Chapter 76 You're so annoying.
Shang Shu often wondered, why do humans want a home?
Why would someone so desperately want to set up an anchor point in this world, define it as stable, regard it as a reliance, and call it a safe haven?
Shang Shu initially thought that it was probably just a survival strategy ingrained in their genes, part of the social order, a choice people made to seek recognition and acceptance, and that it couldn't actually support those beautiful fantasies, whether it was love or family affection.
This is what she learned from Shang Wei and He Landai: home neither provided them with stability nor offered them any support; it was somewhat absurd and tragic.
So she actually takes a very detached view of family, or rather, she numbs herself and no longer has any expectations for it. This even extended to her approach to establishing intimate relationships.
But then she met Gu Sui, and she found that she too began to have this desire uncontrollably. She instinctively wanted this small yet grand love to have a place to settle down, to have a space that belonged only to them, to store each other's vulnerability and tenderness.
A house is the physical form of a home, and the vessel for its soul.
So, looking at the house in front of her, Shang Shu finally had the chance to experience the wonderful feeling of home she had been longing for.
Yunxiu Villa is a detached villa on the hillside. It's not very close to the city center, but it's quiet and secluded, and you can also enjoy the sea view. This is what Shang Shu meant when she said the location was very good. There are phoenix trees planted in the front yard, which makes people feel festive. The garden at the back of the villa is also very large, and there is a cantilevered swimming pool in the main courtyard. Shang Shu likes it very much.
Looking at it from top to bottom, it's rare to see someone as picky as Shang Shu so satisfied with the structure and layout. Perhaps she's been nourished by love and is in a great mood, so she's exceptionally tolerant.
"How is it? The study is quite nice, isn't it?" Shang Shu asked as she walked down the stairs. She thought the actual room looked even brighter than the pictures, and the small attic was also exquisite.
"Yes, it's not bad." Gu Sui took her hand and watched the stairs for her.
Shang Shu smiled; she liked hearing Gu Sui say he was satisfied.
The two then stood in the double-height living room and discussed the decorating style and furniture.
"We can change the color of the entire wall, as well as the sofa, coffee table, chairs, the bed in the bedroom, the closet, and so on. I'd like to have them all redesigned by the design team I used before, or you can find them yourself..."
"That island fireplace over there is a bit ugly; I still prefer the one with one-way glass..."
"Hmm... how about installing one of those waterfront sound systems?" She really liked that one.
Shang Shu kept pointing left and right and talking nonstop. Gu Sui put one arm around Shang Shu's waist and listened to her little designer chattering away with a smile.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Shang Shu's throat was dry from talking, only to realize that she was the only one rambling on for so long.
Gu Sui put his arm around Shang Shu's waist and smiled, "I like everything you like."
It wasn't just a perfunctory gesture; she genuinely trusted Shang Shu's aesthetic sense. Besides, she preferred seeing how the young girls planned their future "homes" to looking at houses.
"You're not participating at all, are you?" Shang Shu turned to face her and gently poked her chest twice with her finger.
Gu Sui grasped her fingertips and thought for a moment: "Then my suggestion is to convert the tea room on the third floor into a studio for you to use."
The tea room is quite large, and they probably won't need it. Rather than converting it into something else, it would be better to use it as a studio for Shang Shu. When the young girl was choosing a house, she only thought about finding a study for her, and after arriving, she went straight for it. She was only considering the shared space for them and didn't think about herself at all.
"Hmm?" Shang Shu smiled and hooked her arm around Gu Sui's neck, tilting her head to look at her. "Is someone jealous of not working again?"
Gu Sui clicked her tongue softly, smiled faintly, and turned her head away.
The matter of Yunxiu Manor was settled. Shang Shu sat back in the passenger seat, her eyes suddenly reddening.
"What's wrong?" Gu Sui glanced at her phone twice, then turned her head and saw the girl's appearance. She quickly leaned over to stroke Shang Shu's face. The phone, which was sitting on her silk pants, almost slipped off the car seat.
"Don't look at me..." Shang Shu covered her face with her hand, showing a rare moment of shyness.
She felt a little unreal and was a bit emotional, thinking she would feel better soon, but when Gu Sui paid so much attention to her, she actually felt like crying.
"Okay, okay, I won't look," Gu Sui said, turning her head back to face her. But after only a few seconds, she asked, "Are you done?"
"No."
"And now?"
"No."
"That--"
"Ugh, you're so annoying." Shang Shu couldn't help but throw her hand away and laugh out loud.
