Bai Yin accompanied her grandmother on the broad lawn, watching helplessly as Director Li directed the workers to move the luggage to the doorstep.
The nursing home's shuttle bus was already parked at the roadside, just waiting to send her grandmother to the less nice Kangmao Nursing Home.
Her grandmother looked at them in confusion and asked Bai Yin, "Whose luggage is that? Is old lady Hu from next door leaving?"
Bai Yin felt like there was a lump of lead stuck in her throat. She shook her head, unable to get a word out.
Chen Huaixiao had asked Bai Yin for the address, but Bai Yin wasn't sure if he would actually come or not. After all, theirs was just a marriage of convenience.
Accompanied by Zou Meizhi and Su Anning, Zou Mother walked out of the building in high spirits, coming to the lawn to bask in the sun.
Seeing Bai Yin still standing there, Zou Mother's face showed a hint of displeasure. "What's going on? Why haven't they moved yet?"
Zou Meizhi immediately went to find Director Li and complained unhappily, "Director Li, isn't your work efficiency too low? Why haven't these people moved yet?"
Director Li was also very helpless. He said in a low voice, "Miss Bai is unwilling to have her grandmother transferred."
Zou Meizhi pressed on aggressively, "My mother came to your nursing home to recuperate. Now there's someone staying here that she doesn't want to see, affecting her mood. How can she recover like this?"
"Yes, yes." Director Li wiped the sweat from his forehead. "But our nursing home has only ever admitted residents, never chased anyone away. It's really hard for me to say that."
Su Anning said coldly, "When her grandmother was first admitted, it was through my dad's connections. Without my dad, could she have gotten into such a high-end nursing home? Now my grandmother doesn't like them, it makes perfect sense to have them move out. Why is it so hard to say?"
Zou Mother dragged her words resentfully, "It seems my son-in-law's words don't carry much weight here, his influence isn't big enough for Director Li."
"No, no, that's not true. Our nursing home has always cooperated well with Mr. Su. I personally admire him a lot." Director Li quickly denied.
"That's right, that's right." He wiped the sweat from his forehead again. "I'll have them move right away."
He signaled to his staff.
A few male nurses came up to Bai Yin and said, "Miss Bai, the room at Kangmao Nursing Home has been cleaned up. Please get in the car now."
As they spoke, they moved to lift her grandmother's wheelchair.
"There's no such injustice in this world!" Bai Yin hurriedly shielded her grandmother and pushed them forcefully. "If you keep this up, I'll call the police!"
Just then, a bright black Maybach rushed into the nursing home.
It drifted beautifully to a stop right in front of Bai Yin.
Chen Huaixiao got out, dressed in a crisp black suit buttoned right up to his neck, looking upright and expressionless.
He slammed the car door forcefully, clearly showing some anger.
Behind him followed two men in suits, one of them his assistant Shen Bin.
Seeing Chen Huaixiao appear, Director Li's expression changed drastically. He hurried up to greet him, "Mr. Chen... why are you here?"
Chen Huaixiao didn't even look at him. He strode right up to Bai Yin.
Bai Yin was still in a standoff with the male nurses, stubbornly shielding her grandmother and not letting them get close.
One of the male nurses grabbed her hand, trying to pull her away from the wheelchair.
Chen Huaixiao stepped forward, grabbed the male nurse's hand, twisted hard, and with a "crack" the nurse's arm was dislocated.
He cried out in pain.
Seeing this, the other male nurses staggered back in fear.
Chen Huaixiao's expression was icy cold. He shielded Bai Yin behind him.
Bai Yin had been holding back her tears, but seeing Chen Huaixiao's straight back in front of her now, she couldn't control it anymore. Her eyes turned red as she reached out and gripped his crisp suit sleeve tightly.
Although Chen Huaixiao didn't like Bai Yin's ulterior motives, he also knew her grandmother was her only family, her weakest spot.
Now her grandmother was being bullied, and the helplessness of being unable to protect loved ones...
He allowed Bai Yin to grab onto him. This time, he willingly became her lifeline.
