Chapter 39: The Hidden Photographer
Gu Tang’s eyes widened slightly as he stared at the absurd replies in the thread and the number of likes.
If he remembered correctly, the total number of teachers and students in their whole school had only barely exceeded ten thousand.
And yet the likes here had already broken into five digits?!
Was that even reasonable???
Of course it was not reasonable!
Whenever something was abnormal, there had to be something suspicious behind it.
But Gu Tang did not have an administrator account, so for the moment he could not see who was hiding behind all those likes. He would have to wait until young master Gu came back.
Unable to help himself, he began following the thread’s logic and thinking nonsense—
What exactly was little Gu Qinian’s hobby?
He had grown up with young master Gu. In this book, when it came to understanding him, if Gu Tang ranked second, no one could possibly rank first.
But strangely enough, he really did not know what young master Gu’s hobbies were.
Resting his chin on his hand, Gu Tang thought back carefully.
When Gu Qinian had been little, he had been the sort of child who desired nothing and wanted nothing. He had shown no interest in food or toys, did not like crying or laughing, and wore a solemn little bun face every day.
Because he had been so quiet, both the doctors and the family had even once mistaken him for an autistic child.
Children that young could not be formally diagnosed, and young master Gu never bothered to defend himself. He remained indifferent toward the adults until elementary school, when his excellent grades in every subject and his normal communication with teachers finally helped him shake off the little “possibly autistic” label.
Even so, young master Gu still never seemed to show any strong interest in anything.
Gu Tang had once seen a claim online before that the best way to judge what a person truly liked was by seeing whether they poured a large amount of time into it.
If he used that standard…
then the thing young master Gu spent the most time on every day really did seem to be him.
Even though many of the things Gu Tang liked to play with did not interest young master Gu, and he often openly looked disgusted by them, he always still sat quietly nearby keeping him company.
When they were younger, Gu Tang played and ate, and young master Gu sat beside him watching.
When they grew older, Gu Tang laughed and made noise, and young master Gu found him annoying, but still stayed with him.
Later, he even came to live in the dorms with him, wanted to be in the same class as him, and planned to apply to the same university in the future…
Gu Tang’s fingers curled slightly over the mouse.
Thinking about that awkward but clingy young master Gu, a warm little spot opened up in his heart.
His finger rolled the mouse wheel, and he kept scrolling through the thread.
Post number 110 was incredibly long.
It seemed that, in order to prove the conclusion that “Gu Qinian’s hobby is Gu Tang,” the student who made the post had simply decided to speak with photos. They uploaded one image after another—
On the road after school, the two of them walking side by side, with young master Gu carrying his schoolbag for him.
In the corner of the basketball gym, him bent over drawing seriously, while young master Gu fed him water and snacks.
On the sports field, young master Gu silently using his school uniform to block the sun for him…
Every photo contained the two of them. Young master Gu looked cold and distant, but his gaze was always fixed on him.
Gu Tang had long gotten used to being taken care of, so ordinarily he never thought much of it. But now, looking at these photos from a third-person perspective, his cheeks began heating up for no reason.
He felt a little embarrassed, yet his lips could not stop curling upward.
Gu Tang: “Hehe, Niannian is so good to me.”
Then, by chance, he caught sight of his own reflection in the glass wall of the office.
Gu Tang was startled.
Oh my god!
Why did his smile look so much like the smiles of those two senior girls from earlier?!
Gu Tang hurriedly rubbed his face, but as he rubbed it, he ended up grinning foolishly again.
In his previous life, his parents had also had younger children, but those siblings who shared his blood had never once gone to visit him. They certainly had never treated him as well as Niannian did.
Across two lifetimes, Niannian was the person who treated him best, and also the one he liked most!
Gu Tang happily saved all the photos of the two of them. After all, these were angles he could never capture himself.
Every single one was a precious memory.
Then suddenly, his finger paused.
He saw one photo taken at the sports meet that had only just ended. He had just finished the 3000-meter race and had been so exhausted he could barely stand, hanging off young master Gu like some kind of accessory.
“This angle…”
Gu Tang frowned.
He still remembered the figure that had fled in panic.
