Edited: 01.24.2024
Gu Yan had the intention to make Ye Zi his wife but Ye Zi naturally wouldn’t agree that easily.
Relying on his status as the Heavenly Deity, that man didn’t take mortal things seriously at all. In his opinion, both money and status on earth were useless to him.
But Ye Zi was not like that.
After arriving here, he could no longer be like before, following Gu Yan around and having him protect him. He wanted to use his own strength to stand by Gu Yan’s side.
Gu Yan understood his thoughts and in the end, the two of them each took a step back. Gu Yan used some tricks to stay in the branch where Ye Zi was interning as his chairman, while Ye Zi stayed in the company as the chairman’s intern secretary.
Ye Zi’s concession gave Gu Yan a lot of convenience.
In the chairman’s office, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows revealed the busy traffic outside and two overlapping figures were vaguely visible on the leather sofa.
“No, no, Zicheng……nghhh, Mr. Gu……” Ye Zi’s voice was filled with tears and he almost sank into the soft sofa. His hands tightened unconsciously and his knuckles turned white, leaving mottled marks on the surface of the luxurious sofa.
Ye Zi couldn’t bear it as he sobbed and begged for mercy in the other person’s ear, but he was bullied even more wantonly.
After a while, the man on top of his body finally relaxed his strength. Gu Yan hugged him tenderly and kissed him softly on the face. Ye Zi’s eyes were filled with moisture and a small layer of sweat broke out on his forehead. It took him a long time to recover from the excessive pleasure.
Gu Yan hugged Ye Zi and lay on the sofa. His fingers traced the scratches on the sofa, which were just caused by Ye Zi: “Those who don’t know would think I own a kitten, look at all these scratch marks.”
Ye Zi’s profile reddened and he tilted his head in embarrassment, whispering: “I’ll go buy a new one this afternoon.”
Gu Yan pressed close to Ye Zi’s ear and whispered back: “No need, I like it like this.”
He retracted his hand and the scratches seemed to be covered with a light layer of mist, soon disappearing without a trace. Ye Zi knew that Gu Yan had put a spell on it so no one else should be able to see it except the two of them.
Ye Zi turned his head with some embarrassment and the small electronic clock on the coffee table reflected the current time.
Ye Zi froze and hurriedly pushed Gu Yan: “Time is running out, you still have a meeting to attend……”
Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Yan pressed him down on the sofa and kissed him firmly. After he was satisfied with the kiss, Gu Yan smiled contentedly, then slowly got up and picked up the crumpled suit from the ground.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be late.”
Ye Zi leaned on the sofa, enjoying the sight of Gu Yan re-dressing himself with a straight face.
Gu Yan became familiar with life in modern society faster than Ye Zi imagined. His movements were unhurried, showing elegance and calmness no matter where he was.
He was tall and slender, with long legs and a thin waist, but he did not look thin at all. His movements showed smooth muscle lines, which made Ye Zi feel a little distracted.
Gu Yan put on his shirt, turned around, and saw the way Ye Zi was looking at him. He bent down in front of him and curled his lips: “A Zi, if you look at me like that again, I don’t mind using some power to pause time.”
Ye Zi immediately understood what he meant. His cheeks turned red and he pushed the other person gently: “No! Is the divine power given supposed to be used this casually?”
Gu Yan smiled and didn’t reply.
Even if he were the noble Heavenly Deity, divine power would be greatly reduced in the mortal world and could not be wasted at will. This was what he had told Ye Zi.
Gu Yan buttoned up the buttons unhurriedly and inadvertently passed his palm over the folds of the clothes. The original wrinkles suddenly disappeared without a trace, as if they had been carefully ironed.
Ye Zi closed his eyes and pretended to be blind, pretending not to see him messing around with his divine power again.
After the two finished dressing, Ye Zi wanted to go to the meeting with Gu Yan, but Gu Yan didn’t agree.
Gu Yan said without any doubt: “It’s just a routine meeting, what’s the point? Just rest here and don’t mess around.”
Ye Zi fought a bit: “But don’t we have an endorsement to talk about later?”
“That one has already been settled, we just have to meet to sign a contract, you don’t need to come.” Gu Yan kissed Ye Zi’s forehead and whispered, “I’ll be back soon, think about what you want to eat tonight and then I’ll take you there.”
Ye Zi couldn’t win against him and only agreed: “Okay.”
After Gu Yan left the office, Ye Zi didn’t stay idle. He returned to his desk and continued to organize his work documents.
Ye Zi never neglected his work because Gu Yan favored him.
He had received too much preferential treatment from Gu Yan before. In that era when he couldn’t help himself, Ye Zi could hardly do without Gu Yan’s protection. But when he came back here, he didn’t want to do that again.
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He wanted to become truly excellent and mature, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with that person with his own abilities as soon as possible.
Whether it was working in the mortal world or ascending to the Divine Realm in the future.
What the others could do, he could also do by himself.
Gu Yan understood what he was thinking so as the days continued, except for such innocuous meetings where Gu Yan would let him take a break, most of the time, Gu Yan didn’t treat him particularly favorably.
Ye Zi quickly finished organizing the documents. He rubbed his eyes, leaned on the soft and moderate back of the chair, and stretched.
Suddenly, there was a gentle noise coming from outside the window.
Ye Zi squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound. A blurry gray figure hung in the air outside the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Ye Zi was stunned and walked quickly to the window.
