Chapter 35 Using Another's Name

"What do you think, Bai Junyi?"

The young man being questioned looked at the Clan Head's prying gaze and felt his palms sweat. The middle-aged man didn't appear angry, but there was a strange air surrounding the powerhouse who calmly swirled the wine in his hand.

"From my knowledge of Li Tian, he only acts with such vigor on clan affairs when it's a direct order from his mother, the Li Clan Head," Bai Junyi tried to explain. He hadn't seen what happened directly, but Zhou Liuxian mentioned a few things.

First, Li Tian asserted himself as Li 𝘟𝘪𝘢𝘰 Tian, which hardly EVER happened. Secondly, he came to get an attendant of sorts and somehow ended up taking his second son, the only one not born from the official wife. And thirdly, while he was unsurprisingly rude, he still actually managed to hold back from escalating it to anything further than a small grudge. Wouldn't he usually have already thrown caution to the wind halfway?

The Zhou Clan head took a sip from his wine and uttered thoughtfully, "It was Li Xinya who sent him here, not Li Yelan. He should have around the same amount of authority over him."

"I see..." Bai Junyi, originally being Yijun from the South, couldn't comment on such information. He knew close to nothing on the Li Branch Head in the North. His father may have known more, but he himself was more focused on the wastrel heir to think so far into the inner mechanics of such a colossal clan.

"Tell me, Junyi," Zhou Liuxian analyzed the Southerner's face, "why do you think Li Xinya wanted my bastard son?"

Bai Junyi swallowed the frog in his throat. The Clan head was hinting at his own experience with soliciting an heir.

He quickly thought of his own motives of trying to get his hands on the Zhou illegitimate heir, something he would never admit, but couldn't find any reason for Li Tian or the branch head to have the same.

Li Tian was already out of the question.

A pompous heir like him would never even give a second glance to the Zhou Clan Head, let alone a mere bastard. His arrogance knew no bounds unless it was being restrained by someone of higher might and respect.

There was no doubt in both of their minds that Li Tian was ordered here.

But then for what reason would someone like Li Xinya need the illegitimate heir?

"I don't know enough to deduce the thoughts of giants," Bai Junyi stated humbly, "but if it were anyone else, getting a hand on an heir would be a way for them to control the future Clan Head."

"Future Clan Head? Leixue? Hah!" Zhou Liuxian laughed as if he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. "He has no claim to such a thing. Is this what you had in mind when you stuck to that pretentious Li Tian?"

"Of course not, Clan Head," the guilty Junyi shook his head immediately. "Even as a legitimate heir, I knew already that Li Tian had no right to claim the title. However, he was still an heir to the Li Clan and my only way to wiggle in and broaden my networks. Not to mention he was the easiest to persuade. It was only after following him long enough and understanding his status within the clan that I decided to cut our ties."

"Vengefully."

"Y-yes..."

"Hmmm..." the Clan Head took another sip.

"If I may suggest, Clan Head," the young man asked.

Zhou Liuxian merely nodded his head, allowing the other party to speak.

"If this Li Xinya plans to use your son against you, isn't it also possible to do the same with them?"

Zhou Liuxian raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting a double agent of sorts?"

"In a way, yes. Your second son isn't considered a legitimate heir, thus they wouldn't put him under strict supervision. At the same time, he is still your son, which warrants him a little respect. The balance should be just right to where he can be put in the most optimal position. It would be a good scheme whether there is a turnout or not."

"Hahahahaha! As expected of a snake like you. You can come up with dirty schemes on the fly," the Clan Head gave him a backhanded praise.

In such a situation, the only thing Bai Junyi could do was accept it. "This is just something I thought of from my own experience..."

"You better not dare use such experiences against me, Bai Junyi," the older man warned.

"Impossible, Clan Head," Bai Junyi denied with an honest-looking face. Whether he really felt that way was still up for debate. "I'm under your care, especially with Li Tian turning up North. I have already put my eggs in your basket. If your ship sinks, so will I."

Although there is the saying of never putting all your eggs in one basket...

"Hahahaha! Good then. With your scheme, at least that son of mine will showcase some sort of usefulness. We must put him to work."

.....

