Yan Luqing had sobered up a little before, afterward she was merely drowsy. She was not drunk to the point of being muddle-headed; on the contrary, this time was much better than the few times she had drunk before.

So she thought that since she had just now been clear-headed, she surely could walk.

She had not expected Gu Ci to come out with such a sentence.

—“You felt wrong.”

It blocked her so suddenly she was caught off guard, and he did not give her the chance to retort again, but directly took action, cutting off her possibility of walking.

In Yan Luqing’s view, most of the time the feeling Gu Ci gave people was the overlapping of two qualities—cold, gentle. And although that gentleness was faint, its presence was very strong. He did not deliberately display it, yet it could let people remember for a long time.

For example, when taking care of a patient, his mouth full of mockery, yet the necessary steps were carried out without omission.

For example, when taking her to the fried chicken shop to eat stewed chicken, though he spoke in a yin-yang strange tone saying it was to let her feel the atmosphere, he indeed to a certain degree satisfied her craving to eat fried chicken.

Later, when the two went to watch a movie, he went out to buy popcorn, came back and handed it to her without saying a word, and when she questioned, he smiled and mocked her for just now having emptied the snack platter.

…

Every time she felt she did not know how to give thanks, he always had a way to make her forget this entanglement, and in the end the two would conclude the topic in the manner of quarreling or joking.

A very “moistening things silently” kind of gentleness.

Moreover, ordinarily Gu Ci’s actions seemed rather to “spoil” her. Perhaps it was that he was too lazy to control, perhaps it was for some other reason.

Yan Luqing truly had not expected that he would suddenly become so… saying one and it being so, without question.

But thinking carefully, those were after all trivial matters.

What Gu Ci truly wished to control would in the end always be accomplished according to his will—just as now.

Only it was still in a very gentle way.

Before walking out of the private room, under the gaze of everyone, Yan Luqing’s whole body was stiff, her mind blank.

After walking out of the private room, without those people’s gazes, Yan Luqing immediately relaxed, her whole body softened greatly, and she also conveniently lifted her two hands, one front one back hooking around Gu Ci’s neck, her face very naturally leaning on his shoulder, letting out a comfortable sigh.

“…”

From this angle Gu Ci could only see the tip of her nose, slightly flushed, high and appearing delicate and lovely.

Being held was truly comfortable, especially when he walked so steadily. Yan Luqing was so comfortable she nearly fell asleep.

She unconsciously closed her eyes, and in her half-drowsy state again heard a light laugh from Gu Ci, his speaking voice also lightly falling down.

“Now truly skilled.”

What he spoke of was this habitual action of hers after being carried up.

It could not be told whether it was mockery or simply a plain comment.

“What… oh,” Yan Luqing quickly realized what he was referring to, she also laughed. “Of course, who let you carry me so many times? Haven’t you heard of once raw, twice familiar? Since I wasn’t used to this way, I also have to slowly adapt.”

Gu Ci heard the meaning in her words, and casually asked: “Never been carried before?”

“Of course I’ve never been carried like this!” Yan Luqing recalled, “Only when I was little, being treated like a child and carried that way.”

A princess carry was certainly the first time.

Back when she graduated high school and frequently attended classmates’ dinners and gatherings, how could there ever have been her getting drunk? It had always been her dragging her best friend home, or watching her best friend who had found a boyfriend be carried away by him.

Who could have imagined that she too would have such a day?

But to be princess-carried these few times could also be considered a kind of honor.

“The first time, it seems, was that time at Dieye Mountain…”

Yan Luqing faintly recalled that the first time she had been carried this way by him seemed to be on the last night at Dieye Mountain, when the classmates had gathered together to drink.

When one was too drunk, some things would be forgotten, just like that time—she only later recalled the process through memory, and even then the details were somewhat fragmentary.

She said with quite some emotion, “Speaking of this, from coming back from there, we have already, without realizing, passed so many days.”

Gu Ci did not speak.

