Chapter 191: We Can’t Be Together
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Li Shaoling’s face dropped in disbelief. “You remembered?”
Ji Weixi was clutching at her own hair. “I’m the daughter of your enemy… what should we do…”
Li Shaoling, however, firmly pulled her into his arms, seething as his eyes turned red. “No one is taking you away as long as I want you.”
Nonetheless, Ji Weixi sobbed, clutching at his shirt. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry!”
Soon enough, she became oxygen-starved from her own sobbing and eventually fell to groggy sleep.
Her little one came to visit, but Li Shaoling stopped him.
“Daddy?”
Li Shaoling crouched down to look at his little face and quietly said, “She’s not feeling well at the moment. I’ll have Aunt Miaomiao take care of you for some time. Alright?”
This was the first time he was being so polite with his own son.
The little one pursed his lips, unable to stay calm. “But is Mommy alright… Daddy?”
“Nothing will happen to her as long as I’m here.”
***
Ji Weixi seemed to hear someone arguing outside and she woke up.
She sat up, took some time to adapt herself to the blinding light before wearing her shoes and getting off her bed.
“Even if us Yu family had done your mother wrong, our families will always be enemies, and had sworn never to live alongside the Li family! Let me pass! You cannot stay with her—I’m bringing Qing’er home!”
With that, the door was opened and Yu Qishan entered on his crutch, running into Ji Weixi just as she was about to go out.
Taken aback for a moment, Yu Qishan emotionally grasped Ji Weixi’s hands. “Qing’er, I heard you’ve recovered your memories? Don’t you remember me?”
Ji Weixi pursed her lips.
She was feeling a little ill at ease even if she had regained her memories—she had lived with the Ji family for a dozen years after all.
When she didn’t reply, Yu Qishan asked after her in great concern. “Are you better now? Does it still hurt? Should I get you a doctor?”
Ji Weixi shook her head, and then looked up at Li Shaoling outside the door.
He was looking back with a troubled gaze.
Yu Qishan saw their locked gazes, and sighed as he offered them his sincere advice. “Qing’er, I know that you both have feelings for each other, but it’s impossible! Don’t you know that you were betrothed to the Su family’s boy as children?”
“And I know you have a child with him, but we can have the boy change his name to Yu. And I will do everything I can to make up for the Li family for the grievous deeds of your father!”
“Fate is simply not on your side. Even if Li Shaoling would accept you, aren’t you worried that he would hate you so much one day and kill you!? Your father killed his mother! Stop dreaming!”
Yu Qishan stretched out his hand then. “Come, Qing’er, let’s go home.”
Ji Weixi closed her eyes as tears fell. She stiffly put her hand on Yu Qishan’s palm, allowing him to lead her out of her room.
She paused for the briefest of moments as she walked past Li Shaoling, but her head could not have hung lower.
She felt sorry towards him, but she could not look him in the eye either.
Li Shaoling watched as she left, and even the faint scent of antiseptic was gone with her.
His heart was hollow. It didn’t hurt, but it was very empty.
To the point that he found living meaningless.
***
The little one was brought back to the Yu family, and he quickly adapted to the role of great-grandchild.
Even so, Ji Weixi was still losing weight.
All she did was sit by the window of her room and look down.
She vaguely remembered the times when the people in the house stopped her from going out to play with Li Shaoling.
However, he would come and throw pebbles at her window. She would leap out of the window and into his arms when she heard the sound, and he would lead her out to play. They would play until the middle of the night so that their family wouldn’t notice, and then Li Shaoling would help her climb back up the window.
It probably wouldn’t happen in the future.
Soon, a month had passed.
Ji Weixi heard many news about the Li family in that period.
Li Shaogan had inherited all Old Madam Li’s property and stocks following her passing, but when it was exposed that Li Shaogan was in league with the Qiao family, Li Nanhai was admitted to hospital under stress, and unable to recover from that.
Nonetheless, Li Shaogan simply ignored the fate of the Li family and continued selling his soul to the Qiao family.
Everyone had hoped that Li Shaoling would step up to save them once again, just like four years ago.
However, Li Shaoling had completed vanished this time, nor did he show up to help.
Every part of the Li family, and even all of CBS was caught in confusion, facing bankruptcy in its leaderless state.
None of which wasn’t good news to Yu Qishan.
“Serves the Li family right! Serves Li Nanhai right!” Yu Qishan was seething at the thought of his late daughter. “Li Nanhai should have fallen so much earlier for toying with Xiaoxiao’s feelings! His family are all cool-blooded creatures and nothing good!”
When Ji Weixi heard that, she had really wanted to rush outside and tell them that Li Shaoling wasn’t like that.
But so what if she would tell them what’s what? The Yu family hated the Li family down to their marrow.
***
Tonight, Ji Weixi was in her bed, staring blankly at her ceiling.
Thud—
Suddenly, something seemed to hit her window but only made a moderate sound.
She did not react immediately, and another thud soon followed.
Ji Weixi promptly sat up and ran to the window to look.
It was pouring snow outside, but a man was standing there, throwing pebble after pebble at her window.
She felt her pulse quicken while her eyes grow hot and tearful. She was smiling as she opened her window.
In the snow, Li Shaoling spread his arms towards him, his smile handsome and bright.
Ji Weixi bit her lip, and quickly fetched a coat from her closet.
Her room was on the first floor. It wasn’t high, but it was still frightening.
Even so, she gritted her teeth as she looked at Li Shaoling again, and jumped down without hesitation.
In turn, Li Shaoling spread his arms to catch her. Both of them dropped into the snow, and he rolled once to pin her beneath.
Before she could react, he was holding both her hands and kissing her.
They exhaled and stared into each other’s eyes.
Wearing a large black trench coat, his face was a little white in the cold although he was wearing a knitted scarf around his neck.
