Chapter 64: Between the Mask and the Truth
The uproar of voices from the stage carried faintly backstage, where the noise had already dimmed quite a bit.
Inside the narrow dressing room, only a little of it could still be heard.
But the sound of their breathing seemed magnified, clear and distinct.
Gu Tang stared blankly at the person pressed close before him.
…What was this?
The other boy had both arms braced at his sides. The wall was at his back, leaving him nowhere to retreat. The cold mask brushed against his lips, and the skin it touched felt as though it had been seared with a branding iron.
Burning hot.
Under normal circumstances, he should have pushed him away.
By instinct, Gu Tang lifted a hand.
But Young Master Gu had his eyes closed, the expression between his brows solemn and devout. His long eyelashes trembled faintly, fragile as butterflies fluttering in the wind.
At once, Gu Tang’s heart softened.
His hand only came to rest lightly against the other boy’s chest, and he could not summon any strength at all…
Their noses were almost touching.
Their breaths tangled together.
Something subtle and extraordinary arose between them, like a strange chemical reaction.
It frightened Gu Tang a little, and instinctively he held his breath.
A moment later, Gu Qinian drew back and looked at him. “Breathe.”
“…”
Gu Tang’s face had turned bright red from holding it in.
Seeing him like that, Gu Qinian began to panic and hurriedly tore off the mask. “Copy me. Breathe in!”
As he spoke, he demonstrated, taking a deep breath.
Once the mask was removed, Young Master Gu felt familiar again.
Gu Tang found a little sense of safety and followed him. “Inhale—”
Gu Qinian stroked his hair to show he was doing well. “Exhale.”
Gu Tang: “Exhale—”
“Feeling better?”
Gu Tang mechanically inhaled and exhaled. Only after several rounds did he finally nod stiffly. “Mm…”
The nasal sound he made was soft and cottony.
It somehow carried the pitiful grievance of someone who had been bullied.
Gu Qinian did not even dare ask what he had felt just now, afraid Gu Tang might open his mouth and say something that would make him cough up blood from anger.
He had been impulsive just now.
But when he thought about the possibility of Gu Tang being taken away by the Yu family, and saw all those shining eyes in the audience staring at his precious treasure, an uncontrollable frustration welled up inside him.
If he did not find some outlet for it, he was afraid he might go mad.
Letting out a sigh, Gu Qinian resigned himself and stepped closer, wrapping an arm around the boy’s waist.
Sure enough, Gu Tang startled like a frightened little animal. “…What are you doing?”
“Lift yourself a little. Take off the tail.”
Gu Qinian did his best to keep his tone calm, afraid of scaring him.
“Oh…”
Only then did Gu Tang remember he still had to take off the tail. He tried to move, but after struggling a bit, he admitted in a small, embarrassing voice, “I can’t get up…”
His legs had gone weak.
“Hold onto me.”
Gu Qinian took the boy’s hands and placed them around his own shoulders and neck so he could borrow some leverage.
The distance between them narrowed again.
Once more, Gu Tang felt his heart pounding like a drum.
He started to suspect that something was wrong with him. Otherwise, why would his heart beat like crazy every time Young Master Gu got close?
Gu Qinian lifted him with one arm and reached his other hand behind Gu Tang’s lower back, feeling for the zipper on the fish tail.
Zzip—
The zipper came undone, and the fish tail was peeled off little by little.
Gu Tang was stripped out of it like a little snake shedding its skin, until in no time at all he had been completely freed.
The makeup artist had not been lazy. Even after removing the mask, Young Master Gu was still in full costume makeup.
But after taking off the fish tail, Gu Tang could only bare his legs…
To make the tail sit smoothly against his body, he had only been wearing the simplest style of white underwear underneath.
The performance had been exhausting, the tail heavy and thick, and his legs had sweated a lot inside it. Now his thighs were tinged pink, and the underwear was damp with sweat, faintly translucent.
The moment Gu Tang lifted his eyes, he found Young Master Gu staring at him intensely, with a gaze almost like he wanted to devour him.
Startled, Gu Tang hurriedly pushed at his face. “Don’t look.”
Gu Qinian’s head was pushed off to one side. His Adam’s apple moved up and down impatiently as he asked in a hoarse voice, “Do you want to change your underwear?”
Gu Tang could not bear hearing words like that. “Don’t say it!”
Young Master Gu lifted a brow slightly. “Don’t say what?”
“Underwear?”
“Ahhh—”
Gu Tang, face burning red, clapped a hand over the other boy’s mouth. “Stop talking!”
He himself found it strange too.
Logically, if he was going to be embarrassed in front of anyone, it should never be in front of Young Master Gu.
