Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"029"

Xiao Lancui stepped into the lavishly decorated, opulent banquet hall, just as the original text described.

The original had gone into great detail about the Lu family estate—the villa where the youngest son of the Lu family lived alone, a ten-minute walk southwest from the main villa, tucked away in a large grove of trees.

But now the story had gone off the rails, and it was entirely possible he'd moved back to the main villa.

Xiao Lancui pondered this as Lu Siye made his way over to him. He casually picked up a glass of wine from the bar table and said three words to Xiao Liqin in a flat tone, "I'm heading out."

Xiao Liqin was a bit surprised.

Xiao Lancui had never attended such a grand evening event. He'd assumed Xiao Lancui would be too timid to hold his own at such an occasion and would stick to him like glue. He was about to make an excuse to slip away when, to his surprise, Xiao Lancui left on his own.

Briefly startled, he spotted a familiar figure going after Xiao Lancui.

Lu Siye?

His thick brows furrowed.

"A Lan."

Lu Siye quickly stepped in front of Xiao Lancui.

Dressed in a well-tailored suit, looking every inch the gentleman, he smiled at Xiao Lancui. "Why didn't you let me know you were coming?"

He completely glossed over the last two times.

As if they were old friends getting along perfectly.

Another new fragrance, mixed with faint tobacco and alcohol, made Xiao Lancui's brows knit slightly, but he didn't stop walking.

Lu Siye observed Xiao Lancui closely, noticing even his slightest movements. He knew them too well—this was exactly how Xiao Lancui looked every time he called him smelly.

His expression shifted slightly, his chin lowering as he instinctively sniffed his own collar.

A ten-thousand-yuan bottle of cologne—what the hell smelled so bad about it!

He leaned down toward Xiao Lancui, and that faint scent of ink grew a bit clearer, mixed with—

Lu Siye thought it resembled the clean scent of herbs. He suddenly felt that his cologne, compared to the scent on Xiao Lancui, was indeed... stinky?

He cleared his throat softly, as if sharing a secret, and murmured with a low chuckle, "Still ignoring me? Are you upset?"

Invading his personal space, Xiao Lancui raised his glass and deftly created distance between them. Lu Siye stepped back, and Xiao Lancui said flatly, "What do you mean?"

The faint herbal scent disappeared, and Lu Siye felt an odd flutter in his chest. His tongue lazily ran along his lower teeth as he offered something of an explanation. "About your second brother—I can explain."

Xiao Lancui really didn't get it.

Weren't Lu Siye and Xiao Anfeng a couple? What was there to explain?

Not that it mattered—he had zero interest in their romantic entanglements. He scanned the room.

The hall was full of guests, but the youngest son of the Lu family was nowhere to be seen.

Even in Beijing, where people tended to be tall, the youngest son of the Lu family stood head and shoulders above the crowd. If he were in the crowd, he'd stand out the most by far.

But he wasn't there—at least not right now.

That was why Xiao Lancui had stuck around.

He needed to pump Lu Siye for information.

The excuse was easy enough to come by.

Xiao Lancui's gaze swept over the several men who had come over with Fu Chen.

Fu Chen looked a bit uneasy. He glanced at Xiao Lancui quickly, then averted his gaze.

Today he didn't dare look Xiao Lancui in the eye. With the silver thin-framed glasses, Xiao Lancui exuded an almost holy aura.

Fu Chen's heart pounded as he quickly said, "Hey, Xiao Lan—Classmate Xiao!" Last time Xiao Lancui had told him not to call him Little Lanzi. "Long time no see."

The other men were Lu Siye's rowdy friends—all wealthy second-generation types with checkered reputations. They were stunned by Xiao Lancui's face, but his refined aura kept them from having any dirty thoughts for once. They sized him up discreetly, nudging Lu Siye. "Young Master Lu, introduce us—this Young Master Xiao—"

"Xiao Lancui." Xiao Lancui cut him off. He raised his glass toward one of the young men at random and said, "You're Lu Ao, aren't you?"

