The ancestral hall door was closed.
The Bai family’s butler’s heart slowly fell down from his throat.
He looked at Miss Bai with a complicated expression.
Xiangcheng, the northernmost city, is also the farthest border city from Jiangjing.
Dirty and chaotic, fish and dragons mixed, the most depraved place in the country, without even a train station. (TL: fish and dragons mixed-crooks mixed in with the honest folk)
Bai Lian was looking thoughtfully at the Bai family’s tablet, which had only a history of two hundred years.
With a complicated mood, she asked the butler, “The ‘Bai Yi Xing’?”
“Bai Yi Xing” was one of the top ten famous songs of all time and the school song of Jiangjing University. Even a primary school student could know it. Bai family’s butler thought that she was looking for a topic and said, “Miss, why bother getting to this point? When a person is born, their destiny is already set. So you see, some people can overcome adversity and succeed, while others may squander their opportunities even with the best conditions…”
The young master grew up in a poor environment, but he became the top scholar in the city and went to Jiangjing University. He also had a doctoral advisor and the support of the Jiangjing, making the position of the Bai family in the northern city more stable. Everyone knew that the young master was exceptional.
Bai Qiming was waiting for the Bai brother and sister, to bring honor to the family by entering Jiangjing University and have their names recorded in both the local and municipal chronicles.
On the other hand, Bai Lian…
“What’s not meant to be yours will never be yours, and everything that the second miss has today is because of her own abilities.” After speaking for a while, the Bai family butler felt that it was a waste of time to continue talking with her and turned around.
He must immediately deliver the letter of apprenticeship to the second miss.
Just as the butler turned around, he heard Bai Lian’s soft voice, “Where are you taking my things?”
The butler was taken aback, “I…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, suddenly——
Bai Lian reached out and grabbed his collar, her slender and fair fingertips exerting a little force.
He felt a clear sense of suffocation around his neck, and involuntarily lowered his body. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed by someone, and he was forced to look up and meet her dark and deep eyes!
He suddenly remembered that Bai Lian’s mother was Jì Mulan, whose beauty had once shocked the entire northern city.
It seemed that everyone thought that Bai Lian had not inherited the strengths of Bai Qiming and Jì Mulan, he was no exception.
At this moment, he felt a little uncertain.
After admiring for a while, Bai Lian suddenly laughed. She tightened her grip on his neck, then slowly and calmly asked, “Do you know what happened to the last person who angered me?”
The butler’s face quickly turned red due to the lack of oxygen.
Bai Lian released her grip on his neck and calmly adjusted his collar. Her voice was low and gentle as she said, “You see, I was just making a little joke. What are you afraid of?”
Her actions can only be described as gentle.
However, the butler’s heart was racing, and the alarm bells in his head were screaming wildly!!
He coughed repeatedly while holding his neck.
Looking at Bai Lian again, his eyes were filled with fear.
Bai Lian pushed him away again and suddenly put away her smile.
It was like boiling water suddenly turning into ice.
She lazily picked up the apprenticeship letter with two fingers, blew away the nonexistent dust on it indifferently, and mysteriously said, “Make arrangements, I’m going to Xiangcheng.”
****
Two days later, in Xiangcheng.
This was the most remote border city in the country, where even three years of poverty alleviation had not reached.
There was no developed transportation here, and even slightly taller buildings were rare.
Bai Lian stood under the city tower, lifted the hood of her sweatshirt, and looked up.
The city wall had experienced wind and frost for thousands of years, with collapsed stones and moss growing in the shady areas. On both sides of the road were rows of lazy banyan trees, and the light and shadow swayed through the cracks.
She held a black backpack in one hand and placed five incense sticks on the ground. The smoke curled up and rose towards the clear sky.
A little boy squatting on the ground and staring at a large water wheel nearby glanced at her twice, then continued to stare at the water wheel when he saw that Bai Lian wasn’t leaving.
Bai Lian was startled awake by her phone ringing.
“Ah Lian, have you arrived yet?” It was the aunt of the original owner in Xiangcheng, and her voice sounded cautious.
Bai Lian replied, slinging her backpack behind her. “Will be there soon.”
