My Brother's Arranged Marriage Partner Is My Boyfriend - Chapter 51

It took Bai Nanxing half an hour by taxi to return to the Bai family home.

When he stepped out of the car, there wasn’t a soul at the entrance. Even the servants usually responsible for reception were absent. Only a few incandescent lamps at the gate remained lit as a mere formality, their glow making the pebble-lined path appear lonely and long.

As a gust of cold wind whistled past, the shadows of the nearby trees swayed in the white light, followed by a soughing sound.

Shivering from the cold, Bai Nanxing wrapped his arms tightly around himself, his breath escaping in damp, chilly puffs of white air.

He wasn’t actually afraid of the cold; he had likely grown used to it from being frozen frequently as a child. No matter how cold the weather was, he never wore clothes that were too thick. Even when it snowed, he would only add a single scarf.

But if you were to truly ask him, “Are you afraid of the cold?”

He was.

Humans are made of flesh and blood; no one is truly unafraid of the cold—it is simply that people have different levels of tolerance.

Bai Nanxing stood at the door for quite a while before finally pushing it open and entering.

Bai Yi and Qiao Qian were sitting right in the middle of the sofa. Bai Ruoning sat closely on their right side, head bowed while chatting with someone. Upon hearing the door open, he immediately looked up.

“Oh, you finally felt like coming back?” Bai Ruoning said with a sarcastic sneer. “I thought you had climbed onto such a high branch that you’d forgotten your own name.”

Bai Nanxing ignored him. After closing the door, he simply addressed Bai Yi with a single word: “Dad.”

But Bai Yi did not respond. His face was dark and sullen, as if coated in a layer of soot. His brow was furrowed so tightly it looked as if a path could be carved through the wrinkles.

As for Qiao Qian next to him, it went without saying; she had despised Bai Nanxing since he was a child. She had fought with Bai Yi countless times over his decision to take Bai Nanxing in; at her worst, she had smashed things all over the floor in a fit of rage.

Back then, Bai Nanxing was still small—not even five years old. He didn’t understand why Qiao Qian was so furious. After Bai Yi left, he had even thought of trying to coax Qiao Qian into a better mood, only to receive a heavy, stinging slap to the face.

It was sharp and painful.

Bai Nanxing remembered vividly that half of his face had eventually swollen up like a pig’s. It took two full weeks for the swelling and the handprint to finally fade away.

It was also that time when Bai Nanxing thoroughly realized what it felt like to live under someone else’s roof.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to my room first.” Bai Nanxing turned, intending to go upstairs.

Seeing this, Bai Ruoning added fuel to the fire from behind. “Dad, look at his attitude! He has no respect for you at all! He hasn’t even officially married into that family yet. If he actually does, won’t he just start ordering you around directly?!”

Bai Yi immediately stopped him. “Stay right there! Did I say you could go upstairs?”

Bai Nanxing halted and slowly turned his body back around.

“So, what is the reason for calling me back?”

Qiao Qian laughed out loud instantly. “I didn’t expect a bastard like you to be so good at playing dumb. You know exactly why we called you back!”

Having said that, Qiao Qian still didn’t feel vindicated. she turned to Bai Yi and said sharply, “This is the bastard you insisted on bringing back. He’s not very old, but he’s got plenty of schemes. If he grows up a bit more and gets a bit more schooling, is he going to start shitting on my head!?”

The more Qiao Qian spoke, the more agitated she became, eventually losing all restraint. “I knew from the start that a child born of a bitch couldn’t be any good. Ever since you brought him home and let him grow up here, look at how much A-Ning has been bullied! He is your only son, the sole heir of the Bai family. Even if you liked that bitch and loved this bastard by extension, you can’t just act like you don’t see anything!”

“Don’t forget how the Bai family got its current status! And don’t forget what you promised me back then! Regarding tonight’s matter, the attitude Mo Yichen and Mo Leyang showed us—it’s obvious this bastard said something behind our backs! If you keep protecting him and don’t teach him a lesson to fix his memory, he might even sell out the Bai family one day!”

Bai Yi “protecting” him?

Bai Nanxing almost wanted to laugh as he listened; this was simply the biggest joke he had ever heard. If Bai Yi had protected him, he wouldn’t have to flatter those disgusting men, let alone be forced into an alliance with the Mo family. He would be doing what he wanted to do every day, happy and carefree, living his own college life.

To twist everything around like this—they really were a family of the same cloth.

Just as the thought crossed Bai Nanxing’s mind, he heard Bai Yi command him, “Apologize to A-Ning right now.”

Bai Nanxing had expected this long ago and wasn’t surprised at all. This was how Bai Yi had been toward him since childhood. Regardless of whether he was right, wrong, or hadn’t done anything at all, Bai Yi would make him apologize.

However, if he showed any intent to resist, Bai Yi would become angry. At best, he would receive a few strokes of a whip; at worst, he would be punished with no food for two or three days until he “admitted his mistake.”

“I did nothing wrong,” Bai Nanxing said, his expression firm.

Unsurprisingly, Bai Yi’s brow furrowed instantly. “I said, apologize to A-Ning! Don’t make me say it a third time.”

