Zhang Wei had the decency to look caught for exactly one second before his expression smoothed back into its default unbothered setting. "Fang Ye is an interesting person," he said carefully.

Liuxian said nothing.

Zhang Wei cleared his throat and sat forward. "There’s something you need to know before you come back. Someone is currently digging into Guiying’s background and from what I can tell, they’ve probably already found quite a lot."

"The marriage records?"

"It’s untraceable. Nobody’s getting through that documentation." Zhang Wei’s expression stayed serious. "But the living arrangement is a different matter, they can still trace that he’s staying with you. That trail isn’t invisible."

"Who is it.." Liuxian said.

"Xue ShangYan." Zhang Wei paused. "You probably wouldn’t know him, he’s an illegitimate child the patriarch kept completely hidden until recently when he brought him into the company and handed his shares directly to him, bypassing every legitimate heir to do it." He leaned forward. "But here’s what’s even more interesting..."

Liuxian waited. Though the warmth in his expression had vanished.

"People always say Guiying doesn’t look like his father, that maybe he resembles his mother instead... but if you look at Xue ShangYan?" Zhang Wei reached off screen and came back with his phone, turning it toward the camera. "I’m sending you two pictures right now. One of ShangYan when he was younger and one more recent... look carefully before you say anything."

Liuxian picked up his phone and opened the images.

The younger photograph first, then the recent one.

He looked at both for a long time without speaking.

Then he set the phone face down on the desk.

"You’re not saying what I think you’re saying right?" he asked.

"I’m saying exactly what you think I’m saying," Zhang Wei said quietly. "Only a DNA test will confirm it but from my own deductions, Xue ShangYan is your spouse’s biological father." A pause. "Which makes him your actual father-in-law."

Liuxian turned his head and looked at Guiying on the bed behind him, fast asleep, face open and unguarded, completely unbothered by a world that was quietly rearranging itself around him.

He turned back to the screen.

"Does Xue Deyong know?" he said. "Has the man ever had reason to suspect Guiying isn’t his?"

Zhang Wei considered this carefully. "Nothing I’ve found suggests it has ever crossed his mind as far as Deyong is concerned Guiying is his, just an inconvenient illegitimate one he’d rather not acknowledge. Whether that changes when ShangYan starts moving, that’s another question entirely."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Right now? Just the two of us," Zhang Wei said. "ShangYan may have suspicions of his own but whether he’s connected everything yet, I can’t say for certain."

"Get me everything on Xue ShangYan," Liuxian said. "Full details. Everything you can find."

"I’ll have a complete file ready before you land.." Zhang Wei said.

Liuxian nodded, turning to look outside the window.

If Xue ShangYan was Guiying’s actual biological father that would be actual good news for Guiying as the illegitimate status would be scrapped off his name.

"That’s all so far. Have a good night sir. See you in New York on Sunday. Oh, least I forget. The results for the branch company just came out. After the reforms, the company appears to be in tiptop shape as all the corrupt employees have been fired, the notable ones promoted, replacements hired and receiving training. So far our coming here isn’t in vain."

Liuxian smiled then nodded, standing up.

"Have a goodnight Zhang Wei. You deserve it."

"Thank you, Sir.." Zhang Wei bowed slightly then disconnected the call.

Liuxian let out a sigh.

He wondered how Guiying would feel when he was told about this eventually.

Xue ShangYan seemed young, but there was no denying the resemblance between him and that man.

He closed the laptop and moved to the bed.

Guiying hadn’t moved an inch, still on his side, breathing slow and even, one hand curled loosely near his face the way it always was when he was deep under.

The only light in the suite came from the Strip outside, gold and restless, filtering through the curtains in long pale strips across the floor.

Liuxian looked at him for a moment before getting in carefully, settling without disturbing him, and Guiying shifted immediately toward warmth the way he always did, unconscious and automatic, completely unaware that he was doing it.

Liuxian lay still and looked at the ceiling.

He wondered how Guiying would take it when the time came to tell him. It wasn’t a conversation for tonight, or for Vegas, or even for the plane ride home.

It needed the right moment and considerably more information than Zhang Wei had managed to pull together so far.

But it was coming.

These things always came eventually.

What he did know was that if ShangYan truly was who Zhang Wei believed him to be, the illegitimate label that had sat on Guiying’s name his entire life, the one people had used to justify every indignity they’d ever handed him, would mean something very different once the truth came out.

He turned his head and looked at Guiying’s face in the dark, quiet and unguarded, entirely at rest.

He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath, the kind that came from a day that had asked a lot and finally had nothing left to demand.

Sleep came easier than he expected, pulling him under quietly, and the last thing he was aware of was Guiying’s warmth beside him, steady and familiar, like something that had simply always been there.

When morning arrived, Guiying woke up to an empty bed, he couldn’t even think about where Liuxian was because he had a splitting headache.

He grabbed his phone while sitting up.

He didn’t remember the last time he even checked his phone at this point.

Guiying saw several messages, from Limo, 404 and TongShu.

He opened Tongshu’s message as it was work related.

Hello! Mr. Tang, we hoped you had a wonderful week. Below is your schedule, your work schedule and modelling days. We can’t wait to see you at the studio tomorrow for your first shoot at 10 am.

His eyes widened when he saw the date, they had sent the message on Friday and this was Saturday!

Today was the day of the shoot!