Chapter 41: I Promise
Chapter 41
Li Yuexin stared at the male kid standing before her with blank, listless eyes. She simply kept staring at him, her thoughts slightly complicated, with only one question running through her mind: What is his problem?
Ever since she had joined the Li Clan several months ago, none of the other children had paid her much attention. If anything, they had all been avoiding her, mostly because of the way she looked at them with her emotionless expression.
But this boy... she had never seen him around before. Instead of telling him her name, Li Yuexin asked a question that almost made Li Yu stumble.
"And who are you?" Stopping himself from showing a stupefied expression, Li Yu coughed lightly before introducing himself in the grandest way possible. "My name is Li Yu... from the direct founding bloodline. The awesome and rightful heir of the Li Clan!"
He said the words proudly while flashing her a cute and confident smile. Li Yuexin’s expression remained completely blank as she looked at him. "But I haven’t heard of you before, and I haven’t seen you anywhere around either."
Li Yu coughed again, feeling slightly embarrassed. "That is because I’m mostly away, so not many people know of me. Because of my awesomeness, of course."
He added the last part with a cheeky grin. Li Yuexin only gave him a dubious look before speaking. "If you are the heir, then what about the Young Master that is known everywhere?" She asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Li Yu coughed once more before replying. "You must be talking about Li Feng. He is a cousin of mine and also my best buddy, you see." He nodded confidently before continuing. "Many people think he is the main heir because he spends more time around the clan, but that isn’t true."
Then he suddenly brightened. "I’ll prove that I’m telling the truth if you tell me your name."
Li Yuexin looked at him for a little longer. Should she indulge this weird, delusional boy? Or should she simply continue being bored? After thinking for a moment, she made her choice.
"My name is Yuexin." She paused briefly before adding. "Li Yuexin."
Li Yu immediately beamed after hearing her name. "Oh! You’re the new little sister Big Brother spoke about!" His eyes lit up. "Nice to meet you."
Then he puffed out his chest proudly. "From now on, you can call me Big Brother Li Yu." Yuexin gave him a look that clearly said: Are you really serious right now? Li Yu immediately understood her expression.
"Oh, I see. You still don’t believe that I’m the heir of the entire Li Clan." He nodded to himself before suddenly grabbing her hand.
"Follow me! I’ll prove it." Before Li Yuexin could even protest, Li Yu had already pulled her forward, dragging her along toward another section of the enormous Li Clan gardens.
The two quickly crossed several pathways before arriving at a quieter section of the clan grounds. There, a young boy around the same age and size as Li Yu was seated beneath a pavilion.
At first glance, the two boys almost looked like twins. Their facial features shared several similarities. However, there were also obvious differences. The seated boy possessed medium-length hair, while Li Yu’s hair was extremely long, reaching all the way to his waist.
And then there was their temperament. The boy sitting beneath the pavilion carried himself like a composed and intelligent child who seemed far wiser than his years.
Meanwhile, Li Yu looked exactly like what he was: a playful and unserious troublemaker. Li Yuexin recognized the seated boy almost immediately. It was none other than Li Feng.
The same Li Feng whom she, along with most people in the clan, believed to be the heir of the Li Clan. Li Yu walked forward while still holding onto Yuexin’s hand. "Hey, Feng!" His loud voice rang out across the pavilion.
"See who I brought over!" The shout immediately disturbed the boy who had been completely engrossed in the book he was reading.
Li Feng slowly raised his head from the book, his calm gaze landing on Li Yu first before shifting toward the unfamiliar little girl standing beside him.
With his immersion broken abruptly by his annoying cousin, Li Feng turned his gaze toward him, his expression dark. "What is it now, Li Yu?" Li Yu, completely oblivious to the other’s annoyance, wrapped an arm around his shoulder before pointing toward Li Yuexin.
"She didn’t believe me when I told her that I’m the heir, so I want you to confirm it for her that I’m the true heir. Come on, tell her," he said proudly, smiling as if he had just won the lottery. Li Feng turned his gaze toward Yuexin, who still wore that same blank expression on her face.
Then he winked at her. Li Yuexin blinked slightly, not quite understanding what he meant. Meanwhile, Li Feng’s thoughts turned dark, childishly dark. He would make Li Yu pay for ruining his immersion.
And who would be stupid enough to believe that blatant lie of yours, cousin? Everyone knew that you were not the heir. I am. Li Yu’s smile froze as he turned to look at his best buddy, who had just betrayed him right in front of the person he had been bragging to.
"What are you saying?" Li Yu asked, stupefied. Li Feng straightened up, a smirk forming on his face as he spoke. "You are no heir. Stop telling lies to everyone. I can’t believe you told that to the new girl as well." He shook his head dramatically. "Your lies and shamelessness really know no limits, I see."
Li Yu’s stunned face turned toward Li Yuexin, who was looking at him with an expression that seemed to say: Why are you lying?
"Hey, Feng, what are you saying? I am the heir, you damn brat!" Hearing the argument, the corner of Li Feng’s mouth curled upward ever so slightly as he asked in a calm tone.
