Chapter 111: Make You Call Me Brother (31 – End)
Xiao Ji always spoke like this, coldly, faintly, and calmly poking right into people’s hearts.
Chen Lan was a reasonable person who had been through it all.
If young people’s feelings could be controlled at will, she wouldn’t have risked her mother-in-law’s displeasure to marry Old Gu back then.
She held Xiao Ji’s hand and smiled. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You’ve grown up and have your own lives. With or without you, Gege would eventually have to find a partner sooner or later.”
“Now it’s actually for the best. I’ll just consider it as having raised a child bride for Gege, and we’ve even avoided any mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts.”
Xiao Ji knew Chen Lan wouldn’t accept it that quickly.
Forcing a smile to say these words now was, firstly, to keep Xiao Ji from feeling too guilty, and secondly, to persuade herself.
That night, Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian accompanied Chen Lan for a rather tasteless dinner.
Early the next morning, when Xiao Ji woke up in Gu Yinnian’s arms, Chen Lan had already left, leaving only a message saying that Xiao Cui was waiting at home for her to go back and feed it.
Under the school’s intervention, the posts about Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian on the campus forum were also completely wiped clean overnight.
Everything seemed to have changed, yet also seemed to have remained the same.
Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian still acted as if nothing had happened. Just like before, they appeared openly and magnanimously in pairs in every corner of the school.
They still attended classes together, ate together, played ball together, and read books in the library together.
On New Year’s Day, Xiao Ji gave Gu Yinnian a camera as a gift.
From then on, Xiao Ji’s figure frequently appeared in Gu Yinnian’s WeChat Moments.
At first, the whole school was paying attention to their movements, often privately debating the theory of pheromone submission and how two Alphas could possibly date each other.
But as time passed, everyone slowly discovered that the relationship between Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian was no different from any other ordinary young couple.
It was just very difficult for them to distinguish exactly who had submitted to whom.
After playing basketball, Gu Yinnian would carry Xiao Ji on his back to leave the court.
And after Gu Yinnian sprained his ankle, Xiao Ji would scoop him up and carry him bridal-style all the way to the infirmary.
Gu Yinnian was always eating Xiao Ji’s leftovers, and whenever they went out, Xiao Ji was always carrying two backpacks, one in front and one on his back.
The two of them would also have conflicts, but they wouldn’t last long.
In the morning, they might stick Lin Mo and Song Zhi in between them, refusing to speak to each other, but by the afternoon, they would push Lin Mo and Song Zhi to the sides and put their heads together to secretly pass little notes.
They wouldn’t display any overly intimate behavior in public that would make people uncomfortable, yet they revealed everywhere that their relationship was anything but ordinary.
Habit is a terrifying thing.
The people in the school began to get used to Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian’s dynamic, and quite a few even started secretly shipping them.
Some Omegas even used them as an example when arguing with their own Alphas:
“As everyone knows, Gu Yinnian’s Moments are filled entirely with Xiao Ji! But your Moments have never once featured yours truly!”
And Xiao Ji and Gu Yinnian firmly held the top two spots in their grade at the end of every semester.
In their senior year, when all the graduates were pulling their hair out over internships, Xiao Ji directly took out money to open a securities company for Gu Yinnian.
He also conveniently helped Lin Mo and Song Zhi complete their internship requirements.
And at the graduation gala, Gu Yinnian once again gave a speech in the school auditorium as an outstanding graduate.
Only this time, Xiao Ji wasn’t quietly watching him from the audience.
Instead, at the end of the speech, he walked onto the stage holding a bouquet of exquisitely beautiful white roses and gave Gu Yinnian a hug.
Amidst the cheering of all the graduates, Gu Yinnian took Xiao Ji’s hand and kissed the back of it.
A large flock of white doves took flight outside the auditorium, making everyone momentarily feel as if this wasn’t a graduation ceremony, but a sacred and beautiful wedding.
Originally, Gu Yinnian felt he lacked experience, so when he opened the company, he was prepared to lose money.
But whether it was his good luck or Xiao Ji’s, one year, two years, three years, five years passed, and the company not only didn’t go bankrupt but actually began to flourish.
It grew from a twenty-something square meter small storefront to a central office building of over two thousand square meters.
It expanded from four people to four hundred people.
Xiao Ji also took Gu Yinnian to Jiang Lan’s fan meet-and-greet. The four of them took a group photo, which was placed right on Gu Yinnian’s office desk.
Chen Lan and Father Gu also quit their jobs in their hometown and moved into the new duplex villa that Gu Yinnian and Xiao Ji bought in the capital.
They built a small greenhouse on the top-floor balcony, and Xiao Cui lived inside it.
And whenever Gu Yinnian and Xiao Ji’s susceptibility periods approached, the old couple would very tactfully embark on a spontaneous trip.
Time hurried by. Perhaps because this life had gone too smoothly, in his later years, Gu Yinnian’s minor illnesses and ailments were endlessly intermittent.
Xiao Ji accompanied him to the hospital every few days, which made Gu Yinnian terribly irritable.
Holding Xiao Cui in his hand, he said to Xiao Ji, “I’m getting a little annoyed with you.”
Xiao Ji glanced at him, blew on the porridge in the spoon to cool it, and fed it into his mouth:
“Last night you were still calling me your old baby, saying that if I ignored you, you’d poison me.”
Gu Yinnian lacked energy: “That was last night.”
Xiao Ji knew Gu Yinnian wasn’t annoyed with him; he was just scared.
He patiently finished feeding Gu Yinnian the porridge, kissed his forehead, and said something he felt Gu Yinnian would want to hear at this moment:
“I love you.”
Sure enough, Gu Yinnian still smiled. He released the hand holding Xiao Cui and sighed:
“At this old age, being so mushy, have you no shame?”
Gu Yinnian was indeed like this.
When he was young, he loved Xiao Ji so passionately, wishing he could use “I love you” in place of “good morning,” “good afternoon,” and “good night.”
The older he got, the more reserved he became. As long as Xiao Ji didn’t say it, he wouldn’t bring it up either.
Over time, whether saying it or hearing it, there was inevitably a bit of awkwardness.
Although Gu Yinnian said so verbally, on the night he passed away, he still clutched a small piece of paper in his palm.
Xiao Ji noticed it, but didn’t ask anything, pretending not to know.
He just quietly stayed by Gu Yinnian’s side, pressing his cheek against his chest, feeling the aged heart slowly stop beating, before finally taking that small piece of paper from Gu Yinnian’s palm.
In familiar handwriting, it bore three words:
[I love you.]
This time, Xiao Ji was in no rush to leave.
He personally handled Gu Yinnian’s funeral affairs, brought his ashes back to Ningcheng, and buried him not far from Chen Lan and her husband.
He also left a white rose in front of Gu Yinnian’s tombstone.
Xiao Ji suddenly felt a trace of bewilderment.
He stood frozen in place for a long time.
037 sensed Xiao Ji’s abnormality and asked him: [What happened?]
Xiao Ji frowned: [He didn’t make a request.]
037 understood: [If he didn’t make one, it means he was very satisfied. How about next time, leave it to me? I’ll arrange a completely novel encounter for the two of you, how does that sound?]
Xiao Ji raised an eyebrow: [What kind of novel encounter?]
037 flipped through the data of the small worlds in its hands:
[Why don’t we try something a bit more thrilling?]
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