Gu Xiuyi was always busy and often stayed in an apartment close to his company. If it weren’t for Ji Ruan, he wouldn't step foot into this villa for ten days or half a month.
The sole purpose of his visit today was to see his future partner in person and take him to get their marriage certificate.
Even though he knew who Ji Ruan was, he still called his name with a questioning tone. The implication was less of a greeting and more of a confirmation of a fact:
Are you sure you want to marry me?
But the young man in front of him seemed to be in a daze, staring at him with wide eyes, hands resting motionlessly on the edge of the bed.
Gu Xiuyi waited for a while, but didn't even hear a single "hmm." He frowned and reached out to tap the young man's shoulder: "Ji Ruan?"
Ji Ruan's shoulder trembled slightly under his fingertip, as if he had just come back to his senses. He picked up a small black device from the table, put it on, and lowered his eyelashes, feeling it for a moment before looking up. His eyes were much clearer.
Gu Xiuyi was taken aback. He had never had direct contact with a hearing-impaired person before, and Ji Ruan looked so normal on the surface that for a moment he forgot Ji Ruan might not have responded because he couldn’t hear him clearly.
His expression softened a bit. He bent down to shorten the distance between them and lifted his hand to brush aside the hair by Ji Ruan's ear. Before he could see clearly, the strands slipped through his fingers.
The young man leaned back slightly but looked at him directly without avoiding his gaze: "I can hear now."
His voice was somewhat hoarse, like fine sand mixed into soft warm water, much calmer than his beautiful appearance.
Gu Xiuyi was slightly surprised but didn't show it on his face. He straightened up and asked, "Alright, do you have all the necessary documents?"
"...I have my ID card and household registration book."
Gu Xiuyi nodded and looked directly at Ji Ruan. "I need to confirm once more, you are voluntarily marrying me, right?"
Due to his upbringing, Gu Xiuyi had an innate sense of oppression about him. Even when speaking politely, it was hard for people to feel at ease around him.
Ji Ruan met his gaze, his palms involuntarily sweating. "As long as Mr. Gu fully abides by the contract, there won't be any issues."
Although Gu Xiuyi's emotions were difficult to read through his expressions, Ji Ruan keenly felt that he was likely very satisfied with this response.
The man in front of him raised his hand to look at his watch and slightly softened his tone. "It's getting late. Let's go downstairs for dinner first. We'll get the marriage certificate in the morning."
His tone was as casual as if he were assigning a task to his secretary. Perhaps, to him, obtaining a marriage certificate was indeed no different from completing an ordinary task.
"...Alright, but," Ji Ruan tugged at his collar, "can I change my clothes first?"
He was wearing an off-white cotton pajama set. Because he liked comfort, he had chosen a large size, with a wide neckline that exposed a large expanse of his collarbone.
Gu Xiuyi's eyes lingered for a moment on the boy's fair skin, then moved on. He nodded slightly, turned, and left, kindly closing the door behind him.
The evening glow diffused through the floor-to-ceiling windows. After Gu Xiuyi left, the room fell into complete silence. Ji Ruan relaxed his grip on the edge of the bed, his back slightly hunched, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
From the moment he first saw Gu Xiuyi, a memory that didn't belong to him filled his mind, as if it was supplementing his understanding of the world within this book.
He had seen Gu Xiuyi before!
As a big capitalist, Gu Xiuyi was most passionate about charity work besides his job. Ji Ruan was one of those he had sponsored. It was because of Gu Xiuyi that he had survived, completed high school, and gotten into the best university.
A year ago, Gu Xiuyi returned to his high school alma mater to give a speech. Ji Ruan had seen him from afar in the audience and had fallen in love at first sight.
The frightening thing was that, in Gu Xiuyi's memory, he had no recollection of Ji Ruan at all.
This mixture of gratitude and infatuation sent chills down Ji Ruan's spine.
He finally understood why the main character, a resilient person who believed that poverty should not diminish one's ambition, would agree to a marriage contract with Gu Xiuyi.
Because he had fallen for him first!
In the ancient trope of angst-filled romance novels, the unchanging rule is that the one who falls in love first is the one who gets hurt.
According to his cousin, this book only has a bit of sweetness at the beginning. Gu Xiuyi's politeness and gentlemanly demeanor will make him increasingly unable to extricate himself. Starting from the return of the "white moonlight," he will be tortured inside and out, physically and mentally, until he is utterly broken.
He will simultaneously hope that Gu Xiuyi has some genuine feelings for him and suffer from constant insecurity. Finally, after experiencing a trifecta of kidnapping, car accident, and amnesia, they will achieve a happy ending (HE).
Ji Ruan didn't know the specific plot, but he always remembered his cousin's final assessment: the reason this book could have a happy ending was probably because, if it didn't end soon, not even medical miracles could save the protagonist.
