Chapter 437

"Brother Cheng, I've already felt your magnanimity, and I understand your intentions, but there's no way around it. My mom has already prepared dinner for me at home, and she's just waiting for me to go back to complete the order. It's not that I don't want to do you the honor, it's just really bad timing."

Lin Li still politely declined the overly enthusiastic Xiao Cheng, his tone even more serious than before.

"Alright then." Seeing Lin Li so resolute, Xiao Cheng nodded with some regret and watched Lin Li leave.

I'll ask the instructor for the brother's contact information later; I'll invite him again if there's a chance in the future.

Noon.

"It's a pity Lin Li didn't want to come; I really wanted to thank him." Xiao Cheng sighed with regret as he followed Yu Jianan and Lu Gouguan into a restaurant.

There were no accidents in the morning despite the flag he'd set; Xiao Cheng had successfully passed the fourth subject, and now he was just waiting to get his driver's license.

Yu Jianan and Lu Gouguan nodded and chimed in with a few laughs upon hearing this.

The three of them sat down at a table in the restaurant.

No longer talking about Lin Li, Xiao Cheng waved his hand grandly and said to the two of them, "Instructor Yu, and Instructor Lu, you two order. I'm fine with anything; I can eat whatever."

"Old Lu, you do it then; I don't have any dietary restrictions either." Yu Jianan handed the menu to Lu Gouguan.

Lu Gouguan didn't stand on ceremony either; having been stifled all morning, he had to release the tiger in a man's heart right now.

"Fine, leave it to me then!"

"First, bring a bottle of Moutai, that's the bare minimum! Let me see what the biggest abalone here is... oh, three-head, I feel like we need at least three! Bring some five-year-aged fish maw..."

Xiao Cheng: "(゜▽゜)?"

Listening to this way of ordering, Xiao Cheng remembered Lin Li's advice from not long ago.

No, no, no, no, no.

Taking out his phone, Xiao Cheng glanced at the number in his WeChat wallet, then smiled calmly.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Xiao Cheng decisively opened NetEase Cloud, picked a song, and started playing it from the chorus.

"~You better come back~ I can't bear it alone~ You better come back~ Life is wonderful because of you~"

"Instructor Yu, Instructor Lu, you two go ahead and order, I'm going outside to take a call." Hearing the song, Xiao Cheng immediately stood up and whispered to the two of them.

Then he pressed the phone screen and held it to his ear, walking toward the door while saying, "Hello? Yeah, it's me, I'm eating, I passed..."

Seeing that Xiao Cheng had already started a call, Yu Jianan didn't say anything, just nodded, made an 'OK' sign with his hand, and looked down at his own phone.

Two minutes later.

The phone in his hand vibrated. Yu Jianan glanced at the pop-up message bar; it was a WeChat message from Xiao Cheng.

"Xiao Cheng: 'Transferred 88 yuan'"

Hmm? Why did he suddenly transfer money to him?

Oh, I get it.

"Yu Jianan: Xiao Cheng, why did you suddenly transfer money to me? Is this an extra red envelope? Haha~"

"'Xiao Cheng' has enabled friend verification. You are not his (her) friend. Please send a friend request first; you can only chat after the other party accepts."

Yu Jianan: "(；o_o)?"

Huh.

It seems he'd been deleted?

Silence, silence, silence is the Cambridge of tonight.

When Yu Jianan reacted and turned his head mechanically, Lu Gouguan beside him was still murmuring excitedly:

"Oh my, off-season hairy crabs full of roe, yo, haven't tried these, gotta get two, right? Tsk, wild large yellow croaker, the biggest one, others might think we can't afford it, bring..."

Yu Jianan: "(゜▽゜)?"

Not good! Old Lu knows his home address and even knows his family and friends; it seems he can't run away like Xiao Cheng!

Yu Jianan took a deep breath—

"YAMERO!!!"

"Old Lu, for God's sake, stop ordering, stop your hands, wait a second, there's an emergency, we have to pause right now—"

"Old—! Lu—!"

"Xiao Cheng! Dog official and I were just joking with you! I'll pay for his meal!! Come back! Come back!"

~You better come back~ I can't bear it alone~ You better come back~ Life is wonderful because of you~

Going downstairs and throwing the finished takeout into the residential trash can, Lin Li looked at his phone, feeling somewhat baffled.

Xiao Cheng, who had added him on WeChat in the morning, had just sent him a very strange message:

"Xiao Cheng: I'm sorry, Brother, I didn't understand your deep meaning again; I'm still too stupid."

What is this kid mumbling about?

Did Xiao Cheng go crazy from passing the exam?

Lin Li couldn't be bothered to dig deeper; he gave a perfunctory reply and rode his bike to school.

The school gate was wide open, and the fountain was actually working today, which was rare.

