Chapter 51: Sneaking Back to Him
Gu Tang was hauled down from the RV by young master Gu.
His feet never touched the ground the whole time, and one of Gu Qinian’s hands was even covering his eyes.
As if he were carrying off a little chick.
The moment he was set down, Gu Tang protested indignantly, “What is there that you can look at, but I can’t?”
He was the older brother, after all!
His eyes were still covered, and when he spoke, his lashes fluttered against Gu Qinian’s palm.
Gu Qinian wasn’t ticklish, but the tips of Gu Tang’s eyelashes brushing against his hand made the skin there feel numb and itchy.
He gave a light cough and said as calmly as possible, “I didn’t really see anything either.”
Gu Tang clearly didn’t believe him. He pulled his hand away and frowned prettily. “Niannian, did you go abroad and learn how to lie?”
If he really hadn’t seen anything, then why had he dragged him off the RV in such a hurry?
And suspiciously covered his eyes.
“What exactly happened in the RV?”
Gu Tang stared at his dark eyes and asked again, very seriously.
“……”
Gu Qinian pressed his lips into a straight line, looking as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
The more he hesitated like this, the more nervous Gu Tang became.
He was starting to suspect Gu Lin had been beaten up!
Although Gu Lin was the boss, slapping Yu Yang in public had been a bit much no matter how you looked at it. Even if Yu Yang hadn’t made a fuss on the surface, what if he planned to retaliate in private?
Judging by the difference in their heights and daily exercise habits, Gu Lin definitely couldn’t win against Yu Yang.
If they really got into it behind closed doors, Yu Yang could probably subdue Gu Lin with one hand.
So busy was Gu Tang worrying about his little uncle that he completely ignored the fact that he himself had just been carried off the RV one-handed by young master Gu.
He grabbed Gu Qinian’s slim but firm arm. “Niannian, Yu Yang definitely can’t beat you!”
“Let’s go back and help little uncle!”
As he said that, he turned to go, only to be yanked back by young master Gu.
“Don’t.”
Gu Qinian weighed his words before saying vaguely, “…It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to go over.”
Gu Tang frowned harder. “Why?”
Faced with the boy’s bright, crystal-clear eyes, Gu Qinian found it impossible to explain in detail what he had seen. He could only look away and murmur, “Maybe they were talking about something important and didn’t want to be disturbed.”
Gu Tang remained deeply suspicious. “Really?”
Gu Qinian nodded stiffly. “Otherwise, why would they be hiding in such a remote place?”
That actually sounded… kind of reasonable.
Gu Tang was persuaded by about half of it, but there were still too many things that didn’t add up.
An hour later, Gu Lin and Yu Yang appeared at the same time.
Gu Tang immediately began scrutinizing both their expressions.
Yu Yang looked completely back to normal, even cheerful, as if basking in spring sunshine. That fake smile was back on his face.
As for their little uncle—
Gu Lin’s face was red, his lips were swollen, and his eyes seemed slightly puffy too…
As if he had been crying.
Looking more closely, there was even what looked like a suspicious mark on his neck.
“Tangtang, were you looking for me just now?”
“Sorry, your uncle and I were resting in the RV, so we missed your wrap party. I’ll treat you to a meal another day.”
Yu Yang said it all with that smiling face, then reached out as if to pat his little brother from the movie on the shoulder.
Gu Tang dodged him.
“Thanks.”
Suspecting he had bullied his uncle, Gu Tang was no longer as warm as before. He only thanked him politely and didn’t agree to the meal.
Yu Yang didn’t mind. Still smiling, he asked Gu Lin whether he wanted him to give them a ride back.
Gu Lin waved him off. “You’re a celebrity. If you go out, people might photograph you. Stay in the crew and make money like a good boy.”
The tone sounded no different from his usual boss self, full of capitalist oppression toward laborers.
Yet Yu Yang looked delighted, his smile widening. “As you command, boss.”
For some reason, the moment he heard the word “boss,” Gu Lin’s face turned even redder.
He immediately urged Gu Tang and Gu Qinian into the car.
