He Only Shows His True Colors in Front of Me : Chapter 38

The Chen family’s back hall was quite spacious. Aside from some guests with status similar to the Sheng and Gu families who sat in the second-floor boxes, everyone else sat in rows on the first floor.

Sheng Yannian and Gu Yuanqiao went together to the box prepared for the Gu family, leaving the one originally prepared for Sheng Yannian empty. Sheng Yannian had originally wanted Du Chunnan to go over there, but the young girl felt a bit scared to be alone, so Sheng Yannian ultimately had to ask someone to bring in another chair so Du Chunnan could sit right next to them.

They arrived rather late, and one or two items had already been auctioned off. Sheng Yannian guessed that the things Gu Yuanqiao wanted would come up later.

The side of the box facing the auction stage had only open railings, and if they didn’t want people to see them, they could pull down the curtains on both sides. A minimalist small table stood not far from the railing, with a chair placed on only one side of it. After pushing Gu Yuanqiao to the appropriate spot, Sheng Yannian sat down as well.

The Chen family held Gu Yuanqiao in high regard, giving him a box right in the center seat, perfectly positioned to view the middle of the hall with an exceptional view.

Not long after Sheng Yannian sat down, the door behind them was knocked on. Immediately after, someone pushed the door open and entered.

Sheng Yannian turned his head and found that it was Wen Han holding a tray.

Sheng Yannian: “….”

Wen Han didn’t say much upon entering. He placed the food from the tray onto the table and thoughtfully prepared juice and a small telescope for Du Chunnan.

After finishing these tasks, he left quietly, as if he had never been there at all.

Sheng Yannian looked at the food brought by Wen Han: vegetable salad and some pumpkin pancakes, paired unexpectedly with red wine.

“….” Sheng Yannian didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Gu Yuanqiao, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary, picked up the red wine first to take a sip, and then picked up the salad to start eating.

Perhaps because the gaze from the side was too intense, Gu Yuanqiao couldn’t help but look at Sheng Yannian in confusion.

“What?”

Sheng Yannian raised an eyebrow. “Did Wen Han have something to take care of temporarily?”

Gu Yuanqiao withdrew his gaze. “He finished and came back, didn’t he?” Then he took a bite of the salad.

Sheng Yannian certainly wouldn’t get angry over such a harmless little white lie; he just found it a bit amusing. “He sure has a lot of little tricks up his sleeve.”

The auction was quite boring. Sheng Yannian watched for half of it before taking out his phone to scroll, and after scrolling for a bit, found it dull again, so he simply turned his head to stare at Gu Yuanqiao.

Perhaps to create a sense of mystery for the auctioned items, the lights here were exceptionally dim. Inside the box, only a retro yellowish overhead light emitted a dull, distorted glow. This wasn’t Sheng Yannian’s first time observing Gu Yuanqiao, but never had it been as quiet and silent as now.

The man’s eyelashes were very long, with fine specks of light resting on them, looking as if they would shake off gold dust with every blink. Perhaps to match today’s outfit, Gu Yuanqiao’s glasses had also been changed to rimless ones. The frames sat on the high bridge of his nose, and he wondered if they had pressed out a faint red mark. There wasn’t much flesh on Gu Yuanqiao’s cheeks, only bulging slightly when he was eating. Because there was no one else around, his lips were also pressed into an unusual straight line, and there seemed to be a tiny bit of salad dressing at the corner of his mouth…

Sheng Yannian stared at Gu Yuanqiao in a daze, thinking of random things in his mind until he finally reached a conclusion: he would be very well-suited to be a live model.

This sudden thought startled Sheng Yannian, who hurriedly withdrew his gaze and looked straight ahead, pretending nothing had happened.

“Should I… draw him?” Sheng Yannian thought hesitatingly. Is there any need? Yet the more his mind thought this way, the more he imagined scenes of Gu Yuanqiao appearing in his sketchbook. Aside from his schoolwork, he almost never drew human portraits, not even for Sheng Yanqing.

Could Gu Yuanqiao be drawn by his own hand? He found it a bit hard to imagine… Works of art often carried the emotional colors of the artist, so what kind of emotion did he hold for Gu Yuanqiao?

Before he could figure it out, however, his shoulder was pushed.

“Hmm?” Sheng Yannian snapped back to reality.

“Let’s go.” Gu Yuanqiao had already successfully bid for the item he wanted and had no need to stay longer.

“Oh.” Sheng Yannian stood up a beat slower. “Are we leaving directly or going to pick up the auctioned item?”

