Gu Xiaodeng sensed both strange delight and displeasure radiating from Ge Dongchen, and responded with two puzzled “oh”s.
“Su Xiaoyuan, is it? You do care about others.” Ge Dongchen immediately refocused, leaning closer with feigned mystery. “I knew of this person when I paid my New Year respects to the Su family last year. Surely you aren’t only learning of his existence today? What’s the matter—did Mingya not give you a heads-up? Have you two fallen out?”
Unlike Yunji, Ge Dongchen was often brash and unreserved, openly talking about Su Mingya with Gu Xiaodeng, subtly and covertly stirring the waters of their “romantic” relationship. Gu Xiaodeng sometimes lent an ear.
Gu Xiaodeng laughed candidly. “I did have a bit of a tiff with Young Master Su. But what does that have to do with Xiaoyuan? Brother Yun asked me the same thing this morning.”
Ge Dongchen, seeing the honest expression on his face, knew the corner couldn’t be pried loose yet. But if he didn’t try, he wouldn’t be himself. “Then that’s Mingya’s fault, isn’t it? The Su family’s intention is to allocate Su Xiaoyuan to Mingya as a servant concubine. He knows about it.”
Gu Xiaodeng’s first reaction was to slap his knee, tilt his head back, and burst out laughing. Ge Dongchen narrowed his greenish eyes, watching the white neck with its slightly moving Adam’s apple, and the urge to clamp a chain around that neck stirred within him.
“That’s the second funniest joke I’ve heard since New Year!” Gu Xiaodeng was beside himself with mirth, laughing so hard he reached out to slap Ge Dongchen’s arm repeatedly.
“What’s the funniest one, then?” Ge Dongchen laughed along with him, catching the hand that patted his shoulder like a cat’s paw—it was far warmer than ginger tea.
“The funniest one was something Jinyu told me.” The moment Gu Xiaodeng thought of Gu Jinyu’s dead serious face just before New Year, he found it even harder to stop, tears of laughter springing from his eyes. “He said—he said! He has a child!”
Ge Dongchen: “…”
He was genuinely impressed. “That is pretty funny.”
Recalling this matter made Gu Xiaodeng laugh so hard he nearly fell over, wobbling in his chair like a roly-poly doll. “I almost thought he truly had loose morals. I even asked him whether my little nephew was a boy or a girl, and what their name was. And then he got flustered… Let me laugh about it for half the night.”
Ge Dongchen steadied his arm, gloating.
“Brother Dongchen, what you said today is also very funny. Thank you for the humor—when I get a chance, I’ll be sure to record this joke in my Record of Observations.”
Without explaining, Ge Dongchen tossed out one barb and wisely withdrew, smiling as he spoke of inconsequential matters.
He knew that the more Gu Xiaodeng liked Su Mingya now, the more he would dislike him in days to come.
Ge Dongchen imagined the expression on Gu Xiaodeng’s face then. It would surely be a magnificent spectacle.
Smiling, he asked about something else. “In a few more days, it will be your Young Master Su’s birthday. The Ge family has prepared a generous gift; the Gu family likely has as well. Second Sister Gu and Jinyu will certainly make the trip. Will you be going along?”
The smile on Gu Xiaodeng’s face faltered. An Ruoyi disliked him getting too close to Su Mingya and still felt he lacked the qualifications to participate in the social engagements of the noble and powerful. She didn’t raise him as a son, nor even as an adopted son. He was no Cousin Young Master—he was more like a Cousin Young Miss.
“Can’t go?”
Gu Xiaodeng scratched his nose and smiled. “I can go, I can go!”
“That’s good then. Have you never been to the Su family’s estate before?” Ge Dongchen whispered in his ear with a smile. “The Su family has been noble for a hundred years, far more opulent than the Gu family. You’ve been close with Mingya for over four years and never had a chance to see it. It makes me regretful on your behalf. Being able to cross the Su family’s threshold this year is wonderful. On the 29th, there will be many guests at the Su residence. If you feel overwhelmed by the setting, just come find me. I’ll accompany you.”
Gu Xiaodeng didn’t know quite what to say. When he said he could go, what he really meant was that he could only go as far as a tall tower not far from the Su estate.
Two years ago, when Su Mingya’s health was still frail, he would often be taken back to the Su residence due to illness. Once, after not seeing him for over twenty days, a servant close to Su Mingya quietly returned to the Student Courtyard and brought Gu Xiaodeng to that tower. That was where he waited for him.
A sick person cannot do without companionship, and even the Young Master Su, who possessed countless things, was no exception.
Later, that place became the meeting spot for Gu Xiaodeng and Su Mingya outside of the Su and Gu estates. It was there that Gu Xiaodeng celebrated his birthday last year. At that time, Su Mingya had already made a promise to him—to meet at the high tower again for this year’s birthday.
There was no other reason. That tower was called Star-Picking Tower, the highest place in Changluo except for the Imperial Palace. Gu Xiaodeng loved the night sky seen from its windowsill—the full moon like a disc, the stars like flowing water, truly vast, distant, and boundless. Free in a way that didn’t feel like an illusion.
Later, Su Mingya bought Star-Picking Tower. The highest attic room was named “Bright Candle Room”—Bright for Su Mingya, Candle for Gu Xiaodeng.
