Later, when the father learned about how Gao Gusheng had handled the situation, he felt his son was decisive and straightforward, which made him feel refreshed physically and mentally—even changing clothes at home became more motivating.
***
Wen Liang gently knocked three times on the door, the crisp knocking echoing in the hallway.
Sunlight from the window illuminated his profile, outlining his handsome features, bringing to mind a poem—
“The gentleman on the path is like jade, unparalleled in the world.”
“Come in.”
Wen Liang pushed open the door and, seeing the displeased expression on his advisor’s face, smiled, “Teacher, did you need to see me about something?”
The advisor had originally been holding back his anger, but seeing Wen Liang’s gentle smile, half his fury dissipated. He sighed and said, “Wen Liang, you’re being foolish!”
“Tell me, what couldn’t you do instead? Why did you have to hack into our college forum?”
Wen Liang’s eyes flickered slightly, “Teacher, are you referring to those two forum posts?”
The teacher said with heartache, “Yes! What else could it be?”
Wen Liang’s eyes curved in a smile, and without arguing, he readily admitted, “Teacher, I was worried about Student Gao’s reputation being damaged.”
“The people in that thread were being far too excessive in their abuse. I used those methods only to clean up those two threads more thoroughly. If you don’t believe me, you can check my computer—aside from deleting those two posts, I haven’t touched any other data.”
The teacher sighed. Wen Liang was right—the college’s technical staff had already conducted a comprehensive security check of the forum. Wen Liang had only deleted those two posts and done nothing else.
“Teacher believes you, but what you did this time does violate school rules. I’m giving you one warning. Also, because you illegally invaded our college forum database, I’ll be keeping your administrator position here for a few days while you reflect. After some time, I’ll give you back the position.”
“You can’t do this again next time.”
The advisor spoke nicely, but this was essentially revoking Wen Liang’s administrator privileges.
Wen Liang lowered his eyes and softly acknowledged, “Teacher, I won’t do it again.”
The advisor sighed again, then waved his hand, dismissing Wen Liang.
After saying goodbye to the teacher and walking out of the academic affairs office, Wen Liang gently closed the door behind him.
The moment he stepped outside, he changed completely. Though still smiling, he now carried an eerie ghostly aura that made one’s hair stand on end.
“Interesting.”
…
Time flew by and it was already the weekend. Tomorrow would be Great-Grandfather Gao’s eightieth birthday. Today, after getting off work, Gao Shi drove with Gao Gusheng and Ying Bujie toward their destination.
Gao Gusheng had seriously put on the clothes Cheng Zeqi had chosen for him: a cream-colored hoodie and gray straight-leg sweatpants.
According to Cheng Zeqi’s reasoning—Gao Gusheng’s face was simply too stunning. No matter what clothes he wore, they would pale in comparison to that face, so it was better to wear something simple to highlight his natural temperament.
The cream color complemented Gao Gusheng’s skin tone beautifully, making him look like he was carved from pink jade—appearing both obedient and clean.
Too bad he had a mouth to go with it.
Seeing Gao Shi still wearing his shirt and black dress pants, Gao Gusheng nearly popped his eyes out, “Eh? Dad, why aren’t you wearing the clothes Uncle Cheng picked out?”
Gao Shi casually draped his coat over his arm, “No need. Grandma isn’t home tonight, so no one cares what I wear.”
Gao Shi glanced at Gao Gusheng and thought his son looked quite cute like this—much more well-behaved than his usual bratty appearance. He couldn’t resist reaching out to ruffle Gao Gusheng’s hair, making his head look like a bird’s nest.
In a good mood, he called out to Ying Bujie, “Daoist Ying, let’s go!”
Gao Shi had calculated well, but when they arrived at the house, he saw Grandmother Gao and Cheng Zeqi sitting in the main hall, chatting enthusiastically.
Grandmother Gao was in her sixties but remained a fashionable old lady. She had studied fashion design and naturally had keen observational skills when it came to fashion, getting along remarkably well with Cheng Zeqi.
These two were chatting so enthusiastically they practically wanted to become sworn siblings on the spot.
