Should she take this skinny girl with her?
Xuan He felt rather conflicted.
This girl cooked quite well, and the meals for the past few days had all been prepared by her. That created a trace of karma between them, which she needed to repay.
However, she had no experience raising a child, and bringing the girl along would be a burden. If she failed to raise her properly, it would be better to just give her some benefits to settle this karma.
Just as Xuan He was about to refuse, the little light ball suddenly started whimpering.
“Wuuu, Lord God, this girl is so pitiful!”
“Lord God, this girl has no parents; she will definitely be bullied here! She might even be snatched away to be raised as a child bride!”
“Lord God, even if the girl is lucky enough to be sent to an orphanage, I checked the records, and orphanages have a lot of severe bullying among the children. Being so skinny and small, she will definitely get bullied and won’t have enough to eat!”
“Wuuu, and what is more, some perverted rich people like to adopt little children just to satisfy their unknown, disgusting behaviors. By then, she would be at a dead end!”
Xuan He thought about it.
Come to think of it, this girl cooked really well. Having someone cook for her in the future sounded pretty good!
It was better to take her along!
Xuan He nodded.
Jiang Li’s eyes first showed disbelief, and then burst into radiance.
The light ball also bounced up and down happily in mid-air. “Lord God, since we are raising a child, we need funds. I checked, and in this minor world, as long as you have money, every problem can be solved!”
Money?
Xuan He thought for a moment and appropriated all the money the three human traffickers had earned.
Counting it, it came out to about one million.
Tsk, just how many girls did they have to sell to make this much!
Thinking of that, it was a pity those three people had died too cheaply.
Xuan He considered whether one million should be enough to raise a child.
From the petitioner’s memories, she knew the price levels in this minor world were not high.
For some reason, when Xuan He nodded in agreement, Jiang Li did not have a shred of doubt; her heart trusted the other person completely.
She didn’t even think about whether the person might sell her or abandon her.
It was an indescribable intuition, an inexplicable, wholehearted trust that even she found quite surprising.
After a brief cleanup, Xuan He took Jiang Li and left the village.
Villagers in a certain village experienced a sudden, large-scale phenomenon of self-immolation, drawing the attention of relevant departments.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the villagers were likely incited by a cult to begin mass self-immolation, and police have now intervened.
The state appeals to the public: do not believe in evil spirits, do not believe in superstition, believe in science, and cherish life.
Whatever happened in the village had nothing to do with Xuan He and the girl.
The moment Xuan He left with the girl, they arrived at a town to process identification documents.
Because it was a remote area, applying for an identity card was relatively simple.
The staff member rubbed his fingers with a cold expression, leaving Xuan He completely bewildered.
Just as the patience of both sides wore thin and Xuan He was about to flip the table, the girl pressed down on Xuan He’s hand.
Xuan He turned her head stiffly and looked at the girl.
Without saying anything, the girl took out all the valuable items she had brought out and pushed them across to the public official handling the IDs.
The public official instantly beamed with joy and began processing the paperwork without asking any questions about the origin.
Gender, age.
They saw too many girls like this without household registration, poor young girls from remote villages.
Yet having seen so many, they had grown numb.
What is your name?
The registration clerk inquired.
Just as Xuan He was still pondering what name to give the girl, a timid voice suddenly sounded.
Jiang Li.
Xuan He turned her head in confusion and saw the girl lowering her head shyly, not daring to look straight at Xuan He.
The official processing the identity information grew impatient, frowned, and asked again.
What name?
Ignoring Xuan He’s puzzled gaze, the girl summoned up her courage and stepped forward. “Jiang Li. My name is Jiang Li!”
Which Jiang, which Li?
“Jiang. Jiang.” The girl wasn’t quite sure. Having never attended school, she was illiterate. After hesitating for a moment, she spoke up. “Jiang. Jiang. Li, the ‘li’ from leaving, the ‘li’ of departure.”
The public official didn’t listen closely to the girl’s surname at all, and directly entered the most common characters for Jiang and Li into the computer.
Xuan He frowned on the side. How utterly irresponsible!
What Xuan He did not know was that if this town weren’t so irresponsible, she really wouldn’t have been able to get Jiang Li’s identity information processed so easily.
However, Xuan He was in a hurry to leave and didn’t make a fuss. Once the documents were issued, she led Jiang Li to buy necessary items.
