Beijing. The Jiang Family Mansion!
In the living room of the main hall, the old patriarch was listening as his secretary read a document to him.
The old man was already eighty years old. Although he was still in relatively good health, his eyesight had deteriorated.
It didn’t affect his daily life much, but reading books and newspapers was a struggle, so most of the time he needed his secretary to read documents and newspapers to him!
Just then, the door swung open!
Old Master Jiang looked up and saw that it was his third son entering. He immediately waved his hand, signaling for the secretary to step out.
Once the secretary had left, Old Master Jiang asked in a deep voice, “How is Yun’er? Has she shown any improvement?”
Jiang Shiying frowned and said, “I’m not sure if this counts as an improvement, but I feel like Yun’er’s mood has stabilized quite a bit after taking that medicine!”
“Really? She’s calmer?”
“Yes. At the very least, she hasn’t been crying and screaming today. She just shed a few tears when she thought about the child.”
Hearing this, Old Master Jiang sighed and said, “It’s been hard on her all these years. You two were caught up in the fallout from what happened back then because of me. Otherwise…”
“Please don’t say that, Grandfather. When the nest is destroyed, no egg remains intact. Even setting aside the fact that you’re my father, in a situation like that, no one with even the slightest connection could have walked away unscathed!”
Jiang Shiying continued, “I suppose it just means that child wasn’t meant to be part of our family. Sigh!”
“Perhaps it’s simply the Jiang family’s fate to have no daughters. If she’d been a boy, perhaps none of that would have happened!” Old Master Jiang sighed as well.
The old man’s heart was heavy as he spoke. The Jiang family had long been dominated by males—for three generations… no, make that four—they had not had a single daughter.
In his own generation, Jiang Dingfang and his six brothers had no sisters. His wife had given birth to three sons in a row, yet still, not a single daughter.
Moving on to the grandchildren’s generation, many had married, yet still no girls were born.
The only one who had given birth to a girl for the Jiang family—the third son’s wife—had suffered a tragic accident during childbirth, and the baby had not survived. Truly, fate can be cruel!
“Father, please don’t blame yourself. None of us could have foreseen what happened back then!” Jiang Shiying said.
“Hmm, at my age now, I don’t think about much else. I just hope Yun’er can get back to normal. If possible, you two should have another child—even if you have to adopt one!”
“Father, let’s worry about children later. All I ask is that Yun’er gets better!” Jiang Shiying said.
“By the way, what’s the story with that young man? How did he know this medicine would work for Yun’er?” the old man asked in a grave tone.
“I’ve already asked Long Yin and Long Cheng about this, but their answers were rather baffling. I don’t know if I should believe them!”
“Oh? Even you call it hard to believe? What exactly is going on?”
Hearing Jiang Shiying’s words, the old man also became interested in the matter.
Jiang Shiying then recounted everything he had learned to the old man.
“You’re saying that young man predicted something bad would happen to Long Cheng the very first time he met him, and then just happened to save him? And he also predicted that the Ye family’s son was going to get married?”
“Yep!”
“There’s no such thing as a coincidence this big in this world, unless that kid is a god. I’d say there’s definitely something fishy going on here!” the old man said.
“Long Yin has already sent people to investigate. The assassination attempt on Long Cheng really had nothing to do with that young man, and those thugs certainly went all out. If that young man hadn’t intervened, Long Cheng might very well have…”
Although Jiang Shiying didn’t finish his sentence, Old Master Jiang knew exactly what he meant.
“If that’s really the case, then this gets interesting!”
“Also, that young man has been saying these past few days that Long Cheng is being targeted by underhanded people, and he’s even had him start investigating three junior managers at their factory!”
“Oh, is that so? Could it be that the lad has a grudge against those people at Longcheng’s factory?”
“It doesn’t seem so at the moment. I’ve already had Long Yin send people to look into this. I’m actually curious to see if the people he mentioned are truly malicious or just being falsely accused!”
“You’re doing the right thing. Also, have someone look into this young man—there’s something off about him!” Old Master Jiang said.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. I’ve already made the arrangements!” Jiang Shiying replied.
“Keep a close eye on Yun’er. If she gets too swamped with work, just transfer her back to Beijing if necessary!”
“We’ll see.”
“You’ve always had a mind of your own since you were a child, so I won’t meddle in your work matters. But you must remember—we’ve already let Yun’er get hurt once. We can’t let anything else happen to her!”
“Understood!”
After that, Jiang Shiying discussed personnel transfers in the province with the old man for a while before returning to his own room.
When he reached the door of his west wing quarters, Jiang Shiying slowed his pace and tiptoed to open the door.
Since falling ill, my wife, Ye Lingyun, has not only become emotionally sensitive but has also developed severe sleep problems; even the slightest noise can wake her up.
Once she is woken up, she cannot fall back asleep for the rest of the night.
So when he was at home, he tried his best not to make any noise.
However, when he returned to his wife’s bedside, he discovered that she had woken up at some point and was staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.
“Did I wake you up?” Jiang Shiying asked gently.
He and his wife had grown up together as childhood sweethearts—from daycare to school, and eventually as a family—and he had always protected her every step of the way.
Even over the past twenty years, as his wife’s condition fluctuated between good and bad, he had continued to love her deeply.
“No, I dreamed of our child again. I dreamed she wasn’t dead, and she called me ‘Mom’ in the dream…”
As she spoke, Ye Lingyun’s eyes reddened once more, though this time she held back her tears!
“I’m sorry. I failed to protect you both,” Jiang Shiying said, sounding somewhat remorseful.
Ye Lingyun shook her head without speaking. “Shiying, can you promise me one thing?”
“What is it? Go ahead!”
“If I die, please take my ashes to Yong County and bury me next to my child. I miss her so much!” Ye Lingyun said weakly.
“No, don’t say such gloomy things. You’ll get better…”
Ye Lingyun shook her head. “Don’t lie to me. I know my own body—it’s already beyond saving!”
“I’ve already found you a miracle drug. You’ll get better soon. Trust me—just trust me one more time, okay?” Jiang Shiying said, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.
Ye Lingyun looked at her husband with a pang of sorrow. He was only in his early forties, yet his head was already completely gray; anyone who didn’t know him would think he was in his fifties or sixties.
She had certainly suffered greatly over the years, but so had he.
She hadn’t married the wrong man, but fate had played a cruel joke on them as a couple.
“I believe you!”
After a long moment, Ye Lingyun spoke again: “I heard the Lin family is planning to form an alliance with our Ye family, and the person they’re pairing with is Jianhua. Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s already been decided!”
“That’s wonderful news. If our daughter were still alive, she’d be turning twenty soon. What a pity!”
“Don’t dwell on it. What’s past is past,” Jiang Shiying said with a sigh.
Ye Lingyun shook her head. “It’s been twenty years. I’ve actually been running away from it all this time. I just can’t get past that mental barrier, yet I don’t have the courage to face it. That’s why, even after twenty years, I haven’t dared to go back and visit my child’s grave.”
“I don’t know what’s come over me these past few days, but I keep dreaming about that child. She keeps calling me ‘Mom’ and asking why I don’t come to see her!”
Jiang Shiying had been with his wife for so many years; naturally, he understood her feelings.
Without hesitation, he said, “Here’s what we’ll do: once you’re feeling better, I’ll take you back to Yong County!”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
……..