"Madam, madam, you're awake?"
The panicked voice sounded in her ear, and Bai Nuanxi frowned in irritation. "Shut up!"
"Madam! Young Master Ji is waiting for you downstairs in the living room."
Bai Nuanxi froze, her eyes snapping open to look at the servant in front of her. What was going on… wasn't she dead?
She clenched her fist instinctively, realizing she lacked strength. The familiar scene before her was like a fleeting moment from yesterday. Was she... reborn?
"Madam, madam?!" The servant seemed displeased with Bai Nuanxi's distraction, her tone growing harsher.
In the past, Bai Nuanxi wouldn't have noticed such trivial details, but remembering her previous life, she now found this servant incredibly annoying. Forced by her parents, she married Huo Muchen despite having her heart set on someone else. Even after marrying into the Huo family, she continued to contact her first love, Ji Ziyu, until she stole confidential information from Huo Muchen's company and handed it over to Ji Ziyu.
Bai Nuanxi could never have imagined that the person she trusted would betray her, joining forces with her own sister to stab her in the back! And the servant before her, she realized now, was a spy planted by Ji Ziyu to keep in touch with her.
"Why are you shouting?" Bai Nuanxi's face turned cold, clearly annoyed. "Do I need to report my thoughts to you?"
The servant, not expecting such a strong reaction from Bai Nuanxi, hastily explained, "I… I'm sorry, Madam, I was just thinking that Mr. Ji is still waiting downstairs and might get impatient, so I got a bit anxious."
Bai Nuanxi raised an eyebrow and let out a cold snort, "Anxious? A servant who can't remember their place is useless to me. Go to the garden and pull out the weeds, and don't show your face around here again."
"But, Madam, I…" The servant couldn't understand how Bai Nuanxi could have changed so much overnight.
"Shut up. Say another word, and you're out of the Huo family!" Bai Nuanxi snapped, storming downstairs without looking back.
"Nuanxi! I missed you so much!" As soon as Ji Ziyu saw Bai Nuanxi, he rushed over, reaching out to hug her.
Bai Nuanxi calmly stepped back, "Mr. Ji, what brings you to the Huo family today?"
Ji Ziyu's expression froze, his smile unable to hide his embarrassment. "I… I wanted to talk to you about something."
"If it's business-related, please contact my husband directly. If it's about family matters, speak with our housekeeper. And if it's about me…" Bai Nuanxi hesitated, glancing at Ji Ziyu.
Ji Ziyu seized the opportunity and said, "It is about you!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk."
"Nuanxi, what's wrong? Is Huo Muchen forcing you again?!" Ji Ziyu sensed something was amiss, his expression constantly shifting. Finally, he stared at Bai Nuanxi, "Nuanxi, I'll take you away. From now on, no one will threaten you again. I'll protect you!"
Caught off guard, Bai Nuanxi felt his grip on her wrist. At that moment, someone watching from afar took a sharp breath.
Bai Nuanxi frowned and immediately shook off Ji Ziyu's hand, then slapped him hard!
The crisp sound of the slap echoed clearly, causing some servants nearby to stop in their tracks.
"Mr. Ji, it is hardly gentlemanly to be so hands-on with a married woman," Bai Nuanxi said, pulling out a tissue to carefully wipe her hands as if she had touched something filthy. "If you have no further business, the door is that way. Don't let me keep you."
The housekeeper, who had been observing for some time, immediately stepped forward. "Mr. Ji, please."
Dazed from the slap, Ji Ziyu was escorted out of the Huo family home.
Meanwhile, in the CEO's office at Huo Corporation's headquarters, Secretary Luo Wenchuan let out a sigh of relief, discreetly wiping the sweat from his forehead. Heaven knows how dark Huo Muchen's face had been while watching the surveillance footage when Ji Ziyu said those words.
Fortunately, Bai Nuanxi's response was spot on!
"Boss, the meeting is about to start. Shall we head to the conference room?" Seeing Bai Nuanxi behaving herself in the surveillance, Luo Wenchuan remembered his duties and steeled himself to speak.
Huo Muchen closed his laptop and stood up, heading towards the conference room.
Bai Nuanxi continued eating her delicious century egg and lean meat porridge while pondering the events of her past life. She had stolen documents from the Huo family, leading to a sharp decline in Huo Corporation's stock. At that time, she had fled with Ji Ziyu, but somehow, word got out, and she was captured and brought back.
She thought she was doomed, but the man had simply kept her pressed beneath him, time after time, until the Huo family crisis passed, and she never saw Huo Muchen again—until later when she was eight months pregnant and discovered by Bai Jianan, who strapped her to an operating table. The pain of the surgery was still vivid in her memory; it was a nightmare she couldn't forget!
Reflecting on it now, how did news of her escape leak out? And she had only told Ji Ziyu about her pregnancy, so how did Bai Jianan know?
It seemed all of her past life had proven one thing: her sister Bai Jianan and Ji Ziyu had been secretly in cahoots for a long time! She, Bai Nuanxi, was nothing more than a puppet in their hands!
Today, Ji Ziyu had come to talk about Huo Corporation's documents, but she had disrupted his plans. That's why Ji Ziyu had hastily suggested taking her away.
But what about the days to come? Being led around by the nose by these two?
Heh… if she didn't train these two into obedient dogs, she wouldn't be Bai Nuanxi!
Bai Nuanxi finished her porridge and went upstairs to rest. The servant who had been close to her before was sent to the garden, leaving her alone in the vast mansion.
Previously, she might have felt uneasy and fearful. Huo Muchen had a reputation for being ruthless; she lived every day in the Huo family home on edge, afraid he would snap her neck if he was displeased.