“Goodbye, Aunt Song,” Bailian said politely as she saw Ji Shaojun come out.
Mrs. Song stood at the door and watched Bailian and the other two leave.
She got back into the car and picked up her phone. After a long while, she dialed a number.
The other end was picked up quickly. “Mrs. Song?”
It was Bai Qiming.
Mrs. Song told the driver to start driving. “Mr. Bai, I just saw Bailian. She came to Beicheng to transfer her household registration. Her train is at 10:35. After this trip, she won’t be a Bai family member anymore. She’s still a childish girl. Do you want to send the Bai housekeeper to bring her back first?”
On the phone, Bai Qiming put down his pen.
He looked out the window. Since the day the Bai housekeeper said Bailian had left, he had almost ten days without any news of Bailian.
In the end, Bailian still took away that apprenticeship document. In this regard, she was very much like her mother, preferring to have everything destroyed rather than let anyone else benefit.
In fact, after ten days, Bai Qiming’s anger had subsided by half.
But—
“Thank you Mrs. Song for telling me this,” Bai Qiming brought his gaze back. “But Bailian is already eighteen. She can decide where to go on her own.”
After speaking, he hung up the phone.
The Bai family is very large, it wouldn’t be difficult to raise a Bailian.
But Bai Qiming also knew about the conflict between Bailian and Bai Shaoqi.
With Bailian taking away the apprenticeship document this time, if they were to bring Bailian back, Bai Shaoqi would inevitably feel uncomfortable.
Bai Qiming thought about this in the long term. Now Bai Shaoke’s future looks bright, he wouldn’t possibly give up a watermelon for the sake of a sesame seed like Bailian.
So he had to pretend he hadn’t received Mrs. Song’s call.
Today, he also made a choice between Bailian and Bai Shaoke, but clearly…
there was no need to make a choice at all.
The Bai family.
The highest ranking elder in the ancestral home found out about this matter and was a little concerned. “Find an auspicious time tomorrow and remove her name.”
“Removing her name tomorrow?”
“Naturally,” the elder gave it some thought. “Remember to let Shaqi and Shaoke know.”
Removing Bailian’s name was a small matter.
The important thing was to show the two siblings the Bai family’s attitude.
Simply removing a name, to them, was nothing worth mentioning at all.
**
On the other side.
Although Mrs. Song had expected this, when she heard Bai Qiming’s words, she still sighed softly.
She called Bai Qiming not only to let him know about Bailian’s whereabouts, but also to see Bai Qiming’s choice.
Mrs. Song took out her phone, thinking Song Ming should be in class right now, so she just sent a WeChat message—
[Come home early tonight, I have something to tell you.]
Song Ming usually hangs out with Bai Shaoqi in the library to discuss problems from the Jiangjing preparatory camp after school.
But since Mrs. Song was looking for him, he went straight home after school.
When he returned, Mrs. Song was trimming the flower branches with scissors. She slowly said, “I wanted to talk to you about Bailian.”
Song Ming’s expression was cold. Hearing that name, his face barely moved. “Her?”
“Mm,” Mrs. Song said softly. “She has officially been removed from the Bai family genealogy. You and her had a marriage agreement set since you were young. If you have no objection, let’s tell the Bai family sometime and clarify things with Bailian as well. What do you think?”
Song Ming didn’t even have to think about it. “Whatever.”
Mrs. Song didn’t have much opinion on Bailian. Bailian was pretty.
She had watched Bailian grow up since she was little, and was somewhat fond of her.
But that’s all there was.
This bit of fondness compared with Bai Shaoqi and Bai Shaoke was negligible.
Mrs. Song snipped off a branch.
Shaking her head, she felt that Bailian was still too impulsive and didn’t know what was most important.
**
On the train, Bailian was also in a very good mood.
Not only did she transfer her household registration, she also resolved the Song Ming issue in passing.
She naturally knew that Mrs. Song getting off the car was because she wanted to find out something.
Ji Shaojun, on the other hand, was extremely silent the whole way. He originally thought that following Bailian would allow him to see Bailian’s family members, thinking that if her family wanted Bailian to go back he could help negotiate terms.
But unexpectedly, the Bai family never showed up from beginning to end.
It was almost eleven o’clock at night when the train finally reached Xiangcheng Railway Station.
