After the incident with Gu Huai, the Xu Family stayed quiet for half a day.
That half day of peace was a rare luxury.
Xu Zhihan took a nap. By the time he woke, it was dark outside. Only one light was on in the hospital room. A nurse had just changed his dressing, and the medicinal smell still lingered.
He leaned against the headboard. His face was still pale, but he looked a little better than on the day he first woke up.
At least he no longer needed so long to catch his breath when he spoke.
His phone lit up twice.
One message was from Lu Wenchuan.
[The Gu Family's having quite a lively day.]
Xu Zhihan didn't reply.
The second message arrived a few minutes later.
[Are you not replying because you're angry, or do you just find me annoying?]
Xu Zhihan glanced at it and turned his phone facedown.
The answer was obvious.
Annoying.
But before long, his phone chimed again.
[I'm guessing you find me annoying. All right, I guessed right.]
Xu Zhihan stared at the screen for two seconds, then silenced his phone without expression.
A soft knock came from outside the door.
This time, the person outside didn't simply push it open.
Xu Zhihan leaned back against his pillow and said coolly, "Come in."
The hospital room door opened.
Xu Mingji walked in.
He hadn't cried today, but his face was even paler than it had been over the past two days. His eyes were badly bloodshot, as though he really hadn't slept well.
Zhou Man hadn't come, and neither had Xu Chengyuan.
Xu Mingji stood alone in the doorway, his fingers clutching the hem of his clothes. For a long while, he didn't move forward.
Xu Zhihan glanced at him. "If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, get out."
Xu Mingji's lips moved, and his voice was very soft. "Dad sent me to take you home."
Xu Zhihan showed little expression.
"He sent you?"
Xu Mingji lowered his head. "Yes."
"Why didn't he come himself?"
Xu Mingji's fingers tightened. He didn't answer.
Xu Zhihan understood.
Xu Chengyuan wanted to save face.
After the incident with Gu Huai blew up, even the cooperation between the Gu Family and the Xu Family had suffered. Xu Chengyuan was in such a hurry to bring Xu Zhihan home now only because he feared Xu Zhihan would keep talking out of turn at the hospital, and that Lu Wenchuan would interfere again.
Yet he refused to swallow his pride in person.
So he had shoved Xu Mingji forward instead.
Xu Zhihan found it all rather tiresome.
"I told you before," he reminded him.
Xu Mingji's face grew a little paler.
"I know."
The hospital room fell quiet.
Xu Zhihan didn't hurry him.
He didn't have much patience, but he could wait a little longer if it meant watching a member of the Xu Family suffer.
Xu Mingji stood in the doorway, his shoulders trembling slightly. After a long while, he slowly took a few steps forward.
He stopped in front of the hospital bed.
Then he knelt before Xu Zhihan.
His knees made only a soft sound as they touched the floor.
Xu Mingji lowered his head, and tears finally fell.
He didn't cry as theatrically as he had the previous times. Perhaps he knew he would be exposed if he overdid the act; he even held back his sobs.
"Brother, Dad sent me to ask you to come home."
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
Those words sounded aggrieved, but beneath them lay the same reluctance.
Xu Mingji was seething with hatred.
Xu Zhihan could see it.
His sin line moved rapidly around his wrist, fine and densely tangled with resentment, hatred, and fear.
Xu Zhihan asked, "Does it hurt to say that on your knees?"
Xu Mingji snapped his head up, his eyes fiercely red.
"Do you have to humiliate me like this?"
Xu Zhihan's tone was calm. "When you pretended to be sick to force my hand before, didn't you think you were humiliating me?"
Xu Mingji opened his mouth.
Xu Zhihan continued, "You coveted my engagement, tampered with my medicine, and played the victim in front of Xu Chengyuan. All I've done now is make you kneel for a moment. What do you have to feel wronged about?"
Xu Mingji's expression grew uglier by degrees.
He could no longer hide the resentment in his eyes.
"You never used to act like this."
He had already said that once before.
Xu Zhihan was sick of hearing it.
"Try another line."
Xu Mingji froze.
Xu Zhihan frowned. "I've heard that one enough."
Xu Mingji was left speechless for a long while.
