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There were actually people like this in the world?

How strong must the Fifth Young Master’s ability to deceive himself have been!

But it was indeed a fact known throughout Hua City’s upper circles that the Fifth Young Master Gu was more favored by the Gu family patriarch; Shen Yuan’s information also stated this.

Moreover, it seemed the Fifth Brother truly had no achievements or accomplishments to his name, which was also true.

Born of the same mother, Gu Huaiyu (President Gu) attended boarding school abroad from a young age, yet passed the exams to return and attend a domestic university at fifteen, showing astonishing talent in business. Gu Huaiyu (Fifth Brother), on the other hand, was so far behind Gu Huaiyu (President Gu)…

It seemed almost normal that the Fifth Young Master’s heart was unbalanced?

Especially with the Gu family’s educational environment, it would be hard to raise a normal person!

“But Film Emperor Xiao is so shrewd, how… did he believe the Fifth Young Master’s brainwashing?”

Li Hong: “At the time, Film Emperor Xiao was only in his early twenties, and he had skyrocketed to fame overnight. Added to the Fifth Young Master’s flattery, his ego was hugely inflated. He really thought everyone in the whole world liked him, so he actually believed it.”

Shen Qing: “…”

When a person receives excessive attention and affection from a group of people, it’s easy for their ego to inflate.

Shen Qing, who now had so many fans and had become “Teacher Shen,” occasionally found himself getting a little easily smug too.

Not to mention that back then, Xiao Hangying was famous across the country, and he had the Fifth Young Master of the Gu family constantly stroking his ego.

It seemed quite normal that his head was completely in the clouds.

“So the rumors about the Fifth Young Master and the Sixth Young Master fighting over Film Emperor Xiao out of jealousy… in reality, it wasn’t just the Fifth and Sixth Young Masters, but the whole world liked him, it’s just that Film Emperor Xiao could only see the more prominent Fifth and Sixth Young Masters?” Shen Qing felt he finally understood.

“Mm-hm.”

Li Hong indicated that he was still an alumnus studying at the university with President Gu back then, so he knew the inside story.

In fact, it was precisely because he knew this piece of past history that Li Hong felt things were going terribly wrong when he saw Film Emperor Xiao today… After all, the Fifth Young Master wasn’t the only one who was mentally unstable; over these years, Film Emperor Xiao had also become increasingly crazy.

“The most melodramatic part is that just because the Fifth Young Master mentioned President Gu in front of Film Emperor Xiao every single day, Xiao Hangying also started paying attention to President Gu, and in the end, it seemed he actually developed feelings for President Gu! I heard he really wavered and struggled between President Gu and the Fifth Young Master for a while… At the time, neither President Gu nor I knew about this, yet it spread all over the industry circle. I really, just thinking about it now makes me sick to death.”

At that time, President Gu was only around nineteen years old and had already been directly admitted to a Ph.D. program, so his schedule was relatively flexible.

When the great Film Emperor learned of this, he often secretly ran to their university under the guise of being the Fifth Young Master’s friend to look for President Gu.

Because Li Hong was poor at the time, he was a fellow alumnus but also worked part-time as President Gu’s assistant, so he became the main person dealing with the great Film Emperor… After all, no matter how flexible President Gu’s schedule was, he didn’t have time to see him.

President Gu never engaged in useless chatter with people.

But neither the Li Hong nor the Gu Huaiyu of back then ever imagined that a narcissistic person would view everything the other party did as being for their sake—Xiao Hangying actually interpreted President Gu’s avoidance and refusal to see him as a form of youthful shyness!…

At the mention of this matter, President Gu’s face turned pale.

As detached and rational as Gu Huaiyu was, encountering such a bizarre and ridiculous situation was hard to talk about, especially bringing it up in front of his wife.

He tacitly allowed Li Hong to speak for him.

Li Hong simply spilled it all:

“Then, upon learning that Film Emperor Xiao actually had considered dumping him to run to President Gu, the Fifth Young Master went completely insane and threw several massive fits… It was only then that we found out what kind of twisted games they were playing as a couple.

