On the ninth floor of the hospital, a gale howled through the unsealed window gaps, rcilessly whipping their hair into a frenzy.
Then, before the knife-like winds could numb their faces, the biting cold seeped inch by inch into their skin, causing their bodies to shiver slightly.
In truth, compared to Yan Huan and Spencer, Ye Lan was not considered tall.
Yet, strangely enough, as Ye Lan stood before the two of them, she resembled an impenetrable fortress wall, completely shielding Yan Huan behind her from the wind and rain.
He only felt a sense of profound calm.
It was as if as long as Aunt Ye was standing in front of him, the sky would never fall.
"Shiyu, are you here?"
Ye Lan turned her head and scanned her surroundings, taking in the seemingly empty area before calling out.
Aside from the howling wind, no one answered.
Seeing this, a hint of confusion appeared on Ye Lan's face. She turned to look at Yan Huan behind her, as if confirming whether Shiyu was truly here.
Catching her gaze, Yan Huan replied with a look of absolute certainty.
After all, he and Spencer had been standing by the ergency exit from the very beginning. How could he not know if soone had co down?
With the two of them guarding this critical chokepoint, how could any enemy escape?
That Ye Shiyu was definitely hiding sowhere on this ninth floor!
"..."
With that thought, Yan Huan shifted his gaze to the unfinished concrete structure of the ninth floor.
Taking the ergency exit they had just co through as the starting point, and the unsealed end of the corridor up ahead—the spot where Ye Shiyu and Zuo Jiangqin had been talking—as the endpoint.
On the left and right sides, there were a total of nine interconnected, unfinished rooms.
She definitely took Zuo Jiangqin and hid in one of those nine rooms!
At the thought of bringing Emperor Ye to catch the master of the hypnosis domain red-handed, Yan Huan couldn't hold back his smile.
'Ye Shiyu, before coming here today, I consulted with Emperor Ye. If I cannot find you in these next nine rooms...'
'...Then I will just leave.'
'But if I do find you, it will be heaven's punishnt for using hypnosis to toy with the mass—I an, with this male university student.'
Thinking this, Yan Huan walked past Ye Lan and stepped into the corridor.
He put on a show of walking toward the first room on the right. Leaning against the doorfra, he loudly called inside,
"Sister Shiyu, are you in there?!"
"..."
At that mont, inside one of the rooms on the ninth floor.
The mont she heard Yan Huan's voice, Ye Shiyu, who was half-crouching on the ground with her arms around Zuo Jiangqin, felt her pupils contract as her face drained of color.
Having her mother co alone was terrifying enough; she never expected that Xiao Huan would be here too!
If her mother simply found out she had caught Zuo Jiangqin to teach her a harsh lesson, she did not even want to think about how many clothes hangers would be broken on her.
The clothes hangers only inflicted physical pain; she could grit her teeth and bear it until it passed.
But if Xiao Huan found out that she was actually a terrifying, two-faced woman who could turn hostile at the drop of a hat, wouldn't that an...
Her image as a loving older sister in Xiao Huan's eyes would completely collapse?!
How was this any different from her mother directly telling Xiao Huan about her night raid on him that evening?!
'No, I cannot let Xiao Huan find !'
"..."
Beside her, Zuo Jiangqin was completely unaware of Ye Shiyu's inner turmoil.
The mont she heard Yan Huan and Ye Lan's voices nearby, a look of struggle imdiately appeared on her face. It was as if she had grabbed onto a last desperate hope, desperately wanting to cry out for help.
But at this mont, her body was still under Ye Shiyu's control, rendering her unable to move.
"Step, step..."
Listening to the approaching footsteps outside, Ye Shiyu maintained her expressionless face. However, a closer look would reveal a fine layer of sweat already forming on her forehead.
'This won't do...'
'I can't just sit here and wait for my doom!'
Ye Shiyu glanced at her surroundings, quickly gathering information.
This room was connected to the others. If she could distract them temporarily, she might be able to slip into a room they had already checked.
With this thought, a plan ford in Ye Shiyu's mind.
She took out her phone, opened the chat interface with her mother, and her slender fingers typed rapidly.
"Mama, where are you? The doctor told
that there seems to be a problem with my physical examination. Can you co over?"
Send!
'This way...'
'When the ti cos, I just need to use hypnosis on that doctor and make her tell my mother that I have so minor issue. That will work perfectly!'
