Manipulative And Impulsive Way;

She politely knocked on the door, before pushing it to enter.

A whiff of light and strong smell of cigarettes reached her nostrils immediately. A middle aged man was secretly standing alone on the huge window. He seemed alone and sad. He turned around and locked gaze with her. She felt a bit uncomfortable by the smell and mans gaze. He had an all black suit and his feature seemed familiar. He looked at her for a while before the sides of his mouth curved up. He pointed at the big, round sofas and gestured her to sit.

Aizhe walked over and sat at the round sofas opposite the middle aged man. She sighed inwardly and broke her stare.

She seemed lost about what to say. She had waited long for this moment but now that she was here, she seemed to be struggling. She looked up and decided to start of with her introduction first.

"Hello..I am..Li Aizhe.." She felt weird and out-of-place. The man seemed to focus on her and he sensed her hostility and uncomfortness. He cleared his voice and lit off the cigarette. He took a glass of water and forwarded it to her calmly. Aizhe was a bit taken back. She looked at the glass of water for a second before a little smile appeared on her beautiful, round face. She took the glass and chucked it in one go.

"Thank you.." she replied with a smile. The middle aged man returned the smile and started to talk with his raspy old voice.

"Li Heng sure raised you well; His resemblance and manners are filled in you!" he was smiling, but it was a distant and sad one. Aizhe seemed to realize that he was talking about her father and she subconsciously looked down at the letter in her hand.

She sighed and finally spoke out the word she had been holding in. "Grandfather passed away.."

The middle aged man looked at Aizhe and his eyes widened. He looked at her and his hands dropped. His bitter smile faded and a terrified and panick strickened look replaced his gloomy and sad face. He couldn't believe that his father passed away. He felt ashamed and sad for his wrong doings. He wanted to fix it, but he was too late.

Too late..

"He left this letter..he told me to tell you that he loves you dearly and he.. wishes that his family could live peacefully... and happily in his absence."

Aizhe's eyes were dull and empty when she was explaining. She wasn't crying or sad, she was just stiff. The middle aged man looked at her and felt horrible. This girl was his little brother's daughter. Li Heng and Son Zheng passed away and she had been living with her grandfather for the past 18 years and now she was all alone, with no one to take care of her.

He felt bad and ashamed of himself. A tear slipped from his wrinkled face and his hand unknowingly went forward to pat her head.

Aizhe looked up and felt warm. She reached up and wiped her uncles tears. She smiled and held his warm hands. "Mr. Li, grandfather always talked about you.. even though, grandfather is not here with us physically, he will always be watching us up there;" She pointed up in the sky with a sad smile plastered on her face.

Mr. Li was taken back and looked down. He felt warm and hugged her. She was a bit taken back but nonetheless hugged him back. She felt the warmth her grandfather had once provided with his one hug.

Mr. Li looked at her and remembered something. He broke the hug, sat down and gestured for her to sit too. "My name is Li Hua, and I am your fathers elder brother, you can call me Uncle Lua, ok?"

Aizhe looked at him, and nodded. She felt happy, knowing that her grandfather last wish was completed. She was smiling really bright. Two small, yet noticeable dimples formed on the corner of her face.

Li Hua looked at the little girl and he realized that her clothes were all wet and her hair was partially wet and dry.

"I am going to ask Qi Qenq to arrange you some clothes first." He stood up, while fixing his wrinkled shirt. "Today is Lina's birthday, join with us downstairs for the banquet. I am also going to arrange your room upstairs. You are going to be staying with us from now on.." Li Hua just took a step forward before Aizhe held on to his hands and stopped him halfway.

"No, no no! Uncle Lu, you dont have to.. I have some money with me, I will be staying at a hotel for somedays and by then I will eventually find some work and start looking for houses to stay too..." Aizhe exclaimed while explaining.

She didn't want to live in a house where she couldn't even hear herself. It was too much! She even heard that rich people were arrogant and rude! She will be too dumb, if she gets indulged in their lousy business!

Li Hua looked back at her and examined her serious and desperate face. He moved towards her, grabbed her cold hands. Know that he could see her face clearly, he noticed that she looked pale and sick.

How long was she outside? He wondered.

"Allow me to fix my previous mistakes." He looked down. "By helping you, I will also be fulfilling my brother and father's last hope..please..?"

Aizhe looked at him and sighed. She tightened his hold on her hands and did not protest anymore. She knew that her uncle was repenting and wanted to help her. She smiled politely and nodded at him.

---

The banquet was slowly coming to an end and the guest were all impressed by the Li's amazing preparation. They all looked at Li Lina's amazing gold gown. Her beautiful anime eyes and frosty features. Her attractive figure was eye catching. She was ethereal and graceful.

All the male guest were gushing and staring hungrily at her, and the women were all chattering and being jealous from her.

'That gold dress must be very expensive..I heard that there is only 10 exclusively pieces made..and Miss Li got it just like that?'

'What a body! She must have gone under the knife numerous times..'

'Such a bit** - honestly what do they even see in her? she is such an eyesore and double faced!'

'You are just jealous, aren't you? Your huband over there is hungrily eating her with his hungry wolf eyes!'

