A contractual marriage a while ago, and now getting a marriage certificate.
No matter which time it was, Xuan Congnan couldn’t accept it right away.
“Are you running into trouble again?” he asked with difficulty.
“Mhm,” Gu Shi said. “Only you can help me.”
Getting a marriage certificate was different from a contractual marriage. One was real, while the other was fake.
Once the contractual marriage expired, Xuan Congnan could take his money and walk away with no harm done.
A marriage certificate carried legal weight, and if they divorced, Xuan Congnan would technically be a divorcee.
Growing up, Xuan Congnan had always been relatively conservative, and a second marriage simply couldn’t compare to a first one.
Even though he had sworn off dating forever when he broke up with Shen Qian, a lifelong commitment like obtaining a marriage certificate was not something he could agree to rashly.
Choosing not to pursue the topic further, he used silence as a refusal.
Gu Shi left, taking care to leave the final piece of cake behind. With the other person’s presence gone from the living room, Xuan Congnan let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Having failed to agree to help, Gu Shi was bound to be unhappy. Even if he was unhappy, there was nothing to be done; getting a marriage certificate was out of the question.
Xuan Congnan poked at the cake, feeling gloomy.
Gu Shi returned.
“These are all my bank cards, property deeds, and car titles.” Ranging from large to small, a stack of papers and certificates was laid out neatly on the table as Gu Shi explained to him, “I know I’m being abrupt and impolite, but since we’re already in a contractual marriage, a single certificate doesn’t make much difference. My mom is a very shrewd person, and after all my years in the entertainment industry, she knows I’d fake a marriage to appease my family, there are plenty of things like that in showbiz. To make her believe me, we have to get an actual certificate, because that’s something you can’t fake. Setting aside family assets aside for a moment, I’ve earned a fair bit of money acting and working over the years; it might not be astronomical, but I’ve easily got at least a hundred million. Our marriage certificate carries legal weight, and if you want to leave after a year, we’ll get a divorce, and by then half of all my assets will be yours.”
He spoke all at once, in a continuous stream.
“Fifty million?” Xuan Congnan gasped softly upon hearing this.
“More than that,” Gu Shi said. “I also have real estate and cars. If you don’t want those assets, I can convert them into cash for you. My parents certainly won’t treat you poorly; even if we split up, they’d never speak ill of you, they’re genuinely good people, really. If we do separate, you’ll walk away with a hundred million at the bare minimum.”
Xuan Congnan drew a sharp breath, so startled that the last bite of cake he had intended to eat slipped from his fork.
A hundred million, and being a divorcee.
Was a first marriage really that important?
It suddenly didn’t seem quite so important after all.
Long ago, Xuan Congnan had set a goal to save twenty million. Before meeting Gu Shi, he knew the odds of earning twenty million purely through painting in this lifetime were practically zero, yet he had kept at it anyway. Who knows, maybe one day he’d become a renowned painter just like his mother.
Yet that dream had seemed just as distant as making twenty million.
The certificates resting on the table suddenly seemed to come alive, waving their hands and urging Xuan Congnan to agree.
His parents had always taught him never to compromise on things he didn’t want to do simply due to external pressures.
“I, I’ll think about it!” Xuan Congnan hurriedly dragged his eyes away from Gu Shi’s bank cards so he wouldn’t watch them dance anymore.
“Alright,” Gu Shi said softly. “When can you give me an answer?”
“Within three days,” Xuan Congnan managed to squeeze out.
“Okay,” Gu Shi agreed.
That night, Xuan Congnan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Once divorced, he’d be a second-time divorcee, making it harder to remarry since people tend to be picky. But he had sworn off romance entirely after dumping Shen Qian, let alone marriage or remarriage.
So what if he became a divorcee.
Xuan Congnan had never made a decision of this magnitude before, nor did he have any older figures to consult, leaving him somewhat panicked.
“Congnan.”
Xuan Congnan instantly froze, forgetting there was someone else beside him. “Yeah?”
Lying flat on his back, Gu Shi said, “I can’t sleep.”
“I can’t either.”
He had to teach students the next day, so Xuan Congnan forced his eyes shut, chanting internally: Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. That hundred million isn’t going anywhere.
