Gu Daosheng: …
The food caught between his chopsticks fell with a pia.
Gu Daosheng quickly reached out to catch it, then hurriedly stuffed it into his mouth, saying: Can’t waste food…
At this moment, he was no longer afraid of being poisoned, and he forgot all about the hidden ingredients in the dishes prepared by Lou Guangrui, besides, today’s breakfast was prepared by Lou Hongchen. Could a stepson harm him?
Gu Daosheng acted exactly as he did when pretending he couldn’t see the ghost infant, he pretended he hadn’t heard Lou Hongchen’s words at all.
The sheer volume of information was overwhelming; how could he possibly respond? He wasn’t the real Gu Daosheng anyway.
All he could do was eat while organizing his thoughts on the situation.
Lou Hongchen and Lou Guangrui, both in love with the exact same person.
Originally, Gu Daosheng was Lou Hongchen’s young lover. Both were around eighteen years old, matching perfectly in age and appearance, a match made in heaven.
However, Lou Guangrui intervened, forcing his way in and stealing the lover away. Not only did Lou Hongchen suffer the tragic loss of his love, but his beloved had now become his stepmother.
Furthermore, Lou Guangrui seemed entirely unaware that Lou Hongchen and Gu Daosheng already knew each other.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told Lou Hongchen this morning that they were all family from now on, suggesting they get acquainted.
Or could it be…
Was this old pervert, who stole his own son’s young lover, doing it completely on purpose?
Gu Daosheng racked his brain trying to sort out this tangled web of relationships. The more he analyzed it, the more shocked he became, devoid of any indecent or inappropriate thoughts.
Before long, his mental capacity couldn’t handle the overloaded information, leaving him utterly at a loss for what to do.
Yet he had no idea that his quiet, head-bowed stance appeared entirely different in Lou Hongchen’s eyes.
As a stepmother, inviting his stepson for breakfast was an overstepping boundary; feeding his stepson food was an entirely improper gesture; pulling his hand back abruptly upon hearing a question about their past relationship looked just like a cover-up; and slipping into silence seemed as though he were reminiscing about the past, a past belonging solely to the two of them.
Every single one of Gu Daosheng’s movements took on a unique, nuanced meaning in Lou Hongchen’s mind.
Slowly and deliberately tempting someone to fall into error.
Lou Hongchen: Sheng-sheng…
The voice contained both testing and pleading. He longed to draw closer, yet lacked the courage, reduced to a humble, low stance as he softly called his lover’s name, hoping for pity.
They used to be so happy before.
Hearing it, Gu Daosheng’s heart softened… How could a stepson speak to his stepmother in such a tone?
Yet Lou Hongchen truly was pitiable. His lover had been stolen away, and the thief was his own birth father; even Gu Daosheng couldn’t help feeling compassion for him.
Just as he was about to say something, the ghost infant, who had been trying to assert his presence from both inside and outside the doorway for quite a while, finally lost his patience.
No longer hopping back and forth across the threshold, the ghost infant slipped straight into the living room. In Gu Daosheng’s peripheral vision, the ghost infant hitched up his pant legs, which were about to be stepped on, and ran around on his short little legs, moving so fast he blurred into a black-and-white streak.
Seeing that his provocation had failed, the ghost infant’s white hair, which was originally smooth, long enough to pass his shoulders, and draped down his back, suddenly came alive. Without any wind, it twisted and floated wildly toward the sky, looking exactly as it did when Gu Daosheng first encountered him.
So this was his puffed-up, enraged state.
Even a porcupine couldn’t bristle as much as he did.
Gu Daosheng, who had felt foolish for failing to catch the ghost infant earlier, was secretly delighted. Who said he was being played for a fool?
Clearly, this little brat bristled and trembled with fear every time he was chased.
I’m right here! The ghost infant stood at the doorway, clenching his small fists and stomping his feet in anger, jumping three feet high in defiance. Little brat, can’t you see me?!
Gu Daosheng saw him and heard him, but didn’t grant him a single glance.
Don’t ignore me! You villain!
The villain twitched his nose, scoffed in disdain, and continued ignoring him.
Speaking of which, the ghost infant and Gu Daosheng had met about seven days ago through a spooky encounter.
Gu Daosheng was born on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month at exact noon, the time his master found him. Popular folklore held that exact noon was the hour with the strongest presence of yin energy in a day.
