Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

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The temperature inside the car plummeted with Gu Yu's words. Recalling thephrase "Do you want to be mybrother-in-law? You are nowhere near it," Zhang Siyi thoughtGu Yu misunderstood his relationship with Gu Yu's sister. He thinks she is verypretty, and her character is very good, but there is nothing else butfriendship between them.

At the same time, sitting in the back seat, Gu Yao was also keenly aware ofthe sudden change in her brother's mood. The signal antennae on her foreheadcollected the vinegar and cockroaches that permeated the air for deeperanalysis……

On the way, Gu Yu asked them what movie they wanted to see. They checkedthe movie app on their phones and browsed through the movie selections. Sincethey aren't young kids, they certainly didn't want to see "Where's Daddy" or"Bear Haunt" or any other brainless film. They decided on the one that seemedto have the most depth called "Wolf Totem."

The theater was very crowded due to the New Year's holiday. Gu Yu lined upin queue, waited, then discovered that there weren't three seats together forthe next showing of the movie. At the urging of the ticket attendant, he pickedthree tickets. Two were together in the back and the single was in the front.

After buying the tickets, Gu Yu turned around to walk back and saw ZhangSiyi and Gu Yao standing close together chatting happily like two hyperrabbits.

Gu Yu had a headache, sighed and walked over to tell them that the movietickets were not seated together. Gu Yao and Zhang Siyi looked at each other.This time, Zhang Siyi spoke up first: “You sit with your brother. I can sitin the front by myself."

Gu Yao offered another suggestion: “I think we should draw a ticketand sit in whichever seat we got."

Zhang Siyi looked at Gu Yu and Gu Yu extended his hand: “Pick one.”

Gu Yao: “……” Such 'casual' acceptance of her proposal. The duplicityof the older brother!

Zhang Siyi first took one and said: “Row 12, Seat 7.”

Followed by Gu Yao who took a ticket and glanced at it without speaking.

Holding the last ticket, Gu Yu looked at it and smiled: “Row 12, Seat9.”

Zhang Siyi: “……”

Gu Yao looked down at Row 11, Seat 11 on herticket and felt hurt by ten thousand points. She didn't want to stand out fromthe crowd alone. Why must the movie tickets also ridicule her!?

Since Gu Yu's mood took a one-eighty turn, he boughtdrinks and a bucket of popcorn. Because she sat separately and Zhang Siyididn't like sweets, he gave his sister a popcorn and drink.

Into the cinema, Gu Yu held her milk tea andexclusive popcorn close. She walked to Row 11 and went along the row to Seat 11alone. She watched her brother and Zhang Siyi both sit diagonally behind her.

After Gu Yu sat down, he smiled to her thenmouthed a question: “Will you be alright?”

Gu Yao turned back around and grabbed a lot ofpopcorn and stuffed it into her mouth. Feeling like a ghost, she was irritated.Before in this type of situation, her brother would have taken the initiativeto ask her to sit next to him in order to continue pretending to be hisgirlfriend.

Fortunately, the film soon began, and the storywas still wonderful, so Gu Yao quickly became immersed in the movie.

Watching the scene in the film where the backsideof a human was slaughtering wolves, Gu Yao felt uncomfortable. She wasdesperately shoving more popcorn into her mouth to ease the sadness. When theplot was a little less dramatic, she subconsciously turned her head to the backrow and glanced at the two behind her. She meant to catch a glimpse, butinstead she paused and stared dumbfounded.

She didn't know if Zhang Siyi was also affectedby the story. He was watching the big screen with moist, red eyes and herbrother was looking intently at Zhang Siyi's profile sitting next to him. Therewas a hint of emotion flowing in her brother's eyes. Tenderness.

After a few seconds, Zhang Siyi realized that Gu Yuwas watching him. He turned to look at Gu Yu and immediately after, Gu Yuleaned in close to his ear and whispered something. Knowing her brother, shethought he was probably teasing him about his puffy, red eyes. Zhang Siyihurriedly wiped his eyes with his hand and glared at her brother both shy andangry.

Gu Yao quickly turned back around, and her heartwas racing. She completely forgot the plot of the film. Instead of feeling sad,her mind was full of the scene of her brother flirting with Zhang Siyi. Is thatflirting? Probably! Anyway, she has never seen such a mischievous smile on hisface.

However, she unexpectedly felt that her brother'sflirting looked very gentle and charming and Zhang Siyi's reaction was alsovery cute! o////o

Gu Yao’s heart jumped faster, she desperatelyrepressed the desire to turn back and peep again. She could only consoleherself with popcorn…… and ate it wildly.

Turning back to the screen, Zhang Siyi was reallygoing to cry out. The human persecution of nature was too much. The wolf in thefilm reminded him of Cheer-Up.

