Chapter 5: Shut Out

• Bai Shanshan just raised her hand, and Bai Ruoxi swiftly caught her wrist before following up with another ruthless slap on her face.
• Slap.
• Ss. Everyone drew a deep breath and they were flabbergasted, even they could feel the burning pain.
• Bai Shanshan could not win against Bai Ruoxi in a fight at all. Her eyes turned red from the pain and she was furious to the point she wanted to eat up Bai Ruoxi’s face.
• Bai Ruoxi narrowed her eyes and rage filled each of her words and sentences, “You better remember this. First, my mother is not a mistress. She only got to know my stepfather after he divorced for many years. Second, my mother is not a murderer, someone framed her. Third, Qiao Xuanshuo was not like this to me in the past, he...”
• While saying this, Bai Ruoxi’s words stopped coming out. Her heart that has calmed down started to ache dully again. There was no need for her to explain these things to pointless people.
• Bai Shanshan was well aware that she was weak and powerless. There was no way she could win against the healthy and energetic Bai Ruoxi in a fight. She shook her hand and took a step back. She walked to the sofa to sit down very unwillingly as she kept murmuring curses and glared viciously at Bai Ruoxi.
• Bai Ruoxi froze at the original place, her heart was too exhausted which made her at a loss.
• In the past, her third older brother doted on her a lot too.
• No one knew when it started but their relationship cooled rapidly and had finally reached the freezing point.
• In order to not disturb others who were resting, Bai Ruoxi did not hit the door and shout. She stood by the window and looked at the sea.
• The night became darker.
• Everyone had slept.
• Her desolate silhouette stood under the bright yet hazy night scene. She looked at the vast sky filled with stars, pitch-black ocean and heard the sea breeze, sea waves and the lonely voice in her heart.
• When she was three years old, her mother brought her along when she got married into the Qiao family.
• From when she could remember things, she had especially liked her stepfather’s third son. The third older brother who had an aloof personality and was hard to get close to. The more he hated her, the more she wanted to get close to him.
• Due to his parents’ divorce, Qiao Xuanshuo suffered from autism and pushed away everyone who came near except for her who walked into his inner world before. At that time, she was like a cockroach that could not be beaten down and the embodiment of glue that stuck to him every day.
• Every time they met, she would ask for a hug unashamed.
• She ate the food he had eaten, used things that he had used before, wore clothes that he had worn, did things that he had done. Her heart had already belonged to him secretly a long time ago.
• She would sneak into his room secretly every night and squeezed into his bed to hug him to sleep. She was frequently discovered by the Third Older Brother who had woken up but she refused to comply nevertheless and displayed her shamelessness to the fullest extent.
• He did not push her away when she came close. Even though he was still as aloof as ever but at least she was special compared to others.
• When she was little, she made a fuss over wanting to change her surname to Qiao so that she could be more intimate with Third Older Brother.
• She also made a fuss over wanting to be Third Older Brother’s bride before and was ruthlessly beaten up by her mother so she did not dare to bring it up anymore.
• That was an especially beautiful period of childhood memory. She thought that Third Older Brother liked her, even if it was not love, it did not matter.
• But she did not know what she had done wrong for that man to hate her so much.
• In the ten years of his military career, she also returned back to the Bai family to live with her father. The number of times when the two of them met could be counted on the fingers.
• He was no longer the Third Older Brother in the past and she was also no longer the Bai Ruoxi who was fearless and shameless.
• After the sun rose, the ship reached the shore.
• The police had already received notice long ago. The police car formed a line and waited at the shore. More than ten females and males were handcuffed the moment they got down from the ship and pushed into the police car.
• However, Bai Ruoxi was detained separately by herself.
• After being forced to do a body check-up at the hospital, she was brought to the police station to give a statement. What differed from her expectations was that she was not detained and was released to go home after the police finished taking her testimony.
• -
• Bai family!
• A commercial housing located in a high-end neighborhood.
• The family that Bai Ruoxi lived in was well-off. Her father and stepmother opened a foodstuff factory and lived fairly comfortable lives.
• Bai Ruoxi had just stepped into the house and before she could open her mouth to greet. A burning slap welcomed her directly.
• Slap.
• A crisp sound broke the peace in the morning.
