Chapter 12#
The Self-Deceiving Liar#
System: “I’m impressed.”
System: “Utterly impressed.”
Lin Xiaodong was soaking in the pool of the Gu family mansion. Above him was the central air conditioning providing an automatic breeze. To his left were drinks, fruit, and snacks just delivered by the butler. To his right were the remote control and scented candles. In front of him was a huge two-meter-wide projection playing his favorite SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star.
It was truly a god-like life.
Hearing the system’s tone of total admiration, Lin Xiaodong waved his hand with feigned modesty: “It’s alright, it’s alright. All thanks to my cheap younger brother. With him around, I can at least get a taste of the good life behind the big boss.”
“But he didn’t agree to come live here,” the system said in confusion.
“Of course he wouldn’t agree,” Lin Xiaodong said. “That little maniac is a ‘brother-con’ to a perverted degree. If he lived here and had to watch me and Gu Xi together every day, he’d be stimulated right into an epileptic seizure.”
He had eaten enough watermelon, patted his stomach, got out of the pool, and took a shower.
When he went downstairs for dinner, Lin Xiaodong found the meal exceptionally lavish. He couldn’t help but ask the butler curiously: “Is today a special occasion?”
The butler said indifferently: “Miss Bai is coming to visit. Mr. Gu specifically ordered this.”
He intentionally emphasized the word “specifically.”
So Lin Xiaodong asked further: “Which Miss Bai is this?”
“The daughter of the Bai family, Bai Zhizhi,” the butler reminded him. “She’s the female lead in the recently aired drama Summer in the Woods.”
“…Still don’t know her.” Lin Xiaodong thought for a long time and looked at him with a sincere face.
His watchlist was already filled with SpongeBob.
The butler was silent.
He very much disliked this young man Gu Xi had brought home. Especially after learning about Lin Xiaodong’s past, this dislike reached its peak.
A high school dropout, unlearned, and hanging around with a bunch of disreputable hooligans every day—letting him live here simply lowered the class of the Gu family.
The butler truly didn’t understand what Gu Xi saw in Lin Xiaodong.
He felt that even the young man’s brother was a hundred times better than Lin Xiaodong; at least Lin Xiamian looked like a proper, well-behaved student.
“In short, you just need to know that Mr. Gu and she are childhood friends who grew up together,” the butler said. “In fact, they even have an engagement.”
But while he was speaking, Lin Xiaodong was only focused on burying his head in his food, as if he hadn’t heard a word.
The butler frowned and couldn’t help but say: “Mr. Lin, aren’t you going to wait for Miss Bai and the others to arrive before eating?”
“Huh?” Lin Xiaodong looked up blankly, sauce staining the corner of his mouth. “The two of them are reminiscing; why should I butt in? Of course I’ll finish early and leave early, so I don’t stay here and attract unwanted attention.”
The butler, being rebuffed by this opportunity, turned several shades of blue and white and couldn’t speak.
“What a sharp tongue,” a light laugh came from the door. “Gu Xi, this little brother you found is quite interesting.”
The two looked up to see Bai Zhizhi, wearing a small red formal dress and carrying a small bag, leaning drunkenly against Gu Xi. Seeing them look over, she squinted her eyes and reached out to wave at Lin Xiaodong: “Hi~”
Lin Xiaodong: “Uh, hi?”
“Miss Bai, you are…”
The butler walked hurriedly to them.
Seeing him approach, Gu Xi immediately pushed the person over and took off his suit jacket, which was soaked with the scent of alcohol, with a darkened face.
“What for? Why the look of such disdain?” Bai Zhizhi shook off the butler’s hand and staggered toward the sofa. Lin Xiaodong felt a cold sweat for her as he looked at the thin, sky-high heels on her feet, having the illusion that this young mistress would accidentally snap her ankles at any moment.
“You are still my fiancé in name, you know.”
She giggled and casually grabbed a handful of unpeeled sunflower seeds from the fruit platter, stuffed them into her mouth, and then vomited them all back onto the carpet with a retching sound.
“Bah, tastes terrible,” she said with a look of disdain.
Looking at that puddle of unidentified matter on the floor, the butler’s expression shifted from pleasant surprise to a mix of blue and white.
“If it weren’t for that title, do you think I’d bother with you?” Gu Xi said coldly. “Go take a shower and sober up. It’s perfect timing; settle this matter for me today.”
Lin Xiaodong sat at the dining table, watching as Bai Zhizhi was led away by a maid.
Coming back to his senses, he saw Gu Xi sit down at the table and casually place a rib in his bowl.
“Eat,” he said.
“Oh,” Lin Xiaodong replied obediently.
After a long while.
“Can I ask…”
“No.”
“…Oh.”
Lin Xiaodong poked the pudding in his bowl with a spoon, feeling miffed.
Gu Xi sighed and put down his chopsticks: “Forget it, ask if you want to.”
“It’s nothing much, really,” Lin Xiaodong stared at him with sparkling eyes. “Can I use a small room to store the figurines I bought?”
Gu Xi was silent for a while.
“That’s what you wanted to ask?”
“What else?”
“You…” The man glared at him, his tone somehow sounding like he was grinding his teeth.
But Lin Xiaodong felt even more bewildered: Did I say something wrong?
“Don’t you want to know about her?” Gu Xi wasn’t ready to give up and said to himself, “I can explain. This engagement was a betrothal arranged by my grandfather’s generation when we were babies. Neither family took it very seriously, but it was accidentally leaked to the media and hyped up, which is how it became what it is now. Bai Zhizhi isn’t short of money, and now that she’s in the entertainment industry and her career is on the rise, you don’t need to worry about anything.”
