DASFAM_73
Bai Xu was still half-conscious when he heard a low voice calling softly by his ear, "Awake?"
"Hmm?"
He murmured instinctively and, out of habit, burrowed deeper into the blankets.
Shang Yanxiao caught the small movement of the person in his arms and let out a helpless, quiet laugh as he tugged the blanket back down, "Young Master Bai? Wake up?"
Bai Xu opened his eyes reluctantly, and for a moment he was a little dazed at the sight of Shang Yanxiao's flawlessly handsome face.
He took quite a while to come around before muttering, "It's rare to wake up from a good sleep and actually find you still lying beside me."
Every other time they had shared a bed, either he had slept in comfortably past the morning, or Shang Yanxiao had already gotten up and gone off to work.
Shang Yanxiao lightly tapped the corner of his eye, "You burrow into the blankets so many times throughout the night. I'm always worried you can't breathe, so I keep either tugging the blanket back down or pulling you up."
Bai Xu let out a soft, quiet laugh, "I'm used to it."
Shang Yanxiao was in no hurry to get up. He leaned in close and asked, "Are you tired?"
Bai Xu hid a little smile, "Not too bad. Used to that too."
Shang Yanxiao couldn't hold back a grin. His fingertip drifted from the corner of Bai Xu's eye to his hair, "Young Master Bai, you were awfully clingy last night."
Tucked within his low, husky voice was an intimate, unspoken meaning that only the two of them shared.
"That tickles."
Bai Xu turned his head to dodge the fingertip that was deliberately making trouble, then met those deep, dark eyes, "Third Young Master put in quite the effort last night, served me very well. I'll request you again next time~"
Shang Yanxiao was helpless against him, "Do you always have to win every little argument?"
Bai Xu shot back, "I'm complimenting you, and you're not happy about it?"
"Being acknowledged by Young Master Bai? Of course I'm happy."
Shang Yanxiao took it all in stride, then suddenly grew a little playful, "Since I've served Young Master Bai so well, doesn't the boss owe me a little reward now that he's woken up?"
"……"
Bai Xu hadn't expected Shang Yanxiao to actually play along, and after a two-second pause he burst out laughing, "Shang Yanxiao."
"Hm?"
"You're breaking character."
The Shang Yanxiao from the original novel was nothing like this.
Shang Yanxiao let him have his say and leaned in to keep pressing for his reward, "So is Young Master Bai going to give me something or not? There's no such thing as a free meal or free service in this world."
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow, "What do you want?"
Shang Yanxiao smiled meaningfully, "Just the usual from Young Master Bai will do."
"……"
The usual?
Bai Xu was puzzled for two seconds, then suddenly remembered something, and the smile on his face was impossible to hide.
Seeing him so delighted, Shang Yanxiao couldn't help himself, "What are you laughing at?"
Bai Xu still couldn't keep the laughter in, and spoke between giggles, "I'm laughing at the great Third Young Master of the Shang family, what could he possibly want that he doesn't already have? And yet he's thinking about my little gold beans?"
"And going about it in such a roundabout way too?"
Shang Yanxiao let him tease and simply pressed, "So are you giving them or not?"
"Didn't I already say? The little gold beans represent favors. If I feel like you've helped me, I'll naturally give you one."
"Last night it was Young Master Bai who was begging me, and more than once at that. How does that not count as helping you?"
"……"
Bai Xu's cheeks flushed, "Shang Yanxiao! Get lost!"
Who exactly was begging whom?
Someone had deliberately stopped right when he was almost there, and dared to claim it wasn't on purpose?
Shang Yanxiao sighed and retreated to advance, "Fine, fine. Don't give them then. Look how stingy Young Master Bai is."
Bai Xu turned his back, showing no sign whatsoever of wanting to get up.
Shang Yanxiao wrapped his arms around him from behind and pressed a kiss to the small mole on the back of his neck, "A' Xu, are you upset?"
Bai Xu shrank his neck instinctively at the sensitivity, but still couldn't escape Shang Yanxiao's deliberately teasing touch.
He had no other choice and could only turn back around, "Third Young Master, stop fooling around. Would it kill me to just go buy them for you?"
Shang Yanxiao said with a perfectly straight face, "I'm not fooling around."
Bai Xu huffed indignantly, "I've helped the third branch so much lately. How is it that I'm still the one who ends up owing you gold beans?"
Shang Yanxiao nuzzled the tip of his nose, "Whatever Young Master Bai wants, just say the word."
Bai Xu closed his eyes and burrowed back into the blankets once more, "I want you to stop disturbing me so I can go back to sleep."
The words had barely left his mouth when Shang Yanxiao 'gently' pulled him back out of the blankets, "Sleep out her, you'll suffocate in there. Aren't you hungry? How about eating first and then sleeping?"
"What time is it?"
"Just past eleven."
"Then why aren't you at the company yet? Does being an executive mean you get to slack off?"
Shang Yanxiao held him a little tighter and still showed no rush to get up, "Queyan is looking after things at the company. All those years I was busy while he had it easy. It's only fair to switch things up now."
