The way “A-Lan” had presented himself was worlds apart from the “Wen Lan” Cheng Yiran had described.
He was also far removed from the “Wen Lan” in the pile of information that had been presented to Fu Hui.
If this really were that Wen Lan, then no matter how much he disguised himself in front of Fu Hui, some things could not be hidden. Mutism could be faked, and outward appearance could be used to obscure one’s sex, but the fundamental logic of a person’s character, revealed through their behavior, would not change.
These were simply two different people.
And this enormous change had unfolded precisely from the point when Wen Lan disappeared in Yun Province and was later found again.
—What had happened in Yun Province to cause the original “Wen Lan” to be replaced by the young man standing before him now?
Fu Hui quietly waited for the young man’s reaction… Would he panic at having been exposed, or stubbornly deny it?
Lan Xi suddenly sprang to his feet.
He was overjoyed. “Yes, yes! I’m not!”
Fu Hui: “…”
He admitted it awfully quickly.
At this moment, Lan Xi felt as though he had finally met someone who understood him in a foreign land!
Unable to hide the brilliant smile in his eyes, he stared brightly at Fu Hui and asked, “How did you know?”
Fu Hui chose the simplest possible answer. “Xu Yueqiang is Wen Lan’s mother.”
Lan Xi immediately understood. “Oh…”
Fu Hui changed tack. “Then who are you?”
“I’m…” a succubus.
The words reached Lan Xi’s lips, but he swallowed them back down.
In fact, Lan Xi had been thinking about something for quite a while now. The Wen brothers had mistaken him for Wen Lan, and everyone else had treated him as Wen Lan too. Did that mean they actually couldn’t tell that he came from Hell at all?
“I’m Lan Xi,” he finally chose to say.
“Which two characters?”
Lan Xi opened his notebook, took out the pen clipped inside, and clumsily wrote his name out stroke by stroke for Fu Hui to see.
Fu Hui glanced at it. “You’ve improved. You write better than before.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Fu Hui immediately fell silent.
They inevitably brought back memories of the villa… Back then, the “mute girl” had sat on his lap while writing.
That memory was still a little too much of a shock to Fu Hui.
If Fu Hui had been even slightly less gentlemanly back then, he might have discovered much earlier that Lan Xi was male.
Instead, he had been exceptionally patient. Even teaching “her” to read had become a kind of flirtation, and he had been in no hurry to devour the person before him. Even when Lan Xi came over wearing a dress, Fu Hui had deliberately averted his eyes rather than look at the skin “she” had exposed.
Fu Hui was still dealing with the aftershocks.
Lan Xi, on the other hand, was in an excellent mood. He thought Fu Hui sounded especially nice today. Did he eat candy before coming here?
“I think so too. I write well.” Lan Xi looked extremely pleased with himself.
Lan Xi shook the notebook in his hand.
Fu Hui’s gaze inevitably fell upon it and lightly swept over his fingers.
Almost reflexively, the memory was immediately activated again.
—Fu Hui had held that hand and taught him how to write.
Fu Hui unconsciously pressed his lips together.
The skin had been smooth, soft, and warm.
Should a man have hands like that?
Fu Hui raised a hand and pressed at his temple, suppressing the lingering sensation.
“Why did you appear in the mountains of Yun Province?” He dragged the conversation back on track.
“I don’t know.” Lan Xi wasn’t lying. He had died without really understanding what happened. Before closing his eyes, he had still been on the battlefield. When he opened them again, he was deep in the mountains.
“Your parents and relatives…”
“They’re all gone.”
Demons lived however they pleased and liked fooling around, so most of them didn’t live especially long. Unless they died in battle, they generally didn’t make it to Heaven.
Fu Hui: “…”
If a girl had said something like that, she genuinely would have seemed rather pitiful. But the one saying it was Lan Xi, who clearly couldn’t have cared less.
No.
That wasn’t entirely true either.
Lan Xi’s hair had been cut into a complete mess. The untended ends curled slightly and clung to his excessively pale cheeks, making his face look even smaller and his eyes even larger.
It gave him an ignorant, innocent sort of vulnerability that made people want to pity him.
Pity him?
