At the tone of her voice, He Chengtian became obedient and said: “Ah, OK. If you say so.”


  Watching He Chengtian stuff his phone into his trousers, Zhang Siyi tried to coax him: “Don’t be so stingy Brother Chengtian! Its thanks to me that you are together. Good things are good to share.”


  Gu Yao stopped him and said: “Unless you show us the video of your confession to my Brother too!”


  “How did you know I made a video?” Zhang Siyi froze momentarily in surprise then snapped his head to Gu Yu and stared at him imploringly. He questioned: “Did you tell her?”


  Gu Yu replied calmly as if it wasn’t a problem: “Didn’t she ask you to play the violin for her before? Since I didn’t let you play, I let her watch the video instead.”


  Zhang Siyi turned red. He was embarrassed and angry: “That’s not something to show to anyone else!”


  Gu Yu consoled Zhang Siyi and said: “Well, I only let her see a short clip.”


  Shocked at the news, He Chengtian stared at Zhang Siyi: “No way! I didn’t think Zhang Siyi confessed to Gu Yu first!”


  Zhang Siyi: “…” (= 皿 =)

  As the topic of conversation become more heated, Gu Yu stared at his sister and said: “It’s only been a few days since dating He Chengtian and you are helping him already. Have you forgotten about your brother so easily?”


  He Chengtian held Gu Yao’s shoulders and said: “Sooner or later we will be together. Isn’t it only natural that she helps me?”


  Gu Yu grabbed a nearby triangle ruler and pretended to hit He Chengtian: “You aren’t married yet. Don’t try to force my sister or I’ll drive you out now.”


  Scared, He Chengtian immediately released his ‘pig-groping’ hands from Gu Yao’s shoulders. Feeling wronged he complained to Gu Yao: “How come your brother is always bullying me!”


  Gu Yao looked at He Chengtian and sighed: “My brother also bullies me like this. You will get used to it soon enough.”


  He Chengtian: “……..” Holy shit! What kind of treatment is this? According to the situation, he has no standing in the family at all!

  ……


  From time to time, bursts of laughter could be heard in the living room. Father Gu quietly looked out of the kitchen to peek at the juniors in the living room. He saw Gu Yu pull Zhang Siyi onto his lap and whisper something in his ear causing Zhang Siyi to smile brightly. Across from them, the young man who just came was sitting together with Gu Yao. Both of them had sweet expressions on their faces.

  The four of them quarreled from time to time, but even so, clearly all of them were very happy.

  For another minute, Father Gu watched the scene with an indescribable feeling in his heart and couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Returning to the kitchen, he continued stir-frying the vegetables. Feeling content yet with a sense of loss in his heart, he sighed and thought: “The children are all grown up now…..“


  When Mother Gu heard her husband’s sigh, she wiped off her hands then walked around behind him. From behind she gently wrapped her arms around his waist and slowly put her face on his back.

  Father Gu turned his head and jokingly said: “What’s left? An old husband……….” Pausing halfway through his sentence, he saw his wife looking up at him. She raised her hand to stroke his head. With the palm of her hand, she wanted to tell Father Gu that he needn’t be sad of the future. She will be there with him to experience the rest of their lives and grow old together.

  Moved, Father Gu was speechless; love for a wife, love for children, and happiness for a son and daughter. What else was there?

  After lunch, the four of them went to see a movie and in the evening, He Chengtian said his goodbyes before heading home.

  The next day, Zhang Siyi went home as well. His parents weren’t back from vacation yet. As a result, before the end of the month, he went to his uncle’s house to offer his New Year greetings and at the beginning of new month, he went with his uncle’s family to visit distant relatives.

  After a week went by, Zhang Siyi’s Father and Mother were expected to arrive home. The housekeeper officially returned to work.

  In order to reciprocate the Zhang family’s good will over New Years, Gu Yu specifically prepared a few gifts for Zhang Siyi’s parents. Since their relationship was accepted within his own family, he needed to seize every opportunity to make the Zhang family accept him as well.

  “Ah, The Younger Gu is here! Come in and sit down!” Mother Zhang greeted him with delight at the door then inquired: “Your sister didn’t come?”


  Gu Yu replied: “She went out with friends.” Handing the gift box to Zhang Siyi’s mother, Gu Yu smiled and formally greeted her. “Auntie, Happy New Year. You were so kind preparing so many gifts for my family. My parents were rather surprised and a little embarrassed. They wanted me to return the favor.”


  Like a blooming flower, Mother Zhang smiled broadly from ear to ear: “Our families are so familiar there is no need to feel embarrassed. Next time, your parents must come over for dinner so we can get to know each other.”


  Gu Yu said without hesitation: “Okay.”


  Since Gu Yu attitude was so good, Mother Zhang became even more optimistic about the marriage between the two families. She warmly welcomed Gu Yu into the house and said: “Don’t mind the mess. We are unpacking right now from our vacation so our house is a little messy.”


  Sure enough, when Gu Yu went inside, he saw a huge, dazzling pile of things scattered about the living room.

  Zhang Siyi’s parents were both happy and tired from their trip. While his mother grabbed her phone to show Zhang Siyi and Gu Yu her photos, she asked the housekeeper to brew some tea for them to drink.

  Gu Yu was patient while Mother Zhang scrolled through the photos. From time to time, he commented with pleasantries like, ‘The scenery is really good’ and ‘Auntie, that dress color is very good on you…’ At his words, Zhang Siyi’s mother smiled even more.

  After hearing him, Father Zhang proudly said: “It’s not just the camera that captured her well. I taught her to pose.”


  Zhang Siyi’s mother smiled and said: “You’re the best at it. “


  Gu Yu nodded: “Uncle has a good eye for composition.”


