Chapter 32 Part 2

Xiao Pei’s ears flopped wildly, as if understanding his words, getting milk all over its entire dog head while licking.

Gu Xiaodeng sat on the ground, watching with starry eyes. Just as his heart was bubbling with happiness, he heard Feng’en and the others greet someone. A familiar voice rang out. “Yo, since when did you get a little dog?”

Gu Xiaodeng immediately patted his sleeves and stood up. His plain white clothes were bathed in the dying light pouring through the window, and when he smiled, it was like the rising sun. “Coming over at this hour, you must be here to scrounge a meal.”

Ge Dongchen looked over with a beaming smile. “That’s right. Cousin Master Gu, bestow a pair of chopsticks upon me. I’m starving to death. School starts again tomorrow. If I don’t have a full meal, I’ll shrivel up. If I shrivel up, I’ll become a shriveled little bastard.”

Gu Xiaodeng was amused by him. He thought Ge Dongchen was just like before, dropping in everywhere to eat at others’ tables, without a fixed abode, like him, disliking being alone and solitary—also pitiable. He went over to help Feng Huan with the preparations. Before darkness invaded the room, he sat down with Ge Dongchen.

Earlier, when he came back from Su Mingya’s place, the Star-Picking Tower had packed him a box of cardamom-style pastries. Thinking it better to share than eat alone, Gu Xiaodeng openly and sincerely opened it and invited him to eat together.

Ge Dongchen tilted his head and watched for a moment, then smiled. “Cardamom is good. ‘Gracefully, gracefully, a little past thirteen, a cardamom bud atop the branch in early spring.’ Our Xiaodeng is a little past seventeen.”

So saying, he quickly devoured the cardamom cake completely.

“Why didn’t you leave a piece for me?” Gu Xiaodeng was both amused and speechless. “And reciting poetry and verses! Brother Ge, this is the Student Courtyard. Don’t bring your roguish charm from outside in here.”

“Hmm?” Ge Dongchen swallowed the sickeningly sweet pastry. As he inwardly grumbled about Su’s terrible taste, he wondered which bastard had been badmouthing him. “What, what? Good cousin, if your Brother Dongchen were really that dashing, wouldn’t I be eating at my own home instead of passing by my door three times without entering, bumming meals everywhere?”

He was very good at casually playing the victim to Gu Xiaodeng, and Gu Xiaodeng clearly fell for it.

But Ge Dongchen didn’t know he didn’t need to put on this act. In Gu Xiaodeng’s eyes, that misery inherently existed; he could see it and naturally pitied it.

Gu Xiaodeng sighed a couple of times. “Brother, let’s just eat first.”

Ge Dongchen then adopted the black-and-white dog Xiao Pei’s food-devouring stance, sweeping away all the food on the table like a whirlwind.

After eating, he followed Gu Xiaodeng with a grin, asking, “So, in what way am I a playboy now?”

Having finished eating, Gu Xiaodeng went to look at Xiao Pei again. He turned his head and glanced at Ge Dongchen, who was tagging along step by step, and suddenly felt he was quite like a dog too. For a moment, his expression was complex. “Oh, it’s just that I’ve heard from more than one person that you’re both amorous and running wild outside. I hear your private conduct isn’t very good? That outside the academy, you’re a debauched dandy. Will you suddenly become a father one day?”

Ge Dongchen raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

Gu Xiaodeng gestured with his hands, looking at him with sincere honesty, his face full of “I, your little brother, am worried about you.” “How about you give me your hand? I’ll take your pulse.”

Ge Dongchen knew his medical skills were self-taught using resources from Su Mingya’s side. He had always disliked Gu Xiaodeng showing off his medical skills in front of him. Last year, when he ran back to the Student Courtyard covered in injuries, Gu Xiaodeng spotted the internal injuries accumulated in his body just by looking at his face the moment they met. He had lost a lot of face.

He put his hands behind his back and shook his head. “Your Brother Dongchen is perfectly fine.”