“The Fifth Young Master made a huge scene back then, directly cursing Film Emperor Xiao as a two-faced, backstabbing b*tch. Film Emperor Xiao almost couldn’t keep a lid on it, and nearly had his dark history exposed by entertainment reporters camping out. Later on, because of this incident, they went abroad. It was probably to reassure the Fifth Young Master. After all, Film Emperor Xiao was entirely built up by the Fifth Young Master; if he didn’t let go, Film Emperor Xiao couldn’t leave. In the end, the two of them even got a marriage certificate, and I heard they also adopted a child.”

Shen Qing: “…”

Talk about making yourself suffer for no reason. Wasn’t this just the Fifth Young Master picking up a rock only to drop it on his own foot?

Li Hong: “But even then, Film Emperor Xiao still thought President Gu liked him.”

Shen Qing: “…”

Li Hong: “We don’t know what the Fifth Young Master usually said to Film Emperor Xiao, but under his long-term brainwashing, even when our President Gu personally stepped forward to explain and clarify to him—falling just short of issuing a public statement!… Film Emperor Xiao still believed that everything President Gu did was just because he didn’t want to put him in a difficult position.”

Shen Qing: “……”

He turned his head to look at his husband.

In terms of misery, President Gu was definitely the most miserable one, okay!

No wonder President Gu couldn’t suppress his anger upon seeing Xiao Hangying. Wasn’t he just like a piece of dog-skin plaster (someone who annoyingly clings to you)?

This really was… too insulting to his reputation!

Thinking of this, Shen Qing directly hugged his husband, stroking and comforting him.

Li Hong couldn’t suppress his anger at this point either: “Not a single word of what I said is false. If there’s any lie, may I be struck by lightning!”

The reason Li Hong was so indignant was that he had never seen such a shameless couple. That year when the Fifth Young Master returned to the country, insisting on squeezing into the same car as President Gu was one thing, but as a result of the car accident, Xiao Hangying actually pinned the blame for the incident on President Gu’s head.

“The most infuriating part is that he thought President Gu liked him, so on the day he showed up after the accident, oh my god, Film Emperor Xiao acted so high and mighty, he practically thought President Gu deliberately tried to kill the Fifth Young Master to marry him! I was so furious. The car was driven by the chauffeur, and President Gu was in the car himself. How could he possibly want to kill the Fifth Young Master for his sake!”

“The funniest part is, I only found out after investigating later that Film Emperor Xiao came over that time because the Fifth Young Master became a vegetable, and he wanted to turn around and run into President Gu’s arms instead. But at that time, uh, President Gu’s condition was indeed very terrible, and the doctor exaggerated the situation a bit. As a result, after hearing that, the great Film Emperor ran away!”

Shen Qing: “…”

So this was the famous scene in the rumors of abandoning both the Fifth Young Master and the Sixth Young Master!

Even though he knew President Gu had nothing to do with Xiao Hangying, so it couldn’t even be called “abandoning”…

But just imagining it for a moment, even if A really had a secret crush on B, and A had just been in an accident, severely injured, and was just recovering a bit, B suddenly ran over, and because he knew the other party liked him, he arrogantly pointed fingers and accused… This was already infuriating enough!

Not to mention that everything was merely B’s narcissism!

Just thinking about it made him angry too!

Meanwhile, Gu Huaiyu raised a hand toward Assistant Li, signaling him to keep his emotions slightly in check.

Assistant Li took a huge, gasping breath.

He reined in his emotions: “The more satisfying part is that Film Emperor Xiao got his retribution too. Film Emperor Xiao left the country overnight, probably to take advantage of the Fifth Young Master becoming a vegetable to get rid of him, but ended up having the Gu family show up at his door. The Gu family used their marriage certificate as a reason to not let him go, threatening to expose him otherwise. So for the past two years, Film Emperor Xiao has been bitterly guarding a vegetable… He probably won’t be able to shake him off in the future either. Sigh, what can you do? I can only say that heaven will take care of a b*tch!”

Shen Qing: …

He had to admit, Assistant Li’s ability to speak with sarcastic innuendos was also very strong.

Normally, Shen Qing didn’t agree with cursing or swearing, but this time was an exception.

Let alone President Gu, even he had to take a moment to calm down just from hearing about it.

At this time, a rumbling clap of thunder sounded in the distant sky; it seemed it was going to rain.