“What time did you fall asleep yesterday?” Gu Shi asked, setting down two richly loaded sandwiches for breakfast and locking his gaze onto Xuan Congnan’s eyes.
“I don’t know. You didn’t sleep well either,” Xuan Congnan mumbled.
“Mhm,” Gu Shi said, lightly brushing the skin beneath his eyes with his thumb. “I was worried you wouldn’t agree, so I stayed awake all night.”
Xuan Congnan took a massive bite of his sandwich and replied, “If I don’t agree, you can just find someone else.”
He wasn’t the only option available.
Yet the thought of someone else walking away with that hundred million left a sour taste in his mouth.
“No, only you will do,” Gu Shi said.
He slid a cup of warmed milk toward Xuan Congnan. “Don’t just eat; drink your milk, too.”
Xuan Congnan accepted it a beat behind.
His fingertips accidentally brushed against Gu Shi’s, causing him to instinctively pull his hand back.
Gu Shi left the glass of milk on the table beside Xuan Congnan’s hand and withdrew.
“Why didn’t you sleep well?” he asked.
Xuan Congnan answered honestly, “I was afraid that hundred million wouldn’t end up being mine.”
Gu Shi let out a soft chuckle. “Then get the marriage certificate with me.”
“Didn’t I say I need to think about it?” Xuan Congnan muttered.
“Alright,” Gu Shi replied.
With his backpack packed with the day’s teaching supplies, Xuan Congnan changed his shoes and said, “I have classes all morning and afternoon. I won’t be back for lunch, so don’t wait up for me to eat.”
“Got it,” Gu Shi urged. “Congnan, make sure you think it over carefully.”
The morning session was with the young boy. Remembering Xuan Congnan’s advice from last time about developing his own style while needing a solid foundation if he wanted to take the art-track college entrance exams, the boy studied with great diligence.
“Teacher, is this how you draw it?” The boy pointed to a cluster of lines that looked as though they had been drafted with a ruler.
“Yes. That’s fantastic,” Xuan Congnan praised.
The afternoon session was with the young girl. She and Xuan Congnan exchanged virtually no conversation; whenever she finished drawing something, she would simply glance at Xuan Congnan without ever speaking a word.
Xuan Congnan was similarly fond of quiet and relished this kind of atmosphere, letting time slip by unnoticed in cozy contentment.
Blocks of various mixed colors were smeared across the drawing paper, chaotic yet carrying an aggressive intensity in their palette. Xuan Congnan knew that behind this young girl’s eyes and inside her heart lay a deeply rich inner world.
“There is a world inside you,” Xuan Congnan said. “One that belongs entirely to you. It’s beautiful.”
The girl stared at him, her mature gaze making her look far beyond her eleven years.
Because of the child’s unique circumstances, her parents always stayed close by.
At that moment, the girl replied, “Yeah.”
Her mother paused in surprise, looking blankly at Xuan Congnan before shifting her gaze to her daughter with sudden delight.
Her eyes grew moist.
Xuan Congnan didn’t react in any special way; he simply felt it was how things ought to be, and said, “Let’s keep going.”
“What’s the use of you painting all day? Can you compare to Xuan Congnan? He’s already making money off his art, why are you still blowing cash?!” Xuan Ye tore the house upside down looking for money, only to find Xuan Zhuoya, who was on summer break, holed up in his room scribbling a mess of ugly graffiti reeking of alcohol as he shouted, “Don’t you have one hundred thousand yuan? Hand it over to me!”
“What are you doing?! What on earth are you trying to pull?! Didn’t Yaoyao’s hundred thousand yuan get ruined by your precious brother’s good son?! Get away from him, don’t touch him!!” Zhuo Yajun rushed in, shoving Xuan Ye aside and shielding Xuan Zhuoya like a bristling, baring-teeth lioness as she roared, “Get lost, get the hell out of here!!!”
When sober, Xuan Ye never hit anyone, often dropping to his knees to beg Zhuo Yajun for forgiveness and claiming he didn’t mean it, which frequently flipped their dynamic of control. But right now, he was a drunken Xuan Ye looking for cash and looking to throw punches.
Xuan Zhuoya hid behind Zhuo Yajun with a pale face.
Years ago, after coming home drunk, Xuan Ye had staggered into Xuan Zhuoya’s room and asked him, “If your mom and I get a divorce, who are you going to choose to live with?”