Gu Sui's shoulders trembled slightly. Seeing that there were no tears on the little rabbit's red eyes, he bent his finger and rubbed her cheek.
"Gu Sui, our names will be on the same property certificate." Shang Shu choked up again.
It will be marked "jointly owned" without distinguishing shares or indicating proportions, unlike all the properties under her name.
"Hmm." Gu Sui pulled her hand and placed it in his palm. "If you're going to cry now, what will you do later?"
Their names will appear together on many papers, including the most important one.
"Later—" Shang Shu's hand, which was about to wipe the corner of her eye, froze halfway. Her slightly damp eyelashes fluttered a few times as she quickly turned her face to the window, muttering very softly, "You wish..."
"Yeah, wishful thinking." Gu Sui put his hands on the steering wheel, and his shoulders trembled slightly again.
Back at the waterfront, Shang Shu saw from afar that there was something extra on the living room table—a thick book that didn't look like a book.
"What is this?" She washed her hands and walked over to take a look. When she got closer, she realized it was a photo album. She hadn't seen a physical photo album in a long time, and this one was so big, with a retro dark brown cover and gold-plated corners. It looked very valuable.
Gu Sui turned off the water, smiled slightly, and slowly leaned against the island counter to wipe his hands: "Open it and take a look."
Shang Shu gave a soft "oh" and reached out to flip it open. The cover was quite heavy, and she was afraid of damaging it, so she carefully lifted it open with both hands. After the cover was opened, the title page was revealed. In the center was a line of small gold-embossed characters, which was Gu Sui's name and date of birth. Turning the page again, there were neatly arranged photos.
"My God, Gu Sui, is this you?" Shang Shu's eyes lit up as she looked at the adorable little baby in the photo.
Gu Sui also came over and sat down, gently putting his arm around her shoulder: "Hmm, aren't you curious about what I looked like when I was a child?"
It's a tradition that almost every member of the Gu family has a special photo album to record their growth and important life milestones. Even now, they still keep physical albums. So after the little girl mentioned it that day, Gu Sui asked the secretary to organize her album and send it over.
Shang Shu didn't expect that Gu Sui would take her casual remark to heart. She was somewhat moved, turned her head and lightly kissed Gu Sui's cheek before continuing to flip through the pages.
"How can he be so cute?" She couldn't help but stroke the little Gu Sui in the photo with her fingertips, and from time to time she would turn her head to compare him with the current one, as if he had been enlarged proportionally. Gu Sui had been so good-looking since he was a child.
Gu Sui was not a person who liked taking pictures. She had mentally prepared herself before having the photo album delivered. Now that Shang Shu was looking at her like this, she felt quite embarrassed.
“I have to take a picture, I’ll use it as wallpaper later,” Shang Shu said happily. She picked up her phone, focused it a couple of times, then put it down again after thinking for a moment. “No, I need a high-definition one. You must have a digital version, send it to me quickly later.”
Gu Sui pursed her lips and shook her head.
"Oh dear, you've already shown me everything, why are you still being so stingy?"
Shang Shu teased her relentlessly until Gu Sui's ears turned bright red and she wanted to put the photo album away. Only then did she stop and go back to sit down and look at the album obediently.
It has to be said that Gu Sui is truly a model of a favored daughter of heaven, and Shang Shu's impression of her deepens with each page she turns.
"You even won the UMT Gold Award?" Shang Shu blinked at her. The top international math competition, the photo showed little Gu Sui holding a small trophy that was half her height.
"Hmm?" Gu Sui glanced at it calmly. "I don't remember very clearly."
OK.
Shang Shu understood immediately, because there were endless English speech contests, knowledge competitions, debates, Model United Nations, and a series of art competitions to choose from. She couldn't possibly remember them all either.
Although moral character, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics are standard requirements for them, and Shang Shu has participated in quite a few of these activities, it is still a bit presumptuous of Gu Sui to participate in more.
However, Shang Shu continued to flip through the pages with great interest, watching Gu Sui grow from a babbling little dumpling into a spirited young woman, and then into a mature and composed woman. She felt as if she had personally participated in those past events, as if it had created a deeper connection between her and Gu Sui.
After flipping through the photos for a while, Shang Shu stopped at the one of Dr. Gu Sui's graduation. In the photo, Gu Sui had her hair styled in a gentle fishtail braid, which Shang Shu had personally braided for her. Shang Shu remembered clearly that she was standing right next to Gu Sui when the photo was taken.