His usual iciness was gone, and the moment, he looked like the boy next door.
Ji Weixi wanted to cry the more she looked, feeling guilty and upset inside while keeping her head low and averting her eyes, afraid to look at him. “L-let me get up.”
“Why did you ask for me anyway?”
“Nothing.” His voice was indifferent.
Ji Weixi turned. “I’m leaving then.”
He spoke again from behind her. “I just missed you a bit.”
Chapter 192: Come Home With Me, Okay?
Ji Weixi paused then. Her feet were as heavy as lead even as she quickly wiped away her falling tears.
Sniffling, she changed the topic and asked, “Don’t you care about the Li family? They are crumbling.”
“I’m not one of them.”
“But you are a Li. Your father is, too.”
Li Shaoling turned her around and stared at her seriously. “Would you be with me if I’m not a Li?”
Ji Weixi could not hold back her tears right then. “Are you crazy!? What do you mean ‘if’!?”
“Should I change my name?”
“No!” She retorted indignantly.
Li Shaoling grinned. “Do you really care so much?”
Ji Weixi wiped off her tears firmly. “I feel guilty. I feel upset. I care a lot!”
“The truth is I’ve hated you.”
Li Shaoling’s smile faded while Ji Weixi stared blankly at him.
“I hated myself for liking you, for caring so much about you.”
“Even so, I’ve thought things through. That’s the grievances of the last generation, and it has nothing to with me or you. It’s really tiring to be burdened by the bad blood of generations past—yes, your father did kill my mother, but have you thought about why the Yu family and Li family are such bitter enemies?”
Ji Weixi shook her head. She didn’t know.
“Both families once shared a strong bond, but there was a mole in the Li family who made the Yu family go bankrupt overnight, forcing them to sell off their stocks just to survive while the Li family prospered greater with each passing day. That’s how the terrible grievance between the families came to be.”
“At the time, the damage to the Yu family was so frightening that they had to flee, and their head committed suicide because he wasn’t unable to bear the pressure. But think about: everything was caused by the actions of the Li family.”
Li Shaoling looked at her. “It’s tragic to be born in such a family. Is there a family that doesn’t shoulder living humans? It’s only ever about business, about profits and gains. Look: the families might struggle until they leave everything ruined in their wake, but they would become great partners whenever they face outside competition. Your grandfather would never tell you all that because you knowing would only feel more guilty, that the Yu family had wronged the Li family and so feared that you would be with me. He just hates the Li family very much.”
Ji Weixi understood. “But I do feel guilty, I remember your mother when I see you… about how she went away in front of me…”
Afraid of invoking Li Shaoling’s memories, she wouldn’t say the word ‘die’.
Nonetheless, Li Shaoling held her cool small hand and strolled along the snow. “The truth is that my mother didn’t love me. Her aim in her kindness is so that I could inherit the entire estate of the Li family and repay her.”
“She lived for gains too. She had no affection towards me. I did not have much attachment to her either because of her early passing.”
He looked at her again. “Are you cold?”
Slow to react, Ji Weixi nodded.
Li Shaoling took off his scarf and put it around her neck.
All she could smell right then was his clean scent.
He smiled bitterly then. “I’m leaving.”
Her eyes tightened. “Where are you going?”
“Somewhere isolated.” Li Shaoling touched her ice-cold face. “No one wants me around anyway, nor do I have any intention to return to the Li family. Being alone is fine too.”
Ji Weixi stared at him blankly, her heart aching. “When would you come back?”
“I won’t be coming back. I’ll just die.” Li Shaoling freed her then, a dark look in his eyes as he took one step back. “There’s no one I would miss.”
With that, he turned and left, without coming back.
Ji Weixi was stunned, but soon made a snowball, threw it at him and yelled. “Idiot! Bastard! You promised to marry me and you’re regretting already?! I don’t care anymore!”
Li Shaoling turned just a little from the hit, his voice remaining indifferent. “You don’t want me anymore. What good is saying that now?”
Meanwhile, her years were flowing rapidly. “Who said so?! I didn’t!”
He promptly strode towards her, rubbed off her tears as his voice became tender. “Good girl. Now say that again.”
Ji Weixi only realized then that she was tricked once again, and threw her fists at him in indignation. “Fooling me again?! You’re so annoying! I don’t care anymore!”
Li Shaoling caught her trashing hands in his palm. “Come home with me?”
Ji Weixi shook her head. “What about Grandfather? He won’t let me be with you…”
“Come back with me first. Set everything else aside.” Li Shaoling held her, closing his eyes. “Weixi, I missed you so much… if I don’t hate you, how could you leave me?”
“You told me you would marry me. You have to fulfill your promise, and if you go back on your word…” There was a plea in Li Shaoling’s voice just then. “I would be devastated. Promise me, marry me and stay with me. Okay?”
Ji Weixi returned his embrace, reveling in his warm chest.
She gently closed her eyes, feeling his strong, pulsing heartbeats.
He was right. Why should a generation bear the sins of generations past?
Even if she might live out the rest of her days in guilt, it didn’t feel like a bad thing to submit her life to Li Shaoling in recompense.
Moreover, he was begging her.
Her heart hurts.
“Okay,” Ji Weixi replied. “I’m coming home with you.”
Li Shaoling freed her then, and was smiling like a child. Ji Weixi could not help wrapping her arms around his neck, stand on her toes and kiss him on her own volition.
When that was done, she spoke beside his ear. “Li Shaoling?”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
***
Li Shaoling led Ji Weixi home, their bodies touching constantly with affection.
He forced her to say ‘I love you’ many times.
It was not easy to make her convey the feelings in her heart, so why would he give up on such a chance?
Meanwhile, Yu Qishan immediately guessed that Ji Weixi had run off with Li Shaoling when he found her gone.
