Chapter 72: A Bite in the Summer Night
It was early summer, and the air felt a little muggy.
Luckily, the campus was lush with greenery, and when the evening breeze blew through, it was much cooler than outside.
After being led a few steps by Young Master Gu, Gu Tang noticed that the other boy kept shifting his neck uncomfortably, and every now and then he scratched at it with the hand that was carrying a bunch of things.
Even so, he still did not let go of the hand holding Gu Tang’s.
“Did a mosquito bite you?” Gu Tang asked.
“Mm…”
Gu Qinian gave a reluctant response. “Probably. It’s a little itchy.”
Young Master Gu was terribly fussy about cleanliness, and from childhood he had hated all kinds of bugs. Of all insects, mosquitoes were the ones he hated most. In his eyes, something that sucked human blood was no different from an unsterilized needle.
Just the thought of it felt disgusting.
Compared with the discomfort of the bite itself, Young Master Gu’s bigger source of disgust was that—being bitten by a mosquito felt dirty.
Fortunately, Young Master Gu was naturally the type who never attracted mosquitoes, so he was rarely bitten.
“You were probably waiting outside too long, that’s why you got bitten, right?”
Gu Tang said with obvious concern, “Actually, Nian-Nian, you didn’t have to come pick me up. It’s not like I don’t know the way back to the dorm.”
Gu Qinian glanced at him and said coolly, “I wanted to.”
As he spoke, he tightened his hold on Gu Tang’s hand again. “Come back earlier next time.”
Which meant that, in the future, he would still wait for him.
Young Master Gu had inherited the Gu family’s ancestral tsundere temperament. Even when he was being kind, he did it awkwardly, never honestly.
Lowering his head to look at their tightly clasped hands, Gu Tang curved his eyes in a smile. “Mm, next time I’ll call you so you don’t have to stand outside feeding the mosquitoes.”
The moment Gu Qinian thought about a mosquito landing on his neck and stinging him, his whole body felt uncomfortable. He gave a muffled “Mm,” only wanting to drag Gu Tang back to the dorm as quickly as possible.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of two figures—a taller one and a shorter one—slipping into the trees not far away.
Along this stretch of road toward the dormitory, one side was lined with a little grove. In winter, when all the leaves had fallen, it was bare and exposed. But summer was different. The plants were thick and flourishing, making it a holy land for campus couples to have private little meetings.
In order to clean up school discipline, the dean had brought student council core members into that grove to catch people several times at night.
But teenagers had hormones running wild, and they were at an age where they were curious about everything. How could puppy love really be suppressed?
The moment you relaxed a little, it sprouted right back like spring grass.
Having served as student council president for years, Gu Qinian knew all too well about these sorts of secret happenings on campus.
But Gu Tang did not.
Gu Tang had noticed those two figures too.
At first, he had only seen that the two of them were walking hand in hand just like he and Young Master Gu, and for some reason that made him feel a sense of kinship, so he looked a little longer. But then he saw them suddenly bend down and dart into the little grove.
Gu Tang: “?”
“What are they going into the grove for?”
He found it very strange.
Gu Qinian, who knew perfectly well why, only asked back, “You don’t know?”
Gu Tang shook his head blankly.
In the darkness, the grove was not a suitable place to study. And if the point was to enjoy the cool air, then no matter how cool the grove was, it could never compare to staying in the dorm with the air-conditioning on.
No matter how he thought about it, he could not figure out what good reason there could be for two people to sneak into the grove late at night.
“They’re going to date.”
Gu Qinian tilted his head slightly, watching the boy’s face carefully and not missing a single tiny expression.
He saw Gu Tang freeze all at once.
This answer had never once crossed Gu Tang’s mind.
Jiang City No. 1 High had extremely strict rules and strictly forbade early romance.
He had never imagined that someone would be so bold as to openly go dating!
“Do you know why they have to go into the grove?”
Gu Qinian bent slightly closer.
Gu Tang had lived through two lifetimes and had never dated once. How was he supposed to know such things? He could only guess, “Because they’re afraid the dean will catch them?”
“That’s only part of it.”
Gu Qinian spoke very slowly. “The other reason… is that they want to go somewhere with no people around and do intimate things that others can’t see.”
