Chapter 8

Yumei Lin said, "The child is named Li Xiaomei, your surname, my name."

Li Zian barely suppressed the rage in his heart: "Do you want me to believe she is my child?"

Yumei Lin replied calmly, "I know what you are misunderstanding, but she is indeed your child. If you don't believe me, you can take a paternity test."

Li Zian laughed bitterly in extreme anger: "We've been married for four years, and I haven't even held your hand. You tell me the child is mine?"

"Do you remember? On the night of our wedding four years ago, you were drunk, and I slept with you."

Li Zian's mind buzzed, as if it had crashed.

On the night of their wedding, he was indeed drunk. The next morning, Yumei Lin was already gone.

Did we do it?

He had no memory of it at all.

"That night was my fertile period." Yumei Lin's tone was calm, as if she were talking about something unrelated, "Then I got pregnant and gave birth to Xiaomei."

Li Zian was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What would it have mattered if I told you?"

Li Zian was angry: "I am the child's father, but you only brought her back to me when she was three years old. You ask me what it would have mattered to tell me, what do you mean by that?"

Yumei Lin replied calmly: "I have many things I've kept from you, not just this one."

Li Zian almost fell over in anger at her words.

Yumei Lin continued, "Our family is a large clan. My father is Yu Taishan, the chairman of Dajiang Group, a family business where all board members are from the Yu family. My mother passed away when I was very young, and my father remarried a woman who gave him a son..."

This was the first time Li Zian had heard about his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and it felt like he was listening to a story.

"Four years ago, my father fell ill, and the family members were vying for power. I was appointed as the chairman in a crisis, but according to the rules of the Yu family, the leader must be married. So, I needed a husband, and that's why I married you. To make them believe and have no objections, I forced myself to sleep with you and then gave birth to Xiaomei. In such an environment, what would it have mattered if I told you?" Yumei Lin looked at Li Zian, her eyes still calm.

Li Zian smiled bitterly: "Why me?"

Yumei Lin paused before saying, "Because you are simple and wouldn't covet our family's wealth. Also, I had seen you before, and you are good-looking. At the time, I had no better choice, so I chose you."

Li Zian: "..."

In this era, being simple is almost a derogatory term.

Hearing all this, it seemed that she had married him just because he was good-looking, and that was the only quality of his that she had noticed.

"I'm sorry for keeping it from you for so long, and thank you for taking care of Grandma for four years." A hint of guilt finally flashed in Yumei Lin's eyes.

Li Zian was originally very angry, but seeing her apologize and thank him, his anger subsided, and the thought of divorce disappeared.

The child is already three years old, how could he divorce?

His father had passed away when he was very young, and he knew how important a father is to a child's growth. He didn't want his child to grow up without a father.

"Then why are you telling me this now and bringing the child back?" Li Zian asked.

Yumei Lin said, "My father has recovered, and I estimate the board will soon remove me from my position. I have many things to do and can't take care of the child anymore, so I need your help. The child also needs her father's company, so this time I'm coming back to take you and Grandma back to the city."

A bitter feeling rose in Li Zian's heart. It seemed that in her eyes, he was just a nanny, and his only value was taking care of her grandmother and the child.

But he was also self-aware.

He was a villager who hadn't even gone to college, and he and she were from two different worlds. If it weren't for the child, she probably wouldn't have considered living with him at all.

This marriage was a transaction from the beginning, with no emotional foundation.

"Go pack your things, and then we'll leave," Yumei Lin said.

Li Zian hesitated for a moment before nodding and turned to pack his things in the house.

He didn't have much to pack, just a backpack with a few changes of clothes, underwear, and socks. He was reluctant to leave the ingredients and herbs he had collected from the mountains but decided to leave them behind. He could buy those things, and he was leaving by helicopter, so bringing them would be laughable.

He was a father now, and he wanted to present a good image to his child.

When he came out of the room, Li Xiaomei was picking flowers in the yard. Yumei Lin and Lin Shengnu were not there, and Kun Li was watching nearby.

She worked quickly and had already returned.

Li Zian looked at Li Xiaomei, his eyes a bit dazed.

