Jiang Tiansong was eager to take her to see his grandfather, so he paid and left immediately.
Nianchu quietly gazed at Jiang Tiansong's retreating figure, a deep sense of gratitude welling up inside her as she silently quickened her pace to keep up with him.
Xiao Lin had already driven the car to the entrance of the mall. The moment the two stepped outside, they could get right in.
Xiao Lin opened the car door and turned to Jiang Tiansong: "Chief Prosecutor, the car is ready."
His tone remained consistently professional and matter-of-fact.
As Nianchu lowered her head to sit in the back seat, she heard the rustling of pages from the front as he flipped through his itinerary, and then a bottle of unopened mineral water was handed back to her:
"Miss Liang, the drive will take about forty minutes. Chief Prosecutor Jiang has a conference call coming up. If you need anything along the way, please don't hesitate to let me know."
"Chief Prosecutor?" Nianchu's fingers, clutching the water bottle, paused for a moment.
Xiao Lin glanced at her through the rearview mirror, a glint of light flashing off his lenses under the car's interior lights:
"Mr. Jiang currently serves at the Procuratorate. His trip down south this time is a private matter, so addressing him as 'Mr. Jiang' in public will suffice."
In the passenger seat, Jiang Tiansong kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, his fingertips tapping lightly on the tablet resting on his lap.
Nianchu stared at his straight-backed silhouette and suddenly recalled the trembling fingers of the clerk at the household registration office—sure enough, he was a truly formidable figure.
Her gaze toward Jiang Tiansong grew even more reverent.
The car sped along, initially through bustling streets, but after a while, the traffic and crowds gradually thinned out, and the greenery grew increasingly lush.
On both sides of the windows stood rows of tall, orderly trees. On the lower shrubs, fingernail-sized flowers bloomed in a riot of colors, and among the flower beds, butterflies fluttered gracefully.
It was the first time Nianchu had ever seen such scenery—it felt like stepping into a fairyland. She stared with rapt curiosity, not even daring to blink.
Suddenly, the trees outside stopped receding. Xiao Lin reminded them: "Sir, we've arrived."
Nianchu snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream, and Jiang Tiansong had already gotten out of the car.
She hurriedly followed suit.
Before them stood a cream-colored villa at the end of the tree-lined path, surrounded by a beautiful picket fence, with the front yard bursting with gorgeous flowers.
This was the old Jiang family estate, passed down through generations. Every heir had chosen only to renovate rather than make major changes, so the exterior still retained many traces of its original historical character.
Xiao Lin could only accompany them this far—he wasn't qualified to go any further in.
Nianchu didn't understand why he had suddenly stopped. She wasn't aware that everyone who set foot in this place was a figure of great renown in Tianbei.
The Jiang family only associated with those of equal standing.
Nianchu was the sole exception.
With Xiao Lin gone, she and Jiang Tiansong were left alone together.
That inexplicable sense of pressure returned.
Nianchu felt as though a mountain were pressing down on her chest. She tried to make her footsteps as light as possible, barely daring to breathe too heavily.
Jiang Tiansong suddenly spoke:
"Grandfather's health isn't good. He shouldn't be subjected to strong emotional swings. Don't say anything that would upset him."
Nianchu was momentarily stunned before realizing he was giving her instructions: "Okay, I understand."
Once inside the villa's grounds, even the air in the courtyard carried a natural fragrance of pure botanical essence.
As the two approached the main entrance, a quick-witted servant had already come to open the door, greeting respectfully:
"Second Young Master."
Jiang Tiansong was the second son of the family. His older brother was in business, with a vast overseas enterprise, and had eventually settled abroad, returning to the ancestral home only during holidays.
"Where's Grandfather?"
"The old master is in the reception hall. He mentioned expecting a guest and has been waiting for some time."
Jiang Tiansong continued walking deeper inside, but Nianchu paused at the sight of the white marble tiles that were cleaner than a mirror, afraid she might dirty the floor.
Jiang Tiansong suddenly stopped ahead and said coldly, "Keep up on your own."
Nianchu's heart clenched. She set aside her worries and hurriedly followed in his footsteps.
Jiang Kaishan was seventy-two years old. In his younger years, he had served in the military—a hardened man of iron and blood.
Now that he was old and plagued by illness, he had softened somewhat, gaining a measure of warmth and amiability.
When Jiang Tiansong pushed open the door and entered, he spotted the young girl following behind him at once.
"You must be Zhaozhao, right?"
The old man, unaware that Nianchu had changed her name, chose the gentlest way to address her.
Nianchu saw an old grandfather dressed in a Zhongshan suit.
His graying hair was cut short, revealing an entire face of resolute, determined features.
Though aged, his frame remained ramrod straight. Most importantly, his eyes were bright—lacking the cloudiness common in men of his years—full of vitality and spirit.
Even in his old age, one could still discern the tall, imposing figure he must have cut in his youth—vigorous and spirited.
"Grandpa Jiang," she called out obediently.
"Ah, little girl, come here and let me get a good look at you." Joy sparkled in Jiang Kaishan's eyes as he smiled and beckoned her over. "How did you get here? Was the journey smooth?"
Nianchu answered each question in turn.
Jiang Kaishan led her to sit on the sofa, looking her over from head to toe. Through this nervous, tense young woman, his gaze seemed to see the old comrade-in-arms of days gone by.
Jiang Kaishan remarked with emotion, "Liang Goudan, that fellow, is more fortunate than me—he has such a clever and beautiful granddaughter."
Nianchu felt quite embarrassed, thinking Grandpa Jiang was being too kind.
