Chapter 15 An Idiot

"𝘟𝘪𝘢𝘰lang? Is that really your name?"

The question caught Li Tian completely off guard. He couldn't have been found out so soon, could he?

Noticing his reaction, Rai tried to explain himself. "I mean, your name means 'Little' right? You let people call you that? Sorry I don't get Huaxian that well."

"...You're not Huaxian?" That's when Li Tian noticed the peculiarities within Rai's appearance.

He had slick black hair with long bangs and had pale skin, a common trait of their Northern brethren. But soon Li Tian realized that there was something different about him, something that differed from a North Huaxian. He wasn't sure what it was.

Could it be his eyes? But eye color was rather relative nowadays.

Even the renowned Northern singer, Yingxue, had one of the world's rarest eye color.

"Ah... well, I'm half Northern Huaxian... and half Asahin," Rai lowered his head, as if in shame. "I'm not good with how people think here..."

Li Tian's eyes widened in surprise but stopped himself from reacting. There was a lot he wanted to say but he had to constantly cut himself short as to not get too animated. "Oh..."

"Oh?" Rai looked up at the big brother. "You're not... unhappy?"

"Unhappy?" Li Tian tilted his head. The choice of words was confusing, but maybe it was because the boy was still young.

"My father always says he's unhappy with me," Rai fidgeted, a far cry from his usual composed self.

"Because... you're from Asahi?"

"I think so... he says I have my mother's eyes," the boy fell into thought. There was enough he had gone through to make him a little more mature than those his age.

Li Tian focused his gaze on Rai's eyes hidden under his bangs and truly, they were unique. They weren't that noticeable at first due to being hidden but now that he was focused on them, it was clear to see. Rai's eyes were a bluish-gray color but instead of being clear, they appeared cloudy like a fog and gave the boy a glazed-over look. However, when they stared at you, it felt like being pierced straight through your soul.

The hairstyle choice was surely intended to hide them and his face. But when Li Tian gazed underneath it, he realized just how much of a pretty boy Rai actually was. He looked like a little angel.

Li Tian was well versed in many countries and nations, thus he understood the dilemma the boy was facing. Huaxia and Asahi were antagonistic countries and had been warring against each other for generations.

The war had ended many years ago, and a pact of peace had been put in place, but it was an unspoken reality that many of the older generations, especially, still held a big grudge. Rai's family must have been the same.

The Li Clan was understandably huge and had its descendants scattered around the Nation. It was the Li 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 within the clan, that consisted solely of the main bloodline and controlled the rest of the clan.

The Li Clan and Family, being an old money empire, were among the many at the forefront during the wars as a supplier of troops and weapons, hence he knew a lot about the inner workings during those times.

However, there was a reason the Li name lasted so long. Blessed with many powerful and vast thinkers as family heads, they went through the times ahead of the rest. The Li Clan descendants were always taught to never hold a grudge when it was against the Clan's interest.

Just like that, the years of war between the two Nations were written as nothing more than a business transaction. The Li Family instead sought for more business opportunities in Asahi almost immediately after the war, and as a result, has one of the most established connections with the country to date.

Thus, while Li Tian was surprised, he wasn't repelled, or in Rai's words, unhappy with the news.

Now that he thought about it, Rai definitely was an Asahin name. If his father disliked him being half Asahin, why would he name him that?

Sometimes even when in disguise, curiosity was hard to beat.

"Is your real name... Xiao Xue?" Li Tian asked in his whisper voice.

Rai frowned at the name but still chose to answer, "It's half my name. My real name is Leixue... I changed Lei to the Asahin language, which makes it Rai."

"... What about Xue?"

Hearing the hated name again, he pouted as a child would. "Just because we're from the North and I'm pale doesn't mean they have to put Xue in my name. I'm not a girl. And I hate it when people call me Xiao Xue even more! I'm not a kid anymore."

Li Tian frowned, but inside he was holding in his laughter.

So it was a childish thing.

He originally thought the boy was quite mature for his age but guessing from his expression, that wasn't entirely true. If Li Tian wasn't in this undercover persona, he would have laughed out loud and teased the kid by now.

Rai peeked at the frowning big brother and sighed in relief. "Thank you for not making fun of me Big Brother Lang."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨??

He didn't know which surprised him more. Being thanked for doing something as obvious as not laughing at something 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 ridiculous, or being called Big Brother Lang. It sounded like the boy was calling him a big wolf.

And what was wrong with laughing at him? What he said was undeniably hilarious. Who wouldn't laugh? It's not like he said his grandmother died right?

Li Tian understood nothing of the boy's emotions or how to react to them, but he was now sure that by not laughing, he got on the kid's good side. Slowly, he was getting into the gist of this new persona of his.

"Uh... okay..." he replied carefully.

"So tell me!" Rai raised his voice, startling the big brother. His childish face was full of eagerness for answers. "Why is your name Xiaolang? You don't feel uncomfortable with it?"

At a loss for words, Li Tian thought of an answer the boy would be satisfied with. However, when he thought about it, his real name was Li XIAO Tian and even HE didn't tell anyone about it. Even his stage name had it cut out and only his close family members knew or could call him by that.

Was it because he was embarrassed by it?

