Unbridled 6
Ding Ji was silent, and his heart skipped a beat.
He usually saw through strangers at a glance and felt other people’s hearts “skipping a beat”. However, today he was suddenly seen through by a stranger… Strictly speaking, does Lin Wuyu even count as a stranger..?
He does.
But how did you know?
… You’re embarrassing me!
“I saw that there were rubbing marks on the words ‘Child Prodigy’,” Lin Wuyu said.
“No, it’s just that I realized I was too arrogant when I was young and dumb.” Ding Ji admitted nothing.
“Oh,” Lin Wuyu smiled and asked no more. He just turned around and walked forwards.
Ding Ji could tell from the smile on the corner of his mouth that Lin Wuyu didn’t believe his denial. To some extent, it probably reinforced Lin Wuyu’s thoughts.
“You’ve kept this book for 10 years, right?” Lin Wuyu asked as he walked.
“Yeah,” Ding Ji replied. “I intend to make it a family heirloom.”
“Why are you so worried about losing it?” Lin Wuyu asked. “I’ve already memorized the contents of this book by heart…”
“I can’t remember,” Ding Ji said. “I have to reread it every day.”
“No way,” Lin Wuyu laughed. “It took me just two days to remember it.”
“Keep bullshitting. I’ll keep it a secret for you.” Ding Ji answered casually.
“The healthy colour of a hand should be varied, with the colour being lighter in the middle of the palm and darker near the wrist.” Lin Wuyu turned his head and looked at him after he finished speaking. “People who are indecisive often find it difficult to clench their fists, and when they do clench their fists, they often hide their thumbs in their palms.”
Ding Yu looked back at him.
“Besides this sentence is written ‘Not necessarily, they may feel that there is no sense of security’.” The smile on Lin Wuyu’s face was gone, and his expression was very serious. “An elementary schooler knowing all this is ridiculously impressive. What books are you reading?”
“Damn,” Ding Yu said.
“Horizontal ridge marks indicate the nails have stopped growing because of certain health issues,” Lin Wuyu smiled. “It’s all what you annotated.”
“Should I applaud you?” Ding Ji asked.
“Please do,” Lin Wuyu nodded.
“I didn’t annotate anything after the part about the nails not growing,” Ding Ji said.
“If I tell you the answer right now,” Lin Wuyu said, “can you verify it right away?”
“… No,” Ding Ji said. “I only remember the general content.”
“Just knowing the general content is enough, I only remember the general content as well.” Lin Wuyu cleared his throat, turned around and continued walking, “When the ridge line reaches the tip of the nail, there will be slight illness. It takes about six months for the ridge to reach the tip of the nail from the root, and when this occurs, you should take precautions regarding your health…”
Lin Wuyu kept his back facing him, and Ding Ji wasn’t completely listening to him, but he had to admit that he admired Lin Wuyu at this moment.
This wasn’t just a general idea on the subject. Although he said he only knew the general content, he knew that what Lin Wuyu said was verbatim.
Even if Lin Wuyu had prepared in advance to pretend to have a photographic memory…. It’s better to skip over how he’s doing this useless and strenuous task while everyone’s panicking over the fast-approaching university entrance exams and stressing over the lack of time… Memorizing this content verbatim in such a short time is quite a feat.
Even though it’s boring.
After all, Lin Wuyu didn’t know that Ding Ji would test his memory, and where or what he’d test.
When he walked to the door of the dormitory, Ding Ji slowed down. The dorm keepers usually had an amazing ability to recognize faces, and at the least, they could tell if the student was from their school.
“I’ll wait here…” Before Ding Ji finished speaking, Lin Wuyu had already grabbed his wrist, and then pulled him forward.
Ding Ji staggered and was pulled into the door of the dormitory by him. Before he could stand up straight, Lin Wuyu put his hand on the back of his head again, pushed down, and said, “Run.”
“Fuck.” Ding Ji squeezed one word through the cracks in his teeth, ducked under the dorm keeper’s office, and charged into the stairwell with him.
“Bro! I said I’ll wait outside,” Ding Ji was speechless. “And that I wouldn’t go in!”
