Chapter 24 Truly Kind

How could Rai tell Big Brother Lang about his circumstances. He was not looking for pity.

The fact that he was ostracized from his own family, and he was not even allowed to dine in the same room as his siblings weren't things he would want to talk about. Well, his siblings didn't like him and he felt the same towards them anyway so it didn't matter to him.

But the fact that if he left the house... as long as he was in the North, he wasn't necessarily safe... was still a problem he had to silently endure.

"I was asked to buy something at the supermarket by my brother," he explained while lacking much conviction. He was threatened more like it.

From behind his long bangs, he could see the big brother staring at him expressionlessly. He wondered if Big Brother Lang actually believed him, but knew that even if he didn't, the big brother was too thoughtful to pry into his secrets.

Rai clenched his small hands. Worrying his teacher was the last thing he wanted. "It's true. The supermarket is right next to us. I'll take you there after we eat."

Again there was silence.

But not too long after, the older brother in front of him nodded his head, seemingly accepting his excuse and proposal.

Rai let out a sigh of relief and took a quick glance outside the window. That was when he noticed her.

"Oh!" he exclaimed in surprise, catching Xiaolang's attention. "It's her!"

Xiaolang curiously looked out the window for the source of his little brother's interest and saw a girl slowly gliding not too far away on her rollerblades. His eyebrow raised at the sight of her.

"She's a really nice big sister that comes by from time to time after school," Rai mentioned happily. "It's been a while since I've seen her. In a way she kind of reminds me of you, Big Brother Lang..."

Xiaolang's eyebrow raised even higher.

The girl seemed like someone that unlikely cared for personal appearance. Her hair was unkempt and tied into a messy bun on her head, the clothes she wore were at least two times her size and the big glasses on her face were slightly falling off of her nose from her active movements. And if anything was to be said about her fashion statement, she was wearing a light pink sweater with blue polka dots on it.

What part of the girl would remind his daft little brother of him??

His appearance didn't look that unsightly, did it?

Rai noticed the big brother's expression and hurriedly explained, "She's very kind! She helped a nobody like me without a second thought nor did she ask for anything in return. In that way, you two are very similar..."

The boy blushed slightly at his confession. He felt like he had just outed himself as someone who craved unconditional affection.

Xiaolang widened his eyes incredulously. Surely his little brother was misunderstanding something about his personality. He never asked for anything in return because he felt the kid had nothing worthy of offering anyways.

𝘈𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝐿𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺. Xiaolang let out a small sigh as he glanced at the girl waving at one of the vendors before skating off happily. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?

Rai mumbled, "I think her name is Ying-"

Xiaolang stiffened.

"-fei."

He relaxed again. Of course. He felt so stupid for reacting to something so silly.

"Here you go boys!" the restaurant auntie placed a tray down, arranging the dishes one by one in front of the two of them. "Enjoy!"

Rai glimpsed at the big brother to see his reaction to the food and thankfully it didn't disappoint.

Even the usually expressionless Xiaolang couldn't help gulping down his saliva at the aroma presented to him. He took a bite and continued chowing down without remorse.

The young boy secretly smiled as he too began to eat. He would without question go through with his decision.

.....

SMASH!

"Damn that Yelan. What the fuck is she planning!?" a middle-aged man shattered the expensive tea set onto the floor, spilling the specially brewed herbs liquidated inside.

The young maid by the door stiffened in fear and struggled to speak, "M-my apologies! I'll clean it up immediately!"

"Tch! Just leave!!" he yelled at her, causing her to squeak and scramble out the door in a hurry. Soon, he was left alone in his office with what was once a stack of papers now strewn all over the floor. "That spiteful woman..."

With one hand massaging his temple, he once again picked up a paper recording their family's most recent loss and cursed under his breath, "The Li Family and their itchy hands... again Yelan bested me on this."

The man was none other than Zhou Liuxian, Head of the Northern Zhou Clan, and father to Zhou Leixue.

He was cursed to be in the same generation of the woman Li Yelan, falling three steps behind at every path they crossed. While the Li Clan had always been extraordinary, it was the current clan head that paved the way into new industries and territory, even managing to build strong bonds with the Vestren Ivon Clan.

He had never figured out how she had achieved such a stunt.

Even more disconcerting was the most recent news he had gotten.

Her youngest son, Li Xiao Tian, was sent up to the North just yesterday and spotted within Lunar city in the morning. There was no information on how long the boy was going to be here but judging from the recent promoting, it could be a while.

Knowing that woman, there was no way a son of hers was only in Northern territory just for some music advertising. Li Xiao Tian was not just a singer with the Li Clan name, he was also her direct descendant and an heir to the family. While she did have other more outstanding children, she was not close-minded. She saw potential in everything.

Likewise, when it came to Zhou Liuxian, he cared more for face and filial piety. He was younger and married later than Yelan, and it wasn't until later in life that he focused on the clan instead of himself. Thus while being in his mid-forties, most of his children were still very young and spoilt with nothing much to say about their excellence.

Nonetheless, there was one child of his that was particularly exceptional. The child was the most outstanding of his children but also his biggest shame.

Zhou Liuxian couldn't stand the sight of him. With his strong pride and favoritism, he could not be like Yelan, creating opportunities for each of her children.

