CH 153

Chapter 153 One’s own fault

Meeting Bai Yinian’s eyes, Jian Chi finally knew what he had misunderstood, and opened his lips, “I’m just here to get some air.”

The strength on his arm suddenly increased, and then slowly loosened, Bai Yinian’s frowning brows narrowed, “Don’t come to the balcony alone in the future.”

Because of the danger?

Jian Chi knew that Bai Yinnian mistakenly thought that he was about to hurt himself, so he made the move just now in a hurry. Although it was a mistake, Jian Chi was still grateful for Bai Yinian’s actions.

Thanks was thanks, but confusion was inevitable. Was he so vulnerable in Bai Yinian’s heart?

Not knowing how he interpreted Jian Chi’s eyes, Bai Yinnian walked to his side and looked at the night sky in the distance with him, “There are ten minutes left to read the manuscript. If you feel bored, I will ask the driver to take you back. It will end at twelve o’clock in the evening.”

There was no doubt that the ‘script’ was alluding to Bai Xiyu.

Jian Chi never intended to get any news from Bai Yinnian. No matter how many wrongs Bai Shuyun and Bai Xiyu did, and how disappointed Bai Yinnian was, it would not change the fact that they were a family in the first place. It’s very offensive for an outsider to meddle in other people’s house matters.

In this case, ‘manuscript’ would not be a positive description anyway. Bai Yinnian’s attitude towards Bai Xiyu seems to be somewhat different from his imagination.

“Are you in a bad mood?” In order not to step on any toes, Jian Chi asked in the most subtle way.

“I can’t talk about it, this banquet was my father’s intentions. When you get older, people’s thoughts will become more stubborn. He was hospitalized last month because of a cerebral hemorrhage. This time, the family decided to follow his ideas and let him be happy. “

It sounds like this much-anticipated dinner was more like a compromise made by Bai Yinnian in order to take care of the sick Bai Shengying. Jian Chi was surprised by the power in Bai Yinnian’s hands and surprised by his understated tone. He finally suppressed it in the bottom of his heart, “That Bai Xiyu…”

Bai Yinnian turned his head, his expression darkened in the night, “He is just a ‘young master’ in name only.”

His heart skipped a beat, and Jian Chi didn’t speak again.

The wind blowing across his cheeks was much milder than at the beginning, and gradually became quieter. After a moment of quietness, Jian Chi asked, “Do you know something?”

“What do you mean?” Bai Yinian asked, “That it was Bai Xiyu who instigated Bai Shuyun to cause a car accident, or if his purpose in coming to the Bai house was always impure?”

Jian Chi was at a loss for words, and when he squeezed the balcony railing, his heart suddenly loosened, “So you knew it all.” 

The book once mentioned Bai Xiyu’s grievances in the Bai house. Bai Shuyun was in charge of most of the damage, making him look more like a villain with his teeth and claws. But if you really stood from Bai Xiyu’s perspective, Bai Yinnian’s existence was definitely no less than Bai Shuyun’s.

Bai Yinian’s attitude was indifferent and alienated from beginning to end. He wasn’t interested in this illegitimate child who broke into the family, nor did he express any love. When he looked at Bai Xiyu, it was like looking at a mass of air, or an object that had nothing to do with him living at his home.

It was far more insulting than physical harm.

If Bai Yinnian saw through Bai Xiyu’s methods from the beginning, then all this had an explanation. Jian Chi didn’t know whether to sympathize with Bai Xiyu first, or to feel happy first. The interchanging emotions were going up and down, “Don’t you mind?”

“Does his existence pose any threat to me?”

Bai Yinian’s lips hooked briefly without any warmth, “Bai Xiyu thought that as long as he got the identity of a member of the Bai family, he could enjoy all the honors with no worries. I will satisfy his fantasies, as for whether the future days are different from his imagination, no one will care.”

His brain went blank for a while, and the back of Jian Chi’s neck felt cold as if an ice cube had been pasted there, and the complicated mood of seeing Bai Xiyu walking up to the high platform in the face of everyone’s attention vanished, replaced by a more complicated but less boring feeling.

Is this the so called villains have their own villain who will torture them?

If Bai Yinian knew that he described him as a ‘villain’, it was unclear what he would think.

“There’s one thing you might want to know,” Jian Chi said after pondering, “Bai Xiyu’s mother died because of accidentally drinking disinfectant. After that, Bai Xiyu found your father. If his intentions were never pure, maybe the previous accident was not necessarily an accident.”

Bai Yinian’s eyes were suddenly sharp, “Did someone say something to you?”

Jian Chi shook his head, hiding the unnaturalness, “He told me about his mother himself, the latter is just my guess, I vaguely felt something wrong when I communicated with him. If you have time, you can check it in depth.”

Jian Chi can only say that.

The ‘accident’ was perfectly concealed by Bai Xiyu, and Jian Chi was not sure whether Bai Yinian could find any clues. But once the seeds of doubt were planted in his heart, Bai Xiyu’s life will never be easy.

Jian Chi believed that he had enough psychological material to face a life after murder, but when the trial party became Bai Yinnian who can control his fate in the Bai family, Bai Xiyu might continue to use his old methods, or carefully pick up his tail and be a human being, no one can say for sure.

Bai Yinian looked away after staring at Jian Chi for a few seconds, then said solemnly, “I understand.”

Bai Xiyu’s manuscript should be finished. When Jian Chi heard a sparse applause from the venue, he leaned up against the railing. His arms were a little numb, and he said to Bai Yinnian, “Then I’ll go back first.”

