Chapter 391: The Same Face ...
Chapter 391: The Same Face ...
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Accompanying Li Yinfei's voice, all the stage lights turned to focus on her body, allowing everyone to see Li Yinfei's figure clearly. However, this was soon followed by deep sighs from the entire venue. It turned out that Li Yinfei's face was currently covered by a thin veil through which only a pair of exquisitely charming slanted almond-shaped eyes could be seen. The play of lights and shifting of emotion in those eyes actually conveyed an erotic allure — even without having seen her face, everyone could tell that this Li Yinfei was most certainly a stunning enchantress.
When the song "Never Give In" began to play, Li Yinfei once again touched the hearts of the cadets. This song was extremely powerful and Li Yinfei sang it with passion, as if telling the cadets that the enemy's invasion would never break the Huaxians' iron bones 1 . Stirred up by the singing, everyone present rose to their feet. All the cadets clenched their fists emotionally, loudly joining in when the line 'never give in' appeared in the chorus segments.
By this point, no matter how thick Ling Lan was, she knew that this Li Yinfei was bound to be part of the military. Otherwise, it was unlikely that both her songs would cater so closely to this battle of the military academy. The military had truly planned this well — Li Yinfei's arrival and these two songs would inevitably fan the cadets' hatred towards the intruders to an extreme. It could be conceived that all the cadets here would become the central supporters in fighting back against these intruders in the future.
Right at that final moment, at the crescendo of the song, Li Yinfei ripped off the veil on her face, revealing her peerless face ... all of the cadets who had been loudly singing 'never give in' earlier abruptly fell silent. In that instant, they had truly been shocked silent by Li Yinfei's peerless beauty.
This was Li Yinfei — leaving aside her enthralling voice, she also possessed a peerless face capable of bewitching the masses!
Li Yinfei's true appearance stunned everyone present. In the second row, Qiao Ting, whose face was initially composed, felt his heartbeat speed up when he saw Li Yinfei's true face. He could not suppress a surge of desire in his heart, thinking, "This is a woman worthy of me. I must get her!"
Li Yinfei's peerless beauty similarly startled Ling Lan. As another girl, Ling Lan had actually been attracted for a moment by Li Yinfei's face as well. However, Ling Lan was a girl after all, and combined with all the insane torments of Instructor Number Five in the learning space, Ling Lan's heart had been trained to be extremely tough and cold. She would not be easily bewitched.
After calming down, when Ling Lan once again gazed at Li Yinfei's face which was beautiful enough to topple cities, she noticed that that face made her feel somewhat ill at ease. Even though it was exquisitely beautiful, exquisitely alluring, even worthy of being called peerless and unmatched, for some reason, Ling Lan just felt that there was something off about it. There was just some natural grace missing — what exactly was this about?
Ling Lan's brow was lightly furrowed. Just as she was mulling over the issue, Li Lanfeng by her side suddenly began trembling uncontrollably. Not only that, his two hands, which he had placed on top of his knees, also began to tremble uncontrollably ...
Ling Lan's heart clenched. She could not help but recall the air invasion when Li Lanfeng had been sitting in the auxiliary seat of her mecha and what had happened then. Could it be that some issue had cropped up again with the leopard's worrying physical condition?
Concerned, Ling Lan could not help but extend her right hand to hold Li Lanfeng's trembling hands. This move made Li Lanfeng jerk in surprise. He whipped back his head to look at Ling Lan, his red eyes actually filled with despair, pain, and even a trace of insanity. That look was as if he had been abandoned by the entire world ...
"Leopard, are you alright?" asked Ling Lan with a serious expression, having sensed something wrong with Li Lanfeng.
Ling Lan's question seemed to have rescued Li Lanfeng from being drowned in his own world — his gaze quickly cleared up. Regaining his composure, Li Lanfeng flipped his hands to grasp Ling Lan's right hand. He clasped it tightly, as if holding on to a life-saving piece of straw, unwilling to let go. The force of his grip actually made Ling Lan feel a hint of pain.
Ling Lan had always hated skin contact with others. She was just considering whether to fling off Li Lanfeng's hands when she registered that Li Lanfeng's palms were coated with sweat. She then thought about Li Lanfeng's wild and desperate gaze previously and her heart softened involuntarily.
Thinking about it, she was currently a boy, so it was perfectly normal for a male companion to hold her hand every once in a while. Furthermore, Li Lanfeng really seemed to need some comfort from a companion right now ... alright, she would just take it as her good deed for the day and contribute her right hand to provide some comfort for the other. It's not like her hand would lose any flesh because of this. So thought Ling Lan with full Ah-Q spirit 2 .
In this way, Ling Lan forced herself to ignore Li Lanfeng's grasping hands. She continued to stare expressionlessly at the stage, studiously researching the problem she had just discovered ... erm, well, that was the problem with that Li Yinfei. So unnaturally beautiful, was there really nothing wrong with her?
Perhaps Ling Lan's focus was fully on Li Lanfeng, so she did not notice something else happening at the outermost edge of their row of seats. Li Shiyu, who had initially been fully enraptured by Li Yinfei's voice, currently had an unbelievably horrified expression on his face. This horror was definitely not because of the other's peerless beauty, but looked more as if he had seen a devil ...
