Back in the dorm, the three of them started unpacking the stuff they’d brought along.
The biggest perk of going to college in your own city was how easy it was to run back and forth between home and school. If you forgot something, a quick trip home would take at most three to five hours.
Since summer wasn’t over yet, all three had only packed some short-sleeved shirts for the season, plus a few basic toiletries. None of that took up much space, so they were done packing in no time.
Their new roommate hadn’t shown up yet, and during this whole time, he never came back.
When Lin Shen opened his laptop, he realized that without signing up for the campus internet, the cable was useless. No internet meant no games. Agitated, he dragged Lin Wangye out to get their campus accounts set up.
With nothing better to do in the dorm, Lu Chengxuan tagged along.
There were tons of freshmen, and plenty of them had brought their own computers.
The line for campus internet stretched from the main hall all the way outside. Lin Shen had zero patience for this. The moment he saw the crowd, his head went dark. After barely waiting three to five minutes, his patience ran out—he shoved both his and Lin Wangye’s student cards into Lu Chengxuan’s hand, left him in line, and bolted off with Lin Wangye.
Starting college, it was impossible not to feel curious about the place you’d be stuck in for the next few years.
The second they ditched that endless line, Lin Shen’s mood instantly brightened.
He hummed a little tune as he led Lin Wangye around campus, checking out the different buildings and guessing what they were for. After wandering for ages, he finally noticed that Lin Wangye hadn’t said a word the whole time. Turning his head, he saw the guy glued to his phone, clearly not paying attention to anything else.
“Still chatting with your boyfriend overseas?” Lin Shen couldn’t help but tease.
“Nope. I already coaxed him to sleep.”
Without even lifting his eyes from the screen, Lin Wangye answered.
“I’m checking up on the renovation progress of the new branches. Business this summer’s been crazy, and plenty of people have their eyes on this cake. I heard from Wang Xiaoshuai that several places are about to open. I’ve got to push and get all our branches up and running, otherwise with just one hotel, rooms are always booked out. Customers will end up going somewhere else, and if those guys run loss-leaders just for publicity, they’ll steal business in no time. Once the branches open and we’ve got momentum, even if internet cafés start popping up on every street in the future, most people will still choose Shenlin first.”
Hearing that, Lin Shen couldn’t help but raise his brows.
“Not bad—you really know how to worry about things.”
With full conviction, Lin Wangye replied, “Of course. Right now my biggest goal in life is saving enough for Suihe’s bone marrow transplant surgery. And if possible, I want to buy a house before Shi Yuan comes back from studying abroad.”
“Any luck finding a match for Suihe yet?” Lin Shen asked.
“Not yet.” Lin Wangye shrugged and let out a soft sigh. “The doctor said this kind of thing can’t be rushed. All we can do is keep treating and wait for a proper match to show up.”
For a bone marrow transplant, you need a donor whose white cell antigens match.
Usually, you start looking among siblings and close relatives.
But sadly, neither Xu Suihe’s family nor even Shi Yuan met the requirements. Both Lin Wangye and Lin Shen had tried too, and of course, those results had come back as failures.
If family couldn’t match, then finding one among strangers was like searching for a needle in the ocean. But chemo couldn’t go on forever. In the end, the best treatment for leukemia was still a transplant.
And besides waiting, there really wasn’t a better option.
“You’re right, it can’t be rushed. Just wait it out,” Lin Shen tried to comfort him. “As long as the illness is kept under control, one day the right match will show up, and things will turn around.”
“I know.”
Having read who knows how many case files on leukemia, Lin Wangye understood this better than anyone.
At its core, leukemia wasn’t exactly impossible to treat.
What made it so terrifying, scarier than most terminal diseases even though it wasn’t one, was that the entire process was a long war of attrition.
The transplant needed luck, and until then chemo was the only way to keep things steady.
But every single round of chemo cost a fortune.
Not every family could hold out in such a long battle. It wasn’t rare for people to burn through all their savings, only to lose their loved one in the end.
Even now, after so long, just thinking about it made Lin Wangye’s chest tighten. He couldn’t even imagine how helpless Shi Yuan must’ve felt in his past life, watching his only sister slip away right in front of him.
