“X-Xiao Lan!” Li Shen stepped closer to her.
However, Mu Lan threatened him by raising her right hand, “Stay where you are. Seeing your disgusting face is enough. Don’t come close to me. You might infect me with your idiocy.”
She continued, “As long as my logic is correct, I’ve done nothing to make anyone suffer but there were a bunch of people who couldn’t control their family member and ended up taking it on me, an innocent person who knew nothing.” She nodded. “Fine, I had enough of your rubbish. Now it’s my turn to take revenge. I will kill your mother to avenge my father, mother and my baby brother who didn’t see the sunlight but had to suffer in his mommy’s belly. I will avenge for making my life painful. I’ll avenge for destroying my wonderful family.”
Mu Lan raised her hand once again and created another tornado. The sky was getting clearer but now it was being covered by dark clouds. Soon the sun went behind the clouds and darkness fell on the island.
Li Shen panicked. He said, “Stop it at once! Xiao Lan! What do you mean by my mother killing your family?”
Mu Lan tilted her head. “Why don’t you hear from your mother?” Just as she said that Mrs. Li, who was paying attention to find Mu Lan’s children, was dragged by the wind. She was startled and lost her focus. She was taken in between of Mu Lan and Li Shen. After that, she was pulled higher. In the end, she couldn’t put her toes on the ground.
“Xiao Shen, save me!” Mrs. Li was shaken to the core. The tornado wasn’t very far from her.
“Mother!” Li Shen wanted to move forward but he was held by some unseen power. It was the wind. He struggled but he couldn’t move an inch.
Mu Lan used the wind to choke Mrs. Li. “Please tell your son what did you do to my parents when I was only two years old.”
“What… are you… talking… about?… Kuh!” Mrs. Lan almost choked to death. She tried to touch whatever was choking her but she couldn’t catch the wind.
Mu Lan blinked. “I don’t think I gave you any choice. Oh, forget about the ‘please’ part. It was out of habit. Now, tell. Him. Everything.”
“Kuh! Kuh! Xi-Xiao S-Shen!” Mrs. Li stretched her right hand towards her son who was only a few meters away from her.
“Mother!” Li Shen banged the invisible barrier. His eyes turned red as he teared up. When he couldn’t do anything, he looked at Mu Lan with hatred. “Xiao Lan! I dare you to do anything to my mother. Don’t forget that she is your stepmother!”
“She is not her stepmother.” Someone said. The voice wasn’t familiar.
Li Shen and Mu Lan both looked at the direction from where the voice came. That person was a fine man around the thirties. Li Shen was puzzled. “F-father, why are you here? Why do you look so young?”
Mu Lan recalled her first-time meeting Mr. Li in Beijing when Li Shen introduced her with his family. At that time, Mr. Li looked like a man in his fifties. Now he seemed to change into a young man overnight.
That man calmly smiled. “I’m not your father. I’m your father’s older twin brother Li Ryuren. Everyone knows me as Professor Ryuren.”
Mu Lan’s eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. There he was, her father she didn’t see for twenty-three years. She waited for him for so long just to be able to say ‘papa’ once again. Now that she wanted to call out, she couldn’t speak. Her lips trembled and eyes moistened up.
Professor Ryuren looked at Mu Lan. He beamed while saying, “It has been a long time, Lanie. You grew up into a beautiful girl just like your mother. I missed you-” Before he could finish, Mu Lan hugged him tightly.
Professor Ryuren was stunned. He didn’t think that his daughter was so fast and powerful. She was just a cute little Lanie when he last saw her. He wasn’t used to seeing a suddenly grown up Lanie.
Mu Lan was still shorter than him. She buried her face on his chest. She wept silently and her body shook. She softly said repeatedly, “I’m glad you are alive. I’m so happy to see you again.”
Professor Ryuren also had a hard time controlling his tears. He stroked her head. “I’m happy to see you too, Lanie. Sorry I was late. I wasn’t able to protect you when you needed me. I am a bad father.”
Mu Lan shook her head. She controlled her emotion and said, “You are not a bad father. You are a hero.”
He patted her shoulder. “You did well, taking care of your mother and brother while I was gone. Good job, Lanie. It must have been hard for you not able to see your mother and brother even though you knew where they were.”
“It’s because you taught me well.” She was never praised for taking care of her family. Now that her father complimented her, she became even more emotional.
Mu Lan looked up to see her father’s face. She wiped her tears and asked, “When did you wake up? Why didn’t you contact me after waking up?”
Professor Ryuren wiped his own tears as well. “I woke up a while ago. I couldn’t move or talk after waking up. So, others took care of me. I also wanted to give you a surprise. But after coming here, you are the one who gave me a big surprise.”
Li Shen was watching the father-daughter duo from the side. He wasn’t sure how to take the information that he had an uncle but he never knew. And also, Mu Lan turned into his cousin. If that’s the case, all he did to her, all the sufferings she went through was for nothing. He was guilty. Now Mu Lan wouldn’t become his.
“I don’t believe it.” He murmured. “I will never believe it.”
And he had to ruin the mood.
[A/N: Li Shen, can’t you just die already? -_- ]
