Chapter 22: What I Like Are the Eyes, Not the Person
The next day.
Zhuo Feng got out of bed with two dark circles under his eyes.
He had spent several hours last night questioning himself. To make sure his sexual orientation was completely normal, he even searched for videos of beautiful women with attractive figures and carefully watched them. After that, he was basically certain that the telephone pole was still just a telephone pole.
His feelings toward Lin Wan's eyes had to be simple admiration. He wanted them but could never have them, so that was why he kept wanting to get close.
It was like seeing something you really liked in a store. If you didn't buy it that day, you would keep thinking about it. You might even lose sleep over it, and only feel at ease after buying it the next day.
He felt that this was exactly how he was now.
Lin Wan's eyes attracted him, and he wanted to look at them all the time. But he couldn't exactly ask Lin Wan to take out his eyes and give them to him. That would be way too Hannibal!
He couldn't have them!
That was why he had pretended to be drunk yesterday just so he could keep looking at them.
Yeah, that had to be the reason!
So from now on, not only would he keep looking, he would do it openly instead of secretly.
After all, what he liked were Lin Wan's eyes, not Lin Wan himself!
After finally sorting out his thoughts, Zhuo Feng felt completely relaxed. Happily carrying his luggage, he headed for the train station.
Dingshui Town
The town was built where two small rivers met. Since the shape of the rivers looked like the Chinese character "丁" (Ding), the town was given that name.
As Lin Wan stepped off the bus, he looked at the familiar scenery and breathed in the familiar air. His heart was filled with mixed emotions, and he couldn't explain how he felt.
Was it the nervousness of returning home after being away for a long time?
Or was it because, after getting a second chance at life, everything familiar now felt completely different?
He didn't know.
After walking about two hundred meters along the country road, he saw the home he had been away from for so long.
It was a two-story house.
In front of it was a small cement yard used for drying grain.
Beyond the yard stood two peach trees that had long since lost all their leaves, leaving only bare branches behind.
The place was quiet, yet warm.
After crossing a small bridge and opening the iron gate to the yard, he shouted,
"Grandpa! I'm home!"
"Grandpa!"
“...”
He called several times, but no one answered.
At the usual place, under a broken red brick on top of a pile of bricks, Lin Wan found the key to the front door.
After opening the door, he saw that everything in the main room was exactly the same as before.
Wooden tables, wooden chairs, the television, the refrigerator...
After carrying his luggage to his room on the second floor, he went up to the rooftop and looked into the distance.
The fields of different shapes were covered with fresh green sprouts. They were young wheat and rapeseed plants.
Farther away stood a mountain shaped like a silver ingot. The local people called it Yuanbao Mountain.
A long time ago, he had once thought that after he died, he wanted to be buried there.
Halfway up the mountain.
That way, he could look down over the whole town, the two rivers, and his home.
The pile of red bricks in the yard had originally been prepared for him.
They were meant to build his grave.
But in the end...
They were never needed.
Not seeing his grandfather in the familiar fields, Lin Wan took out his phone, found the number, and called.
After the phone rang a few times, someone answered.
"Hello?! Who's this?"
Hearing his grandfather's strong and energetic voice, a smile appeared on Lin Wan's face.
"Grandpa, I'm home."
"Xiao Wan?"
"Yeah."
"You're on vacation now?"
"Yeah. We just started our break a few days ago. Grandpa, where are you? I didn't see you at home."
"I'm fishing by the river."
"Did you catch anything?"
"Haha, a few little fish, and a few crucian carp."
"Oh. Are they big?"
"About as wide as two fingers. Wait for me. Grandpa will be home at noon and make fish soup for you."
"Okay!"
After hanging up the phone, Lin Wan returned to his room, opened the window to let in some fresh air, cleaned the room, and made his bed.
He took out his laptop, connected to the home's Wi-Fi, and casually picked a TV drama to watch.
The internet at home is so much better!
The school's internet is expensive, slow, and sometimes even lags.
Of course, someone like him, who hadn't even paid for his own Wi-Fi and had always been using Sun Mao's connection, wasn't really in a position to complain. He could only grumble about it in his heart.
