Chapter 193 – SchemeThe scene of the first meeting was on the streets abroad, so the whole production team went abroad after filming the other scenes to shoot the beautiful and romantic first encounter of the male and female lead.
Sheng Jiaoyang was so busy shooting commercials that she didn"t go home for several days. When she returned home, she saw many people present. Xu Qing and Li Weiqi had returned, as well as the Xu Family.
“Jiaojiao!” Xu Qing called out cheerfully.
“You"re back?” Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Li Weiqi, who was chatting with Xu Ze. She"d initially thought that the couple would celebrate the Lunar New Year with the Li Family.
“When I said that I missed you, Weiqi brought me back. We decided to spend the Lunar New Year here this year.” A gentle smile graced Xu Qing"s face.
“What are they doing here?”
“When I arrived today, I called your uncle and told him that I brought them presents. I wanted to send those presents to them tomorrow, but your aunt insisted that they would come and pick them up themselves.”
Sheng Jiaoyang nodded and walked over to Grandfather Yang. On her way, she heard Liang Dahui praising Xu Qi.
“…Qiqi is very filial. He always remembers to buy gifts for everyone at home whenever he goes travelling. Whoever treats him well, he"ll return their grat.i.tude tenfold. I"m very proud to have a son like him.”
“What are you talking about?”
Upon seeing Sheng Jiaoyang, Liang Dahui squeezed out a cordial smile and responded, “Jiaojiao, you"re back. Have you been very busy lately? We watched the drama you starred in, it"s extremely enjoyable! Some time ago, Qiqi and Aiyan also went to watch your movie at the cinema.”
“When are Cousin and Cousin-in-Law planning to get married?” Sheng Jiaoyang asked instead.
Liang Dahui turned to look at Zhang Aiyan, who was smiling happily while holding onto the skincare set that Xu Qing had gifted to her earlier. Her expression darkened and she said with a stiff smile, “They"re still young, so there"s no rus.h.!.+ When Qiqi has a stable job, they can consider it again.”
Sheng Jiaoyang nodded. She looked at Grandfather Yang and said, “Grandfather, I"m going upstairs to change.”
“Mhmm, come down when you"re done, we"re about to have dinner.”
Once Sheng Jiaoyang had changed into comfortable home clothes and returned downstairs, everyone was already seated in the dining hall.
“Mummy, over here~” Xiao An waved to her. There was a seat next to him.
Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at the others before walking over and sitting down.
“It"s great to see everyone in our family together. I think we might as well spend the Lunar New Year together. What do you think, Mr Yang?” Liang Dahui asked.
Indeed, they looked like a big family now. The long table was fully seated with people, and it was a very lively sight by just looking at the number of people present.
With a smile on his face, Grandfather Yang didn"t reject Liang Dahui"s proposal and answered, “Yes, it"s a good idea.”
Liang Dahui was delighted and hurriedly said, “Qiqi, hurry and pick up some food for Mr Yang to try.”
“Okay.” Xu Qi nodded.
“Grandfather, where"s An Jing?” Sheng Jiaoyang found it strange that Xu Qi was sitting beside her grandfather instead of An Jing.
“He went to check on the investment project in person and should be back tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
A thought flashed in Liang Dahui"s mind and she swiftly lamented, “Mr An was lucky to have met Mr Yang and got to where he is now, a.s.suming such great responsibilities at such a young age. It"s a pity that my intelligent Qiqi hadn"t met a talent scout. Alas, I wonder when he can become a man like Mr An.”
“Aunt, everyone has their own fate, so you need to worry about Cousin. With his personality, he might not necessarily want to be like An Jing.” Sheng Jiayang smiled faintly.
Liang Dahui"s smile stiffened for a moment. She complained in her heart: As expected, Xu Jiaojiao is the same as Xu Qing, who doesn"t care one bit about our family. She doesn"t want to help Qiqi and only makes cynical remarks!
“Jiaojiao, you haven"t started working yet, so your thoughts are still naive. Nowadays, who doesn"t want to become a talented person in charge of a big company? However, some people can"t do it. It"s not because they aren"t capable, but because they lack the right opportunity.”
Before Sheng Jiaoyang could speak, Zhang Aiyan retorted, “Mum, Jiaojiao has already started working. Acting is also a profession!”
Liang Dahui glared at Zhang Aiyan and started to feel all the more displeased with her. Fortunately, they were only engaged. Otherwise, if Qiqi wanted to divorce her in the future, he"d lose half of his family property. Mr Yang has so many properties, and if Qiqi inherited them, on what basis should he give half of it to this stupid woman?
“Mr Yang, can you introduce a good job for our Qiqi?” Liang Dahui bluntly asked.
Grandfather Yang unhurriedly chewed the food in his mouth and asked in response, “What kind of work can be considered as a good job?”
Naturally a job where Qiqi can inherit your wealth. This thought flashed across Liang Dahui"s mind. However, she kept a straight face and replied, “The kind of work that you find suitable would be a good job.”
Grandfather Yang smiled. He glanced at Liang Dahui before s.h.i.+fting his gaze to Xu Qi and asking, “What are your thoughts?”
“I-I don"t know,” Xu Qi mumbled.
As his mother said earlier, everyone wants to become a talented person, but he"s aware of his limits. He really didn"t know what kind of job suited him best.