At the name "Lu Ao," Lu Siye's eyes showed barely concealed annoyance. His mother had brought that nutcase back home the day before yesterday.

What a pain.

Lu Siye took a sip of his drink and said offhandedly, "He's in his room. These are my friends."

Fu Chen was surprised and also wanted to chat with Xiao Lancui. "You know Lu Ao?"

Lu Ao's existence had always been kept under wraps by the Lu family—even the younger crowd in their circle rarely knew about him.

Only the ones who'd grown up with Lu Siye knew he had a younger brother, but they'd never met him.

Xiao Lancui actually knew who he was?!

Fu Chen tried to glance at Xiao Lancui casually, but Xiao Lancui looked right back at him. Fu Chen's heart skipped a beat, a slight flush creeping up his face as he quickly turned away. Xiao Lancui said offhandedly, "I heard Lu Siye mention him once."

Lu Siye then remembered. When he'd visited the Xiao residence to check on Xiao Lancui's illness, he'd mentioned that Lu Ao had been committed to a psychiatric hospital.

He hadn't thought much of it then, but now it brought something else to mind.

Back then, he hadn't cared at all about Xiao Lancui's illness—he'd used the visit as an excuse to see Xiao Anfeng, who'd been dodging him.

Suddenly thinking of Xiao Anfeng, Lu Siye's mind drifted.

Last time, Xiao Lancui had infuriated him, and on a whim, he'd ended up in bed with Xiao Anfeng.

It had been an incredibly satisfying fuck—better than any he'd ever had.

When he woke up from that wild night, Xiao Anfeng was still sleeping beside him, covered in hickeys. He usually liked a morning round, but that day he hadn't been in the mood—soft as a noodle.

Lu Siye got out of bed to shower. As the warm water ran over his face, a flash of that day at the foot of Panling Mountain crossed his mind—Xiao Lancui looking down at him with that contemptuous gaze.

Cold, disdainful, superior.

And then Lu Siye realized he was hard.

Lu Siye snapped back to the present. Xiao Lancui stood two steps away, the air thick with a mix of scents.

The mix of men's and women's perfume and cologne, the aroma of red wine—but all he could smell was a faint, clean fragrance of ink mixed with herbal medicine.

Not nearly enough.

He stepped toward Xiao Lancui, when suddenly the butler came over and whispered something in his ear. Lu Siye's face went pale, and he turned and left.

The moment the butler came over, Xiao Lancui had been watching his lips closely.

The butler had just told Lu Siye, "The young master is missing!"

That tense reaction meant the Lu family wasn't planning to show off their youngest son after all. Xiao Lancui ignored Fu Chen's jokes and just left.

In the second-floor room, Han Xinyi's face was ashen, her hands still picking a necklace to match tonight's gown while giving orders.

"If you can't find him within ten minutes, and he shows up somewhere he shouldn't—you can all collect your final pay and get out tonight."

The security company's safety director was sweating bullets, bowing so low he was almost touching the carpet. "Don't worry, we've got a hundred bodyguards out looking. We'll find him in time!"

Han Xinyi picked up a natural seawater pearl necklace. She was in a dark green gown, and the plump, glossy pearls matched it perfectly. She handed them to a maid to fasten, smiling as she said, "The kid doesn't get it—running around can get him hurt. When you find him, be very careful. He's already banged up; we can't have him getting more scrapes. Got it, Director Zhou?"

The implication was clear: make sure he gets hurt.

Director Zhou was soaked in sweat, forcing a tight smile. "Understood. It's late, and the young master ran into the woods—tripping and falling, he's bound to get banged up."

Only then did Han Xinyi let Director Zhou go downstairs. The pearl necklace was fastened, and she studied the elegant woman in the mirror, her smile vanishing instantly.

She spat out two venomous words: "Lu Ao!"

Two days ago, she got a call.

"Come get me."

She thought she heard wrong. "Who's this?"

"Lu Ao."

It was too absurd. Han Xinyi laughed. "The difference between people and animals is that people know to stay away from danger and stick to their place. Understand?"

"You have thirty minutes." Through the static, the man's voice was ice-cold, like it was coming from hell. "I come back, or you come in here and enjoy those sedatives."

