After a male student transmigrated into the body of a widow,

Chapter 164 Pressing forward step by step

Zheng Hao stood in front of him, two steps apart. Because of the slight tilt of his head, a strand of black hair fell down to the side of Gu Lin's face. The candlelight inside the room flickered, and the orange light illuminated the young man's face. However, the slightly dim candlelight did not make the young man's face look dull or pale. On the contrary, it made his black hair and snow-white skin stand out even more, showing his natural beauty.

Raising his arm, Zheng Hao reached out and grasped the young man's soft, dark hair in his palm. Gu Lin's long eyelashes trembled, but he didn't move. His mind was in complete chaos, and he didn't know how to deal with the situation before him.

Suddenly, his body trembled. The young man tucked his hair behind his ear and ran his rough, large hand across his cheek, leaving behind a burning heat.

Gu Lin's eyelashes trembled slightly as he felt the skin touched by the other person gradually become hot.

The two were already very close, and as Zheng Hao was tucking the young man's hair in his hand, he took another step forward.

The young man lowered his head slightly to his ear, his breath like that of a wild animal marking its territory, gradually staining the young man's neck with his own scent, warm and ambiguous.

However, Gu Lin felt no ambiguity or infatuation whatsoever. The other person's breath hit his neck and quickly cooled down. In a daze, Gu Lin felt as if a giant python with its forked tongue was coiled around the side of his neck, sending chills down his spine.

Noticing that the young man's body was becoming increasingly stiff, Zheng Hao lowered his eyes slightly, a dark and indescribable emotion flashing across them.

He stepped back slightly, turned his head, and stared at the young man with his dark eyes.

Whether it was because he was startled by the young man tying his hair up, or because he was afraid of what the young man had just said, Gu Lin's eyes welled up with tears. Through his blurry vision, he seemed to see the young man in front of him with a slight upturn of his lips, looking at him with a gentle expression.

Gu Lin couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

She blinked gently, and her vision cleared. The young man's face came into view again. As always, he had a gentle expression and a normal smile.

It was as if Gu Lin had misread the scene just now.

His previously stiff expression turned to one of confusion. Gu Lin frowned slightly and said to Zheng Hao, "What nonsense are you talking about? If I'm not Gu Lin, then who am I?"

With his hands clenched tightly beneath his sleeves, Gu Lin kept reminding himself to stay calm.

With his eyes slightly lowered, Zheng Hao paused, watching the young man's trembling eyelashes and taut lips, before taking a step back.

As the shadow loomed over him and the sense of urgency lessened somewhat, Gu Lin remained uneasy, his nerves taut as he awaited the young man's response.

After the brief respite, Gu Lin's mind gradually calmed down, and his rationality returned somewhat, prompting him to reconsider the young man's words.

At first, the other party's unexpected move broke his composure. Now that he had regained his senses, Gu Lin had time to think. He quickly analyzed that Zheng Hao might not have really confirmed that he was not the original owner of the body. There were two possibilities in what the other party had just said.

One possibility is that he has been confirmed not to be the original owner of the body, while another possibility is that he has suspicions but no evidence and is testing him.

If it's the latter, then it's a contest of who can remain calm longer. Gu Lin gradually felt a glimmer of hope, wishing the other party...

"Uncle Gu."

Zheng Hao spoke, and Gu Lin's gaze met the young man's dark eyes.

Zheng Hao parted his thin lips slightly, meeting his gaze, and said, "You are all named Gu Lin, but 'Lin' and 'Lin' are very different. Uncle Gu, can you tell me why you changed your name without any warning?"

Hearing the question, Gu Lin felt a little relieved. As long as the other party did not provide concrete evidence to prove that he was not the original owner, then everything was just the other party's speculation.

After calming down, his thoughts became clearer and clearer. In the few breaths after the young man finished speaking, Gu Lin had organized his answer.

He replied, “My original name was given to me by my parents. However, while I regarded them as my parents, they used me as a tool to make money. A few years ago, I even severed ties with them. I thought it would be better to cut ties cleanly, so I changed my name as well.”

After speaking, Gu Lin pursed his lips.

In fact, his explanation, though seemingly reasonable, contains several flaws.

Since he dislikes Gu's father and mother so much, why not change his surname as well? And if he only changes his given name, why not choose a different name instead of one that sounds the same as his original name?

