UCS Chapter 24

“Old Gao!”

 

Cheng Zeqi suddenly called out to Gao Shi, “Come here for a moment.”

 

Gao Shi paused his steps and walked over.

 

It must be said, being suddenly called like this while picking out clothes was quite startling.

 

But Cheng Zeqi spoke to him in a low voice, “Mr. Ying has been in there for a while and hasn’t come out yet. Go check on him.”

 

A question mark popped up in Gao Shi’s mind, but before he could react, he was pushed into the changing room.

 

The changing room had a faint scent of agarwood. Ying Bujie was holding the clothes Cheng Zeqi had picked out, sitting blankly on a small chair. When he saw Gao Shi enter, his face was still expressionless, but somehow, he looked inexplicably pitiful.

 

The changing room wasn’t small, but it felt cramped with two grown men.

 

“Taoist Ying, why aren’t you trying on the clothes? Don’t you like these?”

 

Ying Bujie slowly shook his head.

 

No? Gao Shi paused, suddenly remembering Yin Ling’s bandages, and asked, “Is this Taoist robe some kind of magical item? Will it harm you if you take it off?”

 

Ying Bujie shook his head again.

 

He looked down at the T-shirt in his hands, and after a while, said, “Don’t know how.”

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t know how to wear it.”

 

Gao Shi was stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “I’ll teach you.”

 

It was his fault. In the past few days at home, Ying Bujie only wore his Taoist robe. Gao Shi thought Ying Bujie didn’t like wearing clothes others had worn, not considering that he might not know how to wear them.

 

Gao Shi remembered Ying Bujie’s curious look when he saw Cheng Zeqi’s phone on the way here.

 

It seemed Ying Bujie’s memory loss was more severe than imagined, even forgetting some common knowledge.

 

Thinking of this, Gao Shi felt a bit of sympathy for Ying Bujie.

 

In this state, he could still remember how to perform the sealing. It really was as Kongmiao said, Taoist magic was like breathing to him.

 

Fortunately, Gao Shi had been voluntarily taking care of Le Le since he was young. Taking care of a slightly older child was no big deal.

 

He stretched out the T-shirt, making a “pull over the head” motion, “Wear it like this, find the side with the lower neckline for the front, and just pull it on.”

 

Ying Bujie nodded seriously, and Gao Shi sighed in relief, thinking this big child seemed easy to handle.

 

Before he could finish that sigh of relief, he saw Ying Bujie, still wearing his Taoist robe, directly pull the T-shirt over his head.

 

Gao Shi: …

 

Gao Shi held his forehead, “No, this is worn by itself. You need to take off the Taoist robe first.”

 

Ying Bujie nodded and started to undo his belt with the T-shirt still around his neck. Gao Shi reached out to take the T-shirt off his neck.

 

As he reached out, Gao Shi realized that Ying Bujie was actually taller than him.

 

Gao Shi himself was already quite tall at 181 cm, but Ying Bujie was even taller.

 

In the moment it took to reach out, Ying Bujie had already completely removed his Taoist robe. With his movement, the scent of agarwood became even more pronounced.

 

Gao Shi casually pulled the T-shirt back over Ying Bujie’s head. Ying Bujie paused for a moment, then obediently followed Gao Shi’s instructions and pulled the T-shirt down.

 

Then he just stood still.

 

Gao Shi pressed his temple and picked up a pair of pants nearby, “Change into these pants too. They’re similar to your Taoist robe pants, you should know how to wear them, right?”

 

Ying Bujie looked at the pants in Gao Shi’s hand for a while, then said quietly, “I’ve never seen pants like these.”

 

Gao Shi looked down and saw pants full of holes.

 

Cheng Zeqi had picked out a pair of ripped jeans for Ying Bujie.

 

Ripped jeans were one thing, but these were excessively torn. Even if you wore jeans for free climbing, they wouldn’t end up like this. These were practically just a bunch of strings.

 

No wonder Taoist Ying didn’t know how to wear them. The hole at the knee was bigger than the pant leg. He probably couldn’t even find the waistband. He might end up putting one leg through the knee hole and the other through the waistband.

 

Gao Shi gritted his teeth and said, “Wait, I’ll get you a different set.”

 

As soon as Gao Shi left the changing room, he grabbed Cheng Zeqi’s ear, “Lao Qi, get me two sets of normal clothes!”

 

Cheng Zeqi yelped a series of “Ow ow ow”, “Are you questioning my taste?!”

 

Cheng Zeqi argued vehemently, “Your friend clearly has a great figure, he can pull off many styles. Don’t think these clothes look hard to wear, for Mr. Ying it’s not a problem at all!”

