Chapter 88#

That evening, Ji Yang went straight to bed without tidying up much.

Only when he woke up the next day did he find the apartment completely transformed. Everything piled up at the entrance had been put back in its proper place. The windows were spotless and bright, and the empty vase on the coffee table even held a few sprigs of eucalyptus leaves.

Ji Yang was slightly dazed.

He couldn’t remember where he’d read it, but the language of flowers for eucalyptus leaves meant “gift” and “memories.”

“You’re up?”

Someone suddenly spoke from the kitchen.

Ji Yang looked up, his face filled with shock: “Auntie Mo? How come you’re here?”

“Nie Xu asked me to come.” Mo Qiu walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of breakfast, set it on the dining table, then grabbed Ji Yang’s hands and looked him up and down, her voice sharp with reproach: “You too—something that huge happened when you went to South Island. If Mr. Nie hadn’t told me you were living alone with an injured hand and asked me to come look after you, I wouldn’t have known a thing.”

Ji Yang raised his hand to demonstrate: “Just a small wound.”

“It only counts when it’s really serious, is that it?” Mo Qiu disapproved. “It’s been on the news every single day. My heart was in my mouth the whole time.”

“Don’t worry.” Ji Yang hooked his arm through Auntie Mo’s, smiling: “But it’s good that you’re here. I was thinking about it anyway—the current Ji family is no place to stay. It’s just that I wasn’t prepared, and I’ve made you come over just to clean up.”

“This wasn’t cleaned by me,” Auntie Mo said immediately.

Ji Yang was surprised for a moment. Before he could speak, he felt a fuzzy sensation near his feet.

He looked down and gasped with delight: “Xiaobai?”

Ji Yang crouched down and picked up the cat.

He scratched its chin. “You’ve gotten fat, huh. You little heartless thing—without me here, you’ve been eating just fine, haven’t you?”

Auntie Mo watched him tease the cat and smiled, then continued: “This cat was also brought along on Nie Xu’s instruction. I only came by this morning, and when I got here I just happened to run into him heading out to take out the trash.” At this point, Auntie Mo sighed. “So much has happened these past few days. Zhao Yuan got caught in South Island, and your grandfather and those old fogies from the branch families are all waiting for him to come back and give an explanation. Who knew he’d gone silent for days—turns out he was with you.”

Ji Yang was lost in thought. Xiaobai sneezed in his arms. Ji Yang snapped back and asked: “Did he say where he was going?”

“I didn’t ask.” Auntie Mo seemed to remember something and said: “But he definitely smoked last night. The hallway was littered with cigarette butts, and he reeked of it.” Mo Qiu sighed and urged: “Young Master, things aren’t like they used to be. If something comes up, you just need to yield a little and it’ll pass. Look at you—moving out just like that. If things really blow up, who do you think loses out?”

Ji Yang: “…”

Only now did he realize that Auntie Mo had made all kinds of assumptions in her head.

She probably thought he was now living with his former bodyguard, having lost the Ji family, depending on someone else to get by. And that his temper was still terrible, not knowing how to yield, and that he’d moved out of Boman after an argument.

Commonly known as throwing a tantrum.

Ji Yang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But he didn’t explain. Mo Qiu had spent her whole life in the Ji family. Without her, his past life would certainly have been far worse.

She was one of the rare ones who genuinely wished him well.

She was the one who, when he was being manipulated by the Ji family, completely transformed and stripped of most of his own will, would still lecture him and stand steadfastly by his side.

“I understand,” Ji Yang replied.

But after Nie Xu said he might leave last night, he cleaned up the apartment for him, and then smoked for half the night in the hallway?

This fact made Ji Yang vaguely understand something.

Even Nie Xu had his moments of losing control.

Only that such a moment couldn’t be found in the way he saved Ji Yang or accompanied him to sort through his thoughts—instead, it was consumed in that tender yet thoroughly controlled encounter, and Ji Yang could only glimpse faint traces of it on this morning, through a casual offhand remark.

Even if it was only such a fleeting moment, Ji Yang saw the crack beneath this man’s seemingly all-controlling exterior.

He hid it too well.