When he and Yu Xiangnian came asking for her, Ji Weixi was still sleeping.
Li Shaoling answered the door, dressed in his casual clothes.
“Where is my Qing’er! Hand her over!” Yu Qishan demanded the moment the door opened.
“Quiet. She’s sleeping.” Li Shaoling was at once languid and provoking.
Yu Qishan was left choking with indignation, while Yu Xiangnian pulled him back. “Grandfather, Cousin is sleeping.”
“What are you talking about?”
Yu Xiangnian threw Li Shaoling an indifferent look and said, “It’s obvious that they have a child and feelings for each other. Surely you can’t break them up.”
Yu Qishan could never have expected that the grandson he was so proud of would betray him.
“Xiangnian… don’t you know…”
“Are you talking about what happened before? You’re wrong there, Grandfather. You have been tormented enough by your own grandfather, so why would you not let it go and continue tormenting new generations? Have you never thought about what would happen to Jiayu if you do this? That’s your great grandson. Are you able to watch a young boy like him live in hate?”
Chapter 193: The Little One Gets A Little Sister
Yu Qishan’s face seemed to turn white one moment and red the next. “Xiangnian, whose side are you on now?!”
“That doesn’t matter, Grandfather.” Yu Xiangnian looked at Li Shaoling. “The important thing here is my hopes that my cousin wouldn’t have to live out her days in hate right after we found her again. I’ve had enough—everyone’s had enough.”
Yu Qishan knew that Yu Xiangnian was right, but there was no way he would lose face as an elder just like that.
“Where is my Qing’er?” He snorted coldly. “Let me see her!”
Li Shaoling slowly took a seat on the sofa and said, “She’s sleeping. Or would you rather disturb her?”
Yu Qishan was left speechless by his irritation with the two men.
“Grandfather, please take a seat have some tea.” Yu Xiangnian helped Qishan to sit and brought him a cup of tea, smiling. “You don’t have to worry about Cousin either, because someone is taking care of her.”
“Care? Is this care!?” Yu Qishan slammed her palm down the table in annoyance. “How long has it been since I brought Qing’er home? And you’ve already kidnapped her!”
Li Shaoling stared back with composure. “Kidnap? She’s my wife and the mother of my son. You have a poor choice of words.”
“You aren’t married! She’s not your wife!”
“We’ll be married soon.”
“I won’t agree to it!”
Slam—
Li Shaoling had brusquely put his teacup on the table while his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t try for a mile just because I gave you an inch. She’s my woman. No one will stop me from marrying her, much less you.”
“Don’t think you could challenge me just because you are a little capable, Li Shaoling!” Leaning on his crutch, Yu Qishan rose to his feet, his neck seemingly thickened in fury.
“I would answer your challenge, but you would end up six feet under before that.” Li Shaoling sneered.
“You—!” Though infuriated, Yu Qishan could only point at Li Shaoling but could not manage a word in comeback.
Nonetheless, Yu Xiangnian tried to reason with Yu Qishan. “Grandfather, you don’t have to bother yourself with the young ones. Either way, Cousin is not going to be happy if you separate them.”
“You’ve turned against me too?!”
Yu Qishan turned and left in his discontent.
***
Ji Weixi had been sleeping soundly when she faintly heard the arguing outside.
She knew at once that Yu Qishan had come to get her.
Even as she hesitated whether she should go out, Li Shaoling came in.
“Were you arguing?”
“Nope.”
Li Shaoling walked to her, taking her into his arms and kissed her as if it was natural.
Ji Weixi shoved her away, flushing. “I haven’t brushed my teeth.”
“I don’t hate it.”
She smiled at him then, and leaned into his arms and played with his fingers. “Do you think Grandfather would agree to us getting married?”
“I’m marrying you whether he agrees or not.” Li Shaoling’s reaction was extremely determined.
However, Ji Weixi lowered her head unhappily. “I was thinking… we won’t get his blessing if we insist on marrying.”
“That’s why I want to go back for a while,” she said, looking up. “I’ll ask for Grandfather’s blessing, because I don’t want you arguing away with him whenever you meet. I hope that he could agree to us marrying, and I want his blessing.”
Li Shaoling’s voice became quiet. “But I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
She then bit her lip. “My hip hurts.”
“I’ll give you a massage.”
“My feet too.”
“I’ll rub it.”
Ji Weixi could not help giggling at how quickly and diligently he went to work. “Would you stay like this for the rest of my life?”
Li Shaoling’s lips curled in a gentle smile. “You’re the only woman I would protect with my life in this world.”
“You have such a sweet tongue.”
“Is that so?” Li Shaoling snuggled up, lifting a brow. “Have you tasted it?”
“Go away!”
Ji Weixi covered her face in shyness and embarrassment, while he gently rocked her in his arms. “When are we getting a daughter?”
“In a hurry?”
Li Shaoling grunted a yes. “Your grandfather can’t do anything against us if you get pregnant.”
“Are you trying to use children to threaten him?” Ji Weixi poked his thin lips with her finger. “You’re bad.”
“I’ve always been bad.” Li Shaoling replied with a mysterious look.
***
Omitted.
***
Two days later.
Ji Weixi returned to the Yu family’s residence and tried to have a levelheaded discussion with Yu Qishan.
He wouldn’t hear a word of it, however, and promptly locked her up instead.
“Great Grandpa, please let Mommy and Daddy be together!”
The little one tugged Yu Qishan’s hand and played cute even as he stared at the tightly shut room.
But Yu Qishan, having steeled himself to separate Ji Weixi and Li Shaoling was not having it.
As such, the little one quickly whipped out his phone and called Li Shaoling. “Oh no, Daddy! Great Grandpa locked Mommy up! Hurry up!”
