Wen Ming had been anxious from the start, like a thief afraid of being caught.
In truth, he had taken Wen Lan away so suddenly that Mr. Fu couldn’t possibly react that quickly, much less come chasing after them… Yet an inexplicable sense of panic continued to linger in Wen Ming’s heart.
That panic finally erupted in full at immigration.
“What did you say?” Wen Ming asked darkly.
Seeing that his expression was wrong, the assistant hurriedly ushered the person aside and went to speak with the immigration officer himself.
Lan Xi was slowly regaining consciousness. He gave a lazy yawn and didn’t seem particularly alarmed. His first question was, “What did you give me to eat?”
Wen Ming hesitated for a moment. “I put a little sleeping medicine in your milk.”
“Poison?”
“No, no, it wasn’t.”
How could someone not even know what sleeping medicine was?
In the past, whenever Lan Xi said something nonsensical or absurd, it had looked either as though something was wrong with his head or as though Wen Lan were deliberately acting strange.
But today, a far more serious possibility had suddenly been laid out before Wen Ming.
Wen Ming’s heart pounded like a drum. He watched the assistant return with a miserable expression and say, “He can’t enter the country.”
“What do we do? Fly back again?”
Faced with his assistant’s questioning gaze, Wen Ming’s thoughts were a complete mess.
It took him a long while to find his voice. “First… let’s fly to Hai City.”
Lan Xi looked at Wen Ming in bafflement, then just as bafflingly followed him back onto another plane.
He had slept so much he felt nauseated. With nothing else to do during the endless flight, he pressed himself against the window and counted clouds.
Lan Xi’s palate had already been spoiled by good food, so he didn’t particularly like the airplane meal either. By the time they finally landed after more than ten hours, he was thoroughly displeased with Wen Ming.
Wen Ming’s eyes were threaded with red. In the end, he made a decision. “Find a DNA testing center. One that can give us the results as quickly as possible.”
＊
Heavy rain had begun pouring over Hai City.
Lan Xi sat in the cold corridor eating a beef burger while looking down at his phone.
[Where are you?]
Fu Hui had sent the message yesterday.
Lan Xi had spent an entire day on the plane. It was already the early hours of the third day.
Which meant that when Fu Hui went to Wen Zixiong’s house, all he had found was empty air.
Lan Xi picked up his phone and sent a voice message: [In Hai City.]
He couldn’t describe anything more than that.
He didn’t even know what kind of place this was.
Wen Ming looked as though he had gone completely insane. He stood with his back to Lan Xi in front of the glass window, too distracted even to care who Lan Xi was messaging.
The phone buzzed again.
[Your contact has started location sharing.]
What was this?
Lan Xi tapped it.
He discovered that he had turned into a little dot on a map.
Fu Hui had turned into a little dot too.
Lan Xi curiously poked at the two dots. Then he heard a creak as a door opened and someone stepped out, handing a report to Wen Ming.
Lan Xi immediately put away his phone and looked over.
Wen Ming’s grip on the report grew tighter and tighter.
Paternal half-brothers generally shared around twenty-five percent of their DNA… But he and Wen Lan—no, he and this person…
Wen Ming suddenly spun around and stared fixedly at Lan Xi. “You aren’t Wen Lan.”
Lan Xi’s face plainly said, Isn’t that obvious?
He shoved the burger he didn’t particularly like into the assistant’s hands. “Mm-hm.”
Wen Ming repeated it again. “You aren’t Wen Lan…”
As though the result were almost impossible for him to accept.
Lan Xi looked at him as though he were even more of an idiot now.
Wen Ming felt as if his scalp were about to explode. He stared at the face in front of him. It was at once painfully familiar and utterly strange.
Clutching his phone in a death grip, he shouted hoarsely, “Call Assistant Yu!”
Assistant Yu had been the one who brought this person back from Yun Province.
Only now did Wen Ming regret why he had sent Assistant Yu there alone in the first place.
How long had it already been?
Was the real Wen Lan still alive?
He didn’t even dare think back to everything that had gone through his mind while kneeling before Xu Yueqiang’s grave.
It made him seem absurd beyond belief!
