Baili Chao entered the estate and first noticed the few scattered servants that were sweeping away the snow on the path with their heads lowered while others hurried past, carrying things somewhere with fast steps as if remaining too long at one spot might cause trouble for them. The bad feeling he had had already intensified and it got worse when nobody stopped long enough or dared to look up long enough to notice him.

The wind brushed through the courtyard and blew over scraps of an argument.

"What did you even marry me for?!" This was the voice of a woman who was already hysteric.

"My wife, please calm down." What answered her was the much lower voice of a man who was still keeping calm. The servants likely couldn’t hear him but with his cultivation base, Baili Chao wasn’t the same.

He turned to look in that direction, feeling that he might have found the cause of that youth’s plight. He should go there and find out what was going on. Maybe he could help somehow. Braving the snow that was falling even heavier by now, Baili Chao made his way through the courtyard and the path behind it, following the sound of the voices. Unfortunately, with each step, he also heard more of the argument, and his heart sunk lower with each word of it.

"What should I calm down for? Do you think I am blind?! Do you think I can’t see how you are looking at him?!"

There was a pause before her husband finally answered. Clearly, those words had startled him. "I love Xiao Lin as if he was my own child."

"Oh, sure you love him. What a lovable child he is! Take him out into the town and every man will fall in love at first sight. And now that slut is even seducing his mother’s own husband!" Her voice rose further, more a shrill scream now.

Baili Chao’s brows furrowed tightly. He had wanted to know what was happening but this was clearly going too far! That boy had looked so pitiful. How could his own mother slander him like this?

Angrily, he waved his hand, imbuing a hint of spiritual energy into the movement that blasted away the snow in his path. His steps made a clear sound ring out now and he hurried onward, reaching the door to the place where the couple was arguing in a mere heartbeat.

Inside, the man was still trying to calm down his wife. "Luo Lin would never —"

"As if he wouldn’t! You think that I don’t know that you bought him that red robe? What does it mean, huh? What is he wearing it so often for if not to wrap around you?!"

Baili Chao reached out, grabbed the door, and pushed it to the side in an angry motion. With his brows still furrowed, he stared at the couple inside. "Madam, the child you are currently slandering would be freezing to death outside if not for me passing by. As his mother, shouldn’t you be more concerned with that?"

The woman just stared at him, her expression clearly crazed.

Baili Chao looked back at her and understanding dawned on him: There was nothing left to be done. He didn’t know what had happened but this woman was already so paranoid that she really believed in the nonsense she was spewing. No matter what her husband said or what he told her, she wouldn’t believe a single word. Instead, she might just feel even surer of her conjecture.

On the other hand, the man jumped to his feet, his expression scared. "Freeze? You …" He looked at his wife in horror and seemed to want to run out to get Luo Lin. Apparently, he hadn’t known that the child was outside.

As if to prove Baili Chao’s words, the woman lunged forward, grabbing onto her husband’s legs and making him stumble. Still, she wouldn’t let go. Even though she pulled down the expensive tea set in the process, making it shatter on the ground and the hot liquid burn her skin, she still just held onto him, raving like a madwoman. "I won’t let this go on! Don’t you dare go to see him instead of spending time with me. Which of us is your wife? Can you even still remember?!" Once again, her voice morphed into shrill screams and she started hitting his back, soon starting to sob as if her husband was a scumbag that wanted to leave her for a younger woman.

Baili Chao watched on in horror. Clearly … clearly, the child could not stay here. Even if he returned him to the home today, who knew what would happen tomorrow?

His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes, his expression pained. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, finally opening his eyes again. "I see he has no future here. In that case, why not bid farewell? I will take him away."