SIATOWITF Chapter 33
by VolareAs the stars shifted and night fell, the giant ship sounded its horn and sailed away from the harbor.
The old man’s raised glass in the center of the banquet signaled the official start of this charity night.
Guests raised their glasses one after another, paying tribute to the old family head with smiles.
“It’s the fifth annual charity dinner, and Old Master Lin is still so hale and hearty.”
“Mu Lao is here too. Besides Old Master Lin, he hasn’t been willing to come out for anyone these past few years…”
“After all, they’re related by marriage. Except for that youngest son of the Mu family who went to the military, everyone else should be here.”
“True…”
“Come with me.” Ji Mo An took two glasses of champagne and winked at Xuan Bai.
“Are you going to speak up there too?” Xuan Bai glanced at the platform where a couple was starting the second round of speeches, arm in arm.
“No, after my parents finish speaking, they’ll hand it all over to the host.” Ji Mo An shook his head. “The charity dinner is specifically for me. Grandpa hasn’t hosted a big banquet for a long time.”
“You can’t drink even a drop of alcohol?” He put the champagne in his hand on the counter and then took out a bottle of… apple juice.
“I can, but I just don’t like it.” Xuan Bai watched Ji Mo An pour apple juice into an empty glass, curiously comparing the wine and juice.
The color is similar…
“Is this for me?”
“Of course not.” Ji Mo An ruthlessly slapped away Xuan Bai’s outstretched hand.
“The color is okay.” He handed the apple juice to the attendant beside him. “Keep an eye on him and don’t let him drink alcohol.”
“Yes, Young Master An.” The attendant bowed slightly, taking the apple juice and leaving.
“Waiters with silver patterns on their name tags serve all kinds of alcoholic beverages, while those with gold patterns serve apple juice.” Ji Mo An picked up a glass of champagne and took a sip.
“How thoughtful.” Xuan Bai secretly reached for the apple juice.
“There are always some people who aren’t comfortable drinking alcohol. The dinner table is also a kind of torment.”
“Let’s go, I’ll introduce you to some people.”
“Many people are looking at me.” Xuan Bai successfully poured himself a glass of apple juice.
“Isn’t it normal to look at you?”
“That’s true.” Xuan Bai smiled and put the apple juice back in its place.
He wouldn’t tell Ji Mo An that the gazes of those waiters were full of vigilance and hostility, nor would he tell Ji Mo An that after they left, a waiter immediately locked the apple juice he had touched into a black briefcase.
The snake knows everything, but the snake says nothing.
–
“Meng Qingyan and Ji Cheng Yu, you’ve met before.” When Ji Mo An led Xuan Bai toward the group of people chatting idly, everyone except Ji Cheng Yu showed a hint of surprise on their faces.
“Oh my, you’ve gotten even more handsome after not seeing you for a few days.” Ji Cheng Yu looked around smugly and took the lead in extending his hand.
“…” Xuan Bai paused for a few seconds looking at the hand stretched out in mid-air. He didn’t want to have too friendly physical contact with humans.
But Ji Mo An was staring at him, so Xuan Bai reluctantly reached out his hand.
Ji Cheng Yu shivered from the cold.
“Hello, hello, I’m Ye Xun, and this is Su Ziyang.” Ye Xun secretly observed him and immediately extended his hand after hearing Ji Cheng Yu’s commercial flattery.
“Meng Qingyan, I’m Meng Xiao’s older sister. We met once at the anniversary exhibition last time.” Meng Qingyan also showed a cordial smile.
“This is Shangguan Ling, you can just call her Lingling.”
Xuan Bai shook hands with them, but didn’t take the initiative to speak, which made the young masters and ladies who were used to being flattered feel a little embarrassed.
“Haha, maybe Lingling can chat with our Brother Xuan, right? When can a German returnee like you return to the country for good?” Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Ji Cheng Yu immediately spoke up cheekily.
“Get lost.” Shangguan Ling glared at him.
“Okay, his Chinese isn’t good. He probably won’t understand half of what you’re saying.” Ji Mo An saw that Xuan Bai didn’t want to say anything and opened his mouth to smooth things over.
“Reasonable.” Ji Cheng Yu gave a thumbs up. “Hey, where’s Xin Xin? How come I don’t see her?”
“She went to find Brother Mu. Brother Mu brought his son, and Xin Xin loves to play with him. That’s right, I’ll go find them.” Ji Mo An waved at Xuan Bai. “Let’s go.”
“Unbelievable, unbelievable.” Meng Qingyan pointed her wine glass at the departing duo. “Brother Ji, what’s going on here?”
