The two bear-like Alaskan Malamutes caught the unstoppable scent of pure masculinity belonging to their lord and master from a long way off and blocked the inner courtyard gate, lining both sides to welcome their boss home.
The car first passed through an outer electronically controlled iron gate and parked beneath the covered garage. From behind the garage eaves, the branches of an enormous eight-meter-tall rhododendron stretched outward, spilling down a waterfall of fiery-red petals.
Yan Xiaodao got out, walked around to the other side of the car, and personally lifted Ling He from the seat. By now, the habit had become perfectly natural.
Ling He rapidly swept his eyes around. It was a conventionally decorated modern European-style villa. One glance at the plants and furnishings in the courtyard told him that a group of rough men lived here: everything was broad, sturdy, and generous, without much delicate ornamentation. A cool evening breeze was blowing. The place was not far from Linwan Port, and from a distance the bay scenery looked like a painting.
Hanging from Mr. Yan, Ling He realized Xiaodao had no spare hand to open the inner courtyard gate, so he reached out and pushed it open himself. The next second, two actual bears—heads, front paws, hind paws, everything—came flying straight onto him….
As usual, Bear Two and Third Lady had staked out the best positions and angles in advance, racing each other without giving an inch, terrified that if one welcomed their master a moment later than the other, tonight’s share of meaty bones would be smaller.
Except this time, all that headlong enthusiasm landed squarely on a strange man instead of their lord and master.
Bear Two and Third Lady toppled backward in exaggerated fashion, flipped over neatly, dug all four paws into the ground, and let out a synchronized, savage awoo!, glaring fiercely at the unidentified intruder.
Yan Xiaodao frowned and growled with authority, “Knock it off. We have a guest.”
The expressions on Master Bear and his wife’s faces, however, were charged with battle spirit and clearly howling one message: There! Is! A! Monster!!!
Dogs had a spiritual instinct for recognizing demons. Master Bear was absolutely certain of himself and went straight in for a bite, only to miss the male fox spirit’s flesh entirely when Yan Xiaodao drove a knee into his chest and sent him flying seven or eight meters.
Yan Xiaodao knitted his brows and pretended to reprimand him. “What’s this? Not giving me any face?”
Yang Xifeng came through the door carrying luggage with several brothers, laughing as he called from the side, “Master Bear, don’t bite! Boss brought a guest home today. No biting people!”
But Alaskan Malamutes were naturally territorial and protective of their masters. More importantly, Master Bear and Third Lady were two ancestors who had grown up accustomed to occupying Yan Xiaodao’s arms, throwing their weight around, and behaving lawlessly. Now another ancestor had suddenly appeared from outside and actually dared to occupy their master’s arms and throw his weight around too. How could that possibly be tolerated?
Ling He had kept his head buried just now to avoid the dogs’ flailing claws and protect his face. Only now did he turn around and praise them with a smile. “Truly two excellent dogs. Even fiercer than your boss when he pinches and scratches people.”
Yan Xiaodao glared at him, his expression plainly asking when the hell he had ever pinched or scratched Ling He.
Ling He glared straight back, his expression just as plainly reminding Mr. Yan that he certainly had a short memory after all that pinching.
Ling He slowly turned his head with the graceful air of someone taking a leisurely step and finally formally met the two good dogs face-to-face. Looking down on them from above, he smiled and nodded, letting his black hair drift lightly away from his face….
Master Bear and his wife had already flipped upright and prepared to charge again, hind legs coiled for a leap. Yet the instant they sprang into the air, they dropped back to the ground and planted their paws, staring blankly at the creature that had invaded their territory. The two bear-things gazed upward at Ling He’s face without blinking, met his eyes, studied him carefully for a while, underwent a complicated series of ideological struggles, and decided not to bite him after all.
By the time Yan Xiaodao settled Ling He on the living-room sofa and sent his brothers out to casually buy a few dishes and bring back dinner, Bear Two and Third Lady had begun sidling over in bashful little figure eights. They circled cautiously with their long tongues hanging out, then finally lost all restraint and started licking Ling He’s feet.
“Never smelled feet that don’t stink before? Hey, mine smell better than your old master’s, don’t they?” Ling He preened shamelessly, not forgetting to blacken Mr. Yan’s name again. Then he produced the meeting gifts he had prepared—a pile of dog biscuits and beef sausages—to buy their canine hearts even more thoroughly.
And so Bear Two and Third Lady ultimately sprawled at Ling He’s feet in fawning postures, accepting one bite after another of the beef sausage he fed into their mouths.
Even Yan Xiaodao himself could no longer stand it. He complained inwardly about the two disgraceful things. Do they recognize nothing except wine, sex, wealth, and worldly pleasure? Do dogs judge people by appearances too, deciding whether to bite purely according to looks?
That was actually unfair to Master Bear and Third Lady.
