Chapter 3
The school bell rang melodiously:
Ding-ling-ling~
The classroom instantly became lively as students prepared to leave.
The young maths teacher at the front of the room smiled as she packed her materials and said, “No evening self-study tonight, but don’t get too excited. You still have homework to do. Here, the class monitor can distribute these two sets of papers, and we’ll go over them during the first class tomorrow morning.”
“Ah~” The joyful students immediately groaned, “Show some mercy; we’ve already received nearly ten papers today. Can’t we have a more relaxed evening self-study session? Maybe you can suggest that to the school, and we can have evening self-study tonight.”
The maths teacher smiled and replied, “You want to have evening self-study? I want to go back and have dinner with my child. Cherish this opportunity to do these papers now, because this time next year, you won’t have them to do.”
“Please, teacher, can you leave a set for us to do next year? We’d like to reminisce about the good old days.”
“Guan Yuankai, you’re the most resourceful one here. If you put in the effort to do a few more problems, you could easily raise your maths score by twenty points. All right, school’s out.”
As soon as the teacher left, the students hurriedly packed their belongings, rushed out of the classroom, and many of them couldn’t resist looking back toward the rear corner.
Gu Yang, who had slept through an entire class, was just waking up at this moment. He lazily rested his head on his desk, and without any intention of writing, he stuffed the paper handed to him by someone else into his desk. It was clear he had no intention of doing it.
On the other hand, Lin Xiaoran sitting next to him was the complete opposite. He neatly stacked the papers, put them in his backpack alongside his textbooks, slung the black bag over his shoulder, and left from behind Gu Yang.
Although they sat together, they seemed to be in different worlds, unable to see each other.
The classmates felt somewhat disappointed.
For some reason, after they were assigned to sit together, they had developed a mysterious sense of anticipation, even though they couldn’t quite articulate what they were expecting. But at the end of the day, their expectations were unfulfilled.
Those two were still the same as before, doing whatever they pleased.
Lin Xiaoran had just walked out of the classroom when he received an audio message from Lin Lan: “Ran Ran, school’s out. I’m waiting for you at the school gate.”
After quickly responding with a few words, Lin Xiaoran hastened his pace to reach the school gate.
It was still the summer vacation period, and only the senior class was in session. There weren’t many people at the school gate. He immediately spotted the white BMW parked by the roadside and quickly walked through the crowd to get in, taking the passenger seat.
“Are you hungry?”
As soon as he sat down, Lin Lan handed over a box of milk and some freshly roasted chestnuts she had bought at the entrance of the community.
These chestnuts were Lin Xiaoran’s favorite. He received them with the warm package, and he mumbled with a mouthful of chestnut, “Thanks, Mom.”
His gaze unintentionally passed through the windshield and he saw Gu Yang standing not far away with a few of his usual friends at the entrance of the alley.
His school uniform seemed to have disappeared somewhere, and he was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, with his backpack casually slung over his shoulder. He was smirking.
“Tch!”
Lin Xiaoran disdainfully pursed his lips, then lowered his head to continue peeling and eating chestnuts.
“I’ve packed all your things. In fact, your Uncle Gu has prepared everything for you. I just packed a few changes of clothes for you. If it’s not enough, you can get more at home.” Lin Lan continued, pointing to a wrapped box on the rear seat, “I told you, Uncle Gu also has a son. When you meet him for the first time, it might not be suitable to go empty-handed, so I prepared a gift for you to give him.”
Lin Xiaoran had always been an obedient child in front of Lin Lan, and he silently nodded in response to her words.
As a result, when they arrived at their destination, they found that they couldn’t deliver the gift as Uncle Gu’s son had not returned home after school.
This made Gu Xiuyuan feel a bit embarrassed, and he kept calling, but it was clear he couldn’t reach him.
Apologetically, he looked at Lin Lan and Lin Xiaoran, and Lin Lan understandingly said, “No worries. I’ll meet him next time, and as for Ran Ran, since he’s going to stay here for some time, he’ll have the chance to meet him.”
While she said this, it still felt a bit awkward.
Originally, Lin Lan and Gu Xiuyuan had attached great importance to this dinner tonight.