The nurse assigned to care for Xu Zhihan happened to arrive at the door with his medication. Seeing Xu Mingji kneeling on the floor, she stopped, unsure whether to enter or retreat.
Xu Mingji's face instantly flushed.
This was the kind of scene he feared most.
Ever since childhood, he had been used to being pitied and protected. Even when he did something wrong, someone always covered for him.
What happened today felt as though that protective skin had been peeled away for everyone to see.
Xu Zhihan looked at the nurse. "Just leave the medicine."
The nurse snapped out of it, quickly set the medicine on the table, and withdrew with her head lowered.
Once the door closed, Xu Mingji finally couldn't hold back. "Are you satisfied?"
Xu Zhihan watched him for a moment.
"Not quite."
Xu Mingji clenched his fingers.
"Say please," Xu Zhihan said.
Xu Mingji bit down hard on his lip.
Xu Zhihan was in no hurry.
Only the faint sounds of the equipment remained in the hospital room.
After a long while, Xu Mingji finally forced a sentence through clenched teeth. "Please come home, brother."
Xu Zhihan gave a quiet hum.
"I heard you."
Xu Mingji looked up. "Then will you come back?"
Xu Zhihan leaned against the pillow. His lips were pale, but his gaze was clear.
"Yes."
Xu Mingji froze for a moment.
He had thought Xu Zhihan would keep making things difficult for him. He hadn't expected him to agree so quickly.
Seeing his surprise, Xu Zhihan said flatly, "Don't read too much into it. It's not because you did such a good job kneeling."
Xu Mingji's face went pale again.
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes, picked up the glass beside his bed, and took a sip before continuing, "I just want to go back and see how much more filth the Xu Family has hidden away."
A chill ran through Xu Mingji.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered the moment the hallway lights had flickered last night.
And the sight of Zhou Man clutching her neck, her face deathly pale.
He slowly stood up. His knees were a little numb, and he swayed. In the past, he would definitely have seized the chance to make himself look even weaker.
But Xu Zhihan was watching him from the bed.
His gaze was icy.
Xu Mingji didn't dare put on an act.
The car sent by the Xu Family was waiting downstairs at the hospital.
Xu Zhihan's discharge paperwork was processed quickly-so quickly it was abnormal. The doctor had originally advised against discharging him, but Xu Chengyuan had already made arrangements, and all the paperwork was in order.
Xu Zhihan didn't object either.
He knew very well that, in his haste to bring him home, Xu Chengyuan wouldn't leave the hospital much room to refuse.
Before leaving the room, Xu Zhihan picked up his phone and saw another message from Lu Wenchuan.
[The Xu Family came to pick you up?]
Xu Zhihan paused.
Lu Wenchuan's message was far too well-timed.
He sent a brief reply.
[Need something?]
The reply came quickly.
[No, just a reminder. The Xu Residence hasn't been clean these past two days.]
Xu Zhihan looked at the line of text, a slight shift in his gaze.
Lu Wenchuan sent another message.
[Of course, you probably know that better than I do.]
Xu Zhihan typed.
[Then why ask?]
Lu Wenchuan replied very quickly.
[I was worried you'd get bored going back alone.]
Xu Zhihan put his phone away without expression.
The man really was annoying.
Standing beside him, Xu Mingji saw him staring at his phone and couldn't resist asking, "Brother, who is it?"
Xu Zhihan looked up.
Xu Mingji immediately shut his mouth.
Xu Zhihan slipped his phone into his pocket and slowly walked out.
Xu Mingji followed behind him. Watching his back, he suddenly felt an unease he couldn't put into words.
Xu Zhihan didn't walk fast.
His body really was still weak, and he had to stop every few steps. But no one dared hurry him.
As the driver opened the car door, Xu Zhihan caught a fleeting glimpse of a black shadow in the window.
The shadow was small, like a child crouching in a corner.
A second later, it was gone.
Xu Zhihan got into the car, his expression unchanged.
Xu Mingji sat on the other side and stole a few cautious glances at him. In the end, he couldn't hold back. "Brother, are you really going home?"
Xu Zhihan kept his eyes closed. "Didn't you come to pick me up?"
"But..."
Xu Mingji wanted to say, But what are you planning to do when you get back?
Yet he didn't dare ask.
