Chapter 27
Silence descended upon the room.
Xie Zhang stared at Song Chengyan.
Song Chengyan stared at the tablet.
Song-shadow, clinging to Xie Zhang’s back, poked his brother repeatedly with a shadow tendril.
No one spoke.
Song Jingmo knew this behavior all too well.
It was his brother’s classic response when he’d done something wrong, his pride preventing him from admitting it.
Song Jingmo detached himself from Xie Zhang, soothing him with a gentle caress, then zipped around the villa, slamming and locking all the doors and windows.
Song Chengyan: “?”
The chibi shadow, having completed his act of unlawful imprisonment, hopped onto the coffee table, crossed his legs, and gestured towards his brother with his chin.
Song Chengyan: “…This is unlawful imprisonment.”
Xie Zhang, regaining his composure, sat down on the sofa, his back stiff, his lips pressed into a thin line.
He didn’t speak, his gaze fixed on Song Chengyan.
A mixture of apprehension and anticipation swirled in his eyes, darkening into a silent vortex.
A shadow tendril tapped Xie Zhang’s phone.
Song Jingmo typed two simple words.
【Brother.】
The AI voice was emotionless, but Song Chengyan heard the familiar tone, the hint of aggrieved reproach and a touch of warning.
He knew he wouldn’t be leaving this villa until he explained himself.
He finally looked at the chibi shadow on the coffee table.
He hesitated, then reached out and poked Song-shadow.
Cold, and surprisingly bouncy.
Song-shadow swatted his hand away.
He’d just called him a “thing,” and now he was trying to touch him!
Song Chengyan glanced at the tablet, still displaying the list of embarrassing stories, then calmly deleted it.
He explained the events following Song Jingmo’s accident, how his parents had hidden him in a sanatorium, his current vegetative state.
But he omitted the details of Song Jingmo’s parentage and the possible connection to Xie Zhang’s parents’ deaths, simply stating that the accident was likely deliberate.
To mislead the perpetrators, the Song family had announced Song Jingmo’s death, which was why they hadn’t held a funeral yet.
He braced himself for questions, knowing his explanation was full of holes and logical fallacies.
But Xie Zhang didn’t ask anything.
He stared at the coffee table, silent.
Song Jingmo, his mind reeling, noticed Xie Zhang’s unusual stillness. He hopped onto his lap, his shadow engulfing him in a comforting embrace.
Xie Zhang’s hands trembled.
Song Jingmo nuzzled his cheek, his shadow tendrils gently caressing his temples.
After a long moment, Xie Zhang’s hands moved, slowly wrapping around the cold shadow, as if clinging to his entire world.
Song Chengyan, who had disagreed with his parents’ actions, lowered his gaze, unable to face his brother’s lover.
Song-shadow held Xie Zhang’s hands, trying to warm them, but his efforts were futile.
The news of Song Jingmo’s survival was undoubtedly good news for Xie Zhang, but the underlying implication, his parents’ attitude towards him… that was the hardest part to accept.
Song Jingmo didn’t understand his parents’ aversion to Xie Zhang, and neither did Xie Zhang.
His usually open-minded and accepting parents had been inexplicably hostile towards him.
As Song-shadow held Xie Zhang, feeling his heartbeat gradually returning to normal, he noticed his brother’s guilty expression.
He knew his brother was hiding something.
But he didn’t ask. Instead, he typed on his phone:
【Brother, is that master staying at your house… reliable?】
The AI voice echoed through the room, and Xie Zhang looked at Song Chengyan, a flicker of hope in his eyes.
Song Chengyan hesitated.
He shifted uncomfortably, then said haltingly: “I…”
“I had the housekeeper… send him away…”
Just as Song Jingmo had a talent for self-sabotage, Song Chengyan seemed to have a knack for silencing a room.
Song Jingmo’s shadow tendril hovered over the phone screen, pointing at his brother, then at himself, then typing a series of ellipses.
The AI’s monotonous “dot, dot, dot” filled the silence.
Even Xie Zhang, holding Song-shadow, couldn’t help but twitch his lips.
Song Chengyan looked embarrassed.
Remembering his brother’s staunch materialism, Song Jingmo suddenly understood.
After all, he’d called him a “thing,” right?
