Li Wei's father did not invite him to breakfast.
He sent a servant to fetch him at nine in the morning, which was how Li Wei knew the conversation would be unpleasant.
When he entered the study, Chairman Li was standing beside the window, reading a document. A cup of untouched tea sat on his desk.
"Sit down," his father said.
Li Wei remained standing.
"You wanted to see me."
Chairman Li lowered the document.
"Your trip to Shanghai has been postponed twice."
"I know."
"You were supposed to leave last week."
"I know that too."
His father studied him.
"Then perhaps you can explain why you have spent more time in the western district than attending to your responsibilities."
Li Wei said nothing.
"Warehouse Nine is not your concern."
"Someone tried to kill a witness."
His father's expression barely changed.
"What witness?"
"Fang De."
A pause.
"Is he dead?"
"No."
"Then perhaps you should leave matters to the authorities."
Li Wei almost laughed. His father had a remarkable ability to make a threat sound like sensible advice.
"Someone has been hiding records for seventeen years. Those records concern this family."
"Exactly."
The answer came so quickly that Li Wei looked at him.
Chairman Li returned to his desk.
"You think you are the first person to discover that old businesses have old secrets? You think every dishonest payment, every missing document, every mistake made by a man twenty years ago can be dragged into daylight without consequences?"
"Were they mistakes?"
His father looked up.
"Be careful."
"I'm asking a question."
"And I'm telling you to be careful about the answers you think you want."
Li Wei's jaw tightened.
"Did you know Zhou Ren was alive?"
For the first time, his father stopped moving.
It lasted only a moment.
But Li Wei saw it.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
"Then answer me first."
Chairman Li put down his pen.
"You have become very confident lately."
"No. I've become tired of being told that the truth is too dangerous for me to hear."
His father stared at him.
For a moment, Li Wei thought he might finally receive an honest answer.
Instead, Chairman Li opened a drawer and removed a cream-colored envelope.
"Your aunt has arranged a family dinner for Saturday."
Li Wei looked at the envelope.
"What does that have to do with Zhou Ren?"
"Your future."
"My future is not a family dinner."
"It will be, whether you attend or not."
Li Wei did not touch the envelope.
His father pushed it across the desk.
"Miss Shen will be there."
Li Wei looked down.
He knew the surname.
The Shen family had business interests in Shanghai and had been trying to strengthen its relationship with the Lis for years.
"Why?"
"Because the two families have agreed that it is time to discuss your engagement."
The room became very still.
Li Wei lifted his eyes.
"You agreed?"
"We have discussed it for some time."
"Without me."
"You are my son. Your decisions do not exist in isolation."
Li Wei let out a slow breath.
"I won't marry someone because you need another business alliance."
Chairman Li's expression hardened.
"You speak as though marriage is merely a matter of affection."
"And you speak as though affection has no place in it."
"Affection does not protect a family when its reputation collapses."
Li Wei thought of Yulan standing beside the dumpling shop's kitchen table, flour on his cheek, laughing at a joke that wasn't particularly funny.
He thought of the way Yulan's hand had felt in his.
He thought of how easy it was to breathe around him.
"My life is not another account for you to balance," Li Wei said.
His father rose.
"And the people you involve yourself with are not protected simply because you care for them."
Li Wei went still.
Chairman Li's gaze was direct.
"You have been seen with Zhang Yulan."
There it was.
Not a question.
Li Wei kept his expression neutral, though his stomach had tightened.
"He is my friend."
"Is that what you intend to call it?"
Li Wei said nothing.
His father walked around the desk.
"I will not ask you to explain yourself today. But I will tell you this: if the investigation continues, people will begin asking questions about everyone connected to it. Your friend will not be spared because he owns a small shop."
"Don't threaten him."
"Then don't mistake my warning for a threat."
Li Wei looked at his father for a long moment.
He wanted to say that Yulan had already lost enough. That he had no intention of abandoning him. That if the Li family wanted to make a battlefield out of their lives, he would no longer be the only one expected to surrender.
Instead, he picked up the envelope.
Not because he accepted the arrangement.
Because he wanted his father to think the conversation was over.
"I'll be at the dinner," he said.
Chairman Li nodded, apparently satisfied.
Li Wei walked out without another word.
Yulan was repairing a torn apron when Li Wei arrived at the shop that afternoon.
He looked up, took one glance at Li Wei's face, and put down his needle.
"Bad news?"
Li Wei removed his coat.
"Your ability to read people is becoming inconvenient."
"I'm considering charging for it."
"Put it on my account."
"You already owe us for three bowls of noodles."
"Four."
Yulan smiled.
Then he noticed the envelope in Li Wei's hand.
The smile faded.
"What happened?"
Li Wei sat beside him.
"My father wants me to attend a family dinner on Saturday."
"That doesn't sound terrible."
"He intends to announce an engagement."
Yulan's needle slipped from his fingers.
For a moment, he stared at the unfinished apron.
Then he bent to pick up the needle.
"An engagement."
"Yes."
"To whom?"
"Miss Shen."
Yulan nodded slowly.
He knew the name. Everyone who worked around the wealthier families had heard of the Shens.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
"Has your family already arranged everything?"
"They have discussed it."
Yulan returned to the apron.
The needle went through the fabric, but his hands had lost their rhythm.
Li Wei watched him.
"Say something."
"What would you like me to say?"
"Anything."
Yulan gave a small, humourless laugh.
"Congratulations?"
"Yulan."
"I'm trying to understand what you want from me right now."
Li Wei leaned forward.
"I don't want this."
"But it's happening."
"My father wants it to happen."
"That's not the same thing."
"No, it isn't."
Yulan put the apron down.
"Are you going to refuse?"