Gao Shi got a headache just seeing these two people and immediately tried to leave, “I suddenly remembered I left something at home. I need to go back and get it.”
“Hey, where are you running off to, Shanshan? Come here and let Grandma get a good look at you.”
“You finally come home for once, and you won’t even come see Grandma.”
Although Grandmother Gao was over sixty, she still had thick, black hair. She wore dried rose-colored lipstick, and her skin was fair and tight—she looked like she was only in her forties.
Her long hair was pinned up at the back, with two strands at her temples braided and arranged with the rest of her hair using pearl accessories in a rose pattern. The pearls sat at the center of the rose, like dewdrops on rose petals—elegant and exquisite.
Gao Shi helplessly sat down beside Grandmother Gao, “Grandma, the last time I came over was just a week ago. How is that a long time?”
The old grandmother looked her grandson up and down, then glanced at her great-grandson, before patting Gao Shi’s head.
“Lele’s outfit is pretty good, but look at what you’re wearing. Hurry up and change out of it. A perfectly good young man in his twenties dressed like an old man—I’ve told you not to learn from your dad.”
Cheng Zeqi gleefully tattled, “Grandma, I’ve made quite a few outfit combinations for Old Gao these past few days, but he won’t wear them. Grandma, you really need to manage him properly. Look how he’s dressed—what a waste of a handsome face.”
Hearing this, Gao Shi glared at Cheng Zeqi in warning.
Cheng Zeqi immediately transformed into a whimpering green tea character, “Grandma, look, he’s glaring at me. What did I say wrong? The outfit I picked for him would make him look so young and handsome, and it even matches Lele’s clothes as a parent-child set.”
Gao Shi’s temple veins throbbed, and then Grandmother Gao said the sentence he most feared hearing:
“What outfit? Shanshan, hurry up and put it on for Grandma to see.”
Gao Shi said with a wooden expression, “Grandma, that outfit doesn’t suit me.”
Cheng Zeqi made a big fuss, “How doesn’t it suit you? It’s a parent-child set with Lele’s—if it suits Lele, why wouldn’t it suit you?”
Now Gao Gusheng also became interested, poking his head toward his dad, “Dad, is it really a parent-child set?”
Gao Shi pushed his head aside, “Go away, what’s it to you? Move along.”
Gao Gusheng had always been shameless in front of his dad. He immediately hugged Gao Shi’s arm and whined coquettishly, “Dad, just try it on and let us see. It’s a father-son outfit!”
Gao Shi, despite being a tough guy, couldn’t withstand his son’s wheedling. He frowned and helplessly loosened his tie, “Fine, fine, stop swaying. I’ll go change.”
Cheng Zeqi chuckled, “Why doesn’t Old Gao change now?”
Gao Shi glared at this “culprit” again, “How can I change when I didn’t bring the clothes?”
Like a magician, Cheng Zeqi pulled out two packages from behind him, “Ta-da-da-da—what do you think this is?”
In his hands were clearly two sets of new clothes.
“These are new styles from their brand, just launched yesterday. I brought them over for you today. How about it? Surprised? Happy?”
Gao Shi smiled menacingly, “Great, just great.”
Cheng Zeqi shrank his neck. Probably too caught up in the excitement of dressing up Shanshan, he ignored Gao Shi’s expression and cheerfully unpacked the hoodies, “I felt that cream color clashed a bit with your temperament. I saw this brand released cold white and charcoal black limited editions yesterday, thought they’d suit you and Daoist Ying quite well, so I grabbed them on the spot.”
“I think you’d look better in this black one, and the white one would be for the Daoist.”
While gesturing, he didn’t forget to include Grandmother Gao in the joy of dressing up Shanshan, “Grandmother Gao, what do you think?”
Grandmother Gao nodded with a smile, “Very nice.”
She then turned to look at Gao Shi, “Shanshan, you should learn about outfit coordination from young Cheng. You wear nothing but shirts and dress pants year-round—I’m tired of looking at it. Young people should look like young people.”
Gao Shi accepted the clothes with a wooden expression.
Young people? Ha.