Then he jumped into the driver’s seat and floored it, sending a blast of exhaust straight into Yu Yang’s face.
The luxury car shot off in an instant.
Sitting in the back seat, Gu Tang turned around and could still see Yu Yang standing where he was, slowly waving at the back of their car.
So reluctant to part now.
But just before that, he had bullied little uncle so badly!
Since he couldn’t get a clear answer from young master Gu, Gu Tang turned directly to Gu Lin. “Little uncle, did Yu Yang bully you in the RV?”
The car lurched violently.
It almost swerved into the roadside ditch.
Gu Tang was thrown by inertia straight into young master Gu’s arms.
Gu Lin gripped the steering wheel, his forehead covered in cold sweat. “Don’t say dangerous things like that while I’m driving!”
Gu Tang: “?”
How was that dangerous?
What was dangerous was fighting in the RV, okay?
Thinking of those strange sounds, Gu Tang felt even more uneasy, terrified that his little uncle had suffered some hidden grievance.
At that moment, young master Gu slowly said, “…Little uncle, you were practicing lines in there, right?”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Gu Lin looked like he had found his lifeline. He nodded again and again. “Right, right, right.”
Gu Tang was silent for two seconds. “Little uncle knows how to act?”
Keeping one hand on the wheel, Gu Lin shamelessly lied through his teeth. “Oh, I’m actually not bad. But being a celebrity is exhausting. With your little uncle’s looks, I’d definitely accidentally become a top star. Then people would surround me everywhere I went, and I’d lose all my freedom…”
Gu Tang’s mouth twitched. “Little uncle is right.”
After saying that, he turned to look out the window.
Then, in his head, he told the system with great certainty, “Niannian and little uncle are both lying.”
[How can you tell?]
Gu Tang pouted. “Since childhood, Niannian has always ignored little uncle. If he suddenly starts calling him ‘little uncle’ and helping him make excuses, do you think that’s normal?”
[It’s not normal…]
Gu Tang narrowed his eyes. “Exactly. Anything unusual means something’s up.”
[What is it? What did you figure out? Is it an important plot point?]
The mighty system was now asking its host about plot points.
Was this moral decline, or the distortion of system-kind?
Gu Tang wore an all-knowing look and said leisurely, “Remember how your senior said Gu Lin and Yu Yang were in that kind of relationship?”
[This one I know! Negative—]
Before it could finish a single word, Gu Tang cut it off. “Stop!”
“You just got out, and you already want to be locked up again?”
The system had been traumatized by being locked in solitary confinement by the main brain, so it instantly shut up and obediently waited for the answer.
Gu Tang squinted. “I suspect Niannian may have seen some indescribable scene!”
[???]
[What does that mean?]
Gu Tang made himself blush just by saying it. “I’m not telling you.”
Truth be told, he didn’t really know what kind of indescribable scene it had been either.
In his previous life, he had spent all his time in the hospital. What he lacked wasn’t only the chance to fall in love, but even normal human interaction. As for advanced forms of intimacy between lovers, he knew even less.
He only knew that when two people in that kind of relationship were being intimate together, they weren’t supposed to be seen.
Otherwise it would be super embarrassing!
Anyway, it was something you couldn’t look at and couldn’t talk about.
Gu Tang’s vague explanation only made the system even more curious.
[Host, you’re so mean! Cutting off halfway is exactly like a cliffhanger author. People get knifed for that!]
The system made up its mind.
So what if the host wouldn’t tell it?
It could still go ask the gentle and kind senior!
It would secretly learn from senior, then stun everyone, including the host! Hmph!
So the system skipped out early and ran off to find its senior.
Gu Tang hadn’t even realized the system was gone. Just now he had been worried about Gu Lin, but after learning his little uncle wasn’t seriously hurt, his attention turned back to young master Gu.
Seeing that kind of scene, Niannian must have been frightened. That was why he had lied carelessly to him.
Gu Tang: Niannian is so innocent, I have to protect him!
He secretly glanced at young master Gu out of the corner of his eye, only to crash straight into his dark pupils.
