Chapter Text
Being the center of attention wasn't something new for him. It had always been a part of his life. Huang Zhao had been the center of attention for almost twenty-two years of his existence. That spans from the moment he was born to the present day. The day he was born was an incredibly auspicious day for his parents and his entire family. Being the only grandchild in the family and the only heir to his parents vast wealth came with a lot of attention. Some were good while most of them were bad.
The attention he received sometimes guaranteed him popularity and friendships which were shallow at best. The only true bond he had formed with people happened to be the sons and daughters of his mother's friends. It did not go so well on his dad's side for obvious reasons. Greed being some of the most essential factors.
Everything soon evolved when he started making an identity of his own from scratch. He did not take his dad's last name when he decided to model for brands. Being conventionally attractive became one of his plus points.
Sadly, not everything went his way. Today being one of the greatest examples. People always found ways to connect him back to his family. And all of a sudden, being attractive and talented did not matter. What mattered the most was that his parents had an insane amount of wealth and powers. His achievements were undermined. His talent was questioned and his reputation was always at a stake. People always had their pitchforks raised at him waiting for the perfect moment for him to slip and ruin it all.
It was too bad that he did not care. Not when he had nothing to lose.
But, today, he had everything to lose. Everything was at stake today. Wei Ying was gone and he was nowhere found. Wen Qing was of no help. She lashed out at him when she saw him and threatened him with a bunch of things about how she would take Wei Ying away from him the second she finds out where he is. Asides from the threats MianMian looked at him with a sorry smile and gave him a glass of water and asked him to be careful while he was out.
If people did not know him before. They definitely knew him today. Almost everybody had read the news article of him being a mole at his own father's company. The hate he received wasn't the least that bothered him. He did not care if this meant losing his future at the company.
He wanted Wei Ying. He needed Wei Ying. He did not care for anybody else. He only wanted Wei Ying.
It was almost 11 at night and Wei Ying nowhere near being found.
"Have you found him yet?", His father asked sounding concerned. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and muttered a small no and cut the call before he offered to send help.
As if it could help him. Nothing would be of any help if Wei Ying's phone was switched off. There was no other way or tracking him. That sly bastard had known that he was tracked at all times and decided to switch it off to cut the remaining contact that he had with the outside world.
Huang Zhao stopped the car near a cafe and walked inside not giving a fuck about the people that recognised him. He paid for a coffee and sat down at the nearest chair and started going through his phone to find out who could help him now. He couldn't ask his father for any help now. Not when his ego was at stake.
"Hey aren't you that guy from TV?" He did not pay attention to the womans words or her flirtatious giggle.
"Yes, And?", He asked in return not expecting to see a pair that he recognised at an instant. By the looks of it they recognised him too. Bingo! He thought to himself as he got up and walked towards them at a threatening pace.
"Hey!", He called out for the anxious man that was about to walk out of the cafe with his boyfriend. That won't do it. He ditched the coffee and walked past the woman who was clicking pictures of him.
It won't amount to anything. The damage was already done and his mother's little minions were already controlling all the damage that had been done. All he wanted was to know where Wei Ying was.
"Hey, Wen Ning!" He ran behind him and his boyfriend and finally caught up to them. It wasn't too hard given how they weren't the most athletic people of sorts.
Wen Ning looked at him anxiously while his boyfriend, Nie Huaisang had the same anger in his eyes that his brothers harboured everytime he was on the news.
He wasted no time and asked him where Wei Ying was.
"Where is he?" He did not need to give any clarification on who he was asking for. They already knew.
"Why would I tell you that?", Nie Huaisang asked and Wen Ning nodded along with him.
Huang Zhao rolled his eyes in annoyance and asked once again.
"Where is Wei Ying? This isn't the time to play with me." And, he meant it. He wasn't going to tolerate them only because they were Wei Ying's best friends. His only priority was to find him.
"What you did was wrong and you have no rights to know where he is.", Nie Huaisang spoke rather anxiously when he took a look at his eyes. His eyes were scary to some people, especially to kids. In the dark he must have looked like a demon chasing them down given how bright they were.
Nie Huaisang took his cap off and stared him down for a few seconds before a shiver wracked his body. Huang Zhao huffed and looked at Wen Ning to see if he was of any help. His boyfriend had a similar look on his face only a little anxious.
