The Devil who devoured Snow White

While no one had noticed his presence, Bai Zichen quickly jumped to the balcony of the other room. One thing was in his mind. He had to buy a copy of whatever evidence Li Bingbing had against his grandfather.

He hurriedly rushed out of the place to follow Li Bingbing and there, he saw her waiting for a taxi to pass by while she was checking on her phone.

"M-Ms! Wait!" He stopped in front of her and panted heavily.

Li Bingbing turned to him, raising a brow." You… you're that kid earlier."

"My… M-my name is Bai Zichen…" He continued to pant.

"Huh. Did that scumbag send you to deal with me?" She snickered mockingly. "Go back, boy. It won't work."

"N-no, that's not what I mean." He finally caught his breath. He looked around them, making sure that there was no one near them before he said in a whispering tone, "I… I want to buy a copy."

"I don't remember selling an album of my own. She snickered. Despite saying that remark, she knew what he was talking about.

"Please… It's the only way to stop grandpa. He's ruining my family." He pleaded.

Li Bingbing eyed him from head to toe once again. "I'm rather surprised. It'd be fun to see that old man being crushed by his own family instead." She chuckled. "Karma is such a bitch."

Hearing what she said, Bai Zichen's eyes sparkled in delight as he was given the impression that she was willing to sell a copy to him.

"It won't be cheap." Li Bingbing warned as she scrutinized his expression under her gaze.

"That's fine!" He had saved up enough money and even if it wasn't enough, he could just ask his mother for more.

Just then, a striking red Ferrarichat stopped right at the side of the road, in front of the two.

As the black-tinted rolled down, another beautiful woman was seen inside. She had long dark hair and had blood-red lipsticks on. 

"Xiaozhi, what are you doing here?" The woman asked.

"Aunt Xiuying…" Bai Zichen pursed his lips. He began to get worried about being caught by the old man's favorite child.

Bai Xiuying eyed the girl beside her and asked, "she is?"

"I'm a friend of your nephew.  My name is Mu Bei! I'm usually called Beibei by my friends." Li Bingbing introduced herself, rather cheerily. 

"Huh." The other woman turned her gaze back to her nephew. "Come, I'll give you a ride back."

"I have to--"

"I guess I'll see you later." Li Bingbing patted his shoulder. "Look forward to your graduation, I'll send you a gift. For free." She winked at him before she halted the taxi that came on time.

A gift. For free…? Was she talking about the copy? 

It was later that Bai Zichen found out that 'Mu Bei' was not the girl's real name. His grandfather tried searching for her again, he even hired another hacker to look for her but failed to do so. It was as if the girl named Mu Bei disappeared into thin air, never existing at all.

After graduating from high school, Bai Zichen received an email from an unknown person. In that email was a copy of the videos and documents, proof of Bai Keran's dirty deeds. Along with those files, there was a message as well.

[If he can kill his own family, he can kill you. Be careful.]

That was the only time he heard from Mu Bei again before she disappeared from their life.

One year later, his aunt Bai Xiuying got into a coma after what she had done. It was the start of a family fight between the Lu and the Bai. It was the start of the Bai family's downfall since they never stood a chance against the Lu family.

…

"How did you know that Mu Bei was actually my mother?" Lu Mengjie inquired after listening to the story that Bai Zichen told.

"I've been searching for her for years. I didn't dare challenge my grandfather. I thought that if there was someone who could fight him directly, it would be her. I know it's kind of hard to believe. A young girl versus an old man? Others may laugh… but they didn't see what I saw." Seeing Li Bingbing that day was like seeing his savior. "I was able to recognize her when I tried to look into your family. I was sure that your mother is Mu Bei."

"It suddenly makes me wonder, you said that Bai Keran killed his own family…" Tian Ruyi never thought that Bai Keran could be so ruthless.

"Bai Keran was… a son of a maid that worked for the Bai family. He wanted to take the business but his father didn't give it to him so he began plotting for their deaths," Bai Zichen explained.

"It seems like my mother was able to collect the evidence we need." Lu Mengjie's' voice was heard from the mobile phone. From the looks of it, she had started scanning the files that she got from Bai Zichen's computer. "Why haven't you tried using this against your grandfather."

"I only have one chance, Ms. Lu." Bai Zichen sighed. "If my plans fail, Bai Keran will take my life. Also, I kind of fear that even if Bai Keran was brought to prison, he still has men out there that might come after me. I don't know who's behind my grandfather."

Lu Mengjie couldn't help but agree with his decision. It was a safe move for him knowing that he was one of the men that Bai Keran trusted.

After they have discussed their plans. They had decided to take Bai Jingye and Xu Chen out of Bai Keran's place before going all-out war with him. 

…

(Present)

"Brother Zichen, you should take mom to her room. I'll follow after I prepare the tea."

"Very well."

She turned away and directly headed to the kitchen. It was a good thing that the old snake wasn't able to see through their plans or else, they would have been already killed on the spot. 

After preparing the tea for Xu Chen, she directly headed to the room where Bai Zichen brought his mother. She had already memorized the place since childhood so didn't have to ask anyone to know where Xu Chen's room was located.

Entering the room, it seemed like Bai Zichen was able to calm down his mother. She handed her the tea before she eyed him meaningfully. "I'll check on Jingye now."

The man nodded without saying another word.

Once Tian Ruyi was reassured that Xu Chen was going to leave the house with her older son, she left the room and headed to where Bai Jingye was located.

One man standing before the door, guarding.

Back then in the past, no one would guard the room so it was easier to sneak in and accompany Bai Jingye but from the looks of it, Bai Keran wanted to make sure that no one would help him again.

Since the guard was already informed that Tian Ruyi would be seeing Bai Jingye, he opened the door for her. "Five minutes," he reminded her.

Tian Ruyi nodded before she entered the dark room. In the middle, thanks to the light coming from the opened door, she saw Bai Jingye, chained in the middle of the room. He looked thinner than how she saw him a few weeks ago. Her heart ached seeing how miserable-looking he was.

Bai Jingye didn't seem to notice her presence yet since his eyes were still closed. He was still as a rock while kneeling. His ankles were pinned on the floor by iron clamps to keep him from moving. His legs must already have gone numb for days of kneeling.

She approached him, her steps were quiet. She knelt in front of him. With a soft voice, she called, "Jingye…"

After being in a silent room for weeks, hearing her voice startled him. He snapped open his eyes but soon squinted them because of the light. His irises had to adjust at the sudden brightness.

"It's me, Ruyi."

"Ru… yi?" His voice was hoarse and weak.

It was heart-wrenching just seeing him this way. This happened to him because he protected Lu Mengjie by covering for her. Tian Ruyi didn't blame her though. She already knew what kind of person Bai Jingye was. He did the same for her. She wanted to take him out of the place immediately but she didn't have the keys to the locks of the things that kept him still.

"Shh. We're going to get you out of here, okay?" she whispered to him. She only needed to sneak into Bai Keran's study to find the keys.

"It's dangerous… Ruyi… you might get caught." 

She shook her head. "Zichen-gege told me that I can use the terrace in the room beside his study. No one will know."

"But--"

"Shush. You need to start accepting help when someone wants to give you one. Here, I brought you food." Just like back then, Tian Ruyi brought food and bottled water for him. She particularly wore a short baggy dress with deep pockets.