The campus of Ningchang University had some really beautiful spots—lawns, groves, flowerbeds everywhere, and even a man-made lake full of koi.
As the two of them walked along a pebble path through the trees, Lin Shen noticed the gloom in Lin Wangye’s expression. He turned his eyes forward, casually slung an arm over his shoulder, and steered the topic away.
“Speaking of which, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”
Sliding his phone into his pocket, Lin Wangye turned his head. “What is it?”
Lin Shen’s tone grew serious. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doubting what you two have. But I really am curious—why do you trust Xu Suinian so much? Why are you willing to give him all this? You’ve never once worried that after he makes it big, he might just turn his back on you?”
“Not at all. I know he’d never do that.”
Lin Wangye shook his head without hesitation. Then, realizing he probably needed to give some reason that would help Lin Shen understand, he thought for a moment and looked straight at him.
“Then let me ask you this—back when you first met me, why did you help me so much? Weren’t you ever afraid I might have bad intentions? And when you lent me money, weren’t you scared I wouldn’t pay you back?”
Hearing that, Lin Shen thought it would be easy to explain.
But when he actually tried to put the words together, he was shocked to realize he couldn’t come up with a solid reason at all.
Whether it was helping Lin Wangye or later lending money to Xu Suinian, both had been instinctive choices. Looking back now, even if things had gone wrong, he could’ve handled the risk.
So when faced with Lin Wangye’s question, he couldn’t deny that he hadn’t thought much about it at the time.
And Lin Wangye wasn’t asking just to trip him up. He was genuinely curious—why?
Because unlike Lin Shen, he had the “god’s-eye view.”
At the core, his trust in Shi Yuan came from the feelings carried over from a past life.
But Lin Shen didn’t have that advantage.
Even so, he had still stepped forward without hesitation, helping without worrying about what might happen.
Seeing him fall silent, Lin Wangye couldn’t hold back a smile.
“You can’t explain it either, can you?”
“Yeah, I really can’t.” Lin Shen admitted without a fuss, spreading his hands. “It’s weird, honestly. Back then I just… didn’t think about it.”
Lin Wangye studied him for a moment, then asked again, curiosity burning. “When you first met me, did you feel anything different? Like, not something you can explain with logic or science, but just… at first glance, you liked me right away?”
Lin Shen snorted. “I told you, I don’t have any shady thoughts about you.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Lin Wangye really wanted to know if fate or some invisible bond could exist between people. He pressed on quickly: “I mean that strange kind of feeling. When Shi Yuan and I first got together, I asked him this same question. He told me he felt it—like, from the very start, he just wanted to treat me well, without any reason. Do you feel that? Do you, or not?”
“If you put it like that… maybe I do.” Lin Shen tilted his head back, staring at the sky, thinking it over. “Though, maybe it’s just because you were good at games and I simply wanted to call you ‘Dad.’”
“…”
Funny. Back then, I also just wanted to call you ‘Dad.’
Lin Wangye was speechless, caught between laughter and tears. With a sigh, he let the topic drop.
“Well, whatever it is, we’re fated to be buddies.” Lin Shen laughed, nudged him lightly on the head with his own, and added with some feeling, “It’s been clear from the start that Xu Suinian’s future is bright. I just hope he never lets you down.”
Lin Wangye looked at him for a long while before suddenly saying, “The more you worry about being let down, the easier it is to lose the courage to love someone.”
Lin Shen froze, like something had quietly struck his heart.
Lin Wangye blinked, then looked back at the path ahead. “I know it sounds kinda lovesick, but the reason I give so much to him isn’t because I want something back.”
Lin Shen’s whole view on love came straight out of his values.
In his mind, if you put in effort, there had to be a return—otherwise, it was a losing deal.
Lin Wangye had figured out long ago that the reason his “dad” and Lu Chengxuan had been stuck in this awkward stalemate for so many years was simple: neither of them knew how to handle feelings properly.
One was impulsive and reckless, acting on whims without thinking ahead.
The other was slow and dull, raised from childhood to be absolutely rational, so he naturally lacked sensitivity to both his own emotions and other people’s.
