Chapter 109: Hiding is Useless
“I said I’d tell you when we got back.”
“And you really didn’t ask a single thing…”
Le Can fiddled with the semi-dry ends of his hair and circled over to the man sitting on the sofa, mischievously sliding his damp fingers along the man’s jawline.
Xi Yun caught the youth’s restless hand and pulled him closer.
Then, Le Can’s vision went dark as a highly absorbent towel was draped over his head. Immediately after, a gentle and meticulous force pressed down through the towel.
“You said you’d tell me.”
The deep, magnetic voice sounded by his ear. The unhurried pace of the speech quickly dissolved the spirit Le Can had managed to muster.
The relaxation after a hot bath, the peace of mind brought by a familiar place, and the patient waiting of the person beside him…
Le Can half-squinted his eyes comfortably. His whole being leaned forward in a lazy and sluggish manner, burying his face against Xi Yun’s exceptionally textured chest through his thin pajamas.
“Right, I will tell you.”
He murmured, repeating the sentence, a sigh of contentment coming from deep within his heart.
From the moment Le Can decided to confess to Xi Yun, whether it was during the drive back, the simple dinner after declining the charity gala, or during his shower, he had been thinking about how to start.
Making the decision at that second was easy, but how to execute it became a new challenge.
But now, after just a few simple words of communication with Xi Yun, those worries had vanished.
No rushing, no questioning, as if it were just an ordinary conversation. Xi Yun’s attitude gave him immense respect and relaxation.
What Le Can originally thought would be a serious confession instantly turned from a monumental event into a pre-sleep chat.
If he spoke, the other would listen.
If he was unwilling to speak, then they would wait until he wanted to…
[Mhm, thinking about it carefully, there’s nothing that can’t be said.]
Le Can’s buried face rolled downward. He adjusted his posture to lie on the sofa, his head wrapped in the towel resting on Xi Yun’s lap, looking up at the person gazing down at him.
“Let’s talk about Yuan Cheng first. Did you look at the two sheets of paper I took out of my pocket before my shower?”
Xi Yun used his fingers to brush aside the messy hair on Le Can’s forehead, allowing his obscured eyes to be fully revealed.
The silver-grey double pupils, within the shadows cast by his brow bone, gazed deeply and intently at those amber eyes filled with curiosity and nervousness.
“No.”
Xi Yun shook his head honestly.
Yao Yao hadn’t given the instruction, so Xi Yun hadn’t even spared a glance at the two sheets of document paper placed in such a conspicuous spot and specifically unfolded.
Le Can’s peach-blossom eyes instantly rounded, before drooping in disappointment.
He was somewhat shocked that Xi Yun wasn’t curious about this at all. But on second thought, hadn’t Xi Yun completely followed his promise—
He was waiting for Le Can to tell him?
Once this thought arose, Le Can’s heart softened uncontrollably.
He even felt like something might be wrong with him. Otherwise, how could he feel that the tall, imposing, and intimidating Xi Yun was actually a bit… cute?
Oh, what a hell of a kind of cute.
While critiquing his own hopelessness, Le Can raised his hand and hooked his fingers at the person above him. “Fine, lower your head a bit.”
Xi Yun was like an obedient large canine, retracting all sharp fangs and aggression, and submissively lowered his head. At the moment he looked down, a shallow smile silently flowed from his lowered eyes.
Le Can, looking up from below, saw this scene clearly.
He was also infected by it and let out a light laugh, tilting his head up slightly to suck and kiss the thin lips delivered to him.
The light and shallow touch began from the corners of the lips and moved inward bit by bit. The fragrance of the same flavored toothpaste entangled together, merging with the moist warmth until finally, they were indistinguishable from one another.
After the kiss ended, Le Can fell back weakly onto Xi Yun’s knees, his breath evening out as his face flushed. After a while, he lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced toward the table.
“Now, you can pick them up and see what’s written on them.”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak, but rather that Le Can, who was a bit short of breath, was too lazy to say so many words. Compared to thinking intently to let Xi Yun hear his inner voice, looking was much more direct and time-saving.
Hearing this, Xi Yun helplessly lowered his eyes to glance at the youth who asked him to get something yet pressed firmly on his knees.
Fortunately, while he was tall with long legs, his arm span was also excellent. This allowed the man to maintain his seated posture while still being able to reach out and retrieve the items from the table.
The two light sheets of paper had been folded multiple times. Even though they had been smoothed out as much as possible, the deep creases still revealed how complex the emotions of the person who did it were at the time.
Xi Yun couldn’t help but glance at the Le Can in front of him.
Perhaps even the youth himself didn’t know that the gaze he was currently using to look at him was so focused—focused even to a point of nervousness.
It was as if he didn’t want to miss that first moment of his most authentic feeling after finishing the documents…
Xi Yun, who already had some guesses in his heart, scanned the content of the two pages with a calm gaze.
Le Can’s eyes grew sore from staring, yet he only saw Xi Yun frown slightly. Then, he refolded the two thin sheets of paper and placed them back in their original position.
“Wait, you have no reaction at all?!”
Le Can looked at Xi Yun, who was leaning back against the sofa again, and reached out urgently to grab the man’s pajama collar.
However, the material was too smooth and soft, too light and supple. It slipped through the youth’s fingers several times; he couldn’t grab it at all.
