UCS Chapter 81

The day Bai Mingyue returned happened to be Gui Yan’s birthday. Gao Gusheng had prepared a table full of delicious food at home, arranged a roomful of surprises, and spent two months secretly assembling a race car model for him, waiting at home for his return.

 

Though Gui Yan had gone to training and had called him back at five in the afternoon saying he’d be home soon, Gao Gusheng waited until ten o’clock. The food grew cold, was reheated, but Gui Yan never returned.

 

His phone was unreachable, he didn’t reply to messages. Gao Gusheng worried something had happened to him and wanted to contact his friends to look for him, only to suddenly realize he had no contact information for any of Gui Yan’s close friends—or rather, he had hardly seen Gui Yan’s friends at all.

 

The only time they’d met was when they happened to run into them on the street.

 

He could feel that Gui Yan’s body, pressed close against his, had stiffened for just that moment.

 

Gao Gusheng could do nothing. He could only sit at the dining table, listening to the ticking of the clock.

 

It wasn’t until night, when the hour hand passed twelve, that the sound of the front door opening finally came.

 

Gao Gusheng was almost overjoyed to the point of tears. He ran to the entrance to greet Gui Yan, only to see him with flushed cheeks, reeking of alcohol.

 

Gui Yan was a race car driver—he never drank alcohol.

 

Gao Gusheng was extremely worried, but Gui Yan only said his friends had prepared a birthday party for him and it wouldn’t have been right not to go.

 

Then why couldn’t he even reply to messages?

 

Gui Yan glanced at the food and cake on the table, saying he was full and couldn’t eat anymore. When he saw the race car model Gao Gusheng brought out, he only smiled faintly and casually said he liked it.

 

But Gui Yan had a collection room where he kept all his most treasured items. This time, he didn’t put the model inside.

 

As Gao Gusheng cleaned up the table of cold dishes, he suddenly felt that this villa, which he had once thought was filled with love, was no different from the prison where Li Mochen had once confined him.

 

The next day, Gao Gusheng discovered there was an additional engraved pen in the glass cabinet.

 

The handwriting was elegant and strong, inscribed: “To my friend”

 

…

 

After Bai Mingyue returned, Gui Yan came home less and less frequently.

 

Gao Gusheng told himself that Gui Yan’s career was more important, and he couldn’t always cling to him like this.

 

When he sat in front of the door looking at flowers, he sometimes felt like a resentful wife waiting for her cheating husband to come home. This terrifying comparison made him shudder all over.

 

He felt that perhaps he should find something to do.

 

He had been expelled from college and tortured for several years, but his mind and learning ability were still there. He believed he could get back into college.

 

He thought he couldn’t keep being a freeloader at home, depending on Gui Yan for support.

 

So he bought secondhand high school textbooks and began self-studying.

 

The days of studying were fulfilling and satisfying. His attention, which had been too much focused on Gui Yan, finally seemed to return to himself. Gao Shi watched Gao Gusheng in the dream—when he held the books, he was like a swordsman gripping his sword, his features that had been worn smooth regaining the sharp edge that belonged to youth.

 

Gao Shi’s hand, separated by a layer of dream, rested gently on his son’s head. His hair shimmered with a beautiful halo in the sunlight.

 

During this time, Gui Yan was completely enchanted by Bai Mingyue. The two did everything he had once fantasized about doing. They raced together, making beautiful drifts on the sharp turns of mountain roads, chasing each other and forming two brilliant streaks of lightning.

 

They sped to the finish line, then stood side by side watching the sun rise from the horizon. Gui Yan looked at Bai Mingyue’s profile—in this moment, he very much wanted to kiss him.

 

On the other side, whenever Gui Yan parted from Bai Mingyue, he would think of Gao Gusheng waiting for him at home.

 

Gao Gusheng was beautiful and intelligent. Once, when he taught him French, he was amazed by Gao Gusheng’s progress. In less than a month, he could already hold simple conversations in French.

