Chapter 59: The Orange and the Secret Test
Yu Xiao was holding the orange Gu Tang had given him.
He was not good at smiling, but in order not to scare the child, he still tried hard to lift the corners of his mouth. “I’m Yu Yang’s older brother.”
From the phone at the side, Yu Yang: “…”
Yu Yang: So in the end, you still have to rely on me to get close to him!
Through the car window, Gu Tang waved politely at him. “Hello, Big Brother Yu.”
The way the boy addressed him sounded warm and intimate, and Yu Xiao’s expression naturally softened, no longer as stiff as before. “Hello.”
Gu Tang glanced into the car and, not seeing Yu Yang, asked with concern, “How has Brother Yang been lately? I haven’t seen him in a long time.”
“Is that Tangtang? Let me talk to him!”
The moment Yu Yang heard Gu Tang ask about him, he started shouting from the phone.
Gu Tang froze. “Brother Yang?”
Yu Xiao regretted not hanging up earlier. At this point, he could only hand the phone over. “Mm, you two talk.”
Gu Tang was familiar with Yu Yang, so he held the phone and chatted with him for quite a while.
Yu Xiao heard the boy’s sweet voice calling out “Brother Yang” here and “brother” there.
Honestly, he felt a little envious.
He had spent more than ten years battling in the business world and had believed his heart had long since become as cold as a blade.
Yet he had never expected that just hearing the boy softly call out “brother” a few times would make him waver.
Could this be…
…the legendary bond of blood and family affection?
Using the faint light from the streetlamp, Yu Xiao observed the way Gu Tang looked when he spoke.
His brows curved gently, his smile was pleasant and approachable, and he was extremely likable. His expression also really did resemble their mother a little.
There were three brothers in their family. The eldest and second both took after their father in appearance. Only the youngest resembled their mother. But when that accident happened to their little brother, he had only been a little over one year old. The teenager before him was sixteen or seventeen. It was impossible to identify him with the naked eye alone.
After chatting with Yu Yang for a few more sentences, Gu Tang suddenly realized that the phone’s owner was still waiting, so he hurriedly ended the call and handed the phone back.
“Sorry, Big Brother Yu, I kept you waiting.”
Yu Xiao was quite pleased that the boy called him “Big Brother,” and he gave a reserved nod. “It’s nothing.”
After all, this was their first meeting. It was not very suitable to talk in the car.
Especially since his car was pitch-black, and it was nighttime. Asking the boy to get into the car in such darkness would inevitably make him uneasy.
He recalled that Yu Yang seemed to have said the boy liked strawberry cake.
Yu Xiao asked, “Would you allow me to invite you to sit for a while at the cake shop over there? A place with bright lights is better, so your dean won’t mistake me for a pervert again.”
Gu Tang burst out laughing. “Big Brother Yu, you’re so humorous.”
Yu Xiao: “???”
This was the first time in his life anyone had praised him with the word “humorous.”
Yu Xiao felt rather proud.
After all, he had unlocked a new label for himself.
Gu Tang thought Yu family’s eldest brother was quite interesting. He seemed very good at being unintentionally funny with a completely serious face.
A short while later, the two sat down in the cake shop.
Gu Tang ate the strawberry cake in front of him with a small spoon and asked curiously, “Big Brother Yu, do you really want to donate a building to No. 1 High School because you’re my fan?”
No matter how one listened to it, that reason sounded far too strange.
The boy’s clear and bright eyes were like a spring of pure water, incapable of hiding even the slightest impurity.
Facing such a pair of eyes, Yu Xiao found himself unable to lie. He admitted honestly, “No, but I don’t have any bad intentions.”
After saying that, as if afraid the boy would not believe him, he added another sentence.
“Do you… trust your big brother?”
Gu Tang had not watched Ultraman when he was little, unlike Yu Yang, who would make all sorts of wild associations. He only nodded obediently. “I do.”
“!!!”
Yu Xiao had not expected the boy to trust him so easily!
Though delighted inside, Yu Xiao quickly reminded him, “It’s dangerous for you to trust people so easily!”
Gu Tang bit on the spoon and tilted his head. “But you’re Brother Yang’s older brother.”
