Chapter 54: Consequences

Yu Xi was sick for several days.

Most of the time, he was in a deep sleep. According to Auntie Pei, all of his friends had come to visit, but none of them could bear to wake him. They came quietly and left just as silently.

However, they left behind a mountain of gifts.

The balcony was piled high with all sorts of exquisitely and cutely wrapped gift boxes, each bearing a card written with words of blessings or concern.

“They were all so worried about you,” Pei Lexin said as she stirred the soup to cool it down. Once she felt the temperature was just right, she placed it on the overbed table for Yu Xi to drink. “They stood by your bedside guarding you one by one for the longest time, completely reluctant to leave.”

“Is that so…” Yu Xi’s pale cheeks, washed out from several days of illness, finally regained a hint of color today, and his eyes recovered some of their luster.

Cradling the warm bowl, he took a sip; his mouth was instantly filled with a fresh, sweet taste.

He was much better now, though his vitality hadn’t fully recovered. Taking medication every day made him rather prone to sleeping.

Yu Xi was originally someone who couldn’t stay idle; the moment he stopped, he would feel anxious. Perhaps this illness had given him a perfect excuse to rest, so his subconscious wanted to make up for all the sleep he had missed over the years, and he placidly accepted the love and care of those around him.

Whatever he wanted to eat, he would softly put forward a request.

Auntie Wan smiled with gratification and said, “Our Xiao Xi is becoming more and more adept at acting spoiled.”

Hearing this, Yu Xi felt embarrassed, hiding himself inside the blanket as he whispered an apology.

But Auntie Wan patted his back: “Xiao Xi is still a child; you have the right to act spoiled. Don’t be polite with Auntie Wan.”

Such words reminded Yu Xi of his mother.

Once, when he had endured a fever for an entire night, his mother had said similar words to him.

Back then, he had still felt a sense of guilt, but now he felt he had become willful. Sensing that he was loved by everyone, he actually felt that being sick was quite nice.

He chatted with Auntie Pei while eating, read a book for a bit to pass the time, and then felt weary once more.

He had originally been leaning properly against the headboard, but as he sat, his bones seemed to turn soft and he sank down, turning into a lump of mochi that couldn’t support itself, wanting to shrink back into the blanket.

He let out a lazy yawn, his long eyelashes blinking away a few physiological tears as they drooped listlessly. His cheeks were flushed bright red from the heater, one side pressed against the pillow, squeezing out soft flesh, while his fluffy hair hung down like a kitten that didn’t know how to groom its fur.

Pei Lexin looked at him with amusement. Pulling up the blanket for him, she was just about to turn off the light for him when a knock sounded at the door.

Auntie Wan’s voice traveled in very softly: “Director Pei, Mr. Gu is here.”

Not only Pei Lexin, but Yu Xi, who wasn’t asleep yet, heard it too.

Pei Lexin turned around, asking Yu Xi, “Does Xiao Xi want to sleep now, or do you want to see him?”

Rubbing his eyes, Yu Xi sat up and nodded, saying, “I want to see him.”

Thus, he got out of bed and sat on the chair adjacent to the small balcony table. Being too lazy to change out of his clothes, he merely draped a deep red checkered wool blanket over his pajamas.

The blanket had been brought over by Pei Lexin. Pinching the fringed edges of the design, Yu Xi slowly remembered that this small blanket happened to be one of the gifts Gu Chuanzhou had given him when autumn arrived.

Almost every time they met, Gu Chuanzhou would bring him something. Together with what his other friends gave him, his room and wardrobe had unknowingly been filled to the brim with all kinds of things.

When he was packing his luggage for the winter vacation, he had also discovered that the belongings in his dormitory had multiplied several times compared to when he first enrolled, so much so that a single suitcase had almost failed to hold it all.

Right now, there was still a portion of gift boxes on the balcony that he hadn’t had time to unpack; these were all testimonies of his friends’ feelings for him.

Yu Xi cradled the sweet, piping hot pear soup in his hands. Taking a sip, he involuntarily began to swing his legs hanging beneath the chair.

Before long, Gu Chuanzhou came upstairs.

After letting him in, Yu Xi tilted his head, his eyes landing on Gu Chuanzhou’s hands first.

Unsurprisingly, Gu Chuanzhou was carrying something again, and the box was quite large.

“What is it?” Yu Xi asked.

Gu Chuanzhou paused. Noticing where Yu Xi’s gaze was resting, he understood and let out a soft laugh: “It’s a miniature house kit.”

Sitting down beside Yu Xi, he took the box out to show him the sample illustration on it.

“It looks like this; you can arrange it according to your own preferences. I also custom-ordered a small wooden plaque engraved with ‘Yu Xiaohe’s New House’.”

Yu Xi’s eyes lit up as he looked at it, letting out a tiny gasp of admiration, and said with unconcealed pleasant surprise, “So it’s for Xiaohe!”

“Do you like it?” Gu Chuanzhou asked with a smile.

