ACBAM 65: Pervert

Uncle Sun was so shocked that his mouth was wide open, big enough to fit an entire egg. He looked at Su Shijin, then at Gu Weiyang, and finally turned to Grandpa Su. “When did this happen? How come I’ve never heard of it?”

They were all from the same village, yet such a big event, Grandpa Su’s grandson getting married, had not made any noise in the village or beyond!

Family matters are best kept private, so Grandpa Su naturally wouldn’t mention that he only found out through social media. He took a bite of his food and said, “They just got their marriage certificate, but haven’t had the wedding banquet yet, so we haven’t announced it.”

Uncle Sun suddenly understood and nodded. “I see. So when will the wedding banquet be held?”

This question hit the mark, and for a moment, none of the three said a word.

Uncle Sun looked up in confusion. “What’s wrong? You’re not planning to have one?”

“No,” Gu Weiyang replied, not wanting Su Shijin to feel awkward. He smiled and explained, “We actually don’t plan to have a wedding banquet. We’re planning to have a destination wedding instead.”

Uncle Sun, who often spent his free time surfing the internet, was somewhat familiar with the idea of a travel wedding. He knew that many young people nowadays didn’t like the traditional wedding banquet and preferred this kind of approach instead.

Uncle Sun, however, didn’t quite understand and asked, “But if you’re not having a banquet, doesn’t that mean you won’t be able to get back the money your family gave for the wedding?”

Gu Weiyang: …

What a peculiar perspective. For a moment, he couldn’t find a way to refute it.

Seeing this, Grandpa Su waved his hand dismissively. “If we can’t get it back, then so be it. Shijin’s parents passed away early, so he hasn’t been to many wedding banquets and hasn’t given much in wedding gifts either.”

The topic suddenly shifted to a rather sensitive place, and Uncle Sun realized he had said too much and was meddling in things that weren’t his business. He quickly lowered his head and focused on eating his food.

“Alright, if you’re fine, then you can head back. I’ll stay here and fish a little longer. I’ll have Xiao Liu come pick me up later.” Grandpa Su, seeing that the two of them were just standing around with nothing to do, waved his hand to signal that they could leave.

Su Shijin glanced at the time and said, “I’ll have Uncle Liu come pick you up around ten.”

“Ten-thirty,” Grandpa Su bargained.

Su Shijin knew that Grandpa Su often got bored at home by himself, and his only hobbies were calligraphy and fishing. Since ten-thirty wasn’t too late, he nodded in agreement. “Alright, I’ll head back now. Please be careful by the river.”

Grandpa Su didn’t expect Su Shijin to agree so easily and couldn’t help but regret not asking for eleven o’clock instead.

Su Shijin could see through his grandfather’s little trick and didn’t give him a chance to backtrack. “Grandpa, ten-thirty at the latest. It can’t be any later.”

Grandpa Su was getting older and had a bit of high blood pressure. The doctor had recommended a healthy routine, so normally, Su Shijin wouldn’t let him stay up too late. 

Even the household staff had been instructed by Su Shijin to remind Grandpa to go to bed if it got too late, and if he didn’t listen, they were to call him directly.

As a result, Grandpa Su often grumbled that the house was full of “traitors,” but he knew his grandson was just concerned about his health, so whenever he got upset, his expression was always more amused than angry.

“Alright, fine, ten-thirty it is,” Grandpa Su sighed dramatically, pretending to be put out. “Getting old, and now even my fishing time is being controlled by my grandson.”

Su Shijin chose to ignore it and waved at Gu Weiyang. “Let’s go.”

Gu Weiyang gave a soft “hm,” then raised his leg to follow.

On the way back, Gu Weiyang, being considerate, didn’t try to make conversation unnecessarily. He only occasionally stole a glance at Su Shijin when he wasn’t looking, a slight smile curling at the corner of his lips as he quietly enjoyed the moment.

Su Shijin, on the other hand, had something he wanted to ask, but when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he wasn’t sure how to say them.

For instance, when Uncle Sun mentioned the wedding banquet earlier, Su Shijin had the feeling that Gu Weiyang was somewhat hoping he would bring it up.

Su Shijin couldn’t quite explain where this feeling came from, but he knew that right now, he couldn’t give Gu Weiyang the answer he was hoping for.

