Lin Guancheng patted his shoulder. "Your mother is here too, don't argue with her."

Lin Qingye didn't answer and walked straight in.

"Yo, Qingye is here. You, the main character, were the only one we were missing," one of his uncles said.

Someone praised Fu Xueming, "Your son inherited the best of you and Guancheng. He's so handsome and talented. There must be a lot of girls who like him at school."

The smile on Fu Xueming's face was a bit stiff. She said nothing.

"By the way, Old Gu, isn't your son the same age as Qingye?"

"Congwang is a year younger. He's still a junior in college. His grades aren't as good as Qingye's, who got into Pingchuan University. He went abroad to gild the lily, just finished his exams a while ago, and just came back to the country."

"Going abroad is good, broadens your horizons."

He waved his hand modestly. "It's just so-so. Anyway, it's good for him to practice his foreign language."

Only then did Lin Qingye notice someone else sitting on a sofa in a corner. It was the son of the "Old Gu" they were talking about, who was casually crossing his legs and playing a game.

Soon, everyone took their seats for the meal.

Lin Qingye and Gu Congwang were close in age, so the elders pushed them to sit side by side, even giving the beautiful excuse that they would "have common topics."

Gu Congwang took a short break from his game, glanced up at Lin Qingye, then lowered his head to look at the screen again. He was wearing headphones and cursed at his teammate, "Are you fucking feeding them kills?"

The elders also took their seats, chatting nonstop. The person next to him kept making noise while playing his game.

Lin Qingye frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He had only been in this room for five minutes and was already bored.

Today's protagonist was Lin Qingye, so the conversation naturally revolved around him.

Later, someone mentioned, "I heard Qingye is going to participate in a singing show, is that right?"

This was directed at Fu Xueming, but she didn't respond.

Everyone here was a relative or friend, so they more or less knew about the discord between this mother and son in the Lin family. They just didn't expect Fu Xueming to be so obvious about it.

Since she didn't answer, that person could only turn to Lin Qingye with an embarrassed smile.

He gave a faint "Mm."

"That's great, that's great. One should specialize in one's own field. Didn't you win a very impressive award before? And celebrities earn a really high salary, right? Maybe you'll be even more successful than your dad in the future." That person even gave him a thumbs-up.

Lin Qingye: "Just for fun."

"You're too modest."

Lin Qingye didn't reply again.

Father Gu was infuriated by the sight of Gu Congwang. He slapped him on the back and scolded, "Did I ask you to come here to eat or to play games!?"

"I already said I didn't want to come, you were the one who insisted I come," Gu Congwang said.

Father Gu's beard bristled with anger, and he was about to snatch his phone, but Gu Congwang narrowly dodged it. "What are you doing? You have to at least let me finish this round."

"Can't you just pause it!"

Gu Congwang laughed out loud. "Dad, what games can be paused nowadays?"

Others tried to smooth things over, "It's good enough that Congwang was willing to come. During New Year's, I couldn't get my son to go visiting no matter what I said."

Father Gu was very disdainful. "Come on, do you think he's easy to order around?"

Gu Congwang was actually quite good at games, basically at a pro level, carrying his teammates to victory.

In the final circle, only two people were left on his team. The other had survived to the finals only by constantly healing and hiding.

Just then, a WeChat notification popped up at the top of the game screen.

[Ah Nan: Are you free tonight?]

Gu Congwang's hand, which was controlling a 98K, paused. He then notified his teammate, "Hey, I'm lagging, I'm lagging. I'm gonna quit."

Lin Qingye glanced over and saw that his game screen was smooth and clear. Then, ignoring his teammate's furious roars, he quit the game and opened WeChat.

Lin Qingye narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression lowering.

The profile picture of the person who sent the message was very familiar.

Xu Zhinan's profile picture.

Then he saw the contact name: Ah Nan.

What a coincidence.

The contact with that profile picture in his phone was also named Ah Nan.

[Gu Congwang: I'm free all day, what's up?]

[Ah Nan: Didn't you come over to my house to help yesterday? My mom told me to treat you to a meal.]

[Gu Congwang: Your mom is so thoughtful. I should be treated to a meal. Where are you taking me?]

[Ah Nan: I have to go back to school this afternoon. How about I treat you in our cafeteria?]

He clicked his tongue.

[Gu Congwang: Heartless. I thought you were going to treat me to a big meal.]

[Ah Nan: Our cafeteria is really good. Otherwise, where do you want to go? You can decide.]

Gu Congwang stopped typing, took off his headphones, and sent her a voice message directly: "Is it convenient for you right now? I'll give you a call."

After sending it, he listened to it himself.

The voice coming from the phone was slightly different from his own.

This time, Lin Qingye recognized it.

He had heard this voice before.

The day after the modern history exam, when he pulled Xu Zhinan into the next classroom, a phone kept ringing incessantly. The male voice from inside was precisely Gu Congwang's.

At that time, Lin Qingye had hung up on his call directly.

Xu Zhinan probably agreed. Gu Congwang stood up to walk out, but was stopped by Father Gu again. "What are you doing now?"

"Something came up, I need to make a call to a friend."

Lin Qingye sneered, his expression disdainful.

And he called that "a friend."

He opened his own phone's contact list. Xu Zhinan was at the very top.

Not because she was pinned, but because her contact name was "Ah Nan," starting with an A.

He dialed her number before Gu Congwang could.

The ringtone sounded for more than ten seconds, and then a cold, robotic female voice said, "The number you have dialed is currently busy."

Xu Zhinan had rejected his call.

The author has something to say:

To clarify, hearing the ringtone and then this prompt means the call was rejected.