“This demeanor, this posture, this style, isn’t it just impressive?” After the video ended, Zhong Ziang was full of pride.
Grandma nodded sincerely, “Impressive.”
“Hehe, she’s my girlfriend!” he said.
“Aren’t you still trying to win her over?”
“….Well, that’s, uh, only a matter of time!”
“If you had said this in the past, I might have believed you, but now…” Grandma glanced at the video again, “I’m not so sure.”
“Why not?” Zhong Ziang was indignant, “How can you be so discouraging?”
“Discouragement is good,” Grandma sighed softly, “It keeps people realistic.”
Zhong Ziang: “…”
“Little Nine, aren’t you going out?” Grandma suddenly noticed her son and asked casually.
Zhong Ziang also followed the glance, wasn’t his uncle already gone?
“I forgot something.” With that, he walked upstairs.
Grandma didn’t think much of it and asked, “Will you be back for dinner?”
“No, I have something to do.”
Back in his room, Xie Dingyuan didn’t look for any “forgotten item” but instead took out his phone, downloaded Weibo, and clumsily found the so-called “hot search.”
#JiangFuyue# Those three words caught his eye unexpectedly.
He tapped on it, and the video loaded, then started playing…
A quarter of an hour later, Xie Dingyuan went back downstairs.
Zhong Ziang was still buzzing around Grandma, “Do you really have no confidence in your own grandson? I’m handsome, a fine young man, why wouldn’t she like me?”
Grandma sighed, “Although you are my grandson, I have to be honest! That girl is beautiful, intelligent, and has strong principles. A girl like her is very independent and likely won’t be interested in you.”
Xie Dingyuan couldn’t help but smile, thinking Grandma’s insight was spot on!
Zhong Ziang felt frustrated, “But I have my own advantages!”
“Such as?”
“I’m good-looking.”
Grandma had to admit, “True. What else?”
“I’m rich!”
“That’s your dad’s money.”
Zhong Ziang: “Being born into a wealthy family is also an advantage.”
“……”
“In any case, Jiang Fuyue and I are a perfect match! No objections accepted.”
Grandma scoffed, “I’ll leave other things aside, let’s just talk about brains. Can you match her in intelligence?”
“Brains?”
“Yes, intelligence! Do I need to spell it out? See, now you’re upset…”
Zhong Ziang clutched his chest and took two steps back, looking hurt, “Grandma, does love really fade away?”
Grandma coughed lightly, reflecting if she had been too harsh. Seeing the child so shocked…
“Ahem! Actually, you are quite excellent.”
Zhong Ziang smiled again, but the next second—
“But excellence comes in degrees. You’re not on the same level as that girl.” This time she said it gently enough, right?
“What kind of teapot matches what kind of lid, understand?” Grandma said cautiously.
Zhong Ziang’s face darkened, “Just say I’m not good enough.” What’s with the teapot and lid metaphor…
Grandma: “I said it before, but you couldn’t accept it, so I had to be more subtle.”
“…Thanks for that!”
“I know someone who is a good match for this girl,” Grandma said, inspecting her phone again, nodding approvingly, “Yes, the more I look, the more beautiful she is.”
Zhong Ziang wasn’t convinced, “Who?”
He didn’t believe anyone could match Jiang Fuyue better than him.
“Of course, it’s our Little Nine!” Grandma said confidently.
Xie Dingyuan, standing in the corner, froze upon hearing this.
His first thought was—
Absurd!
“Pfft!” Zhong Ziang couldn’t help but laugh, “Haha… Are you serious?”
Grandma looked puzzled, “What’s so funny? Isn’t your uncle excellent?”
“Ahem! My uncle, well,” Zhong Ziang smacked his lips, “he’s undeniably excellent, and the whole country acknowledges that.”
He’s a big shot scientist after all!
Back when the Nova virus was conquered and the C99 vaccine was developed, his uncle was the key figure.
He saved countless lives and was even hailed as a “national pillar.”
“But…” Zhong Ziang changed his tone, “No matter how excellent my uncle is, he’s not a match for Jiang Fuyue!”
Grandma raised her eyebrows and sat up straight, “What do you mean?”