Shen Qing was then led by Gu Huaiyu across the garden, arriving in front of a building.

The grand ceremony was actually being held within a manor. The manor was the former residence of a certain art celebrity from earlier years, which had now been acquired by someone and renovated into a small private museum.

Crossing the garden, they arrived in front of the building where the celebrity used to live; it was a small villa.

Gu Huaiyu directly pulled Shen Qing in through a side door and pushed open the door to a room.

“…Where are Aozai and Duoduo?”

Shen Qing looked at this empty small suite.

Gu Huaiyu said, “Tian Yi took them out for a walk, along with Elder Song’s granddaughter. Don’t worry.”

Shen Qing: …So you were having tea with Elder Song here just now!

Thunder rumbled occasionally outside, and the air was a bit stifling; it seemed there would be heavy rain today.

While the rain hadn’t fallen yet, the cubs should still be able to play for a while.

With Tian Yi and the others there, Shen Qing genuinely wasn’t worried and wasn’t in a rush to find the cubs.

He turned and closed the door to the room.

Then, with a turn, he saw a mirror. Aside from having his gaze drawn to the incredibly handsome and tall young man in the reflection, this time, what Shen Qing primarily noticed was the pendant on his chest.

…He hadn’t even had the chance to look at it closely outside just now.

Now, Shen Qing hurriedly reached up and touched the pendant on his chest.

In fact, he had never forgotten the extra weight around his neck.

Now, carefully examining the diamond on it, as well as the gemstones inlaid around it… it was still so dazzlingly bright ahhh!

“As long as you like it,” Gu Huaiyu said.

“I do.” Shen Qing grasped his pendant, actually quite curious about what President Gu had traded with Elder Song to get it.

“It was merely some shares in ‘Great World’,” Gu Huaiyu said.

Shen Qing: …

Great World was the project mentioned in the book that would later cause the Gu and Shen families, including the Lu family, to fall out and fight endlessly over.

Currently, only an amusement park had been built.

But in the later stages, it would be transformed into a high-end chain shopping mall that would shock the world, with a market value rumored to reach hundreds of billions…

Shen Qing: !

President Gu… Even if he didn’t know the book’s plot, since he personally valued and built it from scratch, there was no way he didn’t know its future value.

…

President Gu was so generous!

Gu Huaiyu, however, acted as if it didn’t matter: “You are far more important than all of them.”

The underlying implication was that this was nothing at all.

Shen Qing: “…”

If someone else had said this, he would at most just casually listen to it.

But the problem was that whatever President Gu said, he meant for real…

Shen Qing’s ears instantly turned red.

He began to look around the room—

The decor was still the popular style of the Republican era, except it had been renovated and the furniture replaced.

The furnishings inside were relatively simple but meticulous. There was a sectional sofa, a coffee table, and all the equipment needed for receiving guests; it was clearly a small reception room.

However, some of the decorations and sculptures were ingenious. Shen Qing, who now painted every day to cultivate his artistic sensibilities, could see the owner’s unique taste almost at a glance.

…High-end, elegant, yet low-key and minimalist.

It was a style Shen Qing liked very much.

Shen Qing only then remembered: “How did you know to come here to find some peace and quiet? Did you know the owner here beforehand?”

He had heard that the owner who recently acquired this place was quite nice. The art celebrity who used to live here had no descendants. After their death, the property changed hands a few times, weathering many storms, until the newest owner appeared. Not only did they spend a fortune to restore its original appearance, but they also opened it to the public for free.

Including today’s grand ceremony, not only was the venue rental fee the cheapest any of the brand merchants had ever seen, but it was said that after deducting wear and tear and costs, the owner would donate all the rental money afterward.

All of this had been explained to him by his associated brands.

Having heard of such a glorious and grand figure, Shen Qing really wanted to meet them… Although President Gu didn’t socialize, it seemed he still had connections. Shen Qing couldn’t help but look at his husband with shining eyes.

Gu Huaiyu met his eager, peering gaze that looked like a little fox, and said slowly, “You could say I know them.”

Shen Qing’s eyes brightened even more: “! Then…”

Gu Huaiyu: “You know them too.”

Shen Qing: “Ah?”

