"Zhao Yu!" Old Madam Xu froze for a second before immediately rushing forward to support her. "Why did you run back here all by yourself?" she asked anxiously. "You just woke up. The doctor said you shouldn’t be moving around."
"I... I heard from Yun Fan that Chengli is being added to the family genealogy book today." Xu Zhao Yu’s face was still pale. "This is a major event, and it concerns me too, so I came back."
"Adding someone to the family register is just a trivial matter," Old Sir Xu frowned. "Zhao Yu, your health is what’s most important."
"Dad, Mom, I’m really fine." Xu Zhao Yu smiled, but tears fell as she did. "Mom, I... I can change my last name. I-I will be called Ming Zhao Yu from now on."
"Nonsense!" Old Sir Xu immediately flared up. "Hurry back and rest. Stop causing trouble."
"Chengli is your biological son. I stole the Xu surname in the first place," Xu Zhao Yu cried until her voice grew hoarse. "I know everything. Ming... the surname Ming sounds very nice too."
"We’re not changing it. We aren’t changing it." Seeing her like this, Old Madam Xu’s heart ached terribly. "Whoever brings up changing surnames again is making an enemy out of me!"
"Sigh!" Old Sir Xu let out a breath. "Zhao Yu, don’t be afraid. Changing Chengli’s surname doesn’t mean we don’t want you anymore."
"No, Chengli, don’t blame Mom and Dad. It’s all my fault." Xu Zhao Yu looked at Ming Chengli with tear-filled eyes. "I’ll go to the registry office right now to change my surname to Ming!"
"Wait, wait a minute." Ming Chengli finally found a gap to interrupt. He was completely bewildered. "I didn’t take my adoptive parents’ surname. Their surname isn’t Ming."
The air suddenly fell dead silent. Xu Zhao Yu’s voice came to an abrupt halt.
Old Sir Xu was stunned. "Chengli, then your surname..."
"Oh, this? I grew up in an orphanage. The director’s surname was Ming, so I just took his surname." Ming Chengli scratched his head. "It really has nothing to do with my adoptive parents. When I was seven, they disappeared to who-knows-where. Actually, I’ve even forgotten what they look like."
He spoke calmly, glossing over more than forty years of hardship with a few simple words.
Old Sir Xu fell silent, looking somewhat embarrassed. To think they hadn’t even investigated this matter clearly.
Old Madam Xu loosened her embrace on Xu Zhao Yu. Tears shimmered in her aged eyes. "Chengli, you’ve suffered so much. Since they... since they took you away, why didn’t they treat you well?"
Xu Zhao Yu suddenly let out a muffled groan, but she quickly spoke up, "Mom, I’m fine. It just hurts a little."
"Hurry and go back to the hospital with me!" Old Madam Xu was thoroughly anxious now. "Look at you! You’re an adult, yet you still don’t listen to the doctor’s orders!"
Xu Zhao Yu smiled through her tears. "As long as Mom and Dad are here, I’ll always be a child, won’t I?"
Old Madam Xu sighed helplessly. "You..."
After such an unexpected turn of events, Old Sir Xu didn’t bring up the surname change again.
Ming Chengli, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief.
Shi Changying slowly made her way down the stairs. "Dad, take notes."
"Take notes on what?" Ming Chengli asked.
"Learn how to cry as pitifully as her," Shi Changying replied.
Ming Chengli was speechless. He didn’t like crying; he simply had no control over his overactive tear ducts!
"Your Aunt Zhao Yu... she has a heart condition. She really can’t handle extreme joy or sorrow," Ming Chengli sighed. "Besides, what happened back then truly had nothing to do with her."
Shi Changying yawned. "We have one too."
Ming Chengli instantly grew tense. "Where does it hurt? Let’s go to the hospital right now. Don’t worry about your old dad’s wallet; health is the most important thing."
"When We see people who displease Us, Our heart aches," Shi Changying said unhurriedly. "When Our heart aches, We want to kill, so We do not allow anyone to disobey Us."
Ming Chengli was speechless. He began to ponder exactly which volume of the Emperor’s Chronicles he had left lying around the house his daughter had read to turn out like this.
But no matter how hard he thought about it, out of the twenty-four dynasties and over four hundred emperors in Jiuzhou since the Yan Dynasty, not a single one matched her behavior.
She had to be self-taught. As expected of his daughter!
***
After confirming that Xu Zhao Yu had no major issues and seeing her insist on being discharged, Old Madam Xu had no choice but to agree to let the Meng Family send a car to pick her up.
Once in the car, the tears in Xu Zhao Yu’s eyes vanished in an instant. She instructed the driver coolly, "Back to the Meng Family."
"Miss Zhao Yu, Old Sir Xu won’t really send that country girl to Sway International, will he?" the driver couldn’t help but ask. "Sway International’s annual tuition is at least a million. Although that’s not a lot of money for the Xu Family, spending it on her is like throwing it into the water without even hearing a splash."
"Shut up." Xu Zhao Yu frowned in displeasure. "Changying is Dad’s biological granddaughter. Spending money on her is perfectly justified."
The driver had been sent by the Meng Family. He sighed. "Miss Zhao Yu, I’m just afraid that father-daughter pair is harboring thoughts they shouldn’t have, thinking of usurping your position, as well as the young master and young miss’s. That incident yesterday where Mr. Huo got into a fight..."
Xu Zhao Yu’s voice turned icy. "I said, shut up."
The driver had no choice but to drop the subject and start the car.
To ensure Shi Changying’s smooth enrollment, Old Sir Xu made a personal trip to Sway International.
"Chairman Xu, I understand what you mean." After listening to his request, Principal An shook his head and said tactfully, "Although our Sway International is an elite private school—and to put it bluntly, anyone with money can attend—we still have to consider the school’s reputation. We don’t just accept any student."
Old Sir Xu’s brows furrowed. "Is there no room for discussion?"
Principal An, who had just received Shi Changying’s file from Xu Zhao Yu, considered it repeatedly but still shook his head. "Chairman Xu, please head back."
Old Sir Xu had no choice but to return empty-handed.
That evening, Xu Yunfan returned home.
He kept his eyes straight ahead, completely ignoring Ming Chengli and Shi Changying, and sat down at the dining table.
Seeing Old Sir Xu sigh, Xu Yunfan asked, "Dad, what’s wrong?"
"It’s about Changying’s school enrollment," Old Sir Xu replied. "Sway International... is out of the question. Yun Fan, do you have any connections on your end?"
"Me?" Xu Yunfan found the idea laughable. "My side requires academic scores, and even more so, physical fitness. Do you think just anyone can get in?"
He glanced at the frail-looking Shi Changying. With a physique like hers, she probably couldn’t even run eight hundred meters.
"Why can’t she get into Sway International?" Xu Yunfan pressed. "Dad, Mom, this is the school with the lowest barrier to entry in Jianghuai. You can get in as long as you pay."
Old Madam Xu sneered. "You’ll have to ask her what great deeds she’s done."
Shi Changying slowly and methodically stabbed an entire leg of lamb with her fork. "Executing nine generations?"
Those three words made Old Madam Xu shudder.
"Ahem. Dad, Mom, Yun Fan, you don’t need to worry about Changying’s schooling." Ming Chengli cleared his throat and spoke up just in time. "I have some connections with Principal Ning of Jianghuai High School. He said that whenever Changying wants to attend school, she can go to Jianghuai High School."