“Give these to the planning department. Have them redo the part marked in red. Make sure to delineate everything clearly before handing it back to me.”
Gu Xie closed the document and handed it to the secretary, who promptly assented and walked out of the office.
Gu Xie was now alone in the office.
He leaned back and relaxed into his office chair, taking a deep breath. He looked rather tired. He hadn’t really been sleeping well for the past couple of days. He kept having these dreams, yet, at the same time, he could never remember them. Upon waking up in the morning, all he’d be left with was a kaleidoscopic array of bizarre episodes.
In any case, the lack of rest was affecting him at work. He was thinking about taking some sleeping pills later when he slowly fell asleep.
He then dreamt of his childhood. He seemed to be in his teens in this dream. In his hands was a watering can, and he was using it to water flowers. It was a peculiar feeling. He knew he was dreaming, but he couldn’t wake up.
He thought for a moment and then proceeded to continue watering the flowers in front of him.
“Gege!”
Someone called out to him. Gu Xie subconsciously felt that it was so. He hadn’t even had time to turn his head when he felt this person rush over and wrap his arms around his waist, like a mini cannonball. Gu Xie stumbled forward a bit from the impact.
Gu Xie lowered his head. He saw a child with bright eyes looking up at him and realized, oh, it’s our family’s good boy. He then squatted down. He held the watering can in one hand and picked up the kid in the other, allowing the child to sit on his arm.
He hadn’t reached adulthood yet, but he was already as sturdy as a cow. Carrying a child in one arm was nothing to Gu Xie.
The child very trustingly wrapped his arms around his older brother’s neck. There was a milky scent on his body, and he was soft and cool to the touch, like a little piece of mochi. He spoke cutely and obediently, capable of melting anyone’s heart.
“Gege, is it okay for me to pick some flowers? I want to put them in a vase.”
“You can pick some flowers from over there, but you can’t pick flowers here.”
Gu Xie gestured with his chin. Many of the flowers that he was watering were thorny. However, the flowers over there weren’t as they had been specially planted, so it was okay for the kid to play with them.
The only issue was that the kid had played around too much this one time and ended up falling into a flower bush. The flowers had been fine, but the kid got dirty. He even had a ton of thorns stuck in his hands. The kid hadn’t even had a chance to cry when their mother threw a huge fit, scaring him so much that he ended up keeping quiet. Instead, he held out his tightly bandaged hands to wipe his mother’s tears. Their mother never let the kid play in the flower bushes again.
However, the kid secretly pestered Gu Xie. Gu Xie figured it would be fine as long as the kid did not touch the prickly flowers. If worse came to worst, he would just go back and secretly give the kid a bath before his mother found out.
Once he got permission, the child began cheering. He twisted his body, trying to get off of Gu Xie. Gu Xie was afraid that the child would fall, so he hugged the child even tighter and squatted down. He hadn’t even had the chance to give him a warning before the child ran off like a fish in water. He tapped his hand, shook his tail, and happily swam away.
Xe Wlf rtbbx tlr tfjv jwerfvis. Pc jcs mjrf, atf xlv kjr ralii sbecu. Lf kbeiv pera tjnf ab xffq j yfaafg fsf bc tlw.
Ktf xlv atfc ugfk bivfg jcv mbeiv cbk qjgalmlqjaf lc atbrf qjgfca-mtliv jmalnlalfr atja tf kjr qgfnlberis bcis jiibkfv ab rqfmajaf, remt jr yjrxfayjii, tbgrf gjmlcu, yliiljgvr …
These activities were all rather competitive in nature, but the kid never became a competitive person himself. It wasn’t because he disliked or was disinterested in these activities. He was just happy to be with his father and older brother, so winning and losing didn’t matter to him. He only cared about acting cute around his father, trying to get some more ice cream out of the man. It wasn’t that he didn’t have talent either. He was very intelligent, and he could get the hang of pretty much anything he tried after just a few attempts. Once he’d figured it out, he would show his father, practically begging for a compliment.
Gu Xie challenged his father over and over again, wanting to overcome this mountain. His father encouraged this kind of challenge. Meanwhile, the kid would just clap his hands like a seal and applaud them from the side.
