“Tan’er, how is Ying’er doing?”
As soon as he approached the resting area, Li Yang, who had completely lost his composure, rushed over anxiously.
“We made it just in time. Ying’er is fine.”
Li Tan placed Li Jiaying, whose tears had just stopped, on the ground, stroking her head as he spoke.
“Daddy, I’m sorry. I messed things up,” Li Jiaying said, her eyes brimming with tears, looking as if she might cry at any moment.
Jiaying had been doted on since she was a child. Even after Li Yang became disabled a year ago due to the invasion of the demon race, she voluntarily took on the role of a shop manager in the mortal world, with no one daring to ridicule her. She had never experienced much hardship. Yet, over the past two days, she had faced life-threatening dangers twice, and the accumulated stress was overwhelming. Finally, under Li Tan’s care, she completely broke down.
Her pitiful appearance was quite endearing.
Of course, this only applied to the members of the Li family. Outsiders still tended to favor Lin Cui, likely due to sycophantic tendencies. Just like how parents who usually find fault with their children and always praise other people’s kids don’t really think their own children are inferior.
“Don’t cry. It’s okay. You did very well, Ying’er.”
Li Yang had obviously never seen the usually obedient girl in such a “crying” scene before, so he looked flustered and awkwardly tried to comfort her.
It seemed that not knowing how to soothe children was a common problem among the men in the Li family.
“But, but…” Jiaying still felt wronged.
This sense of grievance had probably existed for a while, but she only dared to express it in front of her closest family members.
“Alright, alright, it’s fine now. How about your brother helps you get revenge next time?”
Li Tan squatted in front of Li Yang, smiling at Jiaying.
“Revenge?”
“Yeah, how about we teach Lin Cui a lesson?”
“No, no need.” Li Tan was slightly surprised.
“Why not? Didn’t she just make Ying’er upset?”
Jiaying shook her head and nodded, looking a bit conflicted.
“No, that is… Well, maybe Sister Lin Cui didn’t do it on purpose.” Is this girl trying not to affect my relationship with Lin Cui because of herself?
She’s too kind, almost like that girl Leyin. How come I didn’t notice this before my rebirth?
Li Tan’s face showed an even brighter smile as he nodded at her. “Okay then, we’ll listen to Ying’er.”
“Okay!”
Jiaying nodded vigorously, finally showing a hint of a smile on her face.
“Alright, you rest well now. When it’s our family’s turn to go up, your brother will call you.”
“Okay.”
Li Yang sat down beside her, and Jiaying fell asleep in his arms.
“Li Tan, is Jiaying okay?”
At this moment, Li Hantian’s somewhat reluctant voice came from behind.
Li Tan turned around and glanced at him. “What’s it to you?”
For some inexplicable reason, Li Tan just wanted to snap at him a bit.
As for why, it might have something to do with some vague memories of being bullied by him when they were truly young, before his rebirth.
“You!”
Li Hantian was so provoked that he almost jumped up. It was probably the first time in his life that he had been treated like this.
“What ‘you’? You can sit over there on the chair, Li Tan gave him a disdainful glance and turned his head away casually, saying, “She’s fine. You don’t need to worry about her.”
Li Hantian gritted his teeth angrily. “Jiaying is also my younger sister. What’s wrong with showing some concern?”
Li Tan sneered slightly, holding onto the strange notion that Ying’er only has one older brother, and retorted again, “What kind of older brother are you? Have you ever done anything for Ying’er from childhood?”
This time, Li Hantian was left speechless, staring at Li Tan with wide eyes.
Upon reflection, he really couldn’t find a reason to refute Li Tan’s words. Indeed, since childhood, he and Jiaying had only been siblings in name, never fulfilling the duties of siblings in reality.
Of course, this couldn’t entirely be blamed on him.
Li Yang belonged to Li Zhen’s faction, while his father, the Grand Elder, was opposed to Li Zhen. Naturally, he was not allowed to get close to Jiaying under such influences.
Li Tan glanced at him again and suddenly asked, “Has the sun risen from the west? Why are you suddenly concerned about Ying’er?”
“None of your business!”
Li Hantian shot Li Tan an angry glare in retaliation, then went to sit elsewhere to rest quietly.
Throwing a tantrum?
Li Tan shrugged his shoulders, turned his head away, and his gaze inadvertently fell on the Li Lin family’s resting area.
Under the shade of a large tent, Lin Cui was hanging her head low while a somewhat familiar old man with white hair stood in front of her, continuously saying something.
“Is that the old man?”
Li Tan vaguely remembered him. This was the old man who had chatted with him in the Lin family’s library last time, and his impression of him was quite good.
Slightly bored, Li Tan extended his spiritual sense over.
“Cui’er, why did you do that just now?”
The old man’s voice sounded a bit anxious.
Lin Cui twisted her hands together but didn’t answer, probably not knowing how to respond.
Jealousy?
Fear?
Such reasons seemed too childish.
“Sigh, since it’s already done, I don’t intend to blame you anymore, but don’t just stay silent like this.”
“Now the Liu family is powerful. Our family and the Li family must form an alliance to resist them. If a rift forms because of this incident and the Liu family takes advantage to attack us one by one, what should we do then?”
“I’m sorry. I acted impulsively just now.”
“But why did you act impulsively? There must be a reason. We must explain this to the Li family.”
“…” “Could it be that you were upset because Li Tan hadn’t returned for a day and took it out on others?”
“No.” “Then what is it?”
“…” “Oh my, my dear young miss, please say something.”
The old man, visibly distressed, grabbed his own head. The others around the Lin family remained silent, fearing that they might incur the old man’s wrath.
Li Tan overheard all the conversation and roughly understood Lin Cui’s thoughts at that moment.
On the surface, it was out of fear that Li Jiaying would pose a threat to the Lin family in the future. But deep down, it was actually out of fear of being surpassed by the other party.
Human beings, once in a high position, are usually unwilling to fall from it. They fear falling, even if it’s just a slight descent.
Li Tan withdrew his gaze, pondered for a moment, and then woke up Li Xiu, who was beside him.
“Big brother, what’s up?” Li Xiu, who had been in a cultivation state and was unaware of what had just happened, asked curiously.
Li Tan glanced toward the Lin family’s direction and replied, “Go find that old man and tell him that the Li family won’t pursue the matter from just now.”
Li Xiu was clearly a bit confused, but obediently took action.
“Tan’er, you’re…” Li Yang’s voice sounded concerned.
Li Tan said calmly, “Uncle, are you unwilling to accept this?”
Li Yang shook his head. “What is there to be unwilling about? As long as Ying’er is safe, I’m satisfied. But if we don’t do anything about such an incident, even if it’s just to maintain the alliance, where will the Li family’s prestige go in the future?”
“Uncle, please follow my lead on this matter and don’t pursue it further. It’s not necessary, right?”
Li Yang sighed helplessly as he thought about the current situation of the Li family and nodded, assuming that Li Tan was making a compromise due to the current weakness of the Li family.
But in reality, that wasn’t the case.
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