Chapter 91.1: We’re Over (1)

Confusion was written all over Bai Zhou’s face. He couldn’t understand how his mother was involved in this matter.

Ji Fanyin hadn’t intended to show her hand to Bai Zhou today. Bai Zhengye’s visit had come as a surprise, but she was planning to just humor him a little and send him on his way.

If this studio was hers and hers alone, she might have just sold it if Bai Zhengye’s offer was high enough. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to bump up the figure reflected in the ‘Temptation of Home’ app by another hundred million dollars.

But this studio didn’t belong to her and her alone.

Neither Zhang Ning nor He Shen, who had devoted their time, money, and effort to the studio, lacked money. Even if it was just out of consideration for them, Ji Fanyin wouldn’t allow herself to be enticed by a mere wave of Bai Zhengye’s notes.

Not to mention, He Shen and Zhang Ning held the right of first refusal if she ever intended to sell her shares. She couldn’t possibly extort them out of their money.

It wasn’t doing all of this just to earn a bit of money. Of course she wouldn’t bother selling the studio to Bai Zhengye then.

After sending Bai Zhengye and his secretary on his way, Ji Fanyin was planning to let things be and allow Bai Zhou to continue his life as a 150 dollars a day intern.

But who could have thought that Mrs. Bai’s call would arrive at such a timely manner? Her phone happened to ring right after Bai Zhengye left. It was almost as if it was calculated to stop her from continue exploiting Bai Zhou for cheap labor.

True enough, Mrs. Bai concisely explained over the phone that she had intentionally turned a blind eye to the mistress’ bedside talk to lure Bai Zhengye over to Lakeside City.

That piece of information was more than enough for Ji Fanyin to guess the rest of the story.

… She’s luring the tiger out of its lair.

Be it Bai Zhengye’s abruptly freed-up schedule or his sudden idea to visit Bai Zhou, they were probably part of Mrs. Bai’s arrangements. It was a trap dug out for Bai Zhengye to leap into.

Ji Fanyin was certain that by the time Bai Zhengye returned, Mrs. Bai would have already tamed his mistress into submission. The only question was what kind of fury and scorn would Bai Zhengye be faced with when he returned.

After all, there would not be a mistress without an unloyal husband.

As vicious as the mistress was, she wouldn’t have amounted to much of a threat without Bai Zhengye’s support.

Mrs. Bai had managed to achieve total victory in one fell swoop, so she decided to drop a call to Ji Fanyin right away to inform her of the matter. Ji Fanyin understood what she was getting at―it was time to end things with Bai Zhou.

Ji Fanyin was planning to end things with Bai Zhou on the day of Li Xiaoxing’s engagement ceremony, and she would have if not for but Mrs. Bai’s sudden request to delay it. In hindsight, it was part of her ploy to lay a trap for Bai Zhengye and his mistress.

Since both parties had achieved their goals, it was time to terminate their partnership.

Mrs. Bai had even offered Ji Fanyin a rare compliment for her ability to ‘read the situation’.

Ji Fanyin looked at Bai Zhou and sighed on Mrs. Bai’s behalf.

When it came to bad parenting, Bai Zhou was an example of how a child would turn out when the parents each took turns to traumatize the child.

“My mother?” Bai Zhou’s eyebrows furrowed. He stared at Ji Fanyin in uncertainty and asked, “… What do you mean by that? My mother contacted you? Is it over money?”

Ji Fanyin was tempted to answer with a simple ‘Yes’ and end things there, but she knew that it would trigger a huge fight between Bai Zhou and Mrs. Bai. It would be ungrateful of her to do that to Mrs. Bai, who had invested huge sums into her studio.

So, she decided to explain the matter to him properly, “She is aware of our transactions, but she is not opposed to it. I have other dealings with her, though she would occasionally enquire about your situation.”

“…” Bai Zhou fell silent.

He knew that his mother was capable of pulling off something like this.