The beautiful lady was named Tian Meixiang, who was precisely Zhuang Zhiyuan’s biological mother.
The man was named Yang Junlai, the playboy third son of the Yang family and Tian Meixiang’s second husband.
Few in the Yang family were good at studying, but every one of them knew how to scheme and seek advantage.
Take this Yang Junlai for instance: an uneducated, good-for-nothing playboy who turned around and became the director of the Revolutionary Committee, having just taken office three days ago.
Once a villain achieved success, he would abuse his power to vent personal grudges.
The Zhuang family and the Yang family had never gotten along. Coupled with the fact that the Yang family had produced no particularly promising younger generation over the years, whereas the Zhuang family abounded in talents, Old Man Yang felt extremely disgruntled.
Grandpa Zhuang could not withstand this blow; he fell bedridden with illness and passed away at the farm three months later.
“Girl Lin Shuang.”
Lin Shuang snapped out of her thoughts; looking at Grandpa Zhuang’s face again felt like a dream.
“Are you sleepy?”
Pinching her own face, she replied, “I’m not sleepy.”
Grandpa Zhuang found it somewhat amusing, taking out a box of chocolates from the drawer and pushing it toward Lin Shuang.
“Saved for you, I almost forgot. Eat one and you’ll wake up.”
Lin Shuang was mulling over how to inform Grandpa Zhuang of what she knew.
With the chocolates right in front of her, she didn’t decline either, picking one up and eating it straight away.
“Speak up, did you run into something troublesome?”
Lin Shuang hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this trip; she took out the severance document from her bag and pushed it over.
“Grandpa Zhuang, do you know anyone at the newspaper offices?”
Old Gentleman Zhuang took it to look from a distance, then immediately slapped the coffee table, making it tremble.
“Scoundrel! Qin Hongwen is an out-and-out ungrateful wolf. Old Lin was so good to him back then, yet he actually treats Old Lin’s granddaughter like this!”
“Outrageous! You wait, Grandpa will handle it for you right now.”
Looking at the time on the wall clock, Lin Shuang intended to stop him, but was held back by Zhuang Zhiyuan.
“Grandpa is just of this temperament; if he doesn’t make this phone call, don’t expect him to sleep tonight.”
More than ten minutes later, Zhuang’s Eldest Aunt knocked on the study door, leading in a middle-aged man.
Chubby, with a very comical appearance, wearing a smile at first sight.
The visitor bowed as soon as he entered, “Teacher, did something happen?”
Grandpa Zhuang rolled his eyes, “Can’t you wish a bit of good for me? How do you act as a student?”
The middle-aged man offered an apologetic smile, “Teacher’s scolding is right.”
Lin Shuang was a good judge of character; although the middle-aged man looked somewhat slick, his feelings toward Grandpa Zhuang as his teacher were genuine, his eyes clear and pure.
“Look at this, can it be published in tomorrow morning’s newspaper?”
Jiang Lou wanted to decline, but facing his teacher’s awe-inspiring expression, he instantly caved.
“If Teacher says it’s fine, then it’s definitely fine. I’ll have them go back to work overtime right now, guaranteeing it appears in tomorrow’s newspaper.”
Lin Shuang let out a sigh of relief; in that case, she would be able to buy the newspaper before leaving tomorrow.
After the middle-aged man left, Lin Shuang took out the title deed to the Western-style house again.
“Grandpa Zhuang, I want to donate this Western-style house to your bank.”
“Girl Lin Shuang, think it through; once the title deed is donated, the house won’t come back in the future. Conversely, if it is merely requisitioned, perhaps it can still be returned in the future as long as the title deed is retained.”
It had to be said that the old gentleman was very forward-looking.
Later events would also prove this point.
However, Lin Shuang still shook her head.
“Grandpa Zhuang, I want to donate it. If my maternal grandfather were alive, he would also agree with my decision. You also know that the location of my home’s building is too eye-catching and eyed by so many people; I might as well donate it to save trouble!”
The old gentleman looked at Lin Shuang and suddenly asked: “Are you doing this to avenge your dad?”
