Chapter 50: Wow Prodigy

Chapter 50

A sulfurous smell wafted through the air.

Li Xiaoya wielded a wooden stick thicker than her wrist, beating the clothes.

"Is that all it takes?" Xu Ruying asked in surprise.

Li Xiaoya nodded, taking the clothes off the line and handing them back to Xu Ruying. Then she turned and brought out a small bamboo basket filled with many little sachets, all sewn from scraps of cloth. Up close, they emitted a strange, complex fragrance.

"What are these?"

"Scent bags."

Xu Ruying had never seen such ugly and rough scent bags before.

But Li Xiaoya picked them up and handed them to her one by one: "This one is patchouli." "This one is rosemary." "This one is citronella." "This one is mint..."

"They all repel insects, but smell different. Pick whichever one you like," Li Xiaoya said.

Xu Ruying gaped in astonishment: "When did you make these?"

Li Xiaoya replied, "Last night."

Xu Ruying stuttered: "You... you're trying to please me?"

Li Xiaoya looked at her in confusion: "Please you?" She shook her head and said, "It's because you looked so terribly frightened."

Xu Ruying felt a bit embarrassed. But then she realized that Li Xiaoya, young as she was, had gone up the mountain at night to gather various plants and herbs for her, making scent bags with different fragrances for her to choose from. Xu Ruying found herself at a loss, surrounded by the child's sincere and enthusiastic sentiment.

To ease the awkwardness, Xu Ruying asked, "How can you identify so many plants?"

"I just can, that's all."

"..."

Xu Ruying's mouth twitched as she said, "You really should be my parents' daughter."

Li Xiaoya looked at her curiously: "Why?"

"My dad loves studying plants, and my mom loves studying animals. They adore nature and science. While I only want to study finance and media, which makes me seem money-obsessed in their eyes," Xu Ruying said, looking a bit gloomy. "Besides, I have no talent in these areas at all. I don't even understand why wintersweet and plum blossoms aren't the same thing!"

Ning Heng came out, and being not very good at studying, he was shocked to hear this and asked, "What? Wintersweet and plum blossoms aren't the same thing?"

Li Xiaoya nodded: "That's right, they're not the same."

Now it was Xu Ruying's turn to be shocked: "How do you know that?"

"Okay." Li Xiaoya didn't refuse and obediently took the pen, writing—or rather, drawing—characters in the blank space of the business card.

But the characters she drew...

Xu Ruying and Ning Heng were both dumbfounded.

Sheng Yuxiao, still relatively composed, slowly uttered, "It looks like printed text. And indeed, it's Arabic."

Xu Ruying: "Holy cow!"

Ning Heng: "A prodigy!"

Even the staff members watching this scene felt a chill run down their spines.

Li Xiaoya's precocity and tenacity seemed to be innate, not just a result of her harsh environment. With such talent, coupled with these rich kids teaching her all sorts of things every day, what kind of formidable person would she become when she grows up?

The staff members didn't dare to imagine.

"Sister," Li Xiaoya suddenly spoke softly, "I just want to be my mom's daughter, not anyone else's."

She said to Xu Ruying: "It's the same for you. Your mom and dad only want you to be their daughter, no one else's."

Xu Ruying stared at her, dazed.

Is that so?

"Li Xiaoya! Li Xiaoya!" At that moment, someone came running, calling her name.

It had been a while since anyone had come to bother them.

Li Xiaoya was surprised that someone suddenly came looking for her. She turned to look, but the person tripped and fell in front of her. Too urgent to even get up, they hurriedly said, "Someone, someone is looking for you! They say... they say they're your relative..."

Sheng Yuxiao immediately thought of that damned Li Hongguang and sneered, "Another blind fool?"

The messenger swallowed hard and said, "No, not a distant relative, it's... it's said to be a relative from your mother's side, come... come to find you..."

Li Xiaoya, who had been acting like a little adult with perfectly stable emotions, unexpectedly shed two teardrops.

She took a step forward, then timidly retreated.

The cold expression on Sheng Yuxiao's face slowly faded.

So soon?

Were these the people arranged by her young uncle?