“I thought you wanted to come in and take a look,” Lin Wuyu said.
“What’s the damn point of looking in a boy’s dorm?”
“Oh?” Lin Wuyu looked at him.
“I’m not interested in girls’ dorms either,” Ding Ji hurriedly said. “I don’t have any interest in student dorms.”
There wasn’t anyone in their dorm. Lin Wuyu picked up the book on the bedside, flipped through it a few times and handed it to Ding Ji. He asked, “When did you buy this book?”.
“First grade.” Ding Ji took the book and touched the cover. “I bought it at a bookstall.”
“This book was published in 1988,” Lin Wuyu said. “Turns out an elementary schooler bought it, but the main thing is that people are still selling it.”
“It’s really interesting, you don’t get it,” Ding Ji said, flipping back and forth through the pages, the familiar feeling putting him at ease. “It’s still appreciated.”
“Huh?” Lin Wuyu didn’t understand.
“Do you know the original price?” Ding Ji asked.
“2.9 yuan1.” Lin Wuyu said.
“… You didn’t even let that get past you?” Ding Ji sighed.
“Nonsense, I already saw the publication date, so can’t I see the price next to it?” Lin Wuyu leaned against the table.
“Now it’s ten times higher, and the lowest price of a second-hand book is 29 yuan2.”
Lin Wuyu didn’t say anything and just looked at him.
Ding Ji looked back at him.
After a while, he couldn’t help himself from laughing first. “Hasn’t it gotten more expensive?”
“Yeah,” Lin Wuyu gave him a thumbs up. “You think like an investor.”
“Thank you.” Ding Ji patted the book. “Let’s go.”
“How about…” Lin Wuyu hesitated, “lending this book to me for a few more days?”
“Wanna borrow it?” Ding Ji looked at him.
“Didn’t you say it’s really interesting?” Lin Wuyu said. “Let me see how interesting it is.”
“You can recite it word for word,” Ding Ji answered.
“No, I just bet that you wouldn’t be able to memorize it, but that you’d have an impression of where you made annotations, so I just looked at the content of the two pages before and after the annotations.” Lin Wuyu was very frank.
However, Ding Ji noticed his phrasing.
‘Just looked’. Not ‘just memorized’. And it’s ‘two pages before and after’.
Tsk.
He opened the book, turned to the page with his name on it, and pointed to the words written on the page. “Then you didn’t remember these?”
Lin Wuyu quirked the corner of his mouth.
“It’s written here,” Ding Ji said. “I. Won’t. Give. It. To. You.”
Ding Ji walked out of the dorm with the book in his hand.
“I’ll see you out,” Lin Wuyu followed.
“No need to be so polite,” Ding Ji said.
Someone came up the stairs. When he saw him, he was taken aback for a moment, then quickly turned his head to look behind him. “Your friend?”
“Mhm,” Lin Wuyu replied from behind.
The man didn’t say anything else. He nodded at Ding Ji with a smile, then entered the dorm next door.
For some reason, Xu Tianbo’s sudden appearance made Lin Wuyu a little embarrassed.
He felt like Xu Tianbo might have misunderstood something, but he had no way or reason to explain it, and he didn’t even know where to start.
What’s the point of trying to explain?
He didn’t want to do anything that had no point.
But…
“Why does this guy look so familiar? Ding Ji said while going down the stairs.
Because you two look alike, you little genius. You can’t even come up with this?
Lin Wuyu didn’t make a sound and followed him downstairs.
“Oh,” Ding Ji raised his hand and pointed upwards. “He kinda looks like my cousin.”
… Alright.
He looked pretty smart, but he didn’t expect that the speed at which his IQ went offline would be this amazing.
“Really.” Lin Wuyu muttered.
“Yes or no, can you not answer such a simple question?” His dad stood at the door of his room.
“The choice you gave me is very simple.” Ding Ji didn’t turn his head. Instead, he leaned on the chair and tilted his head back. “But the problem isn’t.”
“Is this question very complicated? Are you planning on giving up on the university entrance examination?” His dad asked, “Are you personally going to reduce your life by a grade?”