Xu Zhihan said it for him. "Afraid of me?"
Xu Mingji's expression stiffened. "I'm not."
Xu Zhihan said indifferently, "Don't let your hands shake when you lie."
Xu Mingji immediately held his hands still.
The car fell quiet.
Xu Zhihan said nothing more for the entire journey.
Xu Mingji didn't dare speak either.
The Xu Residence was a detached villa halfway up a hill in the north of the city, impressive from the outside. As the car drove through the gates, Xu Zhihan opened his eyes and looked at the house he had seen countless times in his memories.
The body's original owner had lived here for twenty-one years.
But this place did not feel like home at all.
The car stopped.
The servants were already waiting at the entrance, and their expressions turned strange when they saw Xu Zhihan get out.
They had probably all heard about what had happened at the hospital.
After coming back from death's door, the Xu Family's eldest son seemed like a different person.
Some lowered their heads, afraid to look at him, while others stole glances.
Xu Zhihan ignored them.
The moment he stepped inside, he caught a faint trace of something cold and sinister.
The living room was neatly arranged and brightly lit. Xu Chengyuan stood beside the sofa, while Zhou Man sat to one side, the silk scarf still wrapped around her neck. Her face visibly paled when she saw Xu Zhihan.
"You're back," Xu Chengyuan said.
Xu Zhihan gave a quiet grunt of acknowledgment.
Xu Chengyuan frowned at his cold attitude, but thinking of recent events, he suppressed his anger.
"Now that you're back, get some proper rest. The hospital is too chaotic. It's no place for you to recover."
Xu Zhihan glanced at him.
"And this place is clean?"
Xu Chengyuan's expression darkened slightly. "What do you mean by that?"
Xu Zhihan did not answer.
His gaze passed over the living room and settled on an inconspicuous little door beside the stairs.
That was the way to the basement.
In the original owner's memories, the Xu Family's basement had always been locked. The servants were forbidden to go down there, and Xu Zhihan had been warned as a child not to go near it.
But now, crying came from behind that door.
Very faint.
Like a child crying.
Broken, muffled sobs.
No one else in the living room reacted.
Only Xu Zhihan heard it.
Seeing him stare toward the basement, Zhou Man went even paler, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the sofa's armrest.
Xu Chengyuan noticed where he was looking, too.
"What are you looking at?"
Xu Zhihan withdrew his gaze and said evenly, "I heard something."
Xu Mingji immediately grew tense. "What did you hear?"
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
"You don't know?"
The question sent a chill down Xu Mingji's back. "How would I know?"
Zhou Man suddenly stood, her voice a little shrill. "You've only just come back, and you're still not well. Go upstairs and rest."
Her reaction was too hasty.
So hasty that even Xu Chengyuan glanced at her.
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"All right."
Zhou Man froze.
She had not expected Xu Zhihan to agree so readily.
Without another glance at the basement, Xu Zhihan turned and headed upstairs.
A servant moved forward to help him, but he stepped aside.
He slowly climbed the stairs on his own. Halfway up, the crying from the basement suddenly grew a little clearer.
The child cried out through sobs.
"Big brother."
"Save me."
Xu Zhihan paused for half a second.
In the living room, Zhou Man stared fixedly at his back, barely daring to breathe.
Xu Zhihan did not turn around.
He continued upstairs as though he had heard nothing.
Only after returning to the original owner's room and closing the door did Xu Zhihan lean against it and cough softly a few times.
The taste of blood rose again.
He raised a hand to wipe the blood from his lips, his eyes turning cold.
The Xu Family's home really was more trouble than the hospital.
The phone by the bed lit up.
Lu Wenchuan had sent a message.
[Home yet?]
Xu Zhihan replied.
[Yeah.]
This time, Lu Wenchuan did not immediately start wisecracking.
A few seconds later, he sent another message.
[Did you hear anything?]
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes.
The crying in the basement continued.
It was fainter than before, yet clearer, too.
He typed a reply.
[There's a child crying.]
Lu Wenchuan went silent for a long time.
When another message finally came, his tone was no longer so casual.
[Don't go down there.]
Xu Zhihan stared at those words.
Then he turned off his phone and looked toward the door.
The crying voice was still calling to him.
"Big brother."
"Save me."