Chapter 31 Black Sheep

"Huuuuu," Rai let out a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. "That should be enough for my core body exercises. I should get some studying done next."

He slowly got up from the carpeted floor, careful not to aggravate his recent injuries, and walked towards his desk. Anyone else wouldn't have been as enthusiastic to either exercise or study, given his recent predicament, but Rai was different. It was the only way to calm himself down and keep his mind off things; by acting upon the teachings of his teacher.

He did somewhat hold back. He limited the exercises just to breathing techniques.

The boy sat down at his desk, picked up a pencil, and opened the exercise book in front of him. He wanted to start studying but unfortunately, his heart was stopping him from continuing. It compelled him to do something else and he was unable to resist his eyes from glancing at the small closed drawer beside him.

Biting his lower lip, he let go of the pencil and finally opened the drawer, revealing only a few pieces of his precious chocolate left. He had eaten too much of it in the span of one night.

Every time he woke up shaken in the middle of the night, he would take a piece, resulting in the pitiful amount left in the drawer. He closed back the drawer and shook his head.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵.

He tried to refocus on the exercise book and began moving his fingers, scribbling down equation after equation on the empty page like a robot. After finishing that one section, he flipped to the next page, reading the problem within seconds before continuing another bout of reckless scribbling.

He finished ten pages like this when a knock on the door caused him to jump in his seat.

𝘞𝘩𝘰?

No one ever knocked before. If it was any of his family members, they would just barge inside obtrusively.

He checked the time to see it was still early afternoon.

"Young Master Leixue, you are required to attend lunch with your family members."

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?

He stood up with his mouth agape at the instructions.

"Now?" he asked the visitor behind the door. His fists clenched and released, exposing the nerves he was feeling.

"Yes. Now."

.....

Rai walked towards the dining room solemnly, unsure of what to expect. Changing into a nicer set of clothes didn't help stable his emotions at all.

The beating he got the night before still caused him to involuntary shiver, especially thinking of the emotionless look his father directed at him. To suddenly face him again so soon, his heart wasn't ready.

There was no choice but to take another piece of chocolate out, wrapped cleanly in the available foil left, and place it into his pocket. If ever the situation called for it, he would let it melt in his mouth to calm himself down.

He never had such a method before. Big Brother Lang helped him with his kindness without even realizing it.

Rai smiled.

"What are 𝘺𝘰𝘶 smiling about?" a voice struck Rai's nerves.

He turned around clumsily to come face to face with his older brother looking straight down on him. "F-first brother..."

"Don't get ahead of yourself just because you're joining us for lunch," his first brother, Liuren, sneered condescendingly. "Father wants us to meet a guest he invited. You're just there to make us look better than you."

Rai lowered his head and answered softly, "Of course..."

His first brother snorted and walked ahead, not forgetting to ram his side into the sullen boy's shoulder.

The impact aggravated his injuries as pain shot throughout Rai's body, almost causing him to lose strength in his legs. With gritted teeth, he barely managed to keep himself standing straight.

Fortunately, his first brother had walked ahead without bothering to look back at him, saving a little bit of his face. No matter how often father bruised him, he would persevere.

With his hand fiddling the piece of chocolate in his pocket, he forced his feet to take a step forward.

He entered the dining room to see all his siblings already seated in their designated seats, with the head of the table left empty this time. The right side of the head seat was also left empty, most likely for the guest that was to dine with them.

He walked to the end of the table with his head down, trying to remain inconspicuous, and slowly sat in his seat.

"Who's the guest?" the third brother, fourth of the siblings, asked the rest.

"Maybe it's an important person! Or a celebrity!" the fourth brother, and youngest, made a suggestion.

"Unlikely," their first sister doused their excitement. Besides Rai, she was probably the one with the best head on her shoulders. "Father never shows us off to anyone. We aren't ready. The guest mustn't be that important or he's only a friend. Even Leixue was called out."

Their first brother narrowed his eyes but kept his demeanor as the oldest. "Either way, we have to be on our best behavior as the children of Zhou Liuxian. We are the future pillars of this Clan."

"Yes, first brother!" the other siblings chimed in.

Only Rai pursed his lips and kept his head down again. The others continued their discussions while he became lost in thought.

Minutes later, loud footsteps indicating two people approached the room.

The siblings quickly hushed themselves and watched as two people entered from the doorway. They stood up immediately to show their respect.

