After reading the letter, Li Huairou counted the time that had passed. It turned out that it had been so long. Had the plot reached this point? It really felt like a thousand years passed in the world with each day in the mountains.
Li Huairou wasn’t in a hurry. She simply packed up and slowly descended the mountain.
When she arrived at the agreed place, what she saw was Li Huaike, who had an anxious look, and Liu Sike, who had a slight bump on her abdomen.
Li Huairou’s eyes widened in surprise. “Ge, are you sick? Sister-in-law is pregnant! How could you take her to such a dangerous place?”
“But Brother Tianluo…” Li Huaike was also in a dilemma.
“Alright, alright, I understand. Quickly rent a carriage, prepare more bedding, and quickly send my sister-in-law back to Happy Valley to raise the baby. Forget it—we may not be able to stay at Happy Valley anymore, and Xiao Lingling knows the place. Go discuss with Uncle and Aunt Zhang to change places. Tell me the specific place using pigeons. Leave Fang Tianluo’s affairs to me! I will definitely save him! Really, can’t you tell what is more important?” Li Huairou waved her hand impatiently, then asked about Liu Sike’s situation.
Liu Sike softly said, “Huairou, you don’t need to worry. I’m fine, and the child is fine. Don’t blame him. I am willing.”
“Oh, you’re good at everything, but your flaw is that you blindly follow my brother’s word. No matter how important Fang Tianluo is, he’s not as important as my nephew and niece! You’re already pregnant and still running around! Really, now. Alright, alright, go back quickly,” Li Huairou said helplessly.
She really had nothing to say to this couple.
Li Huaike quickly rented a carriage that was covered with many thick quilts. Li Huairou helped Liu Sike into the carriage as Li Huaike was nagging.
“Oh my, I know. I’ll definitely save him, okay? You hurry up and send my sister-in-law back to Happy Valley safely. The child has to be three years old—no, five years old before you’re allowed to come out! Hurry up and go. Go!” Li Huairou said impatiently.
Li Huaike got into the carriage.
“Go slowly!” Li Huairou said.
After sending Li Huaike and Liu Sike away, Li Huairou returned to the inn. Saving Fang Tianluo—what a joke. That was the headquarters of the Baiyue Sect; she didn’t know any martial arts, so there was nothing she could do.
But there was nothing to worry about. She’d just wait and see.
She estimated that at this time, Xiao Lingling and her brother had discovered that the techniques in the secret book couldn’t be practiced by anyone who hadn’t practiced the Fang family’s unique internal skills since childhood! So the drama of Xiao Lingling’s apostasy of love was about to be staged soon.
Li Huairou only needed to show up at a critical time to rescue Fang Tianluo.
In fact, Li Huairou was right.
Xiao Lingling and her brother had discovered that they couldn’t practice the techniques in the secret book. They could only remain angry and immediately begin to discuss the next plan.
“Ge, are we really going to do this?” Xiao Lingling asked.
“Cough!” Xiao Tianze couldn’t help coughing. “I have no time. The important task of restoring the sect and revitalizing the family can only be handed over to you. Although you are a woman, you also have the Xiao family’s blood. Your child has the same qualifications to inherit the Xiao family. Lingling, you must work hard! Don’t let my direct line in the Xiao family be cut off—don’t waste my life’s hard work!”
Xiao Lingling looked solemn. “I know, ge. Don’t worry!”
“Go!” Xiao Tianze turned around and stopped looking at Xiao Lingling.
But Xiao Lingling refused to turn around. She knew that once she left, she would never see him again.
“Go!” Xiao Tianze said again.
Xiao Lingling looked at Xiao Tianze’s back. Holding back tears, she turned and ran out.
“When you attack me, to be realistic, you don’t need to be merciful!” Xiao Tianze ordered, enduring his heartache and closing his eyes.
“Yes!”
After an entire night of chaos, Xiao Lingling spent much effort and suffered injuries all over her body before being able to bring Fang Tianluo down the mountain.
There were still chasing soldiers behind them. Xiao Lingling and Xiao Tianze know the principle of doing a full set of acting.
After pondering, Xiao Lingling planned to hide Fang Tianluo in a ruined temple and go to distract the chasing soldiers by herself. As a result, Fang Tianluo had just settled down when a strange fragrance suddenly hit them. Xiao Lingling’s eyes widened; she couldn’t move her body, and she slowly fell to the ground.
Just before she fell unconscious, she saw a pair of embroidered shoes appear in front of her, and then she fell asleep.
Li Huairou took the secret book out from Xiao Lingling’s stomach pocket, then wrapped it in a handkerchief and hid it. Then she carried Fang Tianluo out into a carriage that had been prepared long ago, drove the carriage away, and quickly left.
When the people in charge of hunting down Xiao Lingling and Fang Tianluo found the ruined temple, they only found Xiao Lingling laying on the ground. They searched around, but found no trace of Fang Tianluo.
At this time, they didn’t know what to do. After thinking about it again and again, they could only take Xiao Lingling back.
When Fang Tianluo woke up, he found himself in a carriage with his limbs weakly hanging to one side. Such a familiar feeling of powerlessness made Fang Tianluo laugh at himself.
He felt the carriage stop suddenly, and then someone came in. Fang Tianluo was in a daze, thinking that the person who saved him seemed to be Xiao Lingling.
Fang Tianluo now hated Xiao Lingling to the bone. He didn’t want to see her, so he simply closed his eyes.
“Are you awake? Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?”
This voice? Fang Tianluo opened his eyes suddenly—it really was Huairou!
