CH 88

It was now noon.

Gu Qingchi had drawn all the curtains. He had the curtains to his large poster bed drawn as well. It gave him a sense of safety. He laid on the bed, all curled up. The entire room was very quiet. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. 

Gu Qingchi had gone to bed very early last night, so he woke up early as well. He laid there for a long time, motionlessly staring at the folds in his clothing. He didn’t even care about the grumbling of his stomach.

The landline in the living room rang several times. Gu Qingchi heard it. He wearily closed his eyes, not unlike the slow flap of a butterfly’s wings.

He knew that he should pick up the phone, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

He curled up in bed. He felt safe here. It was as if he had separated himself from the entire rest of the world. He was sinking to the bottom of the sea where it was quiet and safe. The ringing of the phone, however, broke that barrier. It was like a chain, dragging him back up, dragging him back into reality. This made him uneasy. This wasn’t right. He heard the ring of the phone and knew that he should go pick it up. 

The phone rang several times before it finally stopped. Gu Qingchi’s uneasiness dissipated along with it. Sure enough, this place was still safe and quiet.

However, after a few seconds, the phone started ringing again. The bedroom door was ajar, so the ringing of the phone could be heard clearly. The cat had made its way over to Gu Qingchi’s bedroom door from who knows where. It started to meow fawningly. The cat’s cries combined with the ringing of the phone made for a rather noisy environment.

Gu Qingchi seemed to have finally recovered his strength. He got out of bed and walked to the living room, barefoot. The living room was floored with ceramic tiles. Xie Luyu wasn’t there to lay rugs out on the floor, so it was a little cold. The cat followed closely behind. When it rubbed up against his calves, it was like a little miniature stove.

It wasn’t clear how many times the phone had hung up on itself.

He picked up the receiver. Before he even had time to say anything, the other person on the phone had already hurriedly started to speak.

“Did something happen?”

Despite the distortion through the phone, Gu Qingchi was still able to recognize her voice right away.

He found his heart palpitating. After a little while, he spoke. 

“No.”

No, Mom. I’m fine. I’m just a little sad for some reason.

The person on the other side of the phone didn’t seem to feel particularly reassured. She began to worriedly prattle away.

“Why does your voice sound kind of raspy? Did you get a cold? Don’t forget to take some indigo woad root…” 

Gu Qingchi agreed to do everything she had said, sounding exceedingly cute and obedient.

After speaking for quite a while, the other party finally remembered what she had called him for.

“I meant to ask you for your name. I’ll be able to add a name to your contact information then.”

Gu Qingchi didn’t speak for a while. It wasn’t until the other party worriedly inquired about him that he finally spoke up again. 

“Gu Qingchi. My name is Gu Qingchi.”

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After hanging up the phone, he lowered his head and stared at the landline. He stood there in a daze for quite a while. 

This name, Gu Qingchi, had been given to him by his mother.

⁂

Mrs. Gu had made a phone call that morning. She was in a good mood, so she volunteered to make lunch.

Neither her husband nor her son had any objections. Mrs. Gu insisted that she would do this herself, so Mrs. Wang went to comb Woofie’s fur. Woofie was the poodle that Mrs. Gu raised. She was pregnant. According to the veterinarian, she would be giving birth soon. She’d been rather sleepy lately, spending all her time in her kennel. 

Mrs. Wang was talking to Woofie. When she raised her head to look at Mrs. Gu, she found that the two men of the family had automatically flocked over to the kitchen, surrounding Mrs. Gu like a pair of German shepherds.

She’d been working for the Gu family for quite a while now. Mrs. Gu was like a daughter to her. She squeezed Woofie’s paw and laughed.

“Look at your mom, dad, and brother. They’re cooking together. What a wonderful family.”

By the time noon rolled around, there were three dishes on the table. They were all eggplant dishes. 

Mr. Gu and Gu Xie both said that it was delicious. Mrs. Gu also tasted it herself. It was a little too salty. She furrowed her brows and swallowed.

Mr. Gu ate as he usually did, his face revealing nothing. He simply moved the dishes away from Mrs. Gu. He played it down.

“I think it’s alright, but you tend to prefer milder flavors. I’m afraid you might not be able to get used to it. I’ll make you some congee later.

Mr. Gu knew how to cook, and he was actually pretty good at it. If he happened to try something really tasty while he was out socializing, he would even ask the chef for tips. 

Mrs. Gu rarely cooked. She had her parents at home and canteens everywhere else, so she didn’t need to know how to cook.

Even when Mrs. Gu and Mr. Gu were facing the Gu family’s opposition, Mrs. Gu never cooked. It was Mr. Gu who did the cooking.

Mrs. Gu had been young at the time, but she’d already been studying the piano for more than ten years. She studied under a famous pianist and had a bright future. Although she’d been in love with Mr. Gu, she’d always held a fear of marriage.

She might have been young, but she was very clear about certain things. Women tended to be the disadvantaged party in a marriage. They tended to invest more into their marriages than men. They were expected to take on the role of maintaining the household and raising the children. They needed to bear the risk of pregnancy, as well as the effect of pregnancy on their careers. All the while, this sacrifice of theirs would never be acknowledged. 

Mrs. Gu didn’t come from a wealthy family. She had seen much of this sort of thing.

She had watched her classmates lose their jobs due to a pregnancy. She watched them become tied down by their children and their trifling household responsibilities. She watched them lose more and more of themselves. She had watched them put everything aside for their family yet still get accused of spending too much money.