"Yes."
The answer came immediately.
Yulan searched his face.
"Even if it costs you something?"
Li Wei thought of the study, the warning about Yulan, the documents hidden beneath the western district, and the family name he had spent his life preparing to inherit.
"Yes," he said.
Then, more quietly, "I think so."
Yulan heard the hesitation.
He did not punish him for it.
Instead, he reached across the small table and touched Li Wei's fingers.
"I don't need you to destroy your life to prove that you love me."
Li Wei looked at their hands.
"And I don't want to live a life in which I have to pretend you don't exist."
Yulan's face softened.
"Then don't pretend with me."
Li Wei turned his hand over and held his.
They sat that way for a while, with the afternoon light falling across the table and the familiar sounds of the shop carrying on around them.
Eventually, Yulan asked, "What is she like?"
"I told you. I don't know her."
"You've never met her?"
"Not properly."
"Perhaps she's awful."
"Perhaps."
"Or perhaps she's perfectly nice."
Li Wei looked at him.
"Would that make you feel better?"
"No."
"Then why ask?"
Yulan shrugged.
"Because if she's awful, I can dislike her without feeling guilty."
A laugh escaped Li Wei before he could stop it.
Yulan smiled, though his eyes remained troubled.
"I don't want to hate a woman I've never met just because our lives have become complicated."
"You don't have to hate her."
"Good. I don't have the energy."
Li Wei lifted Yulan's hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles.
It was a small gesture, hidden by the table.
Yulan looked at him.
"You can't do that in public."
"Nobody saw."
"I saw."
"You're hardly a stranger."
Yulan's expression warmed.
"Unfortunately."
Li Wei leaned closer.
"Can I see you tonight?"
"You're sitting right here."
"Somewhere else. Somewhere we can be alone."
Yulan considered pretending to refuse.
He wasn't very good at it.
"All right," he said. "But you're buying dinner."
"Of course."
"And something sweet."
"Anything else?"
Yulan smiled.
"Yes. Stop looking as though the world has ended."
Li Wei squeezed his hand.
"I'll try."
That evening, they went to a small tea house tucked behind the old market.
It was quiet enough that they could speak without watching every passing face. They ordered tea, sesame cakes, and a plate of fruit neither of them particularly wanted.
For the first half hour, they talked about ordinary things.
Chen Hao's latest argument with a fish seller.
A customer who insisted that Yulan's dumplings had become smaller, despite eating twelve of them.
The possibility of repairing the broken shelf behind the counter.
Li Wei even admitted that, as a child, he had once tried to escape a family banquet by hiding inside a laundry basket.
Yulan laughed so hard that the woman at the next table turned to look.
"You?"
"I was seven."
"What happened?"
"They found me."
"Of course they did."
"My mother laughed for an entire week."
Yulan wiped his eyes.
"I wish I'd known you then."
Li Wei watched him.
"Why?"
"So I could have helped you escape."
"You would have been six."
"I was a very capable six-year-old."
"I'm sure."
Their laughter gradually faded.
Li Wei reached across the table and brushed his thumb over Yulan's fingers.
"I wanted tonight to be normal," he said.
"It is normal."
"Not entirely."
"No," Yulan admitted. "But it can still be ours."
Li Wei looked at him for a long moment.
Then he stood, moved to the bench beside Yulan, and sat down close enough that their shoulders touched.
Yulan glanced around.
"Someone might see."
"Then I'll move."
"Don't."
Li Wei stayed.
After a moment, Yulan rested his head against his shoulder.
They didn't speak for a while.
It was the sort of closeness they had both missed: not a dramatic declaration, not a desperate kiss, but the freedom to sit beside someone without having to explain why.
When they finally left, Li Wei walked Yulan home.
At the narrow lane behind the shop, Yulan caught his sleeve.
"About Saturday."
Li Wei turned.
"I won't go through with an engagement just because my father expects me to."
"Don't make promises to me because you're frightened of losing me."
Li Wei's expression changed.
"That's not why."
"Then don't make it a promise. Make it a decision when you're ready."
He stepped closer and kissed Li Wei gently.
"I'll be here tomorrow," Yulan whispered. "That's all we have to know tonight."
Li Wei held him for a moment before letting go.
It wasn't enough to settle anything.
But it was enough to get him through the door.
On Saturday evening, the Shen family arrived at the Li estate.
Miss Shen wore a pale blue dress and carried herself with quiet confidence. She greeted Chairman Li, exchanged pleasantries with the other guests, and accepted a cup of tea from Lin Meiyu.
When Li Wei entered the drawing room, she rose.
"Mr. Li."
"Miss Shen."
She studied him briefly.
"You look as though you'd rather be somewhere else."
Li Wei paused.
"Is it that obvious?"
"To me, yes."
He almost smiled.
"I apologize."
"Don't. I would rather speak to an honest man than an enthusiastic liar."
That caught his attention.
Before he could answer, Chairman Li entered with the other family members.
The conversation turned to business, travel, and the future of the two families.
Then Chairman Li lifted his teacup.
"There is one matter we would like to settle tonight."
Li Wei's shoulders stiffened.
His father smiled at the assembled guests.
"Our families have known one another for many years. We believe it is time to take the next step and formally discuss the marriage of our children."
A murmur of approval passed around the room.
Miss Shen looked at Li Wei.
He looked back at her.
Then he set down his teacup.
"Before anyone discusses marriage," he said, "there is something I need to make clear."
His father's smile vanished.
Li Wei stood.
"I haven't agreed to this engagement."
Nobody spoke.
Across the room, Miss Shen slowly put down her cup.
And Chairman Li, for the first time that evening, looked genuinely afraid of what his son might say next.