Chapter 46: The Birthday Candle Incident
Gu Qinian pulled Gu Tang along at a rapid pace, as if he were trying to escape some plague behind them.
Yes, a plague.
In young master Gu’s eyes, that guy in the silver ski suit was nothing good.
If it had been those foreign men who were making creepy advances, he could have beaten them up directly. But the silver ski suit guy had at least come over to help, so there was no excuse to hit him.
And Gu Tang was such a foolish little sweetheart who always repaid kindness. If he talked to that guy for much longer, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t get lured away.
Thinking of that, young master Gu tightened his grip on the boy’s hand.
For a moment, he forgot how strong his grip actually was.
Gu Tang sucked in a sharp breath. “Ow…”
Gu Qinian immediately turned back. “Where?”
Gu Tang raised their clasped hands. “My hand hurts.”
Gu Qinian: “……”
“So delicate.”
That was what he said, but he still loosened his grip.
Gu Qinian gently held Gu Tang’s hand and carefully rubbed it for him.
When they were little, the family doctor had said long ago that even though Gu Tang bounced around all day, his body was actually very fragile, like a paper doll. He needed lots of nutritious food and plenty of sunlight.
He needed to be raised carefully, like a little flower in a greenhouse.
And yet the little brat had absolutely no self-awareness. He always liked challenging dangerous things.
The moment Gu Qinian thought about seeing Gu Tang facing three huge men alone just now,
his heart started pounding again.
If he had arrived even a second later…
Gu Tang could tell young master Gu was unhappy. There was no need to say much. With the tacit understanding they had from living together for so many years, he could already guess what the other was thinking.
Young master Gu was angry because he had been worried about him.
Gu Tang’s heart felt warm. He shook young master Gu’s hand and said, “Thank you for coming to save me, Niannian. You’re the best.”
Gu Qinian said nothing and kept walking forward.
But his steps had already slowed down a lot.
He was no longer walking so urgently.
Gu Tang continued pouring “love potion” into his ears. “How did you do it, Niannian? One punch and one bad guy dropped. You were amazing!”
If the streetlights had been brighter, they would have revealed that young master Gu’s ears and cheeks, pale as white jade, had turned red.
Gu Qinian’s mood had only just lifted a little when he saw Gu Tang wave the flashlight he had used as a weapon.
Gu Tang said, “Niannian is just as amazing as a flashlight!”
Gu Qinian: “……”
If you don’t know how to praise someone, you really don’t have to force it.
Gu Qinian took a deep breath. “What were you thinking? One against three. Did you really think you had a chance?”
Gu Tang shook his head honestly.
Then he explained, “It wasn’t one against three. It was three against one…”
“How is that different?”
“It is! If they came charging at me, I could only activate passive defense mode!”
Gu Tang spoke with total conviction, and Gu Qinian felt his chest tighten.
“Do you not know how to run?”
Gu Qinian badly wanted to crack open Gu Tang’s little skull and see what was inside. “Do you think those three slabs of meat could outrun you?”
But when he heard that, Gu Tang actually became proud.
He lifted his little chin and puffed out his chest.
“Obviously not!”
“I got third place in the 3,000 meters!”
His little face practically glowed when he brought up his glorious result. “Hehe, if I had really started running just now, not a single one of them could have caught me!”
His health bar was totally full, after all!
And that was all thanks to how closely he stuck to young master Gu all the time, and how high his task completion rate was.
But instead of praising him, Gu Qinian only got even angrier after hearing that. “What if you had ended up in danger?”
Gu Tang shook his head. “I wouldn’t have.”
He flashed a bright smile, showing eight little white teeth. “I’m a boy. At worst they would’ve beaten me up a bit. It wouldn’t have been a big deal.”
Gu Qinian felt his brow jump. “You’re thinking about this far too simply.”
There were all kinds of people in the world with twisted desires. Who could guarantee no one would ever go after boys?
Even he…
Under the night sky, the boy before him was lifting up his little face, smiling in such an innocent, earnest, fearless way.
Like a tiny sun.
Something that could give people warmth and light—but could also illuminate the darkest parts hiding inside them.
Gu Qinian suddenly felt as though all his darkness had been laid bare in front of Gu Tang.
He had no saintly heart that wanted to save and redeem the world. He wasn’t especially kind or helpful. In fact… he harbored secret thoughts about Gu Tang.
Gu Tang was too clean, too pure.
He didn’t know that there were ugly corners in the world where the light never reached.
Unable to bear ripping those uglier truths open and laying them out before Gu Tang, Gu Qinian could only hint at it indirectly. “Boys aren’t always safe either.”
