DASFAM_60
Half-asleep, Bai Xu heard movement beside him. He struggled to lift his eyelids, "Mm?"
Shang Yanxiao stopped himself from getting out of bed and leaned back down to soothe him, "Did I wake you?"
"……"
Bai Xu endured the strange, achy soreness on his body and shifted slightly to his side, "What time is it? Where are you going?"
As he said this, he couldn't resist the drowsiness and let his eyes fall shut again, "…So tired."
"Just past nine."
It had been less than four hours since the two of them had finally settled down to sleep—being tired was only natural.
Shang Yanxiao's drunkenness had been completely burned off during that bout of unspeakable, intense activity. His mind was now, on the contrary, quite clear.
He gave a brief explanation, "Queyan still has a meeting today. I want to accompany Grandmother to the hospital again."
Even if the night had been filled with a dark and heavy mood, life still had to go on day by day. Now that the mastermind behind everything had been identified, he needed to pull himself together even more—
The matter of the third branch's car accident had to be thoroughly investigated, and so did the matter of Old Master Shang's 'illness'!
As for the projects and resources that the third branch had once been 'forced' to give up, he would find a way to take them all back and keep them firmly in his grasp!
"Mm."
Bai Xu once again struggled to lift his eyelids. After confirming that Shang Yanxiao's expression was no longer heavy, he said weakly, "Shang Yanxiao, let me tell you something..."
"What?"
"I'm only using this kind of comfort method once. If you ever pull something like this again, not a chance."
Who ever said that this sort of thing gets easier the second time around?
Shang Yanxiao in the grip of his emotions had been downright brutal—Bai Xu had nearly 'died' right there in bed!
"……"
Shang Yanxiao froze for two seconds, then broke into a smile, "Young Master Bai, why the sudden change of heart? Wasn't it you who came offering yourself in the early hours of the morning? Last time you said you wanted to be 'on top', didn't I go along with that too?"
"……"
That 'on top' and this 'on top' were two completely different things. How could they even be compared?
Bai Xu yanked the blanket up over his head and said in perfect enunciation, "Shang Yanxiao, get lost."
Shang Yanxiao had long since grown used to his occasional petty temper. He kissed the top of his head through the blanket, "Get some proper sleep. Wake up later and contact me, understood?"
Bai Xu let out a couple of grumbles.
Very quickly, he stopped paying any attention to Shang Yanxiao getting ready and sank back into deep sleep, his body weighed down by the exhaustion of having 'over-exerted' himself.
...
This sleep stretched on especially long. When Bai Xu finally woke again, it was already three in the afternoon.
He endured his still-achy body and made his way back to his own room, casually pulling out a white turtleneck sweater to change into. After confirming that the kiss marks on his neck wouldn't give anything away, he headed downstairs.
"Oh my, Young Master Bai, you're finally up."
Aunt Zhuang, who had been busy with her work, caught sight of him and quickly called out a greeting, "The Third Young Master specifically told us not to disturb you before he left, but if you hadn't woken up soon, I really would have had to knock on your door."
Bai Xu naturally couldn't admit that he had been up to no good in the early hours of the morning, so he made up an excuse, "Oh, I'm adjusting to the time difference. Aunt Zhuang, is there anything to eat? Just bring me whatever."
His stomach felt completely hollow, he had gone well past hungry.
"Of course!"
Aunt Zhuang gestured to the servant nearby to go fetch something from the kitchen, and while she was at it, reminded Bai Xu, "Oh right, Young Master Bai, I just heard from the people over at the main house that the Old Madam is holding a family dinner this evening."
Bai Xu frowned slightly, "This evening?"
Hadn't they said at the hospital yesterday that things would be 'delayed' for a while, and that the banquet would be held after Old Master Shang woke up? Why was there suddenly a family dinner out of nowhere?
Bai Xu's eyes lit up slightly, "Has the Old Master woken up?"
Aunt Zhuang shook her head, "I heard that the Fourth Young Miss is coming back early. I didn't ask for the details."
Bai Xu was surprised, "The Fourth Young Miss?"
Afraid that Bai Xu might misunderstand the title, Aunt Zhuang quickly explained, "The 'Fourth Young Miss' I'm referring to is the fourth daughter of the Old Master and Old Madam—the youngest aunt of the Third Young Master and the others. Her name is Shang Keshu."
The servant brought the food over.
Bai Xu had heard of this person. He picked up his chopsticks, "I heard she's the child the Old Master and Old Madam had in their later years?"
Aunt Zhuang stood by the dining table and chimed in, "That's right. She's only thirty-five or thirty-six this year— she looks about the same age as the Young Masters. Very fresh and youthful."