The two of them had very different personalities, but their relationship was always good.
The kid would tell his older brother everything, including the little trials and tribulations that came with growing up. Those trivial worries may seem insignificant or even a little humorous to others, but they were very big deals in the eyes of children. He would tell his brother about how he fell down and everyone laughed at him or how he received a love letter and didn’t know what to do.
The kid was much more willing to tell these intimate secrets to his older brother than to their parents.
When the kid was younger, their father had been busy with work and their mother hadn’t been in good health. Gu Xie had been the one to send him to and from kindergarten, and this continued well past primary school.
It was only once the kid hit his third year of junior high school that he finally asked for this arrangement to come to an end. He told Gu Xie that some of his classmates had teased him about needing his brother to pick him up despite being so old already, so he asked him to stop.
Gu Xie promptly stopped sending the kid to and from school. On the second day after he stopped, a classmate approached him, trying to suck up to him. Gu Xie treated him casually. He had many such people around him. As long as they didn’t bother him, Gu Xie would give them a bit of face. After all, their parents may have cooperated with each other. That was until one day.
“You must be getting involved with your family business as well. My father told me. Your father clearly values you more, so the younger one’s got no chance. You’ll definitely be the one to take it over.
My father’s a very good judge of people. He told me that he saw your brother acting coquettishly towards your father at a banquet. It’s pretty obvious that your father doesn’t plan on handing the business to him. Still, you should probably be careful about your brother. He seems very good at winning people over.”
Gu Xie was in the middle of his homework. Upon hearing this, his pen made an ugly scratch mark on the paper. Gu Xie stopped writing and turned to look at him.
His classmate didn’t seem to notice. He was busy pouring his heart out.
“You seemed to like him quite a bit before. If you ask me, that’s a waste of time. It’s good that you see clearly now. You don’t need to concern yourself with him. If you raise him up to be a little stupid, you’ll be able to do as you please with him in the future — ”
In the middle of this little speech of his, Gu Xie lifted him up by his collar. Then, he slammed him into the wall, causing a loud thump. The entire classroom fell silent and turned to look at the two of them.
Gu Xie stared at him closely, giving off a terrifying feeling for a split second. Some of their classmates were debating whether or not they should try to stop the fight. In the end, Gu Xie slowly let go. He’d used a lot of force just now. Upon letting go, the other person slumped down against the wall and coughed dryly for a long time.
Gu Xie stood there, looking down at him, and said calmly.
“Quiet down.”
Gu Xie then sat back down in his seat and continued to do his homework as if nothing had ever happened. The classroom was very quiet. The only thing that could be heard in the classroom was the regular rhythm of pen against paper.
Since then, Gu Xie continued to send the kid to and from school. He would not compromise. even when the kid complained, and this continued until the kid went off to college.
And after that? After that, the kid disappeared. His life seemed to have been split down the middle. After that, it was all blank, and his life came to a screeching halt.
Once the dream reached this point, Gu Xie suddenly awoke.
It was already afternoon by the time he woke up. Gu Xie took a while to regain his composure. Once his head had finally cleared, he tidied up his desk, threw his coat over his forearm, and prepared to head home.
On his way out, he ran into the secretary.
“Mr. Li had someone send an invitation just now. Mr. Li’s daughter is getting married next month. He’s invited you and your parents to attend the wedding.”
Very few people knew the address to their home, so these kinds of invitations would be sent to the company and they tended to pile up very quickly.
Gu Xie frowned imperceptibly.
“Let me take a look.”
The secretary was a little surprised. Gu Xie seldom attended these sorts of things. Unless it was a particularly close family friend, he would usually send a gift and call it a day.
“Just one moment. I’ll get it right away.”
Once the invitation was in his hand, Gu Xie immediately flipped it over. It only included Mrs. Gu, Mr. Gu, and Gu Xie. Gu Qingchi was not mentioned at all.
“Have them resend the invitation. My brother’s name isn’t on this one.”
⁂
Gu Xie went home a bit earlier than usual today. Once he got back, he was met with the sight of Gu Qingchi on the sofa, pillow in his arms. He was lying next to Mrs. Gu, watching soap operas with her, seeming very much at ease.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Mrs. Gu and Gu Qingchi both turned their heads to look.
