Chapter 30

At lunch Gu Yunchi mentioned they were leaving this afternoon. Aunt Liu looked reluctant, but considering the two of them had eloped—basically run away from home—she couldn't exactly hold them back from going home, so she smiled again: "Better to head back early. Your family must be worried."

After helping clear the dishes, Wen Ran and Gu Yunchi went back to the room to nap. The atmosphere was still awkward. Wen Ran was about to scramble onto the bed and play dead when there was a knock on the door. Aunt Liu came in carrying a small plate of sliced watermelon: "Old Liu says the melons are really sweet today, told me to cut you two a couple pieces to try."

Wen Ran slipped his slippers back on: "Thanks, Auntie."

While they ate the watermelon, Aunt Liu didn't rush off. She looked at them and said: "When my two sons got married, they were barely out of their twenties—not much older than you two. Both of them, in this very room. Once you head back today, probably won't see each other again. But if you two make it all the way in the end, this bridal room—consider it our family already watched you get married."

Surrounded by wedding characters on every wall, Wen Ran quietly lowered his head and ate his watermelon. Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu had taken the 'elopement' excuse at face value, treating them like a pair of star-crossed lovers. But the truth was an arranged marriage neither of them wanted—let alone getting married. Not long ago, Gu Yunchi's "I won't marry you" still rang clear in his ears.

After the watermelon, Aunt Liu didn't bother them anymore, walked out and shut the door. Wen Ran wiped his mouth and hands with a tissue, got on the bed, was about to lie down when he heard Gu Yunchi say: "Battery's dead, why are you still wearing it."

Instinctively touching the Neck Ring, Wen Ran didn't dare look at him, answered: "I figured with it covering the Gland like this, maybe it still blocks some of it."

"It doesn't." Gu Yunchi crushed his fantasy without mercy. "The whole room smells like your Pheromone."

Wen Ran was shocked: "Really?"

"What else? Right now it's just a collar. Useless." Gu Yunchi said. "Unless you like being a dog."

"I don't." Wen Ran pressed the release clasp and took the Neck Ring off.

His neck felt instantly bare. Wen Ran wasn't used to it. Seemed like the first time he'd exposed his full, uncovered neck to Gu Yunchi. Anxiously touching the back of his neck, he asked: "How come I feel like the whole room smells like your Pheromone?"

Gu Yunchi didn't answer. Stared at his neck for several seconds. Wen Ran was getting nervous from the look before he finally said: "You've got a tan line under the Neck Ring."

He knew he'd gotten a bit darker these past couple days, but hadn't thought about tan lines. Wen Ran asked, surprised: "Is it obvious?"

Gu Yunchi reached out and gripped his chin, pressed his thumb down to tilt his head to the side, fully exposing his neck. Besides the faint tan line from the Neck Ring, on the right side of Wen Ran's neck there was also a faint red bite mark. Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu had noticed it at lunch—only this idiot himself hadn't realized, probably didn't look in the mirror when he washed his face this morning.

After looking for a while, Gu Yunchi commented: "Like a white collar."

The implication being that he was the dog. Wen Ran decided not to pursue this topic with him anymore—didn't want to humiliate himself—so he just went along with Gu Yunchi's force and tilted over, lying on his side on the bed, closing his eyes.

Gu Yunchi said: "The dog's sleeping."

"…" Wen Ran covered his ears.

Gu Yunchi said: "The dog's angry."

Wen Ran turned to look at him: "I'm not angry." Paused, realized he'd walked into a trap, added: "And I'm not a dog."

"Fair point." Gu Yunchi got on the bed. "No dog is this dumb."

Called dumb again. Last time was last night, in the pitch-black Bathroom, Gu Yunchi pressing him down, panting "so dumb"—Wen Ran suddenly couldn't speak. Eyes open, looking up at Gu Yunchi for two seconds, he turned over to face the wall, and quietly rubbed his palms again.

Outside, cicadas chirped on and off. In Gu Yunchi's Pheromone, Wen Ran's heartbeat was a mess, hard to fall asleep. Several minutes passed. He listened to Gu Yunchi's breathing, knew he wasn't sleeping either.

"Thank you." Wen Ran suddenly said.

"Thank you for choosing me to come here with you. Maybe you think I'm a tool that's somewhat useful. Whatever you say, whatever you do, I don't have any objections." He picked at the straw mat. "But it's been a long time since I was this happy. Even if it was only two or three days. For you it was probably a miserable time, but I was really glad… sorry."

Gu Yunchi only asked: "Who told you you're a tool."

"Everyone thinks that, and it's just the fact." Wen Ran turned over to look at him. "Isn't it?"

"No."

"Then what am I?"

Gu Yunchi, eyes closed: "You're a pig."

