Mister Li, the Heart Bandit

The floor was a mess when Jiang Yigu arrived.

Clear signs of a struggle.

He slowly moved and unwittingly stepped on a hand—his eyes traced the body to find a huge man with a dagger sticking out of his back and bleeding freely.

Ahead, there was another man with his eyes tightly shut and bleeding from his forehead. He must have been knocked unconscious with a blunt object

Slap—

That was when a curse and a slap echoed from inside the house. “Shit, the little whore actually hurt my bros! You’re getting it from me!”

“No… No! I beg you! Don’t touch me!”

Jiang Yigu promptly kicked down the door. Tian Miaomiao was already stripped naked as the man was about to get into the main event—still, he quickly zipped up his pants and approached the glowering Jiang Yigu with his fists raised when he noticed him.

Jiang Yigu’s glare sharpened. He caught the punch and diverted it, but the man had some training too, and reacted quickly to attempt tripping Jiang Yigu with his leg.

The two men wrestled.

The man was strong and was large, but Jiang Yigu was strong despite looking disadvantaged.

He was ruthless too. Grabbing a vase behind him, he smashed it heavily over the man’s head.

The glass shattered, with some shards entering the man’s eyes.

“Aaaaargh! My eyes!”

The man was immediately bleeding from his eye sockets and rolling on the floor.

Meanwhile, Tian Miaomiao was in her bed, pale-white and seemingly lifeless.

Jiang Yigu pulled the bedsheet over her but she evaded him even as she shivered.

Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around her and tenderly said, “Let’s go.”

Tian Miaomiao freely allowed his embrace then, her eyes remaining distant—her cheeks were bruised and swollen and her lips were torn.

There were also marks over her fair skin where one of the men strangled her.

Still, she had stabbed someone to protect her virtue—it was hard to imagine that a girl like her could do so much with several men breaking in.

Jiang Yigu took her back to his house, prepared warm bathwater and took off the bedsheet, before carefully putting her in the baththub.

She was like a soulless doll, allowing him to do anything he liked.

She curled herself into a tight ball as she soaked in the warm water, mumbling with an empty look.

“I…. killed someone… I killed someone…”

“You didn’t.” Jiang Yigu whispered, crouching before her. “That was righteous self-defense.”

Tian Miaomiao looked up to find a rare tenderness in his face and asked blankly. “Really?”

“Really.”

Her tears quickly flowed and she started bawling, melancholically and hysterically.

But as she cried, she suddenly plunged deep into the tub and beneath the waterline.

Jiang Yigu panicked and pulled her out with a gush, and she coughed a few times.

“You’re crazy!”

“I am crazy!” She yelled back. “I’m so pathetic I should just die!”

“What about the people who cared about you?”

Tian Miaomiao laughed out loud, before promptly stopping to mock herself. “My own father sold me off to pay his debt and let those men have me as they wished. Who the hell cares about me? Who? Who!?”

Jiang Yigu’s eyes reddened when he remembered her naked self that was about to be humiliated.

“I care.” He said, putting weigh behind both words.

Tian Miaomiao was surprised, her tears continuing to flow. “Are you giving me your sympathy? I don’t need it.”

She stood up with those words, pulling a towel to wrap around herself.

Jiang Yigu stood up too. “How could I prove that I care?”

Tian Miaomiao turned around to face him. “Help me forget.”

With those words, she freed her hand, her white towel falling beneath her feet.

Jiang Yigu stepped up, picked her up and flung her into soft sheets, his burning kiss striking her—

Incidentally, her first time was with him.

As things transpired, he whispered beside her ear. “I’m so fond of you, Tian Miaomiao.”

“Me too…” She replied, warm tears filling her eyes.

And very much so.

***

Four in the afternoon.

The winter day had already gone dark.

Tian Miaomiao tossed around, her hip and feet aching even as she tunneled into Jiang Yigu’s arms.

He checked the time and asked a little hoarsely. “Does it still hurt?”

She nodded shyly.

Jiang Yigu chuckled. “A few times more and it won’t hurt anymore.”

“Jerk!” She punched him albeit feebly.

They were lying down and he was without his glasses, although his gaze was at once distant but mesmerizing when he squinted at her.

“Miaomiao…”

He called her name tenderly.

“Hmmm?” She looked up.

“Let’s get married.” His arms reached beneath her hips to hold her. “I’ll take responsibility.”

Tian Miaomiao was a little upset. “You only thought of marrying me out of responsibility?”

“Of course not. I marry you because I’m fond of you… and you’re already mine.”

Tian Miaomiao was a young girl with a maiden heart—a woman, to be precise, so she naturally couldn’t accept such a proposal.

She was even complaining inwardly: he’s definitely President Li’s friend with that sloppy proposal.

Really…

“You have to propose somewhere super amazing. I’ll only say yes then.”

Jiang Yigu nodded. “Fine, fine. I promise.”

Tian Miaomiao could hardly stop smiling when her heart skipped a beat. “W-what if I get pregnant?”

“Deliver if you want it, abort if you don’t.”

“…”

She shoved him. “So you’re that type of man! Scumbag!”

Jiang Yigu was almost pushed to the floor, and helplessly held her in return. “So, are you going to give me a child?”

“No!”

“You don’t want it, and you don’t allow me to say no. How difficult are you going to make things for the kid?”

“…”

Tian Miaomiao had nothing to offer in retort.