Chapter 46

Glug glug. The clownfish blew a string of bubbles, flicked its tail in a hurry, and swam off toward the deep from Wen Ran's side.

Gu Yunchi's face was bathed in a cold layer of blue. He looked at Wen Ran without a flicker: "Because of me?"

Yes and no. The pain came from guilt, from feelings too ugly to name—aimed at Gu Yunchi, but not his fault at all.

Wen Ran answered: "Because of me."

Before, he could still half-convince himself he was a son dragged into this against his will. He couldn't anymore. If Wen Family blood really ran in his veins, then he wasn't just a stepping stone—he was a piece picked out eleven years ago.

A crucial piece. That adoption, which had skipped every proper procedure and gone down like a cash-and-carry transaction, was the start of the plan. Then, with Wen Ningyuan's death as the turning point, came the gland implantation surgery, the sex change, and his appearance in front of Gu Yunchi as a high-match omega with an agenda.

Sure, he could call himself innocent. But he couldn't deny he'd taken part in every single step. The early favors, the lies, the pretense—all him. The door was one he'd pushed open with his own hands. He couldn't even convince himself otherwise.

In this giant trap built to seize Boqing Group's leadership and cage the heir, 'Wen Ran' was the knife custom-made for Gu Yunchi—coated in a high-match pheromone to fool the senses, slicing off every piece that had belonged to him. What Gu Chongze and Chen Shuhui gained meant what Gu Yunchi lost. By then, all Gu Yunchi would see was an illegitimate child written top to bottom in lies and betrayal.

That kind of shameful illegitimate child, shamelessly trying to edge his way toward 'love'—what an absurd, inexplicable joke.

"Why am I standing with them." Wen Ran's voice was low, almost talking to himself. "When you look at me, don't you find it weird? Disgusting?"

Gu Yunchi said coolly: "I don't kiss and sleep with people I find disgusting."

Wen Ran asked, lost: "Why don't you find me disgusting?"

"You want me to?"

Rendered speechless by the counter, Wen Ran dug at his palm, not knowing how to say it: "No. If you hated me I'd be sad. But when you're good to me, I feel even more guilty. It's like—no matter if I get closer to you or walk away, it hurts. Why is that?"

A gray longtail velvet dogfish glided soundlessly over Gu Yunchi's head. He watched Wen Ran calmly: "If everything hurts either way, then you choose. Closer, or away."

Wen Ran's body moved on instinct—he almost couldn't wait to walk toward Gu Yunchi. That was the answer his heart wanted to follow. But he forced himself to hold back, asking, doubtful and unsure: "Do I even get to choose?"

"With me, you're free." Gu Yunchi's expression was even, his posture loose, as if he could catch every struggle and every bit of unrest. "Don't worry about anything else. It'll all get handled. You just have to check one box."

After a quiet beat, Wen Ran ran a few steps and threw himself at Gu Yunchi, arms around his neck, holding on. That was his choice.

Still painful. Even more painful. But before the worst moment arrived, in the time he had left, Wen Ran couldn't bring himself to stay away. It was too hard.

Doing wrong should be punished. Maybe a painful kind of love was his punishment. Fate was fair.

"Should still be a little time left." Wen Ran's face was buried against Gu Yunchi's neck, holding tight, as if comforting himself. "It's okay."

Gu Yunchi pressed his lower back, voice even: "Plenty of time."

Wen Ran didn't say anything. He nuzzled his face, like shaking his head, then asked: "Is Grandpa Gu seriously ill? Why is he in a wheelchair already?"

"He just doesn't really feel like walking. Needs proper rest."

"You have to be careful of your uncle… and my mom. Once they're running the Company, they might come after you."

"Got it." Gu Yunchi patted Wen Ran's back. "You hungry?"

Wen Ran smoothed out his expression, let go, and smiled at Gu Yunchi: "A little."

They left the underground level and went to the main building's restaurant for dinner. Midway through, Gu Yunchi stepped out to take a call. When he came back and saw Wen Ran had finished eating, he said: "Let's go see Dolu."

Wen Ran nodded and got in the car with him. Remembering the last time they'd sat in the tour car together, when Gu Yunchi was still throwing cold sarcasm at him, he asked: "The first time we rode this thing together, didn't you want to kick me off?"

"I'm not that low-class."

"Then when Dolu pounced on me, were you gloating?"

Gu Yunchi hummed and glanced at him: "Overjoyed. Thrilled."

"…" Wen Ran said, "I don't believe you."

