Guidebook (1/2)
Su Mingyu took a few deep breaths, grabbed the back collar of his little brother’s shirt, and pulled him out of the man’s arms, trying to calm himself down.
“Go. Kids go back to their rooms. Grown-ups need to talk.”
Su Zesui glanced at the familiar bedroom door, then shook his head and said to his brother, “N-No. Don’t. Don’t hit him.”
Su Mingyu: ???
Gu Yilan, who worked out year-round and was even a bit taller than him, now stood there with his eyelids slightly lowered. There was a coldness in his eyes that made him look anything but easy to deal with.
——What kind of tragic soap opera are these two putting on?
“Go on,” Gu Yilan said to Su Zesui with a nod. “It’s fine.”
Only after hearing that did Su Zesui slowly head toward his room, turning back with every step. Reluctantly, he closed the door gently behind him.
Watching his own little brother obediently listen to that bastard Gu without question, Su Mingyu clenched his molars hard.
The moment the boy stepped into his room, silence fell over the living room like a heavy curtain.
Su Mingyu tossed the ruler in his hand onto the table and turned to glare at the culprit. “He’s my only brother,” he said coldly. “He just turned eighteen. He’s only starting the second year of high school next semester. Are you a freaking animal? What did you promise me back then?”
Their family valued privacy, so all the bedroom doors were equipped with top-tier soundproofing.
Su Mingyu wasn’t worried about his brother overhearing them.
Gu Yilan frowned slightly. After a moment of consideration, he did something extremely rare—he apologized.
“I’m going back on my word.”
Su Mingyu visibly froze for a second. But the meaning behind those words immediately reignited his barely suppressed rage. “Going back on it? You think a simple ‘I changed my mind’ is enough to steal my brother away? What the hell are you thinking? I’m telling you right now—I absolutely do not agree to this marriage.”
After he said this, Gu Yilan once again fell silent.
The man already had dark, unreadable eyes, and now with no expression on his face, it was completely impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Even when confronted so directly, Gu Yilan’s utter lack of visible emotion or response was infuriating.
This time, Su Mingyu was really clenching his fists.
Gu Yilan glanced at Su Mingyu’s clenched fists, veins bulging, and only then raised an eyebrow. His thin lips parted as he calmly shifted the topic: “Thinking of hitting me?”
“I do want to hit you, but what I want even more is for you to get out of my house, stay far away from my little brother from now on, and never see him again!”
“Alright. Try hitting me then.”
Gu Yilan’s face was calm, and what should’ve sounded like a provocation came out flat, as emotionless as ever—almost as if he didn’t care at all.
Su Mingyu: ???
He was fuming—genuinely about to punch this man in the face.
He finally understood why his little brother was so obedient when he was sent away, but when he came back, he had become so fiery and provocative.
It was all this man’s bad influence.
He just couldn’t wrap his head around it. Gu Yilan was such a smart man, so why did he keep dodging the most critical issues, again and again?
“Why the hell are you backing out now? If you won’t explain yourself, then there’s nothing left for us to talk about,” Su Mingyu said, not wanting to play mind games anymore.
All those tactics he used in business—probing, provoking—were useless on Gu Yilan. It was like punching cotton. He ended up just exhausting himself with rage. Might as well cut the nonsense and ask directly.
Su Mingyu downed the cold water on the coffee table, sat down on the sofa, and stared sharply at the man who remained still in quiet thought.
After a long while—just when Su Mingyu thought he was going to keep evading the question—Gu Yilan finally let out a soft sigh and spoke again:
“He lacks a sense of security.”
Saying something like “I want to protect him” would’ve sounded way too sentimental—and fake, coming from someone like him. So of course, he didn’t say that.
But the moment Gu Yilan said that, Su Mingyu recalled the image of his brother curled up silently in the corner of his room. Still, his voice stayed cold:
“What does his sense of security have to do with you? Who are you to him? Or are you trying to replace me and become his brother?”
Gu Yilan responded mildly, “He thinks I’m a good person.”
“You? Seriously?”
Su Mingyu almost hurled the teapot at him.
——You’re a good person? Yeah right. You’re a ‘good’ piece of work.
