Xu Youqing said, "Perhaps it's someone who was previously bound to the system."
The old man who fell into the water had a Xuanwu tattoo on his back. Ordinary tattoos are fine, but the tattoo that appeared after being bound to the system grew out of his skin and flesh. It cannot be erased or removed. Even if a piece of flesh is scraped off, the tattoo will still be vividly imprinted on his back as proof that he was once bound to the system.
Coincidentally, there was an uneven scar on the back of the old man's body where he had a tattoo.
"What are you two whispering about?"
As Gu Chen watched the ambulance drive away, she turned around and saw her boyfriend and Xu Youqing whispering to each other.
They got upset again, saying they couldn't say it openly. Did they have some secret between them?
"Let's talk about Xiao Luo." Xu Youqing lied without batting an eye, saying, "I'm going home to change my clothes, and I'll go over later. Don't tell Xiao Luo about me going into the water to save someone."
"Huh?" Gu Chen roughly understood. "You're worried about Luo Zai, right? No problem."
"Please." Xu Youqing had already called the driver. Gu Chen and Xiang Yu only started walking back after confirming that Xu Youqing had gotten in the car.
When they got back, everyone in the courtyard was already up. Gu Chen and Xiang Yu took their things to the kitchen and put them away. When they opened the door, they saw a room full of people eating breakfast around a round table.
"Where's my sister?" Xu Youluo looked behind them. The heavy curtains were drawn, and there was no sign that a third person was about to come in.
"Oh, your sister said she forgot something, so she's going back to get it," Gu Chen said casually, sitting down on a stool, taking a cup of soy milk, inserting a straw, and handing it to Xiang Yu.
Xiang Yu took a sip and sat down next to him to eat a steamed bun.
After going out, the little food they had eaten was almost gone.
Grandma Jiang knew they had gone to buy groceries. When she saw them sit down to eat, she assumed they hadn't eaten anything while they were out, so she pushed the fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and pancakes toward them, saying, "Are you starving? Eat more."
She hadn't eaten much herself, but now she was feeding Grandpa Jiang a bowl of non-spicy tofu pudding.
Grandpa Jiang seemed to be in good spirits this morning, and his gaze as he stared at Xiangyu was unusually bright.
"Why are you staring at him like that?" Grandma Jiang scolded him gently when she saw him looking sideways at the corner. "That's someone else's grandson."
When Xiang Yu heard this, he choked on his soy milk.
Gu Chen quickly grabbed two tissues from the table. Seeing that he had something in both hands, he simply wiped his mouth for him.
Now it was Wang Zehao's turn to be annoyed. Although he accepted the fact that the two were gay, he felt it was too blatant since no one else knew.
"Tsk." Yang Shuhuan looked at him with disdain and handed him two tissues.
Fearing that others would become suspicious, Wang Zehao simply pouted at Yang Shuhuan, trying to cover it up, "Huanhuan, wipe my mouth."
"roll."
Xu Youqing was probably worried that there wouldn't be enough food for everyone, so she bought ten portions at a time. Even with Wang Zehao present, there were still two baskets of steamed buns and four fried dough sticks left over.
Jiang Wensong took it to the kitchen, thinking he could eat it later when he got tired of studying.
Grandpa Jiang was pushed out into the yard to bask in the sun. Grandma Jiang wanted to go out for a stroll in her electric wheelchair, but she refused Jiang Wensong's offer to come along, saying with a smile, "You two just stay home and study. Do you think I'll get lost?"
Jiang Wensong saw Grandma Jiang off at the gate and happened to run into Xu Youqing, who had changed her clothes and was returning home.
"Hello, Grandma." Xu Youqing greeted Grandma Jiang with a smile. Upon learning that the girl in front of her was the one who provided the wheelchair, Grandma Hou told Jiang Wensong to treat her well.
Upon seeing her older sister arrive, Xu Youluo, completely unaware of what had happened that morning, went to greet her with a sweet smile, "Sister~"
"Mmm." Xu Youqing pinched his cheek. "Go study."
The table had been cleaned up, and the group continued their studies from the previous day. To Xiang Yu's left was Gu Chen, and to his right was Wang Zehao. In front of him was a notebook of incorrect problems, which Wang Zehao picked up and looked at. "Holy crap, Dad, you still need a notebook of incorrect problems?"
He flipped through a few pages, closed the book, and put it back. "Sure enough, the mistakes that a top student makes when flipping through a book are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people like us."
Jiang Wensong, sitting across the table, showed interest in the notebook of incorrect answers. "Can I take a look?" he asked.
"Okay." Xiang Yu nodded and handed over the notebook.
Wang Zehao took out his workbook and started asking Xiang Yu about the math problems he hadn't been able to understand lately.
Gu Chen began to write, listening to Xiang Yu's low voice explaining the problem.
Xiang Yu only gave Wang Zehao a general outline of the idea; Wang Zehao had to figure out the process and results himself.
While Xiang Yu was taking a break to drink water, Gu Chen leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Teacher Xiang."
The way the title was paired with Gu Chen's voice sounded somewhat ambiguous to Xiang Yu, and her ears couldn't help but turn red.
"What are you doing?" Xiang Yu rubbed his earlobe, trying to calm his inexplicably restless heart.
"Teacher Xiang, do you think my handwriting has improved?"
After Gu Chen finished speaking, Xiang Yu glanced at the exam papers in his hand and remained silent for a moment.
Don't ask, it'll hurt feelings.
Gu Chen: "???"
[Author's Note: Gu Chen: ???]