Even all the turmoil and misery he had suffered these past few days now seemed like some ridiculous joke.
Wen Ming couldn’t even bring himself to look at Lan Xi anymore.
Every additional glance brought with it a painful rush of remorse.
“Boss, Assistant Yu’s call connected.” The secretary handed him the phone.
Wen Ming snatched it and hurried around the corner.
Assistant Yu was shocked to receive a call in the middle of the night. He stammered incoherently over the phone, repeating nothing but, “That’s impossible. How could that…”
The more Wen Ming listened, the more irritated he became. Finally, he decided, “Take the earliest flight to Yun Province. We’ll meet you there.”
The assistant guarding Lan Xi realized that something serious had happened and awkwardly approached Wen Ming. “Then now… he…”
Wen Ming did his utmost to calm himself before walking back over to Lan Xi. “Who exactly are you?”
“I told you. My name is Lan Xi.”
“…” Wen Ming closed his eyes briefly. “Which characters?”
Lan Xi carefully searched through his vocabulary before answering, “Lan as in orchid. Xi as in hope.”
Lan Xi vaguely realized what Wen Ming had just gone to do. It was like what happened on television: draw a tube of blood, and you could find out whether someone was your son.
Lan Xi smiled. His eyes were still perfectly clear. “I told you long ago. I’m not Wen Lan.”
He didn’t forget to accuse Wen Ming either. “You didn’t believe me.”
Wen Ming took two harsh breaths. “Yes… I didn’t believe you.”
He ground his teeth. “It was my fault…”
He raked both hands irritably through his hair.
Lan Xi stared at him in surprise. “Have you gone crazy?”
Wen Ming didn’t answer.
Lan Xi reached out to touch him, but Wen Ming abruptly dodged away.
Lan Xi’s brows immediately drew together. He couldn’t understand why Wen Ming seemed even more afraid of him now.
“You… I don’t know who you are…” Wen Ming said painfully. “You should go.”
Lan Xi was stunned.
“The person who should have gone with us to pay respects wasn’t supposed to be you. You aren’t my or Wen Yue’s younger brother…”
“Then what?”
“You can’t live his life.”
Lan Xi flew into a rage.
Why did seraphs all change their attitudes so damn quickly?
Furious, he raised his middle finger at Wen Ming, turned around, and walked away.
When he left the hospital, it was still raining outside.
But that didn’t matter. Demons weren’t afraid of rain.
Lan Xi had only taken two furious steps through the downpour when he noticed his palm vibrating.
He lifted his phone.
This was already Fu Hui’s second call.
Lan Xi answered and immediately cursed furiously, “There’s something wrong with Wen Ming!”
There was a brief pause on the other end before Fu Hui quickly understood. “He found out you aren’t Wen Lan?”
“Mm!”
Lan Xi was still seething. “I told him before. Why is he only getting angry now?”
When Fu Hui had investigated “Wen Lan,” he had gained a general understanding of the Wen family’s circumstances and family structure.
Wen Zixiong was irresponsible. His eldest and second sons had more or less been raised entirely by their stepmother, Xu Yueqiang. Naturally, the feelings involved were different.
The eldest had already been somewhat older when Xu Yueqiang entered his life, so it wasn’t quite as severe. But for the second son, the emotional dependence should have been much deeper.
Of course it would be even harder for him to face the fact that the person now standing before him in place of Xu Yueqiang’s biological son was Lan Xi.
Fu Hui didn’t explain any of this to Lan Xi. He simply said, “Stay nearby and don’t move. A car will come pick you up. Can you recognize a license plate number?”
He read out a string of digits.
Only then did Lan Xi’s anger subside a little. “…Oh.”
He turned into a small alley nearby. “I’ll wait.”
“Mm.” Only then did Fu Hui hang up.
The car Fu Hui had arranged soon approached the hospital.
A black MPV stopped at the mouth of the alley according to the shared location. A bodyguard quickly got out beneath an umbrella and looked around in search of someone.
Lan Xi’s phone rang again.
Fu Hui was video-calling him.
Fortunately, he had learned how to do this before. Lan Xi answered.