"Since you are the heir of this great clan, surely you possess some battle skills. Why don’t you fight me? Whoever wins gets the title." Li Feng asked with a smug smile plastered on his face. Li Yu’s face froze.
Fight Feng in a duel? That was not a good idea. Even bad didn’t begin to describe it. Unlike Li Feng, who was keen on learning basic martial moves here and there, Li Yu was far more focused on enjoying his childhood.
After all, the moment they turned twelve, he would have to become serious and dedicated in order to make his entire clan proud and eventually take on the position of Clan Leader when the time was right.
By then, he wouldn’t be able to have any fun anymore. So he might as well enjoy all the fun he could have right now.
Li Yu coughed ever so slightly as he turned his back to Li Feng, who had already taken on a battle stance. His crazy cousin was probably hell-bent on beating the shit out of him.
With a straight face, Li Yu’s voice came out calm and composed, sounding like a true heir, although the content of the words that came out of his mouth was very, very un-heir-like.
"It is not that I don’t want to fight, but I don’t fight when the sun is out. If it were only after the sun has set, then I would have shown you what it means to mess with me. But since the sun is out, I shall spare you. Be grateful."
Li Yu said all those shameless words with a completely straight face. Li Feng’s expression turned indignant as his anger rose. "Shameless heir, my ass! You deserve some beating!" Li Yu’s face turned sour as Li Feng came charging toward him.
The two kids wrestled each other to the ground as Li Feng pummeled Li Yu, who was still spouting several ridiculous and shameless excuses as to why he wasn’t the one winning.
At one point, he even said something about forgetting his almighty shoes, which he absolutely had to wear before he could fight properly.
The two kids continued fooling around. Maybe not completely playing, but it was certainly far from a deadly or serious battle. Li Yuexin watched the scene before her with a raised eyebrow.
But as she continued looking and listening to more of Li Yu’s shameless words, she slowly couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the funny sight before her. Seeing that, Li Yu immediately gave her a thumbs-up despite currently being pinned to the ground.
"You see? It isn’t that hard to integrate into the family." Then he stretched out his hand for a handshake. "Welcome to the family, Li Yuexin." Seeing that the shameless, supposedly great heir had gone this far just to make her feel more relaxed and comfortable, an unknown emotion overwhelmed her.
All she could tell was that she felt better. Much better. A small smile touched her lips as she reached forward and shook Li Yu’s hand.
From that day onward, Li Yuexin, Li Yu, and Li Feng became close friends. Although she spent far more time with Li Yu, who genuinely acted like a real older brother to her.
Li Feng, although not cold and somewhat welcoming, was usually busy reading and wasn’t particularly good at socializing. Because of that, they weren’t as close as she was with Li Yu, with whom she gradually became best friends.
From then on, the two became closer and closer until they were practically blood siblings, doing almost everything together. Li Yu helped her forget her bloody and sorrowful past and showed her what it meant to be known and still be welcomed, accepted for who she truly was.
In fact, apart from the Clan Lord, Li Yu was the only other person who knew of her nature. And instead of looking at her with discomfort and fear like everyone else, he only seemed curious and even more cheerful toward her.
He would ask ridiculous questions such as whether blood tasted like alcohol or something. He even begged her to let him have a taste. And he actually tried it. Afterward, he smacked his lips thoughtfully before saying, "It isn’t as tasty as alcohol though."
Li Yuexin still remembered that scene clearly. After that day, she watched and waited for his behavior toward her to change, just like every other person who had learned of her nature.
But contrary to her expectations, that was not what happened. Instead, his behavior toward her didn’t change one bit, and she was truly grateful for that.
And the thing that made her grow the most attached to him was how deeply he cared about her and her well-being. No matter what happened, he always stood up for her.
No matter where she went to hide whenever she was unable to control herself and ended up sucking on animal blood again, her dress covered in blood, Li Yu always managed to find her. And he always extended his hand to her in support.
He was always there to show her that she had someone who deeply cared about her.
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Back to the present... Li Yuexin’s gaze shifted to her hand, where she was holding a female carved figure.
It was a gift Li Yu had given her a long time ago as a birthday present when everyone else had forgotten that it was her birthday. She had become so annoyed that she left the clan. That day, she had been trapped on the mountain, with rain pouring down heavily around her.
She quickly became cold, wet, and shivering. Curling herself into a ball, she waited for the cold to kill her. Why would they forget about her birthday when they didn’t forget about Li Feng’s birthday, nor did they forget about Li Yu’s?
Those childish thoughts made her furious and unwilling to return to the clan even as she shivered beneath the heavy rain. But then he came and found her, just as he always did.
After begging her to return and offering the carved doll as both his apology and birthday gift, he brought her back home and stayed by her side as she recovered from the cold.
The memories made a small smile creep onto Li Yuexin’s lips as she held the carved doll even more tightly in her hands. "You are always there for me, Brother Yu..." she murmured softly.
"So I promise I will be there for you as well. No matter how dangerous it gets, no matter how long it takes, I promise... I promise I will find you and bring you back home. I promise."
