Li Qiqi rushed into the main house of Liyuan as if her life depended on it, hiding behind the living room door, clutching her chest and looking out with lingering fear.
After confirming that Qi Xiaoye hadn’t chased in, she took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground like mud.
The huge crystal chandelier overhead radiated brilliant light, like the brightest star in the night sky captured here. The halo swayed gently by the window, interweaving with the moonlight occasionally shining in from outside the window to form a dreamlike picture.
Standing in the center of the picture was a whole row of unfamiliar servants.
Seeing Li Qiqi turn her face to look over, the servants bowed and saluted her in unison.
“Good morning, Miss Li!!”
The voice was too loud, scaring Li Qiqi again. She patted the snow off her body and got up, holding onto the door frame.
“Who… who are you? Where’s Aunt Mei?”
The leading maid smiled and took a step forward.
“Miss Li, my name is Annie, and I’m the new housekeeper at Liyuan. Aunt Mei, and the other servants, were all fired by Mr. Xu ten hours ago.”
“Fired? Why?”
Li Qiqi frowned and asked. Seeing that Annie didn’t respond, she quickly realized.
“Because of me?”
Annie didn’t deny it, waved to the others, signaling them to go to work, and then persuaded:
“Miss Li, Mr. Xu said that Aunt Mei and the others didn’t serve you well, so you ran away from home. We will take care of you from now on. I hope Miss Li can be more considerate of us and not be so willful anymore.”
“Willful…”
Li Qiqi felt a breath stuck in her chest, feeling blocked and flustered. Aunt Mei was an old-timer at Liyuan, having worked here for nearly eight years, and was the closest person to Li Qiqi besides Xu Nantian.
But even so, Xu Nantian still drove people away without any hesitation. He wanted her to be obedient out of guilt, which was also a disguised warning.
Li Qiqi realized that she didn’t seem to understand Xu Nantian, and had never thought that running away from home once would make him so angry, and even involve so many people.
Seeing Li Qiqi standing there in a daze, Annie stretched her neck and asked in a low voice.
“Miss Li, you’re not going to leave again, are you?”
Outside the door, the cold wind gently blew, stirring up a delicate mist of snow, blurring the distant scenery.
Li Qiqi felt mixed emotions in her heart. She had originally planned to leave as soon as Qi Xiaoye left, but it seemed that as long as she dared to step out of this door, this group of servants would swarm up and forcibly stop her.
More importantly, she had to talk to Xu Nantian.
“I’m not leaving,” Li Qiqi stepped upstairs, “Help me heat up a glass of milk.”
“Okay.”
The furnishings in the room were the same as when Li Qiqi left, and even the placement of the items hadn’t been moved.
There was an extra pure white cashmere carpet on the floor, so clean that it was spotless. It was soft and comfortable to walk on barefoot.
Li Qiqi was afraid of the cold, and always got sick easily after taking a bath in winter. The carpet was specially selected for her by Xu Nantian, and it would be laid all over her room when winter came.
Li Qiqi took off her coat and, like when she was a child, threw herself on the carpet and rolled around several times.
Her eyes glanced over the half-open door.
In a trance, she seemed to see the twenty-two-year-old Xu Nantian, leaning against the door frame and frowning at her.
The fine afternoon sunlight broke through the slightly cool air of the first snow, shining on the broken hair on the man’s forehead, tracing his handsome nose, beautiful eyebrows and eyes…
“Get up obediently, go change your clothes first, look, you’re all dirty with mud…”
Just as Li Qiqi was about to open her mouth to respond, Xu Nantian’s deep voice suddenly rose, becoming anxious and sharp.
“Oh, Miss Xu, get up and change your clothes first, look, you’re all wet with water…”
Li Qiqi blinked, it was Annie.
Holding a cup of steaming milk in her hand, she stood at the door looking down at her, her eyes full of shock and helplessness.
Annie had seen many children from wealthy families, either with outstanding temperament or with many talents, but it was the first time she had seen someone who was so childish and unruly at the age of eighteen.
Annie placed the milk on the dressing table, bent down and picked up the down jacket and shawl on the floor.
Li Qiqi had already stood up obediently.
Annie was both angry and amused, “Miss Li, this down jacket is already broken, and the down inside is fake.”
Li Qiqi knew it was fake, she nodded.
“Take it and throw it away.”
