Eat
“Brother, I… I can’t do it.” Su Zesui peeked just half his head out from the bathroom door, looking to Gu Yilan for help.
Gu Yilan remained unmoved and said, “Practice a few more times, and you’ll get it.”
At his words, the little tuft of hair on Su Zesui’s head wobbled as he looked down at something, then gave a tiny nod and softly shut the door with a “click,” returning inside to keep practicing.
Half an hour later, Su Zesui finally emerged from the bathroom.
This time, he had managed to put on his full set of pajamas—but they were messy and wrinkled. The top was half-tucked into the pants, and the pajama bottoms sat crookedly on his slender waist. He looked like a poor little bunny that had been thoroughly roughed up by humans. Honestly, it might have been better if he hadn’t worn them at all.
Drained of all energy, Su Zesui staggered out of the bathroom in an awkward, uncoordinated way. Then, spreading his arms, he flopped face-first onto the soft bed with a thud, like a wind-up puppet that had run out of energy—completely still.
Beside him, Gu Yilan commented, “How does it feel to do it yourself?”
“Mmm.” Su Zesui mumbled into the mattress, “I want brother to hold me.”
Gu Yilan raised an eyebrow slightly. “Is this really appropriate for us?”
Su Zesui froze at his words. It was as if someone had recharged him—he suddenly sat up, all limp and floppy, and said, “Brother, don’t reject me.”
Gu Yilan lowered his eyes, studying him from head to toe. His thin lips parted as he asked, “Are you trying to act cute with me?”
That line wasn’t in any textbook. Su Zesui’s fingers tightened around the hem of his shirt, not knowing how to respond.
He kept sneaking glances at the brown book lying beside him, wanting to open it and look for the right response. But he was afraid Gu Yilan would see what kind of book he was reading, so he hesitated, awkwardly half-reaching toward it.
“You want to read?” Gu Yilan said coolly, his gaze already back on the documents on his tablet. “Go ahead.”
Su Zesui lit up, eagerly flipping open the little brown book. At last, he found the perfect scripted reply to their earlier conversation:
——Is this really appropriate for us?
——Why? Are you planning to reject me?
He silently read the lines a few times and memorized them. Just as he was about to keep reading, he felt Gu Yilan’s steady voice say from beside him, “Did you notice you turned a rhetorical question into a statement?”
Startled, Su Zesui dropped the book onto the bed, staring at Gu Yilan in shock.
Gu Yilan turned off his tablet, tilted his head toward him, and narrowed his eyes to read the title of the book on the bed. “Dog… Training… Guide?”
Panic-stricken, Su Zesui quickly covered the title with his hands, looking like a kid caught red-handed.
When he first saw the title, he hadn’t understood it and was pretty resistant. But the contents were surprisingly practical and useful. Despite its name, the book had value. So, he had kept reading it secretly.
——He really should’ve taped over the title. Wuwuwu.
But Gu Yilan had no intention of letting it go. He kept pressing, “So… who’s the dog?”
Su Zesui honestly didn’t know. But he couldn’t let his brother be the dog, so he awkwardly tapped his fingertips together and softly said, “Woof woof.”
Gu Yilan paused. “Gong Chuang gave you this, didn’t he?”
Su Zesui didn’t want to sell out Brother Gong Chuang, so after a short hesitation, he played dumb. “Woof.”
Gu Yilan: …
Then, in a show of his possessiveness, Gu Yilan stated, “From now on, you’re only allowed to say three sentences a day to him.”
“Wu…” Su Zesui lowered his head. If he had dog ears, they’d definitely be drooping now.
“I’m not restricting your social life or anything,” Gu Yilan said with feigned kindness. “Remember the person I deleted for you before? You can add him back now and chat with him.”
Su Zesui buried his head even deeper.
He didn’t want to talk to Uncle Period. There was a generational gap.
“Hug,” he said pitifully, holding his arms open for a comforting embrace.
Gu Yilan stuffed a giant body pillow into his arms and said, “It hasn’t been three days since the last hug. No hugging allowed.”
Su Zesui puffed up his cheeks, wrapped himself around the pillow, rolled over, and shut his eyes to sleep.
