“What? Say that again?” Xuan Congnan blurted out in shock.
Gu Shi deliberately repeated the words with emphasis: “Marry me.”
His gaze was resolute, without a hint of a joke. Xuan Congnan even felt that the eyes fixed on his face carried a sense of premeditation.
Looking closer, however, the anomaly flooding his mind vanished. It must have been a trick of the imagination.
“I meant helping you with a small favor,” Xuan Congnan said, suddenly feeling nervous. “For instance, if I come back to keep you company for lunch in the future, I won’t accept your money, and you don’t need to keep transferring 2,000 yuan to me.”
“Oh,” Gu Shi lowered his gaze and said quietly, “That won’t be necessary.”
Deciding against helping altogether, Xuan Congnan gave up decisively. “Then I suppose there’s nothing else I can.”
“Marry me,” Gu Shi said.
Meeting Xuan Congnan’s utterly bewildered gaze, he seemed to realize how abrupt he sounded and hastily added, “Not for real. A contract marriage. You help me handle my family, and I’ll pay you 10 million after a year.”
“Ten million?!” Xuan Congnan nearly leaped out of his seat and blurted out.
Gu Shi nodded. “Mm!”
Then, intensifying his tone with absolute conviction, he said, “Yes.”
The old hen soup before him was no longer just soup; every time Xuan Congnan looked at it, it seemed to transform into bundles of cash totaling 10 million.
It tempted him to say yes to Gu Shi.
A woman’s voice suddenly rang out in the living room, startling Xuan Congnan into looking up.
It was Gu Shi’s phone.
Gu Shi pushed the phone, which was currently playing a voice message, toward Xuan Congnan. “My mom is pushing me to get married. Really, see for yourself. Listen.”
“Son, you’re not getting any younger this year, why aren’t you married yet? Back when I was your age, you were already several years old. If you still can’t find a partner, when you come home for the New Year I’m going to set you up on blind dates, or else don’t bother coming home at all.”
“Oh, let me tell you, Aunt Dou’s son seems really nice. When you have time, come back and meet him. I know you’re busy with work usually, but you also have to consider settling down and starting a family; don’t keep your father and me worrying and stressing all the time.”
“A few days ago, your brother wanted to get into puppy love, which is just outrageous, he even wanted to kiss someone, Mom! I didn’t! Shh, you don’t speak first. Let me tell you, your father and I caught his puppy love red-handed, and we lectured him. I’m telling you this because your brother is only 16, and he’s already almost got a sweetheart, so why don’t you?”
“Do you want Mom to lie awake all night worrying about you being single? You have to get married this year!”
Gu Shi stopped the audio playback and said, “If I don’t get married, she won’t let me come home.”
Xuan Congnan: “…”
Gu Shi said, “Help me out.”
Helping someone with a problem builds more merit than building a seven-story pagoda. Xuan Congnan picked up his spoon, gently tapped the bottom of the bowl of old hen soup, and asked quietly, “Ten million?”
Gu Shi was unwavering. “Ten million.”
Xuan Congnan: “Is there a contract?”
“That’s right,” Gu Shi said.
“A one-year term?”
“That’s right.”
The old hen soup was growing cold. Xuan Congnan scooped a spoonful of soup, thought quietly for a moment, and suddenly asked, “Do we need to have sex?”
Gu Shi’s pupils dilated slightly, and he was speechless for a long time.
Xuan Congnan frowned with a hint of regret. “If that’s required, then I won’t…”
“No,” Gu Shi said, clearing his throat before lowering his voice to repeat, “A contract marriage. Not for real.”
“Alright,” Xuan Congnan said instantly.
Holding his breath, Gu Shi asked, “You agree?”
“Mm,” Xuan Congnan said. “I’m willing to help you.”
The sunset glow painting he had finished a while back had been taken home by Gu Shi before the move. Xuan Congnan still remembered that when Gu Shi bought it for 52,000, he had said he wanted to give it to his lover in the future.
Now it seemed Gu Shi couldn’t be with that lover just yet, otherwise why wouldn’t he simply bring the person he liked back home?
Did he really need to resort to a fake marriage with him?
