Suddenly, Lord Card flicked his wrist lightly and the card flew out of his fingers. It flew towards Li Shiyu at lightning speed.
Li Shiyu moved his body to dodge but he realized that this piece of paper card kept following behind him. No matter where he moved, he wasn"t able to get rid of it.
At a single instant, the paper card was seemingly given a speed boost as it instantly flew past him and hovered right in front of him.
With it being in front of him, LI Shiyu immediately stopped in his tracks and stared vigilantly at the paper card that was unfolding itself, and slowly a figure of a woman, who was smiling amiably, appeared in front of Li Shiyu.
At the sight of the women, Li Shiyu"s eyes widened like the moon in the dark sky. It was because that woman was his gentle and beautiful mother.
“Shiyu, it"s time for dinner.” Suddenly, his vision went black before it was soon filled with a surrounding he was all so familiar with. He was back in his childhood home, in the dining room with his mother in the kitchen.
“I don"t want to eat yet. I haven"t finished my research.” As soon as the child"s voice was heard, a young child sitting on the dining table stuffing himself in a mountain of books entered his vision.
Li Shiyu saw a stubborn young version of himself lowering his head into piles and piles of research reports on the dinner table. He was so focused in reading the reports that he didn"t notice the disappointment in his mother"s eyes when he rejected her.
“Don"t starve yourself, Shiyu. Eat properly. You can read all you want after you eat.” A gentle hand covered the book Little Shiyu wanted to continue reading.
“Mom, don"t disturb me, okay? I"ll eat when I"m hungry.” Little Shiyu couldn"t understand his mother"s love so he looked impatient and irritated when he realized his mother was actively disturbing his reading.
“Sigh~” The mother sighed softly. There were signs of disapproval in her eyes.
“Shiyu, your body is your greatest a.s.set. Without a healthy body, you can never accomplish the wish you pursue. Do you want to be like Mulan?”
“Mom, stop talking!” Upon hearing his eldest cousin brother"s name, Little Shiyu immediately flared up and slammed the table. To him, His eldest cousin brother"s health had always been a thorn in his heart. He didn"t expect his beloved mother to use it as a negative example.
Little Shiyu couldn"t control the boiling rage and overflowing disappointment that was about to explode from him so instead of lashing out at his mother, he pushed his mother away and ran out the dining room.
After almost hitting a countertop, Li Shiyu"s mother was visibly shocked. She didn"t expect her son, whom she loved dearly, to push her one day because of an outsider.
“I didn"t know that in your heart, I can"t even be compared to an outsider… Shiyu, Shiyu…” His mother complained in a low voice. She couldn"t hold her tears back as they fell down her face.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You hurt your mother"s heart for your eldest cousin brother whom you"ve only met a couple of times. You are quite difficult to understand.” Lord Card"s voice rang beside Li Shiyu"s ears.
Li Shiyu looked at the scene in front of him in a daze. Very soon, the image changed to his eldest cousin brother.
“Cough, cough, what is it? Shiyu?” His eldest cousin brother"s health had always been very poor. But, he still struggled to sit up to talk to him.
Actually, his elder brother wasn"t much older than him. However, when Li Shiyu saw him, he felt rea.s.sured. He felt as though he was talking to an elder brother which he never had, one that was filled with knowledge and was ever so kind to him.
“Why does everyone think you won"t get better?” When he thought of his mother"s words, Li Shiyu felt his heart hurting. He felt that in the eyes of everyone in the Li family, his elder brother was practically dead.
“It is because I"m very sick, so sick that it is impossible to cure. Grandfather had already found the best, best doctors but they concluded that there was no cure.” A gentle hand touched his head. His elder brother rubbed his head lightly, calming the anger and agitation in his heart.
“I don"t believe it. There must be better doctors. Grandfather just hasn"t found them yet.” Li Shiyu refused to accept that answer.
“Yes. Everyone works hard. Cough, cough… I will work hard too.” His elder brother couldn"t even finish a sentence properly. He had to use all his energy to keep his coughing down to a minimum. Thus, his sentences were simple and short. But, even so, he still gave Li Shiyu his most gentle smile.
“Brother!” Li Shiyu felt deeply in pain as he saw the amount of suffering his brother had to go through. How could he not notice the tight fist that was trembling slightly under the blanket? It was obviously a sign that he was bearing with extreme pain. His brother never wanted to let him worry so he always appeared calm and indifferent in front of him.
“It"s alright. Brother will work hard and live. I will wait… for you… to find a doctor that… can cure me.” His elder brother smiled. “I have confidence. Without grandfather, I still… have you.”
Li Shiyu"s tears dropped down uncontrollably. His elder brother clearly knew his own situation well. Besides grandfather, everyone from the Li family had given up on him. But, just like what his elder brother said, even if his grandfather abandoned him one day, he still had him, his little brother. His little brother would never let him suffer alone.
“Brother, don"t worry. You still have me.” Li Shiyu grabbed his elder brother"s cold hand.
At that time, Li Shiyu didn"t know what he could do. However, the seed to completely cure his elder brother was already planted in his heart.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You are living entirely for this person?” Lord Card said with pity. “Your life is entirely manipulated by him. Your intention was never your own. You live a sad life.”
“Sad? Everyone has their own purpose. My purpose is to give him a healthy body.” Li Shiyu wasn"t affected by Lord Card"s words.
“How childish. Do you really think that it"s your own choice?” Lord Card smiled. “Do you want to know the truth?”
Li Shiyu frowned. He turned and looked at Lord Card who was obviously waiting for a good show.
“I can sense an energy in your body, and that energy doesn"t belong to you. It"s an invasive energy that has been planted by someone else. It wasn"t done recently too. It has acc.u.mulated over many years…” Another paper card appeared in Lord Card"s hand. The smile on his face got even wider. “It all goes back to your childhood.”
“What do you mean?” Li Shiyu asked coldly.
“It means that the choices you think you made yourself are actually subtly influenced by this energy in your body.” Lord Card sn.i.g.g.e.red. “It controlled your entire life.”
“So what?” Li Shiyu scoffed. If Lord Card wanted to attack him psychologically using this, he was underestimating him.
“Nothing. I just want to watch a good show.” Lord Card wasn"t bothered. He flicked his fingers lightly and a card flew out. It flipped open in front of Li Shiyu"s eyes.
It was a king card. The king"s face was stern but Li Shiyu saw Li Mulan"s face on the card. He was wearing a gentle smile.
“Shiyu, you"re here.” It was still the same face with the same gentle smile. His elder brother stretched his hand out from the card and held his hand.
But, this time, he saw a black glob of energy on his elder brother"s hand which slowly flowed into his body through his hand.
“How"s school?” The smile on his elder brother"s face seemed a little glaring.
Little Shiyu told his elder brother about what he had been doing recently enthusiastically. While listening, his elder brother nodded profusely. He looked to be in pain so he was frowning slightly. But, for some reason, Li Shiyu detected a sense of impatience from his elder brother. Little Shiyu, who was talking excitedly, didn"t notice anything.
“Brother, I"ll definitely find a way to cure you.” Little Shiyu seemed to sense that his elder brother was uncomfortable so he said this sentence with a serious face.
“Yes. I will pa.s.s myself to you.” His elder brother smiled brightly. However, this smile was piercing to the eye. Li Shiyu noticed that his elder brother looked pleased with himself.
“See? He groomed you meticulously. Did you really want to be a military doctor from the start?” Lord Card"s voice rang beside Li Shiyu"s ears again, and the question he asked struck straight into his heart.