Wen Yue watched Lan Xi stand in front of the villa for quite a while.
The taller and grander the villa looked, the more slender Lan Xi’s figure seemed by comparison.
He even looked a little pitiful.
Lan Xi quietly sighed, then turned and walked straight over to Wen Yue’s car. He raised a hand and knocked twice against the window. Bang, bang.
Wen Yue had only just rolled the window back up and had no intention of paying attention to him.
Lan Xi simply kept knocking. Bang, bang.
The sound was especially loud in the night, and Wen Yue finally had no choice but to lower the window.
Lan Xi looked at him and said, “I… want… go… back.”
Wen Yue gave him a cold sidelong look. “Wasn’t this where you wanted to come back to?”
Lan Xi shook his head dejectedly.
Even the driver felt a faint tug at his heart when he saw him like that.
Lan Xi added, “We… make… peace.”
What a rare thing to hear coming out of Young Master Wen’s mouth.
But Wen Yue said coldly, “Too late.”
Lan Xi: 0-0
He asked, “Then… what… do?”
Wen Yue pointed at the scratches on his face. “You think you can go crazy whenever you feel like it and everyone else has to put up with…” Wen Yue had not even finished speaking.
Lan Xi leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
Wen Yue was utterly shocked. He immediately planted a hand against Lan Xi’s head and pushed him back. “Are you insane? I’m your brother!”
Lan Xi: “…”
Wasn’t that what he meant?
Then what was he pointing and pointing at his face for?!
Lan Xi wanted to roll his eyes, but after thinking about it, he restrained himself.
He didn’t want to stay in the mountains anymore.
There was no food and no seraph to sleep with.
Everything had been perfectly fine just a few days ago… so why had it suddenly turned out like this today? No one had even opened the door for him. What had gone wrong? Why had the seraph suddenly become so cold toward him?
Lan Xi lowered his head and thought very seriously for a long time.
Maybe he had died.
Then that was fine.
Lan Xi silently offered Fu Hui an amen in his heart.
“Get in,” Wen Yue suddenly said.
Driving someone out of the Wen family and leaving someone in the mountains to freeze or starve to death were still rather different things. The latter was obviously much closer to deliberate abandonment.
“Ah,” Lan Xi answered. He immediately yanked open the car door and climbed inside.
Wen Yue: “…”
“Do you really want to learn how to behave?” Wen Yue asked.
Learning is learning. What difference does it make what I learn?
Lan Xi nodded.
“Take him to a doctor tomorrow. First see if they can cure this habit of his of going after men,” Wen Yue instructed his assistant.
The assistant was silent for a moment. “I don’t think hospitals treat that.”
Wen Yue: “Then we should still throw him out of the car.”
The assistant thought for another moment. “Maybe try traditional Chinese medicine?”
No matter what, Lan Xi ended up returning to the Wen family yet again. On the way back, he ate three airplane meals in a row before falling happily asleep.
His broken heart healed very quickly.
But when Wen Ming saw Lan Xi back at the Wen residence again, he also had the same thought his elder brother had had before: Are we stuck in the same loop again?
The brothers talked late into the night again that day.
Wen Yue had a meeting the next morning. When he got up, he patted Wen Ming on the shoulder. “If Wen Lan could just act like a normal person, we wouldn’t have to feel like we’d let Aunt Xu down.”
Wen Ming: “Mm.”
＊
Fu Hui flew to Europe to take care of some business.
It was two thirty in the morning before he flew back toward Jing City.
By the time they landed, the secretary and assistants accompanying him were so sleepy they were barely coherent. Fu Hui, however, was still wide awake.
The airport was extremely quiet in the middle of the night.
They had barely walked a few steps when an assistant’s phone rang, sounding especially harsh in the silence.
“Hello.” The assistant answered, then turned to Fu Hui. “It’s Young Master Cheng. He’s asking where you are. He came to pick you up.”
“Mm,” Fu Hui answered.
