Lu Xing had to seize it. After years of playing second fiddle to a woman, he was tired of being suppressed. With the Bai family’s support… no, perhaps the entire Bai family would eventually be his.
After all, looking at Bai Ran’s frail health, anyone could see she wouldn’t live long.
He had been rejected by her once before, so this time he had prepared a dirty backup plan. He had already dismissed the staff. Even if Bai Ran resisted violently, no one would hear her.
But seeing the Young Mistress’s cooperation, it seemed his backup plan wouldn’t be necessary.
Just then, a waiter poured red wine for them. Lu Xing dazed for a moment, then pretended nothing was wrong as he raised his glass to toast her.
The waiter was his man. Once he gave the signal, the wine poured for Bai Ran would be spiked.
Bai Ran seemed to have no guard or suspicion at all. She took a sip with a smile.
After an unknown amount of time, Lu Xing watched Bai Ran elegantly handle her chopsticks, her fingers as pale and tender as green onions. An inexplicable surge of desire hit him.
“I fell in love at first sight during Miss Bai’s coming-of-age ceremony two years ago. You’re different from those other arrogant, overbearing young mistresses…”
Muttering his infatuation, he uncontrollably reached out, wanting to grasp that shimmering white light.
Seeing the change in him, Bai Ran’s smile deepened, shifting from her trademark warmth to a strange sort of pleasure.
She set her chopsticks down on the porcelain plate with a sharp clack.
“I understand and sympathize with you,” she said, her voice soft and melodic, like a lullaby. “But I am even more desperately obsessed with someone else. Could you help me achieve my goal?”
“By using… your worthless, cheap life.”
She used the voice of an angel to utter the most cruel and poisonous words.
Even Lu Xing, clouded by the drug-induced infatuation, snapped back to reality, wondering if he had misheard. “What are you saying?”
“Someone bought your life.”
With blood about to be on her hands, Bai Ran recalled the thrill of her blood boiling in the past. The pleasure of it almost consumed her.
“Are you crazy?!” Terrified, Lu Xing bolted upright, knocking over the fish maw soup and soaking himself.
Watching his pathetic struggle in his fear, Bai Ran sat in her chair, her whole body trembling with laughter.
“Do you know why I chose He Yan?”
“Their specialty is that you can choose your own steak knife. To fall under a murder weapon you meticulously picked out yourself… you’re just dead meat. What’s the difference between you and that bloody, medium-rare steak?”
Lu Xing looked at the beef sitting in a pool of red on his plate and suddenly remembered the gentle smile she’d worn while ordering.
He tried to run for the entryway to leave, but the door had been locked at some point. He couldn’t open it. This was originally his plan, but he clearly hadn’t signaled his man to execute it yet!
That fragile, beautiful face suddenly tore open, revealing the monster beneath. “Did I give you permission to leave?”
Bai Ran stood up and delivered a vicious kick to his knee. Lu Xing, already unsteady from the drugs, collapsed to the floor with a scream.
The soundproofing here was excellent for the sake of privacy. Unfortunately, the people who might have heard his screams and come to his rescue had all been dismissed by him.
I can’t keep beating him; it’ll leave unnecessary marks… Bai Ran thought, crossing her arms with a sense of regret.
Two years ago, this animal who thought with his crotch had tried to use dirty tricks on her. He thought she didn’t know. At that time, her power wasn’t stable, and she didn’t want to make an enemy of the Lu family, so she had simply noted it down until now.
“My sister won’t let you get away with—”
Before he could finish, Bai Ran laughed. “Are you an idiot? The one who wants me to deal with you is Lu Yuan.”
“An illegitimate son who dares to covet the Bai family… It’s one thing to be a dog, but how could your sister tolerate a brother who watches her like a hungry tiger?”
Hearing “illegitimate son,” Lu Xing’s eyes widened in horror. He had always thought his eldest sister didn’t know!
He remembered how, when he proposed the alliance, his sister hadn’t hesitated for a second, never once questioning his motives. He had thought it was absolute trust. He didn’t realize that from the moment he proposed it, his sister was ready to get rid of this ambitious dog.
He even suspected his sister knew he was secretly contacting his Second Uncle’s branch of the family.
“If I don’t give you a chance to publicly offend the Bai family, what excuse would your sister have to throw you out as a scapegoat?”
Though he was illegitimate, as the only son of the direct line, the Lu family had been willing to groom him, which made him a massive threat to Lu Yuan.
Bai Ran was about to go abroad, so the marriage alliance would be shelved anyway. This was a deal with Lu Yuan. The Bai family had long ago secretly sided with Lu Yuan’s faction. Since it wasn’t convenient for them to step forward directly, they were simply letting the current carry them.
The payment for the deal was twofold. One was that even if Bai Ran couldn’t take over the overseas branch, she would get a joint project with the Lu family to compensate for the losses.
The second part was more important: a trap set for Xu Yinian.
A trap that would make Yinian believe she was being forced into a marriage, hurt, and left destitute after running away from home.
If everything went smoothly, she could spend these next two months before her departure using Niannian’s sympathy to have her “take care” of her and “live together,” developing their feelings in private.
With Shen Ruoshuang watching in the dorm, Bai Ran had zero chance to make a move without things getting awkward. This was the perfect catalyst.
With those words, she “mercifully” tossed her phone down. The screen was open to the latest news.