By the end of the film, everyone's mood was glum.Zhang Siyi closed his eyes to choke back his tears and muffled a sniffle: "Ishould have gone to see one of the silly kids' movies instead. This was too heartwrenching."

Gu Yu patted his shoulder to comfort him:“It is not a bad thing to feel hopelessness sometimes. At least it will remind us of what is good."

Thinking about being ridiculed by Gu Yu in thetheater just now, Zhang Siyi awkwardly tried to shrug off Gu Yu's comfort.

After two steps, Zhang Siyi suddenly rememberedGu Yao, and looked back. Gu Yao was following behind, staring at them withgreen light in her eyes like she was the possessed wolf from the movie.

Since it was getting close to dinner time, ZhangSiyi needed to get going so he bid Gu Yu and his sister farewell.

Sitting in the car, Gu Yao asked: “Brother.Since we have a car, why didn’t you drive Zhang Siyi back home?"

Gu Yu: “I am not a personal driver. Hedidn't take the initiative to ask me, so why should I bother?"

Gu Yao: “……” It's no wonder why herbrother has been single for so many years! The reason is well-founded! (=_=)

Gu Yu was silent for a moment and asked:“What do you think of that guy?”

Thinking about the scene in the cinema, Gu Yu blushed:“Very, very cute.”

Gu Yu raised his eyebrows, cute? What is thisadjective? What kind of adjective is this?

“Then do you want him to be yourboyfriend?” Gu Yu is laughing, but his smile makes people feel somber.

Gu Yao repeatedly waved her hand and hurriedlysaid: “No, no, he is not my type!”

Gu Yu looked a little surprised, smiled andasked: “Oh? Then what is his type?”

Gu Yao is speechless. Normally, you should notask what type I like… (=_=)

She thought about it and summed it up: “Heis a very fun and interesting person that is easy to get along with. He is nomore mature then I, so I feel he is a great person to be friends with butnothing more."

“Yes…” Gu Yu listened straight andsmiled, and there was a kind of ease and pleasure that could not be stopped.

As Gu Yao was talking about Zhang Siyi she waswatching for her brother's reaction. Although her IQ was less Gu Yu's, it wasby no means, low and with the addition of 'women's-intuition' it was not hardto infer the conclusion.

Although the world is not the same, with rottenculture everywhere, Gu Yao felt worried for her brother. More than once, shehas doubted whether her perfect brother might be gay. After all these years, herbrother never had a deep relationship with any women, which is a very unusualthing for a person who is popular with the opposite sex.

But even so, she never truly thought about whatwould happen to her brother if he was gay and she felt that their Mother andFather would find it unacceptable. Gu Yao sneaked a peek at her brother. Havingput away his smile, she saw him focused on driving the car. She feltdistressed. It would be very hard for her brother to bear such a big secretalone. She has to think of something…….

That night, when Zhang Siyi came home, he askedhis mother: “Mom! Where did my childhood toys go?”

Mother Zhang was startled: "Toys? You gave themto your cousins after you finished elementary school."

Zhang Siyi: “All of them? I thought we onlygave them a bunch of cars and planes."

Mother Zhang: “Yes. You cried all day when Igave them away."

Zhang Siyi was not in the mood to listen to hismother retell his black history. He was anxious to ask: “What about theother toys from before those? I want to find a Kong Ming Lock. Do you rememberit?"

Mother Zhang was puzzled: “Kong Ming Lock?What is that thing? Did you ever have that kind of toy?

Zhang Siyi hurriedlyfound a picture from the internet on his phone and showed it to his mother:“This is it."

She looked at thepicture for a while and said, ” Hmm……, Ah… I know. It has a couple ofblocks?"

Zhang Siyi: “Yes right! It should bedetachable! Where is it?”

His Mother frowned and took out the key to thestorage shed. Before going outside, she put on a pair of slippers whilemuttering: "Something from so long ago, who knows if we still have it. It mighthave been sold at a yard sale."

Zhang Siyi jumped up and said: “No ah!”Come on, help me find it!

Mother Zhang took him around to the back andopened the storage shed door. Curious, she asked: “Why are you looking forthis thing?”

Zhang Siyi asked: “Do you still remember whereI got it?"

To protect herself from dust and pollen, hismother covered her nose and rummaged through the storage shed. "I don't remember,but your Father talked about it. He was very impressed with the toy. He said hetook you to work and the son of an engineer gave it to you."

Delighted, Zhang Siyi eagerly said: “Yes!That’s it!

Mother Zhang found a few boxes and told Zhang Siyi to come over to help. These boxes held items from when he was a toddler; old bottles, pacifier, small dinosaur model…… Zhang Siyi was looking at his own small time-capsule. His thoughts about his childhood were interrupted when his Mother pulled out a piece of wood from the box: "Is this it?"

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