In his previous life, he had given Gu Yufeng quite a few nice things, but every time her reaction was pretty bland.

They were like a student handing in homework and a teacher collecting it, with neither of them feeling any waves in their hearts.

When Gu Yongnian heard that he was going to pass on the oil painting to him, he said, “How can I accept this?” while waving for his assistant to take the painting back for maintenance. Gu Yufeng then gave him a look of disdain and chased him out of the hall.

After finishing his writing, Xie Ci turned to Gu Yufeng and asked, “Is this okay?”

Gu Yufeng leaned in a bit closer, focusing on the characters on the rice paper: “The sides are too empty; you should add some poetry.”

Seeing how serious he was, Xie Ci followed up with a question, “Whose poetry do you like?”

Gu Yufeng thought for a moment: “Add a ‘To’ in the upper left corner, and on the right, add a line: ‘Once upon a time, the vast sea was hard to be water; apart from Mount Wu, there are no clouds.'”

If he revised it according to Gu Yufeng’s suggestion, the content on the rice paper would change to—
【To Feng, once upon a time, the vast sea was hard to be water; apart from Mount Wu, there are no clouds】.

Xie Ci: “…”
He shouldn’t have asked this kid for his opinion.

What was supposed to be a nice piece of calligraphy turned into a “To” signature, and a love poem at that, causing the onlookers, Fang Sizhe and the others, to burst into laughter.

Zhang Ruochuan said, “Old Gu, you really know how to mess with people.”

Wang Wei added, “Xie team, since you’ve written it anyway, can you write me a ‘To’ signature too?”

Shen Qiuyah quietly chimed in, “I want one too.”

Fang Sizhe said, “I’ll be third in line.”

Listening to this group of kids making a fuss, Xie Ci silently wrote “To” on the left side of the rice paper and then moved to the right side.

Gu Yufeng leaned in to take a look.

“Still developing… don’t be reckless.”

Zhang Ruochuan read out what Xie Ci had written, and Fang Sizhe and the others laughed even louder.

Gu Yufeng sized up Xie Ci and teased, “You’re still developing?”

Xie Ci replied, “I’m talking about you.”

Gu Yufeng shot back, “How do you know I’m still developing? Have you seen?”

“Didn’t you send me a photo?”

Xie Ci’s gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept over Gu Yufeng’s chest, and he let out a vague chuckle.

That disdainful expression clearly screamed, “You dare to show off a child’s body? Totally unappealing.” Gu Yufeng was so mad he said, “Return it, and write me a new one according to my requirements.”

“This one is fine; if you don’t want it, I’ll just tear it up.” Xie Ci dropped his pen and prepared to rip the rice paper.

Gu Yufeng pressed down on him: “It has my name on it; it’s already mine. You can’t just tear it up because you feel like it.”

After saying that, Gu Yufeng called over Roberson and handed him the paper: “Go frame this and put it on my bedside. I want to remind myself every day to develop early and have some fun with you.”

Xie Ci: “… Being serious won’t kill you.”

“How am I not being serious?”

Gu Yufeng shrugged, “It’s the first time I’ve received such a satisfying gift; can’t I be a little happy?”

On the stairs, Gu Churan watched Gu Yufeng and his friends chatting and laughing, his expression not looking too good.

Hearing the commotion from upstairs, Gu Churan collected his emotions and approached: “Grandpa, if you don’t come down, I’m going to be bullied to death by him.”

Gu Mingbai was being supported by the old butler as he walked downstairs, looking a bit helpless: “What now? Can’t brothers get along well?”

“I want to get along with him! Today was supposed to be my friends’ gathering. To build a good relationship with him, I invited him to bring his friends along, but he just splashed my friend with wine in public and kicked them out!”

The more Gu Churan spoke, the more aggrieved he felt. “Since he returned to the country, there hasn’t been a moment of peace. On the first day, he killed your favorite fish and even rubbed salt on it and hung it on my dad’s office door, making a joke out of it for everyone in the company. Is this something a normal person would do?”

