Chapter 51: Gu Xiujue
That irresponsible guess really wronged Gu Xiujue. He had never known what an “in-between phase” was in his entire life.
For years he had “dated” without actually looking like he was dating, then “broke up” without really breaking up. In the end he fought his ex, Huo Leishao, and even so their situation looked more or less the same.
Now Gu Xiujue had long gotten over that previous relationship. Only after being with Li Dong did he realize that the hormones and pheromones he had always scoffed at would flare up violently when you met the right person.
This afternoon with the Omega, Gu Xiujue was shocked. He felt the other man’s aggression was unexpectedly strong.
Inevitably, the same embarrassing thing as at noon in the car happened again. Very blush-inducing.
Gu Xiujue waited for Li Dong to wake up so he could take the sheets to wash them himself.
“If your cooking is this good, how come you never said so?” Li Dong felt a little embarrassed. When he had first seen the male lead’s kitchen, he had wondered why it was so fully equipped. So the owner himself could cook.
“Does that bother you?” Gu Xiujue was startled and offered an explanation. “I simply thought there was no need to mention it.” After all, they had not known each other well at the time. The first time Li Dong came over, he had not even wanted to open the door. “If you mind, I can tell you everything about me.”
“It does not bother me,” Li Dong said. He got out of bed, put on his shoes, and quickly opened his personal terminal to call Mother Chu back.
At this hour, everyone at the Chu house was talking about when Li Dong would come home.
“Huanyan, are you still at Major General Gu’s place?” Mother Chu asked. “Are you coming back tonight?”
Hearing Li Dong on the phone with his family, Gu Xiujue tactfully left the room and headed for the kitchen with a faintly downcast look.
“Mom, I will eat dinner at Xiujue’s and then come back.” Li Dong stood as he spoke, and as he walked over to Gu Xiujue he ended the call and focused on what Xiujue was cooking.
“Chu,” Gu Xiujue said, glancing back. When he saw it was Li Dong, a small smile appeared on his face.
“What are you making? It smells great.” Li Dong leaned in to sniff, then his nose drifted sideways to Xiujue’s shoulder. “So it was your scent.” He lowered his head and kissed the bare skin there.
The kiss stabbed him with a pang afterward. If he were just a little taller, he could have reached Gu Xiujue’s cheek.
The sudden romance almost made Gu Xiujue drop the wooden spatula. Pleased, he flipped the steak in the pan. “How done do you want it?”
“Medium,” Li Dong said. “Is it only meat tonight? Nothing else?”
“There are vegetables, corn chowder, Chinese yam, and jujube paste,” Gu Xiujue said at once. He knew Omegas tended to prefer lighter flavors and did not eat like meat-loving Alphas and Betas.
What nonsense.
Li Dong was also a carnivore. He loved meat.
As a native southerner, he preferred stewed meat, stewed soups, and so on.
Pan-fried meats like steak had average acceptance for him. He didn’t hate them, but he wasn’t particularly fond of them either.
After eating dinner with Gu Xiujue, the time reached 9:30 PM.
Li Dong checked the time. “Take me home now,” he said to Gu Xiujue. The coming-of-age was the day after tomorrow, so if they wanted to meet, it would be soon enough.
Gu Xiujue nodded cleanly and asked, “How is the StarNet appeal going?” It was still possible to get on StarNet at Military Headquarters, so meeting online was easier than meeting in person.
“The appeal? I have not filed it,” Li Dong said. He did not care much about going online. After the coming-of-age he could roam again. “But if you want to meet me online, I will go home tonight and file it.”
So the male lead was a little clingy too, only very quietly so.
“Alright,” said Gu Xiujue. “I will take you back now.” With a satisfactory answer, he relaxed his brow, stood up, and fetched his jacket and keys.
Once in the car, Li Dong looked around. “This does not seem like the car from noon,” he said. Exactly how many luxury cars did our wealthy male lead own?
“Mm.” Calmly withdrawing the hand he had used to turn on the lights, Gu Xiujue drove in the dark and lied smoothly, “The car from noon was low on power.” Since, Omegas did not specialize in this kind of thing, it was easy to fool them.
“I see,” Li Dong said, coughing lightly in secret. He pretended not to notice the flush in the male lead’s cheeks.
He actually had not known what had happened to Gu Xiujue in the car at noon.
