Chapter 78: When His Father Woke Up
For a moment, the bathing pool was utterly silent.
Only the gentle sound of flowing water could be heard.
After a brief moment of shock, Gu Tang finally realized what exactly he had bumped into.
He blinked, and his wet eyelashes trembled with it.
A thin layer of white steam hung in the air, like gauze draped over the boy’s bare body.
Gu Qinian’s breathing was heavy, and he clenched his jaw hard. “…Gu Tang, did you do that on purpose?”
Gu Tang looked completely innocent.
He had only been trying to grab the water gun. He had not expected this kind of accident at all.
The water, which had felt so warm and comfortable a moment ago, now gradually became scorching hot.
If he stayed in it much longer, he felt like he would be boiled alive.
What was happening beneath the water made Gu Tang understand with perfect clarity—his Young Master Gu had completely grown up.
He had fully matured.
He was no longer little Gu Qinian anymore.
Whether mentally or physically, he was already far more developed than boys his age. Even the hormones coming off him were enough to leave Gu Tang defenseless.
Gu Tang wanted to back away.
But unfortunately, he could not find anywhere to brace himself.
If he wanted to push himself upright using the edge of the pool, he would first have to push against Young Master Gu’s chest.
And the fatal part was that the moment he moved even a little, Young Master Gu let out a muffled groan, sounding deeply uncomfortable.
“Nian-Nian, are you okay?”
Gu Tang asked nervously.
Gu Qinian was breathing hard. His tone was filled with helplessness. “…Do I look okay to you?”
Gu Tang immediately grew anxious, his fingers unconsciously scratching and fidgeting over the other boy’s chest. “Then what do we do?”
“……”
Gu Qinian felt like he was going mad from all of it. He caught both of Gu Tang’s hands. “Do you feel bad for me?”
Of course he did!
Gu Tang nodded with complete sincerity. “Mm.”
Gu Qinian stared at him with burning eyes, then took hold of the honest boy’s hands and guided them downward through the water. “If you feel bad for me, then help me.”
Help him how?
How was he supposed to help?
Gu Tang might have technically lived through being eighteen twice now, but that did not mean he understood everything. Once he realized what the other boy wanted him to do, he still got badly startled.
His knowledge of that sort of thing had only ever remained at the theoretical level. He had never even handled himself before!
Very soon.
As the water rippled, even the skin of Gu Tang’s body above the surface turned pink.
His eyes were wide open, his lashes trembling, and the droplets clinging to them fell one after another.
They landed in the water, stirring tiny ripples.
Those hands of the boy’s had held paintbrushes, played the piano, shuffled cards… yet by nature they did not easily develop calluses. His fingers were long, fine, soft, and elegant at the joints, each one slender and nimble.
But right now, he felt as though his fingers were about to be burned.
So hot, so hot…
Gu Tang did not dare lift his eyes to look at the other person. He could only lower his head and silently keep trying.
It was taking so long…
Even when drawing or playing the piano, his hands had never gotten this sore…
Storms swirled in Gu Qinian’s dark black eyes as he stared heavily at the boy in front of him.
The one he loved most.
The one as sweet as candy.
For no reason, he suddenly remembered when they were very small. Even if Gu Tang got only one delicious candy, he would still bite it in half and stubbornly force one half on him.
What had little Gu Tang said back then?
“—If I get half, then you get half too!”
The childish, milky-soft voice of toddler Gu Tang echoed in his mind.
Gu Qinian’s Adam’s apple rolled, and in a hoarse voice he said, “Together.”
Gu Tang’s mind was hazy and confused. He had not even heard clearly, but in the next second his pupils suddenly contracted.
The shoulders he kept above the water looked like two tiny islands about to sink, trembling nonstop. Even his voice shook. “Let go…”
“Why?”
Gu Qinian’s voice was rough. “When we were little, anything you did, you liked doing together. Why don’t you want it now?”
Gu Tang tilted his neck back, his eyes tightly shut, shaking his head hard. “This is different…”
Yet a layer of flushed red spread across his face.
“It feels too bad? You don’t like it?”
