Zhuang Xingye

It was about time, so Xia Wanqing prepared to leave with Shen Qiming. She pulled Shen Xinde aside to give him a few reminders, thanked the Gu couple, and headed home first.

Gu Ruize didn't spend much time talking with the children. He told Gu Zhuoling to take good care of Shen Xinde, bent down to pinch Shen Xinde's chubby cheek, then headed back to his room first.

He smelled of smoke, mixed with alcohol, and probably didn't smell very good. He couldn't let the children breathe in the smoke, either.

"Can A-Ling take good care of Xinde?" Zhou Jingyi didn't intend to interfere much in how the two children got along, either. She only crouched down to ask.

Gu Zhuoling nodded without hesitation.

"Auntie, Haohao can bathe by himself." Shen Xinde ran over and took Zhou Jingyi's hand, smiling sweetly. "Go get some rest!"

Zhou Jingyi couldn't stop smiling at how sweet he was. Before leaving, she patted Gu Zhuoling's little head. "Don't stay up too late."

All the adults had left, so the children had the place to themselves.

But Little Steward Gu wasn't about to let Young Master Shen wreak havoc. He took Shen Xinde into his bathroom. "The clothes are all new. I had the nanny wash them."

The pajamas were a pale milky yellow, covered in cute little puppy faces. Shen Xinde felt them and thought the fabric was pretty nice. "What about Dolly's?"

Gu Zhuoling seemed to think of his own pajamas and fidgeted quite a bit. "Mine are the same, but blue."

Shen Xinde didn't say anything and nodded.

Of course, they couldn't just leave a four-year-old alone in the bathroom to bathe. Shen Xinde had his own dignity when it came to this and refused to let Gu Zhuoling help him in the bathroom, so Gu Zhuoling went downstairs to find a maid and brought her up to help.

Before long, Gu Zhuoling had a little milky-yellow dumpling.

After his bath, Shen Xinde's skin was even fairer, with a rosy tint beneath the white. Perhaps water had gotten into his eyes while he was bathing, because the rims were still red. His lips were especially red, making his face look even fairer, and his big eyes curved into crescents when he saw Gu Zhuoling.

"Sit properly."

Gu Zhuoling put down his extracurricular book and helped Shen Xinde onto the bed. He propped up Shen Xinde's pillow so he could lean against it, then took the tablet from the nightstand, put on the cartoon Shen Xinde hadn't finished last time, and set it in front of him.

"Make sure you're covered up. I'm going to take a bath." Only after Gu Zhuoling had everything ready did he turn and go into the bathroom.

Gu Zhuoling could already bathe on his own, and he was quite fast. When he came out wearing pajamas that matched Shen Xinde's except for the color, Shen Xinde was playing with a doll.

When he got closer, he saw it was a doll that had caught his eye a couple of days ago, when he went out with his mother to pick out some things for Shen Xinde.

It wasn't the traditional kind with long hair and a princess dress.

It was a doll in the form of a boy. Gu Zhuoling had always thought the doll's smile looked a lot like Shen Xinde's, so he hadn't been able to resist buying it and putting it by his bed.

"Dolly." Shen Xinde had been studying how to put the doll's clothes on and take them off. Seeing Gu Zhuoling come out, he hurried to greet him.

"Not watching the cartoon anymore?" Gu Zhuoling quickly climbed onto the bed and put away the neglected tablet.

"Does the doll look like you?" Shen Xinde held the doll up in front of Gu Zhuoling.

Did this doll look like you?

After spending so much time with Shen Xinde, Gu Zhuoling had become quite good at understanding some of the things he might not have grasped at first.

Gu Zhuoling looked at the doll up close, then compared it with the cute face beside it. He could barely hold back a smile. "This doll looks like you."

Shen Xinde frowned and stared face-to-face with the doll for two seconds. "You're obviously the one who's Dolly."

"You're a doll too."

As cute as a doll.

Thinking this, Gu Zhuoling looked at the doll still deep in thought and couldn't resist reaching out to poke the cheek someone had puffed out.

"Dolly, kiss Haohao."

Shen Xinde stopped pondering who looked more like the doll, put it back where it belonged, and leaned toward Gu Zhuoling.

Gu Zhuoling: ?!!

When Gu Zhuoling still didn't respond after a while, Shen Xinde looked up and saw a red tomato.

Shen Xinde: ?

Pfft.

"Mommy always kisses Haohao before bed," Shen Xinde explained.

Gu Zhuoling held it in for a long moment, then somewhat awkwardly planted a kiss on Shen Xinde's cheek. He immediately lay down and tucked himself under the covers. "Go to sleep!"

Shen Xinde's eyes darted around. He was about to make trouble.

He reached out and tugged at Gu Zhuoling's blanket. Gu Zhuoling didn't dare use his full strength against Shen Xinde, and after a token resistance, his head popped out.

"I want to give you a goodnight kiss too," Shen Xinde called as he tugged, finally pulling the little turtle Gu Zhuoling out of his shell.

Shen Xinde triumphantly planted a kiss on Gu Zhuoling's pink cheek before graciously letting him go. "Let's sleep, Dolly!"

The night gradually deepened. Outside, the last cicadas of late summer were still calling. As the light in the room went out, the moon secretly hid under the covers too. The room was quiet and dark.

So dark that Gu Zhuoling couldn't see Shen Xinde beside him.

But he could feel his steady breathing, his warm body close to his own. He didn't know whether it was the wind or a breath that brushed across his cheek, leaving the spot where he'd been kissed cool.

It smelled of mint.

The next day, Gu Zhuoling opened his eyes right on time as usual. He turned to look and saw that Shen Xinde was still sleeping soundly, so soundly that his arms and legs were wrapped all around Gu Zhuoling.

Helpless, Gu Zhuoling gently moved his soft arms and legs aside, then got up to wash up first.

By the time he came out, Shen Xinde was already sitting up.

Hearing the sound, Shen Xinde instinctively looked toward it. Just awake, the four-year-old sat in a tiny heap on the enormous bed, his eyes a little red. When he saw someone close to him, he instinctively wanted a hug.

Because of his health, Shen Xinde could be said to have been pampered by his elders ever since he was born.

After a short nap, he might get a little clingy.

On the rare occasion he spent the night away from home, he'd get a little cranky if no one was by the bed when he woke up.

Without a word, Gu Zhuoling went over and hugged Shen Xinde. "I just went to wash up. Are you awake now?"

Once Shen Xinde had someone to hug, he stopped being cranky and murmured a couple of affirmatives.

"Take a moment, then we'll go wash up. There are shrimp dumplings today. You like those." Gu Zhuoling was already like a little adult, speaking clearly and logically. Comforting the little foodie Shen Xinde was easy for him.

As the two were enjoying breakfast downstairs, they received an uninvited guest.

"Young master, Young Master Zhuang is here," Grandpa Butler came in to announce.

Young Master Zhuang?

Shen Xinde chewed his shrimp dumpling, thinking it over carefully.

Zhuang!?

Could it be... the male lead of the original book...?

"Hello, Gu Zhuoling! Surprised?" Before Shen Xinde could confirm it, a chubby boy wearing sunglasses jumped in.

Shen Xinde: ?.

This little fatty was Zhuang Xingye, the male lead of the original book?

Shen Xinde stared with wide eyes, hardly able to believe it. The chubby boy in front of him wore a loose green short-sleeved shirt printed with childish dinosaurs, with his round belly still visible, and was striking an incredibly chuunibyou, incredibly ridiculous pose in front of the dining table. He just couldn't accept that this was the novel's male lead, hey!