In other words, since Yu Yang was a good person, Yu Xiao should not be a bad person either.
“No, no, no.”
Yu Xiao shook his head repeatedly and seriously educated the boy. “Even an acquaintance’s acquaintance could still be a bad person.”
Knowing the other person meant well, Gu Tang nodded gratefully. “Okay, I’ll remember that.”
“But Big Brother Yu doesn’t look like a bad person.”
The boy added another sentence and curved his eyes at him.
At that moment, Yu Xiao suddenly understood why Yu Yang was convinced the boy before him was their little brother.
Too similar. Far too similar…
When he and Yu Yang were little, neither of them liked to smile. Their mother often sighed, wondering why someone as cheerful as her had given birth to two wooden sons who did not like to smile. She used to say that if only she had a sweet little child who loved smiling.
And just as their mother wished, their little brother had not only been sweet and adorable, but also born loving to smile. He had not been afraid of strangers either. Whoever he met, he would smile with his eyes curved.
But that disaster had taken their little brother away and had also left their father gravely injured.
Yu Xiao had taken on their father’s responsibilities and started managing the Yu family business.
As for Yu Yang, he had stood in front of the mirror every day practicing how to smile, imitating the way their little brother used to curve his eyes, trying to fill the hollow in their mother’s heart.
But a lost child could never truly be replaced.
What was more, Yu Yang’s own mental state had been terrible at the time. His smile looked even faker than crying. No matter how hard he tried, their mother remained sorrowful all day long, and her health grew worse and worse.
Looking at Gu Tang’s smile, Yu Xiao even thought for a moment that perhaps they should forget about doing any genetic test at all.
They could just bring Gu Tang before their mother and tell her this was their younger brother.
Gu Tang’s smile would definitely heal their mother.
Yu Xiao did not consider himself a particularly good person. In that instant, he was even calculating the possibility of abducting Gu Tang.
Seeing the other person staring at him the whole time, Gu Tang instinctively took a tissue and wiped his face.
Whenever he ate cake, he always accidentally got cream at the corners of his mouth.
It did not matter if he got messy in front of Young Master Gu. He could even smear some across Young Master Gu’s face and tease little Gu Qinian for fun.
But in front of outsiders, that would be too impolite.
The moment the boy moved awkwardly, Yu Xiao immediately withdrew his evil thought. He gave a light cough and continued the earlier topic. “In any case, I really do sincerely want to donate a building to your school.”
“But Jiang City No. 1 High School doesn’t lack money to build classrooms…”
Gu Tang scratched his cheek. Although it was not very nice to cut in and intercept the opportunity, as the dean, he still had to think about the children at the orphanage.
This was also his first time talking to someone about money, and Gu Tang felt a little embarrassed. Carefully, he asked, “If Big Brother Yu really wants to do charity, could you donate a building to the orphanage instead?”
To the Yu family, building a teaching building was no more than a drop in the bucket.
In fact, it had only been an excuse Yu Xiao had thought up on the spot to gain access to the school and get close to Gu Tang.
Now that the boy was already sitting right in front of him, what did it matter where the donation went?
Yu Xiao waved his hand grandly. “Anywhere is fine.”
Gu Tang immediately beamed with delight.
Interception successful!
Still, under Gu Quan’s guidance, Gu Tang had absorbed enough by ear and eye to know that there was no such thing as a free lunch falling from the sky.
After thinking for a moment, he asked again, “…Big Brother Yu, do you really have no conditions?”
Yu Xiao shook his head.
Gu Tang’s shoulders drooped. “Then forget it.”
Yu Xiao: “?”
“Why?”
The boy had obviously looked so hopeful just now. Why did he suddenly not want it anymore?
Resting his chin in both hands, Gu Tang answered honestly, “I’d feel uneasy taking it for nothing, and I think Big Brother Yu still hasn’t said everything.”
Yu Xiao looked at Gu Tang with approval.
The boy was innocent and well-behaved by nature, but he still had some sense of caution.
“The Gu family has raised you very well.”
With that one sentence, Yu Xiao praised both Gu Tang and the Gu family.
Gu Tang felt happy hearing it, but at the same time found the position behind those words a little strange.
Why did it sound as though…he were speaking like Gu Tang’s maternal family?
