Xuan Congnan stood there obediently without moving for three full minutes, feeling like the top of his head was a complete mess. “Aren’t you done yet?”
“Not yet,” Gu Shi’s voice dropped down from above.
The pads of his fingers massaged Xuan Congnan’s scalp, creating a tickling sensation. Wondering why he was being so obedient, Xuan Congnan cursed himself mentally for a second before reaching out to grab Gu Shi’s wrist, pulling his hand away and tossing it aside.
“The kid only touched it for a second, look at you,” he grumbled.
Outside the door, Gu Jian was still howling like a puppy scratching at a door: “Brother, let me go in! Brother, brother, brother! Brother, let me go in.”
Watching the back of Xuan Congnan’s figure as he turned and walked back into the living room, Gu Shi lowered his gaze to look at his right hand, a faint sense of amusement rising within him.
He knocked backward against the door from the inside. “If you don’t leave right now, your New Year’s money is gone.”
“Goodbye, Brother!” Gu Jian shouted out a loud pledge of loyalty and headed straight home to do his homework without a moment’s hesitation.
Gu Shi sent him a one-thousand-yuan red packet on his phone.
“Oh wow, how could there be such a good brother in the world? I am so, so happy!” Gu Jian sent a voice message saying happily, “Wishing my brother and brother a hundred years of harmony and a baby soon!”
Gu Shi sent him another two-thousand-yuan red packet.
Back home, Gu Jian went straight to show off to his mom excitedly: “Furious earnings of three thousand yuan!”
“Hahaha, that’s wonderful.” Meng Xiaozhu grabbed him, asking how things went and gossiping endlessly.
Late into the night, the two of them were still chatting away down in the living room while Gu Yishang worked overtime in the study. Hearing them talk made him restless, so he called down from the second-floor hallway, “Can I listen in too?”
Gu Jian had already left, but Xuan Congnan and Gu Shi were still sharing a room.
The breathing coming from the floor was light and even, and Xuan Congnan listened to it.
After sharing a bed for a few days, he had gotten used to it, losing the awkwardness he felt at first.
Yet he could still feel a lingering itch at the crown of his head.
The sensation of that large palm pressing down lingered stubbornly, it was all rather strange.
He gently slid his arm out from under the blanket, touched the top of his head, and tried to recreate the warmth Gu Shi had left behind.
“What’s wrong? Can’t sleep?” Gu Shi asked.
Xuan Congnan hurriedly pulled his hand back and tucked it back under the blanket. “No. I’m sleeping.”
Gu Shi remarked, “You wouldn’t be thinking about Gu Jian, would you?”
His lips parted slightly, and Xuan Congnan spoke the honest truth: “Not really.”
“Mm,” Gu Shi said. “I told you he wasn’t cute, his mouth is too loud.”
Xuan Congnan: “.”
Suppressing a slight smile, he asked, “Does your brother know you talk about him like that?”
“What?” Gu Shi turned over onto his side, looking at the flat-lying Xuan Congnan from the floor. “Defending him?”
What did the brothers’ affairs have to do with him? Xuan Congnan said, “No.”
“Mm,” Gu Shi acknowledged.
The next day was the weekend, and with no guests to entertain, Xuan Congnan went back to school to supervise Zhang Que’s studying, taking the opportunity to put the final touches on his completed oil painting.
“Are you a printer or something? You painted a whole photo of the sky in just a few days?” Zhang Que pressed his entire face nearly into Xuan Congnan’s canvas, thoroughly stunned by the artwork.
At first, he had assumed Xuan Congnan was just painting something ordinary and simple. Staring at the sky that looked as though it had been captured by a smartphone, and then looking back at his own genuinely ordinary and simple painting, Zhang Que muttered, “Why is the gap between people this huge?”
Xuan Congnan ignored him.
“Congnan?”
“Xuan Congnan?”
“Hm?” Xuan Congnan’s paintbrush suddenly slipped from his fingers, and he bent down to pick it up. “What is it?”
Zhang Que said, “I’m the one who should be asking what’s wrong with you! You didn’t even respond when I praised you. Have geniuses really gotten this arrogant nowadays?”
He clutched his chest in dramatic anguish, pretending to be wounded as he said, “You actually ignored me.”
Xuan Congnan replied, “Thinking about hair.”