Seeing Gu Mingbai not saying anything, Gu Churan continued to complain: “At the previous wine party, he tried to embarrass me with some Ultraman auction. Who knows how others saw it? Foreigners are just different; their brains don’t work like ours.”

In the hall on the first floor, some people saw Gu Churan accompanying Gu Mingbai downstairs and occasionally glanced over at Gu Yufeng, all wearing expressions that seemed to be enjoying the show.

“Of course, it’s the eldest young master; he actually managed to invite Old Master Gu over.”

“Then the second young master can get Gu Zong to back him up, so the eldest can certainly get the old master to back him up too.”

“The second young master kicked someone out in public; how could this just be brushed aside?”

“I heard that those who got splashed with wine are still refusing to leave at the entrance.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t leave either. The people who came today all have some status; who can swallow this humiliation?”

Xie Ci heard the noisy discussions around him and raised his eyes to look towards the stairs.

Gu Yufeng’s cousin, Gu Churan, looked more like his mother and had almost no resemblance to Gu Yufeng. After graduating from university, he joined the Gu family business but hadn’t achieved much, instead embodying all the bad habits of a rich second generation—eating, drinking, gambling, and wasting money.

In his previous life, Gu Yufeng had mostly stayed abroad, so Xie Ci rarely had the chance to interact with this cousin privately. He didn’t expect the other party to harbor such malice towards Gu Yufeng.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t hard to understand.

Gu Yufeng’s sudden return to live in the country had given Gu Churan a sense of crisis.

But if he were a bit smarter, he wouldn’t resort to petty tricks to go against Gu Yufeng.

Nearby, Gu Yufeng also noticed the commotion and turned to meet Gu Churan’s gaze as he came down the stairs.

“Really unlucky.”

Gu Yufeng leaned lazily against the table with his hands in his pockets, “It’s rare to flirt with my cold and aloof deskmate, and yet there’s someone brainless trying to butt in.”

“…”

Xie Ci watched them approach and said expressionlessly, “I don’t remember flirting with you.”

Gu Yufeng replied, “Isn’t the affection of a deskmate still affection? Are you discriminating against feelings?”

Xie Ci: “…”

Gu Churan helped Gu Mingbai walk over, wanting to use the elder’s hand to teach Gu Yufeng a good lesson.

But Gu Mingbai’s attention was on Xie Ci.

“You are— the young man from that day, right?” Gu Mingbai recognized Xie Ci and showed a look of surprise, “You’re my little Feng’s friend?”

Xie Ci respectfully greeted him, “I’m his classmate.”

Gu Mingbai smiled even wider: “What a coincidence! I must not have properly thanked you that day, which is why I have the chance to meet you again.”

Xie Ci smiled lightly: “Old Master, you’re joking. That little matter doesn’t require a special thank you from you.”

A group of people around them didn’t understand, and Gu Churan’s expression grew even darker. How could his usually reclusive grandfather know Gu Yufeng’s classmate?! And they were chatting so intently!

Gu Yufeng also didn’t understand and interjected, “How do you know each other?”

Gu Mingbai explained with a smile: “I went to the temple to find a master for tea tasting and ran into some trouble; he helped me solve it.”

Xie Ci: “…”
Tea tasting?
They were clearly cursing at the old monk.

Gu Mingbai seemed to see what Xie Ci was thinking and gave him a look, signaling him not to say anything.

“The temple?”

Gu Yufeng asked Xie Ci in confusion, “What were you doing at the temple?”

Xie Ci closed his eyes and lied, “My dad isn’t well, so I went to pray for him.”

Nearby, Jiang Chenyu said: “… As expected of you, you can lie without a flaw.”

After chatting for a bit, Gu Mingbai excused himself, saying he had something to attend to.

Gu Churan hurriedly chased after him: “Grandpa, you haven’t addressed today’s matter yet.”

“What should I say?”

Gu Mingbai glanced over at Gu Yufeng, who was gathered with his friends, then turned back to his eldest grandson, “You invited the guests; if you don’t take care of them, who can you blame?”