Now that things had reached this point, Yu Xiao decided to be honest with Gu Tang. “There really is one thing I need your help with.”
Gu Tang’s eyes widened.
Yu Xiao rolled the orange the boy had given him in his palm and said slowly, “I need you to cooperate with a genetic test.”
“Yu Yang and I suspect that you are our little brother.”
Gu Tang: “???”
The moon hung over the branches of the osmanthus tree.
When Gu Tang came out of the cake shop, he was still carrying another slice in his hand.
It was for Young Master Gu.
Turning back, Yu Xiao said to him, “There’s no rush. You can think it over slowly.”
One of his subordinates muttered quietly from the side, “No rush? The car was parked outside his school gates for the whole day…”
Yu Xiao: “…”
Seeing the dark look on his boss’s face, the subordinate immediately made a zipping gesture and shut his mouth tightly.
Of course Gu Tang knew the other man was anxious to confirm information about his younger brother. Understanding this, he said, “It’s fine. I can cooperate, but I need to go back and tell my family first.”
“Of course. This is a major matter. The Gu family should be informed.”
Yu Xiao wanted to pat the boy on the shoulder.
But the moment he reached out, Gu Tang instinctively ducked his head away.
Still haunted by the memory, Gu Tang rubbed the back of his head. “I already agreed to cooperate, so Big Brother Yu, please don’t secretly pluck my hair anymore!”
Did he really think Gu Tang had not noticed?
Back in the dean’s office, Big Brother Yu had twice tried to pluck strands of his hair.
Yu Xiao laughed. “Alright.”
Back at the school gate, Gu Tang raised the small cake and waved it at Yu Xiao. “Thank you for the little cake, Big Brother Yu.”
Yu Xiao felt a little regretful. “If I’d known you liked strawberries this much, I should’ve bought more just now.”
Gu Tang shook his head. “This is enough.”
He only wanted to bring one portion back for Young Master Gu.
Of course, if Young Master Gu did not eat it, it would still end up in his own stomach, hehe.
Gu Tang casually asked, “What fruit does Big Brother Yu like?”
Yu Xiao raised the round one he had been holding the whole time. “Oranges.”
After the boy had walked far away, the subordinate finally asked in confusion, “Boss, since when did you start liking oranges?”
Yu Xiao shot him a look. “Since now.”
Evening self-study was almost over. Gu Tang did not want to go back to class, so he carried the little cake to look for Young Master Gu.
Passing by the basketball gym and seeing the lights still on, he went in to try his luck.
Bang—
The moment he entered, he saw a perfect three-point shot.
That tall, elegant figure in midair—who else could it be but Young Master Gu?
Gu Tang did not disturb him. He quietly slipped over to the rest area and sat down leaning against Young Master Gu’s backpack.
Young Master Gu’s backpack was easy to recognize. The zipper still had the little sachet Gu Tang had made hanging from it.
When Gu Tang noticed that the goose-yellow osmanthus sachet was hanging from Young Master Gu’s bag, he had even laughed at him. “What boy carries one of these around?”
Gu Qinian had struck back immediately. “And what boy makes one of these by hand?”
Gu Tang had been rendered speechless, his cheeks turning red.
He just liked making them. So what?
Grabbing the other little sachets, Gu Tang had said, “Since you’re only hanging that one, I’ll give the others away. Senior Sister Ye Xiao said last time that she wanted the peach blossom one…”
Before he could finish speaking, the pink peach blossom sachet in his hand was snatched away by Young Master Gu.
“They’re all mine.”
Gu Qinian had looked fierce as he said, “You’re not allowed to give them to anyone else.”
Shaking the other sachets in his hand, Gu Tang had teased him in an odd tone, “Niannian is so greedy. You only have one backpack. You can’t hang that many on it.”
Gu Qinian had replied, “I’ll change backpacks in a few days and rotate them.”
Gu Tang had immediately thought of those palace intrigue dramas he watched with Grandma Mei and laughed. “Doesn’t that make you like an emperor flipping name plates and bestowing favor on everyone equally?”
Gu Qinian had let out a snort and muttered something like, “If I’m going to bestow favor, it’ll only be on you.”
