DASFAM_89

Shang Yanxiao tilted his head and pressed a kiss to Bai Xu's hair, gently receiving his hesitation, "Go ahead. I'm listening."

Bai Xu drew back slightly from his lover's embrace, "Yanxiao, what if I said..."

His eyes dropped a little, and the words were already on his lips, yet he found he did not quite dare to meet Shang Yanxiao's gaze, "I'm not the original 'Bai Xu'."

"I'm just a soul that came from another 'real world,' and by some accident came to occupy this body. Would you... believe that?"

"......"

Shang Yanxiao's expression shifted subtly. He did not reply right away.

Bai Xu sensed his silence, and the tangled mess of emotions within him wound even tighter, "I know saying something like this out of nowhere might seem completely absurd and ridiculous to you, but I..."

Suddenly, warm fingers closed firmly around his hand. Bai Xu looked up in a daze and fell easily into the trust-filled gaze of his lover.

"A' Xu, I believe you."

Those three simple words dissolved every last trace of Bai Xu's unease.

Shang Yanxiao cupped the side of his neck, still burning from the high fever, and his slightly calloused fingertips moved in quiet, soothing strokes, "From the moment you entered the Shang household, I already felt that you were different from the Young Master Bai the rumors described."

The "Bai Xu" others spoke of was timid and cowardly by nature, a soft ball of cotton that would not fight back even if you threw a punch at it.

The "Bai Xu" he knew faced things with steady composure. Even when schemed against, he would find a way to fight back from the brink.

Shang Yanxiao had never believed a person could change so drastically in such a short time, so he had always kept that doubt tucked quietly in his heart.

At first, he felt Bai Xu posed no threat to the third branch of the family, so he turned a blind eye and let him do as he pleased. Later, he approached him as an ally. And after that—

He had made up his mind about the Bai Xu before him, and the puzzle of that 'complete change in person' no longer mattered to him at all.

Though Shang Yanxiao had already settled on who stood before him, he still asked one more question, "In front of me, you've always been you. Haven't you?"

Bai Xu understood the deeper meaning behind those words and answered without hesitation, "Yes. From the very first time we met at the hospital, I have always been me."

"Then that's enough."

Shang Yanxiao smiled faintly and gestured for him to continue.

"This 'real world' you speak of, is it a 'parallel world'?"

"Perhaps?"

Beneath his quiet, trusting gaze, Bai Xu began to explain slowly, "The environment I originally lived in was not so different from yours—"

"My grandfather was an entrepreneur. My father was also a well-known figure in the business world. As for my mother, she divorced and left for another country when I was very young."

"My father was busy with company matters, so I grew up by my grandparents' side. After graduating, I started my own investment firm, and it did quite well."

That last half of the sentence carried a faint, barely concealed note of pride.

Shang Yanxiao knew his lover's ambition well, "Mm. I'm sure it did."

Bai Xu relaxed a little, "Day to day, the pressure of work was considerable. Whenever I had free time, I would listen to audiobooks to pass the time."

No need to follow the plot closely, no need to pick apart the logic, more often than not, it simply served as background noise to unwind to or drift off to sleep by.

"As far as I understand it, you, Queyan, and the vast majority of people I've come to know here are all 'characters from a book,' and I accidentally transmigrated into it, taking the place of the original Bai Xu."

Shang Yanxiao raised an eyebrow slightly, "We're characters from a book?"

From childhood to now, this was genuinely the most illogical thing he had ever heard, but because the one saying it was Bai Xu, he was willing to believe it without question.

Bai Xu said helplessly, "I find it hard to believe myself. But I woke up one day having already replaced the original, who was injured and unconscious, and was promptly taken by the Bai family to the hospital to discuss the arranged marriage with you."

Shang Yanxiao did not think for a moment that Bai Xu was delirious from the fever. Instead, he engaged with him earnestly, "Then who is the main character of this book?"

Bai Xu said, "Your younger brother. The original timeline begins from that car accident."

Shang Yanxiao thought it over briefly and nodded, "Mm. That does add up."

Bai Xu picked out the key points, "I didn't get to finish the audiobook, but I had read through the plot summary and the highlights. I... I actually knew from the very beginning that something would happen to the Old Master."

"......"

Shang Yanxiao thought of Old Master Shang, now gone, and the light in his eyes dimmed again.

Bringing this up stirred in Bai Xu a guilt he could not quite name, "At first, I only treated the Shang household as an ordinary shelter. I told myself that once things stabilized, I would leave."

"But after everything we went through together, I knew I could never go."

"I knew certain fixed plot points, so I tried my best to help you and Queyan, hoping to let the third branch regain its footing in front of others and within the group."

