Assistant Architect Chapter 168

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling
Chapter 168: Doctrine
___________________
Lu Qiao took the cap from Gu Yu'shand. When he raised his eyes, he saw Gu Yu's long eyelashes, straight nose,and chiseled jawline and thought that his beautiful features matched hisgenerous and tolerant personality. Underthe influence of Gu Yu's charm, Lu Qiao slowly calmed down and surrendered hisfears.
….. What aboutbeing gay? But you can't ignore the factthat Gu Yu is an excellent boss and looks out for his subordinates…… And what aboutZhang Siyi? Maybe they are the same…
Like he had been living in a dark fogall along, Lu Qiao suddenly felt a ray of brightness pierce his doubt. As a myriadof light beams shined through, the heavy fog was lifted from his heart.
Zhang Siyi had been waiting upstairsfor half about an hour before Gu Yu and Lu Qiao came back. Face to face, bothLu Qiao and Zhang Siyi felt embarrassed.
Gu Yu abrupt question mitigated anyawkwardness: "Where is Tao Fei?"
Zhang Siyi pointed inside the room andsoftly said: "He was already asleep when I came back. Since he was snoring, heprobably drank too much."
Gu Yu looked inside briefly and saw adisheveled Tao Fei sprawled out in the middle of the room with his mouth wide open.
Fortunately, the room is very large andhas plenty of space for them to layout the futons. However, how will they arrangetheir positions when there is a homophobic person in the room? Will Zhang Siyisleep next to Gu Yu or do they sleep separately on either side of Tao Fei?
While Zhang Siyi was contemplating theirsleeping arrangements, Lu Qiao had already made the decision for him as he laidout his futon a little bit away from Tao Fei, leaving the other half of theroom for both Gu Yu and Zhang Siyi to occupy.
After unfolding the futon and forgoinga shower, Lu Qiao wrapped himself up under the covers and brought his knees up intoa ball.
Zhang Siyi felt a little embarrassedand quietly followed Gu Yu to the bathroom and asked, “What did you talkabout?”
Squeezing a blob of toothpaste out ofthe tube and putting it onto his toothbrush, Gu Yu said: "It's too late now. I'lltell you tomorrow."
Depressed, Zhang Siyi brushed histeeth quietly. Because of Lu Qiao, his good mood was gone! So annoying!
After they finished washing, they wentto layout their futons. Although they were side by side, they dare not doanything in Lu Qiao presence.
Zhang Siyi had a dreamless night. Whenhe woke up the next day, he noticed Tao Fei and Lu Qiao still asleep on theother side of the room, but Gu Yu's futon was neatly folded away.
In order to find out where he was, ZhangSiyi got out of bed and called Gu Yu. He was out for a morning run. In haste,Zhang Siyi left the inn and went to look for him. He was a few hundred metersaway from the inn.
When Zhang Siyi spotted Gu Yu in thedistance, he was walking calmly with a towel around his neck. It seems, Gu Yuhad completed his run already.
Zhang Siyi jogged a few hundred metersto meet him. When he caught up to Gu Yu, he grasped both knees, panting.
Gu Yu grabbed the towel and wiped thefine sweat from Zhang Siyi face then asked: “Why are you up so early? Can'tsleep?"
Zhang Siyi: “What about you? Howcan you go missing so early in the morning!”
Being that there was a treadmill athome, Zhang Siyi was very aware of Gu Yu's exercise routine. Every morning andevening, Gu Yu spent twenty to thirty minutes using the machine. Even thoughthey were away from home touring Japan, Zhang Siyi felt that they have been gettingenough exercise because they were walking around all day, every day. He did notunderstand why Gu Yu felt the need to exercise even more.
Gu Yu gazed at him and provocatively said:“I needed an outlet for excess energy." His suggestive demeanor let ZhangSiyi grasp the situation. Staring into his eyes, Gu Yu squinted at him: "It'slike I have a disease."