The image shook before settling on Lan Xi’s rain-soaked face.
He was drenched from head to toe.
His long lashes could barely bear the weight of the raindrops clinging to them. The droplets hung there, about to fall but not quite falling, creating the pitiful illusion that he might burst into tears at any second.
Fu Hui stared at him for a moment, as though he had been transported back to the first time he met Lan Xi.
“Has the car arrived?” Fu Hui asked.
Lan Xi slowly walked out of the alley. “Mm.”
The bodyguard immediately identified him and hurried over with the umbrella to shield him from the rain.
Fu Hui said, “Point your phone at them. Let me make sure you aren’t getting into the wrong car.”
He was clearly deeply worried about Lan Xi’s habit of following practically anyone who came along.
Lan Xi pursed his lips and clumsily turned his phone around.
He still didn’t know how to switch cameras, so everything had to be done manually.
Fu Hui took one look. “Get in.”
Only then did Lan Xi climb into the car.
The cabin was extremely spacious. Someone immediately handed him a towel and a cup of hot milk.
Now, whenever Lan Xi saw hot milk, he thought of his defeat today.
He said, “Don’t want it.”
Secretary Lin, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around. She looked Lan Xi over curiously and asked with a smile, “What would you like to drink?”
Secretary Lin wasn’t Fu Hui’s secretary. She worked for a powerful local figure in Hai City.
Her superior had ordered her to come receive Lan Xi, so she didn’t dare neglect him, though she couldn’t help wondering who exactly he was.
“Young people usually like milk tea. Would you like one? Let me think, lately in Hai City, taro paste, purple glutinous rice, brown-sugar pearls, and durian cheese have been pretty popular. Do you have any preference?”
Lan Xi was still unhappy. “Anything.”
“Of course.” Secretary Lin instructed the driver to turn in another direction. They soon stopped at a well-known milk-tea shop, where she got out with the bodyguards and bought more than a dozen cups in different flavors.
Only after Lan Xi chose one first did she distribute the rest among the others.
Lan Xi cradled the milk tea in his hands and sucked the pearls into his mouth one by one. They were soft, chewy, and pleasantly springy.
Lan Xi quickly forgot all about what had upset him earlier.
A bodyguard was still drying his hair beside him.
Secretary Lin, meanwhile, was already making calls and having someone prepare fresh clothes.
Heavy rain washed over the windows, shutting out every sound from outside. Only the buzzing of Lan Xi’s phone remained.
Lan Xi looked down.
It was Wen Yue calling.
Lan Xi pursed his lips and, transferring his anger onto him, hung up.
Wen Yue’s second call went directly to Wen Ming instead.
His first words were a furious question spoken through tightly suppressed anger. “Where exactly were you planning to take Wen Lan? Wen Ming, what the hell are you doing?”
Wen Ming was still sitting on a bench at the hospital, his back pressed against the cold tiles. Exhausted, he said, “Big Brother, he isn’t Wen Lan.”
“What?”
Wen Ming had no energy left, but he still had to explain. “I took Wen Lan abroad. We’d already landed, but when we went through immigration, we got stopped. The facial recognition and fingerprints didn’t match. Then I flew him back and had a DNA test done…”
“Wen Lan… is still somewhere in the forests of Yun Province.”
Wen Yue’s eyelid jerked violently, and his breathing visibly grew heavier.
Hearing the long silence on the other end, Wen Ming found the oppressive quiet almost unbearable.
“Say something…”
“You can blame me too. I was the one who sent Assistant Yu there in the first place. Assistant Yu brought him back, and I never suspected anything…”
“Why would I blame you?” Wen Yue paused, then comforted him. “Don’t think too much about it.”
That calmness instead opened the floodgates on Wen Ming’s emotions. He slammed a fist into the wall. “How can I not think too much? Back then—back then, at Aunt Xu’s grave, I was thinking, I’m sorry. I’m such a bastard. How could I fall for my own younger brother? And what happened? The person I was confessing to her about was a fake. Her real son is still somewhere out there. For all we know, he might already be dead… What would she think of me in the afterlife?”