Only then did the assistant continue speaking into the phone. “You’re in the arrivals hall, right? We came through a different special passage. Head toward T3E.”
The weather was hot during the day at this time of year but cool at night.
Cheng Yiran stood near the exit wearing only a thin T-shirt and couldn’t help hunching his shoulders against the night breeze.
Beside him, a grandmother and her granddaughter were struggling with a suitcase whose wheel had jammed. They worked at it for ages without managing to fix it.
Cheng Yiran hesitated for a moment before going over to help.
Just then, Fu Hui emerged with the group accompanying him.
“What happened?” Fu Hui asked.
“Their suitcase broke.”
The girl looked at the group that had suddenly appeared and became a little flustered. Her face reddened, and she didn’t even dare look directly at Fu Hui.
Fu Hui’s gaze swept over them before he gestured for a bodyguard to help.
The bodyguard crouched down, examined the suitcase, and fixed it in a few quick movements. Smiling, he said, “A little stone was jammed in the wheel. It’s fine now.”
“Thank you, thank you.” The girl was extremely grateful.
The bodyguard waved it off. “It was nothing.” Then he turned to Cheng Yiran. “Young Master Cheng has a good heart.”
Cheng Yiran flushed. “I didn’t even manage to fix it for them.”
The bodyguard immediately said, “Hey, it’s the thought that counts.”
The girl quickly agreed. “Yes. Thank you too.”
Fu Hui looked at her for a couple of seconds, then suddenly said, “Leave someone in the Wuyi Mountains after all.”
The bodyguard froze.
“Don’t we have Xiao Dong’s home address?” Fu Hui said casually.
The bodyguard understood.
There was no need to keep asking questions at the hotel. Going directly to Xiao Dong’s home would naturally attract far less attention.
He hurriedly nodded. “Yes, Sir. Brother Wang is still over there anyway. I’ll tell Brother Wang.”
Cheng Yiran couldn’t resist asking, “Brother, who’s Xiao Dong?”
“Not important.”
“…Oh.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”
“Brother, I’m in university. It’s not some closed-campus boarding school.”
As they spoke, a Maybach had already pulled up. The bodyguard hurried forward and opened the door for Fu Hui.
Fu Hui got inside and glanced at Cheng Yiran. “You don’t need to come pick me up next time.”
Cheng Yiran watched the car door close and had no choice but to get into the car behind it.
Fu Hui looked easygoing, but in reality, there were times when simply having someone else breathing in the same space irritated him.
Cheng Yiran knew that perfectly well.
When the cars finally reached the Fu family estate, Cheng Yiran hurried out and caught up with Fu Hui. “Brother, I have a lot I want to tell you.”
“Mm? Go ahead.”
But Cheng Yiran suddenly got stuck. Dryly, he said, “Um… that Wen Lan… He hasn’t been to school in a long time. Thank you for helping me last time, Brother…”
“Mm.”
In truth, Fu Hui had never even paid attention to what the Wen family’s youngest son was called.
Only now did he learn that someone like that also happened to have the character “Lan” in his name.
Cheng Yiran struggled for a long while but couldn’t come up with anything else to say. In the end, reluctant to let the conversation end, he asked one more question. “The university is holding its anniversary celebration in a few days. Will you come, Brother?”
Around eighty percent of Jing City’s well-known universities had received donations from the Fu family ever since they were founded.
The university Cheng Yiran attended had received more than two hundred million yuan from the Fu family. One could say that although Fu Hui himself didn’t care, the university practically regarded him as an unofficial board member.
That was why Cheng Yiran asked.
But Fu Hui had no interest whatsoever in public-facing events.
“I won’t,” he said.
＊
Early the next morning, after Lan Xi finished breakfast, he met Wen Yue’s assistant. His surname was Liu.
Assistant Liu said, “Eldest Young Master wants you to get your hair cut first.”
Lan Xi immediately became wary. “No!”
Allowing them to dye it black had already been his final concession.
