The familiar cool scent washed over Song Liang, warmed by body heat.
He looked up in bewilderment. “What are you doing?”
Xiao Yi lowered his eyes to him, perfectly calm. “Can you walk?”
“More or less.”
He wasn’t putting on a brave face. Song Liang genuinely thought he could manage. He had only twisted his ankle, not broken it.
At that, Xiao Yi made to put him down.
Song Liang hastily grabbed the front of his shirt. “Wait, wait! I can’t walk. Definitely can’t!”
“…”
Xiao Yi silently inspected his pulled-open collar and crooked tie.
“Let go.”
Song Liang immediately released him, even straightening his collar for him.
“It’s cold. Don’t dress too lightly just to look good,” he advised earnestly. “Though you look good wearing nothing too.”
Xiao Yi ignored him. Tightening his hold slightly, he turned toward the child.
Before he could speak, the boy looked up with tearful but stubborn eyes.
“Where are you taking my daddy?”
Xiao Yi: “…”
Xiao Yi exhaled softly and frowned at the man in his arms.
“What did you tell him?”
Song Liang felt genuinely wronged. “I didn’t tell him anything.”
The child gazed at Xiao Yi, his voice catching. “Mommy said so.”
Xiao Yi’s frown deepened. His gaze sharpened on Song Liang.
“You and Xiao Yuanchun—”
“Absolutely not.”
It had taken considerable effort to get this man to accept him. Song Liang wasn’t about to let it all go to waste.
He explained sincerely, “She offered to keep me. I turned her down.”
Xiao Yi plainly didn’t believe him. He stared coldly, his eyes like an emerald lake beneath a thin sheet of ice.
Song Liang almost expected to be dropped on the ground at any moment.
“Then why were you in my room?”
“…”
Song Liang failed to see the necessary connection between those two matters. Still, he was in the wrong about the room, so he answered honestly.
“I didn’t take the photograph. I was just curious and looking around.”
Xiao Yi narrowed his eyes skeptically. “And looking around led you into my room?”
Song Liang looked innocent. “Yours was the only balcony I could climb onto.”
“…”
Xiao Yi’s gaze shifted from his face to his uninjured left hand.
How could someone with a broken arm still manage to cause trouble everywhere and climb into other people’s balconies?
Something tugged at his jacket.
The child stood beside him, his face still wet with tears and snot. Barely reaching Xiao Yi’s knees, he struggled to crane his head back.
“Mister, where are you taking my daddy? I’ll call the police.”
Both men looked down at him.
Unable to resist being a nuisance, Song Liang smiled.
“He’s not ‘Mister.’ He’s your mommy. I’m your daddy.”
Xiao Yi stared at him expressionlessly.
Song Liang was about to retract that when the child turned his tearful eyes toward someone behind them.
“Mommy, is that true?”
Both men went silent.
They turned to find Xiao Yuanchun smiling at them.
“Are you two fighting over my child?”
Xiao Yi: “…”
Song Liang: “…”
“Mommy!”
The child flung himself at Xiao Yuanchun, then pointed at Xiao Yi and complained.
“He’s stealing your husband!”
Xiao Yuanchun bent to lift her son. Wiping away his tears, she smiled.
“It can’t be helped. Mommy can’t win against him. Shall we let him have him?”
The child looked at Xiao Yi’s towering figure, then at his mother.
Finally, he turned back to Xiao Yi with a troubled expression.
“Then he can be your husband now. My mommy is letting you have him.”
Xiao Yi: “…”
Song Liang: “…”
When neither man responded, Xiao Yuanchun wisely stopped teasing.
“I thought you wouldn’t be coming back this year either, Uncle,” she said respectfully. “Will you stay a couple of days?”
“No need.”
Xiao Yi glanced at the man in his arms.
“He twisted his ankle.”
Xiao Yuanchun immediately realized something and looked at her son.
Clutching his ball, the child guiltily lowered his head.
“I’m sorry. He can be a little unruly. Is it serious? I’ll have someone fetch the family doctor.”
She coughed lightly, then ventured, “Will you take him to a guest room, Uncle, or…?”
“I’ll take him to a guest room.”
“All right.”
Xiao Yuanchun smiled as though there were nothing surprising about her famously unapproachable uncle suddenly extending a helping hand.
Song Liang, however, was puzzled.
“It’s a long way. Wouldn’t it be easier to get a car?”
“Don’t worry,” Xiao Yuanchun said with a bright smile. “Uncle can carry you.”
Xiao Yi: “…”
He couldn’t help giving her a look.
Her smile only deepened.
“I’ll head back, then. Take your time, you two.”
Song Liang was baffled. “Take our time?”
Even if his injury wasn’t serious, surely they shouldn’t be strolling along?
