Gu Shiyue didn’t speak, nor did he let go of his hand. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Jiang Luo lowered his eyes. For some reason, he didn’t dare to meet Gu Shiyue’s gaze. He stammered, “I… it’s fine, it… it’s okay to wear if it’s a little bit big.”
Jiang Luo’s ears were already bright red. He had fair skin, so any change in complexion was obvious. That flush spread from the roots of his ears to the back of his neck, and without a collar to hide it, it was all laid bare.
A light sound of footsteps echoed in the room. Mian Tuan came waddling in from outside, rubbed its body between their legs, stood between them, and tilted its head, letting out a sweet, coquettish meow.
The old cat had separated the two of them, breaking the subtle atmosphere that had settled in the room.
Gu Shiyue looked down at him. Mian Tuan plopped down right there, solid and heavy, pressing onto Jiang Luo’s instep, and lifted a paw to lick it.
Jiang Luo took a step back, and Gu Shiyue let go of his hand. Once back at a normal social distance, Jiang Luo’s body, which had been stiff the entire time, finally relaxed. He raised his hand and quickly rubbed his burning ears.
The atmosphere was truly strange, and Jiang Luo felt that he was even stranger; he didn’t know what he was panicking about. He quickly took off his jacket, folded it casually, and placed it on the chair next to him. “Senior, I… I have a tutoring session I need to get to soon, so… I’ll go ahead and leave first.”
With that, Jiang Luo turned and left.
“Did you eat the cake?” Gu Shiyue asked him.
“No… not yet,” Jiang Luo said, pausing his steps. “I was planning to take it home to eat.”
“Mm, don’t forget to take it.”
Jiang Luo hurried to the kitchen fridge to get the cake. As soon as he closed the fridge door and turned around, Gu Shiyue was standing right at the kitchen doorway.
“I’ll see you out,” Gu Shiyue said.
Jiang Luo quickly replied, “No… no need! It’s not far.”
“Are you in a rush?”
“Not in a rush,” Jiang Luo shook his head.
Gu Shiyue crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe: “I can see that you are in a rush.”
“No… I’m not,” Jiang Luo’s voice grew softer. “I just wanted to go a little earlier.”
“Mm,” Gu Shiyue nodded. “Go on then.”
As if granted amnesty, Jiang Luo walked quickly to the entryway, put on his shoes in a blur, opened the door, and left.
Jiang Luo had worked himself into a sweat of anxiety. Once outside, he took a deep breath. The elevator was right there; he walked over and pressed the button, then stared blankly at the floor indicator lights on the wall.
With a “ding,” the light went on and the doors opened, snapping Jiang Luo back to reality.
Jiang Luo first returned to school to drop off the cake in his dorm before heading to the student’s home. The student he tutored was a high schooler, a boy, just starting his freshman year. His family was very well-off, and he was a quintessential young master. The young master was the same age as Jiang Chen, and Jiang Luo always had a big-brother mindset toward him. However, his personality was the polar opposite of Jiang Chen’s; he was very extroverted, a total chatterbox—sometimes so talkative that even Jiang Luo struggled to keep up.
During a break while the young master was working on a problem, Jiang Luo glanced at his phone. He had only intended to check the time, but he caught sight of a WeChat message from Gu Shiyue: When does your tutoring end?
Generally, during tutoring, Jiang Luo wouldn’t touch his phone unless there was a special circumstance, and even when he had free time, he rarely touched it. Today, it seemed like a special situation, so he picked up his phone and quickly replied to Gu Shiyue.
Jiang Luo: Nine o’clock.
Gu Shiyue: Where is the tutoring?
Jiang Luo: Why?
Gu Shiyue: Location.
Jiang Luo couldn’t chat much with Gu Shiyue, so he just sent his location directly.
The moment he put his phone down, the young master next to him spoke up: “Did you fall in love, Brother?”
Jiang Luo turned to look at him. The young master was curling his lips, smiling mischievously.
“What kind of messy thoughts are in your head?” Jiang Luo laughed. “Focus on your problems.”
“I am focusing,” the young master replied, looking down at the next question. “It’s just that this is the first time I’ve seen you use your phone while tutoring me; it’s a bit rare.”
