Chapter 35

Chapter 35

That night, they skipped dinner altogether, and Rong Yu'an didn't feel hungry either—only felt that the weight had finally been lifted off his chest.

From now on, he no longer had to worry about his origins being discovered, nor about his ability to bear children being suspected.

When he opened his eyes in the morning, he saw Gu Shenhan already awake, lying on his side with his arm propping up his head, gazing at him intently. He covered the other person's face with the blanket and said hoarsely, "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Gu Shenhan pulled the blanket down and looked even more closely, his gaze like a brush gently tracing over Rong Yu'an's face.

"Exactly like this." Rong Yu'an covered Gu Shenhan's eyes. Those eyes got his heart racing, reminding him of last night's passion, and his body felt warm again. But he still had to go to the company this morning.

"Want to take a day off today? Your voice is hoarse from crying—it sounds so pitiful."

"Whose fault is that? And you still have the nerve to say that about me." Rong Yu'an muttered softly, then pulled the blanket higher. "I'll just lie in bed for five more minutes."

"Lying in bed for fifty minutes is fine too."

"It's not fine." Rong Yu'an closed his eyes to rest, replaying in his mind what he had heard yesterday at Lianshan. At least only his voice was hoarse; his mind wasn't 'hoarse'—he still remembered what he had learned.

Gu Shenhan, however, still found it novel and wanted to keep looking at him. He was now certain that Rong Yu'an's origins were unusual, but perhaps because they had been together for so long and he knew the character of the man beside him, he felt no discomfort or resistance.

If anything, his urge to explore had grown stronger.

He still loved holding Rong Yu'an; it gave him an intense sense of satisfaction.

Before, he never understood why people in movies and TV shows were so fond of hugging each other. Now he finally got it—it was a profound sense of relief and wholeness, as if he had found a long-lost companion, or as if his own incompleteness had been fully filled.

Rong Yu'an, however, dodged his embrace. "Don't hug me anymore!"

Gu Shenhan buried his head in Rong Yu'an's neck and chuckled softly. "Just let me hold you."

Rong Yu'an's face flushed with embarrassment. "Then don't sleep like that from now on. At least wear some underwear."

Gu Shenhan said, "I can't change it. It's comfortable to sleep like this, and you get warm too, don't you?"

Rong Yu'an shut his mouth and said nothing. Warm, yes, it was indeed warm—but it also made it really hard to get out of bed.

Fortunately, he had something important to do today, and Gu Shenhan didn't keep pestering him. After getting up, he washed up, ate breakfast, packed his things, and prepared to leave.

Today, Gu Shenhan drove him.

Xiao Ke drove the car. When they arrived at Lianshan, Rong Yu'an and Xiao Ke got out, and Gu Shenhan drove the car away.

Even though there were rows of cars at home, Gu Shenhan insisted on staying with him a little longer. Rong Yu'an thought it over—he himself wanted that too, so he couldn't just blame Gu Shenhan.

Gu Anran had driven herself again. Rong Yu'an saw her at the main entrance of the administrative building. The young girl was holding a burger in one hand and a carton of milk in the other. She raised the burger in greeting and called out, "Second sister-in-law, good morning! Have you eaten? If not, I'll go get you some."

"Good morning, little aunt. I've eaten."

"Uh—" Gu Anran paused. "What happened to your voice?"

"...Nothing. It's just the autumn air being dry, and I didn't drink enough water this morning."

Gu Anran looked half-convinced, then noticed Xiao Ke following. She whispered to Rong Yu'an, "My second brother really keeps a close eye on you, doesn't he? Even in his own company, he assigns someone to follow you—afraid you'll get lost?"

Even if there was something she didn't understand, she could help, couldn't she?

Rong Yu'an smiled. "It's because I'm not familiar with anything here, so Brother Han arranged for him. But once I get used to things, I probably won't need him."

Gu Anran listened while sneaking extra glances.