Ji Yang recalled the way Nie Xu had looked at him last night. He thought of the person who had always remembered who Ji Yang was as a child—that was Nie Xu. The one who had fully witnessed his parents’ deaths and bore the weight of everything was also Nie Xu. The one navigating among all sides, unable to take a single wrong step—it had been him from beginning to end, and only him.

Both of them were people who had saved him from disaster time and time again.

And yet Nie Xu had once again shouldered his fate.

Saying those words: “It’s your call.”

He handed over the choice, yet caught everything for him.

In that moment, Ji Yang belatedly understood the weight Nie Xu’s words of love actually carried—far more than he had imagined.

He always did more than he said.

Ji Yang set Xiaobai down, picked up his phone, and snapped a photo of the eucalyptus leaves.

He opened his chat with Nie Xu and hit send.

He asked: “Dear Mr. Snail of the Night, may I ask why you chose this particular plant?”

Nie Xu replied: “You’re up? It’s heat-resistant and adaptable. I was worried you’d be too lazy to change the water.”

Ji Yang: “…You really are incapable of romance. In Auntie Mo’s eyes, I’ve already become your kept pet. Where are you?”

At this moment, at the Ji family estate.

The estate had already entered auction proceedings. Since the judgment debtor had legal residential rights, the occupants could continue living there until the sale was finalized.

But the former glory was no more.

The bustling crowds had long vanished.

Most of the servants had been dismissed. Only the Ji family members, long accustomed to comfortable lives, were still reluctant to accept reality.

Ji Yansong had fallen ill.

The nurse had hung an IV drip in the master bedroom, and when she came out she glanced at the tall man leaning against the doorframe. He had been there for an hour already, saying nothing and not going in. He’d scared off the elderly men from the branch families who had been bickering at the door for days, each one shrinking like quail. The man’s fierce, commanding aura made even the caregivers flinch when passing through. But now, seemingly having received some message, his entire bearing had softened.

“Is the old man awake?” Nie Xu pocketed his phone and straightened up.

The nurse stammered: “Y-yes, he’s awake. You can go in.”

Nie Xu nodded.

He pushed the door open and entered.

Ji Yansong lay in bed, eyes open, the indwelling catheter in the back of his hand piercing through slack skin, his complexion covered in a layer of grayish pallor.

Nie Xu gave him a cursory glance, still as calm as when he returned from missions over all those years. Head slightly lowered, he stated evenly: “Zhao Yuan has been caught. The goods were logged and taken by the authorities. They weren’t recovered.”

Ji Yansong turned his head, those clouded eyes fixed on him.

His voice sounded as though it were being forced up from his throat, tinged with mockery: “Axu, I knew many years ago that I hadn’t misjudged you. You’ve always been flawless in your execution. Things have gotten to this point, and yet you’re far more composed than I ever imagined.”

Nie Xu didn’t respond.

Ji Yansong continued: “Those old men outside—you’ve despised them to the bone for ages, haven’t you?”

Nie Xu replied mildly: “The doctor says you need to rest properly. You shouldn’t get emotionally agitated, or there’s a risk of stroke.”

“Hah, hah.” Ji Yansong laughed twice, then started coughing violently. Hoarsely, he said: “You don’t know this, but you really are too much like your father—equally clever, equally gifted. What’s more important is that you’re more ruthless than he ever was.”

Nie Xu watched the old man’s flushed face, gave a small smile, and spoke slowly: “I owe that to your years of cultivation.”

Crack!

Ji Yansong struggled fiercely, sweeping everything off the bedside table with one arm. They crashed to the floor in a clatter.

The green thumb ring he wore on his thumb year-round came loose, rolling forward with a soft rattle until it bumped into the tip of Nie Xu’s shoe and stopped.

Ji Yansong’s face grew more and more twisted: “You’re ruthless enough. You planned this for years without me ever catching on, and the moment you strike, you bring my Ji family to eternal ruin. But you want the Nie family restored, you want to reclaim what belonged to your father. What makes you think I’ll let you have your way?”

Nie Xu bent down and picked up the ring in front of his foot.

He walked to the bedside, took hold of Ji Yansong’s hand, and deliberately, unhurriedly slid it back on.