Lin Shengnu said Li Xiaomei looked like her mother, Yumei Lin, but he saw his own reflection in Li Xiaomei's face.

After all, good looks are a strong gene.

Li Zian walked over and smiled, "Xiaomei, can Dad hold you?"

Li Xiaomei looked up at Li Zian and said in a baby voice, "You didn't tell me if there are flowers and butterflies on Mars, I don't want you to hold me."

Li Zian squatted in front of Li Xiaomei, unable to hide his joy: "Dad will tell you, there are no flowers or butterflies on Mars, only on Earth. Mars might have coal, but Dad didn't dig for coal on Mars."

"Then what did you do?"

Li Zian thought for a moment and said, "Dad learned skills from an old immortal, and it took several years."

Li Xiaomei's big eyes immediately lit up with admiration: "Wow, Dad is so cool! Can you turn things into chocolate? Can you make a pile for me?"

Li Zian's mind buzzed again.

"Even one piece would be fine," Li Xiaomei lowered her standards.

"Dad will make you a pile of chocolate later, come, let Dad hold you." Without waiting for Li Xiaomei to agree, Li Zian picked her up.

The little one was heavy.

They say a daughter is a father's little cotton jacket. Li Zian had never felt this before, but now he did. Holding Li Xiaomei felt very special, like the warm sun in winter.

"Xiaomei, do you want Dad to lift you up?" Li Zian wanted to win the heart of his daughter, whom he was meeting for the first time.

"What is lifting up?" Li Xiaomei's big eyes were full of curiosity.

Li Zian lifted Li Xiaomei high and then put her down, lifting her up again, enjoying it endlessly.

"Ha ha ha!" Li Xiaomei laughed nonstop, her laughter as clear as a silver bell.

Kun Li, standing nearby, said, "Be careful, don't drop the child."

Li Zian stopped but didn't want to put the child down, still holding her. He said to Kun Li, "She is my daughter, of course, I will be careful."

A hint of disdain flashed in Kun Li's eyes.

Li Zian didn't care. If he cared about others' opinions, he would have been exhausted long ago.

Li Zian entertained the child with various tricks.

Li Xiaomei, who usually had no one to play with, quickly bonded with Li Zian, laughing and having a great time.

"Let me be honest, the environment you will face is very complex. Those people are cunning and devious, can you adapt?" Kun Li said to Li Zian.

Li Zian smiled calmly: "I am not a pampered person, what environment can't I adapt to? As long as I can be with Xiaomei, I don't care about the environment."

"You are oversimplifying the problem," Kun Li said.

Li Zian said, "You are overcomplicating it."

"Your mother-in-law, Gao Shengmei, is a vicious woman, and the people around her are very capable. What can you do to protect Yumei and Xiaomei?" A hint of disdain still lingered in Kun Li's eyes.

What can a villager who farms and takes care of an elderly person do?

It was their first meeting, and Li Zian didn't want to make the atmosphere so tense, but Kun Li had gone too far.

Li Zian smiled: "Miss Kun, how about I read your fortune?"

Kun Li was slightly stunned and said in surprise, "You can read fortunes?"

Li Zian replied calmly, "I know a bit, want to try?"

Kun Li sneered, "Not a proper profession."

Li Xiaomei said, "Auntie Xiaoli, try it. Dad learned from an old immortal, let him make chocolate for you, and we'll split it 50-50."

Li Zian: "..."

Kun Li glanced at Li Zian and said coldly, "Fine, I'll try, but you better bring some intelligence to fool me, or I'll look down on you even more."

Li Zian focused his mind, and the image of the Great Lazy Portable Furnace appeared in his mind. Each symbol and pattern on the furnace glowed green, mysterious and sacred.

Where his mind pointed, the secret technique followed.

In Li Zian's vision, Kun Li was still Kun Li, but in his mind, her face was "dissected" into parts: forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, even the philtrum and lips were separate, and each part was measured by the secret technique.

This was the secret technique of face reading sealed in the Great Lazy Portable Furnace, the Face Dissection Technique.

Other people's face reading was just superficial, like a surface check. The Face Dissection Technique sealed in the Great Lazy Portable Furnace was like an MRI, a thorough scan!

