Marriage (2/2)
After lunch, Gong Chuang clenched his teeth and returned to the lab to work. Gu Yilan, on the other hand, took the boy to the Civil Affairs Bureau.
City A had always promoted freedom of marriage, and the procedures were quite simple. Thanks to the butler, who had already arranged a special channel for them, it took less than half an hour for them to get their marriage certificate.
And so, on July 13, Su Zesui officially became Gu Yilan’s husband.
As spring rain nourishes the earth, they would walk hand in hand;
With mountains high and rivers long, their hearts would beat as one.
Su Zesui held the little red booklet in his hands, loving it so much he couldn’t put it down. He turned it under different angles of sunlight, admiring it over and over again.
He skipped out of the building, his joy practically written all over his body.
Strangely, the normally quiet Civil Affairs Bureau lobby was now crowded with people. From the center of the crowd came the sound of a heated argument.
Su Zesui, startled by the loud voices, came to a halt and froze in place. He stood there nervously, listening to the angry shouting from a distance.
“You &$%! All those promises you made back then were for nothing! Now you’re cheating on me and trying to leave me with nothing?!”
“You think you’re some saint? I &$%! Don’t think I don’t know you…”
Su Zesui stood there dumbfounded, struggling to understand what he was hearing. His small face was tense as his mind raced to make sense of it.
Suddenly, he felt a rush of heat around his wrist—a warm, firm grip, gentle yet impossible to resist.
His heart skipped a beat as he looked up.
“Let’s go,” Gu Yilan said, pulling the boy away from the scene.
Su Zesui stared at Mr. Gu’s large hand holding his wrist. His heart thumped wildly, and his cheeks began to heat up—just like the skin where they were touching.
“Forget everything you just heard,” Gu Yilan said without looking back. “And don’t imitate any of it.”
“Mm-hmm,” Su Zesui replied instinctively, though his mind was still filled with everything he’d read on Ahoo.
——So it’s true. After getting married, Mr. Gu will hold my hand.
——Even if it’s just my wrist right now…
——Then… when will Mr. Gu kiss me? When will we ‘burn with passion’?
Su Zesui subtly shifted his wrist, trying to slide his hand down and interlace fingers with Mr. Gu’s.
But Gu Yilan’s grip was firm, and Su Zesui was afraid that if he struggled too much, he might accidentally shake him off. So after trying twice, he gave up and obediently let himself be led by the wrist.
Gu Yilan could feel the boy’s faint resistance. He knew the boy didn’t like being dragged along like this, so once they stepped outside the bureau doors, he let go.
“Brother, hold this for me,” Su Zesui said, lifting the little red booklet in his hand.
According to Ahoo, after marriage, Mr. Gu would become his “husband” and could be “used” however he liked. He figured “used” probably just meant “asked.”
Time to test it out.
Sure enough, Mr. Gu took the certificate from him without a word.
“Marriage is amazing”, Su Zesui thought.
And the best part was still to come.
Now that they were home, it was time to move rooms.
He was going to move in and live with Mr. Gu in the same room!
The suitcase he had packed earlier finally came in handy. Mr. Gu was busy and had to go to the study for a while, but with the butler’s help, Su Zesui quickly moved all his things into the new room.
The master bedroom was spacious, complete with an en-suite bathroom, a work area, and various other sections.
Su Zesui stood on the carpet, puffing out his cheeks as he stared at the bed in the center. For some reason, it looked… a lot bigger than before.
——A few days ago, when he had come into Mr. Gu’s room, was it the same bed?
Now, this bed was so large that even if the two of them lay down, three or four more people could easily fit in between. He figured that in the mornings, it would probably take forever just to find his slippers on the floor.
With a loud thud, the butler placed a massive golden cage to the side, wiped the sweat from his brow, and asked, “Little Master, is it okay to put the cage here?”
Hearing that, Su Zesui turned his head and nodded quickly like a pecking chick. He ran over to open one of his suitcases, took out his plush toys, and began decorating the golden cage all over again.
He and Uncle Butler worked together for an entire afternoon and evening. The results were impressive.
When Gu Yilan returned to the bedroom that night, his footsteps paused at the doorway—
The boy’s aesthetic was just too powerful. Wherever he went, it left a mark.
His previously minimalist and cool-toned bedroom was now filled with plush toys in every corner. The light gray color palette, under the influence of all those stuffed animals, had somehow transformed into a vaguely adorable, cartoonish style.
But what truly left him speechless was the giant golden cage by the window—the one he had originally bought to scare the boy.
And now, it had ended up in his own room.
When Su Zesui saw him come in, he immediately hopped off the bed where he’d been watching an online class and ran over, eyes sparkling. “Brother!”
