SFBF CH28

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Faced with the sudden appearance of a group of people in the doorway, Shen Qing was also a little caught off guard.

But once he’d processed what the old man had said — and spotted the third young miss standing behind him — he’d already identified the visitor: this was Director Gu’s father. The elder Director Gu.

Hm.

Shen Qing looked at his own arm, still draped over Director Gu’s shoulder.

Technically, with an elder present, he ought to behave a bit more properly.

But the problem was that this elder Director Gu had come in swinging…

And what exactly had he been yelling about, anyway? Setting aside the fact that he and Director Gu were just joking around — even if they had been doing something, they were a perfectly legitimate married couple. So how had Director Gu suddenly become an “ungrateful wretch”?

And if Director Gu was an ungrateful wretch, what did that make the person currently draped over him?

Elder Director Gu, please be more precise with your accusations!

Shen Qing cast a suspicious glance at Gu Huaiyù. The two of them made eye contact. Shen Qing made no move to change his posture.

Gu Huaixiang, who had caught up and was now standing behind the elder in the doorway, was already saying: “Dad, you can see for yourself! I told you this Shen Qing has absolutely no manners — look at how he’s positioned himself! He doesn’t even greet his elders properly…”

“Whether he has manners is not for you to comment on.”

Gu Huaiyù’s voice came from inside the room without warning.

Unlike Gu Huaixiang’s sharp-edged tone, his voice was low — not forceful exactly, but carrying a kind of quiet authority that left no room for dispute.

As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Qing, his eyes signaling: take your arm down.

Shen Qing: …I won’t.

What was the basis for this? Resting a hand on someone’s shoulder was hardly improper behavior!

Shen Qing felt the accusation was entirely unreasonable, and couldn’t quite swallow it.

But then he caught the look on Gu Huaiyù’s face — faintly exasperated, and somewhat amused — which seemed to be asking: do you really want to stay like that?

Shen Qing: …

Fine. He wasn’t going to keep embarrassing himself. He lowered his arm and turned to stand upright beside the big boss, both of them now facing the doorway together.

The next moment, he felt his wrist — on the side closest to Gu Huaiyù — being caught.

Gu Huaiyù’s fingertips were cool.

Those cool fingers pressed around his wrist more firmly, a clear gesture of steadying and reassurance.

At the same time, Gu Huaiyù turned to Gu Huaixiang at the door: “My people don’t need you to set rules for them.”

“Besides — the way the third young miss is raising her voice and making a scene right now — is that considered proper?”

“You—…” With Gu Huaixiang’s temperament, anyone who dared mock her would normally find themselves very sorry. But when the person doing the mocking was Gu Huaiyù, she couldn’t simply charge back.

Fortunately, she now had backup.

Gu Huaixiang turned and grabbed Gu Yu’an’s arm: “Dad, you see? Old Six, he’s being—”

Gu Huaiyù didn’t wait for the complaint to be filed. Didn’t wait for Gu Yu’an to speak either. He simply continued: “While I’m at it — listening at someone’s door and failing to knock before entering their room are not things a person with any manners would do.”

Gu Huaixiang: “…”

He was directly taking aim at their father.

Gu Yu’an slammed his cane on the floor. “Gu Huaiyù! You don’t need to take these jabs at me! I am your father — I have come in person at my age to see you — and look at what you spend your days doing in broad daylight! This is the upstanding household you run?!”

Gu Huaiyù: “You didn’t have to come.”

Both members of the Gu family across from him: “…”

Gu Yu’an: “Oh, wonderful. Director Gu, a fine answer! You haven’t set foot at home for a single holiday or gathering. Now not even a formal summons can move you — and if I didn’t come here myself, would you have forgotten you’re a Gu at all?”

Gu Huaiyù heard this. He didn’t argue. His expression was so still you couldn’t tell whether the words had even landed. He had never been a man of many words, and when he couldn’t be bothered to engage, he wore exactly this look — unmoved as a mountain, his gaze cold and sunken, as though nothing — not attacks, not insults — could touch him.