In her desperation, Ye Shiyu's thoughts had gradually beco extre, even developing a thought loop of using hypnosis to solve the problems caused by hypnosis.
"Ding~"
Out in the corridor, Ye Lan, who was following behind an inexplicably enthusiastic Yan Huan with her arms crossed, suddenly heard the phone in her hand chi.
She unlocked it, took a glance, and her expression shifted to one of surprise before she hurriedly typed a few words in response.
Then, she looked up and said to Yan Huan,
"Xiao Huan, Shiyu says she's still on the second floor with the doctor."
Hearing this, Yan Huan quickly turned his head, almost so anxious that he nearly blurted out everything about the Modifier.
But the opportunity was right in front of him. He had finally caught Ye Shiyu's weakness and could deliver a crushing blow.
If he let her escape this ti, who knew when he would trigger a Battle Defeat CG next.
'I absolutely cannot let her run away!'
"Hmm, but we clearly just saw Sister Shiyu take Aunt Zuo into the elevator and go up to the eighth floor. Spencer, you saw it too, right?"
"Awoo? ?"
Spencer hadn't seen a thing. Being an honest person, she instinctively prepared to shake her head, but in the next second, Yan Huan shot her a glare, signaling her to play along.
"..."
Glared at, an indignant Spencer glared right back. But t with Ye Lan's inquiring gaze, she beca conflicted.
"Awoo... um... awoo... well... um..."
She twiddled her fingers, bit her lower lip, and mumbled incoherently.
'Are you trying to rap?!'
Spencer bobbed her head for a long ti, emitting a string of aningless sounds from her mouth.
But it was completely impossible to tell if she was nodding or shaking her head, or whether she had seen it or not.
'As if she were any help at all.'
'What a useless dummy!'
Ye Lan tilted her head in confusion but did not imdiately change her mind. She simply smiled gently and said,
"How about this, I will ask her again, and you two can keep looking."
'Great opportunity!'
It was exactly when Yan Huan paused his search to speak with Ye Lan that Ye Shiyu seized the mont, silently dragging Zuo Jiangqin toward another room.
The voices were already very close. If she could just move one more room over, she could silently slip behind them.
That way, when they moved further back to search, she might be able to quietly slip out through the ergency exit.
Just as Ye Shiyu thought she saw the light of dawn, a cold voice suddenly rang out in her mind.
[Physical hypnosis duration: three minutes remaining. The hypnosis effect will gradually weaken. Upon the conclusion of the three minutes, the hypnotized individual will undergo mory Correction.]
The mont she heard this voice, Ye Shiyu, who had just regained her composure, imdiately stiffened.
She quickly turned to look at Zuo Jiangqin behind her and, sure enough, noticed that the woman's lips were beginning to tremble in defiance of her commands.
The sight of her looking as though she were about to speak brought Ye Shiyu's train of thought to a screeching halt.
To make matters worse, outside the door, Yan Huan and Spencer's footsteps began to move again. The sound of their shoes scraping against the floor made her jump.
"..."
She took a deep breath and silently swallowed, trying to calm herself down once more.
Regardless of her efforts, a bead of sweat slowly slid down her pale skin, prominently tracking toward the bridge of her nose.
In front of her, watching the sweat on Ye Shiyu's face—a physical manifestation of her panic—Zuo Jiangqin's eyes narrowed slightly.
Subsequently, her expression gradually morphed into one of extrely obvious pleasure and smugness.
Although she and Ye Shiyu had only t a short while ago, it did not stop her from feeling a wonderful sense of, 'Ye Shiyu, to think you would see a day like this too.'
Naturally, there was no need to apologize.
Because if Yan Huan were to see her looking like this, his laughter would probably be even more unrestrained than hers.
One could only say...
It was human nature.
"You..."
But amidst her internal gloating, a faint sound suddenly squeezed out from the depths of Zuo Jiangqin's throat.
This made her expression even more delighted. She struggled even harder to break free from the hypnosis, wanting to call out to Yan Huan outside and tell him she was here.
"Yan..."
Although her voice was still as faint as a mosquito's buzz, Zuo Jiangqin could already see the dawn of victory.
"Step."
"Sister Shiyu? Are you there?"
"Yan Huan, there seem to be footprints here, awoo."
"..."
Pressure from both inside and outside had already pushed Ye Shiyu into a corner.
