Chapter 72: Why Are You So Overbearing?
Qin Wan was stunned.
“Gege, you…”
“Give me your phone.” Gu Xinglan’s face showed no obvious change in emotion as he repeated himself.
Qin Wan pressed his lips together.
He slowly pulled the phone from his pocket. After a moment of hesitation, he handed it over.
Gu Xinglan tapped the screen and let out a soft snort. “A lock screen password? Is it to keep me out?”
Qin Wan felt the atmosphere growing increasingly tense.
He shook his head quickly. “Of course not!”
Gu Xinglan let out a soft breath. “Well then, what’s the password?”
Qin Wan’s brows drew tighter together. “Gege, are… are you going to check my phone?”
Gu Xinglan: “You could understand it that way.”
“But… but that’s not very good, is it?” Qin Wan’s small face was scrunched up.
“Qin Wan, are you unwilling? Is there truly something suspicious on your phone?”
“No!” Qin Wan cried out urgently. “There isn’t, Gege!”
“Gege, what’s wrong with you today?” As he spoke, he stood up and walked over to him.
He cautiously sat on Gu Xinglan’s lap.
He reached out and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck.
“Did something happen to make you unhappy?” His gaze searched Gu Xinglan’s face, his voice low. “Or did I do something wrong?”
His small hand patted Gu Xinglan’s back in a slow, rhythmic motion, trying to soothe his agitated emotions.
However, his efforts yielded no visible results.
“Since there’s nothing suspicious, tell me the password.” Gu Xinglan’s voice grew cold and left no room for argument.
Qin Wan’s heart tightened.
He knew things were about to get troublesome.
Gu Xinglan wasn’t doing this on a whim.
He wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of this today.
Gu Xinglan was serious about checking, and he couldn’t stop him.
Qin Wan grew nervous.
After all, his text messages were filled with chat logs between him and Sheng Siyue.
Moreover, he had even taken screenshots and saved them in his photo gallery.
He regretted it now—why hadn’t he moved the photos and chat logs off the phone sooner?
Now, he could only pray that Gu Xinglan would only flip through his contacts and WeChat, and not check his messages or photos.
Seeing Gu Xinglan’s expression growing darker, Qin Wan hesitatingly recited the lock screen password.
Gu Xinglan unlocked the phone.
His fingers tapped across the screen.
Qin Wan’s heart gripped tighter and tighter, his chest heaving with increasingly rapid breaths.
What he didn’t know was that at this moment, Gu Xinglan’s own internal tension was no less than his.
Even though checking the phone was his idea, he desperately hoped that he wouldn’t find anything that shouldn’t be there.
Unfortunately, he was out of luck.
He saw the pages upon pages of chat log screenshots in the photo gallery.
Qin Wan’s gaze also froze on the screen.
Until Gu Xinglan slowly looked up, casting a cold, sideways glance at him.
“How do you explain this?”
Qin Wan realized that within those deep, glass-like pupils, an anger was smoldering, one that was being suppressed with great effort.
His heart couldn’t help but tremble.
“Gege, this… this…”
Qin Wan knew there was no way to hide it now.
He could only try to speak openly with Gu Xinglan and try to make him see reason.
“Gege, I don’t understand. Why are you so wary of my second brother?”
Qin Wan’s brows were furrowed, and his expression wasn’t good, but he kept his voice as soft and gentle as possible.
“He’s my second brother. We are siblings related by blood.”
“When I was with the Sheng family, if it weren’t for him, I might not have even survived until now.”
“So keeping these chat logs… it’s a perfectly normal thing to do, don’t you think?”
Gu Xinglan’s thin lips were pressed into a tight line.
“I don’t think it’s normal.” He spat the words out coldly, his gaze falling back onto the chat logs. “I think the two of you are too close. You’ve crossed the line.”
He didn’t sound like he was offering an opinion; he sounded like he was handing down a sentence.
Qin Wan’s brows drew even closer together.
“We haven’t crossed any lines! We really are just brothers!”
Gu Xinglan glanced at him. “Is that really what you think?”
Qin Wan nodded quickly. “How could I possibly have any improper thoughts about my own brother!”
Gu Xinglan’s eyes narrowed, a dark, possessive, and paranoid glint flashing within them.
“You might think that, but can you guarantee he thinks the same way?”
Qin Wan was stunned for a moment.
“I can guarantee it. Second Brother would never have such filthy thoughts!”
Gu Xinglan’s eyes darkened. “Are you calling me filthy?”
Qin Wan: “…”
He waved his hands frantically. “No, no, that’s not what I meant!”
Gu Xinglan: “Delete them all right now. The photos, the messages—not a single one stays.”
Qin Wan’s small face scrunched up. “Why? My interactions with Second Brother are perfectly normal. Why do you have to be like this?”
The corners of Gu Xinglan’s mouth pulled into a hard line. “I said I don’t allow you to interact with him. Do you not understand?”
The anger Qin Wan had been suppressing finally boiled over.
Emboldened by the alcohol, he shouted, “Why are you so overbearing?”
Gu Xinglan reached out and clamped his hand over Qin Wan’s jaw.
His eyes, burning with a searing rage, fixed onto him without blinking.
“I am this overbearing. If you ever dare speak to me in that tone again, Sheng Siyue will vanish tomorrow. You can try me!”
Qin Wan stared into his eyes, and a layer of tears instantly pooled in his clear, fox-like eyes.
Under the light of the crystal chandelier, they shimmered with a broken light.
His lips trembled as he spoke, his chest heaving, his voice shaking.
“Gu Xinglan, you want me to call you husband, you say you love me… it’s all a lie!”
“Respect is the bare minimum between people who love each other. What about you? Do you have even a shred of respect for me?”
As he spoke, he could no longer hold back his tears. They rolled down his cheeks.
“I’ve endured every terrible thing you’ve done to me. This is the last bit of connection I have to my brother—can you really not even tolerate that?”
“You’re just cold-hearted! Not even lava could warm your heart!”
The tears fell in steady streams, instantly soaking Gu Xinglan’s hand.
Gu Xinglan looked at the small person in his arms, crying as pitifully as a pear blossom in the rain, and his heart felt an uncontrollable pang of pain.
He slowly released his grip.
Qin Wan turned his head away, using his hand to messily wipe his face.
Gu Xinglan spoke, “A-Wan, do you truly not have any improper thoughts about him?”
Qin Wan was full of anger, and with the alcohol rising to his head, he snapped, “I said I don’t, so I don’t!”
“Fine. I believe you,” Gu Xinglan said.
His voice softened slightly.
His expression also began to relax. “You talk about respect, but keeping these things hidden from me is also a lack of respect, isn’t it?”
Qin Wan slowly turned his head back, his clouded mind trying to analyze if there was any logic in that statement.
Gu Xinglan continued, “You want respect? I’ll give it to you. If you want to keep his things, it’s not impossible.”
Qin Wan’s eyes widened slightly. He wiped his eyes again and looked at him.
The corner of Gu Xinglan’s mouth hooked up in an almost imperceptible smirk. “But if you keep them, you have to accept a punishment. I’m giving you the freedom to choose.”
Qin Wan: “…”
The heart that had been hanging in his chest finally died.
He took two deep breaths.
As the alcohol took full effect, his small face turned a deep red. He spat out three words defiantly: “Fine! Punish me!”
Gu Xinglan’s gaze turned soft.
“You said it yourself. Don’t regret it.” He whispered the words into his ear.
It sounded like a warning, but there was an underlying hint of something else.
Having said that, he gently set the person on his lap down onto the floor.
He took Qin Wan’s small hand and led him toward the door.
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