Seeing Chen Huaixiao protect her like this, Director Li was scared out of his wits. He hurriedly went up to Chen Huaixiao, "Mr. Chen, I really didn't know you and Miss Bai knew each other..."
Chen Huaixiao cut him off. His thin lips parted lightly as he said indifferently, "Director Li, are you being picky about your residents now that business at the nursing home has been too good these past years?"
His words carried tremendous deterrence, despite the indifferent tone.
Director Li's expression changed drastically. "No, no, you misunderstood! I really didn't know!"
He had investigated Bai Yin's background. He only knew she was Su Yecheng's unfavored daughter, brought from the countryside down south to Beicheng, and was only admitted into this high-end nursing home by pulling some connections through Su Yecheng.
Who could have thought she'd actually have ties with Chen Huaixiao?
"Quick, quick!" Director Li urged his staff, "Quickly put Ms. Bai's grandmother's luggage back! Be careful, I'll make you pay if there's any bumps or scratches."
"No need." Bai Yin raised her finger and pointed at Zou Mother on the other side of the lawn who had no idea what was happening. "Have her move. My grandmother wants that room with the mountain view upstairs."
"This..." Director Li looked troubled. "I'm afraid that won't be easy to arrange..."
Bai Yin looped her arm around Chen Huaixiao's. With her mountain of support now, she was naturally full of confidence. "You could ask my grandmother to move, why can't she move? Director Li, does Chen Huaixiao's face not carry as much weight as Su Yecheng's?"
"Mr. Chen, see here..."
Chen Huaixiao glanced at him lightly. "What, is it difficult?"
Director Li had seen from Chen Huaixiao's eyes his indulgence and favor towards this woman. Zou Mother would have to move today no matter what!
He'd rather offend a hundred Su Yechengs than offend one Chen Huaixiao!
Director Li turned and went to Zou Mother and Zou Meizhi without hesitation. "Ma'am, the nurses will help you take your luggage down. Please take Ms. Bai's previous room."
When Zou Meizhi heard this, the blood rushed to her head and her face turned red. She gritted her teeth loudly, "What? You want my mother to switch rooms with her grandmother? Are you crazy?"
Director Li didn't bother with more words. Just as he had forcibly asked Bai Yin's grandmother to move earlier, now he was asking the same of Zou Mother. He called over some nurses to move all of Zou Mother's luggage down.
Zou Mother sat on the ground crying and shouting indignantly, "Call my son-in-law! Call my son-in-law!"
Su Anning was also blinded with anger. She looked resentfully at Bai Yin, stomped her foot, and called her father Su Yecheng.
On the phone, when Su Yecheng heard what had happened, he rushed over in a cold sweat.
Arriving at the nursing home, Zou Mother grabbed his sleeve and demanded her respectable son-in-law do something.
However, Su Yecheng didn't even look at her. He strode right up to Chen Huaixiao and bowed deeply to apologize, "I hope Mr. Chen will be magnanimous and not bother with them."
Seeing this, Zou Mother pointed at Su Yecheng and cursed loudly, "Good for you, Su Yecheng! You've become a coward, haven't you? This man is just your son-in-law. What father-in-law apologizes to his son-in-law? Tell me, is this reasonable?"
Su Yecheng was extremely ashamed. He took out his anger on Zou Meizhi and yelled, "Take your mother back to her room!"
Because she was a secretary who slept her way to the top, Zou Meizhi was always extremely careful around Su Yecheng at home, warm and tender, afraid of displeasing him in the slightest.
Now because of her mother, Su Yecheng was also disgusted with her. Zou Meizhi no longer dared to say anything more. She pulled Zou Mother back to the first floor room.
Bai Yin's gaze was cold. She said, "Wait a moment."
Su Anning said shrilly, "What more do you want?"
Bai Yin smiled. "Didn't your grandmother herself say living in the same nursing home as my grandmother lowered her status? Since that's the case, I think it'd be better for her to move."
Zou Meizhi's face turned ghastly pale.
This was the best nursing home in Beicheng. She had pulled a lot of strings to get the nursing home to free up a room. How could they move now?
"Yecheng..." Zou Meizhi pulled his sleeve.