"Don't believe me, but you still asked."

They arrived at the enclosure—empty and silent. They opened the gate and walked in. Gu Yunchi let out a whistle. A moment later, rustling sounds came from the edge where the trees met the open ground, and a white shape shot into view under the moonlight.

Dolu licked a front paw, shook its head, and ambled over to them at its own pace. Wen Ran held out a hand for it to sniff, then sat down on the ground. Dolu came in face-to-face and licked his right cheek.

Wen Ran turned to look at Gu Yunchi, who was just sitting down, and shared his impression: "Tingly."

Gu Yunchi said, disgusted: "Stinks."

The words had barely left his mouth when Dolu turned and licked his face too. Gu Yunchi clicked his tongue and pushed its head away, but Dolu seemed delighted—flopped onto its back and wriggled against the ground, then finally rested its head on Wen Ran's leg.

"Will Dolu always be kept here?" Wen Ran asked.

"It lost its mom when it was barely a month old. Almost got torn apart by hyenas. I brought it back from the reserve." Gu Yunchi said. "When it turns three, we'll start wild-readiness training. Whether it can actually go back to the wild—that's up to it."

Having the power to control everything, and still not being stingy about handing the choice back to the other person—that was maybe some kind of spiritual fastidiousness. No bowing and scraping, no quiet endurance. He wanted someone who chose him, eyes open, willing, of their own free will—one person, only him.

And that kind of thing, with nothing mixed in, was exactly what Wen Ran lacked most. Something he'd been unable to give from the day he was born.

Wen Ran gently stroked Dolu's head, looking into its gray-blue eyes: "If Dolu could talk, it'd say 'thank you.'"

"You're welcome." Gu Yunchi said, easy.

They sat in the night breeze for ten-odd minutes. Gu Yunchi glanced at the time on his Wristband: "Let's go."

Time to head home. Wen Ran felt a heaviness, a reluctance, but he nodded and stood, patted his pants, then bent down to ruffle Dolu's head a few times. "Sleep well tonight, Dolu."

Dolu blinked and licked his palm.

They didn't go back the way they came. The tour car headed in a different direction, and Wen Ran gradually picked up a steady, unending sound, getting closer. Finally, the car rounded a building, and he saw a silver-black helicopter sitting on a wide, brightly lit helipad.

He walked off the car in a daze. The roar of the spinning rotors rattled his brain blank. Gu Yunchi was already on the helicopter, leaning down and reaching a hand out to him.

Without hardly a hesitation, Wen Ran pushed into the wind, grabbed Gu Yunchi's hand, and was pulled into the cabin.

After buckling the seatbelt, Gu Yunchi took off the aviation headset and put it on Wen Ran's head. The noise dropped instantly. Wen Ran heard the pilot, through the headset, tell them they were about to take off.

The cabin door stayed open. They lifted off like that, smooth, heading into the night sky.

It took Wen Ran a long time to come back to himself. "Where are we going?"

Gu Yunchi's voice came through the headset, clear: "To watch fireworks."

They flew over the vast Luan Mountain and into the city airspace. Skyscraper lights blinked and stretched on. The river wound through the whole of Capital City, its banks strung with brilliant lights. Wen Ran stretched his legs out a little and looked down through the wide-open cabin door. He'd never known Capital City's nightscape could be this stunning.

A few minutes later, Gu Yunchi said: "Starting." Then he took off Wen Ran's headset and hung it around his neck.

All the sound rushed back into his ears. Wen Ran instinctively reached up to grab the headset, before he could even register what was about to start—BOOM. Hundreds of golden fireworks shot up a hundred meters ahead like meteors, blooming all at once. Then clusters of huge colored smoke rose up into them, silver rain cascading down and lingering, refusing to fade.

Capital City's night sky turned bright as day. Wen Ran sat there, dazed, headset in hand, hearing the rotor roar and the crack of fireworks through the wind.

From the day he was born until now, he'd never seen a fireworks show with his own eyes—let alone one at this kind of vast altitude, on a helicopter with the cool wind in his face, with Gu Yunchi.

He turned back. Gu Yunchi's hair was blown messy by the wind, his brows and forehead exposed, his eyes reflecting that distant, flowing radiance. When their gazes met, Wen Ran felt his heart beating too fast—so fast it almost stopped. He had to open his mouth to breathe.

Such an intense physical reaction. He didn't know yet that it was called being moved. He only understood that, much later.

He put the headset back on and asked: "What day is it today?"

