“A couple of days ago, when he mentioned he was coming over, I went ahead and told him you had long hair,” Gu Shi explained.
“Oh?” Gu Jian’s hazel eyes darted before curving into a bright smile. “Right!”
Xuan Congnan indicated that he understood. “Mm.”
Gu Jian and Gu Shi didn’t look alike at all. There was no resemblance between them in hair color, eyes, or overall facial features.
Gu Shi’s features were sharp and chiseled, and because he rarely smiled, he usually came across as aloof and unapproachable. Gu Jian, on the other hand, had charming smile lines with corners of his mouth upturned in gentle curves, and beneath a mop of natural chestnut curls were bright, twinkling eyes that seemed to hold stars.
Xuan Congnan offered the first compliment after meeting him: “You’re really cute.”
“See! Brother!” Gu Jian turned to Gu Shi, saying excitedly, “Brother says I’m cute!”
Gu Shi abruptly let go of the back of Gu Jian’s collar, instantly throwing his forward-leaning body off balance. Just as he was about to bump into Xuan Congnan, Gu Shi had already reached out to gently tug his forearm, pulling him out of the collision path.
“Careful,” Xuan Congnan reached out to block him, worried Gu Jian would take a spill.
“Leave him be,” Gu Shi said, also reaching out to block, though he was blocking Xuan Congnan instead.
Warm palms brushed against wrist skin in a fleeting touch, leaving behind a distinct warmth. Gu Shi rubbed his fingertips together, and before turning to walk back into the kitchen, he muttered, “He talks too much, don’t mind him.”
Gu Jian nearly ate dirt, and crossed his arms with a huff as he stood up straight. “I do not talk too much!”
“Are you alright?” Xuan Congnan asked.
Gu Jian brightened up immediately, unable to tear his gaze away from Xuan Congnan as he replied, “I’m fine! Just got targeted by my brother a little bit, a real man doesn’t sweat the small stuff!”
“I didn’t target him,” Gu Shi’s voice floated out from the kitchen without him even lifting his head. “Congnan, don’t listen to him.”
“You two brothers are quite entertaining,” Xuan Congnan remarked.
“Right, right!” Gu Jian gushed. “Brother, your hair is so long! Can I touch it?”
“No,” Gu Shi said expressionlessly, raising his gaze to look at Gu Jian from across half the living room.
Gu Jian shrank his neck. “Aww.”
His shoulders slumped. “Sigh.”
“You can touch it,” Xuan Congnan said, finding Gu Jian’s crestfallen expression rather amusing.
He looked like a puppy that had fallen into the water.
At those words, the puppy’s ears instantly perked up. Without even asking “really?” a second time, he reached right out.
In the kitchen, Gu Shi was chopping vegetables, striking the cutting board with deafening thuds.
Before Gu Jian arrived, Xuan Congnan had resolved that he couldn’t keep interacting with Gu Shi in their previous “roommate” dynamic. Gu’s family knew Gu Shi was married, and with the younger brother coming over to “inspect,” Xuan Congnan needed to act much closer to Gu Shi and play his part in this charade.
This was the strategy he and Gu Shi had discussed the day before.
Yet he couldn’t find a single natural opportunity to get close to Gu Shi right in front of Gu Jian. Gu Jian kept pulling him along to talk about this and that, making every single topic sound fascinating.
Xuan Congnan had never met someone so full of life, and he listened with rapt attention.
The steamed sea bass was simmering in the pot. Gu Shi washed his hands, dried them, and pulled out his phone to send a message.
> [Bring your son back.]
> Ms. Meng: Hahaha, with the little chatterbox around, he’s probably ignoring you completely, right?
> Gu Shi: .
> Ms. Meng: I’ll have to come pick the little brother up and bring him over to your place then. Should I?
> Gu Shi: I’ll figure out a way to send him back myself.
> Ms. Meng: Hahahahaha
“What’s so funny? Xiaozhu is in such high spirits,” two wealthy socialites who had arranged to drink tea with Meng Xiaozhu at the Gu residence a few days prior asked when they noticed her beaming smile.
Meng Xiaozhu put down her phone. “So sorry, looking at my phone right as you ladies arrived. My son needed something, so I replied to a couple of messages.”
“It’s Gu Shi, isn’t it?” The two socialites exchanged a knowing look and teased, “Gu Jian is always right here at home where you can see him; you wouldn’t need to text him.”
Meng Xiaozhu beamed with delight. “Of course.”
On her wrist was a bracelet completely mismatched with her status, a string of tiny, ordinary stones strung together like little stars, the kind you could buy at a roadside stall for a few spare coins.