Gu Tang had not understood what he meant, and when he asked again, the other person refused to explain.
“Hmph, Niannian has more and more little secrets now.”
Gu Tang picked up Young Master Gu’s backpack and hugged it in his arms like a pillow. Then he pulled out a sheet of scratch paper from inside and began sketching the moving figure in the distance.
After finishing a game, the basketball captain came over and patted Gu Qinian. “Your brother came to see you.”
Gu Qinian turned his head and immediately saw the small figure sitting at the edge of the court.
The boy was not short, but he had a small frame. Sitting on the floor, he looked like a tiny little bundle. He was hugging Gu Qinian’s backpack, his head lowered. At a glance, it was clear he was drawing. His bangs hung down over his forehead, and his lips unconsciously stuck out a little, making him look both obedient and adorable.
Gu Qinian could not help the corners of his mouth lifting as he started to walk toward Gu Tang.
Suddenly, the basketball captain grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Hey, are you in love or something?”
At those words, Gu Qinian turned to look at the captain, his gaze icy, his dark eyes deep and unreadable. “What do you mean?”
The captain laughed with a face full of gossip. “First love, right? Feeling shy about it too?”
Gu Qinian slowly clenched his right hand into a fist.
He would not let Gu Tang’s name come out of the other person’s mouth.
Before he was ready, he would not drag Gu Tang into all that idle talk.
The basketball captain pointed in Gu Tang’s direction, and the force of Gu Qinian’s punch had already reached the side of his face.
Captain: “The sachet on your bag!”
Gu Qinian’s wrist halted.
The captain remained completely unaware that he had been less than a centimeter away from being punched.
Turning back around, he chuckled and said, “That sachet—your girlfriend gave it to you, right? Only a girlfriend would give something like that.”
Gu Qinian relaxed, quietly withdrawing his fist. The corner of his mouth lifted. “Not a girlfriend.”
“Tsk.”
The captain wore an expression of sudden understanding and patted his shoulder comfortingly. “So you haven’t managed to win them over yet?”
Gu Qinian: “…Mm.”
“Be more proactive!”
The captain began giving advice like someone with experience. “With that face of yours, if you take the initiative, you’ve already won. What are you afraid of?”
Gu Qinian raised his eyes, glancing in Gu Tang’s direction. “It’s useless.”
“He’s been looking at this face for more than ten years.”
“He’s already immune.”
The basketball captain got even more excited hearing that. “Oh? Then is it some childhood sweetheart situation? And you didn’t even bring them to let us see! You’re so stingy. What, were you worried we’d steal a march on you?”
“Yes.”
Gu Qinian answered bluntly. As he looked at Gu Tang, his gaze grew darker and darker.
He wished he could hide the boy away.
Hide him somewhere no one could see, somewhere even sunlight would not be allowed to touch his treasure.
But Gu Tang liked sunlight, so that would not work.
All he could do was restrain himself.
“No, no, no.”
The basketball captain was startled by Gu Qinian’s expression. “If you’re like this, you’ll scare them away. You have to take it slow and wear them down little by little, understand?”
Gu Qinian tilted his head slightly. “Hm?”
The captain was in senior year and, thinking himself older and more experienced, began instructing his junior. “Do you really expect them to just suddenly figure things out on their own if you do nothing? You have to guide them!”
Gu Qinian had always been cold and detached, uninterested in anything.
But at this moment, for the first time, his handsome face showed an expression that said he was willing to hear more.
“How do I guide him?”
Seeing that he was interested, the captain felt very accomplished. Though he had no actual dating experience himself, he still taught nonsense with confidence. “For example, do something intimate that you don’t usually do?”
“You’ve known each other for over ten years, so everything you do already feels like family. You need to do something special—something that’ll make your little crush blush. Got it?”
Gu Qinian frowned. “…”
The captain slapped him in frustration. “Don’t hesitate! You have to break through the established relationship between the two of you first if you want to start dating!”
Gu Qinian felt that made some sense, so he gave a slight nod.
As the saying went, one dared to teach, and the other dared to learn.
After the lesson in love was finished, the basketball captain rubbed his hands together. “If you do start dating, then your brother will be left all alone…”
Gu Qinian: “?”
