Chapter 25: Bound Hands at Daybreak
A white plane crossed the sky, leaving behind a long white trail.
Gu Tang and Gu Qinian withdrew their gaze. When they turned their heads, they discovered that Xie Qian was still staring after the plane’s tail.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought he was the one who had come to see someone off.
Facing the wind, Xie Qian brushed back his bangs and made a vain-sounding remark. “That little girl seemed to be staring at me the whole time!”
Gu Tang tilted his head to look at the piano prince. “You mean Yiyi?”
Xie Qian nodded arrogantly. “Yes.”
Gu Tang shook his head, his tone certain. “That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
A bucket of cold water had just been dumped over Xie Qian’s head, and he was instantly unhappy.
His title of piano prince was not exactly small, okay? When he went out to compete, girls had even come onstage to give him flowers!
Gu Tang smiled. “Because you don’t look like a chicken drumstick.”
Xie Qian: “…?”
What kind of bizarre beauty standards were these?!
But then again, thinking of that little girl hugging a box of drumsticks as if it were more precious than gold, maybe it really was possible…
If that was the case—
Then why had that girl glared at him before leaving, when they had no grudge against each other on their first meeting?
The more Xie Qian thought about it, the more wrong it felt. “Could she have been cursing me out?”
Gu Tang asked, “Did she mention your name?”
Xie Qian said, “Not exactly…”
Seeing both Gu Tang and Gu Qinian look at him with expressions that clearly said if you’re sick, go get treated, Xie Qian asked the deepest question of his soul: “Then you tell me! What do those things mean—what was it, childhood sweetheart, what descended from heaven, whatever that was?”
Ever since kindergarten, Jiang Yiyi had often said all kinds of strange things. Gu Tang had long gotten used to it and never really dug into what her words meant.
So he honestly shook his head. “No idea.”
Then he turned to young master Gu. “Do you?”
Gu Qinian pondered for a moment and then looked up at the sky.
Gu Tang and Xie Qian followed his gaze and looked up at the blue sky too—
Only to see a plump little bird flying by.
The little bird flapped its wings, suddenly shook its feathers in midair, and then a censored, indescribable yellow semi-liquid substance fell from above.
With perfect accuracy, it landed right on Xie Qian’s forehead with a plop.
“…”
The air froze for a moment.
Two seconds later—
Xie Qian: “AAAAAHHHHHHHH————”
Watching Xie Qian scream wildly, jump around, and completely lose his mind, Gu Tang was full of sympathy, then suddenly enlightened. “So that’s what ‘descending from heaven’ means!”
Young master Gu nodded in understanding as well.
Gu Tang was amazed. “Yiyi is incredible! She can even predict the future!”
Gu Qinian: “Mm.”
Xie Qian, going insane on the side: “What are you two even talking about?! Who’s going to hand me a tissue?! AAAAAH——”
“How did he end up coming home with us?”
Gu Qinian stared at the piano prince wandering around his house, every inch of him radiating displeasure. “And he’s even wearing my bathrobe.”
Gu Tang shrugged and spread his hands. “Can’t be helped. He can’t fit into mine.”
And the little milk dumpling’s robe absolutely could not be given to the bird-poop monster either. What if it got smelly?
This one would be ruined afterward too!
The germaphobic young master Gu thought with disgust, his brows furrowed tightly.
Gu Tang patted his shoulder in consolation. “Forget it, Niannian, don’t be angry. We couldn’t exactly send him back to school alone, could we?”
Gu Qinian gave a cold snort. “It’s not impossible.”
Wearing the slightly too-large white bathrobe, Xie Qian pounced over like a pale cabbage butterfly. “No need, right? That would be way too much trouble!”
Gu Qinian pulled Gu Tang aside to keep him from being pounced on by the “cabbage butterfly,” then said icily, “It wouldn’t be.”
“Tang Tang—”
Xie Qian immediately turned his head and gave Gu Tang a pitiful puppy-eyed look. “Do you really have the heart to send poor, lonely, helpless me back to that cold school, all alone in the dorm eating dry buns?”
