The Glamorous Comeback of the Ousted Heiress

Chapter 668: The retreat of 265 Bai Lian, the barely satisfactory finale (second update)_2

Bai Lian sent back a message and lazily returned to the Jiangjing Preparatory Camp app, browsing through the challenge question bank, “Xu Family’s second child’s full-month celebration.”

She was the first to speak up.

Her tone was light and breezy.

Jiang Fulai, holding her clothes and several books from her classes at Tongfeng, stepped through the shadows of the setting sun and listened to her calm words, “Are you going to go?”

Bai Lian had long since deleted Ji Mulan.

Ji Mulan never hid her utilitarian heart; the child was a tool for her to prove herself.

...

As for Ji Heng, before Bai Lian left for Xiangcheng, he had decided to take her back to that little courtyard.

To Ji Heng, not understanding the previous Bai Lian might not have been a bad thing.

“I suppose I will,” Bai Lian said, tapping the screen with her fingertip, “but I’m planning to visit Academician Ma’s project during the National Day holiday.”

Although Xu En did not look like a member of the Bai Family, Ji Mulan did bear a striking resemblance to her own mother. She had not yet seen that child and wondered if he might also bear a slight resemblance to Bai Zhongyu?

Jiang Fulai nodded slightly, not surprised by this, and walked to Bai Lian’s right side. His eyebrows and eyes were cold, and his tone also appeared lazy, “Go after you’re done with your commitments. It’s fine even if you really can’t make it.”

He said nothing else, which made Bai Lian finally turn to look at him.

Jiang Fulai always gave Bai Lian the feeling that she still had a way out.

In her two lifetimes, the only time she was driven to a dead end was the final battle in Xiangcheng. Even then, she had managed to find an escape route for Chen Ye and the army of the Bai Family, allowing them to defect to Jiang Ye.

She wasn’t acquainted with Jiang Ye, but at that time, as she and Jiang Suyi were learning the qin from Qin Jiu, she knew that the renowned Seventh Prince, a peer in reputation and age, lived next door.

After Bai Li went to the battlefield and did not return, Bai Zhongyu and Chen Ye went off to distant battlefields, and no one came to fetch her back to the General Residence anymore.

She had once received a lantern sent by a young servant by his side.

Back then, she was still afraid of the dark.

Latter on, when he was exiled to his fiefdom by Emperor Jiang Wen, Bai Zhongyu did not return, and Bai Lian was no longer afraid of the dark.

When Xiangcheng was under siege, she thought of the Seventh Prince she had never met. The Bai Family was a thorn in Emperor Jiang Wen’s side, and wasn’t this brilliantly talented Seventh Prince also a thorn in Emperor Jiang Wen’s heart?

She asked Chen Ye to take Bai Li’s token and seek him out, and fortunately, neither of those two men disappointed her.

Bai Lian slowly withdrew her gaze, remaining calm and collected as she said, “It won’t do, I can’t miss it. My grandfather will overthink and be upset.”

Because she remembered this, she became somewhat silent.

The two walked towards the gates of Jiang University. The setting sun cast a golden glow on Jiang Fulai’s profile. He looked noble and haughty like a prince with his features of jade, though sometimes his words seemed to carry a mocking tone, “Your grandfather is watching a performance right now and is not the slightest bit upset.”

He took out his phone and showed Bai Lian that Ji Heng had just liked a post in Shen Qing’s social circle.

Bai Lian looked down, and as Jiang Fulai spoke, his long, cold, and pale fingers leisurely liked the post from Shen Qing.

The post from Shen Qing was a photo of Bai Lian’s performance.

Bai Lian looked at Jiang Fulai, and under the dim yellow sunset, his stunning features were somewhat blurred.

She couldn’t help but smile, and the melancholy that arose from thinking of Bai Zhongyu and Chen Ye dissipated a bit.

**

At six-thirty in the evening, the auditorium.

Ji Heng had just finished watching a recitation in the middle of the program, and beside him, Jiang He had been looking down, flipping a Rubik’s cube, except for Bai Lian’s act and a skit that he had looked up to watch; during the other acts, he had been focusing on the cube.

Ji Heng also had a Rubik’s cube in his hands, mixed up into a certain state.

Jiang He had already learned how to restore the cube to its original state. He had just returned his cube to its pristine condition, then compared it against Ji Heng’s mixed-up cube, returning the restored cube back to the scrambled state of Ji Heng’s cube step by step.

