After noticing that Li Zishen was unusually emotional, she immediately ran to Tang Xiaowan’s side, as if she were a guardian angel, frowning and with a look of righteousness.
"Miss, are you alright?"
Tang Xiaowan looked straight ahead, staring intently at Li Zishen: "I’m fine, very good, extremely good."
"It’s about time for dinner, I guess..."
Li Zishen snatched the cloth bag from Wang Meijuan’s hands and barked, "Get out."
His voice was loud, and he was visibly enraged.
Wang Meijuan, startled, looked fixedly at Tang Xiaowan: "Miss?"
"You better go out first. Mr. Li has something very important to discuss with me, and your presence here... indeed gets in the way, which is somewhat inconvenient."
Tang Xiaowan answered indifferently, her voice soft, but her eyes still stubbornly fixed on Li Zishen.
"Alright, Miss, then I’ll go out first, and if you need anything..."
"Get out," demanded Li Zishen, again with anger.
"Okay, okay, I’m going, right away."
After leaving the room, Wang Meijuan first stood still in the hallway for a bit, then hurried downstairs, as fast as a rabbit; in a flash, she was gone.
By then, Li Zishen had opened the cloth bag.
Because of his temper flaring up, he had been particularly rough and awkward when untangling the rope, ripping at it for a while.
Tang Xiaowan furrowed her brows: "Why what?"
"This box is so ugly, dark and gloomy," he said, even before the gift box was opened.
Inside was not a love letter or jewelry that Li Zishen had mistakenly anticipated, but a root carving that strongly resembled himself, standing about 15 centimeters tall.
It was a semi-finished product with not too fine carving; there was also a fine scratch on the left arm.
Li Zishen boldly guessed that perhaps it was because the sunroom was too warm, or maybe Tang Xiaowan had been up at night, working on it instead of sleeping, and accidentally left the scratch when she dozed off.
Right then, his vanity surged to new heights.
"Is this me? Carved specially for me?"
Tang Xiaowan snatched the wood carving with a puzzled look, gesturing towards Li Zishen: "It does look like you! Can’t you tell?"
Li Zishen cleared his throat and with a slight lift of his chin, he looked down with his haughty phoenix eyes at Tang Xiaowan’s scabbed fingers.
So, it was for this that you got hurt!
You little rascal, you dared to deceive me, pretending to cut pineapples when it should have been wood carving, though you clearly have me in your heart, yet you refuse to admit it, ah, so aggravating.
"Take another look, can you really not see it?"
"It’s a bit small, and the features aren’t three-dimensional enough."
"Oh well, forget it, I’ll find time tonight to make changes, maybe I can give it to..."
Upon hearing this, Li Zishen immediately snatched it back: "Actually, it’s not bad, but why carve this out of the blue, to make amends with me?"
He asked this because Tang Xiaowan had exhibited similar behavior before the memory loss. At that time, the reason given was that only this could express the sincerity of an apology.
However, this time, Li Zishen guessed wrong.
Tang Xiaowan sighed lightly, shaking her head continuously, thinking to herself how incurable a man’s narcissism could be. Google seaʀᴄh n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
"Ah, I just wanted to give you a gift. I’ve been bothering you for so long at Li Garden, and you’ve taken good care of me. But considering you’re so rich and lack nothing, this was all I could think of, and it was misunderstood anyway."
As soon as she finished speaking, Tang Xiaowan lowered her head, emitting a long sigh, looking the picture of pitifulness.
"Xiao Wan, I’m sorry, I was wrong."
"It’s okay, does this mean you agree? Then I should move out tomorrow?"
Her radiant smile bloomed instantly.
Her mood shifted so quickly that Li Zishen seemed to understand something and coldly responded, "No, you can’t leave Li Garden. I’ll take care of your house tomorrow. Don’t worry, the price will only be higher, not lower."
"Why? I can’t hide here forever, for my whole life..."
"It’s not about hiding, it’s about living together with me."
Before Tang Xiaowan could retort, a loud crash echoed as Cheng Shi barged in.
The door had not been locked, merely ajar.
Due to the force of the impact, Cheng Shi rushed straight to the center of the living room, where the secretly taken photos on the sofa were plainly in sight.