Reborn as his Shadow

By nine o’clock, all of the guests and media groups invited were present. Mo Jingxuan and Xiao Ying, who had been off talking with some guests as representatives of the Xiao family, wore matching suits as they walked to the front of the crowd under the stares of everyone.

Mo Jingxuan smiled as he looked down at everyone sitting below him from the podium. Raising his chin, Xiao Ying gestured for the emcee to hand him a microphone even as the beauty was in a daze.

She was still somewhat out of it as she walked over, bringing the desired microphones over. Nodding to her, Mo Jingxuan voiced his thanks softly, “Thank you.”

“Ahh! No–no need for thanks!” Blushing, she quickly left the platform to hide her embarrassment in the corner.

Frowning, Xiao Ying leaned over to his ear, “I’ll clean you up on the bed when we get back!”

Mo Jingxuan raised his eyebrows. Although his baby’s taste for vinegar was a bit much, what could he do when he liked him so much?

The two stood on the stage next to each other very naturally. In contrast, the other guests, including Xiao Yao, looked at the two on the stage inexplicably, all with a common question in their hearts. Why were they on the stage?

With a light cough, Xiao Ying straightened his clothes and said, “Many thanks to all the guests and media who came to the opening ceremony of XM, we have worked hard for a long time to develop XM into what it is today, and it is a great pleasure to us that we have made so many achievements.” His voice was transmitted to the ears of everyone present as he spoke into the microphone.

Mo Jingxuan took the light, “The future development of XM will not stop here, so please be sure to take care of us in the future!” He turned his head to look at the man standing beside him.

Smiling, Xiao Ying clapped his hands, “Cut the ribbon!!” Their short speech had ended, and he waved to Zi Bo and the others in the audience, “Come up here!”

Zi Bo led the group with his head held high; their hearts were bursting with pride as they marched to the front of the crowd. Climbing to the stage, they could never have been gladder that they had made the decision to leave the Xiao family and were fortunate enough to participate in the development of XM. Watching XM grow with their own eyes, guided by their own hands, the indescribable sense of accomplishment was beyond the comprehension of their past selves.

There was an uproar in the audience…The two sons of the Xiao family turned out to be the bosses behind XM!!

“Clack! Clack! Clack!” The reporters pressed their shutters excitedly. That was simply unbelievable. The two sons of the Xiao family were running XM even while managing the Xiao family! Such young people were able to do such amazing things; it was simply breathtaking!

Under the stage, Mr. Feng patted Xiao Yao’s hand as he stared in shock, “Sure enough, I wasn’t mistaken. Your sons are truly outstanding!” Shaking his head, he said, “It’s a pity that my family’s Feng Yuan didn’t come, otherwise he would have loved to get an autograph!”

Xiao Yao mechanically turned his head to meet his old friend’s face, and only after a while did he realise that he had burst out laughing, “Haha….These two brats, alright! They really take after me from back then! Good, good! Hahaha!”

Feng Lao turned his attention back to the front as he laughed to himself, “Don’t be so shameless; they are obviously better than you were….”

After all the guests had reacted, there was a deafening applause; the excitement made it seem as if the two stars of the day belonged to their own family.

The only people in the audience with different faces were the father and son of the Mo family and Xiao Yixiu, the representative of the Zhao family.

Mo Zhenhao looked at his radiant son on the stage with hatred and jealousy radiating from his eyes, but at the same time, there was a trace of regret spreading in his heart….he never thought that the son he had neglected for so long would be so outstanding.

Mo Heng watched Xiao Ying, wishing he could take his brother’s place and stand side by side with the person who had stolen his heart. He hated Mo Jingxuan, hated him for his achievements, hated him for taking the place that should have been his, and yet wished he could be him in every sense of the idea.

Different from the complex emotions of the other two, Xiao Yixiu had only one feeling left dominating his heart, hate.

When he lost his family and brought the company of his mother and grandfather into ruin, the achievements of these two were like a mirror showing just how far he had fallen as they flew to the sky. Every word of praise from the guests present was like a thorn piercing him personally, showing his incompetence to the world as his heart bled.

No matter the thoughts of those in the audience, Mo Jingxuan and Xiao Ying had accomplished their goal today. They had gained the exposure today to climb into the upper circle…And with that exposure, their popularity would help them bring in an endless stream of wealth as they continued to succeed.

The ribbon cutting ended quickly, and everyone moved to the banquet area. The opening ceremony had only just begun.

Unsurprisingly, the next day, XM hit the headlines again. The two young and handsome bosses quickly became the dream lovers of everyone available. Their fame was growing, even among ordinary people they were idealised and fantasised about.

However, Mo Jingxuan and Xiao Ying didn’t have the time to pay attention to how the outside world was reacting to their reveal because Xiao Yao, the old treasure of the family, had been following them around for days….

“Jingxuan~” Standing behind Mo Jingxuan, he poked the back of his head with a pen, “Tell me about your glorious family history again. I want to record it so that I can show it to the old men in the circle tomorrow; they’re all so jealous of me! I need to milk it as much as I can! Hehehe…”

Mo Jingxuan rubbed his forehead and turned to look at Xiao Yao helplessly, “Dad, please give me a break! You try and count, how many times have you pestered me about this, can’t we rest for a while? You go watch some TV first, I need to go make some soup for Xiao Ying first!”