"…"

Wen Ran sensibly ended the conversation, turned back to face the wall, and after a moment scratched his lower back—wondered if he hadn't applied the ointment properly yesterday, still a bit itchy today.

Gu Yunchi said: "You've got bugs growing on you."

"No, the place I got bitten the day before, hasn't healed yet."

"Ointment."

Paused, Wen Ran fished the ointment out from under the pillow, had just turned his head when Gu Yunchi had already sat up and taken the ointment. Wen Ran obediently lay face down. Gu Yunchi reached over and pushed his T-shirt up, exposing his lower back.

When the ointment-tipped fingertip touched his skin, Wen Ran instinctively tensed up, lying on the pillow, listening to Gu Yunchi's breathing behind him. Thinking in a muddled way, he flipped the pillow over—underneath were a brooch and over two hundred in cash.

He held up the wave-shaped diamond brooch, turned his head back: "This is for you."

Gu Yunchi glanced at it, then moved his gaze back to Wen Ran's waist: "Don't want it."

"Why? It didn't get ruined by water. Something worth millions, how can you not want it?"

"Worth two hundred now that you've touched it."

Wen Ran was already skilled at extracting the meaning behind Gu Yunchi's harsh words, asked: "Is it a gift for me?"

Gu Yunchi couldn't be bothered to answer. Wen Ran said: "I'll treasure it. Thank you."

Screwed the cap back on, Gu Yunchi got out of bed, grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands. Wen Ran stared at his fingers for a few seconds, then suddenly turned his face away.

Sleeping in a daze, Xiaohei in the Courtyard suddenly started barking wildly. Not long after, Aunt Liu knocked: "Xiao Gu, Xiao Wen, the people picking you up are here."

Wen Ran opened his eyes, found Gu Yunchi had already gotten out of bed. He scrambled up, grabbed the money and brooch from under the pillow, sat on the edge of the bed and put on his slippers. Gu Yunchi went to open the door.

Over a dozen bodyguards came, giving Uncle Liu's family quite a fright. Two bodyguards each carried a case into the house, set them down and opened them for a peek—inside were stacks of cash. Another bodyguard took out a card and placed it on the table.

Uncle Liu went pale: "Th-this is what for, really no need, no no no…"

Wen Ran looked at the card and the two cases of money, silently tucked his crumpled two hundred-plus back into his pants pocket.

Gu Yunchi walked over to Qiuqiu, crouched down, patted her head and said a few things to her, then stood up, glanced at Wen Ran. Wen Ran walked over, said goodbye to Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu, and bent down to hug Qiuqiu.

Walking out of the Courtyard, everyone got in the cars. Wen Ran rolled down the window, waved to Uncle Liu, Aunt Liu, and Qiuqiu. Xiaohei stood beside them, tail wagging, barking loudly.

The car drove off, kicking up dust, gradually out of sight. Wen Ran closed the window but kept looking outside. Until they passed the Wish Tree, a tree full of red silk as bright as fire. Wen Ran put his palms together, lowered his eyes, and silently made the wish again.

The passenger seat bodyguard returned their Mobile Phones. Wen Ran opened his, already thoughtfully fully charged. Unread messages were all from classmates. Tao Susu sent crying emojis every day, asking why he wasn't replying or coming to school. Song Shuangang was telling him to report in safe once he got back to Capital City.

After replying to each one, Wen Ran turned off his phone, snuck a glance at Gu Yunchi, who was typing a reply. Wen Ran clearly realized something between them had been broken. Leaving the seclusion, returning to familiar positions, everything that had stood between them fell back into place. Little Gu became Gu Yunchi again.

They didn't need to go a whole day without checking the time anymore. Didn't need to squeeze onto one small bed to sleep.

Like waking from a good dream, the gap with reality gave Wen Ran a strange sense of loss.

Silent the whole way. Gu Yunchi took several calls, answering briefly. Wen Ran just stared out the window, spacing out. A long time later the car stopped outside the Wen Family gate. Wen Ran straightened up, tilted his head, didn't look at Gu Yunchi, said: "I'm home. Get some rest when you get back too."

"Got it."

Nothing else. Wen Ran got out of the car. He was still wearing Aunt Liu's son's old clothes, loose and baggy, billowing in the wind, making him look very thin.

Wen Ran held the car door, waved at Gu Yunchi, closed it, stood in place waiting for all the cars to leave. The front gate returned to empty and quiet.

Walking slowly toward home, Wen Ran found he wasn't looking forward to going home, didn't want this home either.

That evening, eating dinner alone, Chen Shuhui came back. No other words, just: "What does Gu Yunchi mean, why did he take you out there and not come back?"

His already not-great appetite vanished completely. Wen Ran put down his chopsticks, answered: "He has some conflict with Grandpa Gu, happened to run into an accident on the yacht, so just stayed outside for a few days. He brought me along only because my Pheromone is useful to him. Nothing else."