With a clatter, Li Shiyu could not help but leap up from his seat, startling Chang Xinyuan who had been just as dazzled by Li Yinfei's appearance as the rest. When Chang Xinyuan saw Li Shiyu's horrified expression, he instantly knew something was wrong. Quickly casting Li Yinfei's appearance to the back of his mind, Chang Xinyuan asked Li Shiyu in concern, "Shiyu, what's going on?"
Li Shiyu's right hand rose sharply to cover his mouth, as if afraid that he would scream despite himself. With much effort, he finally calmed himself down, put down his hand, and said in a hurry, "Xinyuan, I've suddenly remembered something important I have to do. I need to leave immediately. Later, please help me request a leave of absence from the leader."
Li Shiyu's grim expression let Chang Xinyuan know that the other must have some serious matter to attend to, so he quickly nodded and assured the other that he would pass on the message. After that, Li Shiyu no longer had any patience to remain at the concert venue. He hurriedly ran out of the large stadium.
As soon as he left the stadium and came outside, the refreshing breeze that swept by instantly helped to clear Li Shiyu's shaken mind. As the attention of everyone in the military academy was on Li Yinfei's concert right then — if they were not at the venue watching it live, they were in their dorm rooms connected to the virtual world to watch the live broadcast — there was not a single person outside the stadium.
With lengthened strides, Li Shiyu very swiftly made his way to an area populated by trees, an absolutely quiet place. He could not wait to enter a string of numbers into his communicator. He had never taken the initiative to contact that number over these past four years, but the number had been stored deeply in his heart all this time, never forgotten.
"Yu-er, I never expected that there would ever come a time when you would contact me on your own volition. Have you thought things through and are now willing to accept grandpa's arrangements to become the first inheritor of the Li family?" On the virtual screen of Li Shiyu's communicator, a dignified old man suddenly appeared. His initially stern face actually carried a trace of a smile — it looked like Li Shiyu's taking the initiative to call had pleased him greatly.
However, Li Shiyu had no mind to appreciate the old man's feelings. Seeing the other, he shouted angrily, "Grandfather, what exactly is going on with that Li Yinfei?"
"Li Yinfei?" The old man's pleased expression abruptly turned cold. "You've seen her?" As if suddenly thinking of something, realization emerged on the old man's face. "That's right, she's currently holding a concert at the First Men's Military Academy. It's normal for you to have seen her."
"Who is she exactly?" Li Shiyu bit out, pushing the question out word by word from the between his teeth.
The old man said dismissively, "A branch descendant of the Li family. According to hierarchy, she can be considered your younger cousin."
"What I'm asking is how that face came about." The old man's diffidence broke Li Shiyu's control over his emotions and Li Shiyu could not help but growl.
This question made the old man's face turn stern and forbidding. "Is this the attitude you should have when speaking with your grandfather?"
Li Shiyu closed his eyes and fiercely swiped a hand over his face. Then, taking in a deep breath, he pushed down his growing anger before opening his eyes once more. By then, his eyes no longer held any of his previous rage, having become much calmer than before. "I apologize, grandfather, that was my transgression. But please, can you tell me, what's going on with that face of Li Yinfei's?"
Li Shiyu's behaviour gentled the old man's attitude considerably, and he answered lightly, "That face ... is anything wrong with it?" as if he did not understand Li Shiyu's meaning.
"Grandfather!" Li Shiyu cried out loudly once more, "You clearly know ... clearly ..." Somewhere where the old man could not see, Li Shiyu's low hanging left hand had already balled up into a fist. Perhaps from using too much strength, the veins were actually bulging on the back of his hand. It was clear to see how angry Li Shiyu was at this moment, but because the other party was his grandfather, he had no choice but to tolerate it.
"Clearly know what?" asked the old man in return. Just when Li Shiyu's tolerance was about to run out and he was going to explode in anger, the old man added, "Are you trying to ask why Li Yinfei looks exactly like your eldest cousin brother Li Mulan?"
This question made Li Shiyu calm down instantly. "I want to know why you're doing this."
"Why are you asking me this?" The old man's expression turned indifferent once more.
"Without your approval, Li Yinfei could never have appeared in the public eye, much less become a singer. In order to secure the status and dignity of the family head, the Li family would never allow someone with an appearance similar to the family head to show their face to the world." Li Shiyu understood the Li family too well — Li Yinfei looked so much like his eldest cousin brother and so should never exist. Even if she was allowed to exist, she should still have been forced to change her face — this was a sign of respect towards the family head from the main branch as well as the inheritor.
"Li Mulan is currently still not the family head," replied the old man after several seconds of silence.
"But eldest cousin brother is the first in line to inherit," growled Li Shiyu once more. Just because of his body, his cousin could not become strong, and so they felt they could just step all over his cousin's dignity like this? For the first time, Li Shiyu began to hate the Li family as a whole. Towards that Li Yinfei who possessed his eldest cousin brother's face, the intention to kill stirred in his heart ...
"Don't do anything stupid. The matter of Li Yinfei was approved during a meeting of the family elders. Even I had no way of preventing it," barked the old man, seeming to sense the killing intent in Li Shiyu's heart.
"No way?" Li Shiyu laughed scornfully. If grandfather truly wanted to stop this from happening, how could he have no way? Li Shiyu was all too familiar with the methods his grandfather could employ.