At that time, Ji Ruan just joked that fictional characters are so dramatic. Why couldn’t they just live well? Why do they have to exchange their health for some deeply painful romance?
Now that Ji Ruan had become the protagonist himself, his heart was pounding wildly, and it took several deep breaths to barely calm down.
Thinking carefully, everything began with the protagonist's untimely infatuation. But now, with Ji Ruan as the protagonist, he had no feelings for Gu Xiuyi, which should sever the prerequisite for the painful romance, right?
Ji Ruan slowly got up, pondering while changing his clothes. As long as he doesn't fall for real, his relationship with Gu Xiuyi will remain a simple monetary transaction. When the "white moonlight" returns, he will take the money and leave, and everyone can have a happy ending.
He has died once before and has no need for affection. As long as he doesn't experience the despair of near-death again, nothing else matters.
With this thought, Ji Ruan breathed a sigh of relief, pulled up his pants, and headed downstairs.
When the contract expires in three years, he will definitely take the money and run, never looking back.
In the dining room, a chandelier emitted a low-key, brilliant light. Gu Xiuyi was already seated at the table. Seeing Ji Ruan approach, he even stood up specially to pull out the chair opposite him.
Indeed, very gentlemanly, but can such a gesture, filled with an overwhelming sense of polite detachment, really make the protagonist fall deeply and irretrievably in love?
Ji Ruan felt conflicted and found it difficult to understand.
He politely thanked Gu Xiuyi and sat across from him.
Assistant Song had left at some point, and Aunt Zhao was nowhere to be seen. The two of them were left alone in the dining room, where the only sound was the crisp clinking of cutlery.
The table was set with simple Chinese home-style dishes—three dishes and a soup—more than enough for him and Gu Xiuyi.
Ji Ruan had been suffering from the heat for the past few days, and his appetite had not been good. He ate without much interest, and since Gu Xiuyi wasn't speaking, he felt at ease.
He didn't care about the person across from him, but the person across from him was openly observing him.
Gu Xiuyi merely needed a legal partner to register the marriage with; he didn't truly care about this marriage. As long as he confirmed that Ji Ruan wouldn't cause any trouble, he wouldn't bother to learn more about him.
However, when the marriage partner, whom he had never met before, sat in front of him, curiosity was driven by instinct.
What surprised Gu Xiuyi was that Ji Ruan's table manners were exceptionally good. He sat with a straight posture, his shoulders and spine relaxed naturally, and he chewed and swallowed without making a sound, like a child raised in a scholarly family.
As Song Ling had mentioned, Ji Ruan wiped his mouth by folding the napkin and gently wiping from the left corner to the right corner.
Gu Xiuyi watched casually and noticed that Song Ling had missed a detail: Ji Ruan would finally press the napkin against the center of his lips, as if ceremoniously finishing the action.
These subconscious little habits might not be noticed by most people, but for someone as meticulous and detail-oriented as Gu Xiuyi, they are crucial factors in determining his satisfaction.
They might even indirectly serve as one of the criteria for evaluating the end-of-month bonuses for the entire secretarial team.
Ji Ruan put down his chopsticks after eating a few bites. He suddenly met Gu Xiuyi's gaze and froze for a moment. However, the other party naturally asked, "Aunt Zhao also mentioned that you don’t eat much. Is it not to your taste?"
"...No," Ji Ruan licked his lips, "I've always eaten very little."
Not wanting to engage in too much conversation with Gu Xiuyi, he threw his used napkin into the trash and carefully asked, "May I go back to my room now, Mr. Gu?"
Gu Xiuyi glanced at the nearly untouched dishes on the table, paused for two seconds, and nodded, "Go ahead."
As if remembering something, he added, "I won't come over often, so you don't need to be too restrained. There aren't that many rules at home."
Ji Ruan, who didn’t feel he was being restrained: "..."
"Okay... Thank you, Mr. Gu."
·
After dinner, Ji Ruan lay back on the bed, continuing to feed himself cherries with the pawless lucky cat. It's not that he was truly that lazy.
It was just that he was incredibly bored.
His only task in coming to this house was to get a marriage certificate with Gu Xiuyi. He originally thought the matter could be settled on the same day, but unexpectedly, Mr. Gu was so busy that he had to wait for three days.
When he was gravely ill before, Ji Ruan had no choice but to stay in the small hospital room. Now that he could walk and move, going outside was still difficult. As soon as he stepped one foot out the door, he was frightened back inside by the scorching temperature outside.
So, while waiting for Gu Xiuyi to come home, all he could do was eat and sleep, sleep and eat, and he even changed his bed in the meantime.