Thinking he might have gone too far, Gu Qinian loosened his hold slightly.
But then he discovered that the boy actually leaned into his fingers on his own, rubbing against them like a little cat.
Gu Tang’s face was red beyond belief, his body felt as though it were burning, and his elegant neck arched high like a swan’s. At his throat, a small, round, delicate Adam’s apple trembled faintly while little sticky sounds slipped out from him.
Only once he saw that the boy was not actually uncomfortable did Gu Qinian finally relax.
He gathered him close with one arm, bent his head, and kissed that fragile Adam’s apple, speaking in a low voice that sounded almost bewitching. “Don’t be afraid.”
“There’s nothing different about this.”
“It’s the same as sharing a piece of candy or a slice of cake…”
Young Master Gu was not wrong.
And yet, something was still not quite right.
Though they were all sweet and happy things, the degree of stimulation was completely different.
Gu Tang’s mind was utterly blank. He drifted in a haze, his eyes half-lidded and unfocused, his moist lips parted slightly, but he could not force out a single word.
For a long, long time, Young Master Gu kept kissing him.
Neither of them spoke.
There was only the sound of running water in the pool, and those kiss sounds that made a person’s face and heartbeat burn…
Who knew how much time passed.
Gu Tang lay against the edge of the pool, breathing softly.
It looked as though he had cried. His lashes and the corners of his eyes were covered in droplets.
Some were tears of pure physiology. Some were condensed mist from the hot bath.
Every bit of skin exposed above the water had turned a pale pink, like peach blossoms blooming in March.
As he breathed, the shoulder blades on his back shifted faintly under the skin.
“Tired?”
Gu Qinian laid a hand over that shoulder blade, the skin beneath his palm warm, soft, and slick.
The aftereffects had not yet faded. Gu Tang still could not speak, so he only bit his lip and shook his head.
“Then you feel bad?”
Gu Qinian asked again.
Gu Tang could only shake his head a second time.
Then he turned his face and shot the other boy an annoyed little glare.
Normally, Young Master Gu talked so little, but after something like this, he suddenly became so wordy.
Gu Tang suspected he was doing it on purpose.
Taking advantage of the fact that Gu Tang could not speak properly right now, he kept deliberately asking the same kinds of questions just to make him more embarrassed.
There was a trace of irritation in the boy’s eyes, but with the corners reddened like that, it looked completely different from his usual cuteness. It carried a faint, threadlike allure.
Gu Qinian could not resist it. He lowered his head and kissed his eyes again.
When he saw the other person lean in again, Gu Tang obediently closed his eyes. Only after the kiss ended did he open them and mutter softly, “Does it ever end…”
Gu Qinian laughed.
No.
He could never kiss him enough.
Gu Tang liked watching Young Master Gu smile. No one smiled more beautifully than he did. But the smile on his face right now made Gu Tang feel shy, and he could only turn his head aside again.
A small knot of dissatisfaction rose faintly in his heart.
As fellow beginners with no real dating experience, they had learned kissing together, and their progress there was about the same.
But what had just happened…
Young Master Gu’s skill level was clearly not the same as his.
Young Master Gu had secretly run ahead of him!
Even though his face was burning, Gu Tang still could not hold it in. In a moody little voice, he asked, “…Do you do that often?”
“Do what?”
Gu Qinian asked on purpose, his lips curling.
Gu Tang glared at him. “Forget it if you’re not going to answer!”
The boy had recovered some spirit, and his eyes were round and bright again. That glare of his looked very different from earlier.
Gu Qinian, afraid that kissing him too much would annoy him, ran his tongue over the tip of his canine teeth and forced down the desire building in him. Keeping a straight face, he answered this very improper question in a proper tone. “Not that often.”
“When I missed you in Country S, sometimes.”
“And sometimes when you sleep restlessly and rub up against me…”
Gu Tang puffed up his cheeks in protest. “I do not sleep restlessly.”
“Oh?”
Gu Qinian gave a faint scoff. “I’m the only one with the right to speak on that.”
Gu Tang: “……”
That was true…
He was asleep. How would he know whether he slept well-behaved or not?