She had studied in the UK for university and had seen plenty of curly-haired, big-eyed boys. But none of the people she had ever met were as good-looking as Rong Yu'an in every way. His hair was obviously a bit long, due for a haircut, but it actually gave him a softer appearance.

And his hoarse voice—it seemed even sexier.

No wonder her second brother couldn't resist such a beautiful man. But her second brother had such great ambitions—could he really be happy with just one person?

Gu Anran was a bit curious.

Rong Yu'an then asked her, "Little aunt, how long does it take to learn to drive?"

Gu Anran said, "It varies for everyone. Someone quick might manage in about a month, but getting a driver's license usually takes three to six months. Some even take a year or two. But I feel like second sister-in-law has good nerves, so you'll probably pass the test quickly."

Rong Yu'an had only thought of this that morning. Most people seemed to drive themselves to and from work. Only people like Gu Shenhan or Gu's grandparents had drivers. He could still use a driver—the family could afford it—but he wanted to try driving himself.

Cars were much faster than horse-drawn carriages. He loved horseback riding because he enjoyed the feeling of galloping. Here, he could rarely ride horses, but he could drive a car every day.

Today, they were learning in the sales department. Rong Yu'an continued recording audio and taking notes. He still couldn't write many common simplified characters, and when he couldn't recall them, he used pinyin.

At first, he used traditional characters, but then he felt those were already familiar to him. Instead, he was worried that if he didn't practice pinyin, he might forget it, so he simply jotted down the pinyin.

Gu Anran saw this and just gave a friendly smile. But when he did the same thing in the production area, some people, though they said nothing to his face, later told others about it.

Soon, many people knew about it, saying that the second young master of the Lianshan Group had married a man who couldn't even write 'machine'—he had to use pinyin instead.

By the afternoon of the next day, the news had even reached online, and it found its way to Gu Shenhan's ears.

Gu Mingchuan said, "Shenhan, Xiao'an is after all the spouse of the Gu family. Even if you only married him reluctantly to secure the position of executive vice president, you can't be this careless, can you? He can't even write such simple common characters—it's a total embarrassment to the Gu family."

At the time, a meeting about ship upgrades had just ended, and not everyone had left the conference room yet. Gu Shenhan sat in the main seat and smiled. "An'an just has trouble remembering a lot after falling into the water—it was an accident. That's still better than someone stealing from their own family. If anyone's disgracing the Gu family, it sure won't be my An'an. What do you think, Uncle?"

Gu Mingchuan, remembering that his eldest son was still working at the grassroots level, felt a knot in his stomach. He snorted loudly and walked out of the conference room.

Gu Shenhan hadn't originally planned to pick Rong Yu'an up, but he changed his mind.

Rong Yu'an only found out by accident when he went to the bathroom after work and overheard people talking.

He knew it was strange for someone his age to use pinyin for common characters. But he hadn't expected these people to mock and gossip about him behind his back.

"Being good-looking has its perks. Even without education, you can still set yourself up for a good future. Otherwise, how could he have gotten into the Gu family? I don't believe it."

"Neither do I. But you'd better lower your voice."

"Oh, everyone's off work at this hour. What's there to be afraid of?"

"Afraid of being overheard, of course. After all, he's the chairman's grandson's husband—we can't afford to upset him."

Rong Yu'an was pretty mad.

To be honest, it did make him upset. These people knew nothing but still made such remarks.

But after thinking it over, he walked out of the bathroom stall calmly.

The two people saw him and were immediately terrified into silence, frozen awkwardly in place, unsure whether to greet him.

Rong Yu'an said, "The two of you were chatting so nicely just now. Why don't you continue?"

Both shook their heads, and one of them said, "No, uh... Young Master Rong, we only heard about it from others... We really didn't mean any harm. Please don't take it to heart."

Rong Yuan said, "I won't take it to heart, but I can't guarantee the same for others."

The two quickly replied, "Yes, yes," wishing they could knock themselves out five minutes earlier.