And the more pressured she felt, the more cracks appeared in her expressionless facade.
Ye Shiyu narrowed her eyes, as if she had just figured sothing out.
So, in the next second, she hurriedly grabbed her phone with trembling hands, opened a notes app, and quickly typed out a few lines of text.
Then, Ye Shiyu abruptly raised the phone, forcing Zuo Jiangqin to read the contents on the screen.
"..."
Zuo Jiangqin looked at the phone screen, her pupils shrinking slightly.
But a second later, her body uncontrollably stood up, turned toward the room they had just co from, and began to walk.
Using just text, she could also issue hypnosis commands to a hypnotized target!
Watching Zuo Jiangqin grow further away with a look of sheer terror on her face, Ye Shiyu tensed her body, turned toward the ergency exit, and prepared herself.
Ye Shiyu was sacrificing a pawn to save the queen.
Originally, she had planned to silently take Zuo Jiangqin away as well. That way, she could achieve her goal while silently minimizing the aftermath of the hypnosis.
But looking at it now, exposure was unavoidable.
Therefore, she might as well toss Zuo Jiangqin out to preserve herself.
In any case, Zuo Jiangqin's mory would be blurred after the hypnosis. Then, she just needed to go downstairs and hypnotize the doctor on the second floor. With no surveillance caras along the way, she could not fathom how she could possibly lose.
"..."
Outside the door, just as Yan Huan was about to move forward to search the next room, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the room beside him.
"Who is it?!"
Yan Huan shouted and dashed toward the room, drawing the attention of Spencer and Ye Lan nearby.
'Ye Shiyu, surrender now without a fight?!'
'I am arresting you on charges of being a hypnosis pervert! Prepare to et your maker!'
Before Yan Huan could charge into the room to catch Ye Shiyu, he didn't expect soone to burst out first, lunging straight at him and Spencer.
Yan Huan was taken aback. He looked up and saw that it was actually a terrified-looking Zuo Jiangqin.
"Aunt Zuo?"
Hearing Yan Huan's voice, Zuo Jiangqin almost burst into tears. Looking at him tearfully, she grabbed onto him tightly.
Feeling the strength with which she was desperately clutching him, pinning him in place, Yan Huan paused. He realized that this was definitely a command Ye Shiyu had planted via hypnosis.
Yan Huan furrowed his brows and quickly looked toward the room she had run out of. Just as he was about to make a move, Zuo Jiangqin, having completed Ye Shiyu's hypnosis command, suddenly went slack.
Her overwhelming fear and terror slowly faded into blankness, and her entire body gradually went limp.
Right before her consciousness faded entirely, the last thing she murmured was,
"Auntie... Auntie will never spout nonsense about you and Bai Yi again... woo woo..."
"...What?"
Hearing this, Ye Lan, who stood behind Yan Huan with a face full of concern, froze.
Then, as if realizing sothing, the gentleness on her face ebbed away, replaced by a deep frown.
"..."
'The plan worked!'
After successfully executing her pawn-sacrificing sche, Ye Shiyu, who had quietly crept to the ergency exit, poked her head out to glance down the corridor.
All three of them had their attention completely captured by the sudden appearance of Zuo Jiangqin. Ye Shiyu took the opportunity to slip out of the corridor, silently pushing open the heavy fire door and stepping into the stairwell.
Once the ergency exit door clicked shut behind her, Ye Shiyu was effectively halfway to safety.
As long as she successfully got into the elevator and went down to the second floor, she would be able to talk her way out of this.
Thinking this, Ye Shiyu imdiately accelerated, dashing down toward the eighth floor.
"Ha... ha... ha..."
She sprinted wildly and burst out of the ergency exit. At that exact mont, a patient happened to be stepping out of the elevator.
Seeing this, Ye Shiyu hurried to seize the chance, rushing right into the elevator cabin.
"Clack!"
As soon as she got into the elevator, Ye Shiyu frantically mashed the button for the 2nd floor.
Receiving the "close door" signal, the elevator doors began to shut.
'S...'
'Safe.'
At this mont, watching the elevator doors slowly slide shut, cutting off the view of the eighth floor, Ye Shiyu clutched her phone, leaned against the elevator wall, and completely relaxed.
'I just need to go down and use hypnosis on the female doctor who examined
earlier. That way, I can seamlessly bluff my way through this...'
"..."
