No. Not Xingyu. Xingyu wasn’t capable of such things. Xingyu was the handsome college student who became friends with Weiran, who brought him coffee in the mornings, who ruffled his hair and called him “A-Wei” when he was in a good mood. Xingyu wasn’t capable of murder, not even if it was to get rid of a monster like Liu Baiyan. Even if he hated his father.

Xingyu and Xiaokai finally came by on Sunday, after two days of no contact. Weiran had just gotten out of the shower and only barely had enough time to pull on his pants before both of them were coming in and shutting the door behind them.

“It’s about time.” Weiran went to his suitcase to find a shirt to put on—being shirtless somehow felt more vulnerable than usual if it was around these two. “What’s been going on?” He looked them up and down, took in the plain black suits, the black ties, the white shirts. “Did you just get back from the funeral?”

“Yeah.” Xingyu almost looked pleased that Weiran’s rudimentary deduction skills got him that far. “How have you been, Weiran?”

Xiaokai scowled as he stripped off his suit jacket behind him, the muscles in his arms flexing against his shirt as he tossed the jacket onto the table. “Don’t bother with the small talk. We all need to figure out how to clean up your mess.”

“Mess?”

“Yes,” Xiaokai snapped. Now he undid his tie with one hand and threw it on top of the jacket. Xingyu watched this with an arched eyebrow. “I’ve been holding off on talking about this, but are you kidding me? This was never part of the plan! You’ve put everyone in jeopardy, and for what? So you could accomplish your childhood dream of patricide?”

“I sped up the process! We have access to things we would have had to wait years for! And if the board comes through and gives me the position, I’ll have the power to force Laoma to give you access to the Files.”

“Xiaokai—” Weiran tried to step in, but Xiaokai just kept plowing forward.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Xiaokai!”

“Do you know what’s happening, Xingyu? You’re becoming the monster that Liu Baiyan always wanted you to be! You don’t even know if this is going to work!”

That made Weiran snap. He stepped between Xiaokai and Xingyu and pushed Xiaokai back. “Stop, Xiaokai. Even if he did kill him—it was Liu Baiyan, for fuck’s sake! It was a necessary evil. You of all people calling him a monster—”

“Me of all people?” There was something strange in Xiaokai’s eyes now.

“You’ve always been bitter toward Xingyu for being the chosen heir!”

Xingyu put a hand on Weiran’s shoulder, but Weiran shrugged him off. “Weiran, you—”