“Who said I want to restore the Nie family?” Nie Xu continued: “I told you to take care of your health so you could personally witness how everything you were once so proud of came crashing down piece by piece. You have to live—you have to stay alive to face the reckoning from the families of all those who died on the Qiming. I’m not the only one who’s been waiting a long time. What the Ji family owes goes far beyond this one matter alone.”

Nie Xu stood up after speaking.

Under the old man’s glare, he walked to the wall at the foot of the bed and stopped. Without hesitation, he found the concealed compartment switch.

“Stop!” Ji Yansong grew agitated again.

Nie Xu reached in and pulled out the contents, flipping through them. “My father’s blueprints were the medal of your victory back then. You gave Zhao Yuan reproduction copies because you were certain that I would continue to serve the Ji family for the sake of these things. But I forgot to tell you—I memorized everything in these blueprints by the age of three. The core trade secrets of the Nie family were never about the ambition to expand territory. If I wanted to reclaim them, it wouldn’t be difficult at all. I’m taking them now because they never belonged to your Ji family.”

The cultural relics had already severed Ji Yansong’s hopes of escaping overseas.

And now, having this taken away from someone like Ji Yansong meant that everything had returned to square one. Decades of scheming and planning, everything he’d gotten at any cost—all of it reduced to nothing.

“Someone! Come!” Ji Yansong began to shout. “Somebody!”

Nie Xu: “No one is coming.”

“You! You…” Ji Yansong tried to roll out of bed, but thudded to the floor.

Nie Xu stood to the side, unmoved, watching this old man who had once seemed invincible, dubbed a maritime king of his generation—now stripped of his fangs, reduced to lying on the ground clinging to his last breath, unable even to get up.

Nie Xu turned: “I’ll go get the caregiver.”

“Stop!” Ji Yansong’s voice boomed. Staring at Nie Xu’s back, he sneered: “You think you’ve won by destroying my Ji family? Let me tell you—there were plenty of people back then who wanted your Nie family dead! The ones you’ll be facing aren’t just any one person. You’re so young. Don’t be so naive!”

Nie Xu’s hand closed around the door handle. He didn’t look back.

Calmly, he delivered his final words: “No rhetoric works on me. You might as well keep your naivety as a burial companion.”

Nie Xu left the bedroom and descended the spiral staircase of the main building.

The few servants still remaining in the Ji household all moved out of the way, avoiding the man coming down from above.

After all, they had worked for the Ji family.

What they truly cared about wasn’t whether the Ji family had gone bankrupt, but whether they would lose their jobs.

Only one servant, still possessing a bit of courage, cautiously approached, trying to get a definite answer from this former most powerful figure of Building Four—someone who could still come and go freely in the old man’s bedroom.

“Mr. Nie, when is Butler Zhao coming back? We people who’ve stayed behind—now when something comes up, we don’t even know who to go to.”

Nie Xu’s gaze swept over the clusters of three or five people in the corner of the hall, then came back. He spoke: “He won’t be coming back.”

“Ah?” Panic spread instantly.

The servants began whispering among themselves.

Nie Xu continued: “You won’t be dismissed. I’ll find a new butler. What you need to do now is do your jobs properly and take good care of the old man’s health.”

These words were like a calming elixir settling into everyone’s hearts.

They all nodded.

“Okay.”

“All right. Don’t worry, Mr. Nie.”

Nie Xu turned and walked away.

Behind him.

“Great. Looks like we won’t be fired anytime soon.”

“Who would’ve thought—when the old man fell ill, the second and third branches didn’t even show their faces, the branch families only knew how to argue, and in the end it was an outsider who stepped up to take charge.”

“Shh, that’s not right. Haven’t you heard what people from the branch families say? They’re saying Mr. Nie has the heart of a wolf.”

“Might actually be true. I always thought the old man was on high alert around him. But if you ask me, the Ji family deserves what happened today. Have you all seen the news…”

All the good and the bad, whether fact or conjecture—only the person with questions could seek out the truth.

Nie Xu walked out.

Got in his car.

His phone chimed several times in succession—new messages.

Ji Yang: “[Photo][Photo]”

Ji Yang: “We had a reservation for dinner, and instead this couple showed up at Yiyuan directly!”

