Pheromone Deficiency Syndrome chapter 33
Temptation
There was something going on at Xie Huaizhou’s company, so they ended up leaving a little earlier than planned.
Shang He didn’t feel too reluctant. With his stern but soft-hearted old face, he didn’t have much to say to Xie Huaizhou. He focused on playing with Chu Xiaonian, reminding him to come over for the summer vacation.
“By then, Great grandpa will teach you boxing.” Shang He’s smiling face didn’t match his stern appearance at all. Instead of looking like a friendly old man, he seemed more like someone trying to lure a child.
Fortunately, Chu Xiaonian adapted well and even kissed him on the face.
It wasn’t until just before Xie Huaizhou and Gu Jinyi were about to board the spacecraft that Shang He looked at Xie Huaizhou and said, “Take care of yourself.”
Xie Huaizhou turned to look at him, and the resemblance between the two was striking, especially when they didn’t smile.
Actually, he didn’t meet with Shang He often, not just because he was busy, but also because every time they saw each other, they would be reminded of Shang Li, who had passed away long ago. With only the two of them left in the huge mansion, it would inevitably bring endless melancholy.
But now, with the addition of Gu Jinyi and Chu Xiaonian, seeing Xie Huaizhou doing well, Shang He’s heart felt a bit lighter with the lingering sorrow.
“If you have time, come back more often with Jinyi and Xiaonian,” he patted Xie Huaizhou’s shoulder, “Occasionally, I need some family joy too.”
Xie Huaizhou didn’t refuse and his lips curved slightly. “Okay.”
Back on Baidi Star, Xie Huaizhou was busy with company matters, while Gu Jinyi was also not idle.
The deadline for the design competition he signed up for was approaching, so these days he had been working overtime to revise his design.
He was inspired by the Golden Waterfall they visited together and wanted to create a necklace like a galaxy, hanging delicately on a fragile, fair neck, clearly showing immense power but as light as a cloud.
The general outline was already there, but the details were still being repeatedly modified.
Gu Jinyi was modifying it slowly, stopping to stare into space after a while, then overturning his previous ideas.
Recently, he often thought about the night at the Golden Waterfall.
In the compartment where only he and Xie Huaizhou were, surrounded by silence and darkness, only the sound of the waterfall splashing could be heard. It was the first time Xie Huaizhou had said “I love you” to him.
He leaned back in the single chair, barefoot like a child, with his feet on the edge of the chair, arms hugging himself, his eyes empty, without focus.
He wondered, what emotions did Xie Huaizhou have when he confessed to him?
If he hadn’t agreed to give Xie Huaizhou a chance back then and had instead turned him down, how would he and Xie Huaizhou get along now?
He couldn’t find an answer.
Nor would Xie Huaizhou give him that answer.
He sighed softly and closed the light screen, not wanting to look at the design drawings that troubled him.
But when he looked down at the Ipad and saw the date was July 6th, his mood worsened.
In a week, it would be his mother’s death anniversary.
His mother’s name was Su Miao. She once wanted to be a pastry chef but ended up becoming a singer, becoming a mistress of the Gu family, and giving birth to him.
He hadn’t told anyone about this, including Xie Huaizhou.
It wasn’t that he regarded Xie Huaizhou as an outsider, but he felt there was nothing to say about this matter. His mother didn’t even have a tombstone; her ashes were scattered in the sea, so he didn’t need to go to a specific place to mourn her.
But he really missed her, especially on such quiet nights.
She wasn’t a strong person, unlike Xie Huaizhou’s mother, who was shrewd and capable. She was gentle and easy to deceive, rarely even showing anger.
Gu Jinyi’s nose felt a bit sour, and he buried his face in his arms.
He wondered if Su Miao were still alive, seeing him now, would she be relieved that he finally had a family and a home, or would she feel sorry for him being bullied?
She might not be able to help him with anything, but at least she would give him a hug when he was sad.
Gu Jinyi’s face pressed against his sleeve, and warm tears wet a small piece of fabric.
He didn’t know if it was because he had just accompanied Xie Huaizhou to see his grandfather, but he seemed to miss Su Miao even more than before.
Because in this world, apart from Chu Xiaonian, he had no other relatives.
