Six

On the tour bus, Wen Ran and Gu Yunchi sat two seats apart. The driver took a different route on the way back, passing the horse farm. A few thoroughbreds of varying colors were wandering around leisurely, their sleek coats catching the light beautifully. The bus had already passed, but Wen Ran was still craning his neck to look. Back when Shengdian Group was at its peak, he'd had a taste of the rich life, more or less. That made it even clearer to him that the Gu Family was leagues beyond what ordinary wealthy families could reach.

He couldn't imagine what kind of lavish life Gu Yunchi had lived since birth. Wen Ran turned to look at him—didn't take long to get caught. Gu Yunchi turned his head and met his eyes. Nothing in that gaze but a single word: annoyed.

To break the awkwardness, Wen Ran, in his panic, pulled out an even more awkward topic: "I thought Boqing Group was going to acquire Shengdian Group."

Gu Yunchi didn't leave a shred of business courtesy: "You think Boqing Group is a junkyard?"

"Fair point." Wen Ran wasn't really insulted. He nodded in agreement instead.

"You've got some thick skin." Gu Yunchi turned back around, his tone cutting.

So what else could he do? Wen Ran got it. The Wen Family was that awful. Gu Yunchi being sharp was fair. Just swallow it. A little grief, that's all. It wasn't like he'd actually lose anything or feel any real pain. Besides, way back during that terrifying surgery, he'd already taught himself to go numb—keeping his sensitivity to every kind of hurt dialed down to the lowest setting, just so he wouldn't collapse into depression.

Even Wen Rui had once said he "has a face that looks like one harsh word would make him cry, but he's actually blunter than a knife that hasn't been sharpened in ten years."

Not sure what the right answer was, Wen Ran thought for two seconds and said: "Seems like it, yeah."

Gu Yunchi was completely done with him now.

Back at the main building, Wen Ran got out of the car and walked into the living room behind Gu Yunchi. Gu Peiwen, Chen Shuhui, and Wen Rui were talking on the balcony at the other end. While crossing the living room, Wen Ran heard a soft 'ding.' He traced the sound to the elevator. The doors were just opening, and an Alpha in a pale blue shirt stepped out.

Gu Chongze. Gu Peiwen's eldest son. Gu Yunchi's uncle. Currently CEO of Boqing Group.

Once everyone had reached the balcony, Gu Peiwen raised a hand toward Gu Chongze: "No need for me to introduce anyone."

Chen Shuhui extended her hand to Gu Chongze with a small smile: "Mr. Gu."

Her attitude toward Gu Chongze was noticeably cooler than toward Gu Peiwen. Maybe because she knew perfectly well that Gu Peiwen was the chairman who held the real power, while Gu Chongze was just the Boqing Group executive with the smallest shareholding—sucking up to him wouldn't get her much.

If you dug deeper, it could only be because Gu Chongze was an illegitimate son.

Gu Peiwen had refused to acknowledge Gu Chongze's identity for decades. It wasn't until his legitimate son and that son's wife—Gu Yunchi's biological parents—perished together in the Air Disaster that Gu Peiwen finally elevated Gu Chongze's status as his eldest son and allowed him into Boqing Group headquarters.

Rumors also said that Gu Chongze orchestrated the Air Disaster to fight for family property, but at the time he was just a small manager in a subsidiary of the Company—he didn't have the capability to pull off that murder, and there was no evidence to back it up, so the rumors eventually faded.

Wen Ran greeted him too: "Uncle Gu."

Gu Chongze released Chen Shuhui's hand, gave Wen Ran a nod, said nothing, and handed the floor back to Gu Peiwen.

Still used to staying in corners where nobody noticed him, Wen Ran tried to peel off from the adults' circle. He stepped back to the side—and just happened to step right next to Gu Yunchi. Their elbows, both bare under short sleeves, brushed together lightly. Wen Ran pulled his arm back immediately, but Gu Yunchi still left the scene on the spot and headed to the dining room first.

Dinner was ready soon enough. The group moved to the dining room. The atmosphere was relatively pleasant and polite—mostly project talk and policy. Wen Ran and Gu Yunchi sat in their own silences, not contributing, just eating.

Just as Wen Ran thought the meal would end like this, the topic somehow drifted to tutoring. He heard Chen Shuhui laugh and say: "Yes, Wen Ran said the teacher's been great, and he and Gu Yunchi are getting along really well too."

"..." Wen Ran was good at taking scolding, but terrible at enduring awkwardness. To be polite, he still had to respond. He could only lift his head and fake an easy smile. His gaze shifted—and there, diagonally across from him, Gu Yunchi, who was supposedly getting along so well with him, was lifting a glass, tilting his chin up to drink juice, and glancing at him.

Wen Ran sighed inwardly. With great difficulty, he mouthed 'sorry' to Gu Yunchi. He didn't expect Wen Rui to catch it. In that fake-concerned-but-actually-up-to-no-good tone, Wen Rui asked: "What are you two whispering about?"

Every eye in the room snapped to them. Wen Ran didn't have time to react, but Gu Yunchi, cool as ever, answered a question with a question: "Do I need to report to you?"

Pure self-inflicted embarrassment, Wen Ran thought. Gu Yunchi already couldn't stand the Wen Family, and Wen Rui had to come over and stir things up. The result was getting publicly cut down by Gu Yunchi.

"Of course not." Wen Rui smiled. "But it does seem like you two really are getting along well."

