Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling began living in Happy Valley.
Xiao Lingling showed interest in the medical field, and she often asked Li Huaike some questions. When Li Huairou saw this, she was not angry.
She simply took Miss Liu to talk to Fang Tianluo at the same time when Xiao Lingling was pestering Li Huaike.
When that happened, it was like Xiao Lingling had seen a sworn enemy—ignoring everything else, she hurriedly returned to Fang Tianluo’s side.
It was fine if it was once or twice, but everyone could see it over time.
Li Huaike felt a little helpless. “Miss Xiao is only interested in medical skills. Why are you targeting her? It’s not easy for her, as a girl.”
Li Huairou innocently replied, “Why would I target her? She’s interested in medical skills, Liu-jiejie and I are also very interested in the affairs of the jianghu, aren’t we? Brother, you have double standards!”
“What’s a double standard?” Miss Liu asked curiously.
“It means that there are different standards for different people, which is called a ‘double standard’.” Li Huairou explained.
Miss Liu nodded when she heard the words, and she looked at Li Huaike with approval. “In that case, sir, you do indeed have double standards.”
Li Huaike could only flee.
For her part, Xiao Lingling was also full of unhappy expressions. Fang Tianluo felt a little helpless as he said, “Huairou is just a child—she doesn’t mean anything by it. If you really want to learn medical skills with Huaike, just go and don’t worry about me!” It’d been a while since they’d started staying in Happy Valley. If he still couldn’t see Li Huairou’s intentions, he’d be really stupid. That was fine; he really only had brotherly affection for her. The one in his heart was Lingling.
Xiao Lingling was angry, and she didn’t speak.
Fang Tianluo pat Xiao Lingling’s hand and smiled helplessly. “Lingling, there is something for which I want to ask your opinion. After all, Huairou saved my life, and there is no way to repay such kindness. I want to become a sworn brother to Huairou. From then on, we will become siblings and share both the good and the bad. What do you think?”
Xiao Lingling was very happy after hearing this. She knew that Fang Tianluo’s move was intended to make her feel at ease. “Tianluo-gege, do you really think so?”
Fang Tianluo smiled and nodded. He asked again, “What do you think?”
“Good! Very good! So in the future, when Huairou-meimei marries, as her brother, you must prepare a generous dowry for her!” Xiao Lingling was definitely happy.
Miss Liu came in to deliver water. She heard this and snorted disdainfully. “Don’t bother. Huairou won’t get married in this lifetime.”
“What do you mean by that?” Xiao Lingling said angrily.
Miss Liu whispered, “She hurt her uterus. It’s impossible for her to ever get pregnant. Who will marry her? Huairou has long determined that she will not get married in this lifetime. She’s a good girl with self-esteem and self-respect, so Young Master Fang and Miss Xiao don’t have to worry that Huairou will pester Young Master Fang. Don’t bother about that, either.”
“What are you talking about?!” Fang Tianluo’s heart was agitated. His throat felt almost sweet, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Xiao Lingling was shocked. “Tianluo-gege, what’s the matter with you?!”
Li Huaike came in from the doorway, his expression black. He checked on Fang Tianluo’s situation. “Don’t worry, Miss Xiao. Brother Tianluo is alright.”
Then, without waiting for Xiao Lingling to speak, he turned his head to look at Miss Liu. “How did you know about this?”
Miss Liu looked outside and whispered, “Huairou told me. In fact, she’d known since a long time ago. She’s open-minded by nature and never took this matter to heart, so you don’t have to…” In fact, she’d lied—Huairou was very wary and had never told her about this. She’d just guessed from Huairou’s prescriptions and diet. The reason why she’d said it just now was entirely because she felt the injustice for Huairou.
Li Huaike’s face darkened. “I will heal her!”
Miss Liu nodded. “I believe in you! Huairou as well.”
“Don’t tell Huairou about this,” Li Huaike said softly.
“I know.” Miss Liu nodded, turned, and went out.
“Huaike, is what she said true? Huairou really is…” Fang Tianluo asked anxiously, grasping Li Huaike’s hand.
“Brother Tianluo, you don’t have to take this matter to heart. Huairou saved you back then; she was willing to save you, and she didn’t think of asking for anything in return. I didn’t tell you at the time because I saw that you didn’t like her back. Feelings are something that you can’t force. Huairou is my sister, and in any case, she still has me as her brother, so you don’t have to bear this burden,” Li Huaike said seriously.
But how could Fang Tianluo feel no burden? A healthy, young girl couldn’t have children, and her future marriage would also be affected, all because of him.
Xiao Lingling’s lungs were about to explode. She knew that Fang Tianluo was a very responsible person; now that he knew about this, Li Huairou would become his burden forever!
Unless Li Huairou was dead!
This thought suddenly popped up in Xiao Lingling’s mind.
Perhaps the dark aura exuding from Xiao Lingling’s body was too strong, Li Huaike was sensitive to it, and he immediately spoke. “In fact, I think Brother Tianluo’s proposal just now was a very good one. I also want to have one more brother to take care of Huairou.”
Fang Tianluo’s mind was very confused at this time, and he didn’t reply.
Li Huaike continued to say sincerely, “Emotional matters cannot be forced. Huairou was ignorant when she was young, and now she has moved on. If you stayed with Huairou because of this matter, it would be unfair to you both. So, just as you said, you and Huairou should become sworn siblings. From now on, you can treat her as your own sister, so she can live comfortably without fear. This is the best arrangement!”