Fu Hui: “…………”
The impression left by the “mute girl” must simply have been too deep, causing this irrational emotional carryover.
Fu Hui could barely tolerate the thought and forcibly suppressed it.
He stood up and looked toward the lake in the distance. “You never told the Wen family that you aren’t Wen Lan?”
Just mentioning it made Lan Xi angry. “I did. They didn’t believe me.”
The most infuriating part was this: “I said… my name is Lan Xi. Wen Ming said, yes, your English name… is Nancy.” He carefully imitated the pronunciation, and actually sounded quite close.
Fu Hui: “…” He said, “Why would the Wen family give you a girl’s name?”
Lan Xi looked blank, unable to tell the difference. “Girl’s name?”
Even the two characters in “Lan Xi” sounded somewhat feminine.
So did “Wen Lan.”
It was almost as though fate had decided from the beginning that Fu Hui was destined to stumble over the matter of the “mute girl.”
Fu Hui was developing a headache.
But now it had been proven that everything really had been nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence… Lan Xi had not deliberately deceived him.
As for why Lan Xi had been so determined to come to the villa and find him in the first place, it would probably be better not to ask.
Perhaps the reason was the same as why Lan Xi had reached out and touched his hand the very first time they met.
His nerve truly was extraordinary. He had singled Fu Hui out the moment they met.
“You tell them… I’m not Wen Lan.” Lan Xi’s pauses still sounded a little strange.
Lan Xi knew that everyone seemed to be terribly afraid of Fu Hui.
Even if Fu Hui pointed at the sun and called it the moon, they would probably believe him, right?
And this time he would actually be telling the truth.
“They’ll throw you out,” Fu Hui finally said.
Lan Xi opened his mouth.
Fu Hui answered for him. “It doesn’t matter. You can just go squat by the roadside again and wait for someone to pick you up and take you home?”
Fu Hui: “…”
Now that Lan Xi was consciously comparing and recording changes in his data, he immediately noticed that Fu Hui’s temperature had risen.
An opening…?
Lan Xi quietly began reaching out a hand.
After a long silence, Fu Hui suddenly said, “Staying with the Wen family is fine. At the very least, they aren’t short of money.”
That was in response to Lan Xi’s earlier declaration: How can anyone support me if they don’t have money?
Fu Hui had no intention of interfering in the Wen family’s affairs. Whoever the Wen family chose to believe Lan Xi was had nothing to do with him.
He wouldn’t expose the truth.
And there would be even less reason to mention the villa again.
Every mention brought another shock.
Fu Hui said nothing more and strode away on his long legs.
The bodyguard immediately followed.
“But… they control too much,” Lan Xi hurriedly emphasized behind him.
Fu Hui’s steps faltered, but he didn’t turn around. “Liang Yuecheng doesn’t control you much, but is he any good?”
He continued walking.
Faintly, he heard Lan Xi’s voice floating behind him.
“I like eating bad things…”
The voice was so soft it almost seemed imagined.
The bodyguard brought the car around and opened the door for Fu Hui. Just as Fu Hui sat down, he looked back from a distance and saw Lan Xi take the opportunity to raise his middle finger at him.
Fu Hui: “…”
Lan Xi was furious.
Fu Hui still hadn’t turned back into the Fu Hui from the villa.
Lan Xi had thought that once Fu Hui knew he wasn’t Wen Lan, the two of them would have a wonderful conversation, and after enough wonderful conversation, they could naturally end up rolling into bed together.
But he actually left!
He just left like that!
Lan Xi slammed shut the book in his hands and likewise left Fu Hui with a merciless view of his back.
Then he briskly went to collect desserts and a gift bag from the university anniversary event, which finally soothed his wounded heart a little.
After getting into the car, Fu Hui didn’t immediately tell the driver to leave. He lowered his gaze, apparently deep in thought, and the bodyguard didn’t dare ask.
The bodyguard even suspected that from now on, Sir might not want to hear the word “Lan” ever again.
“I want you to investigate someone.” Fu Hui made a call.
Wen Lan’s history had been investigated thoroughly.
But what about Lan Xi?
Lan Xi himself didn’t even know how he had appeared in the mountains. They had merely established that he and Wen Lan were different people, but in reality there were still countless mysteries surrounding him that could not be explained.
