AllUnbridled

Unbridled 3

‘Let’s see how you scam people.’

Lin Wuyu didn’t say anything. He just smiled and glanced at the scammer again before turning his head around.

“Continue,” said the idiot.

The cheat didn’t speak, but Lin Wuyu could feel him burning a hole into his back.

When it came to scamming, the main scammer definitely doesn’t want anyone else to be present besides the victim, but Lin Wuyu doesn’t plan on leaving. He really wants to hear the rest.

“Continue,” the idiot said, pausing for a moment before whispering. “Why are you concerned about that guy? If he wants to listen, let him listen… Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone even if you get something wrong.”

“Don’t!” The cheat raised his voice, “It’s best if you just said it anyways.”

Lin Wuyu chuckled to himself.

“You had your first love last year, right?” The scammer asked.

“… Yes,” the idiot said, sounding surprised.

“Have you ever been in a relationship before?” The scammer’s assistant was also surprised. “Is there really such a clueless girl?”

“What do you mean?” The idiot retorted. “Why can’t I have someone who likes me? And isn’t it bad to judge someone based on their appearance? Besides, Brother Ji1 is so good looking and no one likes him either…”

“Shut your mouth if you can’t speak properly,” the scammer said, pausing before continuing, “If you don’t change your address for me in the next sentence, I’ll help you calculate where all your teeth will fall out tonight.”

The assistant laughed so hard that he spat out saliva.

Lin Wuyu managed to hold it in.

“If you want him to show you anything in particular, ask up,” the assistant said with a smile.

“I just wanted to ask when I’ll fall in love again,” the idiot said.

“I can’t tell you that,” the scammer said.

“Why not?” The idiot asked. “Can’t you just make something up?”

“Who do you think I am, making something up just to make you happy,” the scammer said disdainfully, and after a two-second pause, he dealt another blow. “I can’t tell when you’ll be able to fall in love again, but I can tell that you won’t be able to fall in love for two years.”

“Oh no!” The idiot said, heartbroken, “Is that really true?”

“If you believe it, then it’s true,” the assistant said with emphasis. “Wait for two years for verification… If you can still find us after two years.”

Lin Wuyu silently laughed for a while, not listening to the rest of the conversation. The scammer stopped pretending, and it wasn’t fun just listening to the idiot being unhappy.

He had a bunch of study material waiting for him in his head.

He chased Brother Ji out of his mind.


After Chen Laosi left, Liu Jinping kept wanting to get up and leave. Da Dong and the others were adjusting the speakers on the empty ground by the flower beds, and he wanted to go play.

But Ding Ji didn’t show any intention of moving, so he could only sit still, just occasionally turning his head to look in that direction.

“You can go over there yourself, don’t sit here with me,” Ding Ji opened his mouth and said. “Just don’t tell them I came, I want to sit here for a while.”

“Okay!” Liu Jinping immediately jumped up, but soon sat back down next to him, looking at the person in front of him who had been staring blankly, and whispered, “Is that person okay?”

“A top student who is heartbroken, what could be wrong?” Ding Ji said.

Liu Jinping stared at him for a while: “You’re really evil.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Ding Ji waved his hand at him.

Liu Jinping jumped off the steps and ran over to where Da Dong and the others were.

Ding Ji stared at the back of the person’s head in front of him for a while. This person seemed to be in a trance, not moving for almost ten whole minutes.

He hesitated, looking around, and picked up a small piece of broken cement debris that he didn’t the origin of. He glanced at the steps next to the person’s right hand, and then flicked it in that direction.

He often threw things into the trash can from a distance and usually made it in. He was pretty confident in his aim.

But the cement debris broke into two small pieces as it flew out.

One small piece fell on the originally intended location, on the steps next to the person’s right hand.

The other small piece fell on the person’s head.

And it didn’t bounce off.

It just stayed there, calmly resting on top of his head.


Lin Wuyu raised his hand and touched his head.

He stared at the small piece of cement in his hand, then turned his head.

The three people behind him at some point had just become one person, the scammer called Brother Ji, who was looking at him.

Lin Wuyu didn’t have much of a reaction to this challenge. He just flicked the small piece of cement back into Brother Ji’s hand with a flick of his hand, and asked again: “Something the matter?”

“Nothing,” Brother Ji looked down at the cement that had returned to his hand. “Your aim is pretty good.”

Lin Wuyu’s review plan had been disrupted, so he didn’t turn his head back to continue, but instead still looked at him, “Is it for a fee?”

“What?” Brother Ji furrowed his brow.

“Uh… fortune-telling,” Lin Wuyu said. “How much?”

It’s not clear what type of scammer Brother Ji was, but as soon as he heard the words “how much” his face changed immediately. “What did you say?”

