Chapter 51: Take Me Away

Song Jingbai had noticed the commotion over there from afar and even caught the murmurs of the others discussing it.
Song Kaizhi had arrived?
Song Jingbai narrowed his eyes, wondering why he had come.
He held no deep affection for this father of his, let alone any sense of traditional filial respect.
More often than not, they addressed each other by their full names, and Song Kaizhi minded not at all, acting as though this dynamic was tacitly approved.
It was as if the man had long regarded him as an adult rather than treating him like a mere child.
Such a dynamic would probably seem unbelievable with any other parent, but with Song Kaizhi, it felt inexplicably reasonable.
After all, anyone who had dealings with Song Kaizhi described him as a smiling tiger with a eccentric disposition, someone who never walked the beaten path.
Since he was an oddity, naturally nothing he did seemed strange.
When Song Jingbai finally tracked him down, he found Song Kaizhi standing alone beneath a London plane tree, a cigarette pinched between his fingertips.
There was no one else around him, only curls of white smoke that blurred the eyes behind his lenses.
Song Jingbai knew that Song Kaizhi used to be a non-smoker. A businessman as shrewd as Song Kaizhi would certainly never touch something that amounted to chronic suicide.
Moreover, Song Kaizhi was intensely proud, and probably nothing could ever trouble him enough to drown his sorrows in alcohol or tobacco.
If Song Kaizhi enjoyed wine and spirits, it was purely for the love of their intoxicating fragrance and the wondrous sensation they brought to the mind.
He liked to savor, never to excess, maintaining just the right degree of tipsiness that left his shrewd judgment and analytical faculties unimpaired.
Song Kaizhi quickly noticed him, extinguishing the cigarette between his fingers. As he lifted his gaze, a knowing smile touched his lips toward Song Jingbai: "Looking for Wen Xiao?"
Song Jingbai remained silent, which was as good as an admission.
Only his eyes were as still and dark as stagnant water, lacking the gentle warmth he usually displayed in public. Instead, they carried a chilling edge, and the sudden shift in his aura made him seem like a completely different person.
Father and son stood face to face, similar in height, and with matching brows and eyes. It almost made them look like brothers, or as if they were facing a mirror capable of transcending time and space.
Gazing into that mirror, one could glimpse either their own future or their past.
"He's already headed back," Song Kaizhi said. "It seems your timing is rather unfortunate."
"What did you say to him?" Song Jingbai frowned slightly, the fox-like eyes that usually crinkled with a smile now seemingly devoid of anything save frost.
Song Kaizhi pondered for a moment, then let out a sudden chuckle, intentionally adopting a mysterious tone: "I told him you like him... the kind of liking where you want to be same-sex lovers with him."
Song Jingbai's pupils contracted, his heart leaping violently in his chest. He took an involuntary step forward, but Song Kaizhi immediately gave him a light pat on the shoulder, snapping him back to reality as if waking from a dream.
Song Kaizhi bent forward slightly, suppressing a smile as he asked, "Did you really think I told him that?"
Song Jingbai cast a cold glance at him, feeling even his fingertips trembling slightly as he gritted out, "That kind of joke is not funny."
Song Kaizhi regained a measure of seriousness, though the corners of his lips still curved upward. The cigarette he had put out was still held between his fingers, the extended length making them look exceptionally slender.
He looked at the youth before him who bore such a striking resemblance to himself, then shifted his gaze away toward the bustling, crowded garden in the distance.
"You smile so brightly in front of others. Why is it that in front of your father, you wear this expression?"
Song Kaizhi smiled faintly, smoothly changing the subject. "Though, come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever seen you scared like this. Are you really that afraid of letting him know?"

"When I intend to let him know is my own affair."
Song Jingbai turned and walked away, utterly unwilling to linger here a moment longer, lest Song Kaizhi resort to further teasing and provocation.
Song Kaizhi stared at the retreating youth, the smile on his face gradually fading until his expression became as still as water, revealing not a shred of emotion.
He had never expected to maintain the same kind of normal father-son dynamic with Song Jingbai that other families enjoyed, because the wounds of the past could never be mended.
After all, he was a businessman who knew how to measure value, so he knew he could never offer anything of equal worth to trade for a filial son.
Fortunately, it seemed Song Jingbai had long since found a way from elsewhere to fill that void.
For that, he felt genuinely glad.
If he is the one who matters in your life, the necessary antidote for a poisoned soul.
I will support you in being with him, especially since he happens to like that child as well.