Su Yecheng smiled apologetically to Bai Yin, "Little Yin, Granny Zou is an elder. You shouldn't ask her to move. What's more, she's getting on in years. Moving around now would be too hard on her health."
"She can't handle moving around, but my grandmother can?" Bai Yin glanced at the van nearby. "Director Li has already arranged it. Just let her go to Kangmao Nursing Home."
Zou Meizhi's face was ashen.
Compared to this one, whether in medical facilities or the surrounding environment, Kangmao Nursing Home was worse by more than just a little.
Su Yecheng said to Chen Huaixiao, "Son-in-law, we're all family. There's no need to make things so unpleasant..."
"Who's your son-in-law." Bai Yin said coldly. "I didn't hear anything about being family when she was chasing my grandmother out."
Unable to hold back her anger, Su Anning retorted, "Bai Yin, you didn't make a peep earlier. Now that Chen Huaixiao is here, you're acting all high and mighty..."
Bai Yin knew Su Anning still hadn't gotten over Chen Huaixiao and was still feeling resentful.
She simply leaned against Chen Huaixiao, acting intimate, and said mockingly, "He's my husband. Why can't I act high and mighty? Back then when you forced me into the marriage alliance, if it had been you instead of me, you'd be the one acting high and mighty now. Angry?"
Su Anning was so angry her teeth hurt. She wished she could swallow Bai Yin whole.
But Chen Huaixiao was standing by her side, clearly intent on protecting his wife to the end. She and her mother were getting nowhere today.
In the end, Zou Mother still got on the van, resentfully blaming Su Yecheng. She left for Kangmao Nursing Home cursing angrily.
Zou Meizhi and Su Anning both had ugly expressions.
When Su Yecheng left the nursing home, he looked back at Bai Yin once.
The unrest in this family reminded him again of Bai Yin's mother.
Zou Meizhi's vulgarity and Bai Yin's mother's elegance and grace formed a stark contrast.
That step he took back then... was a mistake in the end.
Regret filled him, but it was already too late to turn back.
The mountain view room was spacious and bright. Bai Yin pulled back the white curtains and through the window, you could directly see the distant verdant mountains.
Rooms with a mountain view were scarce in the nursing home. This room had the best view.
Naturally, the daily fees were doubled.
Bai Yin secretly steeled her resolve. She must work hard to earn money, to let her grandmother's final years be more comfortable.
"Grandma, look at that mountain over there. There's still snow on the peak."
"Grandma, do you want some fruit? Let me peel it for you."
Her grandmother ignored Bai Yin, gazing kindly at Chen Huaixiao by the door. "Little Huai, Little Huai has grown up so much. Come over and let me see you."
Bai Yin didn't expect her to still remember Chen Huaixiao. She knew he always kept his distance from others and was about to stop her grandmother, but Chen Huaixiao walked over and patiently held her wrinkled, spotty hand. He called gently, "Grandma."
"I remember back then, our little Bai looked forward to her Huai brother coming over every day."
"No way!" Bai Yin hurriedly denied. "Grandma, your memory isn't good. You must be mistaken!"
"I'm not mistaken!" Her grandmother smiled kindly. "It was still half a year until your birthday. You went outside the scenic area every day to sell embroidery, saving up money to buy him a present..."
Chen Huaixiao laughed. "I didn't know she thought so much of me."
Seeing she couldn't stop her grandmother's mouth, Bai Yin simply went with it. She walked to his side and looped her arm around him. "Of course! If I didn't think so much of Huai brother back then, why would he dote on me so much now? He ran over in the middle of an awards ceremony to stand up for me."
Chen Huaixiao withdrew his arm from her embrace, his expression indifferent: "It's getting late, I should get going."
Bai Yin knew what Chen Huaixiao hated most, yet she deliberately stomped all over his landmines.
She hid her true feelings, and wore a mask of false affection - it was the only way she knew to protect herself.
The one who cared more would always lose.
...
That night, as Bai Yin lay on the sofa doing leg raises, her phone buzzed on the couch. Sun Lili had sent her a message:
"Your Mr. Chen is trending."