"Good afternoon, Father!" they all chimed at the same time, including Rai at the end.

The man who entered, Zhou Liuxian, along with his guest, scanned the room before walking to the table.

"Sit, my children."

"Thank you, Father!" they thanked and sat back onto their seats.

Their behavior was becoming of clan heirs and caused the corner of the man's lips to lift off slightly in satisfaction. He brought the guest to sit down in their seats and said nonchalantly, "Junyi, these are all my children. They are not much compared to the Li Clan heirs you've met before but because they are still young, they have potential."

𝘓𝘪 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘴? Rai thought curiously. The rest of his siblings also stirred from hearing their father's words. Who didn't know of how prominent the Li Clan heirs were? And them being a rival Clan were especially affected.

Having seen the guest before, Rai was not too surprised at seeing who it was and thought it was a good opportunity to speak with him. Unfortunately, sitting so far away prevented him from interacting with the man at all. Perhaps it was better that he kept his intentions to converse a secret for now.

"Even at a young age your children already exudes great promise," the guest, Bai Junyi praised, which in turn made the youngsters flare their nostrils in pride.

Only Rai kept his head down, as to not take part in the praise. He knew if he stood out too much, his siblings wouldn't give him the end of it later on. He glanced at the guest from time to time thinking about how he should go about contacting him.

Should he try talking to him privately later? Or maybe just settle with a call or private message.

Suddenly, the young man's eyes met his, making Rai's heart skip a beat and lower his head to hide his face under his long bangs again.

While he was nervous on how to react, Junyi smiled to himself knowingly. He continued to converse with the Clan Head, who subsequently made his children speak of their achievements as they waited for the food to arrive.

"I'm only a freshman in our North's most prestigious high school but I've already made it into the Student Council. I'm practically a shoo-in as the president when I become a senior," Liuren, the first son, boasted gratifyingly, the claim certainly pleasing his father's ears.

"I've gotten the highest marks in my grade, and the teacher said my science project is one of the best the alumni have ever reviewed for my age," the only female heir chipped in her achievements as well.

Junyi expressed his awe and readily complimented them, "Impressive! Your first son has definitely asserted his leadership capabilities at a young age, a great boon to your lineage. Your beautiful daughter has showcased great intelligence as well which would greatly boost up the clan's prestige!"

Whether it was honest praise or not, Zhou Liuxian smiled in satisfaction. After all, who didn't enjoy having their ego inflated?

Junyi knew just the words to say; complimenting the first son on his leadership and the second daughter on her beauty and intelligence were the exact words they needed to hear. He was an expert when it came to dishing out meaningless compliments.

Even Li Tian was once a slave to it. Without such abilities, how would he be able to stick to the Li heir so long?

The dishes came out and the boasts of achievements continued, coupled with more compliments.

Yet somehow, there was one person that wasn't affected.

It was Rai sitting quietly by the end. Maybe before, he would have believed the praises and felt his sibling were above and beyond him. But the more he thought about such things, the odder he felt things were.

If First Brother was so great, why did he feel like a commoner like Big Brother Lang, who was only a few years older, beyond superior?

They were in completely different leagues.

In fact, when he thought about it, was he himself so inferior to them?

Even with his beaten down self-esteem, lack of guidance, and unavailable family influence, he could easily create a science project better than his older sister's. Not to mention getting the highest marks in his grade wasn't ever even an issue. He had never come in second since being sent away to boarding school. It was just that no one bothered to inquire about his studies.

He was also sure, that if not for being the first heir to the Zhou Clan, something like being a shoo-in for Student Council President wasn't so easily achievable without some sort of contribution.

Rai's eyebrow furrowed secretly under his hair as his thoughts became more lost.

Without him realizing it, the conversation shifted to him.

"Your brother at the end has been awfully quiet."

"Don't bother with him, Mr. Junyi," the first son grunted unhappily. "He's got no achievements to speak of. He's pretty stupid. Isn't that right, Leixue?"

"Ah," Rai was snapped back to reality upon hearing his name. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. His siblings had looks of annoyance, his father appeared expressionless, while the guest had the most amused smile directed towards him.

Not wanting any trouble, he fiddled his fingers and stuttered, "I-I have nothing to boast about... I'm not participating in any clubs..."

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩...

"... And I'm not smart like second sister..."

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳...

"... There's nothing special to talk about..."

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

Liuren felt gratified at his hateful little brother's answer. He could never properly understand how threatened he felt by the kid but hearing from his second brother's own mouth how unspecial he was, finally eased his unsettled heart.

