Something important.
But the cold wind made him shiver so badly that he stopped thinking. It was not until he returned to his room and Aunt Wang made him a steaming bowl of ginger soup that something in Tang Mingxi's head finally clicked. Inspiration struck, and he finally remembered what he had forgotten!
In the original novel, after the Tang Family's annual gathering, Huo Yiran—the cannon-fodder scumbag who had colluded with "Tang Mingxi"—officially made his appearance.
The moment he appeared, he did something major. He first went looking for trouble with Ye Heng, dragging him out of the stables. Not only did he falsely accuse Ye Heng of stealing from the Tang Family, but he also viciously whipped the male lead with a riding crop.
Most outrageous of all, in the snowy weather, Huo Yiran burned the scarf Ye Heng treasured most and threw it into the ornamental pond in the old manor's courtyard.
That scarf had been the last one his younger sister Ye Yue knitted for him before she went blind. It meant a great deal to him, and Ye Heng had almost thrown himself into the pond without hesitation.
In the dead of winter, the young man's heart was even colder than his body. He had nearly frozen to death that winter night.
At the thought of this, Tang Mingxi's heart lurched, and his sense of foreboding grew stronger and stronger.
The next second, the courtyard suddenly blazed with light and erupted into noisy voices. A fierce voice rang out: "You still dare claim you didn't steal from the Tang Family!"
That voice belonged to Huo Yiran!
Conflict
Tang Mingxi threw on his suit jacket and hurried downstairs from the second floor toward the courtyard.
At the same time, memories of Huo Yiran gradually surfaced in his mind.
As the second cannon-fodder character in the original novel, no less suicidal than "Tang Mingxi," Huo Yiran was around Ye Heng's age. He had only just turned eighteen this year and was Tang Mingxi's ridiculously distant grandnephew.
Though he was called a grandnephew, because he had grown up with Tang Mingxi, the two were more like childhood sweethearts.
Huo Yiran had been raised by the Tang Family since childhood. He and Tang Mingxi had bullied cats and chased dogs, committing every kind of evil. He worshipped and depended on Tang Mingxi greatly, practically obeying his every word.
He was plainly Tang Mingxi's loyal, vicious dog.
By the time Tang Mingxi reached the courtyard, Huo Yiran had already raised the riding crop high. It then came crashing down, whipping up a terrifying howl of wind as it lashed across Ye Heng's back with a sharp swish. His skin split open, and bloody flecks flew.
The young man gave a muffled groan. His lungs and internal organs had been injured, and a streak of red spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Yet his gaze was like that of an evil ghost. His pupils were pure black, without the faintest glimmer of light.
Sinister and chilling, he looked at Huo Yiran as if he were already dead.
Tang Mingxi's expression changed. When Huo Yiran raised the whip for a second strike, he immediately shouted, "Stop!"
Huo Yiran lowered the whip. The moment he saw Tang Mingxi, he immediately put away his vicious expression and replaced it with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Little Uncle!"
Then he realized what Tang Mingxi had said and curled his lip. "Why are you speaking up for this piece of trash?"
Tang Mingxi stopped walking and finally took in the full scene in the courtyard.
Aside from Huo Yiran and Ye Heng, Tang Nuo was also standing off to the side, his face somewhat pale!
The servants in the courtyard kept their heads lowered fearfully. Messy clothes were scattered across the snow, along with marks where someone had been dragged. They must have been left when Huo Yiran dragged Ye Heng here and the two struggled along the way.
Tang Mingxi's heart pounded like thunder, especially when Ye Heng looked over. The sheer hatred in his gaze stabbed directly into Tang Mingxi's heart.
Tang Mingxi: ...So scary qvq.
He was scared stiff from head to toe, okay!
Male lead bro, every debt has its debtor. Huo Yiran was the one whipping you, not me!
Tang Mingxi took a deep breath and looked at Huo Yiran. "Why are you here?"
Huo Yiran flashed a mouthful of white teeth. "Little Uncle, I heard this trash Ye Heng dared lay a hand on you, so I came to vent your anger. But then I discovered that this trash actually stole something!"
Huo Yiran had always followed Tang Mingxi's lead. Ever since he heard Tang Mingxi had been injured, he had rushed nonstop to Tang Family Manor to teach Ye Heng a lesson.
In his heart, Tang Mingxi had always been dazzling and uninhibited. The only stain in his life was Ye Heng.