"Do you even know what happened or are you just blabbering nonsense from the news?", Huang Zhao pointed at the huge billboard across the road which showed the trending news of the day, which to no surprise was about him.
Nie Huaisang took a look at the billboard quickly and stuttered a few times before Wen Ning spoke up.
"He left. He was quite angry at you.", He spoke to him sounding rather anxious and refused to look at him in the eyes.
"Don't tell him that!", Nie Huaisang yelled at him and Wen Ning shrunk even more. Huang Zhao clicked his tongue another time and decided not to threaten them the way he had originally intended to.
It was almost midnight and Wei Ying nowhere to be found. He was starting to fear the worst. A man like Wei Ying should be given security at all times, given his track record with people and his past he could easily be targeted.
"I don't know what you did and I don't know if it was right or wrong.", Nie Huaisang scrunched his nose a little as the cold breeze felt like a slap across his face. It wasn't normal how this man stood in front of him without any proper warm clothes or with his usual entourage of bodyguards.
He had only seen Huang Zhao a handful of times and even fewer times with Wei Ying. The only time he had seen him was when Wei Ying gave them a quick introduction to him and revealed that he was the man that he had been dating. Nie Huaisang doubted that he remembered him after that time.
He was surrounded by a pack of bodyguards that made sure that every step he took was safe for him. It was too much for his taste. But he understood why he was protected like this. He had heard horror stories of how his safety was compromised at times which led to disasters. According to his Intel, Huang Zhao did not live in the same place for more than three months and resorted to living in lavish hotels with penthouses for whenever he felt like it was the safest for him.
It had been a quick meet and greet. Nie Huaisang was in a hurry and so was Wei Ying's boyfriend. The remarkable things that he noticed about the man was how welcoming his smile looked and how threatening his firm handshake felt. Wen Ning did not seem to feel it at all.
It all made sense when Wei Ying told him that he was one of the few people that knew about his relationship with him. It wasn't really a threat— but, Nie Huaisang was not going to mess with that man, not by a long way.
But now this man had hurt Wei Ying and he had to do something about it. He should have done a lot of things the day Lan WangJi broke his heart and left him for another man, but his friend had a kind soul and refused to let them inflict any harm on him.
Nie Huaisang shouldn't have listened then and he shouldn't listen now.
"You have hurt him a lot.", He pressed making sure that he heard it and felt the hurt he had caused.
He clicked his tongue again and Nie Huaisang wanted to punch that man's perfect fucked face into oblivion.
"Listen twit." He seethed. Wen Ning held him back from committing a crime that would have most likely ended up not in their favour. Even though it was two versus one, he did not have the heart to raise his fists at this man. Huang Zhao did not raise his hands at them nor was he trying to.
"If you don't know what happened then maybe don't express your useless opinions to me.", He spat jabbing a finger towards his face. His hair was a mess and his eyes looked as though they were on the verge of losing its light. Huang Zhao was truly a desparate man.
"Everything I did is for him! And I don't need to explain jackshit to you or him!", He continued raining down on them and all they did was wait for it to get over.
Nie Huaisang was fuming by the time he was done and took a step closer to him with a hateful glare on his face. Huang Zhao did not let him speak.
"If you knew just how many people wanted him dead you wouldn't be fucking playing with me.", Nie Huaisang cringed at how loud he sounded. He looked around to see if the people who had definitely heard him were still around or not and sighed.
"Trying to fix things for him is not your job.", Wen Ning spoke after a few seconds or careful consideration.
"A'Ying does not like it when people try to fix his life for him. You're creating an imbalance.", He stood by his words as he watched the man remain unchanged in front of him. His words won't get to him now as he was panicking more than ever. But, it would get to his head when the time was right. He did not hate this man. He could never. He was trying to do the things that they had been for years. With the lack of understanding that Wei Ying did not like change.
"Denial kills." He retorted back. Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes.
"You're killing your relationship.", Nie Huaisang fumed back and Huang Zhao stopped. He had given up and was ready to ask his parents for help.
"So take this!", Nie Huaisang aggressively handed him his phone and before he could kill the short man how boyfriend swooped in and pointed at the screen which showed him a location, not so far from where he was. He took the phone and started analysing it like a hawk.
"He's at a bar.", He spoke in disbelief. He was going to set things on fire.
"He's a regular there. The bartender from the bar knows Wei Ying and called me a few minutes ago.", He hinted that it wasn't much to worry about as he spoke about it in a nonchalant way as if it was a normal.