Bai Nanxing was no longer afraid. He had nothing to begin with, and he had no one he supposedly “cared” about. Of course, if he had to name someone, he had a slight interest in that pervert, though it hadn’t reached the point of true love yet.

In short, he only had one life. If Bai Yi wanted to take it, he could take it. Dying would be a relief.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, so why should I apologize?” Bai Nanxing questioned. “The person who came looking for trouble today was him. He provoked Mo Leyang himself; it had nothing to do with me. So, why should I apologize?”

Bai Ruoning felt a bit guilty, but with Qiao Qian there, he didn’t need to fear Bai Yi scolding him. He immediately turned to fan the flames with Qiao Qian. “Mom, look at what he’s saying! He’s making it out to be my fault! He was the one who provoked the Third Young Master of the Gu family first. I was just standing nearby, and then that lunatic Mo Leyang came over. I don’t know what he whispered to him, but then he came to scold and threaten me. Mom, you have no idea how scared I was—that Mo Leyang is a real psycho. He even wanted to kill me! He must have been instigating it behind the scenes!”

Bai Nanxing didn’t explain; he just raised his eyes and glared at him.

Bai Ruoning felt even more guilty, his eyes darting back to Qiao Qian, not daring to look back.

Although Bai Nanxing was an illegitimate son and wasn’t well-regarded in the Bai family, it was precisely because of this that he had learned how to protect himself since childhood. In terms of strength, he was naturally superior to Bai Ruoning. In a real fight, Bai Ruoning would only be rubbed into the ground.

But the disgusting part was that Bai Ruoning would cry thief while being the thief. If he couldn’t win a fight, he would go to Qiao Qian, and since Qiao Qian hated Bai Nanxing, he would always end up being the one punished.

“Mom, look at him, he’s still glaring at me!” Bai Ruoning had been humiliated by Mo Leyang tonight and was determined to get his revenge one way or another. He turned back to Bai Yi. “Dad, am I even your biological son? I was threatened by that psycho Mo Leyang because of him. If that psycho comes looking for trouble with me later, I’ll have no way to defend myself. He’ll kill me!”

Bai Yi knew exactly what kind of character Bai Ruoning was. Usually, he turned a blind eye, and this time was no exception.

Rising from the sofa, Bai Yi walked straight up to Bai Nanxing and, without a word, raised his hand and delivered a slap.

Slap—

The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the large living room. Bai Nanxing’s face instantly burned with stinging pain.

He gritted his teeth tightly, not allowing himself to make the slightest sound. He looked up at Bai Yi and repeated the same sentence as before: “I am not wrong, and I will not apologize.”

At that moment, Bai Yi suddenly had a strong sensation that something was slowly spiraling out of his control.

He would never allow such a situation to occur!

With that thought, Bai Yi raised his hand again.

However, before he could strike, Bai Nanxing caught his wrist mid-air. He smiled and reminded him, “Dad, this face of mine is very valuable right now. If it gets swollen and the people from the Mo family see it and ask what happened, tell me, how should I explain it to them? Should I say you hit me? Or should I say I was hit because of something Bai Ruoning did?”

Neither option was something Bai Yi could withstand in the face of the Mo family’s wrath.

Especially Mo Yuncheng.

Bai Nanxing was the marriage partner personally chosen by Mo Yuncheng for the Mo family. If anything happened to Bai Nanxing or if he suffered any harm, the first person Mo Leyang would come looking for would undoubtedly be himself.

Bai Yi was furious yet powerless against Bai Nanxing. Finally, he could only lower his hand. “So you’ve learned to threaten your father now? Is it Mo Yuncheng who gives you this confidence? He is merely using you as an excuse to block those people desperately trying to introduce their daughters and sons to his precious son. Do you really think that once you marry in, the Mo family will take you seriously? Nanxing, you are still too naive—just as naive as your mother.”

No, he wasn’t like his mother.

As long as there was a chance to escape this place, he would do anything.

Even if he became the “worthless thing” in everyone’s mouth that a thousand men slept with and ten thousand men rode, as long as he could leave this place, he didn’t care.

“You speak as if I’ve had such a wonderful life in the Bai family.”

“At the very least, I didn’t let you starve to death and let you live until now.”

Bai Nanxing laughed, then turned to Qiao Qian. “Auntie Qiao is so young to be blind. It’s truly pitiful.”

“What did you say, you bastard!?” Qiao Qian’s anger flared. Without a second thought, she grabbed the ashtray on the table and hurled it at him.

However, because Bai Yi was standing in front of Bai Nanxing, when Qiao Qian threw the ashtray, it didn’t hit Bai Nanxing. Instead, it struck Bai Yi right on the arm.

Bai Yi winced in pain and turned to glare at Qiao Qian.

Seeing things going south, Bai Ruoning immediately tried to make excuses for Qiao Qian. “Dad, don’t blame Mom! It’s all Bai Nanxing’s fault! Even if Mom isn’t his biological mother, she’s still his elder. Knowing that Mom gets angry easily, he intentionally said those things. Bai Nanxing did it on purpose!”

“Enough!” Bai Yi was beyond livid. After rubbing his forehead, he turned around and said coldly, “Don’t go back to school this week. Stay in your room. When you finally realize you were wrong, then come and talk to me!”