  Zhang Siyi: “…..” What composition? The aesthetic of a rural entrepreneur! Watching Gu Yu win the best actor award, Zhang Siyi snickered.

  In fact, Zhang Siyi has already seen the photos before as they were posted to his Mother’s social media page. He had no patience to join in their conversation so he went over to the pile of stuff to see what his parents brought back.

  On the corner of the sofa, there was a bundle of something big leaning on it. Curiosity got the better of him and Zhang Siyi went over to touch it. He mumbled ‘it’s hard…’ and then asked more loudly: “Mom what the hell is this?”


  Mother Zhang put away her cell phone and came over then said: “This is a latex mattress!”


  “What the hell is a latex mattress?” Zhang Siyi tried to lift it, but it was quite heavy. “How did you carry it around and bring it back? It’s too heavy!”


  “Why would we carry it? We hired a shipping agency to help us send it home,” Zhang Siyi’s mother said as she searched for a pair of scissors. As she pierced the plastic covering with the scissor and tore it open, the compressed mattress immediately expanded from within: ”Touch it! Isn’t it soft? It’s pure natural latex.”


  Touching it, Zhang Siyi thought it really was soft: “How much was this thing?”


  Zhang Siyi’s mother showed him a receipt: “This amount.”


  Zhang Siyi: “Eight hundred?”


  Mother Zhang corrected him sternly: “What are you looking at? It’s eight thousand!”


  Zhang Siyi was shocked: “Shit! Eight thousand for a mattress! It’s so expensive?”


  Next to them, Zhang father explained: “This mattress is very good. It’s a natural product made of rubber sap and is good for your body. It’s insulating in the winter and cool in the summer.”


  Mother Zhang followed up with: “Yes, you see, a third of your life is spent sleeping. It is important to have a quality mattress. What is 8000 when you sleep for a lifetime? In ten years, its just 800 a year.”


  Zhang Siyi squinted and said: “Is this what the sales person told you?”


  Mother Zhang replied: “Yeah.”


  Speechless, Zhang Siyi pressed his lips in a line then said: “Did you guys get scammed?”


  Zhang Siyi’s mother smiled and chuckled: “You don’t know how happy it was to be able to buy and buy and buy! This time, your father was very generous. When I wanted to purchase something, nothing stopped me! Oh yeh, I also bought a 10,000-yuan crocodile leather belt for him!”


  Zhang Siyi: “…..”


  Rummaging through the suitcase, Zhang Siyi’s Mother wanted to show the belt to him. Zhang Siyi couldn’t bear to look at it and said: “Mom! Don’t buy crocodile skin! A crocodile is a rare animal! No harm would come to them if people didn’t buy crocodile products! And this stuff is so expensive!”


  Zhang Father hummed: “I told her not to buy it, but she bought it anyway!”


  Mother Zhang hushed her husband and said to Zhang Siyi: “This belt was discounted. I got it for 1,800, hehe.”


  Zhang Siyi’s mouth twitched: “… A fake, huh?”


  Mother Zhang glared at him and proclaimed: “How could it be fake!”


  Zhang Siyi touched his chin in thought and said: “Well, whatever. At least it’s made out of leather. Dad must look pretty cool in it.”


  Next, Zhang Siyi’s Mother showed them all of their ‘spoils of war’ during the trip. Among them, she pulled out various luxury goods like clothing and jewelry, as well as consumables such as coconut sugar, durian crisps, and special coffee beans. When his mother pulled out more then a couple bags each, Zhang Siyi and Gu Yu sat dumbfounded.

  By the amount of stuff, they purchased, Zhang Siyi thought it was obvious they were taken advantage of. However, Zhang Siyi Mother didn’t seem to care. She didn’t want to regret missing the opportunity to shop while abroad.

  Zhang Siyi couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t want to argue with his mother, so he tugged on Gu Yu and went upstairs: “You haven’t been upstairs, right? I’ll take you to see my room.”


  Mother Zhang was busy: “Yes. You show Gu Yu around the house. We have to hurry up and put things away. Tomorrow, father and I have to go to work.”


  Gu Yu: “Uncle and Aunt are very busy so you don’t have to worry about me.”


  Zhang Siyi’s mother responded with a smile and asked Gu Yu whether or not he wanted to stay for dinner. Since Gu Yu politely declined Mother Zhang invitation and as a result, she relieved the housekeeper of the day’s duties.

  Zhang Siyi took Gu Yu into his room and closed the door before saying: “My parents are too stupid. They were probably cheated out of money.”


  Gu Yu laughed: “The money they spent made them happy. Don’t rain on their parade.”


  Feeling helpless, Zhang Siyi sat down on the bed and sighed: “Well, I can’t control what they spend their savings on. It’s their money after all.” At least, being finically independent of one another, they didn’t burden each other further.

  Looking around the room, Gu Yu noticed Zhang Siyi’s room was twice as big as his. Even his bed was bigger. Teasing him, Gu Yu grinned and said: “ Little Emperor, your room is very nice.”


  Zhang Siyi playfully pulled Gu Yu onto his bed with him. Lying on their sides, with Gu Yu’s arms wrapped around him, he nibbled on Zhang Siyi’s earlobe and teased him: “Now I know, being fooled is genetic.”


  Zhang Siyi: “….! “


  Turning over and positioned in each other’s embrace they kissed passionately. On his back and panting, Zhang Siyi gasped for breath and asked: “Do you want to stay over tonight?”


  Gu Yu raised an eyebrow: “For what reason?”


  Zhang Siyi raised his leg and wrapped it around Gu Yu waist, saying: “Using your professional knowledge to teach me.”


  Laughing out loud, Gu Yu thrusted his hips towards Zhang Siyi’s inviting posture: “This expertise?”


  Zhang Siyi’s face flushed: “I’m talking about architectural expertise!”