Now that the man had suddenly switched cars, he could guess a little.
He had gotten the car dirty, that was all.
Just how overflowing did you have to be to get a car dirty?
Even Li Dong, a century-old veteran, did not dare think too hard about it, or he was not sure his Omega physiology would stay as calm as his mind.
From Gu Xiujue’s home to Chu Huanyan’s, the distance was neither long nor short. They arrived right at ten o’clock.
“It is so late, I won’t invite you in,” Li Dong said. He leaned over, tilted up Gu Xiujue’s chin, kissed him, and said, “Good night. See you.”
“Good night, Huanyan,” said Gu Xiujue. After sending the Omega who had kept him company most of the day home, he felt empty inside and a little dazed.
Since graduating from the military academy at 22, he had gone straight to the battlefield, busy fighting and serving the Empire and its people.
Other than comrades-in-arms, he had never had a second kind of relationship there.
As for family, counting on his fingers, it had been half a year since he had been in touch.
It was not that he was cold-blooded. His mother lived in a closed sanatorium that housed the most severe psychiatric patients in the interstellar. Visiting even once was extremely difficult.
After the war ended, he had gone once. Her condition had long since progressed to where she could not recognize anyone.
Besides, when her condition had been better, she had not wanted to see him either.
The Gu family believed her eventual breakdown was the fault of Gu Xiujue and that heartless man.
As a child, Gu Xiujue never argued. He let people bully and isolate him, foolishly thinking he had done something wrong. Even when he was beaten, he did not dare bare his claws.
In truth those “little animals” did not hit hard. Sometimes he would rather be hit, just for a chance to be near them and play.
Sadly, even after he grew from a little leopard into a tall, powerful beast, he never had a true playmate.
Only at the military academy did things start to improve.
But by then his personality was set. The labels of proud and untamed stuck to him and were hard to peel off. It was destined to be difficult for him to make close friends.
The next morning, Gu family main residence.
In the study, the old Mr. Gu said, “Xiujue?” He adjusted his glasses and turned a page. “How do you have time to come see me?”
“Grandfather,” Gu Xiujue said, standing before the desk. “I have something I need your permission for.”
“What is it?” asked the old gentleman.
His hands did not leave the book. Gu Xiujue did not mind. After a moment, he said, “I want to transfer my household registration out.”
“What?” The old gentleman finally looked up at his grandson. “Transfer your registration? Why?” His expression darkened. Transferring meant cutting ties with the Gu family and establishing your own household.
What had the Gu family done now to upset him?
“I am going to start a family,” Gu Xiujue said. “I might marry out.”
“Leaving your registration with the Gu family does not stop you from marrying,” the old gentleman said. He set the book aside and became serious. “Have you found a Beta to marry you?” Given that Alphas usually liked Omegas, he did not think Xiujue would choose another Alpha. It could only be a Beta.
“No,” said Gu Xiujue, relaxed around the eyes, carrying a trace of quiet joy. “An Omega.” A rather different one. He liked him.
“An Omega?” The old gentleman blinked. “Did I hear you wrong? You found an Omega?” Impossible. He did not believe it. “Xiujue, there is no way you are marrying an Omega.” No Omega would marry down to an infertile Beta.
“It is true, Grandfather,” Gu Xiujue said, pressing his lips together with a hint of pride. “He accepts everything about me, and his parents have accepted me too.”
Years ago, a teenage Gu Xiujue had stood before this same grandfather with the news that he had been admitted to the Empire’s First Military Academy, and the old gentleman had been just as disbelieving.
“Is he just some random Omega?” the old gentleman asked, guessing it might be a child from a poor family, or a family in trouble that had set its sights on Xiujue’s rank and ability.
“No.” A small frown showed on Gu Xiujue’s face. “He is from the Chu family, Chu Huanyan. They are one of the Eight Noble Houses.” Although the family had declined, the Gu family was not exactly all-powerful either.
Times had changed. People no longer cared so much about noble versus commoner. Personal ability was what counted.
“The Chu family?” The old gentleman was full of surprise. He had heard the Chu family’s Omega had dumped Hansson family’s Huo Leishao. The ties were complicated.
Still, the person sounded decent. He fell silent.
He could not bring himself to dump cold water on him, and he did not much want to meddle in Xiujue’s private affairs.
