GC: Chapter 182

182. Unwelcome Guest

“Indeed,” said YiHan, nodding. “Such behaviour is just reprehensible. He lied and exploited. He’d do anything and everything. He should be punished.”

“You’re not surprised at all,” said the old Mr Yan. “You know about this too, don’t you?”

YiHan drily laughed and nodded. “I pitied the man who was lied to by that scum. He only wanted love. He didn’t expect himself to somehow turn into the other ‘man’. Just who was the one who started it?”

“Yes,” said the old Mr Yan. He sighed. “When the forest is big, you can find all sorts of birds in there. Just the mere thought of someone like that makes me angry. Forget it. Let’s not talk about him.”

“Shall we play another round?” YiHan asked.

“Okay,” said the old Mr Yan.

YiHan rolled up his sleeves. “This round, I must win and compensate for the shame of before!”

“Kid, that might be a little hard!” the old Mr Yan guffawed. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll give you three moves!”

“There’s no need!” YiHan said with a wave of his hand. “I must win honourably!”

The old Mr Yan laughed harder. “Good! You’re ambitious! I can only take it seriously then!”

***

Chen Hong acted fast. Within two days, there was a new front door to YouRan’s apartment. The man moved back to his own home. As a newly-pronounced boyfriend, Yan moved as well. YouRan pretended he saw nothing, silently assenting to his existence.

The feeling of living with someone else in the same home wasn’t one YouRan was familiar with anymore, not since his mother’s death. He Yuan never stayed the night. Frankly, intimate moments between the two men were few and far between. For some reason, something in YouRan objected to it. He Yuan was upset, very upset, about this but he had to act as the kind, caring lover. Naturally, He Yuan couldn’t force himself on YouRan. Furthermore, He Yuan never stayed long on the days he did visit.

Hence, when YouRan woke up in the morning to an up-close view of Yan’s face, something strange rose in him. He felt the desire to kiss the other man.

Yan was woken up by the sensation of being stared at. He kept still and resisted the urge to look but he eventually caved in.

“What are you thinking about?” Yan sleepily murmured. His voice was raspy.

YouRan was deep in his thoughts. He replied by instinct, “I want to kiss you.”

Yan’s heart skipped. “Kiss me then,” he calmly said.

YouRan snapped out of his thoughts, realising what he’d just said. He had never said anything so daring before in his whole life. His cheeks were as red as a tomato. He let out an awkward little chuckle and began inching backwards.

“You, erm,” muttered YouRan, “you must’ve been mistaken.”

Yan held onto YouRan’s arm. “I wasn’t mistaken,” he softly said. “It is your right to kiss your own boyfriend. Come, kiss me however you like. I’d like it either way.”

YouRan froze as his mind whirred. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to make a move.

Yan sighed and leaned forward to gently peck the edge of YouRan’s lips. “You owe me one. We’ll kiss once we’ve brushed our teeth.”

A chuckle burst out of YouRan. “Hurry up and get up,” he said as he nudged Yan. “Don’t you have work?”

Yan gave YouRan a tight hug before climbing out of bed to walk to the bathroom.

At work, Yan remained in a stranger, excited mood. He couldn’t resist messaging YiHan.

[Yan Yan: YiHan, are you there?]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: I am. What is it?]

[Yan Yan: I have a question… Forget about it.]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: What’s wrong? Ask away. Does it concern Nan Shan?]

[Yan Yan: Yes. He’s been staring at me in the mornings while I’m still asleep. I don’t know what he’s thinking.]

[Pei the Third: What else could he be thinking? He’s thinking about how he loves you. You’re just flaunting right now.]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: Pei-Pei’s right. However, I think there’s another reason for it. He’s rather insecure. When I just got together with JingYuan, I was the same. I would keep looking to confirm if he’s still there.]

[Mu JingYuan: Now?]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: Of course, I wouldn’t do that now. We’re married. My sense of security is through the roof!]

[Pei the Third: Crap! Mr Mu!]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: …!!]

[Pei the Third: Mr Mu, it’s not good for you to lurk all the time without saying a word!]

[Pei the Third: Mr Mu?]

[Pei the Third: Where is he?]

[Yan Yan: He’s off for some love.]

[Pei the Third: (┛⊙ω⊙)┛I choose to go die…]

[Yan Yan: You’re a girl. Be more ladylike.]

[Pei the Third: I’ll be more ladylike when I have a boyfriend.]

[Yan Yan: You wouldn’t find a man by acting like this.]

[Pei the Third: (┛⊙ω⊙)┛I choose to go die…]

***

When Yan clocked out of work, his steps were quick and light. His heart soared. However, his good mood only lasted until the moment he stepped through the apartment door.

There were two cups of water on the coffee table. YouRan was sitting alone on the sofa, spacing out with his head drooped. He didn’t even realise the door had opened.

Yan locked the door behind him and walked over to sit beside YouRan. “We had a guest? Who came?”

If it was He Yuan, YouRan wouldn’t have opened the door for the man, let alone serve him a glass of water. Anyway, He Yuan was currently hiding out in his private mansion to recover from his injuries. Someone was keeping an eye on him twenty-four seven. He couldn’t have come near this place. But He Yuan wasn’t close to anyone other than Yan, Pei and YiHan. There wouldn’t be anyone else visiting their home. From the state of YouRan, this guest’s arrival obviously didn’t make him happy.

YouRan was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of Yan’s voice. “You’re back,” he hurriedly said when he noticed Yan’s presence. “Are you hungry? I’ll go cook.”