Ji Yang: “Fuck! My image as a boss is about to be destroyed by this disgusting couple.”

Ji Yang: “Have you finished with that old geezer? He’s not dead, is he?”

Ji Yang: “These two have grossed me out.”

Ji Yang: “Why are you wasting words on that old thing? Hurry up.”

Ji Yang: “Come save me.”

Ji Yang: “I’ll give you my body in gratitude.”

While Ji Yang’s messages looked explosive, in reality he had been sitting in his office chair with an expressionless face the entire time. His countenance was the very picture of dispassion.

Across from him, a middle-aged couple, still dressed in bright and fine clothes, sat on the sofa.

The tea on the low table had just been brought in by Qiao Qiao.

She was very polite: “Uncle, Auntie, I didn’t know you were Young Master Xiao Yang’s… parents. I apologize for any offense. Please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me.”

Ji Changshou tugged at his suit, sourly: “Next time, open your eyes wide. It’s just a small company—hardly presentable.”

Qiao Qiao’s face flushed with embarrassment.

Ji Yang glanced up and said: “Qiao Qiao, go on out. And remember—from now on, the tea in our company is for human beings only. Don’t go brewing it for just anything that walks through the door. Don’t waste materials.”

Qiao Qiao’s face turned beet red. She mumbled an acknowledgment, nodded, and left.

Quite a crowd had gathered outside Ji Yang’s office door, and Ji Yang had specifically instructed not to close the door.

Ji Changshou slammed the table: “Listen to what you just said!”

“Human language,” Ji Yang looked at him. “Can’t you understand?”

“Ji Yang!” Ji Changshou shot to his feet.

Yao Zhaoling beside him quickly tugged his sleeve, signaling him not to be impulsive.

The two of them falling back into their old patterns like this made Ji Yang feel nauseous. Frowning, he said: “I remember we severed our relationship long ago. The only reason I agreed to this meeting is because I heard that when my mother passed away all those years, you handled all the arrangements. Is that correct?”

Ji Changshou froze, clearly never having expected Ji Yang to suddenly bring this up.

Instinctively, he answered: “Yes.”

“What illness did she die from?” Ji Yang asked.

Ji Changshou began to mumble vaguely: “Heart… heart disease.”

“Heart disease?” Ji Yang found it amusing. “Auntie Mo served her for so many years. How come she never knew she had heart disease?”

Ji Changshou, burning with humiliation and anger: “She’s been dead for years now. What’s the point of harping on this? She’s dead either way. You only have one mother now, and that’s your Auntie Yao.”

Ji Yang turned his head to look at Yao Zhaoling beside him.

This woman looked decently put together on the surface, but looking closely, a touch of unease had already leaked through without her realizing.

This “delicate white flower” persona was truly unshakable across the ages.

Ji Yang said to Ji Changshou: “I don’t have the habit of casually calling someone ‘Mom.’ Since you can’t explain things clearly, why don’t we pick an auspicious day to exhume and examine the body? Right now I have reasonable grounds to suspect you murdered your wife to marry another. Calling you a modern-day Chen Shimei would actually be a compliment.”

To figure out the connection between Elara and Yu Fei, the people Ji Yang could turn to were extremely limited.

Ji Changshou was the most direct one.

Ji Yang had originally thought that saying this would definitely make Ji Changshou jump up and, in his agitation, let slip some clues.

But what sent a chill down Ji Yang’s spine was that the moment those words left his mouth, he clearly saw a flash of panic cross Ji Changshou’s eyes.

He wasn’t refuting the accusation that he had murdered his wife to remarry. Instead, he cursed: “Desecrating a grave—you’re not afraid of retribution?! If you dare do that, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll beat you to death today!”

A rather transparent attempt to cover up guilt.

Ji Yang suppressed the unease in his heart and didn’t continue the verbal sparring.

After all, continuing to argue about this was nothing more than another chapter of the old father-son drama. And merely acknowledging this man as his biological father made Ji Yang want to swap out every gene in his body.

Ji Yang leaned back again and said evenly: “As my mother’s only bloodline, it’s not a question of whether I dare—it’s that I have every right.”

Ji Yang didn’t want to continue tangling with these two.

