Chapter 4 The Ugly Duckling Turns Into a Swan_5

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"Mm."

"Will you guys get married?" she wondered why this irrelevant woman wanted to compete with her for Uncle's affection.

Li Guoqiang laughed, bent down, and patted Li Li's head, "Li Li, are you upset because you didn't get to eat chicken wings?"

Li Li rolled her eyes, "I'm not such a childish three-year-old to get upset over something like that."

"Li Li, girls with sharp tongues are hard to marry off," Li Guoqiang said with feigned concern. Li Li shook off his hand, her face full of skepticism, and asked, "Uncle, you've been saying all my life that I will have trouble getting married, what kind of girl is liked by others?"

Li Guoqiang laughed loudly, continuously saying, "My Li Li has finally grown up, thinking about getting married," and despite Li Li rolling her eyes several times trying to make him stop talking nonsense, she eventually couldn't tolerate it anymore and gave her uncle a punch.

"Uncle, I haven't even turned fourteen yet, you're encouraging me to start dating young."

Li Guoqiang stopped laughing, squatted down to look at her eye-to-eye, the playfulness on his face faded away, and he said seriously to his niece, "Li Li, never waste your feelings and time on someone who could never like you, understood?"

Li Li nodded as if she understood but then shook her head again.

"How can I know if that person could never like me?"

"Silly girl, when you meet him, you will naturally understand."

Fifteen years later, Li Li, now twenty-nine, thought her mentor had been quite irresponsible, which is why she suffered a crushing defeat.

December 5, 1990, Wednesday: Li Li's fourteenth birthday.

Grandma specially made a big bowl of plain boiled egg and vermicelli soup for her breakfast. Just before leaving for work, Li Guoqiang handed her a birthday present—a trendy scented ballpoint pen.

"Uncle, I love you!" Almost every girl in the class had one, and she had also wanted one, to be able to smell the delicious scent while doing homework and taking notes.

"Such a hypocrite!" Li Guoqiang pinched Li Li's round face hard, making her cry out in pain.

"So noisy!" A groggy Li Meiqing emerged from the front parlor where she slept and went to wash up at the sink. Li Guoqiang waved his hand and slipped out the door, while Li Li quickly bowed her head to eat breakfast, planning to finish quickly and go to school to avoid annoying Li Meiqing.

"Why eat so fast, what's the rush, reincarnating?" After washing up, Li Meiqing sat down at the eight immortals table and glanced at the plain boiled egg and vermicelli soup in her daughter's bowl, her eyebrows arching high, "Mom, after so many years of birthdays, couldn't you come up with something new? Eating this for over a decade, it would be strange not to be sick of it."

Li Li hurriedly swallowed the half-chewed vermicelli in her mouth and looked up happily, "Mom, you remember today is my birthday?"

"How could I forget, I went through so much trouble giving birth to you fourteen years ago, almost died of pain," Li Meiqing brushed the hair covering her daughter's cheeks behind her ear and looked at her carefully, "no matter how I look at you, you haven't gotten any prettier."

Even being called ugly, Li Li was still very happy; it was rare for her mother to talk so much with her.

Li Meiqing dropped her hand and began to eat breakfast, casually mentioning, "I'm getting married; you'll have a new dad soon."

Li Li turned her gaze toward her grandmother, who also looked surprised. Li Li had always known her mother was dating someone and was mentally prepared to have a new dad, but hearing it so suddenly was still a shock.

"Come home early after class; I will take you to dinner with Uncle Liu." Li Meiqing glanced at her daughter, who was still in a daze, and said irritably, "Don't show up at the dinner table tonight looking dumb—you'll embarrass me."

Li Li was distracted all day; today was her fourteenth birthday, and she was about to get a new dad.

As her desk mate, Pei Shangxuan naturally noticed Li Li's unusual behavior. But they were in the midst of a delicate cold war, and she was ignoring him as if he were thin air—since that time in the glasses shop when he shouted, "I don't like ugly freaks," she refused to interact with him.

He waited for her at the entrance of the alley but saw no sign of her. Just before the bell for morning self-study, he dashed into the classroom to find Li Li already sitting at her desk. He teased her for nearly making him late, but she didn't even lift her eyelids, turned around, and passed her workbook back for others to copy. The obvious display of rejection made Pei Shangxuan feel defeated—having been the center of attention since starting middle school, when had he ever been given the cold shoulder like this? So he stubbornly joined the silent contest to see who would cave first.

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