“You…” As if remembering something, Shang Shu frowned slightly, turned to look at Gu Sui, and hesitated before speaking.
"What's wrong?"
Shang Shu bit the inside of her lower lip, then let go: "You went to my graduation ceremony, didn't you?"
Gu Sui swallowed, her eyelashes trembled, and she lowered her eyes to give a soft "hmm".
She didn't really want Shang Shu to know, but she didn't want to lie to her. At that time, she was in the recovery period before chemotherapy, and her physical condition wasn't that bad yet. But the doctor still advised against long-distance flights. However, she went anyway because she really, really missed Shang Shu and wanted to see her again. She also wanted to witness the important moment in the young girl's life, just like Shang Shu accompanied her to her graduation ceremony, even if it was just secretly, because she didn't know if she would have such an opportunity again in the future.
“Gu Sui…” Shang Shu’s voice trembled slightly. Sure enough, Lu Shengxi was right. She dared not imagine what Gu Sui was feeling when he went there. She felt her heart begin to ache again.
"Ah Shu, don't think about it anymore," Gu Sui put the photo album aside, pulled Shang Shu into his arms, and gently patted her back to comfort her. "I'll ask the secretary's office for a digital copy of the one from earlier, okay?"
"Every single one."
"Alright." Gu Sui chuckled, letting her push her luck.
After holding her for a while, Gu Sui remembered what Gu Qi had said yesterday, so he lowered his head and softly asked the little girl in his arms, "What are your plans for this year's Spring Festival?"
Shang Shu looked up at her, somewhat surprised that Gu Sui would bring this up.
She thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... I should go to Lin Lang's house. I used to spend the New Year at Lin's house when I was a child. They took good care of me. So, in the past few years since I came back to Macau, I've gotten into the habit of going there for the Spring Festival."
To be honest, Shang Shu hadn't met many of the Shang family's relatives. Ever since Feng Yuan entered the family, Shang Wei had only taken the three of them—her mother and daughter—back home. Later, Ke Ya Hui took pity on her and started taking her back to the Lin family every year.
However, she never told Gu Sui any of these things.
"What's wrong? Want to ask me out?" Shang Shu stood up, put her hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"Hmm," Gu Sui put his hand on her lower back and patted her back a couple of times, "My sister called yesterday and asked if you wanted to come back for dinner together during the Chinese New Year."
"Huh? Going to the Gu family?" Shang Shu was a little taken aback and pulled her hand back from the person's shoulder in fright.
"No, it's just my sister and Xiangyi," Gu Sui said, looking at her tense expression, and couldn't help but chuckle as he pinched her chin. "So eager to meet the parents?"
Although in her opinion, seeing Gu Qi was already enough.
"You're so annoying." Shang Shu pushed her shoulder and sat up on the other side, arms crossed.
Although she had met Gu Qi so many times, this occasion really did have the meaning that Gu Sui had mentioned, and Shang Shu suddenly felt a little at a loss.
"It's okay if you don't want to." Seeing the little girl's brows furrowed into a small mountain, Gu Sui turned his head to comfort her.
"I don't not want to." I'm just a little nervous.
Shang Shu used her teeth to gently pull at the soft flesh inside her lips, then let go: "So, what do I need to prepare?"
She can be calm and composed when meeting business partners and talk fluently when meeting clients, but Shang Shu really feels that she is not good at meeting parents. She has never dealt with this kind of interpersonal relationship much. Not to mention that she has never met parents, she has only ever visited the Lin family for New Year's greetings, but that is not the same thing and is really not of any reference value.
Gu Sui knew that the girl had already agreed, and upon hearing the question, she couldn't help but smile.
“We definitely need to prepare, my sister is very particular.” Gu Sui said, while tapping Shang Shu’s chin to tell her not to bite so hard.
“Especially on special occasions like this,” she added.
Shang Shu was already nervous, and Gu Sui's words made her even more nervous. She didn't realize that Gu Sui was deliberately being mischievous. After all, in her opinion, Gu Qi, given his age, status, and position, should indeed be a person of refinement.
"Then maybe, maybe we should just forget about it..." Shang Shu buried her head in the cushion next to her, feeling like crying.
Gu Sui laughed and pulled her back: "Just kidding. My sister likes you a lot. Just bring people with you."
Shang Shu gently bumped her head against Gu Sui's chest: "You're so annoying."
Today is special.
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