It was a small gray sparrow that was tapping on the glass window with its tiny beak. Ye Zi hurriedly opened the window and a small fluffy round gray ball flew in and rolled down onto the fluffy carpet.
Ye Zi was shocked: “Little sparrow?!”
The little gray sparrow climbed up on the carpet, shook its dazed head, raised its head, and spread its wings towards Ye Zi: “Little Leaf, I finally found you.”
Ye Zi carried the little gray sparrow back to the table: “Why are you here?”
The little gray sparrow didn’t answer. It turned its head to look around and asked: “Little Leaf, do you have anything to eat?”
Ye Zi thought for a moment and found some nuts from Gu Yan’s desk and placed them in front of the little thing.
The little gray sparrow seemed to be very hungry and started to peck at it without saying anything. Ye Zi was afraid that he would choke, so he poured him a glass of water. After eating and drinking, the little gray sparrow sat down on the table with his round stomach and said aggrievedly: “I also don’t know why I came here. I was originally with A Xuan, but one day when I woke up, I suddenly arrived here. I have been looking for you guys for a long time……”
As soon as Ye Zi heard him say this, he more or less guessed that the little gray sparrow was probably also pulled from that original world just like him and Gu Yan.
But why exactly?
His soul was pulled to his previous life by Lord Xuanxu in order to help Gu Yan go through his tribulation. Both his and Gu Yan’s souls were outsiders. After the tribulation was over, they would naturally leave that world.
However, the little gray sparrow was actually a part of that world, so why would he be pulled here as well?
Ye Zi couldn’t figure it out and could only wait for Gu Yan to come back so he could ask him. However, the little gray sparrow suddenly jumped into his hand: “Little Leaf, you have to do me a favor, A Xuan…..”
“Gu Xuan?” Ye Zi was stunned: “Gu Xuan also came here?”
“Yeah, wait, no, he’s been living here all along. He is not the same as the old A Xuan, but I know he is still A Xuan. He is the A Xuan that lives here, he……” The little gray sparrow was so anxious that he was incoherent and couldn’t be understood. He pulled Ye Zi’s sleeve along and continued: “Come with me, I’ll take you to see A Xuan.”
Ye Zi hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow the little gray sparrow out of the company.
But the little gray sparrow didn’t take him elsewhere. He pulled Ye Zi to the intersection under the company and fluttered his wings twice: “Look, A Xuan is there.”
Ye Zi looked in the direction he pointed. There was a huge poster hanging in the shopping mall across the road. On the poster, only half of the man’s face was exposed, with a deep outline and a cold and indifferent expression.
That face was indeed Gu Xuan.
Ye Zi had passed by this place many times in the past few days, but not once had he paid attention to that poster across the road. He narrowed his eyes and saw the name on that poster.
——Lu Zhixuan.
It wasn’t Gu Xuan.
Ye Zi pursed his lips and asked tentatively: “Little sparrow, are you sure that’s Gu Xuan?”
“Mnn, I can recognize him anywhere, he’s A Xuan.” The little gray sparrow stood on Ye Zi’s shoulder as his gaze darkened: “But he no longer recognizes me.”
Ye Zi asked: “You went to see him?”
“I went to see him.” The little gray sparrow said: “I went to his house, he fed me food and then kicked me out.”
The little gray sparrow said indignantly: “He also said that he doesn’t raise birds and his tone was exactly the same as the old A Xuan!”
Ye Zi: “……”
Ye Zi was silent for a moment. He held the little gray sparrow in his palm and walked back slowly. After a moment of deliberation, he said: “Little sparrow, I don’t know exactly why you are here, but I believe that you already have an understanding of this place. This place is many, many years after the world you originally lived in.”
The little gray sparrow’s eyes widened in shock: “Many years later?”
“That’s right.” Ye Zi said, “So, the Gu Xuan you see right now is no longer the same guy as before. I think Lu Zhixuan should be the reincarnation of Gu Xuan.”
A confused look appeared in the little gray sparrow’s eyes, as if it was hard to understand Ye Zi’s words for a moment: “But he’s A Xuan, I can feel it……”
“He is indeed Gu Xuan, but he has lost all his past memories and has been reincarnated again.” Ye Zi said, “So he has forgotten everything that happened between you two. Do you understand?”
“He forgot……”
The little gray sparrow lowered his head and the light in his eyes dimmed a bit. But after a while, he raised his head again and seemed to have made up his mind: “It doesn’t matter if he forgets. I still remember and as long as he is still A Xuan, I can remind him.”
“Little sparrow……” Ye Zi’s expression became softer.
He didn’t know if the little gray sparrow was really as calm and indifferent as he showed, but there was indeed a hint of courage hidden in his small body that was beyond the reach of Ye Zi. If it were Ye Zi, he would never be able to accept this so calmly.
Ye Zi nodded: “Don’t worry little sparrow, I will help you.”
“Really? Little Leaf, you are amazing!” The little gray sparrow flew in front of Ye Zi and barred a kiss on his face.
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And thus, as one person and one bird walked back into the company lobby, they stumbled upon Gu Yan who walked out from the elevator.
Gu Yan: “……”
Ye Zi: “……”
Gu Yan sensed that Ye Zi had left the company during the meeting, but fortunately noticed that the person hadn’t gone too far and didn’t rush to look for him. At this moment, the meeting was over so Gu Yan found an excuse to send off his client and went to find his own little secretary on the way.