Just as he was hesitating, wondering whether to directly mention not planning to have a wedding banquet, Gu Weiyang spoke up.

“A destination wedding.”

When Su Shijin heard that, his first thought was actually that, if it were a travel wedding, it did seem like it could work.

Su Shijin was somewhat resistant to having a traditional wedding banquet, but the idea of a destination wedding didn’t bother him at all. In fact, he even found it quite interesting.

It seemed that traveling with Mr. Gu wasn’t something that made him feel awkward at all.

But then, the problem arose.

Su Shijin still didn’t know whether his feelings for Gu Weiyang were truly his own or if it was the high compatibility between them that was drawing him to Mr. Gu.

At the same time, he wasn’t sure if Gu Weiyang’s affection for him was also influenced by their compatibility.

Although Gu Weiyang had assured him before that his feelings were absolutely not because of the high compatibility, Su Shijin wanted to believe him. However, due to the influence of his childhood experiences with his two fathers, Su Shijin couldn’t completely rid himself of a lingering doubt about his own feelings.

How could he be sure that his feelings weren’t influenced by the compatibility rating?

A nearly perfect match meant that even just a glance between them could spark mutual attraction.

How could Gu Weiyang tell the difference?

What if he was, indeed, influenced by the compatibility rating? If he met another omega with a similarly high match rate, would he end up liking someone else?

Su Shijin knew he was overthinking things and he understood that his current thoughts were overly extreme. After all, it was nearly impossible to find another alpha or omega with a match rate as high as theirs. Yet he couldn’t control himself from dwelling on these thoughts, to the point where it even made him anxious.

The only solution that seemed best to him at the moment was to avoid thinking about it, to escape from this relationship, and simply wait for the contract to end a year later.

Yet, Su Shijin couldn’t help but feel that this escape would be unfair to Gu Weiyang.

If Gu Weiyang’s feelings for him were serious, then by choosing to escape, Su Shijin would essentially be sentencing the relationship to death from the very beginning.

Maybe it would be better to take a break and live separately for a while.

If they didn’t see each other for some time, he should be able to figure out whether his feelings for Gu Weiyang or Gu Weiyang’s feelings for him, were truly about them as individuals, or if it was all just influenced by the pheromones?

Su Shijin didn’t even know if this thought of his was influenced by the pheromones.

The idea of avoiding Gu Weiyang’s feelings and spending the next eleven months like that wasn’t really in line with Su Shijin’s character.

Even Su Shijin himself found it a bit laughable how indecisive he was being.

The next question was how to get Gu Weiyang to agree to them taking some time apart.

Should he just say it directly?

Then he was worried that Gu Weiyang might overthink it.

Su Shijin lowered his gaze, lost in thought, so absorbed in his pondering that he didn’t notice the drainage ditch ahead and nearly stepped right into it.

Fortunately, Gu Weiyang reacted quickly, grabbing Su Shijin’s wrist and pulling him into his embrace. His heart raced from the shock, and his voice trembled as he spoke, “What are you thinking? How can you not even watch where you’re going?”

Su Shijin was also startled, his expression blank with surprise.

Seeing Su Shijin’s confused look, Gu Weiyang couldn’t bring himself to scold him. Instead, he gave him a once-over from head to toe. “It’s alright, as long as you’re not hurt. But next time, when you’re walking alone, you need to pay more attention to the road.”

Especially since the roads around here were lined with many drainage ditches. A moment of inattention could easily lead to a fall.

While the height wasn’t dangerous enough to be life-threatening, Gu Weiyang still didn’t want to see Su Shijin get hurt.

He remembered how, when Su Shijin twisted his ankle, Gu Weiyang had almost wished the injury had happened to him instead. He could accept something happening to himself, but he couldn’t bear to see Su Shijin get hurt.

“At night, the lighting isn’t great. Don’t look at your phone or daydream while walking. Be sure to stay safe,” Gu Weiyang said, seeing Su Shijin nodding repeatedly. He knew that Su Shijin had taken the advice to heart and reluctantly let go of his wrist. “Let’s go. We’re almost home.”

Only then did Su Shijin realize they had been walking for quite a while and were now just two streets away from the Su family’s home.

For the rest of the way, Su Shijin paid close attention to the road, making sure nothing else happened to worry Gu Weiyang.