Instead, Le Can’s efforts looked like… intentional groping…
After a strange silence for two minutes, the slender hand moved down along the collar and firmly grasped the knot of the pajama belt, pulling it hard in a threatening manner.
He intentionally used a soft voice. “Hubby, don’t you have anything to say?”
After all, what was written on the paper was…
“Say what? That I also don’t agree with Yuan Cheng and Yin Wuyu recognizing each other?”
That’s right. The content on those two sheets of paper briefly but clearly explained Yuan Cheng’s identity before he came to the Salim Maintenance Orphanage—a child “given” away by a gambling father.
When the young child escaped and tried to find his way home, he was unlucky enough to encounter human traffickers again and was sold to a remote mountain village. After the bumpy journey and rough treatment, he barely survived a high fever but lost his past memories.
Fortunately, this child was also lucky. The police had already targeted the human trafficking ring and soon rounded up everyone involved in the human trade.
At that time, technology wasn’t as good as it is now. The little Yuan Cheng with a blank memory eventually ended up at the Salim Maintenance Orphanage through various hands, and later was chosen by the traditional-minded Old Master Xi and sent to Xi Yun’s side…
In other words, Yin Chen, the younger brother Yin Wuyu had been searching for all along, was not the one lying in the hospital, but Yuan Cheng!
Hearing Xi Yun’s answer, Le Can instantly sat up, bringing his face close to scan those mysterious silver-grey eyes carefully.
“Truly, you also don’t agree?”
Xi Yun raised his hand to touch the youth’s shoulder blades, pulling him back into his embrace. When the warm body temperature and weight pressed over, he gave a sigh of satisfaction.
“Yao Yao, Yuan Cheng has the right to know.”
“If you want to know my method of handling it, then I will tell you that I will not hide the true relationship between him and Yin Wuyu.”
The man’s calm and steady voice landed by Le Can’s ear, and his large, warm palm patted his back comfortingly as if smoothing fur.
“Facts are facts; hiding them is useless.”
“You also know that truth will out sooner or later, which is why your subconscious feels it’s inappropriate and you’re eager to know my answer…”
Le Can, who opened his mouth to speak, slowly swallowed his words. He rolled his head within Xi Yun’s shoulder nook in frustration.
He said in a muffled voice, “I know.”
Le Can knew this logic. He was indeed, as Xi Yun said, inclined to suppress this news, but he also knew this was not a long-term solution.
“I have my own reasons. This… relates to the second thing I have to say.”
This time, because of Le Can’s arrival, the person Yin Wuyu helped the villain harm was Jian Minglang and himself. But according to the original world line, it was highly likely that Yin Wuyu also played a part in the ending where Yuan Cheng lost his hands and legs.
Choosing to help Jian Yu for the sake of his brother, the person he ended up hurting was none other than the very brother he chose to do this for… the shield meant to protect the family became the spear that pierced them. Karma is indeed merciless.
But that was the original world line; things have changed now.
If it were the former, Le Can could be like Xi Yun and say it without hesitation. But this time, the one who was dragged into it wasn’t Yuan Cheng, and he didn’t know how to handle it.
The starting point for everything Yin Wuyu did was his brother Yin Chen; his working for Jian Yu was also because he was deceived by Jian Yu and his mother. But for Yuan Cheng, the Yin Wuyu of this world line didn’t owe him a single thing…
Le Can grew more and more troubled and simply threw everything at Xi Yun.
“If I said that without me, Jian Minglang would have died at Jian Yu’s hands, and Yuan Cheng would have lost his hands and legs, never able to return to his current cheerful self…”
[If I said the person who lurked among you and ultimately helped Jian Yu achieve those things was Yin Wuyu, then…]
Looking at the youth’s hesitant gaze, Xi Yun suddenly closed his eyes, holding the person in his arms even tighter.
Xi Yun didn’t want to imagine such a scene.
Without Yao Yao, Yuan Cheng’s limbs would be maimed and his personality greatly changed, and Xie Jun would never want to appear again out of guilt…
The man slowly opened his eyes, lowering his head to kiss the youth’s brows and eyes. “Then I would still tell Yuan Cheng about his background.”
“Along with everything Yin Wuyu did.”
Even though he didn’t cause harm to his own brother this time, his actions still harmed other people.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for Jian Minglang and Le Can’s luck, and Xi Yun’s persistent search at sea, the “light harm” currently troubling Le Can would have been two living human lives.
These things couldn’t be canceled out just because Yin Wuyu later withdrew or caught the Jian Yu who almost escaped…
“Yao Yao, perhaps we should give Yuan Cheng a bit more trust.”
“Whether to forgive is a choice he should make.”
Although Yuan Cheng was cheerful in front of everyone, after knowing these things clearly, it was perhaps only someone who could be swayed by emotions like him who could face his own heart and make the most suitable choice.
“However, if it were me, I could not forgive such a person.”
From Xi Yun’s perspective, those who harmed his lover must pay a massive price, even if they later repented for what they had done…
For example, Xi Yun, who knew Yuan Cheng well, was certain.
Yuan Cheng might have a struggle within his heart, but his choice would only be one. A person who was pure and kind could not tolerate a loved one hurting others because of them…
This was the first return gift Xi Yun gave to Yin Wuyu.
T/N: “Truth will out” (纸包不住火) literally translates to “Paper cannot wrap fire.” It means the truth cannot be hidden forever. “Lifting his spirit” refers to Le Can gathering his courage for the confession.
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