“Do as you like,” the old gentleman said at last, nodding. He pulled over a memo pad and scribbled out a note. “Handle it however you want.” He added a reminder. “But you should know, once out, it is hard to come back in.”
If in the future Xiujue misjudged and got abandoned by this excellent Omega, which the old gentleman thought was only a matter of time, then Xiujue would be left without family backing.
Ordinary families would not be so harsh to a married-out child, but Xiujue’s situation was special. He was a child of a father unknown.
“Alright. Thank you,” Gu Xiujue said. He took the note, stepped back two paces, and bowed to his grandfather.
For a household transfer he would have to see the current head of house, the old gentleman’s eldest son.
Xiujue called him “uncle,” but they were not close. Strangers to each other, really.
A nephew he had never been close to suddenly got promoted to major general and immediately wanted a household transfer. It felt a little delicate.
Fortunately, the Gu family did not need an Imperial major general. If he left, so be it.
So the transfer went through smoothly.
Gu Xiujue received his new household papers and keycard, tossed them aside when he got home, then opened his terminal to check for messages.
The inbox was as blank as it had been that morning.
It was exactly then that Li Dong, as if he had opened a third eye, called the male lead.
“Hey, are you busy today?” Li Dong assumed Xiujue was at the army, so he had not disturbed him in the morning.
“Not busy,” said Gu Xiujue, glancing at the household paperwork on the desk. “Chu, what do you think about household registration?”
Perhaps the other man did not want to move out of the Chu registry to join a cold, frosty clan like the Gu family.
He was not sure.
“Huh? What household registration?” Li Dong had never looked up the local marriage customs, but he took every question Gu Xiujue raised seriously. “Oh.” He searched online right away. “No opinion.”
In the twenty-first century, the one who married in usually joined the in-laws’ hukou booklet.
In the ABO world, a Beta could marry in too.
“How about you marry into my family?” Li Dong tossed it out casually.
“Okay,” Gu Xiujue answered at once, so fast it made Li Dong doubt life.
“…” F*ck.
“Just right,” said Gu Xiujue. “I have an independent household now.” No one would interfere with whether he married an Omega or had an Omega marry him.
Two minutes later, Li Dong found out that household registration carried major consequences.
If Gu Xiujue joined the Chu registry, he would be counted as Chu family. Everything afterward, honor and reputation, would be tied to the Chu name.
After ending the call with Xiujue, Li Dong steadied himself and went to Mother Chu. “Mom, would you be willing to let Xiujue join the Chu family registry?”
“Why not? He is a major general,” Mother Chu said. In the Empire, that was not a low rank.
The benefits were good, and the social status high.
To put it plainly, at his peak even Father Chu had never reached major general.
As for Big Brother Chu, the odds of him ever becoming one were even slimmer.
“Got it,” Li Dong said. He headed upstairs, then came back down a moment later. “Mom, for the StarNet blacklist appeal, please download the form for me and sign it.”
“Okay, I will sign it now,” said indulgent Mother Chu.
Thirty minutes away, in a quiet, empty house, Gu Xiujue waited by his terminal for Li Dong’s reply.
Within minutes, Li Dong’s messages chimed in. “My parents said it’s great. You are a major general. The Chu family is getting a bargain.” Marrying him home would even bring glory to the door.
Gu Xiujue replied with a smiling emoji.
“Tsk,” Li Dong muttered. He hated people who were stingy with words, forgetting that in his youth he had been pretty cool himself. “Done then.”
“Are you busy?” came a message from Gu Xiujue, who was off today.
Li Dong glanced around and finally noticed that someone’s status line had changed.
Oh oh, a day off. Schemer.
“Not busy,” Li Dong replied. “What’s wrong, want to chat with me?” He suddenly wondered if Xiujue remembered that he had had him blocked before.
“Yes,” Gu Xiujue sent. “Nervous.”
Looking at those two words, Li Dong felt a wave of sourness he could not explain. “What are you nervous about? Tomorrow you come in, I introduce you, and you are one of the Chu family.”
“Ha ha,” said Gu Xiujue.
Li Dong’s intuition told him the other man definitely was not laughing.
Author’s side doodle:
Xiujue acting cute: “I am nervous~”
Dong-ge soothing: “Pat pat~ do not be nervous~”
Happy Halloween~ 👻
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