Gu Yilan stood still, head slightly bowed. After a long moment, he said again, “I can be.”
Crash.
The teapot slipped from Su Mingyu’s hand and shattered on the floor, ceramic pieces scattering.
He let out a laugh fueled by disbelief and fury. Looking at Gu Yilan for a long moment, he finally squeezed out through gritted teeth: “Are you insane?”
He knew Gu Yilan was the type who never made a decision without careful thought—but that only made this all feel more unnatural, like someone else had taken over his body.
Gu Yilan didn’t get angry at the outburst. He met Su Mingyu’s gaze and calmly hit the heart of the matter: “He has some form of psychological disorder, doesn’t he?”
Even though Su Mingyu was sitting down and Gu Yilan was standing, even though he had every moral high ground—he still felt like he was being led around by the nose. Like everything was under this man’s control, and he was just a scripted NPC.
Su Mingyu wanted to resist being cornered by psychological warfare—but this topic left him unable to stay calm.
He closed his eyes, and a deep, unnamed sorrow surfaced.
Because their family had money and influence, anything his brother did—no matter how abnormal—had always been dismissed as a personality quirk. No one ever tried to dig deeper.
Because once it reached the level of illness, it became far more serious.
Su Mingyu let out a long breath and finally admitted, “He has trouble speaking.”
Both before and after the car crash during the racing accident.
He figured Gu Yilan must’ve picked up on it. So he stopped there, not mentioning anything worse.
“It’s okay. I can teach him,” Gu Yilan said, raising an eyebrow.
The anger in Su Mingyu’s heart had mostly been replaced by pain. But the moment he heard that, he let out an incredulous laugh.
“You?? Teach him how to speak?? I’m seriously worried that the moment he learns, someone’ll drag him into a dark alley and beat him to death.”
Gu Yilan’s tone of cold sarcasm was unique—one of a kind, signature-grade.
No one deserved a punch more than this man.
“If he’s unhappy in the future, we can get a divorce. I won’t do anything to him,” Gu Yilan said, eyes lowered. “His condition is unique, and he needs someone to coach him for competitions.”
His words sounded exactly like some smooth-talking heartbreaker who’d disappear after a fling, but Su Mingyu understood what he meant.
And because he had always been extra protective of his brother, he still asked one more question: “What’s this, then? Charity work? Don’t tell me you actually like my brother and plan to selflessly devote yourself in the name of love.”
Gu Yilan thought about it for a second. “I don’t dislike him.”
Su Mingyu pressed a hand to his forehead. Just thinking about how his brother acted like Gu Yilan was his entire world gave him a headache.
Given that both he and their parents were too busy with work to be with Su Zesui all the time, Su Mingyu finally made a small concession: “Fine. But first—stop letting him call you ‘brother.’ That sounds so wrong.”
“He’s just younger than me, that’s all,” Gu Yilan replied, unbothered as always.
Su Mingyu was appalled.
“Just because he’s younger, he gets to call you brother? You’re younger than me, but did I ever force you to call me that?”
The moment he saw Gu Yilan’s lips twitch and part, Su Mingyu quickly raised a hand to stop him.
He knew this man would actually do it to achieve his goal. The thought gave him chills.
“Don’t even start. I was joking. And don’t ever call me ‘brother-in-law’ either.”
Gu Yilan closed his mouth again and nodded calmly. “Alright.”
“Fine. You can get married—but write a guarantee letter first,” Su Mingyu said sternly. “Promise that from now on, you’ll be my brother’s competition coach, bodyguard, and caretaker. Fulfill your duties and don’t cross any lines… What are you doing? Put that down.”
His tone suddenly changed.
He had heard rumors—things about Gu Yilan’s past that most didn’t know. And he was afraid the man would do something drastic.
Gu Yilan had picked up a piece of the shattered teapot. He ran his fingers gently across the jagged edge, then casually tossed it into the trash bin.
Raising his eyes to look at Su Mingyu, his tone was as indifferent as ever: “Leaving trash in the middle of the floor? You’re blocking the path.”
“Don’t move.” Su Mingyu immediately stood up. “I’ll get a broom. You go bring Suisui out—but tell him to avoid the mess.”