No wonder!
Young Master Gu had rarely video-called him in Country S, and sometimes when he had clearly been sleeping just fine, Young Master Gu would suddenly go take a cold shower…
So many things that had puzzled him before suddenly made perfect sense.
How old had Young Master Gu been then?
Sixteen? Or seventeen?
Or even earlier…
He and Young Master Gu had grown up together, and they were both boys. How could Young Master Gu…
Gu Tang felt shy while at the same time silently pointing a finger at him in his mind.
“Would you hate it?”
Gu Qinian brushed the wet hair away from the boy’s forehead, his fingers resting at the corner of his eye. “Knowing that I’d been thinking about you that way even before you knew anything—would that make you hate me?”
Gu Tang shook his head.
Afraid the other person might not believe him, he pulled down Young Master Gu’s hand and pressed a kiss to his fingertip.
“I don’t hate it.”
He was just very surprised.
And, hidden somewhere deep inside, even a little happy.
Gu Tang thought about it and decided that compared to Young Master Gu, he himself was the more perverted one.
After all, Young Master Gu had not even known, while he was the one who had fallen for the boy he himself had watched grow up.
If other people knew, they would definitely think it strange, wouldn’t they…
Unwilling to think too deeply about it, Gu Tang pressed his lips together and said, “We’ve been soaking for a long time. Should we get out?”
“Mm.”
Gu Qinian let him decide everything. He only stretched out a hand like he was politely asking permission. “Do you want me to carry you?”
“No!”
Gu Tang rejected that with complete seriousness.
Just from bumping into each other like that, things had already practically gone off the rails.
If they started carrying each other around, he and Young Master Gu would never make it out of this bath!
Watching the boy struggle to climb out, Gu Qinian worriedly asked, “Can you even get out by yourself?”
“Yes!”
His legs were weak, but not weak enough that he could not climb out!
Gu Tang grabbed a bath towel and wrapped himself in it, then flopped up onto the edge like a little seal.
Looking at the round, soft little “seal” in front of him, Gu Qinian’s gaze deepened, and there was danger in his eyes.
Too cute…
He wanted to hold him.
By the time the two of them came back out, everyone else had already finished washing.
All of them were lying around the lounge in fresh yukatas, watching a movie.
Xie Qian was hugging an enormous fruit platter and crunching away. When he saw Gu Tang, one eyebrow lifted. “Tangtang, why is your face so red?”
Gu Tang could only laugh dryly. “It was too hot inside…”
“Well of course it was! The two of you took way too long in there!”
Zhu Xu picked up the conversation and immediately started rambling. “Didn’t you almost turn into human soup?”
The moment Gu Tang heard “too long,” his face reflexively went even redder.
Seeing that, Song Chen’s heart gave a jolt.
He carefully watched Gu Tang’s movements and noticed that his way of walking did not seem especially awkward.
Then he glanced at Gu Qinian standing nearby. His expression was calm enough, though between his brows and eyes there lingered a faint look of unsatisfied irritation.
So it probably had not gone too far…
Song Chen slowly let out a breath and picked a slice of watermelon out of Xie Qian’s fruit platter, chewing it thoughtfully.
Zhu Xu looked at Gu Tang’s face and then touched his own, completely baffled. “What’s wrong with you? I drank alcohol, and even my face isn’t red anymore…”
“Your skin’s too thick.”
Xie Qian shoved a chunk of pineapple into his mouth.
Zhu Xu protested around the pineapple, “I like watermelon!”
“Go away, all the watermelon belongs to Brother Song. You get no share.”
Xie Qian handed all the remaining watermelon to Song Chen, then shoved the pineapple-only platter into Zhu Xu’s hands. “Eat your pineapple.”
Then he patted the space beside him. “Come on, Tangtang, sleep next to me!”
Fang Chi eagerly recommended himself too. “Sleep over here with me! I’ve seen this horror movie before. If you get scared, I can spoil it for you.”
The screening area had massage beds that people could lie down on.