Dogs did not understand facial attractiveness. Whether they bit depended on presence. The larger the dog, the harder it was to subdue, and they only submitted to a stronger, more domineering aura.
How did one explain something as intangible as aura? You had to start from the beginning. Mr. Yan’s villa was considerably larger than even the cabins aboard the cruise ship. He was the godson of the chairman of Baoding Group; even if he personally cared little for superficial display, that status still showed itself. The living room was far larger than an ordinary residential layout precisely because Yan Xiaodao liked having a whole group of brothers living and gathering with him.
At the southeast and northwest corners of the living room stood two enormous sectional sofas facing each other, with two single armchairs positioned at the northeast and southwest sides. The room could easily seat more than a dozen good men. When a group of men gathered, they generally had only two things to do. First, hold a meeting if something important had happened. Second, play cards and gamble. There was no third option. Naturally, small bets were only for entertainment. Yan Xiaodao did not gamble heavily with his own brothers; if he let them lose everything until they could not even afford cigarettes, that would hardly count as righteous treatment.
Yet today, in a living room spacious enough to set up a roadside stall and perform spear tricks for money, when Yan Xiaodao looked toward the center of the room, the only person left in his vision was Ling He.
Ling He lounged against the large sectional in the southeast corner, one arm resting carelessly along the backrest, hair hanging past his ears and brushing his shoulders as he watched them in a good mood. His posture was balanced at exactly the right angle. Sit several inches farther forward and it would become the stiff, proper posture of a dull conference meeting; lean several inches farther back and it would collapse into an utterly tasteless Ge You slouch. Ling He stopped precisely between the two, somehow working ease, laziness, grace, and elegance into every joint of his body without leaving the slightest trace of affectation.
Elio’s Notes: The “Ge You slouch” is a Chinese internet meme based on actor Ge You’s famously boneless, collapsed lounging pose, used to describe an extremely lazy sprawl.
Everyone else in the room seemed to cease existing. Some of the brothers had gone out for food, some were making tea and pouring water, some had gone to the kitchen to wash tomatoes and cucumbers to gnaw on, and others were trying to think of something to say to entertain the guest. Yet without exception, everyone detoured around Ling He, keeping at least five meters away from Mr. Ling and making neat ninety-degree turns around his position, as though someone had placed a land mine there—or enshrined a living bodhisattva no one dared approach and profane.
The younger brothers laughed and joked as they took their seats, and Yan Xiaodao discovered that in the end they had somehow all crowded together, as though by prior agreement, onto the northwest sectional opposite Ling He, forming one long row. Every face wore an obedient expression while waiting to be addressed, making it look absurdly as though Ling He were the boss of the house.
Only Master Bear and Third Lady were slightly braver, each occupying a spot beside one of their new master’s hands. Neither seemed remotely ashamed of disgracing their actual boss and instead looked rather smug about it.
Yan Xiaodao finally could not take it anymore and said, somewhat embarrassed, “What are you all doing crowded together over there? There’s no need. He doesn’t bite.”
“I don’t bite you people.” Ling He grinned arrogantly and pointed at Yan Xiaodao. “I only bite the fattest one in the room.”
The brothers checked Yan Xiaodao’s expression and, once again in perfect unison, made the gesture most likely to doom their boss. “Boss, sit there! We saved that seat for you!”
Yan Xiaodao tugged at his cuffs, walked over without ceremony, and dropped straight down beside Ling He….
Dinner was authentic northern-style noodles with savory gravy alongside a chaotic assortment of takeout dishes. Yan Xiaodao barely cooked, and not one of his subordinates knew how either. Most days they simply ate whatever they could find, went to restaurants, or freeloaded meals at Master Qi’s place.
Ling He did not care what they were eating. Hugging a washbasin-shaped vessel of indeterminate material, he rapidly finished an entire small basin of noodles with savory gravy, then immediately began searching the pot with his eyes and shouted, “Save me another bowl!” The heroic way he ate noodles instantly swept away every trace of his lofty, icy elegance from when he first entered the house and won the wholehearted affection and admiration of the entire group of gluttonous younger brothers.
While Ling He was eating his second basin of noodles, Yan Xiaodao made an excuse about “going to take a leak” and left the table beneath Ling He’s stare, a mouthful of noodles still hanging between his lips.
Yan Xiaodao’s phone rang inside his trouser pocket. He shut the bathroom door, crouched on the closed toilet lid, and answered from that position.
“Xiaodao, just calling to tell you we’ve settled into the hotel,” Qi Baoshan said in a calm, steady voice. This was his normal rhythm again.
“All right. As long as you’re safe. If there’s anything you need, just tell me,” Yan Xiaodao said.
