Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

Chapter 188: Sister-In-Law

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Zhang Siyiglanced at the chat history between Gu Yao and the man seeking her attention.Other then business related issues, she ignored any additional messages. Herattitude mirrored the way Gu Yu dealt with Bai Rui.

“Are yougoing to reply?” Zhang Siyi asked.

Gu Yao tookher phone from Zhang Siyi's hand and put it in her pocket: "I'm too lazy."

Zhang Siyi:“…” To some extent, certain aspects of the two's personalities weresimilar.

When theyreturned to their house in the evening, Gu Yu had dinner waiting for them. Herequested an update on the day's events. His suggestion to speak with the managerwas quite effective.

On thefollowing day, it was Gu Yu's turn to drop off and pick up Gu Yao. When hercolleagues saw a different, yet more handsome man with her, it triggered around of gossip within the department and once again, the women went into afrenzy.

That nightat meal time, Gu Yao excitedly relayed the days gossip: “Today, when mybrother dropped me off at work, my colleagues were all excited. They wanted toknow who he was, where he worked, and if he had a girlfriend….."

Zhang Siyi cameout of the kitchen and with curiosity he asked: “Did anyone gossiped aboutme?”

Smiling, GuYao replied: “Yes. Yesterday, I told them you were my second brother andtoday was my elder brother. They were very envious. Ha-ha-ha! Some people askedhow it was possible to have two brothers."

Zhang Siyi furrowedhis brow in thought, Zhang Siyi also thought it was very strange. He turned toGu Yu and asked: "How is it that your family has two children?"

Gu Yu grinned:"Didn't I tell you she brought the food."

Gu Yao shouted:“Hey!”

Zhang Siyi:“Don’t tease her. Seriously, family planning at the time only allowed forone child, so why does your family have two?"

Gu Yuglanced at him: “I don't remember the details. Do you remember mentioningit to you once before? In order to have a second child, my family had to pay afine of 20,000 yuan."

Zhang Siyi:“I don’t remember. Only Twenty thousand? That’s all?"

Gu Yu laughedat Zhang Siyi lack of foresight: “That was years ago when the averagemonthly wage of urban workers was only thirty yuan. Thousands of yuan is equivalentto today's millionaire."

Zhang Siyiexclaimed: "Wow. Then how much is equal to twenty thousand now?”

Gu Yu:“Almost two million.”

Zhang Siyistared at Gu Yao in shock, then joked: "Shit! An addition to a family turns outto be so expensive. What family can spend two million for grocery shopping?"

Gu Yaobowed her head silently. Although her family rarely mentioned it, she knew thather birth had brought a burden to her family and thinking about it, she feltsad. However, listening to Zhang Siyi teasing, she couldn't help laughing outloud.

Touchinghis chin, Zhang Siyi turned to look at Gu Yu: "Since your family was able topay the fine, you guys must have been rich!"

Gu Yu:“At the beginning, my family borrowed a lot of money. In order to pay off thedebt, Dad went to Hainan for engineering work with the now chief of Borderless.During that time, construction was booming so he earned a lot of money andthus, the debt was paid off quickly."

He turned tolook at his sister and continued: "About the family joke… Dad mentioned it tome. He just didn't want you to think you were a burden. Now listen to yourelder brother, we love and treasure you. Although the Gu family isn't rich, weweren't short of money. We have watched you grow up into a fine, young womenthat knows real love from the heart. It is a relief to know that you won't beeasily seduced by shallow flirting."

Feelingemotional, Gu Yao's rapidly blinked her eyes to hold back tears: "Hey…."

Gu Yu added:“It's time to find your own love and let me go. From a young age, you werealways attached to me and I'm afraid being stuck to me has influenced you toomuch."

Gu Yaomuttered: “Who's sticking to you?”

Gu Yu:“You aren't stuck to me? There were three very good companies that recruitedyou and yet you chose the company close to here."

Zhang Siyiwas stunned. It turned out that Gu Yao moved in and lived with her brother notto save money, but to stay close to him!

Gu Yao facewas red ear to ear: "So now I'm a hinderance to your life with second brother?"

Gu Yu snorted:"If I thought you were a hinderance; would I have let you live here? I say thisto remind you; don’t be too dependent on us."

Biting thechopsticks, Gu Yao remained silent. Her brother used to call Gu Yao a littlesweet girl but now that he is with Zhang Siyi, it seems like, all her brother wantedto do was marry Gu Yao out in a hurry. Despicable brother!

Truth betold, Gu Yao worries aren't without reason. Since her brother fell in love, shedid have a strong sense of loss. Before, not only did he make sure his sisterwas well fed and happy, he also directed his jokes and teasing at her and as aresult, Gu Yao felt like her brother belonged to her.

Incontrast, Gu Yu gave 99% of his attention to Zhang Siyi and she was left with ameasly one percent. She had to admit that she was jealous at first and there weresome awkward feelings in private, but for the happiness of her brother, she hadto accept reality. Slowly she realized that the absence of brotherly love shefelt was compensated by Zhang Siyi. Overnight, she had two brothers and thefeeling wasn't so bad.

As a resultof her self-introspection, the more time she spent with her brother and ZhangSiyi, the easier it was to use them as the standard to compare everyone elseto. In the past, when her brother went out with friends, he often took her withhim as a pretend girlfriend. She used to think that he caused the delay infinding someone to date. In reality, she discovered that there wasn't anyone betterthan her brother. Even Zhang Siyi has taken second place in her mind as an excellentman.