“Look at this bracelet the younger one made for me himself. Isn’t it pretty?” Meng Xiaozhu lifted her porcelain-white wrist and gave it a shake.
“Pretty, pretty,” a socialite laughed. “Every time we meet, you’re bragging about what your boys made for you. It’s always either the older one or the younger one on your lips, you’re going to make us green with envy.”
“I’m just happy,” Meng Xiaozhu said.
“Gu Jian made you a bracelet, but what did Gu Shi get you?”
Meng Xiaozhu smoothed down her hair with a mysterious air. “He’ll probably be bringing me a daughter-in-law soon.”
“Brother.” Gu Jian had been talking so much his throat was bone dry.
Two identical cups sat side by side on the coffee table, and wondering if he was allowed to use one, he wanted to ask.
Xuan Congnan went to the art studio to fetch his sketchbook because Gu Jian wanted to look at it.
Having spent two or three hours cooped up in the kitchen, Gu Shi finally finished preparing lunch.
When that call of “Brother” rang out, Xuan Congnan and Gu Shi both failed to distinguish which “brother” it was directed at.
When both of them turned their heads toward Gu Jian at the same time, even Gu Jian looked slightly confused.
He muttered to himself, “Who was I trying to call just now?”
“Call him Brother from now on,” Gu Shi untied his apron and stated. “Don’t call me that.”
Thinking that after chatting with the new brother all morning, he was about to be stripped of his “younger brother status” by the old brother, Gu Jian cried out in panic, “No way, Brother!”
Then he asked, “If I don’t call you brother, what do I call you?”
Without a ripple of emotion in his eyes, Gu Shi replied, “Call me sister-in-law.”
Gu Jian: “?”
Xuan Congnan: “?”
“Ahahahahaha”
A peal of mad, unrestrained laughter echoed through the living room as Gu Jian nearly doubled over.
Whether it was because of Gu Jian’s laughter or Gu Shi’s absurd remark, Xuan Congnan found himself letting out a sudden, involuntary chuckle. Thinking of what Zhang Que loved to say when faced with something shocking, he decided to test it out regardless of context, his voice laced with suppressed amusement: “That’s absolute heresy.”
High school students faced heavy pressure, though freshman year was still relatively lenient, leaving plenty of room for play.
Xuan Congnan lacked experience interacting with outsiders for extended periods. Before Gu Jian arrived, his plan had been simple: share a decent meal, exchange a few polite words, and call it a day.
He hadn’t expected顾捡 to be such a mood-booster, making an entire day fly by in the blink of an eye.
By evening, Gu Jian showed zero intention of heading home anytime soon.
Gu Shi peeled a tangerine, handed it to Xuan Congnan, and asked Gu Jian, “Did you finish your homework?”
The high schooler, who had been in the middle of talking animatedly, saw his face drop into a pout. “Not yet.”
“Good,” Gu Shi said. “Go home and write it.”
“Can’t I write it tomorrow? I want to stay here tonight,” Gu Jian protested.
Gu Shi’s expression grew noticeably cooler.
“Be a pal, sister-in-law, I really love my brother,” Gu Jian pleaded, pressing his palms together toward Gu Shi. “Just let me stay one night and I’ll go back tomorrow. I checked earlier, there are three places to sleep in this house! You and my brother share a room anyway, so I won’t be in your way, just let me crash for the night.”
“No.” Gu Shi stood up, grabbed Gu Jian by the collar just like he had at noon, and hauled him toward the door like a helpless little chick.
He pulled the door open, shoved him out ruthlessly, and locked it immediately behind him.
“Sister-in-law!” Gu Jian hammered frantically on the door, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Brother, do something about your brother-in-law!”
The moment Gu Jian was hoisted and tossed out, Xuan Congnan had started trailing after them, opening his mouth to intervene: “Gu Shi, don’t.”
A broad palm suddenly pressed down onto the top of Xuan Congnan’s head, applying just enough gentle pressure to halt his forward motion toward the door. The body heat of another person filtered through countless strands of hair straight to his scalp, freezing him in place.
“What is it?” Xuan Congnan kept his head still, rolling his eyes upward to look at Gu Shi.
From this angle, he possessed a pure, innocent vulnerability that made someone want to tease him endlessly.
Gu Shi lowered his gaze, his eyes locking onto Xuan Congnan’s upturned expression. “Touching your hair.”
Xuan Congnan was baffled. “Huh?”
Gu Shi murmured, “Gu Jian touched your hair. I want to touch it too.”
“Oh,” Xuan Congnan felt utterly bewildered, not quite used to this.
Gu Shi’s fingers curved slightly, running soothingly over the crown of his head as he murmured in a low voice, “Stand still. Let me touch it.”