Gu Tang was speechless. “Our school doesn’t even have dry buns. Also, are you seriously throwing away your idol image completely now?”
Xie Qian did not care. His carefully maintained persona had already been shattered beyond saving back at the piano hall anyway.
He said very frankly, “There are no outsiders here, after all.”
Why would he bother pretending so hard?
[Has it occurred to him that he is literally the only outsider in this house?]
Even the system could not stand it anymore.
It hated humans with no sense of boundaries.
Gu Qinian also hated boundaryless Xie Qian.
But fortunately, the Gu residence was so large that one annoying impurity did not make his presence that strong—
Yeah right!
Xie Qian was irritating to death!
He kept dragging Gu Tang into endless conversation!
He had clearly not even wanted to do a four-hand piano duet before, and now he had turned into Gu Tang’s tail…
No!
The little milk dumpling would never grow such an annoying tail!
Young master Gu sat expressionlessly at the dining table. No one knew that his mind had wandered that far, and that he was now imagining what Gu Tang would look like with a tail.
A long time ago, he seemed to have dreamed once that Gu Tang had turned into a little mermaid.
The tail had been pearly white, soft, and sparkling.
Beautiful and cute…
“Niannian?”
Gu Tang noticed that young master Gu’s eyes had gone unfocused, as though he were zoning out, so he waved a hand in front of his face. “What are you thinking about?”
Thinking about you turning into a little mermaid…
Gu Qinian pressed his lips tightly together and refused to share.
Gu Tang had no choice but to sit back down in his seat.
Hmph. Little Gu Qinian had grown up. He was starting to keep secrets of his own.
Now he did not even tell him when something fun was going on!
Gu Tang puffed out his cheeks and glared at young master Gu, while the latter pursed his lips and looked back at him.
Sitting across from them, Xie Qian narrowed his eyes, looked at Gu Tang, then at Gu Qinian, and asked curiously, “Why are you two shooting electricity at each other? You look at me, I look at you… it’s so weird!”
For once, Gu Tang’s tone turned chilly. “If you don’t want dinner, just say so.”
Gu Qinian: “I’ll send you back to school.”
Xie Qian: “…”
Why did this feel so much like a husband singing and a wife following along?!!
At dinnertime, the chef brought dish after dish to the table, and Gu Quan and Su Mei also came downstairs.
Not long ago, Gu Quan had shifted the focus of his work back to the domestic side, so he was spending much more time at home now and could join the children for meals. When he noticed there was a guest, he raised an eyebrow slightly.
After all, his son did not look like the kind of person who could make friends at school.
So this was probably the good little darling’s friend.
The moment Xie Qian saw Gu Quan, he found him familiar. After thinking carefully, he remembered that he had seen him before on the cover of a financial magazine, and his mouth dropped open in shock.
His family was not poor either, but compared to the Gu Corporation, the difference was like heaven and earth.
When he first came in, he had only thought the Gu house was luxurious, but he had never imagined… the “Gu” in his classmates’ names was that Gu!!!
Xie Qian turned to Gu Tang and Gu Qinian and gestured wildly. “Your dad is Gu Gu Gu Gu Gu—”
Gu Tang picked up a dinner roll and stuffed it into his mouth. “Are you a pigeon?”
Only pigeons went goo goo.
Out of everyone there, only Gu Qinian understood Gu Tang’s dumb joke. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, and even the ends of his eyes softened.
In front of the head of the Gu family, Xie Qian was so flustered he did not even know how to hold his chopsticks.
Gu Quan, who had spent years being ignored by his own son: “…”
He had suddenly found what being a father felt like!
He hoped the good little darling’s friend would come over often.
Trying to ease the awkwardness, Xie Qian looked at Su Mei, who was sitting at Gu Quan’s right, and politely greeted her. “Hello, Auntie!”
The entire family froze.
Xie Qian: “?”
Su Mei gracefully covered her mouth and laughed. “Wrong. You should call me Grandma.”