Since they had rented the whole place out, everyone simply pushed them together into one giant shared bed and lay down in a row to watch the movie, eating fruit while they watched and collapsing to sleep when they got tired.
Zhu Xu suddenly came up with a brilliant idea. “You all like sleeping next to Gu Tang, so just let him sleep in the middle.”
“No.”
Gu Qinian spoke up at once.
He walked to the outermost spot and called to Gu Tang. “We’re sleeping here.”
Gu Tang obediently answered, “Oh.”
Then he trotted over and lay down at the far left, while Gu Qinian settled in beside him like a dragon guarding treasure, cutting him off completely from everyone else.
Zhu Xu scratched his head. “You know, I’ve always thought something felt weird.”
Everyone looked at him.
Zhu Xu frowned as he spoke. “Back when I didn’t have a girlfriend, I never noticed it. But now that I compare it… why does the way Gu Qinian guards Gu Tang feel exactly like the way I guard my girlfriend?”
At those words, Gu Tang’s face turned red.
He glanced sideways at Young Master Gu, only to find him expressionless.
When Young Master Gu kept a straight face, he looked a little intimidating.
Zhu Xu quickly waved both hands. “Ah, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just saying it casually.”
Fang Chi hurried to smooth things over. “Don’t talk nonsense. They’re just brothers with a really good relationship.”
Brothers who took care of each other like father and son.
He had witnessed it himself!
Duan Zhengyu pushed up his glasses too. “Right. They’ve always been like this since childhood, all clingy and sticky.”
Song Chen remained noncommittal and simply buried himself in his melon, continuing to eat and observe.
Then Xie Qian suddenly threw himself backward into Song Chen. “I’m jealous! I don’t have any brothers at home. Brother Song, we get along so well. If you were my brother, we’d definitely be even closer than they are.”
Song Chen pushed him off. “Don’t expect me to feed you watermelon.”
Xie Qian: “…Tch.”
Once everyone was in place, the lights dimmed and the movie began.
The opening scenes were deliberately building a horror atmosphere.
In his previous life, because of his congenital heart condition, Gu Tang had never dared watch anything too stimulating like this. But he had always been interested in them. Since this life gave him the chance, of course he wanted to watch as much as possible.
This was one he had wanted to see for a long time. He had only put it off because of the college entrance exam.
But now, as the movie played, he could not focus on it at all.
Young Master Gu’s reaction just now had caught him off guard.
When their friends had asked questions about their relationship, Gu Tang had gotten shy and said nothing, assuming Young Master Gu would simply admit they were dating.
But what happened was not what he had expected.
Could it be that Young Master Gu did not want other people to know about their relationship?
“You don’t like this movie?”
In the darkness, Young Master Gu leaned near his ear, his breath brushing the edge of it as he spoke.
Gu Tang mumbled softly, “No…”
“Then why aren’t you paying attention?”
Gu Qinian fed a piece of popcorn to his lips and only continued speaking once he had taken it in. “You clearly like this kind of thing. Usually you’re scared but still insist on watching. But now that so many people are here watching it with you, you’ve lost interest instead?”
“That’s not it…”
Gu Tang felt ridiculous for even asking, but he really wanted to know why Young Master Gu did not want their relationship made public.
After hesitating, he tugged on the other boy’s sleeve. “Nian-Nian, answer me one question.”
The boy’s tone was serious, as if this was something very important.
Gu Qinian set down the popcorn he had been about to feed him, wiped his fingers clean, and nodded. “Mm. Ask.”
“Why…”
Gu Tang lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. “Why can’t people talk openly about being in love?”
Gu Qinian froze for a second. “You want to?”
Gu Tang turned his head.
Their noses nearly touched.
Only in the dimness, it was hard to make out each other’s expressions clearly.
There was a trace of grievance in Gu Tang’s voice. “You don’t?”
Gu Qinian: “I do…”
He wanted it so much he was almost going mad.
He wanted to hold Gu Tang in his arms and tell the whole world that he and Gu Tang were in love.
That Gu Tang was his.
And he belonged to Gu Tang too.
That to each other, they were the only one.
That from this life until death, they would never part.