The next time the fountain would be working, it would probably be the day school starts next semester—no, even that day wasn't certain, after all, there were no new students.

There were quite a few students coming and going at the school gate, but they were all wearing Nansang uniforms.

It wasn't that many first and second-year students were participating in this competition; most of these were third-year cattle—it was time for them to go to school.

The exam didn't officially start until 2:30 in the afternoon; there was no need for the students from inside and outside the school participating in the competition to come so early.

Lin Li didn't linger at the teaching building or the gate, heading straight to the boys' dormitory.

His foster son Chen Tianming needed him.

As for Chen Yuying, perhaps because the middle-aged man knew that his daughter was the only girl on the Class 4 competition list, and that Lin Li, a dangerous organism, was also on the boys' list, he decided to take the time today to drop his daughter off at school.

He even planned to pick Chen Yuying up for dinner after the exam and then bring her back to school.

Tsk tsk, he didn't even find it troublesome.

It was as if he were terrified that if he didn't come to pick her up, Chen Yuying would have dinner alone with some boy in the evening. Lin Li thought that was impossible; it was purely worrying about nothing.

If the middle-aged man didn't mind, Lin Li would be willing to waste a dinner time to watch Chen Yuying for him the whole time, to ensure that Chen Yuying was under surveillance the entire time and that no scene of her having dinner alone with any boy would appear.

But considering the middle-aged man would probably mind, Lin Li didn't volunteer.

Sigh, the pity of all fathers' hearts.

"Knock, knock, knock." Arriving at the Class 4 dormitory, Lin Li knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Bai Bufan's voice came from inside.

"The egg seller," Lin Li replied.

"What eggs?" Footsteps and Chen Tianming's laughing curses came from inside the dorm.

"Haven't you guys heard this poem 'Entering the City' by Jia Qianqian?"

"A city the size of a palm, a door two fingers wide, the soy milk deliverer has already entered, the egg seller is knocking at the door."

After Chen Tianming opened the door, Lin Li walked in with his hands behind his back, pacing and reciting the poem slowly, his tone rising and falling.

There was more than just Chen Tianming and Bai Bufan in the dorm; Wang Ze, who shouldn't have stayed at school this week, was also there, lying on the lower bunk of Zhou Bao's bed.

Chen Tianming: "What kind of shitty poem is that."

Wang Ze: "Lin Li, is there a city that can only be entered through the back door? I have a friend who asked me to help him ask."

"Good poem! Good poem! Lin Li, you've recited a good poem!"

Bai Bufan, who had been lying on the upper bunk playing on his phone, sat up straight, looking at Lin Li with admiration, his feelings completely different from those of the two vulgar men:

"'A city the size of a palm' sounds very small, but it points out the initial pressure and oppression that a big city gives to newcomers—the buildings are high and the roads are wide, but the space that belongs to oneself and the psychological sense of belonging are exceptionally narrow; the 'door two fingers wide' is even more vivid; it's not just an actual door, but more like a threshold, symbolizing how difficult it is to integrate into a new environment and gain recognition."

"And the last two lines use an ordinary scene to metaphorically imply the gap in reality; some people have barely squeezed into the cracks of city life and found their place, while others are still working hard, waiting for an opportunity to be accepted. Where are these two kinds of peddlers? These are clearly the epitome of people at different stages of city life!"

"This poem replaces grand narratives with a montage of life fragments, and in this seemingly ordinary and straightforward writing, it achieves the sharpest stab into the essence of reality. Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

Lin Li's eyes lit up: "Bufan, no one understands poetry better than you! Only you have seen through the deep meaning behind this poem!"

Then Lin Li glanced at Chen Tianming and Wang Ze, his voice instantly becoming disgusted: "Unlike some people, who are vulgar and have low-class language."

Chen Tianming, Wang Ze: "......"

Wang Ze gave Lin Li the middle finger, while Chen Tianming, who was sitting in his seat, looked at Bai Bufan on the upper bunk and laughed:

"Bufan, aren't you quite good at making things up? With your analytical ability, shouldn't reading comprehension and ancient poetry comprehension be a piece of cake? Why aren't your Chinese scores high every time?"

"You don't understand that," Bai Bufan explained, shaking his head upon hearing this. "After my research, I discovered that my brain is basically a pirated website."

"It's laggy as hell to use, a single sentence takes forever to load, and memorizing two words is even harder. The server goes on a 404 break after a while, and if my thoughts get a little active, it's easy to accidentally trigger the yellow pop-up ads on the side."

"But, only when I click on these yellow ads and trigger the underlying code can my brain truly run! After all, pirated websites exist just for this moment!"

Chen Tianming: "...... Reasonable."

For a moment, Chen Tianming felt he really couldn't refute it.

If he replaced the yellow ads with Qiaoqiao ads, don't say it, this theory might even apply to his own brain.