TVLMS Chapter 29

Gu Xiyu had a complete knowledge base, especially in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Those were the subjects he was particularly good at, so he was always able to give beautiful answers that shut Lu Ziqing up whenever he deliberately tried to find difficult problems to embarrass him.

But Lu Ziqing was quite casual with his work. Gu Xiyu remembered how the big devil liked doing everything perfectly, so he asked, “What would it take for you to make it in the top 100 in this final exam?”

Lu Ziqing didn’t know about Gu Xiyu’s side mission and only asked in return, “Look at my report card, do you think it’s possible?”

“It’s possible.” Gu Xiyu’s tone was unhesitating.

Lu Ziqing’s hand, which was forced to copy the text, paused imperceptibly, and he heard Gu Xiyu continue, “I know you can do it.”

After these words, the only sound in the room was that of Lu Ziqing scribbling away.

But Gu Xi Yu heard the system’s automatic prompt in his mind.

[Target’s risk value is -5; the current risk value is 55.]

Lu Ziqing heard it too and moved uncomfortably from his scribbling position so that Gu Xiyu would not see the different flush on his face.

Ever since he was a child, he had never been recognized or praised by anyone.

This included his biological parents.

Gu Xiyu’s eyes flickered, and he didn’t make a sound until Lu Ziqing put down his pen after writing the last sentence and suddenly turned to face him and ask, “If I really do it, will Little Mom give me a reward?”

He said, “Yes, what do you want?”

Lu Ziqing looked down and struggled for a while before saying, “I don’t know yet, but will Little Mom give me whatever I ask for?”

“It depends.” Gu Xiyu said, “I won’t do anything illegal.”

Even if Lu Ziqing said he wanted to give him a beating, it wasn’t impossible to return the favor once the marriage with his father was dissolved. So he felt that, apart from the evils like killing and arson, nothing else was that big of an issue.

Lu Ziqing nodded: “Of course not.”

“I am a good law-abiding citizen.”

Gu Xiyu chose to remain silent.

Lu Ziqing’s mobile phone suddenly rang.

It was a message from his father.

[The people from the Lu family want to meet Gu Xiyu, you two will come with me after class tomorrow night.]

Lu Ziqing didn’t like his father’s relatives, he heard that they used to put a lot of pressure on his mother, so he thought that those people were one of the reasons why she chose to leave.

He was going to refuse out of habit, but then he suddenly realized he had Gu Xiyu with him this time, so he deleted the few words he had typed down and replied curtly: [Okay.]

“My dad is taking us to the Lu family tomorrow.” There was a pause before he added, “The one with a lot of nasty people.”

——-

The next day in class, Gu Xiyu was looking down at his timetable and wondering where the location of his next classroom was when a man in white suddenly walked up to him and stopped him.

When he looked up and saw the person’s appearance, the name ‘Liu Sheng’ instantly popped into his head.

He silently put down his hand holding the mobile phone, thinking that what should come would always come.

Liu Sheng was a relatively fair boy, and he did indeed have the air of Prince Charming from the comics.

“Is there something wrong?” Gu Xiyu spoke softly, his tone sounding a little cold.

Liu Sheng froze for a moment, and then the light smile on his lips became a little apologetic: “Sorry, I went to a seminar on behalf of the school a few days ago, and didn’t know that so many things happened. You…”

He said and paused, as if he was struggling with how to bring out the topic he wanted to discuss naturally.

However, Gu Xiyu’s reaction and attitude were much calmer than he expected: “I should be the one saying sorry for causing you unnecessary trouble.”

According to the introduction provided by the main system, Liu Sheng, who is the second male protagonist, should like the female protagonist: “Don’t worry, I was.… in a bad mood and only ran there to make inappropriate comments in a moment of confusion. I have already applied with the school’s IT department to have that confession removed, and I will definitely not cause you any trouble after that.”

Liu Sheng said in a daze, “No, I actually don’t blame you. I admit I was surprised when I first found out about it, but I’m not going to treat you with an attitude that will make you feel uncomfortable just because of that.”

“I came looking for you mainly to try to resolve this misunderstanding and also get to know your opinion. If you feel that you can’t continue to maintain a platonic relationship with me, I will reduce the number of times I appear before you as much as possible so that you can have a comfortable life.”

Only then did Gu Xiyu realize that Liu Sheng was a really gentle person, different from what Fu Nian showed on the outside, the gentleness he gave off was a feeling that radiated from his heart.

His tense body instantly relaxed a lot: “It’s okay, I can accept it.”

After thinking about it, he added, “Actually, I already have someone I really like. It’s just that you usually take care of me, and I happened to have a fight with him at that time, so I did something like that.”

“The confession wall was supposed to be an anonymous community, so I didn’t think someone would investigate and cause you distress.”

