It was rush hour, and most of the traffic consisted of people returning to Lanshuitang from work in the city center. The car crawled along, stopping and starting, and it took more than half an hour before Chen Yuanyuan finally managed to find a parking space in the underground garage of the Lanshuitang Grand Hotel.
Bai Huan got out of the car. The stifling heat and smell of glue in the parking garage made him frown. Without saying a word, he followed Chen Yuanyuan into the elevator.
The private room had been reserved well in advance, so there was no need for a waiter to escort them. Chen Yuanyuan led Bai Huan straight to a room on the third floor called "A Home by a Little Bridge and Flowing Water."
The people inside were chatting among themselves. They didn't even stop when they saw Chen Yuanyuan enter. It was only when they noticed the boy standing half a head taller than him that their attention finally shifted entirely to the newcomers.
Bai Huan swept his gaze around the private room.
There were three large round tables and one small square table. Drinks, bowls, and chopsticks had already been arranged at each place. The folding screens looked terribly cheap, with sparrows painted on one side and bamboo and peach blossoms on the other. The adults had dressed up so carefully that they looked uncomfortable from head to toe, while the children looked as though they hadn't made the slightest effort.
Greetings came at him from every direction, but he didn't take any of them in.
Out of habit, he put on the smile he used when socializing with people in the past.
Fake, but extremely effective.
"Oh my, someone raised in a wealthy family really is different! Just look at his face and bearing. He's like a young celebrity."
Chen Yuanyuan said, "This is your Eldest Aunt."
Bai Huan greeted her as Eldest Aunt.
"Now that I've seen him in person, I'd say your parents are the ones who got the better deal. If he'd been raised in our family, he'd have turned out like one of those little hooligans."
Chen Yuanyuan said, "This is your Youngest Aunt."
Bai Huan greeted her as Youngest Aunt.
...
Very soon, with Chen Yuanyuan introducing everyone, Bai Huan had greeted all the elders in the private room, met a whole crowd of brothers, sisters, and cousins, and received quite a few red envelopes.
He didn't trust Chen Yuanyuan, so he put all the red envelopes into Wang Caiyi's handbag for safekeeping.
Everyone had arrived.
Chen Jinbao, the precious youngest grandson of the Chen family's patriarch, Chen Shouxin, ran off to tell the staff to start serving the dishes. When he returned, he received a chorus of praise.
He rolled around in his mother's arms, his soybean-sized eyes fixed on Bai Huan across the table.
Bai Huan pretended not to notice him.
He picked up the teapot and refilled his own cup, then conveniently poured another cup for his older cousin Chen Jinming, who was sitting beside him.
"Thank you," Chen Jinming said quietly.
He studied Bai Huan's calm profile, which bore such a striking resemblance to both Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi.
From the front, Bai Huan's eyelashes didn't look particularly long, but from the side, they seemed as long as both his parents' eyelashes put together.
He looked gentle, yet somehow distant and utterly beyond reach.
"Which character is the 'Huan' in your name?" Chen Jinming asked.
"Hm?" Bai Huan turned to look at him. "The Huan from the phrase 'completely renewed.'"
"Then won't you have to change your surname to Chen? Chen Jinhuan?" Chen Jinming took a sip of water. "I think Bai Huan sounds better."
Bai Huan was too embarrassed to admit that the adults had prepared the name Chen Jingen for him.
He managed to squeeze out, "Who knows?"
The conversation had clearly reached a dead end.
But Chen Jinming somehow felt a little closer to this unfamiliar, refined, and wealthy-looking younger cousin because of it.
So he asked another question.
"You greeted so many people just now. Did you remember all of them?"
"No," Bai Huan said.
"I knew it," Chen Jinming replied.
Bai Huan caught the implication in his words and gave him an opening.
"Why?"
"There are too many people in our family. It's a little easier on your mom's side. I think your mom only has one older sister, your aunt. But there are loads of people in the Chen family. Let me tell you..."