The captain grinned. “To be honest, my younger sister quite likes Gu Tang. How about you help match them—”
“The school rules do not allow puppy love.”
Gu Qinian cut him off coldly and turned away.
The basketball captain: “? Hey, what’s with that? So you can set fires but no one else is allowed to light a lamp?”
“I haven’t started setting fires yet.”
Gu Qinian turned his head and warned him coldly, “Don’t get any ideas about Gu Tang.”
That frigid tone and gaze made the basketball captain feel as if he had been frozen to the floor in an instant.
He shuddered on the spot from fright.
The captain muttered pitifully, “…Why are you being so fierce? If I didn’t know better, I’d think your little crush was Gu Tang.”
Afraid that if Gu Tang stayed waiting in the basketball gym, it would attract who knew how many covetous glances, Gu Qinian hurriedly packed him up and took him back to the dorm.
Gu Tang had no idea what Young Master Gu was thinking and instead invited him to eat cake.
But Gu Qinian was busy thinking about how to change the nature of their relationship. How could he possibly have the mood to eat? “You eat it.”
“I already ate.”
Gu Tang pushed the cake topped with a large bright-red strawberry toward Young Master Gu. “I saved this especially for you.”
Somehow, Gu Qinian felt that something was off.
When Gu Tang ate, he rarely ever ate first and then saved him some afterward. Usually he waited and ate together with him.
Gu Qinian became alert. “Who did you eat with?”
“Big Brother Yu.”
Only after saying that did Gu Tang remember that Young Master Gu did not know who that was, so he added a simple explanation. “Yu Yang’s older brother.”
Gu Qinian’s face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot. “What did he want with you?”
The matter was a little complicated.
Gu Tang picked out the key points. “He suspects I’m his family’s little brother. He wants to take me for a genetic test, and he also wants to donate a building to the orphanage… Niannian, what’s wrong?”
As he spoke, he noticed Young Master Gu’s expression was off.
It was as if he had just been struck by lightning.
“Niannian?”
Gu Tang waved a hand in front of his eyes.
Both his wrists were suddenly seized, and his back was pressed against the edge of the desk.
Gu Qinian’s eyes were dark beyond measure, and he breathed out three words heavily: “You want to leave?”
He had just finished playing basketball, and his body was still radiating heat.
Gu Tang felt that even the breath Young Master Gu blew against his face was scorching hot, as though it might evaporate all the air in front of him.
It made breathing a little difficult.
Gu Tang knew very well the difference in strength between himself and Young Master Gu. He had never expected to be able to push him away. So he simply let himself be held, leaning lazily against the desk like a salted fish as he said, “Big Brother Yu said the possibility is very small. His little brother is actually already gone. He just wants the report to reassure Brother Yang and Mama Yu.”
“Is that so…”
Afraid he might pinch Gu Tang red again, Gu Qinian let go of him.
In his heart, he did not trust the Yu family at all.
Businessmen never acted without profit to gain, much less an old fox like Yu Xiao. If he had not seen value in Gu Tang, why would he go to such unnecessary lengths?
Seeing that Young Master Gu still seemed unable to recover, Gu Tang took the initiative and reached out to hold his hand. “I still need to discuss it with Grandma, Papa Gu, and Auntie Shen, so they won’t be hurt or think I want to look for my real family.”
“What if you really do find them?”
Gu Qinian lifted his eyes and looked straight into Gu Tang’s. “If you find your family, will you leave?”
“I w—”
Gu Tang had only spoken a single syllable when his mouth was covered.
Only his wide eyes were left blinking at Young Master Gu.
“You won’t.”
Gu Qinian answered for him. “You won’t leave.”
His fingers rubbed hard at Gu Tang’s lips, leaving him unable to speak. Gu Tang could only nod and mumble, “Mm mm mm,” to show that Niannian was right.
His family was all in the Gu family. Before the plot missions were completed, he would not leave.
But Young Master Gu did not let him off because of that.
The other boy leaned forward and hugged him.
Very tightly.
Gu Tang suspected Young Master Gu wanted to press him into his own body.
Then suddenly, his lower back turned cool.
The hem of his shirt had been lifted.