Half true, half false. This time Wen Ran didn't tell her everything. He didn't understand why himself.

Chen Shuhui's expression made it impossible to tell if she believed it. She asked: "What were you two doing there?"

"Staying at someone's house. Helped with chores during the day, slept separately at night. He… didn't really pay attention to me."

Saying this, Wen Ran a bit unnaturally pinched his collar and pulled it up a bit—afternoon, when showering, he'd caught sight of the bite mark on his neck in the mirror, so he'd quickly found a button-up to wear. Good thing he changed, otherwise if Chen Shuhui saw it, it'd be hard to explain.

"Really can't figure out what Gu Yunchi is thinking." Chen Shuhui said. "But anyway, you're already engaged, you don't need to get in his face like before. Got it?"

Wen Ran had been feeling dizzy since getting home, didn't process it for a moment: "What?"

"Meaning, you don't need to get too close to him. Keep an appropriate distance." Chen Shuhui looked at him. "You need to understand, I sent you into the Gu Family not so you could fall in love. You'd better not get any ideas."

Now he understood it was a warning. Wen Ran remembered Wen Rui's "you just need to please Gu Yunchi, you don't need to build feelings with him"—at the time he hadn't fully understood what that meant. Now he finally got it. Chen Shuhui was afraid, afraid he'd actually latch onto Gu Yunchi and slip out of the Wen Family's control.

Coincidentally, Gu Yunchi's actions this time had made Chen Shuhui suspicious. But Wen Ran didn't think there was anything worth her being on guard about.

"I won't. I know what I should do." Wen Ran lowered his head, took a bite of rice, chewed dryly. "Besides, he can't even stand the sight of me, falling in love is even more impossible. Nothing like that will happen."

"Of course. Gu Yunchi has so many omegas around him, he wouldn't be interested in you. I'm just reminding you to keep your distance, don't go too far and mess things up. Just do what you need to do."

"I know." Wen Ran said quietly.

Without resting much, Wen Ran went to school as usual the next day. Could feel some probing gazes—probably some news about the Engagement had leaked from Gu Peiwen's birthday banquet.

Facing Tao Susu's worried questions, Wen Ran could only vaguely say he'd gone to the countryside for a few days, hadn't brought his Mobile Phone.

"I get it, you went on a retreat, right?" Tao Susu suddenly understood. "I have relatives who are religious too, they go stay at temples for a few days sometimes."

"Yeah." Such a flimsy excuse actually got explained away. Wen Ran felt a wave of relief. "Something like that."

"Next time you go, tell me in advance. I thought something happened to you and you couldn't come to school."

Wen Ran just smiled: "Probably won't be a next time."

After two classes, Wen Ran was slumped over his desk, couldn't get up. Tired and weak—probably another episode coming. He felt worried, the intervals between episodes seemed to be getting shorter.

Strangely thought of Gu Yunchi again. His own problems had only started after the surgery, but Gu Yunchi's physical issues had been going on for many years—must have gone through countless bouts of pain and frustration before finally getting used to it calmly.

Song Shuangang passed by his desk, stopped, asked: "You okay?"

"A bit sleepy."

"Are you about to…" Song Shuangang paused. "Take leave soon as you can."

"Yeah, yeah…" Wen Ran was dizzy with sleepiness, didn't hear a word.

This state lasted two days. Thursday night, after showering, Wen Ran took a Fever Reducer, hoping his body would be back to normal tomorrow—that had been the pattern the last few times, this time should be about the same.

Did some more problems, really couldn't hold on anymore. Wen Ran climbed into bed to sleep, but his Mobile Phone rang. It was BDH-339 calling.

"How's it going! You've been back in Capital City three days now, you should be rested enough, right! Can you tell me about it now?!"

Already low on energy, even more confused by the question, Wen Ran asked: "Tell you about what?"

"Tell me about you and the young master's sweet little moments at Little Fishing Village."

Countless fragments flashed chaotically through his mind. Wen Ran pushed the blanket down a bit—he was a bit hot. He thought for a long time, answered: "We shucked a lot of corn."

"Are you sick? Why do you sound so weak?"

"A bit uncomfortable." Wen Ran paused, couldn't help asking, "Did your young master go out?"

"Went to Luan Mountain." BDH-339 said. "The young master seems to be looking into something these past two days, going to Luan Mountain probably means he has something to discuss with the Chairman in person."

Wen Ran was so dizzy he could barely keep his eyes open: "Is he looking into what happened on the yacht?"

"The young master usually doesn't care much about that stuff, it's always the Chairman's side that sends people to investigate, so I don't know what he's looking into this time. I'll tell you when I find out! You rest well first, and if you have time, please come visit me!"

Also thinking of what Chen Shuhui had said, Wen Ran rubbed his slightly sore eyes, agreed insincerely: "Okay."