Zhong Ziang started listing reasons, “First, there’s a significant age difference. Jiang Fuyue just turned eighteen, and my uncle? Twenty-eight! Three years is a generation gap, and they have three generation gaps. What interests my uncle would bore Jiang Fuyue, and what interests Jiang Fuyue, my uncle wouldn’t understand.”
Grandma couldn’t believe her son was that out of touch and instinctively retorted, “He can learn, can’t he? Your uncle is smart and learns quickly.”
Zhong Ziang shook his head heavily, “It’s not about learning. There’s a generational divide. For instance, does my uncle know what ‘pyq’ and ‘xswl’ mean?”
Grandma was confused, ‘pyq’? ‘xswl’?
What are those?
Xie Dingyuan, hiding in the corner, also had a black face, deep in thought.
Zhong Ziang continued with a knowing look, “Besides, a big age gap can cause problems.”
“What problems?”
“Think about it, in twenty years, Jiang Fuyue will be thirty-eight, and my uncle will be forty-eight, almost fifty, an age for separate beds. Isn’t that unfair to the girl?”
Grandma gasped, “Are you suggesting your uncle is… incapable?!”
“I didn’t say that! You did!”
Grandma: “?” Little brat!
“Cough! Let’s face it, my uncle looks so abstinent now, he might not even make it to fifty…”
“Secondly,” Zhong Ziang wasn’t finished, “Even if age isn’t an issue, you know my uncle’s temperament. He’s been single for almost thirty years, without even a female fly around. I suspect he might not be interested in women.”
Grandma: “!”
“And even if he’s interested in women, it won’t be Jiang Fuyue.” Zhong Ziang was confident, speaking with certainty.
“Wh, why?”
“He treated her so badly before. He practically threw her aside, showing how much he disliked her.”
“Really?” Grandma swallowed hard, “Little Nine has interacted with her before?”
“Yeah, and it was very unpleasant. I’m telling you, my uncle strongly opposed me dating Jiang Fuyue and warned me many times. Imagine how prejudiced he must be against her.”
“I had no idea…”
Zhong Ziang: “He didn’t even bother mentioning it to you, showing his strong prejudice!”
Grandma was taken aback.
“ZHONG ZIANG!” a furious shout came, and a tall figure emerged from the corner.
Cr*p!
Zhong Ziang was dumbfounded.
Xie Dingyuan strode forward, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him up, “I’m old and incapable?”
“Grandma said it!”
Grandma quickly left the scene, “I didn’t say anything, just him babbling!”
Zhong Ziang: “?”
Soon, the living room was left with uncle and nephew.
Xie Dingyuan: “Not interested in women?”
“That… I was joking!”
Xie Dingyuan: “Prejudiced?”
Zhong Ziang: “…You weren’t nice to Jiang Fuyue and opposed me dating her…”
“Idiot! I threw her because of who? Which fool almost got strangled to death?”
Zhong Ziang: “…” Speechless.
Xie Dingyuan pushed him onto the sofa like tossing a chick, showing disdain, “If I hear this again, don’t ever think of entering the Xie family house!”
With that, he walked away.
Zhong Ziang suddenly realized and chased after him, shouting, “Can you say you have no prejudice against Jiang Fuyue?”
Xie Dingyuan paused but didn’t stop.
Maybe he did once, and that was his mistake.
But not now, not at all!
Seeing the video, hearing her words, Xie Dingyuan had never been so shaken.
It was as if…
Someone had struck his soul with a hammer, making every drop of blood, every cell resonate strongly.
…
Setting aside the domestic public opinion, let’s return to D Country.
Regarding Jiang Fuyue’s actions, the team leader Yan Zhenfeng and deputy leader Qin Libin naturally gave unconditional support.
In retrospect, they had to admit there was no better way to handle the situation than what Jiang Fuyue did.
Everyone knew that cross-national lawsuits were tough, and Jiang Fuyue was aware of this.
That’s why she chose not to sue.
But she couldn’t let those four off so easily, hence everything that followed.
“Now only one contestant remains in the R Country team. Be careful,” Yan Zhenfeng said seriously.
