Eve of the Storm (Hanhan Baby Diamond Update)

When Ye Linglan rushed to the hospital, Bai Yuchen was sitting alone on a bench in the corridor, his back hunched in despair, hands clasped together as slanting sunlight fell beside him. Linglan hurried forward and asked, "How is the old master?"

Bai Yuchen slowly raised his head and looked at her. If he hadn't rushed Elder Bai to the hospital in time, he wouldn't even dare to imagine the consequences. Just as Ye Shenghan rushed over and caught this sight, Linglan was standing right before Bai Yuchen, asking softly, "Is Uncle Ye alright?"

Bai Yuchen merely looked at her. Linglan frowned and asked with concern, "What happened?" Seeing him remain silent, she assumed he had unspeakable difficulties. "I'll go see Uncle Ye."

"Yuchen," Ye Shenghan walked over at that moment. The two of them turned around simultaneously. Seeing that his face was slightly pale, his dark eyes bloodshot, and he looked utterly exhausted, Linglan unconsciously clenched her palms. Shenghan looked at her without saying much, turning instead to Bai Yuchen: "Did you invest an extra sum of money into the partnership with the Liu Corporation?!"

Linglan looked between the two of them in puzzlement.

Shenghan watched Bai Yuchen, knowing the anxiety burning inside Yuchen's heart. The seventy million that Linglan had raised had not been used to redeem the deed to Tao Yuan; instead, it had been poured into the Bai Corporation. It was then that Elder Bai realized something was terribly wrong and fiercely interrogated Bai Yuchen, learning that the Bai Corporation had already been hollowed out. The old master's blood pressure had suddenly surged.

Hearing their back-and-forth exchange, Linglan sensed that something was gravely amiss. Her brows knitted even tighter. "You poured that money into the Bai Corporation?" she asked, staring at him in disbelief. Her intense tone deeply shook both men.

"Linglan—"

"Bai Yuchen, why? I told you to redeem the property deed, why did you throw it into a dead end? Why?!" She stepped forward, grabbed Bai Yuchen by the shoulders, and shook him incessantly.

"Because I will protect the Bai Corporation at all costs!!!!"

Bai Yuchen roared, his fierce voice echoing through the entire corridor. Ye Linglan stood frozen, her stagnant gaze fixed back on him. Ye Shenghan hurried forward to support Linglan's body, wrapping his arm across her chest and holding her from behind. "Why do you call it a dead end? Do you know something?" he asked in a deep voice.

At that exact moment, the ward door slowly opened with a creaking sound that cut straight through the air. All three pairs of eyes turned toward the doorway. Elder Bai, dressed in blue and white striped hospital garb, looked aged, frail, and utterly exhausted, with heavy fatigue etched across his face. He walked out haltingly, supported by Madam Bai by the wrist, her head lowered in profound guilt. In the suddenly silent air, only Madam Bai's suppressed sobs could be heard.

"Dad, Mom," Bai Yuchen blurted out.

Yet Elder Bai's gaze was fixed entirely on Ye Linglan. Linglan's brows were tightly knit as if in an unbreakable knot, and the clarity in her dark eyes had completely dimmed. Elder Bai slowly approached. Linglan instinctively retreated a step, bumping straight into Ye Shenghan's chest. At that moment, everyone present focused their attention on the young woman.

"Uncle Bai, Aunt Bai," Linglan murmured softly.

"Miss Ye..." Elder Bai spoke slowly, his hunched frame trembling uncontrollably.

"Uncle, just call me Linglan."

"I wouldn't dare." A despair as deep as a terminal illness permeated the old master's demeanor. As he looked at Ye Linglan, a glimmer of hope seemed to linger in his eyes. Having covered up everything the Ye family had once done to the Mo family and having sent Mo Zhicheng's mother to her madness, he knew these sins were his own making. Ever since he learned that the man had returned for vengeance, he had known he could not escape this storm. "Miss Ye, you can see the current state of the Bai Corporation. I am advanced in years and have reached the age where one accepts fate; perhaps one day I will just let go of everything and pass away. My death is of no consequence—every cause has its effect, and this is the bitter fruit I deserve to taste. But I still have my wife and my son. I was forty when I finally had this child, and he has never suffered a day in his life, raised entirely in a honeypot. I only want to leave a little more for him and his mother so that when I am gone, I will have fewer worries lingering in my heart."

Hearing this, Madam Bai's gentle whimpering finally broke into uncontrollable tears. She tightly gripped her husband's sleeve—her only pillar of support—and as she wept, she dabbed at the moisture in her eyes with her cuff.

Bai Yuchen leaned helplessly against the wall, his arms hanging down in despair, while Ye Shenghan watched scene after scene unfold, quietly turning his face away.

Elder Bai slowly took hold of her arm. "You are a child raised by the Ye family; your feelings for Shenghan and Yuchen are naturally deeper. Miss Ye, you wouldn't want to see them driven to a dead end, would you?"

"Uncle..." She gently bit her lip, having already guessed what Elder Bai meant.

"I have no other intentions. I only beg you to go and plead with Mo Zhicheng to spare Yuchen, my wife, and Shenghan, and leave them a way out..."

"What qualifications do I have to beg him?" Linglan muttered.