“Let’s just leave directly. Wen Han will take the items.”

“Alright.” Sheng Yannian slowly maneuvered Gu Yuanqiao outward, shaking the half-asleep Du Chunnan along the way. “Wake up, time to head back.”

Du Chunnan jolted awake, practically jumping up. “Yes!”

Then she only saw a speechless Sheng Yannian and a smiling Gu Yuanqiao.

“Ahahaha sorry, hahaha.” Du Chunnan laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Gu Yuanqiao consoled her, “It’s fine, getting sleepy is completely normal. Why don’t you ride back in my car later?”

“Eh?” Du Chunnan doubted whether she was still asleep, wondering why her brain wasn’t processing this. “President Gu, are you heading in the same direction as me?”

Gu Yuanqiao smiled without answering.

Sheng Yannian looked at Du Chunnan’s foolish expression with a slight headache. “He’s heading in my direction. Ride in his car back, and send me a message when you get home.”

“Oh… Ah?!” This time Du Chunnan was genuinely surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing, hahaha.” Du Chunnan also felt she was making a fuss over nothing; wasn’t it just heading the same way? What was there to be surprised about… It was just that deep in her memory, she seemed to remember someone telling her that recently President Sheng and President Gu had been coming to work together every day?

From the box down to the ground floor and into Gu Yuanqiao’s car, Du Chunnan still couldn’t figure it out. She didn’t know why she kept obsessing over this, but her intuition just told her something was wrong.

—

Over there, after dropping off Du Chunnan, Sheng and Gu got into the car to head back.

The environment inside the car was very dark, with light shining in only from the streetlights along the road.

For some reason, the driver in the front raised the partition between the front and back compartments, instantly changing the space from three people to two.

The two of them sat tacitly at opposite ends of the car once again, each minding their own business and not speaking.

Sheng Yannian watched the streetlights receding outside the window, counting them absentmindedly.

In the quiet environment, any slight movement would be amplified and caught.

Sheng Yannian heard the rustling sound of Gu Yuanqiao’s clothes, and before long, something was placed on his lap. It was very light and not very large in area.

Sheng Yannian turned his head and picked up the box on his lap. Utilizing the outside light, he could only make out a general shape, square and boxy. He shook it gently and heard no sound.

“What is this?” Sheng Yannian asked, turning his body sideways.

“Open it and see, won’t you know?” Gu Yuanqiao said nonchalantly, but Sheng Yannian still caught a trace of something unusual about him—his gaze shifted away for a second.

Sheng Yannian muttered, “Acting all mysterious…” while his actions could be described as careful.

The box was slowly opened, and even though it was very dark, Sheng Yannian could see something flash inside the box. “A gemstone?”

Sheng Yannian raised his hand and turned on the overhead car light, the bright white light instantly filling the space inside the car. Both of their eyes squinted instinctively.

Adjusting quickly, Sheng Yannian refocused his gaze back into the small box within seconds—it was a pair of sapphire cufflinks.

“Cufflinks?” Sheng Yannian was a bit puzzled; out of the blue, why would Gu Yuanqiao give him cufflinks?

This pair of cufflinks looked unmistakably expensive at first glance. Putting aside the understated yet exquisite craftsmanship, just the blue gemstones inlaid on them could buy the house he was currently living in with money to spare.

The deep blue gemstones looked like the bottom of the deep sea; viewed from afar they looked almost black, yet they didn’t appear dull.

However, it didn’t seem quite suitable for Gu Yuanqiao to wear, did it? He should be more suited to lighter tones, like amber.

“How are they?” Gu Yuanqiao observed Sheng Yannian’s expression, and upon finding nothing amiss, he spoke up to ask.

“They’re quite nice.” Sheng Yannian spoke the truth.

The air fell silent for a few seconds before Gu Yuanqiao brought up the topic again. Staring at the cufflinks in Sheng Yannian’s hands, his voice tightened slightly: “Then… do you like them?”

“….” Unclear what kind of feeling it was, Sheng Yannian only felt as though his heart had been gently pinched, after which he still had to pretend nothing was wrong and say, “Not bad, what’s up?”

Hearing this, Gu Yuanqiao let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the seat.

“I bought them for you.” Gu Yuanqiao smiled softly at Sheng Yannian.

Sheng Yannian pursed his lips, failing to understand why Gu Yuanqiao would suddenly give him such a valuable gift. “Why are you suddenly giving me things?”