Liu Sheng looked significantly more relaxed after hearing this: “So that’s the case.… leaking someone’s anonymous information is indeed a bit too much. The person in charge of security was my senior before he graduated, I will ask him to give you an explanation.”

Gu Xiyu did not refuse.

After all, if the original owner was still alive, this incident would have had a bad impact on him emotionally. Especially since he was relatively fragile in nature, he might even have done something stupid again because of the social death.

He and Liu Sheng also met Zhang Ming on their way to class.

Zhang Ming was carrying a small satchel as he rushed up to pull him away and gave Liu Sheng a wary look.

Then he got shocked when they told him they’d be maintaining a friendly and harmonious relationship. He had a broken expression on his face as he said, “I really don’t understand you, youngsters.”

Liu Sheng smiled.

He didn’t know what the reason was, but the current Gu Xiyu no longer looked at him with the slightly timid admiration as in the past. Moreover, his demeanor had become very calm, so he didn’t suspect that Gu Xiyu was just looking for a perfunctory excuse.

Liu Sheng was majoring in computer science and before he separated from them, he asked Gu Xiyu: “I remember that you are very interested in second-dimensional games and the like, my sister invited me to participate in some event this Saturday, would you like to come and hang out together if you have nothing to do?”

Zhang Ming scratched his head, “Unfortunately I have to go back home with my mom this weekend… ”

Gu Xiyu had no special interest, but the presence of the heroine meant a certain possibility of meeting the male protagonist, and then something special would definitely happen.

Unfortunately, he had already made an appointment with Colorful Marshmallow to do makeup and a live photo shoot on Saturday, so he could only retort, “Unfortunately, I already have an appointment.”

“Okay.” Liu Sheng shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

Only when he left did Zhang Ming pat him on the shoulder with a slightly exaggerated expression and ask, “How can you and the school grass still get along happily after that kind of thing?”

Gu Xiyu looked at the crowd around him, who were still sneaking glances at him, and replied as he walked towards the classroom, “I told him that I have someone I like.”

“Ah?!” Zhang Ming froze for a moment, suddenly taking a step back and crossing his arms in front of him in a protective manner. “No, no, it wouldn’t be me, would it?”

Gu Xiyu ignored him and found a seat.

Zhang Ming couldn’t hold back his curiosity and quickly put his things away before leaning up to ask, “Who is it? How come I haven’t heard you mention it? Do I know him?”

Gu Xiyu happened to remember that he and Ji Chen were a legitimate couple, so he said, “You don’t know, they’re already dead.”

Zhang Ming: “……?!”

If habit meant he liked the other party, then it wouldn’t hurt to take out the big devil for a while to block unnecessary situations.

When Gu Xiyu came home from school, Lu Ziqing and Lu Mingren were sitting on a sofa waiting for him.

Lu Ziqing glanced up in his direction and went back to looking at his phone. However, Lu Mingren put down the financial newspaper in his hand and spoke like an elder: “Go and change your clothes, then we can go out.”

When the Lu family found out that a family member had to marry a ‘male daughter-in-law’ in order to bring positive energy to the old patriarchy, it was hard for them to accept at first. Especially since same-sex marriage had only been legalized in recent years and the Lu family was a small family that had been passed down for a hundred years, most people were conservative in their thinking and were even more opposed to the idea after learning that the boy and Lu Mingren were some twenty years apart.

In their opinion, no matter who they were, marriage had to be proper, especially for a direct descendant like Lu Mingren, who had to have a good match. What was the point of marrying a boy whose father was a gambler and whose mother was a stall vendor? However, no matter how reluctant they were, the old patriarch’s life was more important. They could not let him pass away so easily, especially as his coma had happened so suddenly and he could not wake up. His will was not clear, so they finally tried the advice of a small group of people.

Their idea was that if this was done and the old patriarch still couldn’t wake up, they would kick Gu Xiyu out. The 100,000 yuan would be treated as charity.

Therefore, when Gu Xiyu arrived at the Lu family’s home with Lu Mingren and Lu Ziqing, the people in the living room did not treat him kindly and did not even greet him.

“They are really annoying, aren’t they?” Lu Ziqing noticed the expressions on those people’s faces and moved slightly closer to Gu Xiyu’s to tease him a little.

Gu Xiyu did not reply.

An older uncle in the living room opened his mouth as soon as they entered, “I told you this decision was ridiculous!”

“What master fortune teller? Now that Mingren is married and has received his certificate, isn’t the old patriarch still lying unconscious in bed? As I see it, that master is a fraud, tell Mingren to hurry up and get a divorce!”

A middle-aged woman in a cheongsam took a leisurely sip of tea before saying, “What’s the hurry? It’s only been a few days, and if it really worked right away, the master would have become immortal by now.”

“Will there be a banquet for the guests?”