• Bai Ruoxi was stunned by the searing pain in her cheek caused by the slap. She held her stinging cheek in bewilderment.
• The woman who slapped her was precisely Bai Shanshan’s mother, Liu Yue who was also her stepmother.
• Liu Yue placed one hand on her waist. Her obese body figure was paired with tacky jewelry. She asked angrily with her arrogant and overbearing pose, “Where did you bring my daughter to? Why did the police inform us that she was imprisoned?”
• Bai Ruoxi was mentally exhausted as she bit her lower lip.
• The only thing she had done the most in this lifetime was to endure, but she did not want to endure this slap any longer. She responded coldly with anger, “Then you should go and ask the police.”
• “You brought Shanshan out and she got caught by the police thanks to you. You still have the face to come back unscathed? You are really shameless. What did you do to Shanshan?”
• Bai Ruoxi smiled coldly and bitterly as she asked her back, “Why don’t you dare to ask the police? Or do you already know what crimes she had committed?”
• Liu Yue did not answer and glared at Bai Ruoxi with a murderous gaze while grinding her teeth.
• A middle-aged man who sat in the living room did not make a sound, he was Bai Ruoxi’s weak and useless father.
• On the other side was an old lady with a head of white hair who insinuated, “Whatever kind of mother will have the same kind of daughter. Don’t let Shanshan get so close to others, nowadays there are all kinds of people including those who are animals but like to pose as humans, their hearts are unfathomable.”
• Animals but like to pose as humans?
• Bai Ruoxi could only laugh coldly from her heart, she felt very bitter.
• The one who spoke was precisely her grandmother. She had heard from her mother that she had divorced and left with her because she could not stand the overbearing mother-in-law.
• Bai Ruoxi coldly spoke, “Then can all of you please tell Bai Shanshan to stop calling me Older Sister in the future? And even more so, don’t get close to me. That kinship of hers, I, Bai Ruoxi don’t have the good fortune to enjoy it.”
• Liu Yue was so angry that her face darkened immediately. She clenched her fists to stop herself from reacting rashly.
• Bai Ruoxi just started to leave when the old lady slammed her palm on the coffee table powerfully. The loud noise made Bai Ruoxi stopped her footsteps abruptly.
• The old lady raged, “I gave you face but you don’t want it, is it? How dare you ignore your elders like this. Are you rebelling? Shanshan is such a good and obedient child, how is it possible that she took drugs and prostituted herself? You must be the perpetrator.”
• Bai Ruoxi’s heart was very lethargic to the point that she was suffocating. She did not want to explain anymore since no one would believe her anyway.
• At this moment, her father, Bai Liuhua finally spoke but it was directed to the old lady in a submissive manner, “Mum, or maybe Shanshan really did something wrong. She was way too obsessed with the idea of becoming a celebrity...”
• Liu Yue immediately rebuked, “Bullshit. How could my daughter do anything wrong?”
• Bai Liuhua retreated and kept silent again.
• The old lady heard her daughter-in-law scolding her son and was upset, but she still gave her face and only cleared her throat to remind her of her attitude, “Ahem...”
• Liu Yue reined in her arrogance and glared at Bai Ruoxi while she said slowly, “She gets on my nerves each time I see her. She’s already 25 years old and still unmarried. She needs to scram back to her mother’s side of the family. She kept staying here and bring disaster upon us. She is definitely a jinx, she even caused our Shanshan to be locked up now,”
• While saying, Liu Yue started to cry coquettishly, “How did Shanshan offend you? Why must you harm her and make her serve in the prison for a few months? She must be suffering a lot!”
• Bai Liuhua’s heart ached and immediately walked over to embrace Liu Yue. He comforted her, “Don’t cry. I will think of something to save Shanshan out from there,”
• The old lady also assured her anxiously, “Daughter-in-law, don’t worry. Shanshan will be fine. Those evil people will definitely get their retributions.”
• Bai Ruoxi’s lips revealed a bitter, cold smile. Any fool could tell what she was expressing in her words.
• She went up to her room without a word and immediately packed her luggage to leave the Bai house.
• There was no one asking her to stay nor feelings of could not bear to part with. No matter which family it was, she was always the one that everyone shut out and despised the most.