Chapter 66: If You Like Someone, Go After Them
On the lake, the cheerful voices of girls broke the mood between them. Zhou Lin felt the voice sounded familiar. Along with the worker who came to unhook the ropes, there was also a small boat.
"Tongtong!?"
"Brother..."
At first, the girl looked really excited. But after seeing the woman Zhou Lin was hugging, she quickly realized she had become a very big third wheel.
Holding tightly to the rail, she was pulled onto the boat by the worker, and the ropes were removed. It was such a simple action, yet Zheng Qi and Zhou Lin both felt like pieces of dried meat being taken down from a rack.
The girl spoke to the friends who came with her, then boarded the boat that picked up the bungee jump visitors.
She wore a T-shirt, a skirt, and sneakers. Her long hair was parted to one side, and she wore a pair of round glasses. Her style looked a bit similar to Bai Xi’s, but their aura was completely different. Bai Xi gave off the feeling of a mature and calm elegant woman, while this girl clearly looked like a quiet and well-behaved girl at first glance.
Women compared themselves with each other almost everywhere. Zheng Qi quietly looked the girl over carefully.
After getting on the boat, the girl became a little nervous because Zheng Qi was there. The excitement she showed when she first saw Zhou Lin was already gone. Zhou Lin had not seen his family for a long time. Before he even sat down properly, he already started talking.
"When did you come back to Yunzhou? Why didn’t you tell me?"
Her glasses slipped down a little, and she pushed them back up while speaking softly.
"I originally planned to come back half a month later. But a few days ago, I heard some classmates were coming to Yunzhou to travel, so I came back with them last night. It was too late, and I was worried calling you after work would disturb your rest, so I stayed at a hotel with my classmates. I planned to play with them first and then come find you. I didn’t expect to meet you here."
"Did you go back home already?"
"I went back during summer vacation before. Everything at home is fine, so you don’t need to worry about Uncle and Auntie."
Moments when family members reunite were always warm and happy.
If this had happened before, Zhou Lin might have given her a warm hug. But now the little girl had grown into a young woman, and he could not ignore the distance between men and women anymore.
Zhou Lin smiled and only lightly patted her shoulder.
The girl also smiled, but before saying anything else, she subconsciously looked toward the unfamiliar face sitting opposite her.
"I was so focused on myself that I forgot to introduce you two."
Zhou Lin suddenly reacted and quickly began introducing them.
"This is my cousin, Hu Tong, my eldest aunt’s daughter."
That name...
Zheng Qi’s eyelid twitched. She immediately thought of the sound "thumping" in her mind.
The girl lowered her head slightly and looked shy. Actually, the meaning of her name alone was pretty nice, but when combined with her family name, it sounded a little funny.
"And this is Zheng Qi, my friend."
"Hello."
Along with the greeting, Zheng Qi also reached out her hand politely. She was naturally open and generous when greeting people, including men. But Hu Tong clearly had a more conservative personality. She was used to keeping some distance and felt girls should act more reserved.
But now, the other person had already offered a friendly hand. Refusing to shake it would make her seem too petty. Besides, judging from what she had just seen, this woman might even become her future sister-in-law.
She was still too shy, Zheng Qi thought silently.
The current scene felt very similar to when she first met Cheng Fei. Thinking Hu Tong simply was not used to greeting strangers this way, Zheng Qi pulled her hand back while still smiling.
But at that exact moment, Hu Tong finally reached her hand out.
The lonely hand hanging awkwardly in the air...
It was very embarrassing.
Zheng Qi burst out laughing.
As expected of family members. A brother like this really would have a sister like this too. Zheng Qi quickly reached her hand out again to meet hers, and Hu Tong smiled back.
You really could not judge people by appearance. Zheng Qi was honestly a little surprised. The girl’s looks were above average and somewhat memorable, but nowhere near stunning. Yet her healing-like smile warmed people’s hearts.
"Don’t be too nervous. We’re all friends here, just relax a little."
Zhou Lin smiled.
"Let’s go eat something. Tongtong, what do you want to eat?"
Hu Tong was already used to following behind him and letting this older brother decide everything whenever they went out. She brushed her hair aside and softly said,
"I’ll listen to you."
"And you?"
Zheng Qi paused slightly. Even his own family had not said anything, so what right did she, an outsider, have to make requests? Anyway, Zhou Lin was treating today, so she would just follow his choice.
"I honestly don’t have any ideas. You decide."
Zheng Qi smiled.
Honestly speaking, Zheng Qi had too many things to be proud of. From head to toe, every part of her matched modern beauty standards perfectly. Saying it this way might sound like objectifying women, but her beauty was undeniably real.
Just like Bai Xi before, Hu Tong could not stop the look of envy from showing on her face.
There were many themed restaurants inside the zoo. Zhou Lin looked around again and again but still could not decide. Looking too much only made him dizzy. After narrowing it down to two nearby places, he still could not choose.
After being best friends with Cheng Fei for over twenty years, although their personalities were different, some habits were strangely similar.
In the end, he used the classic method of "pointing randomly and choosing whichever gets picked" to decide where to eat.
Even at this age, after so many years, he was still using that childish method to make decisions. Hu Tong felt awkward watching it and used buying drinks as an excuse to step away for a moment. Meanwhile, Zheng Qi kept covering her mouth and laughing.
"Handsome guy, how old are you exactly?"
"Huh?"
Zhou Lin turned around blankly. After noticing the teasing smile on her face, he finally understood what she meant. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hehe... I just have trouble making choices. Can’t help it."