Li Shaoling arrived very swiftly, demanding her the moment he entered. “Return her.”
“Why? She’s my granddaughter.”
“Why, you ask? She’s my woman.”
“I’m declaring right now that she’s not yours! Now get out of my sight!”
“Breaking us up, huh?” Li Shaoling said as he entered the house, taking off his coat.
Yu Qishan glared at him. “What are you doing?!”
Slamming the coat on the sofa, Li Shaoling then sat on it like a big shot. “I’m not leaving if you’re not letting her go.
Thus, the battle between Yu Qishan and Li Shaoling began!
Yu Qishan was never letting Ji Weixi go, just as Li Shaoling was never leaving.
He would simply freeload meals out of the Yu family as the little one cheered him on.
“Daddy, I never thought that you are so thick-skinned!”
Indeed, it was the good life for Li Shaoling: eating food right off the Yu family’s table and having Ji Weixi in his arms as they slept at night.
Soon, two weeks passed.
After the nutritionist had finished preparing breakfast, Ji Weixi arrived at the dining table in Li Shaoling’s arms to eat.
Yu Qishan was immediately annoyed the moment he saw Li Shaoling’s face, but Ji Weixi suddenly clasped her hand over mouth and made a wild dash for the toilet when he was about say something.
The sounds of dry heaving left the men trading looks.
Still, Li Shaoling reacted first, and quickly headed to the toilet to gently rub her back.
Tears were appearing over Ji Weixi’s eyes. She gargled, but she was still feeling discomfort.
Li Shaoling’s eyes brightened. “Could you be pregnant?”
Ji Weixi did a double take. “I’m not sure.”
Yu Qishan quickly got asked for the Yu family’s doctor to check, and it turned out to be true.
The news left Yu Qishan frozen stiff, thunderstruck.
“Oh yeah! I’m going to have a little sister!” The little one was beside himself with joy and running circles around the vast living room of the Yu family’s residence, before latching himself to Ji Weixi’s belly before Li Shaoling could.
The little one also finally let go of his opinion that Li Shaoling was impotent.
Ji Weixi smiled at Li Shaoling then.
Like a child about to receive some important gift, he was down on one knee and gently sticking his ear on her belly, looking a little upset.
“Why can’t I hear a thing? Does our daughter hate me?”
“…She’s the size of a bean. It would be scary if she reacts.”
Do men’s IQ drop when they’re too happy about becoming a dad?
Nonetheless, Li Shaoling happily picked her up and whirled a few circles, while it was some time before the little one could stop laughing.
Yi Xiangnian was smiling too, and only Yu Qishan was looking as upset as being force fed a pile of dung.
***
Later that night, Li Shaoling and Yu Qishan spoke in the study.
The conversation lasted two hours before the men came out, one after another.
Ji Weixi stood and walked to Li Shaoling, holding his hand while he tenderly stroked her belly with a nice smile.
Yu Qishan snorted coldly at Li Shaoling, but he eventually spoke although he was reluctant. “Hurry up with the wedding! It’ll be too late if Qing’er becomes heavily pregnant!”
Ji Weixi moved closer to Li Shaoling to ask what they actually talked about, but Li Shaoling only offered a mysterious reply.
“That’s our secret.”
Chapter 194: You are the Most Beautiful Sight in My Life (Main Ending)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The winds were as gentle as the skies were blue on the day of their wedding.
Li Shaoling’s authority remains despite the Li family’s fall from grace—countless attended their reception, even foreigners.
Ji Weixi was dressed in a bright, white and vibrant wedding dress as she embraced and kissed Li Shaoling in his form-fitting black tuxedo.
At the same time, Ji Jiayu also formally changed his name to Li Jiayu then.
Tian Miaomiao was left dumbfounded when she caught the Ji Weixi’s bouquet, realizing then that everyone was staring at her.
Unwittingly, her eyes found a certain person in the crowd.
He was wearing a pair of glasses at staring at her indifferently. Resisting the urge to greet him, however, Tian Miaomiao withdrew her gaze.
She smiled bitterly. She may have the luck to catch the bouquet, but she did not have the luck to get hitched.
***
The bridal room was lit in romantic candlelight, but Li Shaoling could not get his way with her woman despite having her in his arms.
Ji Weixi’s condition was delicate, and the doctor has said that they could only do it only after she was three months pregnant.
As such, the great President Li began his long night of abstaining.
Time flies, however, and Ji Weixi was in labor in the blink of an eye.
Li Shaoling thought that it was a mercy killing when he heard her scream herself hoarse in the delivery room.
He would never have gotten her pregnant if he knew that childbirth was such anguish.
When Ji Weixi was wheeled out, the nurse was holding a wrinkly infant and smiling. “Congratulations, President Li. It’s a girl!”
Li Shaoling did not even spare them a glance, instead walking up to Ji Weixi and held her lethargic hand, his eyes red as he spoke to her. “I’m sorry…”
A crystalline tear rolled down Ji Weixi’s pale cheeks.
Then, Li Shaoling delegated every work he had on hand and concentrated solely on caring for Ji Weixi, promoting himself from president to nanny-daddy.
Li Shaoling had founded Qing Yu International, a new company which Yu Xiangnian held a stake as well in the wake of CBS’s gradual decline.
In a single year, the company rose to international expansion and even successfully acquired CBS.
With that, the Li family had finally fallen.
***
Then, on the twenty-eighth day of Ji Weixi’s postnatal confinement, Li Shaoling and Li Jiayu had their first violent argument.
“Shouldn’t girls have flowery names like Hua1 or Lan2?!” The little one was yelling. “I don’t care! My little sister’s name should be Li Huahua!”
Li Shaoling pressed a finger over his brow. “So old-fashioned. Don’t call yourself my son when you’re outside.”
“…Then what should her name be?!”
