Math professor returns to routine

Chapter 451 The Intersection of Parallel Lines

"Wuhu!"

Amid cheers, the surging water swept a large number of tourists out of the narrow rafting channel.

Deng Rui accurately found Wang Linghua in the crowd and swam over slowly.

Before he got close, Deng Rui saw that her hair was disheveled and she looked like a drowned rat, which was very different from her usual neat and tidy image.

"Is rafting fun?" Deng Rui asked with a smile.

Wang Linghua pushed her wet hair to the sides of her cheeks, wiped the water off her face, and replied indifferently: "From the perspective of fun, it is quite fun. But if we talk about the real experience, I don't think it is fun to be kicked by a group of strangers."

"Want to do it again?"

Wang Linghua shook her head decisively and said, "Forget it. I don't have that kind of special hobby."

"Do you want to play on the slide?"

Wang Linghua glanced at the slide in the distance that was almost three stories high and felt no interest at all.

"No, I'm going to stay in the wave-making area. You can have fun by yourself."

"Okay, I'll find you later."

Wang Linghua wanted to ask Deng Rui to give her a ride, but before she could finish her words, Deng Rui had already dived into the water and swam some distance.

"Alas, people still have to fend for themselves in the end!"

Wang Linghua held the swimming ring, swinging her legs awkwardly, and moved towards her destination at a snail's pace.

Deng Rui tried all the slides in the water park.

To sum up, there is excitement, but not much.

After all, it is winter now and the outdoor facilities are not open. The indoor height is so low that there is no restriction on children playing. It is impossible to get a strong stimulation.

With a little disappointment, Deng Rui returned to Wang Linghua.

"I am back."

Wang Linghua was leaning against the swimming ring, her whole body floating on the water. Hearing the sound, she looked at Deng Rui and asked, "Don't you want to continue playing?"

"No, a slide that even children can play on is not interesting."

"Is this interesting?"

Deng Rui looked at Wang Linghua's profile. Her smooth and full forehead, tall and beautiful nose and slender and rosy lips together formed an elegant curve. Under the reflection of the waves, it presented a unique lazy beauty that was particularly eye-catching.

"At least you're pleasing to the eyes."

"Huh?" Wang Linghua raised her eyebrows and said in surprise: "You actually know how to praise people? You have changed. You were not like this before!"

"What you said, did you know me well before?" Deng Rui said with a smile.

"That's right. Just the two of us talked more today than we did in three years of high school combined."

Deng Rui and Wang Linghua were classmates from their first year of high school until their graduation.

However, although they were in the same class, the two had very little interaction, almost zero.

I don't know if it was intentional or coincidental, but their class teacher always separated the two of them on both sides of the classroom when arranging their seats.

This time Deng Rui sat by the corridor and Wang Linghua sat by the window, they will switch next time.

In the past three years, the two of them have never sat next to each other.

Coincidentally, both Deng Rui and Wang Linghua are introverted types, and their social circle is limited to the nine-square grid centered on themselves.

The rest, unless they were once members of the Nine-Grid, are just half-acquaintances whose faces you recognize and whose names you can call out.

This is the relationship between Deng Rui and Wang Linghua. They know each other, but they are just acquaintances. They would not say hello if they met by chance outside, even though they had participated in the Mathematical Olympiad together.

It was after the college entrance examination that the two officially met, with Lu You and Tang Wan as the opportunity.

But not much. They can only chat a few words when they get together in their small group, and they have no contact at all in private.

At this moment, the staff on the shore issued a reminder that big waves were coming, asking tourists to pay attention and try to disperse to avoid collisions.

It was Wang Linghua’s first time experiencing artificial wave making. She immediately turned around and looked in the direction of the wave machine.

The water surface, which was originally only slightly undulating, suddenly swelled up, forming a water wall that slowly moved outward.

"Is this what you call a big wave? I'm afraid it will disappear before it even reaches me." Wang Linghua said disdainfully.

However, as the rapids surged, the height of the water wall gradually increased, the speed gradually increased, and white foam rolled at the top of the wall.

When the wave arrived in front of her, Wang Linghua subconsciously held the swimming ring tightly with both hands as she looked at the wave that was half a head higher than her head.

She admitted that she underestimated the power of the wave machine.

Deng Rui was fine, he was familiar with the water and the artificial waves were not worth him being nervous about.

The wave hit her head on, and Wang Linghua reflexively turned her head away and closed her eyes.

The huge impact hit Wang Linghua and Deng Rui one after another, violently pushing them several meters away.

After her body stopped, Wang Linghua shook her head, shook off the water on her face and hair, and then opened her eyes.

