The water stains on the floor were swiftly cleaned up by the servants.
Xiao Deng ran back to the room as fast as he could, "Young Master Bai, here are the ice pack and the medicine kit. I checked, all the medications inside are complete."
Bai Xu pulled over a chair and sat down at the bedside, proactively taking Shang Yanxiao's wrist to assess the situation. His brow furrowed slightly—
Although he had stepped in to stop it in time, the caregiver had still accidentally spilled some scalding hot water, and it had inevitably caught Shang Yanxiao, who lay helpless on the sickbed.
By now, three or four blisters had already risen on the man's swollen, reddened arm.
Bai Xu didn't hesitate for a single moment. He picked up the ice pack.
To make things easier, the hand he had been supporting beneath the wrist slid forward slightly, and his fingertips and palm, roughened faintly with calluses, quietly brushed against the other's skin, pressing together as if holding hands.
One palm cold, the other warm, the sensation laced with a faint, ticklish feeling.
Xiao Deng noticed the intimate contact between the two and wasn't quite sure, "Young Master Bai, would you like me to do it instead?"
Bai Xu gently placed the ice pack against the reddened, scalded skin of Shang Yanxiao's arm, not even lifting his head, "If you have the time for that, you'd be better off calling Xie Qi right now and finding out how to handle that caretaker."
"If word of this reaches the Old Madam's ears, all three of you will probably lose your jobs."
"……"
Xiao Deng was startled into silence, "T-then, I'll have to trouble Young Master Bai. I'll go make a call first."
Still, having learned his lesson from just before, he didn't dare leave the master bedroom entirely, and instead stopped at the doorway, staying close in case he was needed at any moment.
Bai Xu's attention was nowhere near Xiao Deng. He lowered his gaze to look at Shang Yanxiao's hand—
Slender, with knuckles that stood out sharply, faint blue veins visible beneath the skin on the back of the hand. Very beautiful, with a quality he couldn't quite put into words— something dry and restrained.
Bai Xu had always found Shang Yanxiao's face striking, and he himself had something of a hand-fixation.
Now, with no one really watching, he dropped all pretense and let out a soft laugh, murmuring under his breath, "Quite a nice hand. Just a little cold."
The person on the sickbed still lay with eyes closed, unmoved by the compliment.
Bai Xu applied the ice pack to the burned areas for about ten minutes before finally opening the medical kit.
He rummaged out a sterile disposable needle, carefully sterilized it, and then gently lanced the raised blisters one by one, before applying burn ointment with a cotton swab.
Very professional. Very practiced.
Footsteps sounded again at the doorway. Xiao Deng grew excited, "Assistant Xie!"
Xie Qi glanced at him, then quickly made his way into the inner room, his expression still carrying a trace of urgency and gravity that hadn't yet faded.
He had only gone to the company to sign a business agreement on someone's behalf— it shouldn't have taken long at all— and then, on the way home, he had been informed of what had happened.
"Young Master Bai, you…"
Bai Xu met Xie Qi's eyes and stood up, "He doesn't have many burns. I've already done the initial treatment on the wounds. If you're not satisfied, you can take another look."
Looking at that fair, delicate face, the words that came out of it were surprisingly calm and composed.
Xie Qi was stunned for a second before he responded, "Thank you. I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"Mm. If there's nothing else, I'll head back to my room," Bai Xu made no inquiries about how the caretaker would be dealt with, and offered to leave at an appropriate moment.
As far as he was concerned, he had simply come across the situation and helped Shang Yanxiao handle it— which was enough to justify the 'bride price' on that card.
Everything else, Bai Xu had no desire to spend energy caring about.
Xie Qi made no move to stop him, and instead personally walked Bai Xu to the door of the master bedroom, "Then, Young Master Bai, please get some rest."
"Mm."
Only after watching Bai Xu return to the bedroom across the hallway did Xie Qi let his expression fall. He lowered his voice and instructed Xiao Deng, "Without permission, no one is allowed in. No one."
Xiao Deng understood immediately and gave a nod.
The door closed. Xie Qi went ahead and locked it, then strode back to the bedside in a few long steps.
