The two brothers went to the dining room for a late-night snack. A Xiu asked whether she should call the Second Young Master down to join them.
"Second Brother is probably asleep. We shouldn't disturb him," Bai Huan said.
A Xiu immediately fell silent.
The family employed several chefs specializing in different regional cuisines. The one on night duty today was evidently from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. For their late-night snack, he had prepared stir-fried rice cakes with pickled mustard greens, green peas with fox nuts, and pan-fried hairtail fish. Each of them also had a bowl of small wontons. Every dish was fresh and delicious.
Bai Huan hadn't eaten properly for several days, and at lunch he'd barely been able to swallow anything. Now, however, he couldn't stop eating.
Bai Mingzhen had little appetite. He was only eating to keep his younger brother company, and after three or four wontons, he put down his chopsticks.
"Have you met Bai Chen yet?" Bai Huan asked, slowing down as he ate.
"Not yet," Bai Mingzhen replied. "I've had too much work. Haven't had the time."
Hearing that Bai Mingzhen hadn't met Bai Chen yet, Bai Huan couldn't help feeling a little smug.
So what if he was real and Bai Huan was fake?
Hadn't Bai Mingzhen come to eat with him first thing after returning?
The boy tried to conceal his satisfaction in front of Bai Mingzhen, but he wasn't particularly good at it. One glance was enough for Bai Mingzhen to guess everything.
He coolly commented on the boy's practically wagging tail.
"One good meal and you've already forgotten your lesson, you little brat."
Bai Huan didn't get to enjoy his triumph for long.
Upon hearing that the two brothers were having a late-night snack, Cheng Yueqing hurried downstairs and ordered Bai Mingzhen to visit Bai Chen the following day, bringing gifts with him.
She added that she'd already instructed the housekeeper to prepare everything.
Bai Huan immediately lost his appetite and went upstairs.
He didn't go far, though. Instead, he stopped around the corner on the second floor and secretly listened to their conversation below.
Cheng Yueqing sat down in the seat Bai Huan had just vacated. After commenting on several of the dishes, she remarked that Taimi shouldn't be eating so much at night.
"If he doesn't control his eating, he'll be a complete sight in a few days! Do you have any idea how much effort I've put into making him look the way he does? Every single hair on his head is the result of my hard work, you know!"
Bai Mingzhen had long since grown distant from his family. Upon hearing this, he merely offered a mild reminder.
"A child isn't a pet you keep for your own amusement."
"I know, I know. Xiao He is the pet. It's just that when I think about having to give back a son I've raised for so many years, a son I've brought up so beautifully, my heart aches."
"Is there no room for negotiation?" Bai Mingzhen asked.
"They wouldn't agree even when we offered ten million!" Cheng Yueqing said with a derisive laugh.
"You and Father didn't increase the offer?"
"Offering more wouldn't be worth it. We'd be losing money."
Bai Mingzhen said nothing further.
Cheng Yueqing continued complaining, but her words went in one ear and out the other.
As a lawyer, he knew better than anyone how to extract useful information quickly and accurately.
He rose to take his leave.
Seeing him stand, Cheng Yueqing immediately asked in surprise, "You're not staying here tonight either, even though it's so late?"
Bai Mingzhen had moved out of Banchun Manor six years ago.
He now lived alone in a detached Western-style house that Old Master Bai had given him.
Old Master Bai had always resented Bai Mushan for casting him aside so early in life. Consequently, when Bai Mingzhen grew up and likewise pushed Bai Mushan out of his life, the old man supported him wholeheartedly.
There was even a certain sense of satisfaction in it, as though he'd finally gotten his revenge.
"No."
Bai Mingzhen accepted his coat from a maid.
He was about to put it on when he paused, set it aside again, and said, "I'll go upstairs and let Taimi know I'm leaving."
Bai Huan, who had been eavesdropping, panicked when he realized Bai Mingzhen was coming upstairs.
There wasn't even time to press the elevator button.
He turned and sprinted up the staircase to one side.
He rushed back to his room and, before Bai Mingzhen could enter, settled against the headboard with Xiao He in his arms.
Beneath the covers, his calves were faintly cramping from the sudden exertion.
Bai Mingzhen pushed open Bai Huan's bedroom door and walked straight in without knocking.
Whether at home or outside, regardless of the occasion, Bai Mingzhen was someone who observed etiquette to the utmost.