But to outsiders, their relationship would look shocking even if they were not actually blood brothers.
He could face the strange stares of others all by himself.
But he could not bear to make Gu Tang endure them beside him.
Only happiness deserved to be shared.
As for idle gossip and nasty remarks, he did not want Gu Tang to hear even a single word of them.
If it were only strangers talking, that would be one thing. But the people around them now were all important friends to Gu Tang. If, because of his own possessiveness, he made their relationship public and those people started treating Gu Tang differently afterward, then what?
Having crawled through the mud once in his past life, Gu Qinian knew far too well what the darkness in this world looked like.
He would not allow anyone to speak nonsense in front of Gu Tang.
That was why, to some degree, keeping the relationship private was necessary.
“I want to say it.”
Gu Tang raised his head and rubbed the tip of his nose lightly against the other boy’s. “If they can’t understand and respect it, then what kind of friends are they?”
“And if they’re not really friends, then why should I care what they think?”
Gu Qinian froze.
In matters like this, Gu Tang was much braver than he was.
“Ahhhhh—”
Suddenly, all their friends burst out screaming.
The horror movie had reached a jump-scare moment.
Zhu Xu howled like a ghost, Little Glasses and Fang Chi clung to each other, Xie Qian practically climbed into Song Chen’s arms—and when Song Chen turned his head…he saw the two beside him kissing.
The entire atmosphere of terror instantly vanished.
All that remained was the feeling of being force-fed a massive pile of dog food.
Song Chen gave a light cough, trying to remind them, but it was obviously useless.
Forget it. Whatever.
They both wanted this. So what if they were in love?
By the time the movie ended and the lights came back on, everyone was still shaken from the horror.
And then they saw the two at the far side lying there, whispering intimately into each other’s ears, clearly not having paid proper attention to the movie at all. Their atmosphere was nothing like the rest of the group, who all still looked haunted.
Zhu Xu stretched his neck out to complain. “Are you two trying to stuff us to death with dog food?”
Then he muttered bitterly under his breath,
“If someone didn’t know better, they’d think you were dating…”
“Mm, we are dating.”
Gu Tang said it with a red face.
His voice was not loud.
But everyone’s shock was no less than what they had just felt watching the horror movie.
Duan Zhengyu’s glasses nearly fell off. “W-w-w-what?!”
Gu Qinian wrapped an arm around Gu Tang’s shoulders and calmly finished what Gu Tang had started. “Since you’re our friends, we thought we should let you know. If anyone is unhappy about it, keep it to yourself.”
No one was unhappy.
After the first wave of shock passed, they all wore expressions of I knew it all along.
“I knew you two had something going on! And you still denied it!”
Zhu Xu proudly stuck his hands on his hips. “As expected of me, the reigning king of school gossip! My instincts are second to none!”
As he said that, he pointed at his own eyes, then pointed at the two of them.
Xie Qian let out a sigh and looked at Gu Tang regretfully. “Our fresh little cabbage really did get snatched away after all…”
Gu Tang protested, “Nian-Nian isn’t a pig!”
Xie Qian grinned. “You said that yourself.”
Gu Tang: “……”
Gu Qinian: “……”
Song Chen, who had known for a long time already, only felt that their president had finally gone from bitter years of waiting to being rewarded. Judging by how stable the relationship was now, there was no need for him to worry anymore.
Little Glasses, meanwhile, was shocked not so much that Gu Tang was dating, but by something else entirely. “Gu Qinian actually considers me a friend?”
It was so shocking that he would need to completely reevaluate the friendship data within this group.
For the moment, he had no time to care about anything else.
Fang Chi thumped his chest and said to Gu Qinian, “Don’t worry! If Tangtang goes out to film again in the future, I’ll drive away all the butterflies and bees buzzing around him!”
Gu Qinian thanked him, then added at once, “You should also stay away from him. Thank you.”
Fang Chi: “Waaah…”
Even though Young Master Gu’s tone was still cool and distant, Gu Tang noticed that the corners of his mouth were slightly lifted as he spoke.
Which meant Young Master Gu was actually in an extremely good mood.
