Rewards (Part 2)
It was past midnight, and Su Zesui’s voice had already gone hoarse.
At first, he had been lying face-down on the bed, but at some point, he’d shifted to his side. Now, he was sprawled flat, his dark hair in disarray, one slender pale leg hooked over the man’s shoulder, his calf trembling uncontrollably.
The overhead light was bright. Su Zesui’s cheeks burned as he faced Gu Yilan. Even while shaking his head in helpless refusal, shyness overtook him, and he covered his eyes with one hand.
Yet during the brief pauses, through the cracks between his fingers, he could clearly see beads of sweat rolling down the man’s sharply defined muscles, sliding one by one until they dropped onto the raised skin of his own pale stomach.
Gu Yilan liked to hold his hand, guiding him to explore places he didn’t dare to touch.
Before long, the hand Su Zesui had used to hide his shame was once again caught and pressed slowly down against his abdomen.
And so, Gu Yilan’s strikingly handsome face came into full view.
Through his tear-blurred vision, everything looked hazy and glaringly bright. But the man’s features were too strong, too vivid—deep eyes, high nose bridge, lips pressed firm, a jawline sharp and smooth. Even blurred, a single glance was enough to leave anyone stunned by his looks.
“Between me and the guy in that video, who’s better?” Gu Yilan raised a brow as he asked, his breath tinged with alcohol fanning hot against Su Zesui’s neck, making it tingle.
Su Zesui’s fingertips curled in retreat, shying away from the sudden, intrusive touch. He didn’t want to answer such an embarrassing question. “Mm…”
But in the end, he was forced to give a direct reply. Gu Yilan was even displeased with having to share the title of “Brother” with someone else, insisting that Su Zesui call him by name instead.
In Su Zesui’s completely overwhelmed, short-circuited state, let alone saying the man’s name—even if Gu Yilan had told him to call him “dad,” he might have blurted it out without hesitation. Luckily, Gu Yilan wasn’t quite that wicked.
By the time even the moon had gone to sleep, the man finally carried his utterly drained lover into the bathroom, lowering him into a bathtub filled with steaming water.
Half-closing his weary eyes, Su Zesui leaned his forehead against Gu Yilan’s shoulder, letting the man wash away the marks on his body, his mouth weakly humming and murmuring.
“Are you satisfied with the reward?” Gu Yilan asked with a smile in his voice. “I even doubled it for free—you’re welcome.”
At that, Su Zesui stopped humming. Instead, he let out an indignant little whimper, trying to voice his dissatisfaction. After all, no matter how many times he said “no” earlier, the man had heartlessly ignored him.
Gu Yilan tilted his head, glancing at the boy pouting uselessly against his shoulder. As soon as he curled the fingers that had been helping to wash him, Su Zesui immediately fell silent, his body going taut with nerves, too afraid to move at all.
Gu Yilan couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
He knew Su Zesui was exhausted, so he didn’t tease him any further. After quickly finishing the wash, he wrapped him snugly in a large towel and carried him back to the master bedroom’s big bed.
“B–Brother…” From the bed, Su Zesui used the last of his strength to lift an arm, stopping the man who was about to head to the bathroom for a shower.
“What is it?” Gu Yilan walked back to the bedside, lowering his gaze to the worn-out boy sprawled across the sheets.
“Th… thank you,” Su Zesui murmured softly, then pursed his lips.
He knew that tonight, Gu Yilan had compromised for his sake in many ways—taking care of his fragile body and giving him as much comfort as possible. Aside from not really listening when he said “stop,” everything else had been good.
Gu Yilan smiled, leaned down, and brushed a gentle kiss across those pouting, soft lips. “Get some rest. Your little orange cat butler has already been taken care of.”
Su Zesui gave a faint nod, too weak to say more.
Before entering the bathroom, Gu Yilan noticed his eyes slowly drifting shut. But when he came out from his shower, he found the boy propped up against the headboard, fighting sleep—his small head bobbing like a drowsy fish.
Catching sight of him out of the corner of his eye, Su Zesui stirred awake a little and softly called out, “Brother…”
Gu Yilan hadn’t expected the boy to be this exhausted and still wait for him to come to bed together. Something tender in his heart was quietly plucked. With a soft “mm,” he walked over to the bedside and brushed aside the dark hair falling over Su Zesui’s forehead.
Then he heard the boy whisper weakly, “Brother… I haven’t done my competition homework.”
The words were slurred and unclear, leaving Gu Yilan momentarily stunned, his hand pausing in mid-motion.
“Tomorrow’s Monday. It has to be handed in… it’s in my bag…” Su Zesui’s eyelids kept fluttering shut, and after forcing out that sentence, he tilted his head to the side and fell asleep, like some NPC who had just completed his quest.
