So Many Demands

Li Hanche flexed his cheeks, wiped the spittle that had sprayed onto his face with his sleeve, then glanced down at the cuff. A small patch was wet.

Then he turned and left.

"What are you doing?"

Ning Rongrong's voice caught up with him from behind.

"Going back. What else? Stay here and cry with you?"

"This young lady isn't crying!"

Ning Rongrong's voice rose an octave.

Without looking back, Li Hanche casually raised his right hand and waved.

"Ah, right, right."

His tone was so perfunctory he did not even bother to hide it.

Ning Rongrong stood where she was, watching him walk farther and farther away. Her lips moved.

"Hey, Li Hanche! Take this young lady back! I'm tired. I need to rest."

Li Hanche stopped.

He turned around and looked at the little girl behind him, hands on her hips and utterly righteous.

Her eyes were still red, and traces of moisture from earlier still clung to her lashes, yet her expression had already returned to that innate, spoiled-little-princess sense of entitlement.

He raised a hand and rubbed his nose.

Had I bullied her too hard? This is her home turf, after all. That does seem a little inappropriate.

Sword Douluo had only just left, and he had already made the man's granddaughter cry twice.

No, once she had nearly cried, and once she had actually cried.

If Ning Fengzhi found out later, he might even demand back that one million gold soul coins as the apprenticeship gift.

"Then let's go."

Ning Rongrong did not move.

"This young lady wants you to carry me."

Li Hanche frowned.

"Hm? Carry you? Don't you have feet?"

Ning Rongrong stamped her foot.

"I don't care! You have to carry me! I can't walk anymore! My legs are weak! It's all because you made me mad!"

A hint of tears returned to her voice, and the mist that had only just receded from her eyes visibly began gathering again.

Li Hanche looked at the thin sheen of water in her eyes and fell silent. She really can cry. No wonder they say women are made of water.

Li Hanche walked back, turned around in front of her, and bent down.

Ning Rongrong's crying stopped at once.

She scrambled onto Li Hanche's back with both hands and feet, wrapped her arms around his neck, and rested her chin on his shoulder.

Li Hanche supported her legs with both hands and gave her a little bounce upward. She was lighter than he had expected.

"Let's go."

With one step, his whole body shot forward like a feather swept up by a mountain gale, skimming over the ground.

The pine forest rushed backward on either side, the tree trunks blurring into a brown curtain.

Ning Rongrong's hands suddenly tightened, clamping desperately around his neck.

"Ah! Slow down! Slow down!"

The wind tore her voice into fragments and scattered them behind them.

Li Hanche did not slow down. Instead, his feet moved even faster.

The mountain wind howled past his ears. Ning Rongrong's hair streamed behind her, several strands drifting onto his face with a faint fragrance.

He tilted his head slightly, avoiding the strands.

Ning Rongrong's screams gradually changed in tone.

Terror turned into excitement; "Slow down" became "Faster, faster!" Her little hands no longer strangled his neck so tightly. Instead, she loosened them a little, stretched one arm into the wind, and her giggles mingled with the gusts.

"Who carries someone like this?!"

Her voice bobbed up and down in the wind.

"You've got so many problems. Now you're making demands too."

Yet his pace did not slow.

At the end of the pine forest, he stepped onto a descending stone stairway. His feet lightly tapped the steps, each stride clearing seven or eight stairs.

Ning Rongrong bounced along on his back, laughter and shrieks alternating from her throat and startling several birds from the shrubs lining the mountain path.

At the end of the stone steps lay a broad, open expanse, where the towers and halls of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect spread out before them.

Li Hanche slowed his pace, emerging from that ground-skimming glide and returning to an ordinary walk.

Ning Rongrong was still panting on his back. Her screaming all the way here had drained every last breath from her lungs.

Carrying Ning Rongrong, he passed through covered corridors, through flowerbeds filled with crystal bonsai, and past a screen wall carved from a single massive block of crystal.

