After the Socially Anxious One Married the Control Freak – Chapter 27 Part 2

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Touch (2/2)

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The boy looked like he was made of water, trembling so much that Gu Yilan couldn’t bear to watch. He reached over and pulled a few tissues from the bundle in Su Zesui’s arms, gently wiping away the tears on his cheeks before tossing the crumpled tissues in the bin.

Watching Gu Yilan’s casual movements, Su Zesui suddenly shook all over. His voice trembled: “He… he didn’t like it.”

After getting scolded, he returned to class feeling dejected. From outside the classroom, he saw a group of students gathered around his desk, laughing and jeering.

More accurately, they were gathered around his deskmate.

In high school, boys were full of restless energy—most played a little basketball, and many casually mimicked shooting motions when they walked.

Through the blurry classroom windows, he saw his deskmate breaking the chocolate into pieces—just like basketballs—and tossing them into the trash can at the back of the room.

The big chocolate bar had many small segments, easy to break apart.

Each time his deskmate scored a shot, someone whistled and egged him on. Others came over, grabbing pieces of the chocolate he had treasured, and started playing the same game—treating it like garbage.

His vision blurred. It felt like something inside him had collapsed.

Later, just as the bell rang, he returned to his seat, hollow and numb.

No one was going to stand up for him. And he didn’t have the courage to confront a group of classmates.

So just before school ended, he mustered all his strength and slipped his deskmate a note. It was his pathetic attempt to give that chocolate—and his brother’s kindness—one last bit of meaning.

Where’s the chocolate I gave you? I kind of want to eat it now too.

But his deskmate wasn’t the least bit apologetic. He sneered, scribbled a line in response, and tossed the crumpled paper back at him.

That one line… he still remembered to this day.

Sitting on the bed, Su Zesui curled up into a ball, hugging himself tightly as if it would make him feel a little safer.

In a soft voice, he said, “He said he didn’t like the chocolate I gave him… and he liked me even less.”

His voice grew more and more choked, and by the end, it was barely coherent.

After speaking, he buried his head into his knees, his shoulders trembling as he quietly cried.

Gu Yilan had experienced countless major events in his life, but never something like this. Watching the boy’s trembling back, he found himself at a loss for what to do.

But before long, Su Zesui slowly lifted his head again. His eyes and the tip of his nose were red as he looked up at Gu Yilan and whispered, “I met some really nice people today. They said I was cute.”

“Mr. Gu, do you think they were lying? Maybe… I’m not cute at all.”

“Maybe no one will ever really like me.”

Recalling what had happened that afternoon, Su Zesui finally pulled himself out of his memories.

His emotions were all over the place. At this point, he stopped curling into himself, let down his legs, slowly put on his slippers, and stared at his swaying toes.

“They even wished me happiness.”

Maybe because they were about to part, Su Zesui had a lot more to say than usual. He looked at Gu Yilan, rambling, “You… they… are the only good people I’ve met.”

“You’re really… really good,” he repeated over and over. “Truly.”

Su Zesui’s standards for “good people” were heartbreakingly low. Just a little kindness was enough for him to see someone as good.

In both his lives combined, he hadn’t met many people. Besides his family, the only ones who had ever shown him kindness were Gu Yilan, the butler, the housekeeper, and the two boys from the afternoon.

“Good people… really good. Really rare.”

Su Zesui slowly stood up, wiped his tears, puffed out his pale cheeks as if to cheer himself up, though he looked more like a walking shell. In a soft voice, he said, “Dinner… let’s eat.”

He glanced at Gu Yilan, who was sitting beside him. Seeing the man with his head lowered in thought, Su Zesui stood still for a few seconds before unsteadily walking toward the door.

Just as he was about to step out of the room, he suddenly heard a low voice behind him: “Su Zesui… I’m sorry.”

Gu Yilan’s voice was thick with emotion—so complex, so heavy—it was impossible to tell what he truly meant.

Su Zesui held the doorframe, shook his head without turning back.

——Mr. Gu was the best of all the good people. Why would he need to say sorry?

“If you haven’t changed your mind…” Gu Yilan closed his eyes, as if making a huge decision. “Would you like to try… getting married?”

Su Zesui’s body, which had been moving forward in a daze, suddenly froze. His lips parted slightly, and he instinctively turned around.

But Gu Yilan had long legs and walked quickly. In just a blink, he was already behind him.

So the moment Su Zesui turned around, he felt himself gently pulled into a warm, solid embrace. It was brief—but the heat from Gu Yilan’s body was enough to warm his own freezing one.

Before Su Zesui could react, Gu Yilan’s voice fell gently above his head, firmer this time: “Let’s get married. Do you still want that?”

Su Zesui’s eyes widened in disbelief, but his body was already nodding before his mind caught up. “Us?”

Truthfully, he had already given up hope. The reason he had even said all of that to Mr. Gu was only because he felt like he had to—checking off each suggestion from a list of how to gain someone’s affection.

He hadn’t expected to say so much once he started talking.

Gu Yilan stepped back half a step and looked at him, lips tugging up in a faint, forced smile. He asked softly, “You want to marry someone else instead?”