The two of them had grown up together. They had even bathed in the same tub when they were little. They were both boys, and all the parts on their bodies were the same. What was there that could not be seen?
But whether he felt embarrassed or not was not something he could control!
And seeing Gu Tang so flustered, Gu Qinian’s mood improved miraculously.
The Gu Tang of the past would never have felt shy in front of him.
At most, if he had been seen, he would only have felt a little awkward.
Shyness was a good sign.
“Fine. I won’t say it anymore.”
Gu Qinian decided to let him off for now and spoke softly.
The moment he spoke, Gu Tang could feel the mouth beneath his palm moving. The other boy’s lips brushed over the soft flesh of his hand, ticklish, leaving a little dampness behind.
Gu Tang’s mind exploded hot with a boom. He snatched his hand away, shoved Young Master Gu out of the dressing room,
and then quickly locked the door behind him.
Gu Qinian: “…”
He had let him off too early.
After driving him out, the first thing Gu Tang did was look down and inspect his underwear.
To see if it was really that revealing.
What white, thin fabric looked like when soaked was easy enough to imagine.
Gu Tang kicked the collapsed fish tail lying in the corner in annoyance.
It was all that tail’s fault for being so thick.
It had made him sweat so much!
Then he sat down and started measuring things out in his head, trying to figure out just how much Young Master Gu had actually seen. The more he thought about it, the hotter and more ashamed his face became.
[Host, I’ve detected that your body temperature and heartbeat are abnormal. Are you feeling unwell?]
The system floated out to show concern.
Gu Tang bit his lip. “No…”
[Then that’s strange.]
[By the way, Host, the male lead’s dislike value toward you has deepened in color. It’s now rose pink. Quite pretty. Do you want to see it?]
Gu Tang refused. “No.”
What was there to see in that bugged progress bar?
[Host, you seem very numb about it.]
The system was not too happy.
It was putting its whole heart into work, so why had the host become even more sluggish lately?
Just look—how long had it been since he’d done a key plot task?
The system dove into the ocean of plotlines, picking through them until it found a task that was a little challenging.
Since it had to be done sooner or later, it might as well be dealt with early.
[Please complete the key plot task “Make the Male Lead Betray His Family.” Reward: 100 Life Points and 10 Plot Coins! The reward is very generous. Do you want to take the challenge?]
Gu Tang’s gaze fell on the half-mask Young Master Gu had left behind, and absentmindedly he answered, “Oh.”
[Wonderful! Task activated. Wishing Host success!]
The system retreated in delight.
It knew it—its host still cared about the mission!
In truth, Gu Tang had barely heard what the system had been chattering about.
He bent down and picked up that half-mask from the floor, then turned it toward himself and stared at the mouth on it in a daze.
The mask had been molded 1:1 from Young Master Gu’s face.
The lower half looked exactly like his.
And just thinking about how the mask’s mouth had pressed against his own lips made Gu Tang’s face burn.
Then, in his mind, he carefully went back through his memories.
When he used to kiss Young Master Gu’s cheeks as a child, had he ever kissed his mouth by accident?
The answer was no.
So just now, Young Master Gu had not been getting revenge on him.
Then… what had it meant?
Knock knock knock—
A few raps sounded at the door.
Gu Tang jumped in fright and dropped the mask from his hand.
“It’s me. Open up.”
From outside came Young Master Gu’s deep, magnetic voice.
Gu Tang moved his lips soundlessly, thinking, Of course I know it’s you. That’s exactly why I’m not letting you in.
But if he stayed silent too long, Young Master Gu might think something had happened to him in the dressing room and force his way in.
Unwillingly, Gu Tang answered, “What?”
“I brought pants.”
Gu Qinian knew Gu Tang was thin-skinned. Standing close to the door, he lowered his voice. “Unless you want to come out half naked?”
“I’m not!”
Gu Tang cried out in alarm.
Then he remembered that his underwear was practically see-through at this point anyway. After that single shout, he lost all momentum, and instead cracked the door open just a little.
Outside, Gu Qinian saw one small hand slowly extend through the gap.
A laugh slipped from the corner of his mouth. Instead of handing over the pants right away, he reached out and lightly scratched the boy’s palm with his fingertip.
Gu Tang shrank back from the ticklishness. “Gu Qinian!”
“You hardly ever call me by my full name.”
Gu Qinian sounded amused. “Say it again?”
Now Gu Tang was really angry. He tried to pull his hand back. Fine, if he was not going to give him the pants, then forget it. He could not bully people like this!
Then the other boy caught his wrist, and a piece of fabric was shoved into his hand.
