Volume 1 Chapter 13: Grandma Su Makes a Shining Entrance
Upon arriving outside the apartment complex, Mu Tingyun leaned over to unbuckle Shen He’s seatbelt.
Holding her in a half-embrace against his chest, he asked with a smile, “Weren’t you supposed to stay home with Qin Yi? How did you end up at the wetland park?”
Mu Tingyun’s mind was deep and calculating—once again, he had grown suspicious of Shen He.
Shen He didn’t hide anything and recounted to Mu Tingyun the argument she had with Madam Zhou at the Shen family home earlier that day.
After finishing, she lowered her eyes and said in a sorrowful tone, “Actually, I never recorded anything. I only said those things to test how much weight I hold in Madam Zhou’s heart…”
With a self-mocking chuckle, Shen He choked up, “And as you saw, I lost miserably.”
The sadness emanating from Shen He felt almost tangible.
Mu Tingyun patted the back of her hand sympathetically and comforted her gently, “Go back and rest well. Sleep it off, and when you wake up, forget about Shen Guanghui and his wife.”
“Shen He, from now on, I’ll be your family.”
Hearing this, Shen He grasped Mu Tingyun’s forearm, her eyes filled with unease as she asked, “Mu Tingyun, will you always be good to me? Can I really trust you?”
Mu Tingyun nodded solemnly, his words deep and unwavering, “Shen He, you can distrust anyone in the world, but you can trust me.”
“I love you as much as my own life.”
Hearing this, Shen He finally showed a relieved smile. “Mu Tingyun, thank you for appearing in my life.”
After getting out of the car, Shen He stood at the entrance of the complex, watching Mu Tingyun’s car drive away with reluctant eyes. The smile on her face vanished instantly.
“Miaomiao.” Qin Yi walked over and linked arms with Shen He.
Qin Yi had come downstairs earlier and, seeing Shen He and Mu Tingyun talking in the car from a distance, had held back.
She only came out after Mu Tingyun left.
Shen He gave Qin Yi a thumbs-up. “Yibao, your timing with that police call tonight was perfect.”
“Heh, dealing with the police is my specialty.”
Arm in arm, the two walked toward the apartment building.
Qin Yi said, “I just saw you talking with Mu Tingyun in the car. Wow, if I didn’t know what you were up to, I’d almost believe you were a love-struck fool.”
Shen He smiled playfully. “What you saw was exactly when I asked him if he would always be good to me. He said yes, told me to trust him, and said he loves me as much as his own life.”
Qin Yi felt so disgusted she almost got goosebumps.
“You and Mu Tingyun are like masters crossing swords, seeing whose acting is better.”
Worried that Shen He might not be able to outplay Mu Tingyun, Qin Yi said anxiously, “Walking with a wolf, you need to be careful.”
“I will.”
“Oh, right.” Qin Yi remembered something and told Shen He, “I ran into a man at the wetland park tonight.”
Shen He paused, her expression turning serious. She asked Qin Yi, “Who was it? Do you know him?”
“No.”
“What did he look like?”
As an undercover police officer, Qin Yi possessed exceptional memory and observational skills.
Though the night was dark, she remembered several distinctive features about the man.
Qin Yi said, “It’s already April, but he was wearing a thick sweater and thin-rimmed glasses. Oh, and he was holding a thermos cup.”
Recalling another detail, Qin Yi added, "On the outside of his thermos, there's a doodle of a pink flower…"
"A pink tulip," Shen He accurately identified the type of doodled flower.
Qin Yi quickly nodded, "Yes, that's it. Hey, how did you know?"
Shen He said, "That should be Song Jingcheng."
Song Jingcheng had built a charity school in the northwest, providing free education for special-needs children. That tulip was a gift from a young autistic girl before she passed away.
At Song Jingcheng's funeral, the principal of the charity school had brought several children to pay their respects.
Shen He had a strong impression of that thermos.
Earlier in the year, when Mu Tingyun took her to visit Song Jingcheng, he had been holding that thermos in his hand.
Coincidentally, Song Jingcheng's health had been poor recently, and he happened to be recuperating in a wellness villa near the wetland park.
