The lights in the villa's living room shone brightly. The elderly grandfather sat in silence, his sharp gaze sweeping over his two granddaughters.
Though both remained quiet, the elder granddaughter, Jiang Jingshi, had an amused expression, while the younger one mirrored their grandfather’s stern face, staring at the coffee table, lost in thought.
Family resemblance.
Fang ng, the assistant, approached with a tray of tea and placed it in front of them. "Grandfather, have so tea."
The old man acknowledged with a grunt, nodded in thanks, and gently blew on the steaming tea. He even made polite small talk. "It’s been a while, Xiaong. How are things since you and Qianqian started high school? Any difficulties with studies or daily life?"
Fang ng thought, How could there be? She answered, "No, Grandpa, everything is going well."
"That’s good. If anything cos up, just let know. I’ll handle it right away."
She then handed tea to Jiang Jingshi and Jiang Qian. Jiang Jingshi smiled at Fang ng with a aningful look, making her feel slightly helpless.
Jiang Qian, however, neither spoke nor touched her tea. It wasn’t until Fang ng took a seat that she suddenly responded, "I didn’t et him."
The elderly grandfather, just about to take a sip of tea, paused and glanced at his younger granddaughter. "Didn’t et? Why not?"
"Because I wasn’t interested."
"What?" He put down his teacup.
Jiang Jingshi chuckled. She knew their grandfather well—though the Jiang family had grown imnsely powerful, his authority within the household was still undisputed. After all, he was the one who made the family's first fortune.
"Grandpa, Qianqian only just started high school, and she has a lot on her plate. Besides, it’s only been a month since school began. She probably just didn’t have ti for a childhood engagent et-up."
Grandfather picked up his teacup again.
But Jiang Qian countered, "That’s not it, Sister. It’s not because of my studies. Although I’ve been busy, that’s not the reason. Mainly, Grandpa didn’t bring it up before, so why should I have taken the initiative? I think not outright refusing to et is already considerate enough."
Jiang Jingshi blinked at her sister. Well… that actually makes a lot of sense.
Arranged childhood engagents—who would bother eting up unless they truly liked the person or wanted a relationship?
Grandfather froze mid-sip but had to admit that tis had changed.
In the past, both n and won rushed to attend arranged blind dates. Now, none of these girls were in any hurry.
He exhaled. "Fine, whatever your reasons for not eting earlier, I understand. I know the world has changed, and even a childhood engagent doesn’t guarantee marriage."
Then he reminded them, "But I wouldn’t set up my granddaughter with just anyone. I’ve seen the boy’s photo myself, and I even looked into his background from childhood to now. While his family’s finances aren’t as strong as ours, he is extrely talented and has a bright future. He’s a promising young man."
At last, he was about to take his first sip of tea when he asked, "Even if you haven’t t him, you must have at least looked at his profile, right? I sent it to you a month ago."
"I didn’t read it," Jiang Qian answered honestly.
Grandfather turned his head sharply toward her.
Jiang Jingshi interjected, "Grandpa, maybe you should just drink that first sip of tea. Watching this back and forth is tiring."
Grandfather set his cup down. "Drink what?! Qianqian, why didn’t you even read the profile I sent you?!"
Jiang Qian responded matter-of-factly, "I figured I’d look at it when I actually et him."
"But you didn’t et him!"
"Exactly. So why read it? I’ll check before the eting."
Grandfather: "…"
Jiang Jingshi: "…Still makes sense."
Feeling exasperated, Grandfather turned to Fang ng. "Xiaong, did you read it?"
Fang ng was caught off guard. "Uh—no, I didn’t. Since Qianqian never checked it, I never opened it either."
"Then go print a copy now. We’ll review it together."
"Oh, okay. Please wait a mont, Grandpa." Fang ng got up and headed to the study.
anwhile, Grandfather continued speaking to his granddaughters.
"The main reason I ca today is to settle this engagent. I’ve already discussed it with my old comrade. Regardless of whether you two hit it off, you at least need to et once and see if there’s any chemistry. That’s not too much to ask, is it?"
Jiang Qian replied coldly, "Just a eting isn’t unreasonable."
Grandfather finally took that long-awaited first sip of tea—sweet and satisfying.
In the study, Fang ng turned on the computer, retrieved the email attachnt from Grandfather’s inbox, and sent it to print.
The printer humd as pages of detailed personal history rolled out.
Fang ng marveled at the sheer amount of information. "Wow, is the guy from a wealthy family too? Regular people don’t usually have this much data…"
She casually picked up a page.
It read:
Second grade: Ranked first in town for math and Chinese;
received the "Model Student" award.Third grade: First in town for math, second in English, first in Chinese, and first in moral character.
The docunt ticulously listed every academic achievent and honor.
Fang ng was stunned. "This guy’s incredible! Full marks in everything since childhood?!"
Then she rembered sothing. "Grandpa ntioned he goes to our high school. But do we even have a student this impressive?"
She flipped to the first page, which had the na, birthplace, and a color photo.
Just as she was about to read the na, she muttered, "As far as I know, the top student at our school is the one Qianqian has been paying a lot of attention to lately—Lin Zhengran. And I rember checking his academic record before, too. Seems like he’s always been first in—"
She paused on the final syllable.
Her eyes locked onto the na and photo on the profile. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
The docunt read:
Jiang Qian’s childhood engagent partner: Lin Zhengran.
Fang ng: "LIN ZHENGRAN?!"
The printer stopped humming. She rubbed her eyes to confirm she wasn’t seeing things.
No mistake.
This was too much of a coincidence.
Also… wasn’t she supposed to be engaged to Lin Zhengran?!
How did he end up being Jiang Qian’s fiancé instead?!
"What the—?!"
Her exclamation was loud enough to be heard by Jiang Jingshi, who had just arrived at the door to check on the progress.
She pushed open the study door. "Xiaong, what’s wrong? The docunts aren’t done printing yet?"
Fang ng forced herself to stay calm, clutching the docunt as she smiled stiffly.
She cleared her throat. "They’re done… but, um, it’s a bit… surprising."
Jiang Jingshi raised an eyebrow. "Surprising? How surprising?"
She glanced at the stack of docunts. "Is there a lot?" Her curiosity was piqued. "Let take a look. I want to see what kind of person Qianqian’s fiancé is."
"Here you go."
Jiang Jingshi took the papers and began reading aloud.
"Jiang Qian’s childhood engagent partner: Lin Zhengran. Hmm… HMM?!"
She froze.
Her warm, gentle eyes widened in disbelief.
She looked up at Fang ng.
"Lin Zhengran?! That’s… Zhengran?"
Fang ng smiled awkwardly. "I didn’t expect this either. But maybe Grandpa was right—Qianqian really should’ve checked this profile earlier…"
Reviews
All reviews (0)