Chapter 25
Bai Manruo was still a bit dazed when she returned to her room; the flush on her ears took a long time to subside.
She had been so preoccupied with the massage incident that she almost forgot about Butler Li. She recalled the butler saying she would check the cleaning progress, but why hadn’t she shown up?
Well, it didn’t really matter whether she came or not; after all, Bai Manruo had cleaned everything exactly as instructed.
This time, she specifically set an alarm and woke up at 6:00 AM.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath of the floral scent. Surrounded by lush trees and free from urban pollution, the air quality here was exceptionally good.
Dr. Wang had mentioned that her back injury was caused by a lack of regular exercise. So, she decided to start moving her body every morning—but only after her back was fully healed in a week.
Bai Manruo walked over to a stone bench. Just as she was about to brace her waist and sit down, her peripheral vision caught a figure standing not far away.
Through the early morning mist, the figure stood motionless and expressionless. Bai Manruo was startled, snapping her back straight before her bottom even touched the seat.
The “ghostly” bed-climber from before had left her with a psychological shadow. Seeing a scene like this triggered an instinctive jolt in her heart. Although she was usually fearless, she dreaded these inexplicable, eerie sights.
As she walked a few steps closer, she realized it was Butler Li. Bai Manruo called out toward her, “Butler Li! I got up very early today—exactly at 6:10 AM.”
Butler Li, who had been standing still, was startled by the loud shout. She hurried over and hissed in a low voice to stop her, “Keep it down! The Young Mistress is still resting.”
“Oh, right.” Reminded, Bai Manruo immediately covered her mouth. She looked up at the third floor; the bedroom windows were tightly sealed by heavy curtains, making it impossible to see inside.
Bai Manruo’s deep eyes fixed on the window pensively. Miss Ji shouldn’t be awake yet.
That meant she could use this free time to go out and buy breakfast! Thinking of delicious street food, her eyes sparkled instantly.
Since Dr. Wang said she couldn’t eat spicy or fried food due to her back injury, this might be her last chance to enjoy snacks before the “nutritional meal plan” began.
Action followed thought. She pulled out her phone and called a private car.
An hour later, Bai Manruo had already done a lap of the snack street. She was carrying stinky tofu, munching on squid tentacles, and had bought a variety of small snacks.
Passing a drink shop, she ordered a milk tea and sat down to rest for a bit. Despite having bought quite a lot, she noticed the balance on her card had barely decreased.
Looking at the long string of zeros, she took a satisfyingly large gulp of milk tea. Life with money was truly too wonderful!
After browsing through two streets, she checked the time. It was nearly 8:00 AM; Miss Ji should be waking up soon.
She stood by the roadside, about to call a taxi, when several burly men suddenly surrounded her.
The woman in the lead questioned, “Are you Bai Manruo?” Zhao Min scanned her outfit up and down, a flash of awe at her beauty crossing her eyes, followed by a blatant, uncomfortable stare at her face.
Bai Manruo’s brow furrowed slightly as she nodded calmly. “Do we know each other?”
Are these people acquaintances of the original owner? Bai Manruo did a quick mental search, but she had no memory of this woman.
Zhao Min scrutinized her face inch by inch, then smirked. “We don’t know each other, but I knew your parents.”
Parents? How was that possible? Her memory clearly stated that the original owner’s parents died in a car accident when she was three.
…Is this a scam?
Faced with such blatant fraud in broad daylight, Bai Manruo quietly gripped her phone, preparing to call the police.
At that moment, Zhao Min pulled out a photo and handed it to her. “Don’t be nervous. Look at this person—do you recognize them?”
Grandma Liu. Bai Manruo snatched the photo. The elderly woman in the picture was Grandma Liu, the neighbor who had cared for the original owner as a child. She had passed away from a sudden heart attack a few years ago; it seemed the original owner had started drifting and hitting the bars even harder after that loss.
“What do you want?” Bai Manruo gripped her phone with the emergency number ready, her cold gaze piercing the woman in front of her.
“It seems you really don’t know anything. But don’t worry, we aren’t going to do anything to you.”
Zhao Min glanced at the men behind her. A white car drove up. She pulled the door open, looked around, and said, “Get in so we can talk. You don’t want to be stared at like a zoo animal, do you?”
People were bustling on the street. Standing under the traffic lights surrounded by a group of people in dark suits and sunglasses was drawing quite a crowd.
Bai Manruo hesitated, then braced her waist and got into the car. With her back injury still present, she didn’t dare make large movements and climbed in carefully.
Zhao Min watched her movements pensively before getting down to business. She didn’t mince words: “I’m your creditor. Your parents took out a high-interest loan. After they died, someone kept paying it back, but the payments suddenly stopped a few years ago. We’ve been following clues for six months to find you.”
She handed over a contract. There it was, in black and white, clearly signed.
Bai Manruo read it carefully. They weren’t lying; the contracts were indeed valid. Furthermore, the loans taken by her parents were being paid back secretly by Grandma Liu behind her back after they passed.
Steeling her heavy heart, Bai Manruo spoke slowly, “How much is left?”
“Not much. Exactly three million yuan.”
Three million?! Bai Manruo kept a calm face, but internally, her heart was bleeding. It seemed the three million she just received was going to fly away before she could even get it warm.
On the bright side, thank goodness she actually had three million, or she might not have been able to get out of this car today.
Zhao Min stared at her face with a malicious smile. “You’re a big star; this amount shouldn’t be much to you, right?”
What big star? She was just an eighteenth-tier nobody. Bai Manruo didn’t believe they hadn’t found that out when they investigated her.
Ignoring the sarcasm, Bai Manruo pulled her card from her bag and handed it over. “There’s three million in here.”
Zhao Min was clearly surprised. Her investigation had shown that the woman was just a small-time actress who had been “sold” by her agent a few days ago; she shouldn’t have been able to produce that much cash at once.
When she first saw Bai Manruo’s photo, she was convinced the girl couldn’t pay and already had other plans—to make her pay the debt back in “other ways.”
Zhao Min’s smug plan was suddenly disrupted. Skeptical, she took the card and swiped it. There really was three million.
“Paid in full.” Bai Manruo picked up the contract and tore it up right in front of her.
She rose to get out, but the door wouldn’t open. Bai Manruo asked calmly, “What is the meaning of this?”
Zhao Min handed her a business card, scanned her up and down, and smiled. “Nothing. Just wanting to be friends.”
Bai Manruo understood the subtext perfectly, but the situation was currently not in her favor.
A minute later, Bai Manruo stood on the roadside holding the business card. She didn’t even glance at it before tossing it into a nearby trash can.
She opened her banking app and looked at the balance: 233.33. That number felt like it was mocking her…
She took a deep breath to calm her roller-coaster emotions, but accidentally pulled her waist. The sharp sting of pain brought her brain back to reality.
Bai Manruo frowned, rubbing her back and letting out a small hiss. The money’s gone, so be it, she thought. As long as I’m still here, I can always earn more.
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