Chen Jinming took off his black-framed glasses and immediately looked more cheerful.
He leaned toward Bai Huan's ear and began whispering things that weren't meant for anyone else to hear.
Their Eldest Aunt, Chen Lingling, had a son and a daughter.
Her son was the eldest among the Chen family's younger generation. He wasn't present today because he had gone to the United States to study the previous year.
Her daughter ranked third among the younger generation and wasn't present either. Apparently, her boyfriend's mother had fractured a bone and been hospitalized, so she had gone to look after her.
Their Second Uncle, Chen Yangyang, had a son with his first ex-wife, a daughter with his second ex-wife, and another daughter with his current wife. His youngest daughter would be starting first grade after the summer vacation.
Today was a happy occasion, so both of his ex-wives had come to celebrate. They had even given Bai Huan rather generous red envelopes.
Their Youngest Aunt, Chen Yaoyao, was Chen Jinbao's mother. Chen Jinbao was her son with the man who had married into the Chen family.
Apart from them, Bai Huan's paternal grandparents, Chen Shouxin and Zeng Wenjuan, had also adopted two children.
One was a boy born to a young nanny who had become pregnant out of wedlock back when the family was still prosperous.
The other was a girl they had found abandoned by the roadside.
Bai Huan addressed them as Uncle Yunkang and Aunt Yunping, respectively.
Both had established careers and families of their own, although today they had only brought their spouses.
Compared with the Chen family, Wang Caiyi's side was much simpler.
Apart from his maternal grandparents, Wang Caiyi had only one older sister, whom Bai Huan was supposed to call Aunt.
"Your aunt doesn't have an easy life. Your uncle-in-law loves playing cards. When he wins, things are fine, but when he loses, he goes home and beats his wife and daughter. He even beats his own mother. But ever since your aunt found herself another man, her life has improved quite a bit. The man she's seeing buys her clothes and bags."
Bai Huan listened to Chen Jinming whispering endlessly in his ear without finding it annoying.
He treated it as though he were listening to stories from a novel, instinctively feeling that none of the people Chen Jinming was talking about had anything to do with him.
To him, they all seemed to have the same faces and wear the same expressions.
There was nothing about the way they spoke or ate that suggested the manners of a distinguished family.
Their voices were shrill, their behavior crude, and everything about them made it painfully obvious that they were merely a few tables of lower-class townspeople stuffing themselves with food and guzzling drinks.
And Bai Huan, the most distinguished young master in Nancheng, raised with impeccable manners and elegance, was now forced to endure his discomfort and irritation while dining with them.
When everyone had more or less finished eating, Second Uncle Chen Yangyang opened another bottle of imported liquor.
As he poured himself a glass, he said, "Yuanyuan, it would've been better if you'd brought Bai Huan home half a month later. I've got a project on my hands right now. If we could get the Bai family involved, there's a fortune to be made."
Hearing his own name and the mention of the Bai family, Bai Huan raised his eyes.
But he merely listened without saying anything.
"No matter how you look at it, a child you've raised for eighteen years still can't compare to your own flesh and blood. The moment you found out, you rushed to bring him home. Bai Huan, your dad really does treat you well," Chen Lingling said.
Wang Caiyi gave a faint, dismissive laugh.
"What's all this about one being better than the other? We raised Little Chen ourselves, and we have feelings for him too. It's just that the auspicious date happened to fall on that day. If we'd missed it, there wouldn't have been another good date for two months."
Second Uncle Chen Yangyang spoke again.
"Bai Huan, do you have any special talents? Why don't you perform something for us?"
"I don't have any special talents."
Bai Huan put down his glass of water.
His fair face was noticeably tenser than before.
He had developed an intense dislike for this second uncle.
He thought the man was stupid and presumptuous, and that he was deliberately humiliating him.
Having been refused, Chen Yangyang suddenly found that the easy authority he usually enjoyed in front of Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi had disappeared.
