If you want to write about personal charisma, you can’t just write about charisma.
You had to write about the loneliness of the world after his death.
You had to write about the tear his rival shed for him.
——Written by Xia Lening.
Xia Lening was deeply moved by his own charisma.
So moved that even Gu Yucheng had shed a tear of regret over his talent.
He patted Gu Yucheng on the knee.
“I misunderstood you, Gu-surnamed. Even though you’re not a great person, your taste isn’t bad.”
“I apologize for my past contempt toward your judgment.”
“Xia Lening.”
Mm, I’m here. If you’ve got some emotional last words, hurry up and say them.
“If you really die,” Gu Yucheng said coolly, his voice completely devoid of the earlier emotion of crying, “I’ll post your secret from high school in the class group chat—that you stayed up late studying while sleeping in class to maintain a ‘genius persona.’”
Xia Lening silently withdrew his paw and scratched his head.
Damn. Was that just Gu Yucheng’s spit earlier?!
Only idiots can’t control their saliva!
“If you really die,” Gu Yucheng continued, “I’ll post your childhood photos of you wearing dresses on the school wall.”
Gu Yucheng, you bastard! You said you deleted those!
“If you really die,” he went on, “I’ll tell your goddess that you once shaved your own hair and accidentally shaved off your eyebrows.”
Get lost—that was performance art!
Also, when did I even have a goddess? That’s slander!
Xia Lening hopped around furiously and finally found Gu Yucheng’s finger.
He sank his sharp little canine teeth into it.
Gu Yucheng snapped back to attention and finally remembered there was a palm-sized cat in the room.
“No wonder it got influenced after being raised by Xia Lening for three days. Its temper is exactly the same as his.”
That statement was very misleading.
It made it sound like the cat had originally belonged to Gu Yucheng and was only borrowed by Xia Lening for three days.
In reality, the cat had been picked up by Xia Lening on the roadside, and at most, Gu Yucheng had just been the driver who took them to the pet hospital.
Through the rearview mirror, Gu Yucheng had seen the unconscious cat wrapped in Xia Lening’s coat—and a strange, subtle jealousy had risen in his heart.
Xia Lening was good to everyone.
Except him.
“Hungry?” Gu Yucheng stood up and carried the cat into the living room. “Luckily, your owner bought you plenty of food.”
Even the doctor had said it couldn’t be saved—but Xia Lening had insisted on saving it.
He had even bought a pile of expensive cat beds and cat food and filled his home with them.
A rich young master with more money than sense.
“Lots of flavors. You can choose,” Gu Yucheng said, crouching down and staring at him. “The birthday gift he gave me was also just randomly picked from this pile of cat food trash.”
And yet he had the nerve to say he would rather die than attend his birthday party.
Gu Yucheng wished he could travel back to the day before his birthday, chain Xia Lening to his bed, and never let him step outside.
If Xia Lening wanted to hate him, then so be it. It was better than receiving news of his death on his birthday.
Gu Yucheng’s expression darkened further.
Xia Lening couldn’t help but take a step back.
Was it really that serious? He had always been perfunctory with Gu Yucheng’s birthday gifts anyway. If his mother hadn’t insisted that they were family friends and it would be impolite, he would have loved to stamp Gu Yucheng’s face with shoeprints.
What was wrong with cat food cans anyway?
If Gu Yucheng ever wanted to raise a cat in the future, it would even save him money.
Gu Yucheng lowered his gaze and opened a can of cat food. “That expression is too similar. He also looks like this when he’s guilty.”
Who’s guilty?!
Xia Lening stood up straight, baring his teeth in protest.
But Gu Yucheng looked away and walked to the balcony, ignoring him completely.
Xia Lening rolled his eyes and muttered, “Who even wants to talk to you.”
Then he buried his head in the food.
Crunch, crunch, crunch—who invented cat food? It was seriously delicious.
While he was happily eating his high-end cat food, Gu Yucheng returned with a cold aura and the smell of smoke.
Xia Lening looked up in surprise.
So Gu Yucheng really was pretending. What “good student”? He was secretly smoking behind everyone’s back.
Gu Yucheng’s phone rang. He answered, tossed it onto the table, and leaned back on the sofa, exposing a razor-sharp jawline.
The voice on the other end came through clearly. Xia Lening recognized it—it was Gu Yucheng’s friend, Ouyang Xun.
“Brother Gu, coming out for drinks?”
“Brother Gu? You okay?”
“Alright,” Gu Yucheng replied flatly. “Where?”
“Liuguang.”