The only exception was Bai Huan.
Perhaps because he'd raised Bai Huan himself, Bai Mingzhen could be particularly willful when it came to matters concerning him, sometimes even behaving like a dictator.
As for politeness and respect, those were even less likely to make an appearance.
"Does your injury still hurt?"
Bai Mingzhen walked to the bedside, pulled back the covers, and took hold of the boy's knee to expose the scalded area.
Still panting, Bai Huan said it didn't hurt.
Bai Mingzhen glanced at him.
He knew perfectly well that the boy was always up to something, but he couldn't be bothered to expose him.
He pulled the covers back over Bai Huan and said, "I'm leaving. I still have work at the firm tomorrow."
Seeing that he was about to go, Bai Huan's heart gave a sudden jolt.
He knelt on the bed with the dog in his arms.
"You're not going to do anything about me?"
"Do what about you?"
At first, Bai Huan looked at Bai Mingzhen with hopeful eyes.
The truth about his identity had been revealed.
He wasn't a son of the Bai family.
He wasn't Bai Mingzhen's younger brother.
Surely someone as successful and capable as Bai Mingzhen ought to come up with a solution?
The boy looked up at him from below.
Bai Mingzhen's eyes were always so cold.
They were walnut-brown, a colour that seemed to have settled and deepened over a hundred years within an illustrious family.
They were so calm and impenetrable that no one could stir them.
No matter which angle Bai Huan looked from, he couldn't find the slightest trace of warmth.
It left him feeling defeated.
The light in his eyes gradually faded.
Seeing that Bai Huan remained silent, Bai Mingzhen knew he wouldn't get anything more out of him.
He said, "From a legal standpoint, the Bai family has a stronger claim to custody of you, and you yourself have a greater desire to remain here. But from an emotional standpoint, your biological parents are better suited to raising a child."
Having his thoughts exposed, Bai Huan felt his face burn.
He retorted, "They're dirt poor!"
"Mr. Chen works as an editor at Zhongxiang Publishing House. Excluding commissions and bonuses, he earns approximately 150,000 yuan a year. Ms. Wang teaches art at a local high school. Their lives may not be particularly affluent, but they have more than enough to feed and clothe themselves. How exactly are they dirt poor?"
Bai Mingzhen spoke without the slightest haste.
"Xiao He alone cost three hundred thousand yuan! Can the two of them even afford one Xiao He with their combined annual income?"
Bai Mingzhen frowned.
His voice grew a little colder.
"Mom has spoiled you rotten."
"You're the one who's changed!"
Furious, Bai Huan threw himself backward onto the bed, taking Xiao He with him.
He knew Bai Mingzhen wouldn't come over and comfort him.
He simply didn't want to talk to him anymore.
Besides, he had nowhere else he could escape to.
And this was his room.
At least, it was still his room today.
If anyone was going to leave, it should be Bai Mingzhen.
And Bai Mingzhen really did leave.
He even closed the door behind him.
Hearing the door shut, Bai Huan rolled over, ready to throw a tantrum.
But the instant he turned, he noticed a planner on his bedside table.
It was exactly the kind he'd wanted.
There was only one shop in the United Kingdom that sold it.
It could only have been something Bai Mingzhen had specially brought back for him.
Tears gathered at the corners of Bai Huan's eyes.
Xiao He hurriedly raised its head and licked them away with its damp tongue.
After a long while, however, a flash of resentment still crossed the boy's eyes.
He grabbed the planner and hurled it violently onto the floor.
The scald wasn't serious.
By the following day, only a faint red patch remained.
On the third day, Chen Yuanyuan called to ask after Bai Huan's injury. Both openly and indirectly, he tried to find out whether they could come and take him home.
Cheng Yueqing put him off, saying they should let Bai Huan recover for another couple of days.
After hanging up, she tossed the phone aside and muttered softly, "Country bumpkins."
Bai Huan agreed with Cheng Yueqing's assessment from the bottom of his heart.
He went downstairs and told her he was going out.
"Your leg is injured. You shouldn't be running around," Cheng Yueqing said, clearly disapproving. "Mr. Chen will be coming to take you away in a couple of days. Why don't you spend a little more time with me while you're still here?"
"What's coming will come sooner or later. You might as well get used to living without me sooner rather than later, Mom."
Bai Huan gave a little snort and went out alone.
