“Letting you two ignore my advice,” Huang Hao gloated. “Dressed like that, if you’re not hot, who is?”
Lai Li wore a pair of garishly colored cargo pants with a grayish-white hoodie on top—overkill for September weather, with a huge sweat patch on his back.
Song Zichu usually dressed in long sleeves and pants too. “I thought Danshi wouldn’t be hot in September, so I didn’t pack any shorts or short-sleeves.”
Jiang Xiao asked curiously, “You from the north?”
“Yeah.” Song Zichu smiled. “Can’t tell, right?”
“Definitely can’t. No accent at all.” Huang Hao stepped through the mountain gate as he spoke, then exclaimed in awe. “Holy shit—”
Inside the temple, curls of incense smoke enveloped the bustling crowd. Ancient and solemn halls flanked both sides, stretching up the mountain. At the edge of the view, a massive bronze bell loomed faintly in the mist.
Jiang Xiao craned his neck too. “Fuck! It’s fucking spectacular…”
Song Zichu said helplessly, “Don’t swear in the temple.”
“How many people does it take to ring that thing…” Huang Hao pulled out his phone. “Gotta snap a pic for Moments.”
Jiang Xiao wasn’t into photos. He shook his curly hair and looked around. “Where’s the God of Wealth? Gotta pay my respects to him first to show sincerity.”
Lai Li shoved one hand in his pocket and pointed casually. “Up those steps over there. Third Buddha hall.”
Huang Hao asked, “You been here before?”
Lai Li grunted an “Mm.” “Every year.”
Jiang Xiao laughed. “This temple was built by his family. Think he hasn’t?”
Huang Hao swore again. “No wonder you were willing to come with us.”
“It’s not just the Dai Family funding it.” Lai Li didn’t bother explaining. “Go pray.”
“What about you?”
“Gonna pray to my personal God of Wealth.” Lai Li walked off without looking back.
Huang Hao’s mouth fell open. He “ahh”ed for a while. “Is this the rich people’s world? They even have personal gods?”
“Maybe he built a private Buddha hall in the temple?” Jiang Xiao scratched his head, clueless. “But yeah, since his family built it, they can do whatever…”
Song Zichu looked up for a moment, his gaze darkening briefly before vanishing. “Let’s go.”
The three squeezed into the crowd. “Is there some charity event today? So many volunteers…”
Lai Li shook off his roommates and headed up the mountain with practiced ease. He didn’t even need to think about the route—his body remembered it on its own.
Soon, he spotted a familiar figure in the pavilion at the summit.
Dai Linxuan leaned against a pillar, the top two buttons of his shirt undone. His long index and middle fingers pinched a lit cigarette.
He took a slow drag, the smoke blending with the surrounding incense, blurring his refined features. His usually gentle brows held no smile, just a casual indifference.
His phone buzzed. Dai Linxuan glanced down—
【Some Family’s Little Mutt】: Bro, you’re not behaving.
At the same time, a hand reached from the side and snatched the cigarette from his fingers.
Dai Linxuan eyed the veins on that hand for a moment, then looked up at its owner’s face.
The used cigarette butt was wet and flattened, but Lai Li didn’t mind. He bit it and took a puff without inhaling. Leaning in, he blew all the smoke right into Dai Linxuan’s face.
Stung by the smoke, Dai Linxuan narrowed his eyes.
“Bro, you’re not behaving…” Lai Li mumbled around the cigarette. “Smoking in a sacred Buddhist ground. How uncouth.”
“We could be even more uncouth.” Dai Linxuan glanced at his lips, then changed the subject flatly. “The cigarette’s not in my mouth anymore.”
Lai Li said understandingly, “I’ll smoke it for you. Wouldn’t want Buddha mad at you.”
“…” Dai Linxuan asked, “How’d you know I was here?”
“Dai Yi told me.”
“So you’re not…” Dai Linxuan paused. “You and Xiao Yi made up?”
“When were we ever on the rocks? She doesn’t have the qualifications.” Lai Li didn’t care, pressing for what Dai Linxuan had left unsaid. “Not what?”
Not here with his “beloved” to climb the mountain.
Though Dai Linxuan had Li Jue reporting Lai Li’s whereabouts in real-time, he didn’t always check promptly. That morning, he’d knelt in the Buddha hall for two hours. When he finally saw Li Jue’s message, Lai Li was just steps from the temple, trailed by Song Zichu and his other two roommates.
Dai Linxuan ignored the question. “Then who does?”
Lai Li licked his prominent canine tooth, ignoring Dai Linxuan right back. “Bro, you didn’t smoke before.”
“Overseas isn’t like back home. No one cares who I am. Socializing, you end up touching some.” Dai Linxuan’s eye corner drooped slightly. “If it’s not smokes, it’s something else.”
