DASFAM_20

"Mmm."

Bai Xu let out a muffled groan, feeling somewhat feverish as he opened his eyes.

The alcohol rising inside him stirred up a wave of heat, leaving him irritable and deeply uncomfortable.

Zhang Changxu heard the movement and immediately turned to check, "Young Master Bai?"

Bai Xu heard the voice in a daze, and the lingering vigilance buried in his subconscious struggled to rise—

He suddenly snapped his eyes open and straightened up, only to be restrained by the seatbelt in an instant and jerked back down.

The motion was too abrupt. Bai Xu felt a sharp throbbing at his temple, "Hiss—"

Zhang Changxu noticed the reflexive defensiveness in his reaction and furrowed his brow slightly, "Young Master Bai, are you awake? We've already arrived at the Shang family villa."

"……"

Bai Xu pressed his lips together without answering, and simply tried to make out the scene beyond the car window.

Fortunately, the tightly shut villa gates soon swung open.

Xie Qi, who had received word from Shang Yanxiao, hurried out and, guided by a look from Zhang Changxu, opened the rear passenger door.

The cool night breeze swept in, easing the feverish restlessness a little.

Bai Xu made out Xie Qi's face, "Hm? We're here?"

Xie Qi helped him out of the car, "Young Master Bai, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Even drunk, Bai Xu was stubborn to his core. He shook off Xie Qi's hand with effort and walked toward the villa with unsteady steps.

Zhang Changxu watched his retreating figure and remarked quietly, "Even drunk, he still knows to come home. Seems like he trusts you all quite a bit."

Xie Qi adjusted his glasses, "Dr. Zhang, thank you for the trouble."

Zhang Changxu glanced back at him, his words carrying a deeper meaning, "Everything alright?"

He was naturally asking about Shang Yanxiao's cover within this household.

Xie Qi gave a knowing nod, "People have been coming by to 'visit' one after another, but it's been manageable."

Zhang Changxu wrapped up the brief exchange, "Alright, I'll bring people for his 'routine check-up' in a couple of days. It's too late tonight, I'll head off."

"Of course, Dr. Zhang, take care."

As he spoke, Xie Qi quickly strode back into the villa in large steps, afraid that Bai Xu might stumble and get hurt in his drunken state.

The villa gates shut with a dull thud, startling Zhang Changning, who was asleep in the front passenger seat, into a series of soft whines and murmurs.

Zhang Changxu couldn't help but lean over and ruffle his already disheveled little curls, "Ningning?"

Zhang Changning, though drunk, had been sleeping quite comfortably. He didn't even lift his eyelids, simply turning his back to Zhang Changxu with a spoiled air, "Second Brother, you're so noisy."

"……"

Zhang Changxu let out a helpless laugh, and could only adjust the air conditioning for him before starting the car again and driving away.

...

Xie Qi closed the front door and turned around to find Shang Queyan sitting in his wheelchair.

"Fourth Young Master, you're not asleep yet?"

"Mm."

Shang Queyan said nothing further—

He knew that Bai Xu had attended tonight's banquet in his place to deal with the third branch, and while he felt guilty about the cowardly thoughts that kept creeping up on him, he also worried that Bai Xu might have been belittled and made a laughingstock in that kind of setting.

After all, this was never something that should have been placed on the shoulders of an outsider like Bai Xu to begin with.

The moment he heard the commotion at the entrance, Shang Queyan had already tried to move, but his body wasn't cooperative enough—by the time he'd gotten himself from the bedside into the wheelchair and maneuvered to open the door, Bai Xu had already made his unsteady way upstairs.

Shang Queyan asked, "Bai Xu… he's drunk?"

"Mm, looks like he's fairly far gone," Xie Qi glanced up toward the second floor. "Fourth Young Master, quite a few things happened at the banquet tonight. I'll fill you in tomorrow when I have time, let me go check on Young Master Bai first."

Shang Queyan nodded, "Alright."

Xie Qi didn't take the elevator, instead heading upstairs at a brisk pace.

Bai Xu, who had gone up ahead, was standing at the door of his own bedroom with no sign of going inside, lost in who knew what thoughts.

Xie Qi was puzzled, "Young Master Bai? Aren't you going back to your room?"

Bai Xu didn't answer. He suddenly turned and walked toward the master bedroom, his steps swaying, yet his pace remained completely unimpeded.

Click.

Bai Xu pressed down the master bedroom door handle in one clean, decisive motion.

Xiao Deng, who was keeping watch inside the room, and Xie Qi, who was standing at the top of the stairs, were startled at the same moment. The latter hurried over to intervene, "Young Master Bai, you've got the wrong room, this—"

"Shut up."

