Don't call me a singing god, I just want to go back to doing scientific research.

He paused for a moment, then pressed the dial button.

The phone rang for a long time before being answered, and a woman's voice, sounding very sleepy, came from the other end.

"Hey? Sweetie? Calling so early, what's up?"

Ling Luo listened to the familiar voice on the other end of the phone and felt a sense of calm.

"mom."

"Hmm?" Ling's mother's voice was more awake.

Ling Luo remained silent for a moment, her gaze falling on Gu Yang, who was sleeping soundly in her arms, and a gentle smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

He gently stroked Gu Yang's back with his other hand, his voice clear and firm.

I'm in a relationship.

There was a visibly surprised sound on the other end of the phone, followed by Ling's mother's delighted voice: "Really? Is it the girl you liked last time? Which family's daughter is she? When are you bringing her home to meet your mother?"

Ling Luo's smile deepened.

"Yes, but he's a boy."

"???" Ling's mother was wide awake, her surprised voice piercing through the phone speaker: "You said it?"

Seeing this, Ling Luo quietly opened the door and went to the study to speak.

"You heard me right."

"Let Mom calm down."

After saying that, Ling's mother slammed the phone down.

Ling Luo wasn't in a hurry. He knew his mother's personality; she would call back in less than ten minutes.

Sure enough, it took less than five minutes.

  

The phone screen lit up again, displaying the standard word "Mother".

Ling Luo swiped to answer the call, without even taking the initiative to speak.

There was silence on the other end of the phone, except for the sound of Ling's mother trying to suppress her breathing, which was still somewhat unsteady.

She clearly used those five minutes to force herself to calm down.

"Ling Luo".

Ling's mother's voice came, no longer showing the surprise she had just displayed, but instead carrying a serious tone.

"Tell Mom the truth, are you serious?"

"Yes." Ling Luo answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Do you know what this means?" Ling's mother's voice was tense. "I'm not old-fashioned, but this path is difficult. What will outsiders say? What will relatives and friends think? Have you thought about all that?"

"I've thought about it," Ling Luo said calmly, "but none of that matters."

"How can it not be important?!" Ling's mother's voice rose instantly, but she quickly lowered it again, as if afraid of waking her husband beside her.

Ling Luo remained silent for a moment.

He walked to the window of the study, looking at the horizon gradually being dyed golden by the morning light, his gaze piercing through time and space, returning to ten years ago.

That gray, lifeless world.

"Mom," he said, his voice lower and deeper than before, "do you remember what I was like before I was ten years old?"

Ling's mother, on the other end of the phone, gasped for breath.

How could I not remember?

That was the biggest nightmare of her life.

Her son, from childhood to adulthood, never cried, never laughed, never spoke. He was like a delicate but soulless doll.

The doctor said it was severe depression.

They sought out renowned doctors and used the best medicines, but Lingluo's world remained a desolate gray.

He was once hospitalized because he was unable to take care of himself.

Ling Luo didn't wait for her reply and continued talking to herself.

"During that time, my world had no color, no sound, and I couldn't feel anything. Living and dying made no difference to me."

His narration was calm, as if he were telling someone else's story.

But every word pierced Ling's mother's heart.

"Until one day, I saw someone in the hospital garden."

A very faint smile unconsciously appeared on Ling Luo's lips.

"He was wearing a blue and white hospital gown, sitting on a bench, eating an apple and telling jokes to the people next to him. Even though they were very lame jokes, he laughed so hard he was bent over, his eyes shining like stars."

"That was the first time I saw vibrant colors in a gray world."

On the other end of the phone, all that could be heard was Ling's mother's increasingly heavy breathing.

"Later, I learned that his name was Gu Yang. He had broken his leg while playing basketball and had to be hospitalized."

"He would appear in the garden at that time every day, sometimes just spacing out by himself, sometimes chatting with other patients. He seemed to have inexhaustible energy and boundless joy."

"I started to 'see' him every day."

Ling Luo's voice carried a hint of tenderness that she herself was unaware of.

"Looking at him, I realized that this is how people can live. You don't have to care about many things; freedom and simplicity can bring happiness."

"My world has begun to change a little bit because of him."

"My illness started to get better from that time onwards."

After Ling Luo finished speaking, she did not say anything more.

For the first time, he fully revealed to his mother a secret he had kept hidden deep within his heart for ten years.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, nor was it an impulsive act.

He had tried to escape before; he spent four years breaking himself open, offering his weakness to Gu Yang. Four years was more than enough time for him to figure things out.

If he wants to spend his life with this person, he must have the approval and blessings of his family.

He didn't want Gu Yang to suffer the slightest injustice.

There was a long, almost suffocating silence on the other end of the phone.

Just when Ling Luo thought the signal had been lost, a suppressed sob with a heavy nasal tone came from the receiver.

"...So that's how it is."

Ling's mother's voice was terribly hoarse.

"That child...it was that child all along..."

She was quite surprised that her child, who never liked to move around, had drawn a picture one day.

In the center of the painting, there is a blurry figure wearing a blue and white striped shirt.

At the time, she only thought that her son's condition had improved and that he had regained his awareness of the outside world, but she never knew that there was such a background behind it.

The boy, whom they had never met, saved her son in a way that he himself was unaware of, when they were all at a loss.

"mom……"

"Don't speak!" Ling's mother interrupted him, her voice trembling with tears. "Mom knows."

"Since you've made up your mind, of course Mom supports you, but," she changed her tone, her voice becoming incredibly serious, "Ling Luo, listen to me carefully! He's a good kid; he practically saved your life back then. Now that you've won him over, you have to take full responsibility for him!"

"If you dare bully him, or start something and then abandon it, I'll break your legs!"

As Ling Luo listened to her mother's fierce threats, her tense nerves finally relaxed completely.

He chuckled softly.

"Yes, I know."

"Good to know." Ling's mother sniffed, her emotions coming and going quickly. "You just said you're going to his house to meet his parents this Friday?"

"Yes."

"Okay, you go and meet their parents first. If there are any problems, Mom will apologize to you. After all, you're the one who kidnapped their son."

Ling's mother continued nagging, "And another thing, be sweeter with your words and quicker with your hands and feet. Don't be such a silent gourd, understand?"

"Mm." Ling Luo nodded, then turned to see Gu Yang standing at the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Mom, I'm not going to talk anymore. I'll call you later."

"Okay, by the way, let's arrange a time for me to visit them, okay?"

"I heard you."

After saying that, Ling Luo hung up the phone, walked over, and took Gu Yang's hand off.

"Why are you awake?"