Compared with the warmth and happiness on Li Huairou’s side, Xiao Lingling’s side was much more miserable.
She’d been chasing after Fang Tianluo, but somehow, Fang Tianluo seemed to have guessed her plan, and he was one step ahead of her every time.
Xiao Lingling had no choice but to make haste.
On the way, she received the news of the civil strife in the Baiyue Sect. She was worried about her brother’s safety and wanted to go back and have a look.
It was just that the torment in her heart, coupled with being busy on the road, made her thin in just a few days, and she looked very pitiful. But she remembered her brother’s instructions, and she could only keep going.
But there was still no trace of Fang Tianluo. He was always one step ahead of her.
Xiao Lingling calmed down, thinking that chasing like this was not a good way. She took the gamble that Fang Tianluo still had her in his heart and would not do anything when she was in danger.
So for the next few days, Xiao Lingling desperately threw herself into it, rushing through the heavy rain. As a result, she suffered from the cold; her whole body was drowsy, and she finally fell down from her horse.
After a while, a few hooligans appeared and saw a woman lying on the side of the road. They looked around—there was no one else, only a horse, and they suddenly became crooked.
Several people surrounded Xiao Lingling in the middle and banded together for some evil end.
Xiao Lingling closed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore those hands, and held back the vomit. She thought that when there was a chance in the future, she must kill those beasts, chop off their hands, and feed them to the dogs!
She saw that those few people had begun to tear her clothes, but Fang Tianluo still didn’t show up. Xiao Lingling was getting anxious. Tianluo, are you really so ruthless as to just watch my being humiliated and not show up?
Her clothes were torn apart, and a pair of fat, greasy hands reached out to her duoduo.
[An undergarment that covers the chest and abdomen. Underwear in ancient times]
Xiao Lingling couldn’t bear it any longer. She turned over and sat up, raising the knife in her hand, and dropped one hand to the ground.
Those few people were frightened. Xiao Lingling’s face was ashen, and she wanted to continue swinging the knife, but she was completely powerless because of her illness.
Those few people took advantage of this opportunity to pull up their companions, who were so stunned that they hadn’t even cried out in pain, while clutching their broken wrists. They rolled and crawled away.
Xiao Lingling got up, chased after them for a few steps, and fell to the ground, unable to hold back her tears.
Her condition was extremely miserable.
But Fang Tianluo was no longer soft-hearted. He hid behind a tree and looked at Xiao Lingling, who was crying. Everything he had to do had been done, but he couldn’t go back now. It was because of this ruthless and sticky woman. He couldn’t bring danger to Huairou and others.
But asking him to kill Xiao Lingling? He couldn’t do it.
So, he could only follow closely. He didn’t understand why Xiao Lingling was following him so stubbornly, and he didn’t know when Xiao Lingling would choose to give up, so he could only follow her like this.
Fang Tianluo didn’t plan to take action in that situation. It wasn’t because he knew that this was a trick, but he knew that, with Xiao Lingling’s character, she would not let herself fall into such danger. So he chose to watch. Of course, he wouldn’t really do anything.
If Xiao Lingling didn’t move in the next second, he would stop them.
Certainly, the final result confirmed his guess.
This woman, Xiao Lingling, really was…
Xiao Lingling cried for a while, then wiped away her tears and got up by herself. She went to a town, visited the doctor, grabbed the medicine, and found an inn. After a day’s rest, she continued to the next goal in good spirits.
Fang Tianluo had to admire this kind of tenacity that didn’t stop until the goal was achieved.
Xiao Lingling had completely lost any news of Fang Tianluo. His enemies were all dead; they’d died by Fang Tianluo’s hands. Fang Tianluo’s name resounded throughout the jianghu, but it was silent again overnight.
Sometimes Xiao Lingling really didn’t understand—whether it was the righteous way in martial arts or the crooked way with different pursuits, they couldn’t escape these two things: fame and fortune. But as for Fang Tianluo, he refused to accept a treasure as big as a country. It was clear that he’d already achieved fame and fortune, but he did not want to go further to honor his ancestors and become famous. He’d disappeared!
Xiao Lingling was thinking that if he didn’t want fame and fortune, why couldn’t he give them to her! She needed it! No matter how bad it was, let her take advantage of his opportunity.
If their plan went well, Fang Tianluo would let her do what she wanted. But all of this was because of that slut, Li Huairou!
If it weren’t for her, how could she have fallen to such a point now?!
“Li Huairou! I will not stop until one of us is dead!” Xiao Lingling said angrily.
Fang Tianluo’s extraordinary hearing let him hear these words, and his eyes instantly sharpened. If Xiao Lingling had such dangerous thoughts, then she couldn’t stay.
Fang Tianluo was about to shoot when he suddenly stopped. He heard some movement in the air.
The next second, he saw Xiao Lingling suddenly fall from her horse. Immediately afterwards, a group of people suddenly jumped out of the woods and walked to Xiao Lingling’s side. They took a piece of paper out from her arms, took off Xiao Lingling’s mask, and compared it carefully. “Yes, it’s her! Take her away!”
The man remembered the instructions from the higher-ups that this woman was very slick—he should be careful. He sealed several acupuncture points on Xiao Lingling’s body. Directly crushing Xiao Lingling’s shoulder blade, he pulled out the dagger, and with a few swipes, he cut Xiao Lingling’s tendons and hamstrings. Then he put her on the horse and left.
Fang Tianluo frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then followed.