However, after hearing Gu Lin's explanation, Zheng Hao did not dwell on this point. His gaze was fixed on the young man in front of him, and he slowly said, "But Uncle Gu, Gu Lin never touches lean pork or river shrimp."

Upon hearing this, Gu Lin felt his entire body flush with blood, feeling half numb and half cold.

Nowadays, people are often hungry all year round, let alone eat meat. Everyone is starving and craving oil and fat. Fatty meat is placed on the tables of wealthy families, but women and men don't want to touch it because they find it too greasy. However, for the country boys who can only eat meat a few times a year, it is a delicacy.

Before Zheng's father passed away, he always picked the fattest cuts of meat when buying it, because Gu Lin loved to eat them.

And river shrimp...

For city dwellers, river shrimp might be a rare delicacy, but for villagers who spend their lives by the river and in the mountains, mushrooms and river shrimp are the most disdainful foods, especially river shrimp, which they would never touch. Unlike fatty meat, which can be rendered into lard, river shrimp requires a lot of oil to cook.

Villagers wouldn't waste oil like that, so even when they ate river shrimp, they would just throw them into the pot, cook them, and then take them out to eat.

However, river shrimp are not solid meat and have no oil to fill your stomach. Eating too much river shrimp will not make you feel full, but will make you feel uncomfortable. You will feel like something is crawling around in your stomach, which is very annoying.

Therefore, even if there is no food left at home, the villagers would rather eat cornbread made of rice bran than eat river shrimp.

However, Gu Lin is different. He is the complete opposite of Gu Lin. Gu Lin likes to eat fatty meat, but he almost never touches it. Even if it is not very fatty pork belly, Gu Lin will pick and choose what to eat. Moreover, Gu Lin especially likes to eat river shrimp. Whether it is braised or boiled, he can finish a whole plate by himself.

Of course, it would be too hasty to conclude that Gu Lin is not Gu Lin based solely on these things.

Human nature is fickle; many people used to like eating fish, but after a while, they might not like it anymore after ten days or half a month.

With deep eyes, Zheng Hao lowered his gaze slightly. What he had just said was nothing of substance. If Uncle Gu's attitude was firm, it wouldn't be wrong for him not to admit it.

However, how could a country boy living in a village, whose furthest distance was the county town, know about a series of novel things that were not even found in the capital or the prefectural city, such as recipes for cold dishes, pickled fish, boiled fish, and pastries?

All of this makes it hard not to have doubts.

A battle raged within his mind. The night should have been the coolest time of day, yet fine beads of sweat appeared on Gu Lin's forehead, and the faint hope that had arisen in his heart was completely extinguished.

He spoke, his voice hoarse, "When did you find out?"

When did I find out he wasn't the original owner of this body?

With his eyes slightly lowered, Zheng Hao looked at the young man's seemingly calm but actually uneasy face, concealing the truth, and told him the specific time.

“After passing the imperial examination last year, I often recalled the scenes when my father was alive, and I couldn’t help but recall Uncle Gu’s past habits. Gradually, I realized that Uncle Gu was not right.”

As Zheng Hao finished speaking, Gu Lin's face grew even paler, and he remained silent for a long time.

At that moment, a scene he had seen by chance a few years ago flashed through his mind.

That time, the village chief's eldest grandson and other children from the village went to play in the river, but he accidentally fell into the water. Although he was rescued by the villagers, perhaps because he almost lost his life, after returning from the river, the village chief's eldest grandson seemed to have become a different person. He was no longer as lively as before and stayed in the house all day, listless.

When the village elders saw this, they all said that the person was young and clean, so he must have been possessed by a water ghost.

The village had always been superstitious about these things. Seeing that his eldest grandson hadn't recovered for a long time, the village chief invited a well-known old woman from the village. At that time, Gu Lin happened to pass by the village chief's house and saw the old woman holding a torch, jumping around the village chief's eldest grandson. After finishing, she fed the village chief's eldest grandson bowl after bowl of dark talisman water.

Gu Lin still remembers how the village chief's eldest grandson screamed and resisted, but his family held him down and poured talisman water down his throat.

And this was just the experience of being suspected of being possessed by a water ghost. When he transmigrated into the body of the original owner, it was equivalent to being possessed by a wandering ghost. After experiencing the incident of the village chief's grandson being given talisman water, he paid attention to similar things. Later, he heard about several people whose personalities changed drastically and who were suspected of having their bodies taken over by wild ghosts. Those people were either locked in temples or ancestral halls or tied to wooden stakes and burned alive.