“Good boy,” Gu Yilan said, looking at the grumpy little back, “Tomorrow I’ll take you out to eat.”
. . . . .
The next day, though clearly reluctant, Su Zesui obediently messaged Uncle Period.
[User1947296: Hello, uncle.]
[User1947296: I’m going to do homework now. Bye, uncle.]
[。: Got any problems you don’t understand? Send them to me.]
After ten days, Uncle Period still had that same confident and arrogant tone.
The only times Su Zesui didn’t feel socially anxious were when he was discussing homework or gossiping about Mr. Gu.
Coincidentally, he had just gotten stuck on a tough electromagnetism problem. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt since it was free, he simply took a photo and sent it to Uncle Period.
Apparently, the guy had a physics competition background—he was fast, logical, and concise. One hint was enough to make everything click. Apart from Mr. Gu, he was the best physics coach Su Zesui had ever met.
These past few days, Mr. Gu had been busy, so Su Zesui had sent a bunch of tough questions to Uncle Period.
The man patiently answered each one, never showing the slightest annoyance, making Su Zesui feel a little guilty.
[。: It’s hard to chat on Ahoo. Take me off your WeChat blacklist.]
After all, he’d been tutoring him one-on-one for free this whole time. And even Mr. Gu had told him to chat more with this person…
After thinking about it for a long time, Su Zesui finally agreed. Following the tutorial he found on Ahoo, he located the person in his blacklist and removed them.
As soon as he exited the blacklist screen, he saw a message from Brother Gong Chuang on WeChat, sent half an hour ago:
[Brother Gong Chuang: Gu Yilan said you’re joining us in the cafeteria for lunch today? Did the thing I gave you yesterday work?]
Su Zesui didn’t reply right away.
He only had three chances to speak, so he wanted to make them count—he hoped Brother Gong Chuang would say more about Mr. Gu.
But after waiting another half an hour, there were no more messages from the other side.
Su Zesui frowned, visibly troubled, then began furiously typing on his phone keyboard.
[(o^^o): It didn’t work my brother found out it was so embarrassing I’ll never dare watch it again Brother Gong Chuang why are you and my brother so close?]
No punctuation—so it should still count as one sentence, right?
[Brother Gong Chuang: What, did your brother make a new rule today banning punctuation? What’s his problem?]
Su Zesui didn’t type a reply. He wanted to save his speaking chances.
He pressed his palms together and sincerely prayed that Brother Gong Chuang would keep talking on his own, ideally writing him a whole essay about everything he knew concerning Mr. Gu.
Before long, another message came through:
[Brother Gong Chuang: We’re just family friends. When you were little, didn’t your parents take you to visit their business partners’ homes? It’s to build relationships—makes it easier to help each other in the future, or even arrange marriages, stuff like that.]
[(o^^o): Are you going to marry my brother?]
[Brother Gong Chuang: What the hell??? First of all, there’s absolutely nothing romantic between us. And didn’t you already marry him? Bigamy is illegal in A City.]
Su Zesui hesitated for a moment before sending his last message of the day:
[(o^^o): Why don’t you two have feelings for each other?]
[Brother Gong Chuang: Excuse me??? What kind of question is that? Do you see him even acknowledge me? Don’t treat your Brother Gong Chuang like a love rival. I’m on your side, okay?]
[Brother Gong Chuang: The only reason I’m nice to him is because I’m a good person and because he beat up some guys who bullied me when we were kids. I’m just repaying the favor. There’s nothing more to it—and he doesn’t care about me at all. Haven’t you noticed?]
Su Zesui really wanted to know the details of “he beat up the guys who bullied me when we were kids”, but unfortunately, he had used up his message quota for the day. All he could do was stare longingly at his phone and hope the other person could sense his desire and keep talking on his own.
Sadly, no more messages came.
With a disappointed sigh, Su Zesui put away his phone.
He’d have to wait until tomorrow.
Just then, the office door unlocked with a “beep” as someone opened it from the outside with an ID card.
Gu Yilan’s tall figure appeared in the doorway. He looked at him and said, “Let’s go. Time for lunch.”
That morning, Gu Yilan had already returned the handcuffs and chains to the cabinet.