“Like?”
Dai Linxuan said, “Like stuff illegal here.”
Things legal abroad but not domestically? Just three words: sex, gambling, drugs. Pick one.
Lai Li exhaled lightly. “Did you touch any?”
Dai Linxuan suddenly smiled. Lai Li’s expression tensed instantly as he barked, “Bro.”
“Back then, you wouldn’t have asked.” Dai Linxuan’s smile faded. He plucked the cigarette from Lai Li’s mouth. “You’d just assume I wouldn’t.”
Lai Li frowned. “That’s not what I meant…”
“No blame. I did do something bad to you.” He stubbed out the wet end in his palm. “By indecent assault standards, that’s at least half a year inside.”
Lai Li’s face changed, turning subtly ugly. “I’m not pressing charges.”
“Why?” Dai Linxuan descended the steps, tossing the butt in a trash bin. “Don’t dare, or don’t want to?”
Cold intent rose in Lai Li’s brows. “Dai Linxuan, stop!”
Dai Linxuan halted as ordered, turning sideways. “What’re you worried about? Me being your bro? Don’t wanna ruin years of brotherhood?”
Lai Li struggled to articulate it. He didn’t care what Dai Linxuan did to him—it was that Dai Linxuan shouldn’t. The issue was with Dai Linxuan, not himself.
Dai Linxuan’s gaze lingered on Lai Li’s furrowed brows—like a pebble dropping into his heart, bigger this time, scraping debris down the cliff walls.
Two years ago, Lai Li might not have been a perfect victim, but now he truly was innocent. From Lai Li’s view: his only family leaves abroad for two years, returns a changed man, repeatedly doing criminal-level things to him.
Lai Li was at a loss, isolated, unable to confide or cope—just pretending nothing happened, trying to revert to the past he imagined.
Dai Linxuan felt a pang of heartache. He tugged his lips in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Or like the media says—afraid to flip out on me and lose this lavish lifestyle?”
Lai Li scoffed. “A third of your assets over the years are in my name.”
Outsiders didn’t know; they saw him as a “kept bird”—untouchable while favored, dust if discarded.
In truth, Lai Li held vast assets and shares, richer than most peers. Even cutting ties, money would breed more for a life of luxury, as long as he avoided illegal stuff.
Dai Linxuan sighed softly. “Then why put up with it?”
Lai Li wasn’t some weakling; two years back, he’d fought Dai Linxuan to a draw on the mats.
Yet in the twenty-odd days since returning, Lai Li’s sole strike was a powerless slap over not driving him to school.
“I’m not putting up with—”
Lai Li snapped his mouth shut. He was enduring, but it was Dai Linxuan’s changes, not his own suffering.
How to explain? How would Dai Linxuan take it?
Lai Li didn’t want him on this “pathological, bumpy gay road.” The world’s gentle gentleman should wed an untainted partner at the right age, raise kids with fine genes… live brightly, upright.
Not tangle with a man—his own fostered brother.
“Bro, it’s Mid-Autumn today. Don’t wanna fight.” Lai Li stepped closer, resting his forehead on Dai Linxuan’s shoulder, voice soft with plea. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
“…” Dai Linxuan glanced down at Lai Li’s smooth nape, fingers twitching at his side. Fresh off the climb, Lai Li carried a faint sweat scent mixed with faded shower gel—salty, hormonal.
After a moment, Dai Linxuan spoke. “Still wanna study abroad?”
Lai Li’s shadowed face iced over. He inhaled deeply, restraining his tone. “You left me behind back then. Now you’re finally back and wanna ship me off?”
Dai Linxuan wedged an arm between them to push him away, but Lai Li gripped it tight.
Resigned to the position, Dai Linxuan mimicked old brotherly demeanor. “Just try new life. Hate it? Come back.”
Lai Li endured, breathing steadily before whispering, “I’m such a mess—aren’t you scared I’ll pick up bad habits? Even if I don’t seek ’em, someone might trap me, bed me with lowlifes, get me on weed, die in a ditch with no one to claim the body…”
Dai Linxuan cut in. “Lai Li!”
“Can’t hear it?” Lai Li lifted his face, arms looping shoulder then waist. “Bro, don’t even think it.”
“…”
“No matter your life, I’m watching.” Lai Li’s tone was casual, but his fingers tightened. “Up close.”
Dai Linxuan frowned rarely. “Let go.”
“No way—haven’t I hugged you before?” Lai Li exhaled, softening suddenly, murmuring low. “You skipped two Mid-Autumns with me.”
Dai Linxuan turned away. “Too busy.”
Excuse. You just didn’t wanna see me.