“…”
Gu Tang had no idea what was wrong with him.
Obviously Young Master Gu had not said anything especially explicit, yet his cheeks were heating up again, and his palms were beginning to sweat.
He wanted to pull his hand out of Young Master Gu’s so he could wipe it on his pant leg.
But the other boy was holding him too tightly, and he could not get free.
In the dark, Gu Qinian bent down and whispered right by his ear, “They might even kiss.”
That low voice slipped straight into his ear.
Half his body instantly went numb.
The moment Gu Tang heard those two words, his brain exploded with a boom. “Don’t say weird things…”
“What counts as weird? Kissing?”
Gu Qinian repeated the words again, sounding casual.
It was lucky that the sky was already dark, because otherwise it would have been easy to see how red Gu Tang’s cheeks had become, almost enough to drip blood.
How could Young Master Gu…
How could he say a word like that so easily?
Seeing the boy avoid his gaze, Gu Qinian said quietly, “When people are dating, doing things like that is normal. Didn’t you know?”
“You know that? You’ve never dated either!”
Gu Tang stiffened his neck.
At the very least, he was the older brother.
Even he did not know much. How was it that Young Master Gu somehow seemed to know everything?!
It was not that he knew nothing at all. When he watched dramas with Grandma Mei, he had seen the leads do intimate things. And in his last life, when he read novels, even the fictional characters did… But censorship had always been strict. Anything that got too far faded to black, and what did not fade to black was still written in a very vague way.
It just… never really connected in his mind to real life.
Seeing how innocent and inexperienced Gu Tang looked, Gu Qinian only found him even more adorable.
In the darkness, he stared at him with heated eyes and said in a low voice, “If I were dating, I’d want to do even more.”
“Stop talking…”
Gu Tang listened with a burning face.
Part of it was embarrassment at hearing Young Master Gu share his future dating plans. Another part of it was guilt.
He was afraid that if Young Master Gu kept talking, he would be handing even more inspiration to those bizarre and perverse dreams of his…
Gu Qinian had only meant to test him a little, but he had not expected Gu Tang to be this resistant—almost fearful—toward intimate behavior between couples. That made an inexplicable anxiety rise in him.
His thin lips pressed into a straight line, and he lost the mood to keep teasing.
Even though the streetlights around them were dim, Gu Tang could still tell that Young Master Gu did not seem very happy anymore.
He thought it over and felt that it made sense. Those two people had openly broken school rules. It was normal for Young Master Gu to be angry.
Usually, Gu Tang supported Young Master Gu’s work too.
But tonight, for some reason, he did not want those two to be caught. A little worried, he asked, “Nian-Nian, are you going to go catch them?”
Gu Qinian was in a bad mood, and he answered with a question of his own. “What do you think?”
He himself did not even have anyone to date.
The whole world might as well just burn together.
That gloomy thought had barely begun to take shape before the boy beside him shook it apart.
Gu Tang gently swung the hand he was holding and said in a soft voice, “Let them go this once.”
The boy’s gentle tone was amazingly effective.
Gu Qinian’s mood instantly improved, but he still said, “School rules forbid dating. Did you forget?”
“Let’s just pretend we didn’t see them, okay?”
Gu Tang lifted his little face, his eyes curving into crescents.
Gu Qinian raised a brow. “So what you mean is that dating in school is allowed?”
“…”
Gu Tang did not want to answer this question about whether school romance was right or wrong, so he set up a hypothetical example. “If we hadn’t come this way tonight, then we wouldn’t have noticed them, right? So pretending not to see them is also fine.”
Not hearing the answer he wanted, Gu Qinian clicked his tongue against his teeth in annoyance. “In this world, where do hypothetical situations come from?”
“There are lots of mosquitoes in the grove this time of night, right?”
Gu Tang coaxed him patiently. “Let the mosquitoes bite them a little, and count that as punishment?”
Gu Qinian let out a cold snort. “I’m not dating anyone, so why did I still get bitten by mosquitoes?”
Young Master Gu was especially unreasonable tonight.
