DASFAM_21

The night continued to shroud the estate, and the study to the right of the tallest building within the grounds was ablaze with light.

Old Master Shang wore a pair of custom-made glasses, gravely scrutinizing the financial statements for the group's latest quarter that had been submitted for his review, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's eye, as though determined to root out every hidden bug buried within those figures.

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded at the door.

The head butler lightened his footsteps as he entered, thoughtfully setting a cup of health tea on the side of his desk, "Old Master, it's late. You should rest."

Old Master Shang did not look up. He only asked, "Has Yanan gone to sleep?"

Yanan was the name of the old madam of the Shang family. The husband and wife shared the same surname.

In their youth, the Old Madam had come from a family of comfortable means, while Old Master Shang had been utterly penniless. Before he was even twenty, he had plunged into business. Though the former had been born a young lady of wealth, in those days she had followed him from place to place without a single word of complaint.

The two had built everything together— from a small company of only a few people, to a large company of several hundred, and finally to what was now the Shang Group. Over sixty years of wind and rain, the Shang family had firmly planted its roots among the great houses of the capital, and had even attained a standing that could not be shaken.

Outsiders all said that Old Master Shang had a peculiar temperament, mercurial and unpredictable— yet toward the Old Madam, for decades without exception, he had doted on her, cherished her, shielded her, and held her in deep respect.

The head butler replied in a low voice, "The medicine has taken effect; the headache has stopped. The servants said they have seen her settled to sleep."

"Mm."

The slight furrow between Old Master Shang's brows eased a little. His gaze drifted to the financial statements and he spoke again, "Ever since the third son and his wife passed, she has been carrying a quiet grief inside, and yet the ones left behind have not given her a moment's peace either."

He removed his glasses and closed the financial report, "The second son and his son are both disappointments! The growth figures from the subsidiaries under their charge are far too unsightly!"

"They spend every waking hour scheming over how to snatch meat from the third branch, do they ever stop to think whether they can actually bite it off?"

The head butler had long been practiced in reading moods and expressions. Seeing the signs of rising anger in Old Master Shang, he said, "Old Master, have some water to soothe your throat. Though I did hear that the overseas project on the first branch's side has been progressing rather well?"

"……"

Old Master Shang took the health tea and lowered his eyes, drinking two quiet sips, "That project was originally Yanxiao's responsibility. That Qishun and the others have managed it well is because the groundwork had already been laid."

The head butler smiled, "Indeed. Whatever the Third Young Master sets his hand to, it has always been done with excellence."

Old Master Shang thought of Shang Yanxiao, still lying unconscious, and the health tea in his hand suddenly lost all its flavor, "Is Queyan still hiding away and refusing to go out? Did he not attend Sun Miaochun's banquet this evening?"

"He did not."

"Useless."

Old Master Shang set the teacup down heavily on the desk, vexed beyond measure, "How long has it been now? Even self-pity ought to have its limits. In the world today, as long as a person draws breath, what is there that cannot be done?"

Prosthetics and electronic mobility aids were so advanced these days, and the Shang family was certainly not short of the money for them—as long as Shang Queyan could think it through, was there truly any cause to fear the road ahead?

"Sun Miaochun made such a grand show of her arrival in the capital, and even went out of her way to send the invitation to the third branch. Was that not precisely to seize the opportunity to see how the third branch now stands?"

Old Master Shang was seized with irritation, "He hides himself away to spare his own pride. We indulged him into lawlessness in his younger years, and now that something has happened, he cannot even hold a candle to half of what his brother is!"

He could not shield these children for the rest of his life. The road ahead for the third branch would still have to be won by the two brothers themselves.

The head butler, watching Old Master Shang's temper flare, hurried to soothe him, "Old Master, don't be in a rush to anger just yet, I was just about to tell you about this very matter. Someone from the third branch did attend the Sun family's banquet tonight after all."

Old Master Shang asked, "Who?"

The head butler had served alongside Old Master Shang for many years. Though he appeared, on the surface, to do no more than manage the estate, he was in truth sharp-eyed and far-eared, and there was nothing that escaped his knowledge.

"It was Mr. Bai Xu who went."

"…Yanxiao's partner from the arranged marriage?"

Old Master Shang recalled the brief impression from his first encounter with Bai Xu and pressed further, "What did he go there to do?"

"Ah, Mr. Bai not only attended, he caused quite a stir as well."

Seeing that Old Master Shang had taken an interest, the head butler lost no time in recounting everything he had just learned, detail by detail—

From Bai Xu having been drugged through his drink, to his sharp-eyed discovery of the culprit; from his face-to-face confrontation that left the Song father and son thoroughly humiliated, to even Sun Miaochun having to step forward to smooth things over.