Xiao Yao was surprised, “You can cook?!”

Mo Jingxuan spread his hands, “Baby only drinks the soup that I make for him, what can I do but learn?”

Pouting, Xiao Yao complained, “This brat, you pamper him too much! Don’t let him get used to being served like this!”

Mo Jignxuan’s eyes softened, “My baby spoils me so much, I can’t help but want to spoil him back…maybe that’s what love is. I always feel that my efforts aren’t enough; I need to give him even more….”

Xiao Ying was on the stairs, heard the last few sentences of this conversation, and ran up to hug Mo Jingxuan from behind, “Xuan….”

At this moment, Xiao Yao realised the danger of diabetes as his tooth began to ache. He stood and left with a wooden face, shaking his head in disdain, “Tsk, love is amazing. I won’t eat this bowl of dog food; let me find a single dog to play with.” The high arc of his mouth still betrayed his true thoughts even as he uttered the words, though.

“Baby!” Mo Jingxuan grabbed the hands around his waist, “You go rest first, I’ll make some soup for you. You drank too much yesterday, you need to treasure your body more, stop drinking for me in the future. My health has long recovered, I’ll be fine if I drink some wine!”

Holding him even tighter, Xiao Ying licked his ear and whispered, “It was just a bit of wine, I’m fine,” His hands started to move, stretching to feel their way inside the clothes of his lover.

“Hmm…” Mo Jingxuan gasped, “Baby, it’s still light out….”

Licking his neck, Xiao Ying couldn’t care less, “But I want you right now….”

Eyes shining with lust, Mo Jingxuan clenched his hands tightly, silently acquiescing to the man’s actions.

With a low laugh, Xiao Ying picked him up and carried him to their room.

Xiao Yao, who was playing chess with the housekeeper, squinted his eyes at the backs of the two of them, “Young men, they really have boundless energy. Qin Yong, it seems I’ll be eating dinner by myself again.

Qin Yong laughed, “It’s a good thing that the two young masters have such an active relationship!”

Taking advantage of Qin Yong’s distraction, Xiao Yao sneakily changed some pieces on the board and said with a hurt face, “The two of them are so close that they even pushed me aside.” His emotions leaked out into his voice, “It’s true that the youth will always exceed the old, those two brats are so capable now that I don’t know what to think. Secretly setting up such a big company without letting me know, we even visited the Ancient Tribe together and I couldn’t catch even a hint of the truth. It’s laughable, at the time I even thought there was a female boss behind it all.”

Qin Yong raised his head, “A female boss? Why?”

“Well, I’m so handsome. If there was a female boss of course it would make sense why they made an exception to let me stay there.” Xiao Yao explained with a straight face.

Qin Yong quietly glanced at Xiao Yao’s face but, without saying a word, lowered his head back down silently to continue playing the game. Perhaps because he often looked at the two young masters, his standard of aesthetics had risen without his noticing. Before, he had obviously thought that his master was a handsome old man, but now he seemed a bit less so…

Throwing away the chess piece he was holding, Xiao Yao looked at Qin Yong leisurely, “Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you think I’m not handsome?”

Qin Yong was a little embarrassed; he knew he could lie to the master and praise his looks to the sky….but he was used to telling the truth and couldn’t stop the words that rose to his lips. Gritting his teeth, he said, “The two young masters are much better looking.”

“Nonsense! I know that they are good looking, I wasn’t asking you to compare with those brats!”

“That–the master is also quite handsome!”

“That’s right!” Picking his piece back up from where it had fallen, Xiao Yao continued to play chess in satisfaction.

“Master!” A servant outside the room interrupted the two who were deep in their game.

Not bothering to raise his head, Xiao Yao asked, “What’s the matter?”

“The butler of the Feng family is here to visit.”

“Oh, bring him in then!” For Butler Ning to come in person, it should be a fairly important event.

“Yes.” The servant bowed, turned and left, and promptly brought in a middle-aged man wearing a suit and leather shoes.

Xiao Yao stood up to greet him, “Butler Ning, it’s been a while!”

“Master Xiao.” Butler Ning bowed and saluted him in a standard way.

Waving his hand, Xiao Yao dismissed his actions, “Okay, okay, that’s enough! Our family doesn’t have as many rules as the Feng family; you don’t have to be so particular with us. Come on, what’s the matter that brought you all the way here?”

He handed over three invitation cards in response, “Young Master Feng Yuan’s twenty third birthday is about here, he has invited you to bring the two young masters to his banquet the day after tomorrow.”

Xiao Yao received the invitations, “So it’s Feng Yuan’s birthday, of course we will go!”

Smiling, Butler Ning bowed once more, “I’m glad to hear that. I will be taking my leave then.”

Their business done quickly; Butler Qin saw the guest to the door as Xiao Yao sat back down to puzzle at the board of chess.