“Oh.” Gu Xiaodeng withdrew his hand and scratched his head. “Then, Brother Dongchen, you should still take care of your health. Don’t fool around recklessly. Be careful not to unknowingly contract some disease.”

Ge Dongchen stood there thinking for a good while before realizing what he meant. He was immediately angered to the point of laughter.

He was getting closer and closer to the Second Prince, Gao Mingqian. That lord had always been an exceptional philanderer and liked to drag his companions into debauchery. Ge Dongchen happened to have recently accompanied him on several outings to places of pleasure. It was likely that some bastard had used this as an excuse to wag their tongue in front of Gu Xiaodeng.

He laughed as he walked over to Gu Xiaodeng, leaning down with ill intent to whisper in his ear. “Little brother, let me tell you a secret.”

Gu Xiaodeng stroked Xiao Pei, who was suddenly barking wildly at Ge Dongchen. “What?”

“Little Shanqing, set your hundred and eight worries at ease. You’re not a virgin anymore, but your brother here still is, and will remain so in the future.”

Gu Xiaodeng was speechless.

Ge Dongchen’s mouth was a ghost that killed invisibly.

His way with words was truly poisonous beyond words.

Ge Dongchen stared intently at his expression, suddenly discovering some amusing secret. He lowered his head and asked again in a breathy voice, “It can’t be… tsk tsk, could it be that your Young Master Su is incapable down there?”

Only then did Gu Xiaodeng raise his hand and point at him sternly. “It’s fine if others spread rumors about me, but you lot aren’t allowed to spread rumors about Young Master Su. You especially—you are not allowed to joke about us like that.”

The moment he loosened his hand, Xiao Pei yelped and charged over, biting the corner of Ge Dongchen’s clothes, using all the strength it could muster as if trying to tear him apart.

Ge Dongchen was stunned for a moment by his rare, stern expression. A subtle panic flashed through his heart, but immediately after, he felt that this rare sight of an angry Gu Xiaodeng was also beautiful, and exciting too.

“Alright, alright, it’s your brother’s fault. I was out of line. I’ll slap my own mouth right now, to apologize to Xiaodeng.” Ge Dongchen said, grinning as he patted his own face. “If that’s not enough to vent your anger, then pick up that snarling little dog of yours and let it take a bite out of my face, alright?”

It was then that Gu Xiaodeng noticed Xiao Pei’s unusual behavior. He quickly scooped it up, hugging and petting it to soothe and smooth its fur, himself a little puzzled. “Why would Xiao Pei bite you for no reason?”

Ge Dongchen reached out a fingertip with interest to tease it. “Pei, as in ‘matching pair’? That’s a good name. Where did you find this little treasure from? This chic little thing really is a piece of work.”

Gu Xiaodeng was amused again by his deliberately inverted phrase. He held up Xiao Pei proudly, waving its paw at him. “This is my nephew, a special dog from the Northern Border!”

Ge Dongchen’s interest instantly vanished like smoke. The smile still hung on his face, but a cold sneer echoed in his heart. “So, the Fourth Young Master of your family gave it to you? No wonder it likes you so much and despises me so much.”

He suspected that with Gu Jinyu’s dark nature, before bringing this puppy over, he probably had it sniff Gu Xiaodeng’s clothes plenty of times in private, training it to be affectionate.

As for him and Su Mingya, the dog here was likely trained by Gu Jinyu to have a stress-induced aversion to them.

Gu Xiaodeng didn’t overthink it. He simply asked Ge Dongchen innocently if the puppy was cute. “Xiao Pei probably just hasn’t seen many strangers, so that’s why it’s unfriendly to you. Come and give it a high-five. Jinyu said it’s very smart. It’ll recognize you from now on.”

Ge Dongchen smiled and continued to keep his hands behind his back, until he heard Gu Xiaodeng say, “Xiao Pei’s hometown is the Northern Border, and your other hometown is the Southern Border. You two also have a kind of wondrous fate.”

