Chapter 28: Sleeping Together in the Dorm
Gu Tang had not expected Gu Qinian to throw back at him what he had said the night before, and for a moment, his eyes widened.
A look of disbelief appeared in those round amber eyes.
Young master Gu had gone bad!
Seeing Gu Tang looking both shocked and indignant, Gu Qinian coughed lightly into his fist and asked in an apparently cautious tone, “Was I wrong to spare no effort in stopping the possibility of early romance?”
Gu Tang replied, “Well, not exactly…”
It did not seem wrong.
[Host, why do I feel like you’ve been completely handled?]
Gu Tang ignored the system’s doubt.
Young master Gu listened to him so well—he had remembered what he said from last night all the way until now.
No matter how you looked at it, he was the one who had young master Gu under control.
As long as little Gu Qinian was not going to run off and start dating early, that was all that mattered!
Gu Tang was very satisfied and grabbed the other boy’s hand. “There are too many people here. Should we sneak out from backstage?”
Gu Qinian nodded. “Okay.”
The student council members were blocking the classmates who were coming up to present flowers, and the stage was in complete chaos. Right under everyone’s noses, the two boys held hands and secretly ran off through the backstage area.
“Hm? Where did those two kids go?”
The arts-class teacher sprang up from her seat and was just about to follow them when the dean pulled her back.
The dean said, “Don’t you have any youth in you? Who wants teachers following them around during a celebratory moment? Wouldn’t it be better to give the children some space?”
Arts-class teacher: “…”
You really do understand youth.
But Gu Tang was not hurrying off to celebrate.
Xie Qian had been injured, and no one knew how serious it was. He was still in the hospital, and Gu Tang was at least a little worried.
The two of them found Zhu Xu backstage, and together they went straight to the hospital, heading right for the orthopedics ward.
As everyone knew, anyone who got admitted to that department had fractures at minimum. Wails echoed again and again through the corridor outside the ward.
It was kind of creepy…
At last, they found Xie Qian in the last hospital room.
The little piano prince’s clothes had several tears in them, one of his shoes was missing, and he had cuts and bruises in many places. There was also a blood-seeping bandage stuck to his forehead. Yet while the doctor changed the dressing on his wounds, he kept his eyes lowered, his features calm and cold, and did not make a single sound.
Zhu Xu could not help raising a thumb. “Respect. You’re a real man!”
Although he looked terrible, luckily most of the injuries were superficial. The doctor said the most serious one was a fractured finger bone.
A splint had been fixed around the middle finger of Xie Qian’s right hand.
Zhu Xu asked him, “How exactly did this happen?”
“I fell,” Xie Qian said flatly.
Gu Tang lowered his head and looked at his face. “You got into a fight?”
Another voice sounded almost at the same time. “You got beaten up?”
Gu Tang turned and exchanged a glance with Gu Qinian, then immediately accepted his opinion.
Young master Gu was right.
Given the little piano prince’s personality, getting beaten up was the more normal possibility.
Xie Qian: Hey, do you people have any manners at all?!!
Gu Tang folded his arms and tilted his head as he looked at Xie Qian. “Anyway, the injuries on your face are absolutely not from a fall. Be honest. What happened?”
He had practically lived in the hospital in his previous life. What kind of wounds had he not seen? Trying to fool his eyes with this was impossible.
Xie Qian kept a straight face and said nothing.
Even the doctor looked worried. “This child is being stubborn. No matter how we ask, he won’t talk. It’s good that his classmates are here. Try to persuade him a little more. The clearer he explains things, the more helpful it’ll be for treatment and recovery, right?”
Gu Tang nodded. “Understood. Thank you, doctor.”
The little boy with the round face looked especially cute when he smiled, and even the usually stern doctor smiled at Gu Tang in return.
It was just hidden under the mask, so no one could see it.
Realizing that, the doctor said very warmly, “You’re welcome. Please come again next time.”
Gu Tang: “…”
That is absolutely not the kind of thing we should be coming back for!!!
After the doctor finished up and finally left the room—
“Please help me close the door.”
