The living room seemed to be filled with pink bubbles of romance. The young girl sat on the sofa, looking up into the eyes of Li Cangchen, who was leaning toward her.
His skin was as fair and flawless as jade, his features deep and handsome, his black eyes clear and striking. His nose was straight, and the clean, sharp curve of his jawline made him look almost like a divine being, causing her heart to flutter.
He saw through her thoughts, a faint smile flashing across his eyes as he gazed at her intently and answered the question she had just asked.
“I went out to see when the rain would stop. You’ve been here for seven days, and I figured Little Jiu’er must be getting bored. I’ll take you out to have some fun tomorrow, all right?”
His voice was like a cool breeze drifting through a mountain stream, gentle and soothing. His final three words sounded almost like he was coaxing a child, low and filled with affection.
Bewitched by him, Qiao Anran instinctively answered, “The rain will stop at midnight tonight.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she immediately covered her lips with her little hands and blinked her large eyes. She had actually given the exact answer.
If he found out that she had been reborn, would he think she was a monster?
Fortunately, he did not pursue the matter. He rubbed his thumb gently against her cheek and chuckled. “My Little Jiu’er is amazing. You can even predict the future now.”
Seeing that he had not grown suspicious, Qiao Anran lowered her hand and changed the subject. “Where are we going tomorrow?”
Tomorrow would be the first day the blue-faced, fanged creatures appeared. She did not know whether they would encounter trouble if they went out, but staying here was not safe either.
Although this was a villa district where the wealthy lived and its security measures were much stronger than those in other places, that did not mean there would be no zombies here or that they would not be attacked.
In her previous life, on the second day after her first night had been taken from her, she had returned to Lu City by plane through a secret passage. Later, she heard that Jiangcheng had been overrun by a horde of zombies twenty days later.
More importantly, a small town two hundred li from here would be struck by a minor earthquake tomorrow. With many roads already flooded by the rain, traveling at this time would probably be extremely difficult.
Seeing the hesitation on the little girl’s face, a faint smile spread through Li Cangchen’s eyes. He then gently took the little hands that had been wrapped around his neck and placed them back down on the sofa.
Straightening up, he walked around the armrest, brushed her dark hair that had fallen over her chest back behind her, then bent down and scooped her into his arms.
Carrying her toward the master bedroom on the third floor, he asked about her thoughts. “Little Jiu’er, if you have any concerns, you can tell me. Or is there somewhere you want to go?”
Qiao Anran thought for two seconds before looking up to meet his gentle gaze and honestly telling him what was troubling her.
“I just watched the news. Quite a few places have already been flooded, and the roads are gone. If we leave now, could we end up stranded somewhere?”
“And if we really are going to leave this place, I want to go to the Qiao family and take back my mother’s belongings. That is the last thing my mother left behind in this world.”
Previously, Qiao Yutang had ordered the servants to move all her mother’s clothes and other belongings out of the courtyard and burn them. He had not left her a single thing.
From that moment on, she had completely given up on her biological father.
Li Cangchen carried her along the bright, polished corridor and replied in a low voice, “Little Jiu’er, if the roads turn into waterways, then I’ll take you on a journey across the water. As for the Qiao family, I’ll go with you tomorrow.”
Qiao Anran looked at him and softly replied, “Mm,” before turning her gaze toward the darkness of the night beyond the windows.
The rain had not stopped. It was still falling, although it had weakened noticeably and was no longer as violent as before.
Tomorrow, this world would enter survival mode, and the tranquility of tonight would disappear completely.
When the rain stopped and a new day arrived, it would be the first trial all of humanity would have to face, and a day that would overturn everything people thought they knew.
She did not want to experience it all over again, but living in this mortal world meant there was nowhere to hide.
That night, he did not demand anything from her again. Instead, he obediently held her in his arms, resting his chin against the crown of her head as he continued telling her stories to lull her to sleep. The protagonists of the story were none other than him and her a thousand years ago.
Li Cangchen did not tell his Little Jiu’er that the seven-year-old girl who had thrown herself into his arms the first time they met was her.
The story was very, very long. It took three nights before he reached the part where she had lost her entire family and insisted on following him.
The lonely little girl had even boldly wrapped her arms around his neck and told him that he had to wait for her to grow up because she wanted him to become her husband.
A thousand years ago, when they first met, he was fifteen, and she was seven.
That night, Qiao Anran had a dream. She dreamed that she had become the little girl who lived in the dilapidated temple.
She had originally been the legitimate daughter of the Qiao family in the Capital City, and her father was the Grand General Who Guarded the Nation of Lin Kingdom. Because she was frail, she had secretly been sent to live in a mountain nunnery, where her existence was unknown to the outside world.
Until the early summer of the year she turned seven, when terrible news arrived from the capital. The Grand General Who Guarded the Nation, who had been ordered to guard the border, had betrayed the kingdom and defected to the enemy. With the evidence conclusive, the entire Qiao family was sentenced to execution.
Having been raised in the mountains since birth, she managed to escape the disaster.
She had been intelligent since childhood. Although she had not seen her parents for three years, she knew her true identity very well.
When she heard that the parents who had loved her most had both died, she neither cried nor made a fuss. Instead, she sat motionless beneath the thousand-year-old ginkgo tree in front of the courtyard for an entire day and night.
She knew that her father, who had remained loyal to Lin Kingdom his entire life, would never betray his country. He must have been framed by traitors, and she could not allow the Qiao family to die with their grievances unresolved.
Now, she was the only one left in the Qiao family. She had to return to the capital, gather evidence, and clear the Qiao family’s name.