“Why do you have to divide life into three, six, or nine grades?” Ding Ji asked. “And according to your standards? Then can I divide my life into grades according to my standard?”
“Don’t talk back to me,” his dad said. “If your mother and I weren’t doing this for your good, how could we have the energy to fight with you every day!”
“If it’s for my good, can you think for me in my place?” Ding Ji sat up straight, irritated, and looked back at him. “How much do you two even love me? How much do I even love you? At the very least, you both are highly educated, and if you don’t understand psychology, you can read a book on it. I’ve got a lot of them.”
His dad looked at him and didn’t speak.
“Before junior high school, my mom and dad were just a title to me. It was a title that had nothing to do with me, and you two were pretty much the same. I, Ding Ji, your son, was rumoured to be a child prodigy who learned to read at one year old, wrote poetry at three, and read the Three Kingdoms in first grade. There was nothing he couldn’t do, only what he didn’t learn…”
“No…” his dad frowned.
“I know it’s not that exaggerated. I’m just summarizing your imagination and expectations of me,” Ding Ji waved his hand. “But when I came back, what? My ranking as a child prodigy was only in the top five, sometimes even just in the top ten? Shouldn’t I always be the first and insta-kill second place?”
“Shut up!” His dad pointed at him.
“Let’s just shut up together,” Ding Ji said. “I don’t want to argue, and I’m not blaming you for not coming back, really.”
His dad took a deep breath as if he wanted to say something.
However, Ding Ji didn’t give him a chance. His dad may be fifty cars richer than him in terms of education, but he couldn’t argue with other people about these things, and he didn’t want to fight a one-sided battle.
Therefore, he got up, walked to the door, and shut it in his face. “Nobody’s taken care of me for over ten years. I’m used to making decisions about everything for myself. Children should be educated from an early age. Once this opportunity is missed, there isn’t another one.
After waiting for two minutes, Ding Ji opened the door again and glanced outside. The living room was empty, and Dad and Mom had returned to their room. In order to not affect his review, the TV in the living room would never be turned on when he was at home.
This invisible pressure and expectations beyond his actual abilities made him feel suffocated.
He sat on his desk, stunned for a while before he sorted out his emotions and started to work on his exercises.
He was not an especially hardworking person, but he also knew the importance of studying when it was necessary. He would push himself to work hard for minor quizzes, harder for exams, and give it his all for the college entrance exam.
However, he did not need this constant pressure and surveillance, which never let up. Maybe he was used to freedom. Even if it was for his good, he only wanted to do things at his own pace.
Don’t push him, or he might fall behind.
If he were replaced with Lin Wuyu, who was calm, disciplined, and extremely confident, his mom and dad would be very happy, wouldn’t they?
… Maybe not, considering that he was still studying palm reading at this time.
Oh, he wasn’t memorizing it; he was just looking at it.
His phone beeped, indicating that a message had come in.
Ding Ji didn’t look at it. Once he started reviewing, he tried not to be disturbed. Even if his mind wandered, he still had to focus on the exercises. If he stopped, he probably won’t feel like starting again.
(Gong Lan) Are you sure? I don’t even know what he looks like now.
(Gong Lan) It’s because I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking you. Is it possible for him to stay in the local vicinity? Or if he went to another place, is there some special holiday recently that would make it possible for him to come back?
Lin Wuyu looked at the messages on his phone, and his fingers stopped on the screen, and he didn’t drop them even when the screen went black.
He couldn’t answer either of these two questions nor did he have any direction to guess towards.
Rather, he had always avoided thinking about anything related to “your brother”. This person often existed only in distant memories that had been deliberately sealed away, so he was even less likely to analyze them.
Another message from Gong Lan appeared on his phone.
(Gong Lan) Could it be because you’re taking the college entrance exams?
Lin Wuyu thought for a moment and tapped on the screen a few times.
(Me) I don’t think we’re that close.
(Me) You were too young at the time, he cared quite a bit about you.
(Me) I’m going to hang out there tomorrow and see if I can run into him.
(Gong Lan) … I’ll go instead, aren’t you studying?
(Me) I study based on my mood, not time and place.
