“Have a seat first.”
“Can you get off me first?”
“Oh, sorry…”
Xu Lin gently placed her on the sofa. As Jiang Zimeng felt Xu Lin’s careful movements, she smiled.
She remembered when she was a child, her father would come home from work and loved to take her out to play.
But as she grew up, her father became richer and more successful, and eventually became estranged from her mother…
I just want a family. I don’t need him to be richer. I just want him to come back… to see me, to talk to me.
Suddenly, a few tears slid down her cheeks, and she hurriedly wiped them away with her sleeve.
Xu Lin noticed her change in emotion but didn’t say anything. It seemed like there was no father at home.
When he came upstairs, he saw a framed wedding photo on the floor at the corner, but it wasn’t hung up.There was also a crack on it, obviously from being dropped or smashed. He roughly understood a few things.
“Did you buy all these figurines?”
“Some were official gifts, but I bought most of them myself. You could say all my earnings go into this.”
“These must have cost 200,000 to 300,000?”
“More or less. There are some I haven’t taken out yet, in total around 350,000.”
“Impressive, impressive.” Xu Lin clasped his hands to Jiang Zimeng.
“Sensei, please lock the door first.”
“Okay.” Xu Lin went over and locked the door.
“My room is soundproof. No one can come in, and you can’t hear anything from outside.”
“Oh.” Although it was just an ordinary sentence, the mention of soundproofing made his heart stir again.
Ever since he grew closer to Qin Yunhe, his resolve had become increasingly unstable.
Feeling a bit flustered, he quickly shifted his attention to the figurines, walking around the room.
Jiang Zimeng watched Xu Lin’s back and her mood gradually lifted, so she casually started chatting.
“By the way, Sensei, you go to school, write, and make videos. Do you have enough time?”
“Not really. I’m so busy I get dizzy, but luckily, I can recover with just a few hours of sleep.”
“You have it tough. I edit videos during the day and stream on Moyu at night, which is already exhausting. I didn’t think you had even more to do.”
“You thought I was a corporate slave?”
“Yeah, you often say you’re too tired, so we thought you were a corporate slave.”
“Studying is tiring too. After studying, I have to write and do other things.”
“How are your grades?”
Although Jiang Zimeng didn’t like school and didn’t want to talk about herself, she had no problem talking about others; she wasn’t at the PTSD level.
“I’m okay, second in the class. The November monthly exam hasn’t come yet, but I probably won’t get first. But I can maintain second and aim for the top 20 in the grade.”
“That’s impressive, better than me. I was only third in the class, around eighth or ninth in the grade.”
“Miss Xing Mimi, you’re like Naruto pretending not to show off.”
“By the way, did you also get dirt on your clothes?”
“Oh no, I left my coat in the bathroom!”
Xu Lin suddenly remembered that he had left his coat by the curtains. It was a man’s coat, too conspicuous.
“Stay calm. I’ll go get it. You have nothing to do, just open the computer and play for a while,” Jiang Zimeng said before opening the door and walking out.
Xu Lin knew that getting nervous wouldn’t help.
He glanced at the computer and unceremoniously turned it on. But as it booted up, Xu Lin suddenly realized something.
Even though she was definitely using the highest configuration available now, it wouldn’t match even the lowest configuration of the future.
Even just comparing the generations, there’s a big difference between 1080 and 2080, and between 2080 and 3080. Moreover, the popular games now, he had already played them in the future. Even if he hadn’t, he knew their plots, so he wasn’t interested.
After browsing around, he finally settled on watching movies. The present was different from the future; online content was still a mix of pirated and legitimate copies without strict copyright enforcement. Piracy was illegal, but it had the advantage of offering many movies and series that couldn’t be seen in the future.
Xu Lin searched for “Future Diary” and started watching the first episode, realizing Jiang Zimeng had already watched it. He had just begun when the door opened, and Xu Lin instinctively hid behind it.
Seeing Jiang Zimeng walk in with his coat, he stepped out.
“You startled me. Just leave the coat here. It’s dirty; I’ll wash it for you.”
“No need.”
“It was my dog that got Sensei’s coat dirty. I’ll wash it for you, and you can pick it up next time you have time.”
“Alright.”
“When does your mom go to bed?”
“In about half an hour. She’s on the third floor. Once she goes upstairs, you can leave directly. Or you could wait until she takes a shower, but I don’t know when she’ll shower.”
Xu Lin looked at his phone, which showed 10:30, along with several reminders from his dad over the past few hours. He knew going back wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Hey? Are you watching ‘Future Diary’? It’s great, a pure love story with a refreshing touch.”
Jiang Zimeng perked up a bit upon seeing the screen.
“I’ve seen it before. Just revisiting. If you insist it’s pure love, I guess it could be,” Xu Lin replied, thinking it was like calling “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” a very cute and heartwarming series.
“Revisiting? Let’s watch it together for a while.”
“Okay.”
The two sat on the sofa like old friends, made the video full screen, and started watching from the first episode.
“By the way, I was shocked when the two didn’t end up together in the end. Thankfully, the OVA gave a happy ending.”
“Yeah. Speaking of next year’s new anime, which one are you looking forward to, Sensei?”
“Next year…” Xu Lin tried to recall the anime of 2014. To be honest, even as an otaku, he couldn’t remember the airing dates of every series.
After some thought, he remembered two rather good and refreshing series with decent reputations.
“Nisekoi and Noragami. Both have original works, so the production should be good.”
“I’ve read the original manga of Nisekoi, but not Noragami. I’ve heard others talk about it, though.”
As they talked, the previously listless and indifferent Jiang Zimeng turned into a cheerful girl, eagerly sharing her thoughts on the upcoming anime. Xu Lin nodded along, knowing he couldn’t say he had already seen them and knew the endings.
Of course, there were things he might not know, like “One Piece.” Before he was reborn, it hadn’t finished yet and was only up to the Wano Country arc.
The conversation shifted from anime to games, from mobile games to AAA titles, and then to galgames, where he found out she was also a fan of Type-Moon.
Just as they were discussing “Fate/stay night,” the video they were watching suddenly froze. Jiang Zimeng went to refresh the page and found that the video was gone.
“Was it deleted?”
“Not surprising. Without proper licensing, it’s always at risk of being taken down.”
“No worries, I downloaded the whole series to my computer last time. Let me find it.”
Jiang Zimeng sat down and started searching through her files. Xu Lin took the opportunity to send a goodnight message to Qin Yunhe, who didn’t respond, likely already asleep.
“Found it.”
She was about to open the video player when there was a knock at the door. Xu Lin quickly crawled under the bed.
Jiang Zimeng realized she hadn’t locked the door and hurriedly stood up. In her haste, she accidentally pulled down the bathrobe hanging on the chair.
She panicked and tried to grab it just as her mother walked in, seeing her daughter standing there in only her underwear, momentarily stunned.
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