Ah, this…
It took Xie Qian a while to recover, and then he forced out an awkward laugh. “Ha, haha, hello, Grandma. You’re so young and beautiful. No wonder Tang Tang is so cute…”
Gu Tang’s cuteness was obvious to anyone, so surely that compliment could not go wrong.
Who would have thought that the moment he finished speaking, the Gu family would fall silent again?
Xie Qian got a bad feeling.
Then he heard Gu Tang softly remind him, “Don’t say random things like that.”
Gu Qinian glanced at Gu Tang worriedly. Seeing the boy lower his eyes, he assumed he felt hurt, so he said, “Blood relation doesn’t mean much. If people stay together long enough, their appearances can start to resemble each other. Grandma raised you, so it’s normal for you to look like her.”
Gu Tang’s eyes curved into a smile. “Mm. It’s good enough that I look like Grandma. Grandma is so beautiful.”
Su Mei felt both delighted and touched. “Our good little darling really knows how to sweet-talk me.”
Gu Quan made his stance clear too. “The good little darling is a child of our family. Blood has nothing to do with it.”
The Gu family was warm and harmonious.
Only Xie Qian was over there digging a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor with his toes.
This was too awkward. He had to say something to fix it…
After holding it in for a long time, and though he clearly did not want to, Xie Qian awkwardly said, “T-then no wonder Gu Qinian is so good-looking too. It must all be thanks to Grandma’s beautiful genes, hahaha…”
Looking closely, Gu Qinian’s facial features and bone structure were carved from the same mold as Gu Quan’s.
He had to be the Gu family’s biological son!
Su Mei froze for a moment, then sighed. “I’m Qinian’s step-grandmother. Strictly speaking, he didn’t inherit my genes.”
“…”
The awkwardness was so dense the air seemed to stop moving.
Gu Tang completely gave up on Xie Qian and leaned over to whisper to Gu Qinian, “I’ve already used my toes to dig out a whole apartment for him…”
Xie Qian: “…”
What family secrets of the Gu clan had he just uncovered?!!
Su Mei, being kind-hearted, saw how embarrassed the guest was and ladled him a bowl of soup. “What an innocent child.”
Cradling the soup bowl, Xie Qian asked Gu Tang, “…Why do I feel like Grandma wasn’t praising me just now?”
Gu Tang smiled. “That was praise.”
Gu Qinian nodded. “After all, our family doesn’t have that kind of innocent species.”
Xie Qian: “???”
That one he understood!
Gu Qinian was calling him an idiot!
But since this was someone else’s home, Xie Qian did not dare say anything. He lowered his head and drank a sip of soup, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
“This is so good!”
The Gu family’s dishes—this one was delicious, that one was delicious, everything was delicious!
On top of that, the whole family was sitting together, making the meal atmosphere especially cozy, so Xie Qian shamelessly went back for two huge extra bowls.
Watching the guest eat like someone who had escaped a refugee camp, Gu Quan asked with concern, “Are your parents usually very busy?”
Xie Qian swallowed the food in his mouth, sat up straight, and answered, “They teach at an art school overseas, so I don’t get to see them much.”
No wonder.
The child really did look like no one ever fed him…
Gu Quan felt sympathetic, and at the same time took the chance to praise himself. “I used to be busy too, but now I’ve shifted my focus back here so I can take care of the family more.”
As he spoke, he turned to look at the children.
Waiting to be praised.
Unfortunately, young master Gu did not even spare his father a glance. He kept eating his own meal and even turned to tell Gu Tang that today’s sweet and sour pork ribs were good and that he should eat a few more pieces.
The head of the Gu family felt slightly stabbed in the heart. “…”
Luckily, there was still the ever-thoughtful Gu Tang.
The moment he saw no one responding to Gu Quan, Gu Tang quickly jumped in to save the situation. “Yes! Papa Gu is the backbone of the family!”
Gu Quan slowly let out a relieved breath: Saved. So moved.
Thank goodness their family had the good little darling!
