Chapter One Hundred: Old Man Jiang

  Fang Haibo and his party put their luggage in the room and then went to the main house to pay respects to Old Master Jiang.

  "Uncle Jiang, it's been so many years since we last met. How is your health?" Fang Haibo led his wife and child into the living room, where he saw Old Man Jiang reading a book, and hastily greeted him.

  "Hmph, I'm not dead yet, I've been waiting for you to come back and take care of me in my old age." Old Man Jiang finally looked up from the book in his hand and glanced at the people who had entered. "Xiao Yan, come sit by Uncle Jiang's side quickly, you've been spoiled by that young master Fang for so many years and haven't come to visit Uncle Jiang." Old Man Jiang's attitude towards Zhao Shuyan was obviously much better than towards Fang Haibo.

  However, Qiu Ye noticed that the old man's feelings for his adoptive father were no less than those for his adoptive mother. Just now when they came in, although the old man didn't look at them, but the hand holding the book was shaking slightly, obviously trying to control his excited emotions, and the few words he said about his adoptive father sounded a bit stiff.

  "You old fool, when Haibo didn't come back, you were muttering to yourself all day. Now that he's finally back, you're acting like this. Haibo, Xiaoyan, don't mind him, come and eat quickly, I've already prepared everything." Mrs. Xu carried two dishes into the house, heard the old man's words, and gave him a sharp retort. She couldn't stand her husband's pretentious behavior.

  "You old wife, if you don't say a few words to me every day, you're not comfortable, are you?" Old Master Jiang stared at his wife with a pair of cow-like eyes as she brought in the dishes, trying to cover up his own unnatural behavior.

  Qiu Ye was very sharp-eyed and pulled her brother along to help Mrs. Xu arrange dishes on the table.

  Mrs. Xu didn't bother with that old man at all, knowing he was an old child, the more you bother with him, the more energetic he becomes. Mrs. Xu liked this pair of children even more when she saw how sensible they were.

  "Don't you dare touch it, Grandma will handle it." She was afraid that the hot dish would scald the children, so she instructed the two kids not to move and just wait for her to serve them.

  "Auntie Xu, we can handle this task at home. We all help our mother with it, don't believe me? Ask my mom." Qiu Ye is very good at pretending to be a well-behaved kid, no, she actually is a well-behaved kid.

  Qiu Feng usually doesn't say anything, he just does it. He took a dish from Grandma Xu's hand and put it on the dining table.

  "Oh dear, these two kids are really sensible." Xu Nainai looked at Zhao Shuyan with relief as she stood by and watched.

  "Hmm. Aunt Xiu, they are indeed the biological children of Hai Bo and me." Zhao Shu Yan's one sentence determined the position of Qiu Ye and Qiu Feng.

  Mr. Jiang also started to carefully observe these two children.

  "Come over here, both of you." Old Mr. Jiang said as he sat on the chair in the living room.

  Zha Shuyan and Fang Haibo took a glance at each other and walked over.

  "Oh dear, I wasn't calling you two. I've seen you grow up from kids to adults, what's there to look at? I was referring to those two children." Old Master Jiang said with disdain as he looked over at the two of them.

  Qiu Ye only then knew that the old man with a bad temper was actually calling them siblings.

  "Go on. Don't be afraid, your grandfather Jiang is just a paper tiger, one poke and he'll collapse." Xu Nainai comforted the two children beside her, fearing that they would be scared by their own family's old man's appearance.

  "Xu Nainai, we know that Jiang Ye is not a bad person. At home, my dad and mom always talk about you both. Although this is our first meeting, we already understand Jiang Ye very well," said Qiu Ye.

  What she said was actually a lie, but not entirely false. Fang Haibo did tell them about this family, especially Grandpa Jiang, but he didn't say it at home, he said it on the train.

  "Oh, they've been talking about me too? What did they say?" Old Master Jiang asked as he looked at the two children walking towards him.

  "Old Man Jiang is a good person, kind and gentle, with real skills." Qiu Ye naturally picked out the pleasant words to say, although they were somewhat insincere.

  "Haha, you little girl are too sly, but I like it. Come on, come closer and let Grandpa take a look." Old Man Jiang chuckled and beckoned to Qiu Ye, gesturing for them to move in closer.

  Qiu Ye pulled her brother forward, took two more steps, and walked to the front of Old Man Jiang. She truly gave Old Man Jiang a salute and bowed.

  "Hello Grandpa Jiang, I am the goddaughter of Godfather and Godmother, my name is Qiu Ye, I'm from Oil City, and I'm nine years old this year."

  Qiu Feng also learned from his sister's example and introduced himself, then bowed to the elderly man in front of him.

  "Good, not bad, education is really good, calm in the face of danger, has the demeanor of a great general. Come, Little Ye is it? You come here and let Grandpa take a good look." Old Master Jiang pulled over the little girl in front, and seriously examined her facial features.

  "Not bad, not bad, this kid's facial features are really good, fortune with wealth, wealth with luck, this luck doesn't just affect himself, but also shines on the people around him, it's a rare and precious auspicious sign. Little Yan, you've got yourself a great daughter-in-law, having her by your side will bring great benefits to both of you." Old Master Jiang gave Qiu Ye a reading through his five senses, three stops, and twelve palace positions.

  Qiu Ye didn't think that this old man would so easily give her a face reading, she still thought that such a reclusive master was only willing to tell fortunes for ordinary people by chance.

