a.s.sistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling
Chapter 80: Brooch
____________________
The one thing he didn"t mention to Gu Yu was He Xueying"s childhood crush. After so many years, she couldn"t possibly feel the same, so Zhang Siyi took the information as a joke.
Gu Yu listened silently and softly asked: “Do you want to go?”
Although Zhang Siyi already knew the answer in his heart, he impulsively asked: "Do you want me to go?"
Realizing the ambiguity of the question, like deliberately testing Gu Yu"s feelings for him, he regretted asking it. There are a many people that work for Gu Yu and he is only a little a.s.sistant that can easily be replaced. However, the words couldn"t be taken back. Zhang Siyi felt nervous and sorry. He tightly clasped the mobile phone in antic.i.p.ation, but of what, he didn"t know.
After pausing for a seemingly long time, Gu Yu responded to him. With a voice that was as casual as ever, he asked in reverse: “If I told you not to go, then you wouldn"t go?”
Zhang Siyi choked. He didn"t expect Gu Yu to throw his own question and thus, the underlying problem, back at him! How could he answer him? Even though Zhang Siyi admired the art of Gu Yu"s speech, he was feeling crazy inside. d.a.m.n it, if he said, "I won"t go if you say so", he would die!
After a minute Gu Yu did not wait for Zhang Siyi to answer. He said: "This kind of thing…. I can"t help you make a decision. The answer is in your own heart."
Zhang Siyi: "……" Why is there a feeling of being completely seen through!
Depressed and feeling muddled, Zhang Siyi paused for a minute. In a self-defeating tone he confessed: “I won"t go."
Gu Yu chuckled, and his playful tone returned: “Oh. Ok.”
Zhang Siyi "……" That"s it? After everything I"ve said, and you only reply with two words!!!
Gu Yu paused and said: “By the way, have you already booked a ticket to Haicheng?”
"No, Why?” At the prospect of going back with Gu Yu, Zhang Siyi mood changed instantly.
Sure enough, Gu Yu took the initiative to invite him: “I intend to drive back to Haicheng after the Lantern Festival on March 6. Your holiday should be over by then. Do you want to go with us?”
" …… Us? Is Gu Yao coming back with you?” Zhang Siyi asked.
Gu Yu: “She starts school in late March, but it is rare for me to drive so she wanted to drive back in advance. I can help her with some luggage at this time too. What about you?”
In a hurry to reply, Zhang Siyi excitedly spoke: “Yes. I would like to go together!"
Gu Yu happily replied: "Well that settles that. I will tell you the details as the time approaches."
Hanging up the phone, Zhang Siyi excitedly rolled around on his bed. Any depressed and tumultuous feelings evaporated into thin air
Too embarra.s.sed to ask directly, he was slow to purchase a ticket in hopes that Gu Yu would talk to him about it. He wasn"t sure if Gu Yu"s holiday was longer than his. Now, his waiting was over and, he saved two-hundred dollars!
Feeling the phone vibrate, Zhang Siyi quickly grabbed it to see.
Gu Yu: “I"m relieved by the decision you made ? “
Gu Yu: “[Little Fox Kiss]”
Zhang Siyi: “…”
Zhang Siyi: “………”
Zhang Siyi: “………………”
Ah…ah…ah…! ! ! ! !
Zhang Siyi couldn"t take his eyes away from the emoji, "Little Fox Holding a Cat Kissing." Once again, Zhang Siyi"s heart nearly burst out of his chest. The heat from within welled up. He had the feeling like he spontaneously combusted and his fried hair smoked.
After rolling around on his bed, Zhang Siyi took another look at his phone. Staring at the little fox kissing the little kitten, he couldn"t help wonder why Gu Yu used this exact emoji. The "touching head" expression already had a high level of special treatment value, so why use the kissing emoji. Is this an expression that a normal boss sends to his subordinates? The only thing he can think about is a special kind of love.
Even though Zhang Siyi felt exhausted, he couldn"t sleep. His emotions were a mess and he couldn"t relax his mind at all. In the middle of the night, he got out of bed to grab a book from the depths of his closest. He quickly got back into bed and covered himself completely with his quilt. With the light from his cell-phone illuminating the book in his hands, he opened it feeling ashamed.
After an hour, from time to time, alarmed m.u.f.fled exclamations and recited sounds can be heard from inside the quilt. As a straight man, Zhang Siyi values and outlook on life in this world were put to the test. At half past five in the morning Zhang Siyi finally put the book away. He had stayed up all night reading. Laying on his bed, he buried his head with a pillow and no longer felt like he could face the world as a straight man. It"s over! Can he really be gay? No, he doesn"t want to admit it!
For the rest of his vacation time, he distracted himself with countless hours of American dramas and Anime. He even watched the government news online and the news network broadcast with his Father for several days. Thus, he set aside the newly acquired information in order to put his mind at ease and as a result, he was able to camouflage his inner turmoil and outwardly felt normal.
During this time, learning the information from her brother, He Xueying added herself to Zhang Siyi WeChat. Although they haven"t seen each other for many years, she remembered many childhood incidents both funny and sad. Bringing a sense of intimacy between them, the two talked for a long time. Although a crush isn"t the same as a love between a man and women, she politely admitted her childhood love on him. This frankness also made Zhang Siyi feel very relaxed talking with her.
