Even when Yu Tan was visibly on edge, he still carried a pressure that made people's hearts skip.
Li Yu and Liu Luanzhou both stepped aside to make way.
Yu Tan looked at Hu Xiaoyu, who was standing in the middle of the mess, dazed and unfocused like a little blind thing, and the muscles in his body tightened all at once.
He could clearly feel that familiar yet strange emotion — the one he'd had when he'd forced Hu Xiaoyu to go to school, only to find out later that Yang Kai had bullied him.
Regret, probably.
Hu Xiaoyu looked like he was standing perfectly fine, but in truth his eyes were foggy; whoever he looked at was just a human-shaped silhouette.
That was the downside of being a yao. A yao could cultivate because it could sense the spirit of heaven and earth, but it would also, in some regards, completely lose self-control — some yaos were gluttons, some loved human clothing, some loved beauty, and some simply couldn't resist alcohol.
Those traits pushed yaos infinitely close to humans… but at the same time, they left flaws that humans could seize.
Heaven still favored humans the most. Even after giving yaos an almost indestructible body and a long, long lifespan, it also allowed the human world to give birth to sects that stood opposite to yaos, so they could make use of those yao characteristics and set traps.
Right now, Hu Xiaoyu felt someone approaching him.
He took a wary step back. "Don't come over!"
His sneakers stepped on the broken glass — glass scraping against tiles made a sharp, grating sound that made everyone's nerves jolt.
"Stand there. Don't move." Yu Tan couldn't help the command in his voice, but he also stopped where he was. "Xiaoyu, be good. I'll take you home."
"Who are you?" Hu Xiaoyu thought the voice sounded familiar, warm even.
Under normal circumstances, he could have recognized Yu Tan's voice in a second, but right now he was drunk, and Yu Tan had just run from the basement up to the fourth floor. Anger plus the physical exertion made his breathing uneven and his voice hoarse — it didn't sound like he usually did.
"Yu Tan. I'm Yu Tan." He deliberately softened his tone.
"Yu Tan?" The moment Hu Xiaoyu heard the name, a grievance rushed up. His whole body went a little limp, and there was also a touch of guilt. "I was wrong, Yu Tan. I drank. Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad. It's okay," Yu Tan answered lowly, walking toward him, slowly, until he was right in front of him.
Everyone who saw that scene — except for A Jiu, who rushed up right after — was stunned.
Who had ever seen the cold, hard-hearted Yu Tan coax someone like he was coaxing a child?
That kind of patience and gentleness, to people who had seen him be decisive and ruthless, didn't feel novel — it felt terrifying.
Li Yu clenched his jaw, afraid that if he lost control for even a second he would rush over and yank Hu Xiaoyu out of Yu Tan's arms.
This wasn't right.
Yu Tan was supposed to stand above everyone else. How could he become like this because of a stupid, slow, and once-ugly Hu Xiaoyu?
Well… to be fair, Hu Xiaoyu's temper was a lot bigger now, and he was no longer dirty and dull. At a glance, he really did look like some carefully raised young master from an old family.
Hu Xiaoyu leaned closer to Yu Tan and sniffed.
A faint sandalwood scent — his favorite, and the one he knew best.
He finally relaxed, rubbed his head against Yu Tan's chest, and called in a small voice, "Yu Tan."
Trust and dependence.
Yu Tan picked him up, glanced once at the Xu Feng sprawled on the floor, and then walked out.
His movements were very gentle, but that look he gave Xu Feng was like a bone-scraping blade.
Xu Feng didn't know Yu Tan — even though Li Yu had said the name "Yu Tan."
At his level, he didn't know what those two words meant. But he was still scared. After all, this young man called Yu Tan had shown up, and Li Yu had called him by name — that alone said he was someone.
The pain is secondary now. Xu Feng's mind was turning fast. Clearly, he'd touched someone he shouldn't have. He'd have to go to the Li family's young master later, see if he could smooth things over, apologize, or throw money at them. He couldn't afford to make an enemy.
As for Hu Xiaoyu… it looked like he'd underestimated him. The kid had hooked up with somebody strong this quickly — no wonder he'd been arrogant enough to hit him.
Yu Tan left with Hu Xiaoyu in his arms and didn't spare Liu Luanzhou or Li Yu even half a glance.
Liu Luanzhou watched the two leave, feeling a strange emptiness that he couldn't name.
He squeezed the hem of his jacket. In it was the safety charm Hu Xiaoyu had given him.
"Check why Yu Tan would show up here," he told his assistant.
What he really wanted to know was: Yu Tan, of all people, rarely lost composure. Was it only because of Hu Xiaoyu this time… or was there something else?
Hu Xiaoyu, for his part, let Yu Tan hold him however he wanted.
But every time Yu Tan tried to put some distance between them, he would start calling — louder, softer, higher, lower — until someone picked him up again.
Back home, Yu Tan took off his outer coat and shoved him into the bed.
After that, because he was sweating, he had to shower and change.
He'd barely turned toward the bathroom when a pair of underwear came flying straight at his face.
Yu Tan caught it on reflex and looked toward the lump in the blanket.
"Lump" wasn't quite right — Hu Xiaoyu had already kicked off the quilt. Not only had he tossed away the last piece of clothing, he was also restlessly crawling around on the bed, patting and groping everywhere.
He didn't even know what he wanted, just that something was missing.
If he'd been sober, he would've known what he was missing.
For a drunk fox, the most comfortable state was, of course, to return to his original form.
But not long ago, Yu Tan had caught him in bed and pounded him so hard his tailbone had gone numb, and he'd nearly let his tail come out. After that, he'd painstakingly placed a restriction on himself.
The incantation to undo that restriction was complicated. It would keep him from showing his fox form too easily — especially not while drunk, when he couldn't even remember what the restriction was.
All he knew was that he was miserable. So he kept floundering until someone picked him up again.
Yu Tan.
Yu Tan asked him what was wrong.
Hu Xiaoyu couldn't say. His brows were knit, his face so serious it was funny, but he still knew to make room and pat the spot so that Yu Tan would get on the bed too.
Then he curled up, turned his back to Yu Tan, and grabbed Yu Tan's hand to tell him to rub his back.
There was nothing else for Yu Tan to do but stroke him, slowly, over and over.
It seemed to work — the tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and he even made small pleased sounds now and then.
Based on Yu Tan's experience, if he petted Hu Xiaoyu like this, ten minutes, tops, and the kid would be asleep.
Only this time did ten minutes turn into another ten, then another. Whenever Yu Tan stopped, Hu Xiaoyu would start pawing at his clothes in protest, urging him to keep going.
Two hours later, Yu Tan's hands were numb.
That wasn't even the worst of it — he was drenched in sweat and very uncomfortable. He had to shower.
He slid off the bed, planning to take the quickest shower of his life, but he'd barely taken two steps when something thumped behind him — Hu Xiaoyu had rolled off the bed, quilt and all.
Luckily there was a carpet, and the quilt cushioned the fall, so he didn't get hurt.
Yu Tan had no choice but to carry him into the bathroom.
But the second the water came on, the little fox, who had finally been somewhat calm, started thrashing again. If Yu Tan hadn't been fast, he would've hit his head.
Yu Tan knew Hu Xiaoyu didn't like baths, but he hadn't expected such a violent reaction when he was drunk.
Not only did he refuse to bathe, he wouldn't let Yu Tan bathe either. The moment he felt the steam, he started to struggle, eyes still squeezed shut, tears dripping.
Muffled and pitiful.
Yu Tan: "…"