Gu Churan immediately sulked: “Why are you helping him speak?”

Gu Mingbai sighed lightly: “Churan, you’re twenty now; you should be more mature. Don’t make me step in for every little thing. I’m getting old and can’t handle the hassle.”

“What little things?”

Gu Churan protested, “He killed your favorite fish! Is that a small matter?!”

“The fish died; we can just get another one.”

Gu Mingbai frowned, “I’m not so senile that I can’t tell which is more important, a fish or a grandson.”

After saying that, Gu Mingbai left.

Gu Churan was filled with anger, and when he turned around, he saw Gu Yufeng standing not far behind him, looking at him like he was an idiot, which made him furious.

“Happy now? Feeling proud?”

Gu Yufeng seemed to have heard something funny: “What do I have to be happy about?”

Gu Churan walked up to him, dropping the warm facade and glaring at Gu Yufeng: “Grandpa is protecting you just because he hasn’t seen your true colors. I will never let you take over the Gu family; we’ll see how this plays out!”

Gu Yufeng snorted: “This little bit of property from the Gu family, I really don’t care about.”

Saying this, he turned to look at Gu Churan: “I’ll only warn you once; don’t set your sights on the people around me, or don’t blame me for disregarding our brotherly bond.”

In the garden, music was playing, like an open-air bar, with a group of young men and women waving their bottles and dancing wildly.

Young people have many ways to have fun. Fang Sizhe and the others were just high school students and didn’t join in on the excitement. Instead, they gathered on one side of the hall to play board games and eat.

“Ugh—”

Jiang Chenyu saw someone in the dance floor suddenly kiss and then take turns kissing, groping and hugging, and he grimaced, “That’s too eye-watering!”

Zhang Ruochuan curiously leaned over to take a look: “They can’t be much older than us, right? How come they seem like they’re from two different worlds?”

Jiang Chenyu replied, “No, no, no, normal people don’t act like this.”

Xie Ci heard their conversation and casually glanced over, frowning slightly when he saw something, then put down the card in his hand and stood up to walk outside.

Jiang Chenyu called out, “Hey, Lao Xie, where are you going?”

After Gu Yufeng finished talking with Gu Churan, he went around the garden to find Xie Ci and the others.

Suddenly, two tall men burst out from the dance floor, forcefully grabbing Gu Yufeng’s shoulders and dragging him into the dance floor: “Look, we brought the second young master!”

A chorus of whistles and raucous shouts erupted from the crowd.

The situation happened too suddenly, and Jiang Chenyu and Zhang Ruochuan’s expressions changed. They only had time to shout over.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

Gu Yufeng’s expression turned cold, and just as he was about to shake off these two scumbags, he was suddenly wrapped around the waist and pulled back, crashing into someone’s embrace.

In that instant, the familiar scent made him give up on struggling.

Xie Ci pushed the scumbag’s face away and kicked him out.

He didn’t hold back on this kick; it carried a bit of anger.

The scumbag fell heavily to the ground, crashing into the corner of a metal table, rolling around in pain.

Xie Ci didn’t care about him and immediately turned to punch the other scumbag in the face.

The scumbag knocked over several people, dazed and unable to get up.

The sudden turn of events attracted the attention of many around, and the people on the dance floor gradually stopped, gathering to see what was happening.

The first scumbag to get hit got up, cursing loudly and angrily charging at Xie Ci.

Xie Ci grabbed his jaw and lifted it up, his fingertips digging deep into the flesh, his tone heavy and cold: “Don’t you look at yourself? You dare to touch anyone?”

The scumbag was forced to tilt his head back, crying out in pain.

The news of Gu Yufeng being attacked stirred the entire Gu family.

Gu Yongnian and Gu Mingbai arrived one after another, and even Gu Yong’an came, calling Gu Churan to a corner to ask what was going on.

Gu Churan, of course, knew the truth: “They were drunk and just wanted to play with my brother; what’s the big deal?”

The entire garden was in chaos, with many people defending those two scumbags. Zhang Ruochuan and Jiang Chenyu angrily ran over to confront them.

