The next morning.

Su Hang was practically bursting with rage. The moment he set eyes on Feng Bai, his annoyance spiked straight through the roof!

The sheer audacity of it made Su Hang’s blood boil. Even after Wen Jiu had spent half the night trying to talk sense into him, he couldn’t shake off his fury. Just thinking about it made him want to blow a fuse all over again!

When Wen Jiu saw that Su Hang was actually winding up to take a swing at Feng Bai, she chimed in, her voice entirely calm. “You might want to think this through. If you lay a hand on him, Niao Niao is going to be heartbroken. She might even turn around and pick a fight with you, and at the end of the day, you’ll be the one left nursing a broken heart.”

Her words hit Su Hang like a bucket of ice water.

Su Hang: “…”

Too fuming to even swallow a single bite of breakfast, he whipped around, stormed out the front door, and drove straight to the office to cool his jets.

Feng Bai offered a sheepish smile. “It seems I’ve gone and upset Uncle again.”

Wen Jiu waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t pay him any mind. You’ll get used to it. Give him a day or two to swallow the bitter pill, and he’ll come around.”

After all, having his prized princess stolen out from under his nose was bound to keep Su Hang sour for a little while.

Feng Bai waited around until Su Niao finally woke up and wandered downstairs, greeting her warmly before heading out for the day.

Su Niao called back with a bright smile. She hovered by the doorway, her eyes tracking his retreating figure for a long moment before she finally floated back into the living room.

Wen Jiu: “…”

Fine then. She decided she might as well book a spa day with her friends! It was clear her daughter wasn’t going to be her cozy little sidekick anymore.

Before Su Ran could even draft a backup plan, a breaking news alert on her phone left her utterly paralyzed.

Su Hang’s decision to sever all ties with her hadn’t just been carried out in private—he had actually published a formal public announcement!

Su Ran gnashed her teeth in silent fury, never imagining Su Hang could be this ruthless!

Standing nearby, Fu Xizhou caught her expression and let out a cold, mocking laugh.

“Disappointed, aren’t you? Well, I’ve got news that’ll make you feel even more hopeless!”

“What?” Su Ran snapped, whipping her head around to glare at Fu Xizhou, her eyes filled with raw disgust.

At this point, the illusion of romance between them had completely shattered. They were nothing more than desperate business partners, so there was no need to keep up the charade of a sweet girlfriend or a refined gentleman.

Fu Xizhou smirked, delivering the news he’d just received with cruel delight. “Feng Bai proposed to Su Niao.”

The color instantly drained from Su Ran’s face. She bolted up from her seat and began pacing back and forth across the room like a caged animal. Her reaction was visibly more explosive and hostile than when she’d found out Su Hang had disowned her.

Fu Xizhou knew he’d hit a nerve.

Since his own life was currently in shambles, he took sick pleasure in twisting the knife. “Feng Bai really seems head-over-heels for her, doesn’t he? But I have to ask, you lived under the same roof as him at the Su estate for so many days. Did you really never find an opening to make a move on him? Or… did you try and get brutally shut down?”

“Shut up!” Hits right in her sore spot, Su Ran glared viciously at Fu Xizhou. “Do you even know what you’re talking about?!”

Fu Xizhou let out a harsh sneer.

“Look at you. You’re still hung up on him, aren’t you? Dreaming about another man while playing my girlfriend? Su Ran, you’re really something else!”

If he hadn’t stumbled upon that unmailed love letter addressed to Feng Bai hidden in her room, he would have never guessed that she’d been pining after someone else before they ever met!

Oh, wait.

Judging by her pathetic reaction just now, she wasn’t just pining in the past, she was still hopelessly obsessed with Feng Bai.

Pity for her, though. That torch she was carrying was officially a dead end.

The man had already put a ring on it!

Faced with Fu Xizhou’s taunting laughter, Su Ran was ready to explode with rage. But she knew she couldn’t win a physical fight against him.

Suddenly, a dark spark flickered in her mind. Turning back to Fu Xizhou, a chilling smile spread across her lips.

“Even if I can’t have Feng Bai, I will never stand by and watch him and Su Niao get their happily ever after!”

Spatting those venomous words, Su Ran turned on her heel and bolted out the door.

Fu Xizhou watched her leave, a dark, wicked grin tugging at his mouth. Heh. In a bleak, miserable life like this, it seems things are finally getting interesting.

However…

Fu Xizhou’s satisfaction didn’t last long.

A few minutes later.

A dozen imposing men kicked the door open and swarmed his apartment. Leading the charge was none other than Fu Chengyu himself.

Fu Xizhou stared at the crowd before him, his eyes darkening into pools of icy hatred. “What’s this? Coming to silence me for good? We share the same blood, you know.”

It was all because of Fu Chengyu that he had been reduced to this pathetic state, cowering like a rat in hiding!

Every major corporation in the city had blacklisted him; the moment they heard Fu Chengyu’s name, they wouldn’t even give him a second glance…

Fu Chengyu looked down at Fu Xizhou as if he were an insect crawling on the floor. “Who do you think you are? Murder is illegal; I’m hardly going to dirty my hands with that. I’m simply sending you off to a nice, cozy place.”

The moment the words left his mouth, two muscular bodyguards stepped forward and pinned Fu Xizhou to the ground.

Panic surged through Fu Xizhou as he thrusted and kicked wildly, but against a dozen trained professionals, his resistance was laughable.

Fu Chengyu glanced around the apartment, noticing Su Ran was nowhere to be found. Pulling out his phone, he dialed Feng Bai directly. “I’m shipping Fu Xizhou overseas right now. Seems I was a step too late, though Su Ran isn’t here.”

“Got it,” came the cool, unfazed response from the other end of the line.

Without another word, Fu Chengyu hung up.

Sparing Fu Xizhou’s life was already the utmost courtesy he was willing to extend to their shared father. He was going to make damn sure Fu Xizhou never had a shot at a comeback.

He wasn’t stupid.

If Fu Xizhou ever turned the tables, would there be any room left for him to breathe? In this cutthroat dog-eat-dog game, only one of them was getting out alive!

So, shipping Fu Xizhou off to some remote corner of the world where he could never show his face again was the cleanest solution.

Feng Bai set his phone down, his mind turning over the problem of Su Ran. It would probably be safest to ship her overseas as well. Leaving her loose in Ancheng felt like leaving an unexploded time bomb sitting around.

He pushed his work aside, intending to head out and meet Fu Chengyu in person. Just as he stood up, his phone rang again.

It was Su Niao.

“Feng Bai! Can I come over to your office?”

Su Niao was feeling a bit restless sitting at home alone. Besides, she was still riding the euphoric high from his proposal yesterday. She quickly added, “I promise I won’t disturb your work! I’ll just sit quietly beside you and watch…”

“Of course,” Feng Bai replied, his voice softening into a gentle smile.

There was no way he’d ever turn her down. Like he told her before, she was his ultimate motivation.

Feng Bai placed a quick call to the front desk, instructing them to send her straight up the moment she arrived.

About fifteen minutes later, the soft pattern of footsteps echoed down the hallway outside his office.

Smiling, Feng Bai called out toward the door, “How’d you get here so fast?”

Before the words had even fully left his lips, a cold sense of instinct told him something was wrong. He snapped his head up—only to find Su Ran standing in his doorway.