Shang Keshu was a firm non-believer in marriage. In her own words—
"Dating is fine, marriage is unnecessary."
"I'm not short on money, so why would I need to find a man to 'hold me hostage' for the rest of my life? What's wrong with eating well, drinking well, and living well?"
Bai Xu listened to Aunt Zhuang relay all of this and smiled, "Sounds pretty good to me."
Aunt Zhuang let out a sigh, "Back in the day, the Fourth Young Miss gave the Old Master quite a headache, and the Old Madam quite a heartache too."
Of the two daughters, the first had insisted on marrying down to a penniless secretary with no connections, while the second had loudly and stubbornly declared she would never marry at all.
The two sisters had completely opposite attitudes toward marriage, yet both had managed to stir up the hearts of the two elders all the same.
"The Old Master said a few words to the Fourth Young Miss, and she grabbed her bag on the spot and headed straight for the airport. She hasn't come back in years!"
Back when the third branch had met with disaster, Shang Keshu had made a special trip back for the funeral, and left again as soon as it was over.
However, with Old Master Shang falling suddenly and critically ill this time, it was only natural for her, as a daughter, to come rushing back from so far away.
After listening to Aunt Zhuang's account, Bai Xu instinctively asked, "Aunt Zhuang, was she on good terms with the third branch?"
In the original story, this 'male lead's aunt' was not mentioned very often. Only through scattered bits of description could one gather that—
Shang Keshu had an exceptionally clean-cut and straightforward personality.
Things she liked, she could praise with a beaming smile. Things she disliked, she dared to call out on the spot. Whether laughing, teasing, or scolding, she followed her own heart entirely, with no fear of offending anyone.
"The relationship was decent. When the Master was still alive, he was quite fond of this younger sister of his."
Aunt Zhuang thought it over and stuck to only what she knew for certain.
"I've heard the two Young Masters mention before that when they were studying abroad, their little aunt used to visit them at school quite often."
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow slightly, "That's good then."
With Old Master Shang now bedridden and the Old Madam holding things together, the open and hidden struggles within the three households were already chaotic enough—especially for Shang Yanxiao and Shang Queyan, who seemed to have become targets from all sides.
If Shang Keshu was not appearing as their adversary, then having one fewer enemy would make things a little easier to manage.
Aunt Zhuang wrapped up the topic, "Young Master Bai, go ahead and eat. Isn't there a family dinner tonight? If the Fourth Young Miss is back by then, you'll get to see her for yourself."
"Alright."
...
After filling his stomach, Bai Xu finally remembered what Shang Yanxiao had told him early that morning. He unhurriedly took out his phone and sent a message—
"I'm up."
"I heard your little aunt is coming back tonight, and the Old Madam has arranged a family dinner?"
Shang Yanxiao called back very quickly.
Bai Xu let out a helpless laugh and picked up, "Hello?"
Shang Yanxiao's voice came through from the other end, "You finally deigned to message me? I was starting to think Young Master Bai had slept himself into a stupor."
Bai Xu let out a quiet "mm".
Shang Yanxiao said, "Grandmother arranged the family dinner on short notice. She said it's to welcome the two of us back, as well as little aunt, and to drive away some of the gloom hanging over the house."
Bai Xu didn't argue, "That works."
Shang Yanxiao continued, "Grandmother just finished her visit and has already been sent home by the driver. The banquet is at the usual time. Head over first. I need to go to the company to take care of something with Queyan, so I might be home a little late."
Hearing Shang Yanxiao's update, the corners of Bai Xu's mouth curved up again, "Mm, got it. I'll hang up then."
"Wait."
Shang Yanxiao stopped him in time, his voice dropping as he asked, "Are you still hurting? You kept saying in the early hours that you were going to swell up, I..."
The tips of Bai Xu's ears suddenly burned hot. He cried out without thinking, "Shang Yanxiao!"
"……"
The servant cleaning nearby glanced over, curiosity flickering in their eyes.
The tips of Bai Xu's ears were blazing. He dropped his voice to the lowest possible volume, "Say another word and I'm blocking you! Get lost!"
...
At six in the evening, Bai Xu arrived at the main house where the Old Master and Old Madam resided, right on time.
The head butler standing guard at the entrance stepped forward to receive him, "Young Master Bai, this evening's family dinner has been arranged by the Old Madam in the main dining hall. Please follow me."
Bai Xu discreetly sized up the butler, "Has everyone else arrived?"
The butler led Bai Xu toward the inner rooms while informing him, "The Third Young Master, Fourth Young Master, and Miss Keshu have not yet arrived."
"The Old Madam came back from the hospital with a headache and was persuaded to rest for a short while. She hasn't come downstairs yet."
With that, the two of them reached the entrance of the main dining hall.