There had been so many cameras around at the sports meet, and some students also used their phones to take pictures of the athletes from their own classes for keepsakes.
Being photographed was not strange.
But being photographed secretly was very strange.
If all the earlier pictures had at least been taken in public spaces, then the next photo was clearly from a sneaky angle—
Inside the dorm, with hotpot on the table, he was standing between young master Gu’s legs, lowering his head and cupping young master Gu’s face while checking his mouth.
Their heads were pressed close together, and they were leaning in very near.
At that kind of misleading angle, anyone who did not know the real situation would definitely misunderstand.
And sure enough, beneath that photo were many comments like:
AHHHHHHHHH—
So sweet, so sweet!
I’m shipping them!
Still, there were also normal replies.
Someone expressed confusion:
Wait, what exactly are you all shipping? Aren’t they brothers?
But as soon as that comment appeared, replies exploded below it—
Don’t listen! Don’t listen!
Quick! Kick out this person who’s blessing lovers to become family members!
Report them! Get the comment deleted! If you say they’re brothers again, we’ll report you too!
Gu Tang: “…?!”
Good lord!
At last he knew who had reported and gotten deleted all those old posts claiming he and young master Gu were biological brothers!
Reading through the replies, Gu Tang’s expression slowly turned grave.
Whether it was the terrifying number of likes or the organized mass-reporting behavior, none of it belonged on a school forum.
It looked very much like fandom behavior.
Gu Tang did not chase celebrities, but he used to be a hardcore internet surfer. Back when he had lain in a hospital bed all day with nothing to do, he went wherever there was gossip and excitement, so he understood a bit about entertainment fandom culture.
No matter how he looked at it, the thread felt wrong.
It felt as though someone behind the scenes was deliberately steering things!
To avoid getting deleted the way that earlier reasonable commenter had been, Gu Tang followed the principle of if you can’t beat them, join them and put on the disguise of an anonymous alt account, then logged into the forum and posted—
Little Candy: Is this all the photos you’ve got? Not enough to ship, not enough!
Little Candy: More more more!!!
Less than a minute later, he received an anonymous private message.
I’ve got more fresh goods. 400 per photo.
Excellent!
The fish was finally taking the bait!
Gu Tang hurriedly replied.
Little Candy: I’ll buy as many as you have! How do we contact each other?
The other side was cautious. They did not immediately provide a transaction method, but instead asked:
One sentence to prove you’re a CP fan.
Gu Tang swallowed, then typed with great embarrassment.
Little Candy: He loves him so much, and I love shipping them!
The other side immediately accepted him as a contact.
Gu Tang had only just let out a breath and reached for some water when a dark, faint voice came from directly above him.
“Shipping what?”
Cough cough cough—
He nearly choked to death.
Gu Tang turned back with difficulty and found himself staring straight into a pair of dark black eyes.
Instinctively, he wanted to cover the screen with his hand.
But his fingers were so slim—how could they possibly cover all the text?
Gu Qinian stood behind him, reached out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled his paw away.
Gu Tang was far weaker and was easily restrained.
Holding both of Gu Tang’s wrists in one hand, young master Gu silently looked at the replies on the screen for a while, then lowered his eyes to him and said expressionlessly, “I thought you were working overtime. Turns out you were… shipping your own CP?”
“…”
If social death could be quantified, Gu Tang was currently digging out a full Barbie magical castle in the floor.
“No! I’m undercover!”
Gu Tang struggled at his wrists and failed to get free, so he could only stiffen his neck and try his hardest to defend himself.
Gu Qinian lifted a brow, then used his free hand to move the mouse and click open the still-unclosed folder—
Inside were nothing but photos of the two of them in their daily life.
Gu Tang: “!!!”
Gu Qinian flipped through them one by one and said slowly, “These were taken pretty well.”
Gu Tang forced out an awkward laugh. “They’re… okay, I guess…”
Obviously he was not the one who had taken the photos, yet somehow it still felt like getting caught doing something bad!
Young master Gu curled his lips. “Why did you save these? For your undercover operation? Keeping evidence?”
Gu Tang smiled shyly. “…Saving the little moments between me and Niannian.”
