Chapter 8 – 008

Xie Yunjing left immediately after he finished speaking, without any hesitation.

The atmosphere became strange, and everyone remained silent. It was the boy who was unaware of the situation who broke the silence, with an immense apology: “Gu, Gu…”

“Young Master Gu” sounded a bit awkward, but it didn’t seem polite to call him by his name directly. He still couldn’t decide how to address Gu Xian.

“Just call me Brother Xian, no need to be nervous.”

Li Yuqiu kindly reminded him, and the boy’s voice became smoother: “Brother Xian, thank you for saving me, really, thank you so much. I…”

He bowed deeply, feeling helpless for his own incompetence: “I caused you trouble… I can go explain to your boyfriend!”

The atmosphere that had just been relaxed instantly froze again.

Even the clueless boy sensed something was wrong at this moment and asked blankly and nervously: “Did I say something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Gu Xian slightly tilted his head, stared at a meaningless corner as he spoke, then turned his gaze back: “It’s a small matter, don’t worry about it.”

Xu Jia—the boy finally remembered to introduce himself, and still thanked him profusely, asking for contact information with the intention of repaying the favor in the future. Li Yuqiu gave him his own phone number, which finally put the boy at ease as he left under the care of the waiter.

Li Yuqiu stood at the corner, watching them leave for a while before turning back. He made a strange “fufufu” sound as he draped his arm over Gu Xian’s shoulder: “Based on my observations, Xie Yunjing definitely came here on purpose.”

Gu Xian, unable to bear the weight, brushed him off: “So?”

“He came all the way here just to say that one sentence. Don’t you think—” Li Yuqiu’s voice elongated, his face becoming somewhat comical from the exaggerated winking, “he might be jealous—”

Gu Xian: “……”

The others also started making strange, jeering noises.

Gu Xian took out his phone and tapped a few times on the lit-up screen. 

Li Yuqiu craned his neck and saw that Gu Xian had opened a chat app. 

Hearing the “ding dong” notification sound of the chat app in his own trouser pocket, he naturally took out his phone, which he had just put away not long ago, and asked curiously, “What did you send me?”

“The location of the mental health center.” Gu Xian sneered, “I suggest you go check out the water in your brain, or else I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist killing you. “

“And that goes for all of you.”

The others had just started to bloat when they were silenced by a single look from Gu Xian. 

“Jealous? Jealous of what? Are you blind or have you forgotten what kind of relationship Xie Yunjing and I have?”

“… A kissing relationship?”

“A naked and rolling-around-together relationship?”

“About getting married soon relationship?”

“Pfft.”

Gu Xian glared fiercely at Li Yuqiu, the only one who knew the truth yet still dared to laugh out loud: “All of you are itching for a beating, right”

“Brother Xian!” One of the people causing a ruckus suddenly jumped out, striking a pose with his hands bound in front of his chest, and turned his shoulder towards Gu Xian in a coquettish manner, “Go ahead and hit me! If hitting me can make Brother happy, don’t spare this delicate flower, wah wah wah!”

Gu Xian’s entire face tensed, his expression wavering between anger and disgust. His lips twisted and trembled, but in the end, he broke into a bright smile: “Get lost!”

He laughed and cursed, “Stop disgusting me!”

The strange atmosphere that had settled since Xie Yunjing’s appearance finally dissipated at this moment. 

Li Yuqiu and the others laughed and put their arms around each other’s shoulders, while Gu Xian gave the overly dramatic “delicate flower” a light smack as he wished, and dismissed him with disdain amid his exaggerated “ouch”: “Xie Yunjing wouldn’t get jealous, especially not over me. He came over just to avoid embarrassing the Xie family.”

The group, after laughing and joking around, paused and looked at each other.

“But did you really kiss?”

“But did you really sleep together?”

“But are you really getting married?”

Gu Xian was furious: “Are you guys ever going to stop?!”

*

“You guys can stay and keep having fun. You don’t need to leave with me.”