And of course, those final words—earth-shattering, spoken to reclaim the third branch's standing before the crowd.

Old Master Shang listened as the head butler rendered the entire sequence with vivid color and expression. The tight knot between his brows eased without his noticing, "All of that actually happened?"

The head butler nodded, "Every word of it is true."

Old Master Shang's earlier anger had entirely dissolved. He let out a rare laugh— two short sounds, "This child is quite something."

The head butler was surprised by the shift in his mood, but swiftly carried the conversation forward, "When I first heard about it, I nearly didn't believe it— after all, Mr. Bai Xu, not long ago at the family banquet, had seemed rather…"

He searched for the right words, "Timid and compliant?"

Old Master Shang had seen every manner of person in his long life. He cut straight through it, "He was performing. Playing the meek little rabbit to seem harmless."

This time, it was the head butler's turn to be puzzled.

Old Master Shang gave no explanation, but deep within his eyes, the pieces had long since fallen into place—

At the family dinner, Bai Xu had appeared to stand helpless as the second branch stirred up trouble against him with no means to defend himself—when in truth, he had mapped out his response from the very beginning.

What was plainly a personal dispute between Bai Xu and Jinbai, he had deftly elevated into a matter concerning the third branch as a whole, thereby drawing Shang Queyan into stepping forward on his behalf.

On the surface, the conflict had been between the second branch and the third, but the one truly in command of the room had been Bai Xu. Even Old Master Shang's own intervention at the end to resolve the confrontation had only come to pass because Bai Xu had calculated it from the start—

The Old Madam's tender ache for the two grandsons of the third branch, and Old Master Shang's own disposition as a patriarch—that instinct to put family above outsiders—had both been accounted for.

"……"

Such a young age, and yet so nimble a mind.

In this day and age, as long as one harbored no malice toward others, having a little calculation in pursuit of one's ends was not necessarily—

A bad thing.

Old Master Shang felt no anger at having been maneuvered. On the contrary, a rare flicker of appreciation surfaced, "I heard the Bai family has been treating this child as a good-for-nothing? With that kind of judgment? No wonder they've been on a downward slide all these years."

The head butler chimed in with something agreeable, "The Old Madam has always had a keen eye. She has said all along that Mr. Bai does not seem like someone with ill intentions."

Old Master Shang's irritation had fully subsided, "Yanan's eye for people has always been sharp. If Yanxiao can wake up, he may not dislike this child Bai Xu at all, the two of them should be able to get along."

The head butler smiled along, "Old Master, how can you be so certain? Did you not say yourself, not long ago, that the Third Young Master has high standards— that he might go his whole life without marrying?"

"Ah, whether or not he marries is for him to decide on his own. I only said they'd get along, even as friends, that would do."

Old Master Shang rose slowly to his feet, "In all these decades, when have I ever misjudged a person?"

Shang Yanxiao was the grandson he held in the highest regard, his greatest source of pride. He knew the young man's capabilities, his temperament, and the ambition that lay concealed beneath that excellent exterior.

If Bai Xu had been able, under the pressure of so many bearing down on him, to deliver those words with such ease and composure, then there was surely no hollow emptiness within— only a habit of keeping one's gifts out of sight.

Old Master Shang walked toward the door, "It's late. I'm going to sleep. I'll stay in the guest room on the third floor tonight. Don't disturb Yanan."

The head butler hurried after him, "Of course. I'll go and prepare some calming incense for you."

...

A night of haze and confusion.

When Bai Xu woke again, his head throbbed as though it had been pounded and ground apart by something heavy. He lay curled around his blanket, brow furrowed, waiting a long while before he could manage the difficult journey into the bathroom.

Hot water rained down, coaxing back a measure of clarity.

Bai Xu strained to recall everything that had happened after he had gotten drunk the night before, but the gaps were severe, only a few blurred impressions remained in his mind—

He had charged into Shang Yanxiao's room and taken shameless liberties with him? And… Shang Yanxiao's eyes?!

These images, dreamlike and uncertain, surged through his mind, and in an instant he jolted several degrees more awake. He shut off the shower, changed quickly into clean clothes, and left the bedroom.

The air was drifting with the rich, warm fragrance of food.

Xiao Deng happened to be changing shifts. Seeing the door open, he asked, "Young Master Bai, you're up? Assistant Xie said you got drunk last night, he had Uncle Lin prepare a hangover remedy for you early this morning. Shall we head down together?"

Bai Xu glanced toward the tightly shut door of the master bedroom, puzzled, "Shang Yanxiao hasn't woken up?"

