Chapter 25: We’ll Go Back to School Together
Cheng Ge just liked seeing Wen Ling’s look of being reluctant to the death yet still listening to him. “You’re sore because you exercise too little. You won’t be sore once you get used to it.”
Wen Ling shook his head, wearing an expression that said, “I don’t believe it, I don’t care,” and said decisively, “Not exercising.”
“Then halve the exercise volume for today?” Cheng Ge didn’t want to force him too hard, taking a step back, his tone sounding like he was coaxing a child.
Wen Ling still shook his head, but he was obviously wavering a bit.
“There’s a reward.” Cheng Ge helplessly used his trump card.
Wen Ling’s eyes lit up immediately. “Like last night?”
Cheng Ge felt Wen Ling was pushing his luck after getting a sweet deal. He didn’t answer directly, only asking, “Exercising or not?”
Wen Ling nodded, then asked, “Then can I get an advance?”
“Whatever you want.” Cheng Ge went to get the yoga mat and jump rope, answering casually.
Later, he regretted not rejecting Wen Ling directly. The little noob really knew how to push his luck. He demanded a hug after only jumping rope a few dozen times, and begged for a kiss after holding a plank for only forty-something seconds.
When Cheng Ge got annoyed by the pestering and showed a hint of perfunctoriness or displeasure, Wen Ling would frown and accuse him, “You said ‘whatever’ yourself.”
Cheng Ge: “…”
Hehe.
Perhaps because he had been away from the internet for too long, Cheng Ge was still a bit unaccustomed to having his phone back. He often forgot he had a phone, took it out very rarely, and didn’t know what to do with it when he did.
He remembered he wanted to take Wen Ling to play games, so he asked Wen Ling what he wanted to play, preparing to carry the little noob.
Cheng Ge thought that with Wen Ling’s personality, he would like horror or competitive thrillers. Unexpectedly, after browsing the app store, Wen Ling actually chose “Happy Match.”
This thing didn’t need teaching. The two of them played a dozen rounds, taking turns, and it was quite relaxing and stress-relieving.
However, Cheng Ge really didn’t have much passion for such casual games. After accompanying Wen Ling for a while, he went to do other things. Instead, Wen Ling seemed fascinated by the game.
When Cheng Ge came out after making lunch, he called Wen Ling twice but got no response. His head was lowered, staring intently at the screen.
“Time to eat.” Cheng Ge went over and pinched the back of Wen Ling’s neck like lifting a chick.
“Okay.” Wen Ling didn’t even lift his head. Holding the tablet, he arrived at the dining table under Cheng Ge’s “guidance,” yet delayed moving his chopsticks.
Cheng Ge waited for Wen Ling to finish a round before reminding him, “Eat properly, stop playing.”
“Oh.” Wen Ling put down the tablet and started eating.
It was a good thing the little lunatic didn’t say “one more round,” otherwise Cheng Ge would really think he had turned into an internet-addicted teenager.
“Is that matching game that fun?” Cheng Ge didn’t understand. And didn’t Wen Ling say he didn’t like playing games?
“It’s quite fun,” Wen Ling said truthfully. “I like listening to the English words in the game.”
“Hm? What English words?”
“When you eliminate some animals, it says English words.”
Cheng Ge recalled. It seemed that if you matched well, there were indeed words like “Amazing,” “Unbelievable,” and “Excellent.”
Cheng Ge just found it noisy; he didn’t expect Wen Ling to actually like listening to those.
So strange.
He originally thought Wen Ling’s interest in this game would also be short-lived, and he wouldn’t be so obsessed by the afternoon. Unexpectedly, when Cheng Ge came out after showering that night, he still saw Wen Ling sitting on the bed playing happily.
Wen Ling didn’t know if his bones were stiff or if he was simply unaccustomed to it. When sitting, he didn’t sit cross-legged but sat with his legs splayed open, like those children who hadn’t learned how to cross their legs yet.
Cheng Ge inexplicably thought of Wen Ling as a child, feeling that the Wen Ling of that time should have also liked this kind of game.
“Amazing!”
“Unbelievable!”
“Excellent!”
Those words of praise came one after another, drowning out Cheng Ge’s voice calling him. Or rather, Wen Ling’s mind was entirely on the game, and he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to anyone.
Cheng Ge walked to the bedside, bent down, and planted a shallow kiss on the side of Wen Ling’s face, then observed Wen Ling’s reaction.
Wen Ling was probably first tickled, and coupled with a bit of impatience at having his game interrupted, he frowned slightly. Turning his head to meet Cheng Ge’s gaze, he blinked, as if his brain was reacting. Suddenly, he smiled, and then kissed Cheng Ge on the face twice too.
Cheng Ge felt slightly more balanced. It seemed the game’s status in Wen Ling’s heart hadn’t surpassed him.
Cheng Ge knew he couldn’t be less important than a game. If Wen Ling really became addicted to games, he would lose all his leverage. How would he farm conquest value then?
Probably because he played games for too long, Wen Ling started getting sleepy before his usual bedtime. Cheng Ge saw him yawning until tears squeezed out.
He found it funny. He hadn’t seen the little lunatic so persistent before. If he had half this perseverance in exercising as he did in gaming, he wouldn’t be roasted by him as a little noob. Cheng Ge said.
“Sleep if you’re tired.”
“Okay.” Wen Ling agreed quickly, but he insisted on playing two more rounds before he was willing to sleep.
Actually, Wen Ling having other hobbies and not clinging to Cheng Ge all the time should have made him happy. But when Cheng Ge saw Wen Ling’s eyes glued to the screen, an indescribably complex emotion surged in his heart.
It wasn’t joy, nor could it be counted as annoyance. It was unclear and hard to describe.
Cheng Ge felt his emotion came from worrying that too much of Wen Ling’s attention was being diverted, preventing the conquest value from rising, yet he also felt his worry was too excessive and hypocritically awkward.
Days passed blandly. Wen Ling’s love for this game didn’t last long either. Except for the first two or three days when the tablet didn’t leave his hand, he didn’t play much afterward. He only played for a while after meals or before bed, not addicted at all.
On the contrary, he became increasingly adept at being clingy. He always liked to stay with Cheng Ge. Compared to the annoyance before, Cheng Ge didn’t mind Wen Ling much now; his patience had increased by more than just a degree.
But he felt stifled.
Cheng Ge wasn’t naturally a person who loved running around outside, but staying in this house with only two people for too long was really too boring and suppressing.
Although Wen Ling was much more normal now, sometimes even acting like a good-tempered, obedient boy, Cheng Ge knew that was because he was “obedient” and the things he did were within Wen Ling’s acceptable range. If he stepped on Wen Ling’s bottom line, the little lunatic would go crazy again.
For example, the matter of going to school.
Cheng Ge didn’t even know how to bring it up with Wen Ling. Even asking for a phone required all his skills. If he wanted to leave here to go to school, wouldn’t he have to have a leg removed?
But these stifling days were getting harder to endure, and there were only ten days left before school started. How could Cheng Ge hold it in?
At dinner tonight, Cheng Ge asked seemingly inadvertently, “Is school about to start soon?”
Wen Ling’s hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment, quickly returning to normal. “Mn.”
“Should we prepare anything in advance?” Cheng Ge probed.
“You want to return to school?” Wen Ling asked back.
Their gazes collided.
Cheng Ge’s heart felt hairy under Wen Ling’s scrutiny. He coughed lightly, his tone matter-of-fact: “We’ll go back to school together.”
Cheng Ge and Wen Ling were in the same university and the same major, just in different classes.
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