As Tang Mingxi's most loyal dog, whenever he saw Ye Heng, he had to bite him—tear off skin and flesh alike, never letting Ye Heng have it easy!
"Stole something?" Tang Mingxi internally screamed, Suicidal, absolutely suicidal, but kept his expression unchanged. "What did he steal?"
"He stole Tang Family clothes!" Huo Yiran licked his lips and used his foot to flip up the clothes on the ground, saying disdainfully, "He's a penniless, useless live-in son-in-law. Where would he get the money to buy clothes? These clothes on the ground are all worth a fortune, aren't they? If he didn't steal them from the Tang Family, then what else could they be?"
Tang Mingxi carefully examined the clothes on the ground and discovered that Huo Yiran seemed to have a point.
The suits, trench coats, jackets, and even quilts scattered on the ground were not things Ye Heng could use in the Tang Family.
Some of them even bore the embroidered crest of the Tang Family main branch.
He frowned and thought for a moment. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Tang Nuo's unusual expression. Suddenly, realization dawned on him.
—Tang Nuo had secretly brought all these clothes to Ye Heng!
That was it, Tang Mingxi thought.
As Ye Heng's only friend, Tang Nuo could not bear to see him freezing in winter, so he avoided the Tang Family servants and secretly brought Ye Heng clothes to change into.
Who would have thought that "villainous scumbag" Huo Yiran would catch them at just that moment? He clearly knew Tang Nuo had brought the clothes, yet he still lied through his teeth and turned the tables, accusing Ye Heng of theft.
As a male-lead comeback novel, The City's Ultimate Live-in Son-in-Law made its male lead as miserable and unlucky as possible in its early stages.
Before the trouble from the annual gathering had even settled, another crisis had erupted at the old manor. Every incident was tied to him, the "scumbag wife," steadily piling up hatred as solid as a mountain.
Tang Mingxi's head instantly began to ache.
Ye Heng was half-kneeling on the ground. Swaying, he forced himself upright, coughed up a mouthful of blood-stained saliva, and said hoarsely, "I didn't steal anything."
After saying that, even Ye Heng froze for a moment. Why was he explaining himself to this scumbag?
"Didn't steal anything?" Huo Yiran laughed. He was handsome and flamboyant, and still very young. When he smiled, he exuded a thoroughly wicked air. "You mean I misunderstood you? These clothes on the ground, bearing the main branch's crest, grew legs and ran into your room by themselves?"
The moment those words fell, Tang Nuo's face turned deathly pale. He stared fixedly at Ye Heng, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists.
That was right—the clothes were ones he had secretly brought to Ye Heng. Since being reborn, he had not had a chance to meet Ye Heng alone.
Tonight, he had finally found an opportunity. He had intended to do a favor for the future head of the Ye Family, the man who would one day shake the world. But before he could deliver that favor, Huo Yiran caught him red-handed at the door!
In his memories, something like this had also happened in his previous life. Tang Nuo simply decided to go with the flow and planned to do Ye Heng an even greater favor after he was punished!
Having lived two lives, he was confident that he had a way to help Ye Heng out of this predicament.
However, Huo Yiran had been Tang Mingxi's little follower since childhood and naturally had no favorable impression of him. If Huo Yiran discovered that he had secretly brought clothes to Ye Heng, the image Tang Nuo had worked so hard to build before Tang Yun would be completely ruined.
Tang Nuo was still worried. His heart pounded wildly, and cold sweat silently trickled down from the back of his head.
Ye Heng... surely he would not expose him... After all, he had come to help him.
In the snow, the young man merely stood in silence. Faced with Huo Yiran's aggressive questioning, he never spoke up to point out Tang Nuo.
Tang Nuo let out a breath of relief, as though he had survived a disaster. At the same time, he secretly felt delighted.
It seemed that it had not been his imagination in his previous life. This young future head of the Ye Family really did treat him somewhat differently from everyone else.
Ye Heng answered with silence, and Huo Yiran could not force an answer from him. Frustrated, he paced around on the ground twice.
Without warning, his expensive leather shoe stepped on something soft, like cotton.
Huo Yiran turned his head and saw an exquisitely crafted handmade scarf. Its color had been chosen perfectly, its pattern simple yet delicate. At the corner were embroidered four tiny words: "Peace and prosperity." It was clear how much care its maker had put into it.
The instant he stepped on the scarf, Ye Heng's expression finally ceased to be expressionless.