Yes. Recently, Gu Yu felt like his impulseto express his love for Zhang Siyi grew every day. Like this morning when hewoke up. He opened his eyes to the site of Zhang Siyi sleeping close to himwrapped in his arms. Unknowingly, during the night they had cuddled together.
Simply by watching Zhang Siyi'ssleeping face, the desire he felt was overwhelming. His raging hardon demandedattention. He wanted to ravish him. If he hadn't left to vent some energy, GuYu was afraid he would continue to make overly affectionate actions towardsZhang Siyi. Even more terrifying, these behaviors were completely unconscious.
As Tao Fei said, the atmosphere oflove between them was too strong.
The conversation with Lu Qiao lastnight made Gu Yu reflect on his recent actions. Before, he indulged himselfwith love and wasn't paying attention to any consequences. Lu Qiao reminded himthat he and Zhang Siyi weren't the only two people in the world and with somany eyes watching him, he must restrain himself.
At seven o’clock in the morning, it wasearly. On the way back to the inn, Gu Yu bought two bottles of hot milk fromthe roadside stall. Walking side by side, the two of them drank the milk whilechatting about the matter between Lu Qiao and them.
Zhang Siyi: “So he hates me justbecause we’re gay?”
Gu Yu: “No, the key element isthat he thinks you are better than him.”
Zhang Siyi wondered: “I don'tthink I'm all that great. There are so many other people out there who arebetter than me so why is his hatred directed at me?"
Gu Yu smiled and said: “Let metell you a story.”
Zhang Siyi: “What kind of story?”
Gu Yu: “It's not a good memory. Atthe time I was entering university, I had a classmate. I won't say his name so,let's call him BB."
….Ah! a story of GuYu personal experience…. Zhang Siyi immediately listened attentively.
Gu Yu continued: "Although BB familyconditions were better, similar to Lu Qiao, BB was also from a small town.Since he was the only one from his town admitted to Big T, he had quite a largeego. At school, he didn't have many friends. Even though I was popular atschool, every time he saw me, there was hostility written all over his face.The situation once puzzled me because I don't know what I did to cause him to hateme so much. I only understood that he was a very arrogant person."
Zhang Siyi anxiously asked: “Didhe do anything to hurt you?”
Gu Yu shook his head: “Nothingdirected at me personally, but behind my back he often slandered me."
Clenching his fist, Zhang Siyi angrilysaid: “That kind of person is so annoying ah!”
Gu Yu smiled: “Since I nevercared about what he said, his words had no effect."
Wide eyed, Zhang Siyi stared: “Buthe denigrated you behind your back! Didn't you hate him?"
Gu Yu: “My classmates andteachers all know what kind of person I am. His slandering never influencedothers. Besides, it takes a lot of effort to actually hate someone. Since I wasalways busy with my school work, I didn't have the energy to deal with him. Itwas just too much of a bother."
Zhang Siyi: “…”
Gu Yu: “Let me explain something……In fact, there are quite a few people who act like BB did. At least, when aperson can put his feelings on his face, it isn't so scary. More concerning,are those people who hide knives behind their friendly smiles."
Zhang Siyi felt a shiver go down hisback. He asked: "Do you know why he was like that?"
Gu Yu: “I was also very puzzledabout it. It wasn't until later when I talked to my classmate, a senior sister,that I started to understand. She told me that being 'too good' is also 'bad'because people are competitive animals. Engrained in our DNA is survival andthe most fit live. When one person is better than another by a small margin, theirprehistoric instincts takes over and the two would clash."
Zhang Siyi frowned slightly:“What should I do?”
Gu Yu: “I'll summarize two ways to resolve this contradiction. First, let oneself become stronger. When you become greater than someone else by a larger degree, then the sense of competition is lost. Second, The Doctrine of the Mean ** in Chinese thought: One can avoid excessive injury when one remains low-key.
_________________
T/N: Doctrine of the Mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_the_Mean
_________________