Su Yiran cleared his throat inwardly and reminded himself to get back to business.

After seeing that Zhang Xiaohong had finished her tasks, he spoke with her briefly. Learning that the shop’s business had been doing well and everything else was running smoothly, he felt pleased. He gave her a few more instructions, praised her, and encouraged her a little before letting her return to work.

He checked the shop’s daily revenue and dessert sales records on the computer, picked up the camera used for livestreams, and held Ting-ge’s hand, preparing to leave for dinner.

As they passed the counter, Su Yiran’s eyes swept across it and suddenly landed on the shop’s mascot — the ugly wooden sculpture of “Yi Ting.”

Su Yiran: “…” He had almost forgotten about this.

He recalled the netizens’ logical and convincing speculation that this ugly wood carving was made from the same piece of purple rosewood that was auctioned for ten million yuan. Now that he knew Ting-ge’s identity, he couldn’t help but seriously suspect the rumor might actually be true.

Letting go of Ting-ge’s hand, he walked over, carefully picked up the ugly wood carving from behind the counter, and cradled it in his arms. “Let’s go. We’re taking this home too.”

Seeing how carefully Su Yiran was treating the hideous sculpture, Gu Yuanting remembered his own “masterpiece”: “…”

He took the carving from Su Yiran, trying to cover up his dark past. “Let’s throw this out. It’s not very good-looking,” he said guiltily, completely downplaying how bad it actually was.

Su Yiran glared at him when he heard such a wasteful suggestion. “No way. Hold on to it.”

Gu Yuanting had no choice but to carry it.

The two of them walked toward the car parked on the roadside. Today, they were driving the luxury car Su Yiran had seen before — the one the driver Xiao Zhu used to pick up Gu Yuanting. At the time, Gu had claimed it was assigned to him by his company…

A few days after Gu Yuanting returned to the country and confessed everything to Su Yiran, he brought the luxury car over and refused to drive the old one they had bought together with a loan. He even paid off the loan on both the car and their house and quickly sold the old car to a second-hand dealership in the suburbs.

The new luxury car had better performance and safety features, which Su Yiran appreciated. Though he didn’t understand why Ting-ge was so eager to get rid of the old car like it was a hot potato, he still agreed with the decision.

As they got in the car, Gu Yuanting casually tossed the sculpture into the backseat. Su Yiran winced at the dull thud it made when it hit the leather seat and quickly turned to scold him: “Be gentle!”

Gu Yuanting: “…”

Fastening Su Yiran’s seatbelt, Gu Yuanting explained, “It’s fine. That type of wood is really tough — it won’t break.”

Su Yiran gave him a look but said nothing. Gu Yuanting, feeling a bit uneasy, was about to start the car when Su Yiran suddenly said, “Wait.”

Turning to him, Gu Yuanting saw a serious expression on Su Yiran’s face and grew even more nervous. “What is it?”

Su Yiran took his hand and, to Gu Yuanting’s surprise, placed a kiss on the back of it.

Then, like Gu had done earlier, Su Yiran kissed each of his fingers one by one before letting go, satisfied. “Let’s go.”

He had wanted to do that earlier, but with staff around, he’d been too shy. Now, he could indulge freely.

Gu Yuanting hadn’t expected such a cute gesture and felt like his heart was about to melt.

With a click, he unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned in, and cupped Su Yiran’s face, kissing him fervently.

Caught off guard, Su Yiran quickly became dizzy from the kisses — overwhelmed but enjoying it.

Only when Su Yiran was breathless and started to push him away did Gu Yuanting finally stop.

Just as they pulled apart slightly, Gu saw Su Yiran’s flushed cheeks and watery eyes, and was once again overwhelmed — he leaned down and kissed him all over again.

Su Yiran: “…” Sigh…

Eventually, the two finally separated and caught their breath. The car, which had been idling on the roadside, finally began to move.

Gu Yuanting brought him to a private restaurant. Even after arriving, Su Yiran was still a little shy, his mind replaying what had just happened.

Gu introduced the place: “This is an old, well-known restaurant. The chef here is great at fish dishes — it’s their specialty. Let’s order a couple.”

Su Yiran nodded, drawn back to the present. He realized the place didn’t look like a restaurant at all — more like a traditional residence, with small bridges and flowing water, a mini garden inside.

Once they entered the main building, he saw the antique-style decor and servers dressed in traditional clothing, which was quite novel.

After being led to a private dining room, Su Yiran finally got a sense that this was, in fact, a restaurant. With Gu’s recommendations, they ordered food, and he began to look forward to it.

While waiting for the dishes, Su Yiran brought up the carving again and began questioning Gu: “So that wood carving… it’s not just some ordinary rosewood, is it? It’s the one that got auctioned for ten million, right?”

Caught off guard, Gu Yuanting stiffened and nodded. “Yes.”

He immediately apologized, visibly nervous. “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

Seeing how tense he looked, Su Yiran couldn’t help but laugh. “I knew it,” he said, tapping Gu’s nose affectionately. “You big liar.”

