Chapter 348: 348 Gifts and Return Gifts

The handkerchief smells a bit?

After hearing the muffled reminder from his younger brother, whose face was covered, Leon suddenly remembered. His handkerchief seemed to have just been used to wipe the "treasure" that Melanie had discovered, so he hurriedly put the handkerchief away, vigorously rubbed William's face with his sleeve, and covered it up with a dry laugh:

"It might not have been dampened. I'll go wash it first... Senior Auntie Ai Ma, where is there water?"

"I'll do it."

After giving Leon a look that was slightly reproachful, Auntie Ai Ma, who had already finished wiping her daughter's face, did not expose the secret of Leon's handkerchief. Instead, she beckoned to William, then used the part that wasn't stained with dirt to start wiping his face again.

Under the blessing of the cleaner's powerful physical control, although Auntie Ai Ma's movements were gentle and slow, appearing as if she wasn't using any force at all, the dirt on William's face kept disappearing before one's eyes.

Seeing this scene, Melanie, who was suffering through her own "punishment" on the side, couldn't help but protest again:

"Sister Ani, look, it clearly doesn't need that much force. How about I first..."

"Either you shut up and sit still, or I'll deduct your allowance for the week after next as well. Choose for yourself!"

"Oh..."

While Ani was brutally suppressing Melanie's uprising, Ai Li, who had turned back into a little porcelain doll, curiously approached Leon, sizing up this big... uncle who inexplicably made one want to get close to him.

"What's wrong?"

Although he knew that little Ai Li wasn't a real child, but an anomalous object born from Senior Auntie Ai Ma's longing for her daughter, Leon's heart still welled up with pity as he looked at the little girl who was timidly trying to approach him.

Squatting down slightly to bring his line of sight level with little Ai Li's, Leon asked with a smile:

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Hmm..."

Still not quite used to communicating with people older than herself, she timidly blinked her eyes, then couldn't help but look back at Auntie Ai Ma. Encouraged by her gaze, she gathered her courage and said:

"I... I drew a picture a few days ago. It's... it's of you. I want to give it to you..."

A picture of me?

Hearing little Ai Li's words, Leon couldn't help but be slightly startled. Then, with a warm feeling in his heart, he nodded and answered with a smile:

"Then thank you... Where is the painting?"

"It's in my room..."

Seeing that Leon didn't refuse, little Ai Li couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then, her two little hands subconsciously tugged at the corner of her skirt, and she said somewhat embarrassedly:

"If it's not drawn very well, would you still be willing to accept it?"

"Of course I would."

Looking at Ai Li, whose drawing style was completely different from the two little monsters in his own home and who was so well-behaved it made one's heart ache, Leon couldn't help but gently pat her head over her wide-brimmed soft hat. He then stood up, took her gloved little hand, and made a gesture of invitation with a smile.

"Most adorable Miss Ai Li, would you be willing to take me to appreciate your work?"

"I would!"

Having received Leon's positive response, a big smile immediately appeared on little Ai Li's face. Then, under Auntie Ai Ma's gentle gaze, she pulled Leon's hand into the inner room and handed a somewhat wrinkled piece of drawing paper to Leon.

In the center of this painting with its naive brushstrokes was a large square frame that looked somewhat like a coffin lying on its side, with a pitch-black hole opened on it. In front of the large square frame, it looked like wastewater discharged from a paint factory into a river, with all sorts of colors everywhere.

And three long, tentacle-like monsters connected by lines were floating on these dazzling patches of color, dancing and performing some kind of evil ritual around a round thing that still had fire on it.

So... where am I?

Not wanting to admit that he didn't quite understand it, Leon had to bite the bullet, point to the only element he could recognize, and praise it:

"Not bad, the use of color is very bold, and the style is also very avant-garde... That, what are these fires?"

"They're candles!"

So they were candles!

Having received the hint, Leon secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then guessed his way along based on this intelligence.

Could that thing below, which looked like a large barrel containing fuel and had horizontal stripes in the middle, be... a birthday cake? Were those long tentacle monsters people holding hands?

Could those colorful patches of color under people's feet be a garden? Was the coffin lying on its side a small wooden house? So the true meaning of this painting was actually people who came to celebrate her birthday, holding hands and dancing around a birthday cake in the garden?

"It seems... it seems not quite like that... I'll change it!"

