Chapter 17: Mu Bai's Heart Turns

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“It wasn’t me...” Lin Wan was nervous, but she hurried to deny it. “Before everything was cleared up, how could I possibly let my mother worry?”

“Our Lin family is respectable, after all. Someone must have informed my mother in time...”

“Brother Mu Bai, you don’t think I went and tattled, do you?”

As she spoke, Lin Wan looked ready to burst into tears again.

This time, however, Mu Bai had no inclination to comfort her.

Instead, he turned his gaze toward Lin Mo, who had been falsely accused from beginning to end without shedding a single tear.

How many times had she endured this kind of injustice to become so strong?

Mu Bai reached out, wanting to touch her swollen, reddened cheek. “Mo Mo, I’m sorry. I misunderstood you...”

“Don’t touch me.” Lin Mo frowned.

Mu Bai’s hand froze in midair.

He remembered that when they had still been deeply in love, Lin Mo had depended on him greatly.

She had always been far too strong, though. Even when she relied on him, she did so cautiously and within proper limits.

Now, she treated him with nothing but this unfamiliar coldness.

As though he were a stranger.

Mu Bai’s breath caught. “Mo Mo, this time, I was wrong. I’ll make it up to you.”

“There’s no need.” Lin Mo’s hair was slightly disheveled. She lifted her head and swept her long hair behind her ear.

Her entire demeanor was icy.

“Young Master Zeng, since you spoke up for me, may I cash my check now?”

Zeng Ke hurriedly ordered the general manager, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up!”

Then he added apologetically, “I didn’t expect something like this to happen. I’m a man of my word—I’m willing to accept the consequences of a bet...”

“After what you did to me last night, I still came here personally, didn’t I?”

“Miss Lin, my attitude is pretty good, isn’t it?”

Having received his orders, the general manager personally went to cash the check.

Cold sweat covered his forehead.

Lin Mo was no fool.

He had no idea why Zeng Ke had come to speak for her.

But that did not mean she considered him a good person.

If the Lin Mo of last night had been the same Lin Mo she was before her rebirth, no one would have bothered speaking to her about morality.

“Thank you.” Zeng Ke let out a sigh of relief.

Just then, the general manager returned with a bank card, his attitude exceedingly respectful.

“Miss Lin, the check has been deposited into your card. Five hundred thousand.”

“In addition, to make up for the harm our bank caused you, we have deposited another twenty thousand into your account...”

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“This is our compensation. On behalf of Thousand Blossoms Bank, I sincerely apologize to you.”

The moment Qin Lian heard that five hundred thousand had been deposited, greed flashed in her eyes.

Although she had no idea how Lin Mo had managed to obtain such a large sum from Young Master Zeng, that was not what concerned her.

Qin Lian immediately became warm and affectionate. “Mo Mo, Mother blamed you unjustly!”

“I shouldn’t have hit you without distinguishing right from wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll cook something delicious for you myself tonight.”

“Mo Mo, I remember that seafood is your favorite, isn’t it?”

Lin Mo frowned. “I’m allergic to seafood.”

Qin Lian froze. Perhaps it was her neighbor’s daughter, Wei Wei, who liked seafood.

Oh dear, she had remembered incorrectly.

“It’s all the same.” Qin Lian pressed her lips together. “Besides, you’re just a young girl. It isn’t safe for you to carry five hundred thousand around.”

“Why don’t you let Mother manage it for you? You’re about to go back to school, and there are also your grandfather’s medical expenses...”

Qin Lian was like a weasel pretending to pay a New Year’s call to a hen. “You’ve only just reached adulthood. You don’t know how to manage money...”

Clearly, Qin Lian had not taken the slap she had just delivered seriously at all.

Her eyes were fixed on Lin Mo’s bank card.

Five hundred and twenty thousand.

That would be enough to buy Wan Wan a car. The cost of Wan Wan’s education could be saved as well.

She reached out to take the card.

But Lin Mo slipped it directly into her pocket. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Do you really think I don’t know how to spend money?”

After saying this, Lin Mo gave a cold laugh. “Qin Lian, you don’t deserve to be my mother. Stop putting on this false show of affection.”

Her eyes lowered, the corners of her mouth curling into a mocking arc. “It makes me sick.”

Mu Bai’s heart was filled with boundless desolation.

The moment Lin Mo left, Qin Lian still refused to give up on the five hundred and twenty thousand and immediately tried to chase after her.

But Mu Bai stretched out an arm to stop her.

“Auntie, Mo Mo is angry right now. Don’t go after her yet.”

“Wan Wan, take Auntie home. I have something to deal with.”

Lin Wan hurriedly put on a weak expression. “Brother Mu Bai, I think I suffered a little heatstroke just now. I feel terrible... I think I’m going to be sick...”

“Auntie, take Wan Wan to get checked out. There’s a hospital nearby. I’ll have the attending physician wait for you.”

After saying this, Mu Bai hurried away.

It was the first time that, between Lin Wan and Lin Mo, his heart had favored Lin Mo.

Lin Wan’s eyes were full of resentment. Mu Bai must have gone after Lin Mo!

So what if Lin Mo had been slapped once? What was so remarkable about that?

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Did she really have to act as though the entire world owed her something?

“Mom, do you think Mo Mo is really going to cut us off now?”

Qin Lian snorted. “She won’t. She needs the Lin family. Where could she go without us? Back to that filthy rural home where chickens and ducks are raised in the courtyard?”

Mu Bai chased after Lin Mo and saw her board a bus.

He quickly followed her on.

Then he sat down behind her.

Lin Mo frowned in disgust, as though she had spotted a piece of chewing gum that refused to come off.

What an eyesore.

“Mo Mo, does it hurt? Come to my place and I’ll apply some ice.”

“A girl’s face won’t look good if it becomes swollen and red...”

Lin Mo drew a deep breath, forcing down the urge to curse him.

She could not understand it. In the past, she had revolved around Mu Bai like a sunflower, yet he had never regarded her as important.

Now that she had given up on him completely, why had he come chasing after her like some ridiculous stray dog?

“Young Master Mu, get off the bus. I don’t have time to humor you.”

“Mo Mo, we weren’t this distant before...”

“I’ll always remember that you were the one who saved me that night...”

“That’s enough.” Lin Mo felt somewhat regretful. “Stop bringing up all that nonsense. I saved you only because, at the time, I thought you were a good person.”

“And now? You don’t like me anymore?” Surprise flickered in Mu Bai’s eyes. “I misunderstood you today. I’m very sorry.”

“Although we’re going to break off our engagement, I still regard you as a younger sister who deserves to be cherished.”

Lin Mo glanced sideways at him. “I have no interest in playing this brother-and-sister game with you.”

“Lin Wan will be happy to play it with you. Stop pestering me. You’re getting on my nerves.”

Mu Bai’s expression darkened.

The bus swayed gently along the road.

An elderly woman smiled and said, “Are you two young lovers quarreling? Whatever you have to say, speak calmly.”

“Life is long. If two people can be together, perhaps it means they spent the whole of their previous lives begging for such a fate...”

Just then, the bus reached the next stop.

Lin Mo got off without the slightest hesitation.

Mu Bai watched through the window as Lin Mo walked toward the train station, his heart filled with a profound sense of loss.

In the past, the one thing he had been certain of was that Lin Mo loved him.

She had never concealed the fact that he was her only light.

She had simply always been too humble.

Mu Bai gripped the handrail tightly. After humiliating her so badly today, she must be angry with him.