"Only in that book, the Old Master reached the end of his life due to a sudden cardiac episode. But the Old Master fought through it on his own and avoided that fate."

Bai Xu had originally thought that everything had changed, that history would not repeat itself.

"But I never expected that even though many of the key plot points had shifted slightly, things still somehow led the Old Master to the same outcome."

After what happened to Old Master Shang, it was not only Shang Queyan tormenting himself over failing to hold onto the wheelchair. Bai Xu, too, had been replaying his own actions with the same self-reproach—

It was he who had disrupted the Shang Qishun engagement banquet. It was he who had orchestrated the scheme that cost the first branch their dignity. It was he who had uncovered Sun Chuan's true face and revealed it to Old Madam Shang. And it was he who had insisted on securing the Zhongdi project for the third branch!

"If I hadn't cornered Shang Qishun so completely, forcing him to join hands with Sun Chuan, perhaps last night would have turned out differently."

"Yanxiao, I'm sorry."

Bai Xu swallowed down the sting rising in his throat, "I, I knew all along that the Old Master was 'destined to die,' yet I had no power to change it. I'm sorry."

"......"

Shang Yanxiao heard Bai Xu's apology and without a word pulled him into his arms, "A' Xu, this is not your fault. You don't need to blame yourself, and you certainly don't need to apologize to me."

Every outcome has its cause.

It was Wu Wei who sponged off others and cheated. It was Sun Chuan who bit the hand that fed him. And it was Shang Qishun who secretly engineered the car accident, then attempted to exploit the Bai family's connections—

If you don't want others to know, don't do it in the first place.

Wu Wei, Sun Chuan, the fates they met were entirely of their own making.

"Was it only you who went up against the first branch? Was I not involved every step of the way? Besides, knowing Shang Qishun's nature, even if we had done nothing, would he ever have let us be?"

The other man had schemed from the shadows to engineer the car accident that nearly took the third branch's lives, his conscience had long been forfeit. And now even Old Master Shang's death had ties to him that could not be severed!

The one who should truly be repenting right now was Shang Qishun!

Bai Xu's fever had yet to break. Every part of him ached with a dull, pervasive pain. He lay still against Shang Yanxiao's chest, feeling his muddled mind too exhausted to think any further.

"Shang Yanxiao, what am I supposed to do?"

"......"

Shang Yanxiao held Bai Xu, whose entire body was burning, and suddenly realized his lover was still holding something back. Quick as ever, he soon guessed at the other thing.

"A' Xu, since you say we're all characters in a book, does that mean everyone has a final ending? Queyan is the original male lead, so he should be safe. But what about me?"

"......"

Bai Xu's back went rigid in an instant. He said nothing to confirm it.

Shang Yanxiao seemed to piece it together, a flicker of understanding surfacing in his eyes, "In the book, do I die in the end? Is that why you've been so anxious and afraid?"

No wonder Bai Xu had been so reluctant to let things develop between them.

If the plot could not be changed, then he, as a character in the book, was destined to die. Rather than give his heart away only to be left with nothing, it would have been crueler but wiser to refuse the relationship from the very start.

And yet, in the end, Bai Xu had gone soft.

Shang Yanxiao worked through the heart of it and let out a quiet, rueful laugh unlike any he had given before, "My fault."

If the ending was already written, he would have rather kept Bai Xu out of all the Shang family's grievances and entanglements.

After all, with his lover's capabilities, even if he left him, left the Shang family, he would still carve out a life that was remarkable and brilliant.

"Shang Yanxiao."

Bai Xu sensed the quiet regret Shang Yanxiao had tucked away in his silence and tightened his arms around his lover.

His voice was hoarse from the fever, yet his words were firm, "I have never once regretted the choices I've made. I said I liked you and that I wanted to be with you, I never had any intention of leaving again."

"The reason I'm telling you all of this isn't only because the Old Master's death has left me unsettled. It's also because—"

Bai Xu drew back slightly from Shang Yanxiao's embrace and looked him directly in the eyes, "I need you to live."

"Sun Chuan's death almost certainly has ties to Shang Qishun. The police are capable enough that they'll figure it out sooner or later. And now that the Old Master is gone, Shang Qishun will only grow more brazen."

"So you need to be more vigilant, more careful of whatever Shang Qishun might do, and avoid every possible harm that can be avoided."

"No matter what becomes of the Shang family, I won't leave. I'll stay by your side," Bai Xu reached out and took Shang Yanxiao's hand, a promise, and a plea all at once, "And you have to stay by my side too, always. All right?"

"All right."

Shang Yanxiao kissed Bai Xu solemnly on the lips, coaxing a little color back into them, "I promise you. I will live. Nothing will happen to me. I will always stay by your side."

