Chapter 66: The Hou family

Hou Yizhen pulled Lin Feng into the study. He chose the study because he felt that if he pulled the boy into the bedroom, someone would be knocking on the door every five or ten minutes.

The tall man sat on the sofa, cradling a boy in his lap, the white and dark colors contrasting against each other.

Hou Yizhen did not do anything to the boy. He just wrapped his arms around the slender waist and bowed his head to press his tall nose against the boy’s soft and fluffy hair.

"Were you scolded?"

"No, Grandpa spoke gently." Lin Feng sat obediently on the man’s lap, enjoying the strong arms secured around him, and leaned his head against the man’s hard chest.

He loved this feeling. He felt very safe and comfortable, as if he were inside a protective nest.

"Did you cry?"

The boy shook his head and reached out to hug the man’s slim waist.

The man’s shoulders were broad, his pecs bulging and hard, and his slim, narrow waist was taut and firm, forming a clear V shape in any clothes he wore.

Hugging his slim waist while burying his head against the broad chest felt very nice.

"If only we could stay like this forever," Lin Feng sighed.

Hou Yizhen, who was savoring the scent of the boy’s hair, paused.

That didn’t seem bad at all.

To think that one day, he would be satisfied sitting without doing anything with a boy on his lap, just hugging him and enjoying each other’s company... The old Hou Yizhen would have scoffed at such an impossible scene.

But Hou Yizhen now thought it was nice.

It only confirmed his thoughts that he indeed liked the boy.

’You only live once. Live each day like it’s your last.’

Having spent many years on the edge of the blade, this had long been Hou Yizhen’s life motto, so he lived very unrestrainedly.

Now that he had realized his liking for the boy, Hou Yizhen naturally intended to enjoy every bit of it.

However, precisely because he acknowledged the boy’s special place in his heart, Hou Yizhen no longer treated him as carelessly as before.

Just as the boy had said, staying together like this for a long time was not bad. But if Hou Yizhen offended that old man any further, he could almost foresee how difficult it would be to see the boy in the future.

Hou Yizhen suppressed his rising irritation and buried his nose in the boy’s hair again, inhaling deeply.

He felt the taut strings loosening again, his mind calming down.

The hand on the boy’s back began stroking gently, also calming the boy’s worries.

In a low baritone, the man spoke slowly. "Once you’re back in the inner circles, we may not have many chances to meet like this again."

His deep-set, pitch-black eyes, paired with thick, heroic eyebrows, made Hou Yizhen’s sculpted face appear very masculine. He was an alpha of his wolf pack, imposing and commanding in presence.

Now, his gaze upon Lin Feng was tinged with softness, and the boy found himself captivated by the man.

Lin Feng did not know why, but while staring into these familiar eyes, the corners of his own eyes felt warm, as if he were about to tear up, and his nose felt a little sour.

He blinked twice, covering up the inexplicable emotions in his heart, and told the man about his earlier conversation with the old man.

"You and the old man really are a pair of grandfather and grandson. Even your worries are the same."

Hou Yizhen used to not care about this because, back then, he did not take his ambiguous relationship with Lin Feng seriously. To him, he was just releasing his libido, and the other party was just a willing partner. He could easily end it at any time.

But it was different now.

The man thoughtfully considered how to minimize the damage to Lin Feng in case their relationship was finally brought out into the open.

"Not many people know that Sister Yufei is my sworn sister. We don’t talk much either, occasionally just calling each other a few times to say hello. Aside from the people here in the villa, it’s just your grandfather and uncle."

"What about Lin Dong, Bai Ruoxi, and Liu Yan?" Liu Yan was the name of his former step-grandmother, who had also been found to be the mastermind behind Lin Feng’s kidnapping.

Lin Feng did not call them Father, Aunt, or Grandmother, because the moment the family ties were severed had left one of the strongest impressions in the body’s memories.

"At most, those people who’ve been sent overseas knew that Sister Yufei had a sworn brother before. But our sworn-sibling relationship wasn’t formalized with a ceremony anyway, so they have no idea it was me."

Then he smiled at the boy. "Even if they knew, they wouldn’t dare run their mouths once they found out that the person they’re dealing with is the patriarch of the Hou family."

If they knew it was Hou Yizhen, they would not have so blatantly cooperated with underground cartels, because the Hou family used to be part of the underworld. Although they had finally washed their hands clean and gone straight, no one dared to offend the Hou family because connections, once established, lasted for a long time.

No one wanted to gamble.

It was also because of these underworld connections that the official heir to the Hou family had met an unfortunate death. Although the matter had been resolved and the family’s mortal enemies had finally been wiped out, only the old man remained in the family.

Everyone thought that the Hou family would end with the old man.

It was not until they finally tracked down the missing child of the Hou family that people realized the old man still had considerable influence in the underworld.

A new heir was established: the child of the deceased heir and his wife, who had been taken away by human traffickers many years ago.

That child was Hou Yizhen. He grew up in drug dens and brothels before eventually escaping and becoming a mercenary. Later, he met people who knew the Hou family and recognized his uncanny resemblance to the old man in his youth.

Hou Yizhen was brought to the capital in his early twenties, knowing nothing about the law. He soon offended people in high society who couldn’t control their mouths. When one of them tried to teach him a lesson, Hou Yizhen’s excessive self-defense ended up killing people by accident.

It happened in the middle of a high-society banquet. Many people witnessed the indifferent look in the young man’s eyes as law enforcement officers escorted him out, blood splattered across his face and hands.