At this time of day, the buses had stopped running, and even taxis were sparse around the train station.
The two people walked out of the station entrance and were about to go to the roadside to look for a taxi. As soon as they came out, Bailian saw Jiang He squatting by the road staring at a tree.
“Why are you here?” Bailian walked over to him and introduced Ji Shaojun to Jiang He. “He’s the first friend I met when I came to Xiangcheng.”
“Waiting for you. My brother hasn’t come back yet.” Jiang He just lifted his head blankly. “Hello, uncle.”
Seeing this elegant child, Ji Shaojun didn’t know how to make conversation at first, but unexpectedly the other party greeted him very obediently, leaving him somewhat at a loss. So he took all the snacks he had received for Bailian out of his pocket and gave them to Jiang He.
Ming Donghuang was standing by coolly.
After sending Bailian and Ji Shaojun back to Qingshui Street, Jiang He was still clutching Bailian’s clothes and refusing to let go.
Ming Donghuang was used to it. Jiang He always acted weird.
He reported to Jiang Fuli.
Jiang He received a message on his watch and finally let go of Bailian’s clothes.
By the time Jiang Fuli arrived, Bailian had already gone back.
He had just come out of the lab and hadn’t changed his clothes yet. He just lazily knocked on Jiang He’s car window.
Jiang He held grudges. He ignored him.
He still leaned on the car window.
Jiang Fuli was unhurried. “I read an MTS report last time which said that children who sleep late don’t grow tall.”
Jiang He, who wasn’t even up to Jiang Fuli’s waist, suddenly lifted his head. “Are you sleepy?”
“I’m not sleepy,” Jiang Fuli casually glanced at him and asked sincerely. “You shouldn’t be sleepy either, right?”
“Oh, of course not,” Jiang He blurted out by himself. “I was just saying that Uncle must be sleepy. If he’s sleepy then we can go back now and let him sleep first.”
Ming Donghuang’s face was expressionless. “Yes, Young Master, I’m very sleepy right now.”
**
Xiangcheng Middle School
Bailian rushed to catch the Monday train. On Tuesday morning, after explaining Newton’s laws of motion to Ji Heng again, she came to school.
“Deskmate,” Bailian spun her pen and looked sideways at Yang Lin. “Can you lend me your biology notebook?”
The black pen spun nimbly around her fair, slender fingers.
Yang Lin was the learning committee member. She had long black hair and extremely fair skin that covered half her face and neck. She wore plain school uniforms of long coats and pants every day and rarely talked to people.
She just reached into her desk and took out two biology notebooks for Bailian.
Bailian took them over and flipped through them. The notes were written very clearly and neatly. In one of them she saw a realistic drawing of an alley overgrown with flowers on both sides. This realistic drawing style was similar to Ji Heng and Ji Shaojun’s.
It seemed to be a few years old but had been well preserved.
Bailian took it out and gave it back to Yang Lin. Her jet black eyes reflected Yang Lin’s face as she sincerely praised, “Very nice looking.”
Yang Lin was stunned for a moment before taking it back.
After quite a while, Bailian heard her give a soft “Mm”.
The first morning class was Chinese.
When Zhang Shize, Bailian’s back seat classmate, came in, Lu Lingxi had already analyzed an ancient poem.
“Report!” Zhang Shize ran to the classroom door. The zipper on his school jacket wasn’t even zipped up properly.
Lu Lingxi stood by the podium. She rested one hand on the podium and looked at Zhang Shize while pointing at the clock on the wall with her other hand. “Zhang Shize, we’re already in senior year three, and you’re still so lazy and slack. Class starts at eight. Open your eyes wide and look at what time it is now?”
Zhang Shize looked at the clock hanging on the back wall with a serious expression. “7:70.”
Lu Lingxi: “……”
“Pfft—”
The classmates laughed out loud together.
Lu Lingxi was both amused and exasperated. She laughed and scolded, “Get in here!”
Zhang Shize rubbed his nose and gloomily went back to his seat.
He had been up late last night lying in wait to grab Yan Lu’s photobook. This morning he woke up late. Seeing his mom was still angry at his dad, he helped trim some flower branches for her before suddenly realizing he would be late.
The class finished quickly.
Lu Lingxi called Bailian alone to the office.
“I saw you chatting quite happily with Yang Lin this morning,” Lu Lingxi handed a box of band-aids to Bailian and said softly, “Can you give this to her, she has a wound on her left forehead.”