From childhood until now, every time he tried to sneak a look, he got caught.
Gu Tang’s face had long since grown thick enough for that.
So instead, he simply smiled with curved eyes and leaned over, lightly bumping his shoulder against young master Gu’s.
Originally, that was only meant as a small gesture of comfort.
Because little uncle was driving in the front, it wasn’t convenient for the two of them in the back to talk openly about the matter, so Gu Tang used a little shoulder bump to tell young master Gu to relax.
Gu Tang: You saw it, so what? Just treat it like an early learning experience.
Gu Qinian: “???”
Seeing the boy grin mischievously and wiggle his brows at him, young master Gu didn’t quite understand what it meant, but he did know one thing—when Gu Tang bumped his shoulder like that.
They used to do that all the time when they were little.
Whenever he was in a bad mood or didn’t know what to do, Gu Tang would lightly bump his shoulder.
Then they would play their little tumbler game for a while.
You can’t knock me over, and I can’t knock you over either.
After nudging each other back and forth for a bit, the troubles would naturally melt away.
The meaning behind Gu Tang’s action was perfectly clear—he was saying: Come on, let’s play!
Gu Qinian felt his heart go soft. Just like when they were children, he pushed back with his shoulder.
But now he could only use a tiny bit of force.
Otherwise, he could knock Gu Tang over far too easily.
He knew Gu Tang’s temper well. If he lost too many times, then in the future he wouldn’t play this little game anymore.
For the sake of long-term sustainability, young master Gu deliberately let Gu Tang win a few rounds.
Then, taking advantage of Gu Tang’s happiness, he quietly slipped his hand over and caught one of Gu Tang’s in his palm.
His fingers threaded through the spaces between the boy’s.
Forming a ten-finger clasp.
Gu Tang lowered his eyes to stare at their interlocked hands.
He had been held like this so many times now that he was gradually getting used to it. Careless and unguarded, he thought that this way of holding hands was just tighter than the normal kind and less likely to come apart.
He and young master Gu should have been holding hands like this since they were little!
Come to think of it, it was a pity this hand of young master Gu’s had never gone into art. It already looked like a work of art in itself—long and pale, like carved jade, every knuckle impossibly beautiful.
Gu Tang was completely absorbed in admiring his hand.
At the front, Gu Lin happened to glance into the rearview mirror and caught the little movements between the two nephews—
His actual nephew was lounging lazily in the back seat, playing with darling Tang’s hand, while darling Tang sat there obediently and quietly, not moving, his eyes lowered as if he were lost in thought.
That instantly reminded him of years ago.
He used to see the two little boys leaning together, holding hands just like that all the time.
But the atmosphere now was wrong!
In his real nephew’s eyes, beyond joy and satisfaction, there was now one more thing—a possessive desire that said he would not let go.
In the past, perhaps Gu Lin wouldn’t have been able to see it.
But after Yu Yang’s living demonstration, if he still couldn’t understand what his little nephew was thinking, then he was an idiot.
No wonder.
No wonder his sister-in-law had thrown Gu Qinian out to gain experience the moment he turned sixteen, even though his older brother had argued it wasn’t necessary.
At the time, Gu Lin had worried that maybe his big brother was unwell and was therefore eager to hand over the business. He had never imagined it was actually because of this…
Staring at the black-haired, dark-eyed beautiful boy in the rearview mirror, Gu Lin felt his scalp go numb.
That brat!
Even rabbits don’t eat the grass around their own burrow!
And yet here he was, shamelessly plucking at the one growing inside the nest!
Just then, as if sensing his gaze, his nephew lifted his eyes. Through the rearview mirror, those dark eyes met his.
Gu Qinian said lightly, “Focus on driving.”
Gu Lin: “……”
For the first time, little uncle Gu had the very bad feeling that he was being threatened!
It wasn’t a short drive from the set back to the Gu residence.
The two clingy creatures in the back still weren’t eighteen and didn’t have driver’s licenses, so Gu Lin had to do all the driving himself.
By the time they got home, he was honestly pretty tired.