“I was just replying to a message.”
“A message to your girlfriend?”
“No.” Jiang Luo tapped his head lightly with the cap of his pen. “Why are you so gossipy at such a young age?”
“It’s precisely because I’m young that I’m gossipy. Isn’t it normal for someone my age to be gossipy?” The young master turned to look at him, smiling as he asked, “Am I annoying?”
Jiang Luo replied, “Yes, you’re annoying.”
The young master chuckled: “Isn’t your younger brother annoying? We’re all annoying at this age.”
Jiang Luo had mentioned to him before that he had a younger brother the same age. Jiang Luo said, “My brother isn’t annoying. He’s much more well-behaved than you.”
The young master clicked his tongue, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “Is he as handsome as me?”
The young master was indeed quite handsome, otherwise, he wouldn’t have the confidence to ask that. Jiang Luo was amused by him: “Hard to say.”
“Just tell the truth.”
Jiang Luo was very fair about it: “Both are handsome, just not the same type of handsome.”
“Master of diplomacy, aren’t you?” The young master twirled his pen. He knew Jiang Luo was being modest; whether his brother was handsome could be determined just by looking at how good-looking the older brother was. “Bring him to see me sometime.”
“He’s back in our hometown, I can’t bring him.”
“It’s just a high-speed train ride away.”
“We’ll see if there’s a chance.” The topic had drifted, so Jiang Luo quickly pulled it back: “Alright, alright, concentrate on your problems, Little Ancestor.”
The young master lived in a villa. After the tutoring finished, he accompanied Jiang Luo to the door as usual. This was required by his mother, and the young master himself had a very good relationship with Jiang Luo, having endless topics to discuss. During the walk to the door, he could chat about everything under the sun.
Jiang Luo smiled to himself, thinking that if he ever met Jiang Chen, with Jiang Chen being such a quiet little shut-in, he would probably be annoyed to death by this little chatterbox.
The young master pressed the switch on the wall, and the automatic iron gate slowly opened. Not far from the entrance, a car was parked. The moment the gate opened, a middle-aged man stepped out from the passenger seat—dressed in a suit and tie, with a tall, upright stature.
Jiang Luo watched as the man walked toward him, stopping two meters away, and asked, “Excuse me, are you Mr. Jiang Luo?”
Jiang Luo nodded, a bit dazed.
The other party bowed slightly: “Hello, Mr. Jiang. I am the butler from Mr. Gu Shiyue’s residence. I am here to pick you up.”
Jiang Luo was stunned: “Bu… butler? To pick me up?”
“Yes,” the butler nodded slightly. “I am responsible for taking you back to your school.”
This was a high-end villa district with very strict security; outside vehicles couldn’t enter or leave at will unless they belonged to an owner who held property here.
The young master turned to look at Jiang Luo: “…Brother, are you here to experience how the other half lives?”
Jiang Luo said, “…No.”
The young master looked at the butler with suspicion and pulled Jiang Luo slightly: “Wait, Brother, don’t go yet.” He muttered in a low voice: “This wouldn’t be a scammer, right…”
The butler directly took out his phone and handed it to Jiang Luo with both hands, showing him his WeChat messages with Gu Shiyue. After proving his identity, the butler asked, “Mr. Jiang, do you have any other questions? Do you need me to make a call to Mr. Gu?”
Jiang Luo shook his head immediately: “No need.”
“Very well.” The butler took back his phone. “Then please, get in the car.”
The driver opened the door for Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo sat in the backseat and noticed three large shopping bags placed on the seat.
The butler got into the car and turned his head to ask: “Mr. Jiang, are you going directly back to your school, or do you have somewhere else to go?”
Jiang Luo was still in a daze: “…I’m going back to school.”
“Understood.” The butler glanced at the shopping bags on the seat and said, “These are the outdoor sports equipment that Mr. Gu instructed me to prepare for you.”
Jiang Luo froze for a second.
“Please try them on when you get back to see if they fit. If they don’t, you can contact me directly.” The butler handed him a business card. “My contact information is on here.”
“Can these… be returned?” Jiang Luo asked. “Senior… could you tell Mr. Gu for me?”
