DASFAM_59
—Ding.
The video call, packed with an enormous amount of information, finally ended, but the heavy atmosphere in the study did not lift because of it.
Bai Xu looked at Shang Yanxiao beside him, showing concern, "Are you okay?"
They already had their suspicions about 'Brother Wang's' identity, but further investigation was still needed.
Shang Yanxiao closed his eyes for a moment, his voice hoarse, "I'm fine. Before everything comes fully to light, don't tell Queyan."
Bai Xu asked uncertainly, "You still want to hide it from him?"
The reason they had been keeping it from Shang Queyan before was partly because the private detective hadn't obtained any concrete leads yet, and partly to avoid affecting his rehabilitation.
Shang Yanxiao insisted, "Yes. Grandfather suddenly collapsed, and now the third branch has him tied up with matters inside the group. For now, let's not distract him."
"Once we confirm the identity of the Brother Wang that Chelkin mentioned, I'll find a suitable time to tell him."
If things were truly as they suspected, there would still be a hard battle ahead.
"Alright."
Bai Xu respected his decision.
Footsteps sounded from the corridor outside.
Bai Xu listened carefully, "Sounds like Queyan."
Sure enough, Shang Queyan soon knocked on the master bedroom door, "Brother, can I come in?"
Shang Yanxiao suppressed the choked feeling in his throat, "Come in."
Shang Queyan pushed open the door, "Are you two done? Uncle Lin said you haven't eaten yet. The food downstairs is still warm."
"We're done."
In front of Shang Queyan, Shang Yanxiao resumed his role as the dependable older brother, "Tell Uncle Lin for me that I'll skip dinner for now. I've been running nonstop for the past two days and I'm a bit tired."
As he said that, he also gestured to Bai Xu, "Go downstairs and eat more. I want to rest alone tonight."
Bai Xu didn't show too much in front of Shang Queyan, "Alright, get some rest early then."
"......"
Shang Queyan, standing at the doorway, sensed something was off. It wasn't until Bai Xu closed the master bedroom door that he seized the chance to ask, "What's wrong with my brother?"
Bai Xu remembered Shang Yanxiao's instructions, "Nothing, he's just tired."
Shang Queyan didn't buy it, "No, my brother is clearly holding something back. Something must have happened. You two..."
"We had a fight."
Bai Xu could only come up with an excuse for now, trying to brush it off as a joke, "As for the specific reason, it's better if the Fourth Young Master knows as little as possible."
"......"
The familiar teasing hit him head-on, blocking all of Shang Queyan's suspicions.
A flicker of conflict and struggle crossed his brows, and he hesitantly probed, "Bai Xu, are you and my brother really together?"
"Tsk, I told you back when we first met—"
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow and continued to divert his attention, "Little brother-in-law, stay out of us husbands' business."
"......"
Shang Queyan's silence was deafening, "Who said I wanted to get involved?"
He didn't even wait for the elevator to arrive and headed downstairs via the staircase instead, his steps so quick that you couldn't tell at all that he had a prosthetic leg.
Bai Xu tugged at the corner of his mouth, his worried gaze falling back on the master bedroom door.
He still couldn't stop worrying about Shang Yanxiao, and after knocking again, he went back in.
Shang Yanxiao was still sitting at the desk in the central hall, his face expressionless. Hearing the door open, he slowly raised his head, "A' Xu, why are you back again?"
Bai Xu walked back to the desk and couldn't help but ask, "Are you really okay tonight?"
Although the full truth had not yet been uncovered, they had at least confirmed from someone else's account—
Back then, the third branch's car accident had indeed been deliberately engineered, an intentional act of murder!
The natural passing of a loved one is already a long and lingering grief, let alone when it turned out to be a deliberate scheme and murder. Bai Xu knew Shang Yanxiao was strong-willed, but he still couldn't stop worrying.
Shang Yanxiao met his gaze and gave a light laugh, "I'm fine. I just need some time to process this on my own. A' Xu, go get some sleep first, okay?"
Bai Xu didn't believe him, "Are you sure you don't need me to stay with you?"
Shang Yanxiao shook his head and simply said, "Good night."
"......"
Bai Xu furrowed his brows but still respected his decision, "Alright. Come find me if anything comes up."
The bedroom door closed again.
Bai Xu looked toward his own room at the end of the corridor and slowly made his way back, quietly measuring the distance between the two rooms with his own footsteps.
This place was nothing like the small villa back in Singapore. Not only did the two bedrooms have no connecting door, they were also positioned on opposite ends of the corridor, truly the farthest possible distance apart.
That way, neither of them would even know if something happened to the other in the night.
With that fleeting, nagging thought in his mind, Bai Xu shut his bedroom door with a firm thud.
...
The deep darkness of night settled in.
Having finished washing up, Bai Xu tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. He couldn't help but reach for his phone on the nightstand in the dark, and when he checked, he found it was already past two in the morning.
—Thud.
In the darkness, a brief sound of something hitting the floor seemed to drift over.
Anyone else might have simply ignored it.
But Bai Xu sat up from the bed right away, switched on the light, and stared at his tightly shut bedroom door, as though he were looking through it at something else entirely.
"......"
Shang Yanxiao should be asleep by now, right?
The moment that thought formed, Bai Xu couldn't hold back the sudden impulse rising within him. His body reacted faster than his mind, and not only did he get out of bed, he quietly and carefully opened his bedroom door.
The corridor was lit only by the dim glow of the floor lights.
The master bedroom door at the far end was unexpectedly left slightly ajar, with light spilling through the gap.