He had lost face.
Turning to Chen Shouxin, he said, "Dad, these rich families aren't anything special after all. He can't do this, can't do that. He's not even as capable as our little hooligans."
"Second Brother," Chen Yuanyuan said unhappily, "don't talk like that in front of Taimi."
Chen Yangyang smacked his lips after taking a sip of liquor.
"Bai Huan, your second uncle is a straightforward man. You're not going to hold it against me, are you?"
Bai Huan flashed a toothy smile.
"Of course not. I really don't have any talents I can demonstrate on the spot, but I can speak a little Spanish and French. I could say a few things for everyone."
Chen Yangyang immediately perked up.
"Come on, come on! Let's hear a few sentences!"
Bai Huan appeared completely unruffled by either praise or humiliation.
He spoke two sentences in Spanish and another two in French.
Chen Lingling's husband asked what he had said.
Bai Huan replied, "Everyone here is very nice. I like all of you."
Chen Yangyang muttered, "Sounds like birds chirping. Useless, and not even pleasant to listen to."
Hearing this, Chen Yuanyuan finally pulled a stern face and slapped his chopsticks down on the table.
"If Second Brother doesn't like listening to it, then he doesn't have to listen! Which of those wealthy people doesn't learn several foreign languages? Didn't Second Brother himself come asking me for money to enroll Chen Jinyu in English classes? So what exactly are you saying now, Second Brother? That foreign languages sound unpleasant, or that my son is useless?"
Chen Jinbao was sprawled lazily in Youngest Aunt Chen Yaoyao's arms.
In a clear, childish voice, he chimed in, "Second Uncle is jealous!"
Chen Yaoyao immediately covered his mouth.
"You little brat, what nonsense are you spouting!"
Chen Yangyang's eyes widened.
Then he turned to Chen Yuanyuan.
"What's with all this shouting? Have you forgotten who changed your diapers when you were little?"
The heroic courage that had risen in Chen Yuanyuan's heart when he stood up for Bai Huan vanished instantly at Chen Yangyang's words.
Bai Huan, however, was completely unmoved by this kind of emotional blackmail.
If they really wanted to argue about such things, Bai Mingzhen had changed plenty of his diapers too.
But wasn't it only natural for an elder brother to take care of his younger sibling?
To bring up such things in order to demand gratitude and repayment was simply too petty.
"Second, that's enough."
Only after deciding that Chen Yuanyuan had been sufficiently put in his place did Chen Shouxin finally step forward to take control of the situation.
Stroking his beard, he tapped his cane against the floor.
"Third, you're the younger brother. You should show your elder brother at least the most basic respect. How can you speak to him with such barbed words? Think how much you're hurting your brother's feelings."
Bai Huan watched Chen Yuanyuan sit dejectedly in his chair.
Knowing that the man had been scolded because he'd stood up for him didn't make Bai Huan feel particularly good.
He only wanted this dinner, where everyone seemed to be treating him like a performing monkey, to end as quickly as possible.
Chen Yangyang nodded and spoke earnestly.
"Exactly. Times have changed. We brothers and sisters need to stick together and rely on one another."
Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi both let out a breath at the same time.
"Oh, right, Bai Huan. Are you still in contact with anyone from the Bai family? If you are, perhaps you could pass my project proposal along to them sometime."
Bai Huan noticed Wang Caiyi looking at him and giving a tiny shake of her head.
He turned toward Chen Yangyang and said self-mockingly, "After occupying someone else's rightful place for so many years, I was too ashamed to even keep their contact information."
Chen Yangyang and several others who had been waiting for his answer all looked deeply disappointed.
Chen Yunkang, the Chen family's adopted son, said, "I didn't expect the Bai family to be so heartless. They raised him for eighteen years, after all. How could they just abandon him like that?"
Beneath the tablecloth, Bai Huan's fingers curled slightly into his palms.