She vaguely saw a drop of water falling and soaking into the dust.
After watching the five incense sticks burn out, she pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt and walked towards the bus station.
There was a moat outside Xiangcheng, which was split and diverted into the city. A large wooden windmill was mounted on the water inside the city gate, slowly turning as the water flowed by.
The little boy noticed her leaving from the corner of his eye and finally moved, following her to the bus stop.
Bai Lian stood in the shade of a tree, looking down at the little boy who was not even up to her waist. Her slender fingertips tapped on her phone casually.
The little boy followed her from the train station to the bus and had been following her ever since.
His eyes were black and bright, with a buzz cut. He wore a white shirt, a blue knitted vest, black leather shoes, and was clean and tidy.
Exquisite and beautiful, but out of place in this rundown town.
“Why are you following me?” Bai Lian asked.
The little boy lowered his head, repeatedly unbuttoning and buttoning the cuffs of his shirt. He stared at the buttons and said, “Big brother gave me half a banana this morning, half a banana, half…”
There were no seats at the bus stop, it was simple and crude. There were not many cars on the road, just a few here and there.
Bai Lian leaned against the sign and dozed off lazily. “Can’t understand.”
“Oh, I’m waiting for my parents to come pick me up and go to their world,” he stared at the red ribbon on Bai Lian’s left hand and said, “My big brother knows where I am, but he’s just too lazy to bother with me.”
“Ah,” Bai Lian tilted her head and suddenly opened her eyes, staring at him for a while before flicking his forehead with her finger. “Your big brother sounds cool.”
“Oh.” The little boy’s gaze turned to a slowly approaching black car on the opposite side.
He silently rebelled against her last sentence.
****
Across the street was a black Maybach business car.
In the driver’s seat, the bald driver had one hand on the steering wheel, and even in this harmless street, he remained extremely vigilant.
It wasn’t until he saw the little boy across the street that he breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the Bluetooth earpiece in his ear. “Retreat, turn off the infrared, don’t aim at ordinary people.”
There was only one young man in the back seat, with a laptop without a brand logo in front of him. He wore a white shirt buttoned up to the top, with light-colored eyes and cold white skin.
He casually swiped the computer screen with his fingertips and opened a file.
The document in the email displayed a complex set of numerical formulas.
He glanced at it and lowered his thick eyelashes, typing with one hand and leaving a comment——
[Don’t send me junk anymore.]
Jiang Fuli pressed two keys, and a voice prompt appeared in the lower left corner of the computer screen. It was a man in a lab coat who complained, “Say, Young Master Jiang, what’s wrong with those R Country researchers?”
“Speak,” Jiang Fuli was concise with his words.
“Damn,” the man laughed uncontrollably, not sure what he found amusing. “They collectively reported you to the Mensa Alliance today. You know I can’t reach the alliance’s threshold, I heard my old teacher say. Will this have any impact on you?”
The Mensa Alliance was the world’s top intelligence alliance.
The requirements for joining the alliance were extremely strict, with only 100 members worldwide.
Most countries did not have anyone who could meet the threshold.
Only three people domestically have passed the assessment.
Jiang Fuli tapped his fingertips on the desktop casually and sharply commented, “Then I wish them success.”
The man on the other side let out a short laugh and said, “OK, I understand.”
Jiang Fuli turned off the screen and lazily looked out the window, his light-colored phoenix eyes revealing his innate coldness.
The one-way glass allowed a clear view of the outside.
A girl was wearing a white sweatshirt, with a bag casually hanging from her right shoulder.
Her left hand was pressed against the little boy’s forehead.
Because of her movement, her wrist and the red ribbon tied around it were faintly visible. The bright red ribbon, about one centimeter wide, loosely wrapped around her wrist twice. Her wrist was fair, but the ribbon was eye-catching red, swaying gently in the wind.
She sensed something and casually glanced over in this direction.
A fleeting glance.
Jiang Fuli’s fingertips paused on the black lid of the laptop.
Then a bus suddenly broke into that fragmented scene.
The little boy watched the bus’s swaying tailpipe and wanted to follow Bai Lian onto the bus, but he didn’t dare.