Gu Yilan: “…”
Su Zesui had originally thought the wedding ceremony would end quickly, and that he’d be able to make up his homework before bed. But instead, by the time he finally got to rest, it was already past two in the morning. He was so drained he couldn’t even hold a pen.
So, in the dead of night, Gu Yilan—who hadn’t touched competition homework in years—sat at the desk under the dim glow of the lamp, wielding the boy’s ridiculously cute little white-rabbit pen, letting the strokes flow smoothly across the page.
The boy in bed didn’t sleep peacefully either—he muttered endlessly in his dreams, mumbling things like “no more,” “mm…,” and “brother,” stirring a restless heat in Gu Yilan’s chest, his temples throbbing with each beat.
The competition problems were all easy for Gu Yilan. Without so much as a glance to the side, his hand flew faster and faster, finishing the practice exam at his top speed. Tossing the pen aside, he climbed into bed and wrapped the uneasy boy in his arms.
The next day, as expected, something unexpected happened.
Inside the teachers’ office at City A First High School, the gold-medal coach of the Hongzhi team was holding Su Zesui’s homework. Every answer was correct, the process was overly concise, and the handwriting messy. He looked troubled, and tried persuading the boy standing before him:
“The semifinal results are out. You have a real chance at winning gold in the finals. But you must, must take your studies more seriously…”
Su Zesui lowered his head, fidgeting with his fingers, guilt-ridden and shy. After being lectured for quite a while, all he could manage was a blush and a stifled, “Mm.”
Seeing his attitude as somewhat perfunctory, the coach sighed helplessly. “Call your parent over. I’ll speak with them.”
Su Zesui stiffened. He didn’t dare call his big brother, and he certainly didn’t dare trouble his busy parents. So in the end, he sent Mr. Gu a WeChat message.
Ever since the accident during his registration last time, every time Su Zesui came to City A First High School afterwards, the man would always wait in his car at the school gate until he came out.
So, just five minutes later, Gu Yilan was seated in the coach’s office, staring at the all-too-familiar practice exam the man was tapping with his finger. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly.
Of course, the coach recognized this renowned alumnus of City A First High School—the one who had scored full marks at the International Physics Olympiad. After a few polite greetings, he got straight to the point:
“Su Zesui is a very bright student. But you know as well as I do, no matter how talented, without hard work it won’t amount to much.”
Gu Yilan stayed silent for a few seconds before finally responding with a quiet “Mm.”
But the coach didn’t notice anything unusual about his reaction. In fact, he even spread the practice exam out for him to see. “Look here—the answers are mostly correct. But the steps? Practically none. And the handwriting—so messy it’s barely legible. This isn’t about ability. This is attitude. Or rather, laziness. It really shouldn’t be like this…”
Gu Yilan: “…”
Su Zesui had always been an obedient student growing up and had rarely ever gotten into enough trouble for a teacher to summon his parents. At first, he felt rather embarrassed about it, but when he saw Mr. Gu’s helpless expression and the coach scolding him indirectly without even realizing it, he couldn’t help but find it a little funny.
He knew that Mr. Gu had won his own gold medal through self-study, and probably hadn’t been on the receiving end of a teacher’s lecture in his whole life…
Faced with the coach’s criticisms, Gu Yilan could only helplessly say, “Understood. I’ll keep an eye on him from now on.”
Yet the coach repeatedly flipped through the practice sheets, still shaking his head regretfully, as if he hadn’t said enough.
“Come, sit down.” Gu Yilan placed a soft cushion on the chair beside him, motioning for Su Zesui—who was standing off to the side—to sit.
Because of what happened the night before, the boy’s legs were visibly trembling, while the coach kept talking on and on with no end in sight.
“Thank you, Brother.” Su Zesui’s legs felt weak, and he could hardly stand. Without thinking too much, he obediently took a seat when the man told him to.
“Uh… this…” The coach looked up, clearly caught off guard.
Usually, when parents were summoned to the office, they arrived anxious and deferential, while the students stood there ashamed and guilty. He had never seen such a brazenly casual parent—or such an unruffled student.
Glancing at the confused coach and at Su Zesui, who had happily settled in as though ready to watch the show, Gu Yilan couldn’t help but find the whole thing amusing. Pointing at the cushion with his chin, he explained, “He was careless with his homework last night, so I disciplined him.”
Gu Yilan’s voice carried a naturally cold edge, and with his frosty expression, he could easily intimidate others. No matter how far-fetched his words were, people tended to believe them.
