93 The Truth (Part 3)
◎I will protect you (including flashbacks)◎
The snow melted, forming a clear, winding stream across the meadow. Sunlight filtered through the trees, casting dots of light and shadow on the surface. Soon, a hand shattered the stillness. A young girl half-knelt on the grass, bent down, and reached for something in the stream. After a moment, she pulled out a damp jade pendant.
She held the jade pendant high, shook it in her palm, her eyes curved: "Mr. Suibian, I found your thing."
The boy looked at her, his eyes moved, but he didn't answer.
Li Jintang had long been accustomed to this kind of interaction. She skipped towards him, the jade pendant dangling from her fingertips swaying. "Here, keep it safe next time."
He raised his eyes, and her appearance was reflected in his pupils.
"If the water was deeper and had washed you away, I would not have saved you." He put the jade pendant back into his sleeve, his tone indifferent.
The boy's black hair was blown by the wind, passing over his jade-like face, like a piece of exquisite porcelain. Even the sunlight falling on his eyelashes was just right.
Li Jintang stared at him for a long time, and suddenly his feet slipped, his body tilted, and he was about to fall backwards.
Almost subconsciously, he immediately stood up, raised his hands to catch her waist, and steadily supported her backward waist. The fluttering of her clothes brought with it a burst of fresh fragrance.
After she stood firm, the girl tilted her head to look at him, her eyebrows curved, and a faint smile appeared on her face: "See, you will still save me."
“…”
He was speechless for a moment, lowering his eyes. After a long while, he finally uttered two words: "Boring."
She blinked her bright eyes and suddenly came over to hold his arm: "What about painting? That won't be boring, will it?"
The next moment, the hand on his arm was mercilessly thrown away. The young man frowned slightly, his long eyelashes drooping to hide the panic that flashed across his eyes. "Didn't your parents teach you that physical contact between men and women is not allowed?"
"What do you mean by 'no physical contact?'" Li Jintang looked at him in confusion, "I didn't kiss you."
“…”
Seeing that he didn't say anything, she took out a brush, ink, and rice paper and sat down on the soft grass. She bit the pen and thought for a long time, but the paper was still blank.
The crisp mountain breeze, the intoxicating fragrance of flowers, and the clear blue sky were so pleasant that Li Jintang felt it would be a waste not to chat.
"Mr. Suibian, why are you called that?"
His name was engraved on the jade pendant, but as time went by, she got used to calling him "Mr. Suibian".
"No reason." He pursed his lips, his eyes dark and unclear.
"Okay," she said, not feeling disappointed, and started scribbling something on the paper. "Then next time we meet, can I ask your parents?"
"I don't have a mother," he lowered his eyes, his tone so calm that no emotion could be heard, "As for my father, you don't have to see him."
Even we will never see each other again.
He didn't say this out loud, but just raised his eyes and looked over. The girl's gaze happened to be his, with pity in her eyes.
"You don't have to look at me like that." He looked away, his fingers stroking the jade pendant in his sleeve. "He's different from your father. He doesn't love me, and no one around him... looks down on me."
Her eyes gradually softened, and she suddenly took a step forward, holding his face with a smile: "Who said there is no one? I love you, I will protect you..."
"We're friends, aren't we?"
The boy was frozen in place by her sudden action, and a thin layer of red suddenly spread across the tip of his ears.
"Don't move," that face seemed to have magic. Li Jintang looked left and right, his eyes shining. "Mr. Suibian, why are you so good-looking..."
"...boring." He let go of her hand, and when she fell silent, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at her: "What friend? You say that to everyone..."
She was squatting by the river, playing with the fish in the water. Upon hearing this, she looked up curiously and asked, "What did you just say?"
"nothing."
"Mr. Suibian, don't take what my uncle said today to heart." After a while, Li Jintang turned his head to look at him again, and said lightly: "He is a little old-fashioned, but he is not a bad person. Besides, your injuries are not healed yet, so he won't chase you away."
He said calmly, "Really?"
Before she could answer, she heard footsteps approaching from afar. Looking up, she saw two men in blue clothes walking towards them.
When Li Jintang saw the newcomer, he immediately stood up like a conditioned reflex and opened his arms to protect the young man: "Daddy, Uncle Master, you can't hurt him."
Xuande Immortal Venerable's face darkened. He took a big step forward, his fingers trembling with anger. "You...you actually want to protect him? Do you know who he is?!"
"I know, but so what? He can't decide where he's born. Besides, he hasn't done anything harmful, so why kill him?" Li Jintang didn't want to waste any more words with him, so he cast a hopeful look at the person beside him: "Dad, you said you'd save people to the end. That's what you said."
The young man was protected by her behind her, with no fear on his face. When he heard the words, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and the coldness in his eyes gradually dissipated. The hands behind his back that were gathering spiritual power dropped down.