Xie Qian said it politely, though not very politely.
Zhu Xu was already used to his odd tone and casually shut the door for him.
The very next second, Xie Qian’s mouth drooped, and his whole face instantly turned into a pitiful puppy expression. “It hurts so much, sob sob sob—”
Since they were all his own people, there was no need to keep up appearances anymore!
“Is my hand ruined forever?!”
Xie Qian raised his finger, wrapped up like a rice dumpling, in front of Gu Tang. “Quick, take a look for me. Am I never going to be able to play piano again?”
Looking at the classmate currently “giving him the finger,” Gu Tang: “…”
Thinking of the fact that the other party was a patient, he took a deep breath and barely tolerated it.
“No. You’ll definitely recover.”
“No! I’m finished! I’ll be useless from now on!”
Xie Qian immediately started chattering away, practically giving instructions for his “afterlife,” even explaining how much insurance he had bought for each finger.
Yes.
Although his family could not compare with the Gu family, the little piano prince’s household was still fairly well-off. Since his fingers were his fortune, each one had been insured separately, and not all for the same amount.
For example, the middle finger…was the cheapest one.
Even if it broke, the payout would not be much.
Xie Qian burst into tears with a loud wail.
At that moment, the doctor pushed the door open again. It turned out he had only gone to get more gauze and had not finished treating all of Xie Qian’s injuries yet.
Xie Qian instantly stopped crying and returned to a cool expression.
Gu Tang: “…”
Wasn’t that tiring?
Unfortunately, the doctor had heard everything and laughed. “So this is a little pianist, is it? Don’t worry. It’s only a mild displacement of the finger bone. Two or three months and it’ll be fine.”
The exposed true-face Xie Qian: “Wuu—”
Two or three months to recover was already pretty good. At least there was nothing too serious.
A person who valued his fingers this much definitely would not have gone out looking for a fight on his own. The possibility of him being beaten up was extremely high!
The more Gu Tang thought about it, the more he felt young master Gu’s reasoning made sense.
He looked at Xie Qian with sympathy.
Xie Qian said, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Gu Tang sighed. “Go on, tell us. Who beat you up like this?”
Zhu Xu rolled up his sleeves. “Your brother will avenge you.”
Gu Qinian stood beside Gu Tang. Even though he said nothing, Xie Qian could tell from his eyes that young master Gu was saying: If you couldn’t win, couldn’t you at least run?
If he could have run, would he still be sitting here now?!
The little piano prince cared about his pride.
Something like having his head pinned to the ground and getting beaten up—forget complaining about it, he did not even want to remember it.
The few of them were deadlocked when the hospital room door opened again.
“Stop asking.”
“He stepped in because he was trying to help someone.”
Tall and broad-shouldered Song Chen stood at the doorway, holding a pair of broken glasses in his hand.
Those glasses looked very familiar.
Gu Tang only glanced once before recognizing them. “Little Glasses————”
“Hey, I’m here!”
Duan Zhengyu stuck his head out from behind Song Chen and waved at Gu Tang.
Gu Tang clutched his chest. “You scared me to death. Your glasses were broken, and I thought you were gone…”
Duan Zhengyu: “???”
“What are you talking about! My glasses aren’t my true body!”
Little Glasses loudly protested after losing his glasses.
Seeing how energetic he still was, Gu Tang finally felt completely relieved. “So what exactly happened?”
It turned out that after eating the Gu family chef’s food for two days, Xie Qian’s mouth had grown spoiled, and he simply could not stand the cafeteria food anymore. So he had snuck out of the school gates to find something tasty to eat. When he reached the mouth of an alley, he saw several punks cornering a student inside.
Through the gaps between people, Xie Qian recognized the Jiang City No. 1 Middle School uniform.
The punks seemed to be demanding money from the student. The student said he had none, so his schoolbag was snatched away, and all the books inside were dumped onto the ground.
The punks could not find any money, so they pulled out a lighter and said they were going to burn the books. But unexpectedly, the student—who had been cowering like a quail the whole time—suddenly lunged forward to save the books.