With a stern expression, Assistant Liu relayed Wen Yue’s words. “Eldest Young Master says long hair looks too gay.”
Lan Xi looked confused. “What… is… gay?”
Assistant Liu said, “You.”
Lan Xi: ?
Assistant Liu was determined to take Lan Xi for a haircut.
Lan Xi was equally determined not to let him.
With neither side willing to give way, Assistant Liu finally had no choice but to call Wen Yue for instructions.
“Then take him to see a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner first,” Wen Yue said.
This time, Lan Xi cooperated readily.
That lasted until they returned home with the medicine and, not long afterward, a maid carried out a bowl filled with dark, murky herbal decoction.
“What?” Lan Xi asked, pointing at the bowl.
“It’s for you to drink.”
It smells a little nasty, but maybe it tastes good?
Full of anticipation, Lan Xi took a mouthful and tried to swallow.
He… he couldn’t get it down.
…I want to go back to the mountains again.
I hate this place.
…
When Wen Yue came home from work, Lan Xi was upstairs watching television.
Hearing the faint sound of the television from above made Wen Yue’s head ache. He frowned and asked Assistant Liu, “Did he drink all his medicine?”
Assistant Liu said, “He said it was too hot. He wanted to wait until it cooled before drinking it.”
Wen Yue: “…It still hasn’t cooled after all this time?”
He saw straight through Lan Xi’s trick too.
“He’s just making excuses. Go bring it here now.”
Wen Yue personally carried the medicine upstairs.
Remembering all the bizarre expressions on his employees’ faces when they saw the injuries on his face and body at work today only made him more irritated.
He set the bowl down heavily in front of Lan Xi. “If you don’t drink it, get out right now.”
Lan Xi put down the remote control and looked up at Wen Yue.
Then he picked up the bowl, opened his mouth, and drained the entire thing in a series of loud gulps.
He was astonishingly obedient.
The thought had barely crossed Wen Yue’s mind when, the very next second:
“Blegh!” Lan Xi vomited all over him.
Then Lan Xi wiped his mouth and said, “Drank… it.”
Wen Yue: “…”
Ten minutes later.
Lan Xi was hauled out through the Wen family’s front gate.
With a loud bang, the gate slammed shut in front of him.
Inside, Assistant Liu cautiously glanced at his boss’s livid face and felt that sooner or later, this family was going to produce another madman.
Not long afterward, Wen Ming came home from work as well.
He saw Lan Xi sitting on the steps with his chin propped in one hand, counting ants, and the thought Damn, he actually looks kind of pitiful rose in his mind again.
He shuddered and immediately suppressed that terrifying thought, walking around Lan Xi and heading inside.
“What happened now?” Wen Ming asked.
Those four short words were saturated with exhaustion.
Assistant Liu hurriedly gave him a rough account of what had happened.
“If he refuses to cut his hair, then forget the haircut. But does drinking this medicine even do anything?” Wen Ming thought for a moment. “Why don’t we go to his university tomorrow and see what that financially disadvantaged student he fought Cheng Yiran over is actually like? Then we can figure out something more targeted.”
Only then did Wen Yue finally tell him what had happened before. “The night he came home, he waited for me in the hallway.”
“Waited for you?”
“Mm. The moment I got close, he threw himself at me.” Wen Yue’s expression was extraordinarily ugly. “Yesterday he even tried to kiss me. Does he care who it is at all? He’s just gay. This needs to be fixed.”
Wen Ming was so shocked that, for a moment, he had no idea what to say.
Only after quite a while did a thought suddenly surface.
Why was he specifically waiting around for Big Brother that night?
The instant the thought appeared, Wen Ming broke out in a cold sweat. He felt that perhaps he ought to drink a bowl of traditional Chinese medicine himself to ward off evil.
“Let him sleep outside tonight,” Wen Yue said coldly.
“Mm?”
Wen Yue looked at him. “What are you thinking about?”
Wen Ming snapped back to himself. “Mm. He does need to be taught a lesson.”
