As Xue Bai had already accepted that there was nothing he could do to save his mother, he did not reassure her with empty promises. Instead, he wanted to spend this remaining time with her as if it were their last.

Judging by her current condition, Xue Bai highly doubted she would live for much longer if she persisted in holding her tongue. Thus, he also tried to persuade her to confess so that she could at least live. In that way he could still visit her in the future in prison.

The information she had was not much, but it was still enough to further justify the Xue family's actions against the Qiu family in the eyes of the public. While the Qiu family would try to use the fact that his father was an illegitimate son, none of their words would matter if their own actions were even crueler and inhumane.

To him, the Qiu family and his aunt were not as important as his mother's wellbeing. They may have given him the chance to be born and to live as the heir to the Xue family, but Xue Bai was also selfish and even at the fresh age of twelve he still had his own motives.

They could call him ungrateful, but he knew that he and his mother were simply nothing but mere pawns in their hands anyway. So, to him, there were no hard feelings when he had resolved to abandon them. In fact, he didn't even hesitate in doing so.

At first, Qiu Shui was reluctant as she knew that the consequences would not be light if the Qiu family were to find out.

"But mother, by the end of everything, aunt will no longer be able to touch us and the Qiu family will fall," Xue Bai persisted with his hands tightly grasping onto two bars, one in each hand.

Qiu Shui lightly caressed his cheeks that were stained with dried tears as she smiled softly, "Ah Bai, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even weakened, the Qiu family will still have the resources to take care of someone as small as me, your mother."

"They wouldn't have the leisure time to do such a thing," Xue Bai's eyes were fierce, "I will make sure of it, mother."

Even if he wasn't the current head, he could still ask his father to command the soldiers to pressure the Qiu family excessively so that they really would not be able to pay attention to his mother in the next prison she would be sent to after confessing.

It went without saying that he would also beg his father to make sure she was guarded well so that no mishaps could occur, and that a doctor would always be present on the off-chance that she would be poisoned.

When she heard how confident her only son was, Qiu Shui finally relented. She held the same sentiments towards the Qiu family as her son did.

Qiu Shui was only a distant relative of the Qiu family and was only given the surname in order to carry enough status to become a mistress of the illustrious Xue family. Although she did keep in contact with them, it was strictly business. She had been raised as a lowly chess piece in this cruel and petty game of revenge.

Although she admired the Xue head for his status, wealth, fame, and his good looks, she did not love him. Her son was the most important person in her heart and world. If he could live in peace knowing she was alive, then she would try her best to live for him.

But she would leave the confession for after her sweet son had left this dank prison. Although he was in the know for some minor schemes she had participated in, Xue Bai was actually kept in the dark regarding the more serious and mature matters such as his older brother's fate after he (XB) was brought to the Xue estate.

Even if he would one day learn about the truth, Qiu Shui did not want that day to be today, or anytime soon. He was just a child, and as a mother to her own son even she felt that dragging Xue Yang into such muddy waters was unnecessarily cruel.

As much as she tried to convince herself that she had no direct hand in that plot, but she was fully aware that the boy had not truly died back then. How was that any different from having acted directly in the end?

Did she feel any remorse? Of course she did.

However, Qiu Shui did not regret it. Her son was given the chance to become the next heir because of his older brother's absence all those years. That was enough for her. She did not need to personally enjoy any more benefit than that.

Therefore, when the two did not have much else left to say and only silently sat in the comfort of each other's embrace, Qiu Shui had discreetly swept her gaze towards the Xue head and Feng Xinya's figures to let them take her son away.

Having received her signal, Xinya did not waste even a single second as he eyed the Xue head to retrieve that son of his.

Shortly after everyone left, Qiu Shui confessed everything she knew. After that, she was held in the prison so that the Qiu family would be under the impression that she had yet to confess. It would not be wise to transport her to A Country's prison house yet if they truly cared for her life.

Nobody who was present during the mother-son dialogue was deaf. Hearing Xue Bai's reassurance to his mother that nothing would happen to her, and Xinya's and the Xue head's silent compliance, the soldiers knew not to court her death by transporting her. They also made sure that she did not undergo anymore torture and that she was fed appropriately as the woman had already confessed.

Thus, the things regarding the Xue house no longer had anything to do with Xinya or Yang as the threats had been or would be taken care of shortly.

They simply returned to Xinya's mansion, rejecting the Xue head's offer for lunch. It wasn't as if that youngest son of his truly wanted to see any more of Xue Yang's face anyway.

After Yang's declaration the previous day of wanting to join the special forces, Xinya had made sure to come up with a proper meal plan for the little youth so that he could more smoothly build his body. He'd also quickly put together an exclusive training program that was not too lax nor too overbearingly taxing for Yang to complete every day.

To further encourage the boy, as well as to not slack off himself, Xinya would accompany him in completing the routine. In addition, he had made time in the plan and his own daily activities to teach Yang various martial arts and combat moves.

Although it sounded as if Xinya had invested a lot of thought into Yang's training one-sidedly, that wasn't the case at all. The youth had his own plans in addition to the combat training and body-building routines. Even if he had lost some sleep over it and thus received countless lectures and rebuke from his savior, Xue Yang persisted in learning more knowledge through books, manuals, and the internet.

He also wanted to try his hand at hacking, strategizing, and topography so that his capabilities would be more widespread.