Lu Ao hung up.

Thirty minutes later, Han Xinyi's car pulled into Sen Mountain Psychiatric Hospital.

Han Xinyi sneered. So he was planning to stir up trouble today. Just a barely adult, cocky little brat—did he think she wouldn't be ready?

She'd already posted bodyguards within fifty meters of the main villa. There was no way Lu Ao was getting inside.

At that same moment, Lu Ao bent down and grabbed a random walkie-talkie from the unconscious bodyguards lying around.

The sky was so dark it felt like it was about to cave in, while behind him, the main villa blazed with lights, casting a warm glow over the lawn.

The silver golf club in Lu Ao's barely usable left hand caught the warm light and gleamed gold.

He walked through without any trouble and headed back to the villa in the woods.

A standalone two-story building, with one door already kicked off its hinges. Lu Ao walked in, looked around, and propped the golf club in a spot that was obvious and easy to grab.

With that set up, he pressed the walkie-talkie and said into it, "Tell Lu Siye I'm waiting for him at the villa."

Back in the banquet hall, the way Lu Siye had looked at Xiao Lancui—

In the silent, pitch-black living room, Lu Ao's ten fingers cracked one after another.

Lu Siye went alone, forbidding anyone from following.

He tore through the woods in the gardener's cleaning cart at full speed, and before it even came to a stop, he jumped out and ran into the villa.

If he didn't beat Lu Ao to death today, he'd go without sex for a day!

Lu Siye was out of his mind with rage.

What kind of trash thought he could show up in public and take his place? The Lu family fortune—or just to make him look bad?

The secret that he was illegitimate had always been the deepest thorn in his side.

Why should a retard like Lu Ao be the legitimate young master of the Lu family? When the old patriarch was drawing his last breath, he'd made Lu Siye's father swear never to put him and his mother into the family registry—or his father would lose the inheritance.

His father had no choice but to swear.

Why? His father loved his mother, never that dead woman! And he was his first son—the three of them were the true masters of the Lu family!

As Lu Siye entered the villa and saw the dark figure standing inside, he immediately swung his fist in rage.

"Retard, I'll fuck your mother!"

The moment he lunged forward, searing pain shot through his knee. His fist never landed; he collapsed with a howl, clutching his knee and curling up on the ground.

Lu Ao's kick was perfectly measured—agonizing, but not enough to fracture. He'd be able to stand again in a moment.

The next second, Lu Siye's scalp was yanked backward, forcing his face up. Pain drove tears streaming from his eyes involuntarily.

In the dim, murky light, Lu Siye saw a heavily bandaged face looming above him. He couldn't make out Lu Ao's features, only those narrow, danger-laden black eyes fixed on him.

His skull felt like it was about to crack. Lu Siye ground out through clenched teeth, "Fuck your grandpa—"

Lu Ao pressed down with one hand, and Lu Siye's face slammed hard into the floor. His nose went hot, and two streams of blood gushed from his nostrils.

It was the first time Lu Siye had ever been beaten. His head rang, sounds coming to him in broken, muffled fragments.

Perhaps there was no sound at all.

It was all his imagination.

Lu Ao hadn't made a sound. The kicks that landed on him all avoided his joints—just dull impacts against flesh. Lu Siye's eyes burned red.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped.

Seizing the opportunity, Lu Siye crawled forward and staggered to his feet. A maddening urge for revenge flooded his nerves. His gaze caught a flash of silver—the golf club.

Without a second thought, Lu Siye grabbed the golf club, spun around, and swung it at Lu Ao's head.

"Die!"

Lu Ao didn't dodge. He stared at the broken doorway in the distance, blood surging wildly beneath his skin, thrumming with heat.

The golf club came down on his skull. Scalding blood instantly soaked through the white gauze and blurred Lu Ao's vision.

He crumpled to the ground, his right arm still in a cast, his left hand barely managing to shield his head as he curled into a helpless, self-protective ball. Through blood-stained eyes, he kept staring at the gap in the doorway where the wind blew through.