For two days, by talking about his childhood with He Xueying, Zhang Siyi"s attention was further distracted away from Gu Yu. In retrospect, Zhang Siyi wonders if the time he took to find a new girlfriend was too long and as a result, it gave birth to the plausible love between men. Thinking along these lines, Zhang Siyi convinced himself that by talking and thinking about girls and love, he will be able to forget about Gu Yu.
The time pa.s.sed by and soon Gu Yu contacted him about the return trip to Haicheng. Knowing Zhang Siyi was going to be driven back, his Mother prepared more specialties and food for Gu Yu then last time. Zhang Siyi had a growing headache. Since "little-fox-kissing-small-kitten" stirred up Zhang Siyi"s emotions that he so desperately tried to bring under control these last couple of days, he couldn"t bring himself to look at the last exchange he had on WeChat with Gu Yu. As a result, he hadn"t contacted Gu Yu for almost a week and thus, he never told Gu Yu how much luggage he had.
As he was getting ready, he noticed a new group chat was formed on his phone by Gu Yu.
Gu Yao: “Zhang Siyi, my brother and I are ready to go out for lunch then come pick you up. What is your home address?"
As Zhang Siyi sent his address to the group chat, he added Gu Yu"s sister to his friend"s list. When it came to private messages, Gu Yao"s style changed.
Gu Yao: “Siyi Brother ~o (∩ _ ∩) o"
Zhang Siyi: “Trying to act cute, when it"s not cute! " (#‵′)凸
Gu Yao followed up with a heart-broken expression. Zhang Siyi returned with a sorrowful emoji. Their conversation quickly devolved into an emoji war.
Remembering his luggage, their playful banter was suddenly disrupted when Zhang Siyi took a photo and sent the image to Gu Yao.
Gu Yao: “What"s this?”
Zhang Siyi: “My mom prepared some things to bring back to Haicheng. Half of which is for your brother. Is there room in the car for all of it?"
After half a minute, Gu Yao also sent a picture of a dense pile of packages and bags laying on the living room floor to Zhang Siyi.
Gu Yao: ” Hhhha! My parents also prepared some things to bring back. I showed your photo to my brother and he said it was fine.”
Zhang Siyi breathed a sigh of relief then asked: “Why do you call your brother an elder and not just brother?"
Gu Yao: "Because he is old. He acts like an old man in the sky! If I don"t call him elder brother, then what do I call him?"
Initially, Zhang Siyi was speechless. But, thinking about it further, it does make sense since there is a seven-year age gap between the two siblings.
Gu Yao added: “I called him old brother, and do you know what he called me? Stupid, little idiot! Is that what a brother is supposed to call his sister?” [Angry]
Zhang Siyi: “Hhhhha!”
Gu Yao: “Why are you laughing?! You are not much better than me. He called you a child, a little apprentice in front of me. Once I heard him call you a "little confused egg", hhha!”
Zhang Siyi: “……”
Hearing from Gu Yao piqued his interest. He suddenly wanted to know exactly what Gu Yu says about himself in front of his sister. However, he didn"t get the chance to continue their conversation. As promised, they arrived at Zhang Siyi"s home after lunch.
When Mrs. Zhang saw her guests, she warmly and enthusiastically invited them inside the house to drink tea. Having experienced the force of Zhang Siyi mother"s hospitality before, Gu Yu knows not to refuse and politely accepts her invitation. Without ceremony, they silently followed her inside.
Today, Father Zhang was at work and the housekeeper was cleaning. Even though the house was large and bright with everything tidy, it wasn"t convenient to go upstairs and tour the house, so they took a seat in the living room.
Mother Zhang didn"t raise a daughter. She really liked seeing Gu Yao in her home and it sparked her memory of the red envelope that Gu Yu gave to Zhang Siyi for New Year"s. Wanting to reciprocate the gesture an idea popped into her mind from her heart. She quickly wrapped a delicate gift and gave it to Gu Yao. It was a floral crystal brooch with silver as the stem and pink, purple and white crystals on the top. It was quite exquisite and beautiful.
The piece of jewelry was a gift to Mother Zhang in her early years. The bright pink and flashy style of the brooch wasn"t suitable for her anymore. Even so, she has treasured it over the years and had joked with Zhang Siyi in the past about keeping it for his future wife.
Now seeing his mother take out the brooch, not only was Zhang Siyi shocked speechless, Gu Yao was very surprised as well. Compared with Zhang Siyi"s two thousand dollars red envelope, the value of this brooch is at most half. When Gu Yao first saw this precious gift, she repeatedly waved her hand in refusal.
However, even Gu Yu"s way with words is no match for Mother Zhang"s silver tongue, let alone this small girl still studying. With her insistence, Gu Yao red face is actually full of joy.
Feeling embarra.s.sed, only Zhang Siyi did not want his Mother to give away her brooch, for he knew what it truly represented. Taking advantage of the moment while drinking tea, Zhang Siyi pulled his mother into the kitchen urgently: “What are you doing? How could you give that to her?"
_____________________________