Li Shaoling’s brow tightened. “Keep talking.”1
Ji Weixi had thought at first that Li Shaoling wasn’t being attentive about their daughter. That thought, coupled with her postnatal temper, caused her to have a small squabble with him.
It was in the middle of the night when she got out of bed for the toilet, when she found Li Shaoling searching the dictionary in front of the table light.
She only learned that he took naming their daughter very, very seriously.
Nonetheless, he only came up with the child name’s when on the day Ji Weixi finished her confinement.
Li Zijin.
Always on my mind, Li Zijin.1
***
Li Zijin was a year old and blowing bubbles as the little one watched over her like a nanny, wiping her foamy little mouth as a joyful brother.
“Oh, Jin Jin, grow up fast.” The little one stared at the little girl, while resting his chin on one hand, mumbling away like an idiot. “Call me brother, and I’ll beat up anyone who bullies you! Your brother loves you the most, Jin Jin! I’ll even pluck the stars off the skies for you!”
One morning, the little one was jolted awake when Jin Jin threw a fit. It was time for her milk, and he therefore hurried to Ji Weixi’s bed.
He was at the door when he heard his mother’s stifled moans from within.
Sighing, he returned to his room to check on his sister. “Jin Jin, you’ll have to wait. Mommy and Daddy are wrestling naked again.”
Li Jiayu waited, and it was only after one hour and two minutes that Ji Weixi opened her door, flushing and with red strawberry marks on her neck.
The little one sighed inwardly.
Daddy was one minute quicker than the last time.
Was he failing again?
1Being a man is so difficult.
***
Now two-years-old, Li Zijin could say ‘Daddy’ and ‘Mommy’, but still failed to say ‘Brother’.
The little one was left depressed for the longest time. “Oh, Jin Jin, your brother is so nice to you… why can’t you say ‘brother’?”
Jin Jin, her eyes widening, blew bubbles as she said clumsily, “Br… brother… brother…”
The little one happily rolled about over his bed.
***
Later, when Li Zijin was five-years-old.
Li Shaoling had been busy over the years, and in her idle time, Ji Weixi would play the role of a president’s wife.
Until one day, when Li Shaoling met an old man.
“I was like you in my younger days, thinking that my wife could have the life she wants because I have money,” the old man told him. “But she passed away while I was at a meeting overseas. Time is precious—do not waste the time you could share with your family because of money, because the day would eventually come that you would regret and live in eternal guilt.”
Li Shaoling promptly booked two tickets to Paris and left the children with Tian Miaomiao.
He would share a private moment with Ji Weixi, since they had never been alone after they married and had another child.
In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Ji Weixi was leaning on Li Shaoling’s chest and watching the sun set.
“Darling husband.” She called softly.
“What is it, dear wife?” Li Shaoling asked, locking fingers with her.”
“I love you.” Ji Weixi cast him an indulgent look.
He grinned. “I love you, too.”
“Then tell me, what did you tell Grandfather?”
Li Shaoling wrapped his arms around her and gently spoke beside her ear. “I told him that I would destroy the Li family in one year and acquire every company they’ve had. Every stock and property would then be given to you, because all I want is to work for you with the rest of my life.”
Ji Weixi’s tears streamed. “So, I’m a rich woman.”
Li Shaoling laughed. “You are my rich woman.”
“Brother Ling…” Ji Weixi’s eyes were tender as she called out softly.
Li Shaoling was surprised, his memory abruptly dragged to the past of the little girl in twin ponytails and a pink dress, her dewy eyes sparkling as she called out in her tiny, delicate voice.
“Brother Ling!”
Ji Weixi wrapped her hands around his neck, imitating the young girl as she whispered into Li Shaoling’s ear. “I have a secret I’ve always wanted to tell you.”
“The truth is that I dreamt of being with you until we grew old when I met you at six-years-old. Now, the dream has come true, and I’ve fallen for you too.”
Li Shaoling looked into her eyes lovingly too. “I have a secret too.”
“When I was twelve and you were nine, you though I was joking when I told you I wanted to run away with you, but I really did. Even if we were separated for sixteen years, I rejoice that time is merciful, that you are still my girl.”
You are my most beautiful sight in this life.
(Main Story End)
Chapter 195: Side Story 1: Visiting Doctor Jiang
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Jiang Yigu was the head of the neurology department of a private hospital in River Town.
Tian Miaomiao had never seen him after Ji Weixi and Li Shaoling’s wedding until one day, when the police called her about her gambler father had been beaten until he was mentally disabled because of his debts.
The chief neurologist at the hospital she went to told her that a former authority on the practice had resigned.
Tian Miaomiao knew that the person was Jiang Yigu.
Even if there was some space between them, Tian Miaomiao felt that she didn’t have to save face when it came to her father’s condition.
Hence, she had her father transfer hospitals.
That night, Jiang Yigu entered with her father’s medical history and looked up coolly around him. “Are there any family members of Tian Qishan present?”
“Here!”
Tian Miaomiao shouted, raising her hand.
Their eyes met. Jiang Yigu frowned but soon was calm again, walking with one hand in his pocket to Tian Qishan to check his vitals and flashing a torchlight into his eyes.
He was just inches away, and though she had smelled the scent of antiseptic before, that was the first time she found it nice.
Jiang Yigu then lowered his torchlight, turning to leave as he said, “Please come with me.”
Tian Miaomiao followed after putting a blanket over Tian Qishan.
She then found Jiang Yigu leaning on the wall with his gaze lowered at her. “Do you think your father deserves pity?”
Tian Miaomiao was taken aback since she did not expect such a private question.
“No. But I have a responsibility to care for him even if I hate him.”
There was no choice—she was his only daughter after all.
On the other hand, Jiang Yigu had an inscrutable look on his face as if he was hesitating to say something.