Fang Tianluo raised his head and looked at Li Huaike. “Is that really the case?”
Li Huaike nodded. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask Huairou yourself.” Then he actually called Li Huairou in.
“Sworn siblings? I don’t want it!” Li Huairou’s reaction was a little drastic.
Xiao Lingling’s gaze was stern. She really still carried a torch for Tianluo!
“Huairou! Isn’t it good for you to have one more brother who loves you?” Li Huaike said helplessly.
“Are you sure it’s love and not an attempt to control me?” Li Huairou was a little skeptical.
“Naturally, it’s love! Huairou-meimei, we’ve known each other since childhood. If you’re willing to become sworn siblings with me, I’ll treat you as my biological sister. I’ll do whatever you want and support you with all my strength!” Fang Tianluo earnestly said. Perhaps Huaike was right, and this was already the best arrangement. He didn’t want to disappoint Lingling, but he couldn’t help but feel ashamed toward Huairou.
“Then let’s do that! Let’s make things clear. Don’t run things like my brother. Anything else is fine.” Li Huairou thought carefully—Fang Tianluo, as the male protagonist of this novel, was absolutely the son of heaven. It should be good to have a good relationship with him. Besides, once she and Fang Tianluo became sworn siblings, wouldn’t she be Xiao Lingling’s sister-in-law? It’d be convenient for watching the drama play out in the future.
It wasn’t until Fang Tianluo and Li Huairou had completed the worship ceremony seriously, and then became brother and sister, that Xiao Lingling’s heart finally calmed down.
Li Huaike, who had been observing Xiao Lingling in secret, was now relieved. “Everybody will be family from now on. Aunt Zhang, make something delicious tonight to celebrate.”
Fang Tianluo also smiled and plucked something from his chest. He personally brought a raindrop-shaped jade pendant over to Li Huairou. “This is the jade pendant my mother left to me, and today, I will give it to my sister. It shall count as my mother’s greeting gift to her daughter.”
Li Huairou was a little surprised. This jade pendant was the only relic left by Fang Tianluo’s parents to Fang Tianluo. He cherished it very much, but he was giving it to herself?
“So beautiful!” Li Huairou said, touching the jade pendant. “I like it!”
Fang Tianluo stroked Li Huairou’s hair.
Xiao Lingling felt a little sour, but to show her generosity, she thought for a bit and took a bracelet off her wrist. “Huairou-meimei, I will also give you a gift to congratulate you and Tianluo-gege. At my coming-of-age, my father gave me this as a present, and now, I will give it to you. I hope you like it. This bracelet has a mechanism, and it can protect you at critical moments.”
Then she intimately explained to Li Huairou how to operate the bracelet’s mechanism.
Li Huairou chuckled. Are you starting to try to please me now? It was too late—all the poison that should have been given had been given. She was very vengeful!
With the status of “siblings”, Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling lived more at ease in Happy Valley. Fang Tianluo was very nice to Li Huairou; he would follow her directions, and he would say everything Li Huairou said. To him, Li Huairou was right about everything.
Xiao Lingling felt a little relieved and set her sights on Li Huaike again. If she could use Li Huaike’s medical skills, it would be like adding wings to a tiger. Unfortunately, it was not easy to operate in this situation, but it was good to lay the foundation first and wait for the right opportunity in the future to start again.
[Become extremely powerful]
What surprised Xiao Lingling was that Li Huaike seemed to be avoiding her. Whenever he bumped into her, Li Huaike would find a reason to avoid her without saying a few words.
Xiao Lingling was puzzled.
Li Huaike found Li Huairou in private. “You better prepare the antidote quickly and let them leave!”
Seeing Li Huairou’s incomprehensible expression, Li Huaike could not explain clearly, so he could only vaguely remind her, “That Miss Xiao is not kind. You better not have too much contact with her.”
Li Huairou felt amused. Did her brother suddenly become enlightened? He’d actually told her that Xiao Lingling was not a kind person. Although this was correct, how did her brother know? This Xiao Lingling was very good at disguising! Even Fang Tianluo had been deceived.
However, if you thought about it carefully, Uncle Zhang, Aunt Zhang, and Liu-jiejie seemed to not be very close to Xiao Lingling.
Li Huaike saw that Li Huairou was in a daze and anxiously said, “I’m talking to you. Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard, I heard. Tomorrow, I’ll go up the mountain to have a look, and if it’s possible, I’ll go gather herbs,” Li Huairou quickly answered.
Fang Tianluo and Xiao Lingling were very happy when they learned that Li Huairou was going to the mountain to collect the herb. “I’ll accompany you tomorrow,” Xiao Lingling said. They had been delayed long enough in Happy Valley.
Li Huairou nodded. “Okay.” After all, the herb grew at cliff edges, and it was dangerous when picking it. For such a dangerous thing, she should have others come too.
“Be careful!” Fang Tianluo urged.
When no one was around, Fang Tianluo hesitantly looked at Xiao Lingling again and again.
Xiao Lingling knew what he meant. She smiled and held Fang Tianluo’s hand. “Don’t worry, Tianluo-gege, I will help you take care of your sister. Even if I encounter something, I won’t let my sister have an accident.”
Fang Tianluo smiled. “No, nothing will happen to you and Huairou.”
Xiao Lingling smiled too. How could she let something happen to Li Huairou? She still needed to use Li Huairou for now!
