Chapter 58

**Chapter 58**

When Bai Yaxin and Lin Tingyue got there, Bai Weijian and Lin Yuhuan had already arrived first.

"That was too close. Any later, and they would’ve gone to the room."

Bai Yaxin pressed a hand to her chest, just as relieved at the narrow escape. She glanced at her eldest brother, only to see him and Lin Yuhuan slowly shake their heads at her.

What was going on?

Meanwhile, Bai Weiye, drunk and barely able to stand, hadn’t initially understood what was happening. But the moment he saw Bai Yaxin, it all became clear.

He pushed away the person supporting him and lurched toward Bai Yaxin. "Ha! I knew it. Whether it’s my eldest brother or you, Bai Yaxin—you’re all alike. You all look down on me. None of you believe I can achieve anything."

Lin Tingyue rolled her eyes.

"Go ahead. Keep going, and soon you’ll be the one getting screwed."

"But it doesn’t matter. I have a group of good friends now. Without any of you, I can still live just fine."

"Yeah, yeah. Your 'good friends' even brought a whole collection of toys in the room upstairs—just for your 'entertainment.'"

"Bai Yaxin, Bai Weijian—just you wait and see."

"The way those people behind you are looking is completely obvious, and Uncle here doesn’t even notice."

After saying this, Bai Weiye threw his arms around the two people beside him and made to leave.

But he was blocked at the door by the bodyguards brought by Lin Yuhuan and Bai Weijian.

Bai Weiye demanded, "Bai Weijian, what the hell are you doing?"

Bai Weijian replied sternly, "Either way, you're not leaving here."

"You—"

Ever since coming of age, Bai Weijian had taken on part of the responsibility from their mother to care for and discipline his younger siblings. Even after all these years, Bai Weiye still felt that familiar twinge of fear when facing his eldest brother.

But today was his big chance to prove himself—he couldn’t let anyone look down on him.

Before Bai Weiye could speak, the people with him started getting antsy.

"Bai Weiye, what's going on? Didn't you already agree to this?"

Bai Weiye hurriedly replied, "I did, but my family is being stubborn. I just need to reason with them."

One of them snapped, "How long is this going to take?"

"Very soon, very soon."

Bai Weiye was deathly afraid of offending these big shots and even more terrified of dragging his old classmate into trouble. His classmate had pulled out all the stops to gather so many people for him—even though the classmate wasn’t here, Bai Weiye couldn’t afford to mess this up.

He raised his voice. "Bai Weijian, call off your goons!"

Lin Tingyue put her face in her hands. "He's beyond help. Just write him off already."

Bai Weijian also wanted to write off his useless brother. But whether buried or arrested, now that he was here, these people weren't going anywhere.

Bai Weijian didn’t budge an inch. “You’re not leaving this VIP room today.”

“You…”

Just as the two sides were locked in a standoff, one of the bosses suddenly smashed a liquor bottle on the floor.

The sound scared Bai Weiye shitless.

Lin Yuhuan immediately pushed Lin Tingyue and Bai Yaxin behind him.

The boss grinned. “Alright, Bai Weiye, are you trying to screw me over?”

“Why would I screw you?”

“Either you’re trying to jack up the price or you’re backing out. Don’t think you’re our only option. If you’re a pet, you’d better act like one.”

“A pet? You guys really get freaky.”

Bai Weiye was equally confused. “What pet?”

Nowadays, doing business means becoming someone’s pet?

“Still playing dumb? If Luo Caiheng hadn’t recommended you to us, why would we waste time on you?”

“Hmm… Feels like they’ve stopped pretending and showed their hand. Seriously, couldn’t they wait a damn minute?”

Even if Bai Weiye was dense, the blatant looks in their eyes made him realize the truth now. “I came here to talk business, and you’re playing word games with me? Fine, I’m no pushover either. I’ll take you sick fucks down.”

Bai Weiye grabbed a liquor bottle and went at them.

But the fight had barely started when the police arrived. Everyone in that VIP room was detained without exception.

And one guy who got away actually ran back on his own.

Luo Caiheng had gone upstairs to set up the room. Those people had promised to come up in half an hour, but nearly an hour had passed with no sign of them.

Paranoid and worried that Bai Weiye had caught on, Luo Caiheng went downstairs to check—only to walk straight into the cops’ trap.

Luo Caiheng’s mind went blank. His lips trembled as he said, “I swear, I was just passing by!”

“Passing by?” Bai Weiye, cuffed and furious, snapped. “Luo Caiheng, do you think I’m blind? I treated you like a real friend, and you sold me out?”

“I… I was forced too!”

“Forced? Not necessarily.”

“Luo Caiheng had approached these people for money, only to find out they were total freaks. After putting up with them for who knows how long, they finally lost interest, and he wanted to break free. Coincidentally, his uncle had been venting to him, and an idea hit him…”

“But those guys were seriously messed up. With money and power, they pulled all kinds of shady moves… Looked decent on the outside, but deep down, they were wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

Standard procedure required everyone present to go to the station.

Lin Tingyue had stopped counting how many times she’d been to the police station. When they walked out, Bai Weiye was also released. He looked like he wanted to say something to Bai Yaxin and Bai Weijian.