“How come you’re home so early today? If you’re hungry, there’s still some stuff in the kitchen. Help yourself. Your father said he was going to buy some groceries, but he hasn’t come back yet.”
Usually, their family had vegetables, milk, and even some desserts delivered fresh to the house. However, sometimes, it was faster to just buy it themselves if they suddenly wanted something.
Mrs. Gu had just finished speaking when two honks sounded from outside.
“Oh, he’s back.”
Gu Qingchi looked ecstatic. He didn’t even bother putting on shoes. He just ran straight to the door, barefoot. Mr. Gu soon brought the groceries inside and opened one of the bags right at the door. He then handed a small jelly cup to Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi had been harping on about it for a long time now.
“How about ge’s jelly cup? I want to pop both of them in the fridge real quick.”
Mr. Gu pulled out another jelly cup. Gu Qingchi and Gu Xie had always had the same things. If one of them had a certain thing, the other would have it too. Gu Xie would often take one bite of the jelly and be done with it, but that just meant more for Gu Qingchi.
“Make sure to wait until after dinner before eating it.”
Gu Qingchi quickly agreed and he walked out of the room, the cat following after him.
Mr. Gu smiled and shook his head.
Gu Xie sat down next to Mrs. Gu.
“Xiao Chi’s birthday has already passed. We should make it up. We can hold a banquet and invite everyone.”
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie shared a look, a tacit understanding between them.
Mrs. Gu didn’t think too much of it. She was the first to agree. She’d actually been planning something like this all along. However, Gu Qingchi’s situation forced her to keep pushing it further and further back. Now, Gu Qingchi’s situation had improved a great deal. Mrs. Gu and Mr. Gu had been discussing it for quite a while now.
“I was just thinking about that a couple of days ago. I want to invite the band from last time. I really liked their style … ”
Gu Xie agreed to each and every one of her requests. He only had one request himself, and that was to tell everyone that he had a younger brother. He loved his younger brother very much. He wanted every invitation to include not just him and his parents but also his younger brother, an important member of his family.
“Give these to the planning department. Have them redo the part marked in red. Make sure to delineate everything clearly before handing it back to me.”
Gu Xie closed the document and handed it to the secretary, who promptly assented and walked out of the office.
Gu Xie was now alone in the office.
He leaned back and relaxed into his office chair, taking a deep breath. He looked rather tired. He hadn’t really been sleeping well for the past couple of days. He kept having these dreams, yet, at the same time, he could never remember them. Upon waking up in the morning, all he’d be left with was a kaleidoscopic array of bizarre episodes.
In any case, the lack of rest was affecting him at work. He was thinking about taking some sleeping pills later when he slowly fell asleep.
He then dreamt of his childhood. He seemed to be in his teens in this dream. In his hands was a watering can, and he was using it to water flowers. It was a peculiar feeling. He knew he was dreaming, but he couldn’t wake up.
He thought for a moment and then proceeded to continue watering the flowers in front of him.
“Gege!”
Someone called out to him. Gu Xie subconsciously felt that it was so. He hadn’t even had time to turn his head when he felt this person rush over and wrap his arms around his waist, like a mini cannonball. Gu Xie stumbled forward a bit from the impact.
Gu Xie lowered his head. He saw a child with bright eyes looking up at him and realized, oh, it’s our family’s good boy. He then squatted down. He held the watering can in one hand and picked up the kid in the other, allowing the child to sit on his arm.
He hadn’t reached adulthood yet, but he was already as sturdy as a cow. Carrying a child in one arm was nothing to Gu Xie.
The child very trustingly wrapped his arms around his older brother’s neck. There was a milky scent on his body, and he was soft and cool to the touch, like a little piece of mochi. He spoke cutely and obediently, capable of melting anyone’s heart.
“Gege, is it okay for me to pick some flowers? I want to put them in a vase.”
“You can pick some flowers from over there, but you can’t pick flowers here.”
Gu Xie gestured with his chin. Many of the flowers that he was watering were thorny. However, the flowers over there weren’t as they had been specially planted, so it was okay for the kid to play with them.
