BDB Chapter 27

The face was still the same.

The person was still the same.

But the owner of that face was no longer dressed in a woolen coat paired with chest-length curls, but instead in a pristine, fitted wedding gown with an elegant updo.

Bai Yurou felt a chill creep into her heart.

This was clearly an outfit meant for a wedding ceremony!

As expected, her daughter, now dull and expressionless, had been staring at her without uttering a word. Just as Bai Yurou was about to ask again, the person next to Tangtang spoke up, answering her question, “I told her to wear it.”

The man’s voice was cold, devoid of any hint of respect one might offer to an elder.

Bai Yurou didn’t dare to argue. Not only did she not dare, but she even forced a smile. “Young Master Li.”

Li Jueyan pursed his lips and said, “Have you thought about what you did to wrong me?”

Bai Yurou’s heart plummeted into an icy abyss.

After thinking it over, she could only conclude that the only thing she had done to wrong Young Master Li was the matter of the substitute marriage.

But she didn’t dare admit it so quickly. Who knew if Young Master Li was just trying to scare her?

So, she forced a laugh and said, “Young Master Li, don’t joke with me. How could I possibly do something to wrong you?”

Li Jueyan let out a sarcastic chuckle and then turned his gaze toward the person standing beside him. “Bai Yurou says she hasn’t. What about you? Have you done anything to wrong me?”

Perhaps it was due to the surge of adrenaline, but Bai Yurou sensed that Li Jueyan’s tone softened slightly when asking this question.

Her heart raced, fearing that the now unpredictable Jiang Tang might say something that would get her into trouble.

But the next moment, Jiang Tang spoke, “No.”

Bai Yurou exhaled a small breath of relief.

However, before she could fully relax, she noticed that Young Master Li’s slightly smiling expression had turned completely serious.

“Sister Gu,” he called out, “bring the makeup remover. Help her remove her makeup.”

As he spoke, he gently brushed his thumb across the face of the person beside him, whose expression had remained unchanged the entire time. “Be obedient, remove the makeup. Once everything is revealed, I’ll give you the most perfect wedding.”

The progression of events was now clear. No matter how much Bai Yurou wanted to deceive herself, she could no longer deny it.

What kind of situation required Tangtang to remove her makeup for the truth to come out?

Of course, it had to do with the mix-up between the substitute and the original.

She swallowed hard.

In that moment, she suddenly remembered that Tangtang had already switched with Jiang Rao earlier that day.

Could this mean they might be able to fool Young Master Li?

Butler Gu approached Jiang Tang.

She didn’t know what had prompted Young Master Li’s actions or what the purpose of this setup was.

But everything seemed to revolve around the makeup on Madam’s face.

Having spent so much time with her, she knew that the other person was someone who didn’t like to cause trouble or be involved in any drama.

She even had a bit of affection for the young girl, who wasn’t much older than her own daughter.

However, her monthly salary came from Young Master Li. As the saying goes, if you take someone’s money, you do their bidding. She had no reason to go against his wishes.

So, when she walked over to the other side, she soaked a cotton pad with makeup remover and said, “I’m sorry, Madam, but I must intrude.”

She then gently placed the soaked cotton pads over the other person’s eyes.

From the corner of her eye, Butler Gu could feel the intense gazes of the two others in the room fixated on her actions. It made her feel a rare sense of nervousness.

Still, she didn’t think much of it.

She had seen Madam’s bare face before. It was also her who had used her skilled makeup techniques to reapply a slightly uneven “messy makeup”.

After half a minute, she pressed the two cotton pads firmly and wiped them across Madam’s brows. She was about to grab a few more cotton pads to remove the rest of the makeup, but at the moment the person in front of her opened her eyes, she froze.

“This… Young Master Li?” Her voice trembled.

Li Jueyan gave a soft hum, “Did you not finish removing the makeup around her eyes? No rush, take your time.”

Butler Gu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Men truly didn’t understand anything about makeup!

This was an eye and lip makeup remover specifically designed for those areas. After being applied for this long, even the most stubborn waterproof makeup should have been wiped off in one go. There was no way it hadn’t been fully removed!

Yet, she was truly afraid of making a mistake. Young Master Li seemed to take this matter very seriously.

But when another half-minute passed, and the cotton pad in her hand was still spotless, while Madam’s eye area looked no different from before, she had no choice but to say, “Young Master Li, I’ve finished removing her eye makeup.”

The room fell into a heavy silence.

Butler Gu turned her head slightly and saw that Young Master Li’s face remained clouded with gloom.

She had seen that expression on his face several times before.

The first time was when his parents had passed away.

The second was when Old Master Li had forced him to marry Madam by threatening him with his own life.

The third was when Old Master Li had passed away.

And now, it is happening again.

He didn’t actually look frightening. Without the usual pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched around his eyes, he still had a youthful appearance.

Although he was dressed in a suit, he wore a silk flower on his chest, the kind used for weddings—just a young man hoping for a perfect wedding!

Yet Butler Gu felt a deep fear towards him in this state.

When he went mad, few could restrain him.

It always seemed as though he wanted to drag the entire world down with him.