But Bai Yaxin and Bai Weijian acted like they didn’t see him and walked off.

Looks like this time, they were done with him for good.

Back home, Bai Yaxin called Feng Chao. Kids make their own choices—Feng Chao couldn’t interfere. But before hanging up, Bai Yaxin mentioned she’d been eyeing a gold necklace for a while but never had a good reason to buy it. Now, she finally had one—time to treat herself.

"What excuse?"

"Celebrating finally kicking out my good-for-nothing son?"

"That's a keeper—historic, even."

Bai Yaxin chuckled. "Alright, I'll tag along another day."

After saying goodbye to Feng Chao, Bai Yaxin put down her phone and glanced at Lin Tingyue, who was yawning nonstop on the sofa. "Tingyue, you've had a long day. Go to bed early."

Lin Tingyue really couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.

"So young but already such an old soul."

She mumbled sleepily, "Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Big Brother. Goodnight, Dad."

As she paused on the stairs, Lin Tingyue thought for a moment before sending a "goodnight" to Lin Xiawan and Lin Chengyan, who hadn't returned yet.

Lin Chengyan, who had just finished filming an overnight shoot, looked at the emoji in the chatbox and smirked. He asked his assistant, "I want to buy a gift—for a girl. Any suggestions?"

The assistant looked alarmed. "Chengyan, didn't you say you don’t ship yourself with costars?"

"It's not for CP."

The assistant grew even more uneasy. "Wait, is this about Cheng Jinshuang?"

Lin Chengyan stared at him. "What happened to trust between people?"

"Manager Wen said, 'You can't trust anyone these days!'"

Lin Chengyan: "..."

These were the exact words his manager, Wen Fei, had told him after he repeatedly went back to Cheng Jinshuang. The assistant had parroted them back word for word.

Lin Chengyan arched a skeptical brow. "Well done, Zhu Cheng. Been preparing that one for a while, huh? Waiting to drop this bomb?"

Zhu Cheng replied earnestly, "How was the effect?"

"Worse than my occasional big brother complex."

When Lin Tingyue mocked him in her thoughts, he hated her intensely. But when she treated him like this, his heart softened, and his big brother instincts kicked in.

But with Zhu Cheng, it was different. Lin Chengyan patted his shoulder. "Better cherish this job while you’ve got it."

Zhu Cheng: "?"

Something about Chengyan today was sketchy—did the night shoot corrupt him?

Meanwhile, Lin Xiawan’s friend teased her, "Who’s got you grinning like that?"

Lin Xiawan replied calmly, "It’s from my sister. She told me to sleep early and sent me a ‘goodnight.’”

Yang Yuxing was familiar with most of Lin Xiawan’s past and knew that Lin Tingyue wasn’t bullying her anymore.

Yang Yuxing raised an eyebrow. "Well, well, Lin Xiawan. Never took you for someone so sister-obsessed."

Lin Xiawan smiled, her eyes curving. "Guess I just figured it out."

After all, Lin Tingyue really is adorable.

Remembering what Lin Tingyue had said earlier, Lin Xiawan decided to start preparing tomorrow.

...

Lin Tingyue slept in until she woke up naturally, stretching lazily in bed. As she was about to lie back down, her stomach growled.

Lin Tingyue got out of bed and drifted downstairs to the dining room.

Upon seeing Bai Yaxin, she said, "Mommy, hungry hungry, food food."

"Coming right up, sweetie," replied Bai Yaxin.

She placed breakfast in front of Lin Tingyue. As she ate, Lin Tingyue suddenly noticed something was off. She asked, "Mommy, where's Zhang Ma?"

"Zhang Ma took the day off today. What's wrong? Is my cooking not to your taste?" Bai Yaxin feigned offense.

"So good!"

"Nom nom nom."

Bai Yaxin smiled and stroked Lin Tingyue's hair. Then Lin Tingyue asked, "Is it just the two of us at home?"

"Your dad is upstairs in the study. The portion I ate was made by him. Your eldest brother went to the company, your second brother is on a film shoot and hasn't come home yet, and Xiawan just came back this morning, took a shower, and left again. I was worried about you, afraid you'd go hungry, so I stayed right here waiting."

"So a mother's love can mean waiting in the kitchen forever... sniffle sniffle."

Bai Yaxin was taken aback, not understanding why Lin Tingyue would think that way. Her eyes softened even more as she said, "Hurry up and eat."

"Okay."

After finishing the meal, Lin Tingyue went with Bai Yaxin to the garden to cut some flowers for a vase. While chugging some water, she received a message from Fan Qing asking her to go shopping.

Lin Tingyue told Bai Yaxin and then headed off.

The two of them shopped until they were tired and found a random café to sit in.

Fan Qing looked at the table by the window and exclaimed, "Huh, isn't that...?"

Lin Tingyue asked, "Qing Qing, do you know them?"

"Kind of. He's been trying to date my mom recently."

"No wonder Qing Qing's eyes rolled all the way to the sky."

"Uh, actually, it's not him but his girlfriend who's after Qing Qing's mom..."