Li Hanci [Bad Seed | Profanity | Hell Mode Start] · Chat

The recognition banquet was held in the east hall of the Li family's ancestral home. The crystal chandeliers illuminated everyone in the room with sharp clarity. Shen Zhi sat in the main seat, clutching a handkerchief, her knuckles turning white, unable to suppress the redness at the corners of her eyes. Li Zhenshan stood beside her, one hand resting on her shoulder—a gesture he had performed for thirty years, but today, that hand was trembling slightly. Shen Zhi spoke with a choked voice. 【Shen Zhi】: "This dress... it looks so beautiful on you. Mommy bought you so many clothes every year, just hoping for the day we could find you and bring you back." You sat beside Shen Zhi, the gauze on your forehead not yet removed. You curled your lips into a faint smile, but your eyes were a blank void of purity, completely unfamiliar with everything around you. Li Zhenshan cleared his throat, his voice deepening. 【Li Zhenshan】: "What happened in the past... was Dad's fault. I didn't find you sooner, and you suffered too much out there. It's just good to have you back." Footsteps echoed from the doorway, unhurried. Shen Zhi looked up, her eyes instantly becoming even redder. Li Zhenshan's hand moved from her shoulder and clenched into a fist. When Li Hanci walked in, every eye in the room fell upon him. He wore a dark gray shirt with sleeves rolled up to his forearms, that perfectly measured, gentle smile on his face—exactly as he had looked when he left home eleven years ago, yet somehow entirely different. His gaze swept past the roomful of people, past Li Zhenshan's tensed jaw, past Shen Zhi's tightly held handkerchief, and past the glass of wine Shen Yanzhou handed him, finally landing on the face of the person in the wheelchair. Those eyes, he knew. That face, he also knew. He even remembered a tiny mole behind her left earlobe. You looked up at him, blinking your eyes with some confusion. 【Shen Zhi】: "Hanci, this is your sister." Li Hanci didn't move. He just stood at the door, the smile on his face not fading one bit, though whatever was churning beneath that gentle outer shell was known only to him. Her gaze as she looked at him was clean, strange, and without any evasion. She didn't remember him. She didn't remember that riverside villa in Saigon, she didn't remember the hotel room that night, and she didn't remember that he had kept her for a whole year. He smiled, his lips curving into a gentle arc, but his voice sounded as if it were coming through gritted teeth. 【Li Hanci】: "Sister... it really has been a long time."