XIAOKAI REMEMBERED A few things about Bai Xue to tell Xingyu and Weiran, none of it particularly useful to the extent that he remembered and related them: firstly, that Bai Xue was privy to a variety of foods. This didn’t mean much even if you added any kind of information; he was well-traveled, that’s all. That wasn’t out of the norm for any kind of person with wealth, unless you were like Liu Xiaokai and wholly dedicated to your work. Secondly, he didn’t always like to get right into business, and sometimes preferred to just sit and eat and talk for a bit. There wasn’t anything to be gathered from this either, as Liu Xiaokai knew at this point that this was probably all just to gain his favor so he’d become a proper heir. Thirdly, he wore expensive sweaters and slacks. If Xiaokai had paid more attention to these clothes as they were discarded (admittedly a challenging task, as Xiaokai was otherwise occupied), he would have noticed that they had small tags sewn into the seams with the character ‘yun’22 embroidered onto the tags. Xiaokai was correct in that these were not brands, but some research might have yielded afterward that these were the work of a famous tailor in the city, Zhang Tao, who signed all of his work with these little tags, and further research might have revealed that this Zhang Tao was very picky with his clientele and would most certainly have Bai Xue’s name and contact information in his records. Fourthly, there was never a phone on him. Unfortunately, yet another little detail that wouldn’t go anywhere. Half of the reasoning behind this was that Bai Xue simply did not like technology; the other half was, unlike the rest of Xiaokai’s clientele, aware of what the other part of Xiaokai’s job was, and didn’t want his heir getting any ideas that he should gather information on Bai Xue too, just in case, even if Sun Yue had already instructed him not to. Fifthly, he never spoke about business. A no-brainer, really—the kind of fact that only communicated the absence of information, nothing to it. Sixthly, lastly: he wanted to go on dates with Liu Xiaokai, but he’d never acted on these desires.

…He really did want to go on dates with Liu Xiaokai.

Bai Xue knew that he was a monster, but most of these people in the city were the same, and it wasn’t like he was heartless, anyway. He also had desires and urges and aspirations that kept him moving forward—wanting to climb to the top of the List, then wanting to keep the List alive, then…

…then Liu Xiaokai?