Was she getting revenge because he had tried to steal her son?
Fortunately, Xiao Yi didn’t actually take his time walking. An estate patrol vehicle soon arrived and drove them both to the guest quarters.
Waiting there, besides the family doctor, were Xiao Ji, Chu Xiyuan, and Xu Bowen.
From a distance, the three saw Song Liang being carried, one arm in a sling.
He was a grown man, six feet tall, with long arms and legs. Yet the man carrying him was taller still, with broader shoulders and a wider back, making him look a size smaller.
With his arm suspended against his chest, he even seemed rather docile and fragile.
Then they recognized the man holding him.
All three minds went blank.
“U-Uncle?”
The sight was startling enough to make even Xiao Yi’s own nephew stammer.
“Why are you carrying… What are you doing here?”
“I stopped by on the way. I’ll take you both home afterward.”
Xiao Yi paused, keeping his gaze off the man in his arms.
“I found him injured in the southern section, so I brought him over.”
“Oh. I see.”
Xiao Ji didn’t quite know what to say.
“Thank you, Uncle. Let me take him.”
He held out both arms.
His uncle didn’t move.
Puzzled, Xiao Ji looked up and found Xiao Yi watching him silently. His dark-green eyes were deep and heavy, making him inexplicably nervous.
“…Uncle?”
Song Liang was puzzled too. He looked up at Xiao Yi.
Had his arms gone numb?
Xiao Yi didn’t look at him.
“It’s only a few steps. I’ll carry him in.”
Xiao Ji paused, but thought little of it. His feelings about Song Liang were complicated enough at the moment anyway.
He lowered his arms and stepped aside.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
Xiao Yi carried Song Liang straight toward the guest room, with Xiao Ji following.
Behind them, Chu Xiyuan was still struggling to process the fact that Song Liang had managed to get Xiao Yi to help him so personally.
“Unbelievable. Getting that close to Uncle Xiao—why are you staring?”
“Nothing. I’m just surprised.”
Startled by the question, Xu Bowen looked again at the tall figure ahead.
Xiao Yi’s strong arms held the young man securely. His back was unusually straight, almost rigid, as though he were being painstakingly careful.
And the young man in his arms had lost all the swagger he displayed around them.
Instead, he rested almost meekly against Xiao Yi, utterly relaxed and trusting.
They looked more like a couple than Song Liang and Xiao Ji did.
The thought alarmed Xu Bowen so much that he blurted, “Holy shit.”
Chu Xiyuan jumped too. “What’s wrong with you?!”
“…Nothing.”
Xu Bowen decided something must be wrong with his brain.
Never mind Song Liang being a man—Xiao Yi couldn’t possibly fall for his own future nephew-in-law. The two barely seemed to know each other.
He must be losing his mind.
Meanwhile, Song Liang was carried all the way into the guest room, almost half his body nestled against Xiao Yi.
He had spent the entire journey breathing in that pleasant scent.
Snow and ice mingled with newly sprouting greenery: cold and still, yet full of life.
Two seemingly contradictory things blended together so harmoniously that he nearly buried his whole face in the man’s chest.
So when Xiao Yi set him on the guest-room bed, he couldn’t help catching the front of his shirt.
“Xiao Yi…”
For once, he hadn’t called him Uncle.
Nor was his tone teasing. It was languid, but slightly serious.
Xiao Yi could hear the difference.
He stopped, still bent over, one hand resting against Song Liang’s back.
They were close enough to make out each other’s lashes with a lift of their eyes.
Close enough that the slightest dip of his head would bring their lips together.
His body stiffened. A powerful impulse surged through his chest, threatening to rise into his throat and spill toward the person before him.
He swallowed and tried to ask what Song Liang wanted, but no sound came.
Then the familiar voice reached his ear.
“Do you really not wear cologne? You smell so good.”
“…I don’t.”
Xiao Yi lowered his lashes, suppressing the turbulent emotions in his eyes as he answered in a low, husky voice.
Then Xiao Ji’s footsteps sounded nearby.
Slowly, Xiao Yi withdrew his hand and turned away.
He met Xiao Ji on his way out. His nephew suggested he rest in the adjoining room. He acknowledged him and left.
Yang Xuan was already waiting outside.
“Sir, Old Master Xiao wants to see you.”
Unsurprised, Xiao Yi followed him.
“Do I smell of anything?” he suddenly asked.
Yang Xuan blinked. “Sorry? N-No, I don’t think so. Why?”
Xiao Yi said nothing more.
As he rounded the corner, sunlight streamed through the window and fell across him.
It had a warm scent.
The kind of warmth that could melt every trace of snow and ice.
Much like the scent of a certain someone.
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