Qi Baoshan grumbled casually, “Actually, it’s nothing worth a damn. Yandu and Jinmen have both been unsettled lately. Word is that the people above are preparing to investigate a few people. Inevitably, some others will be called in for questioning, and inevitably there’ll be losses and people dragged into it. Several families connected to the You family in our prefecture may get implicated too, so I’m wandering outside for a little while to avoid the trouble. That’s all.
“If I can leave, why the hell shouldn’t I? Let that old bastard surnamed You stay put where he is and stew himself sick with worry!”
That was true. No matter how large Qi Baoshan’s businesses became, at the end of the day he still wore the face of a merchant. The moment the wind shifted, he could oil the soles of his feet and disappear. The old man of the You family was different. A thousand years ago, he would have been a provincial governor. His whole family lived on the imperial payroll; where could he run?
“Xiaodao, you don’t need to worry. Our family business is clean. None of this will drag you in.” Qi Baoshan added the considerate reassurance as though one broad, solid hand might reach straight through the phone screen and squeeze Xiaodao’s shoulder.
“I understand. Don’t worry, I can hold things together! Tomorrow I’ll invite several of the group executives to dinner and settle everyone down. I know what to say.” Yan Xiaodao answered crisply.
Qi Baoshan gave a faint grunt. Perhaps he smiled, perhaps not. “You’re at home, right?”
Yan Xiaodao said, “Right.”
Qi Baoshan said, “That kid surnamed Ling is at your house too.”
Yan Xiaodao said, “…”
Yan Xiaodao thought his godfather was indeed difficult to fool and hurriedly confessed. “Mm. I’ve got him locked up for now. I’m sharpening the knife.”
Qi Baoshan knew it was a joke and did not pursue it. “I don’t have time to deal with that kid right now either. Don’t chop off his hands or feet for the time being. There are too many people watching our front door, and if you cut him up, there’d be nowhere to throw the pieces! Xiaodao, keep an eye on him for me. Give him good food and wine, don’t provoke him, and most importantly, watch who he contacts and where he sends information.”
Yan Xiaodao deliberately lightened the atmosphere. “He can’t carry a load on his shoulders, can’t lift anything in his hands, and can’t walk a single step. Who exactly is he supposed to contact or pass messages to?”
Qi Baoshan sighed. “Xiaodao, never underestimate this sort of person in the jianghu.
“One day he’ll be killing people and spilling blood, setting fires and burning cities, and you still won’t have realized where it hurts.”
“…”
Qi Baoshan’s phone call carried considerable deterrent power, especially that final sentence. It completely ruined Mr. Yan’s dinner. After half a basin of noodles, he lost his appetite entirely.
After dinner, Yan Xiaodao took a shovel into the courtyard and dug at the earth. With only his left hand able to exert much force, he removed a shrub that had died the previous winter and smoked several cigarettes along the way to satisfy his craving. He had already strictly banned smoking inside the house, so when he looked up, he discovered an entire group of brothers standing obediently in the courtyard smoking with him….
He also called several executives under the group to offer greetings and arranged tomorrow’s dinner.
Yan Xiaodao did not directly interfere with business matters. That was not his particular talent either; every trade had its specialists. The group’s concrete affairs were handled by these executives, business partners, and professional managers. Yan Xiaodao’s responsibility was to keep everyone aboard their great ship safe as they came and went. They would not band together and go to the port to extort protection money or bully other businesses, but neither could they allow outsiders to beat their way to the front door, rob them, demand tolls, or push them around. That was extremely important to businessmen. It was also why Master Qi valued Yan Xiaodao so highly and why everyone within those circles showed him a measure of respect.
Mr. Yan finally went upstairs, carrying the smell of sweat all over him, his shirt hanging loose and gradually working its way out of his waistband.
A table lamp was on in the small sitting room adjoining the upstairs bedroom. The long-haired man with phoenix eyes sat on the sofa, completely absorbed, with one stack of books on the coffee table and another in his lap.
The instant Yan Xiaodao strode into the room, Ling He looked up and saw him. Almost reflexively, he flipped the books over and hid them, pushing them far to one side.
Yan Xiaodao was baffled. “What are you hiding?”
Right—what was he hiding? Ling He froze for a moment, then became embarrassed enough to laugh at himself. They were all Yan Xiaodao’s books to begin with. It was not as though he were a child caught by his parents secretly reading pornographic magazines. What was there to hide?
“Nothing. I was just flipping through them casually, seeing what kind of vast and profound reading Mr. Yan normally enriches himself with,” Ling He said with a smile.
“A distinguished graduate like you can browse whatever you want. No need to be polite with an uneducated man like me.” Yan Xiaodao snorted.
With Yan Xiaodao standing there, Ling He stopped reading instead. Yan Xiaodao suddenly understood the feeling too. He himself disliked other people—his godfather, for example—watching him read and scrutinizing what books he was reading. Reading was an exceptionally private thing. It exposed a person’s tastes, preferences, and inner world far too clearly. Someone who deliberately concealed the richness and depth of his own inner world probably would not want anyone else knowing what he liked to read. Yet perversely enough, that same person might rack his brains wondering what the man sitting beside him liked to read instead—what exactly the truth of that other person’s inner world looked like….
