Li Lanni did not force Xia Luna to speak up. However, this matter concerned her too; and if Li Lanni knew what was going on, she would be on the look out and would not fall prey for whatever Li Xiyan was surely going to do once she knew Li Lanni’s whereabouts.
"Have I told you about my... our stepmother?" She asked.
"No." Li Lanni shook her head. Forget the stepmother. Xia Luna had not told her much about herself. Li Lanni had nurous questions to ask, but this was not the right ti to ask them so she could only let Xia Luna speak about the details she was comfortable divulging.
For the whole matter to make sense, Xia Luna briefly explained everything from where it started, as explained to her by her paternal aunt.
"Actually, you knew about this before but because you have forgotten, I guess I will just start over. Our grandmother didn’t like our mother. I don’t know what business they have against each other but that’s their business. For whatever reason she hated our mother, grandmother tried every ans to get father to leave her and be with another woman instead."
Xia Luna paused, disgusted by what she was going to say next. "When father showed no interest in other won no matter who they were, grandmother found one who is sowhat similar in appearance to our mother. Getting her own son drunk to the point of blacking out, she sent Li Xiyan to his bed."
Li Lanni frowned. What kind of mother does that? To her own son?!
That was not the end of it. Xia Luna continued.
"Our mother was heavily pregnant at the ti. Once she found out what had happened, she was angry at grandmother and suggested moving out with father. However, grandmother adamantly refused to let that happen. She even threatened to commit suicide if father really moved out.
Mother had no choice but to bear with it. All was going well until we were a few months old. Li Xiyan showed up with a little baby younger than us, our step brother."
"What?" Li Lanni was shocked. There was a brother?
Hold on. Li Xiyan actually got pregnant after climbing onto their father’s bed when he was drunk? "Why then did she not reveal that she was pregnant? Was it because she was afraid our father would make her have an abortion?"
"Yeah. It gets even more interesting." Xia Luna practically sneered. "Grandmother forced father to marry Li Xiyan because of the boy. That, and so other reasons that Aunty refused to tell , caused our parents to divorce."
Li Lanni felt bad on her parents’ behalf. They must have been tortured a lot.
"Well, that’s how Li Xiyan ca into the picture. But once she appeared, she didn’t seem to want to leave any ti soon.
As far as I rember, father has never acknowledged her. He hates her for ruining his marriage. All I ever felt for her was fear and disgust. She would spend all the ti that father was away to vent her frustration on .
However, she did nothing entirely life-threatening until I was of legal age."
Because Cheng Yu already knew, Xia Luna ntioned the part about Li Xiyan trying to stab her and ending up being stabbed herself. However, because it would be too much for Li Lanni to take in at the sa ti, she left out the reason why that happened.
By the ti Xia Luna was done, Li Lanni’s expression had experienced several changes. "That must be a psychopath."
"Trust , she is. She’s not just a psychopath, she is a crazy one at that." Xia Luna was disgusted just thinking about it.
"So this was what the two of you were talking about?" Li Lanni still felt there was more to it.
Xia Luna looked more solemn. "The thing is... Xiao Yu seems to have seen her at the banquet last night." She paused to study Li Lanni’s expression. Seeing that she was expressionless, she continued. "She might go after you and mother... Lanni, I’m not trying to scare you. But she is an evil witch. You must be careful, okay?"
Li Lanni suddenly recalled why she was here. She was going to ask about that woman that she saw the previous night. Her intention was to ask Xia Luna to check the surveillance and find out who that woman was. But now that they were talking about this, she had a thought. Could the woman she had seen be this Li Xiyan? She seed to emit so much hatred that Li Lanni could swear she would be dead if aura could kill.
She didn’t have to ask anymore. It must have been her. "I think I saw her too. It was just vague and I didn’t see her face... but everything about her spoke of malice."
Xia Luna was now sure that Cheng Yu had seen right. "I will check the surveillance just to be sure. anwhile, you and... uhm... mother... have to be careful." Xia Luna was still uncomfortable addressing Li Yuming as her mother since the latter hated her so much. Luckily, Li Lanni nodded and didn’t dwell on it.
Now that she had solved the mystery about that woman, Li Lanni went ahead to ask about the other question she wanted. "Do you have any other alias?"
Xia Luna didn’t know how to answer that. "Why do you ask?"
"I told you before that my date with Ji Xiehan got interrupted, right?
That’s because there was this young man that bumped into us. Then he said sothing about appearing again and even called Phoenix.
I don’t know him. I have never seen him at all. I thought maybe... he mistook for you and that’s another one of your aliases?
... what’s going on? Why are the both of you suddenly so pale..."
Li Lanni realized that the more she spoke, the paler her sister and friend got. It was as though they were hearing sothing more shocking than the fact that Li Xiyan had seen Li Lanni.
Xia Luna balled her fists to calm down. "Well, the guy didn’t get the wrong person. I’m not Phoenix. You are."
"What?" It was Li Lanni’s turn to be shocked. She was? And was that worry she thought she saw in her sister’s eyes?
"Why do I need an alias?" She asked, not thinking it made any sense.
Xia Luna looked defeated. "I seriously don’t know. No matter how many tis I asked you, you said I didn’t need to know."
She instinctively turned to Cheng Yu.
"You didn’t ever tell either. You said it was a secret." Cheng Yu shrugged.
Just great. Li Lanni sighed.
She had co here seeking answers. How did it end up with her getting more questions instead?
That young man had said sothing about her going back to the team. What team?
Most importantly, why did she even need to use an alias? This was so unlike her. And why would she keep it a secret from Xia Luna and Cheng Yu?
"You are sure you don’t know? You cannot even think of anything?" She pressed Xia Luna, who didn’t et her gaze. "Lanni, you were so mysterious. You did things only you could understand."
"What things?"
"Like..." Hold on. Investigating Li Xiyan, Ji Feifei and Yang Su? Did that count?
Thinking about it, she shook her head. "I tried to find clues but I found nothing. Not even in the slightest bit."
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