Gu Yuanqiao glanced at Sheng Yannian’s eyes and then stared at his own fingers. “Consider it compensation.”

“Compensation?” Sheng Yannian still didn’t understand.

“….” Gu Yuanqiao didn’t quite know how to continue, but finally said, “Weren’t you angry?”

Gu Yuanqiao spoke very softly, like talking to himself, but Sheng Yannian still heard it.

He froze for a moment, realizing that Gu Yuanqiao was talking about when they were in the banquet hall.

“You…” Sheng Yannian stalled, not knowing what to say for a long time. He remembered Gu Yuanqiao’s line, “Eating sweets puts you in a better mood.”

So, the desserts he kept shoving at him back then were also to cheer him up?

“You’re trying to coax me into a good mood?” Even saying these words aloud felt incredible to Sheng Yannian, yet the answer often seemed to be just that simple.

“Mmm-hmm,” Gu Yuanqiao said with feigned casualness, but his tightly clasped fingers betrayed him.

Sheng Yannian took in all of the other person’s unnaturalness, but the smile on his face became harder and harder to contain. The fact that “Gu Yuanqiao cared about his mood” seemed to make him exceptionally happy.

Gu Yuanqiao sat lazily in his wheelchair, but his spine was stiff. Sheng Yannian shifted a little closer to Gu Yuanqiao.

He waved the small box in his hand, the sapphires refracting a brilliant yet gentle light under the lamp, with unhidden laughter in his tone:

“President Gu, do you really take me for a three-year-old child?”

Hearing this, Gu Yuanqiao shot a sideways glance at Sheng Yannian. The other person put on a flippant appearance, but joy was evident at the bottom of his eyes. It seemed he was quite satisfied with the cufflinks.

“If you don’t want them, give them back to me.” Gu Yuanqiao said as he pretended to reach for the box in Sheng Yannian’s hand.

“Hey!” Sheng Yannian dodged. “Once you give them to me, they’re mine; there’s no way I’m giving them back.”

Gu Yuanqiao chuckled softly, still claiming he wasn’t like a child. A single pair of cufflinks was all it took to appease him.

Sheng Yannian placed the box on his lap, gently took out one cufflink to examine in his hand, liking it more the more he looked. After looking at one, he switched to the other. He spent a few minutes repeatedly examining the two little trinkets, wearing away all of Gu Yuanqiao’s initial awkwardness.

After taking a few final glances, Sheng Yannian finally found it in himself to close the small box. “When did you get these? I didn’t see anyone give you anything after the auction ended.”

“When we were moving together tonight… before…” Gu Yuanqiao had his guard down and the words slipped right out of his mouth, leaving him with no way to pause halfway through.

“Before?” Sheng Yannian’s mind raced through a circle, realizing something. “You couldn’t possibly have had a premonition that I’d be angry tonight from the start, right?”

“….”

Gu Yuanqiao was stared at until he felt a bit uncomfortable. In truth, this pair of cufflinks was the main reason he went to the Chen family tonight. He personally liked collecting cufflinks, and people familiar with his tastes usually kept an eye out for him. Before he and Sheng Yannian had their argument, Gu Yuanqiao had seen this pair of cufflinks at an exhibition hall and felt they were very suitable for Sheng Yannian at the time. It was just that when the cufflinks went on sale, it happened to coincide with him just having fallen out with Sheng Yannian. He didn’t know what was going on in his head back then, but he bought them anyway.

He originally thought he wouldn’t have a chance to give them away, but through a twist of fate, the two of them reconnected. This pair of sapphire cufflinks had only been entrusted to Chen Shengrong yesterday, so he simply decided to attend this so-called auction tonight along the way.

“I bought them incidentally,” Gu Yuanqiao said flatly.

“Incidentally?”

“Mmm-hmm.” This time Gu Yuanqiao was much more nonchalant, pulling out another small box from the side. “I was originally going to buy my own pair, and your pair happened to be placed right next to mine. I thought it looked pretty good, so I bought it together.”

Sheng Yannian took the box and opened it, discovering an amber-colored cufflink whose style and design were quite similar to the one Gu Yuanqiao had given him.

After taking back his box, Gu Yuanqiao calmly put it away. Good thing he had bought another pair just in case.

Sheng Yannian looked at the somewhat “smug” Gu Yuanqiao, who acted as if no one else could find any flaws in him.

Regarding Gu Yuanqiao’s excuse of “incidentally,” Sheng Yannian didn’t think much of it; instead, his mood became even more cheerful.