“You did this on purpose! You forcibly dragged Old Gu into the dance floor!”

“There were so many of you kissing and hugging randomly; what did you want to do by bringing Old Gu in?!”

The more Gu Yongnian listened, the darker his expression became.

Gu Churan watched from the corner, feeling quite relieved, but Gu Yong’an sensed something was off and went over to mediate.

But Gu Yongnian completely ignored him and said to the two troublemakers in a deep voice: “Go back and inform your elders that from now on, the Gu family will sever all business ties with you and will never cooperate again!”

Not to mention the two troublemakers, even the other people present turned pale with fear, not daring to breathe.

Gu Yong’an was a bit unhappy because these two families had a closer relationship with him.

“Eldest brother, why are you acting like a child, letting your emotions dictate your actions?”

“This family is run by me, or by you?” Gu Yongnian shot a warning glance at Gu Yong’an, immediately calling for someone to draft a termination agreement and sending it to those two companies overnight, leaving in a huff.

Gu Yong’an’s face darkened as he glared at Gu Churan, who was huddled in the corner.

Gu Churan hadn’t expected the consequences to be so severe; his face turned pale as he lowered his head, not daring to speak again.

Fang Sizhe couldn’t find anyone and asked Wang Wei beside him: “Where are Lao Xie and Lao Gu?”

Wang Wei looked around: “They were just here.”

In a corner of the garden, Xie Ci coldly sized up Gu Yufeng in front of him: “Are you hurt anywhere?”

Gu Yufeng was in a bad mood; although he hadn’t been hurt, the fact that those people dared to target him made him very angry.

But when he saw that Xie Ci was even angrier than he was, he calmed down.

Xie Ci’s expression was calm, but there was a simmering anger in his eyes, as if he might lose control at any moment. Gu Yufeng was sure that this kid cared about him a lot because he rarely saw Xie Ci get angry for anyone.

The sudden incident had caught Xie Ci off guard, but he had come in time, which meant he had been paying attention to Gu Yufeng’s situation from the start.

Thinking of this, the last bit of Gu Yufeng’s anger dissipated.

“You can squeeze a little harder; it’d be best if you crushed my shoulder.”

Xie Ci snapped back to reality and hurriedly let go.

“Don’t worry; they just jumped out, and you came over right away. You’re fine.”

Gu Yufeng spoke lightly, “They just wanted to drag me to dance; you’re overreacting.”

Being so close, Gu Yufeng heard the faint sound of Xie Ci’s heartbeat and pressed his palm against Xie Ci’s chest to confirm, a bit surprised: “Your heart is beating so fast; is it really necessary to worry this much?”

Xie Ci pulled his hand away and turned his head to avoid his gaze, not in the mood to joke, as the image of Gu Yufeng covered in injuries after being kidnapped in his previous life filled his mind.

Earlier, a few people on the dance floor had frequently glanced over at Gu Yufeng, and he had only wanted to prevent them from making a move against Gu Yufeng.

But when those two men had grabbed Gu Yufeng’s shoulders, the moment overlapped with the scene from his previous life when Gu Yufeng was taken away, and by the time he reacted, his fist had already swung out.

“I’m not hurt.”

Seeing how worried he was, Gu Yufeng deliberately leaned in a bit closer, “But just now, I didn’t react in time and think I might have been kissed by one of those men.”

Xie Ci turned back in disbelief, his expression darkening: “You were kissed?”

Gu Yufeng pointed to the right side of his face: “I think it was here.”

Xie Ci frowned and glanced at the spot he pointed to, without thinking, he leaned in.

Gu Yufeng noticed his intention, and his eyes flickered as he tightened his hand against the wall.

But before they could touch, Xie Ci snapped back to his senses: “You weren’t kissed, right?”

Gu Yufeng stubbornly replied, “I was kissed.”

“You’re lying to me.” Xie Ci’s tone was firm.

Seeing he couldn’t fool him, Gu Yufeng felt annoyed and clicked his tongue.

Sometimes, it really wasn’t necessary for people to be so smart.