(Gong Lan) You deserve a beating.
Lin Wuyu smiled, replied with a good night emoji, and put his phone aside.
Over the years, Gong Lan had provided Lin Wuyu with dozens of clues but combined, their reliability was zero.
After all, her clues were mixed with too many personal emotions.
However, Lin Wuyu still planned to try his luck. He needed to find that switch that made his parents’ expectations and disappointments weigh on him at the same time.
Furthermore, the place that Gong Lan mentioned was pretty close, just a commercial plaza near Sanzhong.
The only problem was that there were too many people coming and going. Even if it was true, he might not be able to find a face from ten years ago in the crowd.
And that was exactly what happened.
After having breakfast, Lin Wuyu went to the commercial plaza and wandered around for three hours, but to no avail.
Countless shops and malls, cars, bicycles, electric vehicles, and pedestrians were like insects spread out on the ground, and they had already overlapped with the person next to them before he had time to see them.
Lin Wuyu felt that he probably didn’t want to find anyone, he just needed an excuse to come out and wander around.
There was a rice noodle stall over here that was so delicious he could explode.
He could eat three servings of the largest plate.
If he arrived early, he wouldn’t even have to queue up.
Lin Wuyu carried two plates of rice noodles and found a small table by the window that could seat two people.
Eating at this time, he didn’t even have to fight for a seat.
He ate while looking out the window.
He looked at people and faces, going over the problems from last night in his mind and writing them down in the small notebook he carried with him. He was too sleepy yesterday and only wanted to go to bed, so he only read the questions once. Now was a good time to do them.
However, from time to time, he would stray from his thoughts and think about those parents who spent decades looking for their missing children.
What kind of love, how deep of a love, and how “irrational” of a love could make someone persist like this?
His mom and dad also looked, but they looked very calmly and didn’t have any hope.
Their eldest son was too smart and could solve many problems without being harmed. Their eldest son was too smart and he didn’t want to come back, so nobody could find him.
Lin Wuyu sighed.
This kind of eldest son was this clever… he could probably only ask a fortune teller for help.
For example, fortune teller Ding.
Thinking about fortune teller Ding… Lin Wuyu picked up his phone.
When Ding Ji came to pick up his book, the two of them added each other on WeChat3 but never spoke to each other.
Ding Ji’s WeChat profile picture was a photo of himself, and he had a straight face. This person was quite confident in his appearance.
However, it really wasn’t bad, and he had the vigor of a stray cat boss.
Brother Chicken4.
… He can’t call him Brother Chicken, or he’ll become the flashiest beyblade5.
Lin Wuyu curled the corner of his lips and opened Ding Ji’s Moments6.
The past 3 days are visible.
Lin Wuyu swiped down twice but failed to reach the end. He suddenly wondered if he should consider blocking this chatterbox.
Lin Wuyu paused at the most recent Moment; it was posted a few minutes ago.
(Ding Ji) Xinjia has a shooting contest, and the prize for first place is an induction cooker
Xinjia was a shopping mall right beside him.
Lin Wuyu looked up towards it.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he sent a message to Ding Ji.
(Me) Are you in Xinjia?
Ding Ji replied in seconds.
(Ding Ji) Next to Xinjia, why, is your home lacking an induction cooker?
(Me) I’m eating fried rice noodles
Ding Ji didn’t reply, and Lin Wuyu continued to look out the window.
A minute later at most Ding Ji appeared across the street on a hoverboard.
Then he drifted over to him, weaving through the crowd with visible swagger, and Lin Wuyu would bet ten copies of “The Mystery of Palmistry” that he wasn’t usually this showy.
So immature.
Lin Wuyu waved to him through the glass.
Ding Ji stopped outside and said something against the glass, but Lin Wuyu couldn’t hear him.
The store was starting to get crowded now and a bit noisy.
Out of the corner of his eye, someone with a tray was walking towards his table, so Lin Wuyu pushed his plate of fried rice noodles to the other side. “Excuse me, someone’s coming.”
Ding Ji put his hands around his face against the glass and looked inside again.
“Come in.” Lin Wuyu pointed to the seat across from him. “What are you looking at?”