The head butler pushed open the door and gestured for him to enter, "Young Master Bai, please go in and take a seat for now."
Bai Xu stepped into the dining room in silence. In an instant, every gaze inside snapped onto him—
The first branch, a family of three. The second branch, a family of four. All present.
Everyone sat in their respective seats, the looks they directed at Bai Xu each carrying their own unspoken meaning.
"……"
Bai Xu endured this wave of stares helplessly and chose to meet it with silence.
Better late than early.
Had he known, he would have waited and been late together with Shang Yanxiao. Now look—he had walked straight into the whole crowd entirely on his own.
"Bai Xu?" Shang Le'er took the initiative to break the silence.
Fang Yuhua beside her had not yet shifted away from her 'dislike of Bai Xu' attitude, and tugged at her wrist in disapproval.
Shang Le'er ignored the attempt to stop her and continued her friendly greeting, "Hi, this should count as our first meeting in this house. My name is Shang Le'er!"
Bai Xu gave a slight nod, "Hello."
"Grandmother hasn't come down yet, come sit and wait with us," Afraid that Bai Xu would feel awkward standing alone, Shang Le'er pointed him in the right direction, "Over there. That's usually where my third brother sits!"
"Thank you."
Bai Xu had a decent enough grasp of dining table etiquette.
After confirming that the seat Shang Le'er had pointed to was not a trap, he walked over.
The moment he pulled out the chair, Shang Keyi, seated diagonally across, let out a scoff, "Butler, who gave you permission to bring him in?"
Everyone's attention shifted.
Wu Wei noticed his wife's displeasure and opened his mouth, then thought better of it.
The head butler walked back in from outside the dining hall and explained with utmost deference, "Young Master Bai is nominally the Third Young Master's partner by arrangement. He has attended family dinners before."
Shang Keyi looked at Bai Xu and challenged him in a tone that was nearly blunt, "No engagement banquet, no marriage certificate— how exactly does that make him a partner by arrangement?"
"He was here before on the pretext of bringing good luck. Now that Shang Yanxiao has woken up, why is he still shamelessly hanging around?"
Having been outmaneuvered at yesterday's shareholders' meeting, and then subjected to a scolding from the Old Madam unlike anything she had ever received before, Shang Keyi had been nursing a nameless fire in her chest ever since.
Now, the vulnerable and unprotected Bai Xu had become her outlet.
Shang Qishun understood his mother's irritation. He made no move to stop her, and instead quietly took a sip of water, watching to see how Bai Xu would respond.
"……"
Bai Xu rested his hand on the back of the chair and tossed the problem back to Shang Yun, "If I remember correctly, this arranged marriage was brokered by Second Master Shang in the first place, wasn't it?"
Fang Yuhua shot back, "What does that have to do with our family?"
"Mom!" Shang Le'er gently cut her off, then nudged a meaningful look toward her father.
Shang Yun remembered his daughter's words of advice from the night before and reluctantly tried to take a step forward, "Eldest Sister, this arrangement was something I set up on Yanxiao's behalf. Father and Mother both recognized early on that Bai Xu is a part of the third branch."
Shang Keyi shot him a sideways glance, "Shang Yun, is something wrong with your head? You're actually taking the side of an outsider?"
Fang Yuhua immediately couldn't sit still, "Eldest Sister! Could you please watch how you speak!"
"Watch how I speak?"
"Do you two not know what Mother said yesterday? From here on out, everything from positions at the company down to the family's assets is to be distributed among the younger generation."
Taking advantage of the Old Madam's absence, Shang Keyi laid her cards plainly on the table, "If you acknowledge Bai Xu as part of the third branch now, doesn't that just mean giving them a bigger slice of the pie?"
She looked at the second branch family, "Shang Yun, since when did you and your wife become so generous and eager to help others?"
"……"
Shang Yun kept his genial mask firmly in place and smiled, making no move to engage.
His eldest sister had always been proud and ambitious. Having been forced to give up the role of 'acting chairman' just yesterday, she was simmering with bottled-up fury.
Since she was clearly looking to make things difficult for Bai Xu, the second branch might as well sit back, watch from the other shore, and enjoy the show.
Shang Keyi turned her pointed gaze back onto Bai Xu, "Bai Xu, I refuse to believe my nephew could ever have feelings for a man like you. And our Shang family has no room for a beggar like you."
"If you have any sense, you'll leave while you still can."
"……"
Faced with this insulting order to get out, a long-absent coldness surfaced in the depths of Bai Xu's eyes.
But before he could even open his mouth to fire back, a voice drifted in from the entrance of the dining hall, dripping with sarcasm.
"My, my— when the cat's away, who fancies themselves the king?"
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