044. Uncle’s House
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The next morning at nine o’clock, Lin Nan was jolted awake by a knocking sound.
Still a bit groggy, he yawned and stumbled out of bed, padding barefoot across the floor, giving his messy hair a quick ruffle before heading to the door.
He opened it without even glancing at who was outside, rubbing his eyes to wake up a little more.
“Is this 432?”
“Yeah.”
Lin Nan replied with a murmur, finally lifting his head to look at the person outside.
It was… his uncle, wearing a checkered shirt.
With a loud slam, Lin Nan shut the door, giving Wu Guodong a scare that made him shudder. Dazed, he stared at the dormitory door and looked up at the number, mumbling to himself, “This should be 432, right? Is this the girls’ dormitory?”
Wu Guodong scratched his thick, short hair—the kind you usually don’t see on programmers—while he tried to recall the fleeting image of the “girl” he just saw inside.
Though it was a quick glance, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl resembled his niece, whom he hadn’t seen in ages.
Not wanting to risk barging in and making things awkward if Lin Nan really did switch dorms or if he had accidentally walked into the wrong building, he decided to text Lin Nan instead.
Meanwhile, inside, Lin Nan was trying hard to strike a classic male pose in front of the mirror, but no matter how he posed, it just screamed “delicate lady” instead.
He helplessly changed his clothes, washed his face, and lightly patted his cheeks a few times until he finally felt more alert.
When he opened the door again, his uncle was still waiting, murmuring, “University students wake up late… it’s already past nine.”
“Excuse me…” Wu Guodong hurriedly smiled and bent down to see the boy inside, but when he looked at that face, he was struck dumb.
The first time was a quick, startled glimpse, and he didn’t get enough time to see clearly before the door was slammed shut, leading him to initially think a girl lived there.
But upon closer inspection, he realized—wasn’t this his nephew?
“Come in, I haven’t freshened up yet,” Lin Nan said quickly, lowering his head and turning to give him space.
Baffled, Wu Guodong followed him into the room, casually shutting the door behind him. His sluggish brain began to catch up.
Had his nephew changed this much in six months?
His first reaction was Lin Nan’s voice, which sounded more gender-neutral than before. Then, he noticed that Lin Nan’s face was noticeably paler! He’d never realized that with such a fair complexion, his nephew seemed to hint at a faintly feminine silhouette.
Looking at Lin Nan’s back as he tidied his clothes and luggage, Wu Guodong couldn’t see a trace of masculinity. If Lin Nan grew his hair long, he’d totally qualify as a “back beauty.”
But Lin Nan had no idea about his own back problems—after all, he wasn’t a magical being able to see behind himself.
Confused, Wu Guodong found a chair to sit down casually, not asking too many questions but urging, “Hurry up, I parked my car right at your school—don’t get a parking ticket!”
“It’s fine, that area is usually crowded with ride-hailing cars, and I haven’t seen anyone get ticketed,” Lin Nan quickly packed his clothes and folded his laptop into his suitcase.
“When did you buy a laptop?”
“Some classmates were swapping theirs, so I got this one. I’ll owe them money for now, but I’ll pay them back slowly when I get the chance,” Lin Nan squatted on the floor while packing, his face slightly flushed in a way Wu Guodong couldn’t see.
His uncle must have noticed by now, right? But why wasn’t he saying anything? Did the last-minute adjustments actually work?
But had he even recognized me earlier?
“How much do you owe?”
“Seventeen hundred.”
“Should I help you pay it off?” Wu Guodong glanced around the dorm room, and compared to most male dorms that were typically messy, Lin Nan’s place was surprisingly clean, thanks to the big cleanup his roommates did before they left.
He mistakenly thought the dorm was always this tidy and remarked, “You guys keep your dorm really well.”
“Just average.”
Finally finished with his packing, Lin Nan dashed out to hand his cat off to a classmate. When he returned to the dorm, his expression had settled back to calm. To cover his feminine features as much as possible, he grabbed Tu Junhui’s hat and put on Chen Yao’s sunglasses, hiding half his face.
Then he straightened up, trying to stand as masculine as possible—after all, they say to stand tall like a pine tree.
However, Wu Guodong couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Lin Nan’s chest.
Does my nephew really have that much weight gain?
Not thinking too much about it—he really wasn’t considering that direction—he stood up and said, “Let’s go.”
Wu Guodong had been working for about seven or eight years and had graduated from university, although his major wasn’t programming, he ended up as a programmer anyway.
As everyone knows, programmers lose hair but have fat paychecks. Wu Guodong’s salary was reportedly the highest among his siblings, but it was a pity that although he was somewhat handsome, he had never been linked to a girlfriend.
Lin Nan was chuckling to himself about his uncle’s “dating history” as he plopped down in his uncle’s shiny little car worth over a hundred thousand.
“Uncle, how much do you make in a month now?” Lin Nan asked.
“With overtime, about fifteen thousand,” Wu Guodong said, flopping into the driver’s seat, inserting the key into the ignition, and stretching, “The company gave us three days off for National Day, but I was pulling late shifts till ten every night before that.”
Wu Guodong seemed to work for a mobile gaming company, and not only did he earn extra for overtime, but if their games hit it big, he also snagged a hefty bonus. A few years back, he raked in several hundred thousand just from bonuses.
You could say he was doing the best among his parents’ generation—at just thirty, after working for seven or eight years, he could afford both a car and a home.
Of course, the house was in his hometown.
Lin Nan curiously examined Wu Guodong’s little car. He was used to taking cabs, but he never dared to poke around. Wu Guodong’s car, however, was fair game.
He poked the roof, played with the seatbelt, and flicked the bobblehead monk on the dashboard. He appeared to be curious about everything. But if you asked him to take the wheel and drive, he’d immediately shake his head.
“Have you ever been in an accident?” Lin Nan asked once more, looking at his uncle.
“Nope, I rarely drive.”
That made sense. Driving during rush hour is probably worse than taking the subway.
Uncle’s rented apartment was in downtown, near the software park—a cozy one-bedroom setup. It was small, but warm and fully furnished, although the monthly rent was a bit steep at over three thousand.
When Lin Nan arrived at Wu Guodong’s rental, he was thoroughly impressed, thinking this place was way better than his own.
“It’s just a one-bedroom. You’ll be sleeping with me at night…” Wu Guodong yawned, clearly exhausted, and pointed to a sticker on the door. “The Wi-Fi password is written there. There’s a box of water over there, cola in the fridge, and a game console under the TV with games in the bookcase.”
Lin Nan barely registered the second half of that, but he perked up at the first part.
“I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
“I don’t have any extra blankets— I only got home at midnight yesterday, so I need a nap. Just wake me up at twelve,” he strolled straight into the bedroom.
Lin Nan stood frozen in place, completely unsure of what to do next.