Put these two together, and the fact they couldn’t have normal chemistry in a relationship was hardly surprising.
As expected, Lin Shen didn’t get it. His face showed only confusion.
“If it’s not for a return, then what for? Doesn’t it have to go both ways?”
“Of course love has to be mutual,” Lin Wangye explained slowly. “But if from the very start you’re measuring gains and losses, is that really the right way to begin? At the end of the day, liking him is my choice. Wanting to give is my choice. He can take it all for granted, and if he gives me something back, that’s just a bonus.”
Seeing Lin Shen still looking lost, he tried another angle.
“Say it was Brother Lu who needed a chance to study abroad, and you happened to be able to make it happen. Wouldn’t you make the same choice I did? Give-and-take is business. Feeling no need to settle accounts—that’s love.”
Lin Shen dropped his gaze, staring at the path’s crossing for a long time, silent, lost in thought.
After a while, he suddenly reacted, blurting out defensively, “Who says I want a relationship with him?!”
“Click.”
Lin Wangye curled his lips, snorted through his nose, and turned away, deciding not to talk to him anymore.
The pebble path through the grove came to an end, and ahead lay the teaching buildings in Area A, bustling with people. Just as Lin Wangye was about to step out, Lin Shen yanked him back behind a tree.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Shh!”
With a finger pressed to his lips, Lin Shen cut him off and peeked past the trunk. A moment later, a curse hissed out from between his teeth.
“What’s going on?”
Still clueless, Lin Wangye followed his line of sight. Soon enough, he spotted a boy and a girl walking side by side down the path ahead, leaning close like the most ordinary couple in the world.
But when Lin Wangye took a closer look, he couldn’t help cursing too.
Small world. God must be really bored.
Wasn’t that bastard the dumbass scumbag fiance of his aunt? Even if he turned to ashes, I’d still recognize him!
Lin Shen’s hot temper flared instantly. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge in and beat the guy up right there. Lin Wangye reacted fast, yanking him back before he could move. His mind raced—thankfully, in this lifetime, that scumbag hadn’t met him yet. He calmed Lin Shen down, told him not to act rashly, then whipped out his phone, logged into his work account, and jogged over with a bright smile.
“Excuse me, senior, senior! My friend said he’s waiting for me at the newsstand, but I’ve been looking forever and can’t find it. Do you know where it is?”
“The newsstand? That’s a bit far from here.”
“I’m a freshman. Could I maybe add you on WeChat so you can send me the exact location? I’ll head over myself.”
“Sure, scan me.”
A moment later, Lin Wangye returned with his phone in hand.
Lin Shen leaned over, saw the couple had already walked off, and frowned. “What the hell was that about?”
Grinding his teeth, Lin Wangye added the contact with the note [Scumbag Dumbass]. “Infiltrate the enemy from the inside. Just wait and see how I tear him apart.”
“Alright then, what’s the plan?”
Lin Shen perked up, curious, about to dig deeper—then suddenly realized something was off. “Hold on, how do you even know him?”
“Uh…” Lin Wangye froze for a beat, then lifted his eyes, meeting his dad’s clear gaze. He made something up on the spot. “Was your sister Qianqian’s engagement some kind of secret?”
Lin Shen thought back to the grand banquet his dad had thrown at the time and didn’t think too much of it.
The two of them chatted and wandered for so long that by the time they got back, Lu Chengxuan had already finished setting up the campus internet and was waiting at the dorm entrance. The three returned together, and just as Lu Chengxuan slid the key into the lock and turned it, the dorm door suddenly swung open.
“Hey, nice to meet you.”
The guy standing there had brows like brushstrokes, a clean, handsome face, and a smile as warm as spring sunshine. Friendly and easygoing, he greeted them at the door—then froze the moment his eyes met Lin Shen’s.
Lin Shen’s popsicle nearly slipped from his hand. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
“You?!”
*
No way, no way—are there still people who made it to chapter 80 and still don’t know Brother Lu’s got blonde hair?
Punishment: everyone go reread chapter one!
Brother Lu’s half-Nordic, naturally blonde!
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
