked at him with disdain.

 

“Shut up,” Ding Ji started the electric bike, didn’t wait for Liu Jinpeng to speak again, and drove into the fruit street.

 

“Can you get through on this side?” Lin Wuyu asked from behind.

 

“Yup,” Ding Ji said as he skillfully weaved through the crowd. “I can navigate this place with my eyes closed, don’t worry.”

 

“You…” Lin Wuyu looked back in the direction of the watermelon stand. “No wonder you called me a watermelon when you said that I wasn’t your peach blossom last time¹.”

 

“What?” Ding Ji turned his head.

 

“Are you always selling watermelons there?” Lin Wuyu asked.

 

‘No wonder.’ Ding Ji sighed.

 

“I don’t sell the watermelons, they’re Pengpeng’s.” He wasn’t sure if Lin Wuyu would believe him. “I didn’t even help, I just ate watermelon there.”

 

“I see,” said Lin Wuyu. “You wouldn’t make much money selling the watermelons from that cart anyway. So, did you and Peng Peng split the profits?”

 

“No, I told you I didn’t sell them,” replied Ding Ji. “But anyways, where are you staying these days?”

 

“In my dorm,” answered Lin Wuyu.

 

“Oh,” Ding Ji nodded. He hadn’t lived on campus for a long time, so he sometimes had trouble keeping up.

 

When they arrived at the welfare institution, Lin Wuyu worried that the electric bike wouldn’t be able to make the trip back. Ding Ji reassured him that the battery had been upgraded and could make it back and forth from the suburbs.

 

“It looks like you’re yelling at the traffic police all over your bike,” Lin Wuyu sighed.

 

“What do you mean?” Ding Ji locked the bike.

 

“Like you’re saying, ‘Come and arrest me!’,” Lin Wuyu joked.

 

Ding Ji pulled his arm. “No, seriously. How can a seemingly responsible person like me do things like that?”

 

Lin Wuyu laughed and walked towards the entrance of the welfare institution.

 

The child they had found had been abandoned because of a congenital disability in his right hand. He could not open his palm. The police hadn’t been able to find his parents and no one had adopted him yet. However, at the welfare institution, a disabled hand was a relatively minor problem. The receptionist said that when the child grew up a bit, corrective surgery could be done, and he could probably be adopted then.

 

There were many children with physical or intellectual disabilities in the institution, and many of them were severe cases. Ding Ji felt uneasy seeing them all, and he wondered how Lin Wuyu felt.

 

He turned his head and glanced back at him.

 

Lin Wuyu was watching a child sitting in a small circular chair gnawing on an apple. The child seemed to have an intellectual disability, and the muscles on his face were constantly twitching. His hands and face were covered in apple juice from gnawing on it.

 

Then the child grinned at Lin Wuyu.

 

Ding Ji quickly looked at Lin Wuyu. If this heartless person dared to turn a cold shoulder, he would immediately glare at him.

 

But Lin Wuyu didn’t turn his face away. He forced a smile and grinned at the child.

 

“We have a volunteer who just had a baby,” a receptionist led them inside. “The baby can be fed some breast milk, but most of the time, they still need to drink formula.”

“We brought some formula,” Ding Ji said. “Big brother Wuyu bought it. I don’t know if it’s suitable or not.”

 

“It should be suitable,” Lin Wuyu said. “When I went to the Mother & Baby store, I asked a lady with a child.”

 

“You are very thoughtful,” the receptionist said with a smile. “Thank you, but students don’t need to spend money. If you want to come to see the child in the future, just come over.”

 

There wasn’t much to see, especially as it was just a sleeping child.

 

The receptionist led the two of them, and the three of them stood around the small crib, bowing their heads to look at the sleeping child as if performing some solemn ceremony.

 

It felt particularly silly.

 

Lin Wuyu took a step aside.

 

“Does he have a name now?” Ding Ji asked.

 

“Yes, it’s Dong Lai,” the receptionist said. “Dong Lai from Zi Qi Dong Lai², as it’s auspicious.”

 

“Why not just call him Zi Qi³?” Ding Ji asked casually.

 

The receptionist and Lin Wuyu looked at him together.

 

“It doesn’t sound good,” the receptionist said.

 

“Oh,” Ding Ji smiled sheepishly and nodded.

 

After chatting for a bit longer, they walked out.

 

After all, they didn’t know this child well, and he was asleep, so they couldn’t play with him.

 

Several children in the activity room started fighting for some unknown reason and they rolled up into a ball on the ground. The older sister went to help break it up and thus couldn’t send them out.