Nothing would touch him. But he would remember every word.

“…”

Gu Yu’an had never been able to stand his son when he looked like this. Especially after that accident two years ago — the coldness in Gu Huaiyù’s eyes had become completely unconcealed, enough to make a person’s spine go stiff just meeting them.

You couldn’t get away from it, let alone close to it.

Gu Yu’an couldn’t tolerate that gaze: “Why aren’t you saying anything? What has your father done to deserve this look from you?”

Gu Huaiyù held the stare for three seconds in silence. Then, still composed: “Since you came to see me — have you seen enough? If so — Tian Yi, please escort the elder Director Gu out.”

Gu Yu’an: “…”

Gu Huaiyù had given the order, so Tian Yi had no choice but to try: “Elder Director Gu, our Director Gu truly is unwell — he’s not in a state to go out or receive guests. Would you and the third young miss be willing to head back for now?”

Gu Yu’an hadn’t expected that even now, with himself showing up in person — setting aside his dignity to make this trip — Gu Huaiyù would still give him not an inch.

He sneered: “He looks perfectly fine to me! Don’t worry — seeing an old man like me for a moment won’t kill him!”

Shen Qing, inside the room: “…”

He genuinely hadn’t imagined that arguments in wealthy households would sound like this.

Elder Director Gu was clearly a refined man by all appearances. The Gu family had made its fortune back in Gu Huaiyù’s great-grandfather’s era — this man was third-generation wealth, raised from birth in comfort and status, with every advantage. He wouldn’t lack for breeding.

And yet this was how he spoke to his own son, in his son’s home.

Didn’t he know how poor Director Gu’s health was? Director Gu might not survive the year!

And this father — every other sentence was “kill” or “die”… wasn’t that just twisting the knife?

What ordinary parent spoke like this?

Without thinking, Shen Qing edged slightly closer to Director Gu’s side.

Nothing — it was just that the Gu family’s coldness was something, and Shen Qing felt the big boss needed someone on his side.

Gu Huaiyù noticed the movement. He turned his head and looked at him again.

That single moment of shared glance was apparently sufficient to infuriate the elder Director Gu.

Gu Yu’an had been standing here saying everything he’d come to say, and Gu Huaiyù had been barely registering his existence. Perpetually cold and indifferent — all right, that was his nature, one could accept it.

But the moment his wife moved, he turned to look…

“Gu Huaiyù!” the elder Director Gu barked. “Wretched, ungrateful child! I regret raising you!”

Gu Huaiyù’s expression finally shifted — a brief, cold curl of his lip, his voice going even cooler: “Don’t dress it up so grandly. If you hadn’t raised me, how would you have used me to save someone else?”

“What nonsense — who told you that?! Who’s been filling your head with—”

Gu Huaiyù’s expression had already returned to blankness.

“Don’t worry. Wait a little longer and I’ll be dead. If you’re really that impatient, you can disown me now.”

“You—…!”

The elder Director Gu was visibly on the verge of being incapacitated by rage. At this point, Gu Huaixiang had no choice but to step in as peacemaker.

She helped soothe their father, and although she, too, had no shortage of grievances against Old Six — and had been looking for her opening to make her complaints known — she didn’t actually want a complete break between father and son. The entire Gu family still depended on Gu Huaiyù, after all.

And they hadn’t come today solely for a family visit.

Gu Huaixiang rubbed her father’s back and murmured soothingly: “Dad, don’t get worked up…”

“Old Six’s health is bad, that’s why his temper is like this — there’s nothing between father and son that a night’s sleep can’t fix…”

Then she turned back toward the room, making another attempt to redirect the tension: “If you ask me, it’s this Shen person who’s been a bad influence on Sixth Brother. Dad, you saw for yourself — this Shen Qing has absolutely no limits…”

“I’m sorry — where exactly have I no limits?” Shen Qing spoke up.

He knew Gu Huaixiang was using him as a lightning rod, and he had no intention of simply standing there and taking the hit.

He turned to Gu Huaiyù with an expression of artless bewilderment: “Darling — have I done something wrong?”

