Chapter 45

His own gradually quickening heartbeat.

The car jolted, and He Qinghuan leaned toward Gu Wang. Gu Wang instinctively grabbed the fabric at He Qinghuan's waist.

The middle-aged driver spoke in fluent dialect. "No fighting back there, you hear?"

There was no chance of a fight.

One couldn't bear to hit the other, and the other had no interest in fighting.

"Not letting go?" He Qinghuan looked at Gu Wang and asked softly.

Gu Wang blinked, still not having caught on.

He Qinghuan lowered his eyes to Gu Wang's hand. "Can't bear to?"

As if he had been burned, Gu Wang snatched his hand back. He frowned, looked out the window, and feigned composure. "Have some shame."

The boy's voice had even gone hoarse.

The taxi stopped right outside He Qinghuan's house. He Qinghuan got out but didn't close the door immediately. Standing outside the car, he said good night before going inside.

The driver turned the wheel to head back, asking, "That your boyfriend?"

Heat surged up from the base of Gu Wang's neck. He denied it. "A classmate. He's a classmate. Just an ordinary classmate."

"Aw, no need to repeat yourself so many times." The driver gave Gu Wang a playful wink in the rearview mirror. "When I ask my daughter if she's dating anyone, she acts just like you. Couldn't be more obvious."

"I see right through it."

Gu Wang: "..."

When He Qinghuan returned home, the living room was unusually empty. Only He Zhiyan was there, holding a cup of coffee. Seeing He Qinghuan come in, he looked him up and down, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "That boy's clothes?"

He Qinghuan nodded and stood where he was.

He Qinghuan didn't look well. His back burned with pain. He hadn't thought much when he shielded Gu Wang; he had simply acted on instinct, and he hadn't regretted it afterward.

He thought about it. He would rather be the one who got hurt.

It hurt this much. The boy surely wouldn't be able to take it.

He Zhiyan looked out the window. "He brought you home?"

He Qinghuan merely nodded again, his response cold.

He Zhiyan didn't care about He Qinghuan's attitude. He didn't need to find a father's sense of achievement or happiness through He Qinghuan. All He Qinghuan needed to do was be a good heir to the He family. He Zhiyan didn't ask much of him.

Rather than father and son, they were more like business partners.

So he only asked a few casual questions. In truth, he didn't care whom He Qinghuan liked or married. The He family didn't need a marriage alliance to cement its position, either. Seeing that He Qinghuan was giving perfunctory responses, he waved to signal the conversation was over, then called Xiao Liu over from nearby to play with her.

Of all the children in the house, He Zhiyan liked Xiao Liu best. Only in front of her did he act like a father.

"Daddy, I want that, a doll, a really big one..."

"Daddy will take you to buy one tomorrow."

The corner of He Qinghuan's mouth twitched. His gaze was calm, his heart unruffled, without any displeasure.

After showering, He Qinghuan stood with his back to the bathroom mirror and applied medicine. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a deep groove down his back. He already had something of a man's build.

He had already turned eighteen, but Gu Wang was still two months short of seventeen.

It wouldn't be long now.

Yue Feng had reacted quickly and dealt with it in time. The inside of the school uniform was made of a slippery fabric that hadn't rubbed against his skin, so it wasn't serious. The doctor had also instructed him to eat light meals for the time being and avoid clothes that didn't breathe.

In early autumn, mornings and evenings were cool, but midday was hot. If his skin broke and was then kept covered, it would definitely get infected.

His room was quiet, so He Qinghuan noticed the moment someone came in. He grabbed the pajamas off the hook and pulled them on. Before he had time to button them, he opened the bathroom door and went out, finding Xiao Liu standing in his room with a glass of milk.

He Qinghuan didn't like children, regardless of how closely related they were. He disliked those who weren't close relatives, and he disliked those who were.

If they were good-looking, he might spare them a few more glances.

Seeing that it was Xiao Liu, He Qinghuan returned to the bathroom and resumed applying the medicine. Xiao Liu put down the milk and ran in after him.

"Big brother," she called timidly.

He Qinghuan glanced at her and said flatly, "Done playing with your dad?"

"..." Xiao Liu was only four or five. He Qinghuan's words were too complicated for her. What did he mean, her dad? "He's your daddy too."

The bathroom lights were bright. Standing on tiptoe, Xiao Liu saw the expanse of red across He Qinghuan's back. Startled, she asked, "Big brother, what happened to you?"

