Chapter 85
Did Gu Lanyu discover Su Xuan’s identity as a monster?
In response, Ah Tu said firmly: "Absolutely, this is absolutely true. He comes to our place all day long because he has his eyes on you! Su Xuan, don't be so stupid. Be careful that he will cook you up one day without you even realizing it!"
Su Amei later accidentally learned what Su Xuan had done that night. After scolding him, she pondered, "Even if Gu Lanyu really knew Xuan's identity, he didn't seem to have any ill intentions."
Ah Tu: "Then why does he hang around here all day? Could it be that he has fallen in love with Su Xuan?!"
Amei Su covered her lips with her sleeve, narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Maybe, our Ah Xuan is just likable."
So, does Gu Lanyu like Su Xuan?
Su Xuan didn't know.
This man only comes to take care of the teahouse business regularly.
Most of the time he only brought one servant with him, and occasionally he would bring two subordinates with him.
When they were busy, they talked about business in a low voice. When they were free, they just sat there, lazily supporting their chin with their hands and smiling at Su Xuan.
That smile was so beautiful. A pair of narrow, beautifully shaped eyes curved slightly, and she smiled like peach blossoms in March, which made people's hearts tremble slightly.
Su Xuan was fully aware that if Sanlang of the Gu family was not in poor health, there would be a long queue of young ladies seeking marriage all over the capital, and Su Xuan would probably be included in the queue.
In fact, he knew that what Atu said might be true. Gu Lanyu was staring at him. Her obvious behavior and the smile that made Su Xuan's heart itch were simply waving at Su Xuan, seducing him over.
And what about Su Xuan——
He seemed to have no self-control at all towards this man.
Within two days, he ran errands and delivered the tea that Gu Lanyu had asked for, under A-Tu's disappointed look. Then he knelt in front of the table, staring at Gu Lanyu eagerly.
It's like saying: I'm here, so what's next?
Gu Lanyu couldn't help laughing and said, "Su Xuan, is Xuan the same as mysterious?"
Su Xuan was stunned. He didn't expect that the man was still thinking about his name. He nodded slightly and said, "Yeah, that's right."
Gu Lanyu seemed a little absent-minded and recited it again softly, not knowing what he was thinking about.
Then his eyes moved carefully around Su Xuan's face, as if he was carefully describing his appearance.
Such a look really made Su Xuan blush. He asked in a low voice: "How do you write your name?"
Gu Lanyu smiled and said gently, "Lan means to be held with your hands, and Yu means jade plate."
Su Xuan knew that Gu Lanyu's name was Shuo. Shuo means the new moon, which is the day of each month when the moon is not visible.
His courtesy name is Lan Yu, and the jade plate refers to the moon plate, so Lan Yu means reaching for the moon in the sky.
Even if the moon is not visible, he will still reach for it. Thinking back to Gu Lanyu's physical condition and the rumor that he would not live past the age of 26, Su Xuan could probably understand the meaning of Gu Shuo's mother giving him this courtesy name.
Su Xuan actually didn't believe that rumor. In other words, even if Gu Lanyu's body was really failing, couldn't he, a first-generation monster, use his spiritual power to prolong his life?
At that time, Su Xuan had not yet realized the meaning of this thought that naturally emerged in his mind. He just narrowed his eyes and whispered "Lan Yu Lan Yu" and then said with a cheerful smile: "Gu Lan Yu, I like this name!"
He liked the indomitable spirit and vitality in this name.
Gu Lanyu looked at him steadily, and after a moment, he smiled and said, "Ah Xuan, sit down and have a drink with me."
…
There was a tacit understanding between Gu Lanyu and Su Xuan.
Both of them probably knew what the other understood, but neither of them said anything. It wasn't that they were playing tricks - it was just that this tacit understanding seemed to have a unique kind of fun.
He didn't know whether Gu Lanyu felt the same way.
For example, when Gu Lanyu came to drink tea, he would talk to Su Xuan about which of their new snacks was good and his subordinates liked it very much, and then talk about how the new tea was also good, but could be improved in this way or that way;
Or maybe they were talking about the crow waiter in the teahouse. The pair of eyes that stared at him looked inhuman, but not quite human, and quite intimidating. But when Gu Lanyu left with a smile, Ah Tu started yelling angrily, saying that the guy did it on purpose. What did he mean by "looked quite intimidating"? If he completely transformed into a monster with three heads and six tails, he would definitely scare the guy to death. But Su Xuan secretly felt that even Ah Tu's angry look wouldn't scare anyone.