Hearing Qin Yi's description, Shen He instinctively thought of Song Jingcheng.
"Song Jingcheng?" Qin Yi found the name familiar but couldn't recall where she had heard it.
Shen He told her, "Mu Tingyun's youngest uncle, the youngest son of the Song family."
Qin Yi suddenly understood, "So it's that sickly one."
No wonder he was dressed so heavily.
Qin Yi sighed, "He's not even middle-aged yet, and he's already inseparable from his thermos. I don't think this Song Jingcheng has the look of a long life."
Shen He: "More than that…" He was practically a short-lived person.
In just seven more months, he would die.
"He probably also saw what happened on the other shore," Qin Yi asked Shen He, "Do you have a plan?"
Not expecting Song Jingcheng to have witnessed tonight's events, Shen He had no immediate solution. She said, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"By the way, Yibao, my grandmother will come into the city tomorrow to visit me. Help me think of a way to convince her to stay and settle down with me."
Sensing the heaviness in Shen He's tone when mentioning her grandmother, Qin Yi's heart sank, and she asked uneasily, "Did something also happen to Grandma?"
"…Yes," Shen He said, "This summer will be her calamity."
Qin Yi's heart trembled.
During high school, Qin Yi often followed Shen He back to the countryside. Grandma was the most hospitable and treated Qin Yi very well.
Grandma was the person Shen He relied on for survival. Thinking that Grandma would leave this summer, Qin Yi also felt anxious.
She said, "Why not just lie and say you're sick?"
Shen He was tempted, "…What kind of illness?"
Qin Yi raised an eyebrow and said, "Infertility?"
"Get lost!" Shen He chased Qin Yi to hit her, and the two returned to the apartment laughing and joking. After a quick wash, they fell asleep.
When they woke up, it was almost noon.
Shen He called her studio partner to request another day off.
After making some oatmeal and eating a handful of nuts, Shen He dragged Qin Yi to the high-speed rail station to pick someone up.
At two in the afternoon, a distinctively dressed seventy-year-old woman appeared at the station.
She wore a pair of black handmade cloth shoes on her feet, with a large bamboo basket on her back filled with freshly picked wild mushrooms.
In her left hand, she carried a large plastic oil barrel filled with free-range eggs. In her right hand, she held a big bag packed with sealed cured meats.
The old woman followed a group of young people off the high-speed train, walking briskly through the station's underground passage.
Just as she reached the exit gate, she was stopped by a middle-aged man in a suit carrying a briefcase.
"Auntie, what a coincidence, we meet again?" The man was the passenger who had been sitting next to the old lady earlier. He was a businessman, surnamed Cheng.
"Auntie, are you really not selling those wild mushrooms? I'll offer ten thousand yuan for those few matsutake mushrooms in your basket, how about it?"
Boss Cheng, being well-traveled and knowledgeable, recognized that the old lady’s basket was filled with wild mushrooms, including three rare wild matsutake mushrooms.
They were exceptionally large, clearly high-quality matsutake.
Not only are premium wild matsutake mushrooms expensive, but the key is that it’s difficult to find a reliable source to buy them. Having finally come across some, Boss Cheng was eager to buy them as a gift.
He had come to Qingshi this time to meet a very important person. The person was a gentleman who had been suffering from a long-term illness, making these wild matsutake mushrooms the perfect gift.
Grandma Su firmly shook her head and said without hesitation, "Boss, I really won’t sell these matsutake mushrooms. My granddaughter loves matsutake chicken soup!"
"Your granddaughter is truly fortunate!" The boss was so envious he almost wished he could be the old lady’s granddaughter.
"Grandma!" Shen He and Qin Yi stood at the exit, waving to the old lady.
Seeing Shen He, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, Su Jin immediately beamed with joy.
She pointed at Shen He and said to Boss Cheng beside her, "See that? That’s my granddaughter. Isn’t she beautiful!"
"These matsutake mushrooms are reserved for a beauty like her. How could a grown man like you have the nerve to compete with a young girl for something to eat?"
The man: ""