But who knew that as soon as he went downstairs, he saw Ye Zi being taken advantage of by a familiar small furry ball.
……Why couldn’t this little sparrow just disappear?
Gu Yan’s expression suddenly became extremely dark and Ye Zi froze in place when he caught his gaze. Behind Gu Yan, a tall man walked out.
The man was wearing sunglasses, which blocked most of his face, and his voice was clear and warm when he opened his mouth: “Mr. Gu, you can just drop me off here, my driver is right outside.”
It was Lu Zhixuan.
It was only then that Ye Zi remembered that the spokesperson Gu Yan wanted to meet today was indeed Lu Zhixuan.
Lu Zhixuan debuted as an actor. After five years, he won three Film Emperor awards in one fell swoop. He was one of the few domestic artists whose acting skills and popularity coexist and the company spent a lot of effort to hire him as an endorsement.
However, Ye Zi was not originally involved in this part of the work, so he didn’t know much about it.
As soon as the little gray sparrow saw Lu Zhixuan, he hurriedly flew to him, but he didn’t dare to speak in front of others and could only surround Lu Zhixuan with non-stop chirps.
Lu Zhixuan’s eyebrows wrinkled slightly and he tilted his head: “It’s you again?”
It’s me, it’s me. The little gray sparrow spread its wings and chirped twice cheerfully.
Gu Yan turned his head to look at the person and the bird, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly: “Little Lu, is that your bird? It seems to like you very much.”
“No…..” Lu Zhixuan subconsciously wanted to retort, but the little gray sparrow’s obsidian eyes stared at him, making his heart twitch slightly.
This wasn’t the first time he saw the little gray sparrow. He didn’t know since when, but this bird always wandered around him. When he finally noticed it, it would fly away in panic. It was clearly just a bird, but Lu Zhixuan felt that those eyes looked particularly familiar, as if they had seen each other before.
Suddenly, Lu Zhixuan opened his palm and the little gray sparrow immediately flew into his palm, looking up at him.
He met those clear eyes and curled his lips: “Yes, this is my bird.”
Gu Yan smiled and stretched out his hand towards Lu Zhixuan: “I still have things to do now so I won’t accompany you any longer. Let’s have a good cooperation.”
“Indeed.” Lu Zhixuan shook Gu Yan’s hand and left with the little gray sparrow.
Ye Zi watched them leave, and just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he noticed the cold gaze coming from behind. Gu Yan strode up to him and looked down at him with a half-smile: “A Zi, aren’t you going to explain what happened just now?”
Of course, explanations were needed, but where he would explain would still have to be determined by Gu Yan.
The sound of gurgling water came from the bathroom and the bathroom was soon filled with steam. A hand weakly clung to the edge of the bathtub as he was bullied until he had no strength left. Ye Zi raised his head and looked at the light fixture above his head. The fine light shone on him and his body was forced to tremble unconsciously by the surging pleasure.
Since coming here, Gu Yan, relying on the fact that he had recovered his divine status, treated Ye Zi more and more wantonly.
If it wasn’t for Ye Zi’s superior recovery ability, he wouldn’t have been able to take it anymore.
But it had to be said that Ye Zi liked this kind of Gu Yan.
He liked it very much.
After a while, the sound of water stopped. Ye Zi half-closed his eyes and leaned on Gu Yan, allowing the man to help him clean up.
He squinted his eyes comfortably: “In that case, the little gray sparrow has also gained an immortal status?”
“That’s right.” Gu Yan kissed his bare shoulder and explained: “He already had a core, and after ingesting your immortal dew by mistake and transforming into a human, he has long been ranked as a semi-immortal. Although it’s only considered the lowest level of existence in the Divine Realm, it’s at least considered as transcending from this world.”
He let out a light smile: “Although that little sparrow is a bit silly, his immortal fate isn’t bad.”
Ye Zi was keenly aware of the strangeness: “Why are you not surprised at all? And Gu Xuan’s reincarnation…….could it be, are you the one who brought the little sparrow?”
“I did.” Gu Yan was silent for a moment and gave a truthful account: “He took shape because of you, but you had left that world. And in order to maintain the order of that world, he naturally couldn’t stay there for long. Thus, I sent someone to pull him here too.”
Ye Zi frowned: “But it was so hard for him and Gu Xuan to be together, and now this……”
Gu Yan caressed Ye Zi twice and said warmly: “And how do you know that Gu Xuan didn’t come with him?”
Ye Zi was stunned: “Gu Xuan, he——”
Gu Yan tapped him on the head: “In your eyes, am I a cold-blooded and heartless person who destroys others’ marriages?”
Ye Zi covered his forehead and retorted in a weak voice: “Of course not……”
Gu Yan said: “In the end, everything happened because of me. Whether it’s you, the little sparrow, or Gu Xuan, their original fates were changed because of me. Since things have turned out like this and their fates have been changed irrevocably, why don’t I be the good guy who goes along with the flow and allow them to get what they want?”
“Think of it as thanking them for the kindness they showed me back then during the tribulation.”
Ye Zi still didn’t understand and asked doubtfully: “If Lu Zhixuan is Gu Xuan, why doesn’t he remember the little sparrow?”
Gu Yan said: “When mortals penetrate time, it is a costly thing. When you went to the past, weren’t you also knocked back to your original form? And it even took you ten whole years to recover.”