Gu Huaiyu: “What if I said the owner you speak of is me?”

Shen Qing: “!”

…The little fox suddenly turned into a bunny, and Shen Qing wished he could just bounce directly onto Gu Huaiyu. “Boss? I was wondering why those decorations over there felt so familiar, so that’s why!”

The blending of extreme high-end luxury with extreme low-key minimalism could bring a strong visual impact while also being full of texture. That was exactly the feeling Shen Qing got when looking at Gu Huaiyu’s collections in the basement of their villa at home.

Looking at it this way… no wonder he liked it at first glance, it really was President Gu’s style!

It was that feeling of a perfectly straight cedar standing tall in a sea of forest, exuding a faint woody fragrance, its aura freezing but its appearance upright, piercing the clouds yet incredibly low-key!

Shen Qing: “Such an important thing, why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”

Subconsciously wrapping his arms around the young man’s waist to catch him, Gu Huaiyu stated, “I wanted to give you a surprise.”

“I originally wanted to bring you over for a stroll after a while, but I didn’t expect my wife to be invited to attend a ceremony here first. Mainly, the art exhibition you’ll be participating in later will also be held here.”

Shen Qing: “Oh, mm-hm.”

That art celebrity who originally lived here was a painter; hosting an art exhibition here was indeed very fitting.

Glancing around once more, Shen Qing’s voice was full of pleasant surprise: “What else do you have that I don’t know about?”

Gu Huaiyu: “Later, I’ll have Li Hong tally up the assets under our names, and you won’t have anything you don’t know about.”

Shen Qing had no objections to the boss’s proposal.

“Let’s hold off on the assets for now, I won’t be able to look through them all. Let’s look at the real estate first!”

President Gu, who had also been quite angered just now, finally had a smiling appearance again and said, “Okay.”

Turning his eyes back, Shen Qing saw President Gu’s wheelchair again.

He hurriedly stepped forward to support Gu Huaiyu: “Have you been standing for too long today? Let’s go over there and sit for a while first!”

Gu Huaiyu, who was suddenly embraced by his lover, paused, grasping the young man’s arm, and said, “It’s fine.”

Shen Qing still wanted to say something, but Gu Huaiyu had already lightly lifted his eyelids, abruptly asking him, “Did you believe their words, and also feel that I used to like him?”

“…No.” Being caught off guard by this question, Shen Qing immediately denied it.

But his eyes darted away slightly. In the quiet room with only the two of them, the closed door blocked out all the noise outside.

Shen Qing knew the boss was being serious right now, so he didn’t joke around and honestly confessed: “…I didn’t believe it a lot. I only believed it… maybe two-tenths?”

At the very beginning, before Gu Huaiyu personally stepped forward to deny it, he really did believe a little…

It wasn’t because the Gu family spoke so vividly and emotionally, but considering that President Gu wasn’t young anymore, if he had someone he liked in the past, it would be quite normal…

“Is it normal?”

Gu Huaiyu heard his explanation, but his eyes flashed, and his tone suddenly became much colder: “I don’t think it’s normal.”

“Ah? Why isn’t it normal?” Shen Qing said. “Mainly, at that time, I didn’t know Film Emperor Xiao was this kind of person…”

A cold light directly surfaced in the depths of Gu Huaiyu’s eyes, his voice clear and bright: “How could a me who has liked someone else have the nerve to like you?”

“That… that’s not really necessary,” Shen Qing expressed.

He felt that even if someone had an ex, or had many exes, they could still pursue their own love! As long as they weren’t an emotional fraud and didn’t deceive people, it was fine.

Not to mention, this would just be a secret crush from one’s youth…

Shen Qing himself had never liked anyone before.

He had also told Gu Huaiyu about this point.

But he forgot to ask if the other party had someone they liked in the past… This inherently was because Shen Qing felt that liking someone when you were young was very normal. Even though he hadn’t experienced it himself, he couldn’t say it was wrong for others to have had their hearts flutter.

However, President Gu had previously been disgusted by Film Emperor Xiao. It was also normal for him to heavily value his spiritual first love…

But Gu Huaiyu said, “It has nothing to do with Xiao Hangying’s matter. Nor am I judging or evaluating that other people shouldn’t fall in love. …I simply cannot accept myself having liked anyone other than you.”