He possessed an extremely rare and heavy yin fate structure. As a child, he loved nothing more than bothering the wandering spirits on the mountain to play with him.
Children were easily frightened. Back when he could barely walk steadily, he had to endure male ghosts making grotesque, perverse faces at him, scaring him into howling and crying as he ran all over the mountain searching for his master; he also had to endure female ghosts using their bizarre poking techniques, pressing into his small cheeks until they collapsed and bounced back, all while satisfied giggles echoed in his ears.
Having lived eighteen years, the thing Gu Daosheng hated most was ghosts scaring people.
Startling people out of nowhere, it was infuriating!
When a Taoist master turned eighteen, they had to descend the mountain alone for trial and training, which was a form of spiritual cultivation. Gu Daosheng had been counting down the days and eagerly anticipating it.
Then, his anticipation brought forth a white-haired, puffed-up little ghost with yin-yang eyes, who set out to scare him.
He was a newcomer he had never seen on the mountain before.
At that time, bathed in the light of the rising morning sun, Gu Daosheng had just huffed and puffed his way to the top of a tree. Standing lightly on a branch between heaven and earth, he was posing dramatically as if he were supreme in the world.
The ghost infant suddenly burst out from the leaves, yelling, You must be the one who dug up my grave! His two pale, ghostly hands grabbed onto Gu Daosheng’s pant legs. The poorly trained young Taoist master panicked so severely that his legs slipped; scrambling to hold onto his belt, he tumbled awkwardly toward the ground.
Ahhhh, he shrieked the whole way down.
If he hadn’t used a talisman correctly at the critical moment, the force of the impact would have slammed a human-shaped crater into the earth.
Gu Daosheng spat out the grass in his mouth, scrambled to his feet to seek revenge, and prepared to pierce the ghost infant through with his golden coin sword to teach him respect for a Taoist master’s authority.
Then, his master, that overly soft-hearted old man, descended from the sky to stop Gu Daosheng, saying: Little child, don’t carry such heavy hostility. This little ghost is only two or three years old and cannot withstand such great wrath. One strike of your sword, and his soul might scatter completely, leaving him unable to reincarnate ever again.
Gu Daosheng stomped his foot: He scared me first! I’m just getting revenge!
The ghost infant yelled: You’re clearly the one who dug up my grave! My tombstone is gone! You’re the only kid around here, and kids are all mischievous!
The master smiled warmly: You see? Digging up someone’s grave, that really isn’t right.
Gu Daosheng felt so unjustly accused he wished a bolt of heavenly thunder would strike all three of them dead so none of them had to live: I didn’t dig it! I’m totally fine and not sick; why on earth would I dig up his grave?!
He didn’t even know where the grave was.
The wandering spirits on the mountain were all discarded there or died there accidentally; where would there be graves?
To be blamed for digging a grave for no reason was such an unfair accusation. Gu Daosheng refused to take the blame, so the very first thing he did after descending the mountain was chase the ghost infant everywhere.
Now that he was off the mountain, his master couldn’t meddle anymore.
Ha.
This ghost infant was playful by nature. Even knowing they shared a past grudge, he still annoyingly sought out the young Taoist master. Likely because they had inhabited the same mountain, this trait made him quite similar to Gu Daosheng.
Look at me right now! The ghost infant was still squawking and screaming over there. He ran when chased, but came out to show off whenever he wasn’t being pursued. Look at me! Look at me! You little brat!
What’s the rush? Once I catch you, there will be plenty of time to look at you… Gu Daosheng had only one mind and couldn’t divide his attention. Since childhood, he had a restless and distracted nature; when picking wild fruits, he would think of hunting pheasants, and when hunting pheasants, he would think of climbing trees. Just like that, he completely forgot about Lou Hongchen. Out of the corner of his eye, seeing the ghost infant flailing his hands and dancing around, he could barely suppress a laugh.
Lou Hongchen was a mortal of flesh and blood and could not see the ghost infant, so he naturally had no idea how hilarious the scene in Gu Daosheng’s eyes was.
Seeing his stepmother maintaining a calm silence, he probably still believed his former lover was reminiscing about the past.
And as he reminisced, he actually smiled.
, Hey! What are you doing?! Don’t do anything reckless! Suddenly, Gu Daosheng’s expression changed dramatically. He leaped up from his chair to stop the ghost infant, who, failing in his provocations, had turned to the extreme measure of taking off his pants.
