After Ding Ji introduced himself that day, this guy didn’t reciprocate with his name. Ding Ji didn’t feel like asking now either. He just watched as the nameless guy took out painkillers from his pocket, put them in his mouth, and then took several big gulps from Ding Ji’s glass bottle.
“You sure aren’t particular.” Ding Ji took back the bottle the nameless guy handed him.
“This isn’t a water bottle, is it?” the nameless guy wiped his mouth.
“No,” Ding Ji opened the lid and wiped around the bottle’s mouth with a tissue, “this is an old Nestle Coffee-Mate bottle, probably older than me.”
The nameless guy said nothing.
When Ding Ji looked up, he saw that the nameless guy’s expression was a bit grim.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“If you’re so particular, why let others drink your water?” the nameless guy was speechless, “If you’re going to wipe it, don’t do it in front of me.”
“I didn’t think you’d really drink it,” Ding Ji said.
The nameless guy extended his left hand.
“Don’t look,” Ding Ji slapped his hand away but still glanced at it.
“The bottle,” the nameless guy said.
Ding Ji paused, capped the bottle, and handed it to him again.
The nameless guy unscrewed the cap, took two more big gulps, and then placed the bottle on the steps beside him: “Can you tell me how you figured out I was heartbroken?”
“What, you couldn’t guess?” Ding Ji glanced at the bottle.
“This one is easy today,” the nameless guy said, “If I could guess everything, how would you get by?”
“Exactly,” Ding Ji raised his head, “How could I tell you? I don’t even know your name.”
“Lin Wuyu,” the nameless guy said.
“What?” Ding Ji didn’t catch it.
“Lin Wuyu,” the nameless guy repeated, pressing his temples.
“Wuyu?” Ding Ji said, “Boundless generosity.”
Lin Wuyu’s hand stopped pressing his temples.
It’s one thing to mention “bright and clear,” given that his name contained that character, but to casually say “boundless generosity” didn’t quite fit the image of a carefree con artist.
Stereotypes are harmful, Lin Wuyu took a moment for self-reflection, then nodded: “Yeah.”
Ding Ji leaned back against the step behind him, not saying anything more.
Lin Wuyu’s head still hurt, and at this point, he wasn’t motivated to go back to school or find something to eat.
And maybe because Ding Ji looked somewhat similar to Xu Tianbo, he didn’t feel like leaving immediately either.
So he sat down beside Ding Ji, watching the nearby basketball hoop with him.
It was still early, with only two boys playing basketball.
After a while of silence, Lin Wuyu spoke first: “Do you come here often?”
“Every now and then,” Ding Ji said, “My grandmother lives nearby.”
“Oh,” Lin Wuyu responded.
“You’re from Affiliated High, right?” Ding Ji asked.
Lin Wuyu quickly looked down at himself, checking his clothes, pants, and shoes, all his own, with no Affiliated High markings.
“I knew last time we met,” Ding Ji stretched lazily with a smile.
“Last time?” Lin Wuyu thought back but couldn’t recall any details that would give away his school.
“Give me your hand,” Ding Ji said.
Lin Wuyu glanced at him and extended his left hand.
“Your fingers are quite long,” Ding Ji traced a few lines in his palm with his fingertips, “You…”
Lin Wuyu curled his index finger, flicking away Ding Ji’s fingertip.
“Hmm?” Ding Ji tilted his head.
“It tickles,” Lin Wuyu said.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Merrs,” Glcu Al rcffgfv, tlr olcufgr ralii agjmlcu j ofk ilcfr lc Olc Qese’r qjiw.
“Qtja jgf sbe qijcclcu ab rff?” Olc Qese kjr lcagluefv.
“P’ii pera ibbx mjrejiis,” Glcu Al rjlv, “Tbe pera ilrafc mjrejiis.”
“Yxjs.” Olc Qese cbvvfv.
“Tbeg gfijalbcrtlq klat sbeg qjgfcar lrc’a ubbv, gluta?” Glcu Al jrxfv.