But because of her poor health, she had spent seven years living in the mountains. Although her condition had gradually improved, how could such a young child possibly make her way down the mountain?
The next day, an opportunity presented itself. A senior nun who had gone out to purchase supplies told her that the young noblemen of the imperial city had come to hold a hunting competition and had already set up camp at the foot of the mountain.
After thinking for a long time, she packed her little bundle and went to bid farewell to the abbess.
The abbess was Master Miaozhu, who was over fifty years old. She was the only person in the nunnery besides the girl herself who knew her true identity.
When she saw the little girl carrying her bundle standing before her in the meditation room, Master Miaozhu only asked her lovingly, “Have you made up your mind? This journey will bring both fortune and misfortune. Eleven years from now, you will face a calamity.”
The little girl, dressed in simple clothes, stood there and met Master Miaozhu’s compassionate gaze directly. Her snow-white, tender face was filled with determination.
“Yes. I have made up my mind. Whether this journey brings fortune or misfortune, my heart is already set. Thank you, Master, for your devoted guidance over the past seven years.”
After speaking, she knelt down and bowed to the abbess, who had loved her like a mother.
After three bows, she rose and stepped out of the meditation room, leaving the nunnery where she had lived for seven years. With small steps, she followed the path down the mountain.
Unfortunately, the heavens were against her. She had only reached halfway down the mountain when heavy rain began to fall, forcing her to frown and run into a dilapidated temple for shelter.
At that very moment, the sound of horses’ hooves, as sharp as iron striking iron, approached from afar. As though she had thought of something, the little girl clutched her bundle tightly, turned around, and ran behind the Buddha statue. Through a small hole, she cautiously watched what was happening outside.
When the newcomers dismounted in the pouring rain and entered the dilapidated temple with ten guards, amazement flashed through her eyes.
The person leading them was a teenage boy. His features seemed to have been carved by a master sculptor, sharp and exquisite, while his deep eyes were indifferent, as though nothing in the world could enter his gaze.
He wore a python-patterned robe that gave him an innate air of nobility and elegance. Half of his black hair was tied up and secured with a golden hair crown.
Even though a chilling aura radiated from him, his handsome face was impossible to ignore, making anyone who saw him secretly marvel at his unparalleled beauty.
His lips were tightly pressed together, and the aura surrounding him was intimidating. The captain of the accompanying guards immediately stepped forward, clasped his fists with both hands, and knelt on one knee on the dust-covered floor.
“Prince Chen, to prevent the dust raised during cleaning from disturbing you, please move to the front of the Buddha statue.”
Li Cangchen said nothing. Holding a riding crop in his hand, he walked toward the mottled Buddha statue.
The little girl hiding behind it heard that he was the seventh son most favored by the current Emperor of Lin Kingdom, and her lively eyes turned thoughtfully.
Rumor had it that he had been granted the title of Prince Chen immediately after birth. Cold-hearted and incapable of love, he regarded women as poisonous snakes and possessed tremendous power.
Apart from the Emperor himself, any matter in the imperial court could be overturned and reconsidered with just a single word from him.
Yet he rarely involved himself in court affairs. At the age of three, he had already moved out of the imperial palace and established his own residence.
Everyone knew, however, that his birth mother was the renowned number one beauty under heaven, the eldest daughter of Prime Minister Jiang’s family. She had been deeply favored by the Emperor and bestowed the title of Empress.
If the Empress had not suffered damage to her health in her early years, she would not have had to wait ten years after marriage to finally bear a son, nor would she have died during childbirth.
The Emperor was devastated by the loss of his beloved. His hair turned white overnight, and from then on, he transferred all his love for the late Empress to the seventh prince, who closely resembled his mother.
He was practically someone who could have anything he wanted, with the entire world seemingly at his command.
Young Qiao Anran understood the advantages and disadvantages involved. She lightly bit her lower lip, thinking about what she should do next.
Before she could come up with a plan, however, the cold and composed young man, who seemed to have already noticed her presence, walked behind the Buddha statue and looked at her.
His eyes were deep and unfathomable, making it impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.
She tilted her little head back to look at him. Her eyes quickly filled with tears as she dropped her bundle, ran toward him, and hugged his legs. Her shoulders trembled as she let out tiny sobs like a kitten.
“Brother, I… I don’t have a family anymore. Could you take me in?”
She had always presented herself as dignified and graceful, and this was the first time she had ever revealed such a pitiful side of herself. She was betting that he would soften and take her back to the imperial city.
It was because she had just caught a trace of pity in his eyes. Although it had disappeared so quickly that it could easily have been mistaken for an illusion, she trusted her instincts.
The next moment, she knew she had made the right bet.
He bent down, lifted her with one arm, and looked into her eyes as he gently asked, “Why are you here alone?”
“?”
Why did his tone sound as though he were already very familiar with her?
At that moment, she could not worry about it too much. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, tears glistening in her eyes as she said sorrowfully,
“My family has all passed away. I have nowhere to go, and it was raining heavily, so I could only come here to take shelter.”
Her delicate voice trembled with tears. After a brief pause, she continued pitifully, “Brother, I want to go with you. Is that okay?”
Without the slightest hesitation, he agreed.
“Mm, all right. Brother will take care of you. From now on, you’ll be called Little Jiu’er.”
He then placed the riding crop on the altar table before the Buddha statue and took out a handkerchief, gently wiping away the dust on her tender cheeks and the tears hanging at the corners of her eyes.
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Qiao Anran immediately buried her face against his collarbone and answered in a soft voice, “Mm, all right. From now on, I’ll be Little Jiu’er…”