When the Wen brothers sent Wen Lan into the mountains in the first place, it probably hadn’t been entirely to hide him from Fu Hui, had it? Judging by Wen Lan’s illustrious history of past misdeeds, perhaps the brothers had simply reached the end of their patience and wanted to exile him to the mountains.
“Wen Yue cut it.”
Lan Xi’s complaining voice still lingered in his ears.
If the Wen brothers still harbored resentment toward Wen Lan, then clashes between them and Lan Xi were inevitable.
And Lan Xi was clearly not someone who could be persuaded with a sentence or two.
…In the end, he might still end up squatting beside the road waiting for someone to pick him up.
Fu Hui didn’t even know how Lan Xi had developed this strange pattern of dependence.
He abruptly paused.
Was it because I set a bad precedent?
Once a person’s thoughts began running wild, they were sometimes no longer under their own control.
By the time the car reached the university gates, countless thoughts had already surged through Fu Hui’s mind.
…
Lan Xi’s phone suddenly went ding.
Fang Nianqing had sent him a message: [Can you understand it?]
A provocation! Mockery!
Lan Xi coldly turned off his phone and decided to ignore that penniless bastard.
Four in the afternoon.
Wen Ming had just come out of a meeting when he received a call from Lan Xi.
Lan Xi was slurping milk tea on the other end, speaking indistinctly between sips. “I’m bored. Pick me up.”
Then he called, “Brother.”
Hearing that made Wen Ming unbearably restless, as though thorns had sprouted all over his body. He inhaled, then exhaled. His secretary was standing opposite him going over his schedule, but Wen Ming barely heard a word.
“I’ll have the driver pick you up.”
“No.” Lan Xi refused decisively.
Fu Hui was far too difficult. Lan Xi had decided to concentrate on one target first. And this method really did seem effective. Especially when Wen Yue was present and Lan Xi deliberately targeted only Wen Ming, both brothers seemed to react quite strongly.
Since ordinary physical contact and a bewitching gaze were useless against seraphs, he would simply have to employ a few little schemes.
Lan Xi lightly moved his lips, delivering a sweet line with absolutely no expression on his face. “I only want you, Brother.”
Wen Ming couldn’t see his expression over the phone anyway.
Lan Xi might as well save himself the effort.
Wen Ming: “…”
He abruptly inhaled and wanted to ask what was wrong with Lan Xi’s brain this time. But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. If he did, Lan Xi probably wouldn’t use that tone or call him that again afterward.
Fine.
He would simply treat it as belated dependence on his older brother.
When Wen Ming remained silent for a long time, Lan Xi took the phone away from his ear in confusion and smacked it a couple of times.
Did the phone break? Why is there no sound?
That smack accidentally ended the call.
Listening to the abrupt disconnect tone, Wen Ming unconsciously scraped his fingers against the back of his phone.
He got angry just like that?
His temper really was enormous.
After hesitating for a moment, Wen Ming decided he still valued the peace of the past few days.
He no longer wanted to worry that he and Big Brother would be angered into going prematurely gray.
Wen Ming called back. “Fine. I’ll come pick you up.”
“Mm-hm.” Lan Xi perfunctorily ended the call, only afterward feeling as though he had forgotten something.
Oh.
Apparently this was when he was supposed to say, Brother is the best.
Forget it.
He had forgotten, so he had forgotten.
Wen Ming put away his phone and turned straight into Assistant Yu’s shocked expression some distance away.
Remembering how emphatically he had once declared that he would never bother with Wen Lan again, Wen Ming felt a little embarrassed—as though someone had caught him grim-facedly washing the other man’s underwear.
“He’s been a little more normal lately,” Wen Ming explained.
Assistant Yu said, “Mm-hm, that’s good.” Feeling that his response had been too bland, he hurriedly forced out a smile. “Congratulations, Second Young Master.”
It wasn’t until Wen Ming parked at the university gates that he briefly wondered whether something might be wrong with his own brain too…
But Lan Xi gave him no chance to think deeply about it.
Lan Xi opened the car door and got inside.
They passed the cake shop again on the way.
Lan Xi used the same old method and pointed. “I want.”