[Host, congratulations! You have completed the hidden achievement “The Male Lead’s Father’s Little Padded Jacket,” reward: Plot Coins x2.]
[Not bad! You’re becoming more and more like the fake young master! Steal the love of the male lead’s elders and leave him isolated and helpless!]
Hearing the system’s prompt, Gu Tang froze for a moment.
With blood ties there, the Gu family could never not love young master Gu.
But if something like that ever really happened—if no one stood on Gu Qinian’s side—then he would be Gu Qinian’s only family.
He would love him.
So no matter what, young master Gu would never be isolated and helpless.
Still, since it helped gloss over the plot, Gu Tang did not say anything more and lowered his head to continue eating.
Two free plot coins. How satisfying!
After dinner, Su Mei told the butler to arrange a room for the guest.
Xie Qian politely said, “No need. I can just sleep with Gu Tang.”
The moment he said it, he felt an icy, bone-piercing gaze shoot toward him.
Xie Qian: “?”
Gu Qinian’s face darkened. “Who said that was allowed?”
Young master Gu was already very beautiful, but his features were especially sharp and severe. When his expression darkened, his aura became overwhelming.
Xie Qian was instantly intimidated and instinctively shivered.
Gu Tang was not afraid of Gu Qinian. He tugged on his sleeve. “It’s fine. Let him sleep in my room. That way Butler Uncle doesn’t have to go through the trouble of preparing a guest room. It’s a lot of work.”
With Gu Tang backing him up, Xie Qian’s spine instantly straightened. “Exactly. How much space can I possibly take up?”
As he said that, he even lifted his chin at Gu Qinian.
He was a guest in the Gu household, and Gu Tang was an adopted child in the Gu family. The two of them were both living under someone else’s roof, so of course they should sleep together!
Why was Gu Qinian acting so fierce?
He had scared him to death…
[Host…]
“Hm?” Gu Tang suddenly heard the system calling him.
[No, nothing…]
Gu Tang: “?”
The system did not want to bother its host for no reason.
But just now, it had seen a bright point slowly emerge in the sea of plot, though it was still very unclear.
Every bright point represented a plot mission. Once the conditions were met, it would automatically surface.
This hazy, half-visible state was something it had never seen before.
The system looked carefully and discovered that only a few words in that blurry plot point could be barely made out. They seemed to say: Make the male lead jealous…
How strange.
The male lead’s romance line should not start this early, should it?
And why would a romance plotline appear around the cannon-fodder fake young master?
The system hesitated and decided not to report it.
Since the system said nothing more, Gu Tang returned to the sleeping issue and said to Gu Qinian, “Let Xie Qian sleep in my room. I’ll go sleep in your room, Niannian.”
The moment he finished speaking, the system was shocked to see the plot point saying “Make the male lead jealous…” slowly sink back into the sea of plot.
As if it had never appeared at all.
The system fell into deep thought.
After hearing Gu Tang’s words, Gu Qinian’s mood improved instantly. “Okay.”
Xie Qian witnessed with his own eyes that all it took to melt Iceberg Gu was a single sentence from Gu Tang.
He subconsciously rubbed his stomach.
…He had definitely eaten enough tonight, so why did he still feel like he was eating dog food?!
Sleeping in an unfamiliar place was naturally uncomfortable.
Xie Qian sat on the bed and grabbed Gu Tang. “Hey, your room is too big. Sleeping here by myself makes me feel kind of creeped out!”
In other words, stay with me for a while!
But the piano prince cared about his image, so he was too embarrassed to say it directly.
Who would have thought Gu Tang would smile sweetly and say, “I’ll find a little companion for you!”
Xie Qian: “?”
A moment later, Gu Tang came back carrying a slightly old-looking plush teddy bear and a pot of some kind of fluffy grass.
First, he handed over the teddy bear. “When I was little, I always slept hugging this teddy bear. You can borrow it.”
“Thanks…”
Xie Qian took the bear and squeezed it. “Why is one ear bald? And it looks like there are bite marks too. Who chewed on it?”
“!!!”
