A President’s Out-of-Body Experience

The meal could be said to have been enjoyed safely and tranquilly.

Gu Xiaoshan remembered that Old Mister Gu had criticised Renzi for his rich dating history, and that it made people worry. However Gu Xiaoshan himself was not much better, with his track record. Now that the two of them were together, it was “two negatives coming together to become a positive”.

Actually, towards Renzi having dated many girls in the past, Gu Xiaoshan had to admit that he was bothered by it. However, since he had decided to be with him, he felt that he need not think too much about it, as time moved forward, not backwards.

He would just think positively, that on some level, Renzi and him were each other’s “first love”! Whatever exes and others, they did not exist. Renzi himself did not remember how many exes he had, and it would be fine if he did not remember too.

Renzi seemed to have got over this conflict. Eating meat for the first time after a few days of porridge, he was also quite happy.

Gu Xiaoshan was nearly done eating, while Renzi was still stuffing himself. Gu Xiaoshan had to remind him, “You’re eating too much.”

Renzi said unhappily, “I’ve just started dating you, and you’re not willing to let me fill my stomach already?”

With such an accusation, Gu Xiaoshan had no choice but to admit he was wrong. “No, no, I didn’t, why would I do that? I’m just afraid that your stomach would feel uncomfortable.”

Renzi just continued eating his meat. Gu Xiaoshan stood up and headed outside for a smoke.

Outside the restaurant was a floating pavilion, and with the evening breeze, it was quite comfortable sitting there in the summer night. Gu Xiaoshan sat there for a smoke, and just as he lit his cigarette, he heard someone call out to him. “Is that President Gu?”

When Gu Xiaoshan heard this voice, he did not need to look at him to know who he was — it was President Goo, the one who joked with He Jun saying that “Yu Yunren was Gu Xiaoshan’s most beloved man”. When Gu Xiaoshan remembered this, he swore silently. Fuck, this rabble of a friend had hit the nail on the target.

Old Goo laughed. “I saw you and your beloved going in together, and wanted to call out to you, but you guys headed straight into a private room. I happened to have a client with me, so I didn’t go looking for you. Who would have guess that we’ll bump into each other here.” Old Goo too pulled out his cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

Gu Xiaoshan smiled. It was fine in the past, but today, hearing Old Goo playfully calling Renzi his “beloved”, his heart uselessly started pounding. He then inhaled on his cigarette to calm himself down. “Sure, welcome President Goo to this place. Please spend more money here!”

“Ah, why don’t I go to your room and greet your beloved too?” Old Goo said.

Gu Xiaoshan laughed. “We’ll need to finish our cigarettes before we go then.”

Old Goo asked, “Yu Yunren really doesn’t smoke?”

Gu Xiaoshan nodded. “He doesn’t.”

“That’s pretty healthy of him.” Old Goo smoked as he judged, “I heard you had a blind date with Shu Jingyi.”

“Where did you hear that from?” Gu Xiaoshan squinted his eyes in a smile through the smoke. “There’s no base to this, and you guys actually believe it?”

“Sure, that means it wasn’t successful.” Old Goo laughed.

When they were done smoking, they walked back to the room together.

By then, Renzi was also nearly done with the food. The plates were removed, and a fruit platter was served. Renzi saw Gu Xiaoshan walked in, and he looked up with a smile about to say something. Then he saw Old Goo following behind him, and felt a little awkward, greeting him with a smile, “President Goo?”

Old Gu chuckled. “Am I disrupting your date?”

Hearing that, Renzi spoke to Gu Xiaoshan in extreme shyness. “Ah? You’ve already told others that we’re dating?”

Gu Xiaoshan too did not know what he should say, as Old Goo was clearly making a joke. However, Gu Xiaoshan did not give any explanation, and went along with Renzi. “That’s right, Old Goo isn’t an outsider anyway.”

When Old Goo heard this, he still thought that this was a joke. He laughed, “Ah ha, congratulations, let me know when the baby arrives.”

Old Goo sat down and chatted with them for a while. As Renzi listened, he too realised that Old Goo was only joking. This made Renzi unreconciled to it, and he said loudly, “Stop putting your arms on each other shoulders, Gu Xiaoshan is now my boyfriend.”

Old Goo had not taken it seriously, but hearing Renzi’s voice trembling with nervous, and his face red like a cooked prawn — Old Goo swore silently, and turned to look at Gu Xiaoshan. However, Gu Xiaoshan acted like nothing was wrong. He sat with his ankle across his knee, and only when Old Goo looked at him questioningly, he placed his hand meaningfully on Renzi’s shoulder, rubbing it a couple of times.

This time, Old Goo was really shocked.

About half a minute later, Old Goo had easily digested this information. “You guys really did it! I said it before right? Didn’t I get it right?”

“What did you say?” Renzi asked.

“A while ago when everyone was saying that you were gay, I told them all that it was impossible!”

Renzi was a little uncomfortable hearing that. “But that means you’re wrong!”