Lin Wuyu looked at him without saying anything.

“Do you know who I am?” He pointed to himself again.

Lin Wuyu thought for a few seconds, clearing his throat. “Is it… Brother Ji?”

Brother Ji was taken aback for a moment, his mouth remaining open for a long time without saying anything. He suddenly laughed after a while, “If it was someone else, you would have already died, you know.”

Lin Wuyu hooked the corner of his mouth, suppressing a laugh.

“Ignorance is bliss. Go ahead and laugh, it’s no big deal,” Brother Ji said, moving down a step and sitting behind him, extending his hand. His tone was kind but the content was fierce. “My name is Ding Ji, just Ding Ji, the character Ji from ‘Peace and Prosperity’. If you call me the wrong name again, I’ll turn you into the flashiest beyblade tonight.”

Ding Ji, huh… 

Lin Wuyu didn’t respond to his threats and shook hands with him instead, returning to the previous topic. “So it’s free of charge then?”

“Free of charge!” Ding Ji said, looking annoyed. “What do you want?”

“Can you tell me my fortune?” Lin Wuyu extended his left hand towards him.

“I won’t do it,” Ding Ji said.

“You won’t help strangers with fortune telling?” Lin Wuyu smiled.

Ding Ji narrowed his eyes and watched him silently.

“It’s hard to tell if you’re not familiar with them?” Lin Wuyu said.

“You’ll be heartbroken.” Ding Ji slapped his hands away and looked at him. “It will happen within a week.”

Lin Wuyu also looked at him.

“Am I right?” Ding Ji asked.

“Half-right,” Lin Wuyu answered honestly.

“Your secret crush got exposed,” Ding Ji said.

“Well,” Lin Wuyu nodded, “could you guess without looking at my hand?”

“I already told you it was a guess, what’s the point of looking at your hand?” Ding Ji disdainfully curled his lips. “Still wanna hear the rest?”

“No thanks,” Lin Wuyu firmly replied.

He really didn’t have any questions for Ding Ji. If he wanted to know something, he would find the answer himself. He didn’t need a stranger to tell him something he couldn’t verify for himself.

If he did have any questions, it would only be idle talk. He’d just be chatting with Ding Ji for a while.

It’s already late, and if he rushes back now he’ll be back just in time for the end-of-evening self-study at school. He won’t be able to buy a skewer anymore. 

He feels a little disappointed. 


Ding Ji stayed at the small park until about 11 pm and only jumped off the steps when there weren’t people around anymore.

It wasn’t a weekend, and the few people who were singing with Da Dong had no audience, so Liu Jinping followed them to a different location. 

 It was very unfair that he only sent a message to let him know. 

When Ding Ji looked in that direction, the group had already left.

He stretched his back lazily and realized that it was about time for him to head home.

His dad was probably still at his grandma’s house, so he didn’t want to go back yet. But his grandfather and grandmother would be worried.

But when he got home, he unexpectedly found that his father had already left.

Only his grandfather was in the room. He was still lying in front of the TV, cradling a teapot.

When he saw him come in, Grandpa poured tea into the cup in front of him. “Back?”

“Yeah,” Ding Ji sat down next to him. He took the tea and drank it, then leaned back on the couch.

“Who would have thought?” Grandpa said with a smile. “Are you regretting not coming home earlier?”

“Regret what? I was having too much fun to come back,” Ding Ji said.

“Your dad was the one who convinced me to send you back,” Grandpa patted his leg. “You haven’t been to school for two days now, right? Go to class tomorrow and come straight home after school. Don’t mess around before the exam, study hard.”

Ding Ji didn’t make a sound.

“Your mom and dad don’t want to control you much,” Grandpa said. “But since you’re such a smart kid, you should focus on your studies…”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Ding Ji interrupted Grandpa. “If I were really smart, I wouldn’t be like this.”

“Well, if you’re such an idiot,” his grandpa quickly changed his words, “how can you feel at ease without properly studying?”

Ding Ji laughed, and then sighed, “Fine, stop talking in circles. Drink your tea, I’m going to sleep.”

He definitely had to go to school, he hadn’t picked up the new test papers. 

Plus, he was going to be early since the school gates weren’t even open yet.

Ding Ji wrinkled his brows and took out his phone to check the time. He was still a little drowsy, but it disappeared when he saw the time.

“What the hell?” He exclaimed in shock, standing by the window of the security guard room.

“What’s wrong, did you get the wrong time?” The security guard asked, leaning on the window with a smile.

“Yeah,” Ding Ji said dejectedly, setting the clock on his phone’s lock screen back to the correct time.

Is this what it means to be smart? He couldn’t even read an analogue clock correctly.

