The Heiress No One Expected

Chapter 13: The Message

The message was still on Bai Ruoyin's phone the next morning.

She had read it several times before finally going to sleep.

You should ask your mother what happened at the hospital nineteen years ago.

No name.

No explanation.

Just one sentence.

Ruoyin stood beside her desk, staring at the screen.

The apartment was quiet.

From the kitchen came the familiar sound of Qinghe preparing breakfast.

For a moment, Ruoyin considered walking out and asking her directly.

Then she remembered the pause the night before.

The way Qinghe's hand had stopped when Ruoyin mentioned Fu Yichen.

The way she had avoided answering questions about the past.

Ruoyin slipped her phone into her bag.

She would ask.

Just not before she understood what she was asking about.

---

"You're unusually quiet."

Qinghe placed breakfast on the table.

Ruoyin looked up.

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"I didn't sleep well."

Qinghe sat across from her.

"Too much studying?"

"Maybe."

Qinghe smiled.

"Don't push yourself."

Ruoyin nodded.

For several minutes, they ate in silence.

Then Qinghe said casually,

"How are your classes?"

"Fine."

"Your new friends?"

"Fine."

"And that Fu boy?"

Ruoyin looked up.

"You remember his name?"

Qinghe's expression barely changed.

"You mentioned him yesterday."

"Right."

Ruoyin studied her.

"He's my coursemate."

"That's good."

"Mother."

"Hm?"

Ruoyin hesitated.

"Did you know I was born at that hospital?"

The room became quiet.

Qinghe's eyes lowered.

"Yes."

Ruoyin waited.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

Qinghe looked at her.

"You never asked."

That answer was simple.

Perhaps too simple.

Ruoyin didn't press.

Not yet.

She finished breakfast and picked up her bag.

"I'll be home after class."

"Don't stay out too late."

"I won't."

As Ruoyin reached the door, Qinghe called her.

"Ruoyin."

She turned.

Qinghe smiled.

"Take your umbrella."

Ruoyin looked outside.

The sky was clear.

"You always say that."

"And you're always forgetting."

Ruoyin smiled.

"Fine."

She took it.

Neither of them mentioned the hospital again.

---

Imperial Capital University was already busy when Ruoyin arrived.

She stepped off the bus and crossed the road toward the main gate.

As usual, expensive cars moved through the entrance while students gathered around the courtyard.

Ruoyin walked past them.

Her phone vibrated.

For a second, she thought it was the unknown number.

It wasn't.

It was Yichen.

Professor Chen moved the discussion to the afternoon. Don't forget the case file.

Ruoyin smiled.

I have it.

She put the phone away.

Then she noticed someone standing near the Law building.

A young man in a dark suit.

He wasn't a student.

He seemed to be waiting for someone.

When Ruoyin walked past, his eyes followed her.

She kept going.

After several steps, she looked back.

He was gone.

---

The Law Faculty

Professor Chen spent the morning discussing a difficult case.

Ruoyin took notes carefully.

For almost an hour, the message from last night disappeared from her thoughts.

Then Professor Chen mentioned the importance of documentary evidence.

"A record can look complete," he said, "while still hiding the most important part of the story."

Ruoyin's pen stopped.

She stared at the sentence in her notebook.

The words were academic.

Nothing more.

Yet they reminded her of the hospital file.

The missing information.

The altered record.

The unknown message.

She forced herself to continue taking notes.

After class, Yichen approached her.

"You've been distracted."

Ruoyin closed her notebook.

"Have I?"

"Since this morning."

She smiled faintly.

"Maybe I'm tired."

Yichen studied her for a moment.

"You don't have to tell me."

Ruoyin appreciated that.

"Thanks."

They walked toward the courtyard.

After a few steps, Yichen said,

"Someone came asking about you."

Ruoyin stopped.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"What did they ask?"

"Whether you were in my class."

Her expression changed.

"When?"

"This morning."

"Who was it?"

"I couldn't tell you. I only heard about it afterward."

Ruoyin's fingers tightened around her notebook.

"Why would someone ask you that?"

Yichen looked at her.

"That's what I was wondering."

---

The Bai Residence

Bai Zhenghua received another report before noon.

His assistant placed a folder on the desk.

"We traced the hospital archive access."

Zhenghua opened it.

"And?"

"The access was made using a temporary authorization."

"Whose?"

"That's the problem."

The assistant pointed to a document.

"The authorization number belonged to a hospital administrator who had already resigned."

Zhenghua's eyes narrowed.

"When?"

"Three months before the archive was accessed."

Silence.

"So someone used a dead authorization."

"Yes."

Zhenghua closed the folder.

"Who knew the system well enough to do that?"

"We're investigating."

"Find everyone who had access to the archive during that period."

"Understood."

The assistant hesitated.

"There is another issue."

Zhenghua looked up.

"The person who accessed the file didn't only view it."

He slid another document across the desk.

"They copied something."

Zhenghua's expression hardened.

"What?"

"We don't know yet."

---

Bai Yutong

At lunch, Yutong found Zichen sitting alone.

She placed her tray down.

"You're quiet."

"So are you."

Yutong looked at him.

"Did you see her again?"

"No."

