22 At Loggerheads (1/2)
Bai Muchuan originally wanted to ignore her.
But after hanging up the phone in less than a minute, Nanny Li called up.
She had always been someone who was discreet, but now, her tone felt somewhat uneasy, as if she was heaving sighs of helplessness.
”Young Master Bai, you need to make some time and come back for a while. I, I'm worried. A life is at stake here.”
A life?
Since Nanny Li had mentioned that a life was at stake, Bai Muchuan had no choice but to go back.
He went to look for Detective Huang. ”Bring them to the detention center, I'll come back later…”
”Don't!” Quan Shaoteng flatly refused the impending arrangement with a faint smirk on his face. ”I'm already here in Jin City, why don't you invite me to your place for tea?”
Bai Muchuan looked at him coldly.
Quan Shaoteng curled his lips—he looked cunning as a fox.
The two of them knew each other so well back then. Who wouldn't know what the other party was thinking?
Going to Bai Muchuan's house at this time? It was definitely not that simple!
Hmph! Bai Muchuan gave an unhappy snort and strode to the car. Zhan Se was originally not willing to get involved in other's domestic affairs, however, a reminding gaze from Quan Shaoteng reminded her of the mention of the name ”Xiang Wan” in one of the phone calls. She recalled it was that ”supernatural writer” Xiang Wan.
She was immediately intrigued.
She was not interested in the whiny, wailing young girl, but was, instead, interested in the criminal mentality involved in the case.
And so, the group of three went to Bai Muchuan's place.
…
The Bai residence.
Xiang Wan was still sitting in the living room.
Her ears were filled with Bai Lu's kitten-like cries as well as Nanny Li's gentle and mild words of persuasion.
She was tired of listening to the cries, so she took her headset out and listened to the music on her mobile phone.
And this was the scene that Bai Muchuan and the other two saw when they arrived.
Bai Lu was sitting on the balcony railing on the second floor and refused to come down. Her tears were falling like streams, and she looked as if she had suffered an injustice. Xiang Wan was sitting on the sofa in the living room leisurely, where she closed her eyes, unbothered by what was happening.
Boohoo! Seeing Bai Muchuan appearing in the courtyard, Bai Lu started to cry even louder.
”Little Uncle… save me…”
”…”
He glanced at Nanny Li, who was at a loss of what to do. She was standing in the courtyard, looking up at Bai Lu. Bai Muchuan pointed a finger at Bai Lu. ”You, come down now!”
”Little Uncle, I can't live anymore,” Bai Lu pouted and shook her head pitifully. ”That evil woman Xiang Wan, she tried to strip me just now. She's going to, going to… boohoo… I… I don't want to live anymore!”
Bai Muchuan furrowed his brows when he looked at the height between the second floor to the ground.
Before he could say anything, the door to the living room opened. Xiang Wan came out while holding her mobile phone.
”So the 'parent' is back? Okay then, let's talk about the issue of compensation.”
Bai Muchuan was confused by what Bai Lu said in the earlier phone calls. He did not know what was going on between them.
”What compensation?”
Xiang Wan walked over to him and looked at the wailing Bai Lu who was sitting on the railing of the balcony. Bai Lu was donned entirely in pink, like an apricot plant who wanted to go over the wall, trembling in the wind.
”You can ask her!”
Xiang Wan's expressionless face attracted the attention of Zhan Se.
Being bathed in Zhan Se's scrutinizing gaze, Xiang Wan also noticed the beautiful woman with outstanding disposition.
When a beauty met another beauty, their gazes would be like flashing knives and swords as they assessed one another. Their weight, their vital statistics, and the like would be shown in each other's minds in the form of numbers.
Then, they would smile and nod, which was considered a greeting.
Just then, Bai Lu started to give her story of what happened.
Young girls tended to be more vulnerable psychologically, so a little grievance would undoubtedly be infinitely magnified in her eyes.
She completely ignored why she had started the whole saga. She only mentioned the cause of the incident with a few sentences. After which, she started to accuse Xiang Wan of how she tried to extort her, and when she refused to comply, how Xiang Wan hysterically tried to strip her clothes and tear her skirt. She felt like… life was suddenly bleak of color. She was full of shame and despair that she even had the idea of committing suicide.
”…”
The group of people were stunned.
Bai Muchuan's face got gloomier as he listened.
He took a glance at Quan Shaoteng who seemed to want to stir up more trouble with cold and frosty eyes.
”Come down first!”
After he roared at Bai Lu, he turned to look at Xiang Wan. ”For the compensation, give a more realistic figure.”
Realistic?
In actual fact, Xiang Wan did not want to take the opportunity to extort the Bai Family a sum of money. She was simply angered by Bai Lu, so she retaliated by saying all those things to scare her. But now that she heard Bai Muchuan talk about money coldly, the bitterness in her heart was once again triggered.
With that, she put on a solemn face. ”No room for discussion! Surely, Detective Bai knew very well that one must compensate for damaging another's property?”
Bai Muchuan said, ”So Miss Xiang is bent on being unreasonable?”
”Hmph!” Xiang Wan smiled in the face of anger. ”Your niece damaged my stuff, and I have to accept her threat of death on things that I did not do. All I want is just a compensation, how is that even unreasonable?”