Chapter 8: Main Quest vs. Side Quest

Gu Qingbai's furious questioning left her with nothing to answer back.

"I've told you — your big brother is not a good person. Staying with him will ruin you!"

"That's not how I see it." What Gu Qingbai was angry about had never been Qin Shaofen's poor opinion of Gu Zai'an.

It was that she couldn't see how Gu Zai'an had changed.

"The big brother I've seen is someone who, meeting a lost child on the road, will help him find his way home — and if it's gotten late, will find a hotel and get him settled first, instead of leaving him by the roadside like he doesn't exist."

"Mom, if you won't keep big brother, then I'm going with him."

Expression stubborn, Gu Qingbai took Gu Zai'an's hand and headed downstairs.

Qin Shaofen rushed out and shouted from the top of the stairs, "Xiaobai, it's so late — where will you go, where will you live?!"

"Big brother will take care of me."

Gu Qingbai threw the answer back without turning around.

Gu Zai'an himself was thoroughly bewildered.

Huh?

Wait — what?

What was he doing?

Did Gu Qingbai not know he was penniless?

Once they were out the door, Gu Zai'an finally came back to himself, and ground out, syllable by syllable, "Gu. Qing. Bai!"

Gu Qingbai turned back, the picture of innocence: "Big brother... did I do something wrong?"

For some reason, the moment Gu Zai'an saw that pitiful face, he couldn't bring himself to scold him.

In the end he could only sigh and take out his phone.

The two of them walked and walked, then sat down at the roadside.

Gu Qingbai peered curiously at his phone screen. "Big brother, what are you doing?"

"Apartment hunting." He couldn't very well keep staying in hotels at two thousand a night, could he?

His credit couldn't carry that!

By comparison, a two-bedroom at two thousand a month looked a lot better.

But after scrolling through one listing after another, even a plainly furnished two-bedroom ran above three thousand.

Wincing, he rented the one closest to the school.

He stood up. "Come on, to the school."

"Why are we going to the school this late?"

"The new place is only two hundred meters from the school — practically a school-district apartment — and the security is decent. Let's go take a look."

"Okay."

Nine at night.

The two of them arrived at the apartment right on the dot. Most of the residents were parents there to chaperone their children's studies; by this hour most were getting ready for bed, hardly anyone out and about, so the ground floor was very quiet.

The broker showing the place, a warm, hearty man, explained eagerly: "It's just late, I suppose — everyone around here is a student, and most are already asleep. This is my first time taking a viewing this late. You two are students from Linzhou, right?"

The man guessed it in one shot.

Gu Zai'an and Gu Qingbai exchanged a look and answered, "Oh, no, we work nearby. We just got off work, that's why we're viewing so late."

"Oh, I see, no problem. You'll be on the eleventh floor — it counts as high-rise, but there's an elevator, so don't worry." The broker had an honest face and volunteered nothing more, leading the two up to the eleventh floor and leaving them to look around freely.

Gu Zai'an did a full lap, tested the faucets and everything else without finding any problems, signed the contract, took the keys, and locked the door behind them.

The moment he turned around, he found Gu Qingbai's clean face magnified right in front of him. The boy was sticking his backside out, tugging at Gu Zai'an's sleeve, aggrieved to the point of melting: "Big brother, I'm hungry."

The cuteness startled Gu Zai'an badly. Remembering they hadn't eaten dinner before leaving the Gu house, he smiled and ruffled Gu Qingbai's hair. "It's too late now — the malls are closed. We'll order delivery."

With that he took out his phone. "What do you want to eat?"

Gu Qingbai tipped his chin down, thinking for a moment. "Anything is fine. I'll have whatever big brother has."

"Then I'm ordering hot-and-sour noodles. No foods you can't eat?"

"No cilantro."

"Got it. While I'm at it I'll order clothes and underwear too. What size do you wear?"

No one answered.

Gu Zai'an looked up — and there was Gu Qingbai, head hanging, awkwardly twisting the hem of his own pants, his ears turning an unusual shade of pink.

"Holy crap. System — is the male lead about to ripen?"

[It would appear so.]

"Why? I only asked about his clothing size."

[No idea. Why don't you ask him?]

Gu Zai'an took the system's advice and asked, "Are you... blushing?"

Gu Qingbai flinched and touched his burning ears. "Mom said you can't tell other people your underwear size. It's private."

"We're both boys. You can tell me."

"Boys can tell each other?" Gu Qingbai asked with complete sincerity.

Faced with that earnestness, Gu Zai'an found himself growing uncertain.

Gu Qingbai was this good-looking — what if some boy took a liking to him someday? If some boy asked him exactly this kind of question, and Gu Qingbai, thanks to today's answer, told him without a second thought — unthinkable.

"Oh, I'm your big brother. I'm not 'other people.' Other people, of course you can't tell."

Gu Zai'an tried a different framing.

"Then can I know big brother's?" Gu Qingbai nodded and fired the question right back.

Gu Zai'an answered without a shred of burden: "2."

"That's big."

"Normal. Once you get to my height, you'll be about the same size."

"Then what does big brother think mine is?"

"L? Or 1? You look about 175."

"Hee hee, big brother guessed so well — it's 1! But I'm 176 now."

"One centimeter. What difference does it make?"

"Big brother, you're no better — you're only 182."

"Have you been investigating me?" Gu Zai'an asked, in a joking tone.

Gu Qingbai gave a light snort. "Of course not. Mom gave me your information. I never asked for it."

"Yes, yes, you little ancestor. The delivery is downstairs — I'll go get it."

Right on cue, the delivery driver called.

The compound had security, so delivery couldn't come upstairs; everything had to be left at the guard post on the ground floor.

Seeing him about to leave, Gu Qingbai glued himself to his side at once. "I'm coming with you. I'm scared to stay here alone."

"You're this old and still scared."

That said, Gu Zai'an still let him come along.

Into this warm little scene, the system still barged in to ruin the mood:

[Host, don't forget — the female lead must fall in love with the male lead at first sight. Time remaining detected: under five hours. As the female lead has not appeared, the mission deadline has been revised to 72 hours, with 53 hours remaining. Host, please mind the deadline and engineer an encounter with the female lead.]

"If you hadn't reminded me I'd have forgotten. Where am I even supposed to meet the female lead?"

[The day after tomorrow is the Lin family matriarch's birthday banquet. The female lead will attend to offer her congratulations. The moment the male lead appears, the love-at-first-sight plotline will trigger automatically. And you — Gu Zai'an — cast out of the Gu family and nursing a grudge, will drug Gu Qingbai to make a public spectacle of him. The female lead catches you, and afterward she locks you, the drugger, up and torments you — tendons torn, bones stripped, a hideous death.]

[And your side mission, as World Inspector, is to secure your own path to survival: protect yourself, and make sure the female lead never discovers the drugging plot.]

Gu Zai'an: "..............."

"Your main quest and your side quest cancel each other out!"