Wen Yue’s eyelid twitched again. He simply pretended he hadn’t heard a certain particularly sensitive part of Wen Ming’s speech.
Wen Yue lowered his voice. “Do you remember what you said at the very beginning, after we searched Yun Province for so long and still couldn’t find him? Didn’t you say everyone has their own fate and there was nothing we could do? You can still think of it that way now…”
“I can’t think that way anymore.” Wen Ming pressed himself painfully against the wall.
“Where’s Wen Lan?” Wen Yue asked out of habit, then corrected himself. “Where is that person?”
“I told him to leave.”
“…” Wen Yue frowned. “You didn’t ask him exactly who he is?”
“He only said his name is Lan Xi.”
Wen Yue pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bring him back.”
“Big Brother…”
“Maybe he’s seen Wen Lan. You at least need to ask him clearly.”
Wen Ming was silent for a moment.
“What? You feel like you can’t face him? Fine. Bring him back to Jing City. I’ll ask him.”
Wen Ming didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either.
He straightened his stiff neck and got up to walk outside.
Only when he reached the hospital entrance did he discover just how heavily it was raining. The roar was loud enough for Wen Yue to hear through the phone.
Wen Yue frowned even harder. “Where are you right now?”
“Hai City.” Wen Ming gave him the name of the hospital.
Wen Yue cursed him. “Are you insane? It’s pouring over there? He doesn’t know anyone or anywhere in that city, and you told him to leave? Where the hell was he supposed to go?”
Wen Ming still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock. Listening to Wen Yue’s angry voice, he suddenly realized that his brother’s reaction was very different from his own.
“Big Brother, did you… suspect it already? Is that why you’re so calm?”
“You’re overthinking it,” Wen Yue said.
“I’m scared…” Wen Ming’s voice was heavy. “There might have been a moment before when both of us thought… maybe it would be better if Wen Lan never came back…”
“I’m scared there might have been some moment when we clearly realized something was wrong, but still thought this was better.”
“That’s wrong! It’s wrong! How could we do that to Aunt Xu?”
“You’re not thinking clearly. We’ll talk when you calm down.” Wen Yue ended the call. He took several deep breaths while staring out the window before his emotions finally settled.
Then Wen Yue called the Hai City branch. “Go find this person.”
He sent over a photograph.
It was a screenshot from the surveillance footage of Wen… no, Lan Xi.
The people in Hai City called him back very quickly. “Sorry, President Wen. The rainfall has gotten even heavier here, and the roads are flooding. It really isn’t safe to send people out to search right now. Can we wait until tomorrow?”
Previously, Wen Yue had thought “Wen Lan” had seriously damaged his brain and could barely speak coherently.
But now, combined with that “brain damage” and the fact that he had walked off alone into a torrential downpour…
Wen Yue grew increasingly agitated. “I’ll give everyone extra bonuses. I’m mainly worried that this person might get lost…”
The person on the other end went quiet for a moment. “I’ll arrange some people and have them do their best.”
As soon as Wen Yue hung up, he began searching for flights.
But because of the thunderstorm, flights had been affected as well. Planes that were supposed to land in Hai City had all been diverted elsewhere.
Wen Yue couldn’t stop himself from swearing. He felt that Wen Ming’s insistence on dragging someone overseas in the first place could only be explained by a donkey kicking him in the head.
Wen Ming crouched outside the hospital with bloodshot eyes for a while. Watching the water steadily rise until it was level with the steps, he shuddered and finally sobered somewhat.
He turned to his assistant. “Search around nearby. See whether he got very far.”
Because there had once been a moment when he felt attracted to the “fake,” he now felt all the more ashamed.
Even brief recollections frightened Wen Ming.
＊
By now, Lan Xi had already finished a hot shower and was curled up on the sofa eating Xin Rong Ji’s crispy squab and mantis shrimp.
Secretary Lin had just finished reporting his safety to her superior. She turned back and asked with a smile, “Is it good?”
Lan Xi kept his head buried in the food. “Mm-mm-mm.”
Seeing this, Secretary Lin walked over, put on gloves too, and helped peel the shrimp for him.