Gu Huaixiang: “…”

“No.” Gu Huaiyù cooperated without hesitation.

“Exactly.” Shen Qing put on his most innocent face. “So why would the third young miss say something like that about me?”

Gu Huaixiang: “…”

She’d been enraged by Shen Qing on his previous visit, but she’d assumed he only had the audacity because he’d managed to get some kind of hold over Old Six. She hadn’t expected this Shen person to speak up so openly even in front of their father.

The perpetually imperious third young miss looked at Shen Qing inside the room and, unable to help herself, rolled her eyes.

The Gu-Shen alliance had always been a face-saving arrangement of mutual constraint — it could collapse any day. When that happened, Shen Qing’s position would become very awkward.

She found a certain contempt for his obliviousness to this — yet even so, she shared her father’s unease, her dislike of this particular Shen Qing.

Gu Huaiyù had already stopped acknowledging his Gu family identity. If he genuinely developed feelings for this Shen branch person — when the Gu-Shen split eventually came, or when Gu Huaiyù’s body finally gave out — wouldn’t everything under his name just go to the Shen family? To Shen Qing?

When the Gu family had first heard that the person the Shen family sent over was a useless showpiece who couldn’t even string a sentence together, they had all been thoroughly satisfied.

Gu Huaiyù’s nature being what it was, Shen Qing surviving in that house without breaking down or being frightened off entirely would be considered a success. None of them had thought this arrangement would change anything about where things were heading.

But who could have foreseen that this useless showpiece would somehow, inexplicably, get into Old Six’s good graces —

The last time Gu Huaixiang had come, the two of them were already unusually close.

And this time… in all her years, she had never once seen anyone dare to drape themselves over Gu Huaiyù’s shoulder and stand that close to him.

And the last visit — she’d been willing to believe the hand-holding in front of her was Gu Huaiyù establishing authority for Shen Qing’s benefit, a calculated show.

But this time, Gu Huaiyù hadn’t known they were coming…

Yet she and her father had heard it clearly from outside: Gu Huaiyù asking if Shen Qing’s mouth had healed, caring about whether his mouth was better, and even — spying on this Shen Qing.

…Was this something their Old Six — the lone star of the family — would do?

Old Six and this person called Shen Qing were genuinely running hot.

Was this the Shen family’s long-laid plan?

Or was it Shen Qing himself?

No wonder their father was this furious.

…If Old Six were truly at death’s door and had simply stopped coming home, that would be one thing.

But his so-called grave illness turned out to be him living comfortably and contentedly in the warmth of domestic life…

Gu Huaixiang gauged what her father must be feeling, and turned to Gu Huaiyù: “Huaiyù, Dad and I are both thinking of you — we’re your family. Think about it properly. This Shen Qing may not genuinely be acting in your interest. Don’t forget — he’s a Shen, at the end of the day.”

Shen Qing: “…”

Shen Qing started to think about what was wrong with his surname being Shen. Wasn’t it your people who insisted Director Gu marry “Shen Qing” in the first place??

Are you jealous of the good relationship I supposedly have with Director Gu? Is that what’s happening here?

What a strange family.

But please don’t misunderstand — the relationship between him and Director Gu was actually not that impressive!

Shen Qing knew he was just a pawn in the battle between the Gu and Shen families.

In the original novel, Gu Huaiyù died. Before his death, the big boss had arranged his assets — providing sufficient security for the original host and the two children, including the mansion. But in the Gu family’s eyes, that was a rounding error.

Or rather — compared to the rest of what Gu Huaiyù left behind, that amount was barely worth mentioning.

What they were actually fighting over was the commercial empire Gu Huaiyù had built from scratch.

So regardless of how the original host had acted out, how he’d tormented the two future antagonists — and he had — he was always a pawn. He’d just been a pawn who received a nice inheritance and lived comfortably, and who nobody thought important enough to bother with.

That was exactly the future Shen Qing was aiming for.

He just wanted to live quietly as a pawn.