“In that case, doesn’t the little sparrow still have to wait for a long time?”
“Wait?” Gu Yan snorted: “Did you not see those two today? Lu Zhixuan has already brought that stupid bird home, do you think they’ll need to wait much longer?”
“That’s also……true.” Ye Zi mused for a moment: “I hope that the little sparrow will make Lu Zhixuan remember soon.”
Gu Yan lowered his eyes to look at him and his eyes wrinkled: “A Zi.”
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Ye Zi raised his eyes and met the other party’s deep gaze.
Gu Yan touched his face, his voice almost soft: “Didn’t I tell you that if you think about other men in my arms, you will be severely punished?”
Ye Zi instinctively sensed that something was wrong and was about to escape, but was grabbed by the waist and pushed into the water.
Gu Yan pressed close to Ye Zi’s ear and whispered: “A Zi, tell me, how should I punish you?”
Ye Zi flailed in the water with the hand that could still move and struggled: “Gu Zicheng, you’re not the Emperor anymore, you can’t do this to me, nghh……”
Gu Yan didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence and kissed him without saying a word. He continued kissing the person until he ran out of breath.
A moment later, Gu Yan let go of him and smiled wryly: “But I am now your boss. Little secretary, there is a saying you probably haven’t heard, ‘if there are things to do, call the secretary. But if there is nothing to do……’[1]”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of his words were completely drowned out by the splashing water.
Before losing consciousness, Ye Zi weakly clung to Gu Yan’s shoulders and realized with tears in his eyes that he seemed to have dug another big hole for himself.
From that day on, when Lu Zhixuan attended various events, a chubby little sparrow would always be beside him. Chirp, chirp, always on call.
Ye Zi’s secretarial work in the company was gradually getting on track. He was a quick learner and helped Gu Yan keep things in order. However, precisely because of this, there have been a lot of rumors in the company.
Without exception, they all suspected his relationship with Gu Yan.
As the rumors continued to spread, even Ye Zi’s roommate, Wu Xiaofeng, began to waver.
But what he didn’t understand was how this man, who had never been in love since he was a child and was so dull that he was almost sexually frigid, managed to climb into the upper echelons.
No one dared to ask more questions, but Wu Xiaofeng had been friends with Ye Zi for many years, and with the attitude and sense of responsibility that he wouldn’t let this person step into the fire pit, he took advantage of his off-duty time to pull Ye Zi to a corner where no one was.
Wu Xiaofeng seriously asked: “What’s going on with you?”
Ye Zi was confused by his headless question and asked back: “What do you mean?”
Wu Xiaofeng asked: “Mr. Gu, what’s your relationship with him?”
Ye Zi was embarrassed to say this to his friend and said awkwardly: “There’s no relation, I’m just a secretary…….”
“Just a secretary?”
“Yes.” Ye Zi nodded furiously: “Just a secretary.”
Wu Xiaofeng breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good, I thought……”
Before he finished his sentence, he changed his words: “Forget it, just be careful. Big bosses like him are not easy to mess with. You won’t even know if you were deceived by him later.”
Ye Zi had indeed been deceived by Gu Yan quite often. It was unknown what came to his mind, but he pursed his lips and smiled: “If he is lying to me, then it’s true that I won’t be able to tell.”
Wu Xiaofeng didn’t pay attention to his expression and just nodded: “Right, so have to be careful, you……”
Ye Zi said softly: “But that’s okay, I’ll happily let him deceive me.”
Wu Xiaofeng didn’t hear him: “What did you say?”
“N-Nothing.”
Wu Xiaofeng glanced at him suspiciously and continued: “Also, if he asks you out after work, you must not go. Even if it’s a simple meal, you must reject him. And a hotel is an even bigger no-no.”
Hearing this, Ye Zi finally understood the reason why Wu Xiaofeng was mysteriously looking for him.
He paused and replied: “We don’t go to hotels.”
“Mnn, that’s good——”
Ye Zi continued: “We just go straight home.”
Wu Xiaofeng: “……”
This time he could hear Ye Zi’s words clearly, but he seemed to feel that he was imagining things. Wu Xiaofeng stared blankly at Ye Zi’s face and then asked in confusion: “What did you just say, say it again. What exactly are you and Mr. Gu……”
Ye Zi raised his eyes to look at him and was about to answer when his eyes suddenly froze.
Not far behind Wu Xiaofeng, Gu Yan had been leaning against the wall at some point and was watching him quietly.
The slanting rays of the setting sun reflected on Gu Yan through the glass window, making his shadow extremely long.
Gu Yan was facing the light and Ye Zi couldn’t see his face clearly, but this did not prevent him from feeling the lingering affection in the man’s eyes.
Just like what Ye Zi had in his eyes.
Ye Zi gazed at Gu Yan for a moment and the corner of his mouth raised in a shallow smile.
“He is someone I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Not just for this life, but for all the lifetimes to come, no matter what.
-END
t/n: Anddd this concludes this series! Once again, thank you everyone for reading and following me on this journey! I plan to take a month break (to focus on my study because I’m graduating this year >.<) and will come back on March 4th for a new project!
In the meantime, please leave some suggestions below of which novel I should tackle next, I don’t really have a specific taste in genre so go all out, but would prefer novels that don’t have too big of an age gap or underage undertones!!