Bai Xu listened to his completely unapologetic tone and marveled, "No wonder..."
"No wonder what?"
"……"
No wonder he was the male lead of the original story and ended up taking over the entire conglomerate in the end.
Bai Xu closed his eyes, "Nothing. I want to sleep a little longer. I'll get up and eat later."
"Alright, I'll keep you company then."
"Mm."
...
The two slept a comfortable second round, and Shang Yanxiao didn't head to the company until the afternoon.
With nothing to do, Bai Xu wandered over to the nearby shopping district and bought a small gold bean— true to his word.
Chen Yufei, driving up front, caught sight of the jewelry store bag in his hand and was unsurprised, "Young Master Bai, is that for Third Young Master again?"
"Mm."
Bai Xu admitted it without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
The words had barely left his mouth when his phone buzzed in his pocket— it was Shang Yanxiao calling.
"Hello."
"A' Xu, are you home right now?"
"No, I was just heading back," Bai Xu caught the hint of coldness in Shang Yanxiao's tone and pressed, "What's wrong?"
"Just got word, Auntie and Shang Qishun have been bailed out by their lawyer and are already on their way home."
"……"
Bai Xu's brow furrowed slightly, "That fast? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet."
Shang Yanxiao cut to the chase, "Word is that Wu Wei, seeing the evidence was airtight, admitted to everything. And since the police found no direct link between Shang Qishun and the incident, they let him go."
"That said, Wu Wei only admitted to ordering Wu Chengwang to cause the car accident and delay our family's return to the country, claiming it was the driver's fault."
That kind of framing was clearly an attempt to absolve himself and reduce his eventual sentence.
Bai Xu let out a scornful laugh, "What utter nonsense!"
Shang Yanxiao found it equally absurd, "We're still getting the full picture. Queyan and I can't get away right now, head back to the main house first. Once Auntie and the others are home, they'll definitely go straight to Grandfather and Grandmother."
"Got it."
Bai Xu hung up without hesitation and signaled to Chen Yufei up front, "Drive. Get us home as fast as you can."
Chen Yufei's expression hardened, "Got it!"
...
As luck would have it, the two cars pulled through the estate gates one after the other and came to a stop in front of the main house garage.
Chen Yufei recognized the license plate, "Young Master Bai, that's the first branch."
A trace of coolness crept into Bai Xu's eyes, "Mm. I'll get out first."
Click.
The car door shut.
Shang Keyi stepped out from the back of the other car.
She was still wearing the elegant dress from yesterday's banquet, but her once-neat hair had come undone into a mess. Her face was bare of makeup, and she looked utterly haggard.
From the heights of superiority to the depths of ruin— in less than a day, Shang Keyi seemed like an entirely different person.
Even now, coming face to face with Bai Xu, all her former arrogance was gone. There was no trace of fury at having been set up. Only a blank, numb stare fixed on him.
Click.
Another door shut. Shang Qishun stepped out from his side of the car.
Unlike Shang Keyi, Shang Qishun—who had equally been 'taken away for questioning'—looked completely unruffled.
"Young Master Bai, it's only been a day, no need to stare at me like that," Meeting Bai Xu's unwavering gaze, he unhurriedly pushed up his glasses, "Or are you disappointed to see me back?"
Bai Xu met him with calm composure, "How could that be?"
"Good. As I've always said—"
Shang Qishun closed the distance between them step by step, "What's real can't be made false, and what's false can't be made real."
A flicker of something passed through Shang Keyi's vacant eyes. Then she spoke, her voice hoarse, "It's cold outside. Let's go in, don't keep Grandfather and Grandmother waiting."
With that, she turned and walked ahead toward the main house.
Shang Qishun watched his mother's nearly broken figure recede, then looked back at Bai Xu.
The smile faded from his face, little by little, "Young Master Bai, pass a message to my third and fourth brothers for me— tell them: 'There is plenty of time ahead.'"
Bai Xu replied evenly, "Indeed. Plenty of time ahead."
...
In contrast to the chill outside, the main house was warm as spring.
The firewood in the hearth crackled and popped, its glow casting through the grate onto the deep red carpet, lending the grand main house a touch of homely warmth.
Old Master Shang, whose movements were limited, sat in his wheelchair, with the Old Madam at his side, a book in hand, reading to him in a slow and gentle voice.
The moment Shang Keyi stepped into the small sitting room and caught sight of this tranquil, timeless scene, something stirred in her— and without quite knowing why, her eyes suddenly stung with tears.
There had been a time when she believed she had fought hard and won a love as beautiful as her parents'. She had hoped to grow old hand in hand with the one beside her, but now all of it had turned to smoke and shadow.
Because of her decades of misjudging people, she had even dragged Old Master Shang into harm's way.
She was filled with regret, filled with resentment— a thousand thoughts crowding her chest, and no knowing where to begin.
"……"
A sob she could no longer hold back replaced the greeting that should have come with walking through the door.
