Chapter 587: Chapter 400 Not Helping
By the second watch of the night, Nuan had finally finished encoding.
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Let alone Qiao Ying, even Chuxia, who had already spent most of the day here, was still somewhat confused about the familial hierarchy.
Great Aunt was actually only four years older than Grandpa Lin, but in terms of seniority, she was solidly a generation above. Therefore, for Chuxia, who had grown up in an urban family with hardly any relatives, it was not easy to figure out the proper titles for everyone.
Fortunately, her memory was still good. Whatever she was told to call someone, she firmly remembered, leaving the relationships to be sorted out later on.
Qiao Ying’s demeanor resonated with her, and since she already had a favorable impression of Qiao Ying, she now felt even closer to her. Consequently, she grew fond of Xiao Miao and instinctively pulled her into her embrace.
Seeing how close she was with Xiao Miao made Great Aunt even happier. She couldn’t help but praise Lin Baohe again, "Zhiliang, you’ve raised a good child. She’s beautiful, warm to others, and has a sweet tongue. A child like that will be loved wherever she goes."
Grandpa Lin replied with a smile, "If the child weren’t so endearing, the Zhou family wouldn’t have taken an interest in her. Little aunt, don’t you think that makes sense?"
"Yes, yes, yes..." Old Lady Lin dabbed the corners of her eyes, "Today I’m truly happy. Shenghong, for years I’ve always dreamt of Shengjun standing there looking at me without a word. When I wake up, I can’t sleep for the rest of the night.
Now that I see Zhiliang and his family are all so sensible, I can finally put my heart back in place. When I go down below, I’ll have to talk to both Shengjiang, how their granddaughter has grown to look almost exactly like their daughter.’
Waterfall sweat... What does it mean ’their granddaughter has grown to look almost exactly like their daughter’...
Chuxia has heard this countless times today, but every time, she feels indescribable...
"You don’t seem too happy," Lin Wenbin quipped from a corner, looking at Jing Zhe’s expressionless face. "Do you feel like your sister is being snatched away by so many people?"
"You’re overthinking it," Jing Zhe said coolly, looking at him. "I simply feel like an outsider who needs to step aside. You don’t have to step aside with me."
"Who’s stepping aside?" Lin Wenbin rolled his eyes. "I’m embodying the spirit of Lei Feng here, willingly keeping you company, okay? Seeing you all alone here, and considering how good you’ve been to my sister, I’d feel bad leaving you by yourself. You really overthink things."
Jing Zhe looked at him with understanding. "You’re not very familiar with the people here either. If you don’t want to join in the hustle, just say so. No need to make yourself sound so grand."
"Are you kidding me?" Lin Wenbin looked at him incredulously. "I am familiar with the people in this family. Even if there was a time when we were scattered to the four winds and couldn’t see each other, we’ve kept in touch through letters.
As for Great Auntie’s side, we’ve pretty much lost contact. Back in the day, my grandparents went to seek refuge with Great Auntie, right? Guess what, after feeding them a meal, she practically shooed them out.
In a strange land, finding a place to stay was impossible, and in the end, my grandparents had no choice but to settle in an abandoned brick kiln with my dad.
It wasn’t until our family troubles were over that Great Auntie came to find my grandparents, offering them a place in her home. By then, we were about to return to the Capital City, so what was the point in staying at her place, having to face her family’s attitude?
Once hurt, hearts change. After coming back, even when my grandparents received letters from that side, they wouldn’t respond. It wasn’t until Great-grandfather passed away that the contact with that side was basically cut off completely.
Now, that side still sends letters twice a year, and my grandparents give a perfunctory reply. The choice of words alone tells you it’s as polite as to a stranger."
Jing Zhe patted him and remained silent. This kind of family matter was not something outsiders could advise on. Obviously, Lin Wenbin was sharing this not because he was gossipy but because he didn’t want Jing Zhe to feel like an outsider being edged out.
It wasn’t that Old Lady Lin was treating him coldly; rather, the family was too small to attend to him.
Old Lady Lin and her husband were accustomed to living in Songshui County and didn’t want to move. But their son and daughter were not in Songshui County. Their son, Qiao Wanhua, the current vice governor of Ludong Province, and his wife were mostly in the provincial capital, while their daughter, Qiao Wanli, followed her husband Sun Xiqiang to City A. The only ones left to accompany the old couple in Songshui County were their grandson, Sun Ningjiang, and his family.
So, before Sun Ningjiang and Qiao Ying returned, the only ones at home were Old Lady Lin, Old Master Qiao, and a housemaid named Xiao Jie.
The elderly couple were excited to see their relatives, and who could blame them for not attending to this little tyke? Okay, it wasn’t that they purposely forgot about him, but at such an old age, suddenly having so many people around, it was genuinely hard for them to keep track.
Maybe by now they even mistook him for the driver.
After all, along with the Lin family’s arrival, there was one driver and three bodyguards. Being mistaken was normal, and he didn’t mind one bit.