There was a fountain built into the Wen family’s entrance garden.
At night, it inevitably became a little cold.
Lan Xi lay on the steps without feeling particularly bothered. One of the male household staff, however, couldn’t bear watching him and secretly brought him a quilt.
Lan Xi asked, “Bed…?”
The servant stared at him.
Lan Xi stared back.
There was no way the servant dared carry an entire bed outside for him.
“Fine… then.”
Lan Xi accepted the lack of a bed remarkably well. He simply wrapped himself in the quilt until he looked like a silkworm cocoon, then started counting stars as he waited to get sleepy.
Upstairs, the two brothers watched through the window.
“…”
“He’s actually made himself comfortable.”
The longer they watched, the more aggravating it became.
“Big Brother, let’s just go to sleep.” Don’t stay up until you kill yourself first, Wen Ming thought through gritted teeth.
With a dark expression, Wen Yue said, “I’m going to get a pair of scissors.”
Wen Ming blurted out, “You’re going to stab him to death?”
“…I’m cutting his hair.”
“…”
Wen Yue took the scissors downstairs, only to discover when he tried the door that it wouldn’t open.
He looked out through the window. Lan Xi had rolled over inside his quilt and was now wedged firmly against the front door.
Wen Yue had no choice but to climb out through a window.
Only when he crouched silently beside Lan Xi did Wen Yue suddenly feel that there was something wrong with himself.
Sneaking around my own house like a thief in the middle of the night?
Suppressing the strange feeling, Wen Yue picked up a lock of Lan Xi’s hair.
Even after being dyed, under the moonlight his hair looked more like luminous satin than ever, as though moonlight itself were flowing across it.
Wen Yue suppressed the brief wave of dizziness that came over him.
Snip.
Lan Xi opened his eyes.
Their gazes met.
Wen Yue ruthlessly held his head still. “Don’t move. I might cut your ear.”
This time, Lan Xi clearly heard another snip.
He became completely awake in an instant.
He! Is! Cutting! My! Hair!
Lan Xi tore himself free of the quilt and furiously started fighting Wen Yue all over again.
Watching the battle from upstairs, Wen Ming wearily closed his eyes.
Can this family ever be normal again? Wen Lan has turned all of us into idiots.
＊
Early the next morning, Wen Ming drove Lan Xi out first. They were going to the university Wen Lan attended.
Wen Yue left a little later, mainly to avoid another direct conflict with Lan Xi.
Once Wen Yue arrived at the company, he inevitably endured another round of strange looks.
There was a new hire in the secretarial office, born after 2000, who didn’t know what had happened and was bold enough to joke with the boss. “Your girlfriend really went hard on you.”
The moment Wen Yue heard that, it was as though someone had stepped on his tail.
“I do not have a girlfriend,” he ground out through clenched teeth.
The secretary trembled. “S-sorry.”
Then… was it a lover?
Wen Yue met the secretary’s gaze and was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion.
“…A dog scratched me.”
He decided that no matter what it took, he was going to correct Wen Lan’s “problem” of liking men.
…
Sitting in the car, Lan Xi sneezed.
Wen Ming turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Caught a cold?”
Lan Xi looked listless and didn’t want to deal with anyone. He simply turned his head away.
Wen Ming stared at the tufts of hair sticking out chaotically all over his head and once again had the bizarre thought: Damn it, he’s kind of cute.
As luck would have it, the moment they arrived at the university gates and got out of the car, someone nearby called, “Cheng Yiran!”
Cheng Yiran, who was walking ahead, turned around.
The moment he saw Lan Xi, he was stunned by his appearance and briefly lost focus.
Cheng Yiran was on the phone at the time.
The person on the other end had apparently found the conversation too boring and, after saying a couple of indifferent things, was about to hang up.
Cheng Yiran stared fixedly at Lan Xi’s face and hurriedly said, “Brother! Wen Lan showed up again! He… he…”