I noticed that Jiang Jun hadn’t brought Mianmian with him, likely fearing that Old Mrs. Jiang wouldn’t be able to handle the shock if she saw her.
“Grandma,” Jiang Jun called out sweetly, giving his grandmother a massive hug.
He looked for all the world like the most filial grandson on earth.
“Oh, it’s my Jun’er! You’ve grown so tall. Let Grandma have a look at you.” The old lady clearly hadn’t seen this grandson in a long time.
She held Jiang Jun’s hands, looking him up and down, scrutinizing him carefully. Seeing that he was healthy and in good spirits, she finally felt at ease and said, “I heard a while ago that you went to stay at your mother’s place for a bit. Is Yao Ye doing well?”
Beside them, Jiang Shitian’s face instantly darkened the moment he heard the old lady ask about his ex-wife.
Jiang Jun stole a couple of cautious glances at Jiang Shitian before replying, “Grandma, Mom is doing great. She heard you were coming and asked me to give you her best regards.”
“She doesn’t need to bother with her hypocrisy!”
Before Old Mrs. Jiang could respond, Jiang Shitian had already snapped back with a glare.
“Shitian, how can you talk like that? Look at how you’ve frightened my grandson,” the old lady chided, shooting Jiang Shitian a dirty look.
Turning back to Jiang Jun while still holding his hand, she said, “Find a time to invite your mother out. Let’s have a meal together as a family.”
“Who is still ‘family’ with her? Mom, have you had enough?” Jiang Shitian said irritably.
His patience had reached its limit; he was no longer willing to endure in silence.
Seeing the situation, I stepped in to smooth things over. “Grandma, you haven’t had lunch yet, right? Let’s eat first, and we can talk about everything else afterward.”
“Zhou Li, good girl, come here.” The old lady was equally happy to see me.
She held my hand in her left and Jiang Jun’s in her right. Then, to my surprise, she actually placed Jiang Jun’s hand and mine together.
Our hands pulled apart instantly, as if we’d both been electrocuted. We both turned our heads away, unwilling to even look at each other.
The scene was incredibly awkward.
Old Mrs. Jiang seemed to sense something, and her expression soured. Without warning, she asked when Jiang Jun and I planned on having children. Both of us stammered, unable to find words for a long while.
Dissatisfied, she looked around the vast Jiang mansion and said, “This house is too big; it’s cold and lonely. It needs a few more children to liven things up. You two hurry up—I’m still waiting to hold my great-grandson next year.”
Jiang Jun and I had started out walking on either side of her, but as we moved along, the distance between us only grew wider.
“There’s no rush,” Jiang Shitian surprisingly spoke up to bail me out.
The old lady stopped dead in her tracks.
Standing tall, she turned and asked Jiang Shitian unhappily, “What is that supposed to mean? Do you want our Jiang line to end? Would that make you happy?”
Seeing her stern face, Jiang Shitian didn’t dare cross her.
He softened his tone and said, “Mom, no. They’re newlyweds; they haven’t had enough of their time together yet. Young people these days like their ‘world for two.’ Let’s not interfere too much. Let nature take its course.”
Though the old lady remained dissatisfied, she didn’t press us further.
Having survived a brush with death, she was more open-minded than your average grandmother. Surprisingly, she accepted Jiang Shitian’s flimsy explanation.
“The most important thing is that the two of you are happy,” she said.
From time to time, she kept glancing back and forth between Jiang Jun and me, as if she were suspicious of the true state of our relationship.
The lunch ended with everyone lost in their own thoughts. There was no laughter and none of the harmony one might expect. The old lady remained silent throughout, her face set in a grim expression.
By the end of the meal, she let out a cold snort that made everyone tense up.
…
That evening, after bathing, Jiang Shitian told the old lady to go to bed early. She refused and insisted on sitting there.
Several times, Jiang Jun tried to sneak out for a private rendezvous with Mianmian, but every time he stood by the door and saw the old lady watching like a hawk, he lost his nerve.
Everyone sat there until eleven or twelve at night.
I couldn’t hold out any longer and kept yawning. The old lady told me to go to bed first, so I took her up on it, no longer willing to sit there in silence.
However, just as I was about to push open the bedroom door, I heard her say to Jiang Jun, “Jun’er, you go to sleep too. Your wife is already heading in; are you really not going to join her? I’m just an old woman; I don’t need you to keep me company.”
With just those few words, she blocked his every exit. He couldn’t even use the excuse of staying to accompany his grandmother.
And so, I was faced with the situation of sharing a room with Jiang Jun once again.
I had hoped he’d have the backbone to stay out. I didn’t want to face him. But as it turned out, Jiang Jun was a spineless coward, and I had expected too much.
He entered the room reluctantly.
By then, I was already sitting in bed, leaning against the headboard and scrolling through my phone. I deliberately kept my eyes down, refusing to look at him, but I heard the sound of him closing the door and then opening it again.
He didn’t close it all the way, leaving it open by a crack.
I understood what he meant. The atmosphere this time was even more awkward than the last. It felt as if the very air had solidified, making it hard to breathe. It seemed that only by leaving the door slightly ajar could we breathe freely.
Except, what was the meaning of Old Mrs. Jiang pacing back and forth outside our door?
Forced by her presence, Jiang Jun finally “thudded” the door shut and locked it.
Next came the issue of how we would face each other.
I had originally wanted to make him sleep on the floor because I felt a visceral repulsion toward him. He was disgusting; I couldn’t bear any physical contact with him.
But I didn’t have the right to force him onto the floor. Moreover, I didn’t want to argue with him—if we fought, the old lady would hear.
To my surprise, Jiang Jun was actually self-aware this time. He didn’t try to pull me off the bed like last time; instead, he voluntarily sat down on the floor.
There were no extra blankets in our room. The servants had tucked them all away in the storage room. Even the pillows were the long, bolster style—not two separate ones.
Damn this “newlywed” decor!
Jiang Jun eventually lay down on the floor in his clothes. The floor was ice-cold, without even a mat.
I didn’t feel sorry for him. Thinking of the late Lili, any suffering he endured was well-deserved.
Suddenly, Mianmian decided to stir up trouble again. She actually wanted to video call Jiang Jun!
Jiang Jun glanced at me a few times, hesitating, but eventually turned his back to me and picked up the call.
I couldn’t stand being in there any longer and walked straight out of the room.
As it happened, I ran right into Old Mrs. Jiang standing just outside the door.
She looked at me in shock. “Zhou Li, you…”
At that exact moment, Mianmian’s coquettish voice came through the phone, blowing a “muah” kiss.
Through the open door, the old lady’s sharp eyes darted toward Jiang Jun, who was sitting on the floor.
Hearing his grandmother’s voice, Jiang Jun practically leaped off the ground. He had nowhere to hide. His first instinct was to hide the phone behind his back, but he forgot to end the call.
Mianmian’s voice continued to blare out, quite piercingly. From the other end of the line, she said:
“Hello? Jun-ge, why can’t I see you anymore? What do you think of this set of sexy lingerie? Is it pretty? Do I look hot?”