Chapter 85: The Last Task Is Done
Outside the window, the sky was turning pale. Light slipped through the gap in the blackout curtains, outlining the little mound on the bed.
Curled up under the blanket, Gu Tang had tucked even his head inside, like a round little cocoon. Only a tuft of soft hair and two pale, slender feet were exposed.
And even on that small stretch of ankle alone, there were countless red marks.
Probably feeling cold, he curled his toes, trying to pull his feet back under the covers.
But even that simple movement was hard to accomplish.
He regretted it.
He should never have gone out of his way to provoke Young Master Gu.
Before, he had been living in happiness without realizing it. Being kissed and held so gently every day had made him overconfident.
He had thought he could handle it.
The truth was, he absolutely could not.
Without exaggeration, Gu Tang felt as though he had died all over again. Every bone in his body felt soft and numb, and he could not summon the slightest bit of strength.
Even more terrifying, because his life-value bar was completely full, he had stayed highly conscious the entire night.
It had been pure torment…
[Congratulations, Host! Wonderful news!]
Unlike the utterly exhausted Gu Tang, the system sounded as if it had been injected with adrenaline. The moment it was released from its blocked state, it eagerly rushed to give him the good news.
[You have completed the ultimate plot task: “Be crushed to death by the male lead”!]
[At this point, all cannon-fodder fake young master tasks have been perfectly completed! Flowers! Fireworks! Celebration!]
Amazing!
The host had completed all the tasks!
The host was finally free, and it was going on vacation too!!!
The system started setting off little fireworks inside Gu Tang’s head.
Lying limp on the bed, Gu Tang weakly asked, “So… that’s how I was ‘crushed to death’?”
[What do you mean, “that way”?]
The system had been blocked for the entire night and had no idea what had happened between the host and the male lead.
But early this morning, the main brain had judged the ultimate task complete.
To be honest, it was curious too.
After calming down a little, the system finally remembered to care about its host, who had been “crushed” all night.
[How exactly did the male lead crush you to death? Host, are you okay now?]
Gu Tang: “…”
Better not bring it up.
“What’s the reward for the ultimate task?” Too embarrassed to describe the process of being “crushed to death,” Gu Tang could only change the subject.
[Oh, oh, oh! Host, prepare yourself to scream!]
[The ultimate task reward is—]
[Your life-value bar will now be permanently locked at its current value and will never decrease again! Are you happy? Surprised? Excited?!]
“What?!!!”
Inside his own mind, Gu Tang howled in protest, “Nooo—”
The system froze.
[? Host, what’s wrong with you?]
[You don’t want perfect health anymore?]
Of course Gu Tang wanted to be healthy, but remembering the tragic experience of being so healthy he could not even faint, he looked pained. “…Sometimes, being too healthy is also a burden.”
The system could not understand him.
[You humans are so complicated…]
It silently checked the data on the host’s physical condition.
After being pinned down by the male lead all night, the poor host was clearly in an extremely exhausted state.
[Looks like the host endured too much last night.]
[Gentle reminder: you still have the reward “Complete Bliss” unused. Would you like to use it now?]
For once, the system’s “gentle reminder” truly deserved the name.
“Yes, yes, yes! Use it right now!”
[Coming right up!]
In an instant, it was as though a layer of glittering gold powder had been scattered across the life-value bar.
The entire bar lit up, bright and sparkling.
Gu Tang had no mind to admire the flashy buff now layered over his life bar. He only felt all the soreness in his body suddenly disappear.
It was as if he were lying on a soft cloud, his whole body relaxed and light.
This was good stuff!
Greedily rubbing his hands together, Gu Tang asked, “Can this reward be used multiple times, like the previous ‘sharing card’?”
[…] You still want the male lead to crush you to death multiple times???
Gu Tang’s face turned red. “I was just asking! What if I need it again in the future…”
The system truly could not understand its host’s train of thought.
It was beginning to suspect its little host had developed some kind of Stockholm syndrome thanks to the male lead!
System: Worry increasing.
But thinking about it, that made some sense.
Its host had derailed the plot for years, repeatedly dancing around the male lead’s danger zones. It still had no idea how the cannon-fodder fake young master storyline had somehow hopped over into the male lead’s romance route, but the tasks had ended up completed anyway.
And since the host had not separated from the male lead,
then if the original story’s “male lead crushes the fake young master to death” plot could happen once, it could happen a second time too.
[I’ll go ask the main brain and see if it can approve repeated use.]
After considering it, the system felt it really was necessary to leave the host with a life-saving buff.
