Wu Guodong had never imagined his nephew would act coquettish for money.
He also never imagined that a man acting coquettish could actually make his heart flutter, leading him to impulsively transfer another 500 yuan.
The moment his finger pressed the transfer button, he instantly came to his senses, then looked incredulously at Lin Nan, who was gleefully clutching his phone. His eye twitched as his expression darkened.
If his nephew were actually a girl, how terrifying would that be?
As Lin Nan kept gloating happily, Wu Guodong sighed and shifted to the edge of the sofa, afraid he might be possessed again and send more money.
Still, he was quite well-off. Usually staying at home, after paying his car and house loans, he spent the remaining money on games or favorite figurines. With nowhere else to spend his earnings, the money just sat in the bank, so giving Lin Nan a thousand or two didn’t hurt too much.
He glanced at Lin Nan, finding him staring back with hopeful eyes, and immediately put on a stern face. "No more money! You think your uncle is made of money?"
"Aren’t you though?" Lin Nan chuckled, in high spirits.
"No!" Wu Guodong glared at him fiercely, but Lin Nan shamelessly tried to sidle closer for more money.
This scene was actually quite familiar to Wu Guodong. When he was thirteen or fourteen and Lin Nan was three or four, he’d gotten two or three hundred yuan in New Year’s money, but it either got wheedled away by Lin Nan or spent entirely on him.
Back then, his head was full of nothing but caring for his nephew, and young Lin Nan had been truly adorable.
Seems this money-grubbing habit wasn’t formed in a day.
Lin Nan sighed regretfully, though fifteen hundred yuan was basically enough to pay off Tu Junhui’s debt. The money made a round trip from his phone straight to Tu Junhui’s.
Even so, he still owed two hundred.
It seemed the possibility of completely paying off the debt and making a small profit lay with Wu Guodong.
While playing games, Lin Nan kept eyeing his uncle, thinking about how to "trick" more money out of him.
The coquettish act had worked once, but he probably wouldn’t fall for it again...
"You’re playing poorly today, dying to Genichiro over ten times without beating him."
That’s because I’m distracted, isn’t it?
Lin Nan unhesitatingly asked, "How about betting 100 yuan I can beat him in three tries?"
"Get lost!"
Wu Guodong wasn’t stupid. Having witnessed Lin Nan’s gaming talent and reaction speed yesterday, he wouldn’t fall for such an obvious trap.
He turned to look at the TV screen, and sure enough, with the experience from over ten previous attempts plus Lin Nan’s reaction speed, this time he achieved an almost flawless boss victory.
"With your talent, it’s a waste not to go pro."
"Forget it." Lin Nan knew he could only maintain that level of concentration for an hour or two. While his reactions were faster than normal people at other times, he definitely couldn’t compare to professional players who trained intensively every day.
He had certainly considered the path of becoming a professional player before, but after looking into it properly, he realized it wasn’t viable.
First was the career lifespan - most professional gamers could only maintain their peak for two or three years. After retiring, if they hadn’t achieved significant results, they’d basically be useless when entering society with no other skills. But with a regular job and practical skills, they could find work anywhere. Most pro players just scraped by on a basic salary, with those in the public eye being rarer than students getting into Tsinghua or Peking University.
Lin Nan wasn’t some middle or high school student anymore; he could make these kinds of judgment calls. Moreover, while he didn’t personally know the pain of turning a hobby into a profession, plenty of people complained about it online.
Wu Guodong was just teasing, and after that, he plopped down on the cool wooden floor.
The living room had no air conditioning or fan, and even with the windows open, he was sweating all over.
"In such hot weather, how did you manage to sleep last night?"
"I just lay there and fell asleep."
Lin Nan, with his temperature-regulating magic, had no concept of the heat. Instead, he asked, "Without even a fan, how do you usually play games?"
"I take the console to the bedroom."
Lin Nan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately stood. "Let’s move this console to the bedroom, I want air conditioning."
Although he could regulate his temperature, the coolness of air conditioning was still comfortable.
Wu Guodong had thought bringing Lin Nan to his home might change his homebody nature, but hadn’t expected Lin Nan to be a shut-in too.
This meant neither of them had any intention of going out.
Wu Guodong resignedly went to unplug the console while Lin Nan followed, looking curiously at the three gaming systems.
"Why does this console look so strange?"
"It’s a Switch, that’s just how it looks. Performance is a bit lower than the other two, but you can detach the screen, attach the controllers, and take it with you, which is very convenient."
"What about these?"
"Nothing special about these two. Except for some exclusives, you can basically play everything on PC. But I’m used to controllers and don’t like playing on computer, so I bought these."
He’s really rich.
Lin Nan sighed. Until now, most of his PC games had been pirated, occasionally buying legitimate copies when they were on sale and his roommates recommended them. But the problem was, he barely played those games after buying them.
Just thinking about it hurt.
After moving the console to the bedroom, which was so small it didn’t even have a computer chair, Lin Nan simply sat cross-legged on Wu Guodong’s bed to play.
Wu Guodong turned on the air conditioning and lay on his side, propping his chin with one hand while watching the computer screen, occasionally praising Lin Nan’s gameplay. Then he suddenly realized Lin Nan had taken over his only form of entertainment.
After finishing a boss, Lin Nan casually tossed the controller to Wu Guodong, letting him continue the journey of running around and fighting minor enemies, while he comfortably pulled up the blanket and curled up underneath.
"Uncle, your blanket smells, how long has it been since you washed it?" As soon as he got under the covers, Lin Nan asked with disgust.
"Six months."
"Ew..."
"If you’re disgusted, wash it yourself. The sun’s strong, it’ll definitely dry by evening."
The blanket gave off a faint masculine scent, probably a mixture of sweat and cigarette smell. It wasn’t strong, somewhat similar to Chen Yao’s scent.
However, Lin Nan had no reaction to this blanket smell, only complete disgust.
Seeing Wu Guodong unmoved, Lin Nan’s eyebrows twitched as he asked, "Uncle, why is this part yellowish?"
"Yellowish?" His heart suddenly jumped, and he quickly paused the game to look back. "Where?"
"Look, here, it’s orangish-yellow, it couldn’t be..." Lin Nan pretended to pinch a corner of the blanket seriously.
"How could that be possible?" He didn’t look carefully but grabbed the blanket and rushed outside in panic. "I’ll go wash it!"
However, Lin Nan hadn’t actually seen any yellow stains. Seeing his strong reaction, he covered his mouth and kept giggling, afraid his uncle would hear his laughter.