But Gu Lin still hurried out of the car and rushed over to open the door for Gu Tang, so fast that even the butler couldn’t beat him to it.
The butler: “?”
As soon as the door swung open, Gu Lin stepped forward and grabbed Gu Tang’s hand.
Not giving young master Gu the slightest chance.
Gu Qinian: “……”
He knew his little uncle was childish, but he hadn’t expected him to be childish to this extent.
As if it were hard for him to hold Gu Tang’s hand anyway?
That night at dinner, the two boys held hands beneath the table.
Gu Qinian was tall, and accordingly his hands were much bigger than Gu Tang’s.
Actually, Gu Tang wasn’t short, but his frame was on the smaller side.
Young master Gu could easily wrap one of Gu Tang’s little paws entirely in one hand.
With the tablecloth blocking them, no one could see, so he played shamelessly under the table in full view of the whole family.
Gu Tang had no idea what new finger-massage technique young master Gu had picked up abroad, so he didn’t pull away. He let him do whatever he wanted.
And honestly, young master Gu’s massage felt pretty nice.
The only problem was that, since they were sitting side by side, young master Gu was holding Gu Tang’s left hand with his right.
Which meant young master Gu couldn’t use chopsticks with his right hand.
He was forced to switch to his left.
But he was nowhere near as smooth with it as left-handed Xie Qian.
Young master Gu’s strange way of eating soon caught the attention of the family.
Su Mei found it very odd and asked, “Qinian, that… using chopsticks with your left hand—how are you supposed to eat properly like that?”
Gu Tang turned his head to see how young master Gu would answer.
Beneath the table, Gu Qinian squeezed his hand and lied without changing expression. “I learned a kind of health regimen in S Country. They say eating with your left hand helps fully develop the brain, and because it slows down your eating speed, it also helps with weight loss. Grandma could try it too.”
Su Mei was instantly interested the moment health and wellness came up. Her eyes lit right up. “Really? Then I’ll try it too.”
As she spoke, she switched her chopsticks to her left hand.
Then, still elegant but with a trace of awkwardness, she began to eat.
“……”
A mother knows her son best.
The moment Shen Ningqing saw her son acting like this, she knew exactly what was happening under the table.
But she could only cough lightly and warn him with her eyes: Don’t go too far!
After all, innocent darling Tang still didn’t know anything.
Gu Qinian pretended not to hear the cough and pretended not to notice his mother’s look.
He had agreed to his mother’s suggestion and gone out for experience, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be separated from Gu Tang.
Quite the opposite.
Young master Gu had thought things through very clearly.
A brief separation was for the sake of long-term possession.
If not for Gu Tang, he would have had no interest at all in the position of Gu family head.
Just like at school—if it hadn’t been for wanting to stop those pink letters being delivered to Gu Tang, he would never have bothered becoming student council president.
Both being the family heir and the student council president were exhausting jobs, and both cut into the private time he wanted to spend with Gu Tang.
Thinking that, Gu Qinian’s fingers lightly stroked the back of Gu Tang’s hand.
It made Gu Tang itch, and he instinctively tried to pull his arm back.
Only to be caught again and firmly pressed back down onto his thigh.
Maybe because they were secretly making these little moves right under the whole family’s noses, Gu Tang felt his cheeks heating up.
With his free right hand, he picked up his chopsticks and placed a black-bean steamed chicken foot into young master Gu’s bowl.
“Niannian, eat the chicken foot.”
Once he finished it, maybe he’d let go of his hand.
There was only so much you could rub someone’s hand before flowers started blooming out of it.
But before the chicken foot could land in young master Gu’s bowl, another bowl intercepted it.
“Thanks, darling Tang.”
Gu Lin had no idea he was interrupting a hostage exchange. In his own mind, preventing his nephews from being too intimate was him protecting Gu Tang.
Looking at the chicken foot he hated more than anything in his bowl, he forced out a smile. “Qinian doesn’t like chicken feet. Little uncle likes them.”
Gu Tang: “…No, little uncle, you don’t.”
Gu Lin took a deep breath. “I do!”
Then he shoved the chicken foot into his mouth and chewed through skin and bone.