But Gu Tang had always indulged him. Even with this kind of childish complaint, he only tugged lightly on Young Master Gu’s hand and said, “Then all the more reason not to mind other people’s business. Let’s hurry back so I can disinfect it and put medicine on it for you.”
The moment he heard that, the black in Gu Qinian’s eyes suddenly brightened. “You’ll do it for me?”
Gu Tang nodded. “Mm-hmm!”
Young Master Gu brightened visibly at once and pulled him along toward the dorm. “Good. Let’s hurry back.”
Since it was the weekend, the dorm was dark and empty.
Xie Qian had gone out for a piano performance and would not return for two full days. Zhu Xu had gone home for the weekend too. Neither of them was around.
The moment he stepped inside, Gu Tang turned on the light. Once they were in the brightness, he got a clear look at the place on Young Master Gu’s neck that the mosquito had presumably bitten, and sure enough, there was one little red bump raised against the cool pale skin there.
“It’s not too bad. Since your body temperature is lower and mosquitoes don’t like you much, you only got bitten once.”
If it had been him standing outside the school gate, he would have been covered in bumps from head to toe. For Young Master Gu to have only let a mosquito take one little bite was already extremely lucky.
Gu Tang reached out and lightly touched the red bump with one finger, muttering with concern, “Why did the mosquito have to bite your neck of all places…”
He asked the question aloud, but at the same time his mind wandered. If he were a mosquito, he probably would have chosen that spot too.
Young Master Gu’s neck was long and elegant, the skin there very thin and delicate. You could see the blue veins beneath it, and if you placed your fingers there, you could even feel the blood pulsing softly under the skin.
To a mosquito, maybe it really was an irresistible feast?
While Gu Tang was inspecting the mosquito bite, Gu Qinian merely tilted his head and watched him, perfectly still.
He let the boy’s fingers roam over his neck however they pleased.
If this had happened before his rebirth, it would have been absolutely impossible.
The neck was a vital weak spot. Even wild dogs knew to protect their throats in a fight, so how could someone who had grown up in an orphanage not know that too?
And yet now, all he wanted was for Gu Tang to touch him more. Not just his neck. He wanted the two of them to be completely close.
To be able to touch each other freely, without any reservations at all.
Gu Tang did not notice how the gaze on him had grown deeper and deeper. Once he confirmed that Young Master Gu had only been bitten once, he urged him to go shower. “Use extra soap and scrub it well. Then come out and I’ll put medicine on it.”
“…”
Gu Qinian shot the carefree boy a dark look, then turned and went to shower.
Soon enough, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.
“Nian-Nian is really so obedient.”
Gu Tang mumbled this to himself. At the same time, he took out the food he had brought back for Young Master Gu and arranged it on the desk, opening each container one by one.
That way, once Young Master Gu came out of the shower, he could eat right away.
As he laid out the meal boxes, Gu Tang hummed an out-of-tune little melody.
It was something he had only recently started composing. If he managed to finish arranging it, he planned to release it under the stage name Sugar again and then just let Little Uncle handle the rest.
The only problem was that there was one section in the song that never quite flowed smoothly.
It seemed to be missing some emotion.
But what exactly it lacked, he still could not find…
Still, Gu Tang had always been very easygoing. If he could not figure it out, then he would just keep thinking about it slowly. Whenever inspiration struck, he hummed a little, and maybe one day it would come together on its own.
He was so focused on thinking about the song that he did not notice when the bathroom water stopped, nor did he notice when someone had come to stand behind him.
Gu Tang picked up two custard buns shaped like little rabbits and set them onto a plate, lining them up neatly side by side.
From childhood until now, even though Young Master Gu never said it aloud, he obviously liked cute things.
He had even secretly taken Gu Tang’s little bear before!
Thinking about that, Gu Tang could not help smiling.
But as soon as he set the plate down and turned around, he bumped into a chest still damp with moisture.
The other boy was standing less than a fist’s width away.
He had been there behind him for who knew how long without making a sound, as if waiting like someone guarding a tree stump for a rabbit to run into him.
“Medicine.”
Gu Qinian lowered his eyes to look at him and spoke only those two simple words.