He really missed Su Miao, but she would never come back.
.
Time flew by, and a week later.
Gu Jinyi specially took a day off, but he didn’t tell anyone the reason for his leave.
He didn’t do anything special to mourn Su Miao either, just personally went to the kitchen and made two small plates of snacks that Su Miao used to make for him when she was alive, to comfort him and tell him not to be sad.
He placed one plate in front of Su Miao’s photo and kept the other for himself, just like when Su Miao was alive.
Then he spent the whole day in the study, using work as an excuse, not allowing anyone to disturb him.
He poured himself some wine and drank it slowly.
Actually, he never drank when Su Miao was alive. It was only after she left that he learned.
Perhaps because of the alcohol, he slowly fell asleep with his head on the table.
When he woke up again, he found that he wasn’t alone in the study.
Sitting on the circle chair in front of him was a tall, slender figure in black, supporting his chin with one hand, looking at him with a perfect gaze.
It took Gu Jinyi some time to recognize that it was Xie Huaizhou.
He slowly sat up from the table, his voice hoarse from just waking up.
He asked Xie Huaizhou, “Why are you back? Didn’t you have something to do today…”
He subconsciously touched his own face, wondering if Xie Huaizhou could see the tear marks on his face.
But Xie Huaizhou stood up from the chair, walked to him, and wiped his face with a wet tissue, as if washing a kitten’s face, with a very gentle touch.
“I didn’t go on a business trip. I just went to get something,” Xie Huaizhou helped him tidy his hair, “I knew today was your mother’s memorial day, so I rushed back just now.”
Gu Jinyi froze, he didn’t expect Xie Huaizhou to know.
He averted his gaze from Xie Huaizhou’s eyes and muttered softly, “It’s not a big deal, and I’m not very upset either.”
Xie Huaizhou didn’t call him out on his tough facade.
When he came in just now, the room smelled of alcohol, and Gu Jinyi was sleeping alone on the table, his face covered in freshly dried tears.
That explained everything.
But what really bothered him was that Gu Jinyi would rather lock himself in the room than confide in him.
He could sense Gu Jinyi’s discomfort but didn’t deliberately say any comforting words. Instead, he explained, “I rushed back because I wanted to give you something, not to intentionally disturb you.”
Gu Jinyi shook his head. “You didn’t disturb me.”
Xie Huaizhou took out a very small miniature box from his pocket. He pressed a button, and the box instantly returned to its normal size.
He gently placed the box on Gu Jinyi’s lap.
“I actually wanted to give this to you when I took you to see my grandfather, but there was a problem, so it got delayed until today.”
Gu Jinyi was a bit confused, not understanding why Xie Huaizhou’s expression would become so solemn, even looking at him somewhat nervously, as if afraid of making him angry.
With doubts in his mind, he opened the box, and then he froze in place.
Inside the box were his mother’s belongings.
These were items withheld by the Gu family, belonging to his mother.
When Su Miao passed away, the decision-maker in the Gu family had become his half-brother, Gu Qin.
Perhaps because he naturally didn’t get along with Gu Jinyi, he had always despised him, so he intentionally withheld some of Su Miao’s belongings just to bully and remind Gu Jinyi of his status.
Chu Miyun had wanted to help him retrieve them, but the power of the Gu family was evenly matched with that of the Chu family, and he didn’t want to cause trouble for Chu Miyun, so he pretended not to care at all.
“What’s the use of having these things when my mother is no longer here?” He had consoled Chu Miyun like this, speaking earnestly, even believing it himself.
But now, seeing the things that once belonged to his mother, back in front of him, he realized that he had never forgotten.
He looked incredulously at the items in the box: an admission letter from decades ago, a necklace with Su Miao’s small photo, her favorite jewelry, handmade items he had made…
There weren’t many things, just a dozen or so, and they weren’t very valuable. They were neatly placed in compartments inside the box.
When Gu Jinyi looked up at Xie Huaizhou again, his eyes were filled with tears.
“Why…” his voice choked with emotion, “Why did you? How…?”
He asked unclearly, but Xie Huaizhou understood.
He bent down, kneeling on one knee to help Gu Jinyi wipe his tears, but there were too many tears, impossible to wipe away completely.
