Yu Xiang did not immediately go to Yan Hui to check answers.
After all, he had just made Yan Hui thoroughly angry yesterday, and Yan Sheng was not at home, so Yan Hui would most likely not let him in. Therefore, he could only temporarily press down his swirling doubts and wait for the right moment.
Fortunately, the opportunity arrived quickly.
Wednesday was the day of Yan Sheng’s school final examinations. After the exams finished, the school would give a two-day break, and on Saturday exam results would be released alongside a parent-teacher conference, after which the winter vacation would officially begin.
During the vacation, Yan Sheng would be at home all day, meaning Yu Xiang would essentially have an inside man. He would be able to enter the house unimpeded, and could then look for an opportunity to test Yan Hui out.
However, the annual meeting of Zhengshi Group was scheduled precisely for Friday afternoon, meaning he had to arrive in Yunjing by Friday morning at the latest.
In other words, he only had Thursday as his window of opportunity to get answers. If he couldn’t find a chance then, he would have to wait until he got back.
To unravel the mystery as quickly as possible, Yu Xiang behaved like a quiet chicken for the past three days. Aside from dropping off and picking up Yan Sheng, he made no attempts to pull any little tricks to enter the Yan household and be alone with Yan Hui.
Thus, when Yan Hui sleepily stepped out of his bedroom on Thursday morning and saw Yu Xiang and Yan Sheng playing video games together on the sofa, he stood frozen in a daze for a full two seconds before speaking:
“Where did the game controllers come from?”
Yu Xiang smiled awkwardly. “Delivery.”
Yan Hui rolled his eyes, turned around, and walked into the bathroom. After washing up, he dove straight into the kitchen.
Seeing Yan Hui enter the kitchen, Yu Xiang quickly manipulated his character to self-destruct, and then said to a puzzled Yan Sheng:
“Sheng-sheng, you play by yourself for a bit. I’m going to see if your dad needs any help.”
Without waiting for Yan Sheng to reply, he walked toward the kitchen.
Yan Sheng watched his back, silently swallowing the words at the tip of his tongue, manipulated the game back to the start screen, and then set the controller down to wait.
Over in the kitchen, Yu Xiang pushed open the sliding door and saw Yan Hui standing by the sink picking vegetables, hurrying forward to offer: “Let me do it!”
Yan Hui turned his head, his brows knitting slightly. “What are you doing in here?”
“I want to help prep.”
“Not needed.”
“But…”
“Get out!”
Glaringly dismissed by Yan Hui, Yu Xiang didn’t dare say another word and could only retreat from the kitchen.
Walking back to the living room to meet Yan Sheng’s gloating gaze, he said sheepishly: “Your dad said he doesn’t need help.”
Yan Sheng immediately cracked up, his eyes curving into crescent moons.
“Dad hates it when anyone blocks the way while he’s cooking. If it’s a big kitchen, you can help on the other side of the island counter, but if you step into a small kitchen, you’ll just get yelled at.”
Yu Xiang fell silent. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Yan Sheng blinked innocently. “You didn’t give me a chance! Uncle Yu, if you want to help, you can wash dishes with me later. I wash the dishes during breaks.”
“Alright then.” Yu Xiang sighed, picked up his game controller, and sat down.
He had thought he could take advantage of kitchen prep duty to ask about Yan Sheng’s mother, but since the initial sortie had failed, he would have to look for another opportunity.
At half-past twelve, two dishes and a soup were served, accompanied by the usual two sets of bowls and chopsticks.
Not daring to show a shred of complaint, Yu Xiang silently ordered takeout. Then, breathing in the enticing aroma of home-cooked food, he sat on the sofa playing video games in a distracted state of mind.
Yan Sheng looked back over his shoulder and whispered, “Dad, Uncle Yu looks so pitiful. Are you really not going to ask him to eat with us?”
Yan Hui didn’t even lift an eyelid. “Then you don’t eat either. Hand your bowl over to him.”
Yan Sheng instantly lost his nerve, burying his head in his bowl to shovel rice.
After finishing the meal, Yu Xiang and Yan Sheng cleared the table and washed the dishes together, while Yan Hui sat on the sofa watching television.
A moment later, the doorbell rang. Just as Yan Hui was about to stand up, he saw Yu Xiang wiping his hands and heading over to open the door, accepting a takeout bag from outside.
Yan Hui immediately frowned. “Did you order that?”
Yu Xiang let out an affirmative hum, smiling as he placed the bag on the dining table. “Cantonese food. Want to try some?”
Yan Hui glanced at the takeout bag, hesitating as if he had more to say.
Then, thinking better of it, since the guy had already moved right across the hall, his address would be exposed sooner or later anyway, so he didn’t say much else, merely spitting out two cold words:
“No need.”
