If the Mountain Won't Come to Me, I'll Go to the Mountain: Forced Cuddles You Can't Shake Off

The boarding pass had looked so real!

Pei Tingyun asked incredulously, "You know where the right boarding gate is?"

Xie Huan sounded as certain as if the production team had already told him the answer. "Course I do! B20!"

Just then.

A sarcastic male voice came from behind them:

"Sure, then we'll follow you. But if you get it wrong..."

The speaker paused, then continued through gritted teeth:

"I'll skin you alive!"

Who was speaking?

None other than Xie Huan's own dear younger brother, with whom he shared neither a father nor a mother-

Gu Lin, who had no one to team up with and had been forcibly assigned by the director to stick with them for the time being.

The viewers in the livestream all got excited at the sight:

[Ohoho! Here comes the show's classic hair-pulling segment!]

[The real and fake young masters really are entertaining! The sparks are already flying!]

However.

Xie Huan, who never did things the conventional way, was destined to disappoint the viewers.

Faced with Gu Lin's doubts.

Xie Huan went straight for the grand gesture of putting an arm around each of them.

Except...

The difference in treatment could not have been more obvious.

Xie Huan's left arm remained around Pei Tingyun's shoulders in a protective posture.

His right arm, however...

Went around Gu Lin's neck.

It looked like he was about to put him in a chokehold.

His words, however, held no hostility at all.

He even sounded a little smug:

"Aw, c'mon, you ain't gonna be skinning your big bro! Just peel me a head of garlic before dinner later!"

Pei Tingyun was utterly speechless.

No wonder Xie Huan had ignored his refusal earlier.

Apparently, this guy couldn't tell a rejection from a welcome.

Equally astounded by Xie Huan's shamelessness, Gu Lin said disdainfully:

"They don't serve whole heads of garlic in airplane meals! Don't spout nonsense if you've never flown before. It's embarrassing!"

Xie Huan said, "I know there ain't garlic on planes! I was just crackin' a joke. Why can't you take a joke, kid?"

As he spoke, Xie Huan planted his big hand on Gu Lin's carefully styled pink hair and gave it a thorough ruffling, as though rubbing a puppy's head.

At the sight, Pei Tingyun abruptly stiffened.

He kept feeling that Xie Huan would reach over and ruffle his hair without asking next.

For a moment, his whole body went on full alert.

Having had his puppy head ruffled, Gu Lin immediately exploded:

"Let go! You're ruining my hair!"

He used both hands and feet to shove Xie Huan away, but Xie Huan had him pinned firmly in place. He couldn't break free at all.

By comparison.

Pei Tingyun, who was three years younger than him, seemed much more composed.

Although he, too, really wanted to shake off the hand Xie Huan had draped over his shoulder.

He chose a gentler approach-

Asking an airport staff member about the boarding gate.

The wristbands did restrict their distance, but getting even a little farther from Xie Huan's boundaryless hand was still a good thing.

The boarding gate information they currently had was very unreliable.

But the production team couldn't possibly let them actually miss their flight.

So the information the production team had given them might be half true and half false.

The flight number was most likely real.

And with the flight number, he could ask for the correct boarding gate.

Rather than trust a stranger he had just met, Pei Tingyun preferred to trust an answer he obtained himself.

However.

The answer he got from the airport staff was actually exactly the same as what Xie Huan had said!

But Xie Huan hadn't asked anyone from start to finish.

How had he known the right answer?

Pei Tingyun turned from the information desk and looked with a complicated gaze at Xie Huan, who stood a little over a meter away, connected to him by their wristbands.

Still forcing Gu Lin into a "chokehold," Xie Huan looked smug:

"Well? Your bro was right, wasn't he? It's B20, yeah?"

Pei Tingyun stayed where he was.

He only nodded and asked, "How did you know?"

Seeing that Pei Tingyun had no intention of coming over.

Xie Huan simply decided that if the mountain wouldn't come to him, he would go to the mountain.

He brought Gu Lin over to Pei Tingyun and casually pulled the latter back into his embrace.

They continued walking with one tucked under each of his arms.

Having failed once again to shake off his hand, Pei Tingyun was numb.

