Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Shi Bao’er pretended not to hear her and refused to open the door.
Bu Xianxian asked Uncle Lin for the keys to Shi Bao’er’s bedroom. After much consideration, Uncle Lin decided to call Shi Shaochuan before opening the door personally.
Noticing that Bu Xianxian was about to hit Shi Bao’er the moment the door opened, Uncle Lin stopped her and said, “Ms. Bu, shall we wait until Young Sir is home?”
“No! I will never step foot inside this house again if I don’t get to vent my anger today!” Bu Xianxian snapped in exasperation.
Although Uncle Lin was put in a spot, he still stopped her from entering.
Seeing that she had Uncle Lin to back her up, Shi Bao’er said dauntlessly, “I’ll tell my parents exactly what you said to me. Get out of my house now, you shameless slut! I don’t want to see you here!”
Bu Xianxian’s exasperation knew no limits. She refused to believe that she would be defeated by a child. Hence, she tried to suppress her anger with all her might and waited for Shi Shaochuan to come home.
After hearing about what happened and seeing the bed and ceiling that were destroyed beyond ruin, Shi Shaochuan hit the roof and blew his top.
He called Shi Bao’er over and said, “What’s wrong with you? How did Auntie even provoke you? Must you play a prank on her over and over again? You’re getting too brazen. Were you trying to set the entire house on fire?”
Greatly taken aback by his reaction, Shi Bao’er took a few steps back with tears in her eyes. “I just don’t like her. Who told you to let her move in without my permission!?!”
“Why do I need your permission? Bao’er, this is my house, not yours alone. Apologize to Auntie immediately, she’s been burned,” he chided.
“No!”
“If you don’t, you shall move back to your mother’s place. Don’t live with me anymore!”
Shi Bao’er’s eyes widened in shock; she was thinking to herself that her father was about to abandon her.
Now that Mommy is married and Daddy has a girlfriend, I’ve become an unloved child.
The thought of it sent tears rolling down Shi Bao’er’s cheeks.
Noticing that she had teared up, Shi Shaochuan mellowed his tone and said, “I’ll forgive you if you apologize to Auntie.”
“Why aren’t you getting angry at her for saying those things to me? She said that whoever gave birth to me can’t be a decent person and that she would deal with me and give me a hard time after you two get married. By then, you won’t care about me anymore…” Needless to say, Shi Bao’er had added additional details that were untrue, just to exaggerate things.
“Did she really say that?”
Shi Bao’er nodded and answered, “Yes, she really did say that. Daddy, that’s why I was angry.”
A sullen expression formed on Shi Shaochuan’s face as he caressed her head and headed upstairs.
At this moment, Bu Xianxian was waiting for Shi Bao’er to come and apologize to her inside the other room. To her surprise, Shi Shaochuan entered alone.
Noticing the austere expression on his face, she said, “Don’t blame the child, she’s still young, after all. I’m just singed. I’ll be fine after applying some ointment on my wounds.”
“Why did you have to say those things to her?” he questioned.
“What do you mean?” Bu Xianxian asked in puzzlement.
He repeated Shi Bao’er’s words, after which Bu Xianxian immediately said, “I did say the first line but that’s all. I didn’t say any of the rest. She was the one who made those up.”
“Okay. I’ll just rent an apartment elsewhere for you to live in so as to prevent such things from happening again,” Shi Shaochuan said in frustration.
Bu Xianxian agreed with his suggestion since she did not wish to see Shi Bao’er anyway. However, she felt wronged and indignant because she didn’t get the chance to teach Shi Bao’er a lesson.
But then again, there was nothing she could really do with Shi Shaochuan around, for he would definitely reprimand her.
I shall bear with it!
—
For the past couple of days, An Xiaoning had been paying close attention to Fang Erlan’s dreams. She felt much more relieved to hear that the latter had yet to dream of that scenario again.
She reckoned that it must have been just another vivid dream.
Mysterious Xiao showed up all of a sudden at night.
“I need you to promise me something,” he said.
An Xiaoning smiled and said, “But you’ve already told me everything that you know about my previous lifetime. What are you going to offer in exchange now? Or did you not tell me everything last time?”
He stood rooted to the ground, seemingly unsurprised that she would respond that way.
“I’m a man of my word. Although I’ve already told you everything that I know like I had promised earlier, I still need you to help me with something now. This time, I would definitely offer you something of equal value in exchange for your help.”
“Tell me what you need my help with, then. I can only decide if I want to help you or not after hearing what it’s about.”
“From now on, you’re not to interfere with your artiste Fang Erlan’s life, apart from work-related matters.”
An Xiaoning smiled and asked in utter disbelief, “Who? Erlan?”
“Yes.”
The quick-witted An Xiaoning immediately said, “Erlan doesn’t look like that female corpse at all. She’s not the person you’re looking for.”
Mysterious Xiao remained still on the spot.
“You don’t have to care about the rest. I’m only making a deal with you now. It’s up to you to decide if you want to agree.”
“All you’re asking is that I don’t meddle with Erlan’s private life? What do you mean? Please be more specific.”
“For example… Are you just feigning ignorance? By private life, I obviously mean anything that’s not related to work. I know she’s an artiste who’s signed to your studio. I’m not informing you beforehand because I’m afraid of you. Hua Jin, I wouldn’t be daunted even if you and Xihou Ling work together against me. I’m just offering you something in exchange, on account that you’re helping me. Do you understand?”
Needless to say, she obviously did. Actually, he only came to look for her because he wanted to make an agreement with her. It wouldn’t matter to him even if she opposed to it.
However, things would get ugly if that were the case.
“How about you answer a question of mine in exchange?” An Xiaoning suggested.
“What?”
An Xiaoning said with open frankness, “Just what’s on that treasure map? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t covet it at all. After all, my life matters most to me now. I’m just very curious about it. Could you feed my curiosity?”
“Since you’ve asked, I have to answer you truthfully. I actually don’t know what it is either. I do have the map in my hands, but despite having searched for an answer for so many years, I still have no idea how to solve the mystery within it.”
An Xiaoning answered, “That’s as good as not answering my question. Could you tell me the reason you don’t want me to interfere with Erlan’s private life? Mr. Xiao, Erlan is still my employee at the end of the day. You have to give me an explanation so that I can put my mind at ease.”
“She’s the reincarnation of that corpse.”
“Like I said earlier, they don’t look alike at all. Take me and Xihou Ling for an example. We look exactly like our previous incarnates. It doesn’t make sense to say that she’s the one, does it? Did you get the wrong person?”