Gu Tang’s cheeks flushed red, and he immediately snatched the little teddy bear back. “Forget it! You’re not suited for the teddy bear!”
Then he placed the fluffy pot of grass by the bedside.
“This is a thousand-leaf bunny ear plant. It feels really nice, and touching it is super soothing.”
After hearing the explanation, Xie Qian reached out and touched the grass.
Soft, fluffy, cool to the touch. It really did feel pretty nice.
But what kind of normal person fell asleep touching grass?
Then Gu Tang smiled sweetly and said, “When I have nothing to do, I really like touching leaves like this. They feel exactly like Niannian’s ears.”
Xie Qian was so horrified that he snatched his hand back immediately and refused to touch the pot again.
Who wanted to touch Gu Qinian’s ears?!
This had become a horror story!
Xie Qian still wanted to keep clinging to Gu Tang, but just then young master Gu walked into the room.
Although Gu Qinian did not say a single word, Xie Qian could see very clearly in his eyes both a warning and text that read: Sleep if you want. If not, get lost.
Xie Qian immediately dove under the covers. “Good night, Makka Pakka!”
During the month of military training, Gu Qinian had gone a full thirty days without sleeping beside Gu Tang.
It was already late summer, but the weather was still a little hot.
The air-conditioning indoors was strong, and the two of them were wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts.
The moment they lay down, their exposed arms and legs were pressed against each other.
Gu Qinian had no idea what was wrong with him. He only knew that his body felt burning hot, unbearably restless.
Unlike his own hard, solid body, Gu Tang was soft all over. When he leaned against him, he was warm too. The result was that Gu Qinian only felt even hotter, as if he were being roasted over a fire.
Gu Tang had been about to sleep when he turned his head and saw that young master Gu’s face was flushed bright red.
Red all the way down to the base of his neck.
Below that was hidden by the collar, so it could not be seen, but it was probably just as red.
Young master Gu’s skin was cold and pale, so the redness stood out especially sharply, making him look like a boiled shrimp.
“Are you too hot?” Gu Tang asked with concern, preparing to lower the air-conditioning a bit more. He could always pull on a blanket himself.
Gu Qinian said nothing. He simply pressed his lips together and shook his head.
“Do you have a fever?” Gu Tang was a little worried. He propped himself up and touched young master Gu’s forehead, then his own. “It doesn’t seem hot…”
Gu Qinian shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Gu Tang felt puzzled. “Then why is your face so red?”
Young master Gu took a deep breath. “I’ve been eating well. Good complexion!”
Gu Tang paused. “Oh.”
Why was he saying it so loudly?
Feeling baffled, Gu Tang lay back down and thought for a moment. “Then I need to eat more too, so I can grow taller.”
Lying side by side like this, he was still a whole bit shorter than young master Gu!
With their heads on the same pillow, his feet only reached as far as young master Gu’s calves.
Little Gu Qinian had really shot up fast these past two years.
He had suddenly gotten so tall.
So enviable…
While thinking that, Gu Tang unconsciously dragged the tips of his toes across young master Gu’s calf.
What he did not know was that, for Gu Qinian, this was pure torture.
He was so hot he was practically dying.
But he did not dare move.
Gu Tang’s feet were very pale, the tips of his toes slightly pink. His toes were small and adorable, and even the round shell-shaped little toenails were adorable too…
If he got up, Gu Tang would definitely ask what he was doing, and he would have no way to explain.
And somewhere deep down, he was enjoying the feeling of Gu Tang lightly brushing his leg like this.
So he could only endure it.
His body trembled involuntarily, like it had been touched by a faint electric current—tingling, numbing, prickling.
Comfortable, yet stimulating.
Gu Qinian felt he might be sick.
Otherwise why was he reacting so strongly to Gu Tang?
He could not sleep, but Gu Tang was always the type to fall asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.
After only briefly worrying about the difference in height, Gu Tang carefree drifted off to dreamland.