The only issue was that the kid had played around too much this one time and ended up falling into a flower bush. The flowers had been fine, but the kid got dirty. He even had a ton of thorns stuck in his hands. The kid hadn’t even had a chance to cry when their mother threw a huge fit, scaring him so much that he ended up keeping quiet. Instead, he held out his tightly bandaged hands to wipe his mother’s tears. Their mother never let the kid play in the flower bushes again.
However, the kid secretly pestered Gu Xie. Gu Xie figured it would be fine as long as the kid did not touch the prickly flowers. If worse came to worst, he would just go back and secretly give the kid a bath before his mother found out.
Once he got permission, the child began cheering. He twisted his body, trying to get off of Gu Xie. Gu Xie was afraid that the child would fall, so he hugged the child even tighter and squatted down. He hadn’t even had the chance to give him a warning before the child ran off like a fish in water. He tapped his hand, shook his tail, and happily swam away.
Xe Wlf rtbbx tlr tfjv jwerfvis. Pc jcs mjrf, atf xlv kjr ralii sbecu. Lf kbeiv pera tjnf ab xffq j yfaafg fsf bc tlw.
Ktf xlv atfc ugfk bivfg jcv mbeiv cbk qjgalmlqjaf lc atbrf qjgfca-mtliv jmalnlalfr atja tf kjr qgfnlberis bcis jiibkfv ab rqfmajaf, remt jr yjrxfayjii, tbgrf gjmlcu, yliiljgvr …
These activities were all rather competitive in nature, but the kid never became a competitive person himself. It wasn’t because he disliked or was disinterested in these activities. He was just happy to be with his father and older brother, so winning and losing didn’t matter to him. He only cared about acting cute around his father, trying to get some more ice cream out of the man. It wasn’t that he didn’t have talent either. He was very intelligent, and he could get the hang of pretty much anything he tried after just a few attempts. Once he’d figured it out, he would show his father, practically begging for a compliment.
Gu Xie challenged his father over and over again, wanting to overcome this mountain. His father encouraged this kind of challenge. Meanwhile, the kid would just clap his hands like a seal and applaud them from the side.
The two of them had very different personalities, but their relationship was always good.
The kid would tell his older brother everything, including the little trials and tribulations that came with growing up. Those trivial worries may seem insignificant or even a little humorous to others, but they were very big deals in the eyes of children. He would tell his brother about how he fell down and everyone laughed at him or how he received a love letter and didn’t know what to do.
The kid was much more willing to tell these intimate secrets to his older brother than to their parents.
When the kid was younger, their father had been busy with work and their mother hadn’t been in good health. Gu Xie had been the one to send him to and from kindergarten, and this continued well past primary school.
It was only once the kid hit his third year of junior high school that he finally asked for this arrangement to come to an end. He told Gu Xie that some of his classmates had teased him about needing his brother to pick him up despite being so old already, so he asked him to stop.
Gu Xie promptly stopped sending the kid to and from school. On the second day after he stopped, a classmate approached him, trying to suck up to him. Gu Xie treated him casually. He had many such people around him. As long as they didn’t bother him, Gu Xie would give them a bit of face. After all, their parents may have cooperated with each other. That was until one day.
“You must be getting involved with your family business as well. My father told me. Your father clearly values you more, so the younger one’s got no chance. You’ll definitely be the one to take it over.
My father’s a very good judge of people. He told me that he saw your brother acting coquettishly towards your father at a banquet. It’s pretty obvious that your father doesn’t plan on handing the business to him. Still, you should probably be careful about your brother. He seems very good at winning people over.”
Gu Xie was in the middle of his homework. Upon hearing this, his pen made an ugly scratch mark on the paper. Gu Xie stopped writing and turned to look at him.
His classmate didn’t seem to notice. He was busy pouring his heart out.
“You seemed to like him quite a bit before. If you ask me, that’s a waste of time. It’s good that you see clearly now. You don’t need to concern yourself with him. If you raise him up to be a little stupid, you’ll be able to do as you please with him in the future — ”
In the middle of this little speech of his, Gu Xie lifted him up by his collar. Then, he slammed him into the wall, causing a loud thump. The entire classroom fell silent and turned to look at the two of them.