Unfortunately, two fists could not beat four hands. The student was punched, his glasses fell to the ground, and they were crushed to pieces underfoot.
Xie Qian knew he still had a performance ahead of him and had not wanted to meddle.
But when he saw that scene, he cursed, clenched his pianist’s hand into a fist, and charged forward…
“And that’s how it ended up like this.”
Xie Qian waved his raised middle finger, which was still splinted.
Zhu Xu grabbed his wrist. “Stop waving it. It really feels like you’re insulting someone.”
Little Glasses hugged his schoolbag and shuffled closer to Xie Qian. “Thanks.”
“No need.”
Xie Qian gave a bitter smile. “Now that I think about it, I was impulsive.”
His phone had been on him the whole time. Couldn’t he have called someone? Couldn’t he have called the police?!
Gu Tang patted Xie Qian on the shoulder. “Stop being modest. What you did was seriously manly.”
Apparently he patted the wrong spot, because Xie Qian sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
Gu Tang quickly withdrew his hand. “If there’s anything you need help with, just say it.”
He knew Xie Qian’s parents were abroad, so even if their son was hurt, there was no way for them to immediately fly back. With the little piano prince’s hand temporarily out of use, he could only rely on his classmates for now.
Using his one good hand, Xie Qian rubbed his nose. “Can someone feed me? I went out of school to eat in the first place, but I still haven’t gotten anything…”
“Sure.”
Gu Tang agreed very readily.
What he did not see was young master Gu pressing his lips together beside him.
[What’s going on? It’s dark again, it’s dark again!]
Gu Tang heard the system shouting and asked in surprise, “What’s dark?”
[The plot sea! It’s gone dim again, pitch black…]
Gu Tang could not see from the system’s point of view, so he asked in confusion, “What happens if it turns dark?”
[If it goes completely black, the male lead will darken! The plot might spiral out of control and shift in totally unexpected directions. That’s a very terrifying thing!]
Gu Tang: “?”
Niannian turning dark?
Gu Tang turned and looked at young master Gu. The other boy’s pretty face had no expression at all, but when he noticed Gu Tang looking at him, Gu Qinian gently curled up the corners of his mouth at him.
How was that darkening?
Little Gu Qinian just did not like to smile. He had always been like that since childhood.
Seeing that the host did not believe it, the system grew so anxious it was about to say more—but at that moment, the taller classmate among them stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
Song Chen took over the task of taking care of Xie Qian and said to Gu Tang and the others, “You all must be tired from performing at the opening ceremony. Leave Xie Qian to me. You should go back and rest.”
The instant Xie Qian heard that, he exploded. “What do you mean you all performed? Didn’t it get changed to a solo for Gu Tang? Who went on stage in my place?!”
“I did.”
Young master Gu, cool and clear, only uttered one word.
Xie Qian: “Oh. Then that’s fine.”
He had seen Gu Qinian and Gu Tang play Sugar’s piece together. It really had been stunning.
The school anthem itself was not difficult, so if Gu Tang handled the main melody, it was not impossible for Gu Qinian to do the accompaniment. It would just really test their instant coordination.
But for those two, coordination was the least of their problems.
For example, right now…
Gu Tang had only just extended his hand. He had not even spoken, and there had been no exchange of looks, yet young master Gu had already pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it over.
Zhu Xu, standing nearby, was astonished. “You two don’t even need to communicate?”
Song Chen was puzzled too. “Why is Gu Tang’s phone in your pocket?”
Gu Qinian answered in the same cold, indifferent tone as always. “Is that strange?”
“I don’t like carrying things in my pockets. Niannian often helps me hold little stuff like that,” Gu Tang said with a smile.
How could you not worry about handing something as private as a phone to someone else?
But if the actual owner did not mind, then why were they worrying about it…
Everyone present felt a little strange inside, but no one continued the topic.
Gu Tang had taken out his phone because he wanted to order something good for Xie Qian to eat. “Do you want pig’s trotters? What you eat nourishes what you need.”
Xie Qian: “…”
“Open your eyes wide and look at my hand! Does it look like a pig’s trotter to you?!!”