As long as his half brother Leixue proved useless, he should have no competition for the Head Clan seat in the future.

"As I've said," the first brother started, "my second brother, Leixue, has nothing noteworthy to speak of."

Junyi smiled curiously at the black-haired boy. "Surely you have something you're proud of?"

Rai felt his strong gaze and dropped his head even lower. Placing his hand in his pocket, he touched the chocolate piece to calm himself down. It would continue to melt at his constant touch but he didn't mind. At the same time, he shook his head furiously to prove a point, "There really is nothing. I can't compare to my other siblings."

The first Zhou son felt incredibly snide and wanted to try pestering this illegitimate brother of his more. He never had any chances where he could publicly shame him. "Mr. Junyi, this little brother of mine is nothing but a dunce. His only good quality is listening to orders."

The Clan Head said nothing in response to this, letting the conflict proceed however it did. He wondered, half interested, on how his silent son at the end would take the continuous battering.

The younger siblings nodded their heads like every word their eldest brother said was common sense while the only daughter who tried to maintain an elegant demeanor still couldn't stop the smirk from rising on her lips.

"I see," Bai Junyi let out a slightly disappointed sigh and looked at the kids charmingly. "Even if you lot say so, it's a bit of a let down for any of you to have nothing special. After all, the deeds you guys have achieved thus far are quite excellent. It wouldn't do to have a black sheep. Maybe he needs a little 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦."

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘔𝘳. 𝘉𝘢𝘪 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘺𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘵? 𝘐-𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵! 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦! Rai yelled to himself. His fists clenched and released from time to time as he thought nervously of the incoming torment he was to face later. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥... 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯. 𝘔𝘳. 𝘉𝘢𝘪 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘺𝘪 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦!

"Black sheep?" Liuren repeated the words and slowly felt they were extremely suitable. "It's true that having a black sheep in the family is bad."

The words made the clan head, Zhou Liuxian frown subtly. The words affected him slightly but his thoughts were kept to himself with an outsider present.

With his father showing no signs of stopping him, the first son broke into a sinister smile and continued to speak authoritatively, "Leixue, you should work harder to prove yourself. Pity you've been in the South all this time with no one noteworthy to look over your faults. As the First Brother and future Clan Head, you should come to me. Maybe you could learn a thing or two."

𝘕-𝘯𝘰. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳. Rai shook his head internally. It was impossible for his first brother's words to be the least bit sincere. He suddenly wished he was back in the South. "I will consider it, First Brother. Thank y-..."

TUTTUTUUTUTUUTUTUTUUT.

A cellphone's ringing interrupted their conversation.

Everyone looked around until their father, the Clan Head reached into his inner pocket for his private cellphone. Calls only came to this phone for urgent or important matters.

He gave a look to the people around him, a look his children got immediately, making them sit quietly in their seats. Bai Junyi also got the memo and behaved appropriately.

With the room quiet, Zhou Liuxian answered the call imposingly, "Speak."

Bai Junyi felt a little annoyed at the unknown call suspending the conversation so abruptly but there wasn't much he could do. He had planned the flow of the conversation in his favor without causing any suspicions so far. He knew the black-haired son was being bullied by his siblings, and by pushing the bullies a little further, it would instigate the child to come running to him.

There would be no point in the Clan Head being suspicious of him if he wasn't the one offering to help.

While he was thinking to himself, he saw the Zhou Clan Head's expression change drastically.

"What? Now?" Zhou Liuxian asked the caller in absolute bewilderment.

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥. Junyi thought passively. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵... 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?

"Did Yelan plan this?" the imposing man asked to clarify.

𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯? 𝘓𝘪 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯? Junyi started to feel a sense of dread.

"What!? Li Xinya? That man is more troublesome than Yelan!"

𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘓𝘪 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯!? Bai Junyi became stunned at the subtle information coming in. 𝘓𝘪 𝘟𝘪𝘯𝘺𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩... 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵... 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘡𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘓𝘪𝘶𝘹𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘺?

"Damn these Li's. Send me the information immediately. I'll handle it before he gets here."

Click.

𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘰?

He didn't need much time to figure it out as Zhou Liuxian immediately looked at him with a questionable look and opened his mouth. "Li Tian is on the way here. I think it's best you don't show yourself."

Everyone in the room took the time to slowly process his words before almost simultaneously letting out a single word.

"What??"

.....