Grandfather looked up in confusion, turning to the butler, Uncle Yue.
"Old Yue, did you grab the wrong tablet?"
Uncle Yue froze.
Grandfather's tone was so certain that for a moment, he doubted himself—had he, a seasoned veteran, made a careless mistake?
Sang Lu let out a soft laugh, clarifying, "Grandfather, that’s Feng Bai. He just got tanned from working in the fields."
Grandfather’s sharp eyes widened in disbelief.
He held the tablet farther away, squinting through his presbyopic gaze.
After scrutinizing it from every angle and confirming multiple times, he finally managed a slow smile.
"This… this is Ah Bai??"
"Yes, it’s me, Grandfather," Feng Bai replied from the screen, using his already-dirty sleeve to wipe his even dirtier face in an attempt to make himself more recognizable.
Grinning, his white teeth stark against his sun-darkened skin, he added,
"I’ve been renovating the house we’re staying in, so I’m a bit grubby."
Then, his droopy eyes crinkled warmly as he greeted the other two on the call,
"Hello, big brother and sister-in-law—"
"Well, well, it really is Ah Bai…" Grandfather murmured, still studying him closely.
He couldn’t quite reconcile the image before him with his fair-skinned, perpetually slouched, gloomy-eyed grandson.
"If Sang Lu hadn’t said it was you, I’d have hung up right away—" Grandfather’s eyes rounded in astonishment.
"You’re so dark now, you barely look like one of us. What’s that phrase again… ah, right—a glow-up."
Proud of his accurate use of the newly learned internet slang, Grandfather stroked his beard smugly.
Just then, a languid voice drifted over from the sofa nearby.
"Pfft, he never did look like one of us. I’ve always suspected he wasn’t family."
The air froze for a second.
The source: Feng Yi.
Lounging with one leg crossed over the other, he didn’t even glance up from his phone as he delivered the snide remark.
Sang Lu’s lips twitched slightly.
Uh-oh… here we go again.
Could these two really start bickering even through a screen?
Grandfather ignored his troublesome second grandson and returned his attention to his newly "glowed-up" third.
"Ah Bai, are you eating well over there?"
"Grandfather, I finish three bowls of rice every day—fighting for seconds! The more I eat, the tastier it gets," Feng Bai replied, his smile radiating a warmth that bore no trace of his former brooding self.
After answering, he couldn’t resist adding proudly,
"Our wheat harvest was a success! I can haul eight carts a day!"
A derisive snort cut in.
Feng Yi lazily swung his crossed leg. "Yeah, right. I don’t even believe he can tell wheat from rice…"
Sang Lu’s mouth twitched again…
The surrounding servants stifled their laughter.
"Should I hand the call over to you, then?"
Grandfather finally snapped, shooting a sharp glare at the slouching figure on the sofa.
Feng Yi turned his head away, pretending not to hear.
Grandfather’s expression softened instantly as he turned back to the screen, his face a picture of grandfatherly affection.
"Farming is good. Toiling under the sun, back bent to the earth—it builds character. Seeing you like this fills my heart with pride…"
Sang Lu blinked, impressed. Grandfather’s mood shifts are lightning-fast…
Beside her, a certain ice-faced man—long accustomed to his family’s antics—watched silently.
Noticing Sang Lu’s adorable look of surprise, the corner of his lips curled faintly.
This fleeting moment was caught by the person on the other end of the call.
Feng Bai followed his elder brother’s gaze and saw his sister-in-law’s slightly stunned expression.
A realization struck him…
A little over a month ago, his brother had ordered him to dye his hair back to black.
He also remembered the lost, desperate phone call he’d made to Sang Lu, seeking advice.
It hadn’t been long at all.
Yet it felt like a lifetime ago.
If not for his brother and sister-in-law’s guidance, he might still be the same—mired in frustration, holed up in his recording studio day after day.
Avoiding sunlight, avoiding people, wasting away.
Now, every day was fulfilling, brimming with purpose.
With this thought, Feng Bai suddenly straightened, his voice brimming with vigor as he addressed the screen:
"Grandfather, big brother, sister-in-law—don’t worry! I’ll work hard in the fields and make every day count…"
His electrified voice burst through the tablet.
Grandfather and Sang Lu exchanged a baffled glance.
Only the ice-faced man remained unflappable, as if no absurdity could rattle him.
Sang Lu’s eyes sparkled with emotion.
Ahh, Feng Bai’s grown so mature…
Grandfather, too, was swept up in the moment. Clearing his throat, he intoned solemnly,
"Well said! That’s the spirit—I believe in you!"
Feng Bai (still in hyper-motivated mode) clenched his fists.
"I’ll take big brother as my role model! I’ll become a dependable man, just like him—"
"Ha." Feng Yi let out an exaggerated scoff.
Propping his chin on his hand, he drawled,
"How’s he gonna be like big brother? He’s not even—"
Grandfather’s eyelids slid shut as he took a deep breath.
Weighing whether to throw his cane horizontally or vertically.
Feng Yan also furrowed his brows and slowly turned to look.
Before his gaze could land on Feng Yi, a slender figure appeared, walking toward the sofa.
Sang Lu raised her hand and smacked Feng Yi’s arm, the one propping up his head.
Losing his support, Feng Yi swayed, his lazy expression instantly shifting to shock.
When he looked up and met his sister-in-law’s eyes, his face froze.
"You, come with me. We need to talk," Sang Lu said, narrowing her eyes.
Feng Yi’s lips twitched as he tried to defend himself—his sarcastic remark had been a conditioned reflex, years in the making, something he couldn’t hold back in the moment.
But when his gaze shifted and landed on his older brother’s icy, stern face, his words died in his throat.
He immediately stood up.
Obediently, he followed her out.
Trailing behind Sang Lu, Feng Yi couldn’t say his heart wasn’t pounding.
Belated regret finally crept in.
Not regret for mocking Feng Bai.
But regret for not keeping his voice down.
His big mouth had pissed off his sister-in-law.
And if Sang Lu was angry… how long before Feng Yan lost his temper too?
A memory flashed through his mind—the last time his brother had lifted him off the ground with one hand.
His spine stiffened, and cold sweat broke out despite himself.
I’m done for, so done for…
This is it. I’m dead.
Sang Lu kept walking down the corridor, almost reaching the backyard lawn, without saying a word.
When she’d called him out, she’d initially just wanted to scold him.
Dousing everyone’s enthusiasm with his sarcastic remarks—who wouldn’t be annoyed?
But the longer she walked, the more she cooled down.
Yelling at him wouldn’t solve anything.
The bad blood between Feng Yi and Feng Bai ran deep.
Might as well take this chance to get Feng Yi’s side of the story—what exactly had driven them apart?
Feng Yi kept his hands in his pockets as he followed Sang Lu.
The silence stretched, and his mind spiraled with increasingly dire predictions of how his brother would punish him.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.
The only way to conquer fear was to face it head-on.
Gritting his teeth, he blurted, "Sang Lu, I know I was wro—"
Before "wrong" could fully leave his mouth, the figure in front of him stopped.
"Feng Yi, why do you hate Feng Bai so much? Can you tell me what really happened between you two?"
"..." Feng Yi paused.
His furrowed brows relaxed slightly, then tightened even more.
With a scoff, his face twisted into resentment as he bit out, each word deliberate:
"Because he’s a snake."
