Unbridled 5

Lin Wuyu started to laugh. “It’s pretty brave of you to ask this, huh?”

“Not as brave as what you just said,” Ding Ji answered.

“Then, were you not able to see after reading my palm?” Lin Wuyu looked at the palm of his left hand.

“I didn’t see it, but I wasn’t thinking in that direction either.” Ding Ji thought for a moment, then lowered his voice. “Are they not close to each other?”

“They’re pretty close to each other,” Lin Wuyu said.

“Oh,” Ding Ji replied.

The two didn’t speak any further. Instead, they looked at the baby carriage together.

After a few minutes, a police car drove over. Ding Ji jumped up and rushed over, waving at the car. “Here!”

The book that was shoved into his back pocket fell to the ground.

Lin Wuyu also often shoved test papers and books into his back pocket because he didn’t like holding things in his hands.

But Ding Ji wasn’t the same.

Lin Wuyu picked up the book from the ground. It was so old that the pages were already yellowing, but it seemed to be maintained pretty well, as all the pages were smooth and level and none of the corners were folded in.

On the cover, a hand was drawn with all the lines and contours; you didn’t need to know the name of the book to realize that it was about palm reading.

He didn’t think that this scammer would have reference material on hand as well… What dedication!

“Your…” When Lin Wuyu passed the book back to Ding Ji, he’d already waved the officer over.

“I’m the one that called the police,” Ding Ji pointed towards the baby carriage. “The kid’s really young, it’s been sleeping the whole time.”

“This kid’s probably two months old at most, right?” Just one glance was all it took for the old police officer to wrinkle his brow. “How did this stroller get pushed here? Do you guys know?”

Ding Ji and Da Dong immediately swivelled their heads to stare at Lin Wuyu.

“I was just standing here,” Lin Wuyu said while walking towards where he was standing before, “holding my phone while looking in that direction. I have absolutely no clue how the stroller got beside me, but I saw it the moment I turned my head.”

“We have to contact all the women around here first, as well as the hospital,” the old police officer said, turning around to his coworker. “This kid is too young, and we don’t know how long it’s gone hungry…”

“Then… can we go now?” Ding Ji asked from beside him.

“Please cooperate with us for now,” the old police officer said. “I have to record this incident, and we still have to perform an investigation after we settle the matter with this kid.”

“Now?” Lin Wuyu said.

“Yes,” the police officer nodded.

“What happened?” Ding Ji asked quietly. “Do you have something you need to do?”

“I still haven’t eaten,” Lin Wuyu quietly replied.

Ding Ji stopped paying attention to him.

From handing the kid over to the police officer, then cooperating and going to the local police station to record the incident, to answering all the questions until they could leave, Ding Ji never paid any attention to him.

He didn’t even spare a single glance.

The moment they exited the front door of their local police station, Ding Ji dragged his friend off and rode away on his bike. Lin Wuyu didn’t even have a chance to return his reference materials to him. Guess “All the Dogs” couldn’t come after all¹.

Lin Wuyu went to a noodle shop beside the police station and took the bus home.

He knows why Ding Ji suddenly stopped paying attention to him.

It’s probably because he thought he was too cold and indifferent towards an abandoned kid, that all he was thinking about was eating.

He didn’t even have a single sliver of sympathy.

He had noodles today, so what he brought back to his dormmates were just that; noodles.

It took quite a bit of energy for Lin Wuyu to carry the four servings of noodles into his dorm. Four servings of noodles and two servings of barbecue were about the same weight, but the noodles had soup, so when he was rushing past the old dorm head’s office, he needed both speed and dexterity.

“Don’t think I can’t tell who you are!” The old man’s voice came from afar.

You really can’t.

Lin Wuyu already ran onto the third floor, as he was confident with his speed.

The first floor had a mirror. Every time he ran past the mirror and looked at it, even he couldn’t tell who it was.

Like a flash of lightning.

The people in his dorm were all studying under their lamps, but the moment Lin Wuyu entered through the door, they all turned their focus onto him.