Zheng Qi smiled brightly. She was not laughing at him. She simply felt that in a society like a giant dye vat, people like Zhou Lin, who could still keep such a pure and honest mindset, were extremely rare nowadays, almost like an endangered species.
Whenever she met someone like that, she always wanted to tease them a little.
"She... really is your younger sister?"
"...I think it’s not hard to see the family resemblance from our faces, right?" Zhou Lin asked back.
"Your sister is pretty."
"Our genes are probably similar. So I think I don’t look too bad myself."
"Hehe!"
Zheng Qi laughed.
"You really hide yourself well."
"What?" Zhou Lin asked again.
"Feifei said you’re bad at talking, too honest, and kind of... hehe... kind of slow and awkward."
Zhou Lin’s eyelids twitched when he heard that.
What kind of descriptions were those? Couldn’t Cheng Fei use nicer words? Why did she always talk about him like that? After all these years, she still had not changed that bad habit.
When he got the chance later, he definitely needed to settle this score with her.
"In my opinion, you’re not bad at talking. Your communication skills are just a little weak."
"I work with computers every day. Even I feel my speaking ability has gotten worse... By the way, do you know any way to fix that?"
Zheng Qi clapped her hands.
"There actually is someone perfect for that, and she’s right nearby. Our hardworking gardener of the nation, Bai Xi, Teacher Bai."
"Mm!"
Zhou Lin nodded.
"Teacher Bai fights battles of wits with teenagers every day. She definitely has plenty of experience in this area! But..."
He dragged out the last word on purpose. Zheng Qi already knew what he wanted to ask and answered first.
"The problem after that is personality, and yours is the good kind. If you don’t want to become a bad person, then you don’t need to change that part."
Zhou Lin straightened up. After smiling, he suddenly cupped his fists respectfully like in old martial arts dramas.
"I will remember your teaching!"
"You’re welcome!"
Zheng Qi helped him straighten back up, and the smile on her face became even brighter. Looking at her, Zhou Lin suddenly felt relaxed.
It felt as if the noisy surroundings had disappeared and turned into a quiet forest covered in fallen leaves. The wind blew softly, birds jumped between branches, and both body and mind relaxed deeply in that peaceful feeling.
For the first time in over twenty years, after comforting someone else, he himself felt incredibly good afterward.
He never expected helping others could feel this satisfying.
"What are you smiling about?"
"Seeing you reminds me of someone I knew before. A really, really good person..."
"Hehe!"
"Tongtong, did you bring a lot of luggage? If needed, I can borrow a business van later."
Inside the restaurant, everyone was eating and chatting happily. After one topic ended, Zhou Lin asked another question he cared about.
Hu Tong subconsciously glanced at Zheng Qi sitting across from her and hesitated, unwilling to answer directly.
Being honest and simple did not mean Zhou Lin was stupid. His observation skills were not worse than others’. From the bits and pieces of conversation earlier, Hu Tong already understood that Zheng Qi was currently renting Zhou Lin’s apartment.
His apartment was not very big. Two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom, around eighty square meters.
At first, she really planned to stay there too. But now...
As family members who grew up together, how could Zhou Lin not understand what she was thinking?
Right now, Zheng Qi was almost broke and homeless. If Cheng Fei and Bai Xi had not helped her, she might even have ended up on the streets.
Not even mentioning Cheng Fei’s feelings, just thinking about forcing Zheng Qi out made him feel terrible.
"How about this, I—"
"There are plenty of beds in the company dormitory lately. We’ve got a big project recently, so staying there would actually be more convenient for me."
Zhou Lin quickly interrupted first.
Life as a single man was lonely enough already. Such a high-quality woman had finally come close to him. Of course he would not create trouble himself.
"No need to worry about it. I already found a place near the school earlier. It’ll be easier to get to campus from there. Staying at your home is too far from school."
"Far!?"
"Mm. The branch campus moved to Qinghe Road earlier this year."
Zhou Lin blinked, clearly surprised.
"I spend all day writing code. I really didn’t know that."
"You graduated years ago and aren’t studying there anymore. Of course you wouldn’t know..."
"Haha!"
Zhou Lin laughed, then raised his glass.
"Still, congratulations to Tongtong! She’s the first person in the whole family to get into graduate school. This is a historic first!"
"Graduate school!? A top student!"
Zheng Qi’s face was full of admiration. She had been quietly listening to their conversation, but finally could not hold back anymore.
"Hehe! From elementary school to middle school to high school, Tongtong was always in key schools. Even her university is a top 985 university."
When talking about this genius younger sister, Zhou Lin’s face was filled with pride.
"If Brother hadn’t set such a good example for me, who knows what I’d be like now."
"Oh wow! A family of top students!"
Zhou Lin smiled awkwardly.
"I didn’t even get into graduate school myself, so I can’t really count."
The meal ended in a warm atmosphere. The food itself was simple and not especially fancy, but when you were with family, what you ate did not really matter.
Before leaving, while Zheng Qi went to the restroom, Hu Tong quietly asked Zhou Lin about Zheng Qi.
"Brother, is she really just your tenant?"
"Mm."
Zhou Lin turned his head slightly, the corners of his lips lifting.
"Or... do you want things to become more complicated?"
The girl smiled softly and lowered her head, taking off her glasses as she spoke gently.
"It’s not about what I want. It’s about whether you two want it or not. Sister Wang and you were never really from the same world anyway. Honestly, breaking up was probably for the best."
"You’re overthinking it. Your brother isn’t the type who can’t let go. I know Wang Min and I weren’t from the same world, and I couldn’t give her the life she wanted. But with Zheng Qi, we barely even know each other. How can you already talk about the future?"
"Brother, aren’t you putting the cart before the horse?"