CHAPTER 595: CHAPTER 596: THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS OF THE BAI FAMILY

"Mm, and then?"

Shi Mei grasped his hand tightly, turned around, and faced him.

Now it was even more convenient for Shi Lingyan to get closer. He leaned in and said, "It’s just that back then, Uncle Bai’s parents disapproved of their relationship, because the girl wasn’t in good health and her complexion was very pale. Even though she was very talented, her poor health meant she couldn’t continue the family line, so Uncle Bai’s parents were always against it. Later on, Uncle Bai even attempted to elope with her."

"They didn’t manage to run away?" Shi Mei blinked.

Shi Lingyan nodded, "That seems to be the case. Anyway, he didn’t end up with his first love and instead married Aunt Bai, who matched him in social status and was kindhearted—that is, Bai Yuejie’s mother now."

"Wow, the classic tale of the ’mandarin ducks switcharoo’?" Shi Mei could feel her gossip fire blazing as she looked at Shi Lingyan with sparkling eyes, "Aunt Bai has been nothing but good to Shui Ji, treating her even more like her own daughter, to the point of giving her life for her. And to think that all this time, she was actually raising someone else’s daughter? How tragic is that?"

Then Shi Mei continued, "Could it be that Bai Yuejie is the daughter of Uncle Bai and his first love?"

Shi Lingyan chuckled softly, "Hmm, grandmother speculated the same thing, but here comes the problem."

"What?"

Shi Lingyan placed his leg over hers, with a teasing tone he said, "The first love from back then, she wasn’t willing to be with Uncle Bai either. Her family was very conservative, the older generation in her family, if placed in today’s times, would all be considered old antiques. The girl was the same—there’s absolutely no way she would have slept with a man before marriage, not to mention, she seems to have had a heart condition."

"Wow!" Shi Mei became even more intrigued, "Could it be... pfft, surely it’s not that dramatic?"

Shi Lingyan’s thigh hooked her leg towards him as he leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Uncle Bai is a rather quiet person, but sometimes, he does tend to be quite extreme."

In Tang Wu’s mind, a whole drama had already played out, and it seemed somewhat chilling.

Thinking about Uncle Bai’s face, the more she thought about it, the more he seemed like the kind of man who would do such things.

Shi Mei suddenly recalled a detail.

From childhood, it seemed that Bai Yuejie had always been brought up by Uncle Liu.

Uncle Liu took orders directly from Uncle Bai and never was close to Aunt Bai, and besides that...there was some indescribable... hostility?

To call it hostility might not be quite right, but the sense of rejection and estrangement was very apparent.

However, Uncle Bai trusted Uncle Liu extremely, and Bai Yuejie had always been willing to grow up around him, without Aunt Bai being able to do anything about it.

Did this indicate that Uncle Liu might have known all along that Bai Yuejie was not Aunt Bai’s biological daughter, which would account for his attitude?

Or perhaps, Uncle Liu had a particularly close and indefinable relationship with Bai Yuejie’s mother, and therefore, he acted this way?

Shi Mei’s mind had already run wild with suppositions, when suddenly an inspiration struck her.

Apparently, writing a song about family ethics wouldn’t be bad.

-

The next day, Shi Lingyan and Shi Mei took a flight back to Yan City.

The first thing upon returning to Yan City was to send Gao Lian to Shi Wuzhou.

Gao Lian arrived at Shi Wuzhou just as they were getting off their car.

Shi Mei looked even thinner and colder, her presence having dramatically changed from when she had just woken up and been brought to the police station for questioning last time.