Liu Yumei was surprised to find that her granddaughter seemed to have an easier time eating this time, even presenting a bit of girlish joy.
"Is that even possible?"
Li Zhiyuan smiled and began to eat the remaining dishes on the plate, which were all his.
Thanks to dining with someone who had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, he naturally understood how to interact with people of the same kind.
Qin Li ate quickly, and during the final round, all the dishes on the plate were picked up, the soup was finished in the last gulp, and the rice was also finished just right.
She put down her chopsticks.
Li Zhiyuan took a towel, folded it, and wiped her mouth and hands for her. The towel was large and could be divided into many functional areas.
After finishing the meal, Li Zhiyuan took Qin Li to the terrace to read again.
He was reading through "Jianghu Chronicles" faster and faster, and by dusk, he had reached the twelfth volume.
He thought he could speed up even more tomorrow, and in a few days, he would finish reading the introductory encyclopedia and then he could go treasure hunting in the basement boxes again.
In the meantime, when he drank water, he also gave water to Qin Li; when he went to the bathroom, he also took Qin Li with him.
He, who didn’t usually eat snacks, worried she might be hungry, so he opened a few bags of snacks to share with her.
After each time, he had to wipe her hands, and because he also used the towel himself, it became dirtier and dirtier.
Li Sanjiang muttered discontentedly, wondering why Yingzi didn’t come to tutor him today.
Li Zhiyuan felt that his sister was probably digesting the questions he had helped her with yesterday.
But Li Sanjiang believed Yingzi felt Li Zhiyuan was too difficult to tutor and didn’t want to come.
For dinner, Li Sanjiang still ate alone at his table.
This time, Liu Yumei had prepared the dishes in plates in advance for her granddaughter, but when Qin Li sat down, she did not pick up her chopsticks.
Li Zhiyuan picked up his chopsticks and slightly adjusted the amount of food on each plate.
Qin Li picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
Liu Yumei: "Alii, grandma was negligent, I didn’t control the portion well."
In fact, in the old grandma’s heart: Hmmph, how could I not remember how much you eat, this girl is doing it on purpose!
But there was no dissatisfaction in the old woman’s heart, only happiness, as these were all good tendencies. She wasn’t afraid of her granddaughter throwing a tantrum; what she was afraid of was her closing off like before, like a piece of wood, which was true despair.
Liu Yumei turned to look at Li Sanjiang, who sat alone drinking sullenly, then at Li Zhiyuan in front of her, her heart filled with emotion:
Having lived here for so long, had she finally encountered Luck?
After dinner, Li Zhiyuan decided not to read under the lamp tonight. He had read a bit too much today and felt tired, planning to take a bath and go to bed.
Looking at Qin Li, who still wanted to follow him, he earnestly said:
"Alii, go wash up and sleep. I’m going to sleep too, we can read together again tomorrow, alright?"
Li Zhiyuan turned and walked towards the stairs, then paused and looked back. Seeing that she didn’t follow but obediently went with Liu Yumei to the eastern room, he felt relieved and went upstairs to bathe.
After the bath, Li Zhiyuan thought of taking out the dirty towel to scrub it properly, only to find that the towel, which he had always hung over his shoulder, was gone.
"Did I leave it somewhere?"
In the eastern room, watching her granddaughter lie down to sleep after washing up, Liu Yumei felt very contented.
She walked out of the inner bedroom with a smile on her face, approaching the area where the ancestral tablets were enshrined.
She had a lot today that she felt like discussing with Alii’s grandfather, her maternal grandparents, and Alii’s parents.
Guarding her all this time, and now that there was hope for rehabilitation, she believed they and all the other ancestors would be happy.
After all, Alii was now the only living descendant of the Qin and Liu families.
Sitting down in front of the ancestral tablets, Liu Yumei was about to start speaking, but suddenly noticed something amiss about the six-tiered tablet rack.
It was unlikely that anyone would have tampered with it, as there were so few people in the house, and Qin Li and Liu Ting, who cleaned the rooms, would never dare to touch this area.
But what exactly was out of place?
Liu Yumei scrutinized it up and down several times and finally noticed something in the dim light under the lamp.
That was on the third level of the ancestral tablets, in the center, where Alii’s grandfather’s tablet - her husband’s - used to be, it was missing!
was a towel folded into a small square and laid there... a dirty towel.