Gu Tang grabbed the pants in one tight fist, worried that Young Master Gu might start some more nonsense. Even as he closed his hand, he still swung a random punch outward.
He did not care where it landed. He just snatched his hand back immediately.
Outside the dressing room, Gu Qinian leaned against the door of the makeup room and touched the place on his abdomen where the little fist had struck, the corners of his mouth rising high.
Gu Tang shook open the trousers Young Master Gu had handed him, and out rolled a small piece of fabric.
When he picked it up and looked at it,
his face reddened at once.
Printed on the little triangle of cloth was a round bear face, grinning at him.
Considering how recently Young Master Gu had been kicked out of the dressing room, there was no way he could have gone back to the dorm in time.
“Where did you get this?” Gu Tang asked.
From outside came that magnetic voice in reply: “I guessed you’d need to change, so I brought it with me.”
The fish tail had been heavy, the performance exhausting, and the stage lights burning hot. There was no way anyone could come through that without ending up sweaty.
Young Master Gu really was thoughtful, and Gu Tang was genuinely touched by that.
But when he thought about the fact that the other boy had carried his underwear around with him all day, he felt completely dazed.
Even when he came out of the dressing room, Gu Tang was still half in a trance.
Gu Qinian had already removed all his makeup. He pulled the still-foggy boy over to the mirror and started helping him take his makeup off. But the moment the makeup remover pad brushed against Gu Tang’s lips, the boy jolted awake as if from a dream.
He snatched the cotton pad away at once.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Like a little cat washing its face, Gu Tang bent over and scrubbed at his face with the cotton pad.
Watching him, Gu Qinian felt distressed and reminded him, “More gently. Don’t rub your skin raw.”
Whenever he wiped Gu Tang’s face, he never had the heart to use that much force.
Once the makeup was removed and his face was washed, there were still little water droplets clinging to Gu Tang’s eyelashes. He returned to looking dazed again, and wherever Gu Qinian led him, he obediently followed.
Good to an absurd degree.
Gu Qinian used a tissue to dry the water from Gu Tang’s lashes, knowing perfectly well that he had frightened him today.
But he did not want to invent some excuse to explain it.
Any explanation would be a lie.
He simply wanted to kiss him.
He had wanted to for a very long time.
If he had not been afraid that Gu Tang would be unable to accept it all at once, he would not even have wanted the mask.
And now, great—he had reached the point of being jealous of a piece of mask!
Looking at the bewildered boy beside him—the flushed cheeks and ears, the slightly stiff back… Gu Qinian felt another unspeakable thrill stir in his chest.
It was fine to give the little fool some time to figure things out.
They could not stay like this forever. Eventually, they would move one step forward, then many more.
Rather than waiting for the day Gu Tang got so frightened by him that he cried, it was better to test the waters little by little like this.
After the curtain call at the front of the stage ended, people gradually began returning backstage.
The environment grew noisy.
Gu Qinian wanted to take Gu Tang somewhere quieter. If nothing else, they could go back to the dorm.
Just then, his phone rang.
The moment he saw that it was Gu Quan calling, his brows drew together slightly.
He hesitated for a second, but still answered.
“Are you with our good little cub?”
His father’s voice came through the phone, far more serious than usual.
Gu Qinian glanced unwillingly at the quiet treasure sitting beside him and gave a reluctant “Mm.”
What was meant to come would come in the end.
From the other end, Gu Quan said, “Bring our good little cub over. There’s something we need to discuss.”
It was not convenient to talk at school, so Gu Quan had chosen a private room in a high-end restaurant outside campus.
When Gu Tang followed Gu Qinian there, he found all the family elders already present.
As always, Gu Quan sat in the unfortunate seat of honor reserved for whoever would pay the bill. Beside him sat Su Mei and Shen Ningqing. Across the big round table sat Yu Xiao and Mother Yu.
This atmosphere…did not feel like dinner.
It felt more like negotiations.
The moment Yin Ruan saw Gu Tang, she stood up, only to be pressed back down by Yu Xiao. “Mother, please calm yourself.”
Gu Quan spoke first. “The children have been exhausted all day. Let them eat first.”
With that, he raised a hand and had the staff bring in the dishes.
The round table was large enough to seat more than twenty people. With only a handful of them there, it looked almost empty.
Yin Ruan gazed at Gu Tang with anticipation, but saw him follow Young Master Gu and sit down on the Gu family’s side instead.
She found the Gu family’s young master strangely familiar-looking.
On closer thought, it was the very same River God from earlier on stage who had kept carrying Gu Tang around.
Because he had kept blocking her view of Gu Tang, she remembered him.