“I’ll perform a checkup tomorrow.” He eventually muttered.
Tian Miaomioa was a little sad as she watched him strode off.
Was a patient’s family member all he considered of her?
Really.
Man, your name might well be Cold.
***
Midnight.
Tian Miaomiao only fell asleep after much difficulty on the narrow sickbed when she was jolted awake by waves of wailing.
She sat up, rubbed her eyes and opened the door.
There was a group of people crowding just outside the next room, each of them trying to look at the action inside.
Tian Miaomiao squeezed her way into the crowd to find a middle-aged man with a gruesome gap on his jugular, and blood shooting out of it.
Several nurses were flustered but helping, while Jiang Yigu kept both his hands on the man’s jugular, blood flowing freely between his fingers.
“Gauze.”
“Suture.”
Jiang Yigu’s face was somber as he rapidly sutured the gap, but the cut was too deep for him to work with.
Splat—
That was when the blood shot all over Jiang Yigu’s body.
His stark white coat, her face and glasses were all promptly dyed in blood.
Beep-beep-beep—
The monitors gradually flatlined.
“Darling!” A woman was wailing nearby with both her knees on the floor.
At the same time, Jiang Yigu remained unaffected as he issued another order. “Transfusion.”
Then, he put one palm over another upon the men’s chest, pumping it rhythmically and repetitively.
Jiang Yigu did that for some time but there was no reaction on the monitors, and so he took a defibrillator and adjusted it to high voltage and pumped the man’s chest again—the man’s body lifted with the burst of electric current, before slamming heavily back into bed.
In the end, the man couldn’t be saved.
Jiang Yigu bowed once and stepped out, and the onlookers cleared a path for him.
However, he was a few steps away when he turned around to Tian Miaomiao. He was about to pull her hand when he saw that his own hands were full of blood, and could only put his hand over her shoulder.
Tian Miaomiao had simply blanked out from what she saw.
“Girls shouldn’t be seeing something so bloody.”
Her face was pale white. That was the first time she had ever seen a sight so gory.
Jiang Yigu himself was pungent with the scent of blood, and she heaved a few times.
He smiled as he led her to his office.
He washed his hands with cold water, and then soaked his lab coat in the water.
Looking at him, Tian Miaomiao asked. “Are you sad watching a patient die?”
“I am.” Jian Yigu replied calmly as he leaned over the basin. “Just as I am aware that the chance of rescuing a patient whose jugular ruptures is almost zero, but I would still try it… It is my hope to save every life.”
Tian Miaomiao was curious. “How did that happen?”
“Suicide.”
“Suicide?” Tian Miaomiao was shocked. “Even that’s too brutal…”
Jiang Yigu’s lips curled but did not really smile. “This is the neurology wing. There are many people here who aren’t in their right minds, so I’m a little used to it.”
Tian Miaomiao’s face went pale. “Then, my father…”
Jiang Yigu’s face changed but he said nothing.
***
In the following month, Tian Miaomiao had stayed in the hospital to care for Tian Qishan as best as she could but his condition was not improving.
Still, there was a change between her and Jiang Yigu.
His attitude to her now was neither cold nor warm. Either way, it was a little better than ‘patient’s family’ but not really ‘friends’.
Tian Miaomiao would talk to Ji Weixi afterwards, who would advise her as if she had experienced it all herself. “All men are jerks. The more proactive you are, the less he cares for you.”
Li Shaoling who was helping her daughter with some scribbling looked up. “I’m a jerk?”
“…Not you, darling.”
“So, I’m not a man?” Li Shaoling narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Very well. I’ll have you learn what being a man is all about tonight.”
“…”
Couldn’t he just say that he wanted to get some action, and not nitpick or beat around the bush?
***
Tian Qishan’s condition never improved even on the day he was discharged.
Tian Miaomiao thought then that he would be like that for the rest of his life—perhaps it was punishment from the heavens.
After they reached home, Tian Qishan started to throw a fit about wanting to go outside to play like a child, and let him run about the district while she tidied her house.
That was when her door was kicked down with a bang, startling Tian Miaomiao.
Five huge pudgy men entered. Their leader had a scar from a blade on his face, and he asked when he saw Tian Miaomiao. “Are you Tian Qishan’s daughter?”
She was stepping back in fear. “Who… are you?”
The men looked at each other and laughed. “Tian Qishan owed us money, and he sold you off to us.”
“Sold?” Tian Miaomiao was left in disbelief. “My father’s out of his mind, how could he…”
No way…
Even before Tian Miaomiao could react, the scarred man had promptly pulled her hair and pressed her face down on the sofa, and impatiently tore her pants off.
Tian Miaomiao was struggling as hard as she could when she saw Tian Qishan staring from outside the door.
“Father! Father, help me!” She yelled as if finding a savior.
But Tian Qishan’s eyes had changed from its mindlessness before to one devoid of emotion.
He turned and left.
Tian Miaomiao’s whole body stiffened as her tears rained. She finally realized that Tian Qishan was faking his mental disability, and even sold her off to those men as collateral.
She gritted her teeth, and could not stop her bursting hate to kill him.
How could he be so heartless? She was his daughter!
Chapter 196: Side Story 2: Miaomiao, I Am Fond Of You
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The floor was a mess when Jiang Yigu arrived.
Clear signs of a struggle.
He slowly moved and unwittingly stepped on a hand—his eyes traced the body to find a huge man with a dagger sticking out of his back and bleeding freely.
Ahead, there was another man with his eyes tightly shut and bleeding from his forehead. He must have been knocked unconscious with a blunt object
Slap—
That was when a curse and a slap echoed from inside the house. “Shit, the little whore actually hurt my bros! You’re getting it from me!”
“No… No! I beg you! Don’t touch me!”