Gu Tang wanted to step back, but the desk was directly behind him. If he leaned forward instead, his face would practically bury itself in Young Master Gu’s chest. So he could only lift two fingers and lightly push at him. “If we’re putting medicine on it, then fine, but why aren’t you wearing a shirt…”
Young Master Gu had come out with damp hair and no shirt on at all.
Of course, they were both boys, so in principle it should not matter. But now that Gu Tang had started having those dreams, he was genuinely worried that the next time Young Master Gu appeared in one, he would look just like this—shirtless.
“I forgot to bring one.”
Gu Qinian’s tone did not change, but his black eyes stayed fixed tightly on the two pale slender fingers pressing against his chest.
“You should move a little…”
Gu Tang discovered that two fingers were not enough to push him away, so he had to ask out loud.
And yet Young Master Gu did not budge at all.
Well, not completely still.
He raised a hand and touched Gu Tang’s cheek.
“Gu Tang, why is your face red again?” Young Master Gu asked with the hint of a smile.
Gu Tang pressed his lips together, unable to answer.
Gu Qinian refused to let it go, seeking an answer. “Why do you blush when you see me? You’ve seen me your whole life—why is it only now that you blush?”
As he spoke, he leaned closer and closer.
Gu Tang could only lean farther backward, until his waist almost gave out. At the last moment, he shoved Young Master Gu away.
“Because I’m hot!”
Free at last from the pressure, he bolted for the bathroom. “I’m going to shower!”
He had barely made it two steps when he heard a nearly inaudible sigh from behind him.
Gu Tang: “…”
Young Master Gu’s emotional ups and downs really were huge lately.
The weather was muggy, and the shower felt wonderful.
But somehow, the more Gu Tang showered, the hotter he became.
He had to admit that Young Master Gu managed his body exceptionally well. He had chest muscles, abs, and that V-line at the waist—everything. That was exactly why Gu Tang liked drawing him so much. In fact, Young Master Gu had become one of his creative inspirations.
The section of that song that would not flow earlier now suddenly had the next sequence of rhythm.
As long as he imagined water droplets falling from Young Master Gu’s hair, sliding down along the curves of muscle, his mind naturally formed a line of notes.
But the melody those notes created made Gu Tang’s cheeks burn.
There was no way he could ever let anyone hear that…
He could not even bring himself to hum it out loud.
For some reason, not only did the music carry a deeply sensual auditory impact, it also felt intensely aggressive.
Exactly like the feeling Young Master Gu had given him earlier.
Gu Tang could not understand why, even though the other boy had never actually touched him, the sense of pressure had been so strong.
It felt as if, the moment he stopped dodging, Young Master Gu would do something completely beyond his expectations…
By the time Gu Tang came out of the shower, he found that Gu Qinian had already gotten dressed and was sitting quietly at the table, eating with neat and efficient elegance.
The intense pressure and aggression from earlier had completely disappeared.
As if it had all been his own illusion.
Gu Tang let out a small sigh of relief.
“How much longer are you planning to stand over there?”
Perhaps he noticed the boy’s gaze. Young Master Gu lifted his eyes and spoke with a trace of annoyance. “If you don’t put medicine on it now, the mosquito bite will heal by itself.”
“Right, the medicine!”
Gu Tang had actually forgotten all about it. Being reminded, he hurried over to get the menthol ointment.
Gu Qinian frowned. “I don’t like the smell of that.”
“There isn’t any other medicine.”
Gu Tang looked down at the little bottle of ointment in his hand. “Then just put up with it this once?”
Young Master Gu shook his head to show he refused.
Gu Tang frowned too. “Then what are we supposed to do?”
“I’ve heard…”
Suddenly, Young Master Gu lifted a hand and pointed at Gu Tang’s mouth. “That works as disinfectant too.”
“?” Gu Tang paused.
A very long time ago, he seemed to have heard that after an insect bite, saliva could be used to disinfect it. But those old-fashioned folk remedies were not scientifically reliable.
“That’s nonsense. Don’t believe it.”
As he spoke, Gu Tang opened the ointment, trying to take the chance to smear it on the bite.
Gu Qinian dodged with visible distaste. “I’m not using that.”