Seeing the two children’s hands clasped together, Yin Ruan felt a little relieved. It seemed Gu Tang had been well cared for in the Gu family and had not suffered any grievance.
Not suffered any grievance?
In the Gu family, who would even dare let Gu Tang suffer grievance? Su Mei would be the first to object.
Ever since Gu Tang walked in, Su Mei had been secretly terrified that the child she herself had raised would plop himself down on the Yu family’s side. So the moment she saw her grandson leading Gu Tang over, Madam Su immediately lit up with joy.
“Come, come, good little cub. Sit beside Grandma.”
“Grandma!”
Gu Tang flew over to Grandma Mei and pressed himself close beside her obediently.
It was not that he had failed to notice the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere in the room, nor had he failed to vaguely guess why the Yu family’s mother and son were dining together with the Gu family.
But he had been raised by Grandma Mei. That would never change.
No matter who it was or what happened, he would never do something to break the hearts of the Gu family elders.
The meal was very quiet.
Every person at the table had something weighing on their mind.
Only after they had nearly finished eating did Gu Quan speak again. “Good little cub, what we’re going to say next—you need to be mentally prepared.”
Gu Tang nodded.
Then, beneath the table, someone caught hold of his hand.
He did not even need to look down to know it was Young Master Gu.
And perhaps thanks to the strange things Young Master Gu had done today,
his lips still felt hot and his mind was still in turmoil, so when he heard the results of the DNA test, he was actually very calm.
But the hand beneath the table tightened the moment the result was spoken.
It even squeezed his hand hard enough to hurt a little.
Young Master Gu seemed even more nervous than he was.
Under the table, Gu Tang lightly scratched the back of the other boy’s hand, urging him to behave.
Only then did the grip loosen slightly. The hand no longer gripped him hard, only hooked lightly against his fingers, but still refused to withdraw, as though it could not feel safe without that little patch of skin touching his.
“Little brother.”
Yu Xiao called him that, eyes full of emotion. “Big Brother failed you. All these years, I wrongly thought you had perished in the fire and never truly searched for you. Do you… blame your big brother?”
Gu Tang shook his head.
After getting to know Yu Yang, he had looked into the news from back then and had learned something of the Yu family tragedy.
The entire Yu family estate had burned to the ground in a single night.
When the fire was finally extinguished, the whole house had been reduced to a shell. More than a dozen lives from the Yu household, servants included, had been lost, and many others were injured and hospitalized.
An infant still in swaddling clothes had no possibility of escaping on his own. Naturally, Yu Xiao had assumed his little brother had turned to ashes in the flames.
“And yet someone took you away!”
Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, Yu Xiao’s eyes filled with ruthless fury. “Big Brother will definitely uncover the truth of what happened back then. Whoever took you away will pay that blood debt in blood.”
In a normal fire, people were either saving lives or fleeing for their own.
Anyone who still had time to steal a child was almost certainly one of the people behind the disaster itself.
So it was not wrong to say they should pay for blood with blood.
But Yin Ruan did not want Gu Tang hearing such things, so she tugged at her eldest son. “Why say that in front of Tangtang?”
Yu Xiao lowered his gaze. The lenses of his glasses caught the light faintly, and he forced a smile.
After the disaster, Yu Yang had learned to imitate his little brother’s smile to comfort their mother, while Yu Xiao, not yet twenty, had shouldered the burden of the family and hidden all his feelings behind a pair of glasses.
Perhaps blood truly was thicker than water. Seeing Yu Xiao endure everything like this made Gu Tang’s heart ache a little.
He stood up and walked over to him, gently patting his shoulder. “Big Brother, you’ve already done so well. If you want to cry, then cry. You don’t have to hold it in.”
The next second, Yu Xiao yanked him into his arms.
The tall man bent down, buried his face in his little brother’s neck, and trembled silently.
Before long, Gu Tang could feel dampness against the side of his neck.
As he patted his big brother’s back, he murmured softly, “It’s alright now. Everything’s alright now.”
Yu Xiao really was Yu Xiao.
He allowed himself exactly one minute of losing control.
Soon, he regained his usual composure and put his glasses back on.
If not for the fog still lingering on the lenses, one might have thought he had only given his younger brother a simple hug.
The moment Yu Xiao let him go, Gu Tang turned and met Yin Ruan’s hopeful gaze.
In his previous life, no family member had ever looked at him like this—carefully, tenderly, full of hope and precious regard.
Heat stung his eyes, and he opened his arms toward her.
His mother pulled him fiercely into a hug.
A tight embrace.
He was the treasure she had lost and found again.
Off to one side, Su Mei cried as she watched, moved and yet also a little downhearted.