The little piano prince stretched out the hand that had originally been long and elegant, trying to defend its honor.
Zhu Xu chose the worst possible time to say, “It’s swollen, so honestly it kind of does…”
“Shut up!”
Xie Qian gritted his teeth. “Make it braised chicken feet instead!”
The fact that students from Jiang City No. 1 were being bullied by off-campus punks had actually happened more than once or twice already.
Those punks knew that most students at No. 1 came from decent family backgrounds and were obedient bookish kids who loved to study. If they were bullied, they would not dare make a fuss, so the punks became more and more brazen, even starting to block students at alley entrances near the school.
What happened to Little Glasses and Xie Qian this time was something the school definitely needed to take seriously.
As soon as Gu Tang got back to school, he reported the matter to the dean.
“This is outrageous!”
The dean flew into a rage and slapped the desk. “So the reason classmate Xie Qian couldn’t participate in the performance was because he encountered something like this!”
Actually, in order to ensure the students’ safety, the school had installed quite a few surveillance cameras both inside and outside the gates. But first, those cameras were fixed in place, so there were always blind spots. And second, those punks sometimes even deliberately damaged the cameras.
“Teacher, let us handle this matter.”
The student council vice president, Cheng Shu, happened to come in to deliver some materials. After hearing the dean, he immediately volunteered.
Gu Tang gave him a quick look.
Cheng Shu was a second-year high school student. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and had a refined, scholarly appearance, though he was not as tall as young master Gu.
Of course, what let him become vice president was definitely not his height.
Cheng Shu smiled gently and said, “The school can protect students’ safety on campus, but once things move off campus, a lot of matters are not as convenient for the school to deal with as they are for the student council. Teacher, don’t worry. Leave this to us.”
The dean was delighted. “Good! Wonderful! With outstanding talents like you and classmate Gu Qinian in the student council, it’ll definitely keep getting better and better.”
“You flatter us, teacher.”
The lenses on Cheng Shu’s glasses glinted faintly.
Maybe other people did not notice anything, but Gu Tang had good dynamic vision.
He noticed that Cheng Shu’s eyes, hidden behind the lenses, seemed to flick once toward young master Gu.
And that look seemed to carry… a bit of hostility?
Once the three of them walked out of the office,
Cheng Shu, walking ahead, turned back and revealed a smile so refined it could be called elegant. “Classmate Gu Qinian, you’ve earned quite a few merits for the student council recently.”
Young master Gu answered with the same line as before, only more coldly. “Serving the students.”
“Very good.”
Cheng Shu curved his lips. “Then the task of protecting students off campus will be handed over to you.”
[Host, did you see that?]
[That’s what a seasoned workplace fox is like. He takes the task for himself, gets praised for it, then immediately throws the task to someone else. If it’s done badly, it’s someone else’s fault. If it’s done well, the credit is his. So nasty!]
The system shared its “workplace experience” like someone who had truly been through it.
Gu Tang frowned.
Cheng Shu still wore that false smiling face and continued, “When you’re young, you should do more work if you want the chance to train yourself. After entering the student council, don’t tell me you only wanted to enjoy the privileges and not shoulder responsibility?”
Gu Qinian’s expression remained calm, and he did not respond.
Gu Tang could not stand seeing young master Gu get the short end of the stick. He was just about to snap back with something when his wrist suddenly tightened.
He turned and discovered that young master Gu was holding onto him.
The two of them met each other’s gaze silently.
Gu Qinian blinked his eyes shut once at him.
Gu Tang closed his mouth and said nothing more.
At the side, Cheng Shu used one finger to push up his glasses. His gaze moved between Gu Tang and Gu Qinian, and he smiled. “You two classmates are really close. Quite enviable.”
For some reason,
Gu Tang found that look extremely unpleasant.
Like a snake.
“Trash————”
The moment he got back to the dorm, Gu Tang went to gossip king Zhu Xu to find out more about that vice president.
And that was the exact evaluation Zhu Xu gave.