“Especially someone like you…”
The last sentence came out quieter and quieter.
Gu Tang didn’t hear it clearly, so he leaned in closer. “Hm? What about me?”
The boy’s fluffy little head suddenly came close, his cute face right in front of him, those two round black eyes staring at him.
Gu Qinian guiltily turned his head away. “Just… cute.”
Gu Tang froze. “?”
Then, after a pause, he reacted. His eyes widened in surprise. “Niannian, you called me cute!”
“No, I didn’t.”
Gu Qinian denied it at once, his ears burning like they were on fire.
Gu Tang refused to let it go and grabbed his arm. “You did! I heard it!”
When they were younger, young master Gu had never once called him cute, and now suddenly he had!
Gu Tang was thrilled and boldly pushed his luck. “Say it again.”
“……”
Young master Gu pressed his lips together and refused to answer, like some monk practicing a vow of silence.
Gu Tang leaned half his body against his arm and shook Gu Qinian’s hand with both of his. “Come on, say it, say it. I like hearing it—”
“…No flirting.”
Young master Gu’s voice sounded rough.
Gu Tang looked innocent. “I’m not.”
Then, not forgetting the important issue, he raised one finger. “Just say it one more time!”
In his previous life, when he was in the hospital, he had often seen little kids surrounded by their parents, being told how good and cute they were. Even though he was older, he still envied them deeply. After all, he had never been praised like that by his own parents when he was little.
Even in the dim light, the boy’s eyes were shining, full of expectation.
It made people want to make him happy.
Besides, it was simply true that Gu Tang was cute. There was no reason he couldn’t say it.
After preparing himself mentally, Gu Qinian swallowed hard and forced the words out. “You…”
You’re very cute.
But before he could say those last three words, he was interrupted.
The “Four Little Swans” appeared again.
Only this time, the piano prince was tucked in among the three girls.
“Are you okay? Are your hands hurt?!”
At the start of junior high, Xie Qian had broken a finger while acting bravely. So when he heard Gu Tang had gotten into a fight with bad guys, the first thing he worried about was Gu Tang’s fingers.
Gu Tang’s fingers could play piano, draw, and even play cards.
They were more valuable than his own hands, which were covered by massive insurance policies!
Ye Xiao was worried too. She had run so hard to fetch help that she was panting, and her usual high ponytail had come loose. “How is Tangtang? Is he hurt?”
The moment he heard Ye Xiao call him “Tangtang,” Gu Qinian frowned.
When had they gotten so close?
Still, if Ye Xiao hadn’t run to find him just now, he might not have made it in time to save Gu Tang.
For the sake of that, Gu Qinian decided not to argue with her for now. He only shifted Gu Tang slightly behind himself.
“I’m fine.”
Gu Tang, completely oblivious to young master Gu’s sneaky little movement, poked his head out from behind him. “Niannian was amazing. One punch, one bad guy!”
However, force worked both ways.
Once they got back to the RV and the bright lights fell on them, Gu Tang discovered that young master Gu’s finger joints were bruised purple-blue.
“That’s normal without protective gear.”
Gu Qinian didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
When he practiced martial arts, even with protective equipment, he still got hurt sometimes. He was long used to it.
Young master Gu’s fingers were cold white, elegant, and fine-boned, like they had been carved from jade. Now those jade-carved hands were bruised all over.
It looked shocking.
Gu Tang felt a pang of heartache when he saw it. He lifted the other’s hand to his face and puffed out his lips.
Seeing that expression, Gu Qinian’s Adam’s apple shifted slightly.
He remembered it clearly. The first time Gu Tang had discovered injuries on him after training, the five-year-old Gu Tang had worn exactly that same wronged little expression.
As if the one who was hurt weren’t him, but Gu Tang.
Back then, the tiny milk-dumpling had puffed up his soft little face, pursed his lips, and gently blown on his injuries over and over again with great seriousness.
The soft breeze from Gu Tang’s breath had brushed over him like the gentlest feather…
And what had he done then?
He had shoved the little dumpling away and told him never to do that again, because it tickled too much and was annoying.
Gu Qinian: “……”
Looking back, he had truly failed to appreciate his blessings.
Now, seeing Gu Tang puffing his lips out again, Gu Qinian felt a small surge of anticipation in his heart. Even his heartbeat picked up.
Just as he expected Gu Tang to do what he had done as a child—blow gently on him and softly say “It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt”—
Gu Tang suddenly threw his hand aside.
Gu Qinian: “?”
Gu Tang sprang to his feet. “They’re finished!”
“Who’s finished?” Gu Qinian asked blankly.
“Those three bastards!”