But if people were now under the mistaken impression that he and Director Gu were close — would someone engineer a situation to forcibly separate them?

A torrent of plotlines flashed through Shen Qing’s mind — all those tragic love stories where a pair perfectly suited to each other ended in ruin because some scheming antagonist interfered.

That would be…

Actually — would that be so bad?

Shen Qing’s eyes widened slightly as a new thought surfaced.

The original host had spent nearly a year walking on eggshells in this house, and had ultimately only secured a hundred million yuan and a single property.

But he already had three hundred million in real estate and a brooch worth over a hundred million…

Wait. He was actually quite wealthy now.

He estimated that even if he were somehow separated from Director Gu, the big boss’s character being what it was — this sort of pocket change would not be demanded back.

A divorce might even come with a settlement payment.

And if it was the Gu family that caused the split, on grounds of him being a Shen — the head of the Shen family couldn’t very well blame him either…

More importantly, Director Gu had already started to suspect something about him…

Rather than waiting around, maybe this was a perfect exit.

If the Gu family’s interference forced a clean break right now, he would get his freedom — his wealth — and complete, unfettered independence!

The thought rather excited him.

Shen Qing made a conscious effort to look calm. To not let his body give anything away.

And then the hand Gu Huaiyù had around his wrist tightened suddenly.

Before he registered what was happening, Gu Huaiyù had pulled him firmly toward his side again.

The big boss was unexpectedly strong this time. Shen Qing hadn’t braced himself, and very nearly toppled straight onto his lap.

He managed to stabilize himself through sheer effort of lower-body control, and then heard Gu Huaiyù say:

“Whatever his surname — he is my beloved. Always. For this entire life.”

Shen Qing: “?!…”

Big boss, let’s not make promises we can’t take back…

Gu Huaiyù continued: “So, Gu Huaixiang — I’m reminding you one last time. If you say another disrespectful word to Shen Qing, don’t blame me for being impolite. Cough… and don’t try any clever schemes, either. If anything happens to Shen Qing, I will make you pay double.”

Gu Yu’an could no longer stand to listen: “Listen to yourself! You’re a grown man—”

“I married him, so I will be responsible for him. Completely.”

Gu Huaiyù cut his father off and fixed him with a level gaze, with no intention of receiving any lecture: “And don’t assume I’ll be like you — throwing yourself heart and soul into each one, only to move on to the next the moment someone new appears.”

Gu Yu’an: “You — you dare say that to your father—!”

“If you’re here to discuss how to separate us — better use that time to figure out where Chiyu’s project is going to find financing.”

Gu Huaiyù’s gaze drifted sideways. In a rare moment, he gave a very deliberate, utterly unimpressed roll of his eyes — an expression simultaneously aristocratic and insolent.

“Stop wasting time. You came here for one reason — you want me to inject capital into Chiyu’s project. And I said what I said, long ago — not a chance. I will not put in a single cent. Cough, cough…”

Everyone: “…”

Shen Qing was stunned.

This had to be the first time he’d seen Gu Huaiyù say this many things in one breath.

Also the first time he’d seen the big boss roll his eyes.

But most importantly — that imperious, sovereign quality. The sense of looking down on everything and everyone from an unassailable height…

It utterly overpowered the elder Director Gu.

This was a real big boss. No dawdling, no petty backbiting, no wasted words.

He stated his requirements, set his terms, owed courtesy to no one, and would never dangle empty hope in front of anyone or talk in circles.

Shen Qing thought that in the business world, only someone like Gu Huaiyù could operate this way.

Even the elder Director Gu — coming to borrow money — still had to play the father card first, invoke family feeling to soften the ground.

But speaking of which — Gu Huaiyù had said all that just now, and the last part aside, nearly every word had been a warning thrown at those people. For him.

This husband was an actual treasure.

Was he genuinely a product of the Gu family?

And when you thought about it — the elder Director Gu charging over here to accuse his son of not coming home was just the opening move. The real reason was that he wanted to leverage Gu Huaiyù for money.

Which was… in its own way, rather sad.