At the same moment, Shang Yanxiao shed all pretense of his earlier 'dazed' state. He pushed himself up to sit on the bed, yanked off the monitoring devices that had been in his way, and his eyes darkened to something frightening.
Xie Qi met his gaze, and his heart clenched, "Third Young Master."
As a precaution, only a very small number of people knew that Shang Yanxiao had regained consciousness— aside from his close friend Zhang Changxu, who was being used as cover in his capacity as a doctor, there were only his trusted aide Xie Qi and two bodyguards.
Chen Yufei and the others standing guard outside had been Shang Yanxiao's idea, intended to prevent anyone in the household with ulterior motives from entering without warning—
That way, with the commotion of a pat-down to provide a buffer, Shang Yanxiao, who was 'feigning a coma' inside, would have time to prepare.
What he hadn't anticipated was that someone in this household was so desperate that they had actually managed to bribe his personal caregiver.
Shang Yanxiao felt the unrelenting burn spreading across his arm. Beneath the hoarseness of his voice ran a thin undercurrent of viciousness, "Did you find anything?"
Xie Qi had already gotten the full picture from Chen Yufei, and gave him the honest account, "The caretaker's phone was checked immediately. The WeChat contact was a newly registered secondary account, no identity information pointing anywhere, for now."
Not only that, but all the chat history had been wiped clean. Most likely they had been deleting messages as they went, out of fear of being caught.
Shang Yanxiao said nothing. His eyes only grew darker.
"I'll have someone look into who registered that WeChat account later."
Xie Qi paused, then added, "The other party must have paid the caretaker quite a lot. He's keeping his mouth firmly shut."
Money can make the devil turn the millstone.
Even when Chen Yufei had deliberately used the scalding water to intimidate and press her, he had done nothing but sob and beg for mercy, not a single word of truth could be pried loose.
Shang Yanxiao was not surprised by this outcome, "They wouldn't slip up so easily."
Regardless of whether tonight had yielded any results, the caretaker could at most be charged with negligence. There was no evidence pointing back to the people behind this. They had played their hand perfectly.
"File a police report first, then keep watching the caretaker."
The police wouldn't handle this kind of incident too severely, even if he were taken in, he'd be held for a few days at most. But since the caretaker and the other party had a transactional relationship, something would eventually surface.
"As for the rest of it…"
Shang Yanxiao slowly raised his eyes, his tone brooking no argument, "Chen Yufei knows what to do."
What else was there to do?
Return the favor in kind, naturally.
"Understood," Xie Qi nodded in agreement, still shaken, "Third Young Master, is your hand all right? Should I have someone come and take another look?"
"It's fine."
Shang Yanxiao lowered his gaze to the burn wounds that had already been properly treated. Even without having witnessed it himself, he found his mind filling in the scene on its own—
Bai Xu sitting at the bedside, cradling his palm and carefully applying the medication, movements gentle and practiced, the entire process suffused with that strange, mingling sensation of cold and warmth and the faint tingle between them.
And that one remark— free of any ulterior motive, pure and lightly teasing:
"Quite a nice hand. Just a little cold."
"......"
Shang Yanxiao's thoughts drifted for a moment, and it seemed as though a faint, tingling numbness returned to his wrist.
Xie Qi noticed his distraction, "Third Young Master?"
"Mm?"
Shang Yanxiao brought his attention back, and in what appeared to be an offhand gesture, loosely curled his fingers into a fist, "It's just a minor injury. It'll be fine in a day or two."
Xie Qi let out a breath of relief and said plainly, "It's a good thing Young Master Bai happened to be in the room today, or things could have gone much worse."
Otherwise, the burns on that arm would likely have spread across a far greater area, and might even have caused Shang Yanxiao, in his state of 'unconsciousness', to have all his efforts undone and his cover blown.
Shang Yanxiao didn't disagree, though something else came to mind—
The Old Madam, anxious to find a solution, had gone and consulted that fortune-teller, who had declared with great conviction: Bai Xu's fate was strong, auspicious, and a natural ward against disaster and misfortune. Wherever he went, calamity would turn to fortune, benefiting both himself and those around him.
