“I don’t…hang out,” said Xiaokai stiffly. His palms were sweating. He had to try very hard not to wipe them on the fabric of his pants.

“No?” Xingyu didn’t seem to think much of this claim. He turned around, spotted the employee coming out of the plane with his bags. “Do you have those? I can take them if you—”

“It’s his job,” said Xiaokai. “Let him be.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“Just get in the car. I’m sure Fuqin5 is waiting for us.” His hands were trembling too. He rested one on top of the car door, the other he nestled into his pocket. A casual stance. It would be too obvious if he just hid them behind his back, no matter how natural he tried to make it look.

Xingyu looked doubtfully back at him. It was in these moments, Xiaokai thought with a small modicum of comfort, that Xingyu’s weakness was obvious: he simply did not know how to navigate the customs of their country, much less the customs of their class. Then he smiled. “You really have grown up,” he said, and reached out to ruffle Xiaokai’s hair; Xiaokai artfully ducked out of his reach. “Has Ba put you in charge of everything?”

“He is still the company president. Of course he hasn’t.”

“But soon?”

“It would be unfilial to count the days.”

That made Xingyu laugh again. He went around to the other side of the car, tried to open the door, but awkwardly had to step back when the chauffeur did it for him. This really was Xiaokai’s world. No matter how intelligent or business-minded he was, Xiaokai held the reins here.

Unless…

He had to take a few deep breaths before he got into the car next to the other man.

Unless Xingyu was here and meeting with Liu Baiyan because he was planning on taking the business. Unless he was studying abroad all this time not because he was interested in becoming a philanthropist or whatever he claimed but because he was getting the international experience to push Xiaokai out and become president in his place. Unless Liu Baiyan had been favoring his eldest son all this time and had only been using Xiaokai because he was conveniently there.

No. No, it was Xiaokai who was in this business. It was Xiaokai who knew all the ins and outs of the company, who knew the ins and outs of their competitors, who was loved by every employee he met and every employee he didn’t meet too, who made deals with partners with the ease of a greeting bow, who was so naturally talented and even naturally handsome that people outside the business world were flocking to him, too. There was simply no way that Xingyu could replace him.