  Moreover, she now has some doubts about this Old Man Jiang's ability. She herself knows her own affairs, and what her life was like in her past life is clear to her. This life of hers only added some memories from her previous life, without changing her appearance or anything, so she doesn't have the kind of auspicious fate that Old Man Jiang said.

  She didn't know that Old Man Jiang had not told fortunes for a long time due to certain reasons, and this time he was willing to read her fortune so easily because of what Zhao Shuyan said. After all, it's his own family's child, and he should take a good look. Besides, although Qiu Ye looked the same in this life and the previous one, there were still many differences if you looked closely.

  In her previous life, Qiu Ye had short hair and a narrower forehead. In this life, she started growing out her hair from the moment of rebirth, often tying it up, and now her forehead looks wider and fuller than in her previous life. There are many other places where subtle changes have occurred due to her rebirth in this life, otherwise Qiu Ye wouldn't feel that she has become prettier and more pleasing to the eye when looking at herself in the mirror, this is change.

  Zhao Shuyan and Fang Haibo heard Old Man Jiang's words. They were overjoyed, even more delighted than the old man when he said they had a lucky appearance, this is what it means to be a parent.

  "Alright, old man, put away your cheating stuff. The kids haven't had a drop of water or a bite to eat since they got off the train, and all they've heard is you talking nonsense. Hurry up and do something useful!" Xu Nainai clearly didn't like Old Man Jiang telling fortunes, so she criticized him harshly for still wanting to read Qiufeng's fortune.

  Mr. Jiang obviously wasn't the one in charge at home, and after listening to Grandma Xu's words, although he was not very happy about it, he still obediently got up, took the two children by the hand, and walked over to the dinner table.

  "Come on, come on, let's eat first. Whatever it is, we can talk about it after dinner." Xu Nainai pulled Zhao Shuyan to the dinner table and got ready to start eating.

  "Auntie Xiu, aren't we waiting for Yu Tao and the others? Aren't the kids coming back at noon?" Zhao Shuyan asked.

  "They don't live here anymore, it's too far from their workplace, they all have their own apartments near the unit. It's more convenient to live there. Besides, even if they lived here, they wouldn't be able to come back for lunch. Rain Tao and Hai Tao are both busy, they eat at the unit at noon, and the four kids had some activity today at noon, so they weren't home either. So these days it's just us two old people eating at home at noon. By evening, they all come back." Xu Nainai said with a smile.

  Qiu Ye knew that Jiang Grandpa and Xu Grandma had two sons. One was named Jiang Yutao, who was the middle-aged uncle who picked them up at the train station today and was also the deputy director of the Education Bureau. His wife, Wang Juan, was a university professor and a professor at Peking University. Jiang Yutao had two sons, one named Jiang Bingcheng and the other named Jiang Bingchi. One was in his third year of high school and the other was in his first year of high school.

  Jiang Grandfather's other son is Jiang Haitao, who inherited Jiang Grandfather's mantle and holds a public office in the Chinese Artists Association. However, he also has a store in Liulichang that specializes in selling jade jewelry, but most of it is actually turquoise. His wife, Li Lianping, is a government official and the head of a department at the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce. She's a strong woman with two children: an older daughter named Jiang Binghan who is currently in her first year of high school, and a younger son named Jiang Bingyang who is currently in his second year of middle school.

  Although there were only six people having lunch, Grandma Xu had prepared a sumptuous meal.

  At dinner, Grandma Xu kept serving dishes to Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye, her affection overflowing. As they ate, Qiu Feng whispered to his sister, "If our grandma were half as good as Grandma Xu, that would be great."

  Qiu Ye only then realized that, regarding Grandma's partiality and dislike, Qiu Feng didn't actually not care as he had seemed; every child hopes to receive love from their elders.

  "Haibo, when are you going to visit your parents?" Old Man Jiang suddenly asked.

  Fang Haibo fell silent for a moment before saying, "We'll go tomorrow and bring the two kids to visit their grandparents."

  "You've been away for so many years without visiting them, it's time to go and pay your respects." Old Master Jiang also fell silent suddenly.

  Fang Haibo's parents had passed away twenty years ago and were buried together in a cemetery in Beijing. For so many years, Fang Haibo had been drifting outside and hadn't gone to pay his respects to his parents for many years. Every year, it was Old Man Jiang who went to the cemetery on the anniversary of their death, chatted with old friends, talked about the children's affairs, and reported their safety to them. Now that Fang Haibo is back, he naturally wants to go see his parents himself.

  "Xiao Yan, when are you going back to Zhao's house for a visit?" Xu Nainai also asked Zhao Shuyan.

  "What are you looking at? What's the point of going back to that kind of home, Little Yan? We're not going back. Hmph, just seeing that old scoundrel makes me angry." Old Jiang regained his energy as soon as he heard Mrs. Xu's question and shouted in a huff. He was very familiar with the Zhao family's affairs, so he was extremely disgusted with the people of the Zhao family, especially the current mistress of the Zhao family.

  "You old man, how can you talk like that? You're always saying that you're Xiaoyan's biological father. After all these years, he's also regretful now, and his body is not well, every day he's muttering about owing an apology to his daughter." Xu Nainai was angry at Zhao's old man too, but seeing how in these years he had become increasingly ill due to the remorse in his heart, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. It can be said that Old Man Zhao was once glorious, but in the end, he failed to resist the temptation of a beauty and because of a little fox spirit, his wife left him and his family fell apart.