Gu Tang said gratefully, “Thank you, Tong-bao. You’re the most thoughtful little system.”
[Baby Tang, you’re the most outstanding little host too!]
Now that all the plot tasks were complete, the system felt deeply emotional.
At first, it had only wanted to slack off, be lazy, and clock out.
Without realizing it, it had gone so far with the host, and had even become the first among its batch of newly hired systems to complete the mission.
System: Proud!
[Let me tell you another piece of good news.]
[Besides the ultimate task, you also completed the achievement “Trigger Heirloom Hidden Plot 2,” and received the special reward “Transfer Right,” which can be used together with “Naming Right”!]
If the system had not mentioned it, Gu Tang would have forgotten all about it.
At Young Master Gu’s first birthday banquet, Grandma Mei had given each of them a little jade gourd.
At the time, that had triggered a hidden heirloom plot, but Gu Tang had never figured out how to use the “Naming Right” reward, so he left it alone.
After enough time passed, he simply forgot.
It was probably because the two little gourds had knocked against each other all night and changed color or something, which ended up triggering the hidden plot again.
But what use could this new reward, “Transfer Right,” have?
[Naming Right lets you assign a name to an ownerless object, and Transfer Right lets you instantly move that object under your control.]
[If the host wants, we could even name some unclaimed island, then move that island anywhere the host wants!]
It sounded very interesting.
But on his tenth birthday, Father Gu had already given him a private island.
That island was in a very suitable climate already, so there was no need to move it.
Besides, if an island’s location on the map suddenly changed for no good reason, that would make major headlines, wouldn’t it?
“Forget it, forget it. Better not use it carelessly.”
After thinking about it, Gu Tang said, “Why don’t you just go enjoy your vacation first, leave me a way to contact you, and when I decide I want to use those two rewards, I’ll look for you?”
[…] Hmph, Host always just wants to send me away.
The system started grumbling inside Gu Tang’s mind.
It had originally planned to take the host away with it after going on vacation.
But what the host had just said clearly meant he had no plan at all to leave with it.
Thinking about that…
Ah! The male lead was even more annoying now!!!
Still, it was a professional system, and the host’s needs came first.
Since the host felt happier staying in this world, it would of course respect the host’s decision.
The system thought this very aggrievedly.
Using his mind, Gu Tang gently rubbed the little balled-up system and asked casually, like speaking to a friend, “What are you going to do on vacation?”
[Travel!]
Gu Tang was a little surprised. “You don’t even have a body. Can you travel?”
[Of course!]
[When I enter other data worlds, I can load a body for myself!]
“That’s really interesting.”
Gu Tang had never heard of anything so fresh and fascinating, so he listened with great interest before saying to the system, “Then I wish you a wonderful vacation.”
[And I wish the host a wonderful life in this world. See you after vacation!]
Gu Tang replied, “Goodbye.”
Once his words fell, he could no longer feel the system’s presence in his mind.
For a moment, it felt strangely empty.
But the system had just said, “See you after vacation,” meaning it would come back, wouldn’t it?
Just as Gu Tang was lost in thought, he heard the faint sound of the door opening.
Someone had come in.
The person moved very lightly, as if afraid of waking him.
Even after reaching the bedside, they did not act immediately, instead standing there quietly for a while, as if simply looking at him.
After a moment, the person finally sat down.
And one hand wrapped around the ankle he had carelessly left outside the blanket.
His body’s memory instantly came back to life, and Gu Tang shuddered. “Don’t…”
The moment he spoke, he startled himself.
While talking to the system, he had not needed to make any actual sound. But now that he really spoke, his voice was hoarse beyond recognition.
“You’re awake?”
Young Master Gu’s voice was very soft, as if he were afraid of startling him. “I just wanted to wipe you clean a little. Otherwise you’ll feel uncomfortable.”
Gu Tang’s ears turned red under the blanket as he muttered resentfully, “…You do know I’ll feel uncomfortable?”
He admitted it, it was his fault for teasing first.
But he had cried that hard, and Young Master Gu still had not let him go.
This was the first time Gu Tang had truly felt the difference in strength between them.
Thinking about it now, Young Master Gu really had been letting him have his way all along.
Once he got serious, his strength was terrifying.
Gu Tang could not even pry away a single finger of his.
The memory of being held down at the ankle still lingered, as though he had been shackled by iron restraints and then forcibly spread apart…
Just recalling it made him tremble.
Feeling the boy shaking, Gu Qinian guiltily let go of his ankle and pulled the blanket down a little from over his head.