The city center only set off fireworks on this scale during special occasions, but as far as he remembered, today wasn't any holiday.

"An ordinary day." Gu Yunchi said it lightly. "Pretty?"

"Pretty. Really pretty." Wen Ran looked at the fireworks, then back at Gu Yunchi, his voice a little shaky. "It's my first time seeing so many fireworks. They're really beautiful."

Gu Yunchi glanced into the distance, looking not entirely satisfied: "Next time there'll be better ones."

"This is already the best." Wen Ran turned back, rubbed his eyes, and murmured, "I'll remember this forever."

How could he ever forget. In one short evening, Gu Yunchi had taken him from the seabed to the grass, and then up into the night sky. Fish, White Lion, fireworks—everything he'd never had in his life, Gu Yunchi handed over without effort, without asking for anything back.

Wen Ran looked down, at his legs hanging half in the air, his pants flapping in the wind. Far below on the ground, countless hands reached up from underground, desperate to grab him, pin him in place, make him an obedient puppet on strings. Only Gu Yunchi bent down and undid the iron chain around his neck, gave him room to breathe, set him free.

What should he do. Wen Ran suddenly leaned forward, head down, and his arm was seized tight. He turned back. Gu Yunchi was staring at him, as if he might fall the next second.

"It's fine." Wen Ran smiled at him. "There's a seatbelt."

"Pull your legs in." Gu Yunchi didn't budge.

Wen Ran pulled his legs in, then turned and hugged Gu Yunchi: "Like Dolu—I want to say thank you too."

Gu Yunchi held his waist and looked past Wen Ran's shoulder at the distant fireworks: "Evolved all the way into a human and your vocabulary's still this small."

The fireworks show ended. They circled in the air for another half hour before the helicopter finally touched down on the helipad on the roof of the Villa District owners' club. Wen Ran unbuckled to get off, and Gu Yunchi asked: "Not going to check out the cockpit?"

"Not today. It's a bit late." Wen Ran tilted his head, not looking at him. "Let's go to your place."

The driver dropped them at the villa gate and left. They walked through the Garden, and the moment they stepped inside, Wen Ran wrapped his arms around Gu Yunchi's neck and tipped his face up to kiss him. BDH-339, who had come out to greet them, saw it, turned around without a word, and went straight back to the kitchen.

Gu Yunchi lifted his head slightly from Wen Ran's clumsy, formless kiss, breathing hard: "So much so you won't even look at the cockpit?"

"Mm."

Wen Ran kept his eyes shut, kissing from the corner of Gu Yunchi's mouth to his cheek, but Gu Yunchi tilted his head away: "Dolu licked there."

"I don't mind the smell."

Gu Yunchi pinched his face and kissed him, lips to lips: "You're the one who stinks."

"I need to wash up."

"You've still got energy."

"A little." Wen Ran struggled up from the bed, couldn't find his clothes by the bedside, so he fumbled around and pulled on Gu Yunchi's shirt, then limped toward the bathroom.

Mid-shower, the door opened and Gu Yunchi walked in. Wen Ran jumped, and through the blurred steam on the shower glass, asked in a slightly stuffy voice: "You need it? I'm almost done, hold on a sec."

But Gu Yunchi clearly had no intention of waiting. He pulled the shower door open, stepped in, and closed it behind him.

It was nearly dawn. Wen Ran had cleaned himself up and stood at the front door, saying goodbye to Gu Yunchi. His clothes were a little wrinkled, his face, eyes, and nose were red, and his hair gave off the fresh scent of just-washed.

Gu Yunchi looked down at him: "Sure you still want to go back?"

"Yeah. School tomorrow."

"I don't mean tonight."

Wen Ran paused a few seconds, then smiled: "Mm. Going back."

He cupped Gu Yunchi's face and pulled him down a little, kissing him very seriously. Gu Yunchi lowered his head, one hand braced against the door, watching close-up as those eyes shut and then opened. When they opened, Wen Ran was pulling back from the kiss, saying: "I was really happy tonight. Thank you."

"You can aim higher in the future." Gu Yunchi rubbed his head a few times, messing his hair into a chaotic bird's nest.

"I didn't ask for anything. Everything you give me is the best." Wen Ran opened the door, couldn't help looking at Gu Yunchi a while longer, and said, "Remember what I told you. Be careful."

"Haven't lost my memory. I remember."

"Then I'm off." Wen Ran waved under the night sky. "Goodbye, Gu Yunchi."