According to Gu Yuanqiao’s words, regardless of whether he was angry tonight or not, Gu Yuanqiao would have given him this pair of cufflinks. It was just that tonight happened to present an excuse. Shouldn’t he be unsurprised? Gu Yuanqiao’s behavioral style seemed to be just like that—he always needed a legitimate reason to be good to people.

Then, following Gu Yuanqiao’s logical thinking, why would he want to give him things without a reason?

And coaxing him into a good mood—was whether he was happy or not that important? When all was said and done, what did his happiness have to do with Gu Yuanqiao?

Gu Yuanqiao was acting very strange, which in turn made him feel strange as well.

Sheng Yannian stared quietly at Gu Yuanqiao. The atmosphere remained silent, yet he had a feeling of peaceful quietness across the years.

He traced Gu Yuanqiao’s appearance with his eyes, carrying a fondness and tenderness he himself wasn’t even aware of.

He had seen too many sides of this man: smiling, calm, cold, alluring, charming, nervous, hypocritical, coquettish… Unexpectedly, his mind had recorded all of them without him knowing, clear beyond clarity.

Actually, Gu Yuanqiao was quite clumsy, struggling for half a day just to show goodwill.

Sheng Yannian had never doubted that between him and Gu Yuanqiao, they were destined to clash out of desire, just as originally defined—”sex partners.”

Perhaps he shouldn’t have compromised his principles from the very beginning, letting Gu Yuanqiao live with him. Under the daily interactions, even the “false affection” that ought to have been there became blurred.

Sheng Yannian couldn’t articulate what kind of emotion he was feeling right now, knowing only that at this moment, compared to kissing and making love, he wanted more to hug and hold hands.

An embrace without any desire or suggestion.

Yet he restrained himself, merely raising his hand to gently stroke Gu Yuanqiao’s earlobe, calling out softly:

“Gu Yuanqiao…”

“…Hmm?” Gu Yuanqiao was so startled that his voice pitched up a bit.

“If I hadn’t been angry tonight, when were you planning to give me this pair of cufflinks?”

“…I don’t know.” Gu Yuanqiao wasn’t lying; he truly hadn’t figured out when or under what reason to give them.

Sheng Yannian only stroked for a moment before putting his hand down, then mused, “Christmas? New Year’s? Or my birthday next year?”

“Probably my birthday.”

“Then why did you give them today?”

“….” Gu Yuanqiao fell silent. Actually, no matter how he explained it, it couldn’t change the fact that “he wanted to give Sheng Yannian something without a reason.”

“Is coaxing me to be happy that important?” Sheng Yannian said in a low voice, an uncontainable smile hidden in his words.

Gu Yuanqiao trembled slightly, unable to bear this ambiguous atmosphere any longer. He turned his head and said expressionlessly:

“I just didn’t want you to take your bad mood out on me, and besides, if you kept wearing a long face, it would seriously affect my mood too.”

Hearing this, Sheng Yannian let out a scoff, feeling somewhat helpless. “I find you quite awkward, you know? Is saying ‘I wanted to make you happy’ really that hard to say?”

“….” Gu Yuanqiao was silent for a moment before counterattacking, “What about you? Why keep dwelling on whether I wanted to coax you into a good mood or not? Does ‘I coaxed you to be happy’ make you feel so smug?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Sheng Yannian shook his head, smiling candidly. “It makes me happy.”

“….” Gu Yuanqiao’s expression froze for a fraction of a second, all emotions vanishing instantly, leaving only Sheng Yannian’s sparkling eyes visible, dazzling far brighter than gemstones.

Fearing that Gu Yuanqiao hadn’t understood, Sheng Yannian repeated it again: “It’s happy. The fact that ‘you coaxed me to be happy’ makes me very happy.”

Gu Yuanqiao’s hands curled uncontrollably, his head turning away to look at the scenery outside the window, his voice sounding muffled: “Whatever you say, as long as you’re happy…”

“Pfft.” Sheng Yannian looked at Gu Yuanqiao’s thoroughly reddened ears and couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Moments later, the uncontrolled sound of his low laughter echoed inside the carriage.

The laughter was infectious. Gu Yuanqiao, who had initially expected to feel awkward, found the corners of his mouth lifting unconsciously upon hearing it.

*Actually, it’s not a big deal…* he thought silently to himself. The last trace of discomfort in his heart also transformed into warmth, allowing him to relax.

The car drove smoothly all the way toward home, except that something had changed on this road, on this night, in this winter season.