Chapter Sixty-Nine: His Future - Am I In?
Chapter Sixty-Nine: In the End: Is There a Part of His Future?
"Pfft!" Wang Zehao, who was on the other side of Xiang Yu, heard the conversation between the two clearly. Hearing what his brother Yu said, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Gu Chen squinted, a hint of skepticism in his expression, and asked again, "Are you sure? Won't you take another look?"
"Hmm..." Xiang Yu leaned over and looked at it carefully again. He looked up and felt that Rome wasn't built in a day, and the other person needed encouragement. "There has been some progress."
Perfunctory.
The word that popped into everyone's head at the same time upon hearing it.
Gu Chen didn't realize it; he just thought his deskmate had praised him, and that made him happy.
Looking at his cheerful expression, Xiang Yu felt a pang of guilt.
Wang Zehao put in a lot of effort and finally finished the remaining math problems on this page. He felt a great sense of accomplishment and suddenly felt like he was capable again. He wasn't in a hurry to move on to the next page and looked at the group of people studying diligently at the table.
Q: Have you decided which university you will go to?
"Hmm... X University, I guess." Jiang Wensong was the first to answer. He had thought about this question seriously, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would stay in X City and apply to the local Double First-Class University.
“Me too, me too.” Xu Youluo said with a smile, “With my grades, I probably won’t get into the archaeology department of my favorite university in the capital, but I can give it a try for the archaeology department at X University.”
“I remember Uncle Gu is a professor at X University, right?” Wang Zehao looked at Gu Chen, who nodded.
"Huanhuan, what about you?"
Yang Shuhuan put down his pen and thought seriously, but he didn't have a clear goal yet. "I'll probably go to a school in the south. I want a change of environment."
Then she looked at Gu Chen, "And you, Brother Chen, from Peking University in the capital?"
Gu Chen shook his head. "I want to go to G University in the capital."
"What the hell?" Wang Zehao exclaimed, making sure he hadn't misheard. "Brother Chen, you're going to go to G University in the capital with your current grades? You want to be a policeman?"
“Yes,” Gu Chen said with a smile, “Is that not allowed?”
“…It’s possible.” Yang Shuhuan felt that the other party’s decision was not very reliable. At least he felt that Uncle Gu and Aunt Jiang might not agree. “But with your score, going to G University in the capital is obviously a loss. Didn’t you say before that you wanted to go to the literature department of B University in the capital?”
Gu Chen said, "Sigh, I want to choose what interests me."
Wang Zehao asked him, "Aren't you interested in literature anymore? My Uncle Gu and Aunt Jiang are both masters in this field."
“I’m not as interested as before.” Gu Chen smiled. “After the start of the semester, I gradually realized what I really wanted to do.”
"You want to be a policeman?" Xiang Yu was clearly not expected by the other party's ambition, and unconsciously said, "Being a policeman is very busy and tiring."
Gu Chen rubbed his head and said, "Don't worry, I can handle it."
But I can't overcome it.
Xiang Yu didn't know if the other party had learned about this profession beforehand. This profession was not what they usually thought, which was limited to a certain area. When encountering work, it was common to not go home for weeks, months, or even half a year.
His mother is.
No one knew that deep inside Xiangyu's heart, which was encased in a hard shell, there was a soft spot.
He was a thoughtful person. From the moment he got together with Gu Chen, not to mention planning the entire future, at least for the next five years, Gu Chen was a part of every plan.
Xiang Yu didn't want to delay Gu Chen's choice, but she still felt a sense of emptiness.
I wonder if this means that the other party didn't consider him when planning for the future.
A trace of sadness flickered across Xiang Yu's usually calm face.
"What about you, Yu-ge?" Wang Zehao looked at Xiang Yu. "Yu-ge, you should be from Beijing University, right?"
“We’re considering it…” Xiang Yu took a deep breath, trying to make his tone sound normal. “S University in the capital is also considering it.”
"They're quite different." Gu Chen blinked. "If you choose S University, would you like to be a teacher, my deskmate?"
Xiang Yu gave a soft "hmm," and said, "I want to train myself."
“Then you’ve really become ‘Teacher Xiang’.” Gu Chen squeezed the other person’s palm under the table.
"Um."
"..."
Gu Chen sensed that her boyfriend's mood seemed a little off.
It was perfectly fine just now, wasn't it?
"Sister Xu, you need to take care of the family business, so you must be going abroad, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Wang Zehao guessed correctly; Xu Youqing did indeed have that plan.
"Hey, Sister Xu, you should really go into the entertainment industry," Wang Zehao teased. "The year you enter the industry, no one else can be your Best Actress."
Xu Youqing said, "I think so too."
After asking around, Wang Zehao was the only one who didn't mention his own goal. Yang Shuhuan urged him to speak up quickly, at least to set a target first.
"I also want to go to the South." Wang Zehao felt that with his grades, he probably wouldn't get into a very good university in the South, but he wanted to go out and see the world.
"Then try your best, and we can go to the same university." Yang Shuhuan patted his back to encourage him when he saw him pouting. "If that doesn't work, being in the same region is fine too."
"Huanhuan, my good brother!" Wang Zehao's eyes reddened, and he moved closer, only to be pushed away by Yang Shuhuan with her head against him. "Stop being so affectionate, you should focus on getting through this exam first."
"Yes, yes, the final exams." Wang Zehao got a headache just thinking about the midterm exams. Monthly and midterm exams had a scope, but the final exams covered the entire book. Who could stand that?