He needed to hurriedly train his other children so that they may become capable enough to bear the family name and dominate their rival clan. Amongst his many grievances, his current concern was none other than finding out more about the Li spawn that had just entered his territory.

Knock. Knock.

"Master Liuxian, the guest has arrived," the butler right outside his door informed him.

The clan head put down the piece of paper and stood up. After patting down his wrinkled clothes, he walked outside the door and said to the butler, "Have the study cleaned up."

"Yes, sir."

Liuxian left his study and headed towards the guest lounge where a very interesting guest was waiting to see him.

As he arrived at the door, he stopped himself from entering completely, electing to first observe the stranger within his walls. One's appearance was a big statement and revealed much about a person.

When he inspected the guest, he realized the man was rather young and closer to a boy in his late teens. Moreover, the guest seemed to have had a recent haircut and the suit he wore also appeared fairly new.

His appearance could be an indication of two things in their current situation. Either the recent change was due to polishing himself in anticipation for this meeting, or he was running from something. However, the relaxed manner in which the guest was acting made Liuxian second guess both options. He appeared neither nervous to meet him nor apprehensive of an attack.

There could also be a third option and that meant both of his assumptions were right. It was just that the guest was a good actor.

If there was anything unique to be said about the guest from this first look, it was definitely the dark Southern hue of his skin, and the four rings graced on each hand.

Zhou Liuxian would have to observe the young man more as they interacted.

He entered the lounge after much speculation and went to greet the young guest. After noticing his arrival, the guest also stood up to greet him.

"Honored to finally meet you, Clan Head," the young guest shook Liuxian's hand in a firm grip expressing his confidence. "I am Bai Junyi."

As the clan head held onto the guest's hand, he took a quick glance at the rings decorating it and a subsequent myriad of thoughts went through his mind within that short instant. He recognized the brands, the price, and the relative age of said rings. It made him ponder about who the boy was even more.

Bai Junyi...

He had never heard of such a name, neither was he in any mood for pleasantries today.

"I hear you have information on the Li Clan to share with me," Liuxian got straight to the point.

The young man known as Bai Junyi didn't take offense, and instead smiled knowingly. "That's correct. To be more precise, I have information regarding an heir of the Li Clan, the youngest known as Li Xiao Tian."

.....

Rai smiled to himself happily. His initially horrible day was soon forgotten, and replacing it was the time spent with his teacher, Big Brother Lang. While his teacher never spoke more than a few words, and his voice was so soft you'd think he only knew how to whisper, Rai felt incredible kindness from him.

Somehow, he had managed to persuade Big Brother Lang to come to his house for a lesson today. The older brother had also, for some unknown reason, shown more interest than he had thought he would. It felt like a sense of bliss to Rai. He finally was having someone over.

He had never brought a guest into his house before so he was quite worried, but surely it wouldn't pose a problem right?

He peeked at Big Brother Lang walking beside him and fidgeted gleefully as they walked. Grasped in the big brother's hand was something he had bought a little while ago at the supermarket they stopped by. It was a big bag of assorted cheap bread.

Rai sighed to himself helplessly remembering what happened before.

A little while before they finished their meals, Yuhan had come back from deliveries. But as if facing some sort of past trauma, he stared at Big Brother Lang in complete shock, barely able to choke out a few words. Rai had introduced the two properly and somehow cleared the misunderstanding of his teacher's solemn personality.

While Rai was determined on paying for both of their meals, he understood that adults were very prideful. As such, he had to pay before the big brother finished his meal.

So while Big Brother Lang was eating, he excused himself to the bathroom and secretly went to pay the bill. As a result, it had caused a little scene afterward when Big Brother Lang found out, and allowed Rai to see another side of him he had yet to explore.

Right as they finished eating, the big brother had made his way to the cashier to pay, and when Yuhan rejected his money saying it was already paid for by Rai, it was obvious that he had lost his temper. Although the big brother said nothing and merely clicked his tongue, he had slammed money on the table with a terrifying glare directed at the poor cashier.

Yuhan had to repeatedly reject him with his hands up, and his legs fearfully shaking in distress. Right when Big Brother Lang surprisingly started to grab Yuhan's shirt, Rai had quickly intervened between the two by hugging his teacher and telling him it was okay.

That was when he realized how much of Big Brother Lang's pride he must have actually hurt.

They finally managed to leave in peace, with Yuhan trembling in the background saying, "P-please come again..."

Rai brought the big brother to the supermarket next, where Big Brother Lang had spent a bunch of money he assumed were his savings, on buying the cheapest staple food he could find. And as they left, Big Brother Lang handed him a chocolate bar, something he must have just bought, ruffled his hair and told him in a surprisingly deep voice, "Don't do that again."

Rai received it speechlessly. It was an expensive chocolate brand.

For him... Big Brother Lang...

He lowered down his head under his now messed up hair because he couldn't stop himself. He couldn't stop his face from turning bright red, and the crooked euphoric smile threatening to crack on his lips.

𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝑝𝘺...

It didn't matter that he saw a violent big brother. What he felt were the honest feelings behind it and how the big brother had wanted to spoil Rai himself.

The reason Big Brother Lang had become violent was for him...

Rai had seen the amount of money slammed onto the table. It was enough for 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 of them.

𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨... 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥...

.....