The Devil who devoured Snow White

Li Bingbing told her daughter of what happened when they arrived at Bai Keran's place. According to the reports, the old man died from a heart attack, and some of his servants were killed. The police were already suspecting Bai Keran's assistant who was now missing. 

Other than that, the record in the place's surveillance camera was erased. Even Li Bingbing couldn't do anything to search for who was responsible for their deaths.

"I guess we're not the only ones after him."

Lu Mengjie didn't know what to feel upon hearing that Bai Keran died. Well, at least Bai Jingye and Bai Zichen wouldn't have to worry about that old man ruining their family. It was just… Lu Mengjie didn't feel satisfied at all. Bai Keran should have been caught and should be imprisoned for the rest of his life as a punishment, not like this. With him dead, bringing out his dirty laundry to the public was deemed impossible. If it was thrown out now, the rest of the family members would be affected with Bai Keran gone. Aside from that, it would be harder to find his connection with Si Guanlin and how he had hired those mercenaries.

"How about Tian Ruyi? Or Bai Jingye?" Lu Mengjie asked worriedly. Their lives mattered most. There was no use crying over spilled milk.

"They are not in the mansion."

If they were not there then could it mean that they were able to escape? But then… Why couldn't she contact Tian Ruyi?

After talking with her mother, Lu Mengjie went out of the bathroom.

"Who was it?" Yong Liwei asked. 

"My mother. She said that… Bai Keran is dead. He died from a heart attack." She removed the towel that was wrapped around her head and placed it by the vanity table before looking at her husband. He didn't seem surprised at all. "But that seems impossible. Even though he's old, he looked so healthy. Someone must have poisoned him."

"This looks more like Si Guanlin's work."

Lu Mengjie furrowed her brows in confusion. "Him? How are you so sure that Bai Keran's working with Si Guanlin?"

"We wouldn't have been so confident in attacking us if he didn't have a powerful backer. Besides, this is how Si Guanlin has always been. He won't act if he has pawns that he could use to do the job. If they have become useless, he will discard them." Yong Liwei's eyes darkened when he told her about this. 

Seeing that her husband seemed to know more about Si Guanlin, she went and sat beside him. "Si Guanlin is one of your men…"

"He was never one of mine," he spat coldly.

Lu Mengjie reached out to hold his hand. He has yet to confess everything to her but upon seeing his tension against Si Guanlin, she couldn't help but think if that guy had something to do with her kidnapping, after all, he had already tried it a few times but failed every time he did. Her naive self didn't think much of it since she liked playing the game of cat and mouse with him since childhood. She only thought that this was another one of his games. "Tell me, Liwei… was it Si Guanlin who proposed to you the idea of kidnapping me?"

Yong Liwei's lips were stretched out in a thin line. There was no use in keeping the truth from her anymore. She was very much involved with what was happening. He looked at her and slowly opened his mouth as he began to confess what really happened. "He didn't give me the idea. He was the man behind it. He acted without my permission."

A knit formed between her brows upon hearing his words. "What do you mean?"

He began telling her everything about how he discovered that Si Guanlin had kidnapped her and how Yong Liwei played along with it, later on, to find out why Si Guanlin was after her. 

"So that means… you didn't kidnap me at all?" 

"That depends on how you see it."

"You didn't care if I blamed you?!" She stood up from her seat and looked at him in disbelief.

He reached out and gently held her hand. "I brought you back to that place, it's also my fault for putting you in such a situation."

"But you tried to protect me in your own way from him, right?" She heaved out a sigh in frustration as she pulled back her hand from his hold. "Seriously Liwei… I really don't understand what's going on in that head of yours. You could have just told me this last time." At least in that way, they could avoid having a big argument. She didn't have to feel so torn on what to do about her feelings for him and her broken trust.

"If you knew that Si Guanlin is this kind of person, why haven't you done anything to kick him out?"

Yong Liwei became quiet as he lowered his head. He was quiet for another few seconds and was looking rather hesitant on whether to tell her or not.

"You said that you've known Si Guanlin for years… Him being Chen Yuyan's lover means that you've been with him for more than 10 years, right?" She sat back on the space beside him.

In the end, Yong Liwei sighed in defeat. He took the hairdryer and decided to blow her hair dry with it while brushing her hair with his fingers to untangle the strands.

Lu Mengjie decided to patiently wait for him to speak up. She closed her eyes as he dried her hair.

"It was Chen Yuyan's last wish," he started.

It happened 12 years and five months ago. Han Yizhou was in his office, working late at night as usual. Chen Yuyan came into the room, bringing a late-night snack for him. It was already a routine for them to eat food together at such a late hour in the night although it was only at that time did Han Yizhou notice that Chen Yuyan was not touching her food. Naive as he was, he wondered what was wrong with her until he was suddenly attacked by her, aiming a dagger to his throat.

Upon sensing danger, in an instant, Yong Liwei forcefully took control of the body to fight back at her. Their fight stopped until he accidentally stabbed her in her stomach. Everything happened so fast that by the time Yong Liwei realized what happened he carried her in his arms and rushed her to the hospital. He had no plan on killing her, he only wanted to restrain her.

On their way, Chen Yuyan made him promise to keep Si Guanlin no matter what. She made him promise to help get the throne in Azure since Han Yizhou himself didn't have any interest at all. She was afraid that one day, Han Yizhou would yearn for his father's throne that was why she wanted to help Si Guanlin eliminate any possible rivals but in the end, she couldn't just kill Han Yizhou after what they've been through. She cried and apologized to him. Yong Liwei tried to calm her down but as he did, he noticed a car approaching them, blinding them with the headlights, causing Yong Liwei to turn the wheels. Their car ended up ramming against the post.

Both the couple were heavily injured. Yong Liwei was on the verge of losing his consciousness when he suddenly noticed a man's blurred figure approaching. At that time, Yong Liwei badly wanted to ask for help but he couldn't even speak a word. The last thing he remembered was the figure, reaching out for Chen Yuyan.

The next thing he knew, he woke up in the hospital with one of his men, delivering the news of Chen Yuyan's death to him.

Yong Liwei knew that he had to hide the memory from Han Yizhou and in the end, he made his alter believe that someone else killed their childhood friend.

By the time he was done telling her everything, he had already placed the hairdryer on the side.

"That's why I kept him by my side." Yong Liwei sighed. "Si Guanlin is a master in the arts of manipulation… I've always believed that it was him who tricked Chen Yuyan into having those kinds of thoughts. He can use one's darkness to blind them into working for him." Yong Liwei was already a terrible man but he couldn't compare to Si Guanlin who didn't have remorse at all.

"If you knew that… then why haven't you tried doing anything?"

"Because he had never given me any reasons to doubt him… until the time when he kidnapped you. I saw how he manipulated Xue Lihua into drugging you, how he used her to do his bidding. I saw how he tried to deceive me into killing one of my men." Yong Liwei's eyes glimmered with pure hatred. "If it weren't for you, I might have ended up falling into his traps. You were his target. I don't know the reason why he's after you but as long as he is, then I can't waste such an opportunity. That's why I decided to use you as my pawn, to discover his real motives."