Yu Xiang: “…”
Suppressing the urge to sigh, Yu Xiang sat down to eat his belated lunch. Yan Sheng washed his hands and ran over to the sofa, sitting down right beside Yan Hui, and father and son picked out a movie to watch.
Once Yu Xiang finished eating and packed away the takeout containers, he shamelessly went over to sit next to Yan Sheng.
Yan Hui glanced at him sideways and said nothing. The three of them sat side by side like that, watching the movie.
About half an hour into it, children’s shouts drifted up from downstairs. Yan Sheng looked at the television, then at the balcony, his little face twisting into a knot of hesitation.
Amused by the sight, Yan Hui hit the pause button. “Go play. Dad will watch the rest with you tonight.”
Yan Sheng’s eyes lit up. “Really? You aren’t allowed to watch ahead of time, okay?”
Yan Hui exited the playback interface. “Mhm, guaranteed I won’t peek.”
“Thanks, Dad!” Yan Sheng threw his arms around Yan Hui, sprang to his feet, ran over to the balcony to shout a quick coming, and dashed back to his room to change his clothes.
Yan Hui stood up directly, turned off the television, and without sparing Yu Xiang a single glance, started walking back toward his room.
Seeing this, Yu Xiang stood up in a hurry to call out to him: “Yan Hui!”
Yan Hui paused in his tracks, turned his head to look over, his expression exceptionally cold.
Seeing the look on Yan Hui’s face, Yu Xiang felt his heart give a sharp twitch. It took him two whole seconds of rigidity to finally open his mouth and say:
“I am heading back to Yunjing tomorrow. Is there anything you want?”
Yan Hui lowered his gaze in thought for a moment before asking, “When are you leaving?”
“The seven o’clock flight tomorrow morning.”
“Mhm, then there is indeed one thing.”
Yan Hui finished speaking and left it at that. Just as Yu Xiang was finding it strange, Yan Sheng emerged from changing his clothes.
“Dad, I’m going downstairs to play! I won’t leave the complex, and I’m wearing my watch!”
“Alright, go ahead.”
“Bye-bye, Uncle Yu!”
“Bye-bye.”
The front door clicked shut. Yan Hui’s smile vanished in an instant, and he turned his gaze back to Yu Xiang.
“When you get back to Yunjing, do not tell anyone about Yan Sheng.”
Yu Xiang found this immediately strange. “Why?”
Yan Hui looked away. “I don’t want the Yan family to know about Yan Sheng’s existence.”
The Yan family?
Wait. Wasn’t Yan Sheng a great-grandson of the Yan family? Why would there be any need to hide that?
Unless…
A thought flashed through Yu Xiang’s mind at lightning speed, moving too fast for him to catch it before he heard Yan Hui say:
“What? Unwilling?”
“No!” Yu Xiang denied it reflexively. “Rest assured, I won’t tell a single soul about Yan Sheng.”
“Including your parents and Chu Zizhen,” Yan Hui added for confirmation.
“Alright, don’t worry, I always keep my promises.” Looks like I’ll have to sign a confidentiality agreement with Yang Kexin; hopefully she hasn’t leaked this to anyone else.
Seeing Yu Xiang make his promise, Yan Hui felt a slight easing in his chest and turned to head back to his room, only to be stopped by Yu Xiang once more.
“Aside from this, is there nothing else?”
“Nothing.”
Yan Hui made to walk away again, but heard Yu Xiang ask: “What about Yan Sheng? He probably hasn’t had the traditional Beijing eight-pastry assortment before, right? Would you like me to bring back a few boxes for him?”
“No need. Sheng-sheng doesn’t like sweets.”
“Doesn’t like sweets? That’s actually different from you. Did he inherit his mother’s palate?”
Yan Hui’s footsteps halted. He finally turned around to face Yu Xiang directly:
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Yu Xiang remained silent for a moment, his gaze landing on the TV cabinet. Several digital photo frames sat displayed there, every single one filled with pictures of Yan Sheng.
There were photos of him as a newborn, snapshots from kindergarten stage performances, growing-up portraits with Yan Hui, and photos of him being held by men he didn’t recognize. Across every single photograph, not a single woman of appropriate age was to be seen.
“I haven’t seen a single picture of Yan Sheng’s mother in this house. Where did she go?”
Hearing those words, Yan Hui frowned.
He wasn’t surprised that Yu Xiang would bring up Yan Sheng’s mother. What he found strange was why it was happening now, posed in such a deliberate manner.
Logically speaking, the moment Yu Xiang stepped into this home for the first time, he would have already noticed this omission. Why bottle up a question that should have blown up then, only to release it now?
He had honestly thought they had already reached a tacit mutual understanding about it!
Despite the various doubts swirling in his mind, Yan Hui recited the cover story he had prepared long ago, answering with an exceptionally calm tone:
“She died.”