Gu Yao sighedand forcefully said: “What about it? There are many people who don't get marriednow!”

She turnedto look at Zhang Siyi and joked: "How about I pretend marry Zhang Siyi. Hisparents like me anyway and If I marry him, I can cover for you for a lifetime."

Zhang Siyisnorted and felt that her proposal was pretty good. If Gu Yao was willing, heand Gu Yu would be able to get through the difficulties of both parents in onego. Can the circumstance be better than that?

Unexpectedly,Gu Yu slammed his chopsticks on the table with a bang and forcefully shouted: "No!"

Startled, bothGu Yao and Zhang Siyi were shocked by Gu Yu's reaction.

Gu Yufurrowed his brow and in an authoritative, serious tone he said: "I'm warning younow, do not think about it again. It is absolutely impossible."

For amoment, Gu Yao sat on her seat stunned. The last thing she expected was herbrother's strong reaction. As her face drained of all color, tears fell fromher beautiful eyes. In less then a minute, she felt both embarrassed andwronged. Placing her chopsticks down, she got up and ran upstairs.

Zhang Siyi darenot speak and the dinner table remained silent. It was the first time hewitnessed Gu Yu fight with his sister.

Gu Yuremained at his seat stone-faced. He didn't go comfort his sister and instead,continued to eat his meal.

Afterwards,it would have been Gu Yao's turn to wash the dishes, but since she wentupstairs, Zhang Siyi took it upon himself to take the responsibility of washingthem. When he finished, he saw Gu Yu sitting quietly next to Townhouse, brushinghim. Even the dog was motionless with his head bowed as if he felt the masters'anger.

Zhang Siyi walkedover to Gu Yu and quietly said: "Let's go and walk the dog together."

Gu Yu ledTownhouse to the foyer so the two of them could put on shoes. Outside, theywalked quietly together for about a hundred meters before Zhang Siyi spoke. "Whywere you so jealous?"

“I'mnot jealous.” Gu Yu replied.

Zhang Siyi:“You're not? With that reaction?"

Notanswering him, Gu Yu remained silent.

Not knowingwhat to say, Zhang Siyi changed the topic: "If I had such a lovely sister, Iwould feel reluctant to let her get married."

Gu Yu scoffed:"Do you think I am pushing her away?"

Seeing GuYu finally relax somewhat, Zhang Siyi seized the opportunity and pushed himfurther: “Then why did you do that? I think she was just in a good moodand wanted to make a joke."

Gu Yu hunghis head and sighed softly. Another minute passed before he spoke: "I alsocontradict myself. I hope she finds someone to fall in love with, but I'mafraid her relationship won't last and will make her unhappy. As her brother, Ican protect her from being deceived, but I can't offer her love like a manloves a woman for life.

Gu Yu: "Socialvalues are still chaotic. Even now, that man regarded her as a thing and by sendingher gifts, it was supposed to mean something? Is that all it takes to getsomeone to fall in love?"

TakingZhang Siyi's hand into his own, Gu Yu looked at Zhang Siyi and spoke: "You and Ishould know how beautiful love is. My parents are also deeply in love. Sheshouldn't be running away from falling in love. If she can find true love, likewe have, she will certainly be happier than now. Is it necessary to obliterateher possibility of finding happiness in order to not let her get hurt; let her sacrificeher own love for the sake of ours? Our existence doesn't mean she should giveup the burden of finding her own happiness…."

When heheard Gu Yu explain, Zhang Siyi realized it was for this reason that Gu Yu wasangry. At the same time, he also felt guilty for his selfish moment. How couldhe let Gu Yao sacrifice her own happiness for his sake?

Gu Yufrowned and said: “Despite my worries and fears, she has to face the worldherself. My sister is the one that has to experience life, fall down and pickherself up again. We can provide her a temporary respite from her emotional orphysical troubles, but she can't be dependent on us forever. Besides, we’re gay.Although I’ve always thought that love has nothing to do with gender. To behonest, I’ve been worried lately about the influence we have on her about her viewsof love. I didn’t think that our relationship is a good role model for her."

Zhang Siyi:“If I hadn't listened to your explanation, I would have continued to misunderstandyou. I thought you were trying to get her out of the house and marry soon and sinceGu Yao might have also interpreted things as I have, she probably feltabandoned. Then, she talked about a pretend marriage. I thought you werejealous."

Gu Yuclutched Zhang Siyi’s hand. Of course, he will be jealous of anyone that wantsto get close with Zhang Siyi. Zhang Siyi is his. Gu Yu was the only one allowedto marry him. He could never agree to a pretend marriage, even if it was donewith good will.

Zhang Siyi continued:"Compared with the time you got angry at me for requesting help for Su Yuan,your attitude is much worse now. I bet your sister is very upset."

Gu Yu isdepressed: “I was?”

The cornerof Zhang Siyi mouth twitched. Does Gu Yu not realize how fierce he can be?

He pulledat Gu Yu's arm: “Let's go back. You tell your sister what you just explainedto me."

Gu Yu snortedand resisted Zhang Siyi's tugging.

Since Gu Yuwas being difficult, Zhang Siyi pestered him more and said: “Come on! Nowthat I'm involved, you have to go explain it to her. What if you don't? She isgoing to hate me later and we will have a sister-in-law problem!"

Zhang Siyi's statement provoked Gu Yu into laughter. Gu Yu squeezed his hand reassuringly and said: "Alright, let's go back."

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T/N: The One Child Policy of China explained: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy

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