The excruciating dinner—every second unbearable to sit through—finally ended. Wen Ran stood at the door staring at the fountain, trying to decompress. After a bit, he heard Chen Shuhui calling him. He turned and ran back.

"We still have things to discuss with Mr. Gu. You and Gu Yunchi head back first." Chen Shuhui gave Wen Ran a little push on the back. "Go say goodbye to Chairman Gu."

Wen Ran walked over, curved out a smile, and said to Gu Peiwen: "I had a great time here today. Sorry for the disturbance, Grandpa Gu. I'll head back now."

"No disturbance at all. I heard that little lion really likes you. Come back and play with it when you have time." Gu Peiwen patted the back of Wen Ran's head.

"Okay, thank you, Grandpa Gu. Get some rest early."

Once the elders had gone inside, Wen Ran turned around. The car was already waiting at the bottom of the steps. The dark window reflected his stiff smile—looked utterly sycophantic and ugly. Wen Ran disgusted himself. For a split second, the corners of his mouth loosened, and his face went blank. The driver was opening the door on the other side, indicating he should get in from there.

Confused, Wen Ran walked around. He got it once he was in the car—why the driver had done that. Gu Yunchi was sitting on the other side of the back seat.

Which meant the whole scene of him dropping his professional fake smile at the car window had been witnessed in full by Gu Yunchi sitting inside.

The car started. No sound inside. Wen Ran pressed himself against the door, turned his head ninety degrees to look out the window. It was already dark. Nothing to see—just streetlights flashing past fast and faint shadows of trees.

"You're good at pretending." In the silence, Gu Yunchi mocked him, cold and unkind.

Another bad review after 'thick skin.' Panicked, Wen Ran whipped his head around—but he'd been looking sideways too long. The sudden turn nearly wrenched his neck off. A crisp joint-pop sound instantly brought on a ringing in his ears.

Almost too painful to move, Wen Ran sat there dazed, gasping. He opened his mouth slightly but didn't dare make a sound. He could only hold his head at a forty-five-degree angle, swallow hard with difficulty, and say: "The smile was a bit fake... but I wasn't lying."

"Besides the awkward bit at dinner, everything else was really fun. Dolu's adorable... and the thanks to Grandpa Gu was real too."

Thick skin was one thing, but 'pretending' was a serious accusation—straight up a character issue. Sure, he'd put on some performative concern before, but if Wen Ran was honest with himself, most of what he'd said lately was the truth.

Seeing Gu Yunchi still silent, Wen Ran pressed his lips together and kept choosing his words: "I barely said a few sentences the whole time. All sincere. Besides the fake smiles, I really wasn't putting on anything else."

Gu Yunchi's patience ran out: "Enough. Shut up."

"...Oh." Wen Ran closed his mouth. This Alpha was genuinely hard to please.

Silent the whole way. The car reached the Wen Family home first. The high beams lit up the mottled rust on the black iron gate and that half-dead light fixture above it—textbook look of a family business on the verge of bankruptcy. Wen Ran opened the door and got out before the driver could unbuckle him, held the door, and thanked the driver. His neck was still messed up, so he could only hold his head tilted, like a plant that grew crooked. Wen Ran waved at Gu Yunchi, about to say goodbye, but the other man had already told the driver to go. Wen Ran hurriedly shut the car door.

The car did a U-turn and sped off, a few security cars following close behind. Outside the gate, everything went dark and quiet again. Wen Ran stood there for a few seconds, then, with his stiff neck, slowly made his way home.

After a clumsy shower, Wen Ran asked Aunt Fang for a box of medicinal patches and stuck one on the side of his neck. With his neck like this, he couldn't read or draw. He figured he'd just go to bed early.

His Mobile Phone rang. BDH-339 calling. Wen Ran sat on the edge of the bed and picked up.

"Good evening!" BDH-339 asked, "How was dinner at Luan Mountain today?"

"Really fun." Wen Ran casually asked, "He's not next to you, is he?"

After a second of silence, BDH-339 said: "Nope, not here, he's not here."

Wen Ran went on: "I got to touch the lion. It even tackled me, but it's adorable."

"You mean Dolu? It was even cuter as a baby. Next time I'll send you photos."

"Cool. I also saw some horses—are they racehorses?"

"Yep, sometimes the young master rides them." BDH-339 rambled on, "The young master fell off a horse when he was little too. Next time I'll show you that photo too, hahaha—"

They cut themselves off mid-laugh for no apparent reason. Wen Ran kept going: "Dinner was great too. The scenery at Luan Mountain was beautiful."

"Right? Did the young master not take you to see the big shark? There's a shark pool behind the building he lives in. If you go down to the basement level, it's just like an aquarium. Next time, get him to give you a tour—saves you the price of an aquarium ticket."

"...Sometimes I just have to laugh at how broke I am," Wen Ran said. "Never mind, I'll pass. I'm afraid of the deep sea." He flipped back the covers and lay down—but forgot about his neck. The pain hit instantly and he yelped, gasping repeatedly.

"...What are you doing! My face is red!" BDH-339 shrieked on the other end of the line, "What are you doing!"

"Twisted my neck on the way back." Wincing, Wen Ran slowly and stiffly lay back down with a long sigh.

BDH-339 immediately dropped their voice: "Did he hit you?"

"What? No, I did it to myself." Wen Ran struggled to get into a comfortable sleeping position. "I'm going to rest now. See you Monday."

"Okay, take care of your neck. I've been looking forward to seeing you!" BDH-339 blew a few kisses through the phone and hung up.