Shameless

Just in case, Xi Jin had made preparations in advance.

He stared at the father and son making a scene on the screen, then took out his phone and made a call.

"Drive those mad dogs away from the door."

A few minutes later, several people came up in the elevator, seized the father and son, and forcibly took them away.

Xi Jin hurried back to the room and drew open the curtains.

Nan Xingyu sat cross-legged on the floor with her head bowed. She had eaten most of the pasta on the floor.

Xi Jin knelt on one knee and reached out to stroke her head.

Just as he had before, he said, "It's all right now."

Nan Xingyu kept her eyes lowered. After a long while, she finally looked up at him.

"Xi Jin, as long as you're happy."

A faint smile touched her lips, but Xi Jin could see the exhaustion in her eyes.

He pulled her into his arms. "It won't ever be like this again."

After Grandpa's funeral, he would officially make their relationship public.

He never wanted her to suffer the indignity of being treated as something that "couldn't see the light of day" again.

However.

Life was unpredictable; that was its normal course.

Plans could never keep up with change.

On the day of the funeral.

After the ceremony, the relatives went to a hotel for a meal.

Xi Zhan rode in the same car as Xi Kun and showed him the photos taken by a private detective.

"Brother, just look at what Xi Jin has been up to. He knows perfectly well he has a marriage alliance with the Jiang Family, yet he's keeping a canary on the side. If President Jiang finds out, I'm afraid the marriage alliance will fall through."

Xi Kun pulled the photos from the document envelope, then stuffed them back in after seeing the first one.

"I know about this."

"What?"

Xi Zhan frowned. "Brother, if you knew, why have you let that kid run wild? Aren't you afraid he'll damage the Xi Family's reputation?"

Xi Kun glanced at Xi Zhan.

A man like him, who feared the world might not be chaotic enough, would never be kind enough to offer a warning.

He only wanted to stir up trouble.

To shatter the stability they had struggled to achieve.

"Young people like to play around. He's only playing along for the occasion."

He brushed him off with just a few words.

Xi Zhan said, "I don't think he's just playing along. That girl grew up in our Manor. Who knows when they got together?"

Xi Kun smiled with disdain. "So what? Who hasn't kept a mistress on the side when they were young?"

He gave the other man a cool, mocking glance. "How many are you keeping? Why don't you think about the Xi Family's reputation?"

"..."

Xi Zhan's expression changed slightly, but he kept pressing the issue. "I'm talking about Xi Jin. How did this become about me?"

Xi Kun snorted. "If you hadn't played around so wildly when you were young, you wouldn't have ended up infertile and had to adopt Xi Hao. And you still have the nerve to meddle in other people's affairs?"

"You!"

Xi Zhan's face flushed red in an instant. A moment later, he suddenly sneered.

"Big brother, do you think having a son means everything is settled? That you and your son can sit securely in your positions in the Xi Family?"

He leaned back in his seat, his gaze sweeping over the driver in front, who focused on the road as though he hadn't heard a thing.

"The old man ultimately handed the next generation's inheritance to Xi Jin instead of Xi Hao only because he was of the Xi Family's bloodline. But now I'm worried that if you don't rein Xi Jin in, the Xi Family's bloodline may end with his generation."

Xi Kun looked at him coldly. "What do you mean?"

Xi Zhan glanced at him. "Judging by your reaction, big brother, I suppose you don't know yet."

Seeing Xi Kun's confusion, he tapped the fingers resting on his knee.

"A friend of mine at the hospital told me something. Would you like to hear it, big brother?"

Inside the black Maybach.

As soon as Xi Jin got into the car, he video-called Nan Xingyu.

She was curled up beneath the covers, her messy hair concealing half her face and her lips slightly pursed, like a kitten that hadn't fully woken up.

"You really can sleep."

He smiled, making no attempt to hide the adoration in his eyes.

"Mm."

Nan Xingyu kept her eyes closed and gave him a perfunctory response, her voice soft and thick with sleep.

Xi Jin held the steering wheel with one hand, glancing at the screen from time to time, afraid of missing any of her expressions.

"Remember to get up and eat lunch."

"Mm."

"Do you miss me?"

"Mm."

"You're being awfully perfunctory."

Nan Xingyu frowned and opened her eyes slightly, her voice irritable from being woken. "We've only been apart a few hours. What's all this about missing you?"