 

“Not bad,” Ding Ji walked out. “There are still many things to play with in the courtyard.”

 

“Mhm,” Lin Wuyu responded.

 

“You’re going back to school later, right?”

 

“Why don’t you take me back to the watermelon stand and I’ll buy two to take back to the dormitory to eat. I’ll help your little business.” 

 

“…I won’t take your money,” Ding Ji sighed.

 

“Then forget it,” Lin Wuyu said.

 

“Oh,” Ding Ji was a little helpless. “Okay, I’ll give you a discount.”

 

“Okay,” Lin Wuyu smiled.

 

Just as they had taken a few steps, a small black shadow suddenly rushed out from the side and hugged Lin Wuyu’s leg.

 

Lin Wuyu was startled, and when he turned his head to retract his leg, he found that it was a little boy.

 

The little boy looked up, hugged his leg and greeted him loudly, “Daddy!”

 

“What…” Lin Wuyu was shocked and turned to look at Ding Ji.

 

The shock on Ding Ji’s face slowly turned into a grin.

 

“Daddy!” the little boy shouted again.

 

Ding Ji burst out laughing.

 

“Who’s your daddy?!” Lin Wuyu bounced on one leg as the little boy held on tight. He dared not use any force.

 

“Daddy!” the little boy continued to shout.

 

“Do I look like a daddy to you?” Lin Wuyu couldn’t help but turn his head to ask Ding Ji.

 

Ding Ji was already laughing so hard he couldn’t say a word.

 

Lin Wuyu had to lower his head and stare at the child. The child wouldn’t let go and he didn’t move.

 

It wasn’t until they faced each other that he saw clearly that the child’s right eye should be blind, with a grey eyeball and slightly sunken sockets.

 

His eyes were still quite big, though.

 

“Let me have a go.” Ding Ji finally had his fill of laughing on the side, and he came over and squatted beside his leg and pinched the child’s hand, “What’s your name?”

 

“Tell him to let go of me first,” Lin Wuyu said.

 

Ding Ji looked up at him and made a “shut up” gesture with his mouth.

 

“Ding Man⁴,” the little boy answered.

 

“Ding Man? Why does it sound familiar?” Ding Ji looked up at Lin Wuyu again.

 

“That fennec fox in The Lion King,” Lin Wuyu answered.

 

“Oh, right, Lion King, Hakuna Matata,” Ding Ji pointed at Ding Man’s nose. “Then you should be my son, I’m Ding Ji. I also know a Peng Peng, and I’ll bring him over to play with you next time.”

 

“Dad!” Ding Man didn’t hesitate for a second and turned to hug Ding Ji’s arm.

 

Lin Wuyu quickly backed away, “This child’s standards for a dad are pretty low.”

 

“If you don’t want to cooperate, why don’t you have a go?” Ding Ji said.

 

“I’ll cooperate,” Lin Wuyu said hastily.

 

Ding Man’s name was indeed Ding Man, named by his foster mother.

 

However, nobody knew why he was so fixated on calling people “Daddy”; as long as they were older males, he’d hug them and call them “Daddy”.

 

When the receptionist sister came to take him away, he still kept waving to Ding Ji and Lin Wuyu, “Daddy!”

 

“Say goodbye to Daddy!” Ding Ji also waved.

 

“Daddy!” Ding Man shouted. “Daddy!”

 

“Goodbye, Daddy!” Ding Ji waved.

 

“Dad!” Ding Man continued to shout.

 

“Goodbye, daddy!” Ding Ji waved.

 

“Oh man,” Lin Wuyu sighed. The child’s intelligence was probably fine and he was reluctant to let them go, but the kid didn’t say goodbye to them so he had to pull Ding Ji out the door, “If you called me again I would have agreed, okay?”

 

“Was this child thrown out by his dad…” Ding Ji also sighed.

 

“He’s probably never met his dad. Everyone here is a mother, aunt or sister,” Lin Wuyu said.

 

“I didn’t see my father when I was a child,” Ding Ji said. “I wouldn’t call someone ‘daddy’ just because of that.”

 

Lin Wuyu glanced at him.

 

“What are you looking at?” Ding Ji glared at him.

 

“You have grandparents,” Lin Wuyu said. “It’s different. At least your grandparents love you.”

 

“What do you know?” Ding Ji said. “My grandparents are very mean. They hit me every day and don’t give me food or drink…”

 

“Then why do you always want to run to their place? You always talk about your grandma and grandpa. I’ve never heard you mention your mom or dad.”