Bad mouths! Why did we have to say it now of all times!

They stood to one side until Rong Yuan had walked away, then finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Do you think he'll go complain to the chairman?"

The other said, "Probably... not."

Neither was sure, and the more they thought about it, the more they regretted it. They were just low-level regular employees. The benefits here were too good, and they didn't want to lose this job. Besides, the job market was so competitive it was hard to find positions with the same level and salary.

Rong Yuan looked at himself in the mirror, then dried his hands and sent a WeChat message to Gu Shenhan.

"sad/emoji"

Deleted.

"heartbroken/emoji"

Deleted.

"Honey, I want to eat geoduck tonight! (super assertive)"

Gu Shenhan replied quickly: "Okay, I'll have it ordered right away. Just the two of us, or should we invite a few friends?"

Rong Yuan said, "For something like this, it's better to just have it with the two of us."

Gu Shenhan tugged at his collar: "Alright, I'll pick you up tonight."

Rong Yuan sent a hugging-thighs emoji and put away his phone.

On second thought, he took it out again and messaged Yan Yu and Lin Xiaotang separately: "Bro, send me some fun emojis!"

Yan Yu replied in three seconds: "Pics pics pics... Xiao'an Gege, I need your help too!"

"What's up, little brother?!"

"I have an order from a regular client. She wants an embroidered purple magnolia branch, but I can't get an appointment with the master I wanted. Xiao'an Gege, can you...? /kneeling and kowtowing"

"Got a picture?"

Yan Yu quickly sent it to Rong Yuan. He had seen Gu Shenhan show off the hair embroidery, and if it could reach that level, then his request should be no problem.

Rong Yuan looked at it and found it quite simple. He replied, "Then find some time tomorrow to send the materials to Cui Xi Garden. What's the deadline?"

"Seven days. If you think it's too tight, I can talk it over with her. She wants it as a gift."

"Won't take seven days. It's only the size of a palm, after all."

"Yeah, but the photo I took doesn't fully capture the actual picture. The colors in the original are more complex, but the photo doesn't show it well."

"No problem, bring it over tomorrow and let me see."

"Why tomorrow? Can't it be tonight?" Pure curiosity.

"Busy tonight."

Yan Yu said okay, then sent Rong Yuan at least a hundred emojis, almost causing his own phone to freeze.

As for Lin Xiaotang, he didn't reply—probably busy with something.

Rong Yuan decided to wait at the entrance.

It wasn't completely dark yet, but the lights in the park were already on. Rong Yuan received a call from the old lady. She said, "Xiao'an, do you want to come over to the mansion tonight? Grandma got something fun a couple of days ago. If you're free, come pick it up."

Rong Yuan guessed that the old lady must have heard about the gossip too, but instead, he wasn't as sad. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Grandma, but I've already made plans to go out with Han Ge tonight. How about I visit you tomorrow instead?"

When the old lady heard that Gu Shenhan was making such progress in their relationship, she laughed and said, "Alright, you two lovebirds enjoy your date. We'll talk about the rest another day."

Just then, Gu Shenhan's car pulled in, flashing its lights. After Rong Yuan got in, he said without thinking, "Honey, I was wronged today."

Gu Shenhan asked, "What's wrong?"

Rong Yuan said, "Yesterday you wore a raincoat again."

???

Gu Shenhan had assumed Rong Yuan was upset about the gossip over using pinyin instead of Chinese characters and was ready to console him, but now he was speechless.

Rong Yuan said, "Don't wear one tonight, okay? I really want a little baby."

Gu Shenhan could only laugh helplessly: "Little rascal, even if I don't wear one a hundred times, it's impossible. You don't have the equipment."

Rong Yuan insisted firmly, "I do have it. I'm sure. And honey, if you wear one tonight, I'll be wronged again tomorrow. Because you're lying to me. You said before that after three days I could have what I want. Are you going to lie to me again?"

Gu Shenhan: "..."