He pulled the files on his desk toward him and said: “You broke into Yiyuan’s office area without my permission—that’s already out of line. If you have something to say, say it, then leave.”

When Ji Yang said this, Ji Changshou finally calmed down completely.

He sat back down.

This time, the one who stepped up was Yao Zhaoling.

The woman nervously squeezed her fingers: “Xiao Yang, I heard you went on a business trip and saw Xiao Yi, didn’t you?”

Ji Yang looked up.

Yao Zhaoling was genuinely nervous this time—her lips had gone white. “I… your father and I can’t get any information about him now. All we know is that he’s been wanted.” Yao Zhaoling was breaking down. “How could he be wanted? Xiao Yi is such a good child—smart since he was little, well-behaved. If you know anything, can you tell me? I’d rather it be me facing the consequences.”

Ji Yang set down his pen: “You think you can take responsibility for a murder charge?”

Yao Zhaoling’s eyes flew wide open. Even Ji Changshou was stunned.

Ji Yang let out a scoffing laugh and said to Yao Zhaoling: “Auntie, you lived in Huizhou before, didn’t you? I don’t know if you fed him similar ideas when he was young, but Ji Chengyi was only six when he started looking for a rich second-generation father. Was it really Xilemen who kidnapped him back then? If Xilemen had kidnapped him, how would he have dared maintain prolonged contact with someone like Jin Husheng? I can only say he really is extraordinarily smart—just not smart in the right direction.”

Yao Zhaoling seemed to have recalled something as well.

Her face grew even paler.

Yao Zhaoling suddenly stood up, reaching for Ji Yang’s hand: “Xiao Yang, Xiao Yang, help him. He’s still your third brother, isn’t he?”

Ji Yang raised his hand and evaded her.

“Auntie, you think too highly of me.”

Yao Zhaoling’s voice trembled with tears: “Xiao Yang, Auntie was wrong. Auntie apologizes to you, okay? I can kneel if I have to.”

As she spoke, she was about to kneel.

She made it halfway down before Ji Changshou yanked her back up.

Ji Changshou glared at Ji Yang: “What exactly do you want?!”

“Ha.” Ji Yang was asked into a laugh. “You’re asking me? Shouldn’t I be asking you two what you want? I said it—he’s suspected of murder, and the case is being handled by the police. I don’t want to do anything. I want you to walk out the door, turn left, and go to the police if you have a problem. All right?”

Ji Changshou frowned, as if it were the most natural thing in the world: “Of course we know to go to the police. But as his younger brother, isn’t it only right to use your connections at a time like this? Didn’t you know a boss before, named Huang Kai? And I heard you have dealings with Jianyuan. Find someone, ask around—find out where your third brother is right now.”

Ji Yang looked at this middle-aged man with a half-smile.

Softly, he asked: “Do you know whose Jianyuan is?”

“It doesn’t whose it is!” Ji Changshou seemed deaf to everything, only intent on pushing his own point: “Even if Jianyuan swallowed every last asset of the Ji family, this is a matter of life and death! Saving your brother is what matters!”

Ji Yang began to clap slowly, emphatically.

“What a heartwarming display of fatherly love.”

Ji Changshou’s patience ran out: “Stop wasting words. Make the call! Now!”

“Not making it.” Ji Yang’s reply was crisp and final.

Ji Changshou’s old habit flared up, and he raised his hand to strike.

Whoosh—thud!

The blade flew past Ji Changshou’s fingers and embedded itself squarely in the wall. The tail of the black folding knife was still trembling. Ji Changshou clutched his hand and screamed.

A clean line of blood ran through four of his fingers, with beads of blood welling up. It was quite a sight.

Ji Yang looked up toward the door.

The colleagues blocking the doorway had all scattered to either side. Nie Xu stood there, meeting his gaze.

Nie Xu strode in, pulled the knife from the wall, folded it, and pocketed it.

Ji Changshou stared at his sudden appearance, shocked and furious: “Nie Xu! Have you lost your mind?!”

“Who allowed you in here?” Nie Xu asked.

He asked so matter-of-factly that it left Ji Changshou speechless.

Ji Changshou knew exactly what kind of man Nie Xu was. He didn’t confront him directly, but redirected his aim back at Ji Yang.

