ATIBESLM 9

Ye Lingwei waited a while, but there was still no reply from the other side. He tossed the phone aside and lay down, completely unburdened.

However, a seed of doubt had been planted in his heart. Mom? In the book, right up until the original host’s death, this person didn’t seem to have appeared at all. The author had written no father, no mother, so he had simply assumed, based on first impressions, that the original host’s parents had long since passed away…

Ye Lingwei reached a hand out from the covers, dragged the book from the nightstand over to him, and lay on his stomach to flip through it. He hoped some content explaining the original host’s background might have appeared, but to his disappointment, he found nothing. The content hadn’t increased at all.

Perhaps he would have to wait until after the birthday banquet.

Ye Lingwei went to sleep, but on the other side of Shencheng, inside a brilliantly lit villa, someone was tossing and turning, unable to sleep all night. Jiang Hui tossed and turned until the person beside her on the pillow finally noticed.

The man reached out and rested his hand on her waist. “Not asleep yet?”

Jiang Hui never shied away from mentioning her sons in front of Fei Qiang. She was confident that because Fei Qiang loved her, he would offer her infinite tolerance and respect.

She voiced her concerns, but Fei Qiang dismissed them as groundless fears. “Rest assured, he isn’t that immature.”

Fei Qiang was referring to Fei Lan.

Jiang Hui had mentioned that the two children were in the same class and asked if conflicts might arise. She had expressed this vaguely, but in reality, she was worried Fei Lan would cause trouble for Ye Lingwei. Before today, Jiang Hui hadn’t even known that Fei Lan was aware of her relationship with Ye Lingwei.

How did he find out?

Jiang Hui and Fei Qiang had intentionally kept these matters from Fei Lan, yet Fei Lan had found out anyway. They say no one knows a son better than his father, but since the son in question was Fei Lan, Jiang Hui felt she couldn’t keep harping on it to Fei Qiang. She gave an absent-minded acknowledgement, forced her eyes shut, and forced herself not to think about those people from her past.

She had no relationship with the Ye family anymore. Whether Ye Lingwei lived or died actually had nothing to do with her; all she needed was for the man beside her to love her consistently and unwaveringly.

On the day of Ye Zumin’s grand birthday celebration, quite a few people from Shencheng attended. Although the Ye family couldn’t be counted as business magnates or a top-tier wealthy clan, their network was quite extensive and their reputation was good. While they treated Ye Lingwei poorly, they appeared simple, honest, and upright on the outside—people very much worth befriending.

Ye Lingwei didn’t act like the original host used to, arriving early with a gift in hand. In the past, for a banquet starting at seven in the evening, the original host would always head over first thing, yet he never managed to earn a single word of praise.

“Grandpa is asking if you’ve arrived yet? Where are you?” Ye Cen sent a voice message to Ye Lingwei. It was extremely cold, his phrasing crisp without the slightest bit of sloppiness, as decisive as if he were conducting official business.

Ye Lingwei saw the message but didn’t reply. Empty-handed, he hailed a taxi and made his way leisurely toward the Ye family’s ancestral estate. The other siblings all had chauffeurs to pick them up, but when it came to the original host, he had always taken a taxi there himself.

By the time he arrived, the setting sun had already dyed half the sky red, casting a glow over the flower baskets and long tables arranged in the garden, making them look incredibly festive.

The banquet was about to begin, and Ye Lingwei was long overdue.

Amidst a line of top-tier luxury cars, the taxi Ye Lingwei was riding in pulled up at the entrance, looking particularly jarring. The exquisitely dressed crowd in the courtyard, holding their stemware, all looked over with curiosity. Ye Lingwei paid the fare without batting an eyelid, while the driver, an older uncle, felt awkward on his behalf. The moment Ye Lingwei stepped out, the driver slammed on the gas and sped away in a flash.

The boy was dressed very simply: a white shirt and light blue jeans. The sleeves of the shirt were long so he had rolled them up, revealing his slender and bony wrists. It wasn’t until they clearly saw that face—

His skin was as translucent white as fine gauze, resembling a lustrous pearl. His eyes were particularly beautiful; the black irises were like lacquerware, the whites pristine. His gaze always held a subtle hook, seeming both there and not there, as if pulling people into a vortex down into the deep sea.

