Where had he been before this? He could start at the end, work his way back. He was heading to work when he’d been attacked. It was the same route as always. Anyone who knew him would be able to follow that route like clockwork, save for the few times he’d gone out of his way to avoid Xingyu. Go further back—this morning? No, nothing spectacular had happened; Liu Baiyan and Sun Yue had both headed out for the day, Xingyu was still asleep after a day of bouncing between parties but would be going to Liu Baiyan’s lesson an hour after Xiaokai left. Further, then: the New Year’s parties all day yesterday. If something had gone wrong then, Liu Baiyan would have spoken to him directly—again, nothing that he would have outsourced for. Further back—

If he considered someone other than himself. Maybe it really was something to do with his work with Zhang Weiran and Liu Xingyu. Xingyu hadn’t—

No. Was that it? But he didn’t want to confirm it, because what if he was wrong and he was just giving Bai Xue and the List free information they hadn’t even known about in the first place—

“I don’t understand,” said Liu Xiaokai, and almost on instinct he used his training to drop his voice, put the most subtle of whines into it—made himself younger and scared and confused. “I don’t—I don’t know why he would—I don’t know.”

Bai Xue made a soothing noise and reached up again to touch Xiaokai’s cheek; Xiaokai leaned into his touch. “Do you think he made a mistake?”

It was an innocuous question—one that wouldn’t have made most people think twice. If Xiaokai had grown up differently, he might have thought the obvious answer was “yes, of course he made a mistake, I haven’t done anything wrong!” But this was Liu Baiyan they were talking about, and as much as Xiaokai wanted to forget it—and as much as he did forget it—Bai Xue was a part of the List. Xiaokai said, “Whatever he saw or heard, there must be an explanation for it. I haven’t done anything against the List. I’ve been—god, I don’t even have any time to do anything other than appointments and work. You know that.”

“I know, sweetheart. You don’t have any idea what he’s thinking about?”

“No idea,” said Xiaokai, honestly. “Did he not tell you? Why did he send you?”

“Do you mean why did he send someone or why did he send me in particular?”

“You specifically,” said Xiaokai, and he hesitated, and then he said, “Does he know…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.