The Heiress's Game

When Bai Tianyi parked his car in his garage, he glanced at the time on the dashboard—5:47.

He leaned back in the driver's seat and couldn't help but click his tongue.

For the fifth consecutive day, he left work on time and went home. In his life, this is definitely a record worth recording in his personal history.

When it comes to the art of "how to live the most comfortable life with the least effort," Bai Tianyi believes that no one in the third generation of the Bai family can surpass him.

As for his older brother Bai Junze, a workaholic, he sees him as belonging to a completely different species in terms of evolution. He admires him, but there's no way he'd ever try to emulate him.

He whistled as he pushed open the door, changed into slippers, and walked into the living room, where his mother, Wang Shuying, was sitting on the sofa reading a book.

Hearing the noise, she looked up and sized him up with the eyes of someone who had spotted a rare animal.

"Oh, my young master is back."

Wang Shuying closed the book. "I've been home for five consecutive days. That's a record."

To be honest, I'm a little uneasy—did your older brother fire you?

"Mom, can't you wish me well for once?"

Bai Tianyi tossed his car keys into the tray in the entryway, plopped down on the sofa, and reached for the fruit plate on the coffee table.

"Exactly, how can you talk like that?"

Bai Jing'an's voice came through.

He carried a cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea, strolled into the living room, sat down on the single sofa opposite Bai Tianyi, and blew on the steam rising from the teacup.

"Being fired is a normal personnel decision, it's not called 'not wanting you to succeed,' it's called an objective evaluation."

Bai Tianyi's hand, which was holding a grape, froze in mid-air. He turned to look at his father, his expression genuinely hurt.

"Dad, your son goes to work diligently and conscientiously every day, and hasn't been late or left early for five days in a row. Instead of offering a word of comfort, you're just being sarcastic?"

"Diligent and conscientious?" Bai Jing'an took a sip of tea and looked at him with a smile.

"Your older brother helped you deal with the batch of goods seized by customs last month. If it weren't for his phone call..."

You're still stuck in the warehouse at Yunjing Port, staring blankly at those containers. You call that diligent work?

"That was an accident." Bai Tianyi popped a grape into his mouth without changing his expression.

"In business, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Besides, he's my boss, so what's wrong with me asking him to lend a hand? He's not an outsider."

Wang Shuying laughed out loud and put the book on the coffee table.

"Alright, alright, let's get serious. Did you tell Aunt Zhang in advance that you're coming back for dinner today? That way she could prepare your food."

"I already said so," Bai Tianyi mumbled, chewing on a grape. Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly sat up straight.

"But you don't need to prepare anything for me tomorrow night."

"Oh?" Wang Shuying raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going to go gallivanting again tomorrow?"

"Let's go to my older brother's house," Bai Tianyi said matter-of-factly.

Bai Jing'an and Wang Shuying exchanged a glance, their eyes conveying a tacit understanding. Then, Bai Jing'an slowly began to speak.

"Tianyi, there's something your mother and I have always been curious about."

"What is it?"

"You have your own apartment and your parents' house, so it's not like you have nowhere to live."

Why are you always running off to your older brother's place? His villa is practically your second home. How can you be so shameless?

Bai Jing'an's tone carried a genuine sense of bewilderment, like that of a scientist who had been researching for a long time but had yet to find the answer.

"I always thought you were shameless, but I didn't expect you to feel embarrassed after staying here for so long and know to come back?"

Bai Tianyi spat the grape seeds into a tissue, wiped his hands, and looked at his parents with an expression that said, "You mortals wouldn't understand."

"Dad, Mom, first of all, I want to correct a misconception you have. This is not called being shameless, it's called having strategic vision."

"Oh?" Wang Shuying crossed her arms and leaned back on the sofa, bracing herself for her son's nonsense.

"I ask you, among the third generation of the Bai family, besides the eldest brother, who is the smartest?" Bai Tianyi held up one finger and pointed to his nose, "Me."

Bai Jing'an almost choked on his tea.

He coughed twice and looked at his son with a "Are you serious?" look.

"Don't laugh," Bai Tianyi said unmoved. "I'm telling the truth. Uncles, second uncles, third uncles, you all count them. In the third generation of the Bai family, besides my eldest brother, who else is more successful than me?"

Bai Jingan opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't refute it for a moment.

"My older brother prepared a bedroom for me; that's a sign of his approval."

Bai Tianyi got more and more excited as he talked, so he simply sat cross-legged on the sofa and started counting on his fingers to calculate the accounts with his parents.

"You know how territorial someone like my older brother is. When he's away on business, he even asks me to feed his fish."

Feeding the fish! Those are koi he bought from Japan! The kind that cost me half a year's salary! What does that mean? It means I'm important to my older brother.

Looking at her son's smug expression, Wang Shuying couldn't help but rub her forehead.

"Besides, it's only proper for me to come back and stay while my brother is away on a business trip."

Bai Tianyi suddenly dropped his playful expression and spoke seriously.

"My older brother isn't home. What kind of relationship is it for me, an unmarried younger brother-in-law, to live under the same roof as my sister-in-law?"

Upon hearing this, both Bai Jing'an and Wang Shuying were taken aback.

"Although we have a nanny and a housekeeper at home, we're not a single man and woman living alone."

Bai Tianyi continued to explain, his tone serious.

"But outsiders don't think about these things at all. When others see it, they think, 'Oh, the youngest son of the fourth branch of the Bai family is always staying at his elder brother and sister-in-law's house.'"

Once his older brother left, he wouldn't leave again. If word got out, it wouldn't sound good.

I don't care, but my sister-in-law is a businesswoman, and the Gu family is a well-known and respected family in Dahai City. We can't let people gossip about me because of this.

My older brother is good to me, so I have to think about him in return. Having boundaries is like having a thick skin; you have to know when to be considerate.

Wang Shuying looked at her son, her eyes shifting. Before the relief of "my silly son has finally grown up" could even reach her lips, Bai Jing'an nodded with satisfaction, giving his son a rare proper look.

"That makes more sense. Your mother and I really hadn't thought of that."

"So you admit you underestimated me before?" Bai Tianyi immediately seized the opportunity.

"He didn't fully admit it either." Bai Jing'an picked up his teacup, finished the last bit of Longjing tea, stood up, and patted his son on the shoulder.

"But since you know how to handle things, your mother and I are much more at ease. Okay, then I'll tell Aunt Zhang not to prepare any dishes for you tomorrow night."

Bai Tianyi put his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, and swung them around.

"So I'll go straight there after get off work tomorrow night. I haven't seen my older brother for several days, and I need to give him a update on my recent work."

"You're here to report on your work?" Wang Shuying picked up her book and added without looking up, "You're here to report how your goods were seized by customs, aren't you?"

"Mom, that's all in the past!"