“I heard the old man yelling at you,” Chen Mang smiled.

“He said he could tell who I was,” Lin Wuyu said.

“No way, if he could tell he would’ve detained you right away.” Luo Chuan got up and took the takeout boxes from him. “You run away from him at least three times a week.”

“You had noodles for dinner today?” Liu Ziyi said. “This isn’t your style. you went out, but didn’t have a feast?”

“Something came up,” Lin Wuyu threw Ding Ji’s reference materials under his pillow. “Didn’t get to have a feast.”

He didn’t want to talk about the matter tonight with the baby. The biggest advantage of making his dormmates feel relaxed was revealed now, and thus nobody asked.

Such amazing dormmates! It felt like time passed faster with them compared to the time spent in class, and sometimes just thinking about it made him feel emotional.

“Is the other box yours?” Chen Mang asked.

“Four boxes were easier to carry,” Lin Wuyu said. “You guys split it; I’ve just eaten, I’m gonna read a bit.”

The Mystery of Palm Reading.

Lin Wuyu turned on his bedside lamp and put on his glasses.

The book seemed like a series of pirated books from the street stalls, but the name wasn’t something like “Simple and easy, learn palm reading in 5 minutes” or “Read the palm, know the man” or “From palm lines to their lifetime” or anything like that. Seems like it chose to walk the path of mystery.

Weird.

Oh, it seems like the author’s a foreigner.

Lin Wuyu habitually followed his usual steps to learning something, and first asked himself preliminary questions.

For example, where did palm reading originate, in which culture was palm reading most respected in, how were different sections of the palm lines separated and what is the basis for doing so…

Then he opened the book.

On the table of contents on the first page, there were two large lines carefully written in ballpoint pen.

Little child prodigy Ding Ji’s personal reference material.

I won’t give it to you. Don’t steal it. If you pick it up give it back to me.

Every word was around 2 centimetres in diameter², and it took Lin Wuyu ten seconds to read before he silently started to laugh.

There was also a line below indicating the date. According to the date written, this should’ve been written by Ding Ji when he was either in grade one or even earlier than that.

Lin Wuyu paused. Ding Ji knew quite a few words at just 5 or 6. It seemed like his ability to understand wasn’t too shabby either, and he had his own ideas. There weren’t many kids that thought books were a source of strength, and one of the pages even had a mark saying “My ass!” 

Interesting.

Lin Wuyu pushed up his glasses.

---

Ding Ji sat in front of his desk. His desk was ridiculously messy, covered in all sorts of random papers like tests and homework. Currently, he had a phone in one hand, while his other hand was busy flipping through the drawers on his desk.

He knew it was late right now, and Da Dong was definitely sleeping, but he couldn’t wait until the next day.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up…” He stood up, walking around his room twice, ripping off the covers and checking under his bed.

“Holy shit!” Da Dong finally picked up. “Are you crazy? Do you know what time it is?”

“I know it’s a little late…” Ding Ji said.

“It’s not a little, it’s almost four in the morning,” Da Dong heaved a sigh. “What’s up?”

“Have you seen the book that was in my back pocket?” Ding Ji frowned. 

“Back pocket? What book?” Da Dong was at a loss. “You brought a book outside?”

“It’s nothing, go to sleep.” Ding Ji hung up. He sat down beside his bed, despairing. At first, he was so sleepy he was about to pass out, but now he wasn’t sleepy at all.

Depressing.

He had to go live back at home right now, so yesterday he went to his grandma’s house to bring the book back with him. However, Lin Wuyu picked up a kid and was also kind of irritating. After struggling for a long time, he returned to do some questions and realised that his book was missing.

That book had been with him for many years, from grade one until now. He’s already read it and there’s nothing special about the book. He usually just keeps it around, and he rarely opened it.

However, it had been with him for so many years, and it was similar to a little girl’s doll in how it provided emotional support.

Sometimes, it was an important way for him to gain a sense of security.

When he was a little kid, this was a means for him to improve his relationship with his classmates and get rid of the bullying.

This book’s not important.

This book’s too important.