Knowing it was a trap, Xuan Zhuoya kept his head down and stayed silent.
Xuan Ye gave Xuan Zhuoya’s head a light shove and said amiably, “Go on, answer. I won’t hit you.”
“I.”
“What?”
Under repeated pressure and questioning, unable to escape, Xuan Zhuoya answered in a voice no louder than a gnat’s buzz, “My mom.”
“Slap!”
A vicious blow landed squarely on his head, making Xuan Zhuoya’s vision blur and his ears ring with a loud hum. Before he could react, his collar was yanked up by Xuan Ye, and the next second, his entire body was hurled onto the hardwood floor.
Xuan Ye hauled him up, slammed him down, hauled him up, slammed him down.
“Give me the money! Just one more round and I’m guaranteed to win!” Xuan Ye snapped desperately.
Zhuo Yajun wept and shrieked, “Where am I supposed to get money for you?! When I married you, I thought I’d live a good life, but look at what you’ve done! Look at your brother.”
“Slap!” Xuan Ye struck her across the face with a bitter sneer. “Everyone compares me to Xuan Yunting, and now you’re comparing me to him too? Unbelievable, shut your whore mouth!! So what if I can’t compare to him? Has your son ever managed to compare to my brother’s son? He’s an absolute, thorough piece of trash! You’ve got no money? If you have no money, why are you renting all those designer clothes every day just to put on airs and squeeze into those upper-class social circles? How much cash have those people ever handed you?!”
“Ah, what did you say? You actually dare to mock and belittle me?” Zhuo Yajun shrieked, recklessly lunging forward to scratch Xuan Ye’s face. “If you’re so useless, why won’t you let me climb higher? Your good nephew can give you money, why don’t you tie him up and throw him into President Zhang’s bed?!”
“Right, right, yes,” Xuan Ye muttered. “What’s the use of him refusing to marry? He has to enter this marriage.”
He stumbled his way out, his pace accelerating by the moment.
Having rejected Hu Yue’s new work proposal over the phone, Gu Shi waited at home for Xuan Congnan to finish work.
He was bored out of his mind with nothing to do. He didn’t dare message Xuan Congnan for fear of disturbing him.
Time ticked steadily forward, and Gu Shi made frequent trips to the balcony window. Standing guard like a stone statue waiting for her husband, he kept his eyes glued to the street below just to catch the very first glimpse of Xuan Congnan returning.
A little past six in the evening, with Xuan Congnan still yet to return, a drunken middle-aged man appeared at the entrance of the residential complex.
He first tried to bypass the security guards and barge straight into the complex, only to be sternly stopped. Seeing a guard pull out a baton as a warning, he took a few steps back and forced a polite tone.
“My nephew lives in here. He told me to come.”
“Even if your old man lived in here, it wouldn’t matter,” the guard retorted. “I’ve said it a dozen times, outsiders aren’t allowed in. If your family really invited you, call him up and have him come get you.”
Impenetrable to reason, Xuan Ye retreated resentfully to the roadside, squatting down on the curb while glaring hatefully at the complex entrance, wishing he could chew Xuan Congnan up and swallow him whole.
His own uncle was struggling to stay fed and clothed at home, yet Xuan Congnan had managed to move into such a high-end place.
With that fox-like face of his, wasn’t he just selling himself?
And that was worth a whole million.
“Gu Shi?” Hu Yue answered the phone with a tone of mockery. “You just turned down a job offer, why are you calling me now?”
Gu Shi said, “I can’t go out. Someone is about to bully my partner, come help me out.”
“You’ve already become partners?!” Hu Yue perked up excitedly upon hearing this, demanding, “Where, where, where?!”
Before taking Gu Shi under his wing in the entertainment industry, Hu Yue was notorious for his explosive temper. Over a decade ago, he had been a Sanshou champion, and very few artists were willing to work with him out of fear that Director Hu wouldn’t be able to control his temper and beat them up.
Gu Shi gave him an address. Hu Yue burst into loud laughter. “Hahahahahahahahaha! I finally know where you’re living now! Bullying your person means bullying you, and bullying you means bullying me, nobody who touches you is walking away today. Hang tight, and watch me beat the living daylights out of him.”