“Don’t touch me.”
The boy didn’t even look at her. He just carefully wiped his hand that she had touched with a tissue, casually throwing it in the trash can. His voice was cold and indifferent.
Leaning against a tree, Bai Lian’s mind kept replaying this scene.
Her damp black hair stuck to her pale neck. Wrapped in a black windbreaker, she lazily yawned, then reported a number to the elderly man next to her.
The old man pushed up the glasses on his nose bridge. Seeing that she had finally remembered a number, he took out his phone and dialed it. The call was quickly answered. “Hello, may I speak to Song Ming?”
“Speaking.”
The old man was very polite. “It’s like this – Bai Lian accidentally fell into the lake by Mingtai Mountain Villa. Could you come pick her up?”
The other end was silent for a while before recalling who this name belonged to. His tone was restrained and annoyed. “Don’t call me again.”
The call was hung up.
The old man was stunned. “He…”
Bai Lian still sat on the rock. “Him? My fiance I guess.”
She should have looked bedraggled after falling into the water. But leaning against the tree with her arms crossed, eyes dark and a little confused, she looked more like a white tiger lazily waking from a nap, not knowing where it was.
“What about your other family members?”
She thought for a moment. “Throwing a birthday party for my father’s illegitimate daughter.”
Seeing the girl’s innocent and well-behaved face, the old man didn’t know how to comfort her for a moment.
“It’s fine,” Bai Lian tilted her head slightly and chuckled. “Thank you for saving me. I’ll sit for a bit longer.”
He still had things to attend to. Saving Bai Lian from drowning was just a coincidence. He thought the girl had a death wish, but unexpectedly she woke up after her heartbeat stopped for 2 minutes. She didn’t seem to have any intention of trying suicide again either.
“Don’t sit for too long or you’ll catch a cold.” He left Bai Lian his number, and took another look at the black windbreaker she was wearing before hurrying to catch his flight.
Bai Lian put away the paper and saw him off into the distance.
She stood there for a long time before tugging at the uniquely styled clothes and sitting back on the rock, elbows on her knees, loosely propping up her chin with her palms.
This body was also called Bai Lian.
She looked at her reflection in the lake. Her appearance was the same.
Two years ago her mother discovered that not only did her husband keep a mistress, but he also had two illegitimate children. So she divorced him without fighting for custody over Bai Lian, and left free-spiritedly.
The original owner was usually unstudious. She got caught cheating on the final exams this time.
When she was being criticized by the teacher in the office, she saw her fiance Song Ming coming to hand in assignments. The original owner reflexively grabbed his hand. He shook her off coldly and disgustedly, saying “Don’t touch me”.
Thinking back to this point, Bai Lian propped up her chin. Her slender, bony fingers lightly pressed against her cheek. Tsk –
What was the original owner doing with her pretty face?
She tightened the slightly cold silvergrass-scented coat around herself.
The street lights in the distance started turning on. There were very bright stars in Bai Lian’s eyes as she just sat on the rock, quietly watching this amazing world.
After some unknown amount of time, an annoyingly bright car light shone over.
She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the glare.
“Young miss.” The driver got out and opened the door to the business car’s backseat.
As the business car door opened, a gentle, well-mannered girl in an exquisite dress could be seen sitting by the window.
After getting up, Bai Lian realized that not only Bai Shaoqi was in the back seat, but also an arrogant looking boy sitting next to Bai Shaoqi, head lowered as he looked at his phone – Song Ming.
Oh right, her fiance.
“Sister,” Bai Shaoqi glanced indifferently at Bai Lian. She gave up the seat in front of her for Bai Lian. “You can sit in front.” Then she moved to the last row of seats.
The boy who was looking at his phone frowned slightly.
Seeing Bai Shaoqi sit at the back, he also silently put away his phone and squeezed into the back row without a word.
The driver looked at Bai Lian awkwardly. Every time he saw this kind of scene, the young miss looked as if she would go crazy. “Young miss, Master Song he…”
Bai Lian flicked the hair hanging in front of her forehead, sorting through memories. She didn’t sit at the back, only gestured for the driver to open the passenger seat door for her.
The car drove towards the Bai residence.
“Brother Ming,” Bai Shaoqi’s voice suddenly rang out in the quiet car. “Did you log into my account?”
“Mm, you used Fourier transforms for that question? That method won’t work, I tried.”
“Look down on me why don’t you. What if I get it right?” She reached to take Song Ming’s phone.
Song Ming hurriedly shielded his phone. He would wipe clean anywhere the original owner touched, but didn’t mind Bai Shaoqi at all. “Then I’ll take your value day duty for you.”