"He's drunk. Go pick him up before he creates more issues." Nie Huaisang said watching the man who quickly sent himself the location.
"More issue's?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You'll see."
Nie Huaisang resisted the urge to flip him off and walk away. But, Huang Zhao was quick, he did not wait for him to speak and jogged up to his car that was parked not too far from them and did not forget to say thank you to them before he got in.
Crimson Circuit— was a bar located in one of the boujee sites of Beijing. At least by the looks of it.
As he carelessly parked his car around the corner he couldn't help but feel like there were eyes everywhere. The neon sign board was too flashy for his eyes to handle. He cursed his genetically sensitive eyes and got out of the car in a hurry and quickly walked towards the entrance where the bouncer stood.
The big hunk of a man looked at him seriously. It made him feel a little self conscious. He allowed the partygoers to walk inside after seeing their ID's and continued to stare him down. Huang Zhao didn't know what to make out of it. Had he seen his face on the news today? That wouldn't end too well for him.
Even if he had, he didn't have the time to overthink about it. He needed to get to Wei Ying first.
"No phones allowed." The bouncer said with a stern look on his face. Huang Zhao stared at him for a few seconds before he blinked. He looked at his phone and sighed.
"You can keep it here like everybody does." He pointed at the box with phones neatly stacked with a small tag attached to it.
"No time. Keep it.", Huang Zhao said giving him the phone and grabbed the tag that he handed him carefully. The bouncer hummed and did not question why he was dressed as if he had just woken up from a coma. The hat he wore barely did any justice.
"What a weirdo." The bouncer muttered under his breath as he felt a shiver go down his eyes. He had the scariest set of eyes that he had ever seen in his life.
<>_<>_<>_<>
"You're too drunk.", The man next to him said with concern. He started patting his back when he accidentally choked on the shot of rum that burned his throat just the way he expected it to.
Wei Ying giggled as soon as the coughs died down and asked the bartender for another one. If he couldn't cry about it, he was going to drink about it. Either way nobody was going to stop him today.
"No shit.", He slurred his words out and looked up to see the man who looked at him with concern evident all over his rather perfect face. Perfect—it reminded him of his boyfriend. The same boyfriend that he wanted to punch with every cell in his body.
A part of him despite being drunk beyond a certain limit knew why he did what he did. Huang Zhao always wanted to solve things for him. Despite him insisting that he did not care for the way things were. He was always too keen on doing things in his own way and they somehow worked.
"He wants to find my parents.", He couldn't believe what he was saying either. They were words that he never thought that he would have to say. Not that he was offended about it. He understood why he was trying to do it. Huang Zhao was trying to give him a closure. But, Wei Ying did not believe in closures.
Closures were for people in denial. Accepting and learning to live with it was what people did when there was no way out of the never ending misery of existence.
It felt as though something heavy was standing on his chest. He couldn't breathe as he thought about it. How boyfriend—the man who taught him how to love and feel loved again was ready to bargain with the devil so he could get some sort of a closure.
Not realising that he was about to open a can of worms; his boyfriend had fallen right into a well laid trap. Why would Madam Yu ever tell him where his parents were buried? Especially when she didn't know about it either. He laughed at his stupidity. Now he had to pay the price for his actions.
He had known about it for years now. It didn't take him a long time to figure things out. When Madam Yu continued to deny him his rights and gifts consisting money and other exorbitant things continued getting delivered to him without her knowledge, he knew. He knew that there was no way that Madam Yu ever had a say in where his parents would be buried.
It was his grandmother. Baoshan Sanren. She knew where they were buried.
A few weeks ago he visited the hospital where the death of his parents had been officially declared. Wei Ying held his breath as he requested them to find out who was responsible for the funeral and nothing could have prepared him for it.
"It says that the bodies were taken by someone named Baoshan Sanren here."
His nose bled to the point where he almost passed out the next day. Huang Zhao freaked out so much so that he was ready to carry him to the hospital. He regretted having fought with his boyfriend that day. If only the day had been a normal one he wouldn't have been curious about the past. He wouldn't have gone to the hospital.
The hunger was too much to handle as he stumbled inside of his apartment that day. He was hyperventilating as he chewed on whatever he could find and had a break-down over what he had just learnt.
His grandmother, the woman he had been trying to find for years had been avoiding him this entire time. She had gone to great lengths to avoid him or having the displeasure of being present in is life.