Panting, Ye Shiyu watched the elevator doors close inch by inch, her breathing gradually steadying.
"Clang!!"
But just before the elevator doors could completely shut, a hand violently jamd between them, stopping them with a sharp crack.
The elevator doors instantly triggered their anti-pinch safety chanism and slid open once more.
Ye Shiyu's newly relaxed nerves imdiately pulled taut at the sound. Her eyes widened, and she looked up in disbelief at the sight before her.
What entered her vision was Ye Lan, dressed in her suit, standing alone in the doorway.
She held the elevator door back with one hand, staring expressionlessly at the panting Ye Shiyu inside.
That blank, emotionless expression was practically carved from the exact sa mold as Ye Shiyu's.
But perhaps because she usually greeted people with a gentle smile, the oppressive aura radiating from her at this mont felt countless tis heavier than Ye Shiyu's own.
"Mom... I... um..."
Looking at her mother, Ye Shiyu's lips trembled, and she could barely speak clearly.
'Should I make up another excuse and say I just ca up from the second floor specifically to look for them?'
"..."
But Ye Lan rely looked at her, then wordlessly stepped into the elevator.
"Creak, rumble..."
The next second, the elevator doors completely shut, plunging down toward hell.
"Woo... Mom..."
Outside the hospital, Ye Lan walked ahead with a blank expression, one hand reaching back to pinch Ye Shiyu's ear, forcibly dragging her toward the parking lot.
Being dragged forward by the ear, forcing the entire head to follow along—just imagining it was enough to know how painful it was.
Yet Ye Shiyu did not dare resist in the slightest. She rely stumbled along pitifully, trying to keep pace with Ye Lan's strides.
Soon, the two approached the black electric sedan in the parking lot. Stepping up to it, Ye Lan yanked the rear door open, pulled Ye Shiyu right in front of her, and scolded,
"Get inside."
"..."
Clutching her ear, Ye Shiyu peeked at her mother, wanting to explain herself. But seeing Ye Lan raise her hand again, she shrank back and chose to turn and climb into the car instead.
After she was inside, Ye Lan also got into the car.
"Slam."
The car door was slamd shut by Ye Lan. As she unlocked her phone, she said,
"Ye Shiyu, do you rember what I told you last ti?"
Hearing this, Ye Shiyu was montarily stunned. She turned to look at the phone in her mother's hand.
On the screen was the contact page, just a tap away from dialing Yan Huan's number.
"..."
Seeing this, Ye Shiyu's pupils shrank as she realized what was about to happen.
"Did I or did I not say that if you dared to disobey what I told you, I would reveal everything you have done to Xiao Huan?"
"Mom, I... I didn't disobey... I have already... turned over a new leaf..."
"You didn't disobey?! Turned over a new leaf? Do you think I'm a gullible toddler?!"
Ye Lan frowned, her voice abruptly rising in volu, causing Ye Shiyu's shoulders to tremble,
"From the mont Xiao Huan walked in, you started causing trouble! You pull a long face when he brings a fruit basket to other classmates, and you pull a long face when you see little Spencer arriving with Yan Huan?
"Who is Xiao Huan to you? What does he have to do with you? I haven't even adopted him yet; he isn't even your younger brother yet!!
"You two aren't even together, and you already dare to forbid him from doing this and doing that?
"What? If he actually ends up with you in the future, are you going to lock him in a basent so he never sees another person for the rest of his life?!"
Subjected to this barrage of scolding, Ye Shiyu kept her head bowed, not daring to utter a single sound.
The only exception was when Ye Lan ntioned the "basent." She suddenly lifted her head and shot a cautious glance at her mother.
But a second later, she fearfully rushed to lower her head again.
Seeing Ye Shiyu continue to play dead, Ye Lan sneered and went straight to dial Yan Huan's number.
Seeing Ye Lan's action, Ye Shiyu hurriedly reached out to stop her. But the mont her hand moved, Ye Lan let out a low shout.
"Hands off!"
"..."
Therefore, Ye Shiyu's newly raised hand froze in mid-air.
"Ring, ring, ring~"
Just at that mont, Ye Lan's phone suddenly rang on its own.
This ti, she didn't even need to dial his number; Yan Huan was calling her himself.
Seeing the caller ID "Xiao Huan" on the screen, a faint look of panic surfaced on Ye Shiyu's face, and she shook her head pleadingly at her mother.
