Seeing the clearly tempted look on Wu Chen’s face, Bai Jiao stopped trying to persuade him and left with Ye Yunyun.
Cradling Ye Yunyun, she muttered to herself, "Wu Chen is so thin. Will he be able to survive the apocalypse?"
’When Auntie was at her thinnest, she only weighed forty-four pounds. She was even skinner than him.’
Ye Yunyun’s inner voice went quiet. She pulled a cheese stick from her pocket and stuck it in her aunt’s mouth.
"Thanks, Xiao Yunduo~"
"Wait, this wrapper is already open! Did you take back the snacks Auntie gave that boy?!"
’He put it back himself.’
"Why didn’t you just stick it in his mouth like you did for me?" Bai Jiao feigned dramatic surprise.
Ye Yunyun pressed her face into Bai Jiao’s chest again, pushing with all her might.
’Alright, the little one is sulking again.’ Bai Jiao laughed freely.
Just as they got home, they ran into their butler, Uncle Li.
Things had been rushed yesterday, so no one had told Bai Jiao about Uncle Li and Aunt Zhang. As a result, Bai Jiao greeted him just as she always did.
Uncle Li stepped forward to exchange a few pleasantries and greeted Ye Yunyun as well. "Hello there, Little Miss."
Ye Yunyun buried her face in Bai Jiao’s chest. Having relaxed a bit after getting home, she’d accidentally knocked off her own knitted hat, revealing her partially shaved head.
Ye Yunyun froze. The next second, silent tears began to fall. She curled into a ball and tried to burrow even deeper into Bai Jiao’s embrace.
’Just as I thought. When you run into bad people, bad luck always follows.’
’From now on, I’m a little mushroom. I’ll just be sad all by myself in a dark, lightless corner.’
Bai Jiao desperately wanted to comfort her, but it took every ounce of her willpower just to keep from smiling.
Besides, the thought of a dark mushroom cap and Ye Yunyun’s bald little head just made her want to laugh.
She said hurriedly to Uncle Li, "Sorry, Uncle Li, Xiao Yunduo is crying. I’m going to take her to her mom."
Uncle Li had no choice but to give up his probing and leave. He had no idea what the Bai family was up to lately. They had dismissed all the servants and were now renovating like mad.
Uncle Li had a gut feeling. If he could figure out what was really going on and sell that information, he could make a fortune.
Inside the house, the rest of the family was waiting for Bai Jiao and Ye Yunyun.
"I ran into Uncle Li," Bai Jiao said, handing Ye Yunyun back to Bai Xi.
Bai Xi held her, stroking her head. "Oh, why is Bao Bao crying?"
’My hat fell off. Bao Bao is so embarrassed... *sob*.’
Ye Yunyun’s little lip trembled, and the tears started falling even faster.
Bai Xi coaxed her softly, "It’s okay. In a little while, you’ll be a beautiful Bao Bao again."
Bai Chen frowned. "Uncle Li? Stay away from him. Uncle Li... might have ulterior motives concerning our family."
Bai Xi and Bai Jiao exclaimed in unison, "How could that be? Uncle Li watched us grow up!"
’He’s a bad person. That old man is terrible. And Ye Jun is actually a relative of Uncle Li from his home village. Back then, that scum dad of mine only managed to win Mom over because of Uncle Li’s schemes.’
A dazed look came over Bai Xi. She recalled her marriage, which her family had never approved of. When she’d had a falling out with them, it was indeed Uncle Li who had secretly comforted her, praising Ye Jun as a good man.
’But that doesn’t necessarily make Uncle Li a bad person,’ she thought. ’Maybe he just misjudged him.’
’He also wanted to marry Auntie off to his son. He was planning to have his son force himself on her.’
Bai Jiao jumped in alarm. The thought of Uncle Li’s dull, wooden son... ’Oh, hell no.’
