Lima syndrome

Bai Zhiyan thought that Xu Shiyuan was a really easy to understand person. He really couldn't hide his emotions, and his mood was all written on his face. He was so happy when he just gave him some sweet treats.

But this is just right, Bai Zhiyan can easily control him without much effort.

He just had an appointment with Xu Shiyuan to meet tomorrow, so he couldn't go to church. He still had to deal with Bai Zhengren at home on Sunday. He probably wouldn't see Che Jingcan this week. He went to the church twice and only gained a little information.

Although Bai Zhiyan was somewhat unwilling, based on the terrible ending of last week with Che Jingcan, it would be better for him not to go to the church this week to offend him, otherwise he would definitely be beaten if he was caught by him.

He didn't want to be treated as an enemy by Che Jingcan before he even found out his secret. It would be even worse if he met him as his deskmate in school in the future.

After returning home, Bai Zhiyan asked housekeeper Li to help buy some ingredients. Although he vowed to teach Xu Shiyuan how to cook, he actually hadn't cooked for a long time since returning to the Bai family. Even yesterday's mung bean pancakes were improvised, but judging from Xu Shiyuan's appearance, he didn't seem to care much about the taste.

But in order to avoid making mistakes tomorrow, Bai Zhiyan decided to practice in the evening, so he began to organize the dishes that Butler Li purchased from outside.

Alas, Bai Zhiyan almost felt like he was turning into the Virgin Mary, as he was still so attentive to the person who had slandered and hurt him.

However, to deal with Xu Shiyuan's character who lacks love and is easily dependent on others, it is natural to first gain his true heart and then trample on him ruthlessly. Only in this way will one's good intentions and so much time of pretending not be in vain.

Thinking of Xu Shiyuan's expression when he knew the truth, Bai Zhiyan could hardly hold back his smile. He couldn't possibly leave any evidence like he did in his previous life when Xu Shiyuan pushed him off the rooftop with his own hands. He wanted revenge, but he didn't want a drop of blood on his hands. Compared to killing someone, isn't destroying their heart a more powerful way of revenge?

Thinking of this, Bai Zhiyan felt happy both physically and mentally, and even the movements of his hands became more brisk.

After sorting out the ingredients, Bai Zhiyan decided to try making kelp soup first. It was simple, convenient and delicious.

After cutting the kelp, put it into the pot together with the beef and cook it. Then add the prepared soup ingredients into the pot. The simple kelp soup is ready.

But Bai Zhiyan felt it was still too simple, so he started to make some sugar cakes. He rarely had such leisurely days after his rebirth, and for a moment he thought he had returned to the days in the semi-basement.

He remembered that his mother always praised him as an excellent, capable and sensible son, but what was the use of having more when his mother was no longer around.

"Kacha——"

The sound of the door opening interrupted Bai Zhiyan's memories. It should be Butler Li coming in from outside. He was worried that there was no one to help him taste the food, so he could ask him to help taste it.

Bai Zhiyan brought the prepared kelp soup and sugar cakes to the table and enthusiastically called him to come and eat with them.

"Butler Li, I just made kelp soup and sugar cakes with the ingredients you bought. Would you like to come and eat some with me?"

But the figure stopped at the door and didn't move. Bai Zhiyan felt strange and thought that the other party didn't hear him, so he called again.

"I made some food, please come and eat with me."

"Da da da--"

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Bai Zhiyan took the initiative to set the table and wait for him to come over.

"I am coming."

As a male voice sounded, Bai Zhiyan smelled the perfume that disgusted him again.

"Why is it you? Why are you here?"

He didn't expect Bai Jitai to come back at this time. Butler Li clearly said that he had something to do and would not come back tonight, so he felt at ease to use the kitchen. How could he come back suddenly?

"Who else could it be if not me? Who do you want to be?"

Bai Jitai seemed to be drunk and smelled of alcohol. Bai Zhiyan kept struggling to avoid his approach.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Humph, I didn't know that this is the tone you normally use when talking to others. Why, are you disappointed to find out that I'm not Butler Li?"

"What are you crazy about? What does my speaking have to do with you?"

Today, Bai Jitai didn't seem to want to get too entangled, and didn't even care about what Bai Zhiyan said. Bai Zhiyan was a little confused.

Bai Jitai didn't care about his reaction. He pulled out a chair and sat down naturally, his eyes fixed on the kelp soup on the dining table.