But Ye Lan rely shot her a glance before answering the call.
"Hello, Xiao Huan. How is Bai Yi's mother doing?"
Ye Lan turned on the speakerphone as she greeted Yan Huan.
"Aunt Ye, I was just about to tell you. She is physically fine, but she seems to have been severely frightened. She keeps mumbling about sothing..."
Pausing slightly at this point, Yan Huan added softly,
"...about 'staying far away from them.'"
"..."
Ye Lan raised her eyes to look at the deathly pale Ye Shiyu in front of her, listening as Yan Huan continued on the phone.
"We have brought Aunt Zuo downstairs now and have notified Bai Yi..."
"Alright, I understand, Xiao Huan. I will leave things on that end to you for now. Auntie has sothing to take care of here."
"Okay, sounds good, Auntie. I will hang up first then."
The mont the call ended, Ye Shiyu impatiently opened her mouth to explain.
"The reason I was so angry just now wasn't just because of Xiao Huan. That woman surnad Zuo..."
With that, Ye Shiyu relayed every single thing Zuo Jiangqin had said to Ye Lan.
But after hearing it, not only did Ye Lan's anger not subside in the slightest, she grew even more furious, reaching out to jab her finger harshly against Ye Shiyu's forehead.
"I think you have truly gone insane, Ye Shiyu!!"
Poking Ye Shiyu's forehead once was not enough to vent her anger, so Ye Lan continued jabbing her index finger at it rcilessly.
"Do you really think you are so kind of prestigious Eldest Miss from a wealthy family now?! You haven't learned a single useful thing since coming to Linn, but you've completely mastered these rotten habits and foul Eldest Miss tempers all on your own!"
"Woo..."
"Who do you think you are? Did I give you too good of a life before? To the point that it's turned you into a pervert who violates your own younger brother, into a bastard who bullies people with a worse family background than yours?"
Ye Lan clenched her fist, rapping her knuckles against Ye Shiyu's forehead over and over again. Her teeth were gritted tightly. She was so furious and devastated that she looked like she was about to cry herself.
"Tell , what do you expect
to do?! I raised you and educated you through such hardship, only for you to turn out like this...
"There's not even a need for
to tell Xiao Huan directly! Xiao Huan saw you taking Bai Yi's Mother upstairs earlier anyway. Now that Bai Yi's Mother has ended up like this, do you think Xiao Huan is an idiot?
"Why don't you just go straight to prison? I clearly can't manage you anymore anyway. You don't need to go to school either. Go squat in a cell for a few years, let's see how much that improves your character!"
Well, it looked like Ye Shiyu was about to officially evolve, evolving into 'Inmate Ye.'
"I already told you exactly what you needed to do before, so why can you never control yourself? Ah?! Tell !"
Watching Ye Lan look as though she were about to give herself a heart attack from sheer anger, Ye Shiyu could no longer hold back the tear welling up in the corner of her eye.
Biting her lip, she raised a hand to wipe her eye and began to explain,
"Mama, I just... whenever I think about soone else trying to take away Xiao Huan, trying to take you away, trying to take away anything belonging to our family, I just can't control myself... I really... I really can't help it..."
"You can't help it..."
Ye Lan gritted her teeth, but when she lifted her gaze and saw the tears in Ye Shiyu's eyes, her bitten lip, and her utterly tornted expression, she suddenly thought of things from Ye Shiyu's childhood.
She suddenly rembered that back when she and this child had to move out, Ye Shiyu had held onto a stuffed toy that no longer belonged to her with this exact sa tornted expression, huddled in a corner and refusing to leave.
Perhaps it was exactly because she had seen her looking so pitiful back then that Ye Lan understood what "possessing" ant to her.
She had believed that as long as her financial situation improved, giving her daughter more and better things would make up for the trauma of the past, for the day she had been forced to leave with nothing and had everything stripped away from her.
Now it seed, it had all been for absolutely nothing.
Giving her any amount of things could never fill that gaping hole; rather, taking away even a single thing from her would only expand that void further.
However, Ye Lan also understood a fundantal truth:
Past hardships could not be an excuse for her daughter to commit evil acts now, and they certainly could not be a reason to indulge her with endless tolerance.
"..."
The strength in Ye Lan's raised hand drained away little by little until it simply rested on Ye Shiyu's shoulder.