They thought they could control Gu Huaiyù through family feeling — yet the big boss had made it clear he didn’t particularly care. So they flew into a fury over it.

But how had their relationship deteriorated to this point?

If Gu Huaiyù’s childhood had been anything like Duoduo and Aozai’s — spending time in that grand house without real care or love, having food taken from him, having toys taken from him, having to petition adults just to attend primary school…

Then what Gu Huaiyù had just said was not so strange at all.

But that couldn’t be it.

The elder Director Gu was Gu Huaiyù’s biological father.

Even in a large family with many children, even with the inevitable emotional thinning that came with distance — it couldn’t have gone so far as to leave the sixth young master hungry or cold…

He thought back to what Gu Huaiyù had said just now — something about the elder Director Gu giving himself heart and soul to each one in turn, then falling for the next.

Had the elder Director Gu done something that wronged Gu Huaiyù’s mother?

Once again, Shen Qing deeply regretted not having read the antagonist family’s backstory more carefully when he was going through the source material.

He couldn’t dig much of it out of the original host’s memories either.

The original host had only known what people said about Gu Huaiyù in passing — that he was in poor health, that his personality was dark and suffocating, that his temper was strange. That no one could get close to him. That he wouldn’t give face even to his closest family, that he didn’t acknowledge any of them.

But based on recent observation, Shen Qing had concluded that — setting aside the health issues — the rest of that description was inaccurate.

He himself was nothing more than Gu Huaiyù’s legal spouse. They barely saw each other day to day. And yet Gu Huaiyù had given him a house and enormous diamonds.

And all he’d done in return was keep the promise he’d made. Been a little kind to the children.

Shen Qing had always felt the big boss was far too generous.

Unless the Gu family had truly, thoroughly broken something in him — there was no other way to account for Gu Huaiyù appearing so cold and unapproachable to the outside world.

The rumors were clearly wrong.

Thinking of a man lying ill, possibly dying — being forced to say to his own father “don’t worry, wait a little longer and I’ll be dead” —

However he looked at it, he was on Gu Huaiyù’s side here.

Shen Qing noticed that the fingers Gu Huaiyù had around his wrist were still ice cold.

…His own body temperature was so much higher than normal, and yet even after holding on this long, the big boss’s hand was still cold…

Instinctively, Shen Qing shifted his arm slightly, a small pull — and Gu Huaiyù released his wrist immediately, as he’d done before.

But this time, Shen Qing didn’t give him the chance to withdraw that hand.

He reached out and caught the big boss’s hand in mid-air, closing his palm around those cold fingertips. Then he covered the back of Gu Huaiyù’s hand — equally cold, marked all over with the small scars left by infusion needles — with his other hand.

As he finished this, he felt Gu Huaiyù’s wrist go distinctly rigid.

Shen Qing patted the hand gently, as if to say: don’t be nervous.

He’d been told on the way up that Director Gu had just finished an infusion. Shen Qing had been through infusions himself before — he knew how cold those fluids ran in winter…

Back when his grandmother was alive, she’d always kept a hot water bottle ready, and would press a warm cloth to the back of his hand to ease the chill…

He’d thought of himself as a child, sick and needing someone to care.

So — forget it. He’d set aside the question of separating or not separating for now.

On behalf of the fact that nobody seemed to look after you properly — let me warm your hand first.

Meanwhile, across from them, Gu Huaixiang was valiantly continuing in her role as peacemaker, even after Gu Huaiyù had left her exactly no dignity to work with:

“Huaiyù, don’t put it like that — Dad is only worried about your health. He’s getting on in years too, and he’s not been well himself…”

She pressed on: “Besides, what could I possibly do to Shen Qing? I’m only looking out for you! You shouldn’t forget — if Dad hadn’t pushed so hard for this marriage in the first place, you and he wouldn’t even…”

Initially Gu Huaiyù showed no reaction. Then he gave a clean nod — in apparent agreement: “Which is why you’re still standing here. And haven’t been asked to leave.”