At that, Xia Lening perked up immediately.
Liuguang. Who didn’t know that was not a proper bar?
From their tone, it was clearly a regular hangout spot.
So Gu Yucheng… was actually a frequent visitor to places like this.
Smoking, drinking, Liuguang regular—what a hidden side.
Xia Lening felt like following Gu Yucheng home had been the right decision.
Gu Yucheng held all his blackmail material, yet he had absolutely nothing on Gu Yucheng. Not his fault—this guy just hid it too well.
He needed to collect evidence while he was still a cat.
Black, gray, whatever—bring it all on.
In just a few hours, he had already discovered so much: smoking, drinking, Liuguang, sitting in a dark room without lights like some ghost.
Of course, none of this was truly serious—but it felt wildly out of place for someone like Gu Yucheng, who had always been “other people’s child.”
Still, this wasn’t enough.
He needed to go to Liuguang and hear something more explosive.
Just as Gu Yucheng grabbed a jacket and car keys and prepared to leave—
Xia Lening rushed forward with his uncoordinated little limbs and hugged his ankle.
Take me, take me!
Gu Yucheng crouched down and pushed him away with a single finger. “Eat your food. Don’t bother me.”
He was actually pushed away by one finger…
Ignoring his humiliation, Xia Lening immediately clung onto that finger instead.
Cat food couldn’t compare to gossip!
“Tch, this cat…”
Gu Yucheng suddenly met those stubborn cat eyes, and the words he was about to say got stuck in his throat.
So similar.
That stubborn, shameless, mischievous gaze full of bad ideas.
Gu Yucheng couldn’t refuse.
He sighed and stuffed the cat into his jacket pocket.
Since he had been the one to insist on raising it, he might as well take it along. It would get bored and fall asleep anyway.
And so, Xia Lening was successfully taken to Liuguang.
Blinding neon lights, deafening screams, and writhing “giants” made the cat panic.
He covered his ears and shrank into the pocket.
Getting blackmail material was not easy at all.
Luckily, Ouyang Xun had chosen a booth far from the stage.
The moment Gu Yucheng sat down, Xia Lening jumped out of his pocket, shook his head, and took a deep breath of slightly stale air.
“Hey, you even have a cat?” Ouyang Xun asked in shock.
“His,” Gu Yucheng replied flatly.
He didn’t explain who “he” was, but everyone understood.
Ouyang Xun immediately fell silent.
He suddenly thought of the recent novel scenario his girlfriend had been obsessively talking about—what if the only thing an ex left behind was a living child?
Now it was his turn to ask:
What if the only thing an ex left behind was a living cat?
He didn’t think Xia Xiaoyao would allow anything belonging to Xia Lening to end up in someone else’s hands.
This was most likely taken by force by Gu Yucheng.
That thought made him break into a cold sweat.
Unfortunately, there was always someone ignorant enough to stir trouble.
“So have you heard? The Xia family’s young master got into a highway accident.”
Gu Yucheng drank silently, not reacting.
Ouyang Xun was sweating profusely—he had forgotten these idiots thought the two didn’t get along!
Xia Lening was confused. So this whole place was just here to spread his own gossip?
He kicked Gu Yucheng.
Ouyang Xun coughed loudly. “Let’s not talk about this in a bar.”
But someone else, trying to curry favor, kept going.
“I heard that young master was actually going to the airport that day—”
Bang!
Gu Yucheng slammed his glass onto the table.
The booth fell silent instantly.
Everyone exchanged nervous glances and stopped talking.
Only Ouyang Xun, who knew the truth, forced a laugh while regretting everything—why did he invite so many people?!
Everyone knew.
That day, Xia Lening had been going to pick up his “white moonlight” at the airport.
On Gu Yucheng’s birthday.
Airport pickup for a white moonlight, refusing to attend the birthday party, and then dying in a car crash.
Any one of these was explosive.
Who would dare speak?
The atmosphere turned strange and tense.
Then, suddenly—
“Bang.”
Gu Yucheng set down his glass again.
Silence deepened.
Someone tried again, unaware of the situation:
“I also heard that he was going to—”
“Enough.”
Gu Yucheng’s voice was cold.
The room froze.
No one spoke again.
Only silence remained, and all discussion about Xia Lening was carefully avoided.
Meanwhile, the real Xia Lening was completely stunned.
Wait—he had only been planning to go to Hangzhou to watch his idol’s esports match.
Was that really such a big deal?
Why had it turned into some tacitly understood secret?
And—
Was Gu Yucheng upset because he didn’t get a ticket?