Gu Lanyu would often compliment Su Xuan on his good looks. Su Xuan clearly felt that Gu Lanyu liked to see him wearing bright colors, either bright yellow or red. Su Xuan actually thought that these colors were suitable for young ladies, and that Su Amei had used these colored fabrics to make clothes for him purely out of her bad taste. But when Gu Lanyu said this, Su Xuan would secretly wonder, does it really look good...
For example, if they met outside a teahouse - most of the time it happened at the scene of a monster causing chaos, when the two met, Su Xuan laughed dryly, while Gu Lanyu chuckled meaningfully and said, "Brother Xuan, what a coincidence, are you visiting here tonight too?" Su Xuan cleared his throat and said guiltily, "Yes, yes, what a coincidence, we are so destined to meet, Brother Lanyu"!
Gu Lanyu said again, "Brother Xuan, you have friends all over the world." Su Xuan pretended to be serious and said, "Thank you very much. It's the same for us."
Gu Lanyu finally couldn't help laughing, sighed and shook his head, and said in a broken tone, "Why don't you wait for me, I will take you back." Su Xuan immediately became overjoyed and climbed up the pole, "Okay, okay, I'll wait for you!"
He was so happy that it seemed as if little flowers were spinning around him, and Gu Lanyu looked at him like this and smiled helplessly.
At first, he opened his mouth just to tease, but the tenderness he showed later turned into something more obscure, more subtle, and more ambiguous.
The Night Guard's subordinates looked at their boss and then at Su Xuan, and were completely confused.
As time went by, Su Xuan even gradually found the fun in this kind of interaction and gradually became thick-skinned.
In order to deal with problems caused by monsters or spirits, Su Xuan can chat with Gu Lanyu calmly no matter where they meet.
If they met in a brothel, Su Xuan could even pretend to be a young lady and fall into Gu Lanyu's arms with a whimper, blinking her eyes and saying in a pinched voice, "My dear, come and have a drink with me."
Gu Lanyu couldn't do anything to him anymore. She pinched his nose, picked him up, narrowed her eyes, and said with a smile, "Just wait for me."
These four words made Su Xuan cover his face, blushing and his heart beating fast.
He had already seen clearly that he really had improper thoughts about Gu Lanyu.
He was happy when he saw Gu Lanyu, and felt happy when he heard him talk. He could even see this man in his dreams, dreaming that he was acting coquettishly to Gu Lanyu, and Gu Lanyu let him have whatever he wanted.
Su Xuan is not a person who cares much about public order and morality. In his eyes, everything is either feasible or not.
So, does Gu Lanyu have any improper thoughts about him?
With such expectations, Su Xuan absentmindedly watched the man and his subordinates go downstairs to look for someone first. One of the subordinates - Su Xuan remembered that Gu Lanyu called this man Ah Qi - paused, looked at Su Xuan, and muttered, "It really looks like it."
Su Xuan was stunned.
Ah Qi came back to his senses, coughed twice, dodged his gaze and tried to escape, but Su Xuan quickly stopped him.
In fact, he had been concerned about it for a long time. Every time Gu Lanyu brought Ah Qi to meet Su Xuan, Ah Qi would always look at him with a very strange look.
Su Xuan narrowed his eyes and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Ah Qi looked up at the sky: "No, I didn't say anything. Did I say anything?"
Su Xuan: "Do you believe that I have tens of thousands of ways to get you away from Lan Yu and torture you?"
Ah Qi: "??? You're going too far. What do you think of our boss? Our boss is always clear about the distinction between public and private affairs, upright and aloof, with lofty ambitions—Ahhhhhhh, don't you think I believe you?!"
Ah Qi raised his hands in surrender under Su Xuan's ruthless throat grip.
Su Xuan glanced at Gu Lanyu downstairs, dragged Ah Qi into an empty room, crossed his arms, and said angrily, "Tell me, you've been holding back some things for too long. Tell me everything clearly in one breath!"
Ah Qi had a sad face and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
After a while, Su Xuan showed a stunned look when he heard Ah Qi's hesitant words.
*
Why did Gu Lanyu treat him so specially? She knew he was a monster, but she didn't expose him. She even came to the teahouse to meet him from time to time. Why was that?
——For half a month after that night in the brothel, Su Xuan hid behind the teahouse, staring at the sky in a daze every day.
What about the love between people?
Su Xuan held a piece of grass in his mouth and bit it with a dull look in his eyes.
That night at the brothel, after listening to what the night guard Ah Qi said, Su Xuan left the brothel in a depressed mood, and only asked Ah Qi to inform Gu Lanyu.
In the following half month, A Tu said every day that Gu Lanyu had come, but Su Xuan always avoided him.
The same is true today.
Ah Tu flew over and quacked, "Gu Lanyu is here again, and you still don't see him?"
Su Xuan hugged his knees and didn't want to talk.
