Climber

Huobai was still quite surprised when he heard that a friend of his mother was Yixing's mother. Could he be the kid that Huobai was playing as a child? 

He remembered the dream he had that one night. The kid had a slight resemblance to Yixing. But dreams could be a mix of reality and past or complete fiction. He shouldn't believe in something like that. 

"And who is this?" Yixing's father asked after they finished paying their respect and came closer to him. He could see Yixing getting ready to introduce him, so he jumped in first. 

"My name is Yi…" he paused for a second before adding: "Gun." he reached out to shake hands, but Yixing chuckled.

"... Dan?" he asked, holding back his laughter. Huobai almost killed him with his gaze. Of course, his pretend-name wasn't the best but didn't have to rub it in like that.

"Yi Gun," Huobai said once more and shook Li Yechao's hand. He had to put on his mask to not expose himself. If his dreams and the story his mother told were true. Yixing's father was scum. And what Yixing told him was exactly on point with Huobai's theory. 

Huobai saw Yixing's confused gaze, and he knew why, so he poked him in his back, as a sign he would tell him later and to go along with it. 

"He is a friend from school. We get along pretty well." With this sentence, Yixing agreed to Huobai's story, despite not knowing what it was about. But Huobai wasn't a person to lie just because he wanted just to annoy someone. That was something Yixing would do. 

"So, my son took you with him. You must be pretty close then," his father asked, While Changer was holding his arm, her hands pressing hard.

"We are good friends," he answered, and mysteriously smiled. Yixing was in higher society long enough to see subtle changes in behavior and gestures, and he was really surprised how easily Huobai changed. 

His stance looked really defeated. His posture wasn't so upright anymore. His mimic muscles contracted and made slight wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. His voice wasn't as strong as he usually talked but showed submissiveness and obviously false respect for his father. 

And his father missed it. That was how good Huobai was. He was skillfully changing his posture to manipulate Li Yechao. And Yixing felt a newly found respect towards Huobai. It was strange how attractive it was to him. 

"Will you join us for dinner?" Li Yechao asked, smiling, obviously pleased by the respect Huobai showed. He really didn't notice how fake Huobai was.

"Of course I will be delighted. It will be an honor to have dinner with such a big entrepreneur you are," Huobai said, not meaning even a word of it. 

And Yixing wanted to gag. The way Huobai slickly basically become an anal-climber, well, it was disgusting. And it made Yixing question how much of Huobai he knew. How much of it was just a facade. 

Yixing felt another poking now to his side. He looked at Huobai because he had no idea what was going on. 

"We need to go and have a nice family talk, right?" Huobai opened his eyes wider and somehow Yixing guessed what it meant. 

"Yes, of course, we need to talk in private." He agreed, nodding. It was to move their money. Yixing knew it was immoral with what he was doing. 

But he was an adult now, and what his father was doing to him up until now was even worse. When Yixing looked back at it. His own father was pimping him. He made him drink with girls, boys and sometimes he wanted him to go further with them. It was the services in exchange for new business.

And he hated it from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, he never did have sex with them. He always made them drunk, took them to the hotel room, and talked with most of them. Some were glad he took care of them the entire night. Some wanted at least kisses to do what he wanted. But most were really glad he hadn't used them in that way.

Which was why his father had never found out about Yixing, never really doing what he wanted. So now it was time for payback. He would never again make himself so vulnerable. 

And the money was for a good cause. He saw the plan they made, and he really liked it. It was a highrise building with green balconies and a big three right in the middle. 

Because when they bought the land, Chao hadn't seen it before. And right in the middle, there was an alley of trees. Chao and Yixing weren't keen to demolish them so they talked to the architect and the tree ended up being the central point of the building. Going green was the way. 

"We have already booked the restaurant room. So if you could follow us. Yixing's driver already knows the way." Yixing woke up again, and he saw Huobai talking, laughing with his father. 

Yang Changer and Xuan Binghuo were standing in the back, their faces tightened into impenetrable expressions. They weren't happy with Huobai being so friendly.

Yixing knew now it was true what he taught. The way they talked, the way they moved. He knew what they both wanted. And to his surprise. Huobai had definitely destroyed their plans. 

They all moved. In the front was Huobai with his father, and they went first. And just as he was turning around, he winked at Yixing. He was distracting his father, so Yixing could be alone for a while. 

There were still few reporters right behind him, but they were paying more attention to Li Yechao than him. So he kneeled before his mother's grave and smiled sadly. 

"Hi, mom. I'm sorry. I tried to be a filial son. But I can't take it anymore. He is insatiable. But it looks like Huobai knows how to manipulate him. Just as you could do." He paused for a bit and smiled once again, one tear rolling down his face.

"That's his name, and he is the one. He is the one that makes me be the real me and not the facade I'm using. And you saw his face… And to be honest, his body is even better." he chuckled as a few more tears rolled down. 

Just at that moment, a lone flash of light captured the moment. But it was buried deep in the memory card for a long time.