Chapter 9

Something important.

But the cold wind had left him shivering, stopping him from thinking. It was not until he returned to his room and Auntie Wang made him a steaming bowl of ginger soup that the right wire in Tang Mingxi's head finally connected. Inspiration struck, and he finally remembered what he had forgotten!

In the original novel, after the Tang Family annual meeting, Huo Yiran, the cannon-fodder scumbag who had been in cahoots with "Tang Mingxi," officially made his appearance.

The moment he appeared, he did something major. First, he 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.

Worst of all, in the snowy weather, Huo Yiran burned the scarf Ye Heng treasured like his life 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, had knitted for him before she went blind. It meant a great deal to him, and Ye Heng had nearly thrown himself into the pond without hesitation.

In the depths of winter, the young man's heart had been even colder than his body, and he had nearly frozen to death that winter night.

At the thought of this, Tang Mingxi's heart gave a violent thump, and that ominous feeling grew stronger and stronger.

The next second, the courtyard suddenly lit up. Voices rose in a noisy clamor, followed by an aggressive shout. "You still dare say you didn't steal from the Tang Family!"

That voice belonged to Huo Yiran!

Conflict

Tang Mingxi threw on a suit jacket and hurried from the second floor toward the courtyard.

At the same time, memories concerning Huo Yiran gradually surfaced in his mind.

As cannon fodder number two in the original novel, whose death-seeking antics were no less outrageous than "Tang Mingxi's," Huo Yiran was around Ye Heng's age. He had just turned eighteen this year and was Tang Mingxi's extremely distant younger nephew.

Though he was called a nephew, because he had grown up alongside Tang Mingxi, the two were more like childhood sweethearts.

Huo Yiran had been raised in the Tang Family since childhood. He had teamed up with Tang Mingxi to torment cats and chase dogs, committing every evil imaginable. He worshipped and depended on Tang Mingxi greatly, almost obeying his every word.

He was practically Tang Mingxi's viciously troublesome good dog.

By the time Tang Mingxi reached the courtyard, Huo Yiran had already raised the riding crop high. Then it came crashing down with a terrifying whistle, striking Ye Heng across the back with a sharp crack. Flesh split open, and blood sprayed everywhere.

The young man gave a muffled grunt. His lungs and internal organs had been injured, and a trace of red seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Yet his gaze was like that of an evil ghost. His pupils were pure black, without the slightest glimmer of light.

Sinister and chilling, he looked at Huo Yiran as though he were looking at a dead man.

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. "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, only then taking in the full scene in the courtyard.

Besides Huo Yiran and Ye Heng, Tang Nuo was also standing nearby, his face somewhat pale!

The servants in the courtyard hung their heads tremblingly. Messy clothes lay scattered across the snow, along with drag marks. They must have been left when Huo Yiran dragged Ye Heng here and the two fought.

Tang Mingxi's heart thundered in his chest, especially when Ye Heng looked over. The hatred in his eyes pierced straight through him.

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 who whipped 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. "Uncle, I heard this useless Ye Heng dared lay hands on you, so I came to vent your anger for you. But then I discovered that this trash had actually stolen something!"

Huo Yiran had always followed Tang Mingxi's lead. Ever since hearing that Tang Mingxi had been injured, he had rushed nonstop to Tang Family Manor, all so he could teach Ye Heng a lesson.

In his heart, Tang Mingxi had always been flamboyant and carefree. The only stain in his life was Ye Heng.

As Tang Mingxi's most loyal dog, whenever he saw Ye Heng, he naturally had to take a bite out of him, tearing off flesh and skin and making sure Ye Heng suffered!

"Stole something?" Tang Mingxi inwardly screamed, Courting death, seriously courting death, but his face remained unchanged. "What did he steal?"

"He stole Tang Family clothes!" Huo Yiran licked his lips and used his foot to hook up the clothes on the ground. He said disdainfully, "How could a penniless, useless live-in son-in-law like him afford clothes? These clothes on the ground are all valuable, aren't they? If he didn't steal them from the Tang Family, then where else could they have come from?"

Tang Mingxi carefully examined the clothes on the ground and realized that Huo Yiran seemed to have a point.

The scattered suits, trench coats, jackets, and even quilts were not things Ye Heng could have used in the Tang Family.

Some of them even bore the Tang Family main branch's crest.

He frowned and thought for a moment. Catching sight of Tang Nuo's strange expression from the corner of his eye, inspiration suddenly struck him, and he understood.

—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 freeze in winter. So he had avoided the Tang Family servants and secretly brought Ye Heng clothes to change into.

Who would have thought that "villainous scumbag" Huo Yiran would happen to catch him in the act? Huo Yiran clearly knew Tang Nuo had given Ye Heng the clothes, yet he still lied through his teeth and turned the tables to accuse Ye Heng of theft.

As a male-lead comeback story, The City's Ultimate Live-in Son-in-Law had made its male lead suffer as miserably and have as much bad luck as possible in its early stages.

Before the trouble from the annual meeting had even settled, another wave had risen at the old manor. Every incident was tied to him, the "scumbag wife," and the hatred had piled up solid as a mountain.

Tang Mingxi's head instantly started aching.

Ye Heng knelt half on the ground, swaying as he forced himself upright. He coughed out bloody saliva, his voice hoarse. "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?" Huo Yiran laughed. He was handsome and flamboyant, still very young, and his smile carried a wicked air. "So you mean I misunderstood you? These clothes with the main branch crest printed on them grew legs and ran into your room by themselves?"

As soon as those words fell, Tang Nuo's face went deathly pale. He stared fixedly at Ye Heng, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists.

That was right. He had secretly brought those clothes to Ye Heng. Since returning after being reborn, he had not had a chance to meet Ye Heng alone.

Tonight, he had finally found an opportunity. He had intended to earn a favor from the future head of the Ye Family, who would one day stir up 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 happened in his previous life as well. Tang Nuo simply decided to go along with it and planned to give Ye Heng an even greater favor once he was punished!

Having lived two lives, he was confident he had a way to help Ye Heng out of this predicament.

But 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 he had worked so hard to establish before Tang Yun would be completely ruined.

Tang Nuo was still somewhat worried. His heart pounded, and cold sweat silently slid down the back of his head.

Ye Heng... probably would not expose him, right... After all, he had come to help him.

In the snow, the young man merely stood silently. Faced with Huo Yiran's relentless interrogation, 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 pleased.

It seemed it had not been his imagination in his past life. This young head of the Ye Family truly treated him somewhat differently from everyone else.

Ye Heng answered with silence, and Huo Yiran could not force anything out of him. Frustrated, he paced around on the ground twice.

Suddenly, his expensive leather shoe stepped on something soft, like cotton.

Huo Yiran turned his head and saw an exquisitely made handmade scarf. Its color had been chosen perfectly, its pattern simple yet refined. The four small embroidered words at its edge read, "Peace and smooth days," showing how much care its maker had put into it.

The instant he stepped on the scarf, Ye Heng's expression was finally no longer blank.