"I did."

Zichen looked up.

"Ruoyin?"

Yutong nodded.

"She looked completely normal."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

Yutong lowered her voice.

"She doesn't look like someone who knows she's at the center of all this."

Zichen leaned back.

"Because she isn't."

Yutong frowned.

"What?"

"She's just living her life."

The statement stayed between them.

For the first time, neither of them knew whether finding Ruoyin had been a relief or the beginning of another problem.

---

The Su Family

Su Mingxuan wasn't satisfied with his grandmother's answer.

That afternoon, he went through some of the old family documents himself.

Most were ordinary.

Business records.

Property documents.

Correspondence.

Then he found a sealed envelope.

There was no name on it.

Only a date.

The date was nineteen years old.

Mingxuan stared at it.

He hesitated before opening it.

Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten note.

Only one line remained visible.

The child must not be returned to the Bai family.

Mingxuan's face changed.

He read it again.

Then again.

The handwriting wasn't his grandmother's.

It wasn't his father's either.

Someone had written the instruction.

Someone who had known about the child.

Someone who had wanted Ruoyin kept away from the Bai family.

Mingxuan immediately reached for his phone.

---

The Message

Ruoyin returned home that evening.

Qinghe was folding laundry in the living room.

"You're home."

"Mm."

Ruoyin placed her bag down.

She stood there for several seconds.

"Mother."

Qinghe looked up.

"What is it?"

"I received a strange message last night."

Qinghe went still.

"What message?"

Ruoyin took out her phone.

She showed her the screen.

Qinghe read it.

The color drained from her face.

Ruoyin noticed immediately.

"You know what they're talking about."

Qinghe looked up.

"No."

"Mother."

"I don't."

"Then why are you scared?"

Qinghe looked away.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Finally, Qinghe sat down.

"Ruoyin, there are things about your childhood that I haven't told you."

Ruoyin's heart tightened.

"Because you didn't want me to know?"

"Because I wanted you to have a normal life."

"That isn't the same thing."

"I know."

Qinghe's voice was quiet.

Ruoyin sat across from her.

"Was someone trying to hurt me?"

Qinghe didn't answer.

That silence was enough.

Ruoyin swallowed.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Then who sent the message?"

"I don't know."

"Why were the hospital records changed?"

Qinghe looked at her.

"Because..."

She stopped.

Ruoyin waited.

Qinghe's hands tightened together.

"Because your mother was afraid."

Ruoyin's breathing slowed.

"My mother?"

"Su Qinglan."

"Afraid of whom?"

Qinghe looked toward the window.

"I can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know if it's safe."

Ruoyin stared at her.

The answer frightened her more than any explanation could have.

She had spent nineteen years believing her childhood was ordinary.

Now she was learning that someone had once been afraid enough to hide her existence.

And Qinghe still believed there was something to fear.

---

That night, Ruoyin couldn't concentrate on her studies.

She opened the old photograph.

Su Qinglan's face was still unfamiliar.

Yet suddenly, the woman seemed closer than before.

Ruoyin wondered what kind of person she had been.

Why had she been afraid?

Why had Qinghe taken her?

Why had someone written that she must never be returned to the Bai family?

And most importantly—

why had nobody told her?

Her phone vibrated.

This time, it wasn't the unknown number.

It was a message from Yichen.

Are you okay?

Ruoyin stared at it.

She hesitated before replying.

I'm fine.

Three dots appeared.

You don't sound fine.

Ruoyin smiled faintly.

She didn't know why.

Perhaps because, for the first time since arriving at Imperial Capital University, someone had noticed without demanding an explanation.

She typed:

It's complicated.

The reply came quickly.

Then you don't have to explain it tonight.

Ruoyin looked at the screen.

She set the phone down.

Outside, the city was beginning to quiet.

---

Across Beijing, Su Mingxuan stood in his grandmother's study.

He placed the old photocopy on the table.

"Who wrote this?"

Su Yulan stared at it.

Her face went pale.

"Where did you find that?"

"In your documents."

She didn't answer.

Mingxuan's voice hardened.

"Who wanted the child kept away from the Bai family?"

Su Yulan closed her eyes.

After a long silence, she said,

"Someone who believed the child would destroy everything."

Mingxuan frowned.

"Who?"

His grandmother looked at him.

"I told you before. Some things should have remained buried."

"Too late."

He picked up the paper.

"She's already in Beijing."

Su Yulan's expression changed.

"And people are already looking for her."

---

At the Bai residence, Zhenghua stood before the window.

His assistant entered quietly.

"We found the person who requested access to the archive."

Zhenghua turned.

"Who?"

The assistant handed him a photograph.

Zhenghua looked at it.

His expression changed.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

He stared at the photograph for several seconds.

The person had been connected to the hospital nineteen years ago.

But there was something else.

A connection that led far beyond the hospital.

Zhenghua lowered the photograph.

"Don't tell anyone yet."

"Not even the family?"

"Not until I know why they accessed the file."

He looked toward the darkened city.

Ruoyin was living her life, unaware of how many people were circling the same secret.

And now Zhenghua had one more question to answer.

Not simply who had hidden his daughter.

But why they had been so determined to keep her away.