It wasn’t surprising that he’d sent the master away.
【So you weren’t actually wearing a protective amulet?】
Song Chengyan’s expression became even more awkward.
Seeing his brother’s reaction, Song Jingmo wondered if there really was an amulet.
His shadow tendrils crept towards Song Chengyan, searching his body, but he didn’t sense anything unusual.
Song Chengyan held his breath, watching the approaching shadow, his eyes widening.
He glanced at Xie Zhang, who was holding the shadow, his expression calm, almost serene.
Song Chengyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
This was… true love.
No, it was beyond true love; it was delusional, defying logic and human instinct.
Song Jingmo, having searched all his brother’s pockets, formed a question mark with his shadow tendril.
Song Chengyan, after a few seconds of awkward silence, finally confessed in a barely audible voice: “Mother sewed the amulet… into the hem of my underwear.”
The question mark instantly straightened into an exclamation point.
Then, Xie Zhang heard Song Jingmo’s laughter echoing through the room.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! My brother’s amulet is sewn into his underwear! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Xie Zhang’s expression was a mixture of amusement and… something else.
As Song Chengyan wished for the earth to swallow him whole, and Song-shadow rolled around on the coffee table with laughter, Xie Zhang suddenly spoke, his voice calm and clear: “If Mr. Song was wearing a protective amulet from that master, and it had no effect on Momo, then… is that master truly a master?”
Song Jingmo’s laughter stopped abruptly.
Song Chengyan’s eyes lit up.
Yes, that “master” might be a fraud!
Demanding a million yuan from his mother; he couldn’t be legitimate!
“Of course, perhaps Momo’s situation is… unusual.”
Unlike Song Chengyan, Xie Zhang seemed more open to the supernatural than Song Jingmo had remembered.
“So, Mr. Song, would you mind giving me his contact information? I’d like to speak with him.”
Xie Zhang’s tone was polite but distant, less familiar than before.
Song Chengyan, suppressing a bitter smile, had anticipated this.
He called his housekeeper, obtaining the “master’s” contact information.
Xie Zhang dialed the number.
The person on the other end seemed to know why he was calling, readily agreeing to visit the villa the next day to assess the… feng shui.
Hearing it was tomorrow, Song Chengyan’s expression shifted.
Xie Zhang looked at him, his eyes narrowing.
Song Jingmo typed: 【Brother, we don’t have a housekeeper or any spare rooms. You can’t stay here.】
【Be good, see you later.】
Then, a shadow tendril pushed Song Chengyan, who was about to say something, out of the villa, slamming the door shut.
Song Chengyan, sensing Song Jingmo’s annoyance, sighed and sent his driver his location.
Then he sent a message to Xie Zhang.
Xie Zhang, back in the living room, read the message, his eyes flickering.
…
That night, Song Jingmo, who had intended to lull Xie Zhang to sleep, drifted off himself.
He dreamed he was back in Xie Zhang’s shadow, newly awakened.
He accompanied Xie Zhang to the psychiatrist, but the doctor wasn’t the young Dr. Qiao he’d met before, but a stranger, an older man with white hair but a youthful face.
He looked vaguely familiar.
Song Jingmo watched, confused, as the psychiatrist diagnosed Xie Zhang with schizophrenia and prescribed medication.
And Xie Zhang, back at the villa, was actually about to take the pills.
Unlike in reality, he seemed completely lost in his delusion, treating his shadow as a hallucination, talking to it, smiling at it, but his every action laced with a deep, suppressed sadness.
Song Jingmo was frantic, but he couldn’t break free from the shadow.
He watched helplessly as Xie Zhang opened the pill bottle, poured a glass of water, then, with a sudden surge of strength, he burst out of the shadow.
A shadow tendril shot towards Xie Zhang’s mouth, stopping him just as he was about to swallow the pills.
Then, he watched in disbelief as Xie Zhang poured the pills down the toilet, smiling at his shadow, confessing his love:
“Don’t worry, darling, I’ll never leave you.”
The Xie Zhang in his dream looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes filled with a desperate, almost manic intensity.
His smile was unsettling.
Aaaaaaaaaah—!!!
Song Jingmo woke up with a jolt.
His shadow, agitated, expanded, filling the room.
