CHAPTER 1790: CHAPTER 1851: THE MEANING OF ANTS

Song Lianyao didn’t stay at home long before rushing back to Mile City overnight. As for how the relatives spoke of her behind her back, Song Lianyao chose not to think about it nor care, for she now understood the saying about gratitude turning into resentment when gifts are scarce.

But... after all, they are family. No matter how angry Song Lianyao was, once it passed, it was over. She made herself forget those unpleasant experiences, reasoning that if everyone behaved well in the future, then everything would be as usual. If they behaved worse, then it wouldn’t be her fault.

As for Li Yifei, he was walking alone on the streets, aimlessly. Suddenly, Li Yifei felt a bit uninterested, unable to muster enthusiasm for anything. By rights, with his personality, he shouldn’t be so affected by such a matter.

Yet Li Yifei was indeed affected. It was a difficult feeling to describe. Li Yifei always considered himself reasonably a good person, at least kind to his own people. Yet Liuu Ming had deeply disappointed him. At the hospital, seeing Sunx Qian and her boyfriend’s undisguised hatred towards him, Li Yifei suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

Why did such things happen? Li Yifei asked himself, if you ruin someone, how do you save her?

After dealing with Liuu Ming, did Little White Flower feel appeased? But how does one erase the guilt of that night?

So his chest remained blocked, with a hint of rage welling up inside him. This feeling wasn’t unfamiliar. It had emerged when Li Yifei was trapped in that Formation Method in Vietnam. He hadn’t paid much attention back then, nor did he now, thinking that it was just today’s incident that had triggered him.

Feeling somewhat thirsty, Li Yifei bought a bottle of iced water and drank it in one go. Instantly, his throat and stomach turned icy cold. Li Yifei exhaled a cold breath, threw the bottle into a trash can, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled again, feeling that the chilliness made him quite comfortable.

Squinting his eyes, he simply squatted down on the stone bricks by the roadside. At this moment, he appeared like an ordinary person, maybe due to unfulfilling work or relationship confusion. Either way, like everyone else, he sat by the roadside as pedestrians passed him by without giving more than a glance.

Li Yifei sat there for more than an hour, almost without moving or even turning his head. Cars came and went, people passed by one after another. Within this period, many passed him by and ultimately went their separate ways. They might have known of the Li Family Head but would never imagine the illustrious Li Yifei was the man sitting idly by the roadside.

What did he think about, sitting for so long?

Li Yifei actually thought of nothing. He was merely watching the masses go by, observing every person or car passing in front of him, sometimes glimpsing even the ants scurrying at his feet. Every one of them was so busy, perhaps carrying found food or searching for food on their journey without stopping, with only the occasional one climbing cautiously onto his shoes or pants, seemingly curious about whether it was edible. If not, they would turn and leave.

Occasionally, butterflies flew by, eventually flying away, until the afternoon when the sky filled with dragonflies — a rare sight in the city, and not just one type of dragonfly either.

Li Yifei squinted his eyes, looked up at the dancing dragonflies, only to feel they were quite free, albeit ephemeral in life.

Suddenly, a dragonfly was hit by a passing vehicle, flew off and landed on the roadside, struggling on the ground seemingly stunned.

Li Yifei stood up, walked over, picked up the dragonfly, checked it, and found its body unharmed, perhaps just stunned. He then returned to his seat, placed the dragonfly in his hand, and continued to gaze at it.

A few minutes later, the dragonfly regained consciousness, quivered its wings, and crawled out of Li Yifei’s palm. After resting for a while, it prepared to take off. With only a few days of life, if it didn’t seize the chance to eat more or mate more to continue its lineage, its life would pass without a chance.

Despite being hit by a car, the dragonfly quickly attempted to fly off upon awakening.

But possibly it was truly injured gravely. The dragonfly wobbled into flight but didn’t get far before a breeze from a passing car swept it in a tilted direction, and it fell again. Before Li Yifei could reach it, a bicycle wheel ran over it.

The dragonfly died instantly. Its body, now in two parts, continued to twitch. Li Yifei’s fingers twitched, a trace of sorrow filled his face. If Li Yifei had moved to trap the dragonfly earlier, perhaps it wouldn’t have been hit the second time and crushed to death. But does regret do any good now?

Maybe this was the dragonfly’s fate. Had it been trapped by Li Yifei to survive for a while longer, its lifespan was no more than a few days — death was inevitable. Alternatively, it could have died from the initial impact.

In his daze, a large ant found its way onto the dragonfly’s corpse as if discovering a new land. Li Yifei could almost hear the ant rubbing its antennae, making a clicking sound as if signaling to its companions that a massive piece of meat had fallen from the sky. Everyone should come quickly to feast and carry food back home, where numerous little ants were waiting to be fed.

Soon enough, the dragonfly’s body was surrounded by ants. The ants tore at the dragonfly’s corpse with their strong jaws, ripping it into pieces before carrying it back home piece by piece.

Li Yifei watched the scene unfold, his thoughts unknown but expressionlessly as if carved from stone.

When only half of the dragonfly’s body remained, a passing car sped by. The window rolled down, and an empty drink bottle flew out, described an arc in the air, and landed on the dragonfly’s corpse.

Everything was so coincidental. The ants devouring the dragonfly’s body could never have anticipated such a calamity from the sky. They were joyously transporting food, and even if they saw the bottle coming, they had no time to dodge. The bottle was like a giant meteor, crushing a heap of ants before bouncing on the ground a few times, eventually settling by the roadside.

After that, Li Yifei’s face showed expression once more, his eye twitching a few times, a trace of anger displayed. He looked up to track the car that had thrown the bottle, but it had already traveled dozens of meters beyond reach. A few seconds later, the car disappeared around a corner.