[Host, you’re so good at this! Congratulations, you completed the achievement “Make the Male Lead’s Mood Rise and Fall Dramatically,” reward: 20 life points. Excellent!]
Even after hearing the system prompt, Gu Tang was still confused.
After all, he could clearly feel that his own cheeks were burning, but young master Gu’s face remained perfectly calm, without the slightest sign of emotional fluctuation.
Still, getting extra life points was a good thing.
He suddenly had enough strength again!
Enough strength to finally wrench his wrists free from young master Gu’s grip!
[Host, where’s your dignity?!]
The system was once again deeply worried by the host’s spineless behavior.
Rubbing his wrists, Gu Tang replied with complete confidence, “Try it yourself if you can! You have no idea how strong he is…”
Gu Qinian stared at Gu Tang’s flushed cheeks for a moment, then pulled over a chair and sat beside him, opening the lunchbox he had brought back at the same time. “Eat first. Fill your stomach, then continue your undercover work.”
Why did it feel like young master Gu did not believe him?!
Gu Tang pointed at the account trading him the photos. “Niannian, investigate him! He could very well be the one secretly taking pictures of us!”
Gu Qinian raised a brow.
Then he logged into the administrator account and searched.
Sure enough.
This account had been abnormally active on the forum recently. Every topic it engaged in was related to Gu Tang and Gu Qinian. And among those five-digit likes, several thousand had been clicked by this single account alone.
Then he checked the IP address.
“High school dorm building…”
Gu Qinian lightly tapped the tabletop with his slender fingers.
Gu Tang narrowed his eyes and said fiercely, “Secretly taking pictures and stirring up classmates to ship CP is too disgusting. Catch him and punish him hard.”
It was rare for the boy to feel so openly hostile toward someone, and Gu Qinian watched him with amused interest. “How do we catch him?”
“Very simple.”
Gu Tang gave an evil little smile. “Whatever he wants to see, we’ll let him see it.
After school.
The secret photographer pulled up his hood, stuffed his camera into his clothes, and crouched in the bushes as usual, waiting for his chance.
It was not long before the target appeared!
He raised the camera and pointed the lens at the two boys who had just walked out of the school building—
One had delicate features and a tall, upright figure. The other looked refined, cute, and incredibly lovable. Standing together, the two of them outshone any duo in the entertainment industry, and were even more appealing.
After all, they were youthful, energetic, natural, and never posed artificially.
Today they even came out with one arm around the other’s shoulders!
Excellent!
Click click—
He snapped several photos in quick succession.
The secret photographer was delighted as he shot, practically drunk on smugness.
Sure enough, the whole CP-marketing strategy really worked!
These past few days, one clueless sucker had been enthusiastically buying photos from him, saying they wanted as many as he had.
So he had deliberately raised the price, and the other party had not even haggled.
Four hundred per photo!
He was going to get rich, hahahaha!!!
Gu Tang was tucked beneath young master Gu’s arm, and he naturally leaned into the crook of it. Walking along, he whispered excitedly, “He’s following us! Should we catch him now?”
“Not yet.”
Gu Qinian pulled him even closer and bent toward Gu Tang’s ear. “If we’re acting, we might as well commit to the role.”
Gu Tang had no doubts and nodded firmly. “Okay, let’s do our best!”
Gu Qinian lowered his eyes and glanced at the fluffy top of the hot-blooded little boy’s head. Unable to resist, he reached out and ruffled it once.
“Hey, don’t mess with my hair! It’ll stop me from growing!” Gu Tang protested, grumbling.
Gu Qinian gave a faint smile. “Understood.”
Then he secretly touched it once more.
Following behind them, the photographer gradually realized something was off and froze.
Why weren’t they going back to the dorm?
With an arm around Gu Tang’s shoulders, Gu Qinian led him all the way to the rooftop terrace of the school’s science building.
The photographer did not dare follow them up directly. But with a sudden flash of inspiration, he smugly turned instead and climbed to the old teaching building opposite the science building.
He found a hidden vantage point, set up his camera, and prepared to see what the two of them were doing on the rooftop…
“Holy shit!!!”