 

Gao Shi laughed in exasperation, “He usually follows me to the police station. You want him to wear this? People will think he’s been arrested.”

 

Cheng Zeqi rubbed his nose, “Fine, fine. Really, you’re such a straight-laced guy and you want to drag others down with you. I’m doing you a favor here. Does he have to wear it to the police station? Can’t you two wear it when you go out to play? You don’t appreciate kindness, you’ll regret it someday…”

 

Cheng Zeqi’s muttering faded away as Gao Shi picked out a very simple outfit: a drop-shoulder shirt with an ink-wash pattern for the top, and a pair of white trousers with good drape for the bottom.

 

He felt Ying Bujie would suit this kind of clothing with ancient-style elements.

 

Gao Shi initially wanted to just hand over the clothes, but then remembered Ying Bujie might not know how to button them, so he followed him in.

 

Ying Bujie did know how to fasten buttons – his undergarment had frog buttons – but he didn’t know how to button the shirt.

 

Gao Shi reached out to help him button up, teaching him as he did so.

 

Although his spirit essence was incomplete, Ying Bujie learned surprisingly quickly. He reached out to button it himself, his fingers briefly touching Gao Shi’s before parting.

 

Gao Shi frowned.

 

His hand was very cool, like a piece of cold jade.

 

“Taoist Ying, are you cold?”

 

Ying Bujie shook his head, fastening the last button.

 

“Not cold.”

 

He thought for a moment, then added, “I’m always cool.”

 

Did he mean his body temperature was always low?

 

It was normal for people in the Taoist world to have some peculiarities, as evident from the group at the Spirit Management Office.

 

As Gao Shi saw him finish changing into the shirt, he suddenly realized a serious issue.

 

“Did you… wear underwear underneath?”

 

Gao Shi and Ying Bujie stared at each other.

 

Ying Bujie looked confused, “What is ‘underwear’?”

 

The clever student Ying had great associative ability, “Do you mean undergarments?”

 

Gao Shi hesitated, “Well… you could think of it that way.”

 

“Should I take them off?”

 

Gao Shi, looking at the earnest Ying Bujie, almost choked, “No need!”

 

Ying Bujie nodded.

 

Gao Shi sighed in relief, still planning to take Ying Bujie to buy underwear later, “You know how to wear these pants, right? I’ll step out…”

 

Before he could finish, Ying Bujie had already casually removed his outer pants.

 

Caught off guard, Gao Shi: …

 

Gao Shi turned his back.

 

Well, at least now he knew what size underwear Taoist Ying should wear.

 

Drawing from years of experience protecting his foolish son, Gao Shi began to worry about Ying Bujie’s lack of wariness towards others. If he had said one more word just now, he might have had to be “completely honest” with Ying Bujie.

 

It seemed he would need to specifically educate Ying Bujie about self-protection issues in the future. After all, Ying Bujie’s appearance was too striking, and he was like a blank slate, believing whatever others said. He could easily become a target.

 

Rustling sounds came from behind, and with the movement, the scent of agarwood permeated the small changing room. Gao Shi suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

 

What was there to be uncomfortable about between two grown men? It’s not like he hadn’t been shirtless with Cheng Zeqi and Lu Xingzhi before.

 

But things that seemed normal with friends felt strange with Ying Bujie.

 

As Gao Shi’s mind wandered, he heard a soft “Done.”

 

Gao Shi turned around.

 

This outfit indeed suited Ying Bujie well.

 

Gao Shi and Ying Bujie pushed open the door. Cheng Zeqi, who had been winking at Gao Shi, instinctively held his breath the moment he saw Ying Bujie.

 

Ying Bujie’s skin was very fair, like cold jade, but his hair and eyes were very black.

 

His hair was tied high with a hairband, a long ponytail hanging down his back and spreading over his shoulders.

 

Under the wide half-sleeves, a section of arm was exposed. The muscle lines were neither weak nor excessively pronounced, adding or subtracting even a bit would have diminished the effect.

 

The buttons were fastened to the top, giving off an untouchable, ascetic air.

 

He lowered his eyes, as if nothing in the world concerned him, detached from the mortal realm.

 

However, when he raised his eyes, those pure black eyes seemed to contain an entire cycle of reincarnation. No one dared to meet his gaze.

 

After a while, Cheng Zeqi slowly exhaled that held breath.

 

Gasps of breath could be heard all around.

 

Cheng Zeqi looked up and realized a large crowd had gathered around them at some point.

