"Lele's been acting strange lately. My twenty-something years of experience in the dating world tell me he's definitely got someone in his heart."
Bai Le laughed in exasperation. "Screw off. You're the one in my heart. Believe it or not."
He had indeed been thinking about other people a lot lately, but not in that way. His head was full of questions like why Ye Feifei and Xi Yan still weren't together, and why Xi Yan treated Ye Feifei the way he did.
In short, he was worrying himself sick over someone else's love life.
"Man, thinking about the day Lele gets married makes me feel like an old father about to burst into tears. I wonder which pig will end up rooting around our precious cabbage."
Bai Le shifted into another position on the bed and was about to type a reply when he saw another message from Xiaozhouzi. The moment he saw the name, it caught his attention.
"Did you guys get an invitation from the Xi Family?"
"Oh, you mean the one from Old Master Xi? Yeah. To put it bluntly, it's for finding Fourth Master Xi a marriage partner."
"I heard there are men as well as women. Apparently, Fourth Master Xi hasn't had anyone by his side all these years, so they don't know whether he likes men or women, or maybe both. So they just invited everyone."
"Where are the men?"
"Aren't we men?"
Everyone fell silent for a long time, and finally, they all thought, Fuck, at the same time.
"Fuck, this is like the emperor choosing his consorts."
"Concubine Wu, how dare you! Aren't you afraid I'll take a screenshot and show my fourth uncle what you said about him?"
"A coward like you shakes whenever you see him. Would you dare?"
Something suddenly occurred to Bai Le, and he began rummaging through his things. After quite a while, he found a small slip of paper in a drawer.
There was a string of numbers on it: the contact number he had gotten from Xi Yan after the car accident last time. He just didn't know whether it was a personal number or an office number.
He had thought it over carefully. Although Xi Yan's attitude toward Ye Feifei was cold and nasty right now, what if the plot was
a crematorium
chasing his wife?
Since he had so many questions, he might as well take the initiative and ask Xi Yan. After all, he couldn't figure anything out on his own no matter how long he pondered it. He wasn't the hesitant type, so why couldn't he just ask directly?
He entered the string of numbers into the search bar and found an account, just as he had expected. Its profile picture was a simple solid color.
Bai Le felt as if his fingers weighed a thousand pounds. In the end, he mustered his courage, entered his name in the box, and sent a friend request.
He felt uneasy, though he couldn't say why.
Worried that his message would disappear without a trace, since Xi Yan probably rarely checked WeChat given his temperament, Bai Le couldn't resist sending him a text as well.
Meanwhile, at the Xi Family residence.
Anyone who had been there shared the same impression: the residence gave off a lifeless air, just like its master. The medicinal smell that hung in the rooms year-round was oppressive too.
Two people sat at opposite ends of the long dining table. Xi Yan looked down, cutting his steak with indifference, without so much as sparing a glance for the disheveled woman farther down the table, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Tan Lianxin wiped away her tears and tried to straighten her back, lifting her chin slightly. She couldn't disgrace herself in front of him.
Though her son looked like her, he had learned every bit of his biological father's cold-blooded nature, and even showed signs of surpassing him.
Xi Yan lowered his eyes and applied a little more pressure as he cut his steak. He controlled his strength well, and his knife and fork occasionally made a crisp sound against the porcelain plate.
"When will you let me go out?" Tan Lianxin couldn't help the pleading look that appeared in her eyes.
Xi Yan kept moving his hands without even lifting his eyelids. "I haven't stopped you from going out," he said calmly.
Tan Lianxin couldn't stop her whole body from trembling with anger. He was clearly lying through his teeth, but she didn't dare lash out at him, and her expression twisted slightly.
Xi Yan raised his head and finally deigned to glance at her. He added mildly, "As long as you don't use my money to save your son."
Tan Lianxin shot to her feet and finally couldn't hold back her shout. "You're the one who made him like this! You got him addicted to gambling, then secretly had people lend him money at exorbitant interest! Now he can't pay it back and has to hide all day long. Isn't it all because of you?!"
The woman's shrill, grating screams made him frown slightly. He put down his knife and fork and slowly wiped his mouth.
"It seems you need to be taught table manners again."
Tan Lianxin shuddered in fright at his words, and those unbearable memories resurfaced. When she first came to the Xi Family, he had claimed he was finding her an etiquette teacher, but every move she made had ended up being controlled and monitored. That period had nearly driven her mad.
She had no choice but to soften her tone again. "Yanyan, Mom is sorry. Mom knows she was wrong. I've blamed myself and felt so guilty all these years. Please forgive Mom and save your younger brother, all right?"
Xi Yan looked at her for a while, then suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth and brought up an unrelated subject. "Speaking of that, this is the fifth year, isn't it?"
"...What?"
Xi Yan shook his head. Weariness appeared on his pale face, and he closed his eyes slightly, as if he didn't want to say anything more.
The dutiful housekeeper at his side immediately came over and quietly asked if he needed to rest.
His health was much better than it had been a few years ago, but they still couldn't let their guard down.
Xi Yan slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were much darker than most people's, but there was no light in them at all. They were lifeless.
Just as he was about to speak, the screen of the phone lying casually on the table, more decoration than anything else, suddenly lit up. Xi Yan frowned slightly, reached for it, and took a look. His expression actually froze for a moment.
"I'm Bai Le. Could you accept my WeChat friend request? I have something I'd like to say to you."
He opened WeChat and, sure enough, there was a red dot. He tapped it, and an account ID appeared.
His finger paused on the screen for a few seconds before he finally tapped accept.
Unlike other people, he didn't have two accounts to keep business and personal matters separate, because he only had business matters.