After returning to the Su family’s home, Su Shijin reminded Butler Liu to pick up Grandpa at ten-thirty, then he and Gu Weiyang went back to his courtyard.

“Do you want to take a shower first?” Su Shijin asked.

“I can do it later,” Gu Weiyang glanced at the unread messages on his phone and then asked, “Is there a computer in the study? Can I borrow it? I need to handle some work.”

“There is one, and there’s no password. You can just use it,” Su Shijin said as he opened the door to the west room, gesturing for Gu Weiyang to help himself. “I’ll go take a shower first.”

Gu Weiyang nodded and said, “Alright.”

Su Shijin grabbed some clothes to change into and headed for the bathroom to take a shower, all while thinking about how to bring up the idea of living separately for a while in a way that wouldn’t feel too abrupt or make Gu Weiyang overthink things.

Yet even after finishing his shower, Su Shijin still hadn’t figured it out.

He really wasn’t good at lying, not even at coming up with a flimsy excuse.

In the end, it was Dr. Liu from the animal hospital who sent a registration form for a seminar, which gave Su Shijin an idea.

“Mr. Gu,” Su Shijin knocked on the door to the west room and said to Gu Weiyang, who was sitting in front of the computer, “I have a seminar to attend next week. I’ll probably be away from home for a few days.”

Gu Weiyang’s expression changed drastically. “A few days?”

“Half… half a month,” Su Shijin stammered uncontrollably as he lied.

He nervously tightened his grip on the hem of his clothes and looked at Gu Weiyang with hopeful eyes, asking, “Is that not okay?”

Gu Weiyang, meeting his gaze, felt that anything could become acceptable. After all, when it came to work matters like this, there was no way he would stop Su Shijin.

However, Gu Weiyang still couldn’t bear the thought of those two weeks. After all, that would mean even less time spent with Su Shijin, and their remaining eleven months together would be even shorter.

He had been carefully cherishing every moment, wishing he could spend more time with Su Shijin whenever possible.

Now, with half a month away from him, Gu Weiyang felt like he would fall ill from missing him.

Gu Weiyang silently swallowed his emotions, nodding in agreement. “Alright, since it’s for work, work comes first.”

However, he still wanted to try to get a little something for himself. “In that case, could we extend our contract by half a month?”

Su Shijin: “Huh?”

Su Shijin hadn’t expected such a suggestion, but if being apart for half a month could help him understand their feelings better, then extending the contract didn’t seem like a big problem.

“Since it’s because of me that we’ll be apart for half a month, I’ll take responsibility for it.” Su Shijin said.

Gu Weiyang couldn’t help but smile inwardly, thinking how nice that last sentence sounded to him.

“Do you mind saying the last sentence again? I want to record it,” Gu Weiyang said, pulling out his phone and opening the recording app.

Su Shijin thought he was worried that he might not keep his word. “Don’t worry, I always keep my word. If you’re not convinced, I can go change the contract date tomorrow.”

“No, no,” Gu Weiyang said, rubbing his hands awkwardly. “I just want to hear that last sentence again.”

Su Shijin: …

With a blank expression, Su Shijin repeated, “Since it’s because of me that we’ll be apart for half a month, I’ll take responsibility for it.”

“Good.” Gu Weiyang finished recording, played it back to check if it worked, and then, hearing Su Shijin’s slightly cold and emotionless voice, repeated it softly to himself near his ear.

“I’ll take responsibility for you.”

“I’ll take responsibility for you.”

“I’ll take responsibility for you…”

Su Shijin stood nearby, listening to this sentence being repeated over and over again. He tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn’t stop himself.

“Mr. Gu.”

“Hmm?” Gu Weiyang looked up with a smile at the corner of his lips. “What’s wrong? Is there something else?”

“It’s nothing.”

Su Shijin looked at him with a blank expression. “I just mean you seem a little strange doing that.”

Who would keep replaying a recording right in front of the person whose voice it was? It even made Su Shijin feel a bit embarrassed himself, and his mind wandered to whether Gu Weiyang might use that recording for something strange.

But Gu Weiyang caught the hint in his roundabout words. “Strange? You mean more like perverted, right?”

Gu Weiyang chuckled. “Haha, it’s fine. People say that about me all the time.”

Su Shijin: …

He was completely speechless.