No. He wasn't angry at his boyfriend. He was angry at himself for what an idiot he had been this whole time.
"My existence is useless. He deserves better.", He muttered with his eyes half-closed.
The man next to him visibly scoffed which made him groan ever more.
"You hate me too. Don't you?", He asked eyeing the man with his poor drunken eyesight. Going back home was going to be a pain. He had to call for a taxi for sure.
Xiao Xingchen did not have the heart to scold his nephew. But watching him cry and get drunk over something which could have been solved through communication ticked him off the wrong way. He watched him down another drink and flinched when he sneezed towards his direction.
"No more for him." He warned the bartender who had refused to listen to him.
Wei Ying clicked his tongue and raised his finger to signal for another drink but the unknown man was quick with his movements and slapped his finger away.
"More for me! I pay for my alcohol!" He raised his voice at the man and fell forward.
Xiao Xingchen pulled him back up and sighed. It wasn't everyday when he ran out of patience. Wei Wuxian seemed to know how to test the waters really well.
"Tell me more about yourself.", Wei Ying asked in drunken daze.
"This isn't the first time you're asking me this question." He replied patting his hair gently. The youngster didn't seem to mind when he touched his hair. He only muttered about how great the massage felt.
"Whatever." Wei Ying scoffed and looked away.
"I'm thirty six years old. I have a degree in law and I help run a law firm. That's all I can tell you." Xiao Xingchen could not afford to tell him more, not when his presence was not welcome in Wei Ying's life.
He regretted not having met him when the boy was younger. Things wouldn't have turned for the worst if he were there for him. Cangse Sanren may not have been his sister by blood, but she was more family than any other blood relative ever was. She was older than him by a lot of years and thus he did not get to be in her presence for as long as he wished he could have.
"What about your name?" Wei Ying asked looking up at him with his glossy eyes. He couldn't help but smile as his radiant eyes reminded him of his sister.
He had soft brown hair, slightly longer than he prefered. Gray eyes that reminded him of the storm clouds that his sister's eyes held; they reminded him of the defiance her eyes held the day she left her house to marry for love.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" He dodged the question and waited for him to speak. His nephew was too drunk to even slur a few words out. Yet, he somehow managed to ask him a few things repeatedly.
He only ever cried and told him how much he hated his life. Which deeply pained him.
"No." After which he said something about he didn't even know who he was and how dangerous it was for him to talk to strangers.
"I s-should go." He muttered slowly and started looking for his pocket. Which to no surprise he couldn't find. It led him to have another breakdown. In the midst of having a breakdown he asked for a hug which he happily complied to and continued to watch him lose it over pockets that never existed. Phones were not allowed inside this bar, it made him slightly happy as he knew that nothing could ruin his reunion with his nephew.
"Would you like me to call your boyfriend?", He asked helping him sit back down mid-breakdown. He shook his head and wiped his teary eyes.
He laughed realising that his nephew had his mother's pride after all. There was no way that he was going to go through with it. He started sniffling again and he couldn't help but coax him like a child. His nephew morphed into a simple child devoid of happiness while he was drunk and handling him only got worse as the stages of him being drunk progressed.
He did his level best to make him stop drinking by even going as far by drinking the shots that was served to him before he noticed that his shots were gone.
"This was sent to you from the man in purple shirt.", The bartender, though unwilling, knew that he had to keep serving. He would be risking it all if he stopped serving. Knowing the tantrum that Wei Wuxian would throw the second he stopped he'd realised that it was better if he kept going and reduced his pace so that his friends could come pick him up.
There was only so much he could do. For instance, he couldn't decline a drink that someone wanted to send over. This was such an instance.
"No.", The man who was next to his regular customer said with a stern look. He looked like he was about to consider dragging Wei Wuxian out but stopped when he took a quick look behind him.
His eyes followed the direction towards where he looked and realised that he was looking at the older woman sitting alone inside the private booth. It wasn't exactly a private booth, they had long removed all the doors from the private booth after the last incident which also involved Wei Wuxian. He couldn't say that it was his fault. It involved Wei Wuxian, but he sure as hell wasn't at fault when it happened. He blamed the perverted men that had their eyes on Wei Ying that day.
"I suppose you're his boyfriend?", He asked lazily and took the drink back. He poured it down the drain and washed it out before he started preparing another drink.