But after spending so long in the office, Su Zesui had come to see it as part of his safe space, and was relatively comfortable there. He didn’t resist much.
After closing the online class on his tablet, he ran toward the man standing at the door.
As soon as they stepped out, he saw Brother Gong Chuang and Brother Ji Yuxing waiting nearby.
Su Zesui immediately hid behind Gu Yilan.
He could talk all he wanted online, but offline? Social anxiety was still social anxiety.
“Not going to say hi to your brothers?” Gu Yilan’s voice was calm, as if he were simply teaching a child good manners.
But Gong Chuang shivered at the word “brothers”, goosebumps rising on his arms. He felt completely creeped out and uncomfortable.
Ji Yuxing waved his hand and said kindly, “It’s fine.”
Peeking out from behind Gu Yilan, Su Zesui quickly and vaguely mumbled, “Hi brothers,” before shrinking back again.
Gong Chuang pretended not to know him, forcing a twitchy smile. “Hello.”
Even Ji Yuxing was reduced to sounding like a robot. “Hello.”
That afternoon, the four of them headed to the nearest cafeteria by the physics lab building.
The first window inside served sweet-and-sour pork with rice.
“Didn’t you say this is your favorite? Go on then, your brothers and I will wait here.” Gu Yilan handed Su Zesui his campus card and nodded toward the window.
Seeing the boy hesitate, Gu Yilan turned back and glanced at the two others behind him.
Gong Chuang, already emotionally numb and sensing no good could come from being invited to lunch by Gu Yilan, repeated mechanically without any expression: “Go ahead, your brothers and I will wait here.”
Ji Yuxing had no experience with situations like this, so he froze for a moment. Under the gazes of Gu Yilan and Gong Chuang, he cautiously suggested, “Go… on? Your brothers will wait here for you?”
Since the “brothers” had spoken, Su Zesui couldn’t bring himself to say no. He could only slowly shuffle toward the window that served sweet and sour pork rice.
Fortunately, the cafeteria wasn’t very crowded during the summer break.
He figured as long as he just pointed at the dish and swiped his card, that would be the end of it!
But since he wasn’t wearing a mask, his overly attractive appearance still drew frequent glances from people around him.
The boy’s skin was smooth and fair, and his thick lashes were long and curled like crow feathers—like a porcelain doll. With a timid and gentle aura, he didn’t come off as arrogant or aloof, and looked like someone who’d be easy to talk to. Because of that, almost every time he went out, someone would try to strike up a conversation.
And this time was no exception.
But Su Zesui didn’t realize any of this. He just suspected he was cursed with “rotten peach blossoms1”. It must be fate—he was simply not meant to leave the house.
“Ah, the girl from the lab next door is talking to our little friend now,” Gong Chuang commented, clearly enjoying the show. He knew Su Zesui definitely wouldn’t dare talk back.
Sure enough, Su Zesui trembled a little, his gaze darting around in panic. His hands shook as he desperately gestured to reject the conversation. His whole demeanor screamed “distressed.”
The girl, being an outgoing extrovert, was even more intrigued by his shy and soft manner. She kindly asked if he was a student at A University, whether he knew about the musical performance happening tomorrow night, and if he’d like an inner-row ticket to see it.
“Looks like they’ll be chatting for a while,” Gong Chuang said, rubbing his rumbling stomach. “How about we go order first? We can come back later and—wait, why do you look so bad?”
Gong Chuang had been rambling, but when he turned and saw Gu Yilan’s dark and gloomy expression, he froze in shock.
“Come on, really? I’ve only known Su Zesui for a short time—don’t you know him well by now? There’s no way he’d add someone on WeChat,” Gong Chuang said. “But if you feel awkward about it, I can go over and help clear things up?”
Gu Yilan’s deep black eyes were cold as ice, though his tone remained calm.
“He’s grown up now. He should learn how to reject people on his own. I can’t help him forever.”
Though he said that, he had no intention of walking away.
Gong Chuang wouldn’t dare push him, so he just stood there too, half-chatting with Ji Yuxing. “So, what are you having for lunch?”
“I’m not sure,” Ji Yuxing replied. “Whatever’s left later, I guess I’ll just eat that.”
“True, we just have to wait it out.”