The moment he looked through the monitor, he cursed aloud.
In the lens, on the empty rooftop of the science building, the tall student council president had the cute publicity department minister pinned against the wall, and the two of them were drawing closer and closer, as though they were—
“Holy shit holy shit! What the hell is this?! Are they real?!!”
The photographer’s adrenaline shot through the roof, and his eyes went wide with disbelief.
On the other side—
Gu Tang blinked and said to the person right in front of him, “Niannian, are we done yet? My arms are getting tired…”
Gu Qinian lowered his lashes and replied, “Wasn’t this your plan for catching him? Endure it a little longer.”
“Then come a bit closer.”
Gu Tang felt that even if they really hugged, it would not be a big deal. Who even were he and young master Gu if not that close? At home, whenever they woke up together, were they not often already cuddled up anyway…?
For some reason, though, young master Gu was being absurdly pure and guarded today, insisting that they only fake the angle and stop once the person was caught.
Gu Tang’s arms were hanging in the air and were practically dead from the strain.
He could not care anymore. He simply hooked his arms around young master Gu’s neck and hung off him. “Whew, much better…”
Gu Qinian pressed his lips together almost imperceptibly.
The warm sunset light fell on the two of them, hiding the redness of young master Gu’s ears.
The moment Gu Tang hooked his neck, the photographer on the other side also zoomed the lens in and started clicking furiously.
This was explosive news!
The student council president cracked down on puppy love so harshly, yet here he was secretly breaking his own rules!
And with another boy too…
The photographer was so excited that his hands were shaking. He was completely oblivious to someone approaching behind him.
A hand patted his shoulder.
Irritated, the photographer waved it away. “Go away—”
Don’t interrupt me while I’m capturing breaking news!
Then the hand patted his shoulder again.
The finger pressing the shutter froze. A faint sense of dread crept over him.
He turned around stiffly.
The tall figure of the student council vice president came into view.
Song Chen folded his arms. “Come on, man. Let’s take a walk.”
“Fang Chi, first-year high school student from Class 7. Average grades. Low-income student, but never applied for aid…”
Inside the student council president’s office—
Gu Qinian sat in a high-backed chair and slowly read out the information from the secret photographer’s student file.
His long legs were crossed one over the other, his lashes lowered, casting two fan-shaped shadows over his beautiful, sculpted face. He looked like a perfect model.
At the same time, he radiated the cold, aloof aura of someone in power, so intimidating that people could not even look him in the eye.
Fang Chi hunched over in his chair below and muttered, “I earn my own money.”
Smack————
A stack of photos was thrown down in front of him.
From above, Gu Qinian looked down and said coldly, “You earn money by selling these? 400 per photo?”
“They were 200 before, but then I met a complete sucker and figured I’d fleece them once…”
Now that he had been caught in the act, Fang Chi was quite honest.
He knew well enough that confession brought leniency and resistance brought severity.
Gu Qinian’s brow twitched slightly. “Insulting a classmate adds another charge.”
Fang Chi hurriedly waved both hands. “I won’t say it anymore, I won’t say it anymore! I won’t call them a sucker anymore…”
As he said it, he even mimed zipping his mouth shut.
How strange…
The person he had called a sucker was the one buying photos, not the student council president’s precious darling. So why was he getting mad?
“How long have you been following us?”
The student council president’s voice came wrapped in ice, calm yet imposing.
Fang Chi did not dare lie and confessed, “Since the beginning of first-year high school…”
He had transferred in from another school. From the very first day he saw Gu Tang and Gu Qinian, he felt that shipping the two of them as a CP would make money. They had the looks, the bodies, and most importantly the atmosphere between them—absolutely perfect!
Then when he checked the school forum, he found posts claiming the two were brothers.
That would never do!
Wouldn’t that ruin his entire money-making plan?!
So Fang Chi used all the fandom tactics he had researched—steering discussions, reporting, complaining in groups, the whole package—and forcibly got rid of the posts that claimed Gu Tang and Gu Qinian were biological brothers.
After that, he started sneaking around and taking photos of them.