But he still had to sleep, and he still had to go to class tomorrow.

Everything was more relaxed at his grandparent’s house. When he lived at his parents’ house, however, he couldn’t skip classes. Earlier, his grandma thought he would leave school around 4 every day, just like how it was in elementary school. The reason why he didn’t come back until 6 or 7 was that he worked too hard at school.

He should sleep.

He fumbled his way to the bathroom like he was a thief and washed up, then went back to his room and took a random book from his bedside. His dad had bought a pile of books from his reading list. Ding Ji didn’t see what the book was about, and just stuffed it under his pillow and closed his eyes.

The first day his precious book ran away from home.

He missed it.

The next day.

He missed it. He found an online used bookstore and searched for it.

They actually had it.

27 yuan³? That’s too much!

The day after.

He missed it. He searched for it in the used bookstore.

36 yuan⁴? The shipping cost was 10 yuan⁵?

Ding Ji slid his phone into his pants pocket just before his teacher walked by, and kept his original posture without moving.

It wasn’t until his teacher patted him lightly on the shoulder that he suddenly raised his head and rubbed his eyes.

“Didn’t sleep well?” his teacher asked softly.

“Slept too late,” Ding Ji replied.

“Lie down for a few minutes if you’re sleepy,” his teacher said. “You still have to pay attention to balancing work and rest.”

“Yes,” Ding Ji nodded.

After his teacher walked away, he turned his head and looked to his side.

Shi Xiangyang was looking at him with disgust on his face. “How the hell are you so good at pretending?”

“Want me to teach you?” Ding Ji asked.

“No,” Shi Xiangyang replied uprightly.

“I’m going out for a bit later,” Ding Ji whispered. “If Mr He comes and asks about me, just say I went to the field to memorize books.” 

Shi Xiangyang didn’t immediately agree. After thinking for a while, he asked, “You’ve memorized books before? Don’t you have the legendary photographic memory?”

“My ass,” Ding Ji denied without even thinking about it. “When have I ever been part of the legend of having a photographic memory?”

“Then how do you normally take exams? You memorize books?” Shi Xiangyang asked.

“I don’t memorize anything, speaking of which… I chose to specialize in science since I thought I didn’t need to memorize anything,” Ding Ji sighed. “Unexpectedly, I had to memorize a lot.”

“Then how did you get the top five marks in the exam?” Shi Xiangyang asked again. 

“I listen in class, man.” Ding Ji sighed again. “I can mostly memorize what we need to memorize, and I can just make up the rest.”

Shi Xiangyang didn’t speak but just stared at him.

Ding Ji glanced at him and found that the expression on Shi Xiangyang’s face was very sad and lost.

He snapped back to his senses, and to prevent Shi Xiangyang from cutting up his cake again, he quickly added, “Sometimes I have to cheat.” 

“…Oh.” Shi Xiangyang nodded.

Ding Ji didn’t go to class in the second period in the afternoon and slipped out of school to go to the small park. Although he made a detour to see it several times in the past two days, he made another trip in the afternoon out of his determination to not give up.

Nothing.

He knew that used books could be bought online, but it didn’t matter to him.

He only wanted the book that’s been with him for over 10 years, the book that’s been under his pillow with him for over ten years, with his signature and label on it, with a smooth and shiny coil…

Now the last way to find his book was to ask that cold-blooded bastard Lin Wuyu.

Originally, he wanted to ask when Lin Wuyu came to the small park again, but what if Lin Wuyu threw away such an old book? After all, facing a child that was thrown away, Lin Cold-Blooded still thought about eating.

Ding Ji turned around and headed towards the affiliated high school.

Lin Wuyu was sitting on the edge of the playground, and in front of him were several PE classes.

He’d been on the playground since noon, walking and sitting, and now there were more students around him so he planned on going back to class or the dorms.

When he picked up his book and got up to leave, he stopped.

Someone had flipped over the fence of the stands opposite the playground.

The ones who like to climb over the wall from here were those in the second year of high school; led by Kou Chen

⁶

. It seemed like if they didn’t flip over the fence at least a few times a month, they weren’t considered high schoolers.