Shen Qing: …

So he had still viewed President Gu too narrowly, overgeneralizing?

…President Gu was quite willing to place demands on himself, whether he should or shouldn’t!

He really wasn’t just ordinarily strict with himself!

He truly was a model of holding himself to strict standards while never making demands of others.

“…That harsh?” Shen Qing studied the other man’s handsome face. “Aside from me, you’ve never had even the slightest feeling of your heart fluttering for someone else?”

“No.”

Gu Huaiyu answered coldly and decisively.

Shen Qing… his eyes darted around again: “…Then what if you do in the future?”

“There won’t be.”

Gu Huaiyu’s eyelids drooped, looking straight at the young man: “I cannot imagine that kind of scenario occurring. …Also, what do you mean by ‘what if’?”

As he finished speaking, President Gu furrowed his brows deeply.

Shen Qing immediately cowered: “…I was just joking!”

President Gu’s expression, however, was quite stern. Maintaining the motion of holding the young man’s waist, he slowly reached up to touch his neck again.

His thumb brushing across the side of his neck, he frowned, the expression on his pale face inexplicable: “You wouldn’t mind if I liked someone else?”

“I’d mind.” Shen Qing hurriedly took the opportunity to hug President Gu back. Because he was always mindful of the injuries on his body, Shen Qing didn’t dare to touch him carelessly, so he simply raised his arms and wrapped them around Gu Huaiyu’s neck.

Afterward, he said completely subconsciously, “I would mind.”

“Shen Qing.” It was very obvious that President Gu hadn’t been fooled. “Answer properly.”

“I…”

Shen Qing had no choice but to proactively imagine that scenario.

Automatically substituting Gu Huaiyu’s face into the angsty youth literature he had read, he thought about if President Gu really harbored a bitter, secret crush on someone, begging but unable to attain them, and even breaking ties with his family for them, becoming depressed and joyless, or even ending up half-dead…

No, please, it felt like this wasn’t Gu Huaiyu at all.

It wasn’t that Shen Qing didn’t mind, it was just too out of character; he couldn’t even muster up the energy to be jealous.

…President Gu having a secret crush was already the absolute limit; whether it was bitter or not was another story entirely.

As for the later parts of begging but being unable to attain them, and leaving the Gu family and breaking ties for the person he liked… he always felt that someone as rational as Gu Huaiyu fundamentally couldn’t do such a thing.

“Why couldn’t I?” Gu Huaiyu said. “When I had a secret crush on you before, it was quite bitter.”

Shen Qing: “…Pfft!”

He almost choked!

He hurriedly lifted his eyes to look at Gu Huaiyu.

But President Gu didn’t hide or evade, calmly meeting his gaze, also straightforwardly telling him that he was serious.

Shen Qing: “…”

Shen Qing suddenly realized that before the boss personally said he loved him, the two of them had already maintained an intimate life of kissing and hugging for several months.

Before that, Shen Qing’s mentality was to actively express his liking for the boss. But since he thought the other party would die, he never demanded to confirm their relationship or insist they had to be together; he just needed to satisfy his own feeling of being in a romance.

And after Gu Huaiyu opened his mouth and said he loved him, they smoothly and completely got together.

Because of the preceding months of spending day and night together and the emotional buildup, them being together seemed perfectly justified and a matter of course.

So Shen Qing had also never asked the boss, just when did he start liking him?

Thinking about it now, it really was so… Gu Huaiyu loved him, it couldn’t have just been a sudden occurrence.

“When did you start liking me?”

Gu Huaiyu said, “I don’t know.”

“…”

“It should be a long time ago.”

Gu Huaiyu’s eyelids drooped, his long lashes lowering together. His pale cheeks paired with this expression made him look somewhat fragile.

He said, “Starting from a long time ago, all the way until I was certain I wouldn’t die and confessed to you… Counting it up, it should be over five months.”

“…” Shen Qing heard the sigh in the boss’s voice.

…Five months of liking him, a secret crush period of nearly half a year.

Experiencing life and death.

And during that period, Gu Huaiyu didn’t even know that he truly liked him back…

Similar to Film Emperor Lu, who didn’t know the truth, at that time, Gu Huaiyu also always mistakenly believed that Shen Qing was deeply in love with Shen Yuan.

