Syaoran stared at the night sky devoid of any stars. His wheelchair was perched in the middle of the garden in front of his isolated villa from where the view of the vast sky above looked majestic. Yet there was hardly any trace of life in the sky.
He let out a sudden peal of cough that almost sapped more than half of his energy. But soon, he felt a thick coat surrounding his shoulders. He looked up and to his no surprise, found Hou Anming standing before him.
"Why do you always have to torture yourself like this?"
"Zihan let you in?"
"I don’t like it when you avoid my question with another question."
Syaoran smiled.
"It’s cold outside," Hou Anming plainly said.
"This much cold is nothing to . I have taken in far worse."
He stared.
Syaoran let out a helpless smile. "Guess you ca here to say no? I understand. It was quite a hefty amount to ask."
Hou Anming stared at him for a long mont and took out a check from the inside of his coat pocket.
"Why didn’t you ask Zihan? Your puppy younger brother would be more than happy to give everything you ask."
He slightly tipped his head to the side. "Will you take the check back if I say that I want to implicate your family in so way?"
"I will take back the check if you don’t accept my condition."
"Which is?"
"You know what it is."
Syaoran chuckled. "You want to buy a defective product?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Okay, fine. I take that back. You never like it when I make that joke. Your sense of humor is quite dry, Anming."
"Do you agree or not?"
"Would you take it back if I say no?"
One end of the check was held by Anming while the other Syaoran held. They remained like that with an invisible air of confrontation until Anming finally let go of the check.
Syaoran smiled. "You aren’t suited to do politics at all."
"Who said I want to go into politics in the first place?"
"True enough. You aren’t cut out from the sa cloth as your elder brother. How are the preparations going on?"
"Fine," Then he asked, "Do you plan to stop the engagent ceremony sohow with that money?"
He looked surprised. "Why would I do that when I’m pretty sure Yang Mingshen and his assistant wouldn’t sit still anyway? They would take care of that."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Sothing much bigger than just breaking an engagent. Say Anming, will you take the fall for it when it happens?" He asked with such a pleasant smile as if he wasn’t asking sothing outrageous at all.
"For sobody who isn’t willing to accept my condition, your demands are quite obnoxious."
"And for sobody who doesn’t choose to bend people to their will even when it’s a flick of a finger deal for them, you tempt to test your limits. Can you bla ?"
Anming didn’t respond to that.
"Are you planning to sink everything?"
Syaoran blinked. "Nothing was really floating atop anyways. It was all just an illusion. I think it’s ti people know that we were all butterflies who thought they freely flew but it was...actually in just a very huge, huge cage."
Anming peered into his strange but mystical gaze. He knew Syaoran was keeping a lot of things from him and his cunning smile barely revealed one fourth of it.
"Bro."
They turned to see Zihan approaching them. He glanced at Anming and plainly said, "You should leave."
"I was thinking of having so tea with your brother."
"Go have tea at your own house with your own wife."
"Still as hostile as ever."
"Everybody looks down on Bro whether it’s my family or yours," his expression changed. "Don’t bother fooling him with your concern."
"Zihan," Syaoran shook his head. "Anming has done a big favor. You shouldn’t talk to him like that."
"...Okay," he complied, though didn’t look too thrilled.
Anming said, "Let’s have tea so other ti."
"How about never?"
"I would like your brother’s answer to that. Or do you think that he cannot decide for him just because he cannot walk too?"
Zihan’s hand almost grabbed his collar when Syaoran stopped him.
"Enough. Hmm, now it’s getting really cold," he smiled. "How about we get inside?"
Zihan wheeled his brother inside the living room and stopped. He threw a dissatisfied stare at Anming, who followed them too.
"The exit is-"
"I know where the exit is," he made himself comfortable on the couch.
Zihan’s expression was unbearable.
"Let it go, Zihan."
"Yes, Bro."
"How are they doing?"
By them, it was clear to Zihan that he ant their parents.
"Dad is very displeased. He lost a huge donor for the charity program he was running. The breakup would affect his next campaign, he says."
"I see."
Then he looked up toward him and asked, "Did you find out the doctor who treats Jielun?"
Anming, who was admiring the fancy tea sets as if he had nowhere else to go, cocked a brow at them.
"Yes, Bro. Aunt Bingqing asked to find out."
Anming blinked. "Why didn’t you ask if you wanted to know that?"
He, as Jielun’s brother, would have been the closest and the most correct source of information.
Zihan grimaced. "So that you could lie to us and bury the truth?"
"When have I ever done that to Syaoran?"
His eyes narrowed. "Your family is nothing but a bunch of snakes."
"I’m not a snake."
Syaoran intervened before it would lead to another clash between the two n. "What did you find about him?"
"He has a shady past. I don’t know what kind of information exactly is Aunt looking for but I plan to tell her everything."
"Don’t."
He blinked. "Why not?"
Syaoran smiled. "He is also coming to the engagent ceremony."
Anming said, "But not as a guest. Purely as Jielun’s doctor. He wouldn’t really be publicly showing himself."
"I know that. He won’t show his face."
Anming paused. "You seem to know a lot of things."
His eyes smiled. "That’s where the whole fun lies. I know everything."
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