Gu Huaixiang: “…………”

“There’s no point saying another word to this ungrateful wretch!”

The elder Director Gu had been rendered inarticulate with fury.

“Gu Huaiyù! Do you really think the Gu family’s hundred-year legacy cannot function without you?!”

Gu Yu’an was practically pointing across the room at his son’s nose as he roared: “If you truly don’t care about people calling you ungrateful and unfilial — if you truly don’t care about becoming a wandering ghost with no roots after you die — then go ahead and change your name entirely! Announce to the world you have nothing to do with the Gu family!”

With that, he turned and walked out.

Shen Qing: “???”

…What on earth kind of things was this man saying?!

A wandering ghost after death… Shen Qing was deeply, genuinely shocked.

And this moment — he actually felt for the big boss. Director Gu was possibly going to die this very year, and instead of comfort from his father, he was being threatened with posthumous shame and rootlessness…

Was this what a family was supposed to look like?

Shen Qing’s own childhood had included a period of being shuffled between relatives, and even then — nobody had ever aimed anything this vicious at him.

And this was Gu Huaiyù’s own biological father.

His instinct was to check on Gu Huaiyù’s face — but then he thought: he’d just overheard something significant, something he perhaps wasn’t supposed to know. Hadn’t he just accidentally witnessed the big boss at his most exposed?

He hesitated, torn — then finally looked down at the big boss anyway.

And found that Gu Huaiyù’s expression was no different from usual. He had always been expressionless. Compared to normal, his gaze had gone slightly unfocused, staring forward at nothing in particular. Occasionally he blinked. His phoenix eyes, seen from the side, carried that characteristic dark, sunken quality.

But his eyes weren’t tracking anything. He seemed to be thinking nothing at all.

As though the elder Director Gu’s words simply hadn’t registered.

Or as though he’d grown so accustomed to hearing things like this that there was nothing left to feel.

Something tightened in Shen Qing’s chest.

His grip around Gu Huaiyù’s hand tightened with it.

Gu Huaiyù felt it. The unfocused gaze gradually sharpened, and he instinctively turned to look at Shen Qing, his eyes asking: what?

On Gu Huaiyù’s gaunt face, prominent cheekbones standing out beneath skin that remained as pale and bloodless as ever, there was nothing.

Shen Qing looked at that pallid, unwell face for a moment. Then he shifted and leaned close, dropping his voice: “You don’t need to take what the elder Director Gu said to heart. As long as we ourselves act with clear conscience — all the poisonous things other people say will bounce right back at them.”

Gu Huaiyù: “?…”

The unfocused pupils came entirely into focus. Something changed in the very color of his eyes — a depth of black that seemed unusual, and in them was reflected the young man’s face, bright and vivid and close.

The warm hands wrapped around his tightened further. Shen Qing blinked at him, his tone full of conviction: “I believe that right and wrong will be judged in the end — and heaven is watching.”

“Dad! Dad!” Gu Yu’an was leaving, and Gu Huaixiang tried to stop him, but couldn’t.

Their father’s health was, in fact, quite good — that walking cane was largely a matter of status. He’d always been steady on his feet.

In a certain sense, every member of the Gu family had a difficult temperament. And everyone had their pride — their father had personally made the trip here himself, and Old Six still wouldn’t give him an inch…

Gu Huaixiang gave up expecting Gu Huaiyù to spare her any face.

She turned for one final look into the office — and her sharp eyes landed on a high-end gift bag sitting on Gu Huaiyù’s desk.

“Is that BH… Is that BH’s limited release this year?” The look in Gu Huaixiang’s eyes shifted immediately into something close to reverence. Completely forgetting Gu Huaiyù’s stated rules about entering his space, she walked straight into the office.

As she stepped closer, she saw what she hadn’t been able to from the doorway — under Gu Huaiyù’s desk, the two of them had been holding hands the entire time.

And not just holding hands — Shen Qing had been holding Gu Huaiyù’s hand with both of his.

…This Shen Qing — he was unbelievably clingy!

