Shen Shuangjian did not want to lie, but he did not want to tell Xie Jinghui that name either.
Because in his mind, Xie Jinghui was no different from a stranger he had met once.
So he slowly raised his eyes, his fine brows drawing together slightly. He said nothing, but his expression seemed to ask why he had thought to ask about this.
At that moment, receiving Shen Shuangjian's faintly displeased look, Xie Jinghui suddenly realized that his question had been somewhat forward.
He had misjudged the boundaries and overstepped the distance he should have maintained with Shen Shuangjian.
"Sorry."
Xie Jinghui apologized and tucked away his presumptuous eagerness once more.
Silence fell between them.
Shen Shuangjian was not someone who struck up conversations with others. In fact, when others approached him, he would even instinctively resist once they crossed what he considered a safe distance.
Having just asked something he should not have, Xie Jinghui had to hesitate repeatedly before speaking again.
Just then, the phone Shen Shuangjian had kept beside him vibrated several times in quick succession, alerting its owner to a new message.
Shen Shuangjian picked up his phone and glanced at it. It was a text from Xie Qingchi.
[Caught them all. Where are you? I'll come find you-Xie Qingchi.]
At the sight of Xie Qingchi's name, Shen Shuangjian's eyes trembled almost instinctively, and then his brows creased slightly.
Under the circumstances, however, Shen Shuangjian had no choice but to reply to Xie Qingchi, so his slender, pale fingers steadily tapped a few letters on the keyboard.
Shen Shuangjian: Same place.
The reply came quickly too. In barely three seconds, Xie Qingchi's text had arrived.
Xie Qingchi: Wait for me.
Shen Shuangjian turned off the screen again and put his phone down. Before Xie Qingchi had even appeared, he was already resisting his arrival.
And Xie Qingchi returned quickly. Only about five minutes passed before his figure appeared in Shen Shuangjian's line of sight.
He deliberately slowed his steps as he approached, and naturally noticed the exceedingly familiar figure sitting beside Shen Shuangjian.
"Y-youngest uncle?"
Xie Qingchi's voice rose in a questioning tone, as though he had not expected Xie Jinghui to appear here.
After all, as far as he knew, this youngest uncle of his was an extremely busy man with countless affairs to attend to every day.
Even his appearance at the estate yesterday had only been because Xie Qingchi had arranged well in advance for him to come look at horses. But later, because of what happened with Shen Shuangjian, they had never gotten around to it, and Xie Jinghui had driven back.
"Youngest uncle, what brings you here?"
Xie Qingchi's gaze first shifted from Xie Jinghui to Shen Shuangjian. His brows drew together slightly as displeasure stirred within him, only relaxing again when he noticed the considerable distance between them.
"To take care of something very important."
Xie Jinghui rose with an air of calm indifference, lifting a hand to smooth the tiny creases in the fabric over his shoulder.
"Now that I'm done, I'm heading back."
The current head of the Xie Family, and Xie Qingchi's youngest uncle at that-getting to see him under ordinary circumstances was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
The blank eye of the camera shifted unconsciously. The instant it pointed at Xie Jinghui, he turned his eyes slightly, his gaze detached and still.
There was not the slightest sharpness in it, yet it was filled with the lofty reserve and disregard of someone accustomed to power.
The cameraman's hand trembled involuntarily. He quietly moved the camera back. Fortunately, Xie Jinghui said nothing, merely turning and striding away on his long legs.
"Take care, youngest uncle."
Xie Qingchi's politeness and deference likewise shocked the livestream's million concurrent viewers.
[Xie Qingchi... is his persona supposed to be a well-mannered, polite kid?]
[...]
[But then again, is everyone in the Xie Family this handsome?]
[I feel like he looks so good sitting next to my wife. That size difference, those gorgeous faces, and that reserved, composed aura of authority.]
[I feel like Xie Qingchi just got instantly outclassed.]
[His youngest uncle... isn't that a little inappropriate?]
["After the Crown Prince of Beijing Rejected Me, I Landed His Youngest Uncle"]
[That's outrageous. Send it over so I can have a look.]
[No, I ship the "really fragrant" couple. Our crown prince was clearly going on a rampage just so he could get back and see his wife sooner.]
[The original match can't beat the newcomer, so can the youngest uncle join too? I want to see an uncle-nephew shura field.]
[Broad shoulders, narrow waist. I could tell at a glance he's a peerless powerhouse top.]
[Enough... didn't he say he came to take care of something? Can you stop shipping people at random?]
[Take care of what? A lifelong commitment?]
After Xie Jinghui left, Xie Qingchi followed his example and plopped down on the bench where Shen Shuangjian was sitting.
"How did you run into my youngest uncle?"
Shen Shuangjian's brows could not help drawing tighter and tighter. He instinctively shifted a little farther in the opposite direction, but under another person's scrutiny, even that tiny movement was taken in completely.
Displeasure rose quietly in Xie Qingchi's heart. He decisively reached out and caught Shen Shuangjian's arm. Without needing much force at all, he pulled the slender young man close to him.
"You-"
Shen Shuangjian's eyes widened despite himself. Even though he had anticipated that Xie Qingchi might get handsy with him again, he had still not expected him to go this far.
"Why are you sitting so far away from me?"
Xie Qingchi leaned his face closer, refusing to let up even when Shen Shuangjian habitually lowered his eyes to avoid him.
"It's not like I'm going to do anything to you. I'm just talking to you. Why are you avoiding me?"
This time, Shen Shuangjian was truly angered by him.
The beauty's habitual aloofness was shattered by his forwardness. Shen Shuangjian pressed his lips together and raised his eyes to glare at him, the tiny blue-black mole at the corner of his eye setting off the faint redness at its outer edge.
"Xie Qingchi, let go!"
That timid, angry rebuke carried an almost imperceptible tremor, like a beauty's slap: the first thing that washed over you was a rich fragrance, and only afterward could you feel the stinging pain.
Xie Qingchi had heard this saying before, but he had always scoffed at it. After all, who could possibly find pleasure in being hit or scolded?
But now, Xie Qingchi seemed to understand a little.
"Fine, I'll let go."
In the end, he merely harbored some ill intentions that even he had not fully recognized. At Shen Shuangjian's words, he released his grip with a measure of regret.
Even at the end, he still had to put up a little stubborn front, only making his intentions more obvious.
The moment Xie Qingchi released him, Shen Shuangjian hurried to his feet and walked briskly away, not even daring to look back.
After all, in Shen Shuangjian's mind now, Xie Qingchi was no different from some terrifying flood or ferocious beast.
Even counting his past and present lives together, Shen Shuangjian had never met anyone as devoid of boundaries as Xie Qingchi, who kept getting handsy with him.
Someone like Xie Qingchi was simply too frightening.