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Xie Chengyue was usually even-tempered, but his second son always knew how to make his blood boil. "I'm fine."

Shen Wan sighed helplessly. "You really shouldn't keep making people worry."

A smile appeared in Xie Chengyue's eyes.

Shen Baili kept quiet. Fortunately, Shen Wan noticed her—the glaring third wheel. "Suìsuì, go to bed early."

"Don't read tonight. You can't stay up late."

"Okay," Shen Baili said. "I'm sleepy anyway."

"Good night, Mom. Good night, Uncle Xie."

"Good night," Xie Chengyue said gently.

"Good night, sweetheart," Shen Wan said.

Xie Tingsi sat on the edge of his bed, his narrow eyes fixed on the hydrangeas on the nightstand. Clusters of blue petals were layered together, beautiful at a glance.

He remembered what he had heard the servants say in the kitchen.

His dad had time to arrange flowers with his second wife? Since when had he been so patient?

If he had shown his mother that kind of patience, perhaps she wouldn't have been so determined to get a divorce.

A shadow crossed Xie Tingsi's eyes. He swept his hand toward the vase, then stopped stiffly halfway.

Forget it. What had the flowers done wrong?

He moved the vase to a corner of the windowsill.

... The fragile peace in the Xie Family shattered when Xie Tingsi came home. The next day, father and son had a fierce argument that ended with them parting on bad terms.

Xie Tingsi stayed only one night. With an injury on his forehead, he stormed out.

Xie Chengyue spent an hour alone in his study. When he emerged, his expression had returned to normal, and he left for the office.

On the way there, he gave Assistant Li a new assignment.

Assistant Li accepted it calmly, though inwardly he felt a strange sense of relief. At last, it was his turn to handle his boss's family affairs.

Despite his private grumbling, Assistant Li promptly began his investigation.

Xie Chengyue and Xie Tingsi might have argued all the time, but their actions showed how much they cared about each other.

His boss was still angry, yet he had asked Assistant Li to look into the details of the film Xie Tingsi wanted to invest in.

The father-son argument didn't affect Shen Baili or Shen Wan. They were busy taking etiquette lessons.

Every second brought something they needed to learn—and take notes on.

By the end, Shen Baili was nearly spent. This was harder than math.

Xie Zhiyu received a voice message from his younger brother, then learned what had happened from Butler Lin. He called immediately, but Xie Tingsi didn't answer. After finishing the work he couldn't put off, Xie Zhiyu left early to find his brother, who seemed to have run away from home.

He found out where Xie Tingsi was from his younger brother's group of rich-kid friends. When he reached their private room, his brother was sitting in a corner, pouring drink after drink down his throat. He looked decadently lost in a world of booze and excess.

Was he filming a movie? Xie Zhiyu wondered.

His brother's dubious friends thought he'd been dumped. They were all trying to comfort him. Who would have guessed he'd fought with his dad and nearly cried over it?

At the sight of Xie Zhiyu in the doorway, the rich kids all stood respectfully to greet him.

Xie Zhiyu responded politely. "Sorry for the trouble of looking after him."

He walked straight over and pulled his brother to his feet. "Come on. We're going home."

Xie Tingsi tried to shake him off, but couldn't. His hand might as well have been stuck to his brother's like a magnet. "I'm not going home."

"The old man told me to get out, so I did."

"I left this morning, and now I'm supposed to crawl back tonight? How embarrassing would that be?"

Xie Zhiyu: "..."

"Fine. We won't go home."

"Then where are we going? Where can we go if we don't go home?" Xie Tingsi asked, bewildered.

"Then we're going home." Xie Zhiyu had no patience for arguing with a drunk. "Keep talking, and I'll knock you out."

Perhaps the threat worked. Xie Tingsi obediently followed his brother. "Then let's go home."

Xie Zhiyu turned to the rich kids. "I've paid the bill. Carry on."

Not one of them sat down. Someone quickly opened the door for the brothers. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!"

They watched the brothers leave, and the private room suddenly fell quiet.

Someone blurted out, "Damn, Xie Tingsi sure has it good."

He was the second son of an immensely wealthy family. His family cared about him, so he could always afford to act on impulse. There would always be someone to clean up his messes.

Even someone as aloof as Xie Zhiyu had arrived less than two hours after hearing that his brother had fought with the family.

They had all heard Xie Tingsi send his brother a voice message. Quite a few of them had been waiting to laugh at him.

This was Xie Zhiyu—the child everyone else had been compared to since they were little, the undisputed heir to the Xie Family. His time was money. Why would he bother with a drunken brother making a scene?

What a joke.

Now the people who had wanted to laugh at someone else were the biggest joke of all.

"I'm ordering the most expensive wine," someone declared. "Let's drink the Xie Family broke!"

"Drink them broke!"

Everyone joined in.

In an overlooked corner, a man was messaging someone on his phone.

[Guess what I just saw!?]

[Xie Tingsi lied to you!]

... Xie Tingsi slept until noon the next day. He wandered downstairs in a daze, then stared wide-eyed at the three people in the living room. "Bro, why are you home?"

Xie Zhiyu glanced at him. "Sober now?"

Xie Tingsi looked guilty. "Y-yeah. Bro, my head hurts."

"Butler Lin said, "Second Young Master, there's hangover soup being kept warm in the kitchen. Would you like a bowl?"

Xie Tingsi nodded. "A big bowl."

Xie Zhiyu put down his chopsticks. "I'm done eating."

Shen Wan and Shen Baili had finished too. They were about to go for a walk.

Xie Zhiyu looked at Xie Tingsi. "Come to my study after you eat."

Xie Tingsi's handsome face fell. "I know," he said weakly.

Great. His brother was going to lecture him too.

Xie Tingsi dragged out his meal from half an hour to a full hour. In the end, he had no choice but to go to the study.