Gu Yilan responded with a soft “Mm.” Glancing at the time, he said, “It’s getting late. Time for bed?”
“Sleep,” Su Zesui repeated seriously. “Time to sleep.”
Gu Yilan gave a small nod. He walked to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and showed the boy the two little red booklets stored in a file folder. “They’re here. Want to see them again?”
Su Zesui not only wanted to see them—he pulled out his phone and took pictures from every angle, a full 360-degree photoshoot.
This way, he could admire them anytime he wanted.
Watching the boy excitedly walking around, rotating his phone this way and that, Gu Yilan hesitated for a moment before pulling out his own phone and taking a picture of the red booklets too.
Once the boy had finally gotten his fill, Gu Yilan closed the drawer and casually sent the photo to Su Mingyu.
Su Mingyu responded instantly, immediately understanding the message:
[S: Su Yilan, take good care of my brother.]
Gu Yilan: …
He hadn’t forgotten the promise he once made—that if they got married, he’d take Su Mingyu’s surname.
But life was unpredictable. Some things were beyond his control.
He had tried to plan every step of his life, creating a strict schedule and turning himself into a finely tuned machine.
Until one day, someone came crashing in—bringing with him every possible variable.
. . . . .
Gu Yilan’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, but before he could type anything, another notification popped up from Ahoo.
He opened it—
[User1947296: (photo) Uncle, I’m married now!]
[User1947296: You guessed wrong! (cute bunny face.jpg)]
Gu Yilan lifted his eyes and looked toward the large bed.
The boy was lying on his stomach, cuddling a stuffed handcuff plushie, surrounded by a crowd of white rabbits, panda bears, puppies, and kittens like a star encircled by the moon. He was tapping away at his phone.
A subtle smile tugged at the corners of Gu Yilan’s lips. He lowered his head and began typing:
[。 : I guessed wrong.]
[。: I’m moving abroad. I won’t be using this account anymore.]
[User1947296: Why?]
The boy was naturally kind-hearted. Even if he wasn’t especially close to someone, he would still show genuine concern for them.
[。 : Job relocation.]
[User1947296: Uncle, I wish you peace and success no matter where you are, that you’ll see beautiful sights and reap a bountiful harvest. (bunny waving emoji.jpg)]
He’d clearly copied that message from somewhere.
Gu Yilan looked at the boy’s Ahoo profile picture one last time before turning off the screen.
“It’s time. Lights out,” Gu Yilan said.
The moment he heard that, Su Zesui immediately put down his phone, rolled over, and obediently lay down with his plushies. His clear, bright eyes sparkled under the ceiling light.
“Good night,” Gu Yilan said as he turned off the lights and looked toward the boy.
Su Zesui, imitating him perfectly, replied, “Good night.”
The bed was so big—big enough for four or five people. Even with all of Su Zesui’s plushies, the two of them were still far apart, to the point where they couldn’t even feel each other’s presence.
After dealing with so much today, Gu Yilan was a bit tired. Before long, he had already closed his eyes.
But Gu Yilan was a light sleeper—any small movement nearby could easily wake him.
Sensing the warm, soft presence beside him and a faint tugging on his hand, Gu Yilan slowly stirred. His dark eyes opened, still carrying traces of grogginess and sleep.
The moment he opened them, he saw—through a string of plush toys separating them—that the boy was suddenly very close.
The boy’s thick lashes, dark like crow feathers, rested quietly over his cheeks, slightly trembling. Like a kitten, his breathing was steady and faint, so light it was almost imperceptible.
Gu Yilan frowned slightly, wanting to raise his hand to check if the boy was still breathing.
But just as he moved, he felt a slight pressure on his hand again.
Su Zesui seemed to be sleeping restlessly. Not only was he tightly hugging a stuffed toy, he had also stretched out one arm and was lightly holding onto Gu Yilan’s hand.
It was a muggy summer night, and a thin sheen of sweat had formed where their palms touched—warm and slightly sticky.
Gu Yilan had never been this physically close to anyone before. His tongue pressed silently against the roof of his mouth as he applied a little force, trying to withdraw his hand.
But the moment he did, the boy’s small fingers tightened again—and even extended a single finger to gently scratch at the center of Gu Yilan’s palm. The teasing motion felt like a feather brushing across the softest part of his heart.
At the same time, Su Zesui’s eyelashes fluttered again, as though he wanted to open his eyes but didn’t quite dare.
Gu Yilan’s gaze sharpened, his eyes dark and deep. In a low, deliberate voice, he called out, one word at a time:
“Su. Ze. Sui.”