“What vice president? He’s garbage. In front of teachers he acts like a decent human being, but in reality he says one thing and does another. Behind people’s backs, who knows how many students he’s screwed over and how many benefits he’s skimmed for himself from the student council!”
Once Zhu Xu opened his mouth, he did not stop.
It was obvious that Cheng Shu’s crimes were too many to list.
After hearing it all, Gu Tang found it strange. “Hasn’t anyone reported him?”
“It’s useless.” Zhu Xu shook his head. “Right now the student council president is in senior year and busy preparing for the college entrance exam, so the real power in the student council is basically all in the vice president’s hands. Cheng Shu also has really high favorability with the teachers, so it’s not easy to move him.”
And after all, school was a place for studying. Most students just buried themselves in books and had no interest in offending the student council vice president over this sort of thing.
Gu Tang gave an annoyed huff. “A person like that shouldn’t even be allowed to keep the position.”
Zhu Xu nodded. “Exactly. I think Gu Qinian would be more suitable than him to be vice president.”
“I think so too!”
Gu Tang sat up, his eyes shining brightly.
Zhu Xu waved a hand in front of his face. “…Have you ever noticed that every time Gu Qinian is mentioned, your eyes light up?”
Gu Tang swatted his pig hoof away. “Of course. He’s my brother!”
“Not a real one…”
Zhu Xu heard the bathroom door open, jumped off the bed, and said, “My turn, my turn, I’m washing up. I stink!”
With that, he darted inside.
Gu Qinian moved aside to avoid letting his now-smelly roommate brush against him.
While drying his hair, he walked over to Gu Tang’s bed. “What were you talking about?”
The student dorms at Jiang City No. 1 were equipped like university dorms.
All of them had raised beds with desks underneath.
For the junior high students, being a little shorter meant that if they stood on the floor and looked up, they could not even see the bed properly.
But young master Gu was tall enough that his head rose a whole bit above the bed.
Gu Tang held onto the bed railings with both hands and rocked his body back and forth. The white jade gourd on his wrist lightly tapped against the wooden rail and made a crisp sound.
“We were saying you’re more suitable than Cheng Shu to be vice president, but unfortunately…”
“Unfortunately what?”
Gu Qinian stared at the white jade gourd on that pale, slender wrist, his gaze deep.
“Unfortunately, you’re not interested in student council positions.” Gu Tang gave the railing a hard tug and swung back with the momentum, lowering his head to look at young master Gu’s head.
Where else would he ever get this kind of chance to look down on young master Gu from above?
Hehe, Niannian’s head is so nice to look at!
[…]
The system was speechless.
Its host’s filter for the male lead was way too thick!
After meeting Gu Tang’s eyes for a second, Gu Qinian forcibly pulled his own gaze away and climbed onto his own bed next to him.
“Not necessarily uninterested.”
Leaning back against the bed and picking up a book, Gu Qinian looked even more handsome and refined with his slightly damp black hair resting on his forehead. “That depends on the situation.”
Gu Tang tilted his head at him. “?”
Then young master Gu smiled faintly, like spring flowers blooming in March.
Gu Qinian smiled and asked back, “Otherwise, how do you think I managed to move in here?”
Gu Tang’s eyes were dazzled for a second by the smile. He blinked, then widened his round eyes. “That’s called abusing your authority!”
Good grief!
He had actually changed a school rule that had been recorded in the student handbook for decades.
The dorms had somehow become mixed across different classes.
Turning a page in his book, Gu Qinian said lightly, “That’s called not wasting school resources.”
[Host, why do I feel like the male lead acts more like a villain than you do? Learn from him!]
The system stared at the pitch-black plot sea and spoke in a tone full of disappointed frustration.
Its host was very good at completing missions!
But he did not resemble a cannon-fodder villain at all!
Then again, Gu Qinian did not resemble cannon fodder either. He resembled a final boss!!!
“Nonsense.”
Gu Tang immediately refuted it. “Niannian is the kindest. Since childhood, he hasn’t even had the heart to step on an ant.”
[That’s just because he’s a clean freak!]
The system practically wanted to grab its host by the shoulders and shake him awake.
