Grandfather wants to see her?
And at such a silent night?
Yan Jian felt deeply uneasy.
She lowered her head and hurried towards her grandfather’s study, her mind swirling fiercely: Among her family, Shi Nian was the first to sense her relationship with Jas; next was Yan Yu, who confird their relationship after witnessing that kiss...
Yet she worried most about her grandfather.
The first ti Jas ca to the house, he t with her grandfather alone. Grandfather had been a lawyer and judge for many years, and with eyes that had long seen through human nature, how could he not perceive the situation between her and Jas.
She knew that tonight, the matter her grandfather suddenly wanted to see her alone about must certainly be this.
.
As she walked into the study, she saw her grandfather standing amidst piles of old papers. The tables around him were filled with old photographs, newspapers, and yellowed letters. Her grandfather stood among them, wearing reading glasses on his eyes and holding a magnifying glass in his hand.
Like an old scholar.
Yan Jian forced a smile: "Grandfather, what are you doing?"
Old Sir Tang’s eyes floated over the edge of his reading glasses, beckoning her: "Co over, listen to grandfather tell a story."
Yan Jian was sowhat surprised, couldn’t help but smile gently, and quickly walked over.
But the smile on her face still couldn’t alleviate the tension within her heart.
She could imagine that even if it were a "story" her grandfather wanted to tell, it would still inevitably relate to the entanglent between her and Jas.
.
Drawing near, Yan Jian looked down, her heart already possessing a general understanding.
This pile of old paper was all related to the marriage alliance between the Tang Family and the Ford family a hundred years ago.
The content on these old docunts could be divided into two major categories: personal and dia reports.
In the personal category, the photos depicted the old grandaunt of that era, shy yet fashionable and beautiful; and a young gentleman in an English-styled tweed suit and eight-panel cap, with a cara hanging around his neck — Yan Jian didn’t need to guess to know that must be the old granduncle from the Ford family.
There were also personal letters, half written in elegant Xiao Kai script, later switched to fountain pen, yet the graceful handwriting in Chinese remained unchanged; the other half was written in fluent and flamboyant cursive English.
In the personal category, Yan Jian saw enduring elegance, serenity, subtle joy, and silent expectation.
But in the dia category, it was all clamorous, condemning, noisy, and chaotic.
The people in the news photos had numb faces and rigid expressions; they wore splendid clothes but had eyes that were terrifyingly hollow — she recognized that as the Tang Family in the eyes of the dia of that era. Glorious yet steely.
And the text on those newspapers almost uniformly criticized, saying the daughter of the "First Family" privately engaged with a foreign journalist, disgracing national dignity, and possibly involving national secrets...
Following the dates handwritten on the back of the photos or in the newspapers, she read through one by one, eventually leading to the newspaper’s large headline announcing "The Grand Marshal expels his daughter, publicly disowns her, henceforth no longer acknowledging her as a mber of the Tang Family..."
Despite wielding significant power amidst military zeal, the old ancestor of the Tang Family still bowed to the rampant slander, hand severing the father-daughter bond with the daughter he loved most.
Though a century had passed, and despite her having no chance to et the old couple, Yan Jian sohow suddenly found her eyes wet upon reaching this point.
.
At this mont, Old Sir Tang leisurely looked up at his granddaughter: "Do you know why the ancestor back then did this?"
Yan Jian sniffled, bowing her head deeply to hide her teary eyes from her grandfather. She pouted prettily: "What else could it be for, of course for the family, for his prestige at the ti, forced to bow to public opinion."
Old Sir Tang smiled: "It seems so on the surface. But in fact, it wasn’t."
Yan Jian was taken aback, raising her eyes: "Could there be a new interpretation?"
Old Sir Tang’s wise gaze stared over: "Do you know, in China, there’s an ancient saying: Look at three generations when marrying."
Yan Jian pouted again: "It ans match the social standing of families."
"Silly child, wrong again." Old Sir Tang gently sighed: "In ancient China, there wasn’t the scientific basis of genetic inheritance yet people sumd up this simple truth: Look at three generations when marrying, which considers not just three generations of professions and status, but even more, it considers three generations’ temperants, family style, and ways of getting along."
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