Gu Xie stared at him closely, giving off a terrifying feeling for a split second. Some of their classmates were debating whether or not they should try to stop the fight. In the end, Gu Xie slowly let go. He’d used a lot of force just now. Upon letting go, the other person slumped down against the wall and coughed dryly for a long time.
Gu Xie stood there, looking down at him, and said calmly.
“Quiet down.”
Gu Xie then sat back down in his seat and continued to do his homework as if nothing had ever happened. The classroom was very quiet. The only thing that could be heard in the classroom was the regular rhythm of pen against paper.
Since then, Gu Xie continued to send the kid to and from school. He would not compromise. even when the kid complained, and this continued until the kid went off to college.
And after that? After that, the kid disappeared. His life seemed to have been split down the middle. After that, it was all blank, and his life came to a screeching halt.
Once the dream reached this point, Gu Xie suddenly awoke.
It was already afternoon by the time he woke up. Gu Xie took a while to regain his composure. Once his head had finally cleared, he tidied up his desk, threw his coat over his forearm, and prepared to head home.
On his way out, he ran into the secretary.
“Mr. Li had someone send an invitation just now. Mr. Li’s daughter is getting married next month. He’s invited you and your parents to attend the wedding.”
Very few people knew the address to their home, so these kinds of invitations would be sent to the company and they tended to pile up very quickly.
Gu Xie frowned imperceptibly.
“Let me take a look.”
The secretary was a little surprised. Gu Xie seldom attended these sorts of things. Unless it was a particularly close family friend, he would usually send a gift and call it a day.
“Just one moment. I’ll get it right away.”
Once the invitation was in his hand, Gu Xie immediately flipped it over. It only included Mrs. Gu, Mr. Gu, and Gu Xie. Gu Qingchi was not mentioned at all.
“Have them resend the invitation. My brother’s name isn’t on this one.”
⁂
Gu Xie went home a bit earlier than usual today. Once he got back, he was met with the sight of Gu Qingchi on the sofa, pillow in his arms. He was lying next to Mrs. Gu, watching soap operas with her, seeming very much at ease.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Mrs. Gu and Gu Qingchi both turned their heads to look.
“How come you’re home so early today? If you’re hungry, there’s still some stuff in the kitchen. Help yourself. Your father said he was going to buy some groceries, but he hasn’t come back yet.”
Usually, their family had vegetables, milk, and even some desserts delivered fresh to the house. However, sometimes, it was faster to just buy it themselves if they suddenly wanted something.
Mrs. Gu had just finished speaking when two honks sounded from outside.
“Oh, he’s back.”
Gu Qingchi looked ecstatic. He didn’t even bother putting on shoes. He just ran straight to the door, barefoot. Mr. Gu soon brought the groceries inside and opened one of the bags right at the door. He then handed a small jelly cup to Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi had been harping on about it for a long time now.
“How about ge’s jelly cup? I want to pop both of them in the fridge real quick.”
Mr. Gu pulled out another jelly cup. Gu Qingchi and Gu Xie had always had the same things. If one of them had a certain thing, the other would have it too. Gu Xie would often take one bite of the jelly and be done with it, but that just meant more for Gu Qingchi.
“Make sure to wait until after dinner before eating it.”
Gu Qingchi quickly agreed and he walked out of the room, the cat following after him.
Mr. Gu smiled and shook his head.
Gu Xie sat down next to Mrs. Gu.
“Xiao Chi’s birthday has already passed. We should make it up. We can hold a banquet and invite everyone.”
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie shared a look, a tacit understanding between them.
Mrs. Gu didn’t think too much of it. She was the first to agree. She’d actually been planning something like this all along. However, Gu Qingchi’s situation forced her to keep pushing it further and further back. Now, Gu Qingchi’s situation had improved a great deal. Mrs. Gu and Mr. Gu had been discussing it for quite a while now.
“I was just thinking about that a couple of days ago. I want to invite the band from last time. I really liked their style … ”
Gu Xie agreed to each and every one of her requests. He only had one request himself, and that was to tell everyone that he had a younger brother. He loved his younger brother very much. He wanted every invitation to include not just him and his parents but also his younger brother, an important member of his family.