However, the ones who flipped through today weren’t students from the affiliated high school.

It was… Ding Ji?

Lin Wuyu pushed up his glasses, trying to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

However, after a second he realized that he was right.

After Ding Ji landed, he said a few words to a girl sitting in the stands. The girl then pointed towards Lin Quyu.

Then, Ding Ji sprinted over as if he had been looking for revenge for many years and had finally found his sworn enemy.

This speed made Lin Wuyu stand up vigilantly.

“Don’t leave!” Ding Ji pointed at him from more than ten meters away and shouted, “Lin Wuyu!”

“… I’m not leaving.” Lin Wuyu responded.

Probably because his voice wasn’t loud enough, Ding Ji didn’t hear it and continued to shout, “Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go… I need to settle some things with you…”

“You actually know where you can get over the fence?” Lin Wuyu waited until he arrived before asking.

“There are no schools with fences that can’t be overcome,” Ding Ji gasped. “And there are no schools that can’t be overcome through fences.” 

“What do you want from me?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“Have you seen a book back from that day that you picked up the kid?” Ding Ji asked.

“The Mystery of Palm Reading?” Lin Wuyu was a bit surprised. He originally wanted to go to the small park on the weekends to see if he could run into Ding Ji, but he didn’t expect that he’d actually climb over the fence and enter the school to find him for the sake of this book.

Ding Ji was suddenly relieved by this answer and didn’t want to say anything. He cupped his fist toward Lin Wuyu, sat down on the stone bench next to him, and let out a long sigh of relief.

“Just for this?” Lin Wuyu asked.

“That’s right, just for this,” Ding Ji said in a relaxed mood. “When did you get it?”

“I picked it up.” Lin Wuyu corrected

“When did you pick it up?” Ding Ji asked again.

“When you were excitedly running towards the policeman,” Lin Wuyu said.

“It fell off back then? I didn’t feel it at all,” Ding Ji stretched out his hand. “Give it to me, I haven’t slept well these past two nights.”

“It’s in the dorm,” Lin Wuyu said. “I’ll get it for you.”

“I’ll go with, save you the trip,” Ding Ji said.

“Don’t you have to flip over the fence to leave the school later?” Lin Wuyu pointed to the wall over there.

“I’ll walk out in a flash.” Ding Ji looked at the wall, and then followed Lin Wuyu. “I wanted to come in through the main entrance just now. Your guards are way too unreasonable. You’re allowed to leave but not allowed to enter.”

“It’s a good thing I’m on the playground. If I were in the classroom, you’d probably be kicked out before you even found out where I was.” Lin Wuyu glanced back at him.

“No,” Ding Ji waved his hand, “I asked a student who just came out at the door, and they said that you were either in the playground or in the cafeteria.”

“Oh,” Lin Wuyhu smiled.

“Learning God,” Ding Ji said.

LIn Wuyu raised his eyebrows.

“What’s the matter?” Ding Ji also raised his eyebrows.  “The people in your school said these exact words, ‘the god of learning, he’s either in the cafeteria or in the playground’.”

“I don’t like staying in the classroom,” Lin Wuyu said, “Little child prodigy.” 

Ding Ji stopped abruptly, and his voice wavered. “… Have you read my book?”

“I see, you didn’t write it down for me to see,” Lin Wuyu said. “It’s just written that I shouldn’t borrow it, shouldn’t steal it, and if I find it, I have to return it…”

“Stop talking!” Ding Ji sighed.

“Do you…” Lin Wuyu took a step back suddenly, and whispered in his ear, “Not like being called a child prodigy?”

1. remember the restaurant “All the Dogs Come”? They couldn’t go so the author made a pun
2. all Chinese characters are (supposed to be) the same size
3. like 5 bucks
4. like 7 bucks
5. two bucks
6. he’s the male lead in another novel by Wu Zhe in the same universe, called Qing Kuang. Read it here on novel updates: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/qing-kuang/?pg=3#myTable