Remembering her superior’s instructions, Secretary Lin deliberately tried to get a little closer to Lan Xi and asked with a smile, “I haven’t had the chance to ask yet. What’s your surname? It’ll make it easier for me to address you.”
Lan Xi said, “I don’t have a surname. My name is Lan Xi.”
Such an unfamiliar name—and he didn’t even have a surname? Secretary Lin was surprised and found his background even harder to decipher.
She could only suppress her various guesses for now. “It’s typhoon season again. With the wind and rain this bad, planes can’t take off, so you may need to stay here for several days.”
Lan Xi immediately became a little angry again.
If Wen Ming hadn’t suddenly bundled him up and dragged him to the airport… he definitely could have acted quickly and slept with Fu Hui before Fu Hui had a chance to change his mind, then left afterward.
And now, because of Wen Ming, he still hadn’t gotten to sleep with Fu Hui.
But the shrimp really was delicious.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
Oh. The squab was crispy too. Not bad.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
“You don’t need to worry too much. We can’t go outside in this rain, but there are plenty of things to do without going outside. We’ll keep you company these next few days, so please don’t find us annoying.” Secretary Lin smiled as she placed a perfectly peeled shrimp onto the small plate in front of Lan Xi.
Lan Xi couldn’t imagine it. “Do what?”
“Anything you like. Indoor golf, indoor basketball, soccer, tennis—they have all of those. There’s indoor rock climbing too.”
“If you don’t like sports… there’s also a movie theater, an arcade, and even an internet-famous bookstore. Would you like to go look at books and take some pictures?”
Having grown up in resource-poor Hell, the succubus could hardly imagine that there were so many different things to do.
So it wasn’t only television!
He immediately became happy again and planned out the next several days of activities together with Secretary Lin.
Secretary Lin kept her instructions firmly in mind and didn’t dare let Lan Xi overeat. Once he had eaten about enough, she had the bodyguards clear away all the dishes.
Then she turned on the television, switched it to Lan Xi’s favorite channel at his request, and raised the curtains so that while watching TV, he could also look out at the rain.
“I’ll come pick you up for breakfast tomorrow morning.” Secretary Lin left him her number. “If anything comes up, contact me directly.”
Lan Xi nodded and lit up his phone screen.
Several more missed calls had accumulated.
Five were from Wen Yue, and one was from Wen Ming.
There were several more text messages too, all from Wen Yue.
[Where are you?]
[Don’t wander around. I sent people to find you.]
[Wen Ming went too far. Ignore him.]
[Where the hell are you?!]
Lan Xi tilted his head and carefully examined the messages to determine Wen Yue’s attitude. Only then did he call him back.
The call connected immediately. “Where are you?”
“Hotel.”
Wen Yue froze. “You have money to stay in a hotel?”
Lan Xi didn’t know how to explain concisely that someone had come to pick him up and arranged a hotel room for him, so he didn’t need to spend his own money.
He simply answered with one word. “Mm.”
Wen Yue listened carefully.
There really was no sound of rain from Lan Xi’s side, which meant he was safely indoors somewhere.
After confirming that he was safe, Wen Yue suddenly didn’t know what else to say.
In the middle of the silence, Lan Xi noticed his phone ringing again.
Huh.
Another call could actually come in while he was already on one!
Lan Xi looked at [Malatang Seller] flashing across the screen. After thinking for a moment, he abandoned Wen Yue.
He ended the call, then answered the new one.
“Full?” Fu Hui’s voice came through.
“Mm.”
“Go to sleep.”
At that, Lan Xi became annoyed again. “Can’t sleep!”
Fu Hui heard the change in his tone. “Why?”
“Slept too long on the plane.”
Fu Hui hung up.
Lan Xi stared at his phone in disbelief.
But the next instant, a video call came through.
Lan Xi answered. The image shook a little before quickly settling on a book.
Fu Hui’s voice sounded faintly muffled through the connection as it reached him. “Can’t sleep? Want me to read to you?”
Lan Xi did kind of want to watch television too, but now the sesame seeds were already gone while the watermelon was still sitting right in front of him.
Besides, learning Heaven’s new languages was very important too.
He made his choice.
