Chapter 82 My soft heart only wanted to break his leg bone, so he could never...
She originally hated this dirty old man; from the moment he uttered his first words, she wished she could tear his mouth apart.
I never expected that this mouth could say such pleasing things.
When she laughed, her smile was like that of a tender, crisp cherry.
Li Xunhuan continued drinking, saying, "It seems that Mr. Mei's 'three incurable conditions' will have another one added. The deal of adopting a daughter in exchange for a life sounds like a good deal, but unfortunately I can neither afford the consultation fee nor want to have a daughter for nothing."
Upon hearing Li Xunhuan's reply, she clenched her fists, gritting her teeth in hatred.
Mr. Mei glared at him, “Do you know that you have been poisoned with Cold Chicken Powder? If I don’t save you, you will have no chance of survival.”
Li Xunhuan laughed and said lightly, "What joy is there in living, what sorrow in dying? [1] As long as I have wine to keep me company, that's enough."
Mr. Mei suddenly burst into laughter and said, "In that case, I have no choice but to save you."
She bit her lip and couldn't help but ask him, "Why do you hate me so much? You'd rather lose your life than have me."
Even though she had lost her memory, she still valued her life immensely. How could anyone not value their own life?
Li Xunhuan coughed several times before recovering, and said in a hoarse voice, "Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together. Besides, what kind of person in the world would pester someone to acknowledge them as their father?"
Mr. Mei laughed and said, "Little brat, I don't think you two are meant to be father and daughter. Since that's the case, don't pester me. Getting better is the most important thing. Let's go find my eldest son."
As he spoke, he strode out.
Tie Chuanjia disregarded everything else, picked up Li Xunhuan, and followed.
Spots of blood oozed from between her lips—blood she had bitten off herself. She looked up at the carriage, her eyes darkening into a thick, black liquid.
Don't pester me. But she insists.
These are her things, why should she run away?
Unless I break you and throw you away completely, how dare you run away?
Inside the carriage, Li Xunhuan and Mr. Mei were quietly drinking together.
Although Mr. Mei has an eccentric personality, he is very focused when he drinks, and his eyes are completely absorbed in the wine.
Li Xunhuan was lost in thought, even as he drank wine, his mind was filled with thoughts of a beautiful woman.
As he kept reciting the poem, the wine began to taste bitter again. Yet he drank this bitter wine for ten years.
Mr. Mei, perhaps not noticing the sorrow in his eyes, sighed, "That child is still following behind."
With Tie Chuanjia's speed, an ordinary person would never be able to keep up, let alone a child like her. But she managed to keep up, following him as if her life depended on it.
The fleeting sorrow abruptly ceased, and Li Xunhuan followed Mr. Mei's gaze.
Even though the heavy snow had stopped, the cold wind was still biting, and her gauze dress was blown about by the wind, almost flying away.
She seemed to be moving with difficulty, but with each step she took, she managed to keep up with the speeding carriage.
Of course, this was also because the rickshaw puller was slowing down more and more.
Amidst the blanket of white snow, her thin and frail body defiantly broke through the fierce wind, her figure swaying precariously, as if she were about to collapse with every step.
Mr. Mei shook his head and said, "This is the first time I've seen someone so eager to become a daughter, even risking their life. Is it possible that not only women like this charming young man, but children also adore him?"
Li Xunhuan frowned and said, "This child is very cunning; even I can't figure her out. If she's so ruthless to herself, she'll only be more ruthless to others."
He had a gut feeling that the child's clinging to him meant he had ulterior motives. He had come to the pass for an old friend; why should he get involved with this wild cat that liked to bite?
Moreover... Li Xunhuan is no longer the young master who once ranked third among all the beauties.
His eyes dimmed; now, anyone who gets close to him is likely to be unlucky.
Throughout his life, he has wronged far too many people.
Her legs were so frozen she had lost all feeling; she was just holding them up by sheer willpower.
Li Xunhuan was right; she was indeed a stubborn person.
But no matter how stubborn or hard the bones are, they are still human bones.
Her legs were weak and powerless, completely out of her control. Another gust of wind swept by, and her body swayed, falling straight forward and crashing heavily into the snow.
The snowmelt seeped in through her already soaked clothes, cutting into her flesh like a boning knife.
She hissed twice and struggled to get up, but no matter how hard she tried, her leg remained immobile.
She glanced at the speeding carriage, then at her legs, which were numb with cold.
Recalling the pain of having her heart gnawed away and her life threatened, a feeling of both anxiety and rage filled her chest, causing her to grab a dry branch from the ground and suddenly plunge it into her leg.