No matter how good the school dorm facilities were, they could never compare to sleeping at home. And with young master Gu lying beside him, Gu Tang slept especially soundly, just like when they were little.
The moment he fell asleep, he turned over.
One arm draped across the person next to him’s waist, and one leg slung over his as well, using young master Gu as a body pillow.
Gu Qinian’s breathing stopped.
His whole body went rigid, unmoving, while a layer of sweat formed in his palms.
Over the past ten-odd years, they had actually slept in that kind of position countless times.
He had seen baby Gu Tang, soft and tiny. He had seen toddler Gu Tang, plump and cuddly. He had seen Gu Tang’s limbs gradually grow longer over the years. But the Gu Tang now felt unfamiliar to him.
They had only been apart for a month, yet Gu Tang seemed to have suddenly become different.
The scent on him seemed sweeter.
But besides sweetness, there was something else too…
What was it?
Gu Qinian suddenly felt warmth against his shoulder.
Gu Tang had moved his head closer.
His soft cheek was pressed right against his shoulder, and his warm, damp breaths puffed again and again against the side of his neck.
Then suddenly, his abdomen turned cool—one corner of his shirt had been lifted up.
Gu Qinian: “!”
While he remained frozen in place, sleeping Gu Tang had unconsciously slipped his hand inside.
The little hand rested flat against his stomach, while the fingertips hovered and traced lightly over that patch of skin… like a small feather softly scratching across his heart.
“Gu Tang…”
Young master Gu forced the name out from his throat with great difficulty, his voice hoarse beyond belief.
At last, the culprit beside him moved.
Gu Tang’s lips brushed over his shoulder, and after mumbling a little in his sleep, he muttered one line of dream-talk.
“Tiger abs… heheh, I want them too…”
Gu Qinian, still suffering: “…”
The next morning, broad daylight had already filled the room.
“Mmm—”
Gu Tang woke up from a refreshing night’s sleep, feeling wonderful all over.
Sleeping at home really was best.
No matter how good the dorm was, it still was not as good as sleeping beside Niannian. Sleeping with Niannian was the most comfortable of all!
Without even opening his eyes, Gu Tang lazily sat up first, intending to stretch.
He raised an arm… huh???
Gu Tang opened his eyes and stared blankly at his two hands, which had been tied together with a ribbon.
The ribbon was soft in texture, and it was not tied tightly, so it would not hurt him.
But why tie him up for no reason at all?
Using his foot, Gu Tang nudged young master Gu, who was sleeping all the way at the edge of the bed, so close to the side that one turn would make him fall off. “Niannian!”
Gu Qinian had struggled to sleep all night. In the second half of the night, he had gotten up to take a cold shower before finally managing to fall asleep. Now, when he was nudged awake, his face looked unpleasant, and when he sat up, his whole aura felt gloomy.
But Gu Tang was not afraid of him. He was the one who had cured young master Gu’s morning temper in the first place.
He simply raised both tied hands right in front of Gu Qinian’s face.
Gu Tang: “Why did you tie me up?”
Young master Gu froze. Last night’s memories slowly came back to him.
The gloom on his face faded, replaced by changing colors of red and white.
Watching young master Gu’s usually expressionless face shift through different colors, Gu Tang knitted his little brows. “I’m asking you. Why did you tie me up?”
Gu Qinian had no way to explain, so he could only remain silent.
Early in the morning, the two of them fell into a stalemate on the bed.
Just then, the bedroom door was pushed open.
The boundaryless piano prince swept in like a gust of wind. “Morning—”
He had only rushed in halfway before slamming to a stop.
His hands and feet went stiff as he stood there frozen.
His eyes widened as he looked first at the ribbon around Gu Tang’s hands, then at the red-faced young master Gu. “You two…”
For once, Gu Qinian was actually feeling guilty and said nothing.
Gu Tang felt that being tied up looked very strange and was just about to explain something—when he saw Xie Qian swallow hard, rub his hands together, and ask, “You two… what little game are you playing?”
“COUNT ME IN!!!”
***
Author’s Note:
Xie Qian: Look what I found!