Seeing Li Zian just staring at her without speaking, Kun Li sneered, "Pretending to be mysterious, you don't know how to read fortunes, right?"

Li Zian finally spoke, "Born on the seventh day of the seventh month in the year of Ding Chou, which is 1997, you have a life span of 21 years, and you are not a long-lived person."

Kun Li was shocked and angry, "How do you know my birthday, and are you cursing me?"

Li Zian ignored her and continued, "Your nose is high and straight, which is a good sign of wealth, but your nasal bone has a knot, which is a sign of being a widow. You are an unmarried woman, but you have a mole of affection on your eyebrow. Have you had a boyfriend who is no longer with you?"

Kun Li was speechless.

Li Zian extended his hand and said calmly, "Draw something on my palm, and stop when I say it's good."

Kun Li hesitated for a moment but finally extended a finger and drew something on Li Zian's palm.

She had never met Li Zian before and had never shown him her ID, yet he accurately said her birthday. Not only that, he even calculated that she had had a boyfriend who had passed away. She had never even told Yumei Lin about that sad past!

"Good," Li Zian retracted his hand.

Kun Li stared at Li Zian, her eyes complex.

"You drew a peach blossom on my hand, so your love luck is coming," Li Zian said.

"Nonsense!" Kun Li felt she was being teased.

Li Zian didn't mind and added, "You also drew a pile of poop on my hand. I can't tell what kind of poop it is, but you will step on poop."

"Nonsense! Do you think I'll believe you? You must have found out about me, and you better not have any bad intentions!" Kun Li stormed off, intending to ask Yumei Lin if she had mentioned her to Li Zian.

Li Zian just smiled faintly. He could tell from her angry reaction that he was right, so there was no need to verify it further.

He picked up Li Xiaomei again.

Li Xiaomei said in a baby voice, "Dad, will Auntie Xiaoli really step on poop?"

"Ah!" Kun Li suddenly screamed, frozen in place as if she had stepped on a landmine.

A yellow substance oozed out from under her shoe.

She had really stepped on poop.

It was dog poop.

Some dog must have run in and left a pile, and she had stepped right on it.

"Dad is so cool!" Li Xiaomei clapped her hands in approval.

Kun Li turned to look at Li Zian, her eyes wide with shock.

Li Zian suddenly felt a bit dizzy.

The Face Dissection Technique was so energy-consuming, truly a small technique with a big cost!

He would have to use it cautiously in the future.

Kun Li cleaned the dog poop off her shoes in the flower bed, but the smell on her feet made her disgusted with herself.

Li Zian struggled hard not to laugh.

"It was my own carelessness, not your accurate prediction!" Kun Li said angrily.

Li Zian smiled, "I didn't charge you for the reading, so whether it's accurate or not is up to you. Let's move on, no more talk about it."

At that moment, Yumei Lin and Lin Shengnu came out of the room, with Yumei Lin dragging a suitcase.

Kun Li took the suitcase from Yumei Lin, her lips moving as if she wanted to ask if Yumei Lin had mentioned her to Li Zian, but she didn't speak.

Yumei Lin said, "Zian, let me hold the child."

Li Zian was reluctant, but before he could speak, Li Xiaomei said, "I want Dad to hold me."

Yumei Lin was slightly stunned.

Lin Shengnu chuckled, "She's really your daughter, she's already attached."

A smile appeared on Yumei Lin's lips, "Let's go then."

"Dad, I want to ride on your back," Li Xiaomei said.

"Sure, Dad will be your horse." Li Zian put Li Xiaomei on his shoulders, carefully holding her little feet, and walked while making horse sounds, "Neigh, neigh!"

Li Xiaomei pinched Li Zian's ear and whispered in his ear, "Dad, can you make chocolate for me? I won't eat it in front of Mom, she won't know."

Li Zian: "..."

Child, what grudge do you have with chocolate?

A moment later, a helicopter took off from the village, quickly flying away.

The whole village watched with eager eyes.

Wuyan Village's Wu Yanzu really went to live off his wife, and he was taken away by helicopter.