“Gu Tang, are you angry with me?”
Not daring to touch the person curled up under the blanket, Gu Qinian asked cautiously.
He had restrained himself as much as possible.
But after more than ten years of desire bursting loose in a single night, and it being their first time, he had gotten carried away. It had indeed gone too far…
In a gentle voice, Gu Qinian said, “I won’t bully you again. Don’t be angry, okay?”
Gu Tang slowly turned his face toward him. “Really?”
The boy’s big, bright eyes were swollen from crying, the tip of his nose was red, the flush on his cheeks had not yet faded, and his lips were swollen too, like overripe berries. He looked pitiful beyond words.
The sight made Gu Qinian’s heart ache. Leaning down, he gently kissed those swollen little fish-like eyes. “Mm. I promise.”
“You always lie…”
Gu Tang murmured.
But he still remained very obediently under the blanket, letting him kiss him.
After kissing the corners of his eyes, Gu Qinian touched his lips too, then asked again, “Be good. Let me clean you up a little, alright?”
As he spoke, his hand slipped under the blanket.
And softly rubbed his lower belly.
Last night had been sudden, and too rushed. None of the necessities Young Master Gu had mentioned had actually been prepared…
“If I don’t clean you properly, you’ll get a fever.”
Young Master Gu’s tone was gentle, and the way he rubbed his stomach was gentle too.
Gentleness was exactly what Gu Tang could never resist.
His spirit slowly relaxed, and he gradually loosened the blanket he had been clutching.
Gu Qinian took the chance to open the covers further and turned on a small bedside lamp.
The sudden light made Gu Tang close his eyes instinctively.
But Gu Qinian could see everything clearly—the boy’s skin was very fair, with a lovely honeyed warmth under the yellow light. And that beautiful body was now covered in countless mottled red marks.
All of them were traces of his own sins…
“I’m sorry…”
As the one responsible, Gu Qinian was deeply remorseful. He lightly touched the most obvious marks. “Does it hurt?”
Those marks looked shocking, but they were not actually painful.
Gu Tang was beginning to suspect he might also have some unusual endurance hidden in him.
After surviving Young Master Gu’s complete madness, all he had really felt was muscle soreness. And after using the “Complete Bliss” reward, even that was gone now.
Other than being a little sleepy, he did not feel any discomfort at all.
So he shook his head to say it did not hurt, not wanting Young Master Gu to worry.
Then he added in a small voice, “Next time, go slower…”
At that, Gu Qinian lit up in delight. “There’s still a next time?!”
Gu Tang: “…”
Whoever said Young Master Gu did not like to smile, and whoever said he was cold and aloof, had clearly never met this version of him.
Wasn’t he smiling happily right now?
Cold and aloof? That did not exist.
The Young Master Gu in front of him now was more like a huge dog who had just spotted a bone, kissing his face nonstop and burying himself into his neck to sniff at him.
Gu Tang could feel sweat on his own body, sticky and damp.
What good smell could there possibly be?
Red-faced, he pushed at the other’s head. “Wash me first…”
“Okay.”
Young Master Gu agreed readily.
Then he turned around, wrung out a hot towel from the small basin he had brought in, and started helping him clean up.
What Gu Tang had not known was that the cleaning process would be even more embarrassing.
He got wiped all over, and not a single part of him was spared.
At first Young Master Gu really did use the towel.
Later, though, Gu Tang had no idea where the towel disappeared to…
By the time he had finally been dealt with and cleaned up, Gu Tang was sprawled weakly across the bed.
The room was a complete mess.
Their clothes were in a heap on the floor, all rumpled together with no way to tell whose belonged to whom. The sheets were wrinkled beyond saving and impossible to sleep on, and the room was filled with a warm musky scent.
Even if Young Master Gu could stand it, Gu Tang could not.
Without needing him to say anything, Gu Qinian directly took a fresh clean comforter, wrapped him up in it, and carried him next door.
“The advantage of having two rooms is finally showing.”
Young Master Gu even joked about it.
From inside the blanket, Gu Tang stretched out a hand and scratched him with one claw.
As his arm lifted, the little jade gourd on his wrist swayed too.
Gu Tang blinked in confusion. “Did my gourd turn green?”
Gu Qinian lowered his eyes and took a look.
A thread of emerald green had somehow appeared inside the originally white little jade gourd, making it look even prettier.
“Look, look, it’s like the inside of the gourd got filled with green!”
Gu Tang thrust his pale arm right in front of him.
Gu Qinian glanced at Gu Tang’s lower belly and gave a wicked grin. “You too.”