So he stood still on his spot.
The car on the opposite side was not in a hurry and just stopped there calmly.
He unbuttoned and buttoned the cuffs of his shirt, took his time for about ten minutes, then lifted his foot and walked to the opposite side. The rear door opened automatically, and he climbed up with both hands and feet.
“Little Master Jiang He.” The bald driver looked back and greeted him.
The little boy took a while before he said “Oh” and slowly replied, “Uncle Ming.”
****
At the same time, in the Northern City, Bai family.
Family conference room.
The meeting was coming to an end.
Bai Shaoqi pushed the door in with a test paper in her hand.
An old man’s eyes lit up, and he immediately said, “Shaoqi, you’re out of school. Come in quickly. We just finished the meeting.”
Everyone else stood up and greeted Bai Shaoqi one after another.
“Is she in her third year of high school?” The old man spoke to Bai Qiming again. “Qiming, our Bai family fully supports you. Feel free to mention whatever Shaoqi needs.”
Their Bai family had a history of two hundred years, but it was only in the first generation that a Juren appeared in the family tree. The genealogy began with this Juren, who was also their ancestor.
(Juren- In historical China, it referred to a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the county level. The imperial examinations were a system for selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The “Juren” title was one of the stages in the examination system, and individuals who passed it were eligible for government positions at the county level.)
Since then, the Bai family had never produced any celebrities.
Until Bai Shaoqi appeared!
“Thank you, Grandfather. She’s in her third year of high school,” Bai Qiming smiled and shook his head. “But the competition is too fierce for her class.”
Just hearing about the people who could compete for the top spot, plus Song Min, there were already ten of them.
“How come I didn’t see Ah Lian?” Grandfather looked over at the open door and didn’t see Bai Lian, feeling somewhat puzzled.
It’s really a case of not opening one pot and mentioning another. (TL: saying and doing things that should not be said or done .)
Bai Qiming’s good mood suddenly disappeared, and his smile became cold.
The conference room was quiet and no one dared to speak.
“Grandfather, let’s go first.” Now that Bai Qiming was thriving because of Bai Shaoqi, other people in the clan would naturally not make him unhappy. Coincidentally, the meeting was over, thus he quickly pulled Grandfather out.
After leaving the meeting room, the people next to Grandpa explained to him, “Bai Lian cheated on the preliminary exam and may be expelled.”
Northern City’s No.1 Middle School was one of the top ten schools in the country and was not easy to get in for study. The Bai family spent a lot of effort to send Bai Lian in, but they did not expect such a scandal to happen in the end.
“I thought that Ji Mulan, such a talented woman, the descendants would not be much worse,” Grandpa said with a look of disgust and shame when he heard this. He sighed, “It’s okay. A humble background can’t make it to the big stage after all.”
Inside the meeting room.
“You did well on the exam,” Bai Qiming took Bai Shaoqi’s test paper, unsurprisingly saw full marks, signed his name, and returned it to Bai Shaoqi. “Don’t bother about your elder sister anymore.”
“I know,” Bai Shaoqi nodded lightly.
She never regarded Bai Lian as an opponent, so why bother.
Bai Qiming comforted his daughter again. “Although the competition is fierce in your year, if you can pass Dean Jian’s interview, be taught and recommended by her, you may not be unable to enter Jiangjing.”
“I will work hard.”
She looked proud and ambitious. Bai Shaoqi had always believed that she would not end up like Bai Lian, who could only look up to others.
Bai Qiming naturally believed in her. These two siblings have been well-educated since childhood, and he had never worried about them.
He asked Bai Shaoqi to go back to study.
After the people left, the butler came in and added tea to Bai Qiming.
Bai Qiming took a sip of tea and suddenly remembered Bai Lian. His face turned cold. “Where is she? Has she not admitted her mistake yet?”
The butler knew that “she” referred to Bai Lian.
He didn’t dare to speak.
Bai Qiming put down his teacup, picked up the telephone on the table, and coldly said to the servant on the other end, “Let Bai Lian come to the conference room to see me.”
Th for the chapter