Gu Tang didn’t really understand.
But out of respect for his elder, he very kindly put another chicken foot into Gu Lin’s bowl.
Gu Tang said, “Go ahead. There are plenty.”
Gu Lin: “……”
Su Mei spoke up from the side, knocking him down a peg. “How did I raise you? Where are your manners? Since when do you snatch food from children?”
Enduring the suffering, Gu Lin gnawed through two chicken feet and then raised his chin pitifully. “I’m still growing!”
Su Mei replied, “If you grow any more, you’ll hit the ceiling.”
Gu Lin shot back, “I’m not tall enough!”
At just the right moment, young master Gu added coolly from the side, “That’s why Yu—”
“Fish is so delicious!!!”
Gu Lin suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
Gu Qinian curved his lips slightly and pointed toward a dish of fish farther away. “Then little uncle should move over there and eat slowly.”
Before Gu Lin could protest, young master Gu added, “Otherwise next time I see Yu—”
“When you see fish, you have to eat more!”
Gu Lin obediently moved to sit across the table and buried himself in the spicy boiled fish.
Even Su Mei frowned this time. “A-Lin, you’ve never eaten fish since you were little.”
With tears almost in his eyes, Gu Lin said, “I’ve changed. It’s wrong to be picky…”
Hearing that, Gu Tang nodded repeatedly. “Congratulations to little uncle for fixing his picky eating.”
The only person seriously eating dinner at this table was Father Gu.
Hearing the family’s conversation, Gu Quan looked up with satisfaction and said to his younger brother, “A-Lin, being picky is bad. Look how thin you are. Since you like it, eat more. The fish is all yours tonight.”
Young master Gu stabbed in another knife at just the right moment. “Little uncle, make sure you finish it.”
Gu Lin: “……”
You brat!
That’s ruthless!!!
But what kind of person was Gu Lin?
He had never gone through life willing to suffer in silence.
So far in all his years, the only person he had truly lost to was Yu Yang.
There was no way he couldn’t handle one half-grown nephew.
That night, just before bedtime, Gu Lin came up with a brilliant plan.
He hugged a pillow and ran upstairs.
Only to run straight into Shen Ningqing, who was keeping watch on the second floor.
She was worried that the two boys would sleep together again at night. They were at that age—young and hot-blooded, too easily out of control. What if something happened?
And yet, her own son and darling Tang had each returned to their separate rooms like obedient little angels—one to the second floor, one to the third. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law was creeping upstairs in the dark with a pillow, and she had no idea what he was up to.
Shen Ningqing was more than ten years older than Gu Lin and had always treated him like half a son.
So she called out to stop him. “Where are you going?”
In the darkness, Gu Lin hadn’t seen anyone. Being suddenly called out like that made his whole body jump.
He turned around and saw a woman in a white dress drifting toward him.
Gu Lin: “Aaaaahhhhhh—”
“Shh!”
Shen Ningqing raised one finger.
Once Gu Lin recognized who it was, his scream cut off instantly. “Sister-in-law? You scared me to death…”
“Why are you going upstairs? Your room is on the second floor.”
“I know.”
Gu Lin lifted the pillow in his arms. “I’m going upstairs to sleep with darling Tang.”
Shen Ningqing: “???”
Why was there another one trying to sleep with darling Tang?!
Gu Lin lowered his voice. “I’m helping you keep watch over the two of them.”
Shen Ningqing froze. “…You noticed too?”
“Of course I did.”
Gu Lin sighed, then added, “Don’t worry, sister-in-law. With me here, I’ll definitely guard that little flowerpot upstairs.”
Hearing that, Shen Ningqing rubbed her temples. “I was getting ready to stay here all night.”
The two boys were going to be home for New Year’s for several more days.
If she kept this up for days, she was probably going to develop wrinkles.
Now that Gu Lin had volunteered to share the burden, things were much easier. At last she was no longer the only one guarding the line protecting darling Tang.
Seeing Gu Lin go upstairs, Shen Ningqing finally went back to her room to sleep.