Sitting in the Bright Candle Room, swinging your legs, you could look up to see the sky and stars, and look down to see the grand and spectacular Su Residence. Gu Xiaodeng had never truly set foot inside the Su Residence—it was said that its strict security rivaled the Gu family’s. He simply preferred to see the starry sky above Star-Picking Tower.
And also Su Mingya, gentle as a moon deity under the clear radiance of the full moon.
“Xiaodeng? What are you spacing out about?”
Ge Dongchen’s soft laugh called him back to the present. Gu Xiaodeng returned to his senses, but not entirely. Smiling, he murmured, “I was just thinking about Young Master Su… Suddenly missing him a little…”
Ge Dongchen was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly. “He’s at the Bamboo Courtyard right now, isn’t he? If you go there, could he really shut the door in your face?”
Gu Xiaodeng scratched his head. His dimples were still brimming with amusement, but his brows were faintly furrowed—a classic expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Even though I miss him, I don’t want to see him right now. Just looking at him makes me angry.”
“Angry about what?”
What was he angry about? About someone he clearly liked so much.
Gu Xiaodeng was pondering that very question.
He remembered last year, when he was so angry over all sorts of excessively vile and fabricated rumors about himself that he felt like vomiting blood. Su Mingya had held him and offered light, joking, gentle consolation.
“They’re just jealous of you. Pay those idle words no mind. Few people here have looks like yours. Their circumstances are not like yours—you probably can’t feel the difficulty of being plain-looking.”
A subtly condescending assessment, a gently uncomfortable compliment.
Gu Xiaodeng didn’t fully understand. Su Mingya himself probably wasn’t fully aware either. From the very beginning, his attitude toward him had been one of appreciation and amusement. But as the days and months accumulated, as Gu Xiaodeng became increasingly dazzling and Su Mingya’s own power gradually rose, the desire to admire had slowly transformed into a desire to control.
Gu Xiaodeng occasionally felt that certain aspects of Su Mingya were very strange. But their circumstances were vastly different, and he couldn’t fully comprehend him.
And what was more, every time a subtle discomfort had just begun to well up in his heart, Su Mingya would either lean down to kiss him or turn his head and cough lightly. Gu Xiaodeng’s heart would then be struck into a hopeless, heady mess, and he would instantly forget any trace of unhappiness.
It was just that on the night of New Year’s Eve, as he leaned against the windowsill in Gu Jinyu’s room, watching the fireworks and stars in the night sky outside, he suddenly recalled a somewhat distant, dream-like past.
He had especially, especially liked that frail, beautiful person who, upon first entering the academy, had sensed his aversion and, instead of calling him “Shanqing,” called him “Xiaodeng.”
As for last year’s Young Master Su, who earnestly addressed him as “Su Shanqing”—he was truly furious.
But he liked him furiously too.
~
In the three days since Su Mingya returned to the Bamboo Courtyard, Gu Xiaodeng didn’t run over even once. On the surface, Su Mingya didn’t seek him out either. So Gu Xiaodeng simply went about his own little life, doing what he had to do.
In the blink of an eye, it was the evening of the 28th of the first lunar month. Gu Xiaodeng was repeatedly fussing over a small box of freshly made candies when his left eyelid suddenly began to twitch violently. The moment he clamped his hand over his left eye, he saw a large, sturdy bird silently flap its wings and land before his windowsill. It spread its wings and waved them, tilting its head to greet him.
Gu Xiaodeng tilted his head right back at it and laughed. “Hello there, big bird. You’re a night owl, and so is your master. Like master, like servant!”
As he spoke, he swiftly put away the box, turned, and strode out of the inner room. Feng’en and Fenghuan had no idea what was happening before he was already at the door, throwing it open with a whoosh.
A fine, unbroken drizzle of spring rain hung in the air. Within the curtain of rain, the wild landscape stretched boundlessly under a cold moon and frosty stars. Raindrops flew into Gu Xiaodeng’s eyes, and just as he pressed his eyelid again, a tall, silent, and slender figure appeared in his line of sight.
The person within the rain curtain had eyes like frosty stars—just as cold and just as bright.
Gu Xiaodeng was long accustomed to this good brother of his who came and went without a trace, appearing and disappearing like a giant rat. He didn’t mind his showing up at this hour and waved him in. “Good evening, Big Tree Branch! Back from some mission again, are you?”
The newcomer silently slipped inside, one hand pressed against his chest, clearly hiding something within his clothes.
Gu Xiaodeng felt a physical chill hit him head-on. He reached out and pushed the other’s back, steering him toward the inner room to warm up by the stove. As he pushed, he lectured: “Why don’t you use an umbrella? At least bring a bamboo hat if nothing else! Coming and going through wind and rain—anyone would think you’re a vagabond.”
The fellow lazily let himself be pushed. Gu Xiaodeng felt like he was pushing a bear. Halfway there, he looked up and froze when he saw that the other’s short ponytail had gotten even shorter. He hurriedly pushed him into a chair, then moved to stand right in front of him to get a better look. “Gu Senqing, how did your hair get chopped into this uneven, short mess again? Did you get injured out there?”
