The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

Bai Jiheng felt uncomfortable after Bai Luochen saw through his thoughts and Bai Ci let him off the hook with a soft "oh." He took a sip of tea to cover his embarrassment.

"What do you mean by 'first come, first served'? My brother is so busy, he's always at the company. He doesn't have time to manage such trivial things as dormitories. I just arranged it as a matter of convenience."

Bai Luochen flipped through the geology journal in his hand and said leisurely, "Really? Just now, before Designer Wen left, you specifically instructed him to rush the work, as if you were afraid that someone else would take away this opportunity to take care of things."

With just a few words, his hypocritical thoughts were completely exposed.

Bai Jiheng felt a lump in his throat and turned to look at Bai Ci, who was sitting quietly to the side, trying to find a way out: "Listen to your second brother, he spends all his time with ore, his brain is full of diamonds, he doesn't understand a thing about human relationships."

Bai Ci understood immediately. His third brother was just concerned about saving face and wouldn't admit that he had gone to great lengths to take care of him, not wanting to be outdone by his eldest brother. He wouldn't take the opportunity to make fun of him; his "oh" just now was also a deliberate attempt to save face for his third brother.

He looked up and spoke softly to smooth things over: "It's good that Third Brother is so thoughtful. It'll be much more convenient to replace the wardrobe in the dorm with a bigger one."

Upon hearing this, Bai Jiheng breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone was on his side. He immediately straightened his back, looked at Bai Luochen, and said with much more confidence, "Did you hear that? Even Bai Ci thinks I did the right thing."

Bai Luochen glanced at Bai Jiheng and uttered two words: "Childish."

As soon as I finished speaking, my phone kept vibrating in my pocket. It was a work call from the oceanographic expedition team.

Bai Luochen closed the magazine and stood up: "I'm going out to answer a phone call."

After finishing speaking, he went straight to the open-air corridor outside the living room to answer the phone. The corridor and living room were connected without any partition, creating a distance, so only the indistinct sounds of conversation could be faintly heard, and the content of the conversation could not be discerned at all.

Inside the living room, Bai Jiheng and Bai Ci chatted idly, not paying any attention to the outside world.

Bai Jiheng turned to look at Bai Ci, his earlier embarrassment largely gone, and his tone returned to its usual casualness: "You're quite clever; you didn't join your second brother in teasing me just now."

"Third Brother went to great lengths for me. If I were to undermine you, I would be incredibly inconsiderate."

Bai Jiheng's heart softened at these kind words, and a smile spread across his face: "You're sensible. It wasn't for nothing that I went to the trouble of customizing a whole set of tiger-themed clothes for you. By the way, when Uncle Chen goes to renovate the dormitory, I'll have someone prepare another cabinet full of all kinds of sweets for your dormitory locker, filling it to the brim with strawberry cakes and osmanthus sugar."

"Really? Thank you, Third Brother."

Seeing how his eyes lit up at the mention of sweets, Bai Jiheng's awkwardness completely vanished. He still pretended to be nonchalant and said, "You're welcome. I was just bored anyway, it was nothing."

He spoke casually, but then took out his phone, opened the chat box, and silently sent a message to Uncle Chen, requesting that he increase the supply of snacks in the dormitory and specifically note that they should all be low in sugar to avoid harming Bai Ci's weak body.

After sending the message, he looked at Bai Ci and casually asked, "By the way, I suddenly remembered something. Before you went to university, you didn't often go back to the Bai family home. Where did you usually live?"

Bai Ci was stunned for a moment.

The original owner's memories were fragmented and unclear. After he came into this body, he received mostly scattered fragments and some emotions of unknown origin. He was really not clear about many details.

He quickly nudged Xiao Qi in his mind: "Xiao Qi, where did the original owner live before?"

Xiao Qi immediately pulled up the information: "Xinghewan Apartment, Qingtong Road, Building 7, Room 1203, two bedrooms and one living room. It was arranged by the old man. Before the original owner went to university, he lived there and rarely returned to the manor. There are hourly cleaners who come to clean the apartment regularly, but there are no live-in maids. However, it is quite far from St. Andrew's College."

Bai Ci processed the information in her mind for a moment, then looked up at Bai Jiheng and said the name of the apartment.

Bai Jiheng frowned slightly.

"There?"

He certainly knew about Xinghewan Apartments, located in a high-end residential area in the north of the city. The conditions weren't bad, but they weren't exactly excellent either; it was certainly not a place where the young master of the Bai family should live long-term. The Bai family owned several properties in that area, acquired years ago in good locations, but they were too far from the manor and the current school.

"That place is nice, but the house is out of the way, and the surrounding amenities are not as good as the manor. You—" He paused, as if he was choosing his words carefully.

"Alright, just stay in your dorm at school. If you have free time during school holidays, come home on time. Don't just hide away in that apartment for ten days or half a month as soon as a holiday starts, understand?"

Bai Ci blinked: "Why can't I stay here?"

"Why?" Bai Jiheng thought, "This person usually seems quite clever, why is he so clueless now?" His voice rose a half-octave. "You do the math yourself, how long have you been away from home? Ten days or half a month without a trace, not even a whisper from home. If your older brother hadn't called you back for dinner, were you planning to stay out there indefinitely?"

Bai Ci wanted to say, "No one has ever contacted me before," but seeing Bai Jiheng's expression—clearly worried but pretending to be fierce—she swallowed her words back.

He nodded obediently: "I heard you."

"What did you hear? Repeat it to me."

"...go home on time during the holiday."

"Anything else?"

"...I don't want to live in an apartment anymore."

"Anything else?"

Bai Ci thought for a moment, but couldn't think of a third option, so she honestly asked, "What else?"

"Let me know," Bai Jiheng said, emphasizing each word. "Let me know before the holiday starts, and I'll pick you up. Don't go back without a word, understand? That apartment is just sitting there for now; it's not like the Bai family doesn't have a room for you. If you dare to sneak off and stay there permanently, all your desserts will be taken away next time."

Bai Ci suddenly looked up, her eyes widening slightly, and pursed her lips with a hint of grievance: "You can't deduct the candy, you heard me?"

Seeing that Bai Ci obediently gave in, Bai Jiheng leaned back on the sofa with satisfaction, then asked, "So, in the apartment, is someone taking care of you? How do you manage your meals and such?"

Bai Ci asked Xiao Qi again in his heart.

Xiao Qi flipped through the records: "A caregiver comes occasionally, arranged by Grandpa Bai, about once or twice a week. Their main responsibilities are cleaning and replenishing the refrigerator. But the caregiver never talks to the original owner, and the original owner doesn't talk to them either. Every time the caregiver comes, he hides in his room and only comes out after the caregiver leaves."

After listening, Bai Ci remained silent for a moment.

I go once or twice a week, finish my work, and leave.

That means that most of the time, the original owner stayed alone in that apartment. She didn't contact the Bai family, the caregiver, or anyone else.