After leaving the club, Xiao Ji told Xiao Yi about his encounter with Liang Ziyu and the message he had been asked to deliver.
Xiao Yi’s reaction was mild. Only when Xiao Ji mentioned that Liang Ziyu might have caused the crash did his gaze darken slightly.
Xiao Yi had raised him, and Xiao Ji knew him reasonably well. That expression suggested Liang Ziyu’s claims were probably true, leaving him with even more questions.
On the night at Yalong Bay, Xiao Guangjin and his son had instructed the Xinglong Society’s men to attack his uncle and steal the Emperor’s Tear.
By rights, they should have been demanding that the Liangs hand over the missing eighth man and the heirloom. Instead, the Emperor’s Tear had inexplicably ended up with Song Liang, while the Liang heir was demanding something back from his uncle.
There was far too much he didn’t understand.
“Uncle, what exactly happened that night?” he finally asked.
“Nothing unusual. It happened as I told the police. As for Liang Ziyu, he dared target you. I’ll teach him a lesson.”
“The thing he wants back—”
“That’s a separate matter. It has nothing to do with you. Liang Ziyu has a guilty conscience and is using you to warn me. Take your bodyguards whenever you go out for the next few days.”
Without looking up, Xiao Yi added, “Move back to Huayin for now.”
Xiao Ji pressed his lips together and hesitated.
“…Song Liang is still at my place.”
Xiao Yi paused.
“He’s at your place?”
“…Yes. He said he was bored in the hospital, so I had Yu Hang take him to the house in Xiangning.”
The words came with difficulty.
He knew his uncle disliked Song Liang. But Song Liang had been injured saving him. Besides, if Liang Ziyu would use him to threaten his uncle, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t use Song Liang to threaten him.
And the Emperor’s Tear was still in Song Liang’s possession. Until he recovered it, nothing could happen to him.
That was why he hadn’t told his uncle beforehand, much less brought Song Liang to the villa in Huayin. Instead, he had settled him in the house in Xiangning.
His uncle had given him that house when he came of age. Whenever he wasn’t staying in Huayin, he generally stayed there. It was one of his two usual homes.
Now, however, faced with his uncle’s unreadable expression, Xiao Ji feared provoking him again. He hastily adopted a casual tone.
“It’s busy at the end of the year, and Xiangning is closer to the office. I’ll stay there for now. I have bodyguards anyway. Nothing will happen, Uncle.”
Xiao Yi glanced at him.
“So you do remember it’s the end of the year. Are you saying you won’t be coming home for the New Year?”
Xiao Ji: “…”
Ever since his mother’s death, he had lived with his uncle. He didn’t know how other families did things, but they always spent the New Year together.
And even if he didn’t return to Huayin, he still had to visit the old family home.
Xiao Ji sighed helplessly.
“I was wrong, Uncle.”
Only then did Xiao Yi withdraw his gaze. As Xiao Ji struggled to find something to say, he added evenly, “Bring him.”
Xiao Ji froze, hardly believing his ears.
His uncle was agreeing just like that?
“Think of an explanation for the old family home beforehand.”
“…”
It was like having a bucket of cold water poured over him.
He had always known the family would question his relationship with Song Liang, yet the prospect of facing his grandfather’s interrogation still frightened him.
His uncle was the only Xiao who wasn’t afraid to face the old patriarch.
He instinctively looked at Xiao Yi, who seemed to see straight through him.
“Every decision requires weighing the cost. If there’s something you insist on doing regardless of that cost, make sure you’re capable of bearing it.”
Xiao Ji sobered.
“I understand. I’ll speak to Grandfather myself.”
Xiao Yi looked up at him. After a moment, he asked, “I heard he pursued you for years without success. Even when he threatened to jump into the sea at your birthday banquet, you wouldn’t accept him. Why the sudden change of heart?”
Xiao Ji avoided his gaze. Knowing his uncle wouldn’t be easily fooled, he replied quietly, “We’re each getting something we need.”
“Do you know what he wants?”
“…Money and resources, mostly.”
Xiao Ji fell silent for a moment. Remembering Song Liang throwing himself toward him without hesitation during the crash, a flicker of conflict passed through his eyes.
“There’s nothing else I can give him.”
Xiao Yi saw that expression clearly.
In the end, he said nothing.
After Xiao Ji left, a familiar voice sounded through Xiao Yi’s Bluetooth earpiece.
“Why are you letting him move into Huayin Villa?”
“He has the Emperor’s Tear.”
“Are you sure you really can’t get it back?”
“He saved Xiao Ji. That night at Yalong Bay, he also saved me, in a way.”
Xiao Yi tapped a finger lightly against the desk, his voice low and measured.
“Though he disrupted my plans.”
The other end went quiet for a moment.
“What are you going to do about the old family home? Xiao Musheng won’t believe Xiao Ji. He’ll assume this is your scheme.”
Xiao Yi was silent briefly.
“Deal with Xiao Guangjin first.”
…
When Song Liang heard the news from Xiao Ji, he initially thought the man had lost his mind.
“You’re taking me to stay with your uncle?”
Xiao Ji’s tone over the phone was unfriendly.
“Only for the New Year. And we need to visit the old family home. Grandfather has to be formally informed about the engagement. His birthday banquet is at the end of the year, so you’ll come with me. We’ll need to stay for a while too.”
Song Liang remained puzzled.
“Does your uncle know about this?”
“What do you think?”
Song Liang didn’t understand.
He had spent ages trying to persuade Xiao Yi before, without success. Clearly, the man hadn’t wanted anything to do with him and didn’t care whether he lived or died.
Why was he suddenly agreeing to let him come to Huayin?
【You still have the Emperor’s Tear.】
A subtle smile curved Song Liang’s lips.
【Do you really think he has no way of taking it back from me?】
3085 fell silent.
Against its host’s methods, someone like Xiao Ji was certainly helpless. But Xiao Yi, the story’s main villain, had a hundred ways to recover the Emperor’s Tear.
Ninety-nine of them were simply illegal.
【Maybe he wants to preserve his image as a good uncle in front of the male lead?】
Song Liang considered that.
It was certainly possible.
In the original story, Xiao Yi had consistently maintained the image of a refined, cultivated businessman. Apart from a few unsavory rumors concerning the Xiao family’s past, his reputation was excellent.
Compared with Xiao Ji, the scummy domineering CEO who forced love upon others, the villain Xiao Yi’s private life had barely been described at all.
The more Song Liang thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Xiao Yi was in his thirties. Surely he shouldn’t still be unmarried, without even a girlfriend, while arranging a marriage alliance for his nephew first.
Song Liang: 【Could he be impotent?】
【…I think the original story did mention something along those lines.】
Song Liang: 【?】
【The original owner’s script didn’t mention the Yalong Bay incident. But when introducing the Xiao family’s background, a supporting character said Xiao Yi had been in a car accident and injured his leg. He couldn’t stand for long and sometimes needed a wheelchair.】
Knowing he hadn’t read the script carefully, Song Liang quickly pulled it up and searched again.
There really was a passage describing exactly that.
He went silent for a moment, then suddenly realized something.
【Does that mean I accidentally made the main villain stronger?】
3085 also fell silent.
At that moment, the same thought occurred to both of them.
Perhaps the instance’s difficulty hadn’t risen from F to A merely because Song Liang had kicked Xiao Wenyu across the room.
Perhaps it was also because, after that kick, he had saved the villain who was supposed to have been left disabled.
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