Li Tian pushed open the door and brought Rai into a room that smelt of medicine. They had arrived at Dr. Kai's North Branch treatment room situated right next to his office.

Only Dr. Kairyuu Sveen, with his high standing within the Clan, could have his own private facilities in every Li Clan branch.

The doctor in question was already sitting in his chair awaiting his patient. He looked at the little Li heir being followed by an even littler one and smiled in amusement.

"Young Master Tian, I can't say I'm surprised to see you," the middle-aged man teased. "I got ready immediately after being notified by Master Xinya."

Li Tian rolled his eyes and spoke in annoyance, "It's not me this time. It's this guy."

His gaze rested on the small boy.

Rai looked at his new employer with surprise. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥?

"For this young lad?" the doctor asked casually.

"Yeah, could you take a look, Dr. Kai?"

The sudden request made the doctor's eyebrows furrow. For the arrogant Li Tian to make such an honest request made him become a little serious. "Come and sit, little one," he ushered Rai forward.

The little one went and sat down nervously, all the while feeling a little curious.

𝘋𝘳. 𝘒𝘢𝘪... 𝘒𝘢𝘪... 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘴𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦?

The doctor lifted up Rai's arms gently and pushed back the sleeves.

"There's quite a few bruising and swelling, little one," he stated gently.

Rai lowered his head with shame and refrained from saying anything.

"This spot right here seems especially recent," Dr. Kai continued and lightly tapped a section of the child's arm.

The child in his grip couldn't hide the involuntary flinch he did at the immediate sense of touch.

"Hmmm..." taking in the child's reaction, Dr. Kai made an assumption. With a gentle tone, he spoke, "I'm guessing this happened around last night. Can you tell me what happened, little one?"

Rai bit his lip and stuttered, "I fell down a flight of stairs..."

As a habit, he used his bangs to hide his expression yet again.

"A flight of stairs?" Dr. Kai raised an eyebrow skeptically. He was an experienced doctor and one that worked specifically for the Li Clan. How could he not know where such bruising came from? He had just looked at something similar not too long ago on the other young man in the room.

He looked at the Li heir questioningly but saw the youngster holding back an angry expression. As someone good enough to be ranked higher than even the Clan elders, Dr. Kai could immediately tell the gist of it.

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱...

"Okay, then," he said gently to the shaky child. "We'll have to take a few X-rays to check if there are any fractures or hidden complications. Is there anywhere else that hurts?"

Rai shook his head quickly and was about to deny it. But just as he was about to speak, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

Looking up, he saw Big Brother Tian glaring at him sharply, causing him to freeze in his seat.

"I don't take kindly to liars, Leixue."

Right as the piercing words reached his ears, Rai felt his throat go dry. A subconscious conclusion formed in his mind.

Li Tian is scary.

𝘞-𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭... 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴...

The pressure he felt had instantly changed his stance.

"I-I also injured some parts of my legs... when I... fell..." his voice slowly grew softer at the last part. After all, wasn't that still a lie?

But the two opposite parties didn't seem to suspect anything so he breathed a secret sigh of relief and let it be.

After a few more checks, Dr. Kai called a nurse in to bring Rai out to get the X-rays done, leaving only him and Li Tian.

After rearranging some of the equipment, they walked out of the treatment room and came to sit more comfortably in the doctor's office.

"I'm guessing your mother has no knowledge of this yet?" the doctor looked at the Li heir and chuckled. He pulled out two cups from the cupboard behind them and placed them on his work desk.

"Uncle Xinya knows about it," Li Tian stated as if it were enough of an excuse.

"I see... So is the boy someone to take note of?" The tea dispenser had already been filled prior to their arrival so the older man just needed to place their cups under it for some hot tea.

"He's my little brother."

"What??" his fingers stopped moving.

"He's also the son of Zhou Liuxian."

"WHAT!?" If Dr. Kai had picked up the cup, it would have dropped to the floor. Thankfully, he had yet to. "I don't think I follow at all. Do explain yourself properly, Young Master Tian."

Without wasting time, the older man quickly placed the two cups filled with tea down in front of each other just in case he would be surprised again.

Li Tian thought for a while and finally explained about how they met, him accepting him as a brother without knowledge of the boy's background, and how he later found out about the abuse. He and Levi had discussed things and finally got his uncle, Li Xinya to help him get Rai out of the Zhou Clan.

