The next morning, at the dry cleaner's door, Li Xiaoqing held a yellowed photo in her hand, tears streaming down her face, and hugged it tightly as if it were the most precious thing in the world. After a while, Li Xiaoqing turned around and saw Li Jia, who had been standing behind her with a smile for a long time. "Big...Big Brother...is it really you?"
Looking at Li Xiaoqing's tear-streaked face, Li Jia felt a pang of guilt. She went over and patted Li Xiaoqing's shoulder, saying, "Yes, I'm back." As soon as she finished speaking, Li Xiaoqing stared at Li Jia's face for a long time before finally breaking free from Li Jia's grasp and running out of the store.
When Zhou Xiaoyu saw Li Xiaoqing suddenly run out, she was about to chase after her to ask what was wrong when Li Jia called out to her, "Xiaoyu, no need to chase after her, I'll go." After tidying up her somewhat messy hair, Li Jia put on a coat and chased after her.
Li Xiaoqing ran and cried, clutching the photos tightly in her hand. She even rushed across the road recklessly, almost causing a series of car accidents.
Amidst the shouts and curses of numerous drivers, Li Xiaoqing continued running without turning her head.
Li Jia followed not far behind Li Xiaoqing. Li Xiaoqing showed no sign of stopping, and Li Jia had no intention of running up to her to stop her. Given Li Xiaoqing's personality, even if she chased after her to explain, it probably wouldn't make any difference. So, Li Jia simply stayed with Li Xiaoqing and watched her make sure she was safe; that was enough for her.
The continuous running left Li Xiaoqing, whose physical condition was not very good to begin with, breathless, but she still stubbornly persisted...
Finally, Li Xiaoqing stopped running and boarded the bus. Li Jia followed. On the bus, Li Xiaoqing stared blankly at the photo in her hand. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions. After years of waiting, the dream had finally come true, but Li Xiaoqing found herself unable to face the reality of those years of waiting. "Wasn't my insistence on staying in City B all in the hope that my older brother would come back one day? And now that he's back, I feel so uneasy. Is it because he's been hiding something from me?" Li Xiaoqing's mind was in turmoil. Leaning against the back door of the bus, her unfocused gaze fixed on the passing vehicles and pedestrians outside the window, she didn't come to her senses until the bus reached a stop not far from Tianxiang Garden. Only then did she snap out of her reverie and follow the flow of people off the bus.
Li Jia followed Li Xiaoqing upstairs. Before entering, Li Xiaoqing turned around and said, "Brother Li... I want to be alone for a while, okay?"
Seeing the tear stains still visible on Li Xiaoqing's face, Li Jia nodded lightly. "Alright, I believe you will give your brother a chance to make it up to you. Go inside, your brother will leave now."
Li Xiaoqing didn't say anything more. She turned around, went inside, closed the door, and locked it. Li Feng looked at the tightly closed security door, pondered for a moment, then turned and knocked on Jiang Ling's door.
Jiang Ling made an exception today and listened to Li Jia's advice, refraining from going to the team to do those thankless tasks. Instead, she stayed home watching TV to pass the time. As soon as Li Jia knocked on the door, Jiang Ling jumped up from the sofa, as if she had been waiting for that knock. She peeked through the peephole, and the melancholy in her heart instantly turned into a hint of joy. She quickly opened the door to let Li Jia in.
Li Jia entered the house and went straight to the sofa in the living room, sitting down. He only buttoned two buttons on his casual jacket, revealing muscles that, while not well-developed, had smooth lines and contained immense explosive power.
"Why did you come here today?" Jiang Ling picked up the potato chips that were scattered all over the sofa, tore open the packaging, and asked as she watched Li Jia eat.
"Hehe, Xiaoqing saw the photo." After saying that, Li Jia also reached for a bag of potato chips, tore open the packaging, took out a large chip, and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Oh? That's perfect, saves you the trouble of trying every possible way to get them to accept you." Jiang Ling'er was quite easygoing, watching TV and eating potato chips as she spoke nonchalantly.
Li Jia was suddenly awakened by Jiang Ling's words. "That's right. So much time has passed, and there's still no news from that godforsaken place. What am I waiting for? Didn't I come back to be with them? That godforsaken place... I can go to hell there!" Li Jia thought to herself.
“It seems that I still can’t easily adapt to an ordinary life, but you’re right, I’ll take this opportunity to stand in front of them. In any case, that’s why I came back! You agree, right?” After Li Jia finished speaking, she picked out a large piece of potato chips and handed it to Jiang Ling’er.
“That’s right. Don’t worry! I’ll protect you! Watch TV with me for a while, I’ll go to Xiaoqing’s room later. I’ll call you if I get any news.” Jiang Ling took the potato chips Li Jia handed her, then patted Li Jia’s shoulder in an old-fashioned manner and said.
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you. Go check on them these next few days and find out what they're thinking. See how they react to me, their adopted brother, suddenly becoming their biological brother. What do you think?" Li Jia was naturally very concerned about how Li Xiaoqing and her two siblings would react to knowing his identity. Although Li Jia had once been incredibly powerful, in front of his family, he was still an older brother filled with anxiety.
"Alright, alright, I got it, I've got it covered!" Jiang Ling was engrossed in the exciting part of the James Bond film, The Another Day, so much so that she forgot to eat her potato chips and stared intently at the screen.
"Then it's settled. I'll be right back." Li Jia looked at Jiang Ling'er, who was engrossed in watching the movie, and handed her the potato chips she hadn't finished eating before getting up and leaving.
After standing in front of Li Xiaoqing's door for a while, Li Jia went downstairs, left the community, took a taxi back to the dry cleaner, grabbed her phone and car keys, and went out again.
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