He lowered his eyelids.
The shadows beneath his eyes made him look both sorrowful and helpless.
"Families like that place great importance on blood ties. If they continued treating Bai Huan as one of their own, it would probably cause all sorts of trouble. They'd even have to divide their biological son's inheritance with him. How many people would be willing to do that?"
Chen Yaoyao spoke softly while soothing the drowsy Chen Jinbao in her arms.
At the mention of inheritance, Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi showed little reaction.
But quite a few people at the surrounding tables began sighing regretfully.
Bai Huan watched the scene unfold.
He had absolutely no doubt that if the Bai family continued accepting him, these people would turn into starving, greedy parasites, clinging to him and sucking him dry.
Yet what overflowed from the boy's eyes wasn't anger or disgust.
It was a barely perceptible sense of grievance.
This place was a furnace.
The Bai family had been perfectly capable of extinguishing its flames, yet they had chosen to push him straight into it.
And now he could already foresee a future in which he would be burned to ashes.
"Bai Huan?"
At some point, Chen Jinming had put his glasses back on.
He quietly interrupted Bai Huan's thoughts.
Bai Huan turned his head, only to find a phone screen thrust in front of him.
Chen Jinming peeked out from behind the phone.
"Your Spanish and French pronunciation is very accurate. It recognized everything."
On the screen, Bai Huan saw a clearly displayed translation.
"You people are vulgar and beneath me. I hate all of you."
Bai Huan blinked.
His fingers tightened.
His mind immediately began racing through ways to bribe or deceive Chen Jinming.
But then he thought about it again.
All the people in this private room put together weren't worth as much as his OPPO phone.
There was no reason for him to care what they thought of him.
Before he could speak, however, Chen Jinming, who had inherited the Chen family's sensitivity and tendency to overthink, made a soft shushing sound.
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Because what you said is true."
Thanks to this shared opinion, the Chen family had finally produced someone Bai Huan could regard in a different light.
After that first family dinner ended, it took Bai Huan an entire week to rid himself of the disgust it had left behind.
During that week, besides gradually forgetting the deeply uncomfortable gathering, his relationship with Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi finally began to develop in a positive direction.
They became a little more casual and a little closer with one another.
Although Bai Huan still hadn't called Chen Yuanyuan "Dad" even once.
Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi continued going to work every day as usual.
Although Wang Caiyi was on summer vacation and didn't need to go to school, she still had another job teaching at an art studio.
Chen Yuanyuan had one job during the day and another at night.
They filled the house with snacks and fruit.
The remote controls for all the household appliances were always placed where they would be easiest to find.
The clothes Bai Huan changed out of never appeared on the family's washing line.
Wang Caiyi would take them to a dry cleaner in Lanshuitang and bargain for ages until the shopkeeper finally gave in out of sheer impatience.
The moldy base of the wall was quietly painted white while Bai Huan was asleep.
So when he woke up the next morning, he stood in the living room staring at the bottom of the wall for a very, very long time.
Being cared about felt rather nice.
Even if such sincerity wasn't worth much money.
When he got up in the morning, Bai Huan first brushed his teeth and washed his face.
Then he changed into an outfit he considered sufficiently stylish.
Afterward, he went downstairs to buy two bamboo steamers of soup dumplings from a shop he'd discovered on his own, along with a cup of mint water.
Speaking of mint, he missed his mints.
But his longing wasn't enough to make him do something as utterly undignified as stealing.
So he endured the torment without making the slightest effort to do anything about it, simply hoping that a windfall would drop from the sky.
When that windfall finally arrived, Bai Huan was lying on his stomach over the coffee table in the living room, working on his scrapbook.
He was still making progress on the garden.
"Knock, knock."
Bai Huan went to open the door.
The first thing he noticed was the man's exceptionally well-proportioned shoulders and neck.
Then he raised his eyes.
Today was probably the man's day off.