Ji Ruan swallowed a few cherries and then belatedly remembered that he should finish watching the show he had been following. Just as he sat up to grab the remote control, he was startled by the sight of a large cat by the door.
Xiao An was crouching on the floor, watching him.
From the first day he arrived here, Ji Ruan vaguely sensed that Gu Xiuyi was an extremely picky and difficult-to-please person. In the vast villa, all the furniture, picture frames, and ornaments were meticulously arranged without the slightest disorder. Despite raising such a large long-haired cat, the floor was almost entirely free of cat hair, always polished to a shine.
Just like now, Xiao An was crouched at the door, the well-groomed Maine Coon's large tail fur spread out smoothly like an artwork in an oil painting—except for the alertness in its eyes.
Maine Coons naturally had handsome and noble features, and Gu Xiuyi's cat was an exceptional specimen among them. However, its personality was surprisingly timid and clingy, rarely showing such a wary expression.
Ji Ruan put down the remote control, pushed aside the beckoning cat figurine on the small table, and thought about going over to pet Xiao An.
But Xiao An seemed to have seen something and suddenly arched its back and raised its tail, letting out a howl before bolting away, the whole process taking less than a second.
This left Ji Ruan sitting stunned at the edge of the bed, his calves even feeling the breeze from the big tail sweeping past.
After a while, Ji Ruan stiffly turned his head, realizing that what had scared Xiao An so much seemed to be the lucky cat figurine whose paw he had removed.
"......"
That silly cat couldn’t possibly think that the lucky cat figurine was one of its own kind, could it?
It can't really believe that Ji Ruan wants to dismantle its claws too, can it?!
Startled, Ji Ruan shuffled out of the room in his slippers and, sure enough, saw Xiao An hiding at the end of the hallway. He was speechless: "How can someone like Gu Xiuyi raise such a timid cat..."
He tried to take a couple of steps forward, but the scaredy-cat immediately leaped onto the hallway railing.
This movement made Ji Ruan's heart skip a beat.
The second floor was quite high, and although cats seem to be naturally skilled at climbing and leaping, Xiao An's size made it unlikely that it could land gracefully if it jumped down.
Gu Xiuyi was still in his study a few meters away, having a video conference, so Ji Ruan didn't want to cause a big commotion.
In this house, Xiao An was the original resident, while he was just a guest. If anything went wrong, it would probably cause a lot of trouble, and just thinking about it gave Ji Ruan a headache.
After a brief moment of thought, Ji Ruan resolutely left and returned with Xiao An's favorite canned cat food to lure it.
At first, Xiao An was still somewhat wary, but as soon as it smelled the food, all its caution was thrown to the wind, and it began to eat with relish.
By the end of the meal, Ji Ruan was even able to pet its head.
Ji Ruan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
How could someone like Gu Xiuyi raise such an easily placated cat...
Xiao An ate happily and enjoyed being petted, and when Ji Ruan took away the empty can, he received a loving hug from Xiao An.
Just like Xiao An pounced on Gu Xiuyi in excitement every time he came home, Ji Ruan was pounced on, too.
But he was completely unprepared and wasn’t as strong as Gu Xiuyi.
"Thud——!"
A loud crash.
A large cat weighing dozens of pounds fell from the sky, effortlessly pinning Ji Ruan to the floor, stirring up a cloud of cat fur.
At the moment of impact, Ji Ruan's shoulder and back hit the ground with a dull thud, shaking him to his core, almost knocking his soul out of his body, and causing intense pain in his back and ribs.
For a few brief seconds, Ji Ruan's mind went blank, with only one thought remaining—thankfully, he hadn't flipped over the railing.
Xiao An enthusiastically lay on top of Ji Ruan, licking his neck. Ji Ruan was so squashed that he couldn't catch his breath or make a sound. He raised his hand to try to push the big cat off but couldn't move it at all!
Ji Ruan was on the verge of tears.
Just when he was at a loss, the weight on his chest suddenly lightened and disappeared, as if someone had pulled Xiao An to the side.
Ji Ruan blinked, trying to see clearly. Fresh air suddenly filled his compressed chest, making him cough violently as he lay on the floor.
Gu Xiuyi, having finished his meeting, heard the commotion outside and knew something was wrong. When he rushed out to see, he found both the cat and the person sprawled out in the hallway.
Ji Ruan was flushed red from being squashed, while his silly cat kept trying to snuggle up to him.
Gu Xiuyi grabbed Xiao An by the scruff of the neck and hauled the big cat to the wall to face it. He turned around and saw Ji Ruan still lying on the ground, coughing miserably, and felt at a loss.
Gu Xiuyi didn't like physical contact with people; he had only ever picked up cats, never a person. He stared at Ji Ruan's back for a moment and, out of habit, reached for the back of Ji Ruan's neck, intending to pull him up from the ground.
