14 – Huh? Am I not human?
The Bai Family:
“She’s here, she’s here! The young mistress is back again!”
From afar, a servant ran toward the main hall in terror, as if they had seen a ghost.
At that moment, the main hall was filled with all the influential and high-ranking members of the Bai family, discussing the crisis the family was currently facing.
With the head of the family deceased, the Bai family was in disarray.
The reason the Bai family could stand among the top circles of the capital was due to the head of the family’s mastery of poison-making. The head of the family had learned from the “White Fiend.” The White Fiend was merely a codename for a person—a mysterious figure revered and feared by all the major families, with an extremely high reputation but never involved in worldly affairs.
However, only the head of the family had ever met the White Fiend. Shortly after the head of the family passed away, the other families began causing trouble both openly and covertly, attempting to swallow up the Bai family.
Before the head of the family died, everyone believed that he had shared information about the White Fiend with the family’s sole heir—their young mistress.
But what they found hard to accept was that not only had the head of the family failed to tell the young mistress about such an important person’s whereabouts, but she also disregarded the family’s survival, frequently returning to take valuable items or assets from the household and giving them to outsiders.
The Bai family’s assets were nearly depleted by her.
The last time the young mistress returned, she emptied half of the family’s warehouse when she left.
If it weren’t for the fact that she carried the Bai family’s blood, they would have wished they could strangle her.
“Quick, hide everything.”
“Hide everything that can be hidden.”
For a moment, everyone in the main hall grew solemn, as if a great disaster had befallen them.
“Didn’t we just transfer three billion to her four days ago? Why is she back again?”
All the servants grew restless, hiding everything they could, not even leaving behind a single feather duster.
“Creak—” The main gate opened.
“Young mistress, you’re back again,” a servant said with a forced smile.
Sensing that something was off, Bai Ruanruan stepped into her family’s courtyard with confusion.
When the door to the main hall opened again, Bai Ruanruan froze in the doorway.
“Did we get robbed?”
The once resplendent hall was now completely empty—not a single sofa, table, chair, or bench in sight.
The only remaining large Buddha statue was even covered with a cloth.
“Young mistress, why are you back again?”
Bai Ruanruan: “Did we get robbed?”
“Not at all. It’s just that everything has been sold.”
“???”
“Young mistress, there’s nothing left in the household for you to take. The family can hardly afford your monthly allowance anymore. The three billion you received four days ago was scraped together from selling the family’s belongings.”
As the eldest of the Bai family’s council of elders, the Great Elder spoke coldly and seriously.
“………” I don’t believe a word of it.
“Great Elder, these items can still be recovered. Please make the effort to retrieve them and transfer them to the Bai family’s public account.” Bai Ruanruan handed a thick stack of A4 papers to the Great Elder.
The Great Elder was taken aback: “Young mistress?”
“After retrieving them, remember to buy back all the things the family sold.” Bai Ruanruan glanced at the empty hall, feeling rather speechless.
Just look at how her return had frightened the household—even the benches were hidden away, leaving nowhere to sit.
Back when she had gifted things to Mu Xuan, the family elders had kept a tight grip on them, so Mu Xuan only had the right to use many of the items.
The other elders beside them took the items from the Great Elder’s hands, glanced at them, and finally sighed, “Young Miss, these are all things the family head left for you. If we take them back now, the Bai family might end up losing them to outsiders.”
Bai Ruanruan was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“The family head has passed away, and many are eyeing the Bai family covetously. At next month’s Bi Alliance Conference, our Bai family has no suitable candidate to represent us. It’s very likely that the Bai family will be swallowed up by other families then. So these truly are the last things the Bai family can give you. If you ask for anything more, there won’t be any.”
The Bi Alliance Conference is a gathering of family heads and influential figures from various industries. At the conference, undercurrents surge—on the surface, it’s a banquet, but behind the scenes, it’s a fierce struggle of open and hidden conflicts.
With the family head gone, as the sole heir of the Bai family, the young miss understands nothing about anything—except for the Bai family’s money, which she knows inside out. There’s no hope to be placed in her.
“Hmm? Am I not a person?” Bai Ruanruan raised an eyebrow slightly.