Feeling her daughter's ceaselessly trembling body, Ye Lan lowered her eyes, let out a sigh, and said,
"If you can't control yourself, then I will help you. I will co up with a plan to help correct these rotten habits of yours. From now on, I will also have soone monitor your every word and action.
"When you couldn't control yourself before, I can consider it sowhat excusable—it was my negligence in disciplining you.
"But as I am personally correcting you going forward, if you still dare to act against , I will consider you beyond saving."
Ye Lan expressionlessly lifted her gaze, staring right into Ye Shiyu's eyes in a way that made the younger woman's hair stand on end.
"Since you like handicrafts so much anyway, you'd better prepare yourself to be sent inside and operate a sewing machine."
"..."
Ye Shiyu gulped, slightly averting her gaze, and stuttered,
"I... I understand, Mama."
From her voice alone, it was clear that Ye Shiyu had completely yielded, yet Ye Lan continued to stare at her with an expressionless face.
After a second of silence, Ye Lan abruptly held out her hand and said to her,
"Give
your phone."
"Ah?"
"In a few days, I'll take it to a professional to install a System on it. That way, I can monitor you in real-ti to ensure you aren't harassing Xiao Huan or looking at strange things."
"..."
Looking at Ye Lan's outstretched hand, Ye Shiyu reluctantly placed her phone into her mother's palm.
"Crack-crack-crack!!"
Just as she willingly chose to give up her phone, surrendering it to her mother, the phone screen suddenly cracked straight down the middle, as if suffering imnse trauma out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, the phone screen was off at that mont, so Ye Lan did not notice the massive fracture across its surface.
She rely shot a glance at Ye Shiyu and handed down her sentence.
"You won't be using a phone for a while. This will perfectly cut off any thoughts you have of contacting Xiao Huan."
"..."
Stripped of her phone, Ye Shiyu suddenly felt a surge of panic. After all, ever since she obtained the Hypnosis App, her phone had rarely left her hand.
But at this mont, consud by panic, she failed to realize that the further the phone was taken from her, the more various emotions began breeding within her, spreading like wildfire...
Those very emotions that had seemingly been erased, completely devoured prior to this.
At this mont, turning the clock back slightly—the look on Yan Huan's face after hanging up on Ye Lan was truly...
Indescribably joyful.
He truly wanted to throw his fists in the air like a movie protagonist who had just won the lottery, and shout at the top of his lungs,
"So satisfying!!"
In truth, when Ye Lan suddenly turned and left the ninth floor, he already realized that she had spotted Ye Shiyu escaping.
And so, Yan Huan hadn't stopped her. Instead, he tid his phone call perfectly.
He had been waiting precisely for this mont to kick soone while they were down—ah, no, to add icing on the cake.
This was perfect. By subtly throwing in Zuo Jiangqin's traumatized remarks, he imagined Ye Lan's palm was practically smoking from slapping her by now.
"..."
Yan Huan shook his head, the corners of his mouth curling upward.
"Mom!"
Just at that mont, the elevator doors on the eighth floor opened, and an anxious Bai Yi rushed out.
As soon as she turned her head, she spotted Zuo Jiangqin, whom Yan Huan and Spencer had jointly laid on a nearby bench.
As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. Although Bai Yi genuinely found her mother irritating most of the ti—to the point where they disagreed on nine out of ten things—
The mont she walked out and saw Zuo Jiangqin lying on the bench looking so weak and disheveled, her heart couldn't help but ache.
Bai Yi rushed to Zuo Jiangqin's side, looking her over from head to toe.
"What exactly happened to my mom? Where did she go earlier, and why did she run all the way up here... Yan Huan, did you—"
Bai Yi turned to Yan Huan, firing off a whole barrage of questions.
Just as Yan Huan was about to answer, Zuo Jiangqin groaned uncomfortably beside her.
"Mom?! You're awake!"
Seeing this, Bai Yi hastily turned back to look at Zuo Jiangqin.
Dazed, Zuo Jiangqin furrowed her brows, still looking as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
"I won't ever lie again... I really haven't lied that many tis... Complaining that the limited-edition guitar was too expensive and buying my daughter a regular one instead, that was truly the only ti..."
Hearing this, Bai Yi's expression froze, the concern on her face stalling completely.
"Wh-What do you an the limited-edition guitar was too expensive? Didn't you say that the family had run out of money at the ti, and we only had enough for the regular one?"