“Wait a minute.”

Jian Chi turned around. Bai Yinnian walked in front of him, closer than before. The lights coming out of the room flickered and was suddenly reflected on his cold and stern face.

“Don’t you blame me?”

This was the only question Bai Yinian had asked so far. Without thinking, Jian Chi looked into his eyes and replied, “You didn’t cause this accident.”

“It was my negligence.”

“Even if you watch Bai Shuyun 24 hours a day, there is no way to stop his actions, just like the cruise ship,” Jian Chi was not surprised by what Bai Shuyun did, but did not expect it to be such an extreme way, “at least you let this accident be postponed until after HSST.”

Bai Yinyang raised his eyebrows, “I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or praising me.”

Jian Chi said, “It’s also possible to have both.”

Looking at each other for a few seconds, Jian Chi looked away and glanced at the noisy banquet hall, “I’m leaving first.”

“Goodbye, Jian Chi.”

Bai Yinnian stood on the spot, his cold lips lifted upwards, and his smiling looked even more unpredictable than not smiling, “We will see each other again.” 

He whispered six words to make the above bland ‘goodbye’ shrouded in a bland light shadow. Jian Chi walked a few steps, turned around and Bai Yinian was still standing there, standing tall, in a suit and leather shoes, looking at the direction he left.

Jian Chi received a reply from Bai Xiyu asking him where he was, but after talking with Bai Yinnian, Jian Chi felt that there was no need to chat with Bai Xiyu. Walking out of the banquet hall, a series of continuous footsteps came from behind. Bai Xiyu’s hair was messed up by the wind while running, but he still maintained the calmness and restraint he had just been on the stage.

“Jian Chi.”

“Sorry, I sent the wrong message,” Jian Chi simply interrupted what Bai Xiyu wanted to say later, “Congratulations.”

Bai Xiyu’s expression darkened for a moment, then he slowly walked towards Jian Chi, “You know it all, don’t you?”

“What if I know or don’t know? Now that everything is over, you can return to the Bai family as you wish.”

“If you were me, you would never say such a thing,” Bai Xiyu’s extremely low voice faded away with the wind, “Jian Chi, you don’t understand how much scorn and injury I have suffered in the past few years, but I have survived just for this moment. I’ve kept a lot of things from you, but there’s one thing I’ve never lied about, I’ve always regarded you as a friend. No one wanted to be my friend since I was a kid.”

“Have you ever thought about why they don’t want to be friends with you?” Jian Chi asked, “Do you think friends should be full of selfishness and deceit?”

Bai Xiyu’s face turned pale, and Jian Chi didn’t know whether this was acting or Bai Xiyu’s real reaction. Up until now, perhaps even Bai Xiyu himself can’t tell the difference between the real and the fake. He said, “I couldn’t help myself.”

These four words can solve all questions, but they will only push the problem to another abyss. Jian Chi looked at Bai Xiyu’s delicate face, “You said you regarded me as a friend, but you know, you almost killed me.”

“I’m sorry, Jian Chi,” he didn’t know if it was a conditioned reflex or something else, a layer of water surfaced in Bai Xiyu’s eyes, “I don’t know what I can do to compensate you, but I’m really sorry. After talking to Bai Shuyun, I regretted it, that’s why I went over to remind you, but…”

“If you really wanted to save me, you would have directly told me that Bai Shuyun was going to drive over,” Jian Chi pierced him mercilessly, “instead of a vague word of caution about Bai Shuyun.”

Bai Xiyu moved his bloodless lips, unable to spit out a word. He repeated in a low voice, sorry, to Jian Chi, to Ji Huaisi.

Hearing Ji Huaisi’s name, Jian Chi looked into Bai Xiyu’s eyes again, hiding the complexities in his heart, “There is nothing else to say between us, there is only one question, I want to ask you.”

“What?”

“Do you like Ji Huaisi?” Bai Xiyu was stunned for a moment, “I…” 

After a while, he said, “like.”

Jian Chi’s heart skipped a beat, “Why?” Why do you like him but harm him?

Bai Xiyu seemed to fall into a memory, a nostalgic and indifferent smile appeared on his lips, “The first time I saw Ji Huaisi standing in the concert hall accepting everyone’s eyes and applause, I was thinking, if fate hadn’t made fun of people like this , if I had been the young master of the Bai family since I was born, would it be me who was standing in that position and enjoying everyone’s attention? Ji Huaisi is so lucky, he got it without any effort. I pursued it for 18 years and yet it is so far away. Wealthy family background, parents’ love, how dazzling is he? It would be great if I could be him.”

After he finished speaking, he looked at Jian Chi, “This feeling should be liking?”

Envy.

In the former world, this envy turned into jealousy—can’t become, can’t get, so he chose to destroy it in the end.

Jian Chi suddenly didn’t know what to say, persuasion was useless, and lashing out would not have any effect on Bai Xiyu. His thoughts were distorted from birth, and distorted until he grew into a normal-looking person whose bones were already corrupted, an unbearable person, unswervingly walking on the wrong path, getting further and further away.

Such people can achieve temporary success, but with Bai Xiyu, Jian Chi can’t see any future.

“I understand.”

Jian Chi glanced at Bai Xiyu for the last time, and left his last sentence: “I wish you can get what you want in the Bai family.”

Fame, honor, attention.

Bai Xiyu will gain each thing, one by one and lose it one by one. The Bai family would become his next cage, and he locked himself in it himself. This was the cruelest and best punishment for Bai Xiyu.