Even so, from the angles and positions of the stacks, Yan Xiaodao could tell that Ling He had rapidly and intently flipped through The Ming Dynasty, Republican-Era Elegance, Biography of Zeng Guofan, and The Nanjing Massacre, skimming through the books Yan had recently read at astonishing speed.
Yan Xiaodao suddenly stood up, looked elsewhere, and tugged at his collar. “I stink. I’m going to shower.”
…
When Ling He stood in the bathroom supported by two crutches, bathing remained an awkward problem for him even though the entire house was full of men.
Water was still dripping from Yan Xiaodao’s hair, running along the lines traced by the veins in his neck and disappearing beneath the collar of his undershirt. Heat radiated from his entire body.
Yan Xiaodao moved his gaze away from the perfect contours of Ling He’s collarbones and chest. He reached out to help undo the man’s clothes, then abruptly released his hand again and said quietly, “How about I call two guys who are still awake to help you? Fengfeng’s still up.”
The transition between reaching out and pulling back was painfully stiff. Given the intelligence and perception of the two men involved, it could only be described as stupidly obvious, with nowhere to hide.
Ling He sat down on the closed toilet lid and, unusually, did not mock, ridicule, or spray venom at him. Instead, he calmly reassured him. “Mr. Yan, are you all right?”
Yan Xiaodao covered himself. “I’m fine. Tired. My arm hurts. I want to sleep.”
Every part of Yan Xiaodao’s body was awake and standing at attention. He did not want to sleep in the slightest.
Several younger brothers came upstairs looking completely bewildered. “We’re supposed to wash him? Th-that doesn’t seem appropriate, Boss….”
Yan Xiaodao stared inexplicably at the group of idiots. “What’s inappropriate about it?”
Apart from Yang Xifeng, who had met Ling He before, the other brothers all turned red. They were genuinely embarrassed, scuffing their shoes against the floor with their hands clasped behind their backs. Their expressions looked exactly like virgin boys in a bridal chamber suddenly confronted with a celestial maiden descended from the Ninth Heaven, too awed to make a single improper move.
Yan Xiaodao was so annoyed he ran out of patience. “Are you men or not? Hurry up!”
One younger brother pressed his lips together and laughed quietly. “Bro, you’re a man too. You handle it. We’re shy. We’d be embarrassed.”
“Enough.” Ling He expressionlessly cut through the group, thoughtfully offering someone a way out. “Trouble Mr. Yan to lift me into the bathtub. After that, you don’t need to concern yourself with me.”
“Boss, Mr. Ling is honestly prettier than a girl. We really are embarrassed to touch him!” Yang Xifeng suddenly came up with a brilliant suggestion. “Why don’t you just find a woman to help him next time? That one you know outside—Miss Su… ask her for a favor.”
Yan Xiaodao carved Fengfeng apart with his eyes. “Stop talking nonsense.”
Yang Xifeng said innocently, “Miss Su is nice, kindhearted, and knows better than anyone how to take care of people. She’d definitely be happy to help you.”
Yan Xiaodao’s vicious glare told Yang Xifeng very clearly that the little bastard’s cigarette, alcohol, and meat money for next month had just disappeared.
The moment Ling He heard that, he lifted his eyes and stared straight at Yan Xiaodao. That glance fired a burst of short arrows in an instant. He sneered, “Absolutely do not bring her here, Mr. Yan. I certainly wouldn’t dare offend your female confidante. Around women, I… will definitely have a physiological reaction. Are you trying to force me into making a mistake so you can seize the excuse to chop off my hands and feet, or are you hoping to ‘team up’ with me for some particularly novel form of entertainment?
“If it’s the latter, I have plenty of stamina tonight. I can accompany you for both the midnight and predawn rounds. Feel free to call several more people over!”
Ling He’s two unruly gazes pressed outward from beneath his lashes, his thin lips drawn into a hard line that promised mercy to no one.
After knowing Ling He this long, if Yan Xiaodao still could not tell the man was angry and preparing to explode in venom, then he truly would have been missing half his brain.
He reached out and shut the door with a bang, locking every irrelevant person outside, then leaned in and lifted Ling He.
Holding Ling He face-to-face and letting the man rest his head against his shoulder, Yan Xiaodao moved with deliberate gentleness, touching as little bare skin as possible. Almost in slow motion, he removed all of Ling He’s clothes and then carefully lowered him into the bathtub. Neither man said a word, as though silently making amends for the pile of idiotic remarks that had just lowered everyone’s intelligence and refusing to make things difficult for the person in front of him.
…
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