Lin Wuyu didn’t respond.
Ding Ji didn’t seem to need an answer, continuing to study his hand. After a while, he leaned back against the step: “The first decade or so of your life was uneventful, smooth sailing.”
“Really?” Lin Wuyu withdrew his hand, looking at it.
“You have siblings,” Ding Ji continued, “Brothers or sisters, not sure how many.”
Lin Wuyu kept looking at his hand, now feeling a bit puzzled.
Ding Ji’s ability to observe details and grasp personalities was quite strong, which was the key to his ability to deceive people. However, deducing a stranger’s family situation was something he couldn’t figure out immediately.
Especially the part about siblings.
“You know something you don’t,” Ding Ji tilted his head, staring at Lin Wuyu’s face. “There might be some ups and downs in the future, but it’s hard to say. Probably in terms of relationships.”
“Is it by looking at these three lines?” Lin Wuyu pointed to the lines on his palm. “Career line, love line, life line?”
“That’s too basic,” Ding Ji shook his head. “There are a bunch of this line and that mount. You have to look at them while also…”
“Talking to me and guessing at the same time, right?” Lin Wuyu said.
“…Is this fun or not?” Ding Ji clicked his tongue.
“Pretty impressive,” Lin Wuyu smiled. “Did you study this?”
“Where would I study? With whom? It’s all just a scam,” Ding Ji waved dismissively. “Don’t believe those who say they can teach you.”
“Okay,” Lin Wuyu rubbed his hands.
“Do you have a brother or a sister?” Ding Ji asked.
Lin Wuyu paused, then said after a while, “Why not ask if I have a younger brother or sister?”
“Your temperament doesn’t match,” Ding Ji said. “I know quite a few people with younger siblings, and they aren’t like you.”
“Looks like fortune-telling requires dedication,” Lin Wuyu said. “You have to observe carefully in daily life.”
Ding Ji didn’t ask about siblings again, and Lin Wuyu casually changed the topic so naturally that if he hadn’t been thinking about verifying it, he wouldn’t have noticed the topic had passed.
It seemed Lin Wuyu didn’t want to talk about it. His poor relationship with his parents was probably related to these siblings, and Ding Ji didn’t have a hobby of prying into strangers’ privacy.
If Lin Wuyu hadn’t casually drunk most of his water and then sat down without leaving, Ding Ji wouldn’t have taken the initiative to chat so much nonsense with him.
“Is there anything good to eat around here?” Lin Wuyu asked. “Tasty.”
“No need to be so polite,” Ding Ji replied without thinking, “I’ve eaten.”
Lin Wuyu looked ahead and laughed, “I’m looking for a place to eat.”
“Oh,” Ding Ji wasn’t embarrassed. He thought for a moment, “If you don’t want to go far, go across the street, ‘Even Dogs Come.'”
“‘Even Dogs Come’?” Lin Wuyu was puzzled.
“I’m not insulting you,” Ding Ji cleared his throat. “It’s the name of a store, they have coffee, pizza, desserts, and stuff. It’s pretty good.”
“Isn’t it ‘Dogs Go’?” Lin Wuyu asked.
“If you go from here, it’s ‘Dogs Go,'” Ding Ji explained. “When you’re inside, it’s ‘Even Dogs Come.'”
“…Alright,” Lin Wuyu nodded. “Have you eaten there?”
“Once. It’s a singles’ meeting place. The walls are covered with photos of couples who met there,” Ding Ji stretched his hand in front of him, calculating with his fingers. “I calculated I’d have a romance, so I went there to try my luck…”
Before he finished, Lin Wuyu turned his head and laughed.
“Don’t laugh,” Ding Ji said seriously. “This stuff can be accurate sometimes.”
“Accurate?” Lin Wuyu smiled.
“Not accurate,” Ding Ji frowned. “I calculated seven days, but now it’s past seven days. I think it might be half a month.”
“Is half a month up?” Lin Wuyu held back his laughter.