Lin Shuang spread her hands, “Grandpa Zhuang, you really have sharp eyes; I knew my little tricks couldn’t escape your wise eyes at all.”
After sending Grandpa Zhuang back to his room to rest, Lin Shuang was pulled by Zhuang Zhiyuan to eat late-night snacks.
Two bowls of steaming hot tomato and egg noodle soup were already set on the table; without asking, one could know who made them.
“Come quickly and taste my Eldest Aunt’s culinary skill; it’ll leave you craving for more after one bite.”
Lin Shuang didn’t stand on ceremony either, taking the chopsticks to mix the tomato and egg with the noodles together.
The nose-tingling aroma made one’s mouth water uncontrollably.
“Mmm! So delicious!”
Hearing the young girl’s mumbled yet satisfied praise, Li Huixin in the hallway softened her expression and walked back to her room with light steps.
The young girl was still as honest as her biological mother, not influenced in the slightest by that woman Zhou Qingman—very good!
Seeing Lin Shuang praise Li Huixin, Zhuang Zhiyuan was even happier than if he were praised himself.
“Right? I said you would like it.”
Recalling the original owner’s dark culinary skills, Lin Shuang was glad that she herself still had a few presentable cooking skills.
All thanks to surfing the internet in her past life where she liked a food streamer; having watched a lot, cooking occasionally worked out fine.
While enjoying the delicious food, Lin Shuang was also pondering how to inform Zhuang Zhiyuan of what she knew.
Verbal hints?
The moment she had this thought, it was immediately rejected by Lin Shuang.
This guy Zhuang Zhiyuan was probing her earlier; she couldn’t take risks.
Hint to Grandpa Zhuang?
Given the old gentleman’s life experience through ups and downs, as long as she started, the old gentleman would be able to see right through her.
In the end, Lin Shuang still didn’t dare to take the risk and decided to write a letter.
After returning to the room prepared by Li Huixin, Lin Shuang eagerly took out paper and pen from her space.
Having long prepared the draft in her mind, she finished it in one breath. Blowing the ink dry, Lin Shuang packed it into an envelope.
She wrote down “To be opened personally by Zhuang Zhiyuan.”
Based on her observation, after seeing the letter, Zhuang Zhiyuan would definitely inform the old gentleman, not to mention this matter was also related to the old gentleman.
In the letter, Lin Shuang suggested that the old gentleman immediately process his retirement handover.
An old man with no official power at all—even if the Yang family wanted to kill with a borrowed knife, they would lose the initiative.
Only after finishing all this did Lin Shuang have time to size up the room.
The very first feeling was extreme cleanliness and neatness, just like in a military camp.
However, Lin Shuang was certain that this was definitely not from Zhuang Zhiyuan’s hands, nor was it possible for the old gentleman, leaving only one answer.
Looking at the nightstand again, a cup of warm milk was also placed there.
While on the bed, a neatly folded set of spare clothes was laid out—new from inside to outside, all in her size.
Being so meticulous, only Eldest Aunt Li Huixin remained.
Worried she couldn’t drink it down?
Nonexistent.
People of this era, though looking small and thin, had shockingly large appetites.
Lin Shuang happily drank up the milk, took the cup downstairs to wash, found no one around, washed it quietly, and returned to her room.
Lying on the bed after washing up, she felt like today had been like a battle.
Tired as she truly was, she was so excited that she couldn’t fall asleep.
Lin Shuang suddenly remembered her space—hadn’t it upgraded? She had to go inside and take a look.
The next second, Lin Shuang was inside the space.
She discovered that the world inside had been renewed.
The most conspicuous was her spring water; previously just one spring, it had now split into two.
It even came with an explanatory note.
One spring flowed into a stream, capable of raising fish and growing crops, which would accelerate maturity and enhance taste.
The other spring had an extremely small water output, yielding only one hundred milliliters a day, but it could improve physical constitution and strengthen the body.
Because this spring eye was located in a mountain crevice, Lin Shuang could only cut nearby bamboo to channel the flow with a bamboo strip, with a bamboo tube catching it underneath.
Suddenly, a voice appeared abruptly.
“Master, your exclusive space housekeeper is now online. Please give orders if you have any needs.”