"What do you mean 'our' Mr. Chen, that sounds so weird!" Bai Yin texted back disdainfully. "It's like we're an old married couple."
"Fine, Lord Chen is trending! Go take a look!"
Lazily, Bai Yin clicked into the trending topics, and sure enough, the number one trending topic was:
Starry Night Awards Ceremony, Chen Huaixiao Leaves Halfway Through
Bai Yin wondered why this was such a big deal - it was just an awards show, it wasn't that serious for him to leave halfway.
But when she clicked into the topic, she understood.
Chen Huaixiao had originally been scheduled to present the award to A-list actress Meng Qianqian at the Starry Night Awards Ceremony.
Of course, for Meng Qianqian, having Chen Huaixiao personally present her award would be the highest honor, and a chance to meet and take photos together.
But he left halfway, forcing the organizers to hastily find someone else to present her award at the last minute. Meng Qianqian lost face.
Although not actually a celebrity, Chen Huaixiao's popularity was no less than top idols.
Seeing this, Meng Qianqian's fans instantly erupted in anger, catapulting the topic to the top of trending searches:
"My poor Qianqian."
"Chen Huaixiao is so arrogant."
"Right, just abandoning our Qianqian like that!"
"I guess this is what you can get away with when you have money and power, she's not the first celebrity he's snubbed."
"If he's so high and mighty he shouldn't rely on celebrities to make money, eating their bread but disrespecting them."
...
Although not an entertainment idol himself, Chen Huaixiao's popularity was no less than trendy stars.
Seeing these comments, Bai Yin felt a twinge of guilt.
She knew Chen Huaixiao must have been busy with important things, yet still called him over on a whim.
And now his impulsive departure from the awards show had caused such a big uproar and backlash. Who knows how much he was blaming her?
Bai Yin walked out of her room to Chen Huaixiao's study and peeked in. It was empty.
She checked the bedroom, he wasn't there either.
"Huh?"
He should be home.
Bai Yin went downstairs, finally finding him in the outdoor home gym behind the backyard on the first floor.
Under the open sunlight, his upper body bare, he hung suspended from the equipment, doing inverted rows. His abs flexed up and down.
Fair-skinned, his muscles were beautifully streamlined and fit - a perfect clothes hanger figure. Shirtless, his sculpted body was pulse-quickening.
Bai Yin walked up to Chen Huaixiao, watching as he did inverted sit ups, skin pulled taut, beads of sweat trailing down the lines of his muscles.
Chen Huaixiao had been working out for who knows how long without the slightest change in his breathing.
"Chen Huaixiao, are you done with your workout?"
Chen Huaixiao was used to her pattern of "Hubby when she needed something, Chen Huaixiao when she didn't." His expression unchanged, he replied: "What, can't wait?"
"No, not that!" Bai Yin controlled her temper. "Didn't I cause you trouble?"
"What did you do now?"
"The stuff online, didn't you see?"
"What's going on online?"
Seeing Chen Huaixiao's calm, unruffled expression, Bai Yin realized he had no idea about the vitriolic backlash against him online!
She had wanted to apologize, or offer some words of comfort.
But knowing his personality, he wouldn't care what others thought of him.
As he said, he was a businessman, not a celebrity.
Good or bad publicity wouldn't impact his ability to make money.
He probably didn't care about things like this.
Bai Yin's mind spun with indecision, unsure whether to apologize or say nothing.
Seeing her inner turmoil, Chen Huaixiao ignored her and continued his inverted sit ups.
"Chen Huaixiao, stop for a second."
Chen Huaixiao stopped and hung upside down, his expression slightly impatient. "What now?"
"Nothing." Bai Yin slowly approached him, lightly kissing his inverted face. "Just wanted to kiss my husband."
Chen Huaixiao felt the girl's feather-light kiss, barely a butterfly's touch, land near the corner of his mouth. Faint, yet the sensation lingered.
"Taste salty from sweat?"
Bai Yin licked her lips - it really was!
"Gross, yuck!" She quickly wiped her mouth with her sleeve and turned to leave.
The corners of Chen Huaixiao's mouth still tilted up, but his smile was less cold now.