Seeing the long pause, Rai mumbled to himself, "Maybe it doesn't bother him cuz he's not pretty like me..."

Twitch.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵... 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺.

A narcissistic claim but somewhat true. Both men and women paled in comparison when it came down to looks. The few that could compare existed, but maybe were not as well known as him. But of course, that didn't include the woman known as the Northern siren, an unmatched goddess.

However, Li Tian chose to ignore her existence, for it would further bruise his pride. Being called ugly by a child was enough to cut him internally.

Pursing his lips to hold back his annoyance, he replied softly, "Being called Xiao is not an insult... it's a term of endearment... One that people close to you use to express affection." Li Tian's expression twisted into a form of disdain as if to look down on the brat. He still couldn't hold back on his pettiness and raised his tone of voice slightly to use his next words as a form of revenge against the boy for calling him ugly. "To be insulted by it... just highlights your immaturity."

Badump.

Rai felt a jolt of electricity from the big brother's words and expression. It really felt as if he was being looked down upon for something that was meant to be good for him.

It's true...

His heartless father never called him Xiao Xue before. It was the kind attendant aunties accompanying him every time he had to travel back and forth between the North and South of Huaxia that always called him that. He always thought it was because they were treating him like a child, and wouldn't take him seriously... but was that really the case?

He was an unwanted child, sent away for months at a time by his father. To prove that he was good enough, 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 enough, he always made sure to act accordingly. He would be polite, study hard and always try to show his adult side.

However, constantly being called Xiao Xue made him feel threatened in a way that he couldn't understand. He had always acted in a way where he was on the same level as grownups as an approach to grow up faster but these aunties kept treating him like a ten-year-old boy! He just couldn't accept it!

However, Big Brother Lang looking down on him for it was a wake-up call. These aunties he had been meeting all the time...

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯...

"You're right," Rai said out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

𝘐 𝘢𝘮? Li Tian thought cluelessly. The kid wasn't angry at his insult? He had made sure to put pure disgust on his face to scorn the annoying kid. How was he suddenly agreeing with him?

Rai clutched his small fists and let out a big sigh. "I've been too busy trying to appear mature that I've been thinking too immaturely." He looked up at the big brother next to him and smiled brightly with renewed strength. "Thank you for your honesty and teachings Big Brother Lang!"

Bright. The pure smile of a young pretty boy was too dazzling.

It took Li Tian a good moment to understand but now he did. His petty insults must have been misunderstood and taken in a positive way instead. Seeing such an innocent smile before him, though he was filled with shame, he wasn't going to correct a good thing. "As long as you understand..."

Rai continued to smile when he suddenly had a passing thought. He immediately began to mumble to himself in distress. "Now I don't know what to do... I do want you to call me Rai... but as the Big Brother who helped me out... should I let you call me Xiao Xue instead??"

"Pfft..." Li Tian muffled in his laughter. He hadn't felt such amusement in a long while. He'd been in such stress trying to take revenge and catch a runaway that it had taken over his whole world at the moment. He hardly took the time to relax and stop thinking about it.

This unknown brat he met on this excruciatingly tedious commercial flight managed to make him forget all of the heartache and anger he was suffering.

He hated to admit it, but the annoying kid was actually really cute. He lifted his hand and ruffled Rai's cleanly combed hair. With a slightly raised voice, he declared, "I'll call you Rai. It's the name you chose."

Surprised, Rai looked from under the hand and his messed up hair to see hidden behind the thick pair of glasses, was a stunningly beautiful smile.

𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭... he thought.

Surprised by his own thoughts, he blushed to himself. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺... 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘟𝘪𝘢𝘰 𝘟𝘶𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸...

He shook his head to dispel his wandering thoughts and quickly gave another bright smile back. "Okay!"

Having a cool big brother next to him on the flight suddenly started to make little Rai a bit nervous. He had already embarrassed himself with his immaturity, so now he wanted to at least show a good side of himself.

If there was anything he was proud of, it was his ability to learn. To prove himself useful to his father, he had always been striving in ways to make himself better. And one of those was his studies.

Although he was only ten years old, he had already reached a level where he could beat people many years older than him in terms of studies. He had always felt disengaged from people his generation, and even those older than him due to the disparity in knowledge and maturity.

A rough past had forced him to throw away his freedom to be a normal child.

Rai pulled his black backpack from under the seat to a seemingly nonchalant Big Brother Lang. He opened it up, revealing a few thick books, and took one out labeled 'Calculus Problems'.

Seeing the little kid suddenly pull out a calculus book right after finishing their conversation was even more confusing, to say the least. Li Tian just couldn't wrap his head around the kid at all.

Why was the kid so weird?

He couldn't understand anything Rai did at all. However, Li Tian did well to refrain from expressing too much of his emotion or saying much. It seemed to work out so far.

He watched on with his expressionless face as Rai flipped through the exercise book and a pencil ready in hand.

To Rai, flipping through the book slowly was meant as a means to impress the big brother, as it showed all the questions he had answered.

However, the more Li Tian saw, the more disdain he felt. Slowly, his head started to shake in disappointment as well.

𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘙𝘖𝘕𝘎.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺... 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵!

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