Xiao Deng looked bewildered, "Huh? No, he hasn't?"

"……"

Is that so?

So it really had been a drunken dream?

Bai Xu furrowed his brow, but the pounding in his head from the night's drinking was coming on far too fiercely. He had no choice but to push down the doubt rising inside him for now, and followed Xiao Deng downstairs.

In the dining room on the ground floor, Shang Queyan and Xie Qi were sitting diagonally across from each other, having their meal.

Both turned their gaze at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Xie Qi asked, "Young Master Bai, are you feeling any better?"

Bai Xu waved a hand, feeling too wretched to speak.

Shang Queyan looked at him for two seconds, then called out of his own accord, "Uncle Lin, once the hangover soup is done, come and refill my bowl of rice while you're at it!"

Bai Xu found an empty seat across from him and sat down, a glint of quiet perception in his eyes, "Little brother-in-law, you're in a good mood today? Usually you don't seem to have much appetite."

"……"

Shang Queyan heard the address and wrinkled his brow with indignation, "Don't go calling me that."

The ever-prepared Uncle Lin emerged from the kitchen and passed the steaming hangover soup to Bai Xu, "Young Master Bai, have some of this first, take it slow. Drinking takes a toll on the body. There's a nourishing congee simmering in the kitchen, shall I bring you a bowl in a little while?"

"Thank you, Uncle Lin."

Bai Xu accepted the kindness and drank two unhurried sips. Only when the warmth settled into his stomach did the churning inside ease a little.

As the discomfort gradually subsided, his mind began to stir back to life.

Bai Xu looked toward Xie Qi beside him and asked, "How did I get back last night?"

Xie Qi's expression was as composed as ever. He turned the question around, "Young Master Bai, you don't remember? Dr. Zhang brought you back, said you were very drunk, and asked me to meet you at the door."

"But the moment you got out of the car, you wouldn't let me help you. You went back to your room on your own."

Bai Xu had a faint impression of it, but something still felt off, "Is that so?"

Xie Qi nodded, "Yes. Is something the matter?"

Bai Xu scooped two more spoonfuls of the hangover soup and fixed a probing gaze on Xie Qi, coming straight to the point, "Shang Yanxiao hasn't woken up?"

"……"

Xie Qi met his eyes, and a thread of unease crept into his heart.

Before he could reply, Shang Queyan across the table slammed down his chopsticks and bowl and demanded, "My brother woke up? When did this happen? How do I not know about it?"

"Fourth Young Master, if the Third Young Master had woken up, how could you possibly not know?" Xie Qi said helplessly, then turned back to Bai Xu, "Young Master Bai, are you still muddled from the drink?"

Seeing Shang Queyan's stunned reaction, the doubt in Bai Xu's heart eased a little.

That was true enough.

If Shang Yanxiao had woken up, Shang Queyan—devoted brother that he was—could not possibly be unaware of it, let alone react the way he just had. Besides, by the timeline of the original story, there was still some time before Shang Yanxiao's awakening was due.

While his thoughts drifted, a commotion rose at the villa entrance.

Three hired workers were hauling in a pile of bed fittings and a mattress, still unassembled. The one in front called out, "Is Uncle Lin here? We need a signature for the receipt."

"Here."

Uncle Lin moved over quickly, "Bring it up to the rightmost room on the second floor."

"……"

Suddenly replacing the bed in his room?

Caught off guard, a fleeting image flashed through Bai Xu's mind, and the doubt he had just managed to push down resurfaced, "Who gave the order to change my bed?"

"Who else– you went on a drunken rampage last night, making a scene and insisting the bed in your room was uncomfortable, demanding that Xie Qi have it replaced," Shang Queyan was quick to answer, and couldn't resist adding a jab, "Try drinking less from now on, you made enough noise last night to wake me up too."

Bai Xu refused to accept it, "…I never act out when I drink."

He had always been a guarded person. The occasions on which he'd been truly drunk were few and far between— and even now, temporarily unable to hold his drink, he absolutely could not have acted recklessly toward someone he was not close to while intoxicated.

Xie Qi gave a light laugh, "Young Master Bai wasn't exactly making a scene last night either. But it is true that you said the bed in your room was too hard and wanted it changed, and then you fell asleep right after saying it."

Bai Xu thought it over and decided that what Xie Qi described did in fact align with how he would behave.

Seeing his thoughts grow distant, Xie Qi seized the moment and steered the conversation toward business, "By the way, Young Master Bai, I've already found you a legal team."

Bai Xu asked, "Everything is in order?"

Xie Qi nodded, "Yes. Within this week, we can file suit against Taojing Studio according to your instructions."

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