Ah Tu continued, "That's strange. I reminded you every day to be careful of Gu Lanyu, but you didn't hear me. Now you suddenly wake up? What happened?"
Su Xuan murmured, "A-Tu, it's so hard to guess what mortals are thinking."
Ah Tu looked at him and muttered, "I think it's hard to guess what a monster is thinking."
Su Xuan: “…”
He glared at A-Tu, and A-Tu flew away whistling.
A moment later, Amelia Su also came and asked, "Are you really not going to see Gu Sanlang? He asked about you again."
Su Xuan said listlessly again, "Mother, it's so hard to guess what mortals are thinking."
Amelia Su laughed when she heard it, touched his head, and said, “But Xuan is very interested in mortals, isn’t he?”
Su Xuan turned his head and looked at her eagerly.
Su A Mei tapped his brow and said, "Remember a year ago, after Zhen'er left, I cried for two days and two nights, and you stayed by my side for two days and two nights. Ah Xuan, I don't know what other monsters are like, but you are definitely a very affectionate little monster. You are also very curious about mortals and the love between mortals."
Su Xuan remained silent.
Amelia Su smiled and said, "Since you're curious, you should have the courage to get to the bottom of it. It's not like you to back down so easily."
"Ah, but," Su A Mei blinked, "to make a little monster who is usually so brave that he's not afraid of anything suddenly afraid, maybe this is the charm of this thing called 'love'?"
Su Xuan was stunned.
At this moment, a strange feeling surged into his heart.
Su Xuan's Adam's apple rolled, and he said hoarsely, "Get to the bottom of it...how do we get to the bottom of it?"
Amelia Su: "Meet him and ask him clearly."
Su Xuan: "Then what?"
Amelia Su: "After asking clearly, think clearly about yourself."
Su Xuan: "What do you think?"
A Mei Su: "What do you think of Gu Sanlang? Actually, according to the doctor's prediction, he won't even live past the age of twenty-six."
Su Xuan subconsciously said: "I can use my spiritual power to keep him alive!"
Amei Su laughed again: "But is Gu Sanlang willing to just hang on to his life?"
Su Xuan frowned: "If he doesn't want to, then I..."
What should he do then?
Su Xuan fell into a daze again.
He absolutely did not want Gu Lanyu to disappear from the world like this. Even if it meant using more risky means, he would...
When this thought came to mind, Su Xuan trembled slightly and clenched his hands.
Of course, he also knew, as Amelia Su said, even if he was willing to give it, Gu Lanyu would refuse.
But if Gu Lanyu refused and would rather die than accept his help, then he would be very sad. If Gu Lanyu really didn't care that he would be sad, then how sincere was she to him...
Su Xuan fell into confusion. He truly felt that "love" was a very complicated thing.
He couldn't figure it out.
"If you can't figure it out, then go and explore. As long as you have the determination to find out, then one day, everything will become clear." Amei patted her clothes, stood up, and said with a smile, "Ah Xuan, don't be afraid to face this matter."
Su Xuan looked at Amelia Su and swallowed.
…
After a while, he went to the second floor of the teahouse with his head down and sat down at the table by the window.
The man who had been sitting quietly for a long time put down his tea bowl when he saw him.
There are not many people on the second floor, it is very quiet.
And in this silence, the man did not mention Su Xuan's avoidance for the past two weeks. He just said slowly: "Ah Xuan, you and your mother came to the capital a year ago, right?"
Su Xuan nodded silently.
The man whispered, "A year ago, Ah Qi and I went to Anpingfang in search of a Tiptoe and entered the Spring Moon Pavilion. Sure enough, the Tiptoe appeared, intending to kill a phoenix. However, the phoenix and several sorcerers teamed up to slay him. That night, the Spring Moon Pavilion was reduced to ruins, and many people were implicated. Afterwards, the phoenix fell into a coma, and the sorcerers quickly took him away, and we have never found any trace of them since."
Su Xuan didn't know why Gu Lanyu told him this and was a little confused.
He raised his head, and seeing him finally raise his head, Gu Lanyu finally smiled and said, "But I don't have any memory of that night."
Su Xuan was stunned.
"Maybe I was possessed, and the soul that possessed me left me a message." Gu Lanyu took something out of his sleeve and put it on the table.
Su Xuan took a look and saw that it was a piece of paper made of strange material with two words written on it in a sharp handwriting.
——Su Xuan.
Su Xuan was stunned. He took the paper and asked in surprise, "What is this? Why is my name written on it?"
"I don't know," Gu Lanyu stared at him and said slowly, "Ever since then, I've been wondering what this is. It looks like a person's name, but who is 'Su Xuan'? What was the purpose of that spirit leaving me this name?"
