Chapter 50: Please, Mr. Xiao, Be Merciful
Ye Baiwei sighed. "Your Bai Family's illness, and my Ye Family's illness—it's all because of this one thing."
Bai Xue started to argue, but Ye Baiwei cut her off. "I know you don't believe me, but we're good friends. I can't just stand by and watch something happen to you."
"For our two families to survive, there are only two options now. The first is to return the Golden Saber and offer up half of our wealth. The second... is for both of us to marry Xiao Ye!"
Bai Xue was stunned. "What? Marry him? Both of us?"
"That's right." Ye Baiwei nodded. "I don't know why either, but back when the Ye Family took on the debt of the Golden Saber, there was indeed a marriage contract. It stipulated that the first daughter of the Ye Family must marry Xiao Ye."
"It's the same for your Bai Family. You are the Bai Family Patriarch's first daughter. We both have a marriage contract with him."
Bai Xue refused to believe a word of it, a feeling of intense disgust rising within her. "Sister Bai Wei, what kind of joke is this? It's the twenty-first century!"
"Leaving aside the fact that polygamy is illegal, a guy like him isn't worthy of us in the first place!"
Although Xiao Ye's face was admittedly handsome, the thought of his tricks made Bai Xue fume.
"Sister Bai Wei, you graduated from a top university, you're a celebrity, you've seen the world... Why do you believe in this kind of baseless nonsense?"
Ye Baiwei took her hand and pleaded earnestly, "It's precisely because I've seen the world that I know this is real. Do you understand?"
"I don't!" Bai Xue shook her hand off. "Sister Bai Wei, have you met this Xiao Ye?"
"Yes, I have. And he's already made me feel much better. He's the only one who can save us!"
Bai Xue felt like she had figured out the truth. "I get it now. He must have tricked you. I'm going to find him!"
With that, she ran out of the room.
Ye Baiwei tried to stop her but was blocked by a Ye Family subordinate. "Young Miss, you can't leave without the master's permission!"
Bai Xue got in her car and sped all the way to the old Lin Family residence.
Just as Xiao Ye was coming out, she immediately got out of her car and confronted him aggressively. "Xiao Ye, you're a truly shameless scoundrel!"
"How dare you deceive Sister Bai Wei and say you want us both to marry you? You have no shame!"
"Bai Wei is a red-hot superstar! A piece of trash like you is completely unworthy of her!"
"And then there's me." The tip of Bai Xue's nose was red with anger. "I am the young miss of the Bai Family, the future heir, and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. A fraud like you is even less worthy of me!"
"So you can just forget about it. I will never marry you!"
Xiao Ye listened patiently, then shook his head and chuckled lightly.
He had to admit, Bai Xue had some looks. She was young and beautiful, definitely what you'd call a pretty girl.
But she couldn't compare to Lin Chuyue or Chu Yan.
In front of such dazzling and elegant beauties, her own looks paled in comparison.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in you either. You're just a kid who hasn't even fully developed. In my eyes, you don't even count as a woman!"
"You... you... you..." Bai Xue pointed at Xiao Ye, too furious to speak.
She had always thought she was quite attractive, and she'd had no shortage of suitors over the years. No one had ever spoken to her like that before.
"You're despicable! Just you wait! I won't let you get away with this!"
Bai Xue trembled with rage, turning and stomping back toward her car.
'I'll find evidence, save the Bai and Ye Families, and expose this guy's ugly true colors!' she resolved.
Bai Xue was so furious that she didn't even notice a car speeding toward her down the road.
By the time she saw it, it was too late. The glare of the headlights was nearly blinding.
She stood frozen on the spot, completely stiff and unable to move.
'Am I... going to die just like this?'
Suddenly, a large hand reached out from behind, grabbed her clothes, and yanked her back hard.
The car sped past right in front of her, stirring up a gust of wind.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Xiao Ye let go of her and scolded unhappily, "If you want to die, do it somewhere else. This is the entrance to the Lin Family's home. Don't bring your misfortune to someone else's doorstep."
If he hadn't seen that the girl was fundamentally a good person, with merit to her name, and clearly possessed the benevolent heart of a true healer, he couldn't have been bothered to interfere.
Bai Xue finally snapped back to her senses, scrambled into her car, and drove away.
Her heart pounded the entire way home.
She had almost died just now. Luckily, that guy had saved her.
'No, he's not my savior. He's just a fraud!'
When Bai Xue got home, she was still a mess of anxiety.
When she saw Bai Shoucheng sitting in his wheelchair, she couldn't help but ask, "Dad, that Golden Saber from back then... what's the real story?"
Bai Shoucheng sighed. He didn't plan to hide it anymore. With the Bai Family in its current state, he had no idea what to do.
"The story of the Golden Saber is true. Back then, I was just an ordinary man, living a life of poverty. I thought I would spend my entire life in a muddle."
"Then, an old Daoist suddenly appeared. He said that the daughter I would have in the future would have a unique destiny, one that could bear the immense fortune of the Golden Saber, so he loaned it to me."
"But in return, I had to promise my firstborn daughter in marriage to his apprentice."
"Who would have thought that after you were born, the Bai Family's fortunes would indeed flourish..."
Bai Xue was shocked. She really did have a marriage contract with that Xiao Ye!
"But that Golden Saber... it's a fake. The Bai Family prospered because of your hard work and wisdom, Dad."
"No, it wasn't my ability. It was thanks to the Golden Saber."
Bai Shoucheng knew his own limitations. He knew that luck was largely responsible for his success up to this point.
And that luck, of course, all came from the Golden Saber.
"Alright, you should go get some rest. Let me think about what to do..."
「A few more days passed in the blink of an eye.」
Not only did the strange illness persist in the Bai Family, but their businesses also began to run into problems one after another.
Bai Shoucheng immediately had someone investigate and found that, sure enough, the Ye Family had not been spared either. In fact, their situation was even more dire than his own.
If this continued, the Bai Family would truly be finished!
Moreover, he could feel his own health deteriorating.
Gritting his teeth, Bai Shoucheng had someone bring the Golden Saber and went to the Lin Family in person.
When Xiao Ye saw him, he sneered, sitting on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other.
The Patriarch of the Bai Family, a man known by everyone in Jiangcheng, now looked at him pitifully, like a stray dog.
"Mr. Xiao, this is all my fault. I was blinded by greed and was unwilling to return the Golden Saber."
"Now I have seen the error of my ways and am willing to return it!"
"I beg you, please give the Bai Family a way to survive!"
As he spoke, Bai Shoucheng took out the real Golden Saber and offered it forward reverently.
Xiao Ye knew it was the real one with just a glance.
He didn't reach out to take it. Instead, his eyes grew colder. "I already gave you a chance. You were the one who didn't cherish it."
"The time for amends has passed."
"Returning the Golden Saber now? It's too late!"
Bai Shoucheng's hand trembled in fear, and the Golden Saber fell to the floor with a crisp CLANG. "Please, Mr. Xiao, be merciful!"
Xiao Ye spoke coldly, "Get out!"
"Your Bai Family is doomed to fall, not because of the Golden Saber, but because of your greed!"