Chapter 25 Chocolate Pieces

As expected, one of the hill manors was Rai's home. Actually, maybe he was still mistaken. Maybe all of them belonged to the Zhou Clan.

Instead of going through the front doors like a normal resident would, Rai ushered him through the garden and towards the back entrance.

Xiaolang was surprised at the unnatural means of entry but under the circumstances, he could kind of imagine why it had turned out this way.

Entering a door into what seemed like the kitchen, they passed by a few kitchen staff whom passively ignored their existence as they strode along through. Just as they were about to leave the kitchen area and into the dining room, the young boy made a sudden stop and cursed silently under his breath.

Rai quickly checked his watch and sighed frustratedly. It was his siblings' dinner time.

Xiaolang peeked through the doors and also noticed a few youngsters eating at the fairly long dining table.

𝘙𝘢𝘪'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴? he furrowed his eyebrows. If it was dinner time, why didn't Rai dine with them? He had just arrived home from schooling in the South yet it appeared that he was not given any warm welcome.

The undercover young man counted four heads in total, with two of them seemingly older than Rai, and the rest younger. The parents were nowhere to be seen. At the main seat where usually the head of the household would have been, sat a boy around the age of fifteen, with a bed of curly brunette hair and green eyes.

None of them had black hair like Rai did, at most being dark brown, nor did they have the same mysterious cloudy bluish-gray eyes. How were they even Rai's siblings? They looked nothing alike.

Rai quickly took something out of his pocket and took a deep breath. "I... didn't want them to see you but... I guess this is what the world intended." It was a line he hated so much. "Big Brother Lang, no matter what, please let me handle it."

That was something Xiaolang couldn't promise. He had already allowed this clumsy little brother of his spoil him today. How was he the big brother in their relationship if Rai was always the one looking out for him. Thus regardless of the circumstances, Xiaolang was not just going to let his little brother 'handle it' for the two of them.

Being expressionless had its perks.

The younger of the two was unable to speculate what his teacher was thinking at all. Biting his lips, he ushered the big brother to follow him out.

If only they could remain unseen, but that was impossible.

"Are you trying to ignore us, Leixue?" a hard voice came from the head of the table.

Rai stopped in his tracks. With his small fists clenched, he faced towards the owner of the voice with a smile on his face. "Of course not first brother. I just didn't want to disturb the hearty meal everyone was enjoying."

"Too late. The food has started to taste bitter," the other older sibling, a girl, spat.

"Yeah! Food got bad!" a younger one chimed.

"No good!" the smallest pushed his plate away.

Xiaolang standing a few steps behind Rai narrowed his eyes at the unpleasant scene. Even the younger siblings dared treat him like shit? How was his little brother going to handle it?

"My bad. Then I will leave you guys immediately," Rai responded and began to move as quickly as he could.

"Stop."

His footsteps halted reluctantly. "Yes, first brother?"

The oldest son wiped off his lips elegantly with the napkin, and stood up, making his way towards the significantly shorter black-haired boy. All the while, the other siblings kept sniggering in the background.

"Did you buy what I ordered you to?" the curly-haired boy asked condescendingly, now inches away from him.

𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥... Xiaolang in the back frowned. "Tch..."

Rai held out his hand and revealed what he had taken out earlier. It was a box of cigarettes.

An eye twitched behind them.

Tension permeated through the dining room but as the eldest son, he felt himself above the opinions of his siblings. He grabbed the product and placed it into his own pocket. However, there was no way he was about to leave it at that. Noticing a slight bulge in one of little Leixue's shirt pockets, a devious smirk carved itself on his lips.

"Oh? What's this?" he grabbed the black-haired boy's arm and lifted it up. Without stopping, his other hand slid into the pocket and took out an unopened bar of chocolate. "You also got a treat for me? I'm flattered."

"Gi-give that back!" the smaller Rai squeaked and tried fighting back, but with his arm still held up by his older brother, his resistance was futile. "That's mine!"

"𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴?" his grip on the small arm tightened. "Nothing you have is actually 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴. Not even your 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦."

Little Rai tried holding back his emotions as he usually did but felt like his heart was at the brink of bursting. That was a gift from his respected teacher! "I don't care! It's mine!"

"You're really trying to fight me over this measly piece of shit?" the eldest son smiled viciously. Chocolate was hardly worth much to him, but making this pitiful illegitimate son's life miserable was one of his life's amusement. His grip on the arm grew tighter, making the boy wince in pain.

Yes. With this show of strength, his siblings will learn to fear him than fight over his claim over the clan. He was Zhou Liuren, firstborn son of the Zhou Clan head. No matter how excellent one was, an illegitimate heir was powerless before him.

𝘏𝘶𝘩?

What was this he was feeling? Liuren's movement's stopped at a sudden cold shudder he felt. He looked up from the boy in his grasp and came face to face with deep menacing eyes glaring straight down on him.

Before he could even react, the tall stranger grabbed his wrist in a death grip, forcing him to grimace painfully and release his younger brother. This time, he was humiliatingly put into the same condition he forced onto Leixue seconds before; utterly powerless.

Liuren clenched his free hand, crushing the chocolate bar inside it and threw the hardest punch he could muster.

Smack!

The fist was instantly caught by the stranger and squeezed so hard, the chocolate bar was forced out and fell to the floor. He involuntarily let out a wail, "Aaaargh!!"

"Brother Liuren!"

"First brother!"

"Big brother!"

The other siblings still seated at the dining table cried out in horror but made no sudden movements. It was as if they could feel it, the vicious atmosphere shrouding the intruder. He was dressed like a complete loser, but the sense of danger they felt from seeing their first brother so incapacitated was undeniable.

"Who are you!?" Liuren demanded, still struggling to free himself. "There will be hell to pay if you lay your hands on me!"

Unfortunately, the tall stranger had a grip of steel and made no moves of releasing him. No one could tell what the unknown young man was thinking.

"Big Brother Lang... It's okay..."

The tall stranger glanced down to see the fallen Rai pleading him to stop. Cupped within his small hands were the crushed pieces of chocolate he had gathered from the floor.

The anger inside him rose sharply, but the look in the ten-year old's eyes forced him to let go. The pathetic first son of Zhou fell limply to the ground, as the second sister rushed to his aid.

"You brought this maniac here, Leixue!?" Liuren struggled to get up with the help of his sister. "How typical of you to befriend weirdos."

"Don't insult Big Brother Lang!" Rai stood in front of his beloved teacher and defended adamantly. Insulting himself was tolerable, but he wouldn't let his vile siblings get away with blaspheming Big Brother Lang. "He's better than all of you combined!"

Liuren's face twisted lividly. "Again daring to speak back to me you-"

Shiver.

"You..." his voice slowly trailed off. The anger of a ten-year boy was not enough to frighten him... The tall figure lurking behind him, however...

The sharp glare continued to pierce at him, causing Liuren to choke on the words he wanted to speak. In the beginning, the stranger was just a background figure, not worthy of paying attention to at all. He had even thought it was another one of their servants in a gaudy outfit.

But that figure turned out to be a head taller and far stronger than he himself was. Not to mention his threat barely fazed the man earlier either. The sharp and menacing look directed from those eyes caused the eldest Zhou son's hair to stand on end.

The stranger placed a hand on his hateful little brother's shoulder causing the two to exchange discerning looks. There was absolutely no verbal interaction, but Liuren could see the security glistening within the depths of his brother's cloudy eyes.

Seconds later, he saw Leixue relax and turned away from their conflict.

"Let's go, Big Brother Lang," the black-haired boy said, as he walked away towards the entrance, ignoring the baffled looks from his siblings. "If you need anything else, first brother, feel free to tell me later..."

The sentence broke Liuren out of his stupor. He was about to call out to him again when he felt another cold shiver down his spine. The stranger was eyeing him still with his sharp eyes again.

