“An arranged blind date?”
Yan Hui softly repeated the four words, his brain going blank for a fraction of a second.
Yet, he quickly realized what the term meant and the implications behind it.
Yu Xiang was no longer that neglected Second Young Master Yu; he no longer needed to seek meaning for his existence from sensory thrills.
He was the heir to a trillion-dollar corporate group, the third-generation power holder of the Yu family.
Sooner or later, he had to marry, and he had to produce heirs.
However, he already had a son.
Glancing at Yan Hui’s reaction, Yu Xiang lowered his voice and said, “I used to reject them all, but this time my eldest uncle is inviting the person to attend the group’s annual gala. I cannot not go.”
Hearing the words “cannot not go,” Yan Hui’s temple twitched.
He opened his mouth, then closed it, his gaze instinctively drifting toward the second bedroom.
Seeing this, Yu Xiang lowered his gaze to conceal the disappointment in his eyes.
It did not matter. He could not really call it disappointment since he had known it long ago. It had only been half a month, so he would take it slow.
“I am heading back to Yunjing on the seventeenth, and I will just deal with it and come right back,” Yu Xiang forced himself to cheer up, struggling to pull off the corners of his lips. “Is there anything you want? I remember you used to love eating Beijing Eight Cakes from Daoxiangcun, right?”
Yan Hui raised his eyes to look at Yu Xiang, his fingers twitching.
He wanted to tell him not to go. He wanted to tell him that Yan Sheng was a member of the Yu family, that he did not need to go on blind dates, and even less did he need to get married.
In the end, however, the instinct to protect Yan Sheng from being snatched away took the upper hand. In a split second, Yan Hui’s brain found a compromise solution.
“What about your cousin? He is not married either, is he?” Why not send him instead?
Yu Xiang fell silent for a long time, so long that Yan Hui widened his eyes slightly as a bad premonition welled up.
“He is dead.”
The premonition came true. Shocked, Yan Hui pursued with questions: “Dead? How did he die? When did that happen?”
Sighing, Yu Xiang pulled Yan Hui to sit down at the dining table.
“During our sophomore year. The cause of death was tachycardia caused by a drug overdose.”
“A drug, how could that be!” This answer was nothing short of bizarre, and Yan Hui even suspected he had misheard. “Hao-ge was so exceptional and upright, how could he possibly take drugs!”
As the eldest grandson of the Yu family’s direct line, Yu Hao had been designated as the heir by Old Master Yu the moment he was born. From childhood, all the family’s resources were tilted entirely toward him, making Yu Xiang look like an unattended wild child by comparison.
And Yu Hao had lived up to expectations: smart, sharp, and proactively hardworking. Even as a fellow elite heir, Yan Hui had to admit that Yu Hao was the most dazzling among them.
“Perhaps it was because he was too outstanding,” Yu Xiang lowered his gaze to look at the grain patterns on the solid-wood tabletop, falling into memory. “Grandfather held high hopes for him. Ever since he was little, he kept him by his side for personal guidance and strict discipline. He did not disappoint expectations either, always remaining a frontrunner among his peers, right until he went abroad for high school.”
Elite education rolls onward at a breakneck speed no matter where you are. Unless someone is a born genius, the pressure borne by top students in such an environment only grows heavier.
And the place Yu Hao went to was the United States, where prescription drug abuse ran rampant.
“The pressure of academics, the expectations of elders, he carried far too many things. Coupled with his perfectionist personality, he started taking smart drugs to keep up with his studies.”
Smart drugs, a class of psychiatric medications used to treat attention deficit disorders, were rumored to enhance memory, improve mental flexibility, reduce sleep time, and allow for more focused engagement in studying.
In reality, however, these were all illusions.
Smart drugs indeed invigorated the mind in the short term, but once the drug wore off, they produced side effects such as headaches, vomiting, insomnia, and hyperactivity. Unfortunately, most of these side effects tricked people into thinking the drugs were working, leading them to continue taking them.
“Smart drugs are addictive and habit-forming, leading to hallucinations, mania, and tachycardia. On top of that, he also took them with alcohol. When the news of his sudden death arrived, Grandfather suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Now he can only get around in a wheelchair.”
Yu Xiang took a deep breath, as though trying to suppress something.
“First Aunt suffered excessive trauma and lost her mind; First Uncle went white-haired overnight. My parents were also terrified. When Grandfather wanted me to study abroad, they refused no matter what, forcing me to finish my undergraduate degree in the domestic system before letting me go out for graduate school.”
Hearing this, Yan Hui’s brow jumped: “Hao-ge just met with tragedy, why did Old Master Yu still want you to study abroad?”
Yu Xiang gave a light chuckle, though his gaze was icy cold. “Because Grandfather does not think his parenting is at fault, he believes Hao-ge was simply too weak. To prove he is right, I had to go study abroad and bring back a diploma.”
That was indeed something Old Master Yu was capable of doing.
Good thing he had not blurted out Yan Sheng’s true parentage just now!
A lingering fear swept through Yan Hui’s heart, while he simultaneously realized a cruel truth.
“The Yu family only has you as the single remaining heir now. No wonder they are pressuring you to go on blind dates.” Yan Hui murmured, a needle-like ache blooming in his chest.
Hearing this, Yu Xiang felt a jolt in his heart, and with almost a reflex action, he blurted out: “I will not marry.”
Yan Hui turned his face away and chuckled softly: “How can that be up to you? If you want to take over the Zhengsheng Group, you must get married.”
“I do not want to,” Yu Xiang said in a deep voice, “so I will not marry either.”
Yan Hui stared at him in a daze: “Why?”
Yu Xiang sighed softly: “Back then, I agreed to study abroad because Grandfather promised me that as long as I returned with a completed education, he would let me take over Zhengxin. With Zhengxin, I would finally have the leverage to negotiate with the Yan family.”
“The Yan family?” Yan Hui found himself somewhat confused. “What does that have to do with the Yan family?”
Yu Xiang looked steadily at Yan Hui: “Because I intended to use Zhengxin’s shipping contracts to trade with the Yan family for news of your whereabouts.”
The Yan family’s Haiyan Group specialized in the logistics and transportation business, owning its own shipyards and airline. It collaborated with several major families dealing in physical commerce, with the sole exception of the Yu family.
This was also why Yan Hui did not meet Yu Xiang for the first time until he was eight years old. Although the two families moved in the same social circles, they had no prior cooperation and minimal interaction until mutual friends bridged the gap.
“Zhengxin had long-term cooperative companies, and I could not just replace the suppliers the moment I arrived. So, I waited for four years, until the company achieved a technological breakthrough.”
Yu Xiang curved the corners of his lips: “New technology meant new products, and as production capacity expanded, demand would also increase. The Yan family’s business had declined significantly due to the pandemic, so they promised to tell me your whereabouts upon signing the contract.”
Yan Hui never expected that he would somehow be entangled in all of this. He was completely dumbfounded.
“So, you did all that because of me. But why? Just to say sorry?”
“Yan Hui,” Yu Xiang smiled bitterly, “I know I am a fool. I was too rebellious in my youth and always acted reckless, but I am not that stupid.”
He took a deep breath, suppressing the panic and unease in his heart, blocking out the habitual cowardice and urge to escape, and releasing the most primitive impulse within him to speak the words buried for so long.
“Yan Hui, I have liked you, ever since the first time I laid eyes on you when I was eight years old.”