“Well, it’s just like what you see.” Ji Cheng Yu shrugged, went over, and clinked glasses with her. “He’s so infatuated with our Brother An. Seriously, who among us would dare to bring someone back like that?”
“But I feel like Aunt Mu’s hurdle should be easy to overcome. Seriously, it’s not my Brother An’s fault. Handsome guys are common, but there aren’t many who look like that.” Su Ziyang raised his eyebrows. “Lingling, what do you think?”
“I’m standing and watching.” Shangguan Ling frowned and looked at her fingertips. “Don’t you think his hands are a little too cold?”
“A little, but he’s from Iceland, so maybe that’s just his constitution.” Ji Cheng Yu rubbed his fingertips. “When I went to Iceland to find Sister Qingyan before, wow, it was so cold.”
“It’s okay, Brother An definitely made preparations when he brought him here. Let’s continue chatting. Last time, Brother Mu said he wanted to invest in artificial intelligence stocks. What do you guys think?”
“I think it’s feasible, the market there now…”
The group stood together, talking about million-dollar deals. Even though countless people around them looked at them with envy, none dared to approach that small circle.
The young masters and ladies standing at the top of the pyramid were never good-tempered. After high school, no one else could integrate into their circle, but they all gave Xuan Bai enthusiasm and welcome.
Simply because he was someone Ji Mo An had brought.
This would have made any human ecstatic, but Xuan Bai was a snake.
The snake doesn’t care about the world of fame and fortune. The snake only cares that the person he wants to see can always be reflected in his eyes.
But…
“Xin Xin.” Ji Mo An called again to the little girl who was frozen in place.
“Brother…” Ji Mo Xin swooshed and hid behind Ji Mo An.
“Hello, I’m Mu Xuan.” The man standing next to Ji Mo Xin, who looked to be in his thirties or forties, held out his hand to Xuan Bai. He wore glasses and looked very refined.
“Hello.” Xuan Bai lowered his head slightly and shook hands with Mu Xuan.
“I’m Xiao An and Xin Xin’s cousin. This is my son, Mu Qianxing.” Mu Xuan’s voice was as gentle as jade, but he subtly reached out and pressed down on the shoulder of the young man next to him.
Mu Qianxing was about to open his mouth, but his father pushed him back, so he could only raise his head and look at the handsome older brother with some confusion.
He rubbed his eyes again in confusion, because in that moment of eye contact, he felt like something flashed in the other person’s amber eyes.
Dangerous… yet inexplicably familiar.
The young man pursed his lips and carefully and politely shifted his gaze away.
He wanted to tell Ji Mo Xin, but Ji Mo Xin was hiding behind Ji Mo An at the moment, pinching his brother’s waist.
“Brother… why didn’t you tell me earlier…” Ji Mo Xin’s social anxiety flared up, blaming all the mistakes on her older brother. “You know I’m not good at talking to handsome foreigners. I’ll be shy.”
“…” Ji Mo An felt the strength in his waist and didn’t feel Ji Mo Xin’s shyness at all.
What could he say? He couldn’t say that you guys had already met, and you even put a bunch of hats on the snake.
Oh, and Mom met him too, and Mom dressed up the snake in a fancy way in front of you and put him in a glass.
So Ji Mo An said, “Next time for sure.”
Next time… there’s a next time? If there weren’t so many people around, Ji Mo Xin would have really wanted to bite her brother.
“Xin Xin and Qianxing, go play. I have something to talk about with your brother.” Mu Xuan rubbed Ji Mo Xin’s head and found an excuse to send the two children away.
“Okay.” Ji Mo Xin blinked and secretly glanced at Xuan Bai again. “Qianxing, let’s go to the sky garden. They’ve raised a lot of butterflies there.”
“What does my brother want to talk to me about?” Ji Mo An was a little puzzled.
“About something from the past. It’s not convenient here.” Mu Xuan glanced at the surging crowd around him. “Let’s go to the seventh floor.”
“Okay.”
“Xuan Bai, there’s cake over there. Wait for me for a while.” Ji Mo An saw that Mu Xuan wanted to talk to him alone, but he was a little worried about Xuan Bai acting on his own.
And Bai Yan, the only one he could count on, had walked fifteen kilometers and didn’t know if he was awake or asleep at the moment.
“Don’t talk to anyone, wait for me to come back.” He lowered his voice.
“Okay.” Xuan Bai nodded, unexpectedly obedient.
“Okay.” Mu Xuan nodded at Xuan Bai and turned to walk toward the scenic elevator.
The seventh floor was a leisure area. Mu Xuan specifically found a soundproofed private room.
