WMSR — QT Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Xu Jiangzhe looked at his father, hesitating for a long moment before finally summoning the courage to ask: "Dad, Ziqian won't leave, will he?"

Xu Weihai paused, lifting his head to see the worry plastered across his son's face, and couldn't help but chuckle. "What, are you afraid that if Bai Ziqian leaves, you won't have anyone to play with anymore?"

Facing Xu Weihai's playful teasing, Xu Jiangzhe nodded with absolute solemnity. It had taken so much effort for him to finally live under the same roof with Ziqian; he didn't want him to leave under any circumstances.

Shaking his head with a light laugh, Xu Weihai lowered his gaze back down to sign the documents before him, casually remarking: "Rest assured, Bai Ziqian won't leave. I am his legal guardian—wherever I am, he stays."

Yet right after uttering those confident words, Xu Weihai seemed to suddenly recall something. He shot a strange, inquiring look back up at his son: "Why did you ask that question out of nowhere just now?"

Having heard his father's reassuring confirmation that Ziqian wouldn't leave, a relaxed, relieved smile bloomed on Xu Jiangzhe's face. Hearing Xu Weihai's question, he simply answered with a grin: "Because I feel like Ziqian seems to be waiting for someone all the time. I was just scared that Ziqian might be taken away by someone else."

Upon hearing Xu Jiangzhe's words, Xu Weihai's expression instantly turned dead serious. Waiting for someone? Who on earth could Bai Ziqian possibly be waiting for? Xu Weihai pressed Xu Jiangzhe with a couple more probing questions. Having resolved the huge concern weighing on his mind, Xu Jiangzhe lightly skipped out of the room with a cheerful demeanor. Meanwhile, Xu Weihai sat behind his office desk with his brows knit into a tight, troubled knot, completely losing all focus on the corporate files before him.

Terrified that he might have overlooked something crucial, Xu Weihai meticulously reviewed every single person in Bai Ziqian's social circle once again. Only after reassuring himself that his guardianship paperwork was absolutely ironclad—and that Bai Ziqian had zero surviving relatives who could contest or snatch guardianship rights from his hands—did he slowly begin to unwind.

Though he remained convinced of his rock-solid legal standing, a tiny corner of Xu Weihai's mind simply couldn't shake off that casual remark for some inexplicable reason. His son's phrase—"Ziqian seems to be waiting for someone all the time"—kept echoing endlessly in his thoughts.

He remained in this anxious, distracted state all the way through to the next morning when he went into the office. This absentmindedness persisted right through his morning meetings, lasting until his secretary pushed the door open and stepped in: "President Xu, here is the new contract with Yinman drafted by the legal department today. Please take a look."

The secretary's words detonated in Xu Weihai's mind like a bolt of lightning cutting through a dense fog: The legal department... Legal department... Right! Lawyers! Those two attorneys from last time...

Xu Weihai stood frozen in place for a good few seconds before suddenly snapping back to reality. Lunging forward, he grabbed the desk telephone and dialed out with frantic urgency, his movements laced with an unmistakable, chaotic panic that left the waiting secretary completely stunned.

After a long, agonizing stretch, the results of Xu Weihai's phone call finally came through. As Xu Weihai listened to the findings reported from the other end of the line, his tightly coiled nerves seemed to slacken instantly. Letting out a massive sigh of relief, he slumped back into his chair. Only then did he realize that cold sweat had drenched his forehead at some point—he had been terrifyingly tense while waiting for the verdict.

Fortunately, things were not as dire as he had feared. Thank goodness...

He told himself it was just a kid after all; he had definitely been overthinking things.

Sitting blankly for a moment, he felt his heart hammering wildly against his ribs from the recent adrenaline rush. Deciding to take a couple of pills to soothe his chest, Xu Weihai pulled open a desk drawer. Yet the moment the drawer slid open, his eyes landed on a specific object lying inside. If Bai Yichen were standing here, he would instantly recognize the item Xu Weihai was staring at: it was the very smartphone that had been confiscated from him earlier.

Grasping his medicine, Xu Weihai swallowed the pills down with a gulp of water, yet his gaze never strayed from that phone for a single second, his mind churning with unreadable thoughts. After downing the medication, he hesitated repeatedly before calling an assistant into the office, handing the phone over: "Find me the best technical specialists available. Every single piece of data inside this phone—past contacts, transaction history, wire transfer records, especially anything from the last three months—extract it all for me!"

Once his subordinate departed the office, Xu Weihai stroked his chest—which felt considerably more comfortable now that the medication had kicked in—and shook his head with a faint self-deprecating chuckle. He felt a bit ridiculous for his own overreaction; against a mere child, wasn't this measure somewhat of an unnecessary overkill?

Still, since the command had already been issued—and given Xu Weihai's inherently suspicious and paranoid nature—running a quick background check cost very little effort anyway, so he quickly brushed the matter aside.

Just like that, two days passed. As Xu Weihai was preparing for an upcoming executive meeting as usual, he received a phone call. Initially, he didn't take the call too seriously, casually listening while contemplating other matters. However, by the time the person on the other end finished speaking, the expression on his face had frozen into a blank, lifeless mask...

Three law firms! There were actually three law firms...!

That brat had truly retained legal counsel—and he hadn't even approached the firm that came to the house last time! Instead, he had secretly contracted three entirely different firms—a full three law firms...!

An overwhelming wave of terrifying post-event dread crashed over Xu Weihai. Clutching his chest like a heart attack patient, he slowly sank down into his seat, taking a long time before he felt his breathing gradually return. Thank goodness—thank goodness he had caught it in time! Everything could still be salvaged, and he still had the chance to fix this...

Shudders of lingering horror surged through his heart. Just a little more, just a tiny bit more, and all his golden dreams would have been shattered to pieces...

In the weeks that followed, Xu Weihai became extraordinarily busy, rarely even returning home. Living in the Xu residence, Bai Yichen naturally noticed his absence. However, because Xu Weihai barely showed his face in front of him anymore, combined with the extreme scarcity of information reaching his ears, Bai Yichen had no way of drawing a solid conclusion.

Despite the lack of concrete intel, Bai Yichen's sharp, honed instincts stirred a subtle thread of unease within his chest.

Bai Yichen lightly tapped his fingers against the armrest of his wheelchair. No matter how uneasy he felt, his current physical confinement rendered him powerless to take proactive measures. Thus, the only choice left to him was to settle his mind and wait patiently.

Yet one month bled into two, and two months stretched into three... Within the quiet walls of this villa, not a single unexpected visitor ever arrived.

Author's Note: I know everyone is eager to see Baibai break free from legal guardianship and get rid of this whole toxic family, but look at the arc title of this world... "The Caged White Moonlight." So it won't happen that quickly!