“…?”
Gu Tang’s eyes widened as he stared at him in disbelief. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed the other’s face, tugging at the skin.
His face distorted under the pulling, but Gu Qinian only looked at him helplessly. “What are you doing?”
“I’m checking to see what kind of person is wearing Niannian’s skin.”
Gu Tang said very seriously. “My Niannian isn’t shameless like this!”
Gu Qinian laughed, gently catching both of the boy’s wrists. “Ge, look carefully. Your little brother isn’t wearing anyone else’s skin. This is the real thing. Spare me, okay?”
“Y-you’re saying it again!”
Gu Tang’s face instantly turned bright red.
Who called someone “ge” while in bed…
“Why? Now that we’ve slept together, you won’t acknowledge it anymore?”
Apparently having realized how much that word embarrassed him, Young Master Gu deliberately kept rubbing against him while calling him that.
Every time he said it, Gu Tang’s face got redder.
Finally, unable to endure it any longer, Gu Tang opened his mouth and bit down on Young Master Gu’s ear.
“If you say it again, I’ll bite it off!”
Gu Tang threatened him through gritted teeth.
Gu Qinian laughed again and slipped an arm around his waist, lifting him slightly higher into his arms.
So that biting him would be a little easier.
Not long after that, the boy, cheeks still flushed, still holding his ear in his mouth, drifted off to sleep.
Gu Qinian held the person in his arms tighter, one hand resting against the smooth bare back beneath his palm.
His fingers traced over those thin shoulder blades.
And he felt more deeply satisfied than he ever had before in his life.
His little angel would never fly away again.
Those days passed for the two of them in a sweetness like oil and honey.
Meanwhile, Gu Qinian entered the final stage of inheriting the position of head of the Gu family, which meant he had to go to Country S for about half a month.
There was nothing crueler than separating a couple in the middle of passionate first love.
Gu Tang stood at the door with longing eyes, seeing him off, and even wanted to follow him downstairs, but Young Master Gu stopped him.
Pinching his nose, the other teased, “Gu Tang, you look very much like a little wife seeing her husband off.”
Faced with that teasing, Gu Tang only wrinkled his nose instead of refuting it.
Lowering his eyes to look at him, Gu Qinian said, “I’ll come back as early as I can.”
“Mm…”
Gu Tang leaned up and kissed the thin lips in front of him.
Gu Qinian immediately lifted him and set him on top of the entryway cabinet, then kissed him hard.
When they finally parted, a glistening thread stretched between their lips.
Embarrassed, Gu Tang gave his sturdy chest a small shove. “Alright, you should go now.”
Gu Qinian raised a hand, wiped at his mouth, and used the green jade gourd on his wrist to knock gently against Gu Tang’s white jade gourd. “It’ll miss it very much.”
The two little gourds made a clear clinking sound.
Tang—
The implication was too obvious.
Gu Tang’s face instantly flushed. “I know already!”
Zhou Ze and Tan Mian both noticed that Gu Tang seemed to look especially radiant lately.
The boy had already been cute and beautiful to begin with, but now he looked like a ripe peach—his face fair and rosy, practically glowing with moisture.
What mattered even more was his aura.
When they had first met him, they had only thought he was innocent and lovable. But lately, for some reason, there was a hint of laziness and satisfaction about him. If they had to compare it to something—
“He looks like a little fox spirit who’s just eaten its fill.”
Tan Mian blurted out the thought, only to get smacked on the head with a paintbrush by Zhou Ze. “Stop talking nonsense.”
Even though, privately, he thought the exact same thing.
Zhou Ze looked toward Gu Tang, who was painting at the side, clearly wanting to say something.
He and Tan Mian were not the only ones who had noticed the change in Gu Tang’s aura.
One male student had even come over, blushing, to talk to him. He asked whether Gu Tang would be willing to model for him, and promised he would pay triple.
Gu Tang shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t do figure modeling.”
The boy turned even redder and hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no! You don’t have to take your clothes off! However you’re comfortable is fine, I just want to paint you…”
He said a lot after that.
He said Gu Tang was the muse of his inspiration, that just seeing him made him want to create.
And in the end, he also clumsily confessed that he liked him.
From beginning to end, everything he said came out messy and upside down.
Gu Tang did not fully follow his words. He only found himself suddenly thinking that if wanting to paint someone meant liking them,
then maybe he had started liking Young Master Gu very, very early on.
He just had not realized it himself.
“Thank you for liking me.”
Gu Tang smiled gently. “But I already have a boyfriend.”