"Too much candy."

Xiao Liu clapped a hand over her mouth. "That's so scary!"

Xiao Liu had been having frequent toothaches lately. She wasn't old enough to lose her baby teeth yet, and she liked sweets. Eight times out of ten, when He Qinghuan came home at night, he heard her crying, either because her teeth hurt or because her mother wouldn't let her eat sweets.

He Qinghuan couldn't reach the area around his shoulder blades. Xiao Liu wanted to tug on his finger but didn't dare. In the end, she could only squeeze into the gap between him and the bathroom sink and look up. "Big brother, I'll help you."

He Qinghuan looked at her. After a long while, he softly agreed.

He Qinghuan crouched down so Xiao Liu could apply the medicine to his back. Afraid of hurting him, the little girl was very gentle and even blew on it now and then. He thought of how, in the taxi, he had asked Gu Wang to blow on it for him. The boy had been so flustered that he hadn't known what to do, his face turning red too.

This was the first time Xiao Liu had been so close to He Qinghuan. She was quick to forget and had forgotten how He Qinghuan treated her other brothers and sisters. She patted his shoulder. "Big brother, don't eat candy anymore."

"Worry about yourself," He Qinghuan said flatly.

"If I come home from school and hear you making a racket again, I'll pull out all your teeth." He didn't sound as though he was trying to frighten a child. He spoke as he would to an adult, his tone flat and devoid of emotion.

Xiao Liu trembled in fright. She blinked, her nose stinging, but didn't dare cry aloud. She only dared sniffle quietly, making a whistling sound as she breathed in.

He Qinghuan: "..."

He Qinghuan was a nasty person at heart. He gave a couple of low chuckles.

He wasn't remotely afraid of making Xiao Liu cry.

Xiao Liu had inherited the He family's weakness for good looks. Seeing He Qinghuan smile, she stopped crying and wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand. "All done."

He Qinghuan didn't stand up right away. Instead, he pulled two tissues from the bathroom counter, turned to wipe the little girl's tears, and said softly, "Don't play with those people."

"They all want to trick you. You don't need friends."

"And don't eat candy."

"I really will pull out all your teeth."

Tears welled up in Xiao Liu's eyes again.

He Qinghuan: "..."

Two minutes later, Auntie rushed in, flustered and panicked, and carried Xiao Liu away. Xiao Liu lay against her shoulder, crying so hard she was nearly fainting. Heartbroken, Auntie asked as she went downstairs, "Did your brother hit you?"

Xiao Liu shook her head miserably. "No, big brother, boo-hoo, big brother wants... wants to pull out my teeth."

Auntie froze. "Why would he pull out your teeth?"

Xiao Liu said, "Because, boo-hoo-hoo, because I eat candy."

Auntie couldn't stop laughing. As she wiped the little crybaby's tears, she felt somewhat puzzled. He Qinghuan wasn't close to anyone. She had watched him grow up, and he would exchange a few more words with her, but he couldn't even be bothered to spare these younger children a glance.

She hadn't expected him to pay so much attention to Xiao Liu.

After showering at home, Gu Wang sat cross-legged on his bed, a towel draped over his head and music playing through the speakers in his room.

For some inexplicable reason, he felt at ease.

Gu Dazhi had recently developed a love of growing flowers. Every day after leaving the company, he first went to the hospital to visit Grandma Gu. Once he got home, he started tinkering with his flower beds, turning the once-level lawn upside down.

He asked Gu Wang what flowers he wanted to plant. Without thinking, Gu Wang said roses.

After answering, what came to mind was the vast field of roses He Qinghuan had given the Original Host in the end. The colors were varied, the beauty endless. It wouldn't have been excessive to turn it into a scenic attraction.

But it had belonged to the Original Host alone.

Gu Wang sighed. He didn't know why he was sighing, either. His heart simply ached.

A new WeChat message popped up. He Qinghuan was asking whether he had gone to sleep.

Gu Wang waited a while before replying. [I'm going to sleep now.]

The person on the other end seemed to have been waiting for Gu Wang's reply and answered almost instantly.

[He Qinghuan: I can't sleep. It hurts.]

Gu Wang knew He Qinghuan was definitely playing for sympathy.

He wouldn't fall for it.

