Whether in looks or bearing, when Bo Yan and Bo Xubai stood together, it was hard to imagine that they were half brothers who shared a father.
Bo Xubai took after their father, with sharp features and an icy aura. Compared with Bo Yan's gentle presence, everything about Bo Xubai bore out the words, "He was born to be the future head of the Bo family."
Bo Yan, on the other hand, resembled his birth mother. His features were so exquisite that he hardly looked real. Anyone who saw him would think first: what a beautiful person.
Perhaps that was why that person loathed him so much.
Bo Yan lifted the corners of his mouth, thinking self-mockingly.
Seeing Bo Xubai walk straight toward him, clearly coming for him, Bo Yan stopped.
At least within the Bo family, Bo Yan had always presented a gentle, obedient exterior.
The Bo family's servants often passed judgment on this illegitimate son behind his back.
They called him weak and useless, incapable of shouldering any great responsibility, and said it was no wonder the Bo family despised him.
That suited Bo Yan just fine.
Standing out too much was no good thing.
Compared with the little quagmire that was Huyang Town, Yanjing was the true dragon's pool and tiger's den.
Ever since he was eight, Bo Yan had learned to hide his sharp edges.
And he had only ever displayed that half-dead attitude before his dear wife, "Wen Ning," who wanted him dead at every moment, wherever she was.
It was not because "Wen Ning" was particularly special. Bo Yan simply could not be bothered to put on an act before someone destined to die at his hands.
Bo Xubai had indeed come for Bo Yan.
He stopped two steps away from Bo Yan and came no closer.
Everyone in the Bo family was like that. They never got too close to Bo Yan, despising the bar hostess's blood running through his veins, finding him filthy.
Beneath the streetlight, Bo Xubai's expression was cold and stern as he casually tossed the gift bag in his hand toward him.
Both his movements and his expression carried disgust, as though he were throwing away garbage.
"Give this back to Wen Ning," Bo Xubai said indifferently.
Bo Yan caught it and gave it a cursory glance.
The eye-catching logo on the packaging alone told him that whatever was inside cost a considerable sum.
Bo Yan's fingers tightened around the bag, and a trace of coldness flashed through his dark, peach-blossom eyes.
She liked me so much she was going mad?
She liked me so much she was beyond saving?
Bo Yan sneered.
He should have simply killed her earlier.
He put the gift away. When he looked up again, all the murderous intent in Bo Yan's eyes had dissipated, replaced by complete gentleness. Anyone who saw him would have thought he had no temper at all.
"All right," he said.
But Bo Yan did not know that the more he acted this way, the more he disgusted Bo Xubai.
What Bo Xubai hated most was Bo Yan's gentle, harmless mask.
How could someone who had caused his own birth mother's death with his own hands be decent or kind?
Besides, he was nothing but an illegitimate son, a bastard!
If not for him, would the Bo family have ended up like this?!
Unwilling to waste any more words on him, Bo Xubai said coldly, "If you still can't keep your woman in line, get the hell out of here."
Bo Yan, who was usually so good-tempered, suddenly smiled at that and said calmly, "You know as well as I do, big brother, that Wen Ning would rather listen to you than me."
Bo Xubai's expression turned cold. "What do you mean?"
Bo Yan tilted his head. "I mean, if you're willing, big brother, you can keep Wen Ning in line. I don't mind."
His peach-blossom eyes curved. "Come to think of it, she even married me for your sake. Otherwise, how could she have taken a fancy to a bastard like me?"
He was clearly mocking himself, yet the words grated on Bo Xubai's ears no matter how he heard them.
"So you do know you're a bastard," Bo Xubai said through gritted teeth. "You're a bastard, and you think you have the right to speak to me like that?"
Bo Yan smiled without agreeing or disagreeing.
The sight of his smile disgusted Bo Xubai. "Bo Yan, has the Bo family treated you so well that you've forgotten what you are?"
Bo Yan's peach-blossom eyes remained curved. "A bastard. I know."
Provoked again and again, Bo Xubai's expression grew darker. "Good that you know. Wen Ning is your woman. Marrying you was her own choice. It has nothing to do with me! If I ever hear you say anything like that again, I won't let you off!"
Finally, Bo Xubai took another step forward. His sinister phoenix eyes fixed on Bo Yan as he lowered his voice in warning. "And stay away from Wanwan!"
"Don't think you can use the fact that Wanwan saved you back then as an excuse to get close to her."
"She only pitied you!"
At that, Bo Xubai abruptly scoffed, his eyes full of mockery as he looked at Bo Yan. "A bastard like you thinks he has the right to covet Wanwan?"
The evening wind howled past, lifting Bo Yan's hem and strands of his hair.
His expression was calm-so calm that, for a moment, Bo Xubai even wondered whether he had any feelings for Jiang Tingwan at all.
But Bo Xubai soon sneered inwardly and dismissed that fleeting illusion.
This bastard was seducing Wanwan behind my back just yesterday. How could he possibly have no feelings for her!
This bastard covets my Wanwan. He covets everything that belongs to me, Bo Xubai!
Sooner or later, I'll kill him with my own hands!
Sure enough, just as he had thought, the next second Bo Xubai saw the corner of Bo Yan's mouth lift as he said in a manner that begged for a beating, "You'll have to tell Wanwan that, big brother. Wanwan came to me of her own accord last night, not-"
"Say that one more fucking time!"
Bo Xubai reacted as though someone had stepped on his tail. No longer finding Bo Yan too filthy to touch, he seized his collar, eyes wide with fury. "Who the fuck are you to call her Wanwan!"
The pressure at his collar gradually flushed Bo Yan's face red, making him look utterly, decadently beautiful beneath the moonlight.
He coughed hard several times, finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.
Most people would have quit while they were ahead in such a situation, but Bo Yan did the opposite. He pushed further, his smile growing ever more brilliant. "Wanwan told me to call her that. If you don't like it, big brother, next time I'll tell Wanwan-"
Before he could finish, Bo Xubai punched him in the face.
Bo Yan was already badly injured, and Bo Xubai had not held back. That single punch left Bo Yan without the strength to stay on his feet, and he collapsed to the ground.
Silence fell.
Suddenly, Bo Yan began to laugh. His low, hoarse laughter echoed through the air, and his shoulders shook with it.
Moonlight spilled over him as he lay half-reclining on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. There was something calm yet eerily deranged about him.