 

Once when he returned home, he saw Gao Gusheng sitting by the bay window, reciting the French poems he had once read to him in his clear voice, tender and affectionate.

 

Such language learning ability would make him a treasure that language professors at any school would fight over.

 

Yet he chose to use that beautiful voice to quietly recite love poems just for him.

 

Recently, Gao Gusheng had even picked up textbooks again, saying he wanted to retake college entrance exams. When he spoke about this, his eyes held a light that fascinated him.

 

Once, he had used Gao Gusheng to remember Bai Mingyue.

 

Now, occasionally when he looked at Bai Mingyue, he would think of Gao Gusheng.

 

Gui Yan was torn between two feelings. Logic told him he should make a clean break—give Gao Gusheng some money and make him leave, before Bai Mingyue found out.

 

But he, who had always been decisive, actually hesitated.

 

Until he discovered the real reason Bai Mingyue had returned—

 

He was sick, very seriously ill. He needed cornea and kidney transplants.

 

Gui Yan frantically used his family’s resources to help Bai Mingyue find donors.

 

By coincidence, Gao Gusheng and Bai Mingyue were a perfect match for transplants.

 

What happened next was well known.

 

Gao Gusheng gave up his kidney and corneas, and Bai Mingyue and Gui Yan lived happily together.

 

…

 

Gao Shi closed his eyes, recalling the memory fragments he could access.

 

Because this was a dream, most of the time his perspective was bound to Gao Gusheng’s, so he often had no way of knowing what Bai Mingyue and Gui Yan were up to.

 

But in reality, he had discovered some interesting things.

 

For instance, Bai Mingyue’s health problems had been discovered not long after he went abroad.

 

For instance, the Bai family had also been on the verge of bankruptcy not long after going abroad.

 

As one of only two sons of the Bai family, as an heir with half the inheritance rights, returning to the country at that critical moment and approaching Gui Yan as if nothing had happened was highly suspicious.

 

Moreover, Gui Yan had never deliberately hidden Gao Gusheng’s existence—or rather, this young master of the Gui family simply had no experience in hiding people. Anyone could easily investigate and find out everything about him.

 

Besides, Bai Mingyue had a decent reputation in their circle, with many friends and quite a few admirers and suitors.

 

Even if he didn’t investigate, someone would tell him about Gao Gusheng’s existence.

 

Would a cold and proud person really accept that his lover had found a substitute for himself?

 

So could he reasonably suspect that Bai Mingyue returned to the country because he wanted to deliberately approach Gui Yan to save his family while also seeking organ donors for himself?

 

In the dream, when Gao Gusheng met Gui Yan, Gao Gusheng was not yet twenty, Gui Yan was twenty-five, and Bai Mingyue was twenty-seven.

 

Now, after Bai Mingyue had been abroad for a year, Gao Gusheng and Gui Yan had met earlier than expected.

 

Gao Shi had already discovered that the Bai family’s situation was precarious. Bai Mingyue’s health hadn’t been diagnosed with problems yet, but based on the timeline, his condition was probably not optimistic either.

 

Gao Shi exhaled softly, flipping through his records. Thinking of the substitute novels that Zhuang Xiuxiu had provided him earlier, he found the whole situation somewhat ridiculous.

 

It was just going abroad—for the Gui family, wasn’t going abroad just a matter of taking a private jet? If Gui Yan truly couldn’t bear the separation, wouldn’t it be fine to just fly abroad to see him? How could this be considered difficult?

 

In those books, he could barely understand the logic of the male leads when their white moonlight faked death, but when the white moonlight went abroad, he really couldn’t understand it at all.

 

Was it because they loved too deeply and were afraid of being rejected if they confessed easily, so they just became cowards and bullied substitutes, then staged some deep, tormented love story?

 

If they truly loved enough, why would they look for substitutes?