Disobedient things.
Why do they all disobey?
The withered branch was deeply embedded in the flesh, but the blood had already frozen and not a drop could flow out.
Fortunately, the sharp pain eventually calmed her down.
The cart could not be slowed any further, and Tie Chuanjia finally couldn't bear it any longer and said, "Young Master..."
The young master has always been kind-hearted, and although he understood that the young master must have his reasons for doing so, she was still just a child.
Mr. Mei also shook his head and said, "It seems this brat is determined to pester you!"
Outside the car window, the little girl was covered in blue frostbite, her hands embedded in the thick snow, her fingernails almost frozen off, yet she still crawled forward step by step.
In stark contrast to her disheveled appearance were her burning eyes.
The whites of her eyes gleamed with the cold light of a sword blade, while her irises resembled boiling amber liquid. You could even see the raging fire of a burning mountain in her eyes, the layers of heat almost scorching her eyelashes.
No one could deny that if they ignored her, she would freeze to death in the snow.
He's still just a child.
The purple figure in my heart had unknowingly vanished again.
Li Xunhuan's expression was unreadable. After a moment, he sighed deeply and said, "Let her come up."
He always thought he was more responsive to gentle persuasion than force, but he never expected that this kind of "hard" approach, which risked his life, would be even more effective than being gentle.
This stubborn and fierce little bone seems to know he'll soften.
He smiled bitterly, hoping that this tough nut wouldn't devour him alive and make him regret his soft heart today.
Hearing that the young master had given in, Tie Chuanjia finally smiled, stopped the carriage, and ran back home in a big stride.
If he had been any slower, he was afraid the little one would have frozen to death.
As she watched the massive figure approach, she finally lowered her head and laughed, her laughter filled with the exhilaration of triumph.
Once inside the carriage, she concealed her smile perfectly.
She had an innate, almost animalistic intuition; the more she saw him, the clearer she became about the kind of person he liked.
Even if this style of hers has nothing to do with her, it doesn't matter, she can learn it.
He didn't like her, so she didn't say anything, just smiled at him with bright eyes, looking very obedient.
Li Xunhuan was silent for a moment, then spoke first: "I'm a jinx, why are you following me like this?"
Why is this child so desperately clinging to him?
Her long eyelashes trembled twice, and she lowered her eyes, saying hesitantly, "You are the first person I saw after I woke up. You saved me, and I have nothing left but you. I just want to be with you."
As she spoke, she tried to hug herself with her hands, which were turning blue at the fingertips, but her trembling arms were no longer under her control.
Li Xunhuan saw her huddled in the corner, her face frozen like a rotten apple, her eyes lowered, the tiny ice crystals clinging to her eyelashes melting into water and flowing down her cheeks like streaks of tears.
He suddenly softened for a moment. Perhaps she had been stained with blood before, but she had forgotten her past. She was still young, and if she was properly taught, her mind could still be corrected.
If we forcefully drive her away, given her unruly and wild nature, she'll inevitably cause trouble sooner or later. If she offends the wrong person, she might even lose her life.
At least in his presence, the child was like a fledgling bird recognizing its parent, willing to temporarily conceal its sharpness.
So I kept an eye on her, to prevent her from harming herself or others; that would be good.
Li Xunhuan sighed deeply and murmured, "You can follow me, but from now on you can't disobey me. Do you agree?"
She hurriedly nodded and said, "I agree!"
Hearing this conversation from outside the car, Tie Chuanjia couldn't help but slowly reveal a gentle smile.
These past ten years have been incredibly lonely and desolate for the young master. Since he can't forget Lin Shiyin, having another child by his side would be a good thing.
Hopefully, this child can warm the young master's heart to some extent.
Li Xunhuan smiled and said, "Alright. You're still young, so if you don't mind, just call me Uncle Li!"
She blinked and said slowly, "Uncle Li, can't I call you Daddy?"
Father seems to be closer to me than Uncle Li.
Mr. Mei chuckled and said, "From now on, Scholar Li will be both my teacher and my father. You can call him whatever you want!"
Li Xunhuan just smiled, closed his eyes and said, "I'm not at a disadvantage to have such a grown daughter like you for nothing?"
He only softened his heart once and didn't want to suffer such a big loss.
However, one must never be soft-hearted when encountering a frozen venomous snake.
At that moment, he was thinking about how to teach and train her. But the frozen little venomous snake harbored resentment towards him for abandoning her.
I just want to break his leg bones so he can't go anywhere.
If he runs away again, tie him up.
Her eyes gradually went vacant. What should she use to tie herself up?
