Tan Guiren quickly smoothed things over. “Director Bai, please don’t be angry. My cousin is straightforward but doesn’t think maliciously. She’s lived abroad for many years and is accustomed to speaking frankly.”
“Miss Tan, ‘speaking frankly’ has never been this insulting before. If she spoke about Gu Nianzhi like this, yet Miss Tan still believes she was only speaking frankly, then I either have to doubt Miss Tan’s intelligence or doubt Miss Tan’s character. Please decide which one it’ll be. Goodbye.”
Bai Yueran felt that speaking with unlike-minded people was a waste of breath, so she didn’t want to stay there any longer. Also, her father, Bai Jiancheng, had lost the election, so Bai Yueran disliked the Tans to begin with. Coming to their home to give New Year’s greetings was merely out of traditional courtesy. She found her father, Bai Jiancheng, and said quietly, “Dad, let’s go now.”
Bai Jiancheng actually didn’t have much to say to Tan Dongbang, either. The two men held different beliefs in the first place, so they nearly burned all bridges with each other during the election campaign.
However, Tan Dongbang required Bai Jiancheng’s power over the cabinet to help him during the initial transition period. Bai Jiancheng also needed to strengthen his connections within the cabinet before he stepped down from office, so the men collaborated.
Visiting the Prime Minister’s residence to give New Year’s greetings on the first day of the Lunar New Year was merely a norm for the cabinet officials. It was just like work that must be completed.
Seeing Bai Yueran’s unhappy expression, Bai Jiancheng assumed someone present must have offended her. He discreetly said to her, “You go outside first. I’ll sit here for a while more. Don’t reveal all your feelings on your face. How old are you, anyway? You’re still like a child.”
Bai Yueran immediately arranged her face into a professional smile. “Ok, Father.”
She cheerfully walked over to Cai Songyin and said goodbye. “Mrs. Cai, thank you for the cantaloupe today. It was especially delicious. Miss Tan is goodnatured and gets along very well with everyone else at the Military Cultural Regiment. Since you have so many guests here, I won’t be bothering you anymore. I still need to go to several places to give New Year’s greetings, so I have to leave now.”
Cai Songyin’s face was beaming with happiness as she pulled her back. “Director Bai can’t stay for a bit longer? We haven’t even had lunch yet!”
“No thanks, I still have a lot of work to deal with and am quite busy. My father is still here. Please tolerate him and don’t allow him to drink too much. He’s always a bad drunk when he has too much.”
Bai Yueran shook hands with Cai Songyin before turning to leave. Walking out of the Prime Minister’s residence, Bai Yueran got in her own car and drove around the city before finally deciding to go find Bai Shuang.
It was New Year’s Eve yesterday, the last day of the Lunar New Year. The entire Bai family had gathered together to enjoy a lively New Year’s Eve dinner. The Bai’s were a huge family in the Hua Xia Empire. Aside from Bai Jiancheng’s main branch consisting of three brothers and one younger sister who were direct descendants, there were also many minor branches and cousins. They were distributed in various political and commercial departments and industries through intertwined marriages, and they were all leaders.
Every Lunar New Year, at the Bais’ siheyuan* home on the Second Ring Road at the foot of the Imperial Palace was decorated with colorful lights and decorations. It was extremely lively and brimming with Lunar New Year festivity. Everyone left only after they ushered in the New Year.
Even the Bai family members whose family or business was not in the Imperial Capital had their own residences in the Imperial Capital. There was no need to squeeze in with the main branch of the Bais in one home.
Bai Shuang was the only daughter in the second branch of the Bai family. The second son of the Bais, Bai Yusheng, had fled to the United States due to treason and had already been secretly executed. Bai Shuang had stayed by herself abroad for a while, then returned.
Bai Jiancheng was worried that she would have a hard time living alone, so he invited her to come live with them. It also made it easy for them to take care of her. Bai Shuang had always gotten along well with her older cousin, Bai Yueran, so she agreed instead on returning to her own home.
However, because she discovered Zhao Liangze and Bai Yueran’s romance a while back, she refused to continue staying at the Bai family’s main branch siheyuan home. Whether it be within the Hua Xia Empire or abroad, she had plenty of places to live. Aside from a luxury apartment on the Third Ring Road and a single-family villa in the suburbs, she also had vacation homes scattered all throughout the Hua Xia Empire and various scenic cities around the world. She could easily choose one and stay there for a long time.
Bai Shuang had originally planned to pack her suitcase tomorrow and relax abroad. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone else was busy visiting relatives and giving New Year’s greetings. Bai Shuang was the only one feeling bored and staying home alone in her own small apartment.
Holding a cup of coffee, she sat on a rocking chair on the glass balcony as she quietly stared off into the distant horizon. A book was splayed across her knees, but she didn’t register a single word from it at all.
Soon after, her phone’s ringtone broke the peace and quiet. Bai Shuang didn’t want to pick up the call in the beginning, but the phone kept ringing like it didn’t want to give up. She couldn’t help but feel a bit curious. Who could be relentlessly looking for her when she was just someone whose life had already hit rock bottom?