“Huairou? It’s you!” Fang Tianluo hoarsely shouted.
“If it’s not me, then who could it be?” My brother was waiting for you, but you didn’t come. He knew that something must have happened to you, so he inquired around, and he finally learned that you’d been taken away by the Baiyue Sect. He followed you until now. But my sister-in-law is pregnant, and I was worried, so I asked them to go back first.” Li Huairou carefully fed Fang Tianluo some water.
“I have seen your condition, and the problem is not a big one. Give me and my brother some time, and we will heal you. Rest assured!” Li Huairou continued.
Just betrayed by the person he’d trusted the most, then rescued in a blink of an eye—Fang Tianluo felt touched. When he heard Li Huairou’s words again, he was so excited that he couldn’t restrain himself; his eyes were red, and his body trembled. “Huairou, is what you said true? Can I really recover?”
“Don’t you believe me and my brother? If we say we can cure you, then we will definitely cure you. But we can’t go back to Happy Valley. Xiao Lingling has been there before, and she’d probably come to the door. We have to change places,” Li Huairou said with a smile.
Speaking of Xiao Lingling, a trace of hatred flashed in Fang Tianluo’s eyes. “She’s a liar. She came for the secret book left by my parents. The secret…”
“Here. I got it back for you.” Li Huairou drew the secret book from under Fang Tianluo’s pillow. “Look at it—isn’t it this?”
Fang Tianluo was extremely excited. He tried to stretch out his hands to take the secret book out, but the meridians all over his body were broken, and he couldn’t move. In the end, he could only stare at the book with fiery eyes. “Yes!”
“That’s it. Keep your family’s secret book by yourself so you won’t lose sight of it in the future.” Li Huairou stuffed the secret book into Fang Tianluo’s arms and carefully put it away.
Fang Tianluo looked at Li Huairou. “Don’t you want it?”
“What do I need it for? My brother and I don’t know martial arts, so it’s useless! Besides, this is yours, so I don’t want it,” Li Huairou said.
Fang Tianluo stopped talking. The Xiao siblings had worked hard to get that secret book, but when it was placed in front of the Li siblings, they didn’t even look at it.
“Alright, when one is young, it’s impossible not to encounter scumbags. Just treat it as an experience. In the future, it can be the topic of conversation! Let me tell you, the more beautiful a woman is, the more deceitful she is. Be careful from now on!” Li Huairou said.
“Did you already know that she was not a good person?”
Fang Tianluo now recalled that, in fact, some clues had already appeared very early, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it at that time.
“Don’t tell me that you never doubted her. At that time, between the truth and her, you chose Xiao Lingling,” Li Huairou said. “Things have passed, alright? Don’t think so much. I have to drive the carriage now; we can’t delay treating your injury. The longer the delay, the harder it will be to heal.”
Li Huairou raised the curtain and went out to drive the carriage.
Fang Tianluo felt the secret book, heavy in his arms, and thought deeply. It was he who had mistakenly used fish eyes as pearls; it was he who hadn’t distinguished between good and bad!
[Mistakenly taking trash as treasure]
At the Baiyue Sect, Xiao Tianze looked at Xiao Lingling, who was unconscious, and angrily said, “What the hell is going on? What about Fang Tianluo?”
“When we arrived, we only saw the saintess laying alone on the ground. Fang Tianluo was gone.”
Xiao Tianze was furious. “Why didn’t you go find him?!”
After half a month, Li Huairou arrived at her destination, and she jumped out of the carriage. “Is it here? Ge, I’m here!”
Li Huaike, Uncle Zhang, and Aunt Zhang came out. They surrounded Li Huairou and asked about her condition. Li Huairou smiled and answered, “I’m very good. I’ve already brought him; we should bring him in. He isn’t in good condition. I’m guessing it will take some time.”
Li Huaike nodded. He’d already made preparations after receiving Li Huairou’s flying pigeon.
Li Huaike and Uncle Zhang carefully lifted Fang Tianluo off the carriage. Fang Tianluo saw Li Huaike, and his thousands of words finally turned into one sentence: “Thank you.”
Li Huaike smiled, just about to speak, but Li Huairou suddenly said, “By the way, you can scrub him down. Men and women are different. I only wiped his face along the way.” He hadn’t taken a bath for half a month, and he was horrified.
Li Huaike gave Li Huairou a helpless look. He felt, more and more, that there was a reason why his sister was still single so far.
Fang Tianluo closed his eyes tightly, but his flushed face revealed his true thoughts.
Together with Uncle Zhang, Li Huaike helped Fang Tianluo take a bath, then moved him into the tub. “Here is the medicinal bath I prepared for you. It will take forty-nine days. With acupuncture and moxibustion, perhaps we can connect your veins again. By the way, Huairou said that this is your family’s secret book—I think that it may be useful for your internal injuries. You can try to practice your internal strength, both internal and external, and you could get twice the result with half the effort.”
Fang Tianluo nodded.
Li Huaike sat outside the bathtub, raised the secret book, and showed Fang Tianluo, page by page.
This was the first time Fang Tianluo had seen his family’s secret book. After reading the first three pages, he knew the reason why Xiao Lingling had suddenly repented and saved him.
Obviously, she’d obtained the secret book and made him like this, but then she’d suddenly repented and rebelled to save him.
It turned out that the techniques in this secret book could only be practiced by those who’d practiced the Fang family’s inner strength skills since childhood. If other people tried, it would be useless. This was the secret book that his parents had written after exhausting half their lives! It naturally would not be cheaper for others.