“Your hair is gorgeous and it’s growing right out of your head, what’s there to think about?”
Xuan Congnan asked him to repeat whatever praise he had just given him so he could hear it again.
Having known Gu Shi for two months, the current balance in his bank card stood at 5,928,652.12 yuan.
While reviewing in the library, Zhang Que scribbled furiously to his right, and Xuan Congnan scribbled furiously right beside him.
One was looking at books, the other was looking at money.
There was still five million waiting to be collected once the agreement concluded.
So much money. Xuan Congnan felt his eyes practically swimming with all those digits.
He had taken a massive leap closer to the twenty-million mark.
He had photos of the newly painted sky oil painting on his phone, which he could sell once the teacher reviewed and approved them.
Xuan Congnan went ahead and posted it as a pre-order on his online shop.
The shop nickname matched his WeChat name: Nannan Doesn’t Struggle.
The sky oil painting was priced at 2,000 yuan.
Over the past few years, he had sold a few dozen oil paintings in total.
The most expensive one went for 18,000.
The cheapest was 50 yuan, card-sized oil paintings suitable for bookmarks.
He couldn’t let Gu Shi see this painting, lest he insist on buying it for 52,000 again.
Making money was joyful, but Xuan Congnan didn’t dare make it that easily.
Better to avoid scamming people when he could.
Buzz.
A real-time update notification popped up in the shop’s backend.
> [Customer ‘Scavenger’ has placed an order for the oil painting ‘Beneath the Sky’, Order Number xxxxxx]
> [Product Info: ‘Beneath the Sky’, Dimensions 60cm X 80cm.]
> [Order Status: Paid 2,000 yuan]
Xuan Congnan: “?”
He was quite familiar with the customer “Scavenger”, the vast majority of his artwork had been bought by this exact person.
The buyer seemed particularly fond of collecting oil paintings.
Only, this was a bit too fast today.
He had literally just listed the painting… and the teacher hadn’t even inspected and offered suggestions yet, so he couldn’t ship it out.
With no other choice, Xuan Congnan took the initiative to open a private chat with the customer.
> Nannan Doesn’t Struggle: Hello there.
> Scavenger: ?
> Nannan Doesn’t Struggle: Apologies, but ‘Beneath the Sky’ can’t be shipped out these couple of days. Could you see if you’re willing to wait? If not, feel really free to request a refund, so sorry about that.
> Scavenger: I can wait. Ship it whenever.
> Nannan Doesn’t Struggle: Alright then, thank you for your trust.
> Scavenger: Mm.
> Scavenger: Do you have any other paintings? I want to buy an 18,000-yuan one.
Every time he encountered these wealthy folks, Xuan Congnan felt an urge to put his hands on his hips and fume for a minute.
> Nannan Doesn’t Struggle: None available in the shop right now.
> Scavenger: Okay.
> Scavenger: When will you have more?
> Nannan Doesn’t Struggle: That depends on inspiration.
> Scavenger: Mm. Alright.
“I can see that signature customer-service expression plastered all over your face.” Exhausted from studying, Zhang Que looked up to find Xuan Congnan staring down at his phone with the deadpan expression of someone typing out hello dear customer.
Xuan Congnan rubbed his face. “No you don’t.”
With final exams wrapping up in two days, Xuan Congnan would officially kick off his summer break on Monday and start tutoring his two students.
Right before that, Gu Jian showed up again.
“Brother!” The moment the door opened, he looked at Gu Shi in pleasant surprise before saying to Xuan Congnan right behind him, “You wouldn’t believe it, I brought my homework this time!”
His colorful double-strap backpack fit Gu Jian’s vibrant persona to a T.
Xuan Congnan welcomed him in. “Come on in.”
Gu Shi kept his hand firmly on the doorknob, his entire body practically blocking the entrance.
“What’s this about, sister-in-law? Move aside and let me in,” Gu Jian said, bumping his shoulder against Gu Shi’s arm and shoving into the living room like a little bull. “Are you really not going to listen to what my brother says?”
“Your New Year’s money for this year is gone.” As he let Gu Jian in, Gu Shi spoke in a low, chilling tone.
