In the small hours of the morning, Tang Xi woke as usual. Ever since Xiao Bai had left home to join the military, Tang Xi’s sleep had been poor; she often woke in the middle of the night.
She sat up and switched on the bedside lamp. It was only a little after three, so she could still sleep for a while. As she yawned and reached to turn off the light, her gaze fell on Tang Bai’s childlike sleeping face. She pulled the blanket, which had long since slipped to one side, back over her. With a tender smile, Tang Xi reached out and gently traced the sharply defined contours of Tang Bai’s face again and again.
A memory suddenly surfaced. She remembered that when she was six, her parents had brought little Bai home. She had taken to the little girl from the very beginning. Back then, little Bai had been fiercely guarded, treating everyone with the same cold indifference. Tang Xi smiled. Looking back, she had gone to great lengths to win over that little tyrant.
Thinking back to those childhood days, Tang Xi shook her head, turned off the lamp, and quietly held Tang Bai, who was sleeping with her back to her. She soon drifted back to sleep, her breathing soft and shallow. In the darkness, Tang Bai opened her bright black eyes, turned over, and gently embraced Tang Xi.
When Tang Bai turned over, she instinctively reached for Tang Xi, but her hand met only cold sheets. She woke at once and sat up. Looking beside her, she found the comfortable bed empty except for herself. She rubbed her slightly throbbing head. Apparently, she really was not suited to sleeping in.
When she reached the living room, Tang Bai saw the breakfast on the table, and the corners of her lips lifted. It was an ordinary meal, but every item was a favorite: steamed cornmeal buns, plain rice porridge, and a dish of pickled vegetables. Her sister must have gotten up early and gone downstairs to the long-established Li Ji breakfast shop on the next street to buy it for her.
After washing up, Tang Bai quietly drank the soft, starchy rice porridge, a tender smile touching her lips.
After washing the dishes, Tang Bai changed into simple casual clothes and went out to buy a few more presentable outfits.
As she slowly walked out of the residential complex, breathing in the familiar air after four years away, Tang Bai felt deeply nostalgic. When she passed the hospital, she smiled and pulled out her phone to text Tang Xi.
“Sis, I’ll pick you up for lunch. What do you feel like eating?”
She leaned lazily against a tree. Her languid, faintly world-weary air captured the hearts of more than a few girls passing by. When her phone vibrated, she opened the message to find Tang Xi’s reply.
“Xiao Bai, I’ll eat whatever you want.”
The corners of Tang Bai’s lips lifted slightly. Her bright black eyes were as dark as a deep pool.
Inside the mall, the endless array of clothes in the specialty shops gave Tang Bai a headache. In the end, she reluctantly had a sales assistant put together several dark-colored casual outfits for her.
She glanced at the bill and shook her head, wincing. Money was easy to spend but hard to earn these days. She had swiped more than ten thousand yuan for just a few outfits.
On her way back with the shopping bags, Tang Bai suddenly noticed a group of black-clad bodyguards standing outside CHANEL. It looked as if the entire store had been booked out for a private customer.
Who could burn money like that? This was the famous French luxury brand Chanel, after all. How much would it cost to book out the entire store?
She shook her head and walked away without looking back. That was the difference between poverty and wealth. The fee for booking out Chanel was probably enough to cover an ordinary family’s expenses for two or three years.
Tang Bai had nothing but contempt for people who burned money like this. If they had enough money to put on such an extravagant display, they might as well donate it to those in need. Money should be spent where it was actually needed.
Lin Mo had been waiting for her friend to finish trying on clothes and was looking around boredly. When she saw Tang Bai’s tall, slender figure, she frowned in puzzlement.
That looked like the woman the higher-ups had assigned as her partner. What was she doing here?
The disdain and indifference in Tang Bai’s eyes piqued Lin Mo’s interest. Lin Mo slipped on the sunglasses that hid most of her face and said to a bodyguard:
“When Miss Ouyang comes out, tell her something came up and I had to leave first.”
The bodyguard nodded expressionlessly. With a bewitching smile, Lin Mo slung her handbag over her arm and strode briskly out of the mall in her eight-centimeter heels.
When Lin Mo drove around and located Tang Bai, Tang Bai was sitting on a roadside bench across from the hospital’s main entrance, reading a newspaper. Lin Mo arched a brow.