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[1] If there are things to do, call the secretary. But if there is nothing to do, then you “do” the secretary. i.e. f*ck/sex. ↩
Edited: 01.24.2024
Gu Yan had the intention to make Ye Zi his wife but Ye Zi naturally wouldn’t agree that easily.
Relying on his status as the Heavenly Deity, that man didn’t take mortal things seriously at all. In his opinion, both money and status on earth were useless to him.
But Ye Zi was not like that.
After arriving here, he could no longer be like before, following Gu Yan around and having him protect him. He wanted to use his own strength to stand by Gu Yan’s side.
Gu Yan understood his thoughts and in the end, the two of them each took a step back. Gu Yan used some tricks to stay in the branch where Ye Zi was interning as his chairman, while Ye Zi stayed in the company as the chairman’s intern secretary.
Ye Zi’s concession gave Gu Yan a lot of convenience.
In the chairman’s office, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows revealed the busy traffic outside and two overlapping figures were vaguely visible on the leather sofa.
“No, no, Zicheng……nghhh, Mr. Gu……” Ye Zi’s voice was filled with tears and he almost sank into the soft sofa. His hands tightened unconsciously and his knuckles turned white, leaving mottled marks on the surface of the luxurious sofa.
Ye Zi couldn’t bear it as he sobbed and begged for mercy in the other person’s ear, but he was bullied even more wantonly.
After a while, the man on top of his body finally relaxed his strength. Gu Yan hugged him tenderly and kissed him softly on the face. Ye Zi’s eyes were filled with moisture and a small layer of sweat broke out on his forehead. It took him a long time to recover from the excessive pleasure.
Gu Yan hugged Ye Zi and lay on the sofa. His fingers traced the scratches on the sofa, which were just caused by Ye Zi: “Those who don’t know would think I own a kitten, look at all these scratch marks.”
Ye Zi’s profile reddened and he tilted his head in embarrassment, whispering: “I’ll go buy a new one this afternoon.”
Gu Yan pressed close to Ye Zi’s ear and whispered back: “No need, I like it like this.”
He retracted his hand and the scratches seemed to be covered with a light layer of mist, soon disappearing without a trace. Ye Zi knew that Gu Yan had put a spell on it so no one else should be able to see it except the two of them.
Ye Zi turned his head with some embarrassment and the small electronic clock on the coffee table reflected the current time.
Ye Zi froze and hurriedly pushed Gu Yan: “Time is running out, you still have a meeting to attend……”
Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Yan pressed him down on the sofa and kissed him firmly. After he was satisfied with the kiss, Gu Yan smiled contentedly, then slowly got up and picked up the crumpled suit from the ground.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be late.”
Ye Zi leaned on the sofa, enjoying the sight of Gu Yan re-dressing himself with a straight face.
Gu Yan became familiar with life in modern society faster than Ye Zi imagined. His movements were unhurried, showing elegance and calmness no matter where he was.
He was tall and slender, with long legs and a thin waist, but he did not look thin at all. His movements showed smooth muscle lines, which made Ye Zi feel a little distracted.
Gu Yan put on his shirt, turned around, and saw the way Ye Zi was looking at him. He bent down in front of him and curled his lips: “A Zi, if you look at me like that again, I don’t mind using some power to pause time.”
Ye Zi immediately understood what he meant. His cheeks turned red and he pushed the other person gently: “No! Is the divine power given supposed to be used this casually?”
Gu Yan smiled and didn’t reply.
Even if he were the noble Heavenly Deity, divine power would be greatly reduced in the mortal world and could not be wasted at will. This was what he had told Ye Zi.
Gu Yan buttoned up the buttons unhurriedly and inadvertently passed his palm over the folds of the clothes. The original wrinkles suddenly disappeared without a trace, as if they had been carefully ironed.
Ye Zi closed his eyes and pretended to be blind, pretending not to see him messing around with his divine power again.
After the two finished dressing, Ye Zi wanted to go to the meeting with Gu Yan, but Gu Yan didn’t agree.
Gu Yan said without any doubt: “It’s just a routine meeting, what’s the point? Just rest here and don’t mess around.”
Ye Zi fought a bit: “But don’t we have an endorsement to talk about later?”
“That one has already been settled, we just have to meet to sign a contract, you don’t need to come.” Gu Yan kissed Ye Zi’s forehead and whispered, “I’ll be back soon, think about what you want to eat tonight and then I’ll take you there.”
Ye Zi couldn’t win against him and only agreed: “Okay.”
After Gu Yan left the office, Ye Zi didn’t stay idle. He returned to his desk and continued to organize his work documents.
Ye Zi never neglected his work because Gu Yan favored him.
He had received too much preferential treatment from Gu Yan before. In that era when he couldn’t help himself, Ye Zi could hardly do without Gu Yan’s protection. But when he came back here, he didn’t want to do that again.
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He wanted to become truly excellent and mature, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with that person with his own abilities as soon as possible.
Whether it was working in the mortal world or ascending to the Divine Realm in the future.
What the others could do, he could also do by himself.
Gu Yan understood what he was thinking so as the days continued, except for such innocuous meetings where Gu Yan would let him take a break, most of the time, Gu Yan didn’t treat him particularly favorably.
Ye Zi quickly finished organizing the documents. He rubbed his eyes, leaned on the soft and moderate back of the chair, and stretched.
Suddenly, there was a gentle noise coming from outside the window.
Ye Zi squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound. A blurry gray figure hung in the air outside the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Ye Zi was stunned and walked quickly to the window.