Bai Xu cast him a sidelong glance. His eyes, steeped in drink, carried a cool, aristocratic aloofness that effortlessly made people think twice about pushing further.

"……"

Xie Qi, for once, was at a loss for words.

Bai Xu stepped into the room and pointed at Xiao Deng, who was standing there dumbfounded, "You. Get out."

Xiao Deng was completely bewildered and looked to Xie Qi beside him for help.

Bai Xu added, "Looking at him is useless. I'm the one calling the shots here. Get out!"

Xie Qi couldn't quite gauge the true depth of Bai Xu's drunkenness. He cast a glance at Shang Yanxiao, who was 'feigning unconsciousness' on the bed, and fell back on instinct, withdrawing from the room.

When it came to matters between their employer and the person their employer was engaged to, it was best for them to stay well out of it.

Xiao Deng immediately caught on and shrank back, saying, "Young Master Bai, if you- if you need anything, just call for us."

"Annoying."

Bai Xu kicked the bedroom door shut with his foot, cutting off the two subordinates from view.

In the spacious, quiet master bedroom, the only sound left for a moment was the faint hum of the monitoring equipment.

Bai Xu felt the alcohol's heat growing more and more intense. He first shrugged off his jacket, then yanked off his tie, and only after loosening the collar of his shirt did he feel like he could finally breathe a little easier.

By the time he'd finished all of that, he had already swayed his way to the bedside.

Bai Xu stared at Shang Yanxiao lying by the bed with bleary, unfocused eyes, a vague and indescribable irritation flickering through him. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gave the man in front of him a firm shove.

"Hey!"

"Wake up!"

"……"

"I'm talking to you, this Shang- Third, Third Young Master of yours…" Bai Xu was already drunk, and nearly bit his own tongue trying to get that mouthful of a title out. His temper flared up at once, "What kind of awful thing to be called?"

"Your third branch really knows how to attract attention, don't you- do you have any idea, do you– how much trouble I had to fend off for you today? You don't, do you? Hm?"

The last little breath of sound at the end twisted through seven or eight turns, carrying a hint of a charm that the outside world had never been allowed to see.

Having said all that, Bai Xu couldn't help reaching out again and prodding the cheek of the person on the bed.

Shang Yanxiao's slightly cool skin temperature was just enough to offset the heat at Bai Xu's fingertips, and he grew increasingly uninhibited, treating Shang Yanxiao before him like some oversized toy to be poked and kneaded at will—

He tapped his nose, ruffled his ears, pinched his lips, and even hooked a finger against his throat.

Riding on the boldness of his drunken state, Bai Xu played to his heart's content, entirely unaware of the gradually tensing body beneath him.

"You– you're quite– quite good-looking, what a pity—"

"All looks! No~ use! Tch, just~ won't~ do~"

"……"

Shang Yanxiao lay there 'unconscious,' yet was having a hard time holding himself together, and in that moment, the word 'won't do' struck a nerve—he ground his back teeth together.

Another wave of dizziness swept over.

Bai Xu instinctively pressed his hand down for support, and through the fabric accidentally made contact with the firm contours of an abdomen. He paused for several beats, his expression turning into one of genuine surprise, as though he'd just discovered a new continent.

Huh?

Was that— abs he was feeling?

No way? After lying in bed this long, he still had them?

Bai Xu's gaze drifted downward through the fabric in curiosity, the fierce inquisitiveness swaddled in alcohol showing absolutely no sign of letting up.

He extended a fingertip and gave an exploratory poke. Then another, "Hm?"

The next second, Shang Yanxiao, who could no longer hold himself back, suddenly opened his eyes. He grabbed Bai Xu's wrist with force, and with one easy flip pinned the other person entirely beneath him on the bed.

"Try poking again and see what happens."

His voice was low and hoarse, every syllable pressed out carrying an air of utter helplessness.

The monitoring leads attached to his body scattered across the bed, but Shang Yanxiao had no attention to spare for that. He hadn't expected that after holding the act together for so long, it would ultimately be Bai Xu who broke him.

"……"

"……"

Bai Xu was too overwhelmed by the violent rush of dizziness to collect himself, and even the Shang Yanxiao before him came with a faint double image. In his haze, he caught a clear glimpse of those deep, ink-dark eyes— and his already barely-functioning mind promptly crashed on the spot.

Those few brief seconds of eye contact were stretched out into something infinitely long.

Bai Xu's slender lashes trembled again and again, unable in that moment to distinguish the real from the imagined:

Wait— hold on?

Why had Shang Yanxiao opened his eyes?

Did that mean his presence had actually— actually worked some kind of miracle cure?