The contract was drawn up in duplicate. Xuan Congnan told Gu Shi they could handle it tomorrow since it wasn’t going anywhere, but Gu Shi refused, drafting and printing the contract overnight as if afraid Xuan Congnan would change his mind by morning.
Xuan Congnan and Gu Shi signed their names in the spaces for Party B and Party A, respectively.
And so, starting tonight, Xuan Congnan suddenly gained a partner, albeit a fake one. When he looked at Gu Shi again, he couldn’t help feeling a little awkward.
“Should I, um, go back to sleep then?” Xuan Congnan pointed toward his bedroom.
Gu Shi conscientiously put away the two copies of the contract and said, “Alright. Good night, Congnan.”
Xuan Congnan smiled slightly. “Good night, Gu Shi.”
The moment Xuan Congnan stepped into his bedroom, Gu Shi pulled out his phone.
He sent a message to the contact saved as “Ms. Meng.”
Gu Shi: Thanks, Mom.
Ms. Meng: It worked out?!
Gu Shi: Not yet.
Above the several voice messages sent by Meng Xiaozhu in the chat interface was a single message from Gu Shi.
Gu Shi: Mom, nag me about getting married.
Ms. Meng was puzzled: Nag who?
Gu Shi: Me.
Still confused but lacking the curiosity to press further, Ms. Meng replied: Just wait for it.
Back at the Gu household, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy was rolling around on the sofa hugging a pillow, wailing miserably, “Why did you have to bring up puppy love just because you were nagging him to get married? I didn’t kiss anyone! I’m not doing puppy love!”
Meng Xiaozhu reasoned with him, “A white lie—you just have to say it when the situation calls for it.”
Gu Yishang, who had been reviewing documents in the study, opened the door upon hearing the commotion downstairs. Looking down from the second floor, he asked alertly, “Gu Jian is doing puppy love?”
“Ahhh, I didn’t!” Gu Jian rolled around even more frantically, tumbling right off the sofa and landing flat on his backside. “Ow. my delicate, tender rear end.”
“Stop rolling around like that, be careful,” Meng Xiaozhu hurried over to help him up. “I don’t care, your older brother was the one who asked me to push him about marriage. Go settle accounts with him if you have a problem.”
Gu Jian looked up at Meng Xiaozhu and chuckled mischievously. “You said it yourself, Mom.”
Meng Xiaozhu chuckled right back. “I sure did.”
The next day, five million was deposited into Xuan Congnan’s bank account.
Hard, genuine five million.
Gu Shi explained, “Half is paid in advance, the other half will be given after a year.”
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands…
Hundreds of thousands, millions… Having counted the zeros back and forth five times, Xuan Congnan felt as though he were floating on a cloud, simply unable to believe how easily this money had come to him.
He replied in a daze, “Okay.”
Gu Shi asked, “During the contract marriage, if my mom asks me to bring you home, will you come back with me to meet my parents?”
The obligations Party B had to fulfill were clearly written in yesterday’s agreement, including the requirement that if Party A had need of it, Party B must accompany Party A home to act the part in front of the parents.
“Of course,” Xuan Congnan said.
Calmly putting away his phone to keep himself from staring at the balance any longer, he asked, “Don’t you have work recently?”
“Mm,” Gu Shi said. “My manager booked two commercials for the first half of the year, and I’m shooting them over the next couple of days.”
“Is it in this city?” Xuan Congnan asked.
“In the neighboring city,” Gu Shi said.
“Ah, then running back and forth between the two places is too much of a hassle. You can just stay over there for a couple of days,” Xuan Congnan suggested. “Come back after you’re done.”
Shooting a commercial on the morning of the first day, rushing back in the afternoon, going back for the second shoot on the second day, and coming back in the afternoon, just thinking about it made Xuan Congnan feel exhausted by the commute.
Yet Gu Shi shook his head. “It’s no trouble. I want to come back.”
“Suit yourself,” Xuan Congnan said.
“Mm,” Gu Shi replied.
“When are you leaving?” Xuan Congnan asked.
“Let me check.” Although it was his own work, he seemed completely unfamiliar with his schedule, having to hastily rifle through his phone to check his itinerary when asked.
A moment later, Gu Shi said, “The day after tomorrow.”
