After Zhou Man was taken away, the Xu Family home stayed quiet for a long time.
It was a different kind of quiet from before.
The Xu Family home had always been quiet, but that quiet had kept Xu Zhihan suppressed. The servants spoke softly, Xu Chengyuan came home late, Zhou Man sat in the living room looking gentle and respectable, and whenever Xu Mingji coughed a couple of times, everyone gathered around him.
Now no one coughed.
And no one cried to smooth things over anymore.
Xu Mingji sat at the foot of the stairs, his face deathly pale. He stared at the empty space in the middle of the living room. That was where Zhou Man had knelt to confess, and where the Special Investigation Bureau had taken her away.
The servants had already wiped the floor clean.
But Xu Mingji kept feeling that traces of Zhou Man's struggle still lingered there.
Xu Chengyuan stood by the window, his back to him as he spoke on the phone in a low voice.
"For now, treat Zhou Man's case as her individual actions."
Whatever the person on the other end said made Xu Chengyuan's expression darken further.
"The Xu company won't be affected. Her managing so much at home over the years doesn't mean the company knew about it."
As Xu Mingji listened, his fingers slowly curled tighter.
Zhou Man had only just been taken away, and Xu Chengyuan was already cutting ties.
A sudden chill swept through him.
He used to think his father was powerful enough to arrange everything. As long as Xu Chengyuan was there, the Xu Family would never fall, and he would always be the one under his protection.
Only now did he realize that Xu Chengyuan protected people who were useful.
Once Zhou Man was no longer useful, she could be cut loose.
What about me?
Am I still useful?
His engagement with the Gu Family was gone, and people online were still condemning him for faking illness and stealing the engagement. Now Zhou Man was in trouble too, making him look even worse by association.
Xu Mingji dared not think any further.
Xu Chengyuan ended the call and turned to look at him.
"Go to your room."
Xu Mingji looked up, his voice slightly hoarse. "Dad, what's going to happen to Mom?"
Xu Chengyuan frowned. "That's none of your concern."
"But she's my mom."
Xu Chengyuan's gaze grew colder. "Then what do you want to do? Cry outside the Special Investigation Bureau? Tell everyone you can't bear to part with someone who caused He Guilan's death, locked up He Xiaoyun, and switched Lin Wan's medicine?"
Xu Mingji's face instantly drained of color.
Xu Chengyuan's words were brutally blunt, as though he had stripped him bare in front of everyone.
His lips moved. "That's not what I meant."
"Then shut up."
Xu Mingji lowered his head.
All his life, Xu Chengyuan had rarely spoken to him like this.
He wasn't used to it.
And he couldn't bear it.
But now he didn't even dare to cry. Xu Chengyuan's earlier remark, "You've cried enough these past few days," still lodged in his chest.
Xu Chengyuan walked over to him. His tone softened a little, but there was hardly any warmth in it.
"Mingji, remember one thing. What Zhou Man did has nothing to do with you. You knew nothing, and you mustn't say anything carelessly. If anyone asks in the future, just say you were kept in the dark."
Xu Mingji lifted his eyes. "But I really didn't know."
Xu Chengyuan looked at him. "All the better, then."
Xu Mingji suddenly felt unable to breathe.
Xu Chengyuan hadn't comforted him or said he would save Zhou Man. He was only teaching him how to distance himself from it all.
It was useful.
And chilling.
Xu Chengyuan continued, "Don't go out for a while, don't post anything, and don't provoke Xu Zhihan again."
At that name, Xu Mingji's gaze flickered.
Xu Zhihan.
Everything had started changing after Xu Zhihan woke up.
If Xu Zhihan hadn't woken up, Zhou Man wouldn't have been taken away, Gu Huai wouldn't have gotten into trouble, he wouldn't have been exposed online, and the Xu Family wouldn't have ended up like this.
Xu Mingji knew he shouldn't think that way.
But he couldn't help it.
