Buzz.
The phone in Yang Xuan’s pocket vibrated twice. He pretended not to hear it and continued following his boss as he exchanged pleasantries.
Then his boss looked at him for the first time.
“…”
Yang Xuan quietly took out his boss’s phone and handed it over.
Xiao Yi accepted it, nodded to the guest before him, then opened WeChat and tapped the unread message.
Yang Xuan glanced over from the corner of his eye.
Good. It wasn’t from that temptress.
He had barely formed the thought, with no time to feel relieved, when an arrogant, familiar voice sounded.
“Where did this cosplayer come from, sticking his nose into everything?”
Yang Xuan: “…”
He quietly edged closer to his boss.
Xiao Yi glanced at him. Yang Xuan immediately offered an ingratiating grin.
He wanted to watch too—to see what trouble a certain temptress had caused at the old Xiao family home.
Fortunately, his boss didn’t send him away.
So Yang Xuan continued watching the video on the phone. He saw that brazen menace, in front of the entire Xiao family, first call the younger relatives idiots born of inbreeding, then call Third Master Xiao a cosplayer.
Finally, he raised the watch his boss had given him and arrogantly told the patriarch to behave, or everyone in the family would lose their money.
Yang Xuan was dumbfounded.
Arrogant didn’t begin to describe this man. He was sheer madness incarnate! He actually dared confront the Xiao patriarch to his face?!
Was he planning not to survive tomorrow?!
Xiao Yi moved his finger, saved the video, and forwarded it to a certain someone.
Before he could ask a question, the reply arrived.
[Song: You’re welcome.]
[Xiao Yi: ?]
[Song: Wasn’t this why you gave me the watch?]
[Xiao Yi: Why?]
[Song: Crush the enemies, be yourself again.]
Xiao Yi: “…”
He had indeed given the watch away intending for it to represent his authority. But he hadn’t imagined this man would take it so far.
Perhaps because he hadn’t replied for a while, another message appeared.
[Song: Did I crush the wrong ones?]
The wording seemed deferential, yet Xiao Yi could picture him with his chin raised, looking as though he were asking, What, you can’t cover for me already?
His finger moved.
[Xiao Yi: You didn’t.]
Xiao Ji was softhearted. He always felt that some affection remained between him and the Xiao family. If things continued this way, Xiao Musheng would only exploit him.
It was time to give him a push.
Watching his boss type that reply, Yang Xuan couldn’t resist asking meaningfully, “Aren’t you indulging him a little too much?”
Xiao Yi put away his phone.
“He is my nephew, after all.”
“I meant the other one.”
“…”
“With you around, Young Master Xiao could bring a toad home as his partner, and the patriarch still couldn’t do anything beyond a few unpleasant remarks. Who exactly was that watch meant to protect?”
Yang Xuan looked timidly at his boss.
“Sir, you know what you’re doing, don’t you?”
“Is that your question, or your brother’s?”
“My brother’s.”
“…”
Xiao Yi said nothing. He didn’t return the phone either, simply slipping it into his own pocket before walking over to a business partner.
Meanwhile, at the old Xiao family home, Song Liang lounged sideways in a chair.
Seeing no further messages from the man on the other end, he was about to tap his profile picture when Chu Xiyuan’s exasperated voice came from opposite him.
“Are you even listening? You keep looking at your phone.”
“I’m listening.”
Song Liang switched off the screen and looked at him.
“Go on.”
“There’s nothing more. That’s all I know. Xiao Ji doesn’t like talking about family matters either. Why are you asking?”
“Curiosity.”
Xu Bowen, who had barely spoken, suddenly said, “I’d advise you not to be curious. The Xiao family’s affairs aren’t something you can casually pry into. Uncle Xiao doesn’t like it either.”
By Uncle Xiao, he naturally meant Xiao Yi.
Song Liang raised an eyebrow.
“He doesn’t like people asking?”
“No.”
Xu Bowen chose his words carefully.
“You’ve probably heard something about it. People outside don’t have a particularly favorable view of certain things between Uncle Xiao and his family.”
“You mean the claim that Xiao Yi killed the patriarch’s other children?”
“Pfft—”
Chu Xiyuan spat out a mouthful of water.
“Come on, we’re still in the Xiao family home! Could you be a little more careful? You might not be scared, but I am!”
Xu Bowen also looked helpless.
Song Liang nodded.
“Understood.”
“You don’t have any more questions, right? Then it’s my turn.”
As though he had been waiting for this, Chu Xiyuan stared straight at the watch on Song Liang’s left wrist.
“That thing—Xiao Yi really gave it to you?”
“Yes.”
Chu Xiyuan drew a sharp breath, then looked Song Liang up and down, trying to discover what could have made Xiao Yi regard him so highly that he would give him something so expensive.
Xu Bowen suddenly added, “Uncle Xiao has never given anyone something he used himself.”
“Really?”
Song Liang answered casually, then stood to leave.
Chu Xiyuan hurriedly got up.
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk.”
“Xiao Ji told me to keep an eye on you—”
“Don’t follow me.”
“…”
Chu Xiyuan stared blankly after the retreating figure.
“See that, Bowen? The guy has a crippled arm in a sling and still radiates supreme arrogance. Where does all that confidence come from?”
Thinking of the one-of-a-kind watch, Xu Bowen replied, “Uncle Xiao, probably.”
“Should we follow him?”
“You can if you want.”
“Forget it. He might get annoyed and kick me again.”
Xu Bowen: “…”
Song Liang continued along the shaded path, one arm in a sling and the other hand holding his phone as he searched for news about the Xiao family.
There were few legitimate reports. Most results were fantasies and speculation from internet users, largely about struggles within the wealthy family.
The most widely discussed question was whether Xiao Yi actually carried Xiao blood.
Although few photos of him were available online, some people had dug up interview videos. And when Xiao Wenyu had been suspended, someone had leaked that photo of Xiao Yi, sparking considerable discussion.
Almost everyone therefore knew that the current head of the Xiao family, besides his high nose, deep-set eyes, and strikingly handsome face, had dark green eyes.
Yet the old patriarch had never been involved with a green-eyed woman.
The information Song Liang had obtained from Chu Xiyuan and Xu Bowen was much the same as the speculation online.
Neither had said it outright, but they had implied that the main cause of the troubled relationship between Xiao Yi and Xiao Musheng was the question of his parentage.
But if Xiao Musheng doubted he was his son, why had he acknowledged him in the first place?
And why hand over the Xiao Group?
The internet’s consensus was that Xiao Yi had been ruthless and cunning, killing or crippling the patriarch’s other children until the old man was forced to give him the succession.
Song Liang found that unlikely.
3085 disagreed.
【Why do you think it’s unlikely? Because he’s handsome?】
Song Liang: 【Half of it. The other half is that he doesn’t seem like someone who would go to those lengths just for money and power.】
【And where did you get that impression? His face again?】
Song Liang considered it, then looked at the watch on his wrist.
【Maybe from this?】
3085 was utterly speechless.
While host and system talked, Song Liang had followed the path around to the rest area behind the main house.
Someone sat on a bench there, casually tossing a little blue ball and calling, “Xiaole, fetch.”
Oh, Song Liang thought. Someone’s exercising a dog.
The next instant, a child in white ran out of the bushes, eagerly got down on the ground with his bottom sticking up, and retrieved the ball.
Then he turned toward the woman on the bench.
“Mommy, I got it!”
The woman rested her chin elegantly on her hand and curled a finger at him.
“Tsk, tsk~”
Song Liang: “…”
As expected of the woman who had left the Xiao family to build her own career.
She even raised her own son like a dog.
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