“Tomorrow,” Ding Ji flicked his fingers.
“In these half a month, the only stranger you’ve talked to is me, right?” Lin Wuyu said.
“Yeah,” Ding Ji glanced at him. “You? Romance? You’re more like a watermelon.”
Lin Wuyu decided to go to ‘Even Dogs Come’ for a meal.
When he got up, he hesitated and didn’t invite Ding Ji.
After all, they weren’t close, and Ding Ji had already eaten and declined.
“Their ice cream is pretty good,” Ding Ji said. “You should try it, just the vanilla one. It’s a huge cup.”
“Okay.” Lin Wuyu nodded, jumped off the steps, and walked over there.
When he was almost out of the park, he turned back and saw that Ding Ji was no longer sitting there. A few kids on scooters had taken his place, bouncing up and down.
He continued walking, then stopped again, turned back, and stared at the kids on scooters. To his surprise, he saw that the shirtless one was Ding Ji. The T-shirt he was wearing was casually taken off and tucked into his waistband.
So careless, taking off his shirt in public like that?
Lin Wuyu took out his phone, opened the camera, and zoomed in.
Ding Ji was quite skilled, doing a few moves that looked like he was going to flip off the highest step, but he spun around and landed back on the ground the next second.
Lin Wuyu liked these things. In middle school, he and a few classmates were into skateboarding for a while, but they didn’t play for long. His mom thought it was a waste of time, a distraction from studies, a potential cause of injuries, and most importantly, she thought Lin Wuyu couldn’t possibly be good at it.
“You’re not your brother.”
Lin Wuyu didn’t care much about such remarks. He might genuinely not care, as he had his own judgment. Or maybe he was used to it, having heard it too much growing up.
But admittedly, such remarks can sometimes be discouraging.
They make you subconsciously doubt yourself.
After starting high school, he hadn’t played much.
Watching Ding Ji now, he had a sudden urge to borrow the scooter.
Even though he couldn’t ride it.
As he hesitated, Ding Ji stopped and casually looked over.
He probably saw him and waved.
Nice eyesight.
Lin Wuyu also waved his hand.
Ding Ji waved again.
Lin Wuyu continued to respond, feeling that Ding Ji was sick.
After three rounds, he noticed that Ding Ji’s gesture was not a wave but pointing in his direction.
“Huh?” Lin Wuyu lowered his raised arm and looked to his side. Then he couldn’t hold back and uttered his first uncivilized word of the year, “Damn!”
To his right, at some point, a baby stroller had appeared.
The most frightening part was that there was a tiny baby, no longer than his forearm, sleeping in the stroller.
He quickly looked around but saw no one.
It was past the rush hour after work and school, not yet dinner time, and there were only a few scattered people walking on the street. Within a twenty-meter radius, there wasn’t a person, not even a single shoe.
He had no idea how the stroller got next to him.
Looking around, there was no one to ask.
“I’ll go check it out.” Ding Ji hopped on his bike, lifted the handlebars, and jumped down three steps with the rear wheels.
“Are you sure it’s not him who pushed the stroller here?” Da Dong also jumped down and followed, riding over, “A lot of aunties use these strollers to buy groceries now…”
“Is he an auntie?” Ding Ji pedaled hard a few times, then stopped about twenty or thirty meters away from Lin Wuyu. As he put his T-shirt back on, he shouted to Lin Wuyu, “Is there a kid inside—”
Lin Wuyu nodded.
“Where did it come from?” Ding Ji rushed to the stroller and instinctively lowered his voice when he saw the sleeping baby inside, “This kid is only a few months old, right?”
“Not even a few months,” Da Dong leaned in to take a look, “My little nephew is three months old and he’s bigger than this.”
“Where did it come from?” Ding Ji looked at Lin Wuyu.
“I don’t know,” Lin Wuyu said, “You saw the stroller before I did.”
Ding Ji stared at the child in the stroller for a while, then looked up, “So this is an abandoned baby?”
“Probably,” Lin Wuyu lightly tapped the handle of the stroller, “Better call the police quickly.”