 

“What’s there to say?” Ding Ji took out the scooter key and pressed it. His action was very chic. His posture made it seem like there was a four-wheel vehicle right in front of him. “We’re not that close.”

 

“Did you grow up with your grandparents?” Lin Wuyu asked. “Your parents weren’t around?”

 

“Not around?” Ding Ji stuffed his clothes into his waistband and got into the car. “They were practically on the other side of the world. I didn’t even know I had parents till I was ten years old.”

 

“Oh,” Lin Wuyu got into the back seat. “That’s good.”

 

Ding Ji turned his head and glanced at him, but didn’t say anything.

 

“Your grandparents taught you well.” Lin Wuyu felt that his previous “that’s good” wasn’t appropriate, so he added another sentence.

 

“But they don’t think so,” Ding Ji smiled as he started the car.

 

The scooter drove all the way back, and the two of them didn’t speak. Lin Wuyu stared at the back of Ding Ji’s head and thought about the exercise sheet he did at noon.

 

Compound E and compound H can undergo the coupling reaction under the Cr-Ni catalysis… The chemical equation for the generation of C from B, which is a monochlorinated hydrocarbon, is… Simple, let’s move on… Mammalian nuclear transplantation can be divided into embryonic cell nuclear transplantation and somatic cell nuclear transplantation… Okay, there are a few questions left undone… A U-shape with both ends sealed and uniform thickness… A column of mercury… When it is vertical with the top facing upward, the left and right sides… l1=18.0cm, l2=12.0cm… The pressure is 12.0 cmHg… Assuming it is vertical facing upward… p1p2… Horizontally… p… From the equilibrium condition of force… From Bohr’s law… From the blah blah blah equation and the given conditions of the problem…

 

His body suddenly moved forward.

 

Before Lin Wuyu could react, his nose had already collided with the back of Ding Ji’s head.

 

A sour feeling rushed straight to his head, and he felt so uncomfortable that tears came out, just like eating mustard.

 

“Watch the road!” Ding Ji shouted while touching the back of his head. “You’re just rushing forward with your eyes closed!”

 

“Don’t you look at the road when you’re driving?” Someone in the middle of the road also shouted.

 

“If I didn’t watch the road, would you be able to still stand there and shout? If I didn’t watch the road, you’d be lying on the ground begging me to call 120⁵ for you!”

 

“You’re blind!” The person in the middle of the road continued to shout.

 

Lin Wuyu frowned and glanced over there. It was a skinny guy who looked like a pair of chopsticks and wore disposable chopstick-like tight pants with his ankles exposed, and when he lifted his arms even his waist was exposed. Although fashion was a personal choice and Lin Wuyu never commented on others, he wouldn’t stop himself from madly complaining in his heart.

 

This was one of the male anti-human dress styles⁶ that he found the most intolerable. Looking at it inexplicably made people angry, seriously affecting the physical and mental health of passersby.

 

“Any new words? If you’ve got nothing new to say, shut up! With a vocabulary of just a few words, you can’t even argue with anyone on the street!”

 

“You’re driving without eyes…”

 

“You’re not done yet, are you?” Ding Ji said. “You didn’t even bring your brain when you went out, and you’re still asking me if I brought my eyes?”

 

The person was still shouting.

 

“Forget it,” Lin Wuyu didn’t want to see this person again and whispered, touching his nose. “Let’s go, don’t argue with someone like him.”

 

“I don’t want to argue either,” Ding Ji also whispered. “It seems like the scooter is out of battery.”

 

“Wasn’t it driving fine just now?” Lin Wuyu was puzzled.

 

“The battery is low now, I don’t know why,” Ding Ji said. “This road is a bit uphill, it might be difficult to drive it up…”

 

“Can we still drive it?” Lin Wuyu asked.

 

“We can, but…” Ding Ji hesitated.

 

“Let’s go.” Lin Wuyu was very decisive.

 

“Okay.” Ding Ji twisted the handlebars.

 

Disposable chopsticks was still standing in the middle of the road, cursing.

 

“You have no eyes, you’re not looking at the road, you didn’t bring glasses, you’re blind, green bean eyes…”

 

The more he cursed, the more detached from reality he became. Ding Ji had big eyes, if he had to use bean comparisons, it should be mung beans at least.

 

The scooter started moving.

 

Slowly moving forward.