They had been together for some time, and their two children had never met. Tonight was meant to be their official meeting, and afterward, they could set a wedding date.
However, they were missing the main character for this dinner.
This situation didn’t affect Lin Xiaoran. He had no expectations of meeting Uncle Gu’s son, and he didn’t see the need to get to know him. It was the two adults who were getting together, so what did he have to do with the other child?
Compared to the absent child, he was more interested in the spread of dishes on the table. As Lin Lan had mentioned, Uncle Gu’s housekeeper was an excellent cook, especially the chili fish head dish, which was incredibly delicious and spicy.
After dinner, Lin Lan had to rush to the airport, and Gu Xiuyuan was going to drop her off.
Having eaten his fill, Lin Xiaoran didn’t have the usual feeling of being a stranger in a new place. He simply went upstairs to his room, quickly packed his luggage, and sat down at his desk to do his homework.
The gift that Lin Lan had prepared for him was also placed on the desk. He glanced at it and casually set it aside. He took out the two test papers he had received after school and began to work on them.
Time flew by when he was working on problems.
By the time he finished the two sets of test papers, it was already close to 10 pm. Lin Lan sent him a message: “Successfully boarded the flight, take care of yourself. Here’s a selfie from the business class.”
Lin Xiaoran glanced at it and replied: “Have a safe journey, Mom!”
Then, he opened his computer, logged into “The Seventh World,” and sent a message to “Autumn Times” inquiring about the arena.
After waiting for a while with no response, he stood up to go to the bathroom.
When he returned from the shower, he still hadn’t received a reply from the other side. He held a towel to dry his hair, and as he walked toward the computer to exit the game, he suddenly heard a strange sound from outside the door.
Squeak, squeak, squeak~
It sounded like something scratching the door with its claws.
He was momentarily stunned and quickly opened the door.
Outside the door was a small creature that had clearly been startled. It made a soft, “Meow.”
A cat?
Lin Xiaoran looked down at the little kitten by his feet with surprise.
The small creature was evidently quite curious about him, sitting on the floor and looking up at him, occasionally softly meowing. It even extended its pink tongue to lick his fingers and stared at him with affection.
With a smile in his eyes, Lin Xiaoran bent down, picked up the little creature gently, and found it completely unafraid. It seemed to like him and sat in the palm of his hand, licking its paws, occasionally extending its soft, pink tongue to lick his fingers. It continued to meow, looking at him affectionately.
At that moment, Gu Yang arrived home, and he walked in on this scene. His usually aloof master was now lying in someone else’s hands, acting cute, and had completely lost his usual proud demeanor.
Who in the world was this person that had captured its attention like this?
Gu Yang felt a touch of bitterness in his heart and only then managed to focus on the person in the room.
The person was dressed in a white cotton T-shirt, their hair still slightly damp after a shower, and their soft bangs gently falling over their forehead, partly covering their sharp eyebrows.
They seemed to have not noticed anyone else’s presence, their gaze fixed on the little creature in their hand. A faint, unspoken expression of affection and fondness was apparent in their eyes.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but feel stunned, and his gaze slowly shifted to the person in the room. The name gradually emerged in his mind—Lin Xiaoran?
But he was uncertain.
He found it hard to connect the person who was smiling as if a gentle spring breeze had brushed over him with the cold and aloof bookworm he had known.
Could it be that they just looked alike?
This thought flashed through his mind. The person in the room felt his gaze and turned to look at him. The moment their eyes met, the smile on their face disappeared, replaced by an undisguised expression of disdain.
Almost instinctively, they looked away, but the next moment, their deep, dark eyes clearly flashed with surprise, and their gaze returned to Gu Yang’s face.
It was indeed Lin Xiaoran.
Gu Yang had encountered that sharp gaze many times and couldn’t be mistaken.
In an instant, he inexplicably felt a bit disappointed.
However, he still raised his hand out of habit and was about to greet him. Yet, when he met Lin Xiaoran’s stunned expression, he was instantly reminded of something. The words “such a coincidence” were stuck in his throat.
As their eyes locked, both of them struggled to react.
Neither of them had expected that the person their parents had chosen as their partner’s child would turn out to be the other person.
So, they were going to live together from now on?
Oh my god!
