Early Thursday morning, Bai Le walked into the office and saw Ye Xiaosi standing in front of his desk, looking deeply conflicted.
It was rare for Bai Le to see that expression on him. "What's wrong? Did you miss me? You're here in the office waiting for me so early."
Ye Xiaosi started to speak, then stopped. After hesitating again and again, he finally said, "President Bai, do you remember that drama you said we shouldn't invest in or let any of our company's artists appear in?"
Bai Le had already anticipated what he was going to say. He chuckled inwardly, and the corners of his mouth rose. "What happened?"
Ye Xiaosi's expression was grave. "Something really did go wrong."
Bai Le looked as if he had expected nothing less. He patted Ye Xiaosi on the shoulder and said earnestly, "That's metaphysics for you. I was right, wasn't I?"
Ye Xiaosi swayed slightly. When he walked out, he still looked a little dazed. It seemed that the revelation had shaken his steadfast belief in science, and even he was beginning to waver in the face of such ignorant feudal superstition.
Humming a tune, Bai Le opened his files and prepared to start his workday.
He casually tore open a bag of hawthorn cakes and took a bite. His mind drifted back to what Bai Yin had said while lecturing him a few nights ago.
Bai Yin kept a portable electronic scale in her room to monitor her weight at all times. Bai Le didn't understand why girls were so fixated on their weight, but she had coaxed and half-forced him onto the scale anyway.
"Brother, how did you gain weight?"
Bai Le looked down at the glowing red numbers and curled his lip indifferently. "I'm a grown man. I'm not trying to lose weight, so why should I be that skinny?"
Bai Yin circled him several times as he stood there in his pajamas, clicking her tongue in wonder.
"I wouldn't have been able to tell if you hadn't weighed yourself."
There really wasn't much change in Bai Le's appearance. His arms and legs were still thin, or he would have noticed long ago.
He pinched his belly, unconcerned. "Maybe it's the fat on my stomach. There is a bit more to grab now."
Bai Yin looked at him with disgust. "If you keep eating without exercising like this, you could have a beer belly before you even reach middle age. Look how big your stomach is."
Bai Le was momentarily speechless. Then he protested, "I don't eat that much."
Bai Yin sneered. "Who was it that had braised pig's trotters, duck blood and vermicelli soup, a fried chicken leg, and three big bowls of rice for dinner?"
When Bai Le went back to his room to shower, he took a casual look at himself in the mirror. Sure enough, he saw that his lower belly bulged slightly. He really was getting fatter.
At that point in his recollection, he silently put down the cake in his hand, pinched his little belly with a troubled expression, and began seriously considering whether to start exercising.
But before he could draw up an exercise schedule, he received a wedding invitation from Wu Hua. To be honest, when he first got it, he thought Wu Hua was getting married. Only after Wu Hua explained did he learn that it was his second brother, who had gotten someone pregnant.
The wedding was at a hotel in the city center, and it wasn't a particularly grand or extravagant affair. Apparently, that was because the circumstances were nothing to be proud of.
Although not many people had been invited, all the important figures who ought to be invited had been, such as the Xi Family of West City.
"Fourth Master is here too?"
Bai Le loosened his overly tight tie as he spoke to Wu Hua.
Wu Hua nodded, glanced around, and whispered, "Actually, I never thought he'd really come."
Bai Yin held Bai Le's arm, looking unhappy. Her mother had forced her to attend the wedding again, even though she didn't know anyone there.
Hearing Wu Hua and Bai Le discussing Xi Yan and repeatedly calling him Fourth Master, she couldn't help knitting her brows. "Come to think of it, why does everyone call him Fourth Master? If I remember right, he's the only one in the Xi Family's direct line, isn't he?"
Bai Le explained, "He had an older brother, but he died in an accident. He also has two older sisters, but they both married and moved abroad, so they rarely come back."
Xi Yan's father had a son and two daughters with his first wife, and he had a poor relationship with all of them. After his son died, he had also largely lost contact with his two daughters.
"Not bad, Lele. How do you know so much about the Xi Family?"
Bai Le stammered for a moment. He couldn't possibly tell him it was from a book, so he quickly changed the subject. "Let's go in. The wedding's about to start."
But when they entered the hall, they found that the ceremony hadn't begun yet. Bai Le had just started looking for a place to sit when Wu Hua pulled him toward the main table.
Bai Yin looked around and actually spotted a girl she knew. Delighted, she paid no attention to her brother being pulled away and went straight over to find a seat.
The main table wasn't full yet. Bai Le saw that nearly everyone sitting there was a member of the Wu family, and knew it couldn't be an ordinary seat. He shifted somewhat uncomfortably in his chair.
"Are you sure you want me sitting here?"
Wu Hua said, "Of course. It's not as if my brothers and the others don't know you."
After a while, a commotion arose in the crowd. Bai Le looked over and, sure enough, saw Xi Yan being pushed into the hall, coming straight toward the main table.
The members of the Wu family immediately stopped whispering and hurried to their feet, greeting him with ingratiating smiles.
Seeing everyone else stand, Bai Le had no choice but to get up too.
"Please sit down. There's no need to stand."
Xi Yan coughed softly into his fist a few times. His face was even paler than usual, and his voice was somewhat hoarse.
Bai Le frowned slightly and looked at him several times, a little concerned.
After they sat down, the Wu family members all began talking to Xi Yan, offering him the same old compliments.
Wu Hua leaned close to Bai Le and whispered, "Did you know my dad didn't want to come to the wedding at all today?"
"Why?"
Wu Hua glanced at his family to make sure no one was paying attention to him, then whispered to Bai Le, "Why else? He thinks it's embarrassing. My second brother got a college student pregnant and then wanted to kick him to the curb, but the guy was no pushover. He went straight to my dad and threatened him with the baby, saying he'd make the scandal public. My dad was afraid it would affect the company, so he forced my brother to marry him."
Bai Le felt somewhat pensive as he listened. A relationship forced upon someone couldn't be happy. If you used a child to force someone into marriage like that, you would be the one to suffer in the end.