Chapter 373: The Bai Family

Chapter 373: Chapter 373: The Bai Family

The Bai Family wept and pleaded with Shi Lan to intercede on their behalf, but she simply refused to see them.

When Ye Ming learned they were harassing Shi Lan, he promptly had them arrested and thrown in jail.

Not all members of the Bai Family had committed crimes. The Empire’s laws were strictly enforced, with sentences determined solely by the severity of the offense. The ones truly facing punishment were Mr. Bai, Mrs. Bai, and one of her Beast Husbands; only those three were involved.

Mrs. Bai never imagined it would come to this. She had simply been unable to stand seeing the Jiang Family doing so well, and when she grew impatient waiting for news of Jiang Xia’s death, she sent someone to poison them. That way, even if the target died, the death could be blamed on a spiritual power collapse.

She never thought that someone in a state of severe spiritual power collapse like Jiang Xia could leave Black Star unharmed. More surprisingly, she never expected that after so much time had passed, Ye Ming’s first act as Monarch would be to launch a strict investigation into these old matters.

In short, Mrs. Bai was filled with regret.

Meanwhile, while investigating Mr. Bai as an accomplice, Ye Ming followed the clues by monitoring his chip data. In doing so, he inadvertently uncovered the truth about Shi Lan’s past capture by Donald. It turned out that Mr. Bai was the origin of the whole affair.

Everything he did was merely to conceal the secret that Shi Lan was his biological daughter. He had arranged for her to be sent far away, so when he suddenly recognized her many years later, he panicked and took ruthless action.

After this accidental discovery, Mr. Bai, who as an accomplice would have only received a few decades in prison, was now sentenced to death just like Mrs. Bai. Furthermore, because his crime involved harming a female, his sentence was the more severe punishment of death by hanging.

As for Ye Yan, he received the same punishment as Mrs. Bai.

When Ye Ming came to arrest him, Ye Yan knew the evidence was irrefutable. He didn’t try to deny it. To the victor go the spoils; such is the way of the world.

His only regret was what he had done to his wife, Bai Rao, so he took the initiative to divorce her.

In truth, he had also longed for his own family, for a child of his own. But living constantly in his brother’s shadow, jealousy had long ago corroded his heart. Coupled with the former Monarch secretly fomenting opposition between them, Ye Yan’s hatred for Ye Ming had only deepened over time.

This long-festering resentment doomed any chance of him and Ye Ming ever being true brothers again.

Bai Rao also never expected so much to happen to the people around her in such a short time.

After being rescued and brought back to the Capital Star, she fulfilled her promise to Shi Lan, voluntarily revealing the truth about her being an adopted daughter and moving out of the Bai Family’s home.

Just as she was pondering how she would interact with Mr. and Mrs. Bai in the future, they were both arrested, along with her husband, Ye Yan.

However, after learning the truth of the matter, Bai Rao was powerless to save them. This was especially true for Mr. Bai; after her own experience with the raid on the underground base, she had grown to despise males who harmed females.

In the days leading up to their execution, even though she detested what Mr. Bai had done, they were still the family she had known for so many years. She fulfilled her final duty, finding different ways each day to send them delicious food and daily necessities to improve their last few days in prison. She didn’t forget Ye Yan either, even though they were already divorced.

Bai Rao couldn’t say she was fond of Ye Yan, but she didn’t dislike him either. In her eyes, she was more concerned with a male’s value, which had been the initial basis for her marriage to him.

Ye Yan, on the other hand, was deeply moved. Since he had already divorced Bai Rao, she had no obligation to do any of this for him.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help but think, ’If only I wasn’t the Second Prince.’ Perhaps then he could have truly lived the life he dreamed of.

Alas, there were no ’if onlys’.

But what truly surprised Bai Rao was that while Ye Yan, the man who had been her husband for only a short time, was grateful for her help, the family she had lived with for years cursed her because she couldn’t save them. They spat that she was an ungrateful wretch, even regretting that they had ever raised her, their mouths full of one heart-wrenching phrase after another.

Bai Rao never thought she would one day hear such words from her own family. Even though they were her adoptive parents, the years of kindness and affection she had received from them could not be instantly washed away.

They had committed such a grievous crime that she was powerless to save them, yet this very powerlessness became the weapon they used to attack her. The same insults she had once heard them hurl at Shi Lan were now all being directed at her.

"You ungrateful freeloader."

"We should have just let you starve back then! How heartless can you be? You won’t even save the parents who raised you for all these years."

"If we’d given all these years of a good life to a dog, at least the animal would know to bark its thanks! But you... when it really matters, you’re completely useless..."

And it wasn’t just Mrs. Bai saying these things; consumed by the anxiety of his impending death, Mr. Bai was also screaming abuse at her.

Bai Rao’s heart turned completely cold. She continued to send their meals, but her patient, caring words ceased. It wasn’t until the day before their execution that she couldn’t help but ask, "Who were my biological parents? Father, can you tell me?"

Mr. and Mrs. Bai had been imprisoned for half a month. During that time, the other members of the Bai Family had run around trying everything but were still unable to save them. As the time of their execution drew near, they finally realized that death was imminent and began to accept their fate.

Perhaps it’s true that a person’s words become kind when death is near. Mr. Bai’s anxiety about his fate had calmed considerably, and for the first time since his imprisonment, he looked at his daughter, Bai Rao, with sincerity.

Even though she was not his biological child, Mr. Bai had indeed spent a great deal of time and energy on her. He remembered how, when little Bai Rao would cry, his heart would ache and he would immediately pick her up and play horsey with her in the garden to soothe her.

Past memories flashed through his mind like a galloping horse. Mr. Bai looked at Bai Rao, and his voice softened. "I’m sorry, but I don’t know who your biological parents are either. I bought you from someone on the dark web."

The dark web was the only secret space that could evade the Sky-Eye’s surveillance—or perhaps it was a clandestine organization that Sky-Eye knew about and permitted to exist. It was a place where anything could be done, as long as you had the money.

Mr. Bai had learned of its existence by chance. Deciding to give it a try, he submitted a request for a female infant and was surprised when someone contacted him very quickly.

After their transaction was complete, he never saw that dark web contact again. Even when the person came to deliver the child, they were cautious and did not show their face.

So, in the entire process, all he had to do was pay money and state his requirements. He didn’t have to worry about anything else.

Hearing this, a trace of disappointment flickered in Bai Rao’s eyes. In fact, she had already gone to the Bureau of Investigation and searched all the way back to the year of her birth, but found no records of any missing female infants being reported.

The Bureau of Investigation was always strict when it came to investigating missing children; if a report was filed, there would inevitably be results within three days.

Finding nothing meant that her biological parents had truly never looked for her.

An inexpressible sense of loss filled her heart, but then her thoughts turned to Shi Lan, who had grown up with no parents at all. ’Compared to that,’ she thought, ’my own situation is nothing.’

Shi Lan had clearly been abandoned by Mr. Bai himself and had grown up on a poverty-stricken planet. Meanwhile, she herself had enjoyed the privileged life that should have been Shi Lan’s since childhood. Even if it hadn’t been her choice, she was still the one who had benefited.

Bai Rao felt she no longer had any right to search for her own parents.

She didn’t deserve to have all the good things in life.