Xi Jin smiled. "How many hours do we have to be apart before you miss me on your own?"

"..."

Nan Xingyu looked at his stern face on the screen, and her heart ached.

When she didn't answer, Xi Jin glanced over.

"Hm? How long do we have to be apart before you miss me on your own?"

Nan Xingyu burrowed farther under the covers and made an excuse. "You're driving. Stop looking at your phone all the time; it's dangerous. I'm hanging up."

"Don't hang up. I want to look at you."

"I'm right here at your house. It's not like I'm going to run away."

Nan Xingyu rolled over impatiently, dropping her phone. The camera pointed at the ceiling, and she was nowhere in view.

"Nan Xingyu, point it at yourself. I want to see you."

Xi Jin spoke in a commanding tone.

Nan Xingyu's voice came muffled from beneath the covers. "I'm so sleepy."

Lately, it was as if he'd been possessed by a Teddy dog, screwing her day and night without ever tiring of it.

He had even done it once that morning, just before leaving.

She was utterly exhausted now.

Xi Jin stared at the ceiling on the screen, inexplicably growing restless.

"Nan Xingyu, did you hear me?"

"I'll give you three seconds."

"Three."

"Two!"

His tone grew noticeably sharper when he reached "two."

Just as he was about to count "one," she finally picked up the phone, and that soft little thing appeared on the screen again.

Xi Jin's heart gradually settled.

"Xi Jin, you're so annoying!"

Nan Xingyu glared at him indignantly.

Xi Jin's lips curved slightly as he said, as though flirting with her, "You're annoying too."

Nan Xingyu brushed the hair out of her eyes and protested, "How am I annoying?"

The car stopped at a traffic light.

Xi Jin turned his head and looked at her on the screen.

"I hate how you make my heart ache with longing."

"..."

Nan Xingyu pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, playing dead.

Xi Jin raised a hand and stroked the image of her on the screen with his fingertip, his eyes full of tenderness.

"Xiaoyu, soon we'll be able to be together openly. I really want the whole world to know how much I love you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu buried her face in the pillow. "Cheesy," she mumbled.

The light turned green.

The cars behind him honked, urging him on.

The car started moving again.

By the time Xi Jin arrived at the hotel, Xi Kun's assistant was already waiting in the lobby.

"Young President Xi, President Xi needs to speak with you in private. He's waiting for you in the penthouse suite."

Xi Jin nodded slightly.

He headed toward the elevator and came face-to-face with his second uncle's adopted son, Xi Hao, and Xi Hao's maternal uncle, Hua Jinyao.

The two were talking about something and hadn't noticed him.

"How shameless. A servant's daughter actually dared to climb into her master's bed..."

Hua Jinyao's sharp, cutting voice drifted into Xi Jin's ears.

He slowed his steps, his cool gaze shifting to one of them.

Hua Jinyao wore a crisp suit, his hair slicked back and gleaming. With his chin raised and his gaze looking down on others, he looked as though he held everyone beneath his notice.

He happened to catch sight of the figure nearby and immediately exchanged a look with Xi Hao before going over to greet Xi Jin warmly.

"My dear nephew."

He approached with a smile and raised a hand to put it on Xi Jin's shoulder.

Xi Jin stepped aside, and Hua Jinyao's hand grasped empty air.

Hua Jinyao stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, then hurried after him. Noticing Jiang Yuexi approaching from behind, he quickly had someone hold the elevator.

"Thank you, Uncle Yao."

Jiang Yuexi stepped inside and nodded politely to Hua Jinyao.

Hua Jinyao said, "Why be so polite? We'll all be family soon."

At that, Jiang Yuexi instinctively glanced at Xi Jin, who stood on the other side.

Hua Jinyao looked from one side to the other, as though deliberately speaking for someone to hear.

"Yuexi, you're not only beautiful but smart and capable too. You and our Xiao Jin are simply a match made in heaven."

Jiang Yuexi tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Not daring to look at Xi Jin again, she merely lowered her head and smiled without speaking.

Xi Jin wore his usual cool expression.

Like an outsider.

He paid no attention to what they were saying.

"Outstanding people like you two should join forces."

Hua Jinyao said, "A family like ours isn't one just any humble household can aspire to. These days, there are plenty of young girls out there who want to marry into a wealthy family. They think that just because they have a little beauty, they can turn from crows into phoenixes."