Chapter 21

In truth, the two brothers on the sofa simply did not have the knack for bonding. In a way, they were actually quite similar.

"I want to go too!" Hearing that Qi Chao was heading to the basement, Lan Luo climbed down from the sofa. In his eagerness, his fluffy, slightly curled hair bobbed in the air a few times. But he had spoken too late; Qi Chao had already entered the basement.

Lan Luo was about to follow when, after only a few steps, he remembered something and turned back. He called crisply to Moss on the sofa, "Big Brother, come with me."

Moss did not move. His eerie black eyes watched Lan Luo as he asked hoarsely, "What for?"

He did not quite understand Lan Luo's intentions.

"I want you to see the frog I made." What Lan Luo wanted to show off was not the frog itself; the important part was what came next. "Master and Father both praised my frog."

Setting aside Master for the moment, when Moss heard the word Father, he rose to his feet and tilted his head slightly toward Lan Luo. His voice was hoarse. "Lead the way."

The basement passage was not dark. Blue night lights lined both sides, and the "teenager" who looked thirteen or fourteen followed behind the eleven- or twelve-year-old "child," his footsteps light.

Qi Chao, who was making dolls in the basement, heard the movement and found it strange. When he saw the two dolls enter, he became even more puzzled.

When he saw Lan Luo pick up his frog, Qi Chao immediately guessed that Lan Luo was showing off his work to his older brother.

He chuckled and tidied up the things on the table, clearing out a small space for the two dolls to play.

Lan Luo naturally carried the frog over and sat beside Qi Chao, placing his treasured frog on the clean table. He performed the whole sequence with remarkable familiarity, as though he had rehearsed it hundreds of times.

Under the light, Moss looked at the frog on the table. Beneath the bandages, his mouth moved slightly. This was... a frog?

Moss had originally thought that a frog worthy of Father's praise would be exquisitely made. Who would have thought it was such an unidentifiable lump? He looked at the seemingly delighted Lan Luo with his black eyes, somewhat puzzled.

Had Lan Luo always been this innocent before?

Moss had forgotten somewhat, but vaguely felt that he had not.

He remembered Lan Luo being good at pretending to be harmless, while in reality being so irritable and troublesome that even Father found him a headache. Yet now, this innocent appearance did not seem like an act. It seemed more like a natural expression of himself.

Moss took everything in, his strange black eyes settling on the Mother Stone in the fish tank on the table.

Qi Chao was about to switch the carving knife in his hand for a scraper when he inadvertently glanced at Moss. Following Moss's gaze, he saw the Mother Stone and smiled as he introduced it. "This is the Mother Stone I'm preparing to use for a little doll. What do you think? This heart shape is adorable, isn't it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Moss saw a cluster of green light rise from Qi Chao's body and drift unsteadily through the air toward the Mother Stone.

The Mother Stone in the fish tank was like someone used to all-you-can-eat buffets. It was in no hurry to consume the Mental Power. The Mental Power floated on it for quite a while before it finally began to consume it slowly.

Moss: ...?

Having followed Father for years, he naturally understood just how strange this scene was.

For it to behave like this during the critical period when it needed a large amount of Mental Power replenished, it was obvious that this Mother Stone did not lack Mental Power to consume.

Moss's gaze met Lan Luo's. There was not the slightest hint of surprise in Lan Luo's eyes, as though he had long grown accustomed to this.

Something was off.

Moss thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Qi Chao had no idea what Moss was thinking. He was about to continue working when the Light Brain beside him vibrated faintly.

Qi Chao was somewhat surprised. He reached out and opened the screen. It was a message from Doctor, who had not replied earlier.

Doctor: [Sorry, something came up this morning, so I wasn't able to reply in time.]

Doctor: [You don't need to worry about tomorrow. I've already arranged for someone to give me a ride there on the way. I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow morning.]

Qi Chao paused slightly. Leaning back in his chair, he turned the scraper clenched in his hand, a smile appearing in his dark brown eyes.

He was also looking forward to meeting Doctor.

"Brother-in-law, aren't you a little too nervous?"

The aircraft was warm, but not so hot that someone should be drenched in sweat. Assistant Xiao Wang glanced at his brother-in-law, utterly baffled.

Just how impressive was the person they were about to pick up, to make his wealthy merchant brother-in-law this nervous?

"You don't understand. Focus on flying the aircraft later. Don't say a single unnecessary word, and don't ask any unnecessary questions. Do you hear me?" Zhao Qin instructed fearfully, his forehead covered in sweat. "You're not even allowed to turn around and look at the back seat, understand? This is for your own good!"

Zhao Qin had not originally planned to bring his brother-in-law to meet that person, but he had no choice. He was too frightened and always wanted someone with him. He was worried that bringing bodyguards would make that person suspect he had ill intentions, so his brother-in-law's scrawny build was more reassuring.

"Okay."

Xiao Wang did not understand, but seeing the state his brother-in-law was in, he could not bring himself to keep asking.

Zhao Qin had woken Xiao Wang at three in the morning. By the time they arrived at the docking area, it was only four. Xiao Wang glanced at his brother-in-law, who was nervously shaking his leg and wiping away sweat, then quietly began to doze off.

He had been sleeping soundly in the driver's seat when he was suddenly awakened by a knock not long after. As soon as he looked up, he saw Zhao Qin's pale face. In a trembling, unsteady voice, Zhao Qin instructed, "I'm going to pick him up. Once he gets on the aircraft, remember not to say anything unnecessary!"

After being warned again and again, no matter how foolish Xiao Wang was, he knew that person was not someone to provoke. He immediately became nervous too, his heart in his throat. After his brother-in-law left, he sat alone in the aircraft, on edge and unable to settle, staring at the time on the Light Brain.

Ten minutes later, Zhao Qin returned with a man behind him.

He was an exceptionally beautiful man.

It was the first time Xiao Wang had used beautiful to describe a man.

Originally, Xiao Wang had thought that someone capable of frightening his wealthy merchant brother-in-law so badly had to be some seventy- or eighty-year-old business tycoon who could make Blue Star tremble with a stomp of his foot. At the very least, he should have been an old fox who had spent decades immersed in the business world. He had never expected him to be an unfamiliar young man.