Blazing fire is hard to extinguish chapter 62
Extra “If” Line: Personal Nurturing 2
Li Tingyan glanced inside the room. Lin Chi was sitting on the sofa, looking at an iPad.
The air conditioning was on, and Lin Chi was only wearing a light blue T-shirt.
He did look quite young. Even though he was already fifteen, Ye Fengshan mistook him for thirteen just a moment ago.
He was now lazily lounging on a pillow, wearing a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch on his wrist. Every piece of clothing in the wardrobe bore the logo of a luxury brand, and Li Tingyan even specially accompanied him to his regular private tailor to have several sets of formal wear made.
At this moment, he appeared completely transformed. Apart from the scars on his fingers and wrists, he looked like a pampered young master who had been well cared for and educated since childhood.
This appearance was nothing like when Li Tingyan first met him.
Back then, Lin Chi was like a little monkey rolling in the mud, wearing an old blue tracksuit. Because of the rain, he was dirty, with long bangs that hadn’t been cut, making his facial features barely visible.
He appeared in that dilapidated temple not like a heavenly child sent to rescue the suffering, but rather like a down-and-out little demon from the countryside.
“Isn’t it okay?”
Li Tingyan countered.
He squinted, feeling somewhat restless under the scorching sun of June.
He nonchalantly said, “Taking care of Lin Chi doesn’t require much effort.”
Ye Fengshan couldn’t really say anything was wrong.
But he always felt something was off.
If it were about being grateful for someone’s life-saving act, Li Tingyan could easily provide a fortune as compensation, enough for Lin Chi to live comfortably for two lifetimes.
Why go through the trouble of keeping him around?
Could it be that after this incident, Li Tingyan found the illegitimate younger brother less pleasant and suddenly wanted to raise a non-blood-related child to satisfy a brotherly urge?
Ye Fengshan frowned. He could tell that with Li Tingyan’s decisive nature, once a decision was made, it was unlikely to change.
“Do as you please.”
He said with a hint of frustration, but also some inexplicable concern, “But this kid did save you. You should be a bit nicer to him.”
Li Tingyan snorted softly, “As if I need your advice.”
After sending Ye Fengshan away, Li Tingyan returned indoors.
He walked over to Lin Chi’s side.
Only then did he realize Lin Chi was playing a game. It’s true what they say about middle school students and their gaming habits. When Lin Chi first came out of the mountains with him, he was a complete country bumpkin, with nothing but a tattered phone.
Now, under Li Tingyan’s guidance, he was adept with various electronic devices.
Li Tingyan sat down nearby and leisurely poured himself a cup of tea.
He watched Lin Chi curled up on the sofa and thought about Ye Fengshan’s words.
Why keep Lin Chi around?
There were countless ways to take care of him.
He could provide Lin Chi with money, property, and everything material without a second thought.
But he insisted on keeping the child around, even his grandfather didn’t understand.
What’s the reason?
Li Tingyan propped his head on his hand, studying Lin Chi.
He thought, perhaps it was simply because he was bored.
While recuperating with Lin Chi in the hospital, his grandfather Li Zhengtao came to talk to him.
He was not naïve; he had long known who was behind the kidnapping.
Li Zhengtao didn’t try to hide it from him.
But Li Zhengtao was obviously in a difficult position. It was impossible for him to really harm his son for the sake of his grandson, so he dealt with Li Jiang by sending him abroad.
He told Li Tingyan not to mind too much, that the Li family would eventually be his.
Li Tingyan was not surprised by this outcome.
He and Li Jiang were the most dysfunctional father-son pair. Li Jiang had never liked him.
Because of his birth and his gradually revealing talents, Li Zhengtao had directly abandoned Li Jiang as a son and made Li Tingyan the heir.
If he had a close relationship with Li Jiang, perhaps Li Jiang could have tolerated and comforted him.
But he had never spent much time with Li Jiang, and with the addition of an illegitimate younger brother after just one year, their father-son relationship was extremely poor.
So Li Jiang found everything about him unpleasant, not to the point of outright harming him, but it was as if he hoped he would be crippled or ruined.