It would have been one thing if he’d been like this when there was no one watching. But with her and their father right there — he’d still—

And Old Six had allowed it!!!

In the past, Gu Huaixiang would have snapped at him immediately, or simply pulled this sticky nuisance away — not allowing some Shen branch-family member to cling to the Gu family like this.

But she’d just been warned. She couldn’t do anything openly to Shen Qing right in front of Gu Huaiyù.

Gu Huaixiang’s attention returned to the jewelry packaging on the desk.

Faced with her favorite category of object in the world, she let everything else fall away and focused entirely on the bag. She said: “Huaiyù, when did you start being interested in this brand? You’ve never attended BH’s annual invitation, not once — this year you’re…”

As she spoke, she reached toward the bag.

She’d received BH’s invitation herself this year, but had been short on funds and hadn’t ordered anything — a fact that had been quietly eating at her. She hadn’t expected to see something from the collection in person right here.

She had no real agenda just now.

She simply wanted to see what Gu Huaiyù had ordered.

In the face of world-class jewels, even just seeing them with her own eyes would be something.

Besides — the last time she’d visited, she’d asked to borrow money and he’d refused to lend even thirty million. This time their father had come in person, and the whole thing had collapsed before they’d even raised the real topic. She had no expectation of Gu Huaiyù gifting anything to her.

Looking was enough.

But her meticulously manicured hand hadn’t even reached the bag before Gu Huaiyù had already smoothly pulled it back.

And then, right in front of Gu Huaixiang, slid it directly toward Shen Qing.

“Your things,” Gu Huaiyù said to Shen Qing. “Keep them yourself.”

Shen Qing: “…Oh.”

He obediently took the bag.

Gu Huaixiang: ?

The jewelry was for Shen Qing???

Shen Qing had actually been wavering about whether to accept these gifts. Even if it was from his husband, accepting without cause felt wrong — and Director Gu’s gifts had been coming at quite a frequency.

But Gu Huaixiang’s complete lack of boundaries — reaching for the bag as if it were hers to take — and the memory of her previously letting Gu Ming and the others snatch Duoduo’s toys, always carrying that air of everything here belongs to me…

Made Shen Qing feel that whether or not he personally accepted this gift was between him and Director Gu.

But in front of the third young miss, this gift was absolutely his.

So he took the bag with a movement that was completely natural, entirely unquestioning.

Gu Huaixiang’s expression flickered. But her desire to see the jewelry was too acute — she had no choice but to look toward Shen Qing instead.

Facing someone from a Shen branch family, a person of ordinary background, she absolutely could not bring herself to adopt the conciliatory tone she might use with Gu Huaiyù. Gu Huaixiang considered her options, and went with studied indirection: “I wonder what Sixth Brother gave you? You should know — BH made two world-class collector’s jewels available this year, each one with a near-flawless color and cut, over ten carats each…”

Shen Qing thought: I know, I read the catalogue.

Though he was also genuinely curious about what Director Gu had sent him this time.

Gu Huaixiang was still speaking: “One is a blue diamond, one is a pink diamond — owning either one alone would make it a worthy family heirloom. Something that could stand alongside the treasuries of certain royal families abroad…”

Shen Qing had already taken the jewelry box out of the bag.

And then, entirely at ease under the third young miss’s gaze, opened it with practiced familiarity.

The one slit in the curtains behind him had let in a thin bar of light — and it fell precisely on the box as it opened.

The brilliance inside blazed out in an instant, scattering in every direction, crystalline and radiant and almost aggressively dazzling.

…

Shen Qing: That’s the twenty-four million dollar one!!!

How did Director Gu get this one too?!

His shock was matched, step for step, by Gu Huaixiang’s.

Gu Huaixiang once again covered her mouth with her hand, eyes locked onto the blue diamond ring and refusing to let go.

She knew exactly what that stone was worth. Which made the shock that much more complete.

“Gu Huaiyù — you’re the one who bought it yesterday?! How is it in your hands already? And you gave it to Shen Qing?! You — you—”

You refused to lend your own sister thirty million yuan!