He instantly remembered the ugly man outside the Lou family gate, whose head had been bitten off by the ghost infant, saying the words: She made her two-year-old son wear split-crotch pants to seduce her husband. Being an upright gentleman, Gu Daosheng absolutely could not act like Lou Guangrui.
Gu Daosheng was truly terrified that the ghost infant was wearing split-crotch pants underneath. Panic-stricken, he yelled out with a cracking voice: No taking them off!
Having finally gained his attention, the ghost infant pulled up his decorative small belt, tucked his hands into his pockets, snorted, and arrogantly vanished.
Gu Daosheng: …
The atmosphere suddenly turned dead silent. Gu Daosheng stood in place staring at the empty doorway, while the other person sitting nearby looked up at him with an unblinking, direct gaze.
Lou Hongchen’s hand still rested on a button beneath his shirt collar. No taking them off sounded terribly like a warning aimed at him.
It left him in an impossible position: continuing to unbutton felt improper, unbuttoning after being told not to would make him look vulgar; stopping felt equally wrong, complying immediately would suggest he genuinely harbored improper thoughts, making him look guilty.
Only now did the tangible reality of two people sharing the living room surge back alongside a suffocating wave of embarrassment, leaving Gu Daosheng completely petrified on the spot.
I was just… a bit warm. I didn’t have any other… intention, Lou Hongchen said softly. As if suddenly feeling cold, his thin lips turned considerably pale, covered in a color resembling autumn frost. …I’m sorry.
Sorry that he hadn’t truly realized they were already completely impossible.
Gu Daosheng watched helplessly as Lou Hongchen turned and walked away, stepping onto the unswept shards of glass scattered across the floor, hurriedly fleeing out the door amidst the crunching sounds of something that could never be made whole again.
His tall, imposing yet surprisingly solitary silhouette seemed unable to contain the complex emotions he held for Gu Daosheng, as if his soul were being drained to the point of exhaustion.
Wait, no… Gu Daosheng blinked in confusion. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him, piercing his heart with sharp, stinging pain.
It was Gu Daosheng who was feeling sad.
He loved Lou Hongchen.
What Lou Hongchen said was true.
Gu Daosheng really should have appeared in this household as his wife.
Then… what is your unfulfilled wish? Gu Daosheng murmured to himself with a furrowed brow. Because he was so deeply absorbed, he didn’t even think about breaking out of this spirit-tracing realm, instead closing his eyes to genuinely feel what Gu Daosheng truly desired.
…To be together with Lou Hongchen.
The moment these words, which violated conventional morality, left his mouth, Gu Daosheng snapped back to his senses and spat: Don’t tempt me! How could a stepmother seduce her stepson?!
Gu Daosheng would absolutely never do such a thing!
Besides, Lou Hongchen had left in anger. No one would want to see a former lover who had married their father ever again.
He certainly wouldn’t return in the future.
Unbeknownst to him, this estrangement didn’t even last a single day before Lou Hongchen returned.
And he was remarkably capable.
In the afternoon, as soon as Gu Daosheng caught sight of Lou Hongchen’s figure, he immediately went up to greet him. Fearing he was still bothered by the morning’s incident, he said: I thought you were angry this morning and would never come back again.
Lou Ling and the others haven’t shown up at all, and I haven’t seen a single person. I had no way of knowing where you lived or where to find you.
Not… angry, Lou Hongchen said, his eyes fixated on Gu Daosheng’s face, which had brightened into a smile at his arrival. It was so beautiful. Sheng-sheng didn’t truly have anything to say to him; it was just inconvenient to speak here. It’s my fault for being useless… You don’t need to look for me; I will come to find you.
As long as you’re not angry, that’s fine. Gu Daosheng pointed to his hands and asked: What is this?
A mirror. Lou Hongchen carried a large crate about two meters wide and three meters long, heading into the house as naturally as if entering his own room. Yours broke. Replacing it.
The full-length mirror behind the entrance door was removed like trash and thrown into the garbage bin. Many glass shards were actually still intact and could reflect a person clearly, making Gu Daosheng feel it was quite a waste.
When the brand-new mirror was installed, his attention was instantly captured again as he stepped up to admire his reflection inside.
So handsome, he said sincerely.
There were no mirrors on the mountain; the only small mirror was kept close to his master’s chest like a treasure, never shown to Gu Daosheng. He had grown up unfamiliar with his own face, and only after coming here did he become acquainted with the perfect facial features in the mirror.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this narcissistic.