This weak hint was directly refuted by the grumpy uncle: “It’s already embarrassing enough for Mingren to marry a boy way younger than him, but you even want to host a banquet? You, are you trying to bring shame to the Lu family?”

He lifted his head, and his angry eyes fell on Gu Xiyu, clearly preparing to humiliate him with his words.

But before he could get the words out, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the corridor above the stairs.

A young man in a suit poked his head out towards the living room and said, “Dad, grandpa is really awake!”

Gu Xiyu was also surprised to hear this and couldn’t resist asking in his mind, “System, is this a fantasy world with elements of gods and ghosts?”

[I don’t know.] The system continued its style of answering with one sentence, then added at the end, [Anyway, I haven’t seen any gods or ghosts for the time being.]

Gu Xiyu thought of the strange beasts he had seen in other times and places and shrugged.

The report from upstairs also stunned the group of people below. The boy finished, and then looked at Gu Xiyu with a troubled face, saying, “Grandpa said he wanted to see, uh, see the third aunt.”

Gu Xiyu: “……”

He heard Lu Ziqing snicker.

The old patriarch of the Lu family was called Lu Chenghe, an old man in his seventies. When Gu Xiyu was led in, he was half sitting on the big bed in the bedroom, the blood on his face had not yet fully recovered.

Lu Chenghe was very serious-looking, but also kind. He did not look at Gu Xiyu with hostility; instead, he waved at him affectionately and asked him to come sit beside him.

“Son, I’m sorry for having troubled you.” Lu Chenghe held his hand and patted it, sighing.

Gu Xiyu was still patient with the elderly: “It’s okay, it’s good that I can help you.”

Lu Chenghe coughed a few times after everyone came into the room, his tone solemn: “Xiyu is my life-saving benefactor, he must be treated well when he comes to our home. Don’t let me see you treat him with disrespect!”

He must have heard the yelling from downstairs earlier, and his stern eyes swept over the old uncle. Everyone seemed to be afraid of Lu Chenghe’s majesty, and the warm words they had wanted to cry out were stuck in their mouths, and the arrogant uncle even lowered his head, not daring to disobey.

Lu Chenghe’s words were like an imperial decree to the Lu family, and when they left Lu Chenghe’s bedroom, the way everyone looked at him changed instantly.

The only ones who didn’t change were Lu Mingren, who had no mood swings from the beginning to the end, and Lu Ziqing, who was watching a good show.

When Lu Mingren came downstairs, he got a phone call and went straight to a corner where there were fewer people to talk. Gu Xiyu was surrounded by the “kind-hearted” Lu family members, who kept showering him with praises and asking him about his life, as if they were carrying out a household survey.

Lu Ziqing was the only one left alone in the corner, and seeing that they might still have to talk for a while, he took his phone upstairs to find a quiet place to play a few games of trivia.

The light was still on in Lu Chenghe’s bedroom, and as he passed by, he vaguely heard him talking to someone on the phone.

His voice sounded quite spirited.

Lu Ziqing didn’t believe in the idea of marrying to bring positivity, but there was something magical about this incident with Lu Chenghe.

“Ziqing.” A voice suddenly came from behind. Lu Ziqing turned around and saw his cousin, who had just given them the good news from upstairs.

He smiled at him and asked, “I’ve heard that you’re particularly good at gaming, do you want to take me to eat chicken?”

Lu Ziqing had little interest in this whole family of hypocrites and answered with a cold attitude, “If you want to eat chicken, go find it in the kitchen yourself; I don’t know how to cook.”

“……”

Lu Ziqing ran to an unoccupied staircase and sat down. After playing a few mini-games, he felt bored and suddenly remembered his ‘system’ identity.

[How are you feeling now?]

Gu Xiyu was having a headache from dealing with the people downstairs, when he suddenly heard the system ask him this question, and he replied in a disgruntled voice, “Terrible.”

The system laughed lowly; the laughter that should have sounded like a sneer sounded like that of a fool under the influence of the mechanical voice.

“Where is Lu Ziqing?” Gu Xiyu had just noticed that his target was missing.

[You care about him that much?]

Gu Xiyu found the question somewhat inexplicable, “He is my mission target.”

The system was silent for a moment before asking him again, [So, your attention… will always be on him?]

[Then don’t let him die young.]

“……”

Gu Xiyu stayed at the Lu mansion for about two hours before he was finally able to go home.

No one spoke in the car the whole way, and Lu Ziqing only kept his head down to play with his phone, there was no communication between him and Lu Mingren.

It wasn’t until they were a few kilometers away from home that Lu Ziqing said his first words since getting into the car, “I want to buy something.”

The attitude was even colder than when talking to Gu Xiyu, the nominal guardian.

Lu Mingren seemed to be used to it, he didn’t even ask him what he wanted to buy and simply found a suitable place to stop.