Was Xie Huan's hand made of glue or something?

Once it stuck, he couldn't shake it off!

Xie Huan said, "How I knew ain't important. What matters is, your big bro's always your big bro! Stick with me, and I guarantee you wealth and glory!"

Gu Lin, who had realized the vast difference in their strength and completely abandoned resistance, his hair now a bird's nest: "..."

Pei Tingyun, once again staggered by Xie Huan's unique way with words: "..."

The livestream comments:

[Hahaha, I'm laughing myself rich! Xie Huan looks like a bandit chief making empty promises to his two captive brides!]

[Your big bro's your big bro. He can suppress you even without a bloodline connection!]

[Gu Lin's one of the top stylists in the industry! When has he ever looked this bedraggled? I mean, but it's genuinely so funny!]

[Why is Xie Huan so practiced at putting his arm around my fave? Could you let go of Peipei and let me do it?]

[The solo stan above sounds so meek. Has Xie's aura suppressed you too?]

[NO, I'm just starting to want to become a shipper! Doge-face-for-protection.jpg]

The suppression by his aura was real.

But Xie Huan wasn't making empty promises.

He had spent over twenty years in the mountains learning the arts of a fortune-telling charlatan from his master.

Whether it was finding a boarding gate or guiding people to seek good fortune, avoid disaster, and reach the pinnacle of life.

For him, all of it was a cinch.

As for guaranteeing wealth and glory.

That was basic stuff too.

As long as he was willing, there was no wealth and glory he couldn't guarantee!

Anyway, as long as he wasn't divining romantic fate, anything was negotiable.

Because romantic fate was something he still couldn't figure out.

The three of them walked briskly to the boarding gate.

Xie Huan still had an arm around each of them.

Gu Lin simply couldn't fight back and looked like he had nothing left to live for.

Pei Tingyun, on the other hand, was capable of resisting.

Unfortunately, Xie Huan couldn't tell a rejection from a welcome.

Hints were utterly useless.

Xie Huan had just helped him out.

He didn't want to make things too awkward, either.

Forget it.

He would put up with it for now.

Besides, the soap-pod scent on Xie Huan was refreshing and didn't make him feel sick.

The three of them had just reached the boarding gate when the third and fourth brothers' team arrived right behind them.

They were only a few seconds apart.

Pei Tingyun turned to look at Xie Huan in astonishment.

He had actually been right again!

The third and fourth brothers really had nearly come first!

How could that be?

They had clearly received fake boarding passes too.

Sensing Pei Tingyun's gaze, Xie Huan met his eyes.

His left eyebrow rose slightly at him.

The meaning was: Well? Ain't your bro amazing?

Pei Tingyun did think Xie Huan had some actual ability.

But looking at that smug face, he really couldn't bring himself to praise him.

He simply pretended not to understand Xie Huan's facial language.

Inwardly, though, Pei Tingyun really had begun to see Xie Huan in a new light.

Seeing Pei Tingyun ignore him, Xie Huan not only refused to give up on getting praise but spoke up outright:

"I knew those two were lucky. They ran the wrong way and still stumbled onto the right place. How could we not hurry? Any more dawdlin' and we'd have missed the number two bus!"

Before Pei Tingyun could say anything.

Gu Lin was already so distraught that he wanted to pinch the acupoint beneath his nose:

"We're taking a plane, not a bus!"

Being brothers with a country bumpkin like Xie Huan felt so embarrassing!

Just standing beside him brought down his own fashion level!

Xie Huan smacked Gu Lin on top of the head:

"What's wrong with you, you little brat? You ain't got a single humor germ in you! Don't tell people you're my little brother when you go out! Embarrassin'!"

Gu Lin was furious!

He sharply knocked away the hand Xie Huan had smacked his head with:

"You think I'm embarrassing?! I think you're embarrassing! As if anyone wants to be your little brother! Stay away from me!"

With that, Gu Lin angrily shoved Xie Huan.

At the sight, Pei Tingyun's eyes lit up.

He hurriedly stepped aside.

His face vividly said, "Leave me out of your brotherly fight."

At last, he had seized a chance to escape the hand Xie Huan kept draping over his shoulders.

However...