Bai Xu thought in a daze, the back of his neck sinking into the soft, comfortable give of the pillow beneath him— and before the question marks swirling through his mind could even begin to untangle themselves, he surrendered to the pull of the alcohol and fell asleep.

"......"

Shang Yanxiao watched as Bai Xu closed his eyes without a care in the world, his own expression shifting through one complex emotion after another.

Asleep?

He'd drunkenly barged into his room, run completely wild on him, and now he was out in a single second?

It was the first time Shang Yanxiao had ever felt genuinely torn between laughter and exasperation. He let out a long breath, "You really are something else."

Things being as they were, he still had to figure out how to settle the person in front of him.

Shang Yanxiao got off the bed, straightened out the clothes that had been thoroughly disheveled, and then approached the sleeping Bai Xu once more.

"Bai Xu?"

"……"

This time, it was Bai Xu who gave no response.

Shang Yanxiao furrowed his brow helplessly. He hesitated for two seconds, then bent down and lifted Bai Xu into his arms.

"Mm."

The sensation of being suspended in midair while asleep made Bai Xu stir uneasily. Soft strands of hair brushed against the side of Shang Yanxiao's neck, and the warmth of their bodies met and mingled through the fabric—

The strange feeling Shang Yanxiao had only just forced back surged up again, "Don't move!"

"Why, should I listen to you?"

Clearly still drunk, yet the stubborn streak buried in his bones couldn't help but act up.

Bai Xu furrowed his brow and ignored Shang Yanxiao's command, shifting on his own to find a comfortable position to lean into, "I'll do what I want!"

Only after he'd completely settled down did Shang Yanxiao steady his breathing and carry him out of the master bedroom.

The shut door swung open again, and Xie Qi and Xiao Deng, who had been keeping watch outside, saw the scene before them and widened their eyes in unison, "Third Young Master?"

"Young Master Bai, is he—"

Shang Yanxiao cut off their questions, "Alright, you two go back to your rooms and rest. No need to keep watch tonight."

Xie Qi and Xiao Deng exchanged a glance, watching as Shang Yanxiao carried Bai Xu back into the guest bedroom directly across the hall.

The bedroom door was left slightly ajar.

Shang Yanxiao had no time to turn on the lights, and by the faint glow of the motion-sensor floor lights, he brought Bai Xu back to the bed. The moment he made contact with the mattress, the person in his arms opened their eyes without warning.

In the dim light, Bai Xu's eyes, touched by drink, looked somehow unusually focused, "Shang, Yanxiao?"

"……"

Shang Yanxiao's breath caught, and the panicked feeling of being 'found out' came rushing over him a beat too late.

But before he could say anything, Bai Xu lifted a drowsy hand, "So this is what you look like with your eyes open. Quite good-looking."

The next second, Bai Xu's soft fingertips closed around his earlobe, "Your ears, they're so red?"

The muffled low laugh carried a hint of unwitting flirtation that stirred something up inside.

What a shame that a drunk person has no reason left— even a moment of lucidity is a false one. In less than two seconds, Bai Xu had fallen back against the bed.

He patted his mattress haphazardly, and let out a dissatisfied hum, "Why, why is my bed not as soft?"

Bai Xu called out at random, "Shang Yanxiao!"

Shang Yanxiao's expression turned unreadable, "Hm?"

Bai Xu issued his decree from beneath the covers, "Get it replaced!"

Shang Yanxiao had almost never experienced the moment of being ordered around by someone. He furrowed his brow in surprise, "Bai Xu? What did you say?"

"……"

The culprit went quiet again.

Shang Yanxiao stared blankly at Bai Xu, who had only half his head peeking out, and thought back over everything absurd yet real that had happened tonight— and finally let out a laugh that even he himself couldn't make sense of.

What fiancé?

The way he saw it, what they'd brought in was clearly an ancestor to be waited on hand and foot.

...

Shang Yanxiao managed to settle Bai Xu down, and walked out of the guest bedroom with a slight curve at the corners of his mouth that even he himself hadn't noticed.

He tiptoed quietly toward his own master bedroom. As he passed the elevator that hadn't been used in a long time, a sudden 'ding-dong' chimed— the door-opening alert.

Shang Yanxiao's heart lurched in alarm. But it was too late to hide now!

The elevator doors slid open—

Shang Queyan, maneuvering his wheelchair and just about to head out, looked up and came face to face with his own elder brother!

His eyes went wide with disbelief, and even the breath that escaped him trembled, "Brother? You, how did you..."

"Shh."

Shang Yanxiao raised a timely 'keep quiet' gesture, his peripheral gaze instinctively drifting toward the guest bedroom— as if afraid of waking someone in the house, though he couldn't quite say who.

"Keep it down. Everyone's asleep."

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