Gu Tang was unhappy. “You’re not allowed to say bad things about Niannian.”
[Waaah!]
[I’m not your favorite little dog anymore!]
It never was.
Gu Tang did not have the heart to hurt the fragile little system, so he only thought that silently to himself.
He liked cats more.
Young master Gu’s personality was very much like a cat—quiet, noble, elegant… but also capable of giving someone a scratch at a key moment.
The more Gu Tang thought about it, the cuter little Gu Qinian seemed. So he crawled from his own bed over to young master Gu’s side.
Their beds were placed side by side against the wall, separated only by a low barrier at the head.
Climbing over was effortless.
The dorm beds, after all, were nowhere near as spacious as the two-meter-wide bed at home.
If two people slept together, it would be too crowded.
Gu Tang wriggled over like a little worm until he reached young master Gu’s side, then lay down on his side.
He felt like there was nowhere comfortable to put his head.
So, without ceremony, he pulled one of young master Gu’s arms over and used it as a pillow.
Ah, much better…
But what he did not notice was that, thanks to that whole series of outrageous moves, young master Gu’s ears were turning red little by little.
With his eyes closed, Gu Tang patted the other boy’s stomach, which already had the beginnings of abs. “So how are you planning to deal with it?”
“With what…”
Gu Qinian’s whole body had gone stiff, and he did not dare move. His head felt a little dizzy too.
Gu Tang’s sticky-soft voice came from inside the crook of his arm, carrying a faint vibration through his chest. “The off-campus safety problem for students. Cheng Shu pushed it onto you, so how are you going to handle it?”
Gu Qinian’s Adam’s apple moved. “I’ll deal with it as I see fit.”
“Hurry up and tell me!”
Gu Tang grew impatient and curled his fingers into claws, scratching lightly at young master Gu’s stomach.
“…”
Gu Qinian closed his eyes briefly. “With money.”
Gu Tang: “…That direct?”
Papa Gu’s hard-earned money could not just be thrown around like that!
Taking away the hand that had been committing crimes on his stomach, and with nowhere else to put it, Gu Qinian could only hold it temporarily in his own. His eyes stayed fixed on the white jade gourd around Gu Tang’s wrist.
If he looked anywhere else, he probably would not be able to answer properly.
“Not using the Gu family’s money. It can even make money for the Gu family.”
Gu Qinian spoke slowly. “For something like this, the school would usually have a budget. Or we could use the money saved from the merged dorms. We could order a batch of cameras from Gu Lin. He can get them at a very low price, much cheaper than market rate. Sell them to the school, the school will be happy, and he makes a bit too. A win-win.”
It was rare for young master Gu to say so much in one breath.
Gu Tang listened in a daze.
He had thought young master Gu was being bullied. Who knew he had already planned out exactly what to do.
“Wow, Niannian is amazing!”
Lying in the other boy’s arms, Gu Tang even clapped for him.
Gu Qinian’s ears turned redder still. “Go back to your own bed.”
“Let me lie here a bit longer.”
It was hot, and the dorm air-conditioning was not as strong as the cooling at home.
Young master Gu’s body was cool all over, like an oversized ice pillow.
It was incredibly comfortable to lean against him.
Gu Tang could not bear to go back.
Gu Qinian lowered his head and looked at the fluffy top of the boy’s head with a bit of helplessness, then leaned back against the pillow behind him.
At that moment, the dorm door clicked open.
After spending the whole day being examined in the hospital, Xie Qian had finally been released back.
The moment he came in, he saw Gu Tang and Gu Qinian lying on the bed together, sleeping in each other’s arms.
Xie Qian’s eyes widened.
Gu Qinian saw him too and frowned slightly, hesitating over whether he should say something.
Instead, Xie Qian looked downright excited.
“What are you two playing now? Bring me along, bring me along!”
Zhu Xu, who had just finished showering, also stuck his head out. “What, what, what? Bring me too!”
Gu Qinian: “…”
As expected, dorm life really was annoying!
***
Author’s Note:
Gu Niannian: Very annoyed. I’ve darkened now!