 

Lin Wuyu waited for the scooter to accelerate and fly away, even if it could only travel 500 meters with the last bit of electricity and leave this person behind, his head was almost starting to ache from thinking about him.

 

But the scooter never accelerated.

 

Slowly, steadily, it drove forward.

 

To be precise, it was moving forward.

 

“What’s going on?” Lin Wuyu was puzzled by this phenomenon. “Can’t we drive it?”

 

“We are driving it,” Ding Ji replied calmly.

 

“…Is this what happens when the battery runs out?” Lin Wuyu was a bit confused.

 

“Yes,” Ding Ji said, “You didn’t let me finish my sentence earlier, you were like a general, ‘Drive!’ So I, a poor soldier, could only drive…I just wanted to say that this is what it’s like when you drive with low battery.”

 

“I didn’t know.” Lin Wuyu suddenly felt like laughing.

 

“You’ve never driven an electric scooter before?” Ding Ji asked.

 

“No,” Lin Wuyu sighed. “I thought it would suddenly stop while driving at normal speed.”

 

The disposable chopsticks was still cursing, probably thinking that they were deliberately not leaving. 

 

Chopsticks became even angrier and started moving parallel with them, cursing while walking.

 

Lin Wuyu no longer felt annoyed by the noise and just wanted to laugh.

 

This scene was really funny.

 

Ding Ji probably sensed it too, turned his head and had a very restrained smile on his face. “If I laugh now, will he come over and hit me?”

 

“I don’t know,” Lin Wuyu laughed. “Why don’t you try?”

 

Ding Ji turned back and started laughing as he drove ahead.

 

Chopsticks had some self-awareness and didn’t come over to hit them. He cursed them for a hundred meters and then walked away.

 

The scooter drove another two hundred meters and then stopped at an intersection.

 

The two got off the car and took turns pushing it forward.

 

“I’m sorry for delaying your review,” Ding Ji said.

 

“No,” Lin Wuyu said. “I am reviewing.”

 

Ding Ji glanced at him. “Are you reviewing in your head?”

 

“Mhm,” Lin Wuyu nodded.

 

“Your reviewing is as real as my fortune-telling,” Ding Ji clicked his tongue. “You’re so delusional.”

 

“If I had my books, I wouldn’t be like this all the time. It’s because I don’t have my books,” Lin Wuyu smiled. “There is a fundamental difference between this and your fortune-telling… but what you predict isn’t entirely unfounded, right?”

 

Ding Ji didn’t say anything.

 

After twenty minutes of pushing, they finally charged the car at the entrance of a supermarket.

 

Lin Wuyu went into the supermarket, took a turn, bought two boxes of two-colour ice cream, handed one box to Ding Ji, and the two sat on chairs outside the supermarket waiting for the car to charge.

 

“So, uh,” Ding Ji vigorously stirred the ice cream and said something unclear.

 

“Hmm?” Lin Wuyu poked and stirred the ice cream.

 

“That, your brother… Lin Zhan,” Ding Ji said very carefully, “you asked me that day…”

 

“Is he still alive?” 

 

“He is alive.” Ding Ji nodded.

 

“Oh.” Lin Wuyu exhaled lightly, almost imperceptibly.

 

Ding Ji also breathed a sigh of relief.

 

He didn’t know whether Lin Zhan was alive or not, and he couldn’t figure it out with his limited knowledge of fortune-telling.

 

He just felt that Lin Wuyu cared about this matter very much. A person who didn’t believe in fate and repeatedly asked him to help calculate, even studied palmistry…

 

Actually, Lin Wuyu was a very resilient person. If it weren’t for these encounters, it would be hard to tell that he had been affected by these things on the surface.

 

After all, he was a study god. It would be a shame if his review was affected.

 

Ding Ji wasn’t sure if Lin Wuyu hoped that Lin Zhan was alive or not. After all, Lin Wuyu had said before that he was treated as if he were air and a superfluous person, and his brother was definitely not air or superfluous… so he had to confirm again that Lin Wuyu had asked twice, “Is he still alive?” Based on his years of experience scamming people, what he said meant he probably hoped to get a positive answer to his question, or else he would’ve asked, “Is he dead?”

 

While Ding Ji was organizing his thoughts on his own ignorance, Lin Wuyu suddenly put his arm on his shoulder.

 

His train of thought suddenly took a sharp turn.

 

‘Hey! What are you doing?’

 

“Thank you,” Lin Wuyu said.

 

“Hmm?” Ding Ji looked at him.

 

Lin Wuyu raised his hand and patted his head twice, “Thank you.”