“But this shawl is very beautiful,” Annie held the shawl and looked at it carefully, “Miss Li has a good eye, this shawl is Dior’s most popular autumn and winter new style, but you use it to match this down jacket, it’s too…”
Annie stopped talking, but the meaning was very clear, which made Li Qiqi’s face collapse all of a sudden. She drank the milk in a few gulps, turned around and walked towards the bathroom.
“Throw the shawl away too! Throw it outside!!”
Annie: …
After bathing, Li Qiqi changed into a milk-white bathrobe and sat in front of the dressing table.
The girl in the mirror without makeup was still childish, but she was extremely beautiful, with eyebrows like distant mountains, a high nose bridge, and delicate, full, and tempting lips, especially those eyes, with a slight movement of her eyes, like a clear pool under the moon.
Li Qiqi pursed her lips, feeling numb and wooden. Even though she had washed her lips countless times, they seemed to still be stained with Qi Xiaoye’s warm and fragrant breath.
Then the man’s wanton and arrogant appearance when he kissed her and his pleasant eyebrows and eyes gradually appeared in her mind, and she couldn’t shake them off no matter what.
Damn it! Her first kiss, which she had cherished for eighteen years, was taken away so inexplicably.
The more Li Qiqi thought about it, the more angry she became. While cursing in a low voice, she crawled into the quilt and wrapped herself up tightly.
When she was a child, she always looked forward to growing up. Now that she had finally grown up, Li Qiqi sadly discovered—
Growing up was the real imprisonment of freedom. She had lost the qualification to do whatever she wanted, so it was better to be a child!
“Mr. Xu, Miss Li has fallen asleep.”
It was midnight when Xu Nantian returned. As soon as he entered the door, Annie came forward to report with a smile on her face.
Xu Nantian nodded, signaling Annie to go to rest, and walked towards Li Qiqi’s room without stopping.
“Click—”
The lock made a slight sound, and Xu Nantian gently pushed open the door.
Li Qiqi was sleeping soundly, curled up in the quilt, her hair as smooth as silk scattered on the pillow.
The moonlight shone through the half-closed curtains, casting mottled shadows, coating the girl with a layer of soft silver gauze.
“Qiqi?”
Xu Nantian sat on the bed and called softly.
Li Qiqi didn’t respond, smacking her small mouth in her dream, her tender white face flushed, like a newly blooming peach blossom.
The bruise on her forehead, set off by this blush, not only didn’t appear abrupt, but added a bit of endearing and fragile beauty.
Xu Nantian’s gaze fell gently on Li Qiqi’s face, and his eyes, which were always calm and self-possessed, were now stained with some unspeakable emotions.
He didn’t call her again, but stretched his right hand forward, his fingertips gently touching the blush on Li Qiqi’s cheek.
The touch was soft and delicate.
This made him involuntarily slow down his breathing, for fear of waking Li Qiqi and breaking the tranquility.
Li Qiqi, the girl he had raised with his own hands, was different from those ordinary women outside. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Every inch of her skin, every strand of fragrance she emitted, completely matched his preferences.
Like a perfect and flawless work of art, and only he was qualified to hold it in his palm and play with it.
She belonged to him, they were a family, how could he marry someone else, and how could he let her leave?
“Wait for me a little longer, Qiqi…”
Xu Nantian’s voice was soft and hoarse, “When I use Qiao Lina to clear all the obstacles in Kenaqin and control this land, I will give you everything you want.”
The man muttered to himself, the noble and cold aura on his body was completely gone, and his eyes were filled with undisguised sinister ruthlessness.
His warm fingertips never stopped, greedily stroking Li Qiqi’s delicate and beautiful eyebrows and eyes, following her nose all the way down, gently sliding over the girl’s delicate lip flesh.
Li Qiqi’s long eyelashes trembled suddenly, casting a faint shadow on her eyelids, like butterfly wings fluttering lightly, and every subtle tremor touched Xu Nantian’s heartstrings.
He lowered his eyes and admired her for a long time before reluctantly withdrawing his desire and getting up, considerately tucking the quilt for Li Qiqi, and then turned off the bedside lamp.
Walking to the door, Xu Nantian looked back at the person sleeping peacefully in the darkness, and then opened the door gently, without making a sound.
Almost at the same time as the door closed, Li Qiqi, who was lying in bed, suddenly opened her eyes.