Bai Yurou also sensed something was wrong.

But having been locked up alone in the room for so long, she had been dazed since the very beginning.

Frightened by the expression on his face, she stammered in panic, “Young Master Li, Tangtang has looked like this since she was young. You two have met every holiday, and even though you’ve both been busy these past few years, a girl’s appearance settles by the age of eighteen. Think carefully—she’s always looked like this!”

When she finished speaking, she saw the man’s eyes darken even more.

At that moment, just as Butler Gu was about to use a regular makeup remover to remove all of Madam’s makeup, Li Jueyan pressed his lips into a smile and said, “How could I not know what Jiang Tang looked like before?”

He stepped forward, and Bai Yurou, catching a fleeting sense of relief, watched as he reached into his suit jacket. A small P229 handgun appeared in his hand.

He released the safety, raised his hand, and pointed the barrel directly at Bai Yurou’s forehead. “Tell me, where is she?”

The sensation of the cold barrel pressing against her temple was unmistakably real, and Bai Yurou nearly fainted.

But she knew that if she truly passed out at this moment, waiting for her would not be hospital treatment, but likely a single bullet.

Her voice trembled, “Who…who is she? Young Master Li, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Even the way she addressed him had unconsciously changed.

“The fake Jiang Tang who left the house this morning—where is she?”

Bai Yurou staggered, finally realizing what was wrong.

She had been so confused after being locked up, only noticing the strange outfits that Tangtang and Young Master Li wore, without thinking deeply about who caused that strangeness.

Since the day the marriage certificate was signed, every “Tangtang” who appeared in the house had been played by Jiang Rao.

Young Master Li wanted to truly appease the person who was “obedient”, and the wedding he was preparing for could never be meant for the real Tangtang!

Her face flushed bright red.

There was no need to explain; even an observant person could see her unease and guilt.

“Young Master Li, I…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the gun that had been pressed against her forehead was suddenly removed. A ‘bang’ echoed as the gun was fired, and the sound of shattering material colliding with the floor reached her ears.

Bai Yurou couldn’t help but scream and close her eyes.

When she opened them again, the room that had confined her for three to five hours was now plunged into darkness, the chandelier no longer emitting any light.

Although terrified, her gaze was drawn to the man before her.

He still wore a faint smile. “Where is she?”

He asked the same question again.

Bai Yurou trembled as she replied, “I… I’ll call her.”

She shakily pulled out her phone, dialed the familiar number, and soon heard the ringing sound.

The direction of the ringing was from the handbag Jiang Tang had been carrying.

Seeing the frightening smile on Young Master Li’s face, Bai Yurou quickly hung up. “Wrong number, wrong number. This is the correct one.”

However, this time, the result was even worse than before.

— “The number you have dialed is turned off…”

At that moment, Bai Yurou could no longer hold herself together.

She collapsed onto the floor, trembling uncontrollably like a leaf in the wind.

Yet, Young Master Li did not immediately deliver the final verdict.

The faint scent of cigarette smoke began to fill the air.

People naturally had a self-preservation instinct.

After a long while, she clung to the man’s leg, her voice desperate, “Please give me another chance. Since I brought her here before, I will also bring her to you again. I have a way, you have to believe me. No one else can bring her to you.”

Li Jueyan narrowed his eyes slightly.

He exhaled a puff of smoke and crushed the cigarette butt under his foot. “What’s her name?”

“If you don’t kill me, I’ll tell you.”

“What’s her name?” he emphasized again, his tone growing impatient.

Bai Yurou gritted her teeth. “Jiang Rao.”

…

Jiang Rao wasn’t short of money at the moment. Although she hadn’t withdrawn the funds from the property sale website, part of the deposit paid by Madam Bai was still in her bank account.

Before boarding the train, she had withdrawn 50,000 yuan and put it in her travel bag.

To avoid identity checks, she had no choice but to take the train, a mode of transport that didn’t require identity verification, but she had bought the most comfortable soft sleeper seat available.

Yet no matter how comfortable the seat, it didn’t ease her discomfort.

After getting on the train at six o’clock, she only felt relatively okay for the first hour. After that, the hardness of the seat became increasingly unbearable.

While trying to buy a blanket from the conductor, she accidentally encountered a man smoking in the space between two carriages.

Though she quickly walked past, she couldn’t stop sneezing repeatedly until she felt slightly better.

Returning to her seat with the blanket, she sneezed again as soon as she sat down.

“Little lady caught a cold?” an elderly woman who looked about the same age as Grandma Ma asked.

Jiang Rao shook her head.

“Then someone must be missing you!” the old lady concluded.

Jiang Rao didn’t reply, only pursed her lips and lay back down.

She didn’t know what the male lead was planning for the so-called rose wedding, but even if she used her little finger to think, she knew that the legal wife was Jiang Tang, and the wedding was naturally for Jiang Tang, not for her.

Having spent so many peaceful days under the same roof with the male lead, it made no sense that he would suddenly recognize Jiang Tang wasn’t her and then miss her.

Though she had spread the bedding underneath her and covered herself with a blanket, the smoke she had inhaled earlier still hadn’t allowed her to calm down, and she lay there for a long time without feeling drowsy.