That hatred lodged in his chest, sinking deeper the harder he tried to suppress it.
Xu Chengyuan noticed his emotions, and his tone turned colder. "I said, don't provoke him."
Xu Mingji forced himself to nod. "I know."
Xu Chengyuan stared at him for a few seconds, as though he didn't quite believe him, but said nothing more.
He had no energy to spare for Xu Mingji's petty schemes right now.
Outside the Xu Family home, the media was still watching. At the Special Investigation Bureau, Lu Wenchuan refused to let up. Zhou Qiliang's testimony had already implicated Xu Chengyuan. His next move had to be finding a way to make Zhou Man shoulder more of the blame.
Xu Chengyuan returned to his study.
Xu Mingji was left alone in the living room.
He sat there for a long time, until a servant cautiously approached and asked, "Second Young Master, would you like something to eat?"
Xu Mingji looked up at her.
The look in his eyes startled the servant.
It was far too sinister.
Nothing like the Second Young Master Xu of the past, who could soften anyone's heart just by letting his eyes redden.
Realizing he had let his composure slip, Xu Mingji quickly lowered his head and said softly, "No, thank you."
The servant hurried away.
Xu Mingji returned to his room and shut the door.
The gifts Gu Huai had given him were still displayed in the room: a fountain pen, a cufflink box, and several photos of them together. Looking at these things used to make him feel he had won.
Now every one of them seemed to remind him just how humiliatingly he had lost.
He sat on the edge of the bed and picked up his phone.
He was afraid to look at the news online, yet couldn't stop himself.
Zhou Man's arrest was already trending.
[Xu Family stepmother taken away over old case]
[He Xiaoyun appears at the Special Investigation Bureau]
[Old medication records of Xu Zhihan's mother, Lin Wan, exposed]
Quite a few people mentioned him in the comments.
[Is Xu Mingji still going to play the victim now?]
[He really knew nothing at all? I don't believe it.]
[Zhou Man hurt Xu Zhihan for all those years, and he still stole his engagement.]
[I used to feel sorry for Xu Mingji. Now he just disgusts me.]
Xu Mingji's fingers trembled as he read.
He threw his phone onto the bed, and his tears finally fell.
But no one came into the room to comfort him.
No one told him he had done nothing wrong.
No one told his older brother to give way to him.
No one said Xu Zhihan was sickly and strange, and that he shouldn't take things personally.
Zhou Man was gone.
Xu Chengyuan had lost his patience too.
Xu Mingji suddenly realized that with one fewer person who knew how to cry, the Xu Family home had become frighteningly cold.
His phone vibrated on the bed.
He ignored it.
It vibrated again.
Xu Mingji wiped away his tears and picked it up.
It was an unknown number.
[Want to make Xu Zhihan pay?]
Xu Mingji stared at those words, his heartbeat suddenly quickening.
He should delete it.
He should tell Xu Chengyuan.
But his finger hovered over the screen, unable to press down.
After a long time, he typed a reply.
[Who are you?]
The reply came quickly.
[Someone who can help you.]
Xu Mingji bit his lip.
[Why should I trust you?]
The sender sent a photo.
It showed Xu Zhihan lying in the Special Investigation Bureau's medical room. His face was pale and his eyes were closed. That ugly little paper flower still sat beside his bed.
Xu Mingji stared at the photo.
Jealousy surged through him.
Why?
Xu Zhihan was already in this state. Why were people still giving him flowers?
Why was Lu Wenchuan watching over him, why was the Special Investigation Bureau protecting him, and why had even He Xiaoyun, who had survived, taken his side?
Xu Zhihan had never had anything before.
His phone vibrated again.
[He's very weak right now.]
Xu Mingji's breathing grew slightly uneven.
The sender continued.
[Just one little thing could make sure he never wakes up again.]
Xu Mingji's finger hovered over the screen.
He knew he couldn't reply.
But a second later, he typed those words anyway.
[What thing?]