“I’m very sorry, but they cannot be returned,” the butler said. “These were purchased specifically according to your measurements. Mr. Gu said that if you feel they aren’t suitable, you can contact him directly to discuss it.”
Jiang Luo pursed his lips and had no choice but to take the business card from the butler: “…Alright then. Thank you, I’m sorry for the trouble.”
The butler smiled slightly: “It is my duty.”
The butler’s main purpose for this trip was to deliver the items to Jiang Luo, with the added task of taking him back to school. After registration, the car drove directly into the school and dropped Jiang Luo off at his dormitory building.
The butler got out of the car, intending to help Jiang Luo carry the shopping bags upstairs, but Jiang Luo quickly said, “No, no, I can carry them by myself.”
The butler didn’t insist, bowed his head, and said, “Very well, I will be taking my leave then. If you have any needs, you can contact me directly.”
Jiang Luo bowed back to him: “Thank you for the trouble.”
“You are too kind, it is exactly what I should do.”
Jiang Luo carried the large and small bags into the dorm. His roommate, whose bed was closest to the door, let out a “Wow”: “Did you go to the mall? Bought so many things?”
Jiang Luo gave a vague “Mm,” and carried the shopping bags to his desk.
The roommate spotted the logo on the shopping bags immediately. They were all famous brands—high-end outdoor gear—and they weren’t cheap.
The roommate sighed: “So lavish, all big brands.”
Another person added, “Are you kidding? Our Luo is a famous internet personality after all; surely he has that kind of wealth?”
Jiang Luo didn’t know how to respond to that. Even if he had the money, he couldn’t bear to buy such expensive brands. Any money he had, he saved for Jiang Chen; he was very stingy with himself.
Jiang Luo sat on his chair, holding his phone with both hands, his eyes fixed straight at the screen.
He still hadn’t sent a message to Gu Shiyue. Thinking back to how awkward it was trying on the clothes at Gu Shiyue’s place earlier, and then leaving in such a rush, he didn’t know what had come over him; he still felt quite awkward even now.
Or rather, perhaps it wasn’t awkwardness, but a form of inexplicable guilty conscience.
The winding thoughts in Jiang Luo’s mind were tangled together, impossible to cut through or straighten out. Suddenly, his phone vibrated, startling him.
Seeing the caller ID, Jiang Luo sat up straight, holding the phone.
He tapped the screen, answering the call: “Se… Senior.”
“Did you try on the clothes?” Gu Shiyue asked on the other end of the line.
“Not… yet, I’m going to try them on right now.”
“Mm.”
“Then Senior… I’ll hang up now.”
“No need to hang up,” Gu Shiyue said. “Try them on now, and tell me once you’re done.”
“…Mm, okay.” Jiang Luo placed his phone on the desk and opened the shopping bags to take a look. Inside was a full set of outdoor sports gear, and the other bag contained a pair of hiking boots.
Jiang Luo put on the clothes and shoes. Because he was still on the call and could see Gu Shiyue’s name on the screen, Jiang Luo had a disorienting feeling that Gu Shiyue was right there in front of him, watching him change.
The memory of trying on clothes at Gu Shiyue’s place earlier flashed through his mind, and as he changed, his ears turned red for no apparent reason. After changing, he hesitantly picked up his phone, placed it to his ear, and his voice sounded surprisingly hoarse when he spoke: “Se… Senior, I’ve finished changing.”
“Mm.” Gu Shiyue was leaning on his bed reading a book, his phone on speakerphone next to his pillow. He looked at the content of the book and asked Jiang Luo, “Do the clothes and shoes fit?”
“They… they fit.”
“What’s wrong with your throat? Why does your voice sound so hoarse?”
Jiang Luo cleared his throat: “I… I don’t know.”
“Is that so?” Gu Shiyue turned a page, saying casually, “I’m not by your side right now and I’m not watching you, yet you feel uncomfortable just trying on some clothes?”
Jiang Luo was stunned, then lowered his head. He pulled the jacket zipper all the way to the top, burying his nose into the collar, his voice muffled by the clothes: “I… I don’t… I didn’t…”
“You didn’t?” Gu Shiyue raised an eyebrow. “You’ve already started stuttering.”