 

Cheng Zeqi and the other two fled from the overly enthusiastic onlookers.

 

They could still faintly hear the voices of the salespeople in the distance.

 

“Sir, we really don’t have any more of this shirt and trousers.”

 

“Ma’am, we understand your excitement, but we don’t have the customer’s information.”

 

“Sir and Ma’am! Please calm down, don’t strip the clothes off the mannequin!”

 

…

 

Cheng Zeqi gave Gao Shi a thumbs up, “Not bad, Old Gao, your aesthetic sense has improved a lot.”

 

Gao Shi gave him the middle finger, “Shut up, hurry up, next store.”

 

Actually, Gao Shi knew his aesthetic sense was still ordinary. The commotion just now was all thanks to a flash of inspiration.

 

In fact, this outfit was very common and ordinary. The only extraordinary thing was the person wearing it – Ying Bujie.

 

But then Ying Bujie looked towards a corner and tugged at Gao Shi’s sleeve.

 

Gao Shi looked over and saw an old man selling candied haws.

 

“Want to eat candied haws? Wait here.”

 

Gao Shi walked over, and Ying Bujie followed, but he went to the corner.

 

Cheng Zeqi, who was a bit slow, hurried over, only to hear a few fragments of Ying Bujie’s words.

 

“…one life.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Animal realm…”

 

Cheng Zeqi paused his steps, but saw Ying Bujie had already walked out from the corner.

 

Behind that corner, there was clearly no one.

 

Looking at Ying Bujie’s dark eyes, Cheng Zeqi felt a chill run down his spine.

 

“You…”

 

“What are you two doing? Quick, get in the car! They’re coming after us!”

 

Gao Shi called out from a distance. Cheng Zeqi felt as if the sunlight had forcefully torn through this inexplicably chilling space. He hurriedly responded, “Coming, coming!”

 

The group got into the car. After driving for three or four blocks, Gao Shi looked back and said, “They’re gone. Fortunately, even in that chaos, no one stopped us.”

 

Cheng Zeqi rubbed his nose and didn’t say anything.

 

It was just that Gao Shi hadn’t noticed.

 

Ying Bujie was attractive, but at the same time, he made people inexplicably afraid. He made people think of an immortal in the clouds, with the power to change the world with a flip of his hand. Everyone standing beside him became mere accessories.

 

It was a kind of awe bordering on fear, and even he wasn’t immune to it, even though this Mr. Ying seemed quite approachable.

 

Like now, he was happily eating the candied haws Gao Shi had given him.

 

Cheng Zeqi thought about this and suddenly realized something.

 

He suddenly discovered that Gao Shi had always been standing beside Ying Bujie. They stood side by side so harmoniously, not at all out of place, as if they were flowers growing from the same stem, born to stand together.

 

Cheng Zeqi’s gaze moved back and forth between the two, and he suddenly raised an eyebrow.

 

Gao Shi, driving the car, couldn’t turn his head, but laughed and scolded, “Lao Qi, what are you grinning about so sneakily? I can tell you’re up to no good.”

 

Cheng Zeqi twisted out a response as winding as a mountain road: “Oh my~ I’m just admiring our Captain Gao~ So handsome and imposing~”

 

“Get lost.”

 

….

 

Gao Gusheng finally returned to school today.

 

He had no classes in the morning, so he made plans to have a meal with those few friends who were worried about him.

 

Who knew that after just a few steps, he’d witness such an explosive scene.

 

The Sun family’s real young master punched the fake young master in the face.

 

The real young master, eyes red, was about to strike again when he was restrained by a group of people. Then came the crisp sound of a slap.

 

The classmates holding the real young master were stunned, unconsciously loosening their grip.

 

The Sun family’s eldest son, Sun Langgan, had slapped his own younger brother hard, then pointed at his nose and berated him in disappointment, “I really wish you weren’t my brother.”

 

A bright red handprint immediately appeared on the real young master Sun Jun’s face.

 

Then the Sun family head and his wife also squeezed into the crowd.

 

According to rumors, the Sun family head and his wife had always favored their biological son.

 

But this time, after pushing into the crowd, they walked towards the fake young master Sun Qi—no, just a few days ago, he had changed his surname to follow his birth parents, he should be called Jia Qi now—they looked at the injuries on Jia Qi’s face, gently caressing him with concern, softly asking if it hurt.

 

They didn’t spare a single glance for Sun Jun throughout.

 

Sun Jun, with a swollen handprint on his face and blood at the corner of his lips, his eyes red from holding back tears.

 

He seemed to have been forgotten.

 

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