The Gao family aged well. If he dressed young and stood next to Gao Gusheng, who would think he was Lele’s father? They’d probably think he was Lele’s brother.
Gao Shi had always dressed more maturely since childhood because the age gap between him and his son was really too small. To make himself appear more authoritative and to give Lele more sense of security, he always chose mature styles when dressing. Anyway, he had no particular preference for clothing styles—as long as they were comfortable.
Regarding this, Grandmother Gao, being a designer, felt her eyes were being tortured. Every time she saw him, she would lament to Grandfather Gao about the waste of resources.
However, before Gao Gusheng came of age, Grandmother Gao respected Gao Shi’s choices. But now that Gao Gusheng was an adult with basic self-protection abilities, shouldn’t Gao Shi change his wardrobe?
Otherwise, how could such a fine young man with such a sharp temperament but dressed so old-fashioned find a partner?
…
Cheng Zeqi casually handed the white outfit to Ying Bujie.
Ying Bujie’s reaction was half a beat slow. He looked down at the clothes, then followed Gao Shi to change. Cheng Zeqi wanted to call out to him, but after thinking about it, he closed his mouth.
He still didn’t know how far things had progressed between the Daoist and his brother. If he rashly interfered, he might ruin their good thing.
But changing clothes together… tsk tsk.
What Cheng Zeqi didn’t know was that he was purely overthinking. The two were changing together mainly because Gao Shi was afraid Daoist Ying wouldn’t know how to put on a hoodie.
Before long, Gao Shi and Ying Bujie had finished changing.
Grandmother Gao’s eyes lit up, “Young Cheng has good taste.”
The hoodie’s cut and Gao Shi’s bangs falling over his forehead softened his overly sharp temperament, making the already young Gao Shi appear even younger. Yet those eyes remained too determined and steady—this contrast made people want to explore the secrets within him.
Meanwhile, Ying Bujie in that white hoodie still managed to wear the clothes with ethereal grace. His hair was tied high in a ponytail, with strands falling to his shoulders, his gaze pure and untainted. He inexplicably brought to mind a crane standing atop a steel city.
Cheng Zeqi had only one thought in his head—they matched perfectly.
Grandmother Gao was stunned and discreetly glanced between the two.
Her smile remained unchanged as she praised both for looking good, but her head was full of gossip, eager to share with Gao’s mother and great-grandmother.
As for Gao Gusheng, he looked at the two and was momentarily dazed, unconsciously scratching his head.
Although his dad usually wore mainly black clothes, and Daoist Ying had been wearing white robes from the beginning, for some reason, the moment he saw these two, he suddenly felt that Daoist Ying should be wearing black clothes instead.
He felt that dad wearing a cool white hoodie while the Daoist wore a black hoodie would also look good, but the way they looked now wasn’t bad either.
He “tap-tap-tapped” over to stand between the two, grinning as he slung his arm around his dad’s shoulder. After glancing at Daoist Ying beside him, he hesitated for a moment, then tentatively put his other hand on Ying Bujie’s shoulder.
“Grandma, Uncle Cheng, don’t we look good?”
“Good, very good.” Cheng Zeqi came over with his phone and “click-clicked” several photos of the three.
Looking at the photos, he shook his head in amazement, “It’s such a shame that this brand didn’t get you three to advertise for them.”
After changing clothes, the conversation finally returned to business—naturally, Great-Grandfather Gao’s birthday celebration.
Though it was called a birthday celebration, the birthday star hadn’t arrived yet.
Although Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother Gao were already eighty years old, they were still quite romantic. After dinner every evening, they would go to the family greenhouse together to look at flowers and have a little drink. When the mood struck them, the two would start reciting poetry back and forth to each other.
The younger generation didn’t disturb them, mainly because no one wanted to go over on an empty stomach and come back with a full one.
Since tomorrow’s main characters were still gazing at stars and moon with their spouses, discussing everything from poetry and literature to life philosophy, Gao Shi wouldn’t disturb them. He got up alone, preparing to check over tomorrow’s guest list.
He paid particular attention to the invited reporters.
After all, tomorrow would be quite a show.
###
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152