"I understand now..." Dr. Kai leaned back in his seat. "But who knew you would turn out to be such a caring person. Our lone wolf, Li Tian caring for someone other than himself. I have to say it's quite surprising."

Li Tian clicked his tongue and made no comment on it. The last time they spoke, certainly that was the case. But afterward... he had experienced too much too fast.

Seeing the heir refusing to speak, Dr. Kai sighed with melancholy, "I didn't get to say this before as you were too busy with preparing to head North but... I looked at her medical information... there wasn't much I could do to prolong it either..."

They both knew who he was talking about.

When he found out Grandmama was sick, he had immediately wanted to bring her under the Li Clan's care, under Dr. Kai's supervision. But it wasn't what she had wanted.

"It's okay... I have come to terms with it by now..." Li Tian whispered.

The confession was surprising, to say the least, as Dr. Kai wasn't clueless about the situation. "You mean you've stopped trying to get revenge?"

The Li heir narrowed his eyes at the older man in front of him but in the end, had to accept the facts. This was one of the most well-connected man in the clan after all. There was hardly anything that didn't reach his ears.

It was only the situation with Rai where he had heard nothing yet due to it just happening.

"I'm still angry! I'm angry at the person who spat on my pride, and angry that that same person was privileged enough to be related to her by blood yet allowed her to die a lonely death," the young man let out a rare burst of emotion. His fists had tightened till his knuckles turned pale, taking him everything to just not bang them on the table.

"But in the end, she wasn't alone," Dr. Kai consoled him with the same gentleness shown towards Rai. He would usually tease or annoy the youngest Li heir but at that moment, all he felt was compassion. He was a doctor after all.

His words managed to soothe the young man a little. Li Tian's fists slowly released as he took a long breath. "Yeah... And I found something I need to protect now."

"The little boy?"

"Yes. I can't just leave him alone and let him suffer in that house."

"But you don't have the authority to go against a big clan, not with your status."

"I know. I've had this exact same conversation with Uncle Xinya already."

In that moment, something clicked in Dr. Kai's head. "You... you begged Branch Head Xinya to allow you to use his name?"

Li Tian pursed his lips at the word 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥.

"We made a compromise."

"This..."

Knock. Knock.

The sound of the door opening halted their conversation.

Rai who had finished the X-rays was ushered softly into the room by the nurse on duty.

"T-thank you," the boy nodded at the nurse shyly.

"No problem, young man. Be sure to watch where you're going next time," the nurse smiled at him kindly. "You can go in now."

"O-Okay," Rai walked in with his usual head down and felt a little bad for lying to the kind nurse. But there was no way he could tell anyone that he was beaten by his own father. If he ruined his father's face like that, their relationship would become even worse than it already was.

𝘈𝘩... he was thinking to himself so much that he ended up walking absentmindedly. He looked up to see his new employer, Li Tian, and the doctor sitting at an office desk together.

"Come and sit here, Leixue," Big Brother Tian pointed to the seat next to him.

He went to sit down quietly and watched as the doctor turned on his computer screen. As the doctor scrutinized the X-rays that had appeared on the display, Rai took the opportunity to analyze the doctor's face instead.

Could the doctor really be from Asahi?

After a few minutes of waiting, Dr. Kai let out his thoughts, "You're quite lucky, little one. Even with those terrible bruises, there appears to be no indication of fracturing in your bones."

"That's good," it was Li Tian that replied. Relief washed over his face, and the worry that plagued him since the night before finally let out. "So there's no permanent damage?"

"None, unless he intends on falling another flight of stairs," it sounded like a joke, but it was actually a silent warning for Li Tian to be aware of the potential risks. "So you had better be 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢 careful, little one. Your name was Leixue, was it?"

Rai snapped out of his thoughts. "Y-yes... it is."

"I'll prescribe you some ointment. Make sure to properly use them at the given times," Dr. Kai typed a few things into the computer. "Do you have any questions?"

"U...um..."

His sudden initiative caused both Li Tian and Dr. Kai to stop and look at him curiously.

"Pardon me, Dr. Kai... b-but are you Asahin?"

.....