Chapter 87: Make You Call Me Gege (7)
Gu Yinnian couldn’t remember exactly when calling Xiao Ji’s name became as effortless as breathing.
But now, as the name “Xiao Ji” left his lips, it felt foreign, labored—suffocating, even.
Xiao Ji could hear the forced lightness in Gu Yinnian’s voice. His dark eyes fixed on the other boy. “There’s no other way, is there?”
Perhaps to hide the ache in his heart, or out of fear that his emotions would trigger a pheromone leak, Gu Yinnian forced his expression into one of cold indifference. He suppressed the bitter lump in his throat.
“Duh. If there were another way, do you think I’d let you leave?”
Gu Yinnian had been like this since they were children, embodying the pride and dominance of an Alpha to the fullest. Compared to his previous two lives, he hadn’t even uttered a single soft word to Xiao Ji in this one.
Xiao Ji was used to it. He understood him and didn’t mind, simply saying, “Fine. Sorry for the trouble.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Gu Yinnian muttered under his breath. He hung up the phone, unwilling to talk further, and sat in the hallway. Through the pane of glass, he watched Xiao Ji without blinking.
As Gu Yinnian grew older, he had stopped the endless chatter of his youth, adopting the persona of a cool, aloof guy. Xiao Ji was naturally a man of few words, so when they were alone, they often sat like this—just looking at each other in silence. It wasn’t awkward.
But now, Gu Yinnian felt a pang of unease. After a moment’s thought, he lowered his head and sent a text:
【Does it still hurt?】
Xiao Ji lowered his gaze, replying instantly:
【It doesn’t hurt. It smells like the sun. Very warm.】
Gu Yinnian didn’t reply, nor did he enter the ward. He sat by the door until Chen Lan arrived to bring Xiao Ji dinner and shooed him home to do his homework.
That moment was the last time the two of them would speak so closely during their youth.
Initially, things hadn’t seemed quite that dire. Gu Yinnian didn’t suffer from pheromone riots every second of the day, after all. As long as he visited Xiao Ji when his condition was stable, nothing bad should have happened.
However, before the transfer procedures for the new school Gu’s father found for Xiao Ji were even finalized, an old classmate of his in the medical industry reached out. He mentioned a medical institution abroad that specialized in gland repair and treatment. Just last month, a patient in a similar situation to Xiao Ji had been successfully treated and had differentiated smoothly.
Upon hearing this, Chen Lan made the decision immediately: “He has to get the treatment.”
On the day Xiao Ji collapsed, it wasn’t just Gu Yinnian’s world that crumbled; Chen Lan had been terrified as well. She’d even dreamt of Xiao Ji’s mother coming to demand why she hadn’t taken better care of her child. Xiao Ji’s differentiation had been a sword hanging over Chen Lan’s head. Now that there was a way to lower that sword safely, she was determined to take it.
Gu’s father sat in the living room, smoking for half the night, calculating the costs of Xiao Ji’s treatment, living, and schooling abroad. Just as he was preparing to discuss mortgaging the house with Chen Lan, Xiao Ji suddenly brought up his parents’ inheritance.
Chen Lan was stunned. “Your mother left an inheritance?”
Xiao Ji weighed his words. “It’s from my father. It was notarized when I was born. Barring any accidents, it was only supposed to be mine once I reached adulthood.”
But the current situation was clearly an “accident.” If Xiao Ji didn’t use the money for treatment, it was uncertain if he’d even live to see adulthood. As long as he had the medical certificates and went back to complete the paperwork, the funds could be accessed.
Hearing this, Chen Lan felt a spark of curiosity. “How much is it?”
Xiao Ji wasn’t entirely sure yet; 037 had been the one to mention it. He shook his head. “I only know about the house for now. I’ll find out the rest once I go back and finish the paperwork.”
No one is a saint. Chen Lan had raised Xiao Ji without expecting anything in return, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she had worked herself to the bone for him. Since Xiao Ji’s biological parents had left him an inheritance that could solve this urgent crisis, she wouldn’t stand in his way. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“That’s wonderful. Then your Uncle Gu and I won’t have to mortgage the house. The three of us can tighten our belts for the next couple of years, and we’ll make up whatever else you’re short on.”
Xiao Ji didn’t understand paternal or maternal love. But hearing Chen Lan’s words and seeing the overflowing ashtray in front of Gu’s father, he suddenly felt a stir of emotion. He stood before Chen Lan and reached out to hug her.
For the first time in ten years, he said with genuine sincerity, “Thank you, Auntie Chen.”
Gu’s father personally accompanied Xiao Ji on the trip. He didn’t stay for the inheritance handover, returning home hastily after settling everything for Xiao Ji.
Three days later, a seven-figure sum suddenly appeared in Chen Lan’s bank account. It came with a message from Xiao Ji:
【My father had a lot of savings. Please keep it and rest easy.】
Gu Yinnian had thrown a massive fit over Xiao Ji’s sudden departure, but his anger vanished the moment he received a message from him. Xiao Ji had sent a photo of himself in the hospital, covered in tubes, and told him:
【Don’t be angry. I’m working hard on my recovery. Wait for me, be good.】
That wait lasted for one year and ten months.
Under Xiao Ji’s daily phone supervision, Gu Yinnian tested into one of the top three universities in the country. On the day school started, he dragged his heavy luggage through the gates. When he reached the freshman registration desk, he saw a figure that was both incredibly familiar and strangely foreign.
Xiao Ji had just finished filling out his information. When he turned around, he saw Gu Yinnian standing frozen a short distance away.
September in Beicheng marked the beginning of autumn, but the weather was still sweltering. Gu Yinnian wore a basic black T-shirt and gray sweatpants, his hand gripping a massive suitcase.
He had grown quite a bit taller in the last two years. His increasingly mature features carried the inherent aggression of an Alpha. He was the kind of handsome that would make countless Betas and Omegas turn their heads on the street.
Pinned to the left chest of his black T-shirt was a metal letter badge. It consisted of two joined letters, easy to distinguish: a capital 【XJ】. On his middle finger, he wore a plain silver band. If one looked closely, the same two letters were likely engraved on the inner side of the ring.
Both the badge and the ring had been custom-made by Xiao Ji from thousands of miles away specifically for Gu Yinnian. More importantly, Xiao Ji was wearing a ring on his own hand at that moment. The letters engraved inside were the initials of Gu Yinnian’s name.
As their eyes met, Xiao Ji said nothing.
After a long pause of stunned silence, Gu Yinnian didn’t show any emotion either. He walked over to Xiao Ji’s side, picked up a pen, and began filling out his own information.
No one noticed but Xiao Ji, but at that moment, the hand Gu Yinnian held the pen with was trembling slightly.
Recommended Reads
they’re so nonchalant www