His hair hadn't been styled with gel, and loose strands fell messily across his forehead, partially concealing his sharp brows and eyes.
He was dressed casually, too.
Even though he was still wearing glasses, he looked much gentler than usual.
Bai Huan's dark eyes lit up.
"Bai Mingzhen! What are you doing here?"
Immediately afterward, Bai Huan noticed the listless little Bichon Frise in the man's hands.
"Xiao He!"
Bai Huan pulled Bai Mingzhen inside, took out his own slippers for him to wear, and then hurried into the kitchen to pour him a glass of water, moving with practiced ease.
Only afterward did he take the dog into his arms.
He lifted Xiao He up and examined him anxiously.
"What's wrong with you? Have you really not eaten anything all week? Mom and Bai Xing haven't been replying to my messages. I'm sorry—"
Bai Mingzhen drank his water and sat down on the sofa.
As he looked around the apartment, he said, "He hasn't eaten for over a week. He's been given nutritional injections. The vet said he couldn't hold out much longer, so they suggested bringing him here first to see how he responds."
Holding the dog, whose body had gone as limp as mud, Bai Huan stood in front of Bai Mingzhen's knees.
He appeared calm as he asked, "Why didn't you bring him to me sooner?"
"They didn't think things had reached the point where there was no other choice."
Bai Mingzhen leaned forward and picked up the unfinished scrapbook from the coffee table.
The next second, the marble coffee table was kicked so hard by the person beside it that it shifted out of place.
Bai Mingzhen's expression turned cold.
"Bai Huan."
Bai Huan had an extraordinarily fierce temper.
Only those close to him knew that.
And only those who had personally witnessed one of his outbursts understood just how terrible his temper could be.
Terrible enough that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt himself just to vent his anger.
A sharp, spasming pain shot through Bai Huan's shinbone.
His face turned deathly pale from the pain.
Yet he seemed completely unaware of it.
He hugged the dog tightly, his entire body filled with an icy chill.
"Have they ever cared about Xiao He? If they cared about him, how could they be so heartless as to let him starve for more than a week?"
Bai Mingzhen said nothing.
He bent down, intending to take hold of Bai Huan's lower leg.
But Bai Huan struggled, and his knee struck Bai Mingzhen in the face.
This time, Bai Mingzhen truly lost his temper with him.
He grabbed the boy, flipped him onto the sofa, pulled down his trousers, and delivered two sharp smacks to his backside.
Bai Huan's face instantly flushed bright red.
He wanted to jump up and fight back.
But he was still holding the dog in his arms, and he was afraid of crushing him.
So he had no choice but to keep his backside raised, which only gave Bai Mingzhen the perfect opportunity.
After the two smacks, he felt his trousers being pulled back up.
He immediately twisted around and slipped down to sit on the floor.
"How old am I now? And you're still hitting me?" he protested.
"Even if you were eighty, you'd still deserve a spanking for throwing a tantrum at me over people who have nothing to do with me."
Bai Mingzhen spoke as though it were nothing.
When he bent down again to lift Bai Huan's trouser leg, the boy obediently stayed still, no longer daring to move.
Because Bai Mingzhen wasn't like everyone else.
He wasn't afraid of Bai Huan making a scene, nor would he indulge him simply because he was a young master.
Yet it was precisely this Bai Mingzhen who made Bai Huan feel that his family hadn't abandoned him after all.
After a brief moment of humiliation and anger, Bai Huan silently moved closer to Bai Mingzhen.
He freed one hand and wrapped it around Bai Mingzhen's neck.
Breathing in the scent of chamomile that clung to the man, he spoke in a muffled voice.
"Bai Mingzhen, you're the only one I have left now. Will you stop caring about me someday, too, just like Mom, Dad, and Bai Xing?"
Bai Mingzhen paused.
Then he raised his arm and wrapped it around the boy's waist, which had noticeably grown thinner.
"No. Eldest Brother will never abandon you."