And yet, the moment he stepped through the door, something like this had happened— and he had, in fact, averted it. There was something strangely fitting about the coincidence.
That said, Shang Yanxiao had never put stock in such things, "By the way, while you're at it, look into Bai Xu as well."
"Young Master Bai? Investigate him?"
"Mm."
Among the elite circles of the capital, connections ran in every direction— secrets, rumors, all of it scattered on the wind. Shang Yanxiao had heard others mention Bai Xu's background and the stories surrounding him, and had even crossed paths with him once at a banquet years ago. His memory of the occasion was of someone timid and shrinking, keeping to a corner of the room without making a sound.
"Look into everyone and everything connected to Bai Xu over the years. The more detail, the better."
It was both a precaution and a means of understanding.
"Give the Old Madam a brief account of tonight, just tell her that from now on, you and the medical team will be handling my condition. Everyone else, unnecessary personnel, are no longer needed."
Xie Qi accepted the instruction, "Understood."
...
On his first night in the Shang household, Bai Xu unexpectedly had no trouble sleeping.
He slept through until noon and then lay in bed a while longer, feeling refreshed from head to toe.
Bai Xu did a quick wash-up, glanced in the mirror at his clearly overgrown fringe, and then thought of the wardrobe that stood completely empty. His plans for the day took shape.
He changed his clothes and stepped out of his room.
Xiao Deng, who happened to be heading upstairs at that very moment, heard the door open and greeted him cheerfully, "Young Master Bai, just woken up?"
Bai Xu nodded, "Mm. I'm heading out for a bit."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Xiao Deng's face "Where are you going?"
At that, Xie Qi also came up the stairs.
Bai Xu thought of what Xie Qi had told him in the car yesterday and said directly, "I need to go out and pick up a few things, buy some clothes as well. It won't take long."
The original host's few sets of old clothes had been worn again and again, and they weren't his style to begin with, so he simply hadn't brought them along.
Xiao Deng didn't respond, and looked instead toward Xie Qi, who held more authority here.
Xie Qi caught his glance and said, "Young Master Bai, just write down whatever you need, and I'll have someone go out and get it for you. I can also have a boutique manager bring selections directly to the house."
For something this minor that money could easily handle, why would anyone need to go out themselves?
Bai Xu declined, "No need."
He wasn't used to the way things were done in households like this. Shopping was secondary, what he really wanted was to take the opportunity to get a better feel for the outside world and his surroundings.
Something seemed to occur to Xie Qi. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then thought better of it.
Bai Xu saw straight through him, "What? Worried I'll take the Old Madam's money and disappear?"
As he said it, his gaze drifted toward the master bedroom, and a faint glimmer of amusement stirred in his chest, "Hold on."
"No, that's not–" Xie Qi started to explain, then froze, watching helplessly as Bai Xu walked right toward the master bedroom.
Bang!
The door swung open.
Chen Yufei, standing guard inside, shifted slightly in expression and looked past Bai Xu to Xie Qi following close behind, "Young Master Bai? Has something happened?"
"Nothing's happened. But telling you lot is useless," Bai Xu's smile surfaced, faint but unmistakable, as he stepped around them and walked straight to the bedside, "I'll ask someone else."
Before the words had even finished landing, he leaned down toward Shang Yanxiao, who lay seemingly asleep in the bed, and when he spoke again, his tone shifted— suddenly, unexpectedly, soft and well-behaved.
"Husband, I'm going out to buy a few things. You don't mind, do you?"
"……"
The whole sequence unfolded with seamless ease. Xie Qi and Chen Yufei exchanged a glance, both visibly thrown to hear the earth-shattering word ‘husband’ that Bai Xu said.
It was only his second day in the house. He was— he was actually calling him that already?
"Silence counts as a yes?"
Bai Xu waited a few beats with great solemnity, then straightened up and looked back at the bodyguard and assistant still standing frozen in the doorway, bringing the little joke to a perfectly tidy close.
"See that? The head of the household has given his approval."
I wonder how many times he can play this joke 🤣
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