Looking up at Leon in front of her, then looking down at the long tentacle monsters in the painting, little Ai Li's face turned slightly red. She hurriedly took the painting back, put a black coat on one of the tentacle monsters, and put two dots where the face should be, drawing a short, downward-curving arc as a mouth.

After finishing Leon's image, she simply went all the way, grabbed a crayon, and drew a tree in the garden. She added a small tentacle monster on the tree that was touching a bird's nest, and under the tree was a large tentacle monster with its hands on its hips, looking up angrily.

And on the other side of the tree, in a place that was probably a shrubbery, there was an extra small tentacle monster with half its body burrowed into the shrubbery, desperately twisting its butt, drawing the whole tentacle monster family... the whole Leon family.

"This time it seems... it seems a bit better..."

After drawing a few small black grains next to Melanie, hinting at the precious treasure she found in the secret passage, little Ai Li, having completed her second creation, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a red face, she handed this very abstract-looking painting to Leon.

"For you, thank you all for coming to celebrate my birthday."

"You're... you're welcome..."

After the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, Leon earnestly took this "Painting of Tentacle Monsters Ravaging a Sewage River" which was full of avant-garde artistic flair and put it away. He then squatted down and said with a smile:

"I like your gift very much, and I happen to have a birthday gift for you as well."

"Really?"

Hearing Leon's words, little Ai Li said with surprise in her eyes:

"What gift is it?"

"It's not time yet~"

After smiling mysteriously, Leon didn't take out the fireworks he had ordered overnight, but asked:

"Ai Li, before giving you the gift, can you take off your gloves and shake hands with me?"

Shake hands?

Hearing Leon's words, little Ai Li hesitated slightly, then timidly nodded, took off the gloves used to block the sunlight, and placed her small palm into Leon's palm.

【Name: Sorrow of the Precious Flower (Soul, Life and Death, Reflection)】

【Appearance: A well-behaved girl who can grow up normally but can only manifest her form near the Precious Flower Manor. She will temporarily become transparent when exposed to too much sunlight.】

【Ability: Soul Stabilization (Limited), Resurrection (Limited), Prayer Reflection (Area Limited)】

【Cost: None】

【File: After discovering that the execution of the Precious Flower family was inevitable, in order to let her daughter survive, Auntie Ai Ma Alman used the location of the Precious Flower family's secret vault as a price, asking Lei Nade Kuke to protect her daughter.】

【In order to obtain the wealth accumulated by the Precious Flower family, Lei Nade Kuke agreed to this transaction, but after confirming that the location of the secret vault was true, fearing that he would be disliked by the Emperor for the act of protecting the remnants of the Precious Flower family, he directly tore up the promise and personally threw the less-than-one-year-old Ai Li Alman into the lake to drown...】

【...】

【When the ignorant soul returned to the human world with her mother, Ai Li Alman, who lacked a physical body, could not be resurrected and was about to dissipate completely under the irradiation of sunlight.】

【In order to keep her last family member, Auntie Ai Ma Alman's strong desire actively split part of the power of the "Sin of the Precious Flower," combined with the souls that dissipated after the death of a large number of clansmen with similar bloodlines, creating this special anomalous object that can only be "used" within the Precious Flower Manor...】

【Evaluation: When with the "Sin of the Precious Flower" Auntie Ai Ma Alman, one should have gained the ability to grow and complete oneself directly after 666 physical deaths, but because the original body is missing, this characteristic can never take effect.】

【Infection Value: 0.1】

It's about the same as I guessed before, but it seems even better.

After reading little Ai Li's "description," Leon couldn't help but smile slightly. The shiny button on his cuff flickered slightly, and a small child's firework appeared in Ai Li's palm.

Immediately following, the 【Dream Intruder】 personally crafted by the third-generation director was activated. A dreamlike flame quietly appeared, igniting the small colored paper that looked like petals at the end of the firework, and a small cluster of brilliant fireworks sprayed out from the gaps in the petal-shaped paper.

"Wow!!!"

"The real gift probably won't make it today, so I'll give you this first."

Holding Ai Li's small palm and teaching her to use the bright spot at the end of the firework to draw circles in the air, Leon looked at little Ai Li, who was full of surprise in front of him, extended the little finger of his right hand to her, and said with a smile:

"If Ai Li can do me a favor, when you blow out the cake candles tonight, make a wish for Senior Auntie Ai Ma to stay at home and accompany you all day tomorrow, then I'll give you another, even better gift. What do you think?" ===== CHAPTER 349 =====