“Damn, little bro,” a student from Jiang University said in astonishment, “that’s really impressive!”

Jiang He expressionlessly put the cube into the small vegetable bag and reached for Ji Heng’s sleeve.

Ji Heng, holding the cube and a smoking pipe, looked down at him, “Ready to leave?”

Jiang He blinked and nodded.

Ji Heng was actually getting a bit bored by now; after Bai Lian’s performance, there were hardly any other interesting shows, and since he didn’t smoke in the auditorium and saw that Jiang He didn’t want to continue watching either, he led Jiang He to stand up and leave.

Shen Qing also felt a bit tired from sitting and left with Pu Xiaohan.

Meanwhile.

In the front, Dean Huang, who had been sitting for two hours, couldn’t sit still any longer and began to wonder why he was watching a performance here instead of working hard in his office?

A little after seven o’clock, Dean Huang stood up.

Ba Shiming had been paying attention to Dean Huang, occasionally refilling his cup with water and asking if he needed anything.

Seeing him stand up, he quickly approached, “Dean, are you leaving? The Student Union of the School of Finance has a student who will play the guzheng later, do you want to stay and watch it?”

“No need, you’ve done a very good job with the program this time,” Dean Huang complimented Ba Shiming, “I’ve seen what I wanted to see.”

He had come today just for Bai Lian’s program, which she had performed right at the start.

That Dean Huang stayed until now before leaving was already quite remarkable.

After sending off Dean Huang, Ba Shiming wondered, what exactly did Dean Huang want to see?

Less than ten minutes after he left, Dean Feng also stood up, ready to leave.

The three conspicuous seats in the middle of the first row were vacated in an instant.

Bai Shaoqi had been preparing the guzheng backstage all along, with Song Min and others helping her check the props, while Yan Zhiming reminded Bai Shaoqi, “Our dean is watching below, you perform well and make a name for the Finance Student Council.”

Due to the arrival of the two deans, the staff of the Finance Student Council had all been as motivated as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

There were three more performances before Bai Shaoqi’s, and she was backstage trying out the guzheng.

Yan Zhiming came out from behind the curtain and immediately saw Dean Feng at the entrance, preparing to leave, with their president seeing off the dean.

“Dean,” Yan Zhiming approached, “are you leaving already? Our school’s new student Bai Shaoqi hasn’t performed yet, won’t you watch her performance?”

The auditorium now had far fewer people than at the start of the event.

Earlier, the back rows were crowded, but now one could see quite a few empty seats at a glance.

When Dean Huang left, he took a lot of students with him.

Dean Feng looked at Yan Zhiming and sighed, “I heard that Dean Huang came because of… but the top scholar from the Physics Institute this year is indeed impressive. Their institute is lucky. You’ve organized this welcome party well.”

After saying that, he went out the door.

Yan Zhiming exchanged glances with the people from the School of Finance, worried about this very scenario, which was why they had Bai Shaoqi as the closing act.

“Minister Yan, now a lot of people live streaming are waiting for our closing performance,” a member of the Student Union of the School of Finance suddenly spoke up, “should we have had Bai Lian as the closing act…?”

Bai Lian had already been trending for three hours now.

But before this, who could have known Bai Lian’s performance would be so explosive?

Yan Zhiming also felt somewhat uneasy.

The penultimate performance.

Bai Shaoqi went on stage with her false nails equipped.

Sitting before the guzheng, she also noticed the three empty seats in the first row and tightened her fingers slightly.

In the last row, a boy who had been streaming with his phone the whole time perked up, “Look quickly, the much-anticipated live stream of Bai Shaoqi is on!”

Bai Shaoqi played “Rewriting the Past” as she struck the strings in time with the beat of the drum.

The song was already an inspirational type, and the sound quality in the venue was good, but—

[I’ve been waiting for so long, but why doesn’t it sound as good as the opening accompaniment?]

[Professional speaking, do not compare this guzheng piece with the BGM of the opening dance; there is no comparability.]

Taken on its own, Bai Shaoqi’s performance was very good, but in comparison, not to mention Bai Lian’s spear dance, even her opening music was composed with the involvement of Jian Zhongyou, with flute and xiao melodies… all recorded by teachers from Jiangyin.

Do you understand the value of a piece co-created by so many masters of Jiangyin?