"What XueQing said isn't without reason, Father," Yan said, nodding. "They always say, lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas. Our little brother is still young. He's not completely set in his ways. It's not good for him to hang out with someone as unscrupulous as Feng Qun. He might have been led astray by that guy. He was temperamental and self-centred. He wouldn't even listen to me, his elder brother. But now? He's become mature and obedient; he'd even listen to my advice. Those superficial friends of his should be chased off as soon as possible."
"You're right," FuRen agreed with a node. "HanHan is the youngest son of the Bai family. There are many who'd like to curry favour with him. He's still young. Sometimes, he can't tell whether someone really is kind and sincere or if they're malicious. You're his older siblings. You'll have to help him filter out the scum, but you have to respect his wishes so he doesn't get upset.
"As for this Feng Qun, the young Mr Chen has already acted. We don't need to do anything else. Whether he actually befriended HanHan with evil intentions or not, it doesn't matter. That's all just our guess. If we do anything more, we'll be seen as going overboard and cruel. Once he's out of the hospital, we'll just drive him away. As long as he never returns to this city, we'll leave him be no matter what he does."
Yan and XueQing nodded to that.
***
When JingYuan arrived back at the Bai family home, YiHan was currently hard at work writing something.
The first thing JingYuan saw when he stepped through the door was YiHan almost spread out all over the desk. He wrote and drew and wrote again on a piece of paper. His brows were locked in a tight frown. He was so serious and focused on his writings that he didn't even notice JingYuan getting close to him.
JingYuan stood behind YiHan and stretched his neck to peek at what HanHan was writing. While everything was a little messy and all over the place, he could tell it was a plan for how to get close to Chen TianYang and suss out his attitude to XueQing.
JingYuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous at it. His little one really did care a lot for his sister.
He knew this wasn't the right mindset to have. HanHan liked him. This was already the greatest gift the gods could ever bestow upon him. He shouldn't get greedy. That's just what humans do though. When they have a delicious cake they can look at but not taste, they would think that they'll be satisfied as long as they can take one bite. Once he really did take one bite of that delectable cake, they would have the uncontrollable desire to have the entire cake to themselves. They wouldn't even want others to glance at it to avoid anyone else wanting the cake.
JingYuan bitterly laughed on the inside. Everyone said he was a very promising young man who was mature and disciplined. No one would've thought that when it's about the one he loved, he would act exactly like an immature brat, anxious and unruly. XueQing was HanHan's sister. It's normal for someone to care a lot about one's sister's marriage. He's acting like he's possessed. He must correct that.
He let out a long exhale and asked in a soft voice, "HanHan, what are you writing? You're so serious."
It was only then that YiHan realised JingYuan was in the room. "You're back. I was wondering how to approach Chen TianYang in a natural manner that he wouldn't see through. He's so smart. I'm afraid of mucking it up."
JingYuan casually leaned down and pecked YiHan on the cheek. "How's your plan coming along?" he gently asked.
YiHan's face immediately flushed red. He put his pen down and used his two fair, perfect, slender hands to cover up the messy writing on the paper. "I'm not done yet," he muttered.
The smile on JingYuan's lips deepened. He didn't bother trying to take a peek at the paper again. He raised a hand to pat the back of YiHan's head and warmly said, "Have you been planning for a long time? Just bashing your head against it won't do. You've got to take a few breaks. Hm, you've been sitting here for a long time. This chair isn't very soft. Aren't you uncomfortable?"