It was a small gray sparrow that was tapping on the glass window with its tiny beak. Ye Zi hurriedly opened the window and a small fluffy round gray ball flew in and rolled down onto the fluffy carpet.
Ye Zi was shocked: “Little sparrow?!”
The little gray sparrow climbed up on the carpet, shook its dazed head, raised its head, and spread its wings towards Ye Zi: “Little Leaf, I finally found you.”
Ye Zi carried the little gray sparrow back to the table: “Why are you here?”
The little gray sparrow didn’t answer. It turned its head to look around and asked: “Little Leaf, do you have anything to eat?”
Ye Zi thought for a moment and found some nuts from Gu Yan’s desk and placed them in front of the little thing.
The little gray sparrow seemed to be very hungry and started to peck at it without saying anything. Ye Zi was afraid that he would choke, so he poured him a glass of water. After eating and drinking, the little gray sparrow sat down on the table with his round stomach and said aggrievedly: “I also don’t know why I came here. I was originally with A Xuan, but one day when I woke up, I suddenly arrived here. I have been looking for you guys for a long time……”
As soon as Ye Zi heard him say this, he more or less guessed that the little gray sparrow was probably also pulled from that original world just like him and Gu Yan.
But why exactly?
His soul was pulled to his previous life by Lord Xuanxu in order to help Gu Yan go through his tribulation. Both his and Gu Yan’s souls were outsiders. After the tribulation was over, they would naturally leave that world.
However, the little gray sparrow was actually a part of that world, so why would he be pulled here as well?
Ye Zi couldn’t figure it out and could only wait for Gu Yan to come back so he could ask him. However, the little gray sparrow suddenly jumped into his hand: “Little Leaf, you have to do me a favor, A Xuan…..”
“Gu Xuan?” Ye Zi was stunned: “Gu Xuan also came here?”
“Yeah, wait, no, he’s been living here all along. He is not the same as the old A Xuan, but I know he is still A Xuan. He is the A Xuan that lives here, he……” The little gray sparrow was so anxious that he was incoherent and couldn’t be understood. He pulled Ye Zi’s sleeve along and continued: “Come with me, I’ll take you to see A Xuan.”
Ye Zi hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow the little gray sparrow out of the company.
But the little gray sparrow didn’t take him elsewhere. He pulled Ye Zi to the intersection under the company and fluttered his wings twice: “Look, A Xuan is there.”
Ye Zi looked in the direction he pointed. There was a huge poster hanging in the shopping mall across the road. On the poster, only half of the man’s face was exposed, with a deep outline and a cold and indifferent expression.
That face was indeed Gu Xuan.
Ye Zi had passed by this place many times in the past few days, but not once had he paid attention to that poster across the road. He narrowed his eyes and saw the name on that poster.
——Lu Zhixuan.
It wasn’t Gu Xuan.
Ye Zi pursed his lips and asked tentatively: “Little sparrow, are you sure that’s Gu Xuan?”
“Mnn, I can recognize him anywhere, he’s A Xuan.” The little gray sparrow stood on Ye Zi’s shoulder as his gaze darkened: “But he no longer recognizes me.”
Ye Zi asked: “You went to see him?”
“I went to see him.” The little gray sparrow said: “I went to his house, he fed me food and then kicked me out.”
The little gray sparrow said indignantly: “He also said that he doesn’t raise birds and his tone was exactly the same as the old A Xuan!”
Ye Zi: “……”
Ye Zi was silent for a moment. He held the little gray sparrow in his palm and walked back slowly. After a moment of deliberation, he said: “Little sparrow, I don’t know exactly why you are here, but I believe that you already have an understanding of this place. This place is many, many years after the world you originally lived in.”
The little gray sparrow’s eyes widened in shock: “Many years later?”
“That’s right.” Ye Zi said, “So, the Gu Xuan you see right now is no longer the same guy as before. I think Lu Zhixuan should be the reincarnation of Gu Xuan.”
A confused look appeared in the little gray sparrow’s eyes, as if it was hard to understand Ye Zi’s words for a moment: “But he’s A Xuan, I can feel it……”
“He is indeed Gu Xuan, but he has lost all his past memories and has been reincarnated again.” Ye Zi said, “So he has forgotten everything that happened between you two. Do you understand?”
“He forgot……”
The little gray sparrow lowered his head and the light in his eyes dimmed a bit. But after a while, he raised his head again and seemed to have made up his mind: “It doesn’t matter if he forgets. I still remember and as long as he is still A Xuan, I can remind him.”
“Little sparrow……” Ye Zi’s expression became softer.
He didn’t know if the little gray sparrow was really as calm and indifferent as he showed, but there was indeed a hint of courage hidden in his small body that was beyond the reach of Ye Zi. If it were Ye Zi, he would never be able to accept this so calmly.
Ye Zi nodded: “Don’t worry little sparrow, I will help you.”
“Really? Little Leaf, you are amazing!” The little gray sparrow flew in front of Ye Zi and barred a kiss on his face.
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And thus, as one person and one bird walked back into the company lobby, they stumbled upon Gu Yan who walked out from the elevator.
Gu Yan: “……”
Ye Zi: “……”
Gu Yan sensed that Ye Zi had left the company during the meeting, but fortunately noticed that the person hadn’t gone too far and didn’t rush to look for him. At this moment, the meeting was over so Gu Yan found an excuse to send off his client and went to find his own little secretary on the way.