Lai Li said flatly, “Last Mid-Autumn, I waited alone in the hospital a full day and night on this gimpy leg. You never showed.”
“You remember that clear.” Dai Linxuan’s tone was ambiguous. “Just scraped skin. Not like it was broken.”
Lai Li shrugged. “Yeah, didn’t die anyway.”
Before Dai Linxuan could snap, Lai Li loosened, stepping back. His gaze roamed Dai Linxuan’s open collar, then casually buttoned the top two.
“What’s your plan today?”
Summit wind chilled his bare chest. Dai Linxuan pivoted outward. “Stay till 1 p.m., then Hedong Welfare Institute. Dinner at the Old Residence tonight.”
“Then?”
Dai Linxuan stayed silent. Original plan: pick up Lai Li post-dinner, no overnight at Old Residence. Per his read, skipping today would spell trouble—like the recent neck slash.
But Lai Li had shown up.
Dai Linxuan had checked: Lai Li’s constitution had changed. That heavy bite? Nearly healed in under a week, faint bruise left. Knife wound? Fully closed, just pinker skin.
“If you wanna do Old Residence dinner, I’ll pick you up after Welfare Home.” Dai Linxuan said. “Don’t? I’ll find you post-meal.”
Lai Li matched his stride amiably. “And till you show—what do I do?”
Dai Linxuan said, “Whatever.”
Lai Li lost patience. “Song Zichu too?”
Dai Linxuan paused, glancing back faintly. “Try it. See if I can take it.”
Lai Li halted, staring at his back.
“If I can… congrats. You get a legit boyfriend—do anything.” Dai Linxuan said. “If not…”
No look back, just a low laugh. “Not sure what I’d do… I’m not your fave big bro anymore. Anything’s possible.”
With that, Dai Linxuan donned his poised, gentle mask, shaking hands with an approaching entrepreneur.
This charity event focused on aiding “seriously ill orphans.” The Welfare Home rarely had completely healthy children; they all had some issues to varying degrees. Keeping them fed wasn’t difficult—treating their illnesses was.
Once all the registered volunteers and entrepreneurs had signed in, the event officially began. The temple’s abbot appeared, leading a group of monks in chanting sutras and praying blessings for the children with their bumpy fates.
The melodious sound of the chants echoed through the mountains and forests, creating a solemn and reverent atmosphere.
There were a few familiar faces in the crowd around him, such as the two Huo siblings in their sportswear, who had probably come to offer incense in a personal capacity and “happened” to run into his brother. There were also Tang Yuanyang and his father, with whom he’d clashed just recently.
With their company on the verge of bankruptcy, what were they doing here? Pretending to have a charitable heart to win his brother’s sympathy?
Lai Li’s gaze shifted, and he spotted another familiar face—Xiao Zhou, the one who’d been sitting in Tang Xueda’s car last time and whom he’d warned.
Perfect.
Lai Li casually picked up a wooden stick, slipped into the crowd, and jabbed it against Xiao Zhou’s lower back. Xiao Zhou stiffened abruptly. Lai Li silently dragged him to an empty side hall corridor and slammed him against the wall.
Xiao Zhou’s shoulder went numb from the impact, and he didn’t even dare cry out in pain. Only after seeing that Lai Li held a stick rather than a knife did he exhale the breath he’d been holding, his chest heaving rapidly.
“Young Master Lai…”
Lai Li snapped the thick stick in half and joined the pieces together, thoughtfully pulling out the splinters. “What did I tell you last time?”
“I was just here to offer incense and happened to run into you and President Dai.” Xiao Zhou’s legs went weak, and he pressed himself against the red brick wall, trying hard not to slide down. “Young Master Lai, please believe me!”
“You’re so eager to get fucked—should I help you out?” Lai Li circled the stick and gestured with it. His tone softened, surprisingly similar to Dai Linxuan’s. “Close your eyes and pretend I’m my brother. The size should be about the same.”
Xiao Zhou swallowed hard. “This is a temple, Mr. Lai!”
“So you’d accept if it wasn’t a temple?” Lai Li said regretfully. “Too bad—I like temples.”
Lai Li advanced step by step, his body blocking the sunlight and casting Xiao Zhou completely into shadow.
Xiao Zhou was only eighteen, after all, and he found the Lai Li before him sinister and terrifying. He’d seen a document called the “Lai Li Guide,” which stated that Lai Li had once had someone gang-rape a male model who tried to climb into his brother’s bed. He was a complete lawless bastard!
The moment the stick hooked into his waistband and tugged it open, tears streamed uncontrollably down Xiao Zhou’s face. “Please, please let me go! —I-I can tell you why President Tang sent me to approach President Dai!”
