Chapter 23

"Grandpa!" Qiao Zhenzhen pretended not to notice his displeasure and continued to greet him with a sunny smile.
The elderly man in a Tang jacket before her was her maternal grandfather, Qin Sheng.
Although her mother once severed ties with the Qin family for insisting on marrying her father, they later eased things for a few years. Back then she often came to her grandfather's house with her mother, and the Qin family had helped Jiao Jian a great deal.
But as Jiao Jian's business grew, his attitude worsened. Qin Sheng had a fiery temper, and their conflicts escalated until they finally cut ties completely.
In her memory, Qin Sheng always wore a scowl and called her an ungrateful little wretch. She didn't like him either, yet after she and her mother were forced out with nothing, it was that very old man, who was so quick to jeer, who secretly helped support them. Unfortunately, by then her mother had sunk into severe depression and lost all hope, and never considered reconciling.
After being reborn, Qiao Zhenzhen had planned to visit him in the summer, then slowly mend things between him and her mother and prepare for the next phase of her plan. She hadn't expected Zhao Ying's pregnancy to happen ahead of schedule and caught her off guard.
Truth be told, she had relied too heavily on her past-life knowledge and overlooked that Zhao Lianqiao was a real person with his own thoughts and plans, someone not bound to the script or to be controlled by others.
Qiao Zhenzhen sighed, and before she knew it she was standing in front of Qin Sheng. "Grandpa!"
"What grandpa? Who's your grandpa?!" Qin Sheng snapped, shooting her a displeased look. "Who are you? I don't know you!"
Qiao Zhenzhen tried to ingratiate herself. "We haven't seen each other in a few years, how could you not recognize me? It's Zhenzhen." She tactfully left out her surname.
Qin Sheng sneered, scowling as he walked into the compound. He paused beside Chi Shen as if to say something, but after a moment's thought he kept silent and strode on with a stony face.
Qiao Zhenzhen hurried after him but was stopped by security. "Sorry, miss, you can't go in."
"That's my grandfather," Qiao Zhenzhen frowned.
The guard said helplessly, "But Mr. Qin didn't acknowledge you."
"...Even if he won't admit it, he's still my grandfather. Let me in." Qiao Zhenzhen tried to charm him. When the guard remained unmoved, she had no choice but to shout at Qin Sheng's retreating back, "Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Qin Sheng immediately quickened his pace and soon disappeared ahead.
Qiao Zhenzhen sighed and turned to the silent Chi Shen. She said dryly, "Grandpa's all mouth, he's soft at heart. He'll let us in."
"Mm." Chi Shen nodded.
Qiao Zhenzhen grew more annoyed: "Why do you believe everything I say?"
Chi Shen paused, pressing his thin lips together.
"...I didn't mean to blame you," Qiao Zhenzhen hurried to explain. When she finished she sagged down onto the curb, and when she looked up and saw him still standing in the doorway she waved at him, "Come over."
Chi Shen immediately followed and sat down beside her.
"Grandpa was staring at you earlier, do you two know each other?" Qiao Zhenzhen asked, curious.
Chi Shen shook his head.
"...I don't think so," Qiao Zhenzhen mumbled, splitting the water she had just bought and handing him a bottle.
Chi Shen took the bottle, twisted the cap open, and then handed it back to her. Qiao Zhenzhen, who had been wrestling with the cap, brightened at once: "You're quite the gentleman."
After saying that she swapped her bottle with his.
She gulped down more than half the bottle and finally perked up. Glancing at her phone she said, "If we wait another four or five hours my uncle should be off, he's reasonable. When he gets back and sees us he'll definitely let us into the house."
"Mm." Chi Shen replied, as brief as ever.
Qiao Zhenzhen cupped her face and sat on the curb, watching cars and pedestrians go by. She quickly grew bored, pulled out her phone again to scroll social media, and when she saw a news item she gasped and tugged at Chi Shen's sleeve: "Look!"
Chi Shen paused and looked down, the news page.
The picture showed two bruised men wrapped in towels, surrounded by a crowd.
Qiao Zhenzhen scanned it and couldn't help laughing: "Isn't that those two drunks who hit on me the other day? Do you remember them?"
"...Don't remember," Chi Shen said, eyes downcast.
Qiao Zhenzhen kept reading aloud: "It says they drank too much and crawled into the sauna, then somehow got locked inside. If the attendant hadn't found them in time they might have died from the heat. What's with the injuries on their faces? Oh, blacked out from drinking, probably self-inflicted. That's messed up; who has the energy to fight in that heat..."
Halfway through she saw the date of the incident and instinctively looked up, only to find herself suddenly caught by Chi Shen's gaze.
She froze for a moment, then muttered awkwardly, "What a coincidence, this happened after we left that day."
"Mm." Chi Shen lowered his eyes.
Qiao Zhenzhen swallowed: "I remember, you forgot your things after we left, and then you went back..."
She trailed off as Chi Shen looked at her calmly; she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
Silence fell between them for a long moment. Finally Qiao Zhenzhen cleared her throat: "Good thing you didn't run into them again. Drunks like that will even attack their own, who knows what they'd do. They're terrifying; stay far away from people like that."
