"No."
After saying goodbye, he continued looking for his counselor's office. More than ten minutes later, he finally found it.
"I deliberately didn't ask Bai Yin to come today because there are things that are difficult to say in front of her."
Bai Le's expression turned serious as well. As he listened to what the class counselor said next, his heart gradually sank.
Sure enough, she brought up expulsion. It seemed the situation was serious.
"I'll make sure to discipline my sister. Please reconsider expelling her."
"I don't want things to come to that either. Bai Yin isn't a bad kid, but she's obsessed with chasing celebrities. She hardly comes to class, and I hear she spends all day following someone around on tour."
The counselor spoke earnestly to Bai Le for about half an hour before finally letting him go. After much pleading, he finally persuaded her to reconsider, but he still had to give his sister a proper scolding.
After asking the counselor, Bai Le learned that Bai Yin was at the central auditorium, so he headed over. On the way, he messaged her and asked her to come out, but he received no reply. Her phone might have been on silent.
As he was thinking, his stomach suddenly churned. He hurried to one side, covering his mouth, and retched several times, but still couldn't bring anything up.
Afterward, his face looked awful, deathly pale. Anyone who knew him would have been startled to see him like this.
What was wrong? He hadn't eaten anything greasy, and he'd barely eaten breakfast that morning because he had to come to the university to see the counselor.
Should he go to the hospital? Bai Le tossed the tissue into a trash can and began to give the question serious thought.
When he reached the auditorium, he found it was enormous. The seats rose in tiers, and as far as he could see, the place was packed with people. The lectern was several meters wide.
The person speaking at the moment seemed to be a university official. The students below listened listlessly, many of them playing on their phones.
Bai Le finally found Bai Yin in the third row from the back. Seeing an empty seat beside her, he sat down.
"...How did it go?" When Bai Yin saw it was him, she asked guiltily.
"I thought you really weren't afraid. If I told your mom about this, believe it or not, she'd jump up and tear down all those posters of pretty-boy idols on your walls and throw out all your albums too."
Bai Yin was clearly frightened by his threat, but she still forced herself to talk tough. "You think I'd be scared?"
Bai Le didn't know what to do with his sister either. After his stepmother married into the family, she worried that a fourth or fifth woman might take her place. When Bai Huizhang went abroad for those few years, she followed him, leaving Bai Yin alone with a nanny when she was only eight.
Even after returning to the country, she neglected to discipline Bai Yin. Mother and daughter had argued plenty over university. Her mother wanted her to study finance abroad, while she wanted to study art at home. In the end, she got into S University as an art-track student.
But her rebellious phase had continued right up to the present.
Thinking of the complicated relationship between mother and daughter, he couldn't be bothered to reason with her at length. After all, he couldn't say he liked Chen Suqiu either. So he merely said, "Starting now, your spending money is suspended. The only money that'll go into your account each month is what you need for living expenses."
Though Bai Yin's eyes showed her displeasure, she was fairly obedient to her brother. She muttered a few words but said nothing more.
Suddenly, a burst of enthusiastic applause rang out from the audience, a complete change from the earlier lifeless atmosphere.
"What's going on?"
"Fourth Master Xi should be coming on soon."
"What? Why would he be here?"
"Didn't you know? He's the main guest at this donation ceremony."
The corner of Bai Le's mouth twitched. Xi Yan wasn't the warmhearted, kind sort. He had to have some purpose in doing this.
He looked up and, sure enough, saw that figure appear onstage.
Xi Yan was still in a wheelchair, a thin blanket covering his legs, though he looked sickly.
The person behind him wheeled him unhurriedly to the center of the stage, then stepped away.
He glanced absentmindedly over the audience. When his gaze fell on a certain spot, he paused slightly, then looked away without a change of expression.
Bai Le frowned slightly. For an instant, he seemed to have met Xi Yan's eyes, though it might have been his imagination.
The students sitting below began whispering, their gazes drifting toward his legs, seemingly surprised that he was disabled.
Xi Yan noticed their gazes too, but he didn't mind.
Yet the moment he opened his mouth, the murmuring around them stopped.
His voice was low and deep. Though he spoke in an unhurried tone, it had a magic that made people hold their breath and fall silent.
Unfortunately, he finished after saying only a few brief words.
The host had no choice but to step forward and smooth things over, inviting the students to ask questions.
The students had long been bursting with things to ask such a handsome, wealthy tycoon. They all started asking questions: some asked for gossip, some about serious matters, and others for inspirational advice. But by unspoken agreement, none asked about his legs.
The host kept things moving and announced that there was time for three more questions. But by the time they reached the last one, hardly anyone raised a hand, since nearly everything they wanted to ask had already been asked.
The host had to wrap things up herself, so she began picking someone at random. The instant Bai Le's eyes met hers, he thought, Oh no, and hurriedly tried to lower his head.
Unfortunately, he was too late.
"The male student in the gray sweatshirt, fourth row from the back. Yes, you. Is there anything you'd like to ask?"
Everyone turned in unison to look at Bai Le in the back. Even Xi Yan looked over from the stage.
With no other choice, Bai Le steeled himself and stood up.
"You can ask anything you'd like," the host said. She had already walked over to him and handed him the microphone.
Bai Le held the microphone, his mind blank.
He'd already gotten the answer to the question he wanted to ask. What else could he ask now?
Everyone's gaze urged him on. Just as Bai Le was feeling utterly awkward, Bai Yin quietly offered him a suggestion.