Jiang Yigu promptly kicked down the door. Tian Miaomiao was already stripped naked as the man was about to get into the main event—still, he quickly zipped up his pants and approached the glowering Jiang Yigu with his fists raised when he noticed him.
Jiang Yigu’s glare sharpened. He caught the punch and diverted it, but the man had some training too, and reacted quickly to attempt tripping Jiang Yigu with his leg.
The two men wrestled.
The man was strong and was large, but Jiang Yigu was strong despite looking disadvantaged.
He was ruthless too. Grabbing a vase behind him, he smashed it heavily over the man’s head.
The glass shattered, with some shards entering the man’s eyes.
“Aaaaargh! My eyes!”
The man was immediately bleeding from his eye sockets and rolling on the floor.
Meanwhile, Tian Miaomiao was in her bed, pale-white and seemingly lifeless.
Jiang Yigu pulled the bedsheet over her but she evaded him even as she shivered.
Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around her and tenderly said, “Let’s go.”
Tian Miaomiao freely allowed his embrace then, her eyes remaining distant—her cheeks were bruised and swollen and her lips were torn.
There were also marks over her fair skin where one of the men strangled her.
Still, she had stabbed someone to protect her virtue—it was hard to imagine that a girl like her could do so much with several men breaking in.
Jiang Yigu took her back to his house, prepared warm bathwater and took off the bedsheet, before carefully putting her in the baththub.
She was like a soulless doll, allowing him to do anything he liked.
She curled herself into a tight ball as she soaked in the warm water, mumbling with an empty look.
“I…. killed someone… I killed someone…”
“You didn’t.” Jiang Yigu whispered, crouching before her. “That was righteous self-defense.”
Tian Miaomiao looked up to find a rare tenderness in his face and asked blankly. “Really?”
“Really.”
Her tears quickly flowed and she started bawling, melancholically and hysterically.
But as she cried, she suddenly plunged deep into the tub and beneath the waterline.
Jiang Yigu panicked and pulled her out with a gush, and she coughed a few times.
“You’re crazy!”
“I am crazy!” She yelled back. “I’m so pathetic I should just die!”
“What about the people who cared about you?”
Tian Miaomiao laughed out loud, before promptly stopping to mock herself. “My own father sold me off to pay his debt and let those men have me as they wished. Who the hell cares about me? Who? Who!?”
Jiang Yigu’s eyes reddened when he remembered her naked self that was about to be humiliated.
“I care.” He said, putting weigh behind both words.
Tian Miaomiao was surprised, her tears continuing to flow. “Are you giving me your sympathy? I don’t need it.”
She stood up with those words, pulling a towel to wrap around herself.
Jiang Yigu stood up too. “How could I prove that I care?”
Tian Miaomiao turned around to face him. “Help me forget.”
With those words, she freed her hand, her white towel falling beneath her feet.
Jiang Yigu stepped up, picked her up and flung her into soft sheets, his burning kiss striking her—
Incidentally, her first time was with him.
As things transpired, he whispered beside her ear. “I’m so fond of you, Tian Miaomiao.”
“Me too…” She replied, warm tears filling her eyes.
And very much so.
***
Four in the afternoon.
The winter day had already gone dark.
Tian Miaomiao tossed around, her hip and feet aching even as she tunneled into Jiang Yigu’s arms.
He checked the time and asked a little hoarsely. “Does it still hurt?”
She nodded shyly.
Jiang Yigu chuckled. “A few times more and it won’t hurt anymore.”
“Jerk!” She punched him albeit feebly.
They were lying down and he was without his glasses, although his gaze was at once distant but mesmerizing when he squinted at her.
“Miaomiao…”
He called her name tenderly.
“Hmmm?” She looked up.
“Let’s get married.” His arms reached beneath her hips to hold her. “I’ll take responsibility.”
Tian Miaomiao was a little upset. “You only thought of marrying me out of responsibility?”
“Of course not. I marry you because I’m fond of you… and you’re already mine.”
Tian Miaomiao was a young girl with a maiden heart—a woman, to be precise, so she naturally couldn’t accept such a proposal.
She was even complaining inwardly: he’s definitely President Li’s friend with that sloppy proposal.
Really…
“You have to propose somewhere super amazing. I’ll only say yes then.”
Jiang Yigu nodded. “Fine, fine. I promise.”
Tian Miaomiao could hardly stop smiling when her heart skipped a beat. “W-what if I get pregnant?”
“Deliver if you want it, abort if you don’t.”
“…”
She shoved him. “So you’re that type of man! Scumbag!”
Jiang Yigu was almost pushed to the floor, and helplessly held her in return. “So, are you going to give me a child?”
“No!”
“You don’t want it, and you don’t allow me to say no. How difficult are you going to make things for the kid?”
“…”
Tian Miaomiao had nothing to offer in retort.
Chapter 197: Side Story 3: The End
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“You’re so disgusting! I don’t care anymore!” Irritated, Tian Miaomiao turned her back on Jiang Yigu.
In response, he simply wrapped his hands around her from behind and patiently sweet-talked her. “Okay, okay. Let’s not have a baby.”
“That’s better…”
Thus commenced her hot loving, crazily in-heat mode…
However, one day, Tian Miaomiao noticed out of the blue on a work record of his: Tian Qishan’s IQ remains as that of an adult with no observable degradation.
The words were written ever so clearly, and the recorded date was on the day Tian Qishan was discharged.
Tian Miaomiao’s body turned cold.
Even if she was stupider, she would be able to tell that Jiang Yigu knew all along that Tian Qishan was faking his mental disability.
Why… didn’t he tell her?
Why?
She didn’t have to suffer the humiliation if he had told her earlier!
“What are you doing, Miaomiao?”
Jiang Yigu entered to find her blanking out at the record.