When Wen Xiao walked back, he found Wei Nanxing and Leng Shucheng still sitting on a bench waiting for him.
Yet at first glance, neither of these two men looked particularly approachable, which was why no one had dared to go up and disturb them.
He stopped in front of the pair, crossed his arms, and gave them a look before saying sincerely, "Actually, the two of you could smile a bit more."
"Why?" Wei Nanxing's eyes lit up the moment he saw him return, his hands clenching slightly against his knees as if he desperately wanted to stand up.
"If you smiled, you'd probably be much more popular." Wen Xiao thought for a moment, his peripheral vision sweeping to the side, where he noticed quite a few classmates glancing their way.
If boys' and girls' schools hadn't been segregated, there was no telling how many love letters Wei Nanxing and Leng Shucheng would receive; they would probably fill entire desks.
"I don't want to be popular," Wei Nanxing said.
Wen Xiao froze for a second, meeting Wei Nanxing's lifted gaze. The other boy blinked softly, then rose and stood face to face with Wen Xiao.
"Didn't you... really want to make friends?"
Wen Xiao recalled that back when Wei Nanxing's grandfather passed away, his greatest wish had been for Wei Nanxing to have a friend who could accompany him.
And wasn't the reason he had grown close to Wei Nanxing precisely because Wei Nanxing wanted someone to keep him company, wanted to have friends?
That was why he always followed him around, why he peeked at him during class, why he loved sticking close to him.
Shouldn't Wei Nanxing be happy if he had more friends? That way, more people would be able to care about him.
"I don't want that... I only want you," Wei Nanxing murmured softly.
Wen Xiao's expression grew a bit unnatural, while part of him wondered why Wei Nanxing hadn't finished the second half of his sentence.
For instance, something like, *I only want you as a friend,* or the like.
Leng Shucheng stared at the two of them with a slight frown, sounding almost as if he were competing with Wei Nanxing.
He took a small sip from the glass goblet he was holding, and then chimed in, "I only want you, too."
"Who do you want?"
Wen Xiao looked back and noticed that Song Jingbai had walked up at some point.
As Wen Xiao turned his head, Song Jingbai leaned in slightly, his right hand reaching past Wen Xiao's side. While Wen Xiao was still dazed, Song Jingbai took the goblet from his hand and drained the remaining juice in a single gulp.

"Why are you drinking mine?" Wen Xiao was speechless, a mental row of black lines crossing his forehead.
Song Jingbai held the empty goblet, swirling it gently as he told Wen Xiao, "I was thirsty."
Wen Xiao had originally wanted to say, *If you're thirsty, go grab another glass,* but seeing that all the beverages on the nearby table had already been taken, he swallowed the words back.
Moreover, ever since Song Jingbai appeared, Wen Xiao felt the atmosphere turn rather strange.
That weird atmosphere was quickly broken by Leng Shucheng. He raised his own hand, gesturing slightly toward Song Jingbai with a blank expression as he said, "You can drink mine."
Wen Xiao had already found it somewhat strange that Song Jingbai had drunk from the glass he was using; now, seeing Leng Shucheng actively offering his own beverage to Song Jingbai, he wondered to himself when their relationship had gotten so good.
Then again, sharing a drink probably wasn't a big deal—good friends acted like that. He didn't particularly hate it, assuming Song Jingbai didn't mind.
Seeing a classmate calling out to Song Jingbai from afar, the smile on Song Jingbai's face faded slightly, reminding him once more of how troublesome it was to be a student representative.
Song Jingbai placed the empty glass on a nearby table and temporarily bade Wen Xiao farewell.
Wen Xiao stared at Song Jingbai's retreating back, his gaze sweeping across the entire garden. He noticed that, by and large, parents gathered with parents, and students with students.
Some of the more prominent figures, such as Song Kaizhi and his peers, were surrounded by crowds engaged in eager, animated conversation.
They were invariably dressed in sharp suits and expensive formal wear, exuding elegance and nobility in every gesture and movement.
On the other side, however, the parents stood in somewhat awkward isolation; Wen Xiao even spotted someone carrying a cloth shoulder bag.
With their somewhat rough hands clasped behind their backs, when a waiter politely inquired if they needed their glasses refilled, they would bow and offer thanks, looking somewhat flattered—as if the space had been divided into two entirely separate realms.
Wen Xiao realized that many of these people were the parents of scholarship students. It wasn't that they hadn't tried to mingle; some had surely attempted to integrate into the conversations of the other parents, only to find that the topics being discussed were completely inaccessible to them.
If it wasn't business jargon, it was high-end luxury jewelry—worlds away from the casual gossip they had imagined.
Suddenly, Wen Xiao caught sight of Ye Heng in the crowd. Standing before him were a middle-aged man and woman who had clearly taken great pains to dress up for the occasion.
The man was wearing a pressed suit, his leather shoes polished to a mirror shine.
The woman had styled her curly hair, though a lack of skincare left her face looking much older.
When she smiled, deep fine lines crinkled around her eyes, making her look significantly more aged than her peers. With one hand, she held the hand of a young boy who looked to be in middle school.
Seeing the two of them, Ye Heng frowned: "Why are you here?"
The words slipped out almost reflexively, because he distinctly remembered not telling these two people that St. Lanerte Boys' High School was holding a welcome gala today.
These were his parents in name only, the very people who had previously refused to even let him go to school.
If not for compulsory education regulations and neighbors repeatedly knocking on their door to persuade them, he might never have even enrolled.
Yet ever since they allowed him to study, they had nagged him day and night, calling him a money-drainer who knew nothing except how to bleed the family dry.
And that he should be grateful they let him study, grateful they adopted him from the orphanage instead of leaving him to remain an orphan.
Ye Heng's expression turned somewhat cold, though the dim lighting of the area mercifully kept anyone else from noticing his look.