“With Xiaokai?” Liu Baiyan repeated. He glanced at Sun Yue and they had a quick, silent conversation—would that be appropriate? It would be better to let him go; we don’t know what he would get up to otherwise. Xiaokai is a smart enough boy to keep him under control for that long.

“You won’t need me right away, right? If I remember correctly, the suit fitting isn’t until tomorrow.”

Suit fitting? What in the world did Xingyu need a new suit for? Xiaokai looked toward Liu Baiyan with a question on the edge of his lips but he pushed it back just in time—it wasn’t his place to question the president. It wasn’t his job to question his plans. If he wanted Liu Xingyu to take over the company after all, even when he had abandoned the family for so many years, even when Liu Xiaokai was the one who stayed and studied and trained and bruised, that was his decision, and Xiaokai needed to respect it. He scooped some rice into his mouth to further stamp down the words. The grains tasted like ash.

“If Xiaokai determines that you won’t distract him, that should be fine.”

Xingyu beamed at Xiaokai. Xiaokai very carefully put his chopsticks down and patted his mouth with a napkin. This was not a real question, nor did Xiaokai have any control over what his answer would be; if Liu Baiyan didn’t refuse Xingyu his request, then he had already determined Xiaokai’s answer—even if that wasn’t the case, saying no would mean admitting that Xiaokai was easily distracted, which of course was out of the question. “You’re free to come with me,” he said, “but I imagine it’ll be boring for you.”

“Boring? I’ll be fine.” Xingyu gave Xiaokai a wide smile. “I’ll use the opportunity to catch up with my didi.”

XINGYU WAS ABOUT two inches taller than Xiaokai, but about the same size otherwise. He found a suit in his wardrobe—charcoal gray, full break—that was just long enough to make a quarter break on Xingyu. He was grinning at Xiaokai the entire time he searched for this suit, this obnoxious I’m-proud-of-you smile that grated on Xiaokai’s nerves.

“Do you have a problem?”

“No, no. It’s just that you’ve grown so much.”

Xiaokai just pressed the suit and a black button-up into his hands. “Wear this.”

“Don’t want me embarrassing you at work?”

“There’s a dress code. Everyone is supposed to follow it.” He gave him a tie—black again. “Not even you are an exception.”

Xingyu blinked. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Just get dressed. A car will pick you up in the front.”

“Wait—pick me up? What about you?”

Xiaokai picked out a black suit from his wardrobe for himself. “I have something to do before I go to the office. I’ll meet you there.”