As the bell on her wrist jingled, she slowly lowered her head, looking at the red thread wrapped deep within her wrist, her gaze deepening.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Xunhuan suddenly asked.
The voice pierced her neck like a silver hook, abruptly straightening her cervical spine. She blinked and, after a beat, slowly said, "I was thinking of you."
She smiled innocently and said, "You don't seem to be in good health. I'm thinking about how to take care of you in the future."
Li Xunhuan stared at her for a long while before chuckling softly, "I'm not old enough to need you to take care of me."
His gaze fell on her calves, and he said slowly, "We've arrived. Can we walk?"
She nodded and said brightly, "I'm not afraid of pain."
Mr. Mei glanced at her sideways and, unusually, showed kindness, saying, "Alright, this child is quite interesting. I'll take this little devil inside, and I'll treat the injury on his leg as well."
This child is quite to his liking.
But seeing his filthy and greasy body, she lost her appetite. Unfortunately, she was under someone else's roof, so she could only bite into the tender meat in her mouth and remember all the humiliation she had suffered that day.
This person remembers bad things but not good things, and is extremely vengeful. Fortunately, although he possesses secret skills, he has not yet mastered the proper methods.
Otherwise, anyone who messes with her will inevitably be skinned alive.
After crossing the small bridge, you will see several stone houses deep in the plum grove. A few children and an old man with a tall hat are washing the snow off the trees in front of the houses.
Of the four of them, one was poisoned, one was injured, and the remaining two were either being carried or supported, making them quite conspicuous in the plum grove.
The old man with the tall hat saw them from afar, and hurriedly whispered a few words to the boy beside him, then shouted, "Second son, you good-for-nothing, why are you bringing back a girl? Did you steal someone's child?"
Mr. Mei laughed and said, "That's right, I've snatched the child of Little Li Tanhua!"
The joke had barely left his lips when the old man with the tall hat's eyes lit up, and he rushed over, saying, "Good, good, second brother, you did a great job this time!"
He clapped his hands in agreement and said, "Quick, quick, send a letter to Scholar Li and tell him to exchange his daughter for the 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' scroll!"
Mr. Mei said lightly, "No need to send a letter. I've brought Li Tanhua back to you as well."
Li Xunhuan sighed and said, "I am indeed Li Xunhuan, but I have already given away 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' to someone else."
Seeing Mei Da's expression change drastically, Mei Er took the lead and carried the frostbitten child into the house, shouting, "If you don't treat Li Tanhua's illness, this child will be fatherless. Eldest brother, you be the bad guy!"
After saying that, he quickly closed the door, keeping all the cursing outside.
The sound of wind and snow was abruptly cut off, and the stone house was quiet. Mr. Mei winked at the little girl and teased her, "Guess whether he will treat Li Tanhua's illness or not?"
boring.
She didn't understand why these people treated her like a three-year-old; were they just stupid? Unfortunately, she was now living under someone else's roof, so of course she couldn't say that.
She could only feign ignorance and guess, "Yes, he must be a good person."
Mr. Mei said with a smile, "He's not a good person."
She laughed too, "But I guessed right."
Mr. Mei nodded, yawned, and said, "Because all his precious calligraphy and paintings are in this room. If he doesn't want me to sell them all off, he'll have to save Little Li the Divine Knife. I always said that meeting me is his good fortune."
He took out some wound medicine from the bottles and jars in the corner, and while shaking his head and talking nonsense, he applied the medicine and bandaged her up.
He appeared nonchalant, but inwardly he was terrified. This girl had stabbed herself in the wound on her leg; she was acting as if she had a grudge against him, so cruelly.
When squeezing out the blood clots, she didn't even blink.
Let alone a child, even a burly man would cry out in pain.
Mr. Mei glanced at her and suddenly said jokingly, "You're such a determined little girl, why don't you just recognize me as your father? Anyway, even Little Li Tanhua doesn't want you."
She clenched her left fist behind her back, her expression still harmless, and said, "I want to follow Uncle Li, I only want him."
Mr. Mei's face fell. He tossed the small medicine jar in his hand to her and said coldly, "Since your Uncle Li is so kind, let him apply this medicine to your frostbite sores all over your body."
After saying that, he turned around and burst through the door.
A fierce, cold wind blew across his face, and he smiled contentedly.
Good, good, this troublesome matter is finally out of the way. This little brat, covered in frostbite, how long would it take him to apply the ointment?
He touched his nose and thought to himself: Besides, it's just a little girl.
Let Li Xunhuan figure it out himself.
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Author's Note: [1] Source: Zhuangzi, "Supreme Happiness"
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