“Listen to me first,” Old Goo wanted to light a cigarette, but caught Gu Xiaoshan’s warning gaze, and instead fiddled with it. “I said, Yu Yunren is not a gay. If he’s really gay, the first person he’ll be with would be Gu Xiaoshan!”

Renzi was quite surprised. “How, how did you know that?”

Old Goo smiled. “You guys are too sickening… Ah, I won’t talk about it anymore, I’ve won the bet anyway! Quickly announce it, then I can start claiming my wins.”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed, “You even bet on this matter?”

“I run a casino. What can’t I bet on?”

Hearing the words “quickly announce it”, Renzi was convinced. Looking at Xu Yunyun’s normal behaviour today, as well as how Old Goo was unimpressed, he kept feeling that him and Gu Xiaoshan being a couple did not attract any attention from anyone!

Did they really have to announce it with a big fanfare?

Renzi became a little bashful. “What’s this announcing about? We’re also not planning on hiding our relationship. See, aren’t we openly on a date and having a meal?”

“When the two of you are sharing a meal, who would know that you’re on a date?” Old Goo played with the cigarette in his hand. “Even if the two of you go on a honeymoon, and don’t tell anyone about it, no one would suspect as well!”

Renzi was a little dazed. Thinking about it, that was really very possible.

Old Goo pulled out his phone from his pocket. “Now that I’m here, I’ll be the witness. You guys take an intimate shot, upload it to your social media and announce it to the world!”

Renzi was a little ill at ease, but Old Goo had already opened his camera app and positioned his phone. Although Gu Xiaoshan did not say a word, he placed his hand naturally on Renzi’s shoulder, pulling them very close together. Renzi could even smell the cologne from behind Gu Xiaoshan’s ears.

However, Old Goo was not satisfied. “Photos like this, even if you don’t have a thousand of them, you probably have a hundred of them right? This photo isn’t even as good as the one you guys took during last year’s valentines when you were hugging in the snow!”

From the “announce your relationship” moment, Renzi had been feeling shy, and now, his shyness had reached his limit. Everytime he felt this shy, he would speak very loudly with an angry look. Therefore, this time, he looked angry, and spoke loudly, “Then what should we do? Let you take a photo of us having sex?”

Gu Xiaoshan burst out laughing, and he was about to placate Renzi. However, Old Goo gave in first, and chuckled, “My brother-in-law, what are you saying? How would I dare to do that?”

The “brother-in-law” left Renzi in disarray, and his face again reddened, and he faltered.

Gu Xiaoshan laughed. “Aren’t you shameless? You’re already so old, the same age as President Shu, yet you’re referring to him as your brother-in-law! You should address him as your younger brother’s wife!”

“Eh, my younger brother’s wife!” Old Goo smiled, “Give this Gu fellow a kiss!”

Renzi immediately froze, but he felt a soft warmth on his face — half a minute later, he then registered it to be Gu Xiaoshan’s lips. However, by that time, the kiss had already ended. Old Goo said in satisfaction, “Although you’re a distance from the camera, but it’s enough. My younger brother’s wife is after all a somebody, and has to be dignified, right?”

Gu Xiaoshan walked over to look at the screen of Old Goo’s phone. Seeing the new photo, he revealed a satisfied smile, then saw that Old Goo was about to upload the photo. He then stopped him, “What are you doing? Send the photo to me. Renzi and I will upload it ourselves. Who do you think you are, sending it?”

“Sure, sure.” Old Goo sent the photo to Gu Xiaoshan. “The two of you are really in a serious relationship?”

“Can we actually fake this?” Gu Xiaoshan asked. “Don’t you have to accompany your client?”

Old Goo laughed. “Seems like I’m disturbing you two.”

After teasing them, Old Goo left.

Renzi tilted his head to look at Gu Xiaoshan’s phone. He saw a portrait shot, the background edited to be blurry, highlighting the subjects of the photo — Renzi’s eyes that were round with shock, looking dazed, and his shoulders encircled by Gu Xiaoshan’s arm. However, unlike him, Gu Xiaoshan was not looking at the camera, only his side profile could be seen, and his lips were on Renzi’s reddening cheeks.

This was not some overly intimate photo, but it had a unique romantic atmosphere to it.

Gu Xiaoshan was quite satisfied with it. Instead, it was Renzi who shook his head. “I look very foolish.”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed, “You don’t, I think you look very good.”

Renzi was stunned, discovering that this seemed to be the first time in his life that he heard Gu Xiaoshan praising him to be good looking. In the past, he was the one calling himself naturally handsome, while Gu Xiaoshan would ridicule and mock him, saying that he looked stupid. Today, it was the opposite. He called himself foolish looking, but Gu Xiaoshan had said that he was good looking.

Was this the preferential treatment of a husband?

Renzi relaxed, and looked carefully at it. “Mn, right, after looking at it for a while more, it’s not bad. In any case, my face would never look weird.”

Gu Xiaoshan laughed. He was still worried that Renzi’s feelings were hurt, but it seemed like he no longer needed to worry anymore. Renzi was very narcissistic about his appearance, always saying that other than money and looks, he had nothing else.