Yan Luqing did not mind; she had not expected him to answer every sentence anyway, and continued speaking on her own: “During this period it seems we’ve run into quite a lot of things… At the time it sounded simply like a fantasy, like me being able to score more than half on an exam or something. I hadn’t thought that now I would have really passed, and even be here eating and drinking with these university friends.”

She paused, then her voice lifted higher: “Thinking of it like this, these days have been going so smoothly and easily!”

“Is that so.” Carrying her out of the restaurant, Gu Ci’s voice was cool, like the night wind blowing by the two of them. “Then why do I feel so tired?”

“…”

Why had he suddenly turned yin-yang strange?

Yan Luqing pondered hard for a minute, and in her muddled brain finally remembered—this fantastical matter of scoring more than half on an exam had in fact been forced out of her by Gu Ci teaching her.

So she again laughed mischievously and added: “Then let me add a sentence, these days have been so easy all thanks to genius Teacher Gu!”

Gu Ci tugged at the corner of his lips, as if too lazy to reply.

While Yan Luqing was rambling, Gu Ci had already carried her to the car. The driver helped them open the car door.

The driver slightly lowered his head, appearing not to pay attention to the two’s movements, but hearing the girl’s noisy voice, the corner of his mouth could not help but curve.

Back when Gu Ci had been “brought” to the villa, it had also been him driving the car.

Having been Miss Yan’s driver for a long time, he had naturally seen this youth of the Gu family before. At that time, before the Gu family’s misfortune, Gu Ci had been the very model of a favored child of heaven. Who could have expected that when the family fell into decline, he would be treated this way by Miss Yan…

At that time his heart had been ill at ease, but he could only pretend not to see—after all, wanting to stay long under Miss Yan’s employ, feigning blindness was an essential skill.

So the driver had never thought that after bringing him to the villa in that forced manner, Miss Yan would suddenly seem like a different person—smiling at everyone, her whole being suddenly lively, the withered-grass-like appearance of before in a short time completely transformed, possessing the vitality of youth.

She and Gu Ci lived together in the villa so harmoniously, and now, with one outside playing and drinking to the point of drunkenness, and the other going to fetch her, and not just once—this could indeed already be called an “intimate” relationship.

Gu Ci bent down, and Yan Luqing very naturally slid down from his arms, bracing her hands on the leather seat, moving inward to make space.

Then she watched as Gu Ci also sat in, with a “pa” sound closing the car door, and the driver started the engine.

“Big Black and Little Black?” Yan Luqing suddenly realized something was wrong. “Why is it that every time you come to fetch me, they two don’t come?”

Gu Ci lazily turned his head back. “Did you call them to come?”

“I—” Yan Luqing said halfway, and then stalled. “…didn’t call.”

Only called the wife.

But that was not right either. She blinked dryly, came back to herself, then immediately raised her voice to scold: “But does such a small matter still need me to call them before they come?! Do they need me to remind them to fetch me?!”

“…”

“Are they slacking off?” Gu Ci did not speak, as if tacitly agreeing. The more Yan Luqing spoke, the more worked up she became: “But obviously the two of them are the bodyguards, okay! You are not my bodyguard! The family head gets drunk and they actually dare to slack off at home!!!”

Can the wife of the family head and the bodyguards of the family head be the same? The wife coming was best, but the bodyguards coming was a must!

“Family head…” Gu Ci repeated these two words of hers, as if amused, his eyes curving in a smile. He looked back at her with that smile, his voice gentle as he asked, “Then what to do? Should the family head punish them?”

“…”

Yan Luqing was struck like by an electric current by his tone and expression, but her face was already red, and even if it reddened further, it could not be seen.

Damn.

She thought: this really could not be blamed on her, Gu Ci was too much, he had flawlessly recreated the atmosphere of the family head’s wife.

Being infatuated with the wife for a few seconds, Yan Luqing then came back to herself, and said fiercely: “Punish! Must punish!”

“How to punish?”

“Dock their pay!”

“How much?”

Yan Luqing thought for a bit, “Just… ten yuan each.”

“…” Gu Ci laughed again. “So the family head is this merciful.”