He sold the pictures to classmates who were obsessed with shipping them. But since there were not enough such classmates, he also secretly posted things on the school forum to guide people into shipping them too. At first no one responded, so he simply manufactured activity himself and forced the thread into popularity.
Gu Qinian nodded. “Impressive.”
As if you’re any less impressive?!
Fang Chi had been secretly photographing them for all this time, yet he had never imagined that the student council president and the publicity department minister might actually be real!
It had scared him half to death…
Still reeling from what he had just seen on the rooftop, Fang Chi suddenly looked up and shouted, “Hey, don’t touch my camera!”
Gu Qinian ignored him completely. His slender fingers worked the camera’s controls, flipping through the photos inside.
In the rooftop photo, his own body completely blocked Gu Tang from view. Only Gu Tang’s arm hooked around his neck was visible, along with the white jade gourd bracelet hanging from his wrist.
Under the evening sunlight, that little white gourd shone dazzlingly bright.
Some hidden emotion seemed to be gradually waking up, spreading from the bottom of his heart as though it were about to break through the earth…
Gu Qinian frowned slightly.
Then he forcibly suppressed that strange, unfamiliar feeling.
But Fang Chi cursed again beside him. “Damn, you two really are in that kind of relationship!”
Gu Qinian raised his eyes, and a trace of confusion flashed through his ink-black gaze. “What?”
“That kind of relationship!”
Fang Chi made a crude but explicit gesture, forming a circle with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and pushing the index finger of his other hand into it.
But how could young master Gu possibly understand something that vulgar?
He did not understand the gesture, but he hid the confusion in his eyes and returned to his usual, immovable calm. “Whatever relationship there is, it has nothing to do with you.”
How could Fang Chi know how good the student council president was at acting? He thought young master Gu had understood the gesture perfectly, so he raised his brows in shock. “Y-you’re not denying it?!”
Rich people’s relationships were really messed up!
Gu Qinian: “…”
Somehow it felt like they were speaking completely different languages.
Too lazy to continue the conversation, he went back to reading Fang Chi’s file. But when he got to one page and one line, he suddenly stopped.
“You came from Tang Tang Welfare Home?”
Fang Chi rubbed his nose. “What, do you look down on orphans?”
Gu Qinian sighed. “Then you really are making Gu Tang lose face.”
Fang Chi: “?”
At the same time, in the office next door, Gu Tang had also seen Fang Chi’s file.
He remembered this person’s identity from the original novel.
[This sneaky little cameramen later actually became a gold-medal entertainment reporter! A dog never stops eating shit—so he really just became a paparazzo!]
The system had found the relevant information too.
In the middle and later parts of Qinian’s Glory, Gu Qinian had already become a dazzling young business star. Naturally, many people wanted to take him down.
Someone had once hired Fang Chi—who later became known as “Money String”—to photograph Gu Qinian’s private life.
But after learning Gu Qinian’s background, Fang Chi refused.
He had said that no matter how much money was offered, he would not take the job.
There was only one reason—they had once been in the same orphanage as children.
Because they had both been caught in the rain and both suffered abuse, even though they had no relationship anymore, Fang Chi still could not bring himself to strike against someone who also came from that orphanage.
Fang Chi was a person without bottom lines, yet still with his own strange set of values.
Only now, the plot had changed.
Gu Qinian had never fallen into the orphanage, and Tang Tang Welfare Home had never fallen into the hands of bad people.
So Fang Chi had never been abused there, nor had he ever met Gu Qinian. He had used his little cleverness to get into Jiang City No. 1 High School, but because no one guided him, he had gone astray trying to make money.
Holding Fang Chi’s file, Gu Tang knocked on the student council president’s office door.
For some reason, the moment Fang Chi saw him, his eyes lit up and fixed on him without blinking.
Gu Qinian bent a finger and tapped on the desk. “Watch your eyes.”
Only then did Fang Chi lower his head and start picking at his fingers.
Gu Tang looked at young master Gu in confusion. “What did you say to him?”
“Nothing.”
Gu Qinian’s expression was calm. “I just explained to him who Tang Tang Welfare Home currently belongs to.”
Fang Chi dropped his head even lower and said not a word.