This time he didn’t call him “Brother,” which actually made Wen Ming breathe a little easier.
The Wen brothers had received much stricter discipline growing up and held themselves to equally strict standards when it came to health. Without even thinking, Wen Ming said, “You already ate some today.”
Lan Xi became angry.
Fu Hui even said the Wen family had money and that staying with them was fine. Bullshit!
They won’t even buy me two cakes!
Lan Xi turned sideways with his back to Wen Ming, pulled a bag of potato chips out of his anniversary gift bag, and began chewing.
Crunch, crunch.
Wen Ming wanted to tell him not to drop crumbs all over the car, but Lan Xi had been behaving very well lately. Forget it. Wen Ming held himself back.
All the way back to the Wen residence, Lan Xi didn’t say another word to him.
Wen Ming was astonished.
All because of one cake?
But when he thought about what Wen Lan had been like before, this version was already much cuter by comparison.
“Second Young Master, we should get going,” the secretary reminded him.
Wen Ming still had a reception to attend.
“Mm,” he answered. I’ll bring him something else back later.
When had Wen Lan become this greedy for food?
Had he been starving in the mountains for too long?
Wen Ming abruptly remembered the day they found him, when he hadn’t even been willing to throw away the wrapper from an egg-yolk pie.
Fine.
Upstairs, Lan Xi watched Wen Ming’s car drive away while pressing the remote to turn on the television.
Just then, Wen Yue’s car returned.
Lan Xi had a brilliant idea.
For once, he reluctantly abandoned the television and padded downstairs in his slippers to welcome Wen Yue home.
When Wen Yue came face-to-face with Lan Xi, he did not feel flattered by the reception. His first thought was that Lan Xi was about to pull some new stunt.
“I want cake.”
Lan Xi delivered his request with remarkable fluency.
Wen Yue froze.
That’s all?
Without thinking, he said, “Have the kitchen make some.”
Lan Xi looked disdainful. “Doesn’t taste good.”
Not as good as Fu Hui’s cook.
Wen Yue thought about it. Buying a cake was hardly a problem if it meant Lan Xi would act a little less insane.
He immediately sent someone out to buy some.
Half an hour later, Lan Xi received a slice of raspberry-pistachio cake, a slice of black-tea Basque cheesecake, and a cherry tart.
As Lan Xi ate happily, he felt that he had finally figured it out.
As long as Wen Ming and Wen Yue didn’t compare notes…
He could secretly use different methods on each of them and seduce them separately.
Ask each person for one cake and he could eat two.
No, more than two.
Compared with Lan Xi’s blood sugar, Wen Yue cared much more about whether he was gay.
Lan Xi spent quite a while eating cake in the living room. By the time Wen Yue finished dealing with his work and came downstairs, Lan Xi had just swallowed the final bite.
He looked up and said, “Tasty.”
Then he slowly and meticulously licked his lips.
As though he couldn’t bear to waste the very last trace of cream clinging to them.
Wen Yue: “…”
Recently, Lan Xi had rarely spoken to Wen Yue and had stopped getting excessively close to him. Wen Yue’s vigilance over the possibility that his “younger brother was gay” had therefore diminished considerably.
But suddenly, he had become close to Wen Ming instead.
Wen Yue frowned to himself.
And every other sentence was “Brother”…
That was the strangest part.
Wen Lan had never called him that.
Because I cut his hair?
Because I made him drink medicine?
So he remembers none of the good things and only holds grudges?
Wen Yue didn’t realize that he had been standing there for quite some time.
Not until Lan Xi asked, “Do you want some?”
“No.” After answering, Wen Yue immediately felt speechless.
Did you leave me any? Why bother asking if I want some?
There wasn’t a single bite left.
Wen Yue had noticed signs that Lan Xi’s language ability was recovering. He happened to have something to discuss with him, and they should be able to communicate smoothly enough now.
He walked over and sat down. “Aunt Xu’s death anniversary is in a few days.”
Lan Xi: “Mm?”
“You haven’t gone to pay your respects for two years,” Wen Yue said coldly.
In previous years, whenever the subject came up, Wen Lan would sneer and say, Aren’t you two good sons enough?
Even remembering it now made Wen Yue angry.