A few days later, the people of the Baiyue Sect appeared. They were fierce and not afraid of death, and so Xiao Lingling was finally rescued.
Only now did Fang Tianluo learn that it was Prince Yan and the Marquis of Yongning who’d intended to take Xiao Lingling away. Princess Baozhu had married Marquis Yongning’s son, the emperor married his niece, and the queen married her nephew. A match made in heaven.
The people of the Baiyue Sect had been secretly protecting Xiao Lingling. But Prince Yan’s people had started too fast, and they didn’t have time to stop them.
Fang Tianluo turned around and left.
Half a month later, when Li Huairou saw the person in front of her, her eyes widened, and she was very surprised. “Why are you back?” The little man in her arms held his head up and looked at Fang Tianluo with the same expression.
Fang Tianluo smiled. “It’s all settled. Naturally, I’d come back.”
“Who is it?” Li Huaike was at the drugstore when he heard a voice and came out. His ready-made medicines were selling very well—sold out as soon as they were placed on the shelves. He’d had to work overtime for the production.
“Brother Tianluo, are you back? Are things settled?” Li Huaike slapped Fang Tianluo on the shoulder with a grin.
“It’s all settled! I came back this time, and I don’t plan to leave again. I wonder if Doctor Li is short of manpower?” Fang Tianluo said with a smile.
Li Huaike laughed, “That’s right, I need a long-term worker to help reclaim some wasteland. If you don’t dislike it, then you’re hired!”
Fang Tianluo handed the bundle to Li Huairou. “I don’t dislike it. Where is it? I’ll go right away.”
“In the back mountain; I’ll take you there. I’ve recently developed many medicines, and they are selling very well. They can save people and earn some income. It’s just that there’s a shortage of this medicinal herb, and it’s too expensive to buy, so I can’t rest easy. It’s better to plant it yourself. So, I plan to open a few acres of wasteland in the back mountain to grow medicinal herbs. Uncle Zhang has been busy in the back mountain these days. It’s good for you to be back!” Li Huaike said with a smile.
Fang Tianluo nodded, rolled up his sleeves, and went to the back mountain.
Liu Sike came out of the room and just watched Li Huaike and Fang Tianluo, who were chatting and laughing, go to the back mountain. She walked up to Li Huairou. “Is Young Master Fang planning to stay here for a long time?”
With Xiao-Hu in one hand and a bundle in the other, Li Huairou felt a little tired. Liu Sike quickly took the bundle. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to hold her son, but Xiao-Hu had become more and more determined as he grew up.
Every day, he depended on Li Huairou. He only let others hug him when he was happy.
“Probably!” Li Huairou hugged Xiao-Hu for a long time, feeling a little tired. She put the child on a mattress surrounded with a row of wooden fences in the middle of the yard. “I’ve already carried you for so long. You play by yourself or learn to walk with the help of the fence.”
Xiao-Hu grunted a few times. Li Huairou raised her hand, and Xiao-Hu immediately stopped groaning. He turned and climbed into the middle of the straw mat, playing with his toys.
Li Huairou shook her head. “Why are you so lazy? Let him practice walking and he won’t do it!”
Liu Sike was also helpless. Xiao-Hu was thirteen months old and still couldn’t walk, although Huaike said Xiao-Hu was in good health. He was fast when climbing, so he was probably just too lazy to move.
Privately, she and Huaike discussed that Xiao-Hu was probably so lazy because he was following Huairou. Of course, Huairou refused to admit it.
Li Huairou thought for a while, then turned to go eat breakfast. After a while, she brought out a bowl of egg custard. “It’s some tasty egg custard, Xiao-Hu. Do you want to eat it?”
When he heard, he quickly crawled to her side and vaguely said, “Eat, eat.”
After finally crawling to his aunt, he found that his aunt was only standing there with a spoon, not planning to feed him. Xiao-Hu sat cross-legged and waited for a while, but he found that his dumb aunt couldn’t feed him. Xiao-Hu couldn’t wait, so he thought that he’d just support himself. He tried to stretch his head but found that it was too far away, out of reach.
So he stood up, leaning on the fence, and finally reached it.
A bite of the fragrant egg custard came into his mouth, and Xiao-Hu happily narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to eat again, only to find that his aunt was gone; turning his head, he saw that his aunt was standing not far away, holding a spoon with golden egg custard on it.
Xiao-Hu was a little unhappy.
“Come here. You can eat here,” Li Huairou said with a smile.
Just as Xiao-Hu was about to climb over, Li Huairou said, “Hold on to the railing and come over; it doesn’t count. You can only eat when you come over.”
Xiao-Hu was angry, and he slapped the fence with both hands. But he found that neither his aunt nor his mother was saying a word, just smiling and watching from the side.
Xiao-Hu sulked for a while. Finding that no one cared about him, he had to walk over with the help of the railing.
Another bite.
He found out that his aunt ran away again.
Xiao-Hu angrily walked past the railing.
After eating a bowl of egg custard, Xiao-Hu had walked around the fence three times.
Seeing that the bowl was gone, Xiao-Hu angrily glared at that bad aunt, loosened his hands, and walked crookedly to the middle of the straw mat. He sat down, his butt facing his bad aunt.
Liu Sike was both surprised and delighted. “He can walk! He can walk!”
“Sister-in-law, seeing what you said, of course Xiao-Hu can walk! He’s just lazy! But we know how to make him walk in the future!” Li Huairou said proudly.
Liu Sike gave her son a pitying look.