But who knew that as soon as he went downstairs, he saw Ye Zi being taken advantage of by a familiar small furry ball.
……Why couldn’t this little sparrow just disappear?
Gu Yan’s expression suddenly became extremely dark and Ye Zi froze in place when he caught his gaze. Behind Gu Yan, a tall man walked out.
The man was wearing sunglasses, which blocked most of his face, and his voice was clear and warm when he opened his mouth: “Mr. Gu, you can just drop me off here, my driver is right outside.”
It was Lu Zhixuan.
It was only then that Ye Zi remembered that the spokesperson Gu Yan wanted to meet today was indeed Lu Zhixuan.
Lu Zhixuan debuted as an actor. After five years, he won three Film Emperor awards in one fell swoop. He was one of the few domestic artists whose acting skills and popularity coexist and the company spent a lot of effort to hire him as an endorsement.
However, Ye Zi was not originally involved in this part of the work, so he didn’t know much about it.
As soon as the little gray sparrow saw Lu Zhixuan, he hurriedly flew to him, but he didn’t dare to speak in front of others and could only surround Lu Zhixuan with non-stop chirps.
Lu Zhixuan’s eyebrows wrinkled slightly and he tilted his head: “It’s you again?”
It’s me, it’s me. The little gray sparrow spread its wings and chirped twice cheerfully.
Gu Yan turned his head to look at the person and the bird, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly: “Little Lu, is that your bird? It seems to like you very much.”
“No…..” Lu Zhixuan subconsciously wanted to retort, but the little gray sparrow’s obsidian eyes stared at him, making his heart twitch slightly.
This wasn’t the first time he saw the little gray sparrow. He didn’t know since when, but this bird always wandered around him. When he finally noticed it, it would fly away in panic. It was clearly just a bird, but Lu Zhixuan felt that those eyes looked particularly familiar, as if they had seen each other before.
Suddenly, Lu Zhixuan opened his palm and the little gray sparrow immediately flew into his palm, looking up at him.
He met those clear eyes and curled his lips: “Yes, this is my bird.”
Gu Yan smiled and stretched out his hand towards Lu Zhixuan: “I still have things to do now so I won’t accompany you any longer. Let’s have a good cooperation.”
“Indeed.” Lu Zhixuan shook Gu Yan’s hand and left with the little gray sparrow.
Ye Zi watched them leave, and just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he noticed the cold gaze coming from behind. Gu Yan strode up to him and looked down at him with a half-smile: “A Zi, aren’t you going to explain what happened just now?”
Of course, explanations were needed, but where he would explain would still have to be determined by Gu Yan.
The sound of gurgling water came from the bathroom and the bathroom was soon filled with steam. A hand weakly clung to the edge of the bathtub as he was bullied until he had no strength left. Ye Zi raised his head and looked at the light fixture above his head. The fine light shone on him and his body was forced to tremble unconsciously by the surging pleasure.
Since coming here, Gu Yan, relying on the fact that he had recovered his divine status, treated Ye Zi more and more wantonly.
If it wasn’t for Ye Zi’s superior recovery ability, he wouldn’t have been able to take it anymore.
But it had to be said that Ye Zi liked this kind of Gu Yan.
He liked it very much.
After a while, the sound of water stopped. Ye Zi half-closed his eyes and leaned on Gu Yan, allowing the man to help him clean up.
He squinted his eyes comfortably: “In that case, the little gray sparrow has also gained an immortal status?”
“That’s right.” Gu Yan kissed his bare shoulder and explained: “He already had a core, and after ingesting your immortal dew by mistake and transforming into a human, he has long been ranked as a semi-immortal. Although it’s only considered the lowest level of existence in the Divine Realm, it’s at least considered as transcending from this world.”
He let out a light smile: “Although that little sparrow is a bit silly, his immortal fate isn’t bad.”
Ye Zi was keenly aware of the strangeness: “Why are you not surprised at all? And Gu Xuan’s reincarnation…….could it be, are you the one who brought the little sparrow?”
“I did.” Gu Yan was silent for a moment and gave a truthful account: “He took shape because of you, but you had left that world. And in order to maintain the order of that world, he naturally couldn’t stay there for long. Thus, I sent someone to pull him here too.”
Ye Zi frowned: “But it was so hard for him and Gu Xuan to be together, and now this……”
Gu Yan caressed Ye Zi twice and said warmly: “And how do you know that Gu Xuan didn’t come with him?”
Ye Zi was stunned: “Gu Xuan, he——”
Gu Yan tapped him on the head: “In your eyes, am I a cold-blooded and heartless person who destroys others’ marriages?”
Ye Zi covered his forehead and retorted in a weak voice: “Of course not……”
Gu Yan said: “In the end, everything happened because of me. Whether it’s you, the little sparrow, or Gu Xuan, their original fates were changed because of me. Since things have turned out like this and their fates have been changed irrevocably, why don’t I be the good guy who goes along with the flow and allow them to get what they want?”
“Think of it as thanking them for the kindness they showed me back then during the tribulation.”
Ye Zi still didn’t understand and asked doubtfully: “If Lu Zhixuan is Gu Xuan, why doesn’t he remember the little sparrow?”
Gu Yan said: “When mortals penetrate time, it is a costly thing. When you went to the past, weren’t you also knocked back to your original form? And it even took you ten whole years to recover.”