His destination was Lanshuitang.
Lanshuitang was a small town on the outskirts of Nancheng. Geographically, it still belonged to Nancheng, but it hadn't been incorporated into the urban district.
It was a picturesque place with a character all its own.
Bai Huan hadn't brought a driver.
Instead, he followed the directions on his map and took a taxi.
The journey took nearly an hour.
When he finally saw a roadside sign announcing their arrival in Lanshuitang, Bai Huan lowered the car window and looked outside.
A bright green river flowed beside the road, and the driver was following its banks.
On either side of the river stood rows of old-fashioned lane houses.
There were plenty of similar backstreets and alleys in Nancheng's urban districts, too.
In Bai Huan's eyes, they were all hopelessly outdated relics of the previous century.
He always felt that if he stepped inside one of them, he'd either end up with chicken shit on his shoes or have his nose filled with the smell of coal piles soaked by rain.
After passing six medium-sized and large supermarkets, three pharmacies, a maternity and children's hospital, a vehicle administration office, two flower shops...
The taxi finally stopped.
Bai Huan paid the fare and got out.
Not far away, beside a round, neatly trimmed evergreen shrub, stood a sheet-metal sign.
Several faded characters were printed on it:
Lanshuitang, Taohua Lane.
The summer heat rose in waves.
There were barely any clouds in the sky, and the surrounding plants looked almost sticky from being baked under the sun.
Nearby, the owner of a pastry shop was swatting at flying mosquitoes with an electric mosquito racket.
Zap. Zap. Zap. Zap-zap-zap.
A group of children wearing sandals came running past, laughing and holding popsicles.
One of them stepped directly onto Bai Huan's shoe.
A footprint as black as paint appeared on its surface.
"Sooooorry!"
The child only remembered to apologize after running some distance away.
Bai Huan narrowed his eyes.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath.
Then he continued inside.
Beyond Taohua Lane lay an old residential neighbourhood.
Several weathered apartment buildings stood in the middle of the community, with a completely unnecessary iron gate installed at the entrance.
The entire place was eerily quiet.
Bai Huan stopped in front of the gate without entering.
He merely raised his head and took in the few aging buildings, all of which could be surveyed at a glance.
For a boy who adored the finer things in life, moving into an old building where a spider might fall straight into his mouth was no different from being cast into the deepest level of hell.
If learning the truth two days earlier had left him merely heartbroken and bewildered, then at this very moment, all that remained was fear and misery.
He took a step backward.
Suddenly, a tremendous clanging noise rang out beside him.
Thinking he'd bumped into something, Bai Huan turned around.
But there was nothing behind him.
When he looked forward again, he saw Bai Chen walking out from inside the residential complex.
Bai Huan's first instinct was to run.
He didn't want anyone to know he'd come to Lanshuitang.
"Taimi?"
Bai Chen called out to him.
Bai Huan couldn't very well turn around and walk away right in front of him.
He put on a polite smile.
Even as he spoke, the smile remained firmly in place.
"I came to have a look at my home."
Bai Chen tossed the two misshapen metal basins he was carrying into a rubbish bin, dusted off his hands, and invited him in.
"Come upstairs and sit for a while."
Bai Huan neither accepted nor refused.
Instead, he asked, "Are Mom and Dad home?"
"It's Sunday today. Dad's gone to church for the service, and Mom is teaching someone," Bai Chen replied.
"Church?"
"Mm. He's a Christian."
"..."
"Taimi, are you religious?"
Bai Huan shook his head.
Privately, he thought that whichever Lord could save him from his present misery, he'd gladly believe in that one.
"There's a church around here?" Bai Huan asked curiously.
"A foreign family raised the money to build it many years ago. During the war, the church sheltered and saved quite a few women and children. The government preserved it afterward. Do you want to go and have a look?"
"No."
Bai Huan refused without hesitation.
Then he frowned.
"Bai Chen, don't you hate me?"
"No, I don't. It was a mistake made by the hospital staff. It's not your fault."
Bai Chen answered almost immediately.
"So you've thought about it too, then. After all, growing up in a place like this, it must be really hard not to hate me. If I were you, I'd hate you to death."
A trace of discomfort appeared on Bai Chen's wheat-coloured face, his complexion much like Bai Xing's.
Then he smiled.
"Exactly. You're not me, and I'm not you. So, Chen Jingen, welcome home."