“Mm-mm.” Lan Xi shifted position and lay on his stomach across the bed. It was more comfortable that way.
Fu Hui was suddenly confronted with Lan Xi’s entire face pressed close to the camera.
This time, he no longer needed to look away as he had in the past.
Fu Hui pursed his lips and stared at him for several seconds, from his exquisite features to the strange light glowing in his eyes, from the beautiful line of his neck to the body loosely concealed beneath his bathrobe.
Then Fu Hui dragged his gaze back upward and, almost as though forcing himself to, stared for a long moment at Lan Xi’s barely noticeable Adam’s apple.
Only then did he tell the bodyguard to bring over more study materials.
The camera shifted with him. Fu Hui’s fingers moved over the book covers one by one as he asked carelessly, “How far have you gotten in your studies?”
Lan Xi looked at his fingers for a moment before answering, “First year of junior high.”
Fu Hui’s hand stopped. “Fang Nianqing taught you?”
Lan Xi said, “No.” Then, proudly, “I learned it myself.”
Fu Hui really was surprised. Without the slightest insincerity, he said, “You’re very smart.”
“Of course!”
Fu Hui opened a first-year junior-high textbook.
Lan Xi stopped him. “Wait.”
“Mm?”
“I want to learn that. That…” Lan Xi struggled to remember. “It’s called English!”
Fu Hui didn’t ask why he had suddenly changed his mind and wanted to learn that instead. He simply looked up and told the bodyguard to bring a different batch of books.
Lan Xi guessed that it would take a little while for the new books to arrive, so he said, “Read to me. Take that book. The one on the right. Turn to page fifty-eight…”
Fu Hui narrowed his eyes and tested him. “Wen Ming read it to you?”
It was an extremely obvious trap.
The succubus didn’t think twice before denying it. “Wen Yue.”
Fu Hui: “…”
The page crumpled slightly in his grip.
It really was unpleasant to hear.
Fu Hui lowered his head and read the passage Wen Yue had read before. Before long, he remembered the backgrounds of the two Wen brothers. Both of them had attended high school abroad, so their performance when reading this to Lan Xi probably hadn’t been particularly good.
That must be why Lan Xi had specifically asked to have it read again.
Fu Hui raised one eyebrow faintly and said nothing.
When Fu Hui finished reading a section, Lan Xi once again asked what it meant.
For someone from Fu Hui’s kind of family, exposure to material like this really was basic education. When he was young, he had even been required to read Records of the Grand Historian.
Without even blinking, Fu Hui calmly explained the passage to Lan Xi.
Lan Xi’s eyes immediately lit up. He stared at Fu Hui again.
Until he had thoroughly learned all of Heaven’s new knowledge, he was starting to feel reluctant to strangle Fu Hui to death.
When Fu Hui had the patience to do something, he truly possessed an extraordinary amount of it.
After finishing the reading, he even considered things for a moment and began by teaching Lan Xi to recognize the English alphabet.
But doing it through a phone screen was far too tiring on the eyes.
Lan Xi stared until his vision blurred, his mind filled with only one thought: I want to go back.
“Mm.” Fu Hui had the bodyguards clear away the mess covering the table, then stood and headed outside. “Soon.”
＊
Wen Yue remained stunned in place for quite a while after having the call hung up on him. Only then did he remember to call Wen Ming.
Wen Ming had already circled the area around the hospital twice in the rain without seeing so much as a shadow of Lan Xi.
His assistant hurriedly pulled him back. “The floodwater could be electrified.”
That made Wen Ming’s face sink, only for him to become even more agitated.
Wen Yue’s call came at exactly that moment. “Lan Xi is at a hotel. You don’t need to look anymore. Take care of yourself first.”
“He went there by himself? Impossible!” Wen Ming blurted instinctively.
Wen Yue froze.
Right. Judging from Lan Xi’s usual behavior, there was no way he could independently manage a hotel check-in without trouble.
Then… could someone have picked him up?
But no matter what had happened, it seemed as though this was no longer something the two of them had any right to interfere with.
The brothers fell silent over the phone once again.
A bitter taste slowly spread through both their mouths.
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