She was afraid of such a future. She was afraid that her talent would be wasted in an endless stream of household duties. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Gu, she might not have even considered starting a relationship. However, even when the two of them had been at their most affectionate, she still hadn’t thought about marriage.

Mr. Gu tolerated all of this. Mrs. Gu had misgivings about him, so he used his actions to dispel those misgivings. He learned to cook, learned to clean, and supported her decision to continue her studies. 

It was only once the two of them had been together for a long, long time that she finally relented and agreed to marry him.

Mr. Gu walked out of the kitchen with, not just a bowl of congee, but a plate of stewed eggplant as well.

Mrs. Gu cheered up at the sight of it.

“I can’t cook, but it’s fine as long as you can.” 

⁂

After hanging up the phone, Gu Qingchi didn’t go back to bed. He noted what Mrs. Gu had said. He took some indigo woad root and had a good meal.

He usually spent his days reading and playing piano. It had been some two or three years since he’d last played. The touch and feel that he had so painstakingly perfected was no longer there. His skills had long since regressed.

Since telling Ye Li about his plans to study at a music conservatory, Gu Qingchi had been spending his afternoons practicing. Today, however, he sat on the piano bench and didn’t start playing for a long time. He would occasionally press down on a random key or two, but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. 

His phone, which was lying off to the side on the sofa, lit up. Gu Qingchi glanced over at it.

It was a WeChat message.

[I watched your movie! You did amazing!]

Gu Qingchi would usually ignore these kinds of notifications while he was practicing piano, even if they were from Ye Li. However, this time, he found himself picking up the phone and tapping on the message. 

The message came from a contact — Piano.

Gu Qingchi was stunned for a moment. Then, he remembered that Mrs. Gu’s name on WeChat was Piano. She’d been in a bit of a rush at the time, so, when she was registering her account, she subconsciously typed in her name as Piano.

Gu Qingchi went to change the contact name out of habit. He entered the word “Mom”, but he didn’t hit the confirmation button. In the end, he deleted it, letter by letter.

When he returned to the chat interface, he was met with several more messages from Mrs. Gu. 

[I just found out that you have another movie, and it’s a foreign production at that. I’ll watch that one next.]

[I also saw some of your photos! A lot of people have also drawn photos of you!]

Then came a series of pictures. They were all of Gu Qingchi or fanart of Gu Qingchi.

Gu Qingchi’s time as a model had inspired many, many fan artists. There was practically more fanart of him than there was actual works of his. 

The very last picture was an illustration of Gu Qingchi drawn by a well-known fan artist. It had clearly been inspired by photos of Gu Qingchi and Gu Qingchi’s cat. He was drawn chibi-style. He also had ears and a tail that looked like that of his cat. He sat in a tattered cardboard box, stretching his arms as he yawned. It made for an incredibly innocent and unaffected picture. Next to it, there was a childish line of text and a frowny face. It read, “My owner bought a new purebred cat, so I got thrown out.”

Gu Qingchi clutched his cell phone, his eyes glued on the last picture. His ears slowly began to turn red.

By the time he had calmed himself down, Mrs. Gu had sent him another picture. It was a young version of Gu Qingchi. This one wasn’t chibi-style. Anyone could recognize that the subject was Gu Qingchi. It was exquisitely done, and the details were incredibly complex. It actually bore quite a resemblance to what Gu Qingchi looked like as a child. Gu Qingchi was an angel in this image. Unlike your typical angel, his hair wasn’t blond. Rather, it was black. He looked angry in the illustration. He kneeled on the ground, a massive pair of wings spread out behind him. One hand was resting upon his lower abdomen, and the other was holding a broken spear. There was a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He looked up, seemingly in battle with something in the air.

[This one is really good. The only problem is the transparent text on the picture. I feel like it kind of ruins the illustration. I’m going to see if there’s a way to get rid of it.] 

This artist had slapped a bunch of watermarks on the illustration in order to prevent it from being stolen.

Gu Qingchi quickly forgot to feel shy. He typed out a paragraph explaining what a watermark was and its purpose. Not long afterwards, Mrs. Gu happily replied back to him.

[I see.]

After a few minutes, Gu Qingchi received another picture. It was the same illustration, but without the watermark. 

[I bought the illustration.]

Mrs. Gu put down the cell phone in her hand and picked up another one from the table. It was the Weibo private message dialogue interface. Not only did she buy the illustration, she also learned how to commission the artist for more.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingchi followed the artist’s watermark over to their Weibo. He discovered that the artist had made a new post.

[Ahhhhhh! I never thought I’d live to see the day! I get to experience the thrill of being kept by a rich lady!] 

Underneath this post were two pixelated screenshots. It was pixelated very straightforwardly. Above it, there was a caption that read, “Rich Lady”. The so-called rich lady first sent over a photo and asked for the price. The artist replied in a quick and practiced manner. It was clear she had been asked this question before.

Artist: ¥3,000. Do you want to buy it?

Rich Lady: It’s so cheap! Of course I’ll buy it.

Artist: Wait, I was joking. You can bargain if you’d like. 

Rich Lady: I want this illustration. Can you draw a few more illustrations for me? I want all of them to be of Gu Qingchi. Another ten drawings would be nice. You can set the price to be whatever you like. I’ve already transferred the money to you. Keep the extra as a tip.

Finally, there was a screenshot of a money transfer. Most of the screenshot was pixelated. The only part that was left unpixelated was a string of numbers. As for how much it was, this won’t be discussed here. Anyway, the tip ended up being more than the price of the drawings itself.