Deliberately Approaching
Chapter 79: Miss Yi Gets Hurt Because of Water Caltrop

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Miss Yi Gets Hurt Because of Water Caltrop

When school started in the morning, Li Zihan had already told Tang Xiaowan that today was a very special day, and his brother Li Zishen wouldn’t be eating anything, not even little snacks, at the most he would drink a few cups of chrysanthemum tea.

However, that man was planning to cook dinner himself in the evening.

Tang Xiaowan looked out of the window, lost in thought, with an inevitable small surge of emotion in her heart.

Could it be, he’s preparing everything just to watch me eat?

There is nothing missing in Li Garden, what’s there to buy?

The ingredients selected personally seem to be more sincere, more likely to win my heart. Could it be that this guy is really trying so hard?

Oh well, actually he’s quite nice, although he is as clever and alert as an old fox, not easy to see through.

But such emotions were fleeting, after stealing a glance at Li Zishen, Tang Xiaowan was reminded of her own house arrest, being monitored, being tracked, as well as the peculiar scent of medicine when the Mei Garden was attacked.

The allure of the Red Rose instantly vanished!

She touched her tall, proud nose, yet her eyes craftily glanced toward the passenger seat: "Oh my, it’s so heavy, I might as well just lay it on the seat."

Her voice was sweet and tender.

"Give it to me."

Li Zishen intercepted the Red Rose midway, his strong hand grasping it tightly, and his bright phoenix eyes suddenly lowered slightly, making it impossible to see what he was thinking.

Tang Xiaowan: "..."

Sheesh, what’s the deal, seriously, why do you have to meddle in everything I do, got used to managing people at the company?

Ah, why do you have to pay so much attention to me!

In reality, ever since Tang Xiaowan moved into Li Garden, all sorts of little romances had never ceased.

Putting aside the clothes, shoes, and bags sent every other day, just the flowers in the vase in the second-floor lounge were regularly replaced by someone every morning.

All of these things were remembered by Tang Xiaowan.

But at the same time as she was touched, she also noted down every expense in her little notebook, planning to repay everything one day.

"Brother Shen, we’ve arrived."

As soon as Chen Xin finished speaking, Li Zishen stuffed the Red Rose back into Tang Xiaowan’s arms: "Stay good in the car, I’ll be back soon, 20 minutes at most."

Then the car door opened and the man left.

Tang Xiaowan: "?"

She thought the man was going to take her shopping with him.

Tang Xiaowan stuck close to the car window, watching the receding figures of Li Zishen and Chen Xin, feeling an inexplicable sense of disappointment.

I hate it, why not take me for a stroll!

Because I wanted to throw the roses on the copilot’s seat, are you angry?

Tsk, so you’re petty after all!

After saying that, Tang Xiaowan burst into laughter, rubbing her nose back and forth on the glass as if she had discovered a new world, extremely pleased with herself.

She didn’t expect that Li Zishen could also be childish, to actually be bothered by such a small matter with her,

...

Nanjiang Villa.

Nanny Wu was in the bedroom, carefully wiping a carved wooden box.

"Miss Yi, if you were still alive, you would be 45 years old by now, and maybe you’d have several children. Don’t blame me, I’m just a servant, there was nothing I could do."

Nanny Wu picked up a cup of chrysanthemum tea and drank it down in one gulp.

Big tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I remember, when Mr. Li was still alive, he often mentioned that you liked drinking chrysanthemum tea, saying it was good for the eyes and reduced heat in the body. You may not know it, but even this little preference of yours has influenced our Young Master Zishen. Since the boy was three years old, Mr. Li made him drink two cups of chrysanthemum tea every day. Now Young Master Zishen is already 25 years old—look how fast time flies."

She, in her sixties, had hair that was turning grey, and the blue veins stood out on her hands as she gently wiped the wooden box. Despite it already being glossy and shining, she still felt it wasn’t clean enough.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that Nanny Wu carefully put the box back in the drawer and relocked it.

She had spent most of her life at Bie Yuan.

If nothing else, she had certainly learned what expression to use in front of which people and what to say on which occasion—these skills were deeply ingrained in her.

Upon leaving the bedroom, she became Madam Lai’s indispensable aide—the venerated Nanny Wu respected by the servants, no longer the weak, lowly, Wu Lifang at the mercy of the wealthy.

It was Madam Lai who had given her everything she wanted.

"Nanny Wu, the kitchen staff said that the meal is ready. Shall we go?" a servant said with a beaming smile.

She was responsible for cleaning the first floor and looked quite young, around 20 years old.

Nanny Wu smoothed the young girl’s messy bangs with a smile and said, "I won’t go, I snacked on a few pieces of pastries this afternoon and I’m still full right now."

"Oh, then I’ll go ahead."

"Go on, eat a little more."

As usual, Madam Lai had dinner early and light, drinking only a bowl of millet porridge and eating a few bites of spinach before hastily leaving the dining room to enjoy the chrysanthemums in the small garden.

However, Madam Lai did seem to really like the water caltrops that Zishen had brought over from Mei Garden, peeling one and eating it after another.

Her skilled movements stunned Nanny Wu!

"Madam, have you eaten water caltrops before?"

Madam Lai paused and answered thoughtfully, "Hmm, it seems I’ve had them two or three times. Zhenshan bought them, it’s been so long I can’t remember clearly."

After hearing this, Nanny Wu’s brow furrowed slightly.

Water caltrops are a southern delight, growing in the water with their roots buried in the silt. The specific growing conditions—preferring warm and humid climates, not too cold—are found in the ponds and marshes of the south.

Even in Jin City, close to the south, they’re rarely seen. They’re scarcely cultivated, they don’t taste as good, and they need to be transported over Nanshan from Qingcheng.

Madam Lai was from the north, and her adeptness was indeed puzzling to Nanny Wu.

Even though Madam Lai had married into the Leng Family 25 years ago, throughout those 25 years, Nanny Wu had never once seen the household’s purchaser buy water caltrops, let alone consume them.

"Nanny Wu, what’s the matter?"

Snapping back to reality, Nanny Wu smiled faintly and quickly picked up a water caltrop, starting to peel it for Madam Lai. "So it was Mr. Li who bought them for you; he really cared deeply for you."

Madam Lai sighed softly, "Perhaps."

Nanny Wu chose not to continue the conversation. In her memory, the late Li Zhenshan had a strong dislike for water caltrops.

"From today onwards, no one is allowed to buy water caltrops, and certainly no eating them in front of me, or else they can get out of Bie Yuan."

Nanny Wu remembered these words clearly even 26 years later.

That day was Li Zhenshan’s 18th birthday, and he had flown into a terrible rage.

Some mischievous child, when the adults weren’t looking, had put four water caltrops into the bowl of seeds, which led to Miss Yi pricking her finger and bleeding profusely.

It was her first visit to Bie Yuan.

Her long hair cascaded past her shoulders, and her skin was as white as cream—like a celestial maiden stepped right out of a court painting, gentle and endearing.

"Zhenshan, it was just my own carelessness..."

"Sit down quickly and get some medicine on that, make sure it doesn’t get infected. You’ve lost so much blood; it must hurt a lot."

"It’s nothing, it doesn’t hurt at all."

Nanny Wu vividly remembered standing there quietly with a medicine box, not daring to utter a word.

Li Zhenshan had a notoriously fiery temper.

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