Lan Xi asked because he genuinely didn’t understand. “How do I pay respects?”
Demons had no customs like this.
Wen Yue choked slightly, assuming Lan Xi was mocking him. But when he met Lan Xi’s eyes, he realized the question was completely serious.
A strange feeling surfaced in Wen Yue’s heart before he immediately suppressed it.
He chose to interpret Lan Xi’s question as: How do you want me to pay my respects?
“Make a bowl of tangyuan,” Wen Yue said.
Elio’s Notes: Tangyuan (汤圆) are round glutinous-rice dumplings, usually served in a sweet soup. Their round shape is traditionally associated with reunion and family togetherness.
When Wen Lan was little, there had been one Lunar New Year when he personally shaped a tangyuan that Xu Yueqiang happened to eat. She had been delighted.
Normally, when paying respects to a deceased relative, someone might bring something like their report card to the grave to show that they were living well.
But Wen Lan’s grades were so terrible that there was nothing presentable to bring.
“Can’t make it,” Lan Xi said.
The moment Wen Yue heard that, his temper began rising again.
But after thinking for a moment, Lan Xi said, “Teach me.”
Wen Yue’s anger went out with a little pfft.
That night, Wen Ming came home very late carrying a box of Chinese pastries. When he asked after Young Master, the servant said Lan Xi had already gone to sleep.
So Wen Ming had someone put the pastries in the refrigerator.
Lan Xi had no classes the next day.
Although even when he did have classes, he rarely attended them.
Lan Xi decided to stay home and watch television all day.
It had been a long time since he had enjoyed such pure happiness.
The Wen brothers left for work as usual, each flying to a different city on business.
When Wen Ming returned again, he opened the refrigerator.
“Young Master didn’t eat the pastries I brought back?” he asked the servant.
“No. Young Master probably forgot about them.”
A faint discomfort stirred inside Wen Ming.
It was an awkward feeling, almost like someone had wanted something when you refused to give it to them, only for you to offer it later after they no longer wanted it.
He slammed the refrigerator door shut.
After watching television for two days straight, Lan Xi was finally satisfied. He began learning how to make tangyuan.
In truth, Wen Yue found the whole thing absurd.
Did this really need to be taught?
But Lan Xi was very serious. “You teach me.”
Wen Yue wanted to see what new trick he was planning too. “Fine. I’ll teach you today.” Then, through clenched teeth, he repeated, “I’ll teach you.”
But Lan Xi shook his head. “Not today.”
Wen Yue frowned, displeased by his sudden change of mind.
Lan Xi continued, “Wen Ming will… be back soon.”
Wen Yue choked. What did those two things have to do with each other? Did Wen Yue have to hide from Wen Ming just to teach Wen Lan how to make tangyuan? Did they even need to schedule separate times?
Lan Xi couldn’t have cared less how unhappy he was.
He went to greet Wen Ming when he came home from work and made a request. “Eat beef.”
It was no different from how he had welcomed Wen Yue home that other day.
Wen Yue watched coldly from behind them.
Wen Ming didn’t understand. “Have the kitchen make it.”
Lan Xi shook his head. “No, no. Want the place… on the way to school…” He showed Wen Ming the photo of the storefront he had taken.
It was a beef hotpot restaurant, and the photograph on the sign looked exceptionally appetizing.
Wen Ming hesitated.
Lan Xi called, “Brother!”
Wen Ming looked as though he couldn’t bear the saccharine tone. “Fine, fine. I know.”
It was only beef hotpot…
Lan Xi had already been very well behaved.
“Go, go.” Lan Xi grabbed Wen Ming and began dragging him away.
Wen Ming jolted, suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly looked back. Sure enough, Big Brother had come home too. He quickly said, “Big Brother, come with us…”
Wen Yue had the vague sense that he had been excluded and that it had taken them ages even to remember he existed.
But getting upset about that would be far too childish.
Wen Lan was a hot potato.
Someone else taking him off Wen Yue’s hands was supposed to be a good thing.
With a rigid expression, Wen Yue said, “Not going.”
When Wen Ming and Lan Xi sat facing each other at the beef hotpot restaurant, Wen Ming still felt a little awkward.