Just then, Deng Rui also broke out of the water nearby, and the water droplets gathered into a stream that slid down his body in streams.

"Wow~ This artificial wave is interesting, much more exciting than the children's slide!"

Seeing Deng Rui's calmness, Wang Linghua asked curiously, "Deng Rui, have you ever learned to swim?"

"No. But when I was a kid living in the countryside, I would go swimming in the river every summer, and I learned how to swim over time."

"Have you ever lived in the countryside?" Wang Linghua looked surprised.

"Well, I lived in the countryside before the third grade. It was not until the fourth grade when my parents got a Yangcheng hukou that I transferred out to Yangcheng to study." Deng Rui answered truthfully.

When talking about the countryside, a beautiful picture emerges before Wang Linghua's eyes.

In the distance, there are continuous mountains, and the deep green connects with the sky. Between the mountains, exquisite small houses are staggered and a white cement road runs through.

There are also vast farmlands and clear streams, farmers working in the fields and children playing in the streams.

“Is the countryside fun?”

“You’ve never been to the countryside?”

Wang Linghua shook her head and said, "I have been in Yangcheng since I was born, and my hometown is also in the urban area of ​​Yangcheng."

Deng Rui began to search in his mind.

Things that happened before the third grade are already a long time ago. If I don’t think carefully, I really can’t remember much at the moment.

After a long time, Deng Rui finally found some yellowed and distorted images in the corner of his memory.

Blue sky, white clouds, green grass, brick houses, yellow mud ground, myself and a few friends.

Under the wash of time, their faces and names have become mosaics, and their laughter and playfulness are like the sound of a radio with poor signal in the old times.

Swish, swish, swish.

It seems real and imaginary.

"I used to think that the greatest pleasure in the world was to pick up stones and throw them into the fish pond to see how big the splash was, to find broken tiles and skip them on the water, to compete with friends to see who can fly the farthest, to break a straight branch and chop from the head of the village to the end. But now, if you let me experience these again, I'm afraid I'll have more regrets than fun."

“Is it you who has changed, or the countryside?”

Wang Linghua’s question left Deng Rui stunned.

He raised his head, his eyes traveling through hundreds of kilometers of time and space, looking at the village with dim lights in the dark night.

"Perhaps, we have all changed. I have grown up, and the countryside has grown old."

Something in Wang Linghua's heart was touched, and she wanted to say to Deng Rui, "Can you take me to the countryside where you grew up?"

The words turned around in my stomach, but in the end I didn't say them out loud.

Given their current relationship, saying this could easily cause misunderstanding.

The two of them were thinking about their own things, and the scene fell silent for a while.

After a while, Wang Linghua spoke again: "I'm thirsty and want to go find some water to drink. Do you want to join me?"

Deng Rui glanced at the swimming pool and said with a smile, "Isn't there water all around? Is there any need to look for it?"

"Drink if you want, but I don't have the habit of drinking a big pot of bath water."

After saying that, Wang Linghua turned around and swam straight to the shore.

Deng Rui smiled helplessly and then set off to catch up.

The two swam to the edge of the swimming pool and went ashore, one on the left and one on the right.

Deng Rui stomped his feet twice on the spot to shake off the water droplets on his body, while his eyes unconsciously drifted to Wang Linghua standing beside him.

The swimsuit Wang Linghua wore this time was a conservative short-sleeved dress style. Not much skin was exposed, but it was very close-fitting.

I didn't pay much attention to it before, but now I see it clearly.

Although Deng Rui knew that it was not appropriate to casually comment on a girl's figure, he still couldn't help but say in his heart that Wang Linghua's figure was really great.

Unlike Tang Wan's plump and full figure, Wang Linghua has a very standard figure with well-proportioned body and a unique beauty that is impeccable.

Deng Rui's gaze did not stay there for long, and he retracted it in less than a second, but Wang Linghua still noticed it.

She looked at Deng Rui sideways and asked calmly, "Does it look good?"

Deng Rui's heart skipped a beat.

Bad thing, got caught!

"What did you say?"

Wang Linghua did not give Deng Rui room to retreat, and pressed him, "Stop pretending. I know you were looking at me just now."

"I didn't see it." Deng Rui said stubbornly.

"Who can you fool with your poor acting skills? Be a real man, take responsibility for your actions and admit it boldly. I promise not to scold you."

"Well, I did."

"Pervert! Hooligan! Peeping Tom!"

Deng Rui: …

A woman's mouth is a liar.

……

The bathing center set up a bar near the entrance of the water park, with five staff members serving fruits and drinks to customers.