Ye Lingwei walked straight into the courtyard. At this moment, the look of stunned appreciation in everyone’s eyes shifted slightly.

Everyone present was a dignitary or from a wealthy family. Without exception, they were dressed fastidiously and spoke with an elegance as refined as orchids. However, this boy appearing here seemed a bit too perfunctory and haphazard.

Did he come to the wrong place?

Despite this, there was no disdain in the crowd’s eyes. They regarded Ye Lingwei as a beautiful elf who had mistakenly wandered out of the forest and lost his way.

Before Ye Lingwei could even enter the house, he was dragged away by Ye Cen, who had charged out from the crowd. He stumbled a few steps from the yank, following Ye Cen through the long corridor and into a room around the corner.

Ye Zumin had no love for those glittering, magnificent villas and manors; he showed a partiality for the aesthetic of small bridges and flowing water. While it appeared quite understated, the cost was not a penny less than the configurations found in Shencheng’s top villa districts.

The ancestral residence had been around for some years, featuring white walls and dark tiles. In the courtyard stood a camphor tree imported from abroad. There were reddish-brown railings and a long corridor; at the end of the corridor stood a white porcelain vase half the height of a person, holding a few freshly cut camphor branches.

Ye Cen looked at the sky, which had turned completely dark, his face grim. “Why are you only arriving now? Grandpa has been looking for you for a long time.”

“Looking for me for what?” Ye Lingwei felt a bit tired so he sat down on the nearest chair and looked up at Ye Cen. “Having me here makes no difference, and missing me wouldn’t matter either.”

Boys of seventeen or eighteen know best how to get under someone’s skin. Upon hearing Ye Lingwei’s answer, Ye Cen’s face turned completely black.

“I only came here for your sake.” Ye Lingwei’s teeth, white and even as arranged shells, clicked against the tip of his scarlet tongue. “Da-ge…”

Ye Cen opened his mouth, wanting to lecture Ye Lingwei, but the boy’s impervious demeanor made him feel like he was punching a pile of cotton.

The housekeeper at the door, holding a celadon long-necked vase with both hands, peeked her head in and said, “Elder Ye is asking for you.”

Ye Cen straightened his sleeves and glanced at Ye Lingwei. He dropped the warning, “Don’t cause any trouble for me.” He then stepped over the threshold and walked out.

Subconsciously, Ye Cen felt that the current Ye Lingwei was no longer as obedient as before—the fact that he arrived at their grandfather’s birthday banquet at the very last second was proof enough.

As it turned out, Ye Cen’s hunch was correct.

He didn’t obediently stay in the room playing on his phone or video games. Not five minutes after Ye Cen left, Ye Lingwei followed suit and left as well.

In the courtyard outside, Ye Lingwei picked out a piece of cake that looked appealing. With a small golden fork, he slowly pushed aside the mango chunks on top and scraped away the sponge cake at the bottom, leaving only a thin layer of matcha cream.

The original host’s pickiness was truly something else. Even if Ye Lingwei himself didn’t mind eating it, the original host’s stomach would object strongly.

He had only eaten half the cake when someone came to stand before him, perfectly blocking the white light in front of Ye Lingwei. It looked as though Ye Lingwei was entirely enveloped in the shadow cast by that person’s body.

“Why are you here?” Ye Lingwei was a bit pleasantly surprised. Although it was a bit of a stretch¹This word means “forced,” “reluctant,” or “barely.”, compared to these other people, Fei Lan counted as a familiar face.

Fei Lan was also dressed very casually. His light gray tracksuit was conspicuously eye-catching, the smooth fabric shimmering with a silvery sheen under the lights. “My dad sent me to deliver a birthday gift to Elder Ye.”

Ye Lingwei lowered his eyes to look at his hands. “Where’s the gift?”

“Already delivered.”

Ye Lingwei let out an “oh.” Thinking Fei Lan would leave now that the gift was delivered, he lowered his head and continued to poke at his remaining half-piece of cake.

Fei Lan, however, didn’t leave immediately. He pulled out the chair opposite Ye Lingwei and asked him, “Why are you here?”