Gu Tang rarely cursed, but right now he stood there with his hands on his hips, fuming. “They hurt you. They’re going to pay for that!”
Xie Qian, sitting nearby, looked thoroughly confused. “Who hurt who? Wasn’t Gu Qinian the one beating them up?”
“But Niannian got hurt because he beat them!”
Gu Tang said it like a completely airtight argument, his fists clenched tightly.
Xie Qian: “You really know how to reason……”
Everyone always thought Gu Tang was like a little angel, but after this incident, everyone learned that little angels could be terrifying when they got angry.
He used methods that were completely legal and proper, but once he latched onto a bad person, he refused to let go and never gave up.
The scary kind wasn’t someone fierce.
It was someone relentless.
Gu Tang didn’t even bother celebrating his birthday anymore. He rushed straight to the camp office, pulled surveillance footage, searched for evidence, identified the three foreigners, and dumped them all into the police station in one go that very same night.
Picking fights, harassing minors—more than enough to make them regret it.
What awaited those pieces of trash was detention followed by deportation.
“Those people thought that since they were harassing girls, no one would dare report them, and since they were foreign nationals, we wouldn’t really pursue it. What a daydream!”
“It can’t have been easy for them to come all the way to our country for a trip. Too bad the money was wasted.”
“Straight into a public-security department sightseeing package, hahaha!”
When the three girls talked about how things had been handled afterward, they all had a sense of cathartic satisfaction.
Gu Tang nodded in approval. “That’s exactly the kind of lesson they needed.”
By the time everything was completely taken care of, it was already well past midnight.
Xie Qian had originally been making a fuss about wanting to admire the snow, the stars, and the moon, but by now he had just rolled himself into a blanket and fallen asleep like the dead.
After all that running around, Gu Tang was exhausted too and collapsed onto a small sofa.
When he was tired, he didn’t like going straight to bed. He preferred sitting there blankly for a while first.
Outside the window, the dark night sky was dotted with little twinkling stars.
They looked a lot like young master Gu’s eyes.
Dark and deep, with starlike points of light scattered inside.
Very beautiful.
Just then, Gu Qinian walked over and twisted open a bottle of water for him. “Drink.”
“Hehe, Niannian, you’re so good to me.”
Gu Tang smiled his usual carefree smile and, holding the bottle in the other’s hand, gulped down a few mouthfuls.
After a whole night of rushing around, the boy’s lips had gone a little dry, but now the water moistened them and smoothed out the lip lines, bringing them back to that tempting berry-like color.
Gu Qinian stared at those lips for a while. Then suddenly, he rolled up his sleeve and held out the back of his injured hand in front of Gu Tang.
“?” Gu Tang blinked at him in confusion.
Seeing that silent hints weren’t going to work, Gu Qinian had no choice but to say it plainly. “When I used to get hurt, you’d always blow on it. It didn’t really do anything, but…”
“Oh, right!”
Before he could finish, Gu Tang rubbed his face and climbed up from the sofa.
Then he turned and dug a little spray bottle out of his small bag.
“I bought this at the service station just now. It’s specifically for bruises and injuries.”
As he said that, he seized young master Gu’s hand and sprayed it with a vigorous pssshhhh pssshhhh pssshhhh.
In the blink of an eye, Gu Qinian’s hand was covered in yellow-brown medicinal liquid.
Gu Tang warned him, “Don’t touch anything carelessly.”
“……”
Young master Gu didn’t get his comforting little blow after all. Instead, he got a whole hand drenched in medicine.
He wanted to stomp a balloon beside him to death.
But that would wake Xie Qian, that annoying little pest.
So he had no choice but to give up.
Ah, he was so irritated he could die.
Gu Tang had only just noticed the balloons on the floor. Suddenly realizing something, he said, “Ah! Birthday!”
No matter how tired he was, a birthday was still a birthday.
This was his and young master Gu’s sixteenth birthday!
Gu Tang pulled out a tiny little birthday cake from the small car refrigerator, stuck in a candle barely thicker than a toothpick, lit the tiny flame, and then offered it to young master Gu like a treasure.
“Niannian, let’s make a wish!”
In all his life, Gu Qinian had never seen a birthday cake this tiny.
And it didn’t even look particularly delicious.
But in previous years, birthdays were always noisy with family members crowding around them. Today was the one and only birthday in these past sixteen years where it was just him and Gu Tang alone together.
As if to remind him that there was, in fact, another person in the RV, Xie Qian let out a soft little snore.
Gu Qinian: “……”
While Gu Tang wasn’t paying attention, he grabbed a blanket and threw it over that annoying pest’s face.
Good.