He Qinghuan leaned against the bed with a pillow behind him. Several minutes passed before he received Gu Wang's reply. It was a voice message.

It was the first voice message Gu Wang had ever sent him.

He Qinghuan played it on speaker.

The room was very quiet, with only the ticking of the clock. The bedside lamp was dim, giving everything a quiet, gentle feel.

The boy didn't speak. There were several seconds of static before a sound finally came.

"Whooo..."

[Milk Wang: All done.]

He Qinghuan couldn't help it. The corners of his mouth lifted, and his heart melted.

Author's note: Our Wang is still so innocent.

Chapter 49

His movements paused briefly before He Qinghuan pressed and held the voice message, saving it to his favorites.

He didn't tell Gu Wang how well the blowing had worked, either. He sent him a text saying good night.

With his hair partly dry, Gu Wang tossed his phone and towel onto the cabinet together, then lay down to sleep.

The air conditioner in the room was set very low. Gu Wang lay under a duck-down quilt, with a warm yellow lamp standing at the foot of his bed. As he drifted in and out of sleep, the door opened.

Someone was adjusting his air conditioner.

He sat up and stared balefully at the intruder. It was Gu Dazhi.

"Old Gu, what are you doing?"

Gu Dazhi was looking up as he raised the temperature. Hearing that "Old Gu" left him dazed for a couple of seconds. A month or two ago, Gu Wang had stopped calling him Old Gu and only called him Dad. Now that he had suddenly started calling him Old Gu again, he wasn't quite used to it.

"It's October already. Who are you trying to kill with the air conditioner set to seventeen degrees?" Gu Dazhi muttered, adjusting it to twenty-five. He paused, then simply turned it off.

Gu Wang hadn't fully woken up yet. He frowned. "Old Gu, you don't understand."

Being under a thick quilt with the air conditioner on its lowest setting was what made life happy.

"I don't understand. No, I don't. Just go back to sleep." As Gu Dazhi left, he took the air conditioner remote from Gu Wang's room with him, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

Gu Wang: "..."

Without the air conditioner, it took Gu Wang a long time to fall asleep, and even then, he didn't sleep deeply. It was as though a hand had pulled him into someone else's life, yet it was incredibly familiar, as if he had lived it himself.

He was eating breakfast in the living room. More precisely, the Original Host was eating breakfast in the living room of He Qinghuan's house.

The Original Host said he wanted to go out. Although the car accident had injured his legs, he still loved fun and excitement at heart. Staying home all the time was boring him to death.

He Qinghuan said they would go out together after he got off work.

The Original Host was so happy that he ate an extra slice of bread at breakfast that day. That afternoon, he sat in his wheelchair by the door, eagerly waiting for He Qinghuan to come home from work. He Qinghuan didn't return until ten that night. He strode over, tucked the blanket more snugly around the Original Host, and crouched in front of him, looking up with apology filling his eyes.

"Wangwang, I'm sorry. Something came up at the company. I'll take you out next time, all right?"

The Original Host suspected nothing. He nodded and said it was fine.

He Qinghuan smiled and kissed his earlobe, trailing kisses from his earlobe down to his neck, until the Original Host pushed him away in unbearable embarrassment.

Gu Wang was like an outsider, yet he could feel the Original Host's emotions with perfect clarity, as though—as though they were his own.

When He Qinghuan kissed the Original Host, Gu Wang felt the same patch of his own skin burning. It was as if an electric current had run through his body. Looking at the Original Host, he saw that their reactions were exactly alike.

There was no telling when He Qinghuan's "next time" would be. Only two months later, when the Original Host could no longer bear it, did he bring it up again. He wanted to go out, even if it was just for a walk around City Center.

Ever since he had left with He Qinghuan, aside from the two housekeepers, he hadn't seen anyone other than He Qinghuan.

This time, He Qinghuan agreed and came home from work on time. The Original Host carried the guitar out of his room. "I'll sing for you. I'll go sing for you in the square."

The Original Host's happiness made Gu Wang's heart clench.

Halfway there, He Qinghuan suddenly received a call from the company. He had to go back to work overtime. He looked at the Original Host apologetically.

The Original Host hadn't realized anything else yet. Clinging to the window, he said, "I can go by myself. Just have Auntie Zhang keep me company."

He Qinghuan remained silent for a long time. The Original Host turned to look at him in confusion and saw his He Qinghuan's face