Bai Shaoqi, “Oh, value day duty again?”
“Are you complaining?”
“……”
The both of them were in the international class at No. 1 High School, the focus of cultivation this year. They often went together for various competition prep courses. Bai Shaoqi was in no way inferior to any boy in science subjects.
The two chatted intimately, not caring about anyone else at all. The driver had no chance to interrupt.
Glancing at the quiet and demure Bai Lian sitting in the passenger seat, the driver felt rather awkward. He explained to Bai Lian, “The second young miss and Master Song were talking about the software for the Jiangjing preparatory camp. No. 1 High has 10 spots this year. They…”
Halfway through, the driver remembered Bai Lian cheated for a spot and hurriedly shut his mouth.
**
Bai residence
Bai Qiming sat in the living room sofa, waiting for Bai Shaoqi and Song Ming to come back.
“Song Ming came with me to get brother’s notebook.” Bai Shaoqi smiled at Bai Qiming.
Bai Lian ignored their small talk. She sat right on the sofa and tapped the coffee table absentmindedly, gesturing for the butler to pour her tea.
When the butler brought her the tea, she casually blew it.
“Don’t tire yourself out between studying hard and practicing guzheng,” Bai Qiming passed the apprenticeship scroll on the table to Bai Shaoqi. “Practice ‘White Dress Suite’ well these couple days. Professor Jian is very fond of it.”
Song Ming was clearly surprised. “You can play ‘White Dress’?”
Bai Shaoqi was modest. “Just the basics.”
Half leaning against the sofa, gathering her semi-dry hair behind an ear, Bai Lian stared at that apprenticeship scroll for a good while. Then she lazily knocked the teacup rim, interrupting their small talk. “That apprenticeship scroll was my birthday present two years ago.”
Bai Shaoqi’s voice caught. She narrowed her eyes at the scroll in Bai Qiming’s hands.
Then seeming to smile yet not smile, “Sister also learned guzheng before?”
Hearing this, Song Ming standing to the side lifted his head slightly.
Everyone in North City knew Bai Lian was unstudious.
Bai Qiming placated Bai Shaoqi with a look before regarding Bai Lian. His tone turned cold. “Professor Jian teaches at Jiangjing University. Her requirements for students are harsh. With your tin ears, it’d be useless even if you had it. Shaoqi is more suitable.”
“Oh,” Bai Lian held the teacup. Her expression was very harmless. “…tin ears?”
She chuckled.
How interesting.
She had a different body now after all.
“Am I wrong?” Bai Qiming’s gaze was heavy. But he thought she was shamelessly quibbling. “Come to the ancestral hall with me.”
The ancestral hall had many ancestral tablets set up. Bai Qiming lit three incense sticks solemnly, bowing deeply before saying to Bai Lian, “Bai Lian, you’re 18, not 8. When your elder brother was your age, he had already won several accolades and taken on cases.”
He didn’t mean to mock her. He was just stating facts.
Back when Bai Lian was in 10th grade, Bai Qiming had put in a lot of effort, specially arranging for her to be in the same class as Song Ming to cultivate their relationship. But Bai Lian couldn’t keep up with the international class curriculum. She dropped to a regular class after just the first exam.
In contrast, Bai Shaoqi tested into the international class with her own ability. She participated in various extracurriculars for bonus points too.
Bai Lian was looking at the ancestral tablets behind him. Everything he said was treading on her landmines.
“Don’t spout nonsense. Can that illegitimate son also be considered my elder brother? Doesn’t your family have its own registry? Still trying to ride on mine?” Her clothes were still unchanged. Black hair coiled around her slender, fair neck.
Leaning against the doorframe wrapped in her windbreaker, she smiled lightly at Bai Qiming.
Steward Bai was frightened seeing this. He looked at Bai Lian’s beautiful, recognizable face. She really smiled like some highly intelligent psychopathic criminal.
Giving off a bloody aura.
“You–” Bai Qiming had never been so defiantly challenged before, especially by Bai Lian, the daughter he looked down on the most. His face flushed angrily. “Ungrateful child, you simply don’t know your place!”
He finished inserting the incense.
“Not to mention Shaoqi, even if you had one tenth of Shaoqi’s ability! In over 200 years of my Bai family history no one like you has ever appeared,” he looked Bai Lian up and down, enunciating each word of his verdict. “Cheating on exams, unstudious!”
“Reflect properly in front of our ancestors here. Come out when you know your wrongs. Otherwise–” He looked down condescendingly at Bai Lian, as if evaluating some unimportant commodity. “Go back to Xiangcheng. Don’t set foot in my Bai estate ever again!”
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