Gu Tang walked over and put the file down on the coffee table in front of Fang Chi, glaring at him. “How can you face Old Director Luo after this?”
The moment he heard the old director’s name, Fang Chi seemed to collapse.
“Just call the police and arrest me!”
He raised his hands in a pose of being ready to be cuffed. “Violating image rights or whatever—that’s a crime, right? Arrest me! Let me go eat prison food!”
Gu Tang let out a tch. “Sounds like you know quite a lot. Breaking the law while knowing it—very impressive.”
Facing the little director Gu Tang, Fang Chi became as docile as a large dog. “I’ll refund all the money I made to the classmates too. And… I’m sorry.”
He was pretty quick to admit fault.
And his attitude at least seemed sincere.
He was still young and had not committed any truly disastrous wrongdoing yet.
Fang Chi also made Gu Tang realize something—the children from the orphanage needed education.
Providing food and shelter alone was not enough. Adults also had to guide their values. Otherwise, even children who were not bad at heart could still go down the wrong road.
Gu Tang felt a bit soft-hearted toward Fang Chi and did not want to pursue the matter too harshly.
Calling the police was definitely too much. If things became serious, a guardian would have to be contacted anyway—and Fang Chi’s guardian was Tang Tang Welfare Home.
Which basically meant it would all circle back to him.
After all that, it would still end with him…
Fang Chi had clearly realized the same thing. His body shrank inward even more. “Little Director, I was wrong…”
“Fine, knowing your mistake and correcting it is the best—”
Gu Tang had intended to let it go there, but suddenly young master Gu leaned in and whispered something into his ear.
Fang Chi had no idea what the sinister student council president had just said, but after hearing it, the beautiful amber eyes of the little director went round with anger.
“He really said that?” Gu Tang huffed.
Gu Qinian nodded with a tea-green-fox expression.
Gu Tang slammed a hand onto the table. “Capital punishment can be spared, but lesser punishment cannot! Sending him away would be a waste. Better to make some use of him!”
Fang Chi: “???”
A few days later—
Vice President Song Chen came to the student council office to work, and the moment he entered, he saw Fang Chi toiling away.
Song Chen looked surprised. “…You?”
Fang Chi flashed the badge on his chest and introduced himself. “Fang Chi, unofficial intern of the publicity department.”
Song Chen nodded, then turned to the two people lounging on the sofa nearby. “Not bad.”
Their president really was impressive.
He had found yet another laborer!
Gu Tang was currently lying lazily on the sofa, basking in the sunlight, with his head pillowed on young master Gu’s lap.
“Not having to work is the best—” he sighed contentedly.
Thank goodness they had kept Fang Chi. With this kind of marketing skill, plus photography and editing ability, what better person could there be for the publicity department?
“Niannian, thank goodness you told me he called me a sucker!”
The boy had his eyes closed and said indignantly, “We can’t let him off easy. Leave him here to do the hard labor!”
Gu Qinian lowered his eyes to look at the boy lying on his lap. The golden sunlight coated the boy’s soft little cheeks, making them look as though they would feel very nice to touch…
“…”
Without thinking, young master Gu rubbed his fingers together slightly, lost in thought.
When Fang Chi had found out that he and Gu Tang had only been acting on the rooftop in order to “catch fish,” he had let out a long sigh of relief.
“So you two were putting on an act!”
At the time, Fang Chi had patted his chest and said shakily, “I knew it! I was wondering why my fake rumor posts somehow turned into the real thing and scared the hell out of me! You two are brothers—if it were really like that, it’d be way too??!”
Although he had not understood exactly what Fang Chi meant, the general idea had seemed to be that if he and Gu Tang were brothers, then they could not have any closer sort of relationship.
Gu Qinian let out a soft scoff, lifted a brow, and reached out to stroke Gu Tang’s hair.
The soft strands slipped through his fingers, cool and smooth.
Young master Gu’s mood instantly became incomparably pleasant.
Perverted?
He did not think so at all.
***
Author’s Note:
Tang Tang: Who called me a sucker? Stay and do labor!
Gu Niannian: Who called me perverted? Stay and do labor.
Fang Chi: currently laboring