"Absolutely not!" He looked at him with wide eyes and horror in his eyes could mean only one thing. They were family. Shit.
He smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry. Calm down now. I won't assume anymore alright?"
Xiao Xingchen realised just how loud he had been just a few seconds ago. The few remaining guests inside the club were currently looking at them instead of dancing or whatever else they were doing. He blinked slowly and looked at his nephew who was out cold and on the verge of falling over.
"Maybe I should apologize to him." Wei Ying slurred slowly as he helped him sit properly.
Xiao Xingchen smiled, "This is not how I pictured our first meeting to go A'Ying."
He couldn't complain either. The only way Wei Ying wouldn't remember seeing him the day after is if he was drop dead drunk. He had to stay away from him. This was the only way he could ever see him.
"How else would you have wanted it?", Wei Ying asked looking dead into his eyes with seriousness that he hadn't seen in the past hour.
A shiver went down his spine. Was he pretending to be drunk this entire time? He thought to himself as his hands went clammy from the anxiety.
"You think I'm too out of it huh?", Wei Ying asked coming closer to take another look at him. He felt cold sweat form on his forehead.
"Don't fall for this trick. He does this with everybody. Scared the ever loving shit out of someone a few months ago.", The bartender chimed in and pulled Wei Wuxian back to his original position. His nephew laughed to himself and flung himself over the bartender.
"I really appreciate you! Have I ever told you that!?" He screamed into his ears and Xiao Xingchen cringed on his behalf at the loud noise that he had just made.
"We just met.", Xiao Xingchen said after muttering a quick thank you to Wei Ying before he decided to down another drink.
"Are you here for the papers too? I'm not even sure if my research is proper this time.", Wei Ying scoffed upon reminding himself of his shortcomings. He did not like to fail, it was one of the worst things ever. Failing meant having no future. Having no future meant having no life. He hated himself enough as it was. He couldn't make it worse.
"What papers?", Xiao Xingchen asked furrowing his brows in confusion. He knew that there were a lot of bad things that surrounded his nephew, one of them being the government after something his nephew had come up with when he was a fresher. The idea of such a weapon was so diabolical that it left his professor's with over thirty years of experience baffled.
Wei Ying soon changed his major to something niche. Not because of his ambitions. According to his University reports, he changed his major halfway through the semester —which was impossible on a normal day— because he found the lessons to be boring.
"The garden of Eden." He slurred after downing another drink when he wasn't looking. Xiao Xingchen clicked his tongue and tried to find where the bartender was or whoever it was that had served him that drink.
"An odd name don't you think?" He asked out of curiosity. It wasn't everyday that he was curious about things. Xiao Xingchen was a man of few words and generally remained silent unless he was talked to. The only people who have seen this side of him had been very less in numbers. It had only ever been Miss Sanren, His husband and his nephew.
"No I won't tell you my name.", He closed his eyes and regretted just how far this had gone.
According to Miss Sanren, Wei Ying's boyfriend wouldn't arrive anytime soon. The chances of him showing up were incredibly low. It made him wonder what he was supposed to do with his drunk nephew. Maybe he should take him home? His husband would get to meet his nephew too. The thought of it made him incredibly happy. But, what was he ever going to tell Wei Ying? That he was his long lost uncle that has refused to take him when he was orphaned in the streets even though he knew that he existed?
No. He couldn't do that.
Wei Ying mustn't know about him. He needed to leave soon.
Wei Ying's cheeks were flushed red and by the looks of it, he had finally reached his limit. Another drink and Wei Ying was going to get alcohol poisoning.
"Hey.", Wei Ying called out for him and held his hand out lazily.
Xiao Xingchen felt a smile form on his face as his lips curved lightly. That was adorable.
"Do you think it was my fault?", Wei Ying asked looking at him teary eyed. His heart raced and for once in his life, Xiao Xingchen did not know what it meant.
"I..." He began, his voice sounded tense with the soft slurs deteriorating as he tried to gain a moment of clarity.
"Not your fault."
He was equally guilty here. He was hiding behind a wall of lies that had made Wei Ying the way he was today. The said lies were now on the verge of ruining his relationship.
"None of this is your fault."
Wei Ying looked at him with a small smile before he chuckled in drunken daze.
"Hey." He called out for his uncle once again and xiao Xingchen refused to accept the disrespectful tone from him.
