It was indeed a beautiful day, sunny and bright. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting a warm glow. In a courtyard somewhere, the white tiger stood respectfully and said to the man reclining in a rocking chair, "Master, the plan has failed!"

The man's body swayed back and forth in the rocking chair, and he didn't pause when he heard Baihu's words. The curve of his body remained the same as before, as if the words had no effect on him at all. His voice was devoid of joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, and there was no change in his emotions. His tone was even slightly indifferent, just like the ten miles of frozen land, where the warm sunlight could not penetrate his heart.

"They all failed?"

"Yes!" Baihu cautiously observed his master's expression, but his master, like him, was wearing a mask, so he couldn't see anything. His master's tone didn't change much either, or rather, it didn't change at all, so Baihu couldn't tell anything either. He could only answer more cautiously, "They all escaped from our people!"

"Heh!" The masked man chuckled, a cold laugh that could make anyone's teeth ache. Baihu shivered inexplicably. "Who killed Old Li?"

"Bai Nuo!"

"I really underestimated this little girl. How come I never realized she had the guts to kill someone? Sure enough, once a woman has money, she becomes bolder and dares to do anything!"

"Master!" White Tiger said cautiously, thinking that he should tell his master, "We had handled things perfectly well this time, but we got into this trouble. Even if Duobao Pavilion doesn't collapse, it will be badly hurt. But who knew that his chef had a gold medal, which put pressure on Lord Li!"

"gold medal?"

"Yes!" White Tiger nodded. "Actually, Master, why do you hate the Treasure Pavilion so much?"

"Heh heh..." A chilling laugh echoed from the courtyard, swirling in the air. Clouds drifted across the sky, quickly obscuring the sun. The people lying and standing below seemed to be enveloped in a cold aura. A bird, which had been perched on a tree branch that was still lush and leafy even in winter, flapped its wings and flew away upon hearing the cold laugh, letting out a long, piercing "caw." After a while, the white tiger heard its master slowly say, "Nothing much, I just find those people a bit annoying and want to kill them!"

**

Although she had only been away for a few days, when Bai Nuo stood at her own doorstep again, it felt like a lifetime had passed. It was as if she had been gone from this house for a long time and had never returned. Standing in front of her own door, Bai Nuo suddenly felt an urge to cry.

It's so good to be home!

The Bai family's gate was tightly closed. Hu Mingmei stood beside her and, seeing that she seemed very nervous, reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly, saying softly, "It's alright, it's alright!"

Bai Nuo asked anxiously, "Second Master, do you think Grandma might know about us?"

Hu Mingmei shook her head and said softly, "No, this matter has not been made public. Grandma never leaves the house, and she hasn't gone out since the weather got cold. How would she know? Don't be nervous. The more nervous you are, the more suspicious Grandma will be."

To avoid arousing her grandmother's suspicion, Bai Nuo went back to the Lu residence to take a bath and change her clothes before returning. She nodded and gave a soft "hmm".

"Let's go in!" Hu Mingmei said, pulling her along as they knocked on the Bai family's door.

Soon, the gate opened, and the one who opened it was one of the cleaning women, surnamed Zhao. As soon as Granny Zhao opened the door and saw it was her, she immediately said loudly, "Oh my, young lady, young master Hu, you've finally returned! The old lady has been talking about you for so long!"

The moment Bai Nuo opened the door, she suddenly calmed down. She hummed in agreement and asked, "How has everything been at home lately? Where's Grandma?"

"Everything's fine at home!" Granny Zhao said, closing the gate and following behind them. "The weather's been cold lately, so we got a batch of charcoal. The old lady burns it every day. Today, the old lady went out to see a play with the young master and young lady!"

"They went to see a play?" Bai Nuo was a little surprised. Didn't Grandma never like listening to plays? Why did all the elders go out today?

"Oh!" Granny Zhao exclaimed, "Isn't the weather nice today? The old lady said she wanted to go for a walk, so Sister Liu pushed her out in her wheelchair!"

Bai Nuo nodded, indicating that she understood. "Alright, I understand. There's nothing more for you here. You can go now!"

After Bai Nuo led Hu Mingmei into her courtyard, her entire demeanor collapsed. Seeing that she couldn't walk any further, Hu Mingmei bent down, picked Bai Nuo up, walked to the door, kicked it open, went inside, and then slammed the door shut behind her.

Bai Nuo obediently let him hold her.

Hu Mingmei went straight to Bai Nuo's bedside, placed Bai Nuo on the bed, then got into bed himself, wrapped Bai Nuo in the blanket, and hugged her through the blanket, asking softly, "Are you scared?"

Bai Nuo nodded. It was true that as soon as she calmed down, or when there was no one else around, the image of Lao Li's death flashed through her mind. His eyes widened, and suddenly he was lifeless, blood spurting from his throat and splashing all over her face.

In modern times, she was a law-abiding citizen who never even ran a red light, let alone killed anyone. But here, she was forced to kill someone and watch that person die in front of her.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!