The male student looked devastated. “Ah…”
Then, a second later, he asked, “Would you mind having one more?”
“…”
Gu Tang turned around and walked off immediately.
At lunch in the cafeteria,
there was a public announcement board nearby where school activities were posted.
At that moment, the area around it was packed three or four rows deep with students.
Gu Tang stretched his neck to see, but unfortunately there were too many people and he could not make out anything.
So he went to get food with Zhou Ze first, while Tan Mian dove into the crowd, declaring that he would scout out the situation for them.
Gu Tang thought Tan Mian’s personality was a lot like Zhu Xu’s.
He was deeply devoted to gossip and all forms of juicy news.
Not long after, Tan Mian ran back in a rush. “No wonder they’re all so excited. Some major big shot is coming to give lectures at our school!”
Gu Tang had no interest in major big shots.
He was busy chewing on sweet-and-sour spare ribs, the dish he liked best in the school cafeteria, and was eating with total concentration.
Zhou Ze, on the other hand, asked, “What kind of big shot?”
“The presidents of the Gu family and the Yu family!”
Clang—
The bone in Gu Tang’s mouth fell into his metal tray.
He looked up in shock. “…Who?!”
He simply could not believe that Father Gu and Big Brother were coming to the school as visiting lecturers. Those two men were the definition of practical business elites; they had absolutely no interest in academic-style teaching.
So Gu Tang was certain of one thing.
Those two were here for him.
After all, Young Master Gu was away on a business trip. Even if Big Brother did not know, Father Gu definitely did.
If Father Gu and Big Brother had come to visit him normally, he would have been delighted.
The problem was, they had not told him in advance. Instead, they had come directly to teach lectures, and the lecture times had even been scheduled on the same day at the exact same hour. Now countless students were agonizing over which lecture from which giant they ought to attend.
After all, choosing one meant missing the other.
This was obviously some kind of ridiculous competition.
Gu Tang thought about it.
And decided he would go to neither one.
Gu Tang: master of perfect balance!
Anyway, he was not majoring in finance, had little interest in the subject, and probably would not understand much of it. Better to stay in the studio and paint.
He had originally planned to wait until the lectures were over, then go find Father Gu and Big Brother and have dinner with them together.
But the moment he stepped out of the studio, he saw two luxury cars parked at the entrance.
Both car doors opened at the same time.
Two long legs stepped out at the same time.
Once Gu Quan and Yu Xiao got out, they first looked at each other, and the air itself seemed to crackle with the sparks of rivalry.
Out of basic courtesy, Yu Xiao greeted him first. “Hello, Uncle Gu.”
Gu Quan answered with only a faint “Mm.”
The two of them were acting out “surface harmony, hidden hostility” to perfection.
Gu Tang: “…”
Before he could speak, both men walked straight toward him—one calling “good boy,” the other “Tangtang.”
Standing nearby, Zhou Ze and Tan Mian had never seen anything like this in their lives.
They looked at the two impossibly handsome corporate presidents, then at Gu Tang, who looked like a little fox spirit, and then thought of that mysterious boyfriend of his.
In their minds, an entire love-triangle battlefield of a story instantly unfolded.
Both of them worried that Gu Tang had somehow provoked some rich sugar daddies and that now they had both come directly to his door.
Otherwise, why would such giant figures come find an ordinary university student for no reason?
Just to chat?!
Tan Mian trembled. “It’s over, it’s over. He’s been exposed!”
Though Zhou Ze said nothing, he stepped in front of Gu Tang and bravely declared, “I’ll block them! You run first!”
Gu Tang: “Huh???”
Sure, having your parents show up at school even though you were already in university was a little embarrassing.
But there was no need to run, was there?
“You can’t offend this kind of big shot! You’ve got two of them after you and you’re still not running?!”
Zhou Ze thought Gu Tang had gone stupid with fear and stamped his foot anxiously.
Gu Tang scratched his head. “It’s okay. They’re actually very nice.”
And then he walked straight toward them.
Zhou Ze failed to stop him and immediately thought: It’s over.
Then he watched as his cute little roommate ran up first to the president of the Gu family and chirped, “Gu Daddy!”
Zhou Ze: Daddy?
Then the president of the Yu family stepped over, rubbed a hand over the boy’s head, and said, “What about me?”
Gu Tang curved his eyes and answered, “Big Brother!”
Zhou Ze: Big brother???
***
Author’s Note:
Zhou Ze: So my cute roommate is actually a top-tier second-generation rich heir from two giant wealthy families?!
Tangtang: The sugar daddy was me all along???
