Against the Algorithm

Chapter 42: When the Storm Brings Family

"I never said that exactly. I just mentioned you were popular." His voice was calm, measured, the tone he reserved for both courtroom and PR warfare...as he was covering his ass form his mother. "He drew his own conclusions."

"He flew in last night," Lan growled. "He skipped the board meeting in Tokyo. He's been moody and dramatic and clingy since the moment he walked in the door. Do you know what he said to our chef this morning?"

"What?" Sicheng tilted his head, mildly curious.

"He said he couldn't even eat breakfast until he knew I hadn't smiled at anyone else. Then he followed me to the garden like I was a flight risk!"

From the training room, Yue's muffled voice called out, "Is that Ma? Is she mad?"

"I'm not mad, I'm being haunted by a lovesick overgrown teenager in a CEO's body!" Lan snapped. "He's been quoting Tang dynasty poetry at me for the past three hours!"

Sicheng's lips twitched. "I warned you," he said smoothly. "You tease me about my Bunny? I remind Baba he still thinks you're the goddess who ruined his life—in the best way."

Lan's voice dropped into something flat and dangerous. "You will pay for this."

"Oh, I am," he said, flicking his mouse to secure a kill. "Every minute of this has been worth it."

There was a pause on the other end. Then a long, slow inhale. "I raised a serpent," she muttered darkly. "A beautiful, emotionally repressed serpent with control issues and too many resources."

"You raised a lawyer," he corrected, finishing off the enemy's jungle camp. "The rest came naturally."

Another pause.

"...He's asking when he can meet Yao."

Sicheng stilled for just a breath. "What did you say?"

"I told him after the match," Lan said simply. "So you have until then to warn her. Or to move her into a different country. Your choice."

And with that, the line went dead.

Sicheng stared at his phone for a beat, lips twitching, then calmly reached for his water bottle, took a long sip, and muttered, "Well. That escalated beautifully."

The moment the call disconnected and silence reclaimed the room, it was broken—unsurprisingly—by the sharp sound of a sliding door and the unmistakable thud of socked feet crossing the polished wood floor in a determined march.

Yue, hoodie askew and expression twisted in a perfect blend of horror and awe, stalked in from the training room, a protein bar still clutched in one hand as he pointed dramatically at his older brother. "You didn't," he said, eyes wide with disbelief. "Tell me you didn't just unleash Baba on Ma."

Sicheng didn't even glance up from his monitor as he executed a flawless disengage from a collapsing team fight, his voice smooth as silk. "Define 'unleash.'"

"Unleash," Yue repeated, gesturing wildly with the half-open protein bar. "As in, told our emotionally catastrophic, Tang-poetry-reciting, stalks-Ma-through-her-own-house-because-someone-smiled-at-her husband, that someone flirted with her in a board meeting?"

"He's been gone for three weeks. It was time for him to come home." Sicheng replied calmly, flicking across the screen as he locked in a late-game Baron.

"Yeah, and now Ma's going to fake a business trip to Greenland just to get five minutes of breathing room!"

Sicheng finally looked up, one brow arching with cold amusement. "She called me, Yue. She started it. She tattled on me to Yao while she was delirious with fever. She's lucky I didn't tell Baba that one of the nurses brought her tea with a wink."