Ge Dongchen’s eyelid twitched. For a moment, he felt as if he had been lightly gifted an embrace.

He hesitated, then extended his large, rough hand. Gu Xiaodeng took Xiao Pei’s soft pink paw pad and brought it over for a high-five. He docilely held the fluffy little dog paw in his palm. The puppy shrieked, and he watched Gu Xiaodeng’s smiling face.

“Xiao Pei, Xiao Pei, are you very excited right now?”

Gu Xiaodeng laughed, lowering his head to nuzzle the puppy’s nose, shaking his head along with it. Xiao Pei licked him with teary eyes, only then stopping the little puppy’s shrieking.

Ge Dongchen’s Adam’s apple bobbed twice. When Gu Xiaodeng moved his face away, he also went to nuzzle the puppy’s nose—and nearly received a bite from Xiao Pei.

Gu Xiaodeng laughed so hard he could barely breathe, hugging the little dog tight and laughing. Xiao Pei acted extraordinarily human, nestling into his arms with coquettish whines in a very green-tea-like manner. “It’s hopeless, you’re done for! Looks like you only attract people’s affection, not little puppies’. Better stay far away from my family’s dog from now on, lest it scratches your face up, and you pin the blame on us…”

Ge Dongchen cursed inwardly.

This was definitely a vicious dog trained by Gu Jinyu.

But he still wore a smile on his face. “But you said it yourself: it and I are both alien species coming to the Central Plains from foreign tribes. Man and beast share a bond. I rather like it. How about this—when I have time, I’ll come by your place often and try to win its favor? I’d also like to, like Xiaodeng, hold it in my arms and stroke its fur.”

Across the body of a dog—on a third party—feeling Gu Xiaodeng’s body heat was, in itself, a very interesting game.

“Just like…” Memories flashed through Gu Xiaodeng’s mind. “Just like when you were little and tamed Jinyu’s mount, Northern Gaze? Now you’re here to tame Jinyu’s puppy, Xiao Pei?”

Ge Dongchen’s eyelid twitched again. “You even remember that?”

“Yep.” Gu Xiaodeng pressed the puppy to his chest, looking at him with amusement. “You guys really are something, competing with each other from childhood to adulthood. All childhood friends, relatives and close associates, yet on the surface you call each other brothers, while secretly you seem to despise one another.”

Ge Dongchen laughed quietly for a moment, then chided with a sigh, “Caught again by Xiaodeng. But even if you’ve figured it out, why must you always drag it out into the open? In life, it’s better to have tacit understanding, to leave a path of retreat.”

“Does Brother Dongchen need that? I prefer to open the skylight and speak plainly. Many matters should be dealt with openly and honestly.” Gu Xiaodeng hugged the puppy and apologized with a smile. “Sorry, that was my loose lips. It’s my fault. I’ll slap my own mouth too, alright?”

As he spoke, he grabbed the puppy’s paw and put it to his own mouth. Calling it a slap, it was basically kissing that tiny dog paw.

Ge Dongchen stared fixedly at him for a moment, then laughed softly and circled back to the topic. “How are your lips loose? There are plenty of truly foul-mouthed people in the world. They’ve dragged my reputation through the mud, and ruined your good name too. But I think it’s fine. No matter how worthless I am, I still have Xiaodeng for company.”

“Please, don’t.” Gu Xiaodeng immediately waved his hand at this. “My mess is my own business. Don’t wallow in the mire with me. Sinking down is easy. Don’t you drift downwards; you should go up. I am indeed infamous. If I end up dragging you down, then I’d rather you not associate with me at all. I’d much prefer you to be, in others’ eyes, a dignified and upright Young General.”

“The Young General is nothing. Becoming the Grand General—now that’s the goal.”

“Then I wish you become a majestic, awe-inspiring Grand General.”

Gu Xiaodeng smiled wholeheartedly. “To return home whenever you wish, to look south whenever you long to.”

Ge Dongchen paused, then answered, “Alright.”

But he never imagined that later, he could only gaze north.