Chapter 54: Confession (Please Collect, Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Votes!)

The next day, Gu Xuan woke up early and, together with Du Gu Yan, saw Ye Lingling off as she left Tian Dou City; when they set off, Ye Lingling boarded her family's carriage.

Although the Nine Heart Begonia Family lives in seclusion, because Ye Lingling is studying in Tian Dou City, a Soul Emperor has been stationed there all along; this time, Ye Lingling is returning in that Soul Emperor's carriage.

Only after Ye Lingling had left did it become seven o'clock; after breakfast, Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan rented a carriage and slowly headed toward East Lake.

In the carriage, Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan sat side by side; Du Gu Yan's face was slightly flushed, she absentmindedly gazed at the scenery outside the window, her small hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes, too shy to look at Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan naturally noticed her little gestures; inwardly he smiled wryly and shook his head, but on the surface he kept a gentle smile.

"Sister Yan, why are you so nervous?" Gu Xuan couldn't help teasing.

Upon hearing this, Du Gu Yan's body trembled slightly; without turning to look at Gu Xuan, she muttered to herself, "Nervous? Am I nervous? I'm just excited—now is the best time to see the scenery at East Lake; I haven't been there in ages, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Gu Xuan didn't call her out; he shifted his butt a bit to lean closer to Du Gu Yan, whereupon her inner tension spiked, and the jade hand gripping her clothes turned pale from the force.

"What are you doing?" Du Gu Yan suddenly turned her head and glared warily at Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan didn't dodge her gaze at all; he locked eyes with Du Gu Yan and softly said, "Cold…"

Hearing that, Du Gu Yan almost rolled her eyes to the back of her head; it's June—how can you say it's cold? Have you considered how scorching this summer is?

Du Gu Yan turned her head away, refusing to look at Gu Xuan any further, but she didn't say anything else.

Gu Xuan didn't push further; he simply sat beside Du Gu Yan in the carriage, lightly inhaling the girl's unique body scent as his thoughts drifted away.

Noticing Gu Xuan's distraction, Du Gu Yan wished she could slap him; this brat is the type who neither takes initiative nor refuses, leaving her unable to resist!

Du Gu Yan is shy, yet she also has a wild side inside—but it's hardly possible for a girl like her to make the first move, is it?

In such a cramped carriage space, you could even take advantage of the bumps to grab some tofu—why are you, a boy, still pretending to be deep? And when you were teasing others before, why didn't you act that way?

Since Gu Xuan made no further moves, Du Gu Yan staged a grand drama in her own mind.

Sometimes girls are just like that—they fear you'll mess around, yet they also fear you won't come.

By the time they reached East Lake at ten o'clock, Gu Xuan still hadn't made any extra moves toward Du Gu Yan, leaving her to have waited in vain for so long; at this moment her heart toward Gu Xuan was filled with resentment.

You can't even seize such a good opportunity, kid? Where did all that suave charm of yours go?

But what Du Gu Yan didn't expect was that, after getting off the carriage, Gu Xuan naturally took hold of her jade hand, which surprised her, delighted her, and also made her a bit shy.

But just thinking about how Gu Xuan had been pretending to be a salted fish in the carriage earlier, Du Gu Yan inexplicably became unhappy and wanted to rely on his big hand.

However, when she tried to pull her hand away, she found that Gu Xuan had gripped it tightly and she couldn't break free.

Feeling Du Gu Yan's movement, Gu Xuan's other hand lightly patted the back of her hand and softly said, "There are many people here; I'm afraid you'll get lost."

Hearing those words, Du Gu Yan inwardly retorted, "You're the one who's lost—your whole family is lost!"

Nevertheless, she didn't struggle to free her hand from Gu Xuan's grasp, because his words had indeed been gentle; thus, held by Gu Xuan, the two entered East Lake through the gate.

I must say, there are really a lot of people here, and everyone is dressed splendidly; basically no ordinary folks come—those who do are mostly nobles, wealthy merchants, or Soul Masters.

Because just the entrance ticket costs ten gold soul coins, ordinary people couldn't possibly spend that much just to admire the scenery; moreover, this doesn't even include the food, lodging, and entertainment expenses for these three days.