Gong Chuang glanced at the two figures again and began live-commentating out of boredom: “The young lady is very interested in our little friend. Even though he’s not saying much, she seems really happy. She’s patting his shoulder… looks like she’s even tempted to pinch his cheek…”
Suddenly, Gu Yilan strode off toward the scene, face expressionless.
Gong Chuang was startled by the sudden movement.
Staring at his retreating figure, he came to his senses and muttered to Ji Yuxing: “I~ can’t~ help~ him~ forever~.”
Ji Yuxing couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Meanwhile, Gu Yilan reached Su Zesui and took the campus card from his hand. His sharp black eyes were fixed only on Su Zesui.
“Still haven’t ordered?”
“Brother,” Su Zesui immediately clutched Gu Yilan’s arm like he’d just been rescued and hid behind him, peeking out at the enthusiastic girl.
That kind of instinctive, protective body language and dependence made everything obvious.
The girl realized what was going on right away. She looked a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry, I didn’t know…”
“It’s fine,” Gu Yilan cut her off.
He knew Su Zesui had trouble rejecting people. Things like this happened all the time—it really wasn’t anyone’s fault.
After the girl left, Su Zesui looked at Gu Yilan, who had gone ahead and ordered the sweet and sour pork rice for him. In a small, apologetic voice, he said,
“Sorry, Brother.”
Gu Yilan handed him the lunch and looked back at him. “Don’t apologize. Next time something like this happens, just say…”
He trailed off, pausing for a moment, as if unsure whether to say what he was thinking.
But Su Zesui was already intrigued, his eyes sparkling with curiosity, eager to hear what killer line his brother would teach him.
“Just say, ‘Sorry, my amazing big brother is waiting for me,’” Gu Yilan said seriously, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly. “Even if I’m not there, Su Mingyu is usually waiting for you, right?”
Su Zesui nodded thoughtfully. In their past life, before his big brother was diagnosed with cancer, he really did always wait for him. And so did Mr. Gu. So… that was technically a true statement.
He didn’t quite understand how that line would be effective, but he trusted Mr. Gu. He’d use it next time for sure.
Gu Yilan handed him the food and led him back to their spot.
Gong Chuang and Ji Yuxing were both staring at Su Zesui with complicated expressions, clicking their tongues in amazement.
Gu Yilan subtly shifted to block their line of sight and said calmly, “Relationships that start with random flirtation are too frivolous.”
“You’re right,” Gong Chuang said, clapping dramatically. “Flirty relationships are more worthless than weeds, more hollow than clouds, and filthier than gutter oil.”
“Totally makes sense,” Ji Yuxing added, slowly adjusting to his role in this dynamic.
After making sure Su Zesui was seated and eating, Gu Yilan turned back to the other two and said to Gong Chuang, “Did you find the person I asked for?”
“Uh… well…” Gong Chuang looked awkward, fumbling for words.
High-level talent from the physics department, planning to go into research, kind-hearted, friendly, likely from a good family, and under 25 years old?
Where the hell was he supposed to find someone like that?
“This was too short-notice. Give me a little more time,” Gong Chuang said.
“I will find someone suitable to take over, I swear.”
“So what—you spent the whole day and all you came up with was a copy of <Dog Training Guide>?” Gu Yilan raised an eyebrow and questioned him coldly.
Gong Chuang froze in his tracks, a chill instantly creeping up his back. He hadn’t expected Gu Yilan to catch him again this quickly.
“Actually, I have been putting effort into finding someone… I just haven’t had much time, and so far I’ve only found one person…” Gong Chuang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurriedly changed the subject, pulling Ji Yuxing—who was standing beside him—into the spotlight. “That person is Ji Yuxing.”
Ji Yuxing: ?
“Ji Yuxing, 25 years old, gentle and kind, has rescued countless stray cats, and is also a top PhD student in the Physics Department at A University,” Gong Chuang shamelessly introduced. “He’d be a great candidate to date our little friend after you two break up.”
Ji Yuxing, panicking: ???
Gu Yilan: …………
- it’s a poetic way to say someone has bad luck in love or is entangled in troublesome relationships. ↩︎
Ni Gu Yilian se la cree que puede dejar a nuestro bb para otra persona jajaja