助理建筑师 羲和清零 188

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

Chapter 188: Sister-In-Law

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Zhang Siyi glanced at the chat history between Gu Yao and the man seeking her attention. Other then business related issues, she ignored any additional messages. Her attitude mirrored the way Gu Yu dealt with Bai Rui.

“Are you going to reply?” Zhang Siyi asked.

Gu Yao took her phone from Zhang Siyi’s hand and put it in her pocket: “I’m too lazy.”

Zhang Siyi: “…” To some extent, certain aspects of the two’s personalities were similar.

When they returned to their house in the evening, Gu Yu had dinner waiting for them. He requested an update on the day’s events. His suggestion to speak with the manager was quite effective.

On the following day, it was Gu Yu’s turn to drop off and pick up Gu Yao. When her colleagues saw a different, yet more handsome man with her, it triggered a round of gossip within the department and once again, the women went into a frenzy.

That night at meal time, Gu Yao excitedly relayed the days gossip: “Today, when my brother dropped me off at work, my colleagues were all excited. They wanted to know who he was, where he worked, and if he had a girlfriend…..”

Zhang Siyi came out of the kitchen and with curiosity he asked: “Did anyone gossiped about me?”

Smiling, Gu Yao replied: “Yes. Yesterday, I told them you were my second brother and today was my elder brother. They were very envious. Ha-ha-ha! Some people asked how it was possible to have two brothers.”

Zhang Siyi furrowed his brow in thought, Zhang Siyi also thought it was very strange. He turned to Gu Yu and asked: “How is it that your family has two children?”

Gu Yu grinned: “Didn’t I tell you she brought the food.”

Gu Yao shouted: “Hey!”

Zhang Siyi: “Don’t tease her. Seriously, family planning at the time only allowed for one child, so why does your family have two?”

Gu Yu glanced at him: “I don’t remember the details. Do you remember mentioning it to you once before? In order to have a second child, my family had to pay a fine of 20,000 yuan.”

Zhang Siyi: “I don’t remember. Only Twenty thousand? That’s all?”

Gu Yu laughed at Zhang Siyi lack of foresight: “That was years ago when the average monthly wage of urban workers was only thirty yuan. Thousands of yuan is equivalent to today’s millionaire.”

Zhang Siyi exclaimed: “Wow. Then how much is equal to twenty thousand now?”

Gu Yu: “Almost two million.”

Zhang Siyi stared at Gu Yao in shock, then joked: “Shit! An addition to a family turns out to be so expensive. What family can spend two million for grocery shopping?”

Gu Yao bowed her head silently. Although her family rarely mentioned it, she knew that her birth had brought a burden to her family and thinking about it, she felt sad. However, listening to Zhang Siyi teasing, she couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Touching his chin, Zhang Siyi turned to look at Gu Yu: “Since your family was able to pay the fine, you guys must have been rich!”

Gu Yu: “At the beginning, my family borrowed a lot of money. In order to pay off the debt, Dad went to Hainan for engineering work with the now chief of Borderless. During that time, construction was booming so he earned a lot of money and thus, the debt was paid off quickly.”

He turned to look at his sister and continued: “About the family joke… Dad mentioned it to me. He just didn’t want you to think you were a burden. Now listen to your elder brother, we love and treasure you. Although the Gu family isn’t rich, we weren’t short of money. We have watched you grow up into a fine, young women that knows real love from the heart. It is a relief to know that you won’t be easily seduced by shallow flirting.”

Feeling emotional, Gu Yao’s rapidly blinked her eyes to hold back tears: “Hey….”

Gu Yu added: “It’s time to find your own love and let me go. From a young age, you were always attached to me and I’m afraid being stuck to me has influenced you too much.”

Gu Yao muttered: “Who’s sticking to you?”

Gu Yu: “You aren’t stuck to me? There were three very good companies that recruited you and yet you chose the company close to here.”

Zhang Siyi was stunned. It turned out that Gu Yao moved in and lived with her brother not to save money, but to stay close to him!

Gu Yao face was red ear to ear: “So now I’m a hinderance to your life with second brother?”

Gu Yu snorted: “If I thought you were a hinderance; would I have let you live here? I say this to remind you; don’t be too dependent on us.”

Biting the chopsticks, Gu Yao remained silent. Her brother used to call Gu Yao a little sweet girl but now that he is with Zhang Siyi, it seems like, all her brother wanted to do was marry Gu Yao out in a hurry. Despicable brother!

Truth be told, Gu Yao worries aren’t without reason. Since her brother fell in love, she did have a strong sense of loss. Before, not only did he make sure his sister was well fed and happy, he also directed his jokes and teasing at her and as a result, Gu Yao felt like her brother belonged to her.

In contrast, Gu Yu gave 99% of his attention to Zhang Siyi and she was left with a measly one percent. She had to admit that she was jealous at first and there were some awkward feelings in private, but for the happiness of her brother, she had to accept reality. Slowly she realized that the absence of brotherly love she felt was compensated by Zhang Siyi. Overnight, she had two brothers and the feeling wasn’t so bad.

As a result of her self-introspection, the more time she spent with her brother and Zhang Siyi, the easier it was to use them as the standard to compare everyone else to. In the past, when her brother went out with friends, he often took her with him as a pretend girlfriend. She used to think that he caused the delay in finding someone to date. In reality, she discovered that there wasn’t anyone better than her brother. Even Zhang Siyi has taken second place in her mind as an excellent man.