“In that case, doesn’t the little sparrow still have to wait for a long time?”
“Wait?” Gu Yan snorted: “Did you not see those two today? Lu Zhixuan has already brought that stupid bird home, do you think they’ll need to wait much longer?”
“That’s also……true.” Ye Zi mused for a moment: “I hope that the little sparrow will make Lu Zhixuan remember soon.”
Gu Yan lowered his eyes to look at him and his eyes wrinkled: “A Zi.”
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Ye Zi raised his eyes and met the other party’s deep gaze.
Gu Yan touched his face, his voice almost soft: “Didn’t I tell you that if you think about other men in my arms, you will be severely punished?”
Ye Zi instinctively sensed that something was wrong and was about to escape, but was grabbed by the waist and pushed into the water.
Gu Yan pressed close to Ye Zi’s ear and whispered: “A Zi, tell me, how should I punish you?”
Ye Zi flailed in the water with the hand that could still move and struggled: “Gu Zicheng, you’re not the Emperor anymore, you can’t do this to me, nghh……”
Gu Yan didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence and kissed him without saying a word. He continued kissing the person until he ran out of breath.
A moment later, Gu Yan let go of him and smiled wryly: “But I am now your boss. Little secretary, there is a saying you probably haven’t heard, ‘if there are things to do, call the secretary. But if there is nothing to do……’[1]”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of his words were completely drowned out by the splashing water.
Before losing consciousness, Ye Zi weakly clung to Gu Yan’s shoulders and realized with tears in his eyes that he seemed to have dug another big hole for himself.
From that day on, when Lu Zhixuan attended various events, a chubby little sparrow would always be beside him. Chirp, chirp, always on call.
Ye Zi’s secretarial work in the company was gradually getting on track. He was a quick learner and helped Gu Yan keep things in order. However, precisely because of this, there have been a lot of rumors in the company.
Without exception, they all suspected his relationship with Gu Yan.
As the rumors continued to spread, even Ye Zi’s roommate, Wu Xiaofeng, began to waver.
But what he didn’t understand was how this man, who had never been in love since he was a child and was so dull that he was almost sexually frigid, managed to climb into the upper echelons.
No one dared to ask more questions, but Wu Xiaofeng had been friends with Ye Zi for many years, and with the attitude and sense of responsibility that he wouldn’t let this person step into the fire pit, he took advantage of his off-duty time to pull Ye Zi to a corner where no one was.
Wu Xiaofeng seriously asked: “What’s going on with you?”
Ye Zi was confused by his headless question and asked back: “What do you mean?”
Wu Xiaofeng asked: “Mr. Gu, what’s your relationship with him?”
Ye Zi was embarrassed to say this to his friend and said awkwardly: “There’s no relation, I’m just a secretary…….”
“Just a secretary?”
“Yes.” Ye Zi nodded furiously: “Just a secretary.”
Wu Xiaofeng breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good, I thought……”
Before he finished his sentence, he changed his words: “Forget it, just be careful. Big bosses like him are not easy to mess with. You won’t even know if you were deceived by him later.”
Ye Zi had indeed been deceived by Gu Yan quite often. It was unknown what came to his mind, but he pursed his lips and smiled: “If he is lying to me, then it’s true that I won’t be able to tell.”
Wu Xiaofeng didn’t pay attention to his expression and just nodded: “Right, so have to be careful, you……”
Ye Zi said softly: “But that’s okay, I’ll happily let him deceive me.”
Wu Xiaofeng didn’t hear him: “What did you say?”
“N-Nothing.”
Wu Xiaofeng glanced at him suspiciously and continued: “Also, if he asks you out after work, you must not go. Even if it’s a simple meal, you must reject him. And a hotel is an even bigger no-no.”
Hearing this, Ye Zi finally understood the reason why Wu Xiaofeng was mysteriously looking for him.
He paused and replied: “We don’t go to hotels.”
“Mnn, that’s good——”
Ye Zi continued: “We just go straight home.”
Wu Xiaofeng: “……”
This time he could hear Ye Zi’s words clearly, but he seemed to feel that he was imagining things. Wu Xiaofeng stared blankly at Ye Zi’s face and then asked in confusion: “What did you just say, say it again. What exactly are you and Mr. Gu……”
Ye Zi raised his eyes to look at him and was about to answer when his eyes suddenly froze.
Not far behind Wu Xiaofeng, Gu Yan had been leaning against the wall at some point and was watching him quietly.
The slanting rays of the setting sun reflected on Gu Yan through the glass window, making his shadow extremely long.
Gu Yan was facing the light and Ye Zi couldn’t see his face clearly, but this did not prevent him from feeling the lingering affection in the man’s eyes.
Just like what Ye Zi had in his eyes.
Ye Zi gazed at Gu Yan for a moment and the corner of his mouth raised in a shallow smile.
“He is someone I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Not just for this life, but for all the lifetimes to come, no matter what.
-END
t/n: Anddd this concludes this series! Once again, thank you everyone for reading and following me on this journey! I plan to take a month break (to focus on my study because I’m graduating this year >.<) and will come back on March 4th for a new project!
In the meantime, please leave some suggestions below of which novel I should tackle next, I don’t really have a specific taste in genre so go all out, but would prefer novels that don’t have too big of an age gap or underage undertones!!
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[1] If there are things to do, call the secretary. But if there is nothing to do, then you “do” the secretary. i.e. f*ck/sex. ↩