He reached up and gently pressed the corners of Bai Xu's mist-clouded eyes, "Be good. Take your medicine first, then get some proper sleep."

Bai Xu did not refuse. He drank down the fever medicine, which had been left to cool to just the right temperature.

Shang Yanxiao helped him lie back down on the bed, carefully tucking the covers around him, "I'll stay with you for a while, but I'll need to head to the hospital soon, so when you wake up, you won't see me."

"Queyan has a high fever too right now. Grandfather has just passed, Grandmother's health is also poor, whether at the hospital or at the company, there's a mountain of things waiting for me to handle."

At a moment like this, Shang Yanxiao had no choice but to step up and hold everything together.

Shang Yanxiao patted Bai Xu's back gently, taking care with every word, "A' Xu, don't push yourself. You must rest properly and wait until the fever breaks before coming to find me."

"This is for your sake as much as mine. From now until the future, I need you. Do you understand?"

"Mm."

Bai Xu's voice came out soft and nasal, "I understand."

The secret buried deepest within him had finally been spoken aloud. Utterly spent, he no longer had the will to keep himself going, and he closed his eyes and sank into a heavy sleep.

...

Only when the breathing of the person in his arms had gradually steadied did Shang Yanxiao carefully get out of bed, slowing his steps as he left the master bedroom.

It was not yet six. Outside, the sky was still cloaked in deep darkness.

The heavy rain that had started the night before showed no sign of letting up, as though even the air itself was thick with the smell of damp.

As Shang Yanxiao came downstairs, he happened to run into the butler stepping out from Shang Queyan's bedroom.

"Uncle Lin."

"Third Young Master."

The moment the butler caught sight of Shang Yanxiao, a tenderness only an elder could carry flooded his expression, "You haven't slept a wink all night either, have you? Can your body hold up?"

Shang Yanxiao glanced at the bedroom door, left slightly ajar, "Is Queyan any better?"

The butler answered plainly, "Still feverish. Fourth Young Master already blamed himself for the deaths of his father and mother. Now with the Old Master, I'm afraid he'll sink into that same spiral again and won't be able to find his way out."

Shang Yanxiao's brow furrowed. He understood Shang Queyan's long-standing emotional burden better than anyone.

"Uncle Lin, I'll have to trouble you to look after Queyan well these next couple of days. Once he's awake, I'll find time to have a talk with him alone."

"Of course."

As the two of them were talking, Xie Qi walked out from another room, already washed up and dressed.

Knowing the Shang household was in the midst of troubled times, Xie Qi spoke up, "Third Young Master, are you heading to the hospital now? Shall I drive you?"

Shang Yanxiao made his decision without hesitation, "Have Xiao Zheng drive me over in a bit. Have Yu Fei stay behind to keep an eye on Queyan and A' Xu. As for you, there's something else I need you to handle."

Xie Qi and the butler exchanged a brief glance upon hearing this.

The former quickly stepped up to Shang Yanxiao's side, while the latter took his leave under the pretense of making breakfast.

"Third Young Master, what is it?"

"The news of the Old Master's passing can't be kept quiet. After I've discussed it with Second Uncle, I'll have the second branch step forward to convene a shareholders' meeting and release an obituary to the public. It should happen within the next day or two."

Old Master Shang was something of a titan in China's business circles. Once the news of his passing broke, it was bound to send shockwaves across all quarters.

"Find a few high-traffic media outlets and marketing accounts across various social platforms. The moment the obituary is released, follow up immediately—"

"Say that Shang Qishun had been coveting the position of chairman of the Shang Group, plotting to seize the Shang family's assets, and had someone maliciously abduct the Old Master to use as leverage, which led to the accident."

Having heard Shang Yanxiao's instructions, Xie Qi hesitated, which was rare for him, "Third Young Master, isn't this too bold a move?"

His boss had always played things steady and methodical. Without concrete evidence, he would never act rashly, precisely to avoid tipping off the other side.

After all, the police still had no solid evidence. What if this matter turned out to have nothing to do with Shang Qishun, and he seized the opportunity to turn the tables on them?

The depths of Shang Yanxiao's eyes held a killing intent rarely seen, "Just do as I say."

Did it matter what was true and what wasn't?

Did the absence of evidence mean it wasn't fact?

In the past, out of consideration for the Old Master and Old Madam, he had been unwilling to push things to the absolute limit. But times had changed. If he continued to show mercy, the next victim would likely be himself!

If that was how things stood, then he had to pin Shang Qishun completely to the pillar of moral shame, using the tide of public opinion to force the police to lock their investigation squarely onto him!

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