Looking as though he had been struck by lightning, Gu Jian took advantage of the moment Gu Shi let down his guard to hurl himself directly at Xuan Congnan, wailing dramatically, “Brother, sister-in-law is threatening to cut off my New Year’s money! Without New Year’s money, how am I supposed to grow up with more and more cash? Do something about him!”
Taken completely by surprise, Xuan Congnan stiffened all over. Even though Gu Jian was only 16, he had good genetics and stood just a few centimeters shorter than Xuan Congnan.
With his arms propped out and hands floating uselessly in the air, Xuan Congnan nearly got tackled backward.
“Gu—Jian—”
The voice was dripping with ice. Gu Jian scrambled off Xuan Congnan immediately, bowed ninety degrees, and offered a sincere apology: “Sorry, Brother! I didn’t mean to, please forgive me!”
Xuan Congnan, still maintaining his posture with his arms spread wide and not daring to actually touch Gu Jian, blinked in a daze. “It’s fine.”
He glanced over at Gu Shi. “Don’t threaten him.”
“I’m not threatening him, just joking around,” Gu Shi said.
Since he had brought all his homework along, he obviously wasn’t leaving tonight.
At lunchtime, Gu Shi checked multiple times with a voice colder each time, but Gu Jian wagged his tail and insisted he wasn’t leaving.
After staying for dinner that evening, Gu Jian unsurprisingly planned to plant roots here.
“Brother, can I stay the night here?” he asked, looking pleadingly at Xuan Congnan, knowing he was the one who actually called the shots in this household.
Gu Shi’s younger brother deserved proper hospitality, right? Xuan Congnan lacked interpersonal experience and couldn’t make up his mind on the spot.
Faced with Gu Jian’s repeated pleading, he finally nodded. “Alright. I’ll help you tidy up the guest room in a bit.”
Gu Jian threw both hands up. “Yay!”
Then he asked, “Brother, do you still remember high school math?”
Xuan Congnan thought about it. “I should.”
Without missing a beat, Gu Jian whipped out a 5.3 Practice Workbook from his backpack, flipped to a random page, and pointed at a problem. “Teach me, teach me, teach me.”
Having spent the entire day chatting and slacking off, Gu Jian was forced to pull overtime on his homework that night.
By 9:30 PM, just as they finished washing up and were getting ready for bed, the bedroom door was rapped on right after Gu Shi had laid out his floor mat. Startled, Xuan Congnan hurriedly climbed out of bed barefoot to help Gu Shi pack away the mat, shove their pillows side by side, and open the door to welcome the night-owl teenager.
“Teach me, Brother!” Gu Jian said, holding his textbook.
Xuan Congnan: “.”
After going through this routine three times—rolling out and packing up the floor mat was simply too exhausting—Xuan Congnan turned back and shot a mildly reproachful look at Gu Shi, silently telling him to handle his brother.
Gu Shi lowered his gaze and pretended not to notice.
After finishing the high school math problem for the third time, Xuan Congnan closed the door and demanded, “Why aren’t you keeping him in check?”
Gu Shi had his reasons ready. “You told me not to threaten him.”
“……”
Gu Shi proposed, “Let’s share a bed.”
Xuan Congnan stared in surprise. “Huh?!”
“That way we won’t have to keep packing up the floor mat every time he comes over,” Gu Shi argued smoothly. “Sleeping in the same bed is much more convenient.”
Unlike their previous “cohabitation” where one slept on the bed and the other on the floor, there was now the explicit, undeniable warmth of another body resting right beside him.
Xuan Congnan folded his hands neatly over his lower stomach and didn’t dare make a single movement.
Gu Shi lay quietly and obediently on the other side of the mattress.
The only sound in the dead of night was the rhythm of their breathing.
Unwilling to let the atmosphere remain so awkward, Xuan Congnan murmured, “I, my hair is long, make sure you don’t roll over and crush it when you sleep.”
Gu Shi’s throat tightened as he mechanically spat out a reply: “Alright.”
A moment later, he suddenly propped himself up slightly, gently gathering the strands of Xuan Congnan’s hair sPREAD across the pillow and moving them carefully aside to ensure they wouldn’t be pinned underneath.
Then he leaned in closer.
Xuan Congnan instinctively tightened his grip on the edge of the blanket, guarding warily. “What are you doing?”
Gu Shi lowered his eyes to look at him, asking in a soft murmur, “Can I give you a hug?”