"Everyone knows Miss Ye is his only public companion, and you hold extraordinary meaning to him. I am begging you, Miss Ye." Elder Bai grasped her tightly, his legs trembling as he sank straight to his knees. Everyone gasped in astonishment. Ye Linglan hurriedly tried to lift him up, while Bai Yuchen rushed forward, crying out, "Dad, what are you doing?"

Ye Linglan firmly held onto Elder Bai. She knew that if the Bai Corporation collaborated with the Liu Corporation now, it would be jumping straight into the trap set by Mo Zhicheng.

She stared blankly into Elder Bai's expectant eyes, surrounded by deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyelids. Her heart sank, and her grip tightened.

Finally, with trembling lips, she spoke slowly: "Do not cooperate with the Liu Corporation..."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a wave of stunned gazes met her.

She smiled, turned her face away, and withdrew her gaze. "The Liu Corporation has already been bought off by Mo Zhicheng. I saw their drafted secret contract with my own eyes. If the Bai Corporation cooperates with them, the Bai Corporation will surely offer the most favorable terms. Signing that contract with the Liu Corporation would essentially be selling the Bai Corporation to Mo Zhicheng."

Elder Bai gasped. "But the Liu Corporation and I—"

"You can consider Lifeng instead," Ye Linglan said almost calmly. As she uttered those words, she let out a long breath. She turned around, refusing to look into those pairs of eyes any longer.

Feeling as though her body had been entirely hollowed out, she slowly walked away. Unexpectedly, a soft call came from behind: "Linglan..."

A familiar voice, a familiar feeling. She quietly looked back, seeing the face of a youth from her memories. She smiled faintly, as if returning to many, many years ago—seemingly starting from that moment, and ending at this very second!

At the exact moment the Bai Corporation and the Liu Corporation were about to join hands, she slammed the brakes and called a halt. May the Bai Corporation weather this storm.

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Shortly after, Bai Yuchen used the information provided by Ye Linglan to discuss countermeasures together with Ye Shenghan. Linglan knew that once the Bai Corporation breached the contract, her identity would naturally be exposed. Through those days and nights, she still slept embraced in Mo Zhicheng's arms. His embrace was as warm as ever, and as she breathed in the scent of his body, only then could she feel a shred of stability.

Mo Zhicheng leaned against the headboard, reading the newspaper in his hands. It was rare for him to show interest in celebrity gossip news. Linglan wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head in his chest, and murmured, "Why are you interested in reading this paper?!" Yet her heart sank deep, its bottom entirely out of view.

Mo Zhicheng stroked her hair with one hand while turning his head to press a gentle kiss upon her locks. "I found it in the company today. It's the coverage from our charity auction the other day."

"Really?!" She smiled faintly.

Mo Zhicheng spread out the newspaper, having her sit up to read it with him. "Look," he pointed. The newspaper vaguely printed a photo of him holding her waist, the two of them looking intimate and inseparable.

Linglan gently stroked the image and said thoughtfully, "How strange..."

"What's strange?"

"This is our very first photo together, and it turned out like this."

Mo Zhicheng pinched the back of her neck with his palm, laughing in a low voice. As if remembering something, Linglan quickly reached for her phone. Seeing her movement, Mo Zhicheng asked in puzzlement, "What is it?"

Fumbling with the device, Linglan frowned. "It's dead!" She held out her palm. "Where's your phone?"

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Just give it to me." Linglan took his phone. "Let's take a picture together..." Opening the front-facing camera, she wrapped one arm around his neck, pressing her cheek right against his. He smiled helplessly. "I'm this old and I've never played with this."

Yet he still indulged her. The next moment, Mo Zhicheng hooked her close, his thin lips gently brushing against her cheek in an intimate embrace. As Ye Linglan looked into the lens and watched him gently press a kiss, a sudden soreness welled up in her eyes, and a steady stream of tears fell. With a snap, the image froze in time.

Mo Zhicheng smiled as he retrieved the phone, but seeing the tears on her face in the photo, his smile faded. He reached out to turn her face toward him, looking at the tear tracks staining her pure complexion. Using his thumb, he gently wiped away her tears, his elegant brows knitting in confusion. "Why are you crying..."

She choked back a sob and murmured, "Thinking that this is the first photo we ever took together just leaves a bitter taste in my heart..."

Hearing this, Mo Zhicheng smiled faintly and leaned in to kiss away her tears. He said in a low voice, "I'll kiss them away for you, and then you won't be sad anymore, hmm?"

She broke into a tearful smile, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, feeling how cool and tender his lips were as they kissed away her tears, one by one.

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The Bai Corporation terminated its partnership with the Liu Corporation ahead of schedule and signed a contract with the Lifeng Group instead. Overnight, the relationship between the Bai Corporation and the Liu Corporation plummeted.

When Linglan received the news from Ye Shenghan that the cooperation with the Lifeng Group was proceeding smoothly, her heart leapt straight into her throat. When she looked up toward Mo Zhicheng's office, she knew this meant Mo Zhicheng also realized the plan had failed. She unconsciously gripped her phone tighter, her palms already slick with a cold sweat. "Good, as long as it's smooth!" Only she knew how hollow her voice sounded, as if she had lost something precious.

She called Mo Zhicheng, but his phone was powered off. Linglan's heart grew even more anxious and unsettled. For several consecutive days, she was unable to contact the man.

Until finally, the call went through, and the man answered: "Hello..."