The Shen Family residence
"Let me out!" Shen Dong pounded on the door. The windows had been welded shut too. He had added Uncle Luo on WeChat, but before he could resolve what he had promised to handle, he had been locked up.
Damn Luo Beishi, making him lose face to this extent...
His phone, tablet, and computer had all been confiscated. There were only books here... a whole room full of books.
Was his father really going to bore him to death in here?
Shen Dong slid down the door and sat on the floor, tossed his watch aside, and rubbed his face hard,
trying to clear his head.
How was he supposed to get out...
At home, Luo Bai also learned that Shen Dong had been locked up. The anger bottled up inside him kept growing. He really wanted to stab Luo Beishi to death. If not for him, how could their Luo Family have fallen this far!
Right, Luo Beishi might ignore their Luo Family, but he wouldn't ignore the Qin Family!
If he went and pleaded with his adoptive mother, he would definitely get somewhere! With that thought, he had the family driver take him to the Qin Family's home.
He had been so tired lately that he couldn't spare any attention for his studies. His father had only just woken up, then fainted again last night after hearing that Shen Dong had been locked up.
Within a single week, his father had already been hospitalized three times.
He was even afraid his father might suddenly croak one day. What would he do if he was left with a huge mess to clean up?
His future should have been bright. He couldn't accept being saddled with enormous debts over something like this.
Half an hour later, Luo Bai arrived at the Qin Family's gate.
The Qin Family still lived in an ordinary wealthy neighborhood. Nothing had changed. Even the flowerpots by the entrance had been used for so many years.
Deep down, Luo Bai still somewhat resented his adoptive parents for being unable to help him with anything. Back then, they hadn't even tried to keep him, letting him return to the Luo Family and leaving him like this now...
"Fei... ahem, Young Master Luo Bai, you're back."
Auntie Wu had just come out to take out the trash when she saw Luo Bai standing outside, dressed entirely in white.
There wasn't a trace of color in his face. Even someone dead for three days wouldn't be this pale, and his lips were white too. He certainly lived up to the "white" in his name, Auntie Wu thought.
"Auntie Wu, it's been a while. Is Mom home?" Luo Bai stood outside the iron gate, waiting for Auntie Wu to open it.
Without the slightest concern, Auntie Wu held the trash in one hand as she opened the gate for him.
"Thank you, Auntie Wu. I'll head inside."
Luo Bai said this with a smile as he stepped into the courtyard, then immediately dropped the corners of his mouth and frowned. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes at Auntie Wu in disgust. She really was as slovenly as ever.
After all these years, his adoptive parents still couldn't bear to replace her. Every time he saw Auntie Wu's cooking, he found it somewhat hard to swallow.
"Mom, are you there? I'm back." Luo Bai changed into his white bunny slippers at the entrance and walked into the living room.
"Baibai, you're finally back." Mother Qin was looking at something on her phone, the smile still lingering on her lips.
"I'm back. What are you looking at, Mom?" Luo Bai walked over to her with somewhat feeble steps. He looked so pitiful, as though he hadn't slept and was unable to focus.
"What's wrong, Baibai? Let Mommy have a look. Have you not been sleeping well lately?" Seeing his condition, Mother Qin immediately put down her phone and cupped Luo Bai's face, studying him carefully, her eyes full of worry for him.
Yet Luo Bai lowered his eyelids slightly, his gaze inadvertently falling on his adoptive mother's phone. It was a photo of Luo Beishi...
So when he wasn't around, his adoptive mother secretly kept up with Luo Beishi. She had clearly even hit Luo Beishi for his sake back then, yet now she was secretly following him and smiling so happily.
Luo Bai was unhappy. He wanted to delete the things on her phone... His adoptive parents' attention could only be on him. He was clearly the family's group pet.
"I'm fine, Mom. I've just been so tired lately... I wanted to come home and see you. Where are Dad and the others?"
Luo Bai's voice was hoarse, and he looked away with reddened eyes, looking heartbreakingly pitiful.
"They've all gone out. If there's anything you want to talk about, tell Mommy... If I can help, I will, all right?" Mother Qin released his head and clasped his hand instead, gently patting it to soothe him.
She also knew that the Luo Family had suffered one major incident after another lately, and couldn't quite bear it, so she asked.
"There is something... but please don't get angry if I tell you, Mom." Luo Bai's voice gradually choked up, as though a storm was about to break.
"Go ahead. Mommy won't be angry with you, Baibai," Mother Qin continued to comfort him.
"It's just that Luo Beishi has been acting so strange lately. It seems like he's had a hand in... everything that's happened to the Luo Family, but I'm not really sure... I don't want to make baseless accusations. Please don't be angry, Mom. He's your biological son. I won't blame him, but could you help me persuade him to stop? Please tell him not to keep hurting the Luo Family... The Luo Family can barely hold on anymore."
Watching Luo Bai finish through his sobs, then burst into tears that fell like rain, like floodwaters breaking through a dam, dripping onto his white jacket, Mother Qin felt a stabbing pain in her heart.
He hadn't expected the Luo Family to be so useless that they would actually make a child like Luo Bai face this...
If it really was Beishi, what should she do? Their relationship had already become very strained.
If she helped Luo Bai again now, Beishi might be hurt... But if she didn't help Luo Bai, she couldn't set her mind at ease either. Was there some compromise that would let her take care of both sides?
"Baibai, tell Mommy how much money you're short. I'll lend it to you first..." Mother Qin asked somewhat tentatively.
"Mom, thank you. I appreciate the thought... but the Luo Family is on a much larger scale than the Qin Family... I'm afraid you can't help me financially." Luo Bai choked out, wiping his tears as he continued haltingly.
Watching her son bawl his eyes out, Mother Qin picked up the cloth beside her, thinking it was a handkerchief, and used it to wipe Luo Bai's face... Only upon looking closely did she realize it was the cleaning rag Auntie Wu hadn't put away.
As Luo Bai cried, he suddenly caught a strange smell. He leaned his head back and only then saw that what Mother Qin held was actually a cleaning rag.
"Urgh..." Luo Bai immediately began retching in disgust, breaking his personal sprinting record.
Watching Luo Bai run so quickly from behind, Mother Qin wondered why he seemed so much healthier than when he had first arrived.
Luo Bai washed for over ten minutes before coming out, a smile back on his face. Mother Qin felt both guilty and upset at the sight, thinking that the child must have suffered a great deal in the Luo Family.
The Luo Family had only given Luo Beishi 150 yuan. They probably hadn't given Luo Bai much either.
"Mommy will discuss it with your dad tonight and see if we can borrow some money for you. I can't promise it'll be much, so please don't look down on me, Baibai..." Mother Qin said gently.
"It's fine, Mom. There's no need. I only wanted to come see you, not ask you to borrow money. You don't need to worry about Beishi either. I was just talking earlier. Please don't take it to heart, Mom."
After a pause, Luo Bai added, "Mom, I'll head back now. There's still work at the company."
Mother Qin was very reluctant to let him go, but thinking that Luo Bai might truly be busy, she had no way to keep him.
She would try talking to Beishi later. Otherwise, with Luo Bai's health already so poor, what would they do if he collapsed too?
"All right. Mommy will walk you to the gate."