Chapter 740: Chapter 639: Don’t Be a Hooligan

’Just a fantasy, of course.’ Gu Shaojun couldn’t—and wouldn’t—actually do something like that. Instead, it led him to conclude that Tang Qingshan must be feeling the same way, guarding against him as if he were a thief. His chances of spending a romantic night with his fiancée were absolutely zero!

Gu Shaojun sighed to himself. ’Looks like my relationship with my future father-in-law still needs some work. I’ll have to try harder.’

Resigned to his fate, he placated his precious fiancée and took out her birthday gift from his Storage Ring: a set of crystal-clear, magnificent, and radiant amber jewelry.

Gu Shaojun had carved it himself, though he had, of course, sought the guidance of a master jeweler. It had originally been a single block of amber, brimming with Spiritual Energy but also containing some impurities. Gu Shaojun had gone to great lengths to remove them. With the jeweler’s assistance, he followed the amber’s natural shape to create a bracelet, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.

Gu Shaojun had found this piece of amber in a cave hundreds of meters below ground, deep beneath a primeval forest—a testament to its immense age. The amber’s coloration was exquisite. Perfectly preserved inside were tiny ants, little bees, and petals of peach-pink and white, along with red, yellow, and green leaves, small blades of grass, and brown wood fragments. Everything was so clear that every minute detail was visible. One could easily imagine the scene: in a dense, uninhabited jungle, resin dripped drop by drop from towering trees, blanketing these tiny insects, flowers, and leaves. After thousands upon thousands of years, it finally became a beautiful, immortal fossil.

Xiao Man was captivated by the amber bracelet. Never mind the colorful fragments of flowers and leaves or the lifelike insects—she couldn’t even take her eyes off the flowing patterns within it. "Shaojun, is this the surprise?" she asked happily. "I love it so much!"

Gu Shaojun smiled at her dotingly. "I knew you would like it. It took me quite a bit of effort to get, but this is just the birthday gift."

"How did you get it? Was it dangerous?"

"That’s a story for another time. I’ll tell you about it later."

"So that means you have another surprise for me? Oh, this is wonderful! Quick, show it to me!"

"I’m back and can stay with you for a week. Does that count as a surprise?"

"It does, it does! What else?"

Xiao Man nodded rapidly like a chick pecking at grain, her smile blooming like a flower. She was obedient, delicate, and beautiful—utterly endearing.

This made Gu Shaojun unable to resist pinching her ear again. "Also... Mr. Tang is definitely going to kick me out later and won’t let me stay the night. I have to play the long game. I’ll come early tomorrow, and you should wake up early too. Hmm, let’s talk about it when we meet!"

"No! Tell me now!"

"Be good now. Behave."

"Ahhh! You can’t do this to me!" Xiao Man’s curiosity was left hanging, and she whined coquettishly, twisting back and forth like a pretzel. Gu Shaojun let out a hearty laugh, his frustrated mood finally lifting a little.

Just as Gu Shaojun had predicted, when he took Xiao Man home, he was stopped in the living room. It was already midnight, but Tang Qingshan was still sitting on the sofa, reading a magazine. While telling Xiao Man to go to her room to wash up and rest, he invited Gu Shaojun to sit down for a chat, even cordially asking if he wanted a late-night snack. Gu Shaojun was just wondering why Tang Qingshan hadn’t asked Xiao Man if she was hungry when Tang Haocheng came running down the stairs. He called out, "Brother Shaojun," then pulled Xiao Man upstairs, laughing as he went. "Hurry, hurry, you’ll definitely like this! It’s fun, and you can eat it..."

Xiao Man looked back and waved at Gu Shaojun, telling him to go home and rest, and to be careful on the road.

Gu Shaojun and Tang Qingshan chatted for about twenty minutes. To his surprise, Tang Qingshan actually invited his future son-in-law to stay, saying that since it was so late, he might as well rest in the guest room on the third floor. Gu Shaojun excused himself, saying his mother was waiting up for him at home, and left.

Of course, he wanted to stay under the same roof as his fiancée and had even planned to scale the walls and sneak in through her window in the middle of the night. But he had to make a trip home, and not just to keep up appearances for Tang Qingshan—he knew his grandfather, grandmother, and mother were all eagerly awaiting his return.

But it looked like climbing through her window for a sweet embrace was out of the question tonight, and probably for the next few days. ’Sigh, future fathers-in-law and brothers-in-law are such a handful,’ he thought.

When he arrived home, the house was brightly lit. As expected, his mother, Zhou Hui Lan, was still awake and had prepared some light, easy-to-digest snacks. His grandfather, grandmother, and third uncle were also waiting for him. They all sat down and ended up talking for over an hour. Finally, his grandmother took pity on her eldest grandson and told everyone to go to their rooms and rest, insisting that whatever else they had to say could wait until tomorrow.

The next day, Xiao Man gave Gu Shaojun a surprise of her own: she arrived at the Gu family home bright and early.

Gu Shaojun had just finished his workout and a shower and was feeling refreshed. He hadn’t yet had time to put on a shirt when he saw Xiao Man push open his bedroom door. Overjoyed, he started forward, shirtless, to embrace her. But then, three Little Doudings popped out from behind her, each one shrieking louder than the last: "Whoa, how embarrassing!"

"Don’t bully my big sister!"

"Ah! You big meanie!"

Tang Haocheng and Gu Shaoqin burst in at the sound, and the two teenagers started yelling, too. "Brother, what are you doing? Put a shirt on!"

"Hey! No indecent behavior!"

All the yelling and shouting alerted the people in the courtyard. A voice called out from outside, "Who is it? Who dares to be a hooligan?"

"Feeling brave, are we? Grab him!"

Gu Shaojun: "..."

He shot a fierce glare at Tang Haocheng and Gu Shaoqin. ’The three little ones are innocent and don’t know any better, but these two are definitely doing this on purpose.’

Xiao Man was speechless, too. ’I’ve missed my fiancé so much,’ she thought. After being apart for so long, and with him finally back in the same city, she missed him even more intensely. That’s why she had come over at the crack of dawn. People who practiced Cultivation were all early risers, and Tang Haocheng, Gu Shaoqin, and even the little kids were used to an early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule. The whole group, big and small, had followed her. As soon as they entered the Gu Mansion, Shaoying had latched on as well. And so, they had all come to see their big brother. More people certainly made things lively, but this seemed a bit over the top.

Granny Gu, Zhou Hui Lan, and Jiang Yuyan came in and saw what was going on. Jiang Yuyan let out a quiet chuckle before she and Zhou Hui Lan gently coaxed the little kids out of the room. Granny Gu, on the other hand, marched right up to Gu Shaoqin and Tang Haocheng, gave each of them a smack on the butt, and dragged them out while naggingly lecturing them.

Gu Shaojun took out a shirt and put it on. As Xiao Man buttoned it for him, she said apologetically, "This is my fault. I should have knocked."

Gu Shaojun rested his hands on Xiao Man’s shoulders, using one to tilt her chin up. He smiled and said, "You don’t need to knock to enter your own room."

Xiao Man blushed slightly. "But this isn’t my room."

"Oh? Then let’s continue. Shaozheng and Shaolian are probably about to wake up. Let’s have them come watch, too, so they can also accuse me of being a hooligan."

Recalling the chaos from moments before, Xiao Man let out a little snort of laughter.

Gu Shaojun glanced toward the door, a sharp glint in his eye. "Have you noticed? Your dear brother—my little brother-in-law—seems a bit different than before."

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