The servants and disciples they passed all halted in unison at the sight. Their little princess was draped over a boy's back, her cheeks rosy, one side of her hair bun falling loose, tears of laughter still glimmering in her eyes.

No one dared stop them, and no one dared ask.

Ning Rongrong's residence was a standalone two-story building, even more exquisite than the homes of her father and the two Titled Douluo.

When he pushed open the door, blue filled his vision.

But what truly dazzled the eye were the gemstones scattered amid that blue.

A raw emerald stone sat on the windowsill, as large as an adult's head. It was emerald-green throughout, without a trace of impurity. Under the sunlight, the entire stone seemed to light up from within.

Seven or eight sapphires lay scattered across the vanity, each a different size. The largest was as big as a pigeon egg, casually tossed beside a comb like a glass marble she had grown tired of playing with.

A crystal wind chime hung beside the bed, every pendant a ruby polished into a diamond shape. Wind blew through the half-open window, and its crisp tinkling, along with fragmented red light, spilled across half the room.

Standing in the doorway, Li Hanche squinted slightly as the gemstones' reflected light stabbed at his eyes.

Filthy rich. Fucking filthy rich.

He turned those words over in his heart three times, then walked to the bedside and released his hands.

Ning Rongrong slid off his back and fell into the soft bed.

She rolled over, buried her face in the pillow, and let out a muffled, satisfied sigh.

When she raised her head again, the window was open, the wind chimes were ringing, and there was no longer a second person in the room.

On the rooftop, Li Hanche closed his eyes as the Frost Heaven Record circulated within him.

When Ning Rongrong was awakened by a maid, she was curled up on the huge bed, her loose hair fluffed out like an angry little cat.

The maid stood at the bedside with a food box, bending over and softly calling several times, "Miss, it is time for dinner."

Only then did Ning Rongrong groggily open her eyes. Her first reaction was—

"Where's that bastard Li Hanche?"

Those were the first words she said upon waking.

The maid froze for a moment before she could answer, when the sound of someone landing came from outside the window.

He glanced at Ning Rongrong on the bed, her hair a complete bird's nest, then at the exquisitely elaborate dishes in the maid's food box. He sat down at the table.

"Eat."

Ning Rongrong climbed out of bed and sat opposite him with her messy hair sticking up everywhere.

The maid brought out the dishes from the food box one plate at a time.

Ning Rongrong picked up a shrimp dumpling and stuffed it into her mouth, biting down hard. The skin split, and the savory broth flooded out, but the force and rhythm of her chewing bore no resemblance to someone savoring food. It was more like she had "Li Hanche" in her mouth, and only the sound of bones crunching beneath every bite could ease her hatred.

Li Hanche picked up a piece of honey-glazed ham and ate with unhurried composure.

He glanced at Ning Rongrong's teeth-gritting manner of eating across from him. Her cheeks were puffed out like an inflated pufferfish, while her teeth ground together with creaking sounds.

"Uh, you're a princess at least. How can you be so uncouth?"

Ning Rongrong abruptly raised her head. Half a shrimp dumpling was still stuffed in her mouth, making her voice muffled, but doing nothing to diminish her momentum.

"You're the best, all right?"

Li Hanche nodded, his expression solemn.

"Heaven Dou City's model man. The benchmark for all men."

Ning Rongrong nearly choked on the shrimp dumpling in her mouth.

She gulped down a mouthful of bird's nest porridge to force it down, glaring at his dead-serious face.

"Shameless. Stop admiring yourself."

After dinner, the maid cleared away the bowls and plates. Li Hanche rose, preparing to return to the rooftop and continue meditating.

Ning Rongrong sprang from her chair and blocked his path, hands on her hips and chin raised.

"Play with me."

Li Hanche looked down at her.

"Play what?"

"Anything! I've been bored all day! You meditated on the roof all afternoon while I slept in the room, and now you're going up there to meditate again?"