The next morning at nine, Lin Nan was awakened by knocking.
Still groggy, he yawned as he climbed down from bed, barefoot, scratching his messy hair as he went to open the door.
Opening it, without even looking to see who was outside, he first rubbed his eyes to wake himself up a bit more.
"This is 432, right?"
"Mm."
Lin Nan responded, finally raising his head to look at the person outside.
It was... his young uncle wearing a plaid shirt.
He suddenly slammed the door shut with a bang, startling Wu Guodong outside into a shiver as he stared at the dorm door bewildered, then looked up at the room number, muttering to himself: "Should be 432, right? Is this the girls' dorm?"
Wu Guodong scratched his thick short hair—unusual for a programmer—carefully recalling the image of the "girl" he'd just seen inside.
Though it was just a glimpse, he felt that the young woman looked somewhat like his nephew whom he hadn't seen in a while.
He didn't dare barge in—if Lin Nan had really changed dorms or if he'd accidentally gone to the wrong building, it would be extremely awkward. So he could only take out his phone to message Lin Nan.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Lin Nan was trying desperately to strike a formerly masculine pose in front of the mirror, but no matter how he posed, a delicate feminine bearing showed through.
Having no choice, he changed his clothes, washed his face, then lightly patted his cheeks a few times to wake himself up properly.
Opening the door again, his young uncle was still standing outside waiting for Lin Nan's message response, muttering: "College students sure wake up late, it's already past nine and still not up."
"Excuse me..." Wu Guodong hurriedly looked down with a smile at the youth in the doorway, but when he saw that face, he was too stunned to speak.
Earlier it had been just a glimpse before the door closed, and he could only judge by first impression that it was a girl inside.
But now looking carefully, this was clearly his nephew!
"Come in, I hadn't washed up earlier," Lin Nan quickly lowered his head, turning to make space for him.
Wu Guodong followed him inside with a head full of confusion, closing the door behind him, his slow brain finally processing what he was seeing.
How much had his nephew changed in these six months?
His first reaction was to Lin Nan's voice, which seemed more androgynous than before, then he noticed Lin Nan's face was clearly much fairer—he had never realized that when his nephew's face became fair, you could faintly see feminine features.
Looking up at Lin Nan's back as he packed clothes and luggage, Wu Guodong couldn't see any masculine traits in that silhouette. If Lin Nan grew long hair, he could absolutely have a killer back view.
However, Lin Nan had never noticed any issues with his back—after all, he wasn't a deity, he couldn't see what his own back looked like.
Wu Guodong couldn't figure out what was going on, but found a chair to sit down casually, not asking too many questions, just urging: "Hurry up, my car's parked at your school entrance, don't want to get a ticket."
"No worries, DiDi drivers park there all the time, never seen anyone get fined," Lin Nan quickly finished packing his clothes and folded his computer into the suitcase. (TN: Ride-hailing service, similar to Uber or Lyft.)
"When did you buy a computer?"
"A while back my classmate said he was replacing his, so I bought his old one. I still owe him money, planning to pay it back gradually when I can," Lin Nan answered while crouching down packing, his face flushing red where his uncle couldn't see.
Uncle must have noticed, right? But why hasn't he said anything? Could those hasty adjustments earlier have worked?
But he didn't seem to recognize me at first?
"How much do you still owe?"
"I still owe seventeen hundred."
"Want me to help you pay it off?" Wu Guodong looked around the dorm room. Compared to most male dorms' messiness, Lin Nan's dorm was notably clean, though this was because his roommates had done a thorough cleaning before leaving.
Mistakenly thinking the dorm was always this clean, he remarked: "You guys keep your dorm really tidy."
"It's alright."
Lin Nan finally finished packing, then ran out to entrust the cat to a classmate. When he returned to the dorm, his expression had gradually returned to normal. To try to cover his feminine features as much as possible, he grabbed Tu Junhui's cap to put on his head and wore Chen Yao's sunglasses, covering half his face.
Then he tried to stand as straight as possible, straightening his back, trying hard to make his posture more masculine—after all, as the saying goes, "stand like a pine." (TN: Proper posture basically.)
Wu Guodong's gaze couldn't help but glance at Lin Nan's chest.
Is my nephew that chubby?
Without thinking too much about it, or rather, without his thoughts going in that direction at all, he stood up saying: "Let's go."
Wu Guodong had been working for seven or eight years. He was a college graduate, and although his major wasn't programming, he had ended up becoming a programmer.
As everyone knows, programmers are known for losing hair and having high salaries. Wu Guodong's salary was said to be the highest among his siblings, but unfortunately, although he was fairly good-looking, there had never been any news of him having a girlfriend.
Lin Nan recalled his uncle's history as he plopped down in his hundred-thousand-yuan car.
"Uncle, how much is your monthly salary now?" Lin Nan asked his uncle beside him.
"With overtime, about fifteen thousand," Wu Guodong sat in the driver's seat, inserting his key into the ignition and stretching. "The company specially gave three days off for National Day. Before this, I was working overtime until ten every night."
Wu Guodong seemed to work at a mobile game company. Not only was his overtime pay high, but if a mobile game became hugely popular, there were substantial bonuses. In previous years, it was said he had received over a hundred thousand in bonuses alone.
He could be said to be the most successful among his parents' generation—not yet thirty, but after seven or eight years of work, he had already made down payments on both a house and a car.
Of course, the house was in their hometown.
Lin Nan curiously observed Wu Guodong's car. Though he often took ride-share cars, he never dared to touch anything, but there was no problem with his uncle's car.
Touching the roof, examining the seatbelt, flicking the bobbling bald monk ornament on the dashboard with his finger—Lin Nan showed curiosity about everything, but if asked about getting a driver's license and driving himself, he would definitely shake his head in refusal.
"Ever been in an accident?" Lin Nan looked at his uncle again.
"No, I rarely drive."
True enough, during rush hour, taking the subway was probably better than driving.
His uncle's rented place was in the city center, near the software park—a small one-bedroom apartment. Though small, it was very cozy and fully furnished, just the monthly rent was a bit eye-watering at over three thousand.
When Lin Nan arrived at Wu Guodong's rental, he was full of amazement—this rental was much nicer than his home.
"It's just a one-bedroom, you can sleep with me at night..." Wu Guodong was clearly exhausted, pointing at the sticker on the front door while yawning, "WiFi password is written there, there's a case of water over there, cola in the fridge, game console under the TV, games on that bookshelf."
Lin Nan wasn't concerned about the latter half, but was very concerned about the first half.
"I can sleep on the floor."
"Don't have extra bedding. I only got home at midnight yesterday, need to catch up on sleep. Wake me at twelve." He walked straight to the bedroom.
Lin Nan stood frozen in place, unsure what to do.