“Are you going to make this call or not?”

Ji Yang looked relaxed now, no longer trying to provoke anyone. He sat on the edge of his desk, all innocence: “I really can’t. I’m living off someone else. I truly can’t save my dear third brother.”

Ji Changshou was suspicious: “Your Yiyuan just won the South Island bid. Who do you need to live off?”

Ji Yang sighed, then pulled the silent Nie Xu closer and said: “Business isn’t that easy to do. Now that the Ji family has fallen, Assistant Nie is about to lose his job, and I need someone powerful by my side when I travel or negotiate. So I sold myself.”

Ji Changshou looked as though he’d heard something he couldn’t comprehend: “Sold yourself to whom? Him? He’s your grandfather’s man!”

“I know,” Ji Yang continued. “But my abilities are limited, my body isn’t up to par, and I only have one face that’s passable.”

Ji Changshou was choked by these words one after another. Knowing Ji Yang was doing it on purpose, his face still turned purple with rage.

Finally, he cursed: “No shame! You really are inferior to your third brother in every way.”

“Shame? What’s that?” Ji Yang fake-smiled, then swung his legs up to sit cross-legged on the desk, leaned forward slightly, and continued in a low voice: “I didn’t just sell myself to him—I slept with him too.”

Ji Changshou’s eyes went wide, as if he’d never imagined Ji Yang would say such a thing. He couldn’t come up with a single rebuttal.

Ji Yang kept going: “I’m absolutely thrilled. Being able to watch someone like you come begging the son you cut ties with to save your other son—the wanted criminal. Is there anything in this world more satisfying than watching Ji Changshou’s bloodline be wiped out?”

Ji Changshou was so furious his breaths were shorter than his exhales.

But this time, before he could raise his hand, he was thrown out.

Ji Yang heard the commotion at the door.

He sat there, expressionless, unmoving.

Nie Xu closed the door and came back.

He braced both hands on the desk.

“Get down,” Nie Xu said.

Ji Yang didn’t budge: “No.”

Nie Xu looked into his eyes: “Are you angry?”

“I thought I didn’t feel anything at first,” Ji Yang muttered. “But the more I talked, the more I thought about the fact that a man like him is actually my biological father, and I really did get angry.”

Ji Yang rolled his eyes: “I should’ve just told him to get lost.”

Nie Xu pressed his hand down. “Even if you’re angry, you shouldn’t say things like that. When you sold yourself to me, that wasn’t what you were selling.”

Ji Yang: “What? I used to be the young master up on high, and now in his eyes I’m just a clinging vine depending on someone else for survival. That’s not worth much?”

His fire had the tendency to spread.

Nie Xu pressed his index finger against the pulse at Ji Yang’s wrist, laughed softly: “It’s worth far too much. Whoever sells themselves to me needs to have a proper sense of belonging. If you get worked up over things like this again, I’ll consider your self-awareness insufficient.”

Ji Yang’s little flame was extinguished in an instant: “And if it is insufficient?”

Nie Xu: “I’ll make you realize who I really am.”

This not-quite-a-threat didn’t register with Ji Yang.

Not until Qiao Qiao came in again with tea.

She cautiously probed: “Is Mr. Nie going to be working at our Yiyuan?”

“No.” Nie Xu took a sip from his cup. “I’m here as a family member visiting.”

Ji Yang’s head snapped up.

“Realize family member?” Ji Yang asked.

Nie Xu glanced at his cross-legged posture on the desk: “If you want me to be the head of the household, that’s fine too. On the condition that a head of household wouldn’t tolerate you being this unruly.”

Ji Yang: “…Then what about family member?”

“Whichever you prefer.” Nie Xu tapped the desktop and said to Qiao Qiao: “Bring me all the documents related to this bid. Your Young Master Xiao Yang hasn’t fully healed yet. I’ll review them first.”

Qiao Qiao immediately indicated understanding, and with a suppressed giggle, couldn’t resist saying to Ji Yang:

“Young Master Xiao Yang, family member is good. Go with family member.”

Ji Yang: “…”

He thought to himself: I already know that, don’t I?!

The only problem was—the price of being “insufficient” is too high. What then?