Yan pulled the other man back down. “Who came?” he repeated once more as he glanced at the cups on the coffee table.

YouRan followed Yan’s haze to the cups of water. He bit down on his lip, hard.

Yan swiftly acted and saved YouRan’s lower lip from his teeth. “Was it an unwelcome guest?” he asked as he stroked YouRan’s abused lip. “Yan Miao?”

“No. It’s,” YouRan said with a bitter smile, “Chu FangMing.”

Yan was surprised. “Who?”

“Since you guys could find out about He Yuan, you should also know about Chu FangMing, right?” YouRan whispered. “Genetically speaking, he’s my father.”

Yan’s throat felt tight. “I thought…”

“You thought I didn’t know who my biological father was?” YouRan said. “I knew. My mother told me just before she passed away. She told me to stay away from him. If I ever see him, I must avoid him.”

Yan felt his heart ache. He wrapped his arms tight around YouRan. “Why is he here? Doesn’t he act like you don’t exist?”

YouRan sighed. “He said he was sorry. He’d only just found out about me and wanted me to return to the Chu family.”

“He can dream on!” Yan growled. But…

He looked down at YouRan, who was frowning, and asked, “What do you think? Do you want to be acknowledged as one of them?”

YouRan sighed once more. “Frankly, if you guys hadn’t appeared, I might’ve really been persuaded. But now…” YouRan paused and huffed in laughter. “I know that if you guys didn’t appear, he would never ever have talked to me.”

“No matter what you decide to do, I’ll always support you,” said Yan.

YouRan turned to look at Yan and smiled. “I think what we have now is great. I never knew what use I would have for a father. I’m an adult now. He’s even more unneeded.”

Yan pressed YouRan into his embrace as he said, “That’s right. You have me and that’s enough.”

YouRan softly hummed in response.

His eyes closed. He felt warm and safe, but…

Yan watched in confusion as YouRan reluctantly wrestled out of Yan’s embrace. The other man then wrapped his arms around Yan instead.

Yan who’d been forced into a cute and meek posture: “…” What’s the meaning of this?

YouRan: This is how a top should act. He must be careful. He can’t let Yan think his top was a soft and weak man!

***

The next day, it was as if someone threw an explosive into the chat group.

[Pei the Third: Nan Shan’s scummy father visited him?]

[Yan Yan: Mn. YouRan’s in an awfully bad mood.]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: Why did he visit?]

[Yan Yan: He wanted to acknowledge YouRan as his son and have YouRan return to the Chu family.]

[Pei the Third: Heh. Fat chance. Who does he think he is to visit Nan Shan?]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: Why did he visit so suddenly? From what I know, that man knew Nan Shan was his son before Nan Shan was even born. But that man had never thought of getting custody of Nan Shan.]

[Mu JingYuan: It’s easy to see why. He must’ve noticed how close Nan Shan is to us. He wants to use Nan Shan’s connections to benefit the Chu family.]

[Pei the Third: Right. Chu FangMing was there at your engagement party. Nan Shan’s invisible father slipped our mind for the moment but who would’ve thought he’d dare to appear before Nan Shan?]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: What does Nan Shan think of this? He yearns for familial love, right? Even if he knows it’s all a ruse.]

[Yan Yan: Relax. He told me that he might’ve been swayed if we hadn’t appeared in his life. He wouldn’t be swayed now. He’s very rational. He knows what Chu FangMing’s motives are.]

[Pei the Third: *sob* Poor Nan Shan.]

[Yan Yan: Don’t worry. I’ll comfort him. But we can’t just let Chu FangMing be. That man is still Nan Shan’s father. If he kicks up a big fuss, it’ll be bad for YouRan.]

[Mu JingYuan: Don’t worry. It won’t be big.]

[Yan Yan: You can use forceful measures, but he is still YouRan’s father. It’d be bad if we’re too harsh on the man.]

[Mu JingYuan: Don’t let him continually harass Nan Shan. You can go straight to Chu FangMing with Nan Shan by your side. Sometimes, things are easier when everything’s out in the open.]

[Mu-Mu’s HanHan: Qi Jie is only a branch family member of the Qi family. She has no authority in the Qi family. As time goes by, there are lesser avenues she can help Chu FangMing with. Decades have gone by. Chu FangMing’s position as the head of the Chu family is now secure. They’ve been slowly drifting apart. That should be why Chu FangMing dared to publicly ask to acknowledge Nan Shan as his son.]

[Yan Yan: YiHan’s right. Even if Qi Jie isn’t part of the main family, her surname is still Qi. She couldn’t have helped Chu FangMing fight for the right to be family head otherwise. She’s still not someone he can embarrass. Chu FangMing has spent too many years as the head of the family. His ego’s starting to inflate. He doesn’t know his own limits anymore.]

[HanHan’s Mu-Mu: That’s right. So we must let the Qi family know. We don’t care how they plan on punishing Chu FangMing but they must not affect Nan Shan in any way.]

[Pei the Third: Pfft!]

[Pei the Third: Mr Mu?]

[HanHan’s Mu-Mu: Mn.]

[Pei the Third: What’s with you? I mean your name… Okay, fine. I understand. You want to show off.]

[HanHan’s Mu-Mu: HanHan thinks this is better.]

[Pei the Third: No need to say any more. I get it. I shouldn’t have asked. This lonely, single lady has suffered 10,000 points of damage. /(ToT)/~~]

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