Before Bai Zhiyan could say anything, he picked up the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of the soup to taste it carefully.

"not bad."

"This isn't made for you, why would you eat something made by someone else?"

Bai Zhiyan felt very unhappy that the delicious food he had worked so hard to prepare was fed to a dog.

"You were the one who asked me to come over to eat."

Bai Zhiyan choked. This guy was so shameless. He was clearly calling Butler Li just now.

"I thought it was Butler Li who invited me. If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have asked at all."

But Bai Jitai didn't seem to care about what he said. He just continued to scoop the soup from the bowl and drink it mouthful by mouthful. Soon the bowl of soup was empty.

Bai Zhiyan didn't want him to eat what he cooked, so he took the remaining food back to the kitchen.

After drinking a bowl of soup, Bai Jitai did not move anymore. He just kept watching Bai Zhiyan's hurried figure moving around in the kitchen, seeming to be fascinated.

After cleaning up, Bai Zhiyan was no longer in the mood to eat. He ignored Bai Jita who was still sitting at the dining table looking at him, and turned around and went upstairs.

"today is my birthday."

Bai Jita's voice was very soft, but it echoed in the empty living room like a bolt from the blue. Now there were only two of them in the whole house, so it was impossible for Bai Zhiyan not to hear it.

But he didn't care about Bai Jitai's words, thinking that it was none of his business whether it was his birthday or not, so he continued to walk upstairs without stopping.

"I only got to eat the kelp soup you made. I haven't celebrated my birthday in a long time."

His voice sounded again, and Bai Zhiyan just found it very funny. Was it because he drank too much? How could this guy have so much to say?

Bai Zhiyan couldn't help but retort, "So what? Do you want me to be so grateful that I tell you it's my honor?"

Bai Jitai did not move, nor did he even turn around to look at him. He remained sitting with his back to him.

His voice was low and hoarse, perhaps because he had been drinking. Bai Zhiyan felt that he was not as frivolous and bad as before. He exuded fatigue all over his body, and there was even a barely perceptible trace of fragility?

Fragile?

But he quickly dispelled this ridiculous idea. If Bai Jitai was weak, there would be many iron men in this world who were invulnerable to swords and guns.

"Do you still need me to say happy birthday? But I think you don't need a false blessing, Mr. Bai Jitai."

Bai Zhiyan's undisguised sarcasm was deafening in the empty and silent hall. Even if he couldn't beat Bai Jitai, he had to use these sarcastic words to sting him.

After that, he didn't care about Bai Jitai's reaction and went straight back to his room.

Bai Jitai was stunned for a moment when he heard the sound of Bai Zhiyan closing and locking the door. In the hall, only the lamp hanging above the dining table was glowing dimly. Under the lamp was his lonely back. The weak light shining on him made him look even more lonely and desolate.

Bai Jitai frowned slightly as he looked at the empty bowl, raised his hand to rub his head which was numbed by alcohol, then stood up and went back to his room.

He is the eldest son of the Bai family and a director of the Rijiang Group. Countless people want to celebrate his birthday. Originally, he was going to drink and have fun with his friends tonight like in previous years, but this was not the birthday he wanted at all.

He was not happy, he had been unhappy on every birthday since his mother died.

When his mother was still alive, the Bai family's business was not very big. Bai Zhengren had a low sense of family affection and only had his career in his mind. His sister rarely came home because she was studying away, so there were almost only him and his mother in the house every day.

He knew from a young age that their family was different from those of his other classmates, and he also knew that his father did not love his mother, but his mother's love for him was unquestionable.

He never sees his father on every birthday. Only his mother will make him kelp soup and even learn how to make a cake just to make him happy. She will sing birthday songs for him, hold him in her arms, blow out the candles with him and tell him to make a wish.

But his wish every year is to be with his mother forever.

So after his mother died, Bai Jitai stopped eating cakes, blowing out candles and making wishes.

Everyone around him knew that he didn't celebrate his birthday, but today there was a blind person who ordered a one-meter-high cake to curry favor with him in order to get close to him. He still remembered that person's fawning face and the horrified expressions on the faces of the people around him.

The final ending ended with the man buried in the cake with a bruised face and nose.

In the past, he would party all night and then wake up in a hotel bed the next day with one or two unknown women or men lying beside him. Because of that person's behavior, he would lose the mood to party and end the party hastily and go home early.

But when he returned home he heard someone talking, and just one sentence made him stop in his tracks, because the voice overlapped with the voice of his mother in his memory.