"Ah…"
Old Master Shang was the first to notice Shang Keyi, parting his lips but able to manage only a faint, indistinct sound.
The Old Madam looked up and met the tear-streaked face of her eldest daughter, her own heart growing complicated, "Keyi, you're back?"
Shang Keyi crossed the room in two strides and dropped to her knees before Old Master Shang's wheelchair, "Father– I'm, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I really was wrong..."
This apology had been nearly thirty-four years in coming, and in this moment, her remorse reached its peak.
"I should have listened to you back then. It's all my fault. I was blind, I couldn't read people, and because of that you ended up like this."
"Father, Mother. I'm sorry."
"……"
"I know it's too late to say anything now. But I never once had any intention of harming Third Brother's family— I, I truly didn't..."
Seeing Shang Keyi's anguished and remorseful state, the Old Madam could not hold back her own tears.
After all, this was flesh of her flesh— a daughter she had watched grow up with her own eyes. How could she not know Shang Keyi's true nature?
Shang Keyi had been raised as the apple of their eye from childhood. On top of that, she had been quite a beauty in her younger years, capable and accomplished enough that she felt the whole world ought to revolve around her.
Her pride was excessive enough to rub people the wrong way, but no matter how flawed she was, she would never sink so low as to take the life of her own flesh and blood.
"Enough. Don't say any more. What's past is past. At least you didn't throw your entire life away for someone like that."
"Keyi, your mother knows you've learned your lesson. After something like this, there must be no shortage of hurt and fear in your heart..."
Perhaps hearing her mother's forgiveness, Shang Keyi wept all the more brokenly.
In all her years growing up, this was the first time she had ever broken down so completely and unreservedly before the Old Master and Old Madam.
"Father, I'm sorry. Mother, I'm sorry."
She repeated it over and over, as though only by doing so could the remorse that had no other outlet find some small release.
Old Master Shang strained with every bit of strength he had to lift his hand, yet managed only to move his fingertips, "Ah…"
Shang Keyi noticed the movement, "Father?"
The Old Madam understood him instinctively and murmured gently, "Keyi, come closer."
Shang Keyi was puzzled, but did as she was told.
Old Master Shang struggled to shift his fingers and brushed away the tear tracks on Shang Keyi's cheek, then spoke with great effort, the words slow and indistinct, "Don't… cry…"
The children and grandchildren of the Shang family should never let themselves be defeated by tears.
After so many years, Shang Keyi finally felt the weight of that silent yet deep fatherly love. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold herself together, but pressed against Old Master Shang's broad, warm palm, she broke down and wept all the same.
The Old Madam watched with an aching heart and gently patted her on the back.
Perhaps there are some things in life that one can only truly come to understand after having been hurt and having suffered through them oneself.
"……"
Bai Xu stood not far away, watching it all in silence.
Shang Qishun made no move to step forward. Instead, he spoke at a volume only the two of them could hear, "Bai Xu, come to think of it, I should thank you for letting my mother see my father's true colors."
Bai Xu's lashes lowered slightly, casting a knowing shadow, "A pity, though. She still hasn't seen yours."
Shang Qishun feigned incomprehension, "Oh? My true colors?"
Though there was no direct evidence, Bai Xu held firm to his own conviction, "Young Master Shang, your true colors are probably far more frightening than your father's."
Shang Qishun smiled lightly, "Young Master Bai is still so fond of joking."
"Whether I'm joking or not, you know better than anyone."
"……"
Shang Qishun paid no further attention to Bai Xu's probing and took the opportunity to step forward to the Old Master and Old Madam as well, putting on an equally convincing display of shame and remorse.
Bai Xu remained where he was and didn't involve himself, only muttering under his breath, "That acting really is something quite terrible."
...
As night fell, the season's first belated light snow began to drift down.
Shang Keyi and Shang Qishun made their way home through the snow to their villa, where the long-waiting butler hurried out to greet them, "Miss, you're finally back. I've had the kitchen prepare hot tea, shall I bring some to warm you up?"
"No need."
Shang Keyi waved him off and, summoning the last of her strength, gave her instructions, "Old Zheng, take the servants and make yourselves scarce. Move to the side quarters for tonight, I have things to say to Qishun."
The butler had already heard everything about what had happened at the banquet the night before. Upon receiving Shang Keyi's orders, he cast a silent, questioning glance toward Shang Qishun.
Shang Qishun met his gaze, "Uncle Zheng, take everyone and go."
"Understood"
The butler understood and promptly ushered the household staff out through the back door.
Thud.
The back door clicked softly shut, cutting off the sound of the wind and snow outside. The entire villa felt hollow and hushed.
Unlike the warmth of the main house, this place was like a cavern of ice. A silence that could almost suffocate a person spread between the mother and son.
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Shang Qishun's eyes behind his lenses, "Mom?"
The next second, Shang Keyi suddenly raised her hand and struck him hard across the face, squeezing two words from her throat as though wrung from blood.
"Kneel down!"
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