Now there was only him and Gu Tang.
After finally understanding his own feelings, young master Gu treasured this private birthday together immensely. Although there had been a few little accidents earlier, now at last he could sit down with the person he liked and enjoy a moment of peace.
He had always looked down on silly things like making birthday wishes.
And yet, gazing into Gu Tang’s clear eyes, young master Gu clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and made a wish in his heart.
“I hope the whole family stays healthy and safe, and I hope I can celebrate every birthday with Niannian…”
Hearing Gu Tang softly speak out his own wish, Gu Qinian’s lips curled slightly.
In Gu Tang’s wishes, there was always a place for him.
After finishing his wish, Gu Tang asked curiously, “Niannian, what did you wish for?”
His own wish couldn’t be told to him.
It would scare him away.
Gu Qinian looked away instead of at him. “If you say it out loud, it won’t come true.”
Gu Tang’s pupils shrank. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?!”
The innocent boy immediately closed his eyes again, clasped his hands, and silently repeated his wish in his heart, his red lips moving just slightly. The candlelight laid an alluring honey-colored glow across them.
They looked delicious…
Gu Qinian had no idea what was wrong with him, but all of a sudden he desperately wanted to bite Gu Tang’s lips.
As though those two soft petals were some kind of ultimate delicacy.
Without meaning to, young master Gu licked the points of his teeth.
Before Gu Tang opened his eyes, Gu Qinian hid all those dark little thoughts away again. Only his gaze remained beyond his control, fixed on those lips.
When Gu Tang opened his eyes, he knew nothing about any of it.
“Want to blow out the candle together?”
Gu Qinian shook his head.
Gu Tang looked thrilled. “Then I’ll do it!”
Every year, he was the one who blew out the birthday candles. Just now that question had only been symbolic anyway. He had already expected young master Gu wouldn’t blow.
So Gu Tang cheerfully leaned forward and puckered his lips.
Like a little chick’s butt.
Young master Gu, who had just begun awakening to love, stared at that little chick-butt mouth and couldn’t look away. His heart was pounding like crazy.
Without realizing it, he also started puckering his lips.
When Gu Tang inhaled, he inhaled too.
And accidentally…
blew the candle out himself.
A puff of candle smoke blew right into Gu Tang’s face. “?”
What was that supposed to mean?!
Hadn’t they agreed he could do it?
Gu Tang pouted, wearing the betrayed expression of someone who had just had candy snatched away.
Gu Qinian felt guilty and completely in the wrong. After a little cough, he said, “Sorry…”
“How about… we light it again?”
“That doesn’t count anymore.”
Gu Tang drooped his head pitifully, like a little child who’d had his sweets stolen.
For a moment, Gu Qinian had no idea what to do with himself.
He wanted to comfort him.
But he didn’t know how.
In previous birthdays, he had never cared about blowing candles anyway. It had always been Gu Tang who did it, so he hadn’t known the boy had such a love for it.
“I’ll let you blow them next year.”
When Gu Tang looked up at him, young master Gu immediately corrected himself, “No. Every year after this, I’ll let you blow them. Every single one will be yours.”
Only then did Gu Tang smile again, happily saying, “Niannian, you’re the best.”
Gu Qinian: “……”
He strongly suspected that it was in hearing all those endless “Niannian, you’re the best” comments that he had gradually lost his way…
The two of them split the little cake, then got ready to sleep.
Gu Tang pulled out a pack of wet wipes enthusiastically. “I’ll help wipe you down.”
As he spoke, he reached over and started undoing Gu Qinian’s buttons.
Startled, Gu Qinian immediately grabbed his hand. “What are you doing?”
“Taking your clothes off.”
Gu Tang blinked. “There’s no convenient way to shower here, so wiping down will at least feel more comfortable. Your hand has medicine on it and it’s not convenient, so I’ll help you.”
Gu Qinian turned his head away. “No need.”
Gu Tang frowned. “But that’s so unhygienic!”
Didn’t young master Gu have cleanliness issues?
Why, now that he was older, had he suddenly stopped caring about hygiene?
Young master Gu struggled inwardly. “Then… when the medicine dries on my hand, I’ll wipe down myself.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“It’ll be dawn by then.”
While they were talking, Gu Tang had already undone all the buttons on his shirt.
Back in the nanny van, when he had seen young master Gu’s abs up close, he had felt a little embarrassed. But then he thought about it more and decided—what was the big deal about brothers looking at each other’s stomachs?
Not only could they look, touching wasn’t weird either.
While wiping him down with a wet wipe, Gu Tang said enviously, “Your lines are so clear. Hard as a rock.”