Deng Rui and Wang Linghua came to the bar, each ordered a bottle of electrolyte drink and a plate of cherries and green grapes, and then found a seat with few people and a wide view.

The two sat on the bench, with some distance between them.

Deng Rui listened to the songs coming from the loudspeaker, drank lime-flavored drinks, and occasionally picked two or three grapes and put them in his mouth. He felt quite comfortable.

Before I knew it, most of the beverage bottles were empty and there were only a few grapes left on the full plate.

At this time, Deng Rui noticed that the cherries on the plate were still the same as when he arrived, and had not been touched.

The cherries were taken by Wang Linghua and they are her favorite to eat. If she didn’t touch them, it means there is something wrong with her.

So, Deng Rui turned and looked at Wang Linghua.

Just as he expected, Wang Linghua was staring at somewhere in a daze, the drink in her hand was intact, with even the cap not opened.

Look in the direction of her gaze.

I saw Lu You and Tang Wan hugging each other under the slide in the distance, both of them were smiling happily.

Deng Rui immediately understood what was going on. He took the drink from Wang Linghua's hand, loosened the cap, and put it back.

"Don't look at it, don't you feel uncomfortable?"

Wang Linghua's body froze, and she pretended to be calm and said, "Why should I feel bad?"

"Heh! It seems like your acting skills aren't much better than mine."

Wang Linghua slowly lowered her eyes and whispered, "I thought I hid it well enough, how did you know?"

Deng Rui drank the rest of the drink in one gulp, then screwed the cap back on and threw it into the trash can next to him.

The plastic bottle drew a parabola in the air and fell accurately into the trash can.

"A bystander sees more clearly than an insider. You think you are hiding well, but in fact your eyes have already betrayed you."

"It seems I have to wear sunglasses when I go out in the future." Wang Linghua said self-deprecatingly.

"Lu You and Tang Wan have a very good relationship, you have no chance." Deng Rui reminded.

"I know, you don't have to tell me, and I have never thought of stealing Wanwan's girl." Wang Linghua rubbed the beverage bottle with her thumb, and the slightly upturned corners of her mouth hid a trace of unspeakable pain.

Seeing this expression, Deng Rui fell silent.

He had never experienced anything like this, so he couldn't empathize with Wang Linghua and didn't know how to comfort her.

"So what are you going to do next?"

"What to do?" Wang Linghua took a big gulp of the drink and pulled herself together. "Let nature take its course! Don't get too close, don't fantasize. I believe that one day, time will take away my good feelings towards him."

"I wish you can escape from the sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible." Deng Rui said sincerely.

"Thank you." Wang Linghua picked up a cherry, bit off half of it, and said, "Let's not talk about me anymore. What about you? Do you have someone you like?"

“Can we skip this topic?”

“No! You exposed my secret and now you want to just walk away. How can that be possible?” Wang Linghua said viciously.

Deng Rui felt extremely regretful.

If time could go back, he would definitely pretend that he saw nothing.

"To be honest, I don't have anyone I like right now."

"What about before?"

Deng Rui seemed to remember something, so his thoughts paused for a moment.

Wang Linghua seized the moment without hesitation and said repeatedly: "You hesitated, there must be something wrong! Tell the truth quickly!"

Deng Rui sighed and said speechlessly: "Are you the best swordsman in the country? You can spot the flaws so accurately?"

"What's the matter with the sword or not? Just tell me now and don't change the subject!"

"It's just a misunderstanding during puberty. I'm not even close to liking you. There's nothing much to say."

"I don't believe it unless you tell me the whole process of the misunderstanding."

"Basically, we sat at the same table, encouraged each other to study, and agreed to go to the same high school. Later, the teacher re-arranged the seats, and we were separated. In the third year of junior high school, we were in two different classes, and gradually drifted apart. After the high school entrance examination, we completely lost contact."

Wang Linghua blinked and asked, "That's it? What about the high school story?"

"We said we'd lose contact after the high school entrance exam, so where's the high school plot?"

Ignoring the impatience in Deng Rui's tone, Wang Linghua continued to ask: "Isn't she Chunhua's?"

"No, she's in the city."

"Didn't we agree to go to the same high school? Did you break the promise, or did she?"

Deng Rui was silent for a moment and slowly uttered a word.

"I."

"reason……"

"I've rested. I'm going to go swimming. Bye."

Without giving Wang Linghua time to react, Deng Rui stood up and left.

Seeing Deng Rui dive into the swimming pool without finishing her drinks and fruits, and unable to catch up with him, Wang Linghua was so angry that her teeth were itching.

"I don't believe I can't get you to tell the truth!" (End of this chapter)