Mhm. Lou Hongchen looked at the mirror’s surface first, then at the real person. After meeting his gaze, Gu Daosheng offered a bright, toothy grin.
Lou Hongchen immediately turned his eyes away in embarrassment, his ears flushing bright red as he said: My heart… is beating so fast I feel like I might die.
Gu Daosheng: …
His choice of words felt somewhat inappropriate.
Yet, hearing him say that made Gu Daosheng’s heart start pounding wildly as well.
The door is broken too. I’ll repair it, Lou Hongchen said, refusing to let this hesitating, lingeringly ambiguous atmosphere continue, turning away to find other chores to do.
Mm-hmm, repair it then.
Last night… you slept on the sofa. The bed is upstairs.
Oh, right, okay.
This wedding robe, I am going to burn it.
Gu Daosheng didn’t care at all, entirely oblivious to the intense hatred in his stepson’s eyes as he looked at the wedding robe, an endless, raging fire of jealousy that nearly burned through his eyes.
Gu Daosheng walked along the wall, estimating how large the courtyard was. Hearing this, he replied: Burn it, burn it.
My father said he won’t be living here for a while. You can rest assured.
Huh?
You… kicked and injured him.
Hahahahahahaha… Alright, alright, got it, got it.
He worked continuously until the sun set in the west and the sky gradually darkened. Gu Daosheng’s house was rendered virtually spotless.
It was all done by Lou Hongchen.
Lou Hongchen didn’t just do physical labor; he also knew how to attend to his stepmother.
In the breaks between chores, he would either wash an apple or, during a brief rest, clean a bowl of grapes, feeding them all to Gu Daosheng.
Your dad was right. Gu Daosheng pulled off a mandarin orange segment and stuffed it into his mouth, eating ravenously. You really are exceptionally capable.
Unlike him, whose sole accomplishment today was walking back and forth around the courtyard.
Mhm. Lou Hongchen gave a shy smile, rolling his shirt sleeves up a few turns to reveal firm forearms, where bulging, intertwined veins seemed to symbolize absolute physical strength.
Gu Daosheng was somewhat mesmerized watching him, feeling a strong urge to poke them with his finger.
Obsessed. The ghost infant paced back and forth beneath the corridor, shaking his head with a sigh. He had been annoying people all day long just for the sake of it, but Gu Daosheng only broke character when he tried to take off his pants; the rest of the time, he kept pretending he couldn’t see him.
Didn’t Gu Daosheng want to go outside? Didn’t he want to know the Lou family’s secrets?
If it were him, he would certainly want to. The ghost infant felt an intense hatred for the total lack of curiosity in today’s young people.
Gu Daosheng hadn’t talked enough after chatting with Lou Hongchen all afternoon, so he asked: Hongchen, besides the First Wife, how come I haven’t seen the other ten? I was thinking of visiting them all. Didn’t Mr. Lou arrange for us to meet?
Lou Hongchen washed his hands clean and wiped them dry bit by bit with a towel: The Eleventh Young Lady… is in the North Courtyard, not far from here.
What about the other nine?
With this thirsty-for-knowledge expression, he was practically treating Lou Hongchen as an information booth. The ghost infant felt that even if he walked past Gu Daosheng right now and walked back again, this half-baked young Taoist master wouldn’t raise a hand to catch him.
So he actually walked over, pressing right up against Gu Daosheng’s arm, and said maliciously: You think he’s some kind of good person?! How dare you trust his words!
Faster than he thought, Gu Daosheng grabbed the back of his collar, hoisting him into midair with a sly, successful glint in his eyes. Pressing his index and middle fingers together, he tapped them sharply against the back of the ghost infant’s neck.
They are all dead, Lou Hongchen said.
Gu Daosheng’s smile froze: Ah?
Lou Hongchen repeated, enunciating every single word: They… are… all… dead.
A cold shiver ran through Gu Daosheng.
When he grabbed the ghost infant’s collar, he had only raised his hand casually with a very subtle movement. Now that the ghost infant was subdued and unable to move, it wasn’t pulling Gu Daosheng’s hand around frantically in all directions.
In Lou Hongchen’s eyes, Gu Daosheng had likely done nothing more than lift his hand and shake his wrist.
Yet, in today’s dim, somber twilight, Lou Hongchen’s eyes slowly lowered, looking toward Gu Daosheng’s hand. Unwilling to discuss the wives’ matters any further, he asked:
Is this… our child?