Before leaving the villa, Pei Ying suddenly turned around and said, "My brother told me he might be away on business for a few extra days. He's pretty busy, so he probably won't have time to contact you."
Xin Hexue nodded as though he knew nothing. "Okay."
Pei Ying gave him a couple more looks. "Anyway, don't overthink it."
Then he hurried out of the villa.
Pei Ying's thoughts were in disarray. He had received word late last night that his brother's injuries were so severe that he had been transferred to a hospital in the Core District for treatment, and his prognosis was not expected to be good. Pei Ying was afraid Xin Hexue would worry if he found out, and it would be bad if he became too distressed, so for the time being, Pei Ying had made up a white lie.
Pei Ying received a call from the main family after school.
The butler at the Pei family's ancestral residence told him to come back.
The feeling in Pei Ying's heart grew stronger, and he couldn't help asking about Pei Guangji's condition.
"The eldest young master..." The old butler sighed. "The hospital's assessment isn't optimistic at the moment. Although his body is healing and repairing itself quickly, it's difficult to detect his brain consciousness, and he remains in a coma..."
The old butler said no more.
His oblique manner made Pei Ying realize—
Pei Guangji might not wake up for a long time, and the Pei family would most likely have to make backup plans and choose a new heir to raise.
Pei Ying's breathing quickened, and blood surged through his chest in waves.
If my brother doesn't wake up, what will happen to Xin Hexue?
Xin Hexue was in poor health, and he needed a powerful Alpha to protect him. That Alpha had to be young and influential.
Pei Ying thought of the brood of lovers and children the old man kept, who were sure to be eyeing the heir's position. He gritted his teeth.
Besides his brother, he was also their mother's child.
No matter what, none of those people would get the heir's position before he did.
At that thought, Pei Ying hurriedly fumbled out a message to Xin Hexue.
[Pei Ying: Something happened at home, so I have to go back and stay with the main family for a while. Take good care of yourself, and call me if anything urgent comes up.]
[Xin Hexue: Okay ^^]
[Xin Hexue: You take good care of yourself too, and remember to balance studying with rest.]
[Pei Ying's Affection Points +5]
After replying, Xin Hexue set his communicator aside.
With neither brother living there, he had a peaceful space to himself.
He decided to go beneath the pine tree at the back of the garden and watch the little squirrels spending the winter there.
With that in mind, Xin Hexue put on a maroon scarf.
Xi Zhengqing browsed through the flood of reports, then glanced at the messages from last night's group chat.
Pei Guangji actually wasn't joking?
Xi Zhengqing stood before a glass window in a high-rise building, looking down at the neon lights flashing on the ground.
This megastructure in the center of the Core District resembled a Sky-Piercing Tower. Its nine hundred stories soared into the clouds, while blue-violet rays spiraled up its exterior in parallel, opposite directions. It was a vast complex that housed nearly all the functions of an entire city, with highly concentrated facilities and systems operating efficiently and intensively. It was the complete embodiment of authoritarianism and monopoly.
The entire Sky-Piercing Tower was under a comprehensive governing center, and behind the core of that center were undoubtedly the three great financial families. Here, the various powers and interests had reached an equilibrium.
The ember went out in the glass ashtray.
A faint smell of tobacco lingered on Xi Zhengqing.
Someone knocked and entered. Xi Zhengqing turned his head and asked unhurriedly, "Is it true?"
His secretary said respectfully, "We sent someone to ask his attending physician in private. It's true."
Xi Zhengqing smiled calmly. "Mm, well done. You may leave."
Once news of the Pei Corporation's future heir being unconscious got out, Shennong Pharmaceuticals' stock would inevitably fall, possibly even causing turmoil throughout the genetic modification industry.
But what did it matter?
The Xi Family had always focused on bionic machinery manufacturing. The Pei family's decline would only benefit them, with no drawbacks.
The incapable body of flesh and blood ought to be cast aside in the tide of the great era.
Xi Zhengqing raised his hand and examined his palm and the back of it. Pale blue currents flickered beneath the texture of his skin, then finally disappeared.
He was somewhat curious about the young man in the Halfway-Up-the-Mountain Villa. He had once seen him from behind at South City No. 1 High School.
He was only a Beta, utterly ordinary. What was so special about him?
Enough for the Pei family's eldest young master to give special instructions about him when his own survival was uncertain?
With Pei Guangji's messages in the group chat as proof, Xi Zhengqing easily obtained access to the mountainside villa from the eldest Pei son's secretary after a busy week of work.
Compared with the Federation's other, dilapidated districts and the highly technological Core District, District One had preserved the natural scenery and cityscape from before the decades of environmental deterioration. The Core District had no plans to expand outward, so the beautiful District One had become its backyard.
The Halfway-Up-the-Mountain Villa was in a good location.
It lay between mountains and water, with snow covering the deep greenery.
Xi Zhengqing registered his iris, then entered through the gate of the villa, which was as spacious as an estate.