Young Master Gu’s hand touched his shoulder blade as he muttered, “You didn’t grow wings, so you can’t fly away, can’t fly away…”
Still confused, Gu Tang hugged him back and gently patted his back as if soothing a child, speaking softly, “Mm, I won’t fly away.”
No, Gu Tang was a little liar.
He had always been one, ever since childhood.
Gu Qinian hugged Gu Tang desperately tight.
He had long known that one day Gu Tang would leave, just like a fallen angel who would eventually depart from the mortal world.
Gu Tang always gave him a sense of drifting detachment.
As though he did not belong to this world, as though he was always prepared to leave at any time.
But he had not expected it to happen this soon…
The time left for him was far too short.
And his opponent was the Yu family.
Right now, he still could not compete with them.
“Just give me three years. Only three years…”
Gu Tang had heard Young Master Gu say before
that after three years, he would be able to make Papa Gu retire. Although Gu Tang was happy for Papa Gu to retire early, he also felt that Young Master Gu did not need to rush so much to fulfill his filial duties.
“Papa Gu probably isn’t that eager to take Auntie Shen traveling around the world. You don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself.”
Gu Tang softly coaxed the person holding him in a death grip.
He thought the other boy was only under too much pressure.
But apparently that was not it…
Young Master Gu tilted his head and bit down on his earlobe.
Using the tips of his teeth to slowly rub that soft flesh, he whispered through clenched teeth—
“Can you be mine forever?”
“Mine alone.”
Gu Tang did not hear clearly what the other boy was murmuring into his ear. He had gone weak in the legs from being bitten, and if Young Master Gu had not been holding him tightly, he might have collapsed.
[Warning, warning!]
[Host, the dislike-value progress bar shows signs of overflowing!!!]
The system issued an emergency alert, its electronic voice blaring sharply.
That made Gu Tang’s mind, dazed from the biting, clear up for a moment.
Although he knew the dislike-value progress bar might have a bug, it concerned the plot and his family’s Young Master Gu, so Gu Tang did not dare take risks.
His little brain began spinning rapidly.
Why was Young Master Gu biting him while the dislike value kept rising?
A childhood memory suddenly flashed through his mind—every time he bit Young Master Gu’s little ear when they were younger, the other boy would get so angry that his chubby little face would puff up red.
“!”
Gu Tang suddenly understood.
Young Master Gu must be taking revenge now for being bullied when they were little!
But in the past, Gu Tang had always bitten once and run away. He had never held it in his mouth and slowly nibbled at it like Young Master Gu was doing now…
At that moment, Song Chen and Zhu Xu returned from evening self-study, and they had also brought back Gu Tang’s schoolbag on the way.
The moment Song Chen pushed open the door, of all possible bad luck, he saw Gu Qinian hugging Gu Tang.
This time, he saw it very clearly.
Gu Qinian had tilted his head and was biting Gu Tang’s ear!
He wanted to curse out a plant!
Why did he have to catch them every single time?!!!
Song Chen took a deep breath and turned around, shoving Zhu Xu, who was still trying to come in, right back out.
Zhu Xu shouted loudly, “What are you doing?!”
The corner of Song Chen’s mouth twitched slightly. “I suddenly remembered I left something in the classroom.”
Zhu Xu said, “Then go get it yourself. Why are you pushing me?”
As he spoke, he tried to head into the dorm again.
Song Chen quickly blocked him with his body. “Wait a second!”
Zhu Xu: “?”
Song Chen glanced back. That insane monster who was their student council president had finally let Gu Tang go—and was even licking his lips…
That was too much!
You were still savoring it?!
Only after confirming that the two had separated did Song Chen finally turn and go inside.
Zhu Xu looked baffled. “Why did you come back in again? Aren’t you going to get your thing?”
Song Chen wiped his forehead and came away with a full palm of sweat. Forcing out a dry laugh, he said, “After thinking about it, I guess I already brought everything back.”
Zhu Xu: “…”
Like he had discovered a new continent, Zhu Xu suddenly rushed inside shouting, “Let me tell you all! Song Chen is already getting forgetful at such a young age!”
Song Chen: “…”
If I told you, it would scare you to death!
***
Author’s Note:
Song Chen: Expert at keeping the closet door shut!