"Who said that? The family definitely had the money, I just didn't want to..."
As she mumbled, Zuo Jiangqin's consciousness seed to clear up a little.
What entered her sight was her own daughter's figure.
She paused, and her expression gradually shifted into an incredibly awkward one.
Clearly, she had just realized what she had been babbling about.
"Yiyi, you... listen to my explanation..."
But upon hearing this, Bai Yi's face had already darkened completely.
"Great, just great. And to think I actually believed your nonsense back then! I thought our family was so broke and I was being selfish for wanting it, which made
feel guilty to death. So this is the truth..."
Zuo Jiangqin, driven by a guilty conscience, slightly averted her gaze. Then she sat up and tried to change the subject.
"Wh-What happened to ? I feel like sothing just happened earlier..."
"Who cares what happened to you just now?! I must be crazy to want to stick my nose in your business!"
"Hey, is... is that how you talk to ?"
Exasperated, Bai Yi shot to her feet, too bothered to deal with her still-dizzy mother any longer.
But suddenly, she realized that Yan Huan had been standing right next to them, watching the whole thing unfold.
She turned her head, only to see Yan Huan standing off to the side with a smile, acting like air but practically taking in every single detail of the drama that had just transpired.
At the thought of this, Bai Yi wanted nothing more than to find a hole to crawl into.
Her face flushed slightly. Coughing lightly, she walked up to Yan Huan and muttered,
"Sorry about that. We were being a little embarrassing."
"It's fine, completely normal. Every family has its own difficulties to bear."
Seeing Yan Huan's nonchalant attitude, Bai Yi suddenly felt a bit envious of him.
He was so free, able to do whatever he wanted without having to worry about his family's opinions.
However, Bai Yi couldn't voice this envy out loud. After all...
Wouldn't that be subtly pointing out that Yan Huan had no family left and was an orphan?!
'That is way too savage.'
Bai Yi silently chanted a quick 'Amitabha Buddha' in her heart.
"Ouch, Yiyi, Mom's head hurts so much. Can you help
downstairs to see a doctor?"
"Can't... can't you walk on your own?"
"Really, you... why can't you be a little more obedient? Look at that Ye Shiyu, look at how well she listens to her mom!"
"Heh."
Although reluctant, Bai Yi could only let out a sigh and walk over to help her mother up.
Yan Huan watched this scene in silence, shaking his head helplessly.
But from the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that Spencer, who was standing next to him, hadn't said a single word. She was rely watching the figures of Bai Yi and Zuo Jiangqin, deep in thought about sothing.
Earlier, when she had watched Ye Lan leave to chase after Ye Shiyu, she seed to have shown this exact sa expression.
"..."
For so reason, her sudden stillness—especially since she was usually so noisy—and the way she stared straight ahead made Yan Huan unaccustod to the quiet.
After a second of silence, he instinctively reached out a hand, intending to pat her on the shoulder.
But once again, he suddenly rembered the current relationship between him and Spencer.
As a result, his extended hand hovered over her, ultimately refusing to fall.
"Awoo?"
But this ti, Spencer snapped back to reality, looking at him with her clear, sky-blue eyes, her face full of confusion.
"What is it, awoo?"
"..."
Yan Huan blinked. He retracted his hand rather awkwardly, smiled faintly, and said,
"It's nothing. Let's go. Let's see how An Le is doing."
"Awoo, awoo."
Spencer nodded, following Yan Huan to take the elevator downstairs to check on An Le.
However, while waiting for the elevator, standing behind Yan Huan, she couldn't help but look back one more ti at the bickering mother-daughter duo of Bai Yi and Zuo Jiangqin.
She looked at the annoyance and helplessness on Bai Yi's face, and she looked at the gloominess and discomfort on Zuo Jiangqin's face...
Then, she turned her head back to look at the tightly shut elevator doors in front of her.
The elevator doors reflected the light, casting a reflection of her figure.
And in just a fleeting mont, that reflection, much like the others, began to slowly distort, transforming into the appearance of a chibi Golden Bomb Pig.
"Ding-dong. Eighth floor."
The next second, the elevator doors slid open, cleanly cleaving the reflection of the Golden Bomb Pig in half.
"..."
Spencer blinked. Her eyes dimd slightly, but she imdiately raised her feet, following Yan Huan into the elevator.
Reviews
All reviews (0)