Chapter 392: No Longer Li Mulan!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Li Shiyu's extremely obvious mockery caused the old man's expression to stiffen, but he very quickly recovered his composure. The two of them faced each other in silence for several beats, and in the end, the old man sighed, a trace of fatigue appearing on his face. Softly, he said, "Even though I'm a grandfather to the both of you, I am also the family head of the Li family. I need to take responsibility for the entire Li family."
The meaning of the old man was apparent — even though he was the biological grandfather of Li Shiyu and the others, he could not disregard the interests of the Li family as a whole and do as he liked. As such, he had no choice but to make some concessions.
The old man's demeanour caused Li Shiyu's heart to clench. As if sensing his grandfather's helplessness in the face of the pressure exerted by the elders of the Li family, Li Shiyu's expression turned cold and foreboding. "The council of elders, is it?"
"Don't blame them. They are also doing this for the future of the entire Li family clan. The condition of your eldest cousin brother's body is truly too horrible, and besides ..." Here, a trace of regret could be seen on the old man's stern face.
Unfortunately, no matter how much the old man wanted to explain, Li Shiyu had already convicted the elders in his heart. He instantly interrupted to say, "Grandfather, there's no need to say any more. I understand everything. One day, I will definitely ..." Li Shiyu stopped there, cutting off the call with his grandfather. For the first time, a trace of bloody killing intent appeared in his eyes.
Li Shiyu had never wanted to take anything to the extreme and leave no room for manoeuvring — there had always remained some bit of light in his heart, some kindness and compassion. This was his strength but also his weakness. This was why he had been able to reject the proposition of becoming the first inheritor out of the sense of kinship in his heart for the sake of his eldest cousin brother. And this was also the main reason why Ling Lan had been able to entrap him into joining her clan.
But this time, the matter of Li Yinfei had directly shattered the pure innocence he held deep in his heart. He finally understood that without power or authority, once one lost all use and value, the family would mercilessly cast one out ... for the first time 1 , he hated deeply. He hated those elders who had heartlessly abandoned his eldest cousin brother and made the decision to humiliate and degrade his cousin. Also for the first time, he thought of taking revenge ... he absolutely would not forgive those elders.
The old man looked at the disconnected call signal on the device in his hand and could not help but shake his head, sigh softly, and say, "Oh Shiyu, you're still much too young."
After hanging up, Li Shiyu could not hold back the roaring flames of rage within him. He quickly rushed back to his own laboratory and shut himself inside, staying secluded within it for over a month.
Li Shiyu knew very well that this action of the council of elders meant that his eldest cousin brother had thoroughly lost all favour within the Li family. Right now, he must be having a very difficult time in the Li family, unable to do anything. If their grandfather could not resist the pressure from the council of elders in the end, giving up was only a matter of time. He needed to speed things up. Even if he could not develop a formula that could completely resolve his eldest cousin brother's constitution problem, he still needed to at least find some medicinal agent that could alleviate his cousin's condition so that he could help his cousin tide through this crisis as much as he could ...
Leaving aside Li Shiyu's burning anxiety, on Li Lanfeng's end, his heart which had initially turned ice-cold with despair had finally recovered due to the warmth coming from Ling Lan's palm. His initially trembling body gradually calmed down as well and his eyes became clear, his entire being appearing unbelievably calm.
Ling Lan had initially wanted to ask if Li Lanfeng wanted to go out to take some fresh air, but she was stopped by the cold, piercing gaze Li Lanfeng was directing at Li Yinfei.
Li Yinfei was still singing — the better Li Yinfei sang, the more worked up the stadium was, and the colder Li Lanfeng's gaze became.
It had to be said that in order to build Li Yinfei's image as a soulful songstress, her management company had indeed invested a lot of money. All five songs she sang this night were classics in their own right though the melodies encompassed various styles, mesmerising all the cadets as they listened. Of course, Li Yinfei's peerless beauty had to be given a large half of the credit. Due to the advent of gene agents and other reasons, everyone in this era, regardless of gender, was all pretty good-looking. However, it was still rare to find one such peerless beauty like Li Yinfei in the span of a hundred years.
This concert announced Li Yinfei's success. After being broadcast via the virtual world, her singing voice and her appearance made her become the idol of the hundreds and thousands of soldiers of the Huaxia Federation, turning her into one of the most famous soulful singers. Also because her songs were almost all revolving around themes of war and the military, she had a large number of fans among the troops, becoming another national military idol following Ling Xiao.
During the concert, Ling Lan was constantly worried about Li Lanfeng's physical condition, afraid that he would not be able to hold out till the end of the concert. However, as time went on, Li Lanfeng's condition seemed to improve, and by the end, he looked no different than he had at the start. Even so, the perceptive Ling Lan had still sensed that Li Lanfeng now had an additional air of determination about him.
As soon as the concert ended, Li Lanfeng quickly bade goodbye to Ling Lan, as if he had some urgent matter to attend to. The moment Li Lanfeng left, Chang Xinyuan came over to tell Ling Lan about Li Shiyu leaving partway through the concert. This piqued the curiosity of the other team members, and someone voiced the speculation whether Li Yinfei had anything to do with Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng. After all, they all shared the surname Li, right?
Of course, this question was very quickly flicked aside by everyone. Even if Li Yinfei had some relation to Li Shiyu and Li Lanfeng, so what? Xie Yi and Qi Long may like Li Yinfei's songs, but that was all. They had no thoughts of anything beyond that. Fine, Qi Long and Xie Yi were still young, and having been pressured by Boss Ling Lan all this while, becoming strong had been the only thing on their minds. They still had not reached the point where they started thinking about love.