Mrs. Bai said, "That couple, they abused Shi Tou, spat in the food, and even stuffed my pillow with willow catkins."
"What?! Those animals!" Bai Jiao slammed her hand on the table in fury.
Mr. Bai coughed twice. "No need to get so worked up. In any case, just be more careful from now on."
The Bai family didn’t have a rule about silence at the dinner table. On the contrary, meals were one of the few times the entire family could gather, so they always used the time to talk things over.
Bai Chen started the questioning. "I told you to take Little Yunyun grocery shopping. What were you doing? Stuffing your space with a bunch of junk food?! Couldn’t you have just had the chef make all this?"
Bai Jiao pouted. "Store-bought is always better. What I bought today isn’t even enough for me. I’m going to buy more next time."
Bai Jiao’s eyes darted. "Bro, you have some nerve scolding me. How are you even managing the company? That sponsorship program for underprivileged students just blew up. The person in charge has an unhealthy interest in the female students."
All eyes immediately turned to him.
Bai Chen asked gravely, "Is that true? The person in charge is Bai Banhe, from one of the branch families. There haven’t been any issues with him before."
’Bai Banhe? I know that name. He acts all gentle and refined, but he’s actually morally bankrupt. He conspired with our rivals to short the company and took kickbacks. He coerces his subordinates, gets handsy with children...’
Bai Chen pinched the bridge of his nose. "I’ll have someone handle this tonight. It’ll be a top priority."
Bai Jiao said, "I also gave Dad’s and your business cards to a middle schooler. You can tell at a glance that kid is destined for great things. His family situation isn’t great, but he’s smart and resilient. Xiao Yunduo really likes him, too."
Mr. Bai and Bai Chen instantly understood what she was implying.
Mrs. Bai said, "I’m planning for you all to move out. With the house under renovation, it’s inconvenient to live here. It would be better to stay in the city and move back only when things get critical."
She sighed. "Time is just too tight. Luckily, the temperature is dropping, so the formaldehyde won’t release as easily. The health risk of moving in will be lower."
’But after the deep freeze comes extreme heat, then the zombies mutate, and then there’s the pollution,’ Ye Yunyun added silently in her mind.
Mrs. Bai added, "Tomorrow, Bai Jiao, go buy some seeds for flowers, plants, and trees. As for school, just take a leave of absence for now."
Bai Jiao nodded. When they needed her for something, it was usually because they needed her space.
Bai Chen opened his laptop. "One more thing. I’m going to bring Li Tan back into a key role. We’ve already stockpiled billions in supplies, but now our liquid capital is running low. I need to recoup some funds."
"But abruptly selling off shares or assets would cause panic and instability among our employees. So, I want to use Li Tan to put up a smokescreen, tricking a rival company into acquiring our assets at a high price, while ensuring most of the jobs are preserved."
’Dog eat dog? My uncle is so smart!’
Bai Chen almost lost his composure. ’What does she mean, dog eat dog?’
"This is my ’mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’ plan," he added, committed to teaching the family’s resident "semi-literate" a thing or two.
The others stifled their laughter.
After Ye Yunyun fell asleep, the Bai family gathered in the meeting room again, where Bai Jiao told them about Third Aunt’s strange behavior.
They knew that asking Ye Yunyun directly would probably get them answers faster, but the family felt that a child shouldn’t be burdened with such matters.
A child should be happy and carefree, especially a child like Ye Yunyun who had already been through so much misery.
"The investigation confirmed that Bai Banhe has been acting improperly," Bai Chen began. "I’ve already contacted the female student. Fortunately, it hasn’t gone beyond inappropriate touching so far."
Bai Chen continued his analysis, "We don’t have much time left to prepare for the apocalypse. We can’t let minor issues slow us down. We need to hurry up, take Little Yunyun out to catch the moles, and root out these cancers."
"I’ll be going on a business trip to City A. It has the best forging technology in the country. I plan on commissioning a batch of custom melee weapons."