After that, Gu Lin became increasingly cautious, and it took several years before he dared to gradually return to being himself.

Before his identity was exposed, Gu Lin was relatively calm and confident, quite certain that Zheng Hao would not harm him. However, at this moment, his thoughts changed, and tension, struggle, and confusion flashed in his eyes.

Although he raised Zheng Hao, the other party was, after all, a native of ancient times. The Great Qian Dynasty had always valued sacrifices and believed in the gods and spirits. The other party was somewhat taboo about matters of ghosts and gods.

Normally, if he mentions words like "death" or "bad" even slightly, the other person's brow will furrow.

Thinking of this, Gu Lin looked up at Zheng Hao. Because of the large movement, the young man's clothes drooped slightly, revealing his slender neck.

On her neck, the once fair and jade-like skin still bore the marks of last night's kisses.

Zheng Hao lowered his gaze slightly, his dark eyes landing on the young man's neck.

Not noticing the other person's movements, Gu Lin asked, "What do you want?"

From last night until now, Gu Lin has asked this question countless times, from initial anger to current unease.

Hearing the young man's voice, which was trying to sound calm but was trembling slightly, Zheng Hao withdrew his gaze, his dark eyes falling on the other man's still firm and composed face.

He said, "From beginning to end, I have asked for nothing but to be with Uncle Gu."

With these words spoken, Gu Lin could no longer escape from Zheng Hao.

Whether openly or secretly, Zheng Hao conveyed this message to him more than once.

Even after Gu Lin's identity was exposed, he continued to bring it up again.

Now, the young man has two choices. The first is to go along with the young man's words and agree to be with him, and nothing will happen.

The other option is to refuse the other party and bear the adverse consequences of turning against them after your identity is exposed.

Having transmigrated from modern times to ancient times and become a lowly servant, Gu Lin still managed to achieve his current success through his wisdom. Without much thought, he knew which choices would be in his best interest.

Gu Lin closed his eyes slightly, bit his lip, and clenched his fist. He knew that the first thing to do now was to keep Zheng Hao calm. However, when he opened his eyes, a look of struggle flashed in the young man's eyes.

When one lie is told, countless more lies are needed to cover it up.

Gu Lin didn't want to deceive the other person, nor did he want to toy with their feelings.

Seeing the young man go from pursing his lips to biting them until his lips turned white, it was clear that if he continued, he might draw blood.

Unable to bring himself to push the man too hard, Zheng Hao said, "No need to rush to give me an answer. Uncle Gu can take his time to think about it."

That sounds nice, but given the other person's personality, would they even listen to any answer other than a yes?

Releasing his bitten lip, Gu Lin looked up and stared directly at Zheng Hao, without delaying any longer.

He said, "Now I can tell you that no matter how much time you give me to think about it, in the end, my answer is only one: there is no possibility between us."

Gu Lin's tone and expression were very resolute.

However, Zheng Hao did not miss the struggle and hesitation that flashed across the young man's eyes just now.

He stared at Gu Lin and asked in a deep voice, "Uncle Gu, ask yourself honestly, do you really not feel anything for me?"

Zheng Hao's gaze was deep and somber.

People can fake it, but many reactions can't be faked. He did everything last night, but he saw shock, anger, indifference and many other emotions on Gu Lin's face and in his eyes, but he didn't see any disgust or loathing towards him.

Zheng Hao thought that Gu Lin wasn't truly indifferent to him; at the very least, he shouldn't be averse to him, but rather constrained by societal norms and ethics...

Hearing the young man's words, Gu Lin's heart skipped a beat, but he did not reply.

Zheng Hao continued, "I can wait for Uncle Gu, I'm not afraid to wait."

"I hope you can face up to our relationship and be fair to me."

I don't ask for the younger guy's favoritism, I just ask that he be treated fairly.

Zheng Hao said slowly, "Stop looking at me like a child. Try to see me as a... man."

Gu Lin remained silent for a long time without answering. All the things that had piled up and exploded at once had a tremendous impact on him. The young man's words, "Don't you have any feelings for me at all?" kept echoing in his mind.

Zheng Hao said, "Uncle Gu...would you try to accept me?"

The young man appeared to be in a gentle manner, discussing things with the younger man, but his words, one after another, revealed his increasing pressure.

Gu Lin knew he couldn't escape tonight.