Although said to be crowded, it's not as many as imagined; the entire East Lake is enormous, capable of holding tens of thousands, but right now there are only a few thousand people, which is still fairly spacious.

Gu Xuan pulled Du Gu Yan along as they admired the scenery and chatted about everyday amusements.

Thanks to Gu Xuan's proactive advance, Du Gu Yan's earlier unhappiness vanished like smoke, and her eyes held only Gu Xuan.

They played until evening; the summer sunset scenery was beyond beautiful. At that moment, Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan sat alone in a pavilion, sipping fruit tea while watching the sunset, infinitely lovely.

There are many such little pavilions here, specially prepared for couples in the heat of romance, which is quite thoughtful.

Because of Gu Xuan's proactive output, Du Gu Yan now clung tightly to him, feeling his firm, hard chest and abdominal muscles and the masculine vigor full of charm.

When the sunset refracted onto their faces, Du Gu Yan was momentarily dazzled by the sunlight and couldn't open her eyes; Gu Xuan seized the moment to take out a bouquet of roses from his soul tool—ninety-nine in total.

When Du Gu Yan opened her eyes again, she caught a whiff of fragrance and then saw the ninety-nine roses before her.

Her heart gave a sudden jump; as a girl, she's certainly sensitive in this regard—seeing this, she already had a vague suspicion in her heart.

At this moment, Gu Xuan softly said before her, "I didn't speak in the carriage because I was thinking about how to confess my feelings to you, but after thinking all the way, I still couldn't find a perfect way to say it."

Du Gu Yan blankly shifted her gaze from the roses to Gu Xuan's face; looking at that smiling, handsome visage, she opened her mouth but couldn't utter a word, simply staring at Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan continued, "I've thought about it all day; I feel that if I truly like you and you like me too, then the form isn't that important—as long as I can make you understand my feelings, I think that's enough."

"So, Yanzi, I like you—I, Gu Xuan, like Du Gu Yan; if you also like me, please accept this bouquet and be my girlfriend—I will cherish and protect you, becoming your reliance."

"If you don't…"

Before Gu Xuan could finish speaking, Du Gu Yan's eyes already welled up, and she flung herself into his arms.

Over the past month or so, the joy Gu Xuan brought her was something she hadn't experienced in years; although Yu Tianheng had helped her emerge from her dry spell, she realized that Gu Xuan was the one who could truly enter her heart.

Now, faced with Gu Xuan's heartfelt confession, she could no longer hold back.

"I'm willing…" Du Gu Yan whispered in Gu Xuan's ear.

After an embrace whose length they didn't know, they gradually parted; the last glow of the setting sun washed over them, their eyes met, Du Gu Yan silently closed her eyes, and Gu Xuan, gazing at her tempting lips, slowly lowered his head.

At the very moment when the final strands of red and yellow intertwined, their four lips met, becoming the most beautiful sight at East Lake—though sadly, no one was there to witness it.

Eh, no! Someone was still watching—not far away, Xue Qinghe held a teacup, stared at this scene dazedly, the corner of her mouth twitching involuntarily as she looked on in disbelief.

She recalled that Gu Xuan seemed to be only twelve years old? Although Gu Xuan's school enrollment was based on a falsified age, Xue Qinghe had known Gu Xuan for a long time already.

Moreover, this brat has only been in school for a little over a month—has he really progressed this fast?

No wonder, when he left yesterday, I invited him to come to East Lake, but he said he was busy with something—turns out he was busy with this.

Xue Qinghe felt as if she had lost something, yet she didn't feel strongly about it—perhaps her brat of a brother had found a girlfriend, and she was happy for him.

Xue Qinghe didn't think there was any chance of that happening between her and Gu Xuan in the future; even if Gu Xuan's appearance had indirectly made up for some missing emotion and joy from her childhood, she had always seen Gu Xuan as just a little brother—after all, who would fall for a little kid?

She gave a slight shake of her head, Xue Qinghe left; seeing this scene, her original mood of enjoying the night sky vanished as well.

ps: Typos will be corrected later.

Next chapter enters the theme, heading straight for the Ice Fire Yin Yang Eye.

(End of chapter)