Chapter 500 "Well done! This slap is my way of repaying you."
(Thanks to reader 20190722155734725 for casting 6 monthly tickets.)
"What about Liniang's side..."
“After I’ve seen him,” Qin Tao interrupted Li Shigui, “we’ll then decide whether or not to let him see Sister Li!”
Li Shigui opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he only bowed his head and responded.
After saying this, Qin Tao waved her hand, and Li Shigui bowed before turning and leaving.
Liu Mama and the maids who were guarding the door quickly bowed to Li Shigui and went inside.
Qin Tao is now the most powerful person in the Chen family, and she is carrying the child of Chen Hengrong, the master of the household!
After leaving the house, Li Shigui headed towards the courtyard where he had previously stayed.
The snow fell even heavier.
Standing in the snow, he suddenly remembered his childhood. Li Wangtian always liked to carry him on his shoulders on snowy days and look into the distance, saying that this way they could see further in the snow.
At that time, Li Wangtian was strong and tall with broad shoulders.
And now?
He was just a lame old man with a full head of white hair.
Li Shigui stood in the snow for a while before going inside.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
The snow has stopped.
The remaining snow covered the eaves of Xuanzhen Temple, and a black, unidentified bird was suddenly startled and flew away.
Li Wangtian stood on the stone steps in front of the back hall of the Sanqing Hall, dragging his limping leg. His fingernails dug deeply into his palms, but he felt no pain whatsoever.
Eight years had passed, and he had imagined countless times the scene of reuniting with his wife and children, but he never thought it would be in a Taoist temple.
"Li Wangtian?"
A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from ahead.
Li Wangtian suddenly looked up, and a woman in brocade robes walked out from the shadows of a side hall of the Taoist temple.
A bright red satin cloak embroidered with peonies in gold thread, and a filigree gold phoenix hairpin at his temple—this is his Qin Tao?
The woman who used to call him "Master" in his memory now looks at him with cold, devoid of warmth.
"Taoniang..."
Li Wangtian's throat tightened, and he unconsciously took a step forward.
His limp left a crooked trail in the snow on the bluestone ground.
"stop!"
Qin Tao suddenly shouted, pulling a silk handkerchief from her sleeve to cover her mouth and nose, "You just stand there and talk."
She glanced at Li Wangtian's worn-out cotton shoes covered in mud and snow, and her brows furrowed even more. "Didn't Gui-ge'er explain it to you clearly?"
From this day forward, we shall never see each other again.
After hearing Qin Tao say these words herself, Li Wangtian's back became even more hunched.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could finish, he started coughing incessantly.
He wanted to tell Qin Tao that before coming, he had spent money to get two buckets of hot water from the inn to wash himself.
However, Xuanzhen Temple is located in the west of the city, which is a long way away. Even though he was extremely careful along the way, his cotton shoes, which he had worn for a long time, inevitably got covered in snow and mud.
Qin Tao stood on the steps, looking down at Li Wangtian who kept coughing incessantly, her eyes filled with disgust.
She continued to cover her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and even took two steps back.
"Taoniang, I... I've always wanted to find you, I..."
"Who wants to hear what you're saying!"
Qin Tao suddenly interrupted Li Wangtian loudly, and the gold hairpin on her head swayed with her violent movement.
"You think I came here to listen to your complaints?"
Qin Tao then took two steps forward out of the shadows. She lifted the red cloak she was wearing, revealing her noticeably protruding belly in the sunlight.
Upon seeing this, Li Wangtian felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
He stared intently at Qin Tao's stomach, his Adam's apple bobbing: "This...this is..."
"Yes! This is my master's child!"
Qin Tao stroked her belly, a cold smile playing on her lips. "If it's a boy, he'll be the Chen family's only heir."
She deliberately straightened her back. "What? You think I'd remain faithful to you?"
The bronze bells in front of the hall jingled in the cold wind.
As the bell rang, Qin Tao moved forward and leaned closer to Li Wangtian below the steps. The fragrance of her perfume wafted directly towards Li Wangtian.
"I presume you already know about your dear cousin and me."
Qin Tao parted her red lips slightly and spoke to Li Wangtian, word by word, but every word she uttered sounded like it was coated with poison.
"He's much more considerate than you are; he even knew to exchange a silver bracelet for me taking off my silk skirt..."
"Smack!"
A hard slap landed on Qin Tao's fair left cheek.
Li Wangtian, holding up his trembling hand, looked at the red mark on Qin Tao's face, and suddenly collapsed, crouching down and burying his face in his hands: "No...it's not like that...you're lying to me...you're all lying to me..."
Qin Tao, who was hit, was neither surprised nor panicked.
She slowly straightened up, took out a small bronze mirror from her sleeve, and looked at her face again and again.
Then she chuckled softly: "Well done!"
This slap is my way of repaying you.
Qin Tao looked down at Li Wangtian, who was squatting on the ground, and said, "But, Li Wangtian! You listen to me clearly!"
This is the last time we'll see each other!
Our marriage has come to an end!
From now on, whether we live or die, it's none of our business!
Li Wangtian's turbid tears rolled down his deeply lined face and dripped into the snow below the steps, which had been trampled and turned black.
"Why……"
Li Wangtian asked in a hoarse voice.
Qin Tao chuckled coldly twice and pulled a land deed from her sleeve: "Take a good look."
This is a two-courtyard house that the master bought for me in the south of the city; it was bought just for me!
In the Chen residence, the master alone assigned me six maids!
"If I give birth to a child, regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, the master has said he will give me a hundred taels of gold!"
After Qin Tao carefully put away the land deed, she wrapped her cloak tighter around herself with a cold expression. "And I bore you two children, Li Wangtian, what kind of life have you been living with me?"
Li Wangtian was now slumped on the snow. He looked up at Qin Tao's face and listened to her words, which sounded like sharp arrows, piercing his chest with murderous intent!
"The day after tomorrow, considering that you are still Sister Li's biological father, I will have Brother Gui take you to see her."
This is also the last time you'll see Sister Li!
"Li Wangtian, if you dare to harass my family of three after seeing this..."
Qin Tao, who had already turned to leave, glanced back at Li Wangtian on the snow.
"Then, your life, which you barely escaped from the battlefield, is not just a matter of being lame!"
"At that time, you'll be dead!"
Li Wangtian's pupils contracted sharply. Before he could even speak, Qin Tao had already turned and left quickly.
The bell of the Taoist temple rang, its "dong dong" sound echoing throughout the temple.
Li Wangtian remained seated in the snow, gazing in the direction Qin Tao had left for a long time, until his hands and feet were numb with cold. Only then did he tremble as he pulled a floral cloth bag from his bosom.
Her fingers, red from the cold, clumsily opened the cloth bag, inside which was a silver hairpin with fairly fine workmanship.
This was bought by Li Wangtian after saving up his salary for a long time when he was in Youzhou. He was thinking that when he saw Qin Tao in the future, he would give this silver hairpin to her!
He gently stroked the silver hairpin a couple of times, and a gust of wind blew by, causing the floral cloth covering the hairpin to flutter.
Li Wangtian quickly clutched the silver hairpin, turned his back to shield himself from the wind, and rewrapped the floral cloth bundle, putting it back into his bosom.
After a couple of breaths, Li Wangtian, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, finally stood up, albeit unsteadily.
After leaving Xuanzhen Temple, Li Wangtian looked up at the dark sky that looked like it was about to snow, and suddenly chuckled softly.
The laughter startled the birds again, and even the young Taoist priests outside the Sanqing Hall accidentally dropped their snow-sweeping brooms.
Apart from Li Wangtian himself, no one knew what he was laughing about.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
