Stolen Life of the Poor Girl, Top Luxury Family's Group Favor

Chapter 50

A sulfurous smell wafted through the air.

Li Xiaoya wielded a wooden stick thicker than her wrist, beating the clothes.

"Is that all it takes?" Xu Ruying asked in surprise.

Li Xiaoya nodded, taking the clothes off the line and handing them back to Xu Ruying. Then she turned and brought out a small bamboo basket filled with many little sachets, all sewn from scraps of cloth. Up close, they emitted a strange, complex fragrance.

"What are these?"

"Scent bags."

Xu Ruying had never seen such ugly and rough scent bags before.

But Li Xiaoya picked them up and handed them to her one by one: "This one is patchouli." "This one is rosemary." "This one is citronella." "This one is mint..."

"They all repel insects, but smell different. Pick whichever one you like," Li Xiaoya said.

Xu Ruying gaped in astonishment: "When did you make these?"

Li Xiaoya replied, "Last night."

Xu Ruying stuttered: "You... you're trying to please me?"

Li Xiaoya looked at her in confusion: "Please you?" She shook her head and said, "It's because you looked so terribly frightened."

Xu Ruying felt a bit embarrassed. But then she realized that Li Xiaoya, young as she was, had gone up the mountain at night to gather various plants and herbs for her, making scent bags with different fragrances for her to choose from. Xu Ruying found herself at a loss, surrounded by the child's sincere and enthusiastic sentiment.

To ease the awkwardness, Xu Ruying asked, "How can you identify so many plants?"

"I just can, that's all."

"..."

Xu Ruying's mouth twitched as she said, "You really should be my parents' daughter."

Li Xiaoya looked at her curiously: "Why?"

"My dad loves studying plants, and my mom loves studying animals. They adore nature and science. While I only want to study finance and media, which makes me seem money-obsessed in their eyes," Xu Ruying said, looking a bit gloomy. "Besides, I have no talent in these areas at all. I don't even understand why wintersweet and plum blossoms aren't the same thing!"

Ning Heng came out, and being not very good at studying, he was shocked to hear this and asked, "What? Wintersweet and plum blossoms aren't the same thing?"

Li Xiaoya nodded: "That's right, they're not the same."

Now it was Xu Ruying's turn to be shocked: "How do you know that?"

Li Xiaoya said, "It's written in the books."

"Books? What books?"

"The books in the reading corner donated by the charity. It says wintersweet belongs to the Calycanthaceae family, while plum blossoms belong to the Rosaceae family."

Xu Ruying and Ning Heng exchanged a glance, suddenly feeling inferior to a child.

"Do you often read books?" Xu Ruying asked.

"Yes, and if I help the teacher organize the books, I can get little red flower stickers."

"And you can exchange those stickers for candy to give to Brother Sheng, right?" Ning Heng suddenly felt a bit envious. "When can you exchange one for me?"

Sheng Yuxiao arrived belatedly and uttered a few words: "Keep dreaming."

"What other books are there?" Xu Ruying grew more curious.

"Many," Li Xiaoya counted on her fingers. "There's Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, Landscape Architecture Design, The Red and the Black, Horror Stories, National Geographic, Reader's Digest..."

"Wow, quite a diverse collection," Xu Ruying said, surprised.

"Books donated to rural areas probably don't have much of a selection criteria. As long as it's a book, it's fine," Sheng Yuxiao pondered.

"How many have you read?" Xu Ruying asked again.

"I've read them all," Li Xiaoya answered seriously.

Without thinking, Xu Ruying exclaimed, "Impossible! How could you have read them all?"

Li Xiaoya replied, puzzled, "But I really have read them all, though there are some I don't understand."

Xu Ruying thought to herself, I knew it, how could a child like you read and understand all those books?

Li Xiaoya said, "Some of the words are strange and curvy, like tadpoles."

Xu Ruying looked bewildered: "What kind of writing is that? Small seal script?"

Sheng Yuxiao thought for a moment and chimed in: "Arabic?"

Li Xiaoya had a sudden realization: "Oh, so that's what it's called. I could only copy it down, but I didn't know what it said."

Xu Ruying was stunned again: "Huh? You could copy it?" "I don't believe it!"

Xu Ruying immediately took out her business card and a pen, handing them to her: "Write a few words in the blank space and let me see."

"Okay." Li Xiaoya didn't refuse and obediently took the pen, writing—or rather, drawing—characters in the blank space of the business card.

But the characters she drew...

Xu Ruying and Ning Heng were both dumbfounded.

Sheng Yuxiao, still relatively composed, slowly uttered, "It looks like printed text. And indeed, it's Arabic."

Xu Ruying: "Holy cow!"

Ning Heng: "A prodigy!"

Even the staff members watching this scene felt a chill run down their spines.

Li Xiaoya's precocity and tenacity seemed to be innate, not just a result of her harsh environment. With such talent, coupled with these rich kids teaching her all sorts of things every day, what kind of formidable person would she become when she grows up?

The staff members didn't dare to imagine.

"Sister," Li Xiaoya suddenly spoke softly, "I just want to be my mom's daughter, not anyone else's."

She said to Xu Ruying: "It's the same for you. Your mom and dad only want you to be their daughter, no one else's."

Xu Ruying stared at her, dazed.

Is that so?

"Li Xiaoya! Li Xiaoya!" At that moment, someone came running, calling her name.

It had been a while since anyone had come to bother them.

Li Xiaoya was surprised that someone suddenly came looking for her. She turned to look, but the person tripped and fell in front of her. Too urgent to even get up, they hurriedly said, "Someone, someone is looking for you! They say... they say they're your relative..."

Sheng Yuxiao immediately thought of that damned Li Hongguang and sneered, "Another blind fool?"

The messenger swallowed hard and said, "No, not a distant relative, it's... it's said to be a relative from your mother's side, come... come to find you..."

Li Xiaoya, who had been acting like a little adult with perfectly stable emotions, unexpectedly shed two teardrops.

She took a step forward, then timidly retreated.

The cold expression on Sheng Yuxiao's face slowly faded.

So soon?

Were these the people arranged by her young uncle?