In this way, two years had quickly passed.

One year into the intense training, Feng Xinya had introduced his little lover to the special forces team and his superiors. He had Yang display his abilities as a hacker and just his overall intelligence in general. It was rare to find someone with eidetic memory who actually put it to good use, so the team had liked him upon meeting for the first time.

He was quickly accepted as a rookie due to his promising potential and the very fact that their most stoic and efficient member was recommending him personally.

At first, nobody had any hope of the boy's physical capabilities. After all, even after an entire year, he'd only grown by an inch while his stature remained predominantly slim especially compared to Xinya's daunting figure. Actually, amongst all of the men and even most of the women in the team, Yang's figure was simply too frail.

Thus, like Xinya, even the small group of experts couldn't help but think that their newest little rookie was a frail little brat, despite his mental prowess and agile fingers.

Really made them want to protect the little flower from any harsh winds and rain.

However, they were completely stumped a few months later when they walked in on him sparring with Xinya, one of their most skilled and powerful assets to the team.

Although it was obvious that Xinya was still holding back somewhat, not many of the members could fight on equal terms with the man. Even his seniors couldn't last five minutes sparring with him. Only their two superiors were able to.

Though if Xinya weren't barred by the body's settings, even those superiors of his wouldn't have been able to last half a minute, much less one.

But the sight that the team members walked in on when they had entered their get-together base's training room was enough to stun them into silence. This was because they knew how serious Xinya was when sparring with the little rookie.

At almost imperceptible and inhumane speeds, both figures flashed and clashed continuously.

Xinya, as always, had let Yang make the first hit as the youth immediately flew out and abruptly dropped his body, propping himself up with his hands to deliver a strong kick aimed at the older man's feet in order to sweep him off.

Knowing how much force was in those seemingly thin legs of his, Xinya did not let himself sway one bit as he lifted one foot to step directly on Yang's calf, stopping it in its assault.

Having expected this outcome, Yang twisted his body with his hands and used his free leg to kick away Xinya's heavy foot before backflipping away. The bottom of his shirt lifted ever so slightly with his movements, exposing the flawlessly white, sexy navel hidden underneath.

His formerly empty abdomen was now packed with a healthy and lean four-pack. The contrasting black sleeveless shirt fully exposed his sharply defined biceps and triceps as he threw countless fast punches towards Xinya, who blocked every offense perfectly with his muscled arms and rough palms—even occasionally dodging those he deemed dangerous.

Those fully-grown adults who were mostly in their late twenties and early thirties and were in the range of being flashed by this beautiful 18-year old kid when his shirt slightly lifted, couldn't help but blush somewhat. Men or women, regardless of their gender they could not deny that Xue Yang was the poster-boy of their team.

Actually, Xinya used to be the poster-boy, but he didn't pay any heed to that title. When Xue Yang entered their group, Xinya's position was immediately usurped due to the fact that most of the members did not dare to call out Xinya's handsomeness straight to his face.

Xue Yang was a newbie; thus, everyone could do and say as they liked with him. Not to mention that the kid was extremely passive and easy-going, they felt it was much more comfortable for him to be the face of their team.

While it was said that they could say or do anything as Xue Yang's seniors, it was an unspoken rule to never touch or talk to him excessively as everyone knew he was Xinya's.

The girls who had eyes on Xinya had also quickly accepted Yang because of his talents, temperament, and wit as well. In this way, the entire team was happy.

Xue Yang belonged to Feng Xinya, and Feng Xinya belonged to Xue Yang.

By the time the two were finished fighting, they were dripping with sweat and their breaths were harsh and labored. The members standing by the side from the beginning until the end could not help but cheer and whistle at Xue Yang's massive progress.

Back when he had first entered their ranks, he was—frankly speaking—almost hopelessly weak.

Yet, it was clear that their Xiao Yang was more than just a computer geek.

Before they knew it, they had already run up to him and asked to be his next sparring partners. After all, nobody wanted to fight with Xinya because they knew they'd just be pummeled without gaining anything.

However, Xiao Yang was still the newbie and he'd only recently shown off his physical prowess, so everyone was curious how they'd fare against this kid who lasted more than ten minutes with Xinya (even if the powerful man was holding back).

"Scram," Xinya's distinctively low voice growled lowly as he pulled his Yang out of the chaos that was their teammates.

In response, Yang helplessly glanced at the dejected group that resembled lost puppies as he was dragged out of the training room and into the shower room to wash off all of the grime and sweat accumulated through their workout.

Of course, the two shared a shower. At this point in their relationship, Xinya still had yet to lay his hands on his little white kitten but they'd already seen every part of each other's' bodies quite some time ago, so it wasn't in the least bit awkward.

In fact, because of Xinya's massive restraint, he didn't have to worry about exposing his inner desires unless provoked by Yang—which had yet to happen during the past two years.

Truthfully, he didn't mind the lack of sexual activity.

'If one has yet to taste, they would not desire ah!' Xiao had told him repeatedly over the years.

Xinya did not disagree.

For Yang's sake, he even thought it was better to postpone that day for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, this was one of the rare occasions that Xinya and Yang were not in sync. For, as they returned to his manor and laid on the bed, his mischievous little Yang had taken the initiative, getting up and seating himself directly over his crotch.