But as soon as his hand touched that smooth neck, Ji Ruan turned around abruptly as if frightened, coughing while staring at him in terror, as if he were some sort of hypocrite taking advantage of the situation.
Gu Xiuyi's hand froze. He slowly stood up straight and took two steps back.
In the air filled with floating cat hair, they engaged in a silent stare-off.
Gu Xiuyi soon calmed down and reverted to his usual demeanor, not looking at Ji Ruan's face. He grabbed Ji Ruan by the arm and, as if hefting a sack of potatoes, carried him downstairs in a few swift moves.
Ji Ruan was still dizzy when he was placed on the sofa. It wasn't until Aunt Zhao, who had rushed over, gave him several sips of water that he finally recovered.
He coughed a couple of times, pressing his chest, and turned to look at Gu Xiuyi.
Gu Xiuyi, looking stern, sat nearby with his legs crossed, keeping a precise distance of just enough to fit another person between them.
Ji Ruan: "..."
Ji Ruan inexplicably felt that Gu Xiuyi was issuing a domineering, silent protest over what had just happened.
Feeling a cool sensation on the back of his hand, Ji Ruan turned around to find that Xiao An, whom Gu Xiuyi had sent to face the wall, had come down at some point and was now licking his hand, acting all cute.
With a hint of exasperation, Ji Ruan rubbed Xiao An's head and then lifted one of the cat's paws to weigh it.
Gu Xiuyi watched coldly from the side, feeling that this young man seemed very concerned about his cat's weight.
"Ahem," Gu Xiuyi coughed lightly and said in a neutral tone, "The last time I weighed it, it was exactly twenty kilograms. In the past couple of days, it might have gone up a bit."
Ji Ruan's movements as he petted the cat slowed down.
Suddenly, he looked up at Gu Xiuyi and said, "You...what did you say?"
It seemed he couldn't hear clearly.
Gu Xiuyi's expression subtly changed.
Without another word, he lifted the hair covering Ji Ruan's right ear. The little device that Ji Ruan always wore behind his ear was indeed missing.
Aunt Zhao, noticing this, anxiously asked, "Oh dear, what's going on?"
Gu Xiuyi glanced at Ji Ruan's tightly furrowed brows and said to Aunt Zhao, "Do you know the cochlear implant he usually wears?"
Aunt Zhao quickly responded, "I do. I've seen Xiao Ruan wear it."
Gu Xiuyi nodded, "Good, it might have fallen off just now. Aunt Zhao, please help look for it around the stairs, quickly."
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away!" Aunt Zhao replied promptly.
Ji Ruan's fingers were already intertwined, his head hung low, sitting on less than a third of the sofa, a posture that tried to control his panic.
He wasn't a child who displayed his emotions openly. His eyes didn't show much of the vibrancy typical of an eighteen-year-old student, making him seem particularly quiet and reserved. This had always been Gu Xiuyi's favorite aspect of him.
Even the glance he cast back in the corridor had only shown a fleeting moment of panic. Therefore, this current prolonged and silent anxiety seemed particularly striking.
Ji Ruan had changed into a black T-shirt before dinner, his exposed arms were very thin, his fingers very pale, and his clothes and hair were covered with Xiao An's fur, making him look a bit disheveled.
Gu Xiuyi couldn't stand anything disorganized, so he couldn't help but reach out to pick the cat hair off him.
After all, he was still just a recently turned adult, his body not fully developed, his shoulders and back very thin. Having some emotions was normal.
Thinking this, he lightly patted Ji Ruan's back and said, "It's okay, just wait a bit."
Ji Ruan paused but did not reply. Gu Xiuyi realized that he might not have heard him clearly and found himself at a loss for words, so he simply stopped speaking.
Aunt Zhao, moving quickly, soon found Ji Ruan's external device. "It must have slipped through the railing. I found it on the first floor. I don't know if it's broken?"
Aunt Zhao spoke quickly, and Ji Ruan didn't quite catch what she said but thanked her happily.
Gu Xiuyi saw that Ji Ruan's eyes lit up when he took the device with both hands.
Ji Ruan carefully wiped the shell and then placed it back behind his ear, pursing his lips as if he was trying to feel something.
Time seemed to slow down. Watching Ji Ruan's trembling eyelashes and his focused expression made Gu Xiuyi feel a bit nervous too.
After a while, Ji Ruan looked up at him, his eyes glistening with tears. His eyes were still red from coughing, which made his expression look somewhat sad.
A bad premonition suddenly surged in Gu Xiuyi's heart.
The next second, the boy's slightly hoarse voice, tinged with surprise, said, "It's broken?"
--------------------
The author has something to say:
President Gu: Broken...?!
Thanks for the update!! 🤗🤗🤗
ReplyDelete