The Xu Family's situation was much better than Sheng Jiaoyang had imagined. Even the things her uncle's wife did to make things difficult for them wasn't that extreme.

Xu Qing was the one who sensed this change the most. This time, everyone's att.i.tude towards her was entirely different from the last time she'd come here. Last time she'd come to borrow money, Grandmother Xu had kept harping on that she wasn't trying to improve herself, and had asked her why she'd wanted to give birth to a burden and why she didn't remarry. She said that her brother didn't earn money easily, expenses were expensive, and he still needed money to let Qiqi marry a young woman and so on. Her brother had said that all the money was managed by his wife, telling her to find his wife to borrow money, but her sister-in-law had never liked her. When she went to borrow money, not only did she not borrow a single cent, but she was also berated.

Actually, this was reasonable, just as Grandmother Xu had said, she'd given birth to a good daughter. Having a superstar daughter meant that she, as her mother, naturally flourished with the flow. Even if they didn't make a conscious effort, everyone subconsciously felt that the mother-and-daughter pair was no longer at the stage of c.u.mbersomely borrowing money at one's door. Their att.i.tude naturally changed.

After eating together, Sheng Jiaoyang and the rest went back home.

Sheng Jiaoyang received a call before she fell asleep. The moment she heard the aged voice over the phone, she was so moved that her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears.

“Child, let's meet each other.”

That's Grandfather's voice!

She'd waited bitterly for two days, and now her grandfather had finally returned her call.

Sheng Jiaoyang inhaled deeply and said, “Okay, where should we meet?”

“You're still studying, so tomorrow I'll come and fetch you after you've finished your cla.s.ses.” Compared to his agitated and angry tone on the day of the funeral, her grandfather's tone was gentle this time. It was almost excessively gentle.

“Yes.” Grandfather had returned to China?

“It's late, rest early.”

“Then, goodnight…Grandfather.” After saying 'Grandfather', she immediately ended the call. This was probably because she was afraid that she'd hear her grandfather scolding her, saying that she was addressing him improperly like last time.

In the luxurious presidential suite, Grandfather Yang, who was sitting on the sofa, slowly put the phone down. He picked up his tablet and opened a folder. It was unknown how many times he'd opened the collection of videos.

“Grandfather, it's very late, so you should sleep soon,” An Jing came over and reminded him.

Grandfather Yang shook his head. “You go to sleep first, don't worry about me. I want to watch these for a while longer.”

An Jing's gaze swept across the tablet's screen playing videos with Jiaojiao featured in them. He then urged again, “Didn't you make an appointment to meet tomorrow? Just make everything clear when the time comes. Today, you still need to rest early, and only then will you be spirited enough for tomorrow.”

“You're right.” Grandfather Yang nodded. With An Jing's support, he went back to his room to rest.

An Jing returned to the living room and sat on the seat that Grandfather Yang had just gotten up from. He picked up the tablet on the coffee table and attentively watched all the videos that Grandfather Yang had asked someone to collect for him. These videos were watched countless times by Grandfather Yang with great patience.

All the videos had something to do with Xu Jiaojiao; from when she'd partic.i.p.ated in the supermodel compet.i.tion until now. All the videos that could be found about her were in this folder.

After looking through all of them once, An Jing merely felt that Xu Jiaojiao's personality was quite interesting, but other than that, he didn't have any other feelings. He didn't know why Grandfather Yang had asked for all the videos of her after looking at the investigation report of Xu Jiaojiao, and then repeatedly watched them.

What exactly did Xu Jiaojiao want to say? Why is it that she can only tell Grandfather Yang about the secret concerning Jiaoyang?

An Jing stared at the video with Xu Jiaojiao smiling absent-mindedly, and he sunk deep in thought.

The next day.

Sheng Jiaoyang went to school for cla.s.s. Since she was quite nervous about meeting her grandfather later, she couldn't focus and didn't pay attention to any of the morning cla.s.ses.

After cla.s.ses were over, she walked straight out of the cla.s.sroom and didn't even notice her cla.s.smates bidding her farewell.

“What's wrong with Jiaojiao? She seemed absent-minded all day.”

“I also think that her thoughts were elsewhere.”

The students began chatting.

“Don't you remember? A few days ago, someone took a picture of her and her rumoured boyfriend appearing together at the airport. Afterwards, someone took another picture of her returning with another man. Could it be that she argued with her boyfriend or they broke up?”

“You shouldn't curse Jiaojiao. Jiaojiao doesn't appear like she's grieving or sad, it's more like she's antic.i.p.ating a meeting with another person.”

“Okay, let's not guess randomly. Tomorrow, if Jiaojiao comes to cla.s.s, we can just ask her directly. I think that with Jiaojiao's personality, she won't hide this kind of thing from us.”

“Right!”

Only then did the students disperse.

Sheng Jiaoyang had just walked out of the school building when she was blocked by someone.

“Xu Jiaojiao, it's really not easy to b.u.mp into you. As a good student, you also dare to skip cla.s.s? Tsk tsk!”

Sheng Jiaoyang coldly stared at the youth in front of her and asked, “What do you want?”

Yuan Neng extended the hand that was behind his back and a rose appeared in front of her eyes.

“For you!”

Sheng Jiaoyang took a quick cold glance at the rose, and without beating around the bush, she asked, “You want to chase me?”

“Yes, please give me a chance!” Yuan Neng raised the rose higher.

“What if I refuse?” Sheng Jiaoyang didn't pay attention to the flower.

Yuan Neng laughed. His expression was determined as he said threateningly, “Then, you should be more careful.”