'Honestly, Miss Li is so immature..if I was her, I would not do such an extravagant party. Elder Madam is hospitalized and she is enjoying parties and banquets. What a double face!'

All sort of talk and comments were being passed around and the talk of the show was standing in the middle, under the big chandelier, pretending not to hear. She was clinking her wine glass with her groups of socialites, and smiling brightly.

The midnight finally came to an end and the party was soon over. The last guest had just left and Li Lina's bright smile faded off at that moment.

She looked back and ran towards her mother.

"Mother, why didn't father come down?" she looked at her mother, and shrieked with her loud voice. "I had to tolerate those bi**** talks and pretend to not hear them..I felt like jumping on them, and showing them who I really am!"

Her mother looked back at her and held her shoulders.

"Your father was tired Lina, he needed rest.." her mother tried to comfort her. "Elder Li is hospitalized and for him to join banquets.." She looked at Lina and when she saw her calming down, she felt relaxed.

As the mother and daughter were talking, a middle aged man walked down the long staircase. He was wearing all black suit, and radiating an extraordinary noble aura around him. On his side, was a tall and beautiful, tanned girl. She had a delicate and elegant appearance. Her brown hair was long and it was done up. Strands were falling down from the sides in an untruly manner. She had a deep and profound hazel eyes. She was wearing a loose fit comfy dress, and it reached till her knees.

The mother and daughter couldn't keep their eyes away from her and wondered who she was. Aizhe and Li Hua sensed their deep stare and he spoke out. "Meng, this is Aizhe. She is the daughter of my little brother. She doesn't have place to stay, so she will be staying with us in our house. Make sure she doesn't feel left out." Li Hua spoke out with his raspy and clear voice.

Hearing Li Hua, Li Lina and Chen Meng couldn't believe. They looked at Aizhe and their deep eyes held fire within them. Lina was so angry that a vein popped out from her forehead. She was the only daughter of the Li's. She couldn't live with this lowly and dirty girl. She looked disgusting. What will people think about her statues? She looked at her father and spoke out;

"Father, with what right will she stay with us? We are the Li's and she is nobody..i can't go around and tell everyone that this lowly girl is related to me!" Lina spoke with her piercing and whining tone. Her face was deep shade of red. Her hands were trembling and she looked at the girls clothes.

"LINA!" Li Hua looked at her in the eye. His face was calm, but his eyes said otherwise. His expression was dark and he was gritting his teeth while he spoke. Lina felt a bit intimidated, so she looked down. She gritted her teeth amd clenched her hands even more. Her chest was heaving up and down due to anger.

"Meng, make her understand. I don't want to hear or see anything happening in this house. If I come to know that someone tried to plot behind my back, then you will all see my wrath. Remember that!" Li Hua looked at Meng, while he pointed at Lina. He held on to Aizhe's hand and took her back upstairs.

When Lina saw that he was out of sight she finally bursted out!;

"Mother! did you see that? Father scolded us instead of that wh*re! He now values a lowly sl*t more than us?" Lina held on to her mothers shoulder and with a shrieking tone, she exclaimed loud.

"Lina..calm down..it is fine.." She explained. "I will make sure this Aizhe girl doesn't cause an issue.."

Compared to Lina, Chen Meng was surprisingly calm. She took Lina's hand and went upstairs to calm her down.

On the second floor, upstairs, Li Aizhe was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her uncle was sitting next to her while he explained.

"So all in all, Qi Qeng will show you around the house and you can make yourself feel comfortable. Don't take Lina's word into your heart..she is too childish sometimes!"

"Uncle Hua, you have said this for nth time.." Aizhe yawned and looked at the serious looking face of her uncle. " Uncle, don't worry, I will be fine!" she stood up and took her uncles hand.

"And.." Li Aizhe looked down and mumbled low. Li Hua looked at her slumped figure and replied;

"What is it Aizhe? What do you need?" He asked her worriedly. Aizhe looked at him and smiled. "Work. I want to work. Can I go out tomorrow to look for some work?"

Li Hua was taken back. He never in a million years would have imagined that this would be her request.

He thought that she would ask for clothes, accessories or even right in the family. But she wanted to work and that too on her own?

He looked at her and felt relieved. If Li Heng was alive, then he would definitely praise him for his great upbringing. He had such an amazing and reliable daughter.

After a long while, Li Hua broke from his daze and ooked at Aizhe's expecting eyes. He shook his head and replied 'yes'.

When Aizhe heard him, she smiled really big. "Thank you Uncle!! I will go tomorrow and start looking for jobs!" She jumped excitedly around.

Li Hua saw her bright face and smiled. He stood up and went outside. Upon coming out of the room, he saw his assistant standing next to one of the pillars obediently.

"Keep an eye on her. She should not be left alone. Put the best bodyguards around her and make sure she doesn't realize anything." Li Hua instructed carefully and his face was serious. Qi Qenq nodded, bowed and went off to do the assignment right away.

Li Hua looked back at the closed door and he sighed. He couldn't help to think that Aizhe was too pure and kind for this worlds manipulative and impulsivity. She is always bright and happy on her own. She has no bad intention or evil motive, whatsoever.

If Lina or anyone else tried to take advantage then her purity will go on to waste. He must keep an eye on her. Otherwise, what will happen to the trust his father had put on him?