Deliberately Approaching
Chapter 152: Quite a Unique Shape!

Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Quite a Unique Shape!

For a moment, the cloth bag was particularly conspicuous.

He was very sure that it belonged to Tang Xiaowan and was packed with the yellow pear wood statue.

Seeing Li Zishen so agitated, Nanny Chen hurriedly put down the tray and, holding up the cloth bag, said, "Young Master, this is..."

"Did Xiao Wan come looking for you? When, did she say anything, say when she will be back, where she is now, what she had for dinner, whether it was all right..."

Nanny Chen: "?"

Oh dear, could the Young Master be possessed?

She hoped Lady Tang would come back soon!

Indeed, Li Zishen was too anxious, not giving anyone a chance to speak, until he saw Nanny Chen shaking her head and he stopped asking questions.

"Young Master, it was not Xiao Wan, it was Wang Meijuan. She just came and instructed me to hand this to you, saying that the scratch on the statue has been repaired by Lady Tang, and that you should take good care of it."

"Oh, it wasn’t Xiao Wan."

Li Zishen stuffed the little pig wood carving into his pocket and slowly took the cloth bag, feeling somewhat disappointed, but at least the item was for him.

This was also a kind of solace, was it not?

"That child also has the nerve, coming over so late. I had Xiao Liu send her back when she left."

Li Zishen nodded, approving of Nanny Chen’s decision.

After all, it was not safe for a girl to walk the streets at night, and if there were any accidents, Tang Xiaowan would surely tear him to pieces when she returned.

After a pause, just as Nanny Chen was about to comfort him, Li Zishen suddenly smiled.

He gripped the cloth bag tightly in his hands.

It was still made of that cotton and linen material, and the memories of that day inevitably resurged in Li Zishen’s mind.

He actually thought it was a token of love given by Leng Lingxiao, and he got so angry, even chased Wang Meijuan out in front of Tang Xiaowan.

But it turned out not the case; it was a little statue Tang Xiaowan had carved specially for him, even wearing a suit.

"That was quick; it’s already been repaired! So Xiao Wan still remembers that day’s incident, how hard it must have been for her, surely working through the night to finish, definitely."

"Young Master... aren’t you going to look at it?"

"Look, of course, I need to see, I must see."

Li Zishen’s hands opening the cloth bag were trembling, his eyes red.

That feeling was like the night of the attack in Mei Garden.

When he held Tang Xiaowan’s bloodied dress in his hands, there was an indescribable pain, heavy and weighted with self-reproach for not discovering the anomaly earlier.

If he had forcibly taken Tang Xiaowan to Jin City after Grandma Tang had passed away, regardless of her wishes, maybe all that followed would not have happened.

"This is the Young Master, isn’t it? Carved so lifelike!"

"Yes, it’s me."

Li Zishen carefully touched it, his eyes filled with tenderness.

He immediately took out the little pig wood carving from his pocket, one in each hand, examining them as if they were treasures beyond price.

Nanny Chen was deeply moved by this scene.

"At first, I thought the root carvings and stone carvings that you moved from Mei Garden last weekend... were all newly purchased, considering Lady Tang previously destroyed many of... the Young Master’s collections. But later I found out they were all carved by Lady Tang, and that’s wonderful!"

"She can do so much more, not just carving, but she’s just too naughty, always liking to..."

Li Zishen’s words trailed off halfway, and seeing this, Nanny Chen quickly took the night snack off the tray and set it on the small round table.

"Young Master, have some. These are all Xiao Wan’s favorite foods, and they actually taste quite good."

With those words, Nanny Chen quickly left the room.

She knew that at this moment, Li Zishen must want to be alone for a while, to quietly savor the lean meat porridge, fried egg, and shredded radish that Tang Xiaowan cherished, undisturbed.

...

Two o’clock in the morning, Mei Garden.

Tang Xiaowan, dressed in a windbreaker, appeared in Qing City Mei Garden, followed closely by the butler, Old Li.

Both of them walked briskly, with solemn expressions on their faces.

From Jin City Li Garden to Qing City Mei Garden, they had sprinted all the way; Old Li didn’t even dare ask any questions along the way, thinking that something serious must have transpired in Jin City for the young master to suddenly call and ask him for backup.

"Miss, you must be hungry, the kitchen..."

"Go rest, I’m not hungry."

"Yes, then please also rest early."

Old Li nodded and left; Tang Xiaowan then took off her shoes and slowly headed to the second floor.

The interior of Mei Garden primarily featured solid wood.

That is why Tang Xiaowan always had the habit of walking barefoot, even though she had amnesia; yet, this particular trait remained, just like her eating habits, clothing preferences, and love for humming Little Qu’er.

Only she herself never noticed.

In Li Zishen’s view, Tang Xiaowan’s sudden departure was because of Lin Ping; in fact, it wasn’t.

At noon when she returned to Jinyuan Academy, a strange object had appeared on Tang Xiaowan’s dressing table, shaped like a horn, with a hollow design, made of brass.

It must be something from Mei Garden!

Yes, many things in Mei Garden are made of brass.

After reaching this conclusion, Tang Xiaowan intended to return to Mei Garden immediately, but she was worried about the school inquiring or Li Zishen following, so she specially asked her counselor for sick leave before school let out in the afternoon.

The reason was that she had been experiencing persistent headaches recently and needed to get checked out in another place; how many days she would need was not yet certain, but excluding the weekend, it might be three days.

That is to say, she wouldn’t return to classes until the next week.

Just by coincidence, along the way, she was threatened with a photo, which caused Li Zishen to increase surveillance and inadvertently delayed Tang Xiaowan’s plan to return to Mei Garden by a few hours.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have arrived so late.

The exhaustion from her journey was imaginable, but she didn’t want to sleep; her mind was full of thoughts about the brass key.

That shape looked so familiar; where had she seen it before?

Antiques, calligraphy, books...

No, no, wrong—it didn’t seem to be from the study.

As Tang Xiaowan contemplated this, she found herself already in Grandma Tang’s room without realizing it.

Every time she came back, it was the same.

She didn’t know why, but it was only when lying on Grandma’s big bed that Tang Xiaowan could sleep soundly and through until morning.

"This shape is quite unique; it looks like a little horn, hmm, a yellow little horn!"

While fiddling with it unintentionally, she happened to point it directly at the mural on the ceiling, and a few scattered Lingxiao flowers suddenly caught her eye.

"Lingxiao flowers, a little horn?"

"Wow, it’s the key to that place!"

Tang Xiaowan suddenly sat up, clutching that small object, and tiptoed out of the bedroom, heading straight for the basement storeroom.

She felt both nervous and excited, thinking about what kind of treasures might be hidden there.

...

The night in Mei Garden was very quiet.

Tang Xiaowan had already visited the underground storeroom four times; the last time was to select a gift with Li Zishen for Bie Yuan.

They had only been to the first two rooms.

The reason Tang Xiaowan didn’t take Li Zishen into the last one wasn’t that it was full of oil paintings that they didn’t need at the moment, but because behind a full-length portrait of Tang Mei, there was a hidden door.

"What could it be, gold and jewels?"

That was her first thought, her big almond-shaped eyes shining brightly.