Lin Xiaodong bit his fork and looked at him with an innocent face.
“I wasn’t worried.”
Gu Xi: “…………”
The man closed his eyes in endurance. “That’s good then.”
Generally, under normal circumstances, Lin Xiaodong would wait for Gu Xi to finish eating together.
But today was different.
After Bai Zhizhi came out from her shower, without anyone saying a word, Lin Xiaodong very sensibly picked up his bowl, got up, and went to the second floor, leaving plenty of space for the two of them.
He left Gu Xi sitting all alone at the dining table, his chopsticks paused in mid-air.
Bai Zhizhi, seeing this scene, almost laughed herself to death.
“Gu Xi, oh Gu Xi,” she said while wiping away tears. “Truly, the wheel of karma turns. After all these years, the heavens have finally opened their eyes and sent an immortal to handle you! This is hilarious, hahaha! Do you know how priceless your expression was just now?”
Gu Xi’s face was so cold one could scrape a layer of ice off it.
“Shut up. Are you going to eat or not?”
“I’ll eat, of course I’ll eat.” Bai Zhizhi sat down unceremoniously in Lin Xiaodong’s seat.
She winked at Gu Xi and teased: “Seriously, I’ve heard quite a few rumors about him outside. Don’t really get fooled by a teenage boy, or you’ll be laughed to death.”
“Not your concern,” Gu Xi said indifferently.
“Tsk, with that attitude, even if you are fooled, you deserve it,” Bai Zhizhi said unhappily. “But about the engagement, it’s useless to come to me. Why should I, for the sake of the Great Young Master Gu, pay the price by coming out? If you want to break the engagement, go tell the media yourself. I’m not doing it.”
“I know,” Gu Xi said. “That’s why I’m just informing you.”
Bai Zhizhi’s chewing motion paused.
“No way,” her eyes widened. “Gu Xi, are you for real this time? It’s one thing to play around, but Lin Xiaodong is a man. You’re not actually planning to spend your life with him, are you?”
“Why not?” Gu Xi countered.
Bai Zhizhi was speechless: “But…”
Gu Xi finished his meal.
He wiped his mouth and stood up to leave calmly.
“When you’re finished, call a taxi yourself. I’m not seeing you out.”
Bai Zhizhi stared blankly at the man’s retreating figure as he strode up to the second floor, shaking her head in disbelief.
“He’s poisoned,” she muttered to herself.
Actually, Gu Xi hadn’t quite figured out what kind of feelings he held for Lin Xiaodong.
To call it a passing fling was a bit too indifferent, but to call it love… that word was so heavy it was daunting.
He admitted that being with Lin Xiaodong felt very comfortable.
This kid had a kind of magic. Even though Gu Xi clearly knew sometimes that the boy was being duplicitous and lying to him, he still felt that Lin Xiaodong was very real.
It was as if through the physical shell, he saw a soul hidden in the darkness that was frank and casual.
Standing outside the bedroom door, Gu Xi intended to knock, but for some reason, he ended up pushing the door open directly: “I’ve come to see how you—”
Mid-sentence, he stopped abruptly.
Lin Xiaodong had changed back into that somewhat faded High School No. 1 uniform. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head down, swinging his feet, thinking about God knows what.
Hearing the door open, he looked up sharply.
Without even having time to put on shoes, he took a few steps and ran over, jumping up to wrap his arms around the man’s neck.
Gu Xi took half a step back from the sudden hug, but his arms firmly caught the youth.
Looking at the black hair on the top of the person’s head in his arms, his gaze unconsciously softened a bit.
“What’s the matter?”
Lin Xiaodong shook his head and tilted his face up, like a little woodpecker, clumsily gnawing at his lips.
Gu Xi’s gaze darkened. He had discovered that as long as Lin Xiaodong put on this outfit, it was basically impossible for him to be quiet for the night.
But not today.
“I’ll be with you in a bit,” Gu Xi pressed the child to the edge of the bed and asked patiently in an enticing tone: “Tell me first, what exactly is wrong?”
“Nothing.” Having failed his goal, Lin Xiaodong was a bit angry.
He lowered his head as if sulking, preferring to stare at his own toes rather than look at Gu Xi: “I’m just unhappy.”
“Why are you unhappy?” Gu Xi’s voice held a hint of a smile.
“Do I need a reason to be unhappy?” Lin Xiaodong glared at him. Seeing the man’s expression of suppressed amusement, he immediately flew into a rage out of shame, reaching out to push him hard: “Go, go, go! I don’t want to see you!”
Gu Xi finally couldn’t help but laugh in a low voice.
Ignoring the youth’s struggle, he pulled Lin Xiaodong forcefully into his arms. The two of them fell onto the large bed together. Lin Xiaodong, whose resistance was fruitless, buried his head in a pillow, panting, looking as if he wanted to suffocate himself to death.
But Gu Xi forcefully snatched the pillow away, forcing the youth to meet his gaze.
The man propped himself up on the bed, grabbed his wrists, and looked down at him.
“I thought you really didn’t care at all,” he said.
Lin Xiaodong lay on the large bed, breathing in small gasps because of the strenuous activity just now, his face slightly flushed. Hearing Gu Xi’s words, he was briefly startled, then gave the other person an uncharacteristically gentle smile.
The youth cupped Gu Xi’s cheeks, tilted his head up, and gently placed a kiss on the man’s lips.
“How could that be,” the youth said with a smile, “I like you so much.”
“Whether you love me or not, I will always stay by your side.”