He caught the boy’s hand and stared straight at him. “If you don’t try, how do you know that method doesn’t work?”
Gu Tang squirmed under the intensity of that stare and pressed his lips together. “…That’s gross.”
Young Master Gu looked completely calm. “I don’t think so.”
Gu Tang was speechless. “Don’t you have a cleanliness obsession?”
Young Master Gu shrugged as if it were nothing. “I’m not repulsed by yours. Besides, from childhood until now, how many times have you bitten me?”
Gu Tang thought to himself, Could this be revenge again?
But that did not make sense either. If it was revenge, then why was he the one asking to be bitten?
Seeing the conflict on the boy’s face, Gu Qinian pointed at his neck. “I got bitten because I waited for you. You should bite it back for me.”
Gu Tang stared at him in disbelief. “Nian-Nian, are you childish or not?”
Childish or not did not matter.
Gu Qinian knew perfectly well what kind of thing worked on Gu Tang. He lowered his eyes, hiding the fierce possessiveness inside, and said softly, “It’s very itchy. It feels uncomfortable. Are you going to help me or not?”
“Help, help, help.”
Gu Tang could never resist it when Young Master Gu looked pitiful and wronged. His heart softened instantly.
There was almost no absurd request he would not agree to.
Seeing him nod, Young Master Gu shifted slightly, sat properly in the chair, tilted his neck to one side, and quietly waited.
Gu Tang: “…”
Anyway, he had bitten Young Master Gu plenty of times when they were children. One more bite or two would not make a difference.
After bracing himself mentally,
Gu Tang swallowed and stepped forward.
Young Master Gu was sitting, while he himself remained standing. All he needed to do was bend down, and the skin on that part of the neck became clearly visible.
By now, after all that time had passed and after the shower, the place on the neck was only slightly red.
Just as Young Master Gu had said, if they ignored it a little longer, it would heal on its own.
While Gu Tang was still hesitating, the other boy’s hand pressed against the small of his back.
“Hurry up,” Young Master Gu urged him.
“Mm…”
Gu Tang pressed his lips together and lowered his head, lightly licking over the reddened patch of skin.
Like a little cat grooming its companion.
When he saw that he had left a faint wet mark on Young Master Gu’s neck, his face heated up. He was just about to pull away.
But the hand around his waist suddenly tightened, refusing to let him go.
Gu Tang was bent over him.
Under the warm yellow light in the room, his shadow draped over Young Master Gu’s body. The backlighting made it impossible to read the expression on the face below him. All he could make out was a pair of black eyes gleaming brightly.
Young Master Gu tilted his head back and looked up at him, then suddenly smiled. “It’s only polite to reciprocate. Now it’s my turn.”
Before Gu Tang could even wonder what he meant, the other boy opened his mouth and bit down.
“!” Gu Tang’s pupils shrank.
His whole body froze.
Young Master Gu had a pair of very sharp canine teeth.
Like a carnivorous animal, he caught hold of the skin there, but carefully enough not to pierce it. He only rubbed and worried at it slowly. The skin at the neck was sensitive and delicate, and from where he was being bitten, a faint electric sensation quickly spread through Gu Tang’s entire body.
At first, Gu Tang could still stay upright, but within only a few seconds, his legs softened until they trembled.
The hand at his waist applied a little more pressure.
“You can sit down.”
The person ravaging his neck still did not let go, only speaking through his teeth to guide him down onto his lap.
Once Gu Tang, muddled and dazed, actually sat down, the other boy bit even more fiercely.
Young Master Gu was not just biting him. After catching a piece of skin between his teeth, he drew it into his mouth and slowly sucked…
As though he wanted to take him apart and swallow him whole.
Gu Tang’s breathing grew shallow and quick. His eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings, his eyes damp and misty. The fingers resting on Young Master Gu’s shoulders had no strength at all.
Without meaning to, a tiny broken sound slipped from his throat.
That startled him so much he hurriedly bit down on his own finger.
The sound had been too strange.
Soft and sticky enough to make anyone blush…
“Does it feel bad?” Gu Qinian asked him.
Gu Tang did not know how to explain what he was feeling at all, so he only shook his head with his eyes closed.
“Then a little longer.”