Gu Xian’s suggestion was immediately met with objections.

“Brother, you just ruined an old pervert’s fun. Walking alone makes it easy to get ambushed!”

“Exactly! And there’s that sneaky Huang Wei. He might be hiding in the garage to puncture your tires. If he sees you alone, who knows what he’ll do to you!”

“Wah wah wah, without you, Gege~ even the wine tastes bland, wah wah wah~”

Gu Xian: “…”

Gu Xian wanted to retort, but his physical fighting skills were admittedly lacking. He could only point at the whimpering “delicate flower”.

“This one, better bury him early.”

It wasn’t just Gu Xian who was disgusted; the “delicate flower” quickly faced a brutal group beating.

The “delicate flower” let out playful screams: “Help! Hahahaha, I was wrong—”

“Gu Xian!”

A female voice suddenly interrupted the group’s “flower-destroying” action.

After looking in the direction of the voice, Gu Xian frowned: “Why are you here?”

The one who called out to him was the girl who had been drugged by Huang Wei earlier. Her name was Li Xiaoxiao, only nineteen, and just starting her first year of college.

Li Xiaoxiao lowered her head shyly but quickly regained her composure, and looked at Gu Xian with sparkling eyes: “I came to find you!”

She gestured with her hands: “I didn’t go inside; I was waiting for you over there.”

Li Xiaoxiao was referring to the security lounge in the underground garage, but Gu Xian still disapproved and bluntly said, “Didn’t I tell you not to come to places like this anymore?”

“But I want to see you.” Li Xiaoxiao did not back down because of Gu Xian’s attitude; instead, she became bolder. “I wait for you every day, but I go back at nine-thirty, I don’t wait too late—”

Gu Xian finally understood why Sheng Yi had given him an ambiguous look when he said he was leaving—

“Leaving at this hour?”

Gu Xian pretended not to understand the hint: “What do you want?”

Li Xiaoxiao took out a delicate gift bag from her backpack: “I wanted to thank you for saving me last time. These are cookies I made myself. And I want your contact information…”

She paused, and finally some shyness appeared on her face: “I want to pursue you.”

Gu Xian: “…”

He took the handmade cookies from Li Xiaoxiao’s hands and, in response to her hopeful gaze, he said, “I’ll accept your thank-you gift, but as for the other things, I refuse.”

Li Xiaoxiao wasn’t surprised by the answer and asked casually, “Can I ask why?”

“I prefer someone more mature.”

“I can change!”

“I’m not talking about your appearance, but your behavior,” Gu Xian said, scrutinizing her with a critical eye. “How much time have you wasted waiting for me here every day? Don’t think that just because you’re in college, you can squander your time. When you approach graduation, you’ll have plenty of regrets. You should focus on your studies…”

“Are you qualified to say that?”

Before Gu Xian could finish his words, a voice interrupted.

Gu Xian’s temple twitched, and he looked over with displeasure: “I didn’t know the esteemed Third Young Master Xie had a penchant for stalking.”

“I’m not stalking you,” Xie Yunjing retorted seriously. “You spent your university days neglecting your studies, skipping classes, and sleeping through lectures. You did your assignments perfunctorily or even didn’t do it at all, and you failed over ten courses at the end of each term, and retaking many exams to finally get your diploma. And yet, you have the audacity to tell someone to ‘study hard’?”

Gu Xian wore a look of disbelief: “How the hell do you know all that!”

They weren’t even in the same major, or even the same college!

Wait a minute!

He snapped out of his shock and retorted angrily, “None of your business!”

“Before, I had no reason to interfere. But now,” Xie Yunjing glanced at Li Xiaoxiao, “let me remind you again, we’re getting married soon.”

“Wow.” Li Xiaoxiao displayed an expression of being thoroughly shocked.

Gu Xian felt a chill run down his spine as he watched her gaze shift between him and Xie Yunjing, and gradually became more understanding.