He wandered around twice before finally finding the canary Pei Guangji kept in a corner of the villa's garden.
The cold wind stirred the chimes beneath the eaves, their faint sounds like the murmuring mountain breeze.
How could he describe him?
The young man sat on a wooden bench, bundled in a thick down jacket, a maroon scarf tucked beneath his chin. His lips were rose-colored, faint white mist escaped when he breathed, and the skin exposed to the air was as cold and white as mountain snow.
A squirrel leaped down from the pine tree, nimbly climbed onto the human's knee, and held out a pine nut to him.
The young man slowly took off his gloves, revealing a pair of hands with distinct knuckles and slender wrists, as though carved from warm white jade.
Altogether, he looked as fragile as the glazed glass cup Xi Zhengqing had once bought for a high price at an auction.
Xi Zhengqing's breathing grew heavier. The cold wind rushed into his throat, but he seemed unable to feel the stinging chill of the air. His pacemaker worked beyond capacity during those few seconds.
He took off his gold-rimmed glasses and slipped them into his shirt pocket.
His gray prosthetic eye was no longer concealed, its pupil contracting like a snake's in excitement.
The prosthetic eye magnified his field of vision and scanned the young man, pulling up the basic identity information on his citizen ID.
Xin Hexue.
Twenty years old.
Xi Zhengqing looked through the information and found that Xin Hexue's records also listed an appearance in a film from several years ago, though he didn't pay it much mind.
Xi Zhengqing knew he had always had a certain psychological disorder.
He liked exquisite porcelain, beautiful gems, and all other things that were beautiful and fragile. That fondness reached its peak the moment they broke.
He had known he was a twisted bad seed since he was four.
He had clenched and crushed the roses his father had carefully cultivated in the garden in his palm. Thorns had pierced his flesh, and the juice from the flowers and his blood had soaked the lines of his palm.
For the first time since birth, he had felt pleasure, greater than the happiness he felt at receiving praise from every tutor or being hailed as a genius by the outside world.
He longed for that ultimate beauty and ultimate decadence.
He wanted to see him cry, to see transparent tears wet his pale face, to see the young man sob and beg for mercy. And he would use his prosthetic eye to film every scene, then carefully preserve the developed film like every item in his darkroom collection.
[Xi Zhengqing's Affection Points +5]
Xi Zhengqing's Adam's apple tightened.
His gray prosthetic eye turned pitch-black in an instant.
Pei Guangji had revealed that Xin Hexue couldn't recognize people.
The soft crunch of footsteps on snow startled the squirrel, and the little animal nimbly jumped back onto the pine tree.
The young man stood and looked back in the direction of the squirrel's wary gaze. Surprised and uncertain, he called, "Guangji?"
Xi Zhengqing was certain his voice sounded somewhat different from Pei Guangji's.
So he merely nodded.
Xin Hexue stepped forward and lowered his eyes. "Pei Ying said you'd be away on business for a few more days before coming back. Have you finished your work already?"
Xi Zhengqing nodded again.
Xin Hexue asked hesitantly, "Guangji, why aren't you saying anything? I've been worried about you these past few days."
Xi Zhengqing took out his communicator and typed in a memo.
[I had a minor accident on my business trip and had surgery. My vocal cords are still recovering, and the doctor said I can't speak for now.]
He's pretty good at making excuses.
A hint of mockery flashed through Xin Hexue's eyes, and he feigned concern. "How did that happen? Is it serious?"
Xi Zhengqing continued typing and showed Xin Hexue. [Don't worry, it was just a minor accident.]
The young man still wasn't reassured. He carefully examined his neck, and even kissed Xi Zhengqing's Adam's apple with concern.
A gentle touch.
He had never experienced anything like it: the touch against his Adam's apple, a light brush before it withdrew.
Xi Zhengqing's pupil contracted, and his head rang with waves of frenzied buzzing.
Is my pacemaker broken?
Perhaps I should have it serviced after today.
[Xi Zhengqing's Affection Points +5]
Xin Hexue took the Alpha's hand. "Let's go home first. It's cold outside."
Only then did Xi Zhengqing notice a mechanical cat following close at the young man's feet.
A closer look would have revealed the Nüwa Mechanical Manufacturing logo engraved on its tail.
He must like this cat, right?
[Xi Zhengqing's Affection Points +3]
The temperature indoors was kept as warm as spring.
Xin Hexue took off his thick down jacket and scarf, revealing an ivory turtleneck sweater underneath. He put on plush slippers, looking quite at home.
He took a cake out of the refrigerator.
"Yesterday was my birthday, but you were too busy with work to come back..." Xin Hexue lowered his lashes, then quickly gave Xi Zhengqing an understanding smile. "It's all right. I made a cake myself and saved you a piece. Would you like to try it now?"
Meeting those eyes, Xi Zhengqing simply couldn't bring himself to refuse.