Upstairs, Gu Tang had just finished showering.
He was sitting on the bed, arranging his sleeping things.
His little pillow—check.
His teddy bear was still with young master Gu.
As for the blanket… too heavy, no need to carry it. He could just share one with young master Gu.
Once he’d packed up, he was about to head downstairs.
The reason they had gone back to separate rooms earlier was only because it was more convenient for each of them to use the bathroom.
Tonight, they were definitely sleeping together.
After being apart for so long, he had so many things he wanted to whisper with young master Gu by lamplight!
But the moment he opened the door, Gu Lin slipped inside.
Gu Tang blinked. “Little uncle?”
“What are you doing in my room if you’re not sleeping?”
Gu Lin threw the pillow onto Gu Tang’s bed. “I’m sleeping in your room tonight!”
Gu Tang nodded without the slightest objection. “Then that works out. I’ll sleep in Niannian’s room.”
When Xie Qian used to come over and insist on sleeping in his room, they would arrange it just like that.
After all, you couldn’t exactly cram into one bed with a guest.
Gu Lin grabbed Gu Tang’s arm. “No! You have to stay with me!”
Gu Tang felt troubled.
Little uncle wasn’t a guest. He was family too.
But strangely enough, only at young master Gu’s side could he sleep peacefully. The moment he imagined sleeping next to someone else, his whole body felt wrong.
Seeing him hesitate, Gu Lin used every trick he had and made something up with his eyes closed. “I’m afraid of thunder…”
Gu Tang: “?”
He looked out the window at the moonlit, starry sky.
Then he comforted him, “Little uncle, it’s not raining tonight. And in winter, even when it rains, there’s usually not much thunder.”
“But what if there is!”
Gu Lin clung to his arm. “What if thunder comes and scares me?”
Gu Tang softened. In the end, he sent young master Gu a message briefly explaining the situation and telling him to sleep by himself tonight.
Seeing that Gu Tang had agreed to stay, Gu Lin hugged him happily. “I knew it! I didn’t dote on darling Tang for nothing!”
At the same time, he was smugly thinking: I’ll keep a very good eye on this little flower. I won’t let the one downstairs steal it away!
“Little uncle, then let’s sleep.”
Gu Tang put his pillow back on the bed.
His bed was large enough that two people could sleep in it without crossing into each other’s territory.
That was also why he rarely invited young master Gu upstairs. Usually, he ran downstairs instead.
The two of them liked sleeping pressed up together.
With Gu Lin, naturally, they wouldn’t be sleeping that close.
Gu Tang obediently lay near the edge of the bed.
He played on his phone while trying to make himself sleepy.
Then suddenly, the phone vibrated with a new message.
[Niannian: Cold.]
Just one word.
Enough to make Gu Tang’s heart ache.
Young master Gu always ran cold and hated winter especially. Without him there to warm the bed, he was probably having a miserable time.
Before Gu Tang could even reply, another message arrived.
[Niannian: So cold. [shivering.jpg]]
Young master Gu almost never used stickers. This time, it was a little bear cub chattering with cold, even its round ears covered in frost, shivering pitifully in the corner.
Gu Tang’s heart hurt even more as he typed:
[Turn the heat up? Put in a hot water bottle? Add another blanket?]
He sent three suggestions in a row.
The other side went quiet for a moment, then sent three “shivering” stickers in succession.
The poor little bear had more ice on it in each image than the last.
By the final one, the bear’s face had even turned blue.
It looked half-frozen to death.
Gu Tang bit his lip and turned to glance at Gu Lin.
For all his earlier talk about being afraid of thunder, Gu Lin was now sleeping like the dead. Even if thunder exploded right next to his ear, he probably wouldn’t hear it.
So Gu Tang sent another message:
[Little uncle is asleep. Should I… come downstairs?]
This time, the reply came almost instantly.
[Niannian: Waiting for you.]
***
Author’s Note:
Niannian (outwardly): Cold.
Niannian (inwardly): Missing you.
Tang Tang: Coming!
Little uncle: Wuwuwu, the flowerpot carried itself downstairs…
