Rebirth of the Useless Bastard Son

It had been almost two months since the death of Mother Yin, yet Haitang Courtyard remained vacant. The servants who originally served there were either sent out of the mansion or went to serve other masters.

As Li Tianyan walked along the path to Haitang Courtyard, he found the gate outside the courtyard locked, forcing him to climb over the wall from the side.

Upon entering inside, he noticed the place had been tidied up. Aside from the room furnishings, everything remained the same. Mother Yin’s clothing and supplies were neatly packed into boxes as Li Tianyan combed through the entire room. After a thorough search, he discovered not only the absence of the body refining technique but also Mother Yin’s jewelry.

Although the Yin family had declined, it was once the top family in Guanzhou City. Yin Rong, seeking to marry into the Li Mansion as a concubine for love, faced strong opposition from her father. Despite the discord, her mother secretly gifted Mother Yin two pieces of jewelry as she left home – a hairpin and a bracelet, both crafted from high-quality bluestone and jade, rare in a small town like Jincheng City. Li Tianyan had once stolen one of them to please Cheng Si, giving her a hairpin.

Although Mother Yin was upset upon discovering this, she refrained from confrontation due to the strained relationship between mother and son. Additionally, at that time, Cheng Si and Li Tianyan had a promised engagement, prompting Mother Yin to reluctantly surrender the hairpin and carefully store away the bracelet.

During Mother Yin’s serious illness, Li Tianyan, frustrated with the disciple election and confused by Cheng Si’s changing attitude, neglected to visit Haitang Courtyard. It wasn’t until news of Mother Yin’s death reached him that Li Tianyan felt remorse.

Reflecting on the fact that Yin’s family would never see their daughter again, Li Tianyan couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Tianyan could only leave first. It seemed that he really had to go to Hong Man tomorrow. The only one who could take things from Haitang Courtyard was Madam Li, who was in charge of the backyard.

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The familiar fragrance had penetrated into his nose as he walked closer to Qingzhu Courtyard. Li Tianyan suddenly felt comfortable, and the pace of his feet couldn’t help but speed up.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, a small figure came into view. When he saw Cheng Qi standing in the yard, kicking his legs and paddling his hands, Li Tianyan was almost amused by his weird and funny actions. “What are you doing?”

“It’s the boxing technique Xiao Liu taught me.” When Cheng Qi saw Li Tianyan appeared, he quickly retracted his gesticulating hands and feet.

“Xiao Liu taught you? Can you do it again and let me see?” Li Tianyan glanced at Xiao Liu next to him, wondering what kind of strange boxing technique he had taught Cheng Qi.

“Okay.” Although Cheng Qi was a little nervous facing Li Tianyan, he still followed the instructions and repeated the half-practiced boxing technique.

Seeing Cheng Qi’s extremely uncoordinated hands and feet, and the serious expression that was completely inconsistent with his movements, Li Tianyan almost laughed several times. He noticed Xiao Liu next to him, who was also suppressing a smile, and finally determined that the problem should be with the little shuanger.

“I’m done.” After finally finishing all the memorized movements, Cheng Qi was so tired, he was sweating profusely, but his eyes were shining when looking at Li Tianyan.

“Well… it was a good effort.” Li Tianyan couldn’t help but stretch out his hand to rub Cheng Qi’s head and praised him. He hadn’t met such an interesting person in a long time.

It wasn’t until Li Tianyan walked into the room that Cheng Qi raised his hand and touched the top of his hair in a daze. His heart seemed to be fermenting, and it felt itchy and warm.

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When Xiao Liu returned to the side room after finishing his work at night, he saw Cheng Qi clinging to the corner of the room secretly. He couldn’t help but ask strangely, “Is the young madam looking for something?”

Cheng Qi was caught by Xiao Liu. He quickly stood up and waved his hands in embarrassment, “No, no.”

Xiao Liu seemed to understand what Cheng Qi was doing just now, and the smile on his face became a little more teasing, “Young master is resting early today; you will see the young master tomorrow morning.”

“It’s not what you think.” Cheng Qi blushed at Xiao Liu’s words and explained in a panic.

He just wanted to hear what was going on next door to see if Li Tianyan was going to take a bath in the lake tonight, but after listening for a long time and there was no sound at all, Cheng Qi couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged.