Clearly, Lin Wenbin was afraid that Jing Zhe would mind, so he stayed with him the whole time.
Chuxia led Xiao Miaomiao over. The little girl’s big eyes fluttered on Jing Zhe’s face for a while before she showed a big smile and said, "Brother is also pretty good-looking. Do you like my Sister Xiao Xia?"
"Hehe..." Chuxia laughed and tugged at her ear. "You’re so young and already not behaving. Do you even know what liking someone means?"
"Of course, I do." Miaomiao blinked her big eyes seriously. "My great auntie likes our school’s Teacher Yang Ping, they are getting married."
Chuxia was at a loss for words; children’s thoughts were indeed peculiar. She could not comprehend from the girl’s explanation what it had fundamentally to do with the misunderstanding about her and Jing Zhe’s relationship.
Jing Zhe looked at Miaomiao with a smile, "You still haven’t explained clearly what liking someone means."
"My great auntie always looks at Teacher Yang Ping before she looks at me. Just now, when I came over with Sister Xiao Xia, you also looked at Sister Xiao Xia before you looked at me."
The explanation sounded a bit unreliable, but after giving it some thought, it actually made a lot of sense—your gaze naturally falls first on the one you like.
"Okay, you got it right, have some candy." Jing Zhe gave her a handful of candy and added, "However, you didn’t get it completely right. I am Sister Xiao Xia’s brother, so of course, I have to like her, but brothers and sisters can’t get married. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Mingming had a confused look in her eyes, but she agreed, understanding all the while, simply because the sweet candy was a child’s favorite.
Luo Ye patted her head amusedly, "What do you understand? It seems to me that you only understand that candy is sweet, right?"
"Hehe..." The little girl’s mouth was full with a piece of candy, making her right cheek bulge out. She glanced at her mother, then leaned close to Chuxia’s ear and whispered, "Mommy always stops me from eating candy. Sister Xiao Xia, you and brother are so nice, I like you guys."
"Just because we gave you candy to eat?"
"Yeah." The little girl nodded her head, then hastily added, "And also, you’re willing to play with me, willing to talk to me, I really like that too. Oh, here comes my great auntie, and my great uncle too..." The little girl said as she got up and ran toward the door.
Chuxia and the others glanced over, their expressions instantly lively as they saw Che Yali’s daughter Jiang Meixiang and a bookish-looking man following behind a nanny as they walked in.
That man, apparently, was the Teacher Sun Ping the little girl mentioned earlier; he wore a shy smile that made him quite likable at first glance.
"Great Auntie!"
"Miaomiao!" Jiang Meixiang called out a bit exaggeratedly and rushed forward to lift her little niece with a beaming smile, then her smile froze...
Ever since Qiao Ying had married into the Qiao family, Jiang Meixiang often came to see her and was considered a family friend of the Qiaos. Seeing her stunned there, Old Lady Jiang just assumed she was overwhelmed by the crowd and said to Qiao Ying, "Go greet Xiaoxiang."
Qiao Ying, who was in the middle of a pleasant chat with Zhao Yulan, felt her head spin when she saw Jiang Meixiang. Hearing the elder’s command, she didn’t fuss and, excusing herself politely from the others, she led Jiang Meixiang and Yang Ping to her room.
"Sister, you..." Once the door closed, Jiang Meixiang set down Miaomiao, her lips trembling, "You..."
"Great Auntie, what’s wrong with you?" Miaomiao looked curiously at Jiang Meixiang, who was different from her usual self. "Are you so cold that you can’t speak?"
Qiao Ying knew Jiang Meixiang must have misunderstood her, so she softly said to her daughter, "Miaomiao, go and play with Sister Xiao Xia. Mommy and your great auntie and great uncle have something to talk about. Will you be a good girl for me?"
"Okay." Her mother’s gentle tone made Miaomiao too embarrassed to refuse, and so she cheerfully went off to find Chuxia; besides, in her little mind, playing with the pretty Sister Xiao Xia would also make her grow up to be pretty.
In the meantime, Jiang Meixiang had managed to calm down quite a bit, and as Qiao Ying approached, she took a deep breath and questioned, "Sister, regardless of whether you have any affection for my mom, she’s at least not your little auntie. How could you agree to help her out but then bring home the person she dislikes the most behind her back?"
"You think they came with me?" Qiao Ying looked at her calmly. "I’m just the daughter-in-law of the Qiao family. Do you think I have the power to bring home so many people?"
"Then..." Jiang Meixiang’s pupils shrank suddenly. "Sister, are you saying... are you saying that they have a relationship with the Qiao family?"
"That’s right. They are relatives from our great-grandmother’s side of the family, to be precise, the descendants of our great-grandmother’s brother..." Qiao Ying spread her hands, "I found out only after getting home myself. Your coming here actually saved me the trouble of delivering the message. Tell your auntie that I can’t help her. I can’t possibly meddle with the relatives of our great-grandmother, unless, of course, your auntie doesn’t want me to stay in the Qiao family anymore." (To be continued. If you like this novel, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian []. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users please visit to read.)