"Still not asleep?"
Bai Xu found himself walking toward the master bedroom without thinking. Just as he neared the door, he caught the faint but distinct smell of alcohol.
"......"
Bai Xu's brow furrowed slightly as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
In an instant, the smell of alcohol grew stronger.
Only one lamp was on in the central hall of the large master bedroom. Shang Yanxiao was slumped against the sofa, while a large pile of empty bottles lay scattered across the carpet.
Among them, one had tipped over onto the floor, with liquid still spilling from its mouth.
That was probably what had made the sound he heard earlier.
Bai Xu drew closer, "Shang Yanxiao?"
"......"
Shang Yanxiao, lying on the sofa, opened his eyes. His eye rims were filled with undisguised redness, like a black panther that had been wounded for a long time, left all alone in the dark to lick its own wounds.
Bai Xu met his undisguised pain, and felt a dull ache at the tip of his heart, "Shang Yanxiao, you..."
Shang Yanxiao caught sight of Bai Xu's figure and instinctively covered his face, "Sorry, did I wake you?"
His voice, laced with alcohol, was utterly exhausted.
Bai Xu stepped around the bottles on the carpet and moved closer to him, "Why did you drink so much alone?"
The answer was self-evident.
Shang Yanxiao had never been someone who indulged in alcohol or cigarettes, yet here he was in such a state. It was clear just how much pain and resentment had been buried deep inside him.
Shang Yanxiao pulled his defenses back up somewhat, "It's nothing. I couldn't sleep and ended up drinking more than I realized."
"......"
Bai Xu stared at the person before him and reached out, pressing firmly at the corner of his eye, "You're lying."
His fingertip caught an unexpected trace of moisture, like the mist that comes with drunkenness, or perhaps something else entirely.
"......"
Shang Yanxiao had no answer, but Bai Xu understood, "Shang Yanxiao, do you simply not trust me, or have you just grown so used to burying everything on your own?"
"Even though I told you long ago that I could face this 'car accident' matter alongside you, you still hide the greater part of your feelings from me, unwilling to show even the slightest weakness to this so-called 'ally' of yours."
On the surface things had seemed easy and comfortable between them, yet in reality his heart remained tightly shut. Even in the dead of night, drinking alone, he hadn't been willing to say a single word to him.
Shang Yanxiao dropped his gaze, unable to respond.
Bai Xu withdrew his fingers, feeling an inexplicable sense of loss deep down, "Forget it. Perhaps what's between us really hasn't reached the point of complete honesty and openness yet."
With that, he took a step back.
At the same moment, Shang Yanxiao suddenly grabbed his wrist from the sofa and pinned him down against it, "You're wrong."
"What?"
The sudden restraint left Bai Xu's mind completely blank, "...Mmph!"
A kiss laced with alcohol fell on his lips without restraint, unleashing a torrent of emotion that was almost savage in nature.
Every bite and pull carried a numbing intensity. A faint ache bloomed on his lips, and then a thin trace of blood spread between them.
Bai Xu felt the tension coiled in Shang Yanxiao, the force driven by raw anguish, yet rather than pushing back as he usually would, he yielded to every bit of the other man's loss of control.
He freed one hand and rested it along the side of Shang Yanxiao's neck, his touch carrying nothing but absolute gentleness and comfort.
Plink.
A single drop of wetness fell.
Bai Xu's hand stilled, and he stared at the person before him, "Yanxiao?"
Shang Yanxiao stopped his unrestrained advance. The redness in his eyes deepened, "I hate them. I wish I could kill every single one of them!"
"......"
"Why? My parents never did anything wrong!"
"They only went to watch a racing event. They only wanted to see their two sons. Why did they have to go through all of this!"
"......"
Bai Xu had no answer.
He understood Shang Yanxiao's hatred, yet he had no way of bearing it all in his place.
"All my life I pushed myself to be better and better, but I never once imagined that this would make me a thorn in someone else's side, to the point where they were willing to go to such lengths just to engineer a car accident!"
Bai Xu could now clearly see the shimmer in the corners of his eyes. He reached up again, brushing them with his fingertips, "They are the ones in the wrong. They are the ones with sinister intentions. We'll take it one step at a time. Sooner or later, we'll make them pay."
Shang Yanxiao instinctively turned his head and leaned into Bai Xu's hand, drawing a deep breath, "I'm sorry. Don't be angry with me."
"I just feel that I shouldn't have taken out these negative emotions on you, nor should I have treated you the way I just did."
Even though Bai Xu always defined their relationship as 'friends with benefits,' in Shang Yanxiao's eyes, the other person was never just a tool for satisfying desires, but someone he had developed genuine feelings for, someone he truly wanted to cherish and care for.
Bai Xu saw through everything in Shang Yanxiao's eyes, and his heart stirred slightly, "I don't need your apology."
"Shang Yanxiao, I know you're hurting. No one could face something like this and remain unmoved. Don't forget what we are to each other. If this is the way to let all that pain out—"
Bai Xu gripped the back of Shang Yanxiao's neck and pulled him toward his lips, "Then I'm willing."
Shang Yanxiao's breath faltered, "What did you say?"
Bai Xu kissed him again. It was a tease, a comfort, and an affection even he himself had yet to fully see, "If you don't make a move, are you really going to let me be on top?"
"......"
Actions replaced all words.
What had been a one-sided outpouring of pain became a mutual embrace of warmth.
The deep darkness of night filled with heavy breaths and muffled sounds, until the first light of dawn broke, and only then did everything come to rest.
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