23: Two men's imaginary drama!

But no matter how she controlled her emotions, tears still welled up, and she cried uncontrollably, gasping for breath, her face streaked with tears.

She truly didn't know what to do.

Her heart ached as if it were torn apart; she had failed to protect Xiao Bai, and she hadn't saved her mother, her Older Brothers, or those she had once desperately tried to protect.

At this moment, Bai Wanning couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by sorrow, her mind filled with countless failed decisions and regrets from her previous life.

But it didn't matter; heaven had eyes and had given her a chance to start over!

Bai Wanning swore in her heart that in this life, she would never make the same mistakes again.

She would correct each one and make up for all her regrets.

She only wished that her family could live in peace and safety, no longer living in fear and pain as they had in her previous life.

On the other end of the phone, Yan Meiyu heard Bai Wanning crying so hard she could barely breathe, and she was so frightened her soul nearly flew out of her body.

Before she could even ask a question, Bai Wanning hastily interrupted, “Mom, bring as much money as you can; I really… can’t go on anymore.

Also, bring Xiao Yu and Xiao Xu… It’s been so many years, and I haven’t even had a chance to hug them…”

Her stepmother, Chu Xia, had ruined her and her Older Brothers.

That woman was malicious, and not content with what she had done, she then schemed against her eldest Older Brother, having him drugged in the village and entangled with a village shrew!

That shrew, Fang Qing, was not only fat and lazy but also brazenly unreasonable, and Bai Jixuan actually thought he had gotten the better of her and treated her quite well.

But how could Chu Xia tolerate anyone living better than her? Any man she set her sights on would come to a bad end.

After Fang Qing married in, she immediately revealed her true nature.

She suppressed Older Brother, bullied Mother, and forced the Older Brothers to support her entire brood of outsiders.

No matter how hard Older Brother worked, he still couldn't transfer to a school in the city; wasn't it because they had drained him dry?

If it were only these things, Bai Wanning might have been able to forgive Fang Qing.

But what she could never forgive was that after the Apocalypse arrived, that woman actually sold her two young nephews for a few pieces of meat!

All because Fang Qing’s precious nephew “insisted on it.”

When Bai Wanning arrived at the scene, she was furious.

She stopped Fang Qing, forced her to admit everything, and wished she could have stabbed her a hundred times on the spot!

Unfortunately, Fang Qing died after only thirty stabs.

She really wanted to stab her one cut at a time, but she knew it wasn't the right time yet.

She couldn't go back and forth to the village, so she could only place her hopes on Older Brother and Mother.

Her nephews also had to come to the city; they had to live with her and Bai Zhan.

If they stayed in the village with Mother, they would die very quickly.

“Wanning, your nephews…”

“Mom! Don’t say another word, don’t refuse, please hurry and come over!” Bai Wanning pleaded, almost begging, “My situation here is really bad.

You don’t know how Bai Qingshi treated me before; he sold me to a man older than my grandfather!”

“I was lucky to escape… but I’m really hurting inside, Mom.

If you don’t come, I don’t know if I can even survive.”

She gritted her teeth and added, “So you absolutely must come to the city, bring as much money as you can, otherwise I really will starve to death on the streets…”

After Bai Wanning finished speaking, she decisively hung up the phone.

She understood that saying one more word to her mother would only expose one more detail.

Since she couldn't tell her mother and Older Brothers the truth about the impending Apocalypse, she could only use her current predicament to guide them to make their own choices.

She needed them to worry about her, to feel sorry for her, so they would rush to the city without hesitation at the first opportunity.

And after her cry, her mother would surely be anxious enough to immediately deal with the land in the village, selling all of it, leaving only a small portion to barely get by.

Bai Wanning naturally felt guilty for deceiving her mother, but when she thought about how the first wave of the tsunami would flatten everything when the Apocalypse struck, rendering all that land and all those hard-earned savings useless, her guilt slowly turned into forbearance.

Selling it now might still yield a little something useful.

It was better to deal with it while it still had some value than to gain nothing at all!

Not far behind her, Lei Qian listened to her sobbing on the phone, and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed.

She spoke lightly, but no matter how strong a woman was, after experiencing everything she had gone through, how could she truly be unfazed?

Moreover, Bai Wanning's situation was more unique than others; she had just turned eighteen!

And her private photos were almost exposed online; although he had managed to suppress it in time, that incident ultimately became an indelible scar.

What bothered him even more was that he had so carelessly taken away something so incredibly important to any woman—her first time.

Lei Qian’s heart sank, and he grew increasingly agitated.

Bai Wanning always appeared calm and indifferent in front of him; even when he acted disrespectfully, she pretended as if nothing had happened.

But who knew if, when she was alone, she would curl up in a corner and cry her heart out?

Lu Yu, standing nearby, glanced at Lei Qian and snorted, “Scumbag.”

Lei Qian: “!!!”

Bai Wanning didn't know that her recent outburst of tears had led two men to imagine an entire tragic drama.

While eating her meal, she opened the material exchange system, thinking… if she could exchange for a portable space ring or a stable resource warehouse, then this meal would be worth it!

Halfway through her meal, she instructed the chef to prepare three to four more meals to be delivered to her residence later.

As soon as she finished paying, Bai Wanning couldn't help but pause when she walked out of the restaurant.

Parked at the entrance of the restaurant was an extremely flamboyant custom car, its metallic shell gleaming coldly.

The windshield and car windows were all bulletproof glass, and the entire vehicle resembled a heavy, walking tank, exuding an imposing aura.

Her gaze fell upon the figure in front of the car… The man was wearing a well-tailored dark blue suit, his long hair casually tied into a loose braid, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose, his expression gentle but with a hint of lazy nonchalance.

Why was he here?

Bai Wanning's brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of wariness in her eyes.

Seeing her walk out, Lei Qian immediately breathed a sigh of relief, a somewhat awkward smile on his face, and straightened his back as he walked towards her.

“It’s good that you’re out; I was just about to go in and look for you.”

“How did you know I was here?” Bai Wanning frowned, a hint of impatience in her tone, “Don’t tell me you’ve started stalking again.”