"Tch!" he let them go.

.....

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘪'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴... 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘡𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘓𝘪𝘶𝘹𝘪𝘢𝘯. Xiaolang contemplated to himself during their silent walk. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘡𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝐼'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘙𝘢𝘪 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳... 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴. 𝘙𝘢𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳...

The slightly shaken Rai led Xiaolang up a flight of stairs and down a long corridor, where they reached a small door at the end. It was fairly unassuming, with no decorations or art leading up to it.

"This is my room..." the small boy spoke shyly and opened the door for them to enter.

The first impression Xiaolang had for it was: small. It wasn't exactly tiny, but a room of such size would have been used as a closet in his own mansion. However, for a boy as little as Rai, it was enough.

There was a single sized bed in the corner, a small desk and chair for his supposed studies, and a cupboard which Rai must have put all of his clothes. All in all, it had everything he needed, and yet, it somehow felt incredibly lonely.

From the dust that had built up and lack of human maintenance, the room looked like it was almost never used. Yet at the same time, it was well kept, as if the owner took the time to keep everything in place.

The room had to be around 20 square meters at most.

"I-it's a bit small but I hope you can make yourself comfortable," the boy stuttered nervously and went to place something in a drawer under the desk. It was the broken chocolate pieces.

Xiaolang furrowed his eyes. This little brother of his was originally quite subservient towards the first son until the chocolate bar was taken out.

𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳... he sighed in his mind. While it was expensive for his current budget, it was still something extremely cheap. He could have just bought him another at a different time. He then recalled back to when Rai winced in pain at the restaurant.

He had just gotten back North. How had his siblings hurt him so much already? Not to mention it was physical abuse!

If even his siblings could treat him like that, what about his father?

The solemness dug into Xiaolang like a parasite, consuming his mind and rational within those four narrow walls. He slumped on the creaky bed with his head down. He was never a patient person. The only reason he had held himself thus far was due to being in his undercover persona.

Something he had yet to realize was that his rage truly shone when he was angry for others.

Without realizing it, his dark energy was felt even by the little brother he cared for.

"Big Brother Lang..." Rai came up to him with a heavy look. The small boy put down the book he was holding in his arms onto the bed and sat down next to the older brother next to him. "I owe you an explanation... You must have been surprised coming here to a big house... yet seeing me like that..."

𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. Xiaolang wasn't surprised. He knew exactly the circumstances behind this clumsy little brother of his. He was, however, taken aback by the physicalness of the situation and how fast it occurred.

He glanced at the book Rai had put down and narrowed his eyes at the title.

Calculus Problems: Intensive.

𝘙𝘢𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝑜𝘰𝘬? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

"I'm actually from the Zhou Clan... I don't know if you know what that is but it's a clan in the North where..." as Rai was hurriedly explaining his family background as best he could, the older brother next to him was practically ignoring him, stuck in his own world thinking how he could alleviate the situation in front of him.

As his big brother, there was so much more that he could teach him than just calculus. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝙓𝙞𝙖𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜?

He looked around the small room and realized, even though it wasn't that big, it was spacious enough for two people to move around.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵!

He could teach him how to fight! It was a practice that didn't include too much verbal interaction and Rai was a fast learner to boot. He would definitely be able to learn how to defend himself in no time.

"My father took me in but he doesn't like seeing me... That's why I'm sent to study in the South. He-"

"Rai." A hand was placed onto the boy's shoulder.

"Y-yes?" the narrating small figure was caught off guard by the sudden look his teacher was giving him. It was a difficult to understand expression that overturned his comprehension of all the big brother's expressions he had seen thus far. After all, they hadn't known each other that long.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺? He felt the notion rather suited the quiet figure in front of him. Kind and nonjudgmental on someone's past. Maybe he didn't want to pry or get involved.

"What is it, Big Brother Lang?" he asked again.

The stoic figure finally made a reaction. He closed his eyes, and opened them seconds later with a revived honed gaze filled with determination.

"Stand."

.....