Flustered, he tried to explain. “Miaomiao, the reason I didn’t tell you was because…”
“Enough.”
Tian Miaomiao pushed him away and sneered. “You’re heartless, Jiang Yigu. It’s over.”
She brushed past him to leave, but he caught her wrist and stared tightly into her eyes. “What do you mean, over?”
Nonetheless, Tian Miaomiao shook him off, a single tear falling from her eye. “It means it’s over between us. I don’t want to see you ever again!”
Jiang Yigu stayed where he was for a long time without moving.
It was the first time he felt so hollow that it hurts.
Meanwhile, Tian Miaomiao sought out Ji Weixi and started bawling, saying that Jiang Yigu was a heartless man and whatnot.
Ji Weixi cruelly retorted, however. “Miaomiao, it’s not like he was aiming for your body.”
“…Wow. It’s over between us too!” She shot back.
Still, Ji Weixi put an arm around Tian Miaomiao’s back like a good brother. “Miaomiao, you have to think of it this way: he wouldn’t tell you because he was afraid of hurting you. After all, how much heart and soul did you put into caring for your fath—I mean, that scumbag? He kept it from you because he didn’t want all your effort to just go to the dumps. No one could have expected what happened afterwards.”
***
Meanwhile.
Jiang Yigu was dead drunk as he pulled Li Shaoling’s collar, asking, “Say, does she like me or not? How could she say it’s over so easily?”
Staying impassive, Li Shaoling pried off his fingers and evened out his wrinkled clothing. “My wife ironed my shirt.”
2“…?”
Jiang Yigu then continued downing alcohol by the glassful, whereas Li Shaoling remained in a teasing mood of schadenfreude. “You deserved it.”
“???”
“You said nothing when you became fond of her, keeping everything to yourself. Such a thing would never have happened if you two got together earlier.”
“Give up on her. Being alone forever suits you better.”
Jiang Yigu merely dropped on the table, sprawling over it as the alcohol knocked him out.
On the other hand, Tian Miaomiao thought that Ji Weixi had the right idea, and as such returned to Jiang Yigu’s house unabashedly albeit sneakily.
Later, Li Shaoling brought the puddle of drunk mud that was Jiang Yigu.
Jiang Yigu held her then, burying himself in her arms like a helpless child.
He finally spoke out drunkenly then. “Five years ago… I became fond of a patient of mine, but she killed herself… that’s when I could only feel grief about life and death… I don’t how I came to like you, but I know that you’re more important than her… It hurts me that I’ve hurt you, but I would only feel sad if you die… as a doctor, I hate death the most…”
“Miaomiao… I don’t want to be away from you… don’t wanna…”
Tian Miaomiao was sobbing quietly after hearing him out.
She helped him upstairs, and he lunged at her like a wild beast right after he removed his clothes that smelled of heavy alcohol.
“Ah!” She gasped in surprise.
Jiang Yigu smiled. “Miaomiao, you’re mine…”
He quickly became sober, helping her to bathe and dry her air—he seemed to have become addicted to being a servant.
Tian Miaomiao meekly wrapped herself around him like an octopus and mumbled vaguely then. “If… if you don’t be nice to me, I’ll have President Li kill you.”
“…”
As a matter of fact, Jiang Yigu wanted to kill Li Shaoling too.
Three days later, the good doctor’s proposal was accepted.
***
Later, on the day of their wedding, Li Jiayu played the role of a page boy, his younger sister Li Zijin in tow.
Ji Weixi was sighing while having some juice. “Oh, so romantic.”
Li Shaoling played deaf.
“Oh, darling, I’m so jealous.”
He held her waist then. “Jealous? Shall I propose again, then?”
“Forget it, you’re too old.”
“…”
He was actually rejected!
***
At night, the bridal room was lit in candlelight.
Tian Miaomiao blushed as she said, “Doctor Jiang, let’s have a baby.”
“Didn’t you say no last time?” Jiang Yigu asked.
Incidentally, he wouldn’t have her suffer either.
“I just want a baby!” She played coy. “Hurry up and give me a son, I’ll have him marry Jin Jin when he grows up.”
Indeed, Tian Miaomiao’s first child was a boy.
And the moment he was born, Tian Miaomiao and Ji Weixi betrothed him to Li Zijin, who stared blankly at the wrinkly infant.
1That… was going to be her husband?
Wasn’t he a little too ugly?
***
On New Year’s Eve that night, the Jiang family and the Li family were holding vigil for the ringing of new year’s bell at midnight.
Jiang Yigu and Li Shaoling were playing cards at the living room.
Tian Miaomiao and Ji Weixi were gossiping away about devastatingly handsome male stars and fresh young faces.
The two married women smiled sweetly as if meeting their first love as they debated about their handsomeness.
At the same time, Jiang Yigu and Li Shaoling eyed each other as they fought a battle without smoking guns.
Jiang Yigu slammed down four twos. “Bomb!”
Li Shaoling sneered. “Rocket!”
Even if they were unhappy about their wives getting obsessed with other men, the two wife-slaves could only blow up by playing those fresh young faces fight the landlord.
Upstairs, Li Jiayu was teaching Li Zijin how to carry the five-month-old Jiang Xing.
“Brother, do you think this is my future husband?” She asked him then.
Li Jiayu nodded somberly. “Yes, he’s your husband. But I definitely will help you beat him up if he bullies you in the future!”
Li Zijin’s mouth twitched as she watched her future husband blow bubbles at her.
‘Don’t be afraid, dear husband. I’ll protect you!’
The new year bells rang then. Outside the window, fireworks were bursting in the skies above the Li family’s mansion.
White snow was pouring without end as well as warmth and bliss filled the home.
That was probably the first time that it rained white snow in River Town on New Year’s Day.
May there be such a glorious day every year.
Happy new year.
(The End)