"Ah Qi said that night at Chunyue Pavilion, I was with a young lady—no, a 'young lady' dressed as a woman?" Gu Shuo chuckled. "He said I was very close to that person and asked me when I had a crush on someone, but I had no idea who he was talking about. And when I first met you, Ah Qi secretly told me that you looked a lot like that 'young lady' that night."
Su Xuan's expression changed slightly.
This was exactly what he had gotten out of Ah Qi by interrogating him half a month ago, but Ah Qi had not told him in detail at that time - what Ah Qi meant by "really similar" was that Su Xuan looked very similar to a 'young lady' that Gu Lanyu had once "fallen in love with".
Ah Qi even felt that Gu Lanyu treated Su Xuan differently precisely because of Su Xuan's face that resembled the "young lady".
Because Su Xuan is like Gu Lanyu's "old friend", Gu Lanyu knows Su Xuan's identity as a monster but does not expose it. He often comes to see him and protects him every time.
But in this case, wouldn’t Su Xuan become someone else’s substitute?
As soon as Su Xuan heard what Ah Qi said at that time, the string in his head broke.
What does it mean to collapse? Su Xuan was really collapsed at that time. He even felt the discomfort of being unable to breathe even though he was not drowning in the water.
But after hearing what Gu Lanyu said, Su Xuan realized that things were not what Ah Qi understood at all...
"I never told anyone about the night I was possessed, so even Ah Qi didn't know. The person that night wasn't actually me, but a ghost from nowhere."
"I am indeed curious about you, but I initially approached you simply out of curiosity, with no other purpose. I just wanted to know about that soul, or should I say... why, many years later, I would care so much about a person named Su Xuan."
Su Xuan's eyes widened. He was shocked and said, "Do you think the person possessing you is... yourself many years later?"
"Well, that's what I guess," Gu Shuo chuckled. "So, what exactly is the relationship between Ah Xuan and I? If we behave so intimately, then are Ah Xuan and I 'husband and wife'?"
The man whispered these two words between his lips and teeth, and Su Xuan's heart skipped a beat.
His face became hot uncontrollably and his heart began to beat wildly.
The man stared at him, and his throat felt dry and his mind went blank.
Su Xuan was stunned for a long time, then he reacted and stammered with a red face, "But, but if you just think that you and I... can't be together because of speculation, then, then you don't really like me, this is not right... I..."
Su Xuan was completely incoherent.
Gu Lanyu laughed.
He stretched out his hand and gently placed it on the back of Su Xuan's hand.
Su Xuan's heart trembled, and Gu Lanyu slowly said, "Of course I know. Ah Xuan, when I first met you, I was just curious about the relationship between you and me in the future, and I wanted to understand you. In fact, I never thought I could be attracted to a man, or rather, I never thought I could be attracted to anyone."
"My father is a nine-tailed fox, and I was born with half a spirit core in my body."
As Gu Shuo spoke, Su Xuan clearly felt that this man had opened his spiritual body to him.
This means allowing Su Xuan to explore his body.
Su Xuan was stunned and looked at Gu Lanyu intently.
Gu Lanyu's eyes were also encouraging him.
Su Xuan paused, then tried to carefully extend the spiritual power into the latter's body. As the spiritual power veins went up, Su Xuan touched a powerful and violent spiritual power ball, and only half of a spiritual core in the spiritual power ball.
At this moment, Su Xuan's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realized why this man had such a weak body and why the doctor had asserted that he would not live past the age of twenty-six.
Having said this, Gu Lanyu coughed twice, his face finally turning pale. After coughing, he took a breath and said, "Ah Xuan, my body can't support me to live for too long, and I shouldn't delay anyone. When I first met you, I really thought so."
He smiled bitterly, and that smile also clearly conveyed a message.
——But he eventually went against his original will and fell into it without control or ability to stop.
No matter what his original intention was when he approached Su Xuan, to this day, he still came to see him day after day despite Su Xuan's avoidance, just hoping that Su Xuan could see him again and listen to his explanation.
What this feeling is, how clear it is.
Su Xuan was stunned.
He felt as if everything in the world had disappeared. For a moment, he could only see Gu Lanyu and hear Gu Lanyu's voice.
His mind was affected by the man's every breath.
All the senses seemed to be twisted into a rope, about to explode in a burst of heat.
The man looked at him and whispered, "I came to see you in such a weak body, hoping that you would stay with me. Perhaps I am too selfish."
"But I still want to ask, Ah Xuan, would you be willing to call me Ah Shuo from now on?"
Su Xuan said stupidly: "A Shuo?"
He had heard of it.
Among mortals, only the closest people can call each other by their names directly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