"you……"
Immortal Xuande was about to step forward again, but was stopped by a raised hand.
"Forget it," the man in green sighed, choosing to ignore the two people in front of him. "Junior brother, didn't you want to tell me something just now? Why don't you let me have a moment to talk?"
Immortal Master Xuande knew that he couldn't do it at the moment, so he could only glare at the young man angrily, and then followed the man in green and left.
"Don't be afraid, they've already gone far away," Li Jintang turned around and patted his shoulder, looking proud: "I said I would protect you!"
Xie Changyan lowered his eyes to look at her, only to find that everything this person said and did was extremely strange, making it difficult to guess what she was doing.
"Do you trust me that much?"
Li Jintang answered as a matter of course: "Of course. I've brought you out for so long. If you weren't a good person, you would have attacked me long ago."
"Junior sister——"
The shout came from not far away. The young man frowned slightly and turned his head away, not wanting to look at the person who came.
The girl stood on tiptoe happily and waved at them: "Brother, sister, you are here?"
Li Baiwei walked up to her, stretched out her hand and gently hooked the tip of her nose, and said with a smile: "If I hadn't come, how long would you have continued to play?"
The portrait that had fallen on the grass was picked up. Qi He stared at the colorful lines on it and asked, "Junior Sister, is this a painting of me?"
Li Jintang blinked, looked at him, then looked at the young man in white clothes beside him, very puzzled: "Brother, my painting skills are not that bad, right? The person in this painting is clearly very handsome, how could it be you - um..."
Li Baiwei quickly covered her mouth and smiled awkwardly: "Junior brother, my sister's words were inappropriate. I apologize to you on her behalf."
"Brother, I spoke too hastily. I'm sorry." Li Jintang took something out of his sleeve and held it in front of him, making a jingling sound. "This is the wind chime I spent several nights making. You must accept it."
Qi He, who never would get angry with her, was even more delighted when he saw her like this. He took the wind chime and held it carefully in his hand like a treasure: "Junior Sister, you are so thoughtful, but do you know... what is the meaning of giving a wind chime to someone?"
She naturally didn't know, she just thought it looked pretty. But it didn't matter. He had previously been quite jealous of this uninvited guest who had suddenly barged in. Today, his junior sister had prepared a gift just for him. It seemed that the position that person held in her heart was still far inferior to his own. He was overthinking it.
Xie Changyan finally reacted at this time, turned around to look at them, and caught a glimpse of the wound on her hand.
He sneered faintly. How could he be so stupid? He could hurt his hand just by making a wind chime.
But now that he was living under someone else's roof, he had to pretend better. After a moment, he took over the burden from Li Baiwei's shoulders: "I'll do it."
She was stunned for a moment, feeling a little flattered, but Li Jintang quickly patted her on the shoulder, signaling her not to refuse.
Qi He laughed heartily and jokingly said, "Junior Sister, you picked up a servant?"
As soon as the word "servant" came out, the young man's steps paused noticeably, and his hands gripping the burden tightened involuntarily.
"Senior brother, why are you talking nonsense?" Li Jintang didn't expect him to make such a joke. He glared at him angrily, and then ignored his attempts to keep him and pulled the young man to the front.
"Were you sad just now?" She stopped a few steps in front of him and looked up at him.
"No."
"...Okay." Li Jintang didn't ask any more questions. She took out half of the grass from the basket and held it in her arms, almost covering her face.
"You don't have to care what they say, but you have to believe that there are always people in this world who like you and are willing to be friends with you."
Her eyes reflected the gurgling river. Suddenly, she freed one hand, stood on tiptoe, and patted the petals that fell on his shoulder.
"For example, me. If you get hurt again, you can always come to me."
"I will protect you."
*
The sky was clear not long ago, but it was suddenly covered with dense clouds, as if the whole world had darkened. The footprints in the mud were of varying depths and were soon covered by the traces of strange insects crawling.
Li Jintang tightly grasped the small knife hidden in his sleeve and looked around vigilantly: "Sister Qiuyan, is this the way to the fairyland?"
The girl in front turned around and looked at her and smiled: "What, are you tired from walking?"
"No, no," she shook her head, a frightened expression on her face. "It's just that this place is really weird. Can we take another route?"
Seeing her uneasiness, Qiu Yan's eyes somehow showed a hint of excitement: "Hold on a little longer, we'll be there soon."
Li Jintang didn't say anything else and had to follow her.
I don’t know how long it took, but a few rays of light appeared in front of my eyes. It seemed that was the exit.
Qiuyan raised her hand and a door appeared out of thin air.
"Go in," she said with a smile, "Don't worry, I've opened the barrier."
Li Jintang was doubtful and was about to step in when a voice suddenly came from behind him:
"Wait, you can't go in!"
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