Bailian took it over and flipped it around in her hand. Her eyes were indifferent. “I can’t guarantee anything first.”
She wore the school uniform jacket she had just collected outside. Her hair was still pinned up at the back of her head with a hairpin. Her drooping, pretty brows and eyes made her look very well-behaved.
The blue and white school uniform didn’t look baggy on her.
Casual and lazy.
“It’s fine, just try.” Lu Lingxi sighed. Remembering something, she said, “There’s something else. We have a training class aimed at top students that goes from after school to 8pm every day. It has test papers from Jiangjing University’s affiliated schools.”
Lu Lingxi wasn’t clear about the specifics either. Last Sunday the principal called her and asked if there was a transfer student named Bailian in her class. So that’s how it was decided.
Anyway, going for training wasn’t a bad thing.
“Okay.” Bailian put the band-aids back into her uniform pocket.
Returning to her seat, Bailian looked at Yang Lin who had her head down doing homework, and said, “Deskmate.”
Yang Lin lifted her head slightly.
Bailian swiftly tore open a band-aid, brushed aside her hair, accurately pasted it on, then let her hair down again.
The whole motion was swift and smooth.
It took Yang Lin a good while to react.
Bailian lazily thought that it turns out sometimes people can’t be too polite. Lu Lingxi was just too polite so she couldn’t even give her stuff away.
**
The top students training class was held in the multi-purpose hall.
There were only a dozen or so people attending training. On average fewer than one per class. When Bailian entered, most of the people had arrived.
A circle was formed with Chen Zhe at the center on the left front side.
A few male students sat scattered on the right, including Zhang Shize’s deskmate Ning Xiao.
Bailian walked to the right side and found an empty seat to sit down.
Although she had only transferred here a few days ago, she was quite well-known in school. Her name could be seen everywhere on the school forums. As soon as she arrived some people noticed.
“It’s Bailian,” Chen Zhe sat on Anyi Wanxuan’s left. Behind them sat a male student who was quite surprised. “That transfer student. Wow, her grades are actually that good?”
There were a lot of rumors circulating in school that Bailian was a study god because she did nothing but read books and do test papers every day.
But no one could have imagined she would be attending this training class.
“Who are you talking about?” Anyi Wanxuan, who was doing test papers issued by the training class, overheard Bailian’s name from the side discussion and almost thought she had misheard.
“Her,” the girl in front was Anyi Wanxuan’s number one lackey, Shi Yutong. She lifted her chin to point at the right side. “Her, Bailian. That rather good looking transfer student.”
Anyi Wanxuan reflexively looked over. She happened to see Bailian, not far away, casually putting down her school bag after sitting down. Her school uniform jacket was carelessly placed to the side. Those eyes were as lazy as a beautiful cat’s.
Most of the people around were whispering about Bailian. She seemed to be the focus.
The topic kept revolving around Bailian. “Daring to be so arrogant to transfer during senior year three. And entering our training class after just coming to school for a few days. Could she be a monster like Chen Zhe and Ning Xiao?”
The people here were all from Xiangcheng. They started attending classes together since senior year one and knew each other very well.
Hearing his and Ning Xiao’s names, Chen Zhe also lifted his head.
Chen Zhe was the hope of the Chen family this generation. Unlike Chen Wei, he never caused trouble in school and focused solely on studying. He often competed fiercely with Ning Xiao for the top spot in level rankings.
So even though Ning Xiao was gloomy and unsociable, extremely withdrawn, Chen Zhe still knew his name.
Hearing that someone in liberal arts could rival Ning Xiao—
He spoke up for the first time. “What transfer student?”
Seeing that Chen Zhe had asked, Shi Yutong quickly looked at him and said somewhat enviously, “Bailian. With her grades she could come to our…”
“What are her grades like?” Anyi Wanxuan cut off the student around her.
She gave a mocking laugh that wasn’t quite a laugh. Her gaze shifted.
The others immediately sensed something unusual. The boy behind immediately asked, “Classmate Anyi, do you know her?”
Most people looked over.
“The midterm test papers,” Anyi Wanxuan picked her pen back up again. Her tone was almost mocking. “As for why she’s here…”
She didn’t even need to think to know why—
The school must know Bailian is related to the Ren family.
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