But the longer he watched the drama, the more speechless he became.
Why were all historical dramas these days the same?
The heroine would trip and fall in all kinds of ridiculous ways, the hero would rush over to save her, then the two of them would hug while spinning around in circles...
And the scene would even switch to slow motion, making them spin for a whole minute.
And don't even get him started on the beauty filter.
It smoothed away every bit of skin texture, making everyone look so pale they seemed sick.
Who even watches shows like this?
Do they really get good ratings?
Lin Wan turned off the TV drama.
Listening to music was much better. At least it wouldn't hurt his eyes.
Beep, beep, beep—
The song was only halfway through when his phone rang.
He answered it, and a middle-aged woman's voice came from the other end.
"Xiao Wan, have you gotten home yet?"
"Mom, I've been home for a while already."
"Good. Go check if there's still any vegetables or meat at home. I'll send you some money in a little while. Go buy some groceries. If you leave it to your grandpa, he'll keep saying this is too expensive and that is too expensive."
"Okay. Are you and Dad setting up the food stall now?"
"No, we just woke up. We didn't finish work until after two o'clock last night. This afternoon we still have to buy more ingredients. How's your health?"
"I'm doing well. I haven't taken any medicine this whole semester! You and Dad shouldn't work too hard. My health is getting better and better."
"Mhm. Your dad and I know what we're doing. Since you're home now, take good care of Grandpa. Don't be afraid to spend money. Even though our family still owes a lot of debt, we can still get by. Don't save every penny. Your dad and I are here."
"Okay. When will you and Dad come home?"
"Probably a few days before the Chinese New Year."
"Alright."
…………………
After chatting for a while longer, Lin Wan hung up and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
After borrowing a large amount of money to pay for his medical treatment, his parents had quit their easier jobs.
The two of them started a small food stall together, selling fried rice and stir-fried dishes near construction sites and other crowded places.
The stall made good money, but the work was truly exhausting.
Every day, except when they were sleeping, they were preparing ingredients or running the stall.
Once customers started coming, they became so busy they barely had time to breathe.
Other than the few days during Chinese New Year, they almost never had a day off all year.
This was another reason why Lin Wan was so careful with money.
He didn't want his parents to work so hard.
"Spirit, are there really no missions that let me earn money directly?" he asked the little Spirit in his mind.
"There aren't~"
Sigh...
His mood dropped.
The system had already cured his illness. Wasn't he asking for too much by wanting even more?
"But you can make money indirectly~" the Spirit said after noticing his disappointment.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"After your concentration improved, didn't your gaming skills improve too? Then you can use those skills to earn money~"
"That's true."
"So I have a mission like this~ It can make your thinking more active and greatly increase the chance that you'll suddenly get a brilliant idea~"
"A brilliant idea?"
"Yep! Like when you're solving questions, writing, or playing games, you'll be much more likely to suddenly come up with a new idea or a clever solution~"
"So... it can raise the limit of my gaming skills? That would make boosting accounts easier and let me earn money more easily?"
Maybe this was what people meant.
You worked just as hard as a genius, but the reason you didn't succeed was because you lacked that one flash of inspiration.
Goodness...
Wasn't this basically improving his natural talent?
Of course he wanted this mission!
"Spirit, what mission is it? Give it to me!"
"But this mission also has a side effect~"
"Huh? What side effect?"
"The side effect is that sometimes the things you say will become a little unusual. Other people may not think you're being nice~"
Uh...
So it was like raising his IQ while lowering his EQ?
That wasn't too bad. He wasn't very social anyway.
From now on, he would just talk less when speaking with other people.
"I've decided. I'll accept the mission!"
"Okay~ Mission: Perform 100 unexpected plays in games; post 10 questions on internet forum that each receive over 100 replies. Complete 100 exam questions with answers that people would never expect. Reward: Increased chance of having a flash of inspiration, and 1% disease recovery."
Lin Wan: "???"
The first two were easy enough to understand.
But what was he supposed to do with the last mission?
It didn't even give him any exam questions.
How was he supposed to answer them?
Should he just write, 'Solution:'?