Grabbing her phone to take a glance, her heart thumped to see it was actually Zhao Liangze’s number. She hesitated for a full minute before finally ending the call. Since he had already chosen to be with her cousin, he shouldn’t come looking for her again. They couldn’t even be normal friends. Bai Shuang was unable to be normal friends with someone she had a crush on, so she chose to avoid any contact at all.
He seemed to not believe that she would hang up on him, so he tried calling several times again. However, Bai Shuang ended all the calls. Finally, Zhao Liangze seemed to understand that Bai Shuang actually didn’t want to take his call, so he could only send a text.
Little Ze: Happy New Year, Shuang. Why aren’t you taking my calls? I only wanted to ask how you’re doing.
Bai Shuang’s temper rose when she read this. Ask what!? She wasn’t the kind of person to “stay friends after a breakup.” Moreover, she hadn’t even qualified to break up with him before she was kicked out of the game.
Bai Shuang didn’t say anything else before blocking Zhao Liangze’s number. There were no more ringtones or text message alerts playing, so her world finally became quiet…
Downing all the coffee in her cup, Bai Shuang got up and decided to go to the kitchen and make a few wontons for herself. Suddenly, her phone rang again. Bai Shuang thought it was Zhao Liangze again, so she couldn’t help but feel shocked. How could this person be so impressive? He could call her even after getting blocked?!
But when she grabbed her phone to take a look, she saw it wasn’t Zhao Liangze but Bai Yueran. She could ignore Zhao Liangze and block him too, but that didn’t work with Bai Yueran. No matter what, she was still her cousin.
Bai Shuang felt quite uncomfortable, but she still wanted to see Bai Yueran for the last time and make things clear before she went abroad. Although she didn’t hate them, she didn’t want to see them at all. She felt miserable whenever she saw them together.
Bai Shuang unlocked the phone to accept the call. “Sister, Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year.” Bai Yueran’s voice sounded a bit listless. It was Lunar New Year and she just got a new boyfriend, so why was she depressed?
Bai Shuang thought it was strange but didn’t ask about it. Instead, she asked about her uncle, Bai Jiancheng. “How is Uncle doing? Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. I’ve already sent Uncle a text to wish him Happy New Year. He must be very busy today, so I won’t go bother him.” She was worried that Bai Yueran was inviting her to spend New Year’s at the Bai family’s main branch home, so she blocked Bai Yueran in advance.
Bai Yueran laughed as she turned her car into the underground parking lot of Bai Shuang’s apartment. “I’m not doing anything today, so I came here to see you. Are you willing to let Sister in?”
“What is Sister saying? Of course I welcome you. So you didn’t go out to give New Year’s greetings today?” Bai Shuang switched hands holding the phone and immediately went to the fridge to check if there was any food. She could scrape together enough for one person, but if Bai Yueran was coming, it would be embarrassing to scrape things together.
Bai Yueran walked out of the car and got in the elevator. She continued speaking to her over the phone, “I did go. I just left the Office of the Prime Minister. Those people are a waste of time. I really don’t get along well with the Tan family.”
Bai Shuang knew that her uncle had lost the prime minister’s election to Tan Dongbang and also thought that it was quite a shame. In terms of ability or seniority, there was no question her uncle, Bai Jiancheng, could win easily against Tan Dongbang, who had only been in the cabinet for two years!
Unfortunately, their Bai family was not as powerful as the Cais in the media world, so they were caught off guard during the election campaign. In the current times, it was true that “winning the media meant winning the world…”
The Bai family members were all in traditional political and business industries, and in terms of business, they were also in the traditional manufacturing industry. When it came to the two territories of the newly emerging internet and the new media derived from and relying on the internet, the Bais’ power had fallen greatly behind.
The Cais had silently taken up half the world when it came to new media. Also, they were the leaders of traditional media in the first place. The Cais led state-owned television stations and the Publicity Department.
In the past, Bai Shuang had worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs and was the youngest spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Bais originally wanted to leverage her qualifications in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once she withdrew from the Ministry of Foreign affairs, she could then break into the media and claim a spot for the Bais.
However, her father, Bai Yusheng, ended up backing himself into a corner and committed a serious error. Not only did he dig his own grave, but he also buried Bai Shuang’s career along with his own. She could only resign from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had become unemployed since then.
When Bai Yueran came inside, Bai Shuang finally stopped reminiscing and asked with a smile, “What do you want to drink? I don’t have anything to cook with here. We can go out to eat later.”
Bai Yueran raised a brow. “You dare to live alone without anything to eat? Do you want to turn into a fairy?”
Bai Shuang laughed. Opening the fridge, she took out a box of iced coffee for Bai Yueran and set it down before her. “I remember that you like this vanilla flavored iced coffee.” Although it was winter, the apartment’s central heating was set to hold at 25 degrees Celsius. It was still very comfortable to drink iced coffee.
Bai Yueran accepted it and opened the box to take a sip. She sighed. “This New Year’s has been so boring, I’m actually looking forward to going back to work.”
“How could it be boring?” Bai Shuang sat across from her and looked at her frankly. “Didn’t you just start dating Little Ze? Why aren’t you going out with him?”
*siheyuan: residential dwelling built around a courtyard