The real thing was much better-looking than in the photos. That crisp, capable air was something no camera could capture.
Tang Bai frowned. Why did she keep feeling that someone was watching her? She folded the newspaper and quickly surveyed the moving crowd around her with her bright black eyes. They were all utterly ordinary passersby.
She looked away, telling herself she must be imagining things.
Only after Lin Mo had driven a long way did she finally let out a cautious breath. That kind of razor-sharp gaze belonged only to the top-tier monsters in the special forces. When Tang Bai’s gaze swept over her car, Lin Mo had felt her hands go weak.
She was beginning to look forward to the day she would meet Tang Bai.
Tang Bai idly flipped through the newspaper she had already read several times. Eight out of every ten entertainment stories were about superstar Lin Mo.
She pursed her lips as she stared at Lin Mo’s ethereally alluring smile in the paper, feeling a little apprehensive about the days ahead. Lin Mo had probably already investigated her down to the last detail, while Tang Bai knew nothing about Lin Mo except that she was a star and an undercover agent.
Pressing her thin lips together, Tang Bai made up her mind. Once she got home, she would search online for everything she could find about Lin Mo. If that proved useless, she would call her captain and have him tell her what he knew about Lin Mo.
Tang Xi checked the time. It was ten minutes to one. Remembering that Xiao Bai was waiting outside, she hurriedly stood up and took off her white coat. After tidying the things on her desk, she briefed the doctor who had just come on to take over her shift on several matters requiring extra attention, then hurried toward the hospital entrance.
When she saw Zhao Ye waiting nearby, she walked over without hesitation. Zhao Ye smiled faintly.
“Are you heading out for lunch?”
Tang Xi nodded with a smile.
“Yes.”
He glanced at the time.
“Perfect. I haven’t eaten yet, either. Let’s go together.”
Zhao Ye was so composed and gentlemanly that Tang Xi truly did not know how to refuse him, so she nodded.
“Heh, Xiao Bai is here too. This is a perfect chance for me to introduce you to her.”
Zhao Ye’s smile faltered. He had deliberately waited to have lunch with Tang Xi because he wanted to confess his feelings to her again. But now that Xiao Bai was joining them, he felt he had to shelve the plan. For now, his first priority was to make a good impression on Tang Bai.
Tang Bai kept her eyes fixed on the hospital entrance, afraid that her sister would come out without her noticing. She checked the time and frowned. It was already more than ten minutes past one. Why hadn’t Sis come out yet?
Just as she was about to go inside and look for Tang Xi, she saw Tang Xi walk out, laughing and chatting with a handsome man.
Tang Bai pursed her lips, then smiled and walked up to Tang Xi.
“Sis!”
Tang Xi’s eyes fell on all the shopping bags Tang Bai was carrying. She reached out.
“Let me carry some of those.”
Tang Bai smiled. Her big sister really did care about her. She shook her head.
“It’s nothing. I’m not tired, so you don’t need to carry them.”
Then she looked toward Zhao Ye. Her first impression was that this had to be the man who had talked to her sister on the phone last night. A sour feeling immediately welled up inside her.
Hearing that, Tang Xi rapped her knuckles on Tang Bai’s head, took the shopping bags from her, and casually took hold of her hand. She looked at Zhao Ye.
“Xiao Bai, this is Zhao Ye, one of my colleagues.”
Seeing Tang Xi introduce him, Zhao Ye quickly extended his broad hand toward Tang Bai.
“I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Zhao Ye. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Tang Bai nodded but did not take his hand. Seeing this, Tang Xi discreetly pinched the small of her back and smiled at Zhao Ye.
“Don’t take it personally, Zhao Ye. Xiao Bai’s a bit of a clean freak and doesn’t like physical contact.”
Zhao Ye smiled and withdrew his hand.
“Not at all.”
Tang Bai awkwardly turned her head away, grimacing as she sucked in a sharp breath. Her sister had shown no mercy this time; the small of her back was sure to turn black and blue.
It was all Zhao Ye’s fault. If he hadn’t been there, why would Sis have pinched her?
Just like that, Tang Bai marked Zhao Ye with a huge X for a first impression.