Gu Xiyu saw Lu Ziqing walking to a nearby convenience store and coming out with a big bag later.

He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and black trousers, with clean white sneakers on his feet. He carried the bag with one hand while looking down at his phone in the other. He looked cool, and some girls passing by couldn’t help but steal a few glances at him.

Lu Ziqing got into the car with his things, and only then did Lu Mingren continue to drive the car home.

It was around ten o’clock in the evening when they arrived home, and Gu Xiyu, who had been depleted of energy, was about to go straight to his room when Lu Ziqing, who was following him upstairs, suddenly reached out to block him from closing the door.

“?” Gu Xiyu raised his eyes to question him and was caught off guard by the large bag stuffed into his arms.

Lu Ziqing threw the things to him without saying a word, then went back to his room and slammed the door shut.

Gu Xiyu opened the bag, only to find that it was full of snacks, bread, biscuits, and other foods from all different kinds of brands. It was obvious that the person who bought them grabbed them casually after walking in.

He had finished his class later today and, indeed, hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Lu Mingren had originally thought that the Lu family would at least prepare some food for him there, but he hadn’t expected them to be so unfriendly at first and not prepare anything at all.

Unexpectedly, Lu Ziqing noticed and bought these things for him.

On the other side, Lu Ziqing was getting more and more chagrined as he thought about his behavior, and the color of his neck was turning a little red.

He looked down at his hands, his eyes carrying a bit of darkness and bewilderment, “Why are you being nice to him?”

He should be hating someone like Gu Xiyu, who “sold” himself for money and always used his status as “elder” to suppress him and force him to do his homework every day. Every day, he reminds himself to hate Gu Xiyu, but he can’t stop himself from subconsciously noticing his difficulties and trying to make him comfortable.

How troublesome.

————–

As the days passed, it was time for another leisurely Saturday.

Lu Ziqing woke up in the afternoon after a late game with his teammates the night before. He got up to go to the toilet and happened to see Gu Xiyu’s door open and the room empty.

The displeasure he felt when he got up seemed to have grown a little heavier.

He had a husband, yet he still wandered around.

He connected to the internet, and his phone started blowing up with messages.

No one was in class on the weekend, and the group chat for his teammates was particularly lively.

He casually picked up his phone after brushing his teeth, only to find that his teammates are frantically calling him.

Big GG: [@azuresky!!! Won’t you come out and take a look?]

Jie: [Forget it; that’s his favorite hero, he won’t be happy with anyone who cosplays them.]

Pancakes and fruit are super delicious: [But I have to say one thing, this is the best cosplay I have ever seen. ]

Big GG: [Not forgetting that the person looks so good!]

In the competitive game Lu Ziqing played, he had a favorite hero. It was because he accidentally saw the graphics of this character that he was pulled into playing the game. The hero’s position in the game was as a jungler, and his background was designed as that of a top executive in an intergalactic setting. He was portrayed as a youth with black hair and grey eyes, wearing black, gray, and white clothes in a military style. He has a particularly cold look in his eyes, and both the poster and the film have an out-of-this-world feel to them, as if nothing in this world could be of any interest to him.

The team only knew that he was particularly fond of this hero, but none of them knew that he likes him so much this character’s image resembles the person he has dreamed of since childhood.

It was mainly the eyes and the aura.

Azure sky: […]

Pancakes and fruit are super delicious: [Oh, our wild king is here.]

The member called “Big GG” immediately posted a few pictures without saying a word.

Big GG: [There’s an anchor named Xixi cosplaying your natal hero, he’s live streaming it at the moment, do you want the link?]

MUTE: [What, so he can go roast him until he goes mute and never dares to broadcast again?

Big GG: [ wouldn’t go that far…]

Actually, he would go that far.

That was what Lu Ziqing was thinking before he clicked on the pictures.

This character was a major hit among a majority of players since his launch, and many people liked to cosplay him, but very few could pull it off. Lu Ziqing had seen so many of them, but he had never seen one that he was satisfied with.

It was because he felt that no matter how perfect their cosplay was, their eyes didn’t have the soul and feeling he wanted.

It was not until the picture on his phone loaded that Lu Ziqing’s pupils, staring at the screen, shrank.

Although the person in the picture was wearing makeup, he could still tell that it was Gu Xiyu.

And without warning, the other party’s eyes looking into the camera suddenly overlapped perfectly with the pair in his dreams.

A heavy tremor seemed to come from the depths of his heart, tearing at his heart and causing him to bend down and clutch at the clothes around his chest to catch his breath and ease the fleeting pain.

Lu Ziqing stared at the person in the picture for a long time before he typed a few words into the group chat

Azure sky: [Give me the link.]

T/N: Yes, Gu Xiyu complained before he was cosplaying with a female costume, it wasn’t a mistake.