Three days later, when Jiang Li’s identity papers were ready, Xuan He picked them up with her and left the remote town.
According to her memories, Xuan He brought Jiang Li from a long-distance bus to a train, then a high-speed rail, and finally a plane back to her petitioner’s city. Only then did Xuan He discover that her own status had already been listed as a missing person at the local station.
Originally, when the petitioner went missing and her parents passed away, Chen Nuo’s property and inheritance had been carved up by relatives.
Now that Xuan He had arrived, she visited the police station and various departments, tracked down all of the petitioner’s parents’ assets, and took them into her own hands.
As for returning to university.
The petitioner hadn’t mentioned any wish about schooling anyway.
Since that was the case, Xuan He didn’t bother going back to school.
The petitioner’s counselor made various phone calls to inquire and advise, but Xuan He turned them all down.
Not wanting the original student to fail to graduate, the counselor pulled strings through various channels and eventually granted Xuan He a suspension of studies.
Xuan He was quite touched by the counselor’s kindness and did not refuse.
After finishing these matters, the news began reporting on the discovery of a large number of trafficked women in that village, and the police launched various investigations and verification of personnel. Of course, these things no longer had anything to do with them.
As for Jiang Li, since she had never received any education growing up, Xuan He hired a private tutor to come to the house and teach her.
After all, she had money! She would hire the best and most expensive one!
Since she had a child to raise, Xuan He kept her word and didn’t run around blindly.
Jiang Li didn’t know Xuan He’s inner thoughts.
Through hard study with the hired tutor, Jiang Li mastered elementary and middle school knowledge within two years.
She was very smart, hardworking, and cherished this hard-won opportunity to learn.
At the age of sixteen, Jiang Li was admitted to a key high school.
“Impressive, impressive, impressive!” Xuan He clapped like a seal.
As for the sincerity of her words.
Anyone could tell there was zero heart in it.
Of course Xuan He had no heart.
Now that the kid had finally started school, she could be liberated soon!
Xuan He collapsed onto the sofa.
“I made some rice balls. You can warm them up in the microwave and eat them if you’re hungry at noon!” Jiang Li opened the front door and said helplessly, looking at Xuan He sprawled on the couch in the living room.
Over these three years, she had grown accustomed to Xuan He’s lazy and unrestrained demeanor, as well as the routine of feeding Xuan He delicious food.
Xuan He waved her hand lazily from the sofa and drawled, “Know it.”
Rice balls? They must still be just as delicious!
Jiang Li sighed, put on her backpack, and left for class.
During these three years, she had learned to use the natural gas stove in the city, mastered many electrical appliances, and learned to search for recipes on the internet to cook.
She really had a natural talent for cooking. After reading a recipe once, she could basically make it, and the taste was always wonderful.
How did she know?
Just looking at Xuan He eating voraciously told her the taste was great.
She had transitioned from living on eggshells in this household at the very beginning to managing Xuan He’s daily life like an adult now.
Because her nutrition kept up, she had grown taller, her skin had become much fairer, and Jiang Li had blossomed, looking entirely like her mother. With a gentle temperament and a pretty appearance, she was the belle of her class.
Jiang Li left home with her bag. Even at school, she would feel a bit worried, afraid Xuan He might upset her stomach eating alone at home.
There had been an incident where Xuan He upset her stomach.
That was when Xuan He first arrived in the city and found every food novel, especially after unlocking the skill of ordering food delivery, she would order whatever she saw.
She ate hot food, then cold food. Cold food, then spicy food. Spicy food, then salty food. Salty food, then sweet food.
And straight up gave herself diarrhea.
That scared little Jiang Li out of her wits. Standing outside the restroom door at a loss, she could only shed silent tears.
The little light ball nearby wished it could shield itself from the world!
This was the Lord God, such a brilliant, lofty, majestic, and solemn Lord God!
To think she was having diarrhea in the restroom! And it was seen by it!
Would it be dismantled?!
Yet seeing little Jiang Li, who didn’t understand anything and looked so anxious, the light ball was afraid its dear Lord God might actually die from diarrhea, so it bit the bullet and told Xuan He to buy medicine.
With a sallow face, shaking legs, and a solemn expression, Xuan He said, “Xiao Li, hand me the phone. I need to buy.”
Before she could finish, a churning tempest in her stomach sent her running straight to the toilet bowl to vomit.
The toilet bore a pain it simply could not bear.