She wasn't particularly clever, and "beautiful" was a stretch.
Jiang Kaishan pulled her along and asked some questions about her grandfather.
Nianchu answered cooperatively.
When it came to the circumstances surrounding her grandfather's passing, she deliberately glossed over the specifics.
She only said that her grandfather passed peacefully, without suffering too much.
Jiang Kaishan's eyes still grew slightly moist, and he sighed with emotion:
"When people get old, this day is inevitable. It's already good enough that he didn't suffer."
Jiang Tiansong, who had been silent all along, saw the situation turning sour and quickly stepped in to change the subject:
"Grandfather, are you tired?"
The old man's spirits were flagging, and Jiang Kaishan was indeed a bit weary.
So he prepared to go rest.
Before leaving, he said to Nianchu:
"Before school officially starts, you'll stay here. Tiansong, have someone prepare a room. I've wished my whole life for a granddaughter and never got one, but now that I'm old, I finally have a little girl to keep me company."
Then he added: "Tiansong is my grandson. By seniority, you should call him 'older brother.' He knows Tianbei well. If you need anything in the future, just ask—don't stand on ceremony with him."
Nianchu naturally wouldn't take those words at face value. Being taken in and given a place to stay was already something she was deeply grateful for. How could she push her luck and make demands of them?
Still, she subconsciously glanced at Jiang Tiansong, and coincidentally, he happened to look at her at that very moment.
Their eyes met, and Nianchu quickly lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz:
"Mr. Jiang has taken very good care of me. He's already bought me a lot of things."
The moment Jiang Kaishan saw her like this, he frowned deeply. He knew Jiang Tiansong's temperament all too well, and it immediately dawned on him—he must have scared the child.
Jiang Kaishan snorted coldly: "Calling him 'Mr.'? Still putting on airs in front of family? He's the second in the family—call him Second Brother."
Nianchu: "…"
She silently stared at her toes, not daring to respond.
Seeing her like this only made Jiang Kaishan more displeased, and he shot a look at Jiang Tiansong.
Jiang Tiansong's voice was cool: "If Grandfather says to call me that, then call me that."
Nianchu: "…Second Brother."
Jiang Kaishan raised an eyebrow at his grandson.
Jiang Tiansong took a deep breath: "Mm."
The old man was finally satisfied and had a servant help him back to his room to rest.
The atmosphere between Nianchu and Jiang Tiansong, however, grew even more awkward.
His expression remained icy cold, and she dared not look up at him.
He led her to the guest room, said nothing more, and tossed out a "get some rest" before leaving.
Nianchu, on the other hand, let out a long sigh of relief once he was gone, the sense of pressure greatly diminished.
In the room, the things Xiao Lin had bought for her earlier had already been delivered.
Row after row of shopping bags were neatly arranged on the table.
Nianchu took out a smartphone from among them, studied the manual for a while, then took out the SIM card included with her admission letter and installed it.
Then she searched online for local part-time job listings.
—Before coming, it had been agreed: the condition for her father and stepmother to let her study was that she had to send money home, at least two thousand yuan a month.
The job postings online were all over the place. Nianchu filtered out the ones she was qualified for and carefully wrote down the contact information one by one with pen and paper.
She didn't know how long she'd been at it when a servant knocked on the door outside: "Miss Liang, dinner is ready."
By that time, the Jiang household had livened up a bit. The old man's youngest grandson, Jiang Tianqi, who was still in high school and on summer break, had also come over.
He'd already heard that Grandfather had sent Second Brother all the way to the countryside to bring back some poor girl, and today he'd come specifically to see the spectacle.
When Nianchu came downstairs, she saw a boy downstairs—about one meter ninety tall, with delicate, handsome features, a hint of baby fat still on his cheeks, and bright eyes staring at her intently.
She looked back at him with equal confusion. The moment their eyes met, a flicker of hostility passed through Jiang Tianqi's gaze:
"So you're the wild girl Grandfather's been going on about? You don't look all that impressive to me—just a country bumpkin."
Jiang Kaishan's legs weren't in good shape, so he needed the elevator to go downstairs, which slowed him down.
Jiang Tiansong was still wrapping up his work and wasn't in a hurry to come out for dinner either.
At the moment, the dining room held only Jiang Tianqi and Nianchu.
Jiang Tianqi made no effort to hide his scrutinizing gaze.
She asked, puzzled, "Do I know you?"
Jiang Tianqi snorted with a laugh: "You think you're worthy of knowing me?"
Nianchu: "…"
If that was how he wanted to communicate, then she had nothing to say.
She quietly lowered her eyes, ignored him, and walked silently to the side.
The dinner had already been laid out on the table—dishes with perfect color, aroma, and taste, and tableware so exquisite it looked like works of art. But the seats around the table were still empty.
As an outsider living under someone else's roof, Nianchu didn't dare take a seat first, so she found a spot and stood.
Jiang Tianqi followed her, circling around her to look her over, clicking his tongue.
"These clothes, these shoes—they're definitely not yours. My Second Brother bought them for you, didn't he?"
"Tell me, what do you have on you that's actually yours? Abandoning your poor family to climb the social ladder and chase wealth and power—what a schemer."
This person's identity was unknown, but judging by his attire, he was clearly either wealthy or noble, and should also be a member of the Jiang family.
Coming into conflict with him was not a rational move.
Nianchu took a deep breath, trying her best to ignore those harsh and piercing words, lowering her head and enduring it.
At that moment, footsteps came from upstairs. Nianchu snapped her head up, looking hopefully in that direction, both eyes shining with light, hoping it was Grandpa Jiang.