[ Ding— ]
[Congratulations, Host. Special achievement completed: “Let the Male Lead Experience Friendship.” Reward: 20 plot coins!]
Compared to the large plot coin reward, what made Gu Tang even happier was this—
Young Master Gu would not end up like the aloof Mr. Gu in the original novel, without any friends.
Of course, Young Master Gu had him.
So naturally he would never be without a lover either.
The second movie started, and the lights dimmed once again.
Hidden in the darkness where no one could see, Gu Tang quietly slid his fingers between Young Master Gu’s, and his hand was clasped tightly in return.
The two of them leaned their heads together, fingers interlocked.
While most freshly graduated seniors spent their post-exam summer enjoying themselves to the fullest,
Gu Tang and Gu Qinian were unusually busy.
Young Master Gu was occupied with taking over Gu family business affairs, while Gu Tang, now eighteen, could finally officially inherit Tang Tang Orphanage.
Old Director Luo, who had been recuperating abroad, made a special trip back to attend Gu Tang’s inauguration ceremony as director.
Seeing the two little radish sprouts of Gu Tang and Gu Qinian grow up so much in the blink of an eye, and seeing the welfare home itself become better and better, Old Director Luo felt deeply gratified. He thought that living to a hundred now did not seem impossible at all.
Back then, handing the welfare home over to Gu Tang during his serious illness had truly been the right decision.
Over the years, the Gu family had not only funded the orphanage, but had also sent him abroad for medical treatment.
Once the heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, the outside world seemed vast and bright. From time to time, Gu Tang even sent him pictures of the children at the home.
Director Luo’s mood improved, and he found the will to live again. Cooperating with the doctors, he had managed to bring the malignant cells under control. Living abroad without worries had made him much more open-minded.
He had even started reflecting.
Thinking that his old self had really been far too stubborn and old-fashioned.
After having dinner with the children, Director Luo rolled his wheelchair toward the office. He wanted to talk a little with the young man who was inheriting his role.
At this time, Gu Tang should have been in the director’s office.
Director Luo smiled as he made his way over and noticed that the office door was half-open.
He did not think much of it and gently pushed it a little.
He only looked inside once.
Then Old Director Luo hurriedly backed out and clutched his chest.
This was not something he was supposed to see!!!
He had seen plenty of things like this abroad, but never expected Tangtang and that Gu family boy to be…
Director Luo took several deep, shaky breaths, then quietly pulled the office door firmly shut again and wheeled himself away as quickly as possible.
Inwardly, he could only sigh: youth really was wonderful…
Inside the director’s office,
Gu Qinian sat on the edge of the desk with one long leg braced, holding Gu Tang pinned back into the tall-backed chair, kissing him until his lips had practically been nibbled silly.
Only when Gu Tang pushed at him did he reluctantly let him go.
Young Master Gu propped his chin on one hand and looked at the boy, whose lashes were damp from being kissed senseless just moments after officially taking office. There was a hint of playfulness in his expression. “Congratulations on your promotion to director.”
“I’ve never seen anyone congratulate someone like that…”
Gu Tang’s cheeks were flushed red, and his eyes still shimmered with moisture. There was not the slightest trace left of a dignified director.
Gu Qinian could not resist rubbing against his cheek again and again. “Now you have.”
Although Gu Tang complained out loud, in truth he liked it.
It was only that the place Young Master Gu had chosen made him shy, and he muttered unhappily, “Don’t suddenly kiss me like that. Just now I didn’t even have time to lock the door.”
Gu Qinian glanced over his shoulder. “Isn’t the door closed just fine?”
Gu Tang looked dazed. “I’m pretty sure I only pulled it shut…”
Just then, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Gu Tang could not be bothered to think about the door anymore. He picked up the call and glanced at the screen.
It was Yin Ruan.
He had assumed it was just a congratulatory call from his mother, but the moment he answered, he heard her urgent, overjoyed voice on the other end—
“Tangtang, your father has woken up!”
***
Author’s Note:
Old Director Luo: If my heart hadn’t been healthy, I’d have gone on the spot!