“I’m sorry, I investigated you,” he apologized to Gu Jinyi first, “I heard about your mother’s belongings from the servants of the Chu family. But I found out too late, and many things weren’t properly kept by the Gu family. It took a long time to find them, and only a dozen or so items were recovered. They were collected by a servant familiar with your mother.”
Gu Jinyi didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
Today was his mother’s death anniversary, and yet he received a “gift.”
He didn’t know how Xie Huaizhou had pressured the Gu family to retrieve these things, but he also knew that there wouldn’t be a second person in the world willing to do this for him.
He didn’t want to cry too ugly, but when he saw the admission letter in the box, he couldn’t help but sob.
That was his mother’s most cherished belonging.
His mother was a child from the slums. She became a singer because she finally received an acceptance letter from the college’s culinary department and wanted to save up for tuition fees.
But fate led her to encounter his biological father, and she couldn’t go to school. She couldn’t open her own pastry shop. Instead, she was forced to become a hidden mistress.
Gu Jinyi leaned on Xie Huaizhou’s shoulder, crying until he could hardly catch his breath.
Xie Huaizhou held him, gently patting him as if soothing a child.
Lowering his voice, Xie Huaizhou explained once again, “Yiyi, I didn’t intend to ask for the small estate your mother left you. I was just afraid you might think I had ulterior motives and refuse to marry me, so I added that clause to the contract.”
He was referring to the marriage contract signed at G6 Star, where, in addition to asking Gu Jinyi to become his “medicine,” he also requested ownership of a property under Gu Jinyi’s name.
A small estate on an unnamed star, not expensive, but very livable.
Gu Jinyi tightly grasped Xie Huaizhou’s clothes, tears soaking Xie Huaizhou’s shoulder.
“That’s something my mother worked hard to save up and buy for me,” he chuckled softly, sounding particularly pitiful, “She was afraid I wouldn’t have a place to go in the future, so she wanted to give me a home.”
“But why isn’t she here?” Gu Jinyi asked Xie Huaizhou. “Why are our mothers, all gone?”
“She clearly told me she would always be with me, even if no one else liked me, she always wanted me.”
“But she broke her promise too.”
Gu Jinyi closed his eyes in pain in Xie Huaizhou’s arms.
It seemed like he had been losing all his life.
Losing his mother, losing Fu Chen, losing Chu Miyun.
Each of them had sworn to accompany him, to give him a home, but in the end, they all abandoned him.
Now Xie Huaizhou was holding him so gently, but perhaps one day, Xie Huaizhou would leave too.
“I’ll be with you,” Xie Huaizhou whispered softly in his ear, “I’ll never leave you. I’ll try to live one day longer than you, to accompany you to the end of life.”
Gu Jinyi clenched his hand.
His face pressed tightly against Xie Huaizhou’s, tears dripping onto Xie Huaizhou’s neck.
He didn’t want to believe Xie Huaizhou. He had never been favored by fate in his life. Once he truly believed, the next step would be irreversible destruction.
But he felt Xie Huaizhou lightly kiss his earlobe.
He heard Xie Huaizhou ask him.
“Would you like to go to the Duota Amusement Park tomorrow? You wanted to go there a lot when you were a child, didn’t you?” Xie Huaizhou treated him like a child, “I’ll make up for all the regrets in the first half of your life. I’ll celebrate your birthday with you, travel with you, and take you to watch matches.”
“So don’t be afraid.”
Xie Huaizhou kissed him again.
Gu Jinyi heard a very faint “pop” from the depths of his heart.
Like a seed sprouting, like a stone blooming.
He did want to go to the famous Duota Amusement Park when he was a child, but his mother was not in good health, so they never went.
But how did Xie Huaizhou know?
He lifted his head from Xie Huaizhou’s shoulder, looking at him through tear-filled eyes.
He found that there was a side of Xie Huaizhou that he didn’t really understand.
Who said Xie Huaizhou didn’t know how to soothe people?
He was clearly a master of charming people.
“You’re good at deceiving people,” he whispered softly.
And yet he knew it was a deep abyss ahead, but he still fell for it time and time again, truly, unfathomably foolish.