Listening to Li Zhengtao’s rambling, Li Tingyan felt no fluctuation in his heart.
The Li family would eventually be his.
But as he looked out the window, he suddenly thought, at least at this moment, what in the Li family truly belonged to him?
His own father hated him deeply, and his mother had long moved abroad and started a new life.
He seemed to have some power and wealth, but it all came from Li Zhengtao.
He was still inexperienced, and it seemed that everyone was looking at him with a critical eye.
This was rather disheartening.
At that moment, he suddenly saw Lin Chi from the window.
He had been sent to the hospital for recuperation, and Lin Chi came along too, as per his request, and was in the next hospital room.
But Lin Chi was bouncing around energetically, with no issues at all.
In Lin Chi’s world, there probably wasn’t any awareness about protecting trees, and he didn’t care who owned the garden.
If he saw apricots on the tree, he simply reached out and picked them.
Li Tingyan suddenly smiled.
He saw Lin Chi casually wash the apricots with water and shove them into his mouth, but since they were still a bit green, he stuck out his tongue.
He thought back to the night he was kidnapped, hiding in a dark and cramped cave with Lin Chi, while the rain pattered outside and the cave was damp and gloomy.
Despite his young age, Lin Chi was calm and unafraid, even covering his mouth as if afraid he might make a sound.
The two of them huddled together.
They were both wet, with water dripping from their hair and their hands cold.
Yet, being so close seemed to create a bit of warmth.
He withdrew his gaze and interrupted Li Zhengtao’s guilt-ridden murmurs.
“I won’t take it to heart,” he said with a faint smile at Li Zhengtao, his face pale. “I know Grandpa, you are in a difficult position. Besides, I’m sitting here just fine. If I can’t handle a little turmoil, I’m not worthy to inherit the Li family.”
Li Zhengtao was somewhat comforted but felt even more heartache.
But the next moment, he heard Li Tingyan say, “But this time, it’s all thanks to that kid outside. Otherwise, I might have perished on that mountain.”
Li Zhengtao followed Li Tingyan’s gaze.
“Yes, Grandpa will be sure to thank him properly…”
But before Li Zhengtao could finish, he was interrupted by Li Tingyan.
“Grandpa, I want to handle this matter myself,” he said calmly. “I get along well with that kid. The Li family has been a bit cold lately, so I want to keep him around as a way to repay his kindness. I’ll send him to a good school, pave the way for him, and give him a good life. Maybe he’ll be a help in the future.”
This was clearly nonsense.
Li Tingyan thought to himself, with Lin Chi’s habit of picking green apricots, how could he be of any help?
Like a little wild beast.
Clever, but difficult to control.
He might only end up annoying him.
Li Zhengtao frowned.
He thought his grandson’s sudden idea was a bit absurd.
But seeing Li Tingyan’s still pale face, with scars on his cheekbones, looking more haggard than usual, he swallowed his words.
“Do as you wish.”
He said.
So Lin Chi stayed as a matter of course.
With no clear status, but living with Li Tingyan like a young master, almost wherever Li Tingyan went, he went too.
……………
Li Tingyan was reading a book on the sofa, but the pages remained unmoved.
He looked at Lin Chi from above the book pages.
He still clearly remembered when he was in the hospital…
The feeling when he saw Lin Chi through the window.
He certainly wasn’t a saint, as if he were exhaustively planning to pave the way for Lin Chi.
He just suddenly thought at that moment that in the Li family, it seemed like there was nothing that belonged to him.
But Lin Chi was different.
This child he stumbled upon in the mountains, who was helpless, with only a gambling father and a seriously ill mother.
Bringing Lin Chi back was no more trouble than raising a kitten, and he could hold him in his arms for warmth.
How wonderful.
And Lin Chi could only rely on him.
Because in this cold and strict family, aside from him, Lin Chi knew no one.
Just like that cave in the storm, even though Lin Chi was unwilling and found him very unpleasant, he was still moved by the benefits he promised and had no choice but to stay with him.
Li Tingyan couldn’t help but curve the corners of his mouth.
He actually wanted to see how this kid, entirely nurtured by him without any external influences, would turn out.