“Xiao An, how’s your injury?” Mu Xuan poured a cup of tea for Ji Mo An, skipping the pleasantries and going straight to the point.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good lately.” Ji Mo An took a sip of tea. Those frequent nightmares of his had long since disappeared without a trace, and even that phantom pain occasionally disappeared from his memory.
“Brother Mu, I suddenly stopped dreaming recently.” He thought about it and still concealed Xuan Bai’s matter.
“Suddenly?”
“Yeah. It used to be more and more frequent, but then it stopped… It’s been almost a week since I had that feeling.”
“Perhaps this is a sign of improvement. Come to my department in a few days and I’ll have you get a scan.” Mu Xuan nodded, but his brows didn’t relax.
“Xiao An, have you encountered anything unusual recently? Have you been stimulated by anything?”
“Stimulated…” A snake’s face flashed in Ji Mo An’s mind. “Nothing stimulating. It’s just been a little busy recently. First, I went to Qingyan’s anniversary exhibition, and then I went to Xuan An for the auction.”
“Xiao An, just tell your brother the truth.” Mu Xuan rubbed his forehead. “Where did you meet the person you brought?”
“…” Ji Mo An was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect Mu Xuan to be interested in Xuan Bai, and he couldn’t think of a way to deal with it for a moment.
He couldn’t possibly say he picked him up in the garage…
Ji Mo An didn’t dare to say anything, and the private room fell into an eerie silence.
“Xiao An, you know that I went to Germany for three months for research, but do you know which department I went to study?”
“Isn’t it…cardiology?”
“I went to study human micro-expressions.” Mu Xuan raised his eyes and carefully looked at the expression on Ji Mo An’s face.
“This…” Ji Mo An couldn’t quite keep up with the conversation.
“My younger brother, Xiao Chen, you know, he’s been in the army outside and hasn’t seen you much.” Mu Xuan sighed, took off his glasses, and wiped them gently. “He came back for a day last New Year’s Eve and brought a child back with him.”
“He has a child?” Ji Mo An asked subconsciously.
“…”
“No.” Mu Xuan choked a little. “You guys who are so old are still children in my eyes.”
“…” Got it. Ji Mo An silently shut his mouth.
“That child is strange.” Mu Xuan only said one adjective.
“Strange?”
“Yes, he doesn’t look like a person.”
“…” Brother Mu, why are you scolding people… Ji Mo An started to glance at Mu Xuan again.
“That’s not what I meant.” Mu Xuan began to regret his adjective. “There’s nothing wrong with all his actions and expressions, but there’s a sense of imitation.”
“It’s like… he imitates other people’s expressions and actions through learning. Although it’s flawless, it always reveals a sense of incompatibility. But other than me, no one else feels anything… Maybe it’s just a doctor’s intuition.”
“Xiao An, this is also the main reason why I invested in artificial intelligence and followed the psychology department for research.”
“Then…” Ji Mo An paused. He wasn’t familiar with his youngest cousin at all, and he hadn’t even seen him a few times.
“Actually, I had already convinced myself that it must have been an illusion, but that feeling appeared again.” Mu Xuan put on his clean glasses and looked deeply into Ji Mo An’s eyes.
“The one you brought… Xuan Bai. He made me feel that way again. Xiao An, tell your brother, how did you meet him?”
“…” Ji Mo An suddenly lowered his eyes, but he didn’t open his mouth again.
“Forget it.” Mu Xuan suddenly smiled. “It doesn’t matter, but once something goes wrong, or you feel something is wrong yourself, call your brother.”
“Immediately.”
“…Okay.” Ji Mo An nodded.
He suddenly wanted to ask if Mu Xuan could still contact that person, but the words reached his lips, and a bitter taste that came from nowhere suddenly spread, making it impossible for him to open his mouth.
So he could only silently nod and get up to leave the private room.
Doesn’t look like a person…
He knew that Xuan Bai had a father, and maybe even companions… only in Xuan Bai’s world.
Then if companions broke into the human world, would Xuan Bai still stay here?
Ji Mo An had never thought about what would happen if Xuan Bai went home, if Xuan Bai left.
He seemed to have unknowingly written Xuan Bai into every event in the future.
More annoying… more annoying than all the messes before.
Ji Mo An pressed the button to go downstairs, preparing to find Xuan Bai first.
However… there was no one there.
Ji Mo An walked around the dessert corridor, but he couldn’t find that tall figure.
Where did he go… Ji Mo An felt a pang of panic for no reason.
He grabbed a waiter who was changing the drinks beside him and asked if he had seen Xuan Bai, but the only response he got was the waiter’s confused eyes.
Check the surveillance… This was the only thought left in Ji Mo An’s mind.