Relieved by the smile and the affectionate gesture, Gu Yuanting relaxed.

Su Yiran added, “That wood’s too expensive — we shouldn’t keep it at the shop. Let’s just keep it at home.” Even if it was a bit of a waste to make something so ugly out of such expensive wood, it was still a heartfelt gift, so it was worth preserving.

When Gu Yuanting heard him say “our home,” his heart skipped a beat. He nodded.

Then Su Yiran asked, “What about the rest of the wood? Did you sell it?”

Gu Yuanting: “…No. It’s in storage.”

Imagining the valuable wood gathering dust in a warehouse, Su Yiran fell silent. “…Well, guess that counts as preserving value.”

Thinking of the wood reminded him of Gu’s identity. These past few days, Gu had mostly stayed home with him, only occasionally working on his laptop.

Su Yiran had done some research on the Gu family and understood more now. With a corporation that massive, Gu, as the heir, surely had responsibilities — he couldn’t just stay at home all the time.

He voiced his concern.

Gu Yuanting, knowing this topic would come up, calmly reassured him. “Don’t worry. I’ve already handled everything in Country D. I left a team there. A group like this isn’t run by just one person. If anything comes up, I can handle it remotely or through video meetings.”

“Besides, the domestic market is huge. Gu Corp is planning to shift its focus back here. After the new year, we’ll gradually move our operations, and eventually, the headquarters, too.” Of course, this wasn’t the company’s plan — it was his personal decision.

In his previous life, with no emotional ties to the country, he had focused on expanding internationally. Though Gu Corp had branches in China, its HQ had always been abroad.

This time, it was different — he had Yiran.

Su Yiran was reassured by Gu’s logical and thoughtful plan. He couldn’t help but praise him: “You’re amazing.” They’d grown up under the same conditions, yet Gu was clearly much more capable. It had to be talent.

Gu Yuanting shook his head. “I’m still learning.” He couldn’t let Yiran know he was reborn.

Just then, the food arrived. Not wanting Yiran to dwell on company matters, Gu quickly distracted him. “Yiran, try the appetizers.”

They began eating. The restaurant’s fish dishes really were delicious — Su Yiran ended up eating an extra half bowl of rice. He wanted more but was stopped by Gu. “Don’t overeat. We’ll come again next time.”

Su Yiran obediently put his chopsticks down. “Okay.”

After dinner, they went home. Su Yiran placed the wood carving on the living room display shelf and dragged Gu over to admire it together.

Gu Yuanting: “…”

It was getting late, so there was no time to livestream. Su Yiran stashed the camera in the drawer for later.

Recently, his livestreams had been short — only about 40 minutes — because Gu kept a close eye on him. Fans jokingly said he was the shortest-broadcasting streamer ever.

After false rumors surfaced accusing him of nepotism and faking stats, he had gone silent for a few days. But the platform issued a formal statement and legal warning, and the doctored “intimate photo” with his senior was proven fake. Once the controversy was cleared, he resumed streaming.

Fans had missed him terribly and filled the comments with dramatic laments, as if he’d been gone for years — even though it was only a few days.

After that, his loyal followers became even more united — as if they’d fought a battle together.

Recently, a major incident had happened on the platform. The top lifestyle streamer, “Muxing Shiye,” had their channel suddenly banned for making inappropriate comments that insulted historical figures. Public backlash quickly grew when further scandals were exposed: fake stats, abusing fans, exploiting smaller creators, and even confirmed drug use.

Muxing Shiye was now under investigation — his career completely over.

Su Yiran thought back to meeting Muxing Shiye at a livestreaming anniversary event. The guy had even congratulated him — seemed normal enough at the time. Who would’ve thought?

Gu Yuanting, hearing the name, raised his brows and fed another fruit slice to Yiran. “Don’t worry about things like that.”

Muxing Shiye had been one of the forces behind the online attacks against Yiran. Gu had already handled it — no need for Yiran to know.

Su Yiran only brought it up in passing and soon got distracted by the delicious fruit.

Before bed, Su Yiran took out aloe gel and gently lifted Gu’s shirt to apply it to his healing scar. He did this twice a day now.

As he applied it, he looked up and asked, “Does it itch? New skin can be really itchy.”

Gu Yuanting looked at him fondly. “Not really,” he said. Then added, “Just a little.”

After finishing, Su Yiran gently lowered his shirt. “Hope it heals soon.”

They got ready for bed. Gu Yuanting made a cup of warm milk and gave it to Su Yiran.

Su Yiran downed it, leaving a white ring of milk on his lips.

Gu Yuanting’s throat tightened at the sight. He took the cup, leaned in, kissed the milk off Su Yiran’s lips, and shared the taste with him.

The atmosphere heated up quickly. After helping each other out, Gu cleaned them both up, kissed Yiran’s flushed cheeks, and finally lay down beside him.

As they snuggled, Gu’s hand kept brushing against Su Yiran’s stomach.

After a moment of silence, Gu kissed his cheek again and said suddenly:

“Yiran, let’s have another one.”

He wanted to get Yiran pregnant — again.