Gu Qinian’s eyes dropped to the boy’s upturned neck.
There was one small round thing there, trembling slightly, waiting for him like an offering.
Gu Qinian’s gaze darkened. He lowered his head and took it into his mouth.
At that very instant, he felt Gu Tang’s whole body begin to tremble.
But he still remained so obedient, letting him bite without moving.
Gu Qinian could not bear to bite any more. He took a deep breath and gently pressed a soft kiss against that small Adam’s apple…
“What’s this on your neck?”
In the summer, with clothes so light, it was easy for Xie Qian to notice the pale reddish marks on Gu Tang’s neck.
Gu Tang hurriedly pulled his collar higher. “Mosquito bites…”
Sitting off to the side, Gu Qinian heard this and his gaze deepened.
Xie Qian leaned in and looked him over. “No way. Mosquito bites don’t look like that…”
“The mosquito that bit me was bigger!”
Gu Tang suddenly blurted this out in a loud voice, though it was impossible to tell whom he was actually angry at.
Xie Qian jumped in surprise and scratched his head. “Oh… then I guess the dorm really does need mosquito control…”
Gu Qinian could not help coughing lightly.
He had not meant to do it. Without experience, it was hard to control the pressure, and Gu Tang’s skin bruised more easily than he had expected. Next time he would have to be even more careful…
Gu Tang shot Young Master Gu a hard glare.
Young Master Gu’s own mosquito bite had disappeared by the very next day, and he had even told Gu Tang that apparently the old folk remedy worked really well, so next time he got bitten, he would come looking for him again.
But the marks that Young Master Gu had “bitten” onto his neck clearly had no intention of disappearing anytime soon!
This was the last day before summer break when everyone in the dorm was still together.
Zhu Xu collapsed into a chair and wailed in despair, “Heaven help me! My parents have arranged a whole summer of college entrance exam training for me…”
“I’m completely different.”
Xie Qian looked radiant and smug. “I’m going abroad for a competition and some traveling. After all, I’m not taking the college entrance exam.”
Zhu Xu cursed indignantly, “Big deal, getting recommended admission!”
Then he turned to Gu Tang. “What about you guys? What are your plans for the summer?”
“I’m going to help at the welfare home and also spend time at the hospital taking care of a patient.”
Gu Tang did not have anything particularly unusual planned. Aside from preparing for the college entrance exam, he always spent his vacations at Tang Tang Orphanage, and this summer he also planned to go visit his father at the hospital more often.
Young Master Gu, on the other hand, was far busier. The college entrance exam was practically only a side project for him, while much more of his time was going into Gu family business matters.
Papa Gu had mentioned that after the exam, Young Master Gu planned to gradually take over the Gu family business.
Gu Tang felt that was much too early, but when he brought it up to Young Master Gu, the other boy had only said it was too slow and that he wished he could do it even sooner.
Gu Tang did not understand business matters at all, so he had no idea what exactly Young Master Gu was in such a hurry about.
Still, since Young Master Gu had already decided to inherit the Gu family business, Gu Tang naturally supported him. That way, the male lead’s rise and the completion of the plot could also move forward more quickly.
But this summer was different.
Only after finding his family did Gu Tang learn that his real birthday was actually at the end of June, and his mother and his eldest and second brothers had all said they wanted to arrange something for him.
That meant he would have to return to the Yu family for his birthday.
Yin Ruan had asked him whom he wanted to invite, and of course the person Gu Tang most wanted to invite was Young Master Gu. But if Young Master Gu was going to be busy with work, then Gu Tang did not want to trouble him.
So he quickly took the chance to ask, “Nian-Nian, are you still going abroad this summer?”
Gu Qinian looked at him and nodded.
“Oh…”
Gu Tang’s shoulders drooped, and disappointment spread across his face.
Just when he thought he would not get to see Young Master Gu on his birthday, the other boy came over and rubbed his hair.
“I’ll wait until after you come of age before I leave.”
***
Author’s Note:
Gu Nian-Nian: My wife is finally becoming an adult! After all this waiting, the clouds are parting and the moon is coming out!
Tangtang: But you’re not an adult yet.
Gu Nian-Nian: …