Gu Yao sighed and forcefully said: “What about it? There are many people who don’t get married now!”

She turned to look at Zhang Siyi and joked: “How about I pretend marry Zhang Siyi. His parents like me anyway and If I marry him, I can cover for you for a lifetime.”

Zhang Siyi snorted and felt that her proposal was pretty good. If Gu Yao was willing, he and Gu Yu would be able to get through the difficulties of both parents in one go. Can the circumstance be better than that?

Unexpectedly, Gu Yu slammed his chopsticks on the table with a bang and forcefully shouted: “No!”

Startled, both Gu Yao and Zhang Siyi were shocked by Gu Yu’s reaction.

Gu Yu furrowed his brow and in an authoritative, serious tone he said: “I’m warning you now, do not think about it again. It is absolutely impossible.”

For a moment, Gu Yao sat on her seat stunned. The last thing she expected was her brother’s strong reaction. As her face drained of all color, tears fell from her beautiful eyes. In less then a minute, she felt both embarrassed and wronged. Placing her chopsticks down, she got up and ran upstairs.

Zhang Siyi dare not speak and the dinner table remained silent. It was the first time he witnessed Gu Yu fight with his sister.

Gu Yu remained at his seat stone-faced. He didn’t go comfort his sister and instead, continued to eat his meal.

Afterwards, it would have been Gu Yao’s turn to wash the dishes, but since she went upstairs, Zhang Siyi took it upon himself to take the responsibility of washing them. When he finished, he saw Gu Yu sitting quietly next to Townhouse, brushing him. Even the dog was motionless with his head bowed as if he felt the masters’ anger.

Zhang Siyi walked over to Gu Yu and quietly said: “Let’s go and walk the dog together.”

Gu Yu led Townhouse to the foyer so the two of them could put on shoes. Outside, they walked quietly together for about a hundred meters before Zhang Siyi spoke. “Why were you so jealous?”

“I’m not jealous.” Gu Yu replied.

Zhang Siyi: “You’re not? With that reaction?”

Not answering him, Gu Yu remained silent.

Not knowing what to say, Zhang Siyi changed the topic: “If I had such a lovely sister, I would feel reluctant to let her get married.”

Gu Yu scoffed: ”Do you think I am pushing her away?”

Seeing Gu Yu finally relax somewhat, Zhang Siyi seized the opportunity and pushed him further: “Then why did you do that? I think she was just in a good mood and wanted to make a joke.”

Gu Yu hung his head and sighed softly. Another minute passed before he spoke: “I also contradict myself. I hope she finds someone to fall in love with, but I’m afraid her relationship won’t last and will make her unhappy. As her brother, I can protect her from being deceived, but I can’t offer her love like a man loves a woman for life.

Gu Yu: “Social values are still chaotic. Even now, that man regarded her as a thing and by sending her gifts, it was supposed to mean something? Is that all it takes to get someone to fall in love?”

Taking Zhang Siyi’s hand into his own, Gu Yu looked at Zhang Siyi and spoke: “You and I should know how beautiful love is. My parents are also deeply in love. She shouldn’t be running away from falling in love. If she can find true love, like we have, she will certainly be happier than now. Is it necessary to obliterate her possibility of finding happiness in order to not let her get hurt; let her sacrifice her own love for the sake of ours? Our existence doesn’t mean she should give up the burden of finding her own happiness….”

When he heard Gu Yu explain, Zhang Siyi realized it was for this reason that Gu Yu was angry. At the same time, he also felt guilty for his selfish moment. How could he let Gu Yao sacrifice her own happiness for his sake?

Gu Yu frowned and said: “Despite my worries and fears, she has to face the world herself. My sister is the one that has to experience life, fall down and pick herself up again. We can provide her a temporary respite from her emotional or physical troubles, but she can’t be dependent on us forever. Besides, we’re gay. Although I’ve always thought that love has nothing to do with gender. To be honest, I’ve been worried lately about the influence we have on her about her views of love. I didn’t think that our relationship is a good role model for her.”

Zhang Siyi: “If I hadn’t listened to your explanation, I would have continued to misunderstand you. I thought you were trying to get her out of the house and marry soon and since Gu Yao might have also interpreted things as I have, she probably felt abandoned. Then, she talked about a pretend marriage. I thought you were jealous.”

Gu Yu clutched Zhang Siyi’s hand. Of course, he will be jealous of anyone that wants to get close with Zhang Siyi. Zhang Siyi is his. Gu Yu was the only one allowed to marry him. He could never agree to a pretend marriage, even if it was done with good will.

Zhang Siyi continued: “Compared with the time you got angry at me for requesting help for Su Yuan, your attitude is much worse now. I bet your sister is very upset.”

Gu Yu is depressed: “I was?”

The corner of Zhang Siyi mouth twitched. Does Gu Yu not realize how fierce he can be?

He pulled at Gu Yu’s arm: “Let’s go back. You tell your sister what you just explained to me.”

Gu Yu snorted and resisted Zhang Siyi’s tugging.

Since Gu Yu was being difficult, Zhang Siyi pestered him more and said: “Come on! Now that I’m involved, you have to go explain it to her. What if you don’t? She is going to hate me later and we will have a sister-in-law problem!”

Zhang Siyi’s statement provoked Gu Yu into laughter. Gu Yu squeezed his hand reassuringly and said: “Alright, let’s go back.”

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T/N: The One Child Policy of China explained: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy

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