“Of course,” Yan Luqing’s face grew hot again from his laughter, yet she still stiffened her neck and kept a stern expression as she said, “Even if they make a mistake, one cannot be too harsh. I am a good father, a good family head who separates public from private.”

Gu Ci still wore a smile on his face. The lights outside the car window continuously cast shadows over his face. Yan Luqing stared blankly as he spoke: “Since you are a good family head, can you drink less in the future?”

Family Head Yan waved her hand. The imposing air from docking pay just now dropped away, and she explained softly at the end of her words: “Wasn’t it just a friend’s birthday, I just thought to have fun, have fun…”

“Oh.” Gu Ci slowly countered, “A friend’s birthday, and you had fun?”

“Of course I had fun,” Yan Luqing laughed, “I had fun because there was good food to freeload, and wine to drink.”

Saying this, a sudden question flashed through her mind—

“Right, Gu Ci,” Yan Luqing called him once, “when is your birthday?”

Although she was not completely sober now, when it came to things related to Gu Ci, Yan Luqing was still quite certain—such a detail was not written in the original book. As for Gu Ci’s birthday, it had always been celebrated by the book fans based on the publication date of the chapter in which he first appeared.

“Four days later,” Gu Ci said.

Yan Luqing was stunned, counted on her fingers, and confirmed the date with him: “November 12th?”

He nodded.

So soon???

Luckily she had asked today, otherwise wouldn’t it have been missed?

But four days later was also quite good—just before the time of his departure, they could still celebrate a birthday. She decided, first to keep it secret from Gu Ci, then when back home to plan a grand celebration with Big Black and Little Black!

—Give the wife who has made so many contributions to the family a great surprise.

Yan Luqing was still muddling through such thoughts when she again heard Gu Ci’s question by her ear: “Why did you suddenly think of asking my birthday?”

She turned her head, just in time to meet Gu Ci’s smiling eyes.

His tone was lazy, drawn upward: “Does the family head want to celebrate my birthday?”

The two words “family head” were actually spoken by him as if they were “master.”

Yan Luqing blushed at being called so.

“I was—” She was hooked by that expression of his and nearly let slip, but realizing it, she hurriedly changed her words, vaguely saying: “Then I’ll see. Maybe I’ll be busy with schoolwork then. In short, I am a good family head, so I will definitely celebrate it for you.”

“…”

Gu Ci’s brows lifted slightly. Before he could say anything, Yan Luqing already covered her mouth with a yawn, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

“Ah… the good family head is about to die of sleepiness now,” she said while wiping her tears. “Don’t know if anyone with some perceptiveness could give the good family head a pillow…”

Gu Ci looked steadily at her for a few seconds. At the corners of the girl’s eyes still remained un-wiped tears, glittering, making her gaze appear pure and innocent.

“…”

He silently stretched his hand to the back seat, and after a few seconds really produced a cushion, setting it right in front of Yan Luqing.

“…”

Yan Luqing stared at that cushion.

That was not what she meant. She had just remembered once when she had been drunk and lain on Gu Ci’s legs, the experience had been very comfortable, and she wanted to sleep like that again for a while.

So when she said this, she had not thought of the possibility that the car really would have a pillow.

“Ah…” Yan Luqing raised her head to look at the ceiling, beginning to hold back, “but this car, you see, it’s a bit short. The good family head’s legs are very long, can’t sleep properly, must…”

Before she finished weaving her excuse, Gu Ci had already moved that cushion to beside his legs.

He directly reached out, pulled her down—before her eyes a whirl, and Yan Luqing was lying straight on his legs. Beneath her neck was even propped with the cushion, not left hanging, exceedingly comfortable.

Right before her eyes was the wife’s jawline, Adam’s apple, the flourishing beauty of his face.

In only a few seconds, Family Head Yan saw the wife stretch out his hand—that pair of hands like cool jade covered over her eyelids, smooth and comfortable.

In the pitch black she again heard the wife’s gentle voice.

“Sleep, shut up, family head.”