Chi Shen looked away, his fingertips nervously twisting the fabric of his clothes.
Qiao Zhenzhen let out a soft breath and opened a single-player game to pass the time, planning to wait for her uncle to finish work and take her home. But before her uncle returned a sudden downpour arrived.
When the raindrops began to fall Qiao Zhenzhen panicked, unsure where to shelter. Suddenly a security guard called out, "Those two kids! Come over here and get out of the rain!"
She hurriedly pulled Chi Shen into the security booth and shut the door, keeping the rain out.
"Thank you, uncle." Qiao Zhenzhen offered her thanks, then looked at Chi Shen.
Chi Shen paused, "Thanks."
"No problem, Mr. Qin is a very good man; he often brings us food, so it's only right we help you," the security guard an older man said with a smile.
Qiao Zhenzhen immediately tried her luck: "Since you're so kind, could you let us in?"
"No." The guard answered decisively.
Qiao Zhenzhen's smile twitched; she gave up trying.
The guard chuckled, "Don't take it personally, it's just our job."
"It's fine, really. We're just grateful to be out of the rain," Qiao Zhenzhen said quickly, waving her hand, then glanced at Chi Shen.
Chi Shen: "Thanks."
The guard laughed: "Is he your younger brother? So obedient." In truth Chi Shen and Qiao Zhenzhen looked like opposites, one cool, one warm, completely different types. But both had fair skin and pleasant looks, so to older people they still seemed similar.
Qiao Zhenzhen chuckled, "No, he's my desk mate."
"Oh?" The guard's curiosity was piqued, and just as he was about to ask more someone appeared outside the door. He froze for a second, hurriedly opened it, "Mr. Qin!"
Qiao Zhenzhen was startled and turned to see Qin Sheng standing outside the booth holding an umbrella; the thing he was leaning on wasn't a cane but a second umbrella.
His shoes were soaked and his trouser legs splattered, he'd clearly rushed out. Qiao Zhenzhen saw at once that he'd come to keep her from getting wet and lit up, "Grandpa!"
"Who do you call Grandpa!" Qin Sheng snapped, but when he saw she wasn't wet he relaxed, handed her the umbrella, and said, "Now get out of here, don't stand around and bother people at work!"
"Okay." Qiao Zhenzhen agreed at once, but after grabbing the umbrella she gave Chi Shen a look and, holding the umbrella, fell in step behind Qin Sheng.
Qin Sheng had started to walk away after giving her the umbrella, but after a good distance he couldn't help glancing back. Seeing the two of them sharing one umbrella and trailing him step for step, he stopped, and they stopped immediately too.
"...Why are you following me?! Get back to your Qiao family!" Qin Sheng said sternly.
"No, I won't. I'm sticking with Grandpa," Qiao Zhenzhen said quickly, pledging her loyalty.
Qin Sheng snorted and turned to leave. Qiao Zhenzhen hurried to pull Chi Shen along. Much shorter than him, she found it hard to hold his arm and the umbrella at the same time; finally Chi Shen took over the umbrella and freed her aching right hand.
"It's better when a tall person holds the umbrella, the wind is less," Qiao Zhenzhen praised.
Chi Shen's mouth twitched into a faint smile.
The two of them followed Qin Sheng forward and soon reached the Qin residence. Worried Qin Sheng might not let her in, Qiao Zhenzhen seized the moment he opened the door and dragged Chi Shen inside.
“...What's the rush?!” Qin Sheng snapped irritably.
Qiao Zhenzhen managed to get into the Qin family's living room and froze at the entryway. “Grandpa, I want to change my shoes.”
“There aren't any shoes of yours here!” Qin Sheng said flatly.
Qiao Zhenzhen paused, then replied innocently, “But my shoes are wet.”
“...There are disposable slippers in the shoe cabinet.”
Hearing his tough-but-soft words, Qiao Zhenzhen couldn't help a small, secret smile. She looked up and found Chi Shen staring at her, and immediately felt a little embarrassed. “You should change your shoes too.”
“Okay.” Chi Shen answered seriously.
After they changed their shoes, they went and sat down in the living room. Qin Sheng put his umbrella down and came in as well, sitting directly opposite them.
Seeing her grandpa look noticeably younger than in her memory, Qiao Zhenzhen felt a whirl of emotions and didn't know where to begin.
As the silence stretched, Qin Sheng suddenly asked, “Did your mother know you were coming this time?”
“No,” Qiao Zhenzhen answered honestly, then quickly added, “But she's missed you a lot over the years.”
Qin Sheng's face remained unreadable; it was hard to tell whether he believed her.
Qiao Zhenzhen rubbed her nose, thinking about what to say next, when Qin Sheng suddenly looked weary. “There's no use asking me about this.”
Qiao Zhenzhen: “?”
“I've severed ties with you now; I won't meddle in your affairs anymore,” Qin Sheng said, then, as if remembering something, glared at Chi Shen and sneered, “You should be grateful I've cut you off. If I hadn't, just for not studying properly and for dating early, and bringing a young sweetheart home, that alone would be enough reason for me to break your legs.”