A President’s Out-of-Body Experience

“No, no…” For some unknown reason, Renzi did not want to mention He Jun. He even wished that Gu Xiaoshan would never remember that there was this He Jun person. After a bout of stuttering, Renzi finally thought of what he wanted to say. “I ran away from home, and I don’t have any money in my pocket…”

The two seconds that Gu Xiaoshan remained silent, Renzi felt both ashamed and resentful. After that pause, Gu Xiaoshan spoke up. “Where are you now?”

“In, in your apartment.”

Gu Xiaoshan seemed to somewhat relax. “Then, just stay there. There should be about 30 to 40 thousand yuan in the cabinet by the bed of the master bedroom, use it judiciously.”

Renzi nodded. “Understood.”

Again, Gu Xiaoshan warned, “I’ll be back in two days, try not to go out too often and fool around. If there’s anything you really want to eat, just go to my hotel. You can eat at the restaurant on credit.”

“Credit? I’ll still have to pay?”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed, “Of course, including the cash I gave you, you’ll need to pay them all back. You want to eat for free? Renzi, are you shameless?” Then, he hung up.

Renzi was not surprised. Gu Xiaoshan was a typical businessman, when it came to money matters, he was very principled. This also had to do with the Gu family’s education. Ever since elementary school, to buy even a ballpoint pen, Gu Xiaoshan had to fill in a declaration form. His allowance was calculated based on his grades. The Gu family’s way of doing things was very clear.

If Renzi had said to “borrow money” for “urgent needs”, it meant that he would have to pay back every cent he owed. If not, Gu Xiaoshan may even chase this debt all the way back to the Yu family home. However, if Gu Xiaoshan said it was a gift to Renzi, whether it was a cheap can of coke, or an expensive sports car, as long as it was a gift, he had never asked for anything in return.

Renzi walked to the door of the master bedroom — although he came over to stay frequently, but because of basic manners, he rarely went into other people’s room. If it was like before, he would have just heartlessly walked in and retrieved the money, but now, he was very apprehensive.

He could not explain it.

He also did not know where this apprehension came from.

— But he really wanted to go in, despite not being to explain why. At the same time, he was also ashamed about this desire, for some unknown reason.

Barefooted, he stood outside the door for very long, but still did not dare to turn the door knob.

The doorbell rang.

Renzi jolted, running from the second floor of the duplex apartment down the spiral staircase. Stepping on the parquet floor, he flew to the door and looked at the security feed. In the screen was the huge face of a husky — “Ah, Ha-cube!” Renzi recognised his dog that he had raised for three years — it was a birthday present from Gu Xiaoshan. Originally, Renzi had came up with a jubilant name for it — “Hahaha”. However, when walking the dog, he discovered a problem. In the park, Renzi kept shouting “Hahaha, where are you”, “Hahaha, stop running”, “Hahaha, stop pooping everywhere”… Finally, he changed his name to “Ha-cube”.

Yu Yuntao had asked someone to send this dog over.

“Bro, why did you ask someone to bring Ha-cube over without letting me know?” Renzi stroke Ha-cube’s head as he whined into the phone.

Yu Yuntao replied, “Your Ha-cube has been missing you, and refused to eat.”

Renzi carried Ha-cube to the window, “I haven’t eaten too. I don’t have any more money. I’ll starve together with Ha-cube… You know that right?”

“I know.” Yu Yuntao then hung up the phone.

Were they really brothers?

They were really brothers. It was not that Ha-cube missed Renzi, without Renzi, Ha-cube would still eat and drink. However, when their dad saw Ha-cube, he would be immediately reminded of his second son. Thinking of his second son, he would instantly fly into a rage, and so Yu Yuntao got someone to bring Ha-cube away.

Renzi pulled out Gu Xiaoshan’s social media account, and sent him Ha-cube’s photo. “Ha-cube is here to stay as well.” Actually, there was no need to mention this at all, but for some reason, Renzi just wanted to talk to Gu Xiaoshan.

Gu Xiaoshan’s reply: “Look after him properly. You’ll have to pay for everything he damages.”

Renzi carried Ha-cube and locked him into his kennel — yes, you might not believe it, but in Gu Xiaoshan’s apartment was a kennel for Ha-cube.

Ha-cube was a “previous offender”. It had once turned Gu Xiaoshan’s apartment into a mess, demolishing a set of custom-built furniture that was flown in from Northern Europe. At the ends of his patience — Gu Xiaoshan got Ha-cube a kennel.

Ha-cube realised that it was about to be locked into the kennel, it hurriedly escaped, running around in a frenzy. Renzi shouted “Ha-cube”, and ran after it. Running to the door of Gu Xiaoshan’s bedroom, Ha-cube stopped, as though it really wanted to go in. Renzi brightened, “You want to go in and take a look?”

He even convinced himself that it was the dog who wanted to go in, not him, everything was because of the dog.

Renzi opened the door and entered, discovering that the walls were still of that familiar lavender purple, the furnishings very similar. Seeing that Ha-cube was about to mark its territory, Renzi quickly picked it up and pushed it into the bathroom of the master bedroom and locked the door, preventing him from damaging Gu Xiaoshan’s room. Renzi cautiously sat on the mattress, registering that the feel of it was very similar to the one in his dreams. It seemed like this was Gu Xiaoshan’s preferred softness for his mattress.

On top of the cabinet by the bed was a woven basket. In it were tissues, nail clippers and small items like these. This woven basket was exceptionally ugly, a complete mismatch with the furnishings of the bedroom — Renzi recognised it on sight. This was what he had made during a craft lesson in elementary school — the only item that had ever achieved a passing grade in his craft lessons. With a historic grade of 61 marks, he gleefully brought it to Gu Xiaoshan and bragged about it, and even gave it to him. At that time, Gu Xiaoshan was still young, and his words were very direct. “Such an ugly thing, why would I want it?”

However, Renzi always had a very strong spirit since young, he smiled, “You can use it to put scrap paper in it.”

Looking at it now, it really was used as a holder of scrap items.

Renzi rummaged through the cabinets, and discovered that there really was nothing secretive hidden among the belongings. There were also no “adult” items, seemed like Gu Xiaoshan really never brought his lovers home.

Renzi’s phone suddenly vibrated, giving him a shock — oh god, he clearly had permission to enter the bedroom, but somehow his conscience felt guilty about it, which should not be the case. Looking at this, he was really unsuited to do any bad deeds in this life.