“That’s plenty of time,” Xuan Congnan mentally calculated the timeframe and promptly told Gu Shi, “I’ll have a gift for you by then.”
Gu Shi rubbed his fingertips together. “I have a gift?”
Xuan Congnan nodded. “Mm.”
The two branded pure white T-shirts were no longer pure white; deep-sea-like blue pigments had transformed their original appearance.
Whenever he had no classes, Xuan Congnan would hide out in the art studio, painting on the clothes.
On the evening of the second day, he stepped out of the art studio and called out to the person cooking dinner in the kitchen.
“Gu Shi.”
Gu Shi turned his head. “Coming.”
Holding up the garment, Xuan Congnan said, “Come try this on.”
The nocturnal sky was like a dark navy curtain, dotted with sparse starlight across the chest of the shirt, while a dim, warm streetlamp was painted on the back.
Near the lower middle portion of the shirt was painted a lovely flower bed. A tall man wearing a face mask and a cap was seated by the edge of the flower bed, his head tilted slightly upward to gaze at the moon.
Xuan Congnan asked deliberately, “Look familiar?”
Gu Shi stared fixedly at the painting. “It does.”
Echoing the strange remark he had made two months ago, Xuan Congnan decided to say it now: “You said you were waiting for the moon back then, and now I’ve painted the moon down for you.”
Seeing Gu Shi take off his apron right there in the living room and unhesitatingly strip off his upper garment right in front of him, Xuan Congnan froze in blank astonishment. He hurriedly lowered his eyelashes, wanting to scold Gu Shi for not going back to his bedroom to change, only to remember that they were “married” now—though they hadn’t discussed the particulars.
“It fits very well,” Gu Shi said.
Xuan Congnan raised his eyes, watching the light in Gu Shi’s gaze gradually grow satisfied. “Indeed it does.”
Ever since the day they met, no matter what they did, the two of them had always been extremely polite, invariably thanking each other. Having received a gift he had spent days painting, Xuan Congnan expected Gu Shi to say thank you, but the words never came.
After waiting for a long time, Xuan Congnan asked, “Why aren’t you saying thank you to me?”
Having rushed out before dinner was done, the congee had taken on a slightly burnt smell, and Gu Shi was eager to rush back in and salvage it. Remembering he was wearing new clothes, he quickly stripped them off to change back into his old ones, put his apron back on, and hurried back into the kitchen.
“I won’t say it,” Gu Shi answered without looking back. “We’re family.”
Xuan Congnan froze.
Gu Shi continued, “Family doesn’t say thank you.”
“That actually sounds kind of reasonable,” Xuan Congnan muttered, sinking back onto the sofa to count his balance happily. Suppressing a smile, he said, “You’re right.”
Two days prior, the president fan club leader had published Gu Shi’s schedule. Upon arriving in the neighboring city, everyone present right off the train noticed that today’s Gu Shi was different from usual.
Aside from collaborations dictated by client requests, his usual dressing style was quite rigid, devoid of embellishments and invariably dominated by black and white. Today, however, he was dressed flashily, with striking artwork adorning the front and back of his shirt.
Fans wanting the exact same brand immediately long-pressed their cameras, searching for his outfit to see which label it was from.
No matching items found.
There wasn’t even a knockoff substitute!
Refusing to believe it, one fan called out, “Gu Shi!”
Whenever he heard his name in the past, Gu Shi would merely glance over and give a polite wave, but today he actually responded: “Mm.”
“Ahhhhh—Gu Shi!” the fan shouted excitedly. “Your outfit is so full of personality!”
“Thank you,” Gu Shi said. “A friend painted it.”
“No wonder I couldn’t find the same one! Is your friend super talented at painting? Is that painted on you? That’s you, right?!”
Some fans noticed that besides the shirt, Gu Shi’s attire today matched the outfit of the figure sitting by the flower bed in the oil painting.
“It’s me,” Gu Shi said.
“Ahhhhh it looks so good! Will there be a released version? Will they sell replicas?! Will they definitely sell replicas?! I want to buy one! Let me buy one!”
“There won’t be a replica,” the eyes above Gu Shi’s face mask suddenly turned indifferent. Gone was the peacock displaying its feathers; he said with cold ruthlessness, “It’s just for me.”