Because of Xie Yunjing’s mature and steady appearance and demeanor, he indeed seemed older than his peers. The thought that the girl in front of him might have misunderstood and thought he liked Xie Yunjing, based on context, made Gu Xian feel a chill.

However, telling a girl whom he had just rejected that he had no relationship with his supposed fiancé would obviously give her a wrong, ambiguous signal.

Feeling like he had swallowed a fly, Gu Xian was too uncomfortable to speak, while Xie Yunjing, as nonchalant as ever, quickly walked out of Gu Xian’s sight.

“Sorry.” Li Xiaoxiao awkwardly stuck out her tongue before quickly fleeing.

Gu Xian and Li Yuqiu exchanged silent glances for a moment, watching the growing belief in their eyes that “wow, he’s jealous,” but there was no way to explain it clearly.

“Wow—wow—”

Li Yuqiu and the others started calling out one after another.

Gu Xian shot them a fierce glare: “Shut up! Are you the frog choir or something!”

*

There were no rings, no wedding, not even a small family dinner, showing just how much Old Master Xie disapproved of this marriage.

But Gu Xian wasn’t much different.

Xie Yunjing looked at him with displeasure: “I thought you would at least wear a suit.”

Standing at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Gu Xian nonchalantly tugged on the drawstrings of his hoodie: “Come on, you know exactly why we’re here.”

Xie Yunjing looked at the only person who had accompanied them, the butler.

The old butler gave a kindly smile that was hard to refuse: “Young Master Gu, Third Young Master has prepared a suit for you. Please come with me to the car to change.”

Pretentious!

Gu Xian rolled his eyes but still followed the old butler.

Perhaps because both Gu Xian and Xie Yunjing were men, even though neither of them showed any sign of happiness, the marriage registration official only double-checked with suspicion before stamping their freshly taken photo with the official seal.

The matte texture of the marriage certificate cover made Gu Xian feel irritable. He roughly stuffed the certificate into his pants pocket, ran his hand through his neatly combed hair, and started to leave: “Is that it? If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”

“Young Master Gu!” The old butler hurriedly grabbed him, and his eyes widened in surprise, “How can you just leave like this!”

Gu Xian was puzzled: “Is there something else?”

The old butler asked in confusion, “You’ve just gotten married. Shouldn’t the two young masters live together?”

“……”

In the silence, Gu Xian and Xie Yunjing shared a rare moment of eye contact, both sensing trouble.

Their unease was confirmed when the old butler, Uncle Kang, naturally settled in with a suitcase, moving into the new house that had been arranged for them.

Even Xie Yunjing couldn’t help but ask, “Uncle Kang, aren’t you going back?”

“I’m getting old, can’t manage things at the old house as well, so I decided to come here and take it easy with the Third Young Master,” Uncle Kang replied cheerfully, while tidying up the house. His movements showed no sign of his age affecting him. “Don’t worry, Third Young Master. Even though I’m not as spry as I used to be, I can still take good care of the two of you.”

With things said to this extent, Xie Yunjing couldn’t possibly ask the old butler to leave.

Even though he knew very well that as long as Uncle Kang was around, everything he and Gu Xian did would be reported back to his grandfather.

In the afternoon, Xie Yunjing could still use work as an excuse to avoid interacting with Gu Xian, but after dinner, there was no escaping it.

Uncle Kang tidied up while saying, “Young Masters, please go upstairs and rest.”

After he spoke, he even winked ambiguously before carrying the dishes to the kitchen.

Gu Xian stood by the dining table, feeling suffocated.

Despicable and shameless Xie family!

With Uncle Kang around, there was no chance of leaving, and even sleeping in the guest room was out of the question! He seriously suspected that if he weren’t a man, Uncle Kang would hand him a white handkerchief and then wait until the next morning to see if there was blood on it!!

Author’s Note: 

Xiao Xie, you still claim you weren’t stalking Xiao Gu →_→