“Do you want to start at the gra.s.s-roots level?” Grandfather Yang asked.
Upon hearing this, Liang Dahui became anxious. “Mr Yang, isn"t it a waste to put such an outstanding talent like Qiqi at the gra.s.s-roots level?”
Grandfather Yang ignored Liang Dahui and asked Xu Qi, “How about it?”
“Just tell me your honest opinion. You still have a long road ahead of you, and no one can walk it for you.” Grandfather Yang sounded very compa.s.sionate, which made Xu Qi have the urge to share his honest thoughts.
Xu Qi glanced at the people present and whispered, “No, I don"t want to.”
Liang Dahui breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Ze looked at his son and wanted to say something, but in the end, he kept silent.
“Working at the gra.s.s-roots level is quite rigorous indeed.” Grandfather Yang sighed and said no more.
Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Xu Qi, who appeared somewhat regretful, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a small smile. She then retracted her gaze and picked up food for Xiao An.
“Mr Yang…” Seeing that Grandfather Yang no longer spoke, Liang Dahui didn"t feel resigned.
“Hurry and eat, otherwise, the food will get cold,” Xu Ze interrupted.
Liang Dahui glared at Xu Ze and secretly uttered: Such a loser!
After dinner, Grandfather Yang asked the driver to send the Xu Family back.
“Dad, please don"t mind them. Qiqi hasn"t been through hards.h.i.+ps, so he couldn"t make out your intentions,” Xu Qing said with a nervous look.
“Everyone has their own way of thinking. I don"t mind him sharing his thoughts, but there"s no suitable position for him at my company.”
Xu Qing examined Grandfather Yang"s expression. Upon confirming that he wasn"t angry, she relaxed. However, she felt perplexed when she thought of Xu Ze"s request. Her brother wanted her to introduce Xu Qi to Grandfather Yang so he would acknowledge Xu Qi as his grandson. If Grandfather Yang wanted to acknowledge a grandson, how could he possibly consider Xu Qi when there"s such an outstanding man like An Jing by his side? But, Grandfather Yang unexpectedly acknowledged someone as useless as her as his daughter.
Why would Grandfather Yang care about the Xu Family? All he cared about was Jiaojiao. He stared at Sheng Jiaoyang and asked, “Why did the shoot take so long?”
“We changed it to a short film, so it took a bit longer.”
“Jiaojiao, your birthday is approaching!” Xu Qing exclaimed.
Sheng Jiaoyang was dazed. She suddenly realised that Xu Jiaojiao was turning eighteen this year.
“What do you want for your birthday?”
“I want you to stay happy and enjoy a blissful life,” Sheng Jiaoyang answered with a smile.
Xu Qing and Li Weiqi looked at each other and saw their smiles reflected in each other"s eyes.
“Jiaojiao, don"t you have any special requests?”
“Why don"t we take a family picture together? Grandfather, what do you think?”
Grandfather Yang nodded. “I have to take a picture while I"m still alive.”
“Grandfather, you"ll forever stay healthy. You said that you"d watch me get married and have children.” Sheng Jiaoyang felt somewhat panicked. She couldn"t bear to hear her grandfather speak in that manner, it was as if he"d leave her at any moment.
“Alright, alright, I"ll watch you get married and have children.”
Grandfather Yang paused before continuing with a slight smile, “Right now, your relations.h.i.+p is developing smoothly. Zhining will surely drag you to the wedding hall as soon as you"re at a marriageable age.”
“Zhining? Jiaojiao, you have a boyfriend?” Xu Qing, who was listening, promptly asked.
Sheng Jiaoyang cast a look at Xu Qing and remembered that she hadn"t told Xu Qing about this yet. Xu Qing and Li Weiqi were seldom at home these days, so they didn"t know that she was currently dating Shen Zhining.
“You"ve met Zhining before. When he returns home from abroad, I"ll call him over to meet you,” Grandfather Yang said.
Xu Qing felt complicated. Her daughter was dating someone, and she, as her mother, was the last person to know about this.
“Grandfather, how is Grandfather Shen doing?” Sheng Jiaoyang asked.
“You didn"t ask Zhining?” Grandfather Yang looked at her.
Sheng Jiaoyang smiled awkwardly. “I"ve been so busy these days that I haven"t contacted him.”
“Didn"t Zhining call you?”
Hearing this, Sheng Jiaoyang also felt surprised. “He called me when he left that day, but I was too busy and didn"t hear the phone. When I called back, his phone was already switched off. Since then, he hasn"t phoned me either. Is everything alright with Grandfather Shen?”
“When you"re old, it"s hard to avoid minor ailments, but it"s no big deal.”
“That"s good then.”
Sheng Jiaoyang thought of something and added, “Grandfather, I"m going back to my room to rest.”
“Go ahead.” Grandfather Yang turned to Xu Qing and Li Weiqi and said, “You two should go and have a rest too. Xiao An will stay here and watch TV with me for a while longer.”
When Sheng Jiaoyang walked into her room, she fished out her cell phone and called Shen Zhining.
It"s evening here, so it should be afternoon over there.
The call was answered after a few rings.
“Should I be glad that you still remember me?” Shen Zhining asked. He sounded like an unfavoured concubine in an abandoned palace who"d finally been called to serve the emperor. His voice contained a bit of resentment, a bit of joy, and a depth that was beyond her grasp.