Fei Lan was asking a question he already knew the answer to. With his head lowered, Ye Lingwei failed to see the dark expression on his face. Ye Lingwei answered lazily, “You can just consider me here to mooch food and drinks.”

This family really didn’t deserve to be called Ye Lingwei’s family.

Ye Lingwei didn’t know who Fei Lan was. To be more precise, he didn’t know what kind of status the Fei family held in Shencheng, and he couldn’t be bothered to ask.

“Is it good?” Fei Lan asked.

Ye Lingwei nodded. “It’s alright. Not bad.”

Fei Lan rested his hands on the tabletop. Watching as more than half the cake was scraped away by Ye Lingwei, he tapped his fingers on the table. “Do you like cake?”

“If you like it, Gege will buy it for you. Consider it a thank-you gift for helping me with the problem yesterday.”

Ye Lingwei raised his head in surprise, looking at Fei Lan. “Ah, did I help you? I’ve forgotten all about it…”

The boy’s eyes glinted with light. Fei Lan clearly saw the slyness within that gaze and reminded him indifferently, “Drop the act.”

“…”

Ye Lingwei tossed his fork aside and leaned back against the chair. “Then, Gege, don’t take advantage of me.”

Fei Lan raised an eyebrow slightly. “How have I taken advantage of you?”

“The other day you said not to go calling people ‘Gege’ just anywhere. So what is the meaning of this today?” Ye Lingwei blinked. “Knowingly breaking your own rule?”

Fei Lan smiled, his expression holding a deeper meaning. “I am allowing you to call me Gege.”

He was supposed to call him ‘Gege’ after all. If Ye Lingwei was willing, Fei Lan wouldn’t mind having such a beautiful younger brother in the slightest.

Just as Ye Lingwei was preparing to retort, a boy ran over from the side. He looked at Ye Lingwei and then at Fei Lan, before turning to Ye Lingwei and saying, “Come with me.”

Ye Lingwei frowned, his resistance obvious. However, before he could refuse, Fei Lan answered a phone call. He gave a slight apologetic bow and walked away.

The boy obviously had something to say to him—something that couldn’t be overheard by others. Now that Fei Lan was gone, he could speak without reservation.

Ye Lingwei lowered his eyes and picked up the fork on the table again to toy with it, looking absent-minded. It was unclear if he was even listening.

“Ye Lingwei, you and Fei Lan, are you two close?”

Ye Lingwei’s tone was flat. “Not really. We just met.”

“Stay away from him,” Ye Yuan said. From a distance, he had seen his cousin sitting with Fei Lan, and his heart had leapt into his throat. Although the Ye family maintained a decent relationship with the Fei family on the surface, Grandpa had laid down the law. Aside from necessary interactions, the younger generation was forbidden from having private dealings with the Fei family.

To Ye Zumin, face²Social reputation and dignity. mattered more than anything under the heavens. His eldest daughter-in-law had swiftly hooked up with the head of the Fei family less than a month after his eldest son passed away, angering Ye Zumin to the point of hospitalization. Since then, the name Jiang Hui was forbidden in the household.

Ye Lingwei knew none of this. He hadn’t inherited the original host’s memories; he only knew what was written in the book. If the book didn’t mention it, he was completely in the dark.

“Why?” Ye Lingwei asked directly, “On what grounds?”

The boy’s features no longer resembled that woman’s as much. In fact, they had looked more alike in the past. Looking at him today, he had developed a sharpness that wasn’t there before—an aggressiveness that made one dare not look him straight in the eye.

Ye Yuan had felt sorry for this younger cousin since childhood, but the boy had always been taciturn, afraid to get close to anyone, and in poor health. They hadn’t seen each other for half a year, and in just those six months, Ye Yuan suddenly felt like he didn’t recognize Ye Lingwei anymore.

He said, sounding a bit vexed, “Have you forgotten that your mom is Fei Lan’s stepmother?”

Ye Lingwei slowly raised his eyes to look at Ye Yuan, his smile gradually fading away.

“Do you think he had genuinely treated you as a friend? In the past, you wished he were dead, and he felt the exact same way about you.”

• 1
  This word means “forced,” “reluctant,” or “barely.”
• 2
  Social reputation and dignity.