The head of the Gu family was a man of sentiment.
Gu Quan had long thrown aside all the fake calm dignity he usually tried to maintain. He was crying with tears and snot all over his face.
Only Shen Ningqing remained somewhat rational. One hand held down her husband, while the other held her mother-in-law’s. “This is a good thing. We should be happy for our good little cub.”
Even so, her voice still trembled faintly.
The calmest person in the room turned out to be Young Master Gu.
Gu Qinian’s eyes, black as ink, stared without blinking at the boy.
The moment Gu Tang had soothed the Yu mother and son and turned back, he found the Gu family in tears again. He hurried over and leaned against Su Mei’s side. “Grandma, don’t be sad. I’ve only gained more family. Grandma will always be Grandma. That won’t change.”
That one sentence comforted both families at once.
Family could mean many people. Gaining new family did not mean the old family changed.
Family was not like lovers—you were not limited to only one…
Just as Gu Tang was thinking that greedy little thought, someone suddenly grabbed him.
“Are you going to leave?”
Gu Qinian stared into the boy’s eyes, trying to find the answer there.
Now that he had found his family, he no longer had a reason to remain in the Gu family.
But Gu Tang only blinked and asked back, “Do you want me to leave, Nian-Nian?”
Gu Qinian froze. “Of course not…”
“Then I won’t.”
Gu Tang curved his eyes at him and smiled sweetly. “It doesn’t matter where I go anyway. We still spend most of our time living in the dorm.”
Gu Qinian: “…”
That answer was painfully realistic.
Whether it was the Gu house or the Yu house, neither would ever see as many of his nights as the dorm did.
But the question of where Gu Tang would stay still had to be discussed.
The Gu family definitely could not bear to let him go, yet as always, they respected Gu Tang’s own choice.
Yin Ruan said she would not force Gu Tang to come back with her. He was about to enter his final year of high school, and it was truly better for him to remain in a familiar environment.
“It’s just that this would trouble the Gu family too much…”
The moment Yin Ruan finished speaking, Su Mei grabbed Gu Tang’s hand. “It’s no trouble. Our good little cub is one of our children. How could he ever be trouble?”
Yin Ruan quickly took Gu Tang’s other hand. “But Tangtang is my son. How can I impose on you so shamelessly…”
The two women tugged and pulled.
Gu Tang began to suspect he might be torn in half.
It was Young Master Gu who rescued him, gently rubbing his arm.
Then Gu Qinian seriously lectured the two elders, “Gu Tang is afraid of pain. Please be gentler.”
Gu Tang turned red. “…”
He really was not that delicate.
Yin Ruan told him that his father was still lying in a hospital bed, and asked if Gu Tang would be willing to go see him.
Yu Xiao stopped his mother. “It’s too late tonight. Another day.”
After the emotional shock of regaining her son, Yin Ruan realized how overly anxious she had been once reminded, and quickly said to Gu Tang, “Yes, you’ve had such a tiring day too. Go back and rest first.”
Gu Tang shook his head. “It’s alright. I’m willing to go.”
When he had been lying in the hospital in his previous life, staring every day at pale ceilings and four empty walls, what he had wanted most was for family to come and see him.
But until the day he died, no family ever came.
If Father Yu knew the child he had risked his life to save was still alive, then he would surely be happy too.
And yet just as Gu Tang was about to get into the car, Young Master Gu caught hold of him.
“Are you coming back?”
Gu Qinian looked tense.
He was afraid Gu Tang would lie to him—say he was not leaving, then turn around and vanish without a trace.
Gu Tang found this clingy version of Young Master Gu a little cute, and nodded. “I’m coming back. I’m only going to visit for a while.”
Gu Qinian narrowed his eyes. “You’re not lying to me?”
Gu Tang said, “Of course not.”
His task was not even finished yet.
If he left the male lead, where was he supposed to go complete plot missions?
Hearing him answer so briskly only made Gu Qinian more uneasy. “I don’t believe you.”
Normally, he would not have been so tense. But today, he had done something excessive to Gu Tang, and now the people trying to take him away were Gu Tang’s blood relatives.
Quietly, Gu Qinian measured himself in his own mind.
And discovered, to his sorrow—that he did not have very good odds.
Gu Tang could not explain it clearly enough for him, so in exasperation he said, “Then what am I supposed to do? Are you going to come with me or something?”
Gu Qinian lifted a brow. “Good idea.”
With that, he let go of Gu Tang and calmly climbed into the Yu family’s car.
Gu Tang: “?”
Standing nearby, Gu Quan: “???”
How had he sent off one son and somehow lost another son too?