Sure enough, the coach froze for a few seconds, then broke into a sweat. Instead of scolding the boy, he turned to persuade Gu Yilan instead: “Well, students being a little lazy is normal. At times like this, as parents, we should first understand them, and then encourage them…”
Su Zesui flushed from his neck all the way up to the tips of his ears. He hung his head low and, out of the coach’s sight, poked the man’s thigh with his finger in mild annoyance—only to have the other grab his fingertip in the shadows.
The coach went on and on at Gu Yilan for another half hour before finally turning to Su Zesui. “Su Zesui, you really are very talented. Look at you… this is your brother, right? And your brother cares about you so much—shouldn’t that make you study even harder?”
Su Zesui withdrew his hand from the man’s grasp and murmured, “Mm.”
“Why weren’t you serious with your studies last night and made your brother worry?” The coach flipped through the practice sheets again and asked formally, giving the boy a chance to explain.
Su Zesui wasn’t good at lying. After a few seconds, he admitted truthfully, “Yesterday… I got married to my brother. Very busy.”
The coach’s hand froze mid-flip, and question marks practically sprouted above his head. Immersed in academics and oblivious to the world, he had of course missed the trending wedding post from last night. Hearing Gu Yilan say he had ‘disciplined the kid,’ he genuinely assumed the two were distant relatives with different surnames.
“This… this…” The coach pinched the practice sheets, glanced at the innocent-looking boy before him, then looked at Gu Yilan, expressionless and silently confirming the boy’s words, and felt as if a firework had exploded inside his head.
The three completely unrelated things—getting married to his brother, being disciplined by his brother, and not doing his homework seriously—had all happened in just one day yesterday. It was hard not to conjure some rather… questionable images in one’s mind.
He had thought Su Zesui was very well-behaved, and Gu Yilan very gentlemanly. But in reality… behind closed doors, they played so wildly?
Before long, the coach, sweat beading on his forehead, finally let them go. He handed Su Zesui a new set of practice sheets and told him to rewrite the previous ones, to be submitted together next Monday, after which he would explain them.
Once they were outside the school gate, Gu Yilan scooped up the weak-legged boy in his arms and asked, “Are you okay?”
“No,” Su Zesui said, gripping both sets of practice sheets, frowning as he scolded the man. “You were so fierce last night… it hurt me.”
Last night’s events played vividly in his mind. The boy clutched Gu Yilan’s back, kicking his legs helplessly, choking on sobs right next to his ear. He looked inexplicably pitiful, as if his body had already reached its limit yet was still forced to endure.
Gu Yilan frowned and quickened his pace toward the parking lot. “I’ll take you to the hospital for a check-up.”
Su Zesui stiffened instantly.
…A check-up? Doesn’t that mean the doctor would have to take off his pants and poke around with his fingers? They say loving someone brings possessiveness—how could Mr. Gu bear to let anyone see him there?!
Su Zesui’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and he buried his face in the man’s chest, feeling aggrieved. After a moment, he muttered, “…You don’t love me anymore.”
Gu Yilan: …
Gu Yilan: “No.”
Gu Yilan calmly replied, “I do.”
“You used to say you’d lock me in a room so I’d never go out again,” Su Zesui recited the man’s “crimes,” “but now… you’re so cruel.”
After saying this, he let out two symbolic little whimpers.
Gu Yilan: …
In the end, Gu Yilan gave in. He didn’t let the doctor check the boy’s injuries; instead, he took Su Zesui to the hospital just to get some medicine, and then bought him an ice cream on the street.
That evening, after being called in to meet with his “parents,” Su Zesui dared not procrastinate on his homework before the deadline. Holding two sets of physics competition practice sheets and with Juzi causing distractions, he buried his head in his work early and diligently.
He wasn’t as skilled at solving problems as Gu Yilan, and he was afraid that skipping steps would get him scolded by the coach again. So he worked slowly, writing each step as thoroughly as possible.
By eleven o’clock at night, he finally finished both sets of practice sheets. He stretched, ready to rest, only to be scooped up by the man bending down.
“Today, you bravely submitted your homework on your own, picked up your medicine at the hospital, and even went out to buy ice cream,” Gu Yilan said, placing him on the bed. He tossed the underage kitten out of the master bedroom and raised an eyebrow. “Time for a reward again.”
Su Zesui’s mind, still soaked in competition problems, processed this a little slowly. A few seconds later, he understood what the man meant.
His body shivered. Clutching the hem of his shirt, he stammered shyly, “N-no, I don’t want it!”
Author’s Note:
‘No’ is impossible. Someone has been holding it in all night. 🐶🐶
Babies, next up is the if-line extra! It imagines a parallel world where Gu Yilan didn’t perish in the fire. It’s a love story between Su Zesui and Mr. Gu, mainly featuring Su Zesui being nurtured and an older, slightly out-of-control Gu Yilan—with a happy ending~