 

Simply put, they didn’t love anyone—the male leads only loved themselves.

 

Gui Yan was the same.

 

If at this point, he forced Gui Yan and Bai Mingyue to meet—one full of calculations, one who only loved himself, with Gui Yan having no guilt toward Bai Mingyue and Bai Mingyue lacking Gao Gusheng as an emotional catalyst—how would things develop?

 

He was quite looking forward to it.

 

***

 

After this period of busyness temporarily came to an end, Gao Shi went to the orphanage under the Gao family’s name.

 

It was the same family that had adopted Gao Gusheng in the dream.

 

After Gao Shi dreamed about it, he had the Gao family acquire this orphanage.

 

After the Gao family took over, the material conditions of the orphanage improved significantly. When Gao Shi went there, the children were playing games in the courtyard while the director (whom they called mama) was knitting on the side, smiling as she watched the children.

 

Seeing Gao Shi arrive, she immediately started to get up, but Gao Shi shook his head at her and quietly entered the courtyard, walking into Pipi Baby’s room.

 

Pipi Baby’s injuries were severe—he still couldn’t get out of bed and walk around. But there was a little girl sitting by his bedside, reading him a storybook. The child’s tender voice, along with the afternoon sunlight, gently landed on Pipi Baby’s eyelids. His head nodded bit by bit until he slowly fell asleep.

 

The little girl closed the storybook. Seeing Gao Shi, she wasn’t afraid and made a “shh” gesture like a little adult, whispering softly, “He’s asleep.”

 

Gao Shi then quietly placed Pipi Baby’s phone beside his pillow.

 

During that domestic violence incident, Pipi Baby’s phone screen had been shattered and left behind in that broken home. Later, Gao Shi had retrieved the phone, replaced it with a new screen, charged it fully, and finally got it working normally again.

 

Sensing the change in brightness, the phone screen lit up. The wallpaper still showed a photo of Pipi Baby’s family of three from when they lived in the countryside—mom and dad holding Pipi, all three dressed somewhat rustically but with brilliant smiles.

 

Gao Shi took one last look back, then followed the little girl outside.

 

Perhaps when Pipi woke up, he would change this wallpaper, or perhaps he would keep it. Either way, it was the beginning of a new journey.

 

After leaving the room, the little girl, like a competent big sister, said to Gao Shi, “Pipi has been much better lately. He doesn’t wake up startled at night anymore. I told you my stories have magic—he definitely won’t hurt anymore!”

 

The little girl’s proud expression was like a little bird puffing out its chest with pride.

 

Gao Shi couldn’t help but smile, “Yes, thanks to you. You’re the biggest hero in helping Pipi get better.”

 

Gao Shi’s straightforward praise actually made her a bit embarrassed. She scratched her head, “Well… not really. Honeycake and the others sing to Pipi and play with him too, and Mochi even teaches him to read. Pipi is so big but knows fewer characters than Grape. How embarrassing.”

 

Grape was only six years old.

 

Gao Shi said, “Didn’t Strawberry want a new storybook last time? I brought one for you this time. Call everyone over to take a look.”

 

Strawberry’s eyes lit up. Just then, the children in the courtyard had finished their games—some drinking water, others resting. She immediately waved her little hand, “Uncle Gao is here, and he brought storybooks!”

 

The children’s “wows” rose and fell as they swarmed over like a flock of waddling little ducklings.

 

At this moment, Gao Shi looked up and happened to meet eyes with the young man who had been playing with everyone in the courtyard earlier.

 

Gao Shi remembered him.

 

His name was Mo Hua.

 

He was also… in the dream, the only male who had never harmed Lele.

 

Later, to protect Gao Gusheng, he was devoured by evil spirits controlled by the Celestial Master, suffering from ten thousand ghosts feeding on his flesh.

 

In the end, he was left with only a skeleton, still maintaining the posture of crawling toward where Gao Gusheng was.

 

***