she is from the countryside
Was About Being Generous
Not long after, they arrived at the bamboo garden.
Shi Yan dropped him off at the entrance of the bamboo garden before letting go.
“We’re here,” she said.
It seemed like she had no intention of sending him into the courtyard.
The man looked at her and said politely, “I’ll have to trouble you to send me back. The weather is hot, and you pushed me all the way here. You must be thirsty, so why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea before you leave?”
“There’s no need. The lunch that Grandma Jiang had someone prepare for me has already been sent to my small courtyard. If I don’t go back now, the food will get cold.”
One sentence revealed a lot of information.
The man did not force her, and it seemed like he was just asking out of courtesy.
He handed the book to her. “Then I won’t stay any longer. Thank you for sending me back, Miss. I’ll visit you another day to thank you.”
Shi Yan took the book and smiled, “It’s nothing. You’re welcome.”
She nodded and turned to leave.
A young man in his thirties walked out of the courtyard.
“Fifth Master, you…”
“Go in,” the man said.
The girl had already walked far away. The young man stopped staring at the girl’s back and looked at the person who spoke, interrupting him.
Jiang Lin looked at Shi Yan’s back as she walked away. Then, he walked over and pushed the wheelchair into the house. He did not ask anything.
When the wheelchair entered the courtyard, Jiang Lin heard the man ask, “Not long ago, the housekeeper came to report that a guest was staying in the old house. Is it a country girl who once saved Grandma Jiang?”
“Yes, Fifth Master.”
Jiang Lin recalled that half a month ago, Jiang Hai came to the bamboo garden one night. At that time, fifth master was sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper. He was sitting at the side, doing nothing and playing games with his phone on mute. When Jiang Hai came, Master Five’s eyes were on the newspaper in his hand, except for the initial glance at Jiang Hai.
It was clear that the fifth master did not care about this matter at that time, but now he had asked about it.
It seemed that the girl who had sent fifth master back just now was the guest in the old residence.
“What’s her name?”
Jiang Lin was surprised, but he did not show it on his face.
“Shi Yan. Shi of the West, Yan of the Clouds.”
“Shi Yan…”
The man murmured the name softly, and there was an indescribable sense of attachment.
“A girl from the countryside?” he asked again.
“Yes, Fifth Master. I’ve checked. Miss Shi has indeed lived in the countryside for many years. She used to live with her grandmother. Since her grandmother passed away at the age of 13, she has lived alone until now. However, before Miss Shi was 10 years old, she did not live in that village with her grandmother. The information I found was that Miss Shi’s grandmother, who had been away from home for many years, returned to her hometown with her only granddaughter after her son and daughter-in-law died in an accident.”
Seeing the man looking at him, Jiang Lin quickly explained without waiting for the man to