Chapter 137: REMOVAL IS A LAST RESORT

Bai Feng nodded. "The building itself is in poor condition, flagged twice for code violations. The apartment was dark, inadequately stocked, no evidence of regular meals for the children. The father was present but had initially instructed his eldest daughter, who is five, to tell us he wasn’t home."

Liu Yan made a note. "And the children’s physical condition?"

"Visibly malnourished," Liang Xueyi said. "The eldest confirmed they hadn’t eaten since the previous day when a neighbour brought biscuits. The youngest is two years old and was absent during the initial visit, reportedly with friends of the father."

"A two year old visiting friends," Liu Yan said, her tone even but the implication clear. "And the father’s condition in comparison?"

"Well fed," Guiying said. "Clean, well dressed, new phone. The disparity was significant."

Liu Yan nodded, writing. "Immediate food assistance has been arranged?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Delivered this morning," Bai Feng confirmed. "A neighbour on the same floor, Arang, has agreed to stay with the children in the interim. She’s been informally feeding them for some time."

"Good." Liu Yan looked up. "I’ll be assigning a social worker to the case. The first home visit will be Wednesday morning. During that visit we’ll conduct a full assessment — living conditions, the children’s health, the father’s capacity and willingness to cooperate." She looked at each of them. "Our priority is keeping the family together where it’s safe to do so. Removal is a last resort. But if the conditions on Wednesday reflect what you’ve described today, we will be looking at immediate intervention for the children’s welfare."

"Understood," Bai Feng said.

"The father," Guiying said. "He needs counseling. Proper therapy. Is that something child services can facilitate or does that need to come through the ORF?"

"We can refer him," Liu Yan said. "Whether he engages with it is ultimately his choice, but it will be strongly recommended and his engagement will be documented as part of the assessment." She paused. "You mentioned he was resistant initially?"

"He was cooperative once he understood we weren’t there to take his children," Guiying said. "But his answers suggested someone who hasn’t been present for them for a long time. Not malicious, just deeply disconnected."

Liu Yan nodded slowly. "That’s useful context. I’ll make sure it’s included in the briefing for the assigned social worker." She closed her folder. "The first visit is Wednesday morning. I’ll send through the formal documentation tonight. If anything changes before then, contact me directly."

"We will," Bai Feng said. "Thank you Liu Yan."

She nodded and left the call.

Guiying closed his notebook and leaned back against the headboard. Bai Feng stayed on for a moment, looking at him through the screen.

"You did well today," he said. "Staying behind, making sure the children ate. That mattered."

"It was nothing," Guiying said.

"It wasn’t," Bai Feng said simply, and ended the call.

Guiying closed the laptop and set it aside, the room quiet around him now. His stomach had been making itself known for the last hour and he’d promised Old Li he’d come down, so he pushed the blanket back and got up.

He found Old Li in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove, and the smell that hit him at the bottom of the stairs made his stomach contract immediately.

"Sit down," Old Li said without turning around. "I kept it warm."

Guiying sat at the table and Old Li set a bowl of congee in front of him, then a plate of pan-fried fish, then a small dish of pickled vegetables, moving with the unhurried efficiency of someone who had been feeding people for decades and found it deeply satisfying.

"You didn’t eat in Shanghai?" Old Li said, settling into the chair across from him with his own cup of tea.

"I did," Guiying said, which was technically true if you counted the snacks Bai Zichen had pressed on him between outfit changes.

Old Li looked at him with the expression of someone who had raised children and knew exactly what technically true sounded like.

"Eat properly," he said, and pushed the fish closer.

Guiying ate, working through the congee steadily while Old Li sat across from him with his tea, and for a few minutes neither of them said anything, just the quiet of the kitchen and the sound of the spoon against the bowl.

"The young master called earlier," Old Li said, refilling his own tea. "Said he’d be home late."

Guiying nodded and said nothing.

Old Li looked at him over his cup. "Did something happen today?"

"Long day," Guiying said.

Old Li considered this, decided it was enough, and didn’t push. He refilled Guiying’s tea without being asked and let the kitchen stay quiet.

Guiying finished the bowl, then the fish, then sat back and felt the tiredness of the day settle properly now that something warm was in him.

"Thank you Uncle Li," he said.

Old Li waved him off. "Go rest. You look like you need it."

Guiying pushed back his chair and headed upstairs, the house quiet around him, the kind of quiet that meant everyone had settled in for the evening and nothing else was going to be asked of anyone tonight.

He got to his room, turned off the light and got into bed, and was asleep before he could check his phone or the time.

Xue Mingzhan sat at the head of his study with two men across from him.

On his left was Fang Guobin, the Xue family’s legal counsel for the past twenty years, a man in his late fifties who had drafted more Xue family documents than he could count and had learned long ago that his job was to advise, not to judge. On his right was Chen Wenbo, the family’s oldest trusted advisor, who had known Xue Mingzhan since before Deyong was born and who understood the weight of what sat behind most of the Patriarch’s decisions better than anyone.

Both of them had been summoned that morning without explanation.

Xue Mingzhan set down his tea.

"The annual dinner will be Saturday," he said. "Invitations go out Thursday. I wanted the two of you to know what is going to happen at that dinner before anyone else does."

Fang Guobin opened his folder. Chen Wenbo waited.

"I’m introducing ShangYan officially at the dinner as my son," Xue Mingzhan said. "I’m also reading the will that evening, and before the night is over I will be passing the family headship."