"My head." He pointed at it with his fingers and started patting his head.
"Hurts." He said followed by a pout.
"Pitiful. But they're the consequences of your actions." He said with disappointment as he hinted at his obvious drinking problem. The bartender snorted as he overheard him speak.
"Touch." Wei Ying whined pointing at his head. Xiao Xingchen knew what he was hinting at. And, he wasn't sure whether he should do it or not. Especially when he knew that his nephew's boyfriend was just a few steps away from them.
"My head hurts." He whined a little louder.
—•—•—
After having lived almost 72 years, Baoshan Sanren did not think that at this age she would be sitting inside a club. She did not think that she would be watching her grandson get drunk and cry about his sorrows to the person right next to him, who also happened to be her ward.
Lately, life had been full of unexpected surprises. The mundane life that she led had suddenly become interesting. And, not in a good way either.
There were a lot of things that she wanted to avoid in this lifetime and die having ignored the feelings that lingered at the back of her head. Xingchen called it denial, and in a fit of rage that she had never witnessed before, he called it as one of her biggest regrets.
Baoshan refused to his face. In a fit of rage that she hadn't expressed in years she had spoken a lot. A lot of things that weren't in the best of her interests. Which led to the chain of events that made her sit inside of a club. At 72 years old, Baoshan Sanren did not want anything that was happening right now.
Her eyes twitched in excitement as the familiar tall figure walked inside asserting dominance with every step that he took. His presence was domineering, she had to give him that. Every step he took was calculated even though his eyes held a strange amount of fear in them. She watched as the partygoers put their glasses down and even going as far squealing in joy as he walked past them.
The cap he wore was useless. This man was digging his coffin rather enthusiastically. But then again, did it really matter? The way he worshipped her daughter's son showed determination. Every stride he took was a step closer to unlocking a whole new world or so she thought to herself.
He came to a stop in front of her but he wasn't looking at her. He stopped because of his sensitive blue irises betraying him at the worst possible moment. Ofcourse! She thought as he laughed to herself.
Having blue irises were a curse. Even the striking sunlight on a beautiful was enough to blind people with blue irises. The blinding lights inside the club was ofcourse no less than the sun outside on a hot summer day.
"Fuck! Fucking stupid.", He cursed as he rubbed his eyes.
Did he realise that Wei Wuxian was right in front of him? Maybe just twenty steps away from him?
"He's right in front of you.", She spoke pointing towards her grandson who was leaning towards another glass of whiskey. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, his dependence on alcohol was going to be the death of him.
He looked delicate, he looked as pale as she did. He has her eyes. She hated it.
Huang Zhao, the supposed heir of Zhang YuYan looked at her once and blinked a few times to clear his blurry eyesight. There was something off about the way he looked at her. Like he wasn't surprised at the stranger who was helping him find his boyfriend.
"Do you not want to see him? He's right there.", She said again not caring for the consequences that would follow later.
Why should she care? It wasn't as if Huang Zhao didn't know who she was. He had been trying to track her down for months now.
"Didn't expect you to be here.", He did not look too bothered by her presence.
"Is that Xiao Xingchen or some other man?", He asked her. She did not expect him to know Xiao Xingchen for some reason. But he did. And he knew his name too.
"I might kill him. So why don't you tell me who that is?", There was a glint in his eyes that did not stray away no matter how much she looked at him.
"It is him.", She confirmed and watched the anger in his eyes dissipate rather quick.
She confirmed that he did not like it very much when people touched his boyfriend. It was a concerning matter, truly. When you see someone touching petting your boyfriend's head as if he was a pet while the said boyfriend was blackout drunk.
"Is this how you come see your grandson? While he is drunk or at the hospital?" He mocked right away and she knew that he did not like her the least.
She didn't question his hate too much. It was well warranted. Whether she was deserving of it or not, that wasn't upto her for decision.
"Wasn't my choice." It really wasn't.
Xingchen had always been a concerned uncle. From the moment he turned eighteen he had made it his goal to be there for Wei Ying, even though it meant that he had to be in the shadows.
Even though he had missed out on a good chunk of his life while he was studying in another country (where he eventually fell in love with his husband with whom he had been with for a long time now ) he did his best to be around him.
He watched Wei Ying graduate from high school, from university and had been there for almost every vital events and awards that he had recieved. The day Wei Wuxian was almost dead from a pulmonary embolism he did not stay put even though he knew that his nephew was getting the best treatment he could. He had called up every hospital he knew of and tried to get him the best treatment.
