I watched as Han Dai kept making things worse.
Feeling helpless, I rubbed my forehead and pressed the doorbell.
Soon, someone came to open the door.
Standing in front of me was a frail middle-aged woman in home clothes and white slippers, who looked so weak a gust of wind could knock her over, "And you are... Who are you...?"
She looked even thinner than the first time I saw her at Lin Wanyan's place.
"Hello, I am Su Wan. We met outside Lin Wanyan's house," I said. Seeing Bai Yinman's unfamiliar gaze, I guessed she must have been entirely focused on the child in her arms and not noticed me. I reminded her, "The child happened to fall right by my feet; we were very close at the time."
Bai Yinman's face clearly showed she remembered nothing, but she bravely asked, "Oh, oh, oh, what can I do for you?"
"Don't you want to know if your daughter is dead or alive?" I knew Bai Yinman was very resistant to strangers now. I had to strike a nerve with a single sentence to trigger her emotions, unlike Han Dai, who bluntly barged in talking about the zombie demon.
Bai Yinman was stunned for a moment and staggered back half a step, "What did you say...?"
I quietly gazed into Bai Yinman's clear eyes. "You know very well that you had a difficult labor and gave birth to a stillborn. But she could move and talk, even without a heartbeat or breath. You've always felt that she wasn't dead, which is why you sought out Lin Wanyan, isn't it?"
Bai Yinman's eyes suddenly hardened, and, gasping for breath, she clutched her collar in utter shock, "How do you know about that? Did Lin Wanyan tell you?"
"Miss Wan, you... you finally came. I did everything you told me to; you must help me..."
Han Dai burst out excitedly, her eyes shimmering with tears upon seeing me.
In an instant, Bai Yinman realized I knew Han Dai, and her face turned shades of pale and red with anger. Then she trembled with fury, "So it turns out... it turns out you and Han Dai are in cahoots. How much did she pay you to come here and spin such a preposterous lie to me?"
Han Dai, who had amounted to nothing in the entertainment industry for so many years, was now playing the fool.
Right away, Han Dai was kicked out by Bai Yinman, but I couldn't allow myself to be so easily dismissed. Stubbornly, I leaned against the door frame.
Bai Yinman looked at my swollen belly and couldn't bring herself to close the door. As her eyes glanced over my stomach, they softened involuntarily with tenderness she couldn't control.
At that moment, I felt Bai Yinman shine with radiance. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novelꜰire.net
The brilliance of motherhood was all around her.
I touched my belly with my fingers, intentionally using our shared status as mothers to get closer to Bai Yinman. With a gentle voice, I said, "Even if I really were colluding with Han Dai, you should listen to what I have to say for your daughter's sake. May I come in and we talk face to face?"
"You... Come in, but telling me now that Congcong isn't dead is pointless," Bai Yinman hesitated but eventually let me in. "Congcong was severely injured when Han Dai dropped her, and we couldn't find her body in the end."
After closing the door, I placed a few of the talismans that Yu Longting had given me on the door under Bai Yinman's astonished gaze. We sat down together on the living room sofa, and I told her the truth, "I have to tell you the truth: even without Han Dai's fall, your Congcong was already dead."
I had raised the possibility of Congcong being alive just to get inside.
But as a person, I need to have a conscience. Since I'd entered Bai Yinman's home and placed protective talismans, I couldn't continue to exploit her emotions with lies.
"You, what do you mean?" Bai Yinman's complexion changed completely, her face draining of all color. "One moment you suggest my Congcong might not be dead, the next you say she... died... Do you find it amusing to toy with me?"