Xin Lan continued to look at them and then slowly raised his brows. "What are the two of you going to do in the meantime?"
Huo Cheng and Huo Hai stared back at him and then exchanged a glance, trying to see if the other one had heard the same. When they saw the same incredulity in each other's eyes, they turned back to Xin Lan, frowning. "What do you mean what are we going to do in the meantime?" Huo Cheng asked. "Of course, we're going to come with you."
Xin Lan raised his brows even further, seeming as if he was completely surprised at getting that answer. "You want to come along? I'm afraid that won't be possible. Look, we will be going over to offer our condolences and our help. It is one thing to bring my fiance since I know the family but bringing two unrelated martial brothers of my fiance along as well might be a little too much. You can't forget that the family is certainly still grieving."
"Then … Then you should better go alone!" No way in hell would they let him take their little junior along if they couldn't be there to have an eye on things. What if he took advantage of him?!
Xin Lan shook his head at them and pulled Hua Lin Yu closer, leaning over to kiss his temple. "You two, what are you even saying? Xiao Yu wants to go. Naturally, I won't tell him no. There really is no reason to be like this. Don't you trust me?"
The two of them really wanted to give him a piece of their minds but seeing Hua Lin Yu's gaze, they couldn't bring themselves to do so. "Well … Frankly, we don't know you very well." That should be alright as an excuse, right?
Hua Lin Yu wasn't happy with that though. "Senior martial brothers, what are you even saying? Xin Lan is my fiance. And he's a friend of my family. Is there really any reason to be like this? Also, I asked him for this, didn't I?"
The two of them really couldn't argue that. Still, they weren't reconciled. They didn't want their little junior to be completely out of reach. "Well, what if something happens? You might need more than one person to keep you safe."
Xin Lan sighed at their more than obvious try to worm their way into this visit after all. "If that is the case, then you don't need to worry. The other son-in-law of that family is of my race. There's nothing that the two of you could do that either him or I wouldn't be able to do. In fact, Xiao Yu will be much safer with us than he could ever be with you."
Huo Hai furrowed his brows and tried another approach. "Well, what if that other son-in-law was the one who committed the crime? Then he might be the one to attack you."
"I'm stronger than him so that wouldn't be a problem either. In fact, having two more people there would make this even worse because then I would have to protect not only Xiao Yu but also the two of you. That would definitely put much more pressure on me. Give me a break!" He turned to Hua Lin Yu and gently grabbed his shoulders, giving him a smile. "Xiao Yu, don't let your senior martial brothers convince you of anything.
"I'm sure that it wasn't him. He really has no need at all to kill a mortal for two businesses. He … is fairly wealthy himself and he and his lover will likely leave the capital soon anyway. This is just some added problem for them that they would likely have liked to avoid. Anyway, he is definitely a good person." A good person that he didn't like but that really wasn't helping right now so he kept that to himself.
Hua Lin Yu didn't seem worried though. "Don't worry, I'm sure that you wouldn't have proposed going there if you thought he was any danger to me. I trust you!" He lightly craned his neck and pecked Xin Lan's lips before stepping back with a chuckle. "Alright, since we cleared that up, we should go. If we want to help, we should do so early rather than late. Maybe we will really be able to help them solve this."
Xin Lan nodded and then led him in the direction of the house of the Zhongs. Huo Cheng and Huo Hai were alarmed and hurriedly rushed after them.
Xin Lan stopped in his tracks and then turned around, raising his brows at them again. "Didn't I make myself clear? You can't come with us. Why are you still following along?"
Huo Hai pressed his lips together and gnashed his teeth before answering. "Anyway, we can at least follow you until we reach the building, right? We'll just stay close by in case something happens after all. We can just …" He didn't know what they could do but his brother came to his rescue just in time.
"We can ask the people around there if they have noticed anything. And if something does happen, we will rush over and help out."
Xin Lan smiled slightly and then gave a nod so Xiao Yu wouldn't think of him as the bad person. "Just make sure that you don't suddenly imagine hearing your junior martial brother cry out for help or something. It would be really awkward to tell the grieving family who the two madmen are that broke into their house."
With that, he turned away and pulled Hua Lin Yu along, finally reaching the house of the Zhongs and having one of the servants show them inside. He really didn't think that the two Huo brothers would dare to do anything after that warning. Not if they didn't want to risk making Hua Lin Yu angry.