“Okay,” Just when Yuan Neng thought that she would compromise, Sheng Jiaoyang added, “Thank you for your reminder, my ride's here.”

Yuan Neng followed her gaze and looked over to see a car parked nearby. A young man got off from the driver's seat and walked towards them.

“Let's go, Miss Xu.”

Sheng Jiaoyang walked forward two steps before abruptly pausing. She turned around and smiled at Yuan Neng. “Next time, if you want to invite me, bring Lin Yu along as I'm more familiar with him.”

Yuan Neng stood there as he held the flower, staring at the young man opening the pa.s.senger door for Sheng Jiaoyang. He was still pondering over what she'd said earlier when he suddenly felt it was a pain in the b.a.l.l.s. Fudge! Why did Lin Yu come into the picture again?

Inside the car, it was unusually silent.

Sheng Jiaoyang turned her head to look at the man driving the car as she was unfamiliar with this person. Last time, it was Uncle Zeng who'd stayed beside her grandfather. Why did they switch the person to this young man?

An Jing knew that Sheng Jiaoyang was sizing him up, and he secretly looked at her using the rearview mirror. Judging by the footage in those videos, he knew that she was a very smart person. She understood how to loosen the reins to get a tighter grip, and she could be this calm now because she was certain of the consequences following her meeting with Grandfather Yang.

With the silent atmosphere, the car entered the hotel's parking lot.

They took the elevator to the top floor.

Standing in front of the presidential suite's door, Sheng Jiaoyang hesitated for a while. It was only after An Jing had cast her a look of surprise that she pushed the door open and entered.

Grandfather Yang had clearly been waiting for a long time as he was sitting on the living room's sofa, facing the door with an origami fan in his hand. He heard the door open and looked over with an expectant gaze.

When Sheng Jiaoyang appeared, Grandfather Yang was evidently excited, but An Jing was also here, so he restrained his emotions.

“An Jing, you go out first.”

When he heard Grandfather Yang's order, An Jing nodded and went out of the room, closing the door on his way out.

There was now only the grandfather and granddaughter pair left in the living room.

The two looked at each other for a long time, then Sheng Jiaoyang softly called out with a hoa.r.s.e voice, “Grandfather…”

The rims of Grandfather Yang's eyes were moist as he raised his hand. “My Jiaoyang, is that you?”

“It's me.”

Sheng Jiaoyang finally couldn't hold herself back and rushed over, hugging Grandfather Yang.

The tranquil s.p.a.ce was only left with sobbing sounds.

“Grandfather, how did you recognise me?” After a long time, Sheng Jiaoyang raised her red eyes and looked at Grandfather Yang.

Two days ago, she was still thinking about what to say to make her grandfather believe that she was Jiaoyang. Yesterday, when she'd received her grandfather's call, she felt that her grandfather must've guessed it already. Sure enough, when she saw the expression in his eyes when he looked at her, she understood that he already knew the truth.

Grandfather Yang raised his hand and wiped away Sheng Jiaoyang's tears as he said, “When you were unconscious and wouldn't wake up, I hired someone to do a divination for you. He said that it was a good luck divinatory diagram. I kept waiting, but in the end, the situation became worse. That day, the moment you came near Jiaoyang's body, you fainted, while Jiaoyang…your body couldn't make it.”

After saying all this, Grandfather Yang paused for a while. He raised his hand and rubbed Sheng Jiaoyang's cheek. “Jiaojiao, I'm sorry. Grandfather didn't know that it was you at that time, so I said some unpleasant words.”

“I know, Grandfather,” Sheng Jiaoyang said. “And then? How did Grandfather confirm it was me after that?”

“That day, you said you knew the secret concerning Jiaoyang's life and death, and even though I didn't believe you, the two times Jiaoyang had an accident was related to you, especially the second time. One died and one ended up in a coma; it was too weird. It can't be helped that I thought too much. I asked people to investigate your condition and discovered an anomaly, so I called people to collect your videos. Based on the way you behaved and acted, how could I not notice? In this world, there isn't anyone who can all of a sudden become another person with a different personality.”

After listening to Grandfather Yang's last words, Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly smiled.

Grandfather Yang looked at Sheng Jiaoyang with an unconvinced gaze, unaware of what she was smiling at.

“The first person who suspected that I was acting like Jiaoyang was Shen Zhining. At that time, he even asked Ning Xiaoruan to kidnap me for interrogation, then he kept asking me who was behind me and why I was intentionally acting like Jiaoyang to get closer to him. Back then, no matter how many things I exposed, like my drawings or writing, from start to finish he only thought that I was copying.”

“So, Zhining still doesn't know that you're Jiaoyang?” Grandfather Yang asked, somewhat astounded.

“Yes, or else why would he immediately chase me away that day?” Sheng Jiaoyang pouted as she felt furious every time she spoke about Shen Zhining. The good feelings from all those days were useless because under that kind of situation, he didn't even protect her one bit and instead asked Jing Weinan to bring her back home. Moreover, a few days had pa.s.sed already, yet he was nowhere to be seen.

“It's normal that he didn't recognise you. In this day and age, who would still believe these strange paranormal things, especially youngsters who only believe in science? Only people like me, who are approaching their deathbed, would believe these things.”

“Grandfather, don't speak nonsense! Approaching death? You still need to live until a hundred years old!”

Grandfather Yang rubbed Sheng Jiaoyang's head. He didn't stay long on this question, instead changing the subject and asking about her and Shen Zhining.

Sheng Jiaoyang crouched at Grandfather Yang's knee and told him the entire process, starting from when she became Xu Jiaojiao and how she'd become entangled with Shen Zhining.