The server brought over the beef hotpot.
As Lan Xi sensed Wen Ming’s body temperature rising, he listened to him say, “I’m going to be pretty busy lately.”
Wen Ming felt that perhaps he still couldn’t adjust this quickly to the excessive affection his bastard younger brother had begun showering on him after his complete change in personality.
He needed some distance before he could properly catch his breath.
Lan Xi tore his gaze away from the beef hotpot. “Oh.”
Now he didn’t particularly care.
He had his own plan!
The busier the Wen brothers were, the better.
Once they were busy, they wouldn’t have time to compare notes.
But hearing Lan Xi respond so indifferently left Wen Ming strangely uncomfortable again.
Just then, the hotpot came to a boil.
Lan Xi gripped his chopsticks in full battle mode, clearly having no intention of speaking to Wen Ming anymore.
Steam billowed upward, blurring his beautiful features.
Wen Ming noticed that his hair seemed to have grown a little longer again.
In the brief moment Wen Ming became distracted, Lan Xi had already eaten more than half the pot. Wen Ming snapped back to himself, the corner of his mouth twitching, and pressed down on the back of Lan Xi’s hand. “Stop eating before you give yourself pancreatitis.”
Lan Xi secretly cursed him a couple of times in his heart and released his chopsticks.
Wen Ming breathed a sigh of relief. In truth, when Wen Lan played the part of an obedient younger brother, he really was quite likable.
Wen Ming quickly withdrew his hand.
The hotpot was too hot.
Even he seemed to have absorbed some of its heat.
“Let’s go home.” Remembering Lan Xi’s indifferent response just now, Wen Ming couldn’t resist adding, “Once I get busy, I won’t have time to take you to university anymore.”
Lan Xi blurted out, “Mm-hm. I’ll find Wen Yue.”
Only after saying it did he realize that perhaps it wasn’t a very good thing to say.
He immediately turned to study Wen Ming’s expression.
Wen Ming visibly froze for a moment, but immediately afterward he smiled. “Mm. That’s fine too. You and Big Brother… can take the opportunity to repair your relationship.”
His temperature was rising.
Lan Xi couldn’t tell whether he was angry or happy.
Seraphs are impossible to read, Lan Xi complained silently.
Several days later, Cheng Yiran finally saw Fu Hui again.
Fu Hui never met other people at his own private residence. So when he appeared today at the villa in West City, Cheng Yiran knew that someone else must have come to see him.
Even now, Cheng Yiran had no idea exactly how powerful the Fu family was.
He had only noticed that some of the visitors coming and going looked strangely familiar, as though he had seen their faces on television or in magazines.
His brother was like the sort of person people talked about online: ordinary people might never even have heard his name, and he didn’t accept interviews or seek publicity, yet whenever he was mentioned among Jing City’s elite, everyone seemed rather intimidated…
The study door silently opened.
The person inside had finished discussing business and came out. Before leaving, he even handed Cheng Yiran a small gift.
The door remained open, and the family doctor went inside to examine Fu Hui’s leg.
Looking from a distance, Cheng Yiran was astonished. “Brother, why hasn’t your leg healed yet?” There was still a huge purple bruise.
Fu Hui: “…I kicked something made of iron.”
Cheng Yiran couldn’t understand how someone managed to kick iron.
But now that they were talking, he naturally walked inside and asked, “You came to the university on the anniversary day?”
The question stirred some memories in Fu Hui. “…Mm.”
Cheng Yiran keenly sensed something strange in his reaction, though he couldn’t identify exactly what it was.
Dryly, Cheng Yiran said, “I didn’t even see you that day. You left so quickly.”
Fu Hui’s tone returned to normal. “I only went to donate a collection of books. Nothing else.”
Just then, someone came inside and lowered their voice. “Sir, we heard back from them.”
Seeing that Fu Hui had business to handle, Cheng Yiran withdrew.
The person who stopped before Fu Hui had already begun reporting. “We checked repeatedly three separate times… We couldn’t find any information at all. It’s as though this person simply fell out of the sky.”
After hesitating, he added, “We couldn’t find Wen Lan either. Perhaps he died. Or perhaps… this Lan Xi really is Wen Lan?”
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