Yu Xi nodded heavily: “I love it, and Xiaohe will definitely love this new home too.”

This gift was somewhat beyond his expectations; it was the very first time someone had given a gift to his pet pebble. It turned out that the people who cherished him would cherish everything attached to him as well.

He couldn’t wait to scoop Yu Xiaohe out of its metal tin, wanting Gu Chuanzhou to arrange this new house together with him.

Every time a piece of furniture was unwrapped, he would admire it properly for a while, seriously selecting a suitable position for it, and asking for Gu Chuanzhou’s opinion whenever he wasn’t sure.

“Xiaohe also… let’s place the bed right here, and then line it with a blanket…”

“Okay.”

Gu Chuanzhou naturally raised no objections, pinching the tiny blanket that wasn’t even the size of a palm as he pondered how to spread it out.

The item appeared far too miniature inside his broad palm; doing such intricate work proved to be somewhat difficult.

Watching the way Gu Chuanzhou fitted a patterned cloth over the pillow, Yu Xi couldn’t help but chuckle.

Gu Chuanzhou, who was always so mature, had never played with such toys during his own childhood, yet now he would accompany him to fiddle with these things. The imagery was somewhat amusing, but also somewhat moving.

Thanks to Gu Chuanzhou’s help, Yu Xiaohe successfully moved out of its old metal tin and checked into a grand villa.

Yu Xi placed it on the small bed, tucking it in with the quilt, and tilted his head to observe it curiously for a long time.

Meanwhile, Gu Chuanzhou’s gaze remained on Yu Xi’s person: “Very happy?”

Yu Xi revealed his dimples, saying, “Happy.”

“If I had known you would be this happy, I ought to have given this gift to you much earlier,” Gu Chuanzhou said.

“It’s not too late now.” Cradling his face, a smile remained hung on the corners of Yu Xi’s mouth the entire time. “I happen to need this right now.”

Because of Yu Xuelin’s appearance, his mood had been incredibly terrible. Seeing this, he felt that his body, newly recovered from a major illness, had become light and airy.

Thinking of that person, Yu Xi opened his mouth to ask, “How is he doing now?”

Gu Chuanzhou understood who he was referring to: “Still at the hotel.”

Yu Xi blinked: “Are your people still watching him?”

Gu Chuanzhou nodded: “There are some matters that still require you to make the decision.”

…

Yu Xiaohe was moved onto the dressing table along with its new house, and a manila folder temporarily occupied the space on the small balcony table.

Yu Xi spent ten minutes reading through all the investigative materials, his mind churning with emotions, unable to calm down for a very long time.

Evidenced upon the pages were all of Yu Xuelin’s crimes of robbery, fraud, and brawling. It wasn’t to the extent of minor skirmishes; pulling out any single item would require paying a heavy price under the law, and he was currently a fugitive suspect.

Even in his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that in a brief span of less than half a year, Yu Xuelin would degenerate to such a degree.

No wonder he had come to find him only after being backed into a dead end. And no wonder he always appeared paranoid and frantic, disappearing for so many days in between; it turned out he wasn’t just hiding from the loan sharks.

“I also uncovered that he intended to smuggle himself across the border, which is why he required a massive amount of funds,” Gu Chuanzhou said in a low voice.

“Xixi, if you wish, I can deliver him to the police station, letting him reap what he sowed and spend the remainder of his life in prison. I can also give him this sum of money, letting him escape with his life, and under such circumstances, it would be impossible for him to return to the country ever again. You…”

“Send him to the police station,” Yu Xi made the choice with absolute certainty. He lifted his head, his gaze clear and crisp. “Even if he is my biological father, he ought to assume his own faults and bear responsibility for them.”

Gu Chuanzhou had also long guessed Yu Xi’s answer: “Alright, I understand.”

…

The night grew gradually later, and as Yu Xi revealed signs of fatigue, Gu Chuanzhou bid his farewells at the appropriate time.

Before departing, Gu Chuanzhou said goodnight to Yu Xi, and also said he would come over again tomorrow afternoon.

Yu Xi didn’t see him out, lying down on the soft bed and shrinking into the warm blanket.

Perhaps because they had chatted for too long, or perhaps because arranging the miniature house had been too mentally taxing, he felt very tired, yet he was a bit unable to fall asleep.

The files Gu Chuanzhou had brought were left behind, still resting upon his nightstand.

Yu Xi stared at them, spacing out once more.

When Gu Chuanzhou had asked him, a momentary hesitation had indeed surfaced within his heart.

He knew that if he had chosen the latter option, Gu Chuanzhou would have also helped him without a single complaint, handling it flawlessly. But doing so would not only go against the education he had received since childhood, failing his mother, but it would also fail Gu Chuanzhou.

Yu Xuelin deserved his sentence; he had brought it entirely upon himself.

“I didn’t choose wrong,” Yu Xi told himself in a small voice. “I didn’t choose wrong…”

Over and over again.

Yet his tears were very unavailing, still flooding out and dampening his pillow.

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