And he himself was just an “anyone will do” stand-in.

…

Shen Qing suddenly remembered one time, back when Gu Huaiyu was still hospitalized, when he went to visit him, he brought gifts for all the hospital staff, and at the same time specially gave Gu Huaiyu a bouquet of red roses.

On that bright and sunny afternoon, they were lying side-by-side in President Gu’s hospital bed. Waking up from their afternoon nap, in the gorgeous shadows cast by the red roses, he had expressed his affection for Gu Huaiyu as always.

Gu Huaiyu, however, said to him: “Thank you for loving me.”

…

Shen Qing was a person who didn’t dwell too much on matters of feelings. At that time, he merely thought the boss cherished his love so much because he lacked the love of a family.

But thinking about Gu Huaiyu’s expression back then now…

At that time, he actually still didn’t know that he genuinely loved him.

Thus, every time he heard him say ‘love’, he thought he was only saying it to him as a stand-in.

That sentence, “Thank you for loving me”, was truly filled with happiness, and filled with bitterness.

There was even a humility that shouldn’t have appeared on the boss.

…

It truly was loving but unable to attain.

And similar scenes had been experienced many times during President Gu’s lengthy treatment and recovery period.

Thinking of this, Shen Qing directly pressed his hand against his chest.

He suddenly felt a bit suffocated.

He used to feel heartbroken over President Gu’s family circumstances.

But he had never realized that someone as powerful as Gu Huaiyu had also tasted the bitterness of love.

And it was because of him.

…If only they had both expressed themselves earlier, and expressed a bit more of their true thoughts and desires…

No.

A person like Gu Huaiyu, before confirming his full recovery, would never admit he liked him under any circumstances.

Because of responsibility.

Therefore, this matter had no solution.

Perhaps the boss had always deeply regretted his past decadence and not healing his body earlier, also because of these misunderstandings.

Because during those days of liking someone but being unable to say it, of not knowing if he would still live, of not knowing if he had the right to pursue the person he liked—even for Gu Huaiyu, it was an unbearable bitterness.

And Shen Qing only found out about his feelings of liking him after he learned he could be cured.

…From the day he and Gu Huaiyu formally connected their hearts, what he had enjoyed and perceived was always President Gu’s joy.

But he had never felt the bitterness he had once endured.

…

Precisely because he had never felt it, it was also justifiably overlooked by him.

“You…” At this moment, Shen Qing didn’t know what to say at all.

He thought, this truly was a bitter, secret crush…

Gu Huaiyu saw the heartache in the young man’s eyes. In an instant, he pulled the other into his arms, hugging him even tighter.

“It was my problem.”

Their necks crossed as it shifted into an affectionate embrace.

He said, “It was originally a detour I took myself, it has nothing to do with you.”

Resting his chin on his shoulder, Shen Qing said blankly: “But my heart will ache for you.”

Amidst their intimate embrace, Gu Huaiyu turned his head closer to the young man’s direction and blinked.

Shen Qing continued to say blankly: “I know why you can’t imagine yourself falling for someone else again… because loving is too bitter.”

Gu Huaiyu: “…”

Speechless yet letting out a laugh.

But Gu Huaiyu still clarified: “Liking you is mostly happiness. The reason I can’t imagine liking someone else again is because no one else can compare to you. Shen Qing.”

President Gu sped up his speech again, saying a lot of things, and Shen Qing couldn’t help but laugh out loud as well.

At this time, Shen Qing gently stroked his back again and said, “So it’s fine for you to just like me alone.”

Shen Qing let out an especially rational voice, saying seriously: “If you fell for someone else, I would truly get angry and jealous.”

Because he had been cautiously loved and liked by this person so deeply and for so long, he could no longer accept him being so cautious and caring toward anyone else.

This was Shen Qing’s current thought.

In a place Gu Huaiyu couldn’t see, Shen Qing pouted his lips: “Anyway, that’s just the situation.”

His voice carried a slight grievance felt on behalf of the other party, as well as a small, unquestionable arrogance. It made the person who already wished he could melt him into his very bones and blood, hug him even tighter.