He was here.

He could smell it.

The scent that was unique to Xiao Lancui.

So fragrant.

So warm.

Every cell in Lu Ao's body trembled with excitement. Under the gauze covering his face, the thick, metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth, but he smiled.

He closed his eyes, calmly waiting for that warmth to come again.

The golf club rained down on Lu Ao—thudding against flesh, cracking against bone, without letup. Lu Siye had lost his mind, completely provoked by Lu Ao. He couldn't stand that Lu Ao had just had him under his feet—that was the ultimate insult.

Filthy curses rang out fiercely in the dark.

"Fuck you! You fucking idiot, you dare touch me! I'll beat you to death! Go die, you piece of shit!"

Outside the door, Xiao Lancui watched the curled-up figure on the floor.

Tall, but curled into a shivering ball on the cold floor.

If it were Lu Ao, Lu Siye wouldn't have lived another second—he'd have been torn to pieces and fed to the mountain beasts.

He wasn't Lu Ao.

At least, ninety-nine percent sure it wasn't Lu Ao.

With his final judgment made, Xiao Lancui stepped inside, silent as a ghost. Just as Lu Siye raised the club to strike that bloody head again, Xiao Lancui flicked his right wrist.

The red wine in his glass—untouched until now—splashed straight across Lu Siye's face.

Not a single drop missed.

The smell of violet and black cherry hit Lu Siye's senses. The cold made the broken vessels in his nose throb with unbearable pain. He looked up furiously, wine dripping from his lashes, and saw a dark silhouette. He snarled, "Who the fuck do you think you're splashing wine on?"

Xiao Lancui pulled his glass back and said flatly, "Lu Siye."

The familiar voice snapped Lu Siye out of it. He snapped back to normal, regaining a shred of sanity from the rage Lu Ao had sparked. Only then did he feel his phone buzzing nonstop in his pocket.

Probably someone calling him back to the banquet to show his face.

He wiped the wine off his lashes and eyelids, and his vision slowly cleared.

Xiao Lancui...

His tone was still hostile. "What did you say?"

Xiao Lancui said calmly, "Answering you. The person I splashed is called Lu Siye."

Lu Siye's lips parted a little. Wine slid into his mouth, gliding over his tongue like silk, with a crisp hint of rose petals, then turning into a wet, earthy smell—like mud after a storm.

Lu Siye instinctively licked his lips. He glanced down at Lu Ao, who wasn't moving, let out a cold laugh, and tossed the golf club aside. "Useless."

He tried to step over Lu Ao to leave, but Xiao Lancui was blocking his way again. Having to go around Lu Ao, he said, "What are you doing here? My brother messed up, and I was teaching him a lesson. It's nothing, don't worry about it. Let's go, we're heading back."

At the door, he didn't hear footsteps following him. He turned and saw Xiao Lancui still standing there. He frowned in annoyance, but winced as the movement pulled at a wound. He pressed his thumb to the corner of his eye—must have scraped it on the floor, and it stung like hell.

He was getting impatient. "Xiao Lancui, are you coming or not! If not, walk back by yourself!"

The fireworks were about to start, so he needed to hurry back to change and clean up his face.

Xiao Lancui didn't turn around or answer him. Lu Siye, out of patience and in a hurry—his phone buzzing nonstop—said nothing more and walked off fast.

The sound of the car faded away in the distance. Xiao Lancui looked down at the man lying completely still on the floor.

He was eighteen.

In Dali, Lu Ao was already an unbeatable war god on the battlefield.

Xiao Lancui slowly squatted down. The man's face was still wrapped in gauze except for his eyes, which were now closed too—no way to see what he looked like.

He picked up the left hand that had been protecting his head. A second later, it trembled violently and slipped out of his grip, tucked tightly against the man's stomach.

Afraid of breaking another hand?

Xiao Lancui's gaze dropped to the other hand—the right one—stiff and splayed on the floor, still in a cast.

Last time, Zhou Fengqiang said the Lu family's youngest son had both hands broken.

Xiao Lancui dropped his gaze and said softly.

"Lu Ao."