“Did you eat breakfast?” the guard asked.

“Yeah,” Ding Ji mumbled in response.

“Go in,” the uncle opened the door. “Many of you third-year boarding students have also gotten up to go to class about now.”

“Yes, Uncle.” Ding Ji looked at him. This uncle has only been on the job for two months. “How can you tell that I am a senior in high school?”

“I know you, Ding Qi,” the uncle said. “There is a photo of you in the window on the bulletin board.”

Being called the wrong name didn’t really mean anything to Ding Ji. He has had many names since elementary school: Ding Qi, Ding Yuqi, Ding Wen, Ding Something; a blind person even called him Ding Lin.

He smiled at the uncle and entered the gate.

The last three rows of the classroom are a wonderful space.

Even in a school like No. 3 High, which is always fighting with its affiliate school for the top spot in terms of graduation rates, the last three rows have their own unique style.

At this moment, Ding Ji’s deskmate, Shi Xiangyang, was placing a cake on the desk and trying to cut it into small pieces with a knife. 

He repeatedly cut it, apparently trying to achieve a diameter of one millimetre. 

In reality, this size is hard to achieve and the cake has already almost been broken before reaching it. 

Anxiety. 

That’s what teacher He said.

In the back rows, there are always a few students who don’t want to rotate seats, so anxiety tends to accumulate heavily in the back rows, visible from left to right.

He didn’t want to think about the one guy on the left who kept biting his nails.

“I’ve got a question,” Ding Ji pulled out the physics exercise set from his schoolbag.

“Yes?” Shi Xiangyang nodded.

Ding Ji chose a simple one, “Tell me about this question.”

Shi Xiangyang recovered a little vitality, and after explaining the questions to him, he ate the cake on the table.

Ding Ji has no intention of helping Shi Xiangyang. He had just heard about a student at No. 8 High who went crazy before the exams and hacked at his deskmate with a knife seven or eight times. 

Shi Xiangyang is a tall, rectangular, muscular man who stands at 196 cm and weighs around the same. 

This is self-defence. 

Every day may be the same length, but time seems to pass at different speeds each day. 

For example, today, even though he’s also in school, time seemed to go by especially quickly because he had to go back “home” in the evening. If time had legs, he’d pounce and break them.

Actually, he lived in the dorms for the entirety of the last semester and was quite comfortable, but his dad thought he was getting too comfortable and forced him to leave the dorms and come home.

Most of the time, as soon as he opens the door at home, he can smell the food and see his parents’ smiles, which is nice.

Just uncomfortable.

Ding Ji spent too little time with the two of them, so they were barely acquaintances. Especially in the first two years, they weren’t even on that level.

They probably saw each other once during Chinese New Year, but the younger the child, the harder it is to maintain the memory. The next time they saw each other, he’d forget all about it.

“Hey, you’re back,” his mom called out from the dining room. She turned to the cook, “Sister Liu, put the food on the table.” 

Ding Ji threw his school bag on the sofa and went to wash his hands.

The dishes on the table are all his favourites, such as scrambled eggs with tomatoes, five-flavoured duck, steamed meat pie and pork rib soup. Every time he went home, these dishes were almost always the main ones, plus one or two other dishes in rotation.

This menu has not been changed for about two or three years. When his parents came back to the country, they inquired about his favourite dishes from his grandma.

Sometimes Ding Ji can’t understand how their brains work.

Even if these were his favourite dishes, after two or three years of having them continuously, he’s bound to vomit from them.

But if he’s asked what his favourite dish is, he couldn’t say anything even if he wanted to.

He wasn’t picky about food and didn’t have anything he outright wouldn’t eat.

For him, there is no special favourite dish that can improve their relationship with him if he eats it. He is just used to eating the dishes made by his grandma.

“Is it delicious?” his mother asked.

“Yeah, delicious,” Ding Ji nodded.

“Did you go to school today?” his father asked.

“I went,” Ding Ji replied, sinking his head into his meal, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw that both of them relaxed at the same time.

“You still have to focus,” Dad said. “I called your teacher, Mr. He. During this time you have missed too many classes, and your test scores have been declining…”

“En,” Ding Ji responded cooperatively, wanting to interrupt him with a positive attitude.

But it didn’t work out.

“You’ve been a smart kid ever since you were little,” his father continued. “You have always been recognized as a smart kid… Of course, your current grades are not bad compared to others, but you can obviously do better. You…”

Ding Ji scooped two spoonfuls of tomato scrambled eggs into the bowl and mixed it with the rice. He bowed his head to finish his meal and stood up as soon as the bowl was put down.

“Where are you going?” his mother looked at him.

“Review.” Ding Ji walked to the sofa and picked up his schoolbag.