In this moment, Gu Huaixiang’s voice carried genuine, unmasked envy and bitterness.

But across from her, the two of them were behaving as though no one else existed.

Shen Qing pulled out the ring with complete ease, and without a moment’s hesitation, slid it onto his finger.

A diamond that large was best worn on the index finger — and that was exactly how the designer had intended it. Whether Gu Huaiyù had specified the sizing intentionally or not, the ring fit Shen Qing’s index finger as though it had been made for it.

And it… looked rather good.

Shen Qing’s fingers were clean and neatly trimmed, the nails rounded, the joints long and slender.

Set off by the blue diamond ring, the whole hand appeared even more luminous, more delicately formed — paler and more elegant than even the most artfully rendered illustration. Honestly exceeding even that standard.

Having slept with the pink diamond beside him the previous night, Shen Qing had reached a point of relative equilibrium with it today. He was no longer afraid to hold a jewel this valuable in case he dropped it.

Once the ring was on, he deliberately extended his hand toward Gu Huaiyù, smiling: “How does it look? Nice?”

Gu Huaiyù turned at the question. He took a proper, unhurried look at the young man’s hand.

His own hands were folded in his lap, and he was quietly, absently running a thumb over the back of the one Shen Qing had warmed for him.

After a moment of genuine consideration, Gu Huaiyù said: “Nice.”

Shen Qing admired it himself, and found he was entirely sincere in his enthusiasm for this ring.

No wonder they’re called treasures. It wasn’t about the price. It was that you simply — straightforwardly, helplessly — loved them.

Including the pink diamond. He adored that one too. Adored it enough that he’d quietly pinned it onto himself today before coming up.

Heart light with pleasure, Shen Qing’s smile came out unusually bright.

Still admiring the blue diamond ring, he turned and asked: “You’re really giving it to me?”

Gu Huaiyù gave nothing away.

Still no explanation whatsoever.

He only said: “Mm.”

Across from them, Gu Huaixiang was already saying, with barely controlled tension: “You should probably hold your hand out flat — do you know what that thing is worth?”

The jealousy bleeding through her voice was beyond containment.

Shen Qing: “I know. Twenty-four million dollars.”

Gu Huaixiang: “…?”

She was trying to work out why Shen Qing had named that figure so precisely.

The bag would have contained product information and certificates — but Shen Qing had gone straight for the jewelry box, he shouldn’t have looked through any of that yet…

Besides — that was over twenty million US dollars.

Someone from a Shen branch family with that kind of background — how could they say something like that so lightly?

Puzzling over it, she watched as Shen Qing pulled open his outer jacket.

Underneath was a white shirt — relaxed cut, the sort of thing that worked for outdoors and home alike. Combined with the casual jacket, the overall look was neat enough, nothing to particularly fault and nothing to particularly commend.

At least nothing that would catch Gu Huaixiang’s eye.

But the problem was —

As Shen Qing swept the jacket aside, his white shirt front came fully into view. Gu Huaixiang, sharp-eyed as she was, caught the glint of something pinned at the center of his chest —

A pink diamond brooch?!

That cut, that stone, that design — wasn’t that exactly —!

Gu Huaixiang covered her mouth a second time. The shock on her face was total, her eyes nearly falling out of her head.

She’d heard that on the very first day these two pieces went on sale, someone had immediately claimed the pink brooch.

That day her social circle had all been buzzing about it — who had spent that kind of money in an economy like this, with commercial giants teetering toward bankruptcy everywhere you looked. What sort of person just reached out and grabbed something like that without blinking.

…

And it had been Gu Huaiyù?!

He’d given the brooch to Shen Qing too?!

Meanwhile the two people in front of her were still talking as if the world contained only them.

Shen Qing parted his jacket and raised the bejeweled hand in front of Gu Huaiyù, tracing a loose circle in the air over his chest, asking: “So which looks better on me — the ring or the brooch?”

Gu Huaiyù looked at both, carefully and genuinely.

Then, in a rare moment, the corner of his mouth curved.

He said: “Both.”

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