Even though the world was not as advanced as it would be in ten years with smartphones and constant connectivity—where everyone was always glued to their screens—the era of communication had begun. There were still plenty of single-player games like Snake and Tetris on phones to pass the time.

With nothing else to do, she took out the original owner’s phone from the belongings she had sorted through a few days ago.

The classic Nokia startup screen flashed by. Before she could navigate to the game interface, the phone began to beep with new text and call notifications.

When she found the phone a few days ago, it had already accumulated a large number of text messages and call records. She had also added Madam Bai’s number to the blacklist.

Unexpectedly, just two or three days later, there was another influx of messages and calls bothering her.

She randomly tapped on the message inbox.

Most of the messages came from a contact saved as “Mom”. These messages were either requesting money or asking her to return a call, and she lost interest in reading further.

As she pressed the keys to return to the main screen, her finger slipped, and the next message appeared on the screen.

[Big Brother: Mom said you went abroad, but I saw her gambling fiercely and there’s no way she could have sent you abroad. Where are you?] This was the second male lead’s appearance.

Since entering the story, Jiang Rao had always been reluctantly running to the locations of the main plot events.

However, because her actions diverged from the original plot, many supporting characters who should have appeared had not crossed her path yet.

For example, the male lead’s admirer who had sent her a voice message saying, ‘Young Master Li, don’t… don’t… we can’t do this,’ and now this ‘Big Brother’ who had sent her a concerned message.

The big brother was indeed the female lead’s elder brother, but not a biological one. He was an adopted brother taken from an orphanage after Jiang’s parents had struggled for a long time to conceive.

After the Jiang family went bankrupt and Mother Jiang fell into despair, this big brother did not give up.

In the later part of the novel, he not only paid off all Mother Jiang’s gambling debts but also grew his startup company to an industry leader in just three years, on the brink of going public.

Of course, his role as a supporting character was not solely due to his abilities.

It was also because of his ambiguous feelings for the female lead.

Jiang Rao didn’t want to engage with the male lead, nor did she want to interact with the second male lead.

The male lead loved the female lead’s face, while the second male lead loved the subtle emotions that developed between them over their years together.

One of them made her feel sick.

As for the other’s attempt to gain her affection, she wasn’t the original owner, and she had no intention of responding.

With her decision made, Jiang Rao no longer thought about the matter.

She played a few games on her phone, initially hoping to last at least ten rounds. However, after just three rounds, she felt exhausted, worn out by the more refined and visually appealing mobile games of the future.

She set the phone on the pillow, ready to sleep, when a ringtone suddenly sounded.

Glancing at the caller ID, she saw it was her big brother calling. With her mind already made up, Jiang Rao didn’t hesitate to end the call.

But soon, the phone rang again.

She hung up.

After a while, it rang.

She hung up again.

After a while, it rang again.

As Jiang Rao prepared to turn off her phone, the old lady who had left her seat spoke again, “Little lady, see, I told you someone was missing you. Don’t be stubborn; answer the call. If it weren’t for concern, who would keep calling a number that doesn’t answer? Even if you’re just reporting safety, it’s better than ignoring them.”

Jiang Rao was momentarily stunned.

There was some truth in the old lady’s words.

By nature, she was lazy and often chose the fastest, most efficient methods to solve problems to save time and effort.

However, if the benefits of doing something outweighed the drawbacks, she wouldn’t mind doing it.

The second male lead was not as obsessively attached as the male lead, and his feelings were stirred up during the male lead’s torment of the female lead. At this moment, he was still unaware that his feelings for the female lead went beyond mere sibling affection.

After some thought, Jiang Rao finally put the phone to her ear.

As soon as the call connected, there was silence on both ends.

After a while, she heard the voice on the other side ask, “Where are you?”

His voice was somewhat muffled but still carried a magnetic quality.

Jiang Rao was about to steer the conversation away from the location question when the overhead speaker suddenly came to life.

“The train is approaching City K. Passengers going to City K, please prepare to disembark.”

Jiang Rao: “…”

Jiang Pei: “In the country?”

With no point in denying what had already been revealed, Jiang Rao responded with a simple “Mm.”

“Which city? I’ll come find you.”

Just as he finished speaking, the train’s announcement system came on again.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the K1 train…”

Jiang Rao’s eyes widened, but she reacted quickly and hung up the call.

She felt that not only the male lead was problematic, but the second male lead might be just as troublesome.

After waiting for the train announcement to finish, the phone rang once more, almost like it was timed.

Jiang Rao sighed, answering the call without much thought. “Big brother, don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. I can’t give you my exact location right now, but I just wanted to let you know I’m fine.”

There was silence on the other end for a while.

The screen even went dark during this period.

If not for the occasional faint noise due to poor call quality, Jiang Rao would have thought the call had been disconnected on the other end.

After what felt like an eternity, the voice on the other side finally spoke.

“Jiang Rao.”

The voice sounded so familiar…

Jiang Rao’s heart skipped a beat.

“You’re fine? But I’m not fine. Where have you gone?”

——