Chapter 46: I Am Your Son!

“You remind me of someone…”

“Who do I remind you of?” Bai Xian’s heart gave a jolt. She almost lost her grip on the dessert she was holding, her voice barely more than a whisper as she asked.

“My wife…” As soon as Bai Yaobin said the words, he realized how ambiguous they sounded. It was as if he were harassing a young girl. He quickly forced a laugh and tried to save face, “Haha, just kidding! It’s just that your profile looks a bit like my wife’s. Don’t take it seriously.”

Instinctively, Bai Xian reached up to touch her own cheek. Now that her father mentioned it, she realized she really did resemble her mother a little when viewed from the side. She’d always felt a strange sense of familiarity when looking in the mirror. Not only that, her features also bore some resemblance to her mother’s old photos. No wonder her father had been caught so off guard upon seeing her. Anyone would be momentarily stunned to come across a girl who looked seventy or eighty percent like their wife in her youth.

“What’s your name, young lady? Do you have a boyfriend? I have a son who graduated from a prestigious university and works at a—”

Bai Xian’s face turned awkward. Dad was matchmaking again, trying to find a daughter-in-law every time he saw a pretty girl. Now, he’d even set his sights on her. Introducing me to “myself”… What is this, marrying myself off?

“…Come to think of it, didn’t that kid say he was already at the door? Why isn’t he coming in yet?” With that, Bai Yaobin grabbed his phone and dialed “Bai Xian.”

Immediately, the ringtone sounded from the pocket of the girl sitting across from him.

“Your ringtone is the same as my son’s. Looks like you two would get along well… Hey, hey, don’t go, miss!” He watched, baffled, as the girl bolted out of the café.

“Did I scare her off by being too friendly?” he muttered to himself. “That kid is so slow, letting such a good opportunity slip by. Looks like I’ll have to scold him… Hey, he hung up on me!”

—

Bai Xian dashed out of the café and ducked into a nearby alley. Leaning against the wall, she patted her chest to calm herself. She hadn’t anticipated her father would call her just then; the moment the ringtone sounded, she panicked. Without thinking, she hurriedly ran out and hung up the phone.

But now, how was she supposed to confess and explain everything to her dad?

The more she thought about it, the more her head ached. Out of the corner of her eye, she realized she wasn’t alone in the alley. In the shadows at the corner, seven or eight young men and delinquent girls squatted together. One of them, clearly on lookout, stared at her in surprise, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Scattered around their feet were several stainless steel canisters, each about the size of a finger.

These weren’t toys or snacks, but nitrous oxide—commonly known as “laughing gas”—a substance sometimes used in the medical field. Of course, using it like this was another matter entirely: inhaling drugs.

Bai Xian cursed her luck inwardly. Of all things, she had to stumble into this. She put on a polite expression and said, “Sorry, I took a wrong turn. I’ll leave right now.” She started to back out, planning to call the police once she was clear.

But those she’d interrupted had no intention of letting her go. The lookout stepped in to block her escape, and the rest of the scrawny thugs quickly surrounded her, their faces lewd and malicious.

“Leave? Sure. But only if you take a hit of this first.” The ringleader pulled out one of the small steel canisters.

Bai Xian tilted her head, her face showing exasperation. She hadn’t wanted things to come to blows, but apparently, there was no avoiding it.

Just as she was about to teach these punks a lesson they’d never forget—

“What are you doing?!” A loud shout rang out. Bai Yaobin strode in, pushing aside the lookout and pulling the “frightened” Bai Xian behind him.

With one glance, Bai Yaobin instantly grasped the situation. His voice thundered, “You’re daring to take drugs? None of you are getting away.”

He pulled out his phone, intending to call the police. The young men, seeing his move, panicked and lunged at him to snatch the phone away.

But after ten years in the army, Bai Yaobin was not one to be intimidated. With a swift maneuver, he pinned the ringleader to the ground.

“Ah—my arm! You’re breaking my arm… Get him!” the young man wailed.

As soon as Bai Yaobin let go, the thugs regrouped and attacked together. He tossed his phone aside and got ready to fight, felling one with a punch. But soon, someone grabbed him around the waist. He threw another over his shoulder, but took a blow to the back.

After all, he’d been retired for years, and age was catching up with him. Two fists were no match for a crowd. After taking down two more, his hands and waist were finally restrained, leaving him unable to move.

The ringleader, nearly having his arm broken, lay on the ground, his eyes bloodshot with pain and humiliation—or perhaps it was the drugs. He pulled a folding knife from his pocket and, turning, stabbed straight for Bai Yaobin’s chest.

At that moment, Bai Yaobin was still grappling with the thugs holding his arms. He hadn’t expected they’d actually try to kill him, and could only watch helplessly as the knife came toward his heart.

In his mind, he thought, “It’s over.”

But just then, a clear, commanding voice rang out beside him. “Did you all really think I was just going to stand here and do nothing?”

What happened next, Bai Yaobin would remember for the rest of his life.

The girl—who just moments before had seemed so frightened—snatched the knife-wielding thug’s hand. With a twist, the young man dropped to his knees, clutching his broken wrist and howling in pain as the knife clattered to the ground.

Then, her hands flashed. One after another, the other thugs collapsed to the ground. In the blink of an eye, only Bai Yaobin and the girl were left standing in the alley.

“Call the police,” Bai Xian said.

Only then did Bai Yaobin snap out of his shock. He picked up his phone, only to find the screen shattered and the device dead. Bai Xian handed him hers.

“Your phone is just like my son’s…” Bai Yaobin, almost as if guided by fate, entered his son’s birthday as the password. The phone instantly unlocked. “Even the password is the same!”

He thought back to the girl’s odd behavior in the café, and her cry of “Dad” earlier. A strange, yet perfectly reasonable idea began to form in his mind.

“You’re Bai Xian…”

Bai Xian’s heart skipped a beat. She nodded in resignation, closed her eyes, and waited for judgment to fall.

But Bai Yaobin continued, “You’re Bai Xian…’s girlfriend!”

Bai Xian staggered, barely keeping her balance. “What kind of son’s girlfriend comes alone to meet the parents? I am Bai Xian. I am your son!”

Bai Yaobin, phone to his ear as he called the police, stood there dumbfounded. He barely registered the dispatcher’s questions. After a long, long pause, as if awakening from a dream, he tilted his head and uttered, in a voice far younger than his years, “Huh?”