"What? You don't remember?"
"..."
Seeing her shy, tongue-tied demeanor, Xie Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow. "Did we do anything? Does your body feel anything?"
Now that he mentioned it, it was true. Apart from a headache, nothing else seemed to hurt.
The heart that had been stuck in Jiang Nianxi's throat suddenly sank back down. Thank goodness nothing had happened; otherwise, she truly wouldn't have known how to face him.
Biting the bullet, Jiang Nianxi sincerely apologized to him. "Uncle, I'm sorry. I wasn't myself last night. I've caused you trouble."
Xie Zhiyuan was slightly taken aback.
She had been acting very strangely from last night until now.
Had something provoked her?
Based on her usual character, she should have lashed out at him and slapped him a few times by now.
Sensing his confusion, Jiang Nianxi felt even more embarrassed.
Her uncle had always said he wouldn't interfere in her affairs anymore, yet he appeared at every critical moment. But she had always insulted him, even having a huge row with him just days ago because of Ji Yanxiu.
She hadn't just insulted him; she had acted like a madwoman, hitting and biting him, telling him to get lost, and saying she never wanted to see him again...
Jiang Nianxi didn't want to admit that the madwoman was her.
At a loss for what to do, the only solution she could think of was to run away.
Finding her clothes, bag, and phone in the room, she was shocked to discover dozens of missed calls on her phone, all from the same person.
Grandfather.
Jiang Nianxi's nose suddenly stung.
When her grandfather passed away, the obstruction from Ji Yanxiu and Lin Shuran had prevented her from seeing him one last time. Now, she was actually able to return to her grandfather's side...
The urge to go home had never been as intense as it was in this moment!
Jiang Nianxi gathered her things and said earnestly to Xie Zhiyuan, "Uncle, I have to go back now. Last night... thank you."
With that, she hurried away.
Xie Zhiyuan watched her retreating back, lost in thought.
...
The Jiang Family villa was situated halfway up the mountain. At this moment, the head of the Jiang family, Jiang Bai, sat upright in the center of the sofa. The air pressure around him was stifling, and the servants didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
"Old Master, do you see how ridiculous this is? Shuran kindly tried to persuade Nianxi to come home, only to be hurt by her like this."
The one speaking was the current mistress of the Jiang household, Lin Shuran's biological mother, Ye Mei.
As she applied medicine to her daughter's arm, she complained with indignation.
Ye Mei's belly was distended; she appeared to be several months pregnant. Already forty, she maintained her appearance well and still looked to be in her thirties.
"Mom, it's okay, it's just a small wound. It's all my fault for being useless—I couldn't bring sister back. That kind of place has all sorts of people, and I was just really worried about her," Lin Shuran said with a worried tone.
There was a bloody scratch on her arm, which she had deliberately inflicted on herself the night before while running to take Ji Yanxiu to the hospital.
Upon returning, however, she told the family that when she tried to persuade Jiang Nianxi to come home, Jiang Nianxi had flown into a rage and tried to hit her with a wine bottle. She claimed that if she hadn't reacted quickly, it wouldn't have just been a scratch from flying shards of glass.
"That wretch!"
When Jiang Bai thought of the photos Lin Shuran had shown him—of Jiang Nianxi fooling around with unsavory men in a nightclub—his lungs felt like they were going to explode with rage.
His sharp gaze swept over the man sitting to the side. "Why haven't you asked the people you sent out if they've found Niannian yet? Even if you have to drag her back, you must bring her to me!"
The man was Jiang Nianxi's biological father, the current power-holder of the Jiang Group, Jiang Yuanshan.
"Dad, Nianxi has gone bad, she's beyond teaching! If she likes running around outside, let her be. With the way she is, she'll suffer sooner or later, and then she'll know to come back crying!"
"Bullshit! And you call yourself her father! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to let a girl like that run wild on her own?"
As Jiang Nianxi reached the door, she heard this sentence, and her footsteps faltered.
She had originally assumed that her grandfather hated her to death. She hadn't expected that he still loved and cared for her.
Jiang Nianxi's heart ached bitterly.
She had failed her grandfather.
Looking at the main entrance in front of her, Jiang Nianxi recalled the time she was drugged. Lin Shuran had told her that her grandfather had also died of poisoning—a chronic poison.
Everyone had believed that she had literally worried her grandfather to death. Encouraged by Ye Mei and Lin Shuran, they had jointly removed her from the family register and kicked her out of the Jiang family to fend for herself!
Those vixens... not only did they want the entire Jiang family for themselves, but they had also murdered her grandfather; they were truly vicious!
Jiang Nianxi even suspected that the traffic accident her mother had suffered years ago might have been their doing as well.
After all, not long after her mother's funeral, these two had moved right in.
Her grandfather had been furious, but since Jiang Yuanshan and Ye Mei had already secretly obtained their marriage license, he was helpless.
Regardless, now that she had returned, she would never let them succeed again. This time, it wasn't certain who would be the one to die!
Jiang Nianxi raised her hand and decisively pressed the doorbell.
"Ding-dong... Ding-dong."
The sound of the doorbell rang out suddenly, and a servant hurried to open the door. Seeing the person standing at the entrance, the servant looked panicked. "Young Miss, you're back!"
It seemed the Jiang household would have no peace tonight.
It was a pity for the Old Master, who had heart problems and high blood pressure; he would surely be worried to death by this rebellious, degenerate young lady sooner or later!
Stepping into the Jiang gates once again, Jiang Nianxi saw Jiang Bai sitting on the sofa at a glance.
He was dressed in a dark traditional Tang suit, leaning on a cane with both hands. Although his hair was already gray, he was still full of vigor, and his brow carried a natural authority. One could easily imagine how handsome and high-spirited he must have been in his youth.
Jiang Nianxi couldn't connect the living Jiang Bai in front of her with the memory of the lifeless body lying on a hospital bed, face ashen and void of breath.
"Grandfather..."
Her throat felt as if it were obstructed; it was abnormally difficult to call out those two short words.
Seeing that she had returned, the heart Jiang Bai had been holding onto suddenly dropped, and he glared at her. "You brat! Who gave you permission to go to that kind of place? You even turned your phone off and didn't answer my calls. Do you have any idea how worried I was!"
Ye Mei was stunned. What was going on? Hadn't this idiot previously said she hated everyone in this house and would rather stay at school than come back?
Yet now, she had actually come back obediently?
Moreover, in the past, if she had heard Jiang Bai say this, she would have stormed into her room and slammed the door in anger. But at this moment, her eyes instantly turned red, and she ran toward Jiang Bai, throwing herself into his arms!
Feeling the warmth of her grandfather, Jiang Nianxi's tears gushed out. "Grandfather, you're still here... That's wonderful... That's wonderful!"
Jiang Bai was caught off guard, shocked to the point of speechlessness.
Ever since Ye Mei had brought Lin Shuran into the house, Nianxi's temper had become worse and worse, she had become increasingly rebellious, and her relationship with the family had deteriorated.
It had been... a very long time since she had been this close to him, or called him "Grandfather" like this.
The last time, she had irritably called him an "old fossil" and told him not to meddle in her business.
At that time, his heart had gone completely cold.
But now, what had happened to her?