Su Zesui opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, Gu Yilan’s phone started ringing.

He glanced at the caller ID, then reached out to gently wipe the tear off Su Zesui’s cheek with his thumb and said in a hoarse voice, “Don’t cry. Be good. Go downstairs first—I’ll come find you in a bit.”

Su Zesui nodded without much hesitation and headed downstairs.

His mind was completely blank. He couldn’t believe it—nor could he understand how things had taken such a dramatic turn in just the blink of an eye.

He needed time. Time to sort through the chaos in his thoughts, to calm his racing heart, and to figure out what he actually wanted to say.

After the boy left, Gu Yilan finally looked down at his phone. His jaw tightened slightly as he tapped “Answer.”

The voice of the person in charge came through the phone: “President Gu, we’ve caught the people you asked us to investigate. They really did take photos they shouldn’t have, but we got there in time. They didn’t get the chance to spread any rumors.”

“Rumors?” Gu Yilan frowned. There was a sharpness in his otherwise calm voice—even he didn’t notice it.

“One of them has a family background in tech—access to internet resources, water army, and traffic manipulation. Smearing someone’s name doesn’t cost them a thing. Plus… plus…”

“Plus what?”

The man hesitated, then said, “Plus the little master is very good-looking. He naturally draws attention. They even came up with some outrageous, slanderous clickbait headlines. They were planning to spread false rumors on a large scale…”

Gu Yilan rubbed his temples. A dull throb pulsed at his temples.

Earlier that afternoon.

Back at the ice cream shop, after the unpleasant incident at the toy store, Gu Yilan had deliberately kept one eye on the boy waiting in the seating area.

That’s why he had clearly seen how the two boys in trendy streetwear had approached Su Zesui and tried to chat him up.

Privately, Gu Yilan thought Su Zesui had handled it well—at the very least, it was progress. He hadn’t run to hide behind him like before. That deserved praise.

After being turned down, the two boys gave some empty polite words, then casually strolled to the back of the line, hands in pockets. Their conversation reached Gu Yilan’s ears word for word—

“Tch. What a fake. So rude,” one of them muttered.

“Probably got selective mutism or something. The way he talked to us like we were beneath him—if you didn’t know better, you’d think he was some big shot. Honestly, he’s only got that face going for him.” There was a rustling sound as the other boy seemed to pull out his phone. “Here, his eyelashes are actually kinda long.”

“Did you see the way he acted?” the first boy continued angrily, clicking his tongue twice. “I was talking to him all friendly and warm, and he wouldn’t even glance at me. Like he was deaf or something. Damn it, I’ve never been treated with such cold indifference in my life.”

“Alright, alright,” the other said. “I just sent his photo to our marketing department. Let’s give him some ‘exposure’—get back at him.”

The first boy scoffed. “I’ll throw 50,000 yuan at the water army for this exposure.”

. . . . .

“President Gu? President Gu?” the person on the phone called out.

Gu Yilan gave a muffled response.

“We’ve already contacted their university advisors and their parents. We’re also preparing to file a lawsuit. Their families have businesses in tech and dining, and our corporate group has already mobilized to target their networks. At this rate, I don’t think it’ll take more than a few months before they go bankrupt.”

The man on the other end even felt a bit of satisfaction. It felt good to see such arrogant punks being properly punished.

But for some reason, even with justice served, Gu Yilan’s tone still didn’t sound pleased.

Trying to be helpful, the man added, “President Gu, they’re crying their eyes out now, begging for forgiveness, saying they want to apologize to the little master in person. Should we give them the chance?”

“No need,” Gu Yilan said flatly, without hesitation.

He still remembered how the boy had looked at him earlier, eyes sparkling, and said with joy, “I met some really nice people today. They said I was cute.”
And then asked, “Mr. Gu, do you think they were lying to me?”

——How was he supposed to tell him the truth?

Without meaning to, Gu Yilan suddenly recalled something Su Zesui had once told him long ago: “Everyone else is awful.”

——Was it a bitter prophecy… or just lived experience?

Probably the latter.

Just before arriving at the side room, Su Mingyu had messaged him, saying he planned to take his younger brother for a hospital check-up in a few days and asked Gu Yilan to send the exact return date in advance so he could book a specialist appointment.

Gu Yilan had a gut feeling—they were going to the psychiatric department.

Gu Yilan asked, “What about the other couple?”

The man quickly replied, “Oh, the girl’s family owns a small company, and the guy’s just a loser she’s keeping. President Gu, should we press charges against them too?”

“If I remember correctly, her company operates in the same industry as ours?” Gu Yilan said coolly.

“Blacklist them publicly.”

“Y-yes, of course!” the man answered.

As the industry leader, a public blacklist from their company was basically a death sentence. No one would dare work with them after that. The business would go under in no time.

Just then, Gu Yilan’s phone vibrated again. He glanced down—

[(o^^o): Mr. Gu, are you downstairs yet? [Bunny peeking sticker.jpg]]

“That’s all. Hanging up,” Gu Yilan said and ended the call. He began walking out the door while typing a reply.

[11th Dimension: On my way.]

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