“Yes, yes, I misunderstood.” Xiao Liu said perfunctorily with a smile while tidying up the quilts on the bed, obviously not believing what Cheng Qi said.

Li Tianyan, who was meditating quietly inside, heard the conversation next door clearly. A complicated look flashed across his brown eyes, and then he fell silent again, closing his eyes and settling down to practice.

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In the dead of night, when many people had fallen asleep, Li Kun, the second master of the Li family, had just crawled out of the bed in the outer room and leisurely took a carriage back home. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he was confronted by his wife blocking the way to the backyard.

“What are you doing? I’m exhausted. If you have anything to do, we’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Li Kun impatiently scolded Madam Lin, who was blocking the way.

As soon as he returned home, he saw this woman crying. Li Kun’s good mood was immediately ruined. The woman at home either asked him for money or found things for him to do. As expected, the little girl outside was well-behaved and saved trouble. She also knew how to serve others.

“Tomorrow? Can I see you tomorrow? Our son was almost beaten to death, and you still have the heart to be happy outside with others,” Madam Lin cried and cursed with a sad look on her face.

Her son was suddenly carried back today. When Madam Lin asked, it was Li Tianyan who had beaten him. She invited the pharmacist from the Li Mansion to come and see him, but he said Li Hong’s injury would take at least a year before he could recover. How could Madam Lin not in a hurry? In a year time, anyone could progress but her had to wait!

Li Kun sneered after hearing this but said, “What nonsense are you talking about? Hong’er is already a second-level martial artist. Li Tianyan has no power to restrain a chicken. There is no way, he could hurt Hong’er.”

“Husband, Hong’er said it himself. There’s no way it’s false. Hong’er was beaten like that. You can’t ignore it!”

Seeing her crying so hard, Li Kun couldn’t bear it, so he finally compromised and said, “Okay, don’t cry. I’ll go find my elder brother tomorrow and ask for an explanation.”

“This is what you should do.” Madam Lin finally calmed down after hearing this. She only had one son born from her womb, while Li Kun had several children from other women. If she didn’t fight for Li Hong, how could he get the justice?

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Li Tianyan went out early in the morning and saw Cheng Qi cleaning the courtyard with Xiao Liu. On the contrary, Li Wu could not be seen yet. Thinking that there was nothing for Li Wu to do today, Li Tianyan ignored him.

“Young master, are you up? I’ll bring you some food.” When Xiao Liu saw Li Tianyan appeared, he quickly stepped forward to ask.

Originally, Li Wu was responsible for the young master’s meals, but Li Wu seemed to have overslept today, and he couldn’t let the young master hungry.

“Yes.” Li Tianyan nodded and sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard.

Cheng Qi stared at Xiao Liu’s hurried-away figure, waving the broom absentmindedly.

“What are you thinking about?” Li Tianyan took out a small teacup and used the kettle on the table to make himself a cup of spiritual tea.

Cheng Qi smelled a strange scent of tea all the way away and couldn’t help but sniff. He felt the tea Li Tianyan used smelled different from other people’s tea. It smelled more fragrant, and just smelling it made him felt better. It already made people felt comfortable.

“Brother Tianyan, this tea smells so good.” Cheng Qi dropped the broom in his hand and curiously ran to where Li Tianyan was sitting.

“Your nose is quite keen.” Li Tianyan did not expect this shuanger had a nose like a dog.

“Tell me, what were you thinking about alone there just now?”

Cheng Qi replied without thinking, “Why didn’t you go take a bath at the lake last night?”

“Do you still want to go for a walk by the lake again?” Li Tianyan joked with a smile, wondering if the little shuanger wanted to go out and play.

When Cheng Qi heard that he remembered he had lied to Xiaoliu that night, he couldn’t help but blush slightly, “I was just curious if taking a dip in the lake would make me look better.”

Li Tianyan took a bath in the lake that night, and things were different the next day. Cheng Qi wondered if such a magical lake could soak away the birthmark on his face.

Li Tianyan was stunned for a moment after hearing what Cheng Qi said, and then he laughed happily. It turned out that this kid mistakenly believed the lake water could beautify the skin.

Li Tianyan waited until he stopped laughing before raising his hand and lightly knocking him on the head, “At such a young age, you already love beauty so much.”

“I don’t love beauty.” Cheng Qi lowered his head and retorted softly. “I just don’t want to be what others call an ugly person.”