“This kid doesn’t look sick,” Da Dong carefully lifted the blanket covering the baby, “Damn, it’s a boy, so it wasn’t abandoned because of gender preference…”
“Don’t wake the baby! If he starts crying, how are we going to calm him down? Call the police first,” Ding Ji took out his phone, “Let the police handle it.”
“I’m good at calming babies.” Da Dong was confident but still withdrew his hand.
Lin Wuyu took a few steps and sat by the flower bed, watching Ding Ji call the police.
After the call, two middle-aged women saw what was happening and walked over.
“Oh, what’s wrong with this child?” One of the women looked at the stroller, bent down, and reached out to pick up the child, “This isn’t your child, is it?”
Lin Wuyu initially thought they might be concerned citizens, but the woman’s action made him stand up immediately. Someone who wanted to take a child home wouldn’t be so eager; they would at least ask what was going on and check if the child was healthy.
“What are you doing?” Ding Ji blocked her hand, “This is my little brother.”
“Your brother?” The woman looked at him, not backing down, trying to push past him, “Can you even tell me how old your brother is?”
“Fifty-seven days.” Lin Wuyu walked over and grabbed the woman’s hand.
“You’re bringing out such a small child?” The woman asked, pulling back her hand and stepping back.
“What’s it to you?” Ding Ji said.
“You guys…” The woman was still unwilling, “Are you trafficking children?”
“Then here’s a suggestion,” Lin Wuyu said, “Call the police quickly.”
The woman didn’t say anything else, glared at them, then turned and left, cursing.
“What was that all about?” Da Dong looked bewildered, “Kidnapping? That doesn’t seem right either.”
“Maybe she wanted to take the child and sell it.” Ding Ji glared at the woman’s back for a while before turning back to see Lin Wuyu sitting by the flower bed again.
Da Dong skillfully pushed the stroller aside, and the two of them checked the baby again, even testing his breathing.
There was no note on the stroller with the baby’s birth date or a plea that they couldn’t afford to raise the child, not even a milk bottle, just a small blanket.
The parents didn’t care about the child’s future, or even the little bit of past they had erased.
“If the baby wakes up crying, we can only let him suck on our fingers.” Ding Ji sighed and sat down next to Lin Wuyu.
Lin Wuyu didn’t respond.
“What do you think happened with this baby?” Ding Ji looked around as he asked.
“The parents abandoned him,” Lin Wuyu said, “What else could it be?”
“Why would they abandon…” Ding Ji thought for a moment, “Maybe he has an illness that can’t be seen from the outside, and they think it can’t be cured, damn.”
“To some parents, some children are just redundant,” Lin Wuyu said, “It has nothing to do with illness.”
Ding Ji glanced at him, “That’s a harsh thing to say…”
Lin Wuyu didn’t look at him, just stared blankly ahead.
“Or maybe it was an unplanned pregnancy…” Ding Ji said.
“There’s no need for so many reasons.” Lin Wuyu said.
He spoke calmly, but there was a force in his tone that made Ding Ji frown, “What’s your problem?”
“Nothing,” Lin Wuyu said, “Even if you find a thousand reasons for the parents, it means nothing to the child.”
“I’m just casually analyzing, the police aren’t here yet, and we’re just chatting. Why does that bother you so much?” Ding Ji was a bit annoyed, “Who’s finding reasons for the parents? A thousand reasons, are you going to help me find a thousand?”
“No.” Lin Wuyu said.
“Are you hungry? Lack of food makes you argumentative,” Ding Ji said, “First time I’ve seen it.”
Lin Wuyu didn’t speak. After a few seconds, he seemed to come to his senses and turned to look at him: “Sorry.”
“Huh?” Ding Ji was stunned.
“Did the police say they would come right away?” Lin Wuyu asked.
“Yeah, for something like this, of course, they’ll come immediately,” Ding Ji said, then looked at him again. After a long pause, he asked, “Are your parents your biological ones?”