Xiao Xingchen had been protecting Wei Ying even before Huang Zhao had come along. Sometimes even going as far as directly visiting the source of the trouble that Wei Ying had.
Xiao Xingchen had been there for everything. With Song Lan by his side for a lot of those things.
If, Xingchen wanted something then Song Lan was the enforcerer.
"Quite a cute reunion you've plotted don't you think?", He mused sarcastically as he watched with gritted teeth.
"How dare you bring anybody near him?" He did not care for that man. He did not care that the man was his uncle. It was wrong. It was extremely wrong of her to send him there while Wei Ying was drunk.
"Not my choice really." She said bluntly.
Huang Zhao laughed at the way she spoke to him. He wanted to be respectful, he really did. But she did not make it easy.
"What is it with you coming to see him when he's either half dead or drunk?" If it wasn't for him noticing her staring at Wei Ying during his graduation he would've never been able to track her down.
Baoshan Sanren had so much money on her that she had erased every picture of hers from the internet, going even as far as by removing her name from every website that could give away where she was. Having retired a long time ago gave her the headstart to hide in plain sight.
"Felt like it." She shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her drink. She did not have to answer to this man. She wasn't going to give anybody anything.
"You are a very frustrating individual." He said it as though it was a praise. But she saw it, it was barely noticeable but she could see the slight undertone. He was seething. It made her feel rather odd than happy.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked him upfront. Because she wasn't going to let him believe that she was going to act the way he wanted her to.
He looked at her with that odd look again, she could see the way his eyes twitched slightly. His anger was barely contained and she understood why it was like that.
"He is your grandson. Do you really not know? Or do I have to call your assistant to let him know that too?" He asked making his displeasure known loud and clear. If she let him speak anymore she might actually end up hating him.
She was too old now. She couldn't do this anymore. Hiding in plain sight was not suitable anymore.
"He is my grandson." She acknowledged that the boy was her family by blood. But that was all he ever will be.
"What am I supposed to do about it?"
He will always be a stranger bound to her by blood.
"Have I not done enough? I sent him money every month. I transferred half my wealth to him." Wealth that Wei Wuxian had not once bothered looking at.
"Am I supposed to sing him lullabies and cook three meals for him everyday? Am I supposed to be his family because he doesn't have anybody except for me?" She asked sharply. Baoshan Sanren set the glass down and took a deep breath and looked up to see his eyes looking at her with shock.
It was a mix of pure horror and shock. It was as if he couldn't the words that she had just spoken.
"Am I supposed to care?" She threw a boulder at him in the form of words.
He ran his hand through his hair in frustration and let out a deep sigh. He did not expect this. She could see it from the way he looked at her now.
"You left him at the hands of a demon. How could you?" He seethed as he did not care for the cap that covered his head. It fell from his hand and so did every speckle of control that he had held within.
"I agree. I should have called the child protective services." But she chose not to.
He laughed as the sick realisation of her nature dawned on him. Like a festering wound finally showing the nature of its injury. It spread across his body like a wildfire. He hated it. He hated this woman with every cell in his body.
"Why didn't you? Was it fun watching him die everyday at the hands of that woman?"
Baoshan Sanren looked rather hurt by his words. That's when he knew that he had pressed the right buttons.
Her eyes went back to the shallow, lifeless pit that it was in no time.
"I would have lost track of him. It wasn't worth the haste." The words she spoke were like ice. They stabbed him in the heart.
And at that moment, Huang Zhao regretted it. He regretted meddling with Wei Ying's life. If only he had let things remain the way they were, then maybe they would have been happier.
He had been standing her for less than five minutes and they had to have been the most devastating few minutes of his life.
"Wh-why didn't you take him with you?" He stuttered and felt a headache slowly creep up at the back of his head. He continued asking even though he knew that the more she spoke the more it would hurt him.
She looked at him rather confused. Her lips stretched and she did what she hadn't expected her to. She smiled at him and remained audacious enough to chuckle at him.
"Do I really have to answer this one? Isn't it a little obvious?" She asked chuckling at the rather stupid question. Her back leaned against the seat and she realxed herself for the first time in hours. His eyes failed to notice the miniscule tremors that wracked her body while he talked to her.
"I really didn't want to."
"It would have been burdensome."