That said, the outgoing Xie Yi still could not repress his curiosity and sought out Li Yingjie to ask about the matter. However, Li Yingjie's response was pure confusion; he had no clue at all who this Li Yinfei was. Still, Xie Yi's question did stir up some doubt in his mind — Li Yinfei's name was indeed really like someone from their Li family.
Xie Yi was filled with contempt for Li Yingjie's reply. He laughed at Li Yingjie for not even being able to tell for sure whether someone belonged to his family, greatly infuriating Li Yingjie. Subsequently, Li Yingjie, who never really paid much attention to the chaotic family affairs of the Li family before this, finally made the decision to take any chances he had later on to get a proper list of all the descendants of the Li family branch members so that this bastard Xie Yi would not look down on him again ...
Li Yingjie could never have known that this query by Xie Yi would spark his motivation like this and actually set him on the path to discovering a great secret in the future ...
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As soon as Li Lanfeng returned to his living quarters, he entered his room and closed the door behind him. After ensuring that everything was secure, he dialled his grandfather. On the virtual screen of his communicator, the figure of an old man appeared. It was the same old man who had spoken with Li Shiyu earlier.
When the old man saw Li Lanfeng, the indifference he had sported while speaking with Li Shiyu melted away to be replaced by a slightly bitter smile. He sighed and said, "Shiyu has already contacted me. I was just thinking when you would call me as well. Who knew you had such patience, only calling me after so long ..."
Li Lanfeng's expression was frigid as he cut in to say, "Grandpa, Li Yinfei, if I'm not mistaken, should be your doing, right?" Compared to Li Shiyu, Li Lanfeng understood his grandfather better.
The old man's smile disappeared instantly, and his face turned unbelievably stern and serious. "As expected of the inheritor I have invested so much into to cultivate, figuring things out immediately."
"This is because I know too much about your methods, grandpa. I can even deduce that your explanation to Shiyu must be that it was the decision of the council of elders. The poor Li family council of elders, once again becoming your scapegoat." Li Lanfeng's taunting was even more obvious than Li Shiyu's. The expression on the old man's face turned unbelievably awkward; compared with Li Shiyu's gullibility, this grandson of his was as wily as a ghost — nothing could be hidden from him.
Li Lanfeng ignored the embarrassment of the old man and continued to ask, "I just want to know, grandpa, why did you do this?" Li Lanfeng's current tone of voice was so cold that there was almost no warmth at all to be found in it.
"I need to have more than one plan ready." The old man's eyes turned sharp and penetrating. "I will not allow my grandson to fall to the Phoenix Thrall Fate. If things truly come to that point, Li Yinfei will be your replacement."
The old man gave Li Lanfeng a direct answer. For this matter, he had plotted over the course of several years. After much trouble, he finally found Li Yinfei who resembled his grandson as much as 50 to 60% among the Li branch family descendants. The most important thing was that both of Li Yinfei's parents were dead, so he could control everything about her. Over these past few years, he used the latest alteration technology the Li family had at its disposal, and after many experiments, he finally succeeded in making Li Yinfei resemble his grandson up to 90%. Adding on some application of make-up, at one glance, aside from temperament, Li Yinfei was almost indistinguishable from his grandson ...
The old man's answer caused Li Lanfeng's heart to seize in pain. At the heart of it, he was still too weak. That was why his grandfather did not believe he could truly defy fate and change his destiny, thus coming up with this humiliating plan for him to escape from his Phoenix Thrall Fate.
"I understand ..." Li Lanfeng closed his eyes with a heavy heart, hiding the pain he felt inside. Even his closest relative did not believe in his efforts — how would he be able to prove himself? Moreover, this decision of his grandfather's meant that he would never be able to show his real face in public anymore in the future.
He thought of the rabbit — he had once thought hopefully that, after a few more months, on his 20th birthday, he would be able to stand before the other with full honesty and tell him the whole truth ... but now, all of that was no longer possible. He could only continue to live on under the identity of Li Lanfeng, and this may be how it would be for the rest of his life.
The old man seemed to sense Li Lanfeng's grief. He sighed deeply and said, "Sinful things must be given up."
Li Lanfeng laughed tragically. So his grandfather had felt that his looks were a sinful existence? How ridiculous. If the Phoenix Thrall Fate was all because of his face, then wouldn't ruining it be enough? Why bother going through the extra trouble of manufacturing this Li Yinfei? At the heart of it, his grandfather was just trying to fool himself.
Li Lanfeng's laughter finally subsided. His eyes sprang open, sadness flashing briefly in the depths of his gaze as he peered intently at the old man for a moment before saying, "Grandpa, this is the final time I'll be contacting you. From now on, I am no longer Li Mulan but Li Lanfeng ... and I can only be Li Lanfeng!"
Hearing this, the old man's body jerked and his eyes swiftly turned red. His mouth twitched soundlessly, but in the end, he merely nodded resolutely and said, "Li Lanfeng, look out for yourself!"
The old man pressed the button to end the call and then stared blankly at the now dark virtual screen. Only after a good long while did he stir to say faintly, "I can only do this much. After this, it's all up to you, Mulan!" Having said that, his entire frame collapsed. His back bent uncontrollably into a curve, and he was no longer as confident and unshakeable as he had appeared to his two grandsons on the screen.