"Jitae, mom made some kelp soup, can you eat some with me?"

For a moment he thought it was his mother who came back, but when Bai Zhiyan's voice sounded again he knew he was hallucinating.

He felt a little itchy in his heart. He hadn't heard such a friendly voice calling people to eat for many years. The servants at home would only say respectfully, "Master, please have dinner."

He almost forgot what a normal family should be like.

But when I saw Bai Zhiyan leaving, he actually told him that today was my birthday. Why did I tell him? Did I soften my heart towards him just because I drank a bowl of soup he made?

Go soft on this bastard?

Bai Jitai sneered and suddenly felt a splitting headache. It seemed that he had to drink less in the future, otherwise how could he have such an illusion.

Half past ten in the evening.

Xu Shiyuan, who was invited, is now rummaging through his closets looking for clothes. He has never met Bai Zhiyan anywhere other than school. He really wants to see a different Bai Zhiyan than usual, and doesn't want to look too shabby, so he is trying hard to search his closet, hoping to find some decent clothes.

But he failed. He looked at the mess in the room and found that he couldn't find a decent piece of clothing at all. Sitting in a small pile of clothes, he suddenly found himself funny. Bai Zhiyan might have invited him to his house on a whim or just because he was naturally kind. He was so excited and was secretly looking forward to it.

"What on earth am I expecting..."

He recalled the day before his elementary school class went on a spring outing. His current state was just like that time, so excited that he couldn't sleep.

Xu Shiyuan's fingers trembled suddenly when he thought of this. He could meet Bai Zhiyan at school every day. Wasn't he satisfied? Otherwise, why would he be so looking forward to it?

He began to look for answers.

Is it because you can see him in a different way than usual? Is it because you are looking forward to them doing something else together besides eating? Or do you feel that you have the opportunity to enter his world and get to know him more deeply?

Because he was very kind to me? Because he was the only one willing to have dinner with me? Because he was the only one who cared about my fragile self-esteem?

Do you know Bai Zhiyan?

Or does he want to use his identity to climb to a position that doesn't belong to him?

These words were engraved deeply in Xu Shiyuan's mind like a spell. His body shook. It has always been his wish to change his current living conditions. If he could really become friends with Bai Zhiyan, would his future life be better?

But it didn't take him long to realize what he was really thinking.

He was not willing to be just an ordinary friend with him. He wanted to become Bai Zhiyan's best friend. He wanted to climb higher and make all those who once looked down on and humiliated him crawl at his feet.

11pm.

Che Jingcan couldn't sleep again because he heard his mother and father arguing downstairs again.

Day after day, year after year, he had become numb to the quarrels in his family, which had been torn apart since he was born.

"Che Jae-ho, Kyung-chan is already an adult. You promised me that you would let me leave when Kyung-chan becomes an adult. You must let me go this time!" The mother's hysterical voice sounded sharp and piercing in the silent night, like a ghost coming to take someone's life.

"Meishan, why do you have to leave? Isn't it good to stay in this family? Do you want to abandon Jingcan and leave alone?" The father's calm voice sounded more like an emotionless machine.

"Answer me! You promised me before, and you've broken your promise once. You can't lie to me again this time. I want to leave, I must leave--"

"It's late, Meishan, you should go to bed."

It's the same again, no matter how much the mother yells and screams, the father will never respond to her directly.

"I don't! Do you still want to tie me up with chains? I want to leave! Don't touch me - ahhhhh -"

Che Jingcan pressed his ears with a pillow, forcing himself not to listen to the heart-wrenching roar downstairs, so he began to think about other things to distract himself.

He thought about the school he had not attended this semester, he thought about the deep and shallow scratches on his mother's arms, he thought about the cold eyes of his parents every time they looked at him, he thought about the breakfast he had this morning, and finally he thought about the church he went to every week.

By the way, tomorrow is the day he should go to St. Ann's Church.

But just as he thought of the church, a figure running away when he saw him suddenly appeared in his mind. He raised his hand and looked at the base of his hand. The bite mark there was almost gone.

"You little bastard, if I catch you tomorrow, I'll skin you alive."

11:10 pm.

Bai Zhiyan, who had already fallen asleep, seemed to have had another nightmare. He frowned unconsciously, scratched his face, curled up his body and protected his abdomen with his arms, and finally adjusted to a comfortable position and fell asleep peacefully.

So on Friday night, no one could sleep except Bai Zhiyan.