“You’re emotional again,” his father said.

“Let the kid finish his meal before you start talking,” Sister Liu sighed. “We never scold kids at the dinner table, they can’t eat properly.”

“He can only listen to us while eating,” his mother sighed. “His grandpa and grandma don’t talk as much as we do. How did this child become like this…”

The moment Ding Ji entered the room, he suddenly slammed the door shut with a bang.

He stood behind the door for a while, then sat down at his desk.

He had been a little lazy lately. He rubbed his stomach. He just ate too fast and was a little bit stuffed.

But being lazy is the norm. After a while, he will feel too tired. Apart from playing, he has no energy to do anything.

So his grades had been going up and down, fluctuating wildly.

He lacked perseverance, and concentration, and has no efficient learning methods.

He’s a fool but he doesn’t want to change.

To sum it up, he doesn’t think he’s very smart, and he hates it when people say he’s smart. He doesn’t deserve the word smart at all.

‘ … Let’s review.’ 

He took out a set of practice problems from his schoolbag, laid them down on the table, and began to do the questions while leaning on his elbow.


“Didn’t you eat in the cafeteria today?” Chen Mang looked at Lin Wuyu. “You are getting more and more wild.”

“I have a headache,” Lin Wuyu pressed his temples. “I’m going out for a walk, and I’ll eat something good along the way.”

“Remember to bring some back,” Chen Mang immediately submitted.

“I might be back early today,” Lin Wuyu said. “I won’t bring skewers.”

“We don’t pay that much attention to free food, we just eat what we have,” Chen Mang said.

Lin Wuyu smiled.

When he went to the small park a few days ago, he saw a shop with a cute decoration across the street called “All the Dogs Come”. He was too lazy to cross the street, so he didn’t go.

He planned to take a stroll over there today to have a look. Maybe there was something delicious, and his head won’t hurt after eating.

Maybe there are dogs to pet.

Lin Wuyu went to the small park full of expectations.

All the Dogs Come.

It’s a small cafe.

There were indeed dogs, three of them, with a small sign hanging around their necks: Lulu, Lala, and Doggy.2

But that’s beside the point. The point was that all the tables in the store were single tables with a single chair.

There was writing on the table— Hi, single dog. 3

However, the photos stuck one after another on the wall were all of two people and were sweet and greasy couple photos.

Lin Wuyu felt that he had been severely injured, and turned around and left without patting any dogs.

His head hurt.

Lin Wuyu bought a box of painkillers at a pharmacy next to the small square. When he crossed the square to go to the opposing supermarket to buy a bottle of water, he saw Brother J-… Ding Ji on the steps.

“What a coincidence?” Ding Ji raised his left eyebrow.

Today, there was no scamming assistant next to Ding Ji, nor was there an idiot. He was the only one.

“Did you calculate that I would come?” Lin Wuyu still had a headache and didn’t pause.

“I didn’t calculate anything,” Ding Ji looked at him. “If I had calculated, I would have brought a bottle of water for you.”

Lin Wuyu glanced at him and stopped.

“Headache?” Ding Ji asked complacently, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

Lin Wuyu didn’t speak and looked back in the direction he came from.

“I have water here,” Ding Ji took out a large glass bottle from behind, “but I just drank from it…”

“Let me guess,” Lin Wuyu said.

“Huh?” Ding Ji was stunned.

“You saw when I left last time. I was probably going back to my residence, which means that the direction I live is in…” he pointed behind Ding Ji, “over there.”

Ding Ji held the big glass bottle and said nothing.

“But today I came from the opposite direction. When I came here, I rubbed my temples about three times. It’s likely a headache, and it’s also very serious.” Lin Wuyu rubbed his temples again. “So I might have gone to buy medicine to relieve the pain, and in this small square, there’s only one pharmacy to buy medicine… If you didn’t see me coming, you probably couldn’t calculate that.”

Ding Ji still didn’t make a sound and looked at him.

“Actually, for the sake of caution, it may have been more appropriate to ask if it was a headache first since I could always ask the pharmacist for a glass of water to take the medicine. But it’s more effective to mention water first. Anyways, if I got it wrong, I have a headache as my excuse. I don’t know you anyway.”

“Holy shit!” Ding Ji said.

“Did I guess right?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Yeah,” Ding Ji said.

“Water.” Lin Wuyu stretched out his hand.

Ding Ji handed him the water bottle in his hand.

Translator's Notes

  1. T/N: Brother Ji is likely Ding Ji, but they used the word for chicken (ji) instead of his actual name’s ji, which means clear skies.
  2. T/N: Original names Liuliu, Langlang, Gougou (literally just dog dog)
  3. T/N: Single dog = someone without a partner/significant other