Even though they both knew he was talking about abs being hard as a rock,
it was very hard not to let the meaning drift.
Especially since those slender white fingers were separated from his skin by nothing more than a thin wet wipe, inching slowly along the grooves of his muscles.
Gu Qinian turned his face aside, voice hoarse. “Don’t they all look like this…”
Gu Tang shook his head. “No. Mine doesn’t.”
He very generously lifted his own shirt and exposed his pale little stomach.
The boy’s waist was slim and supple, with not a trace of extra flesh. Even his belly button was small, round, and somehow adorable.
“……”
Gu Qinian only felt the blood rush to his head in one hot surge, and his gaze instantly went wild, not knowing where to land.
When they were children, he and Gu Tang had been bathed in the same tub all the time.
Now he couldn’t even dare look directly at him.
“What are you two doing instead of sleeping?”
Xie Qian had sweated himself awake under the blanket. He blinked blearily and saw Gu Tang and Gu Qinian sitting face-to-face on the bed. Gu Tang had his head lowered, apparently busy with something, while Gu Qinian’s shirt was open halfway.
The atmosphere felt really strange!
But the moment he asked that one question, Gu Qinian swish—pulled the bed curtain shut.
Xie Qian: “?”
Oh, so just because you have a bed curtain, that makes you great?
Well, he had one too! He was shutting his too!
But once he drew it closed, it only made him feel lonelier. Sob sob sob…
As soon as the curtain closed, the already tiny space became even more private.
The cramped little area filled with a sweet fresh scent like grass after the rain.
And sweet, too.
It was Gu Tang’s scent.
Gu Qinian had lived through two lifetimes, but never experienced feelings like this before. His mind had never been this chaotic, and his heart had never pounded this quickly.
It felt as if a beast was trapped inside him, just on the verge of charging out and swallowing up the little prey right in front of him.
And yet the little prey had absolutely no sense of danger.
Completely focused on comparing their stomachs, Gu Tang grabbed young master Gu’s uninjured hand and placed it against his own stomach. “Look, Niannian, I really don’t have abs. And mine is a little soft, right?”
Warm, soft flesh met his palm.
That patch of skin was unbelievably smooth and delicate.
As if stung, Gu Qinian snatched his hand back. “Enough. You’re wiped down now, so sleep!”
“You’re done, but I’m not done yet.”
Gu Tang mumbled.
Gu Qinian suddenly had a bad feeling.
And sure enough, the next second—
Gu Tang pulled his own shirt off.
Gu Qinian only caught a flash of dazzling milky-white skin before hurriedly jerking his face away, falling back onto the bed, and squeezing his eyes shut as if going to sleep.
If he looked even one second longer, the beast in his heart would break free of its cage.
[Mm… Host, what’s going on?]
The system’s electronic voice sounded half-asleep.
Gu Tang was busy wiping himself down and answered casually, “What’s wrong?”
[You completed the achievement “Make the Male Lead Suffer Greatly.” Reward: 20 life points, and 2 plot coins.]
Even the system sounded a little unconvinced.
It had already clocked out to sleep, and what kind of host was still secretly working after hours?
Oh right. Its host. The diligent and adorable one.
Then that was fine!
Its host was always the type to quietly complete tasks behind its back.
After giving the notification, the system calmly clocked out again and went back to sleep, leaving Gu Tang alone and full of question marks.
He turned to look at young master Gu, who had already lain down with his back to him.
Gu Tang scratched his head.
Wasn’t everything fine?
Where exactly was this “suffering greatly”?
Clearly the little broken plot backend had bugged out again.
Wahoo—he had picked up another freebie!
In a wonderful mood, Gu Tang finished wiping himself clean, feeling refreshed as he climbed into bed.
The RV bed was narrow, and it was cramped for two boys to sleep there.
Afraid he’d fall off, Gu Tang took the inside spot. Pressing himself against young master Gu’s back gave him a strong sense of safety.
With young master Gu blocking the edge, there was no way he could fall.
Gu Tang closed his eyes and drifted off before long.
Only after he heard the even breathing behind him did Gu Qinian, who had been pretending to sleep, slowly turn back around. He reached out and pulled Gu Tang’s shirt back down, covering that faintly visible strip of waist.
Then, carefully, he placed his own hand over the side of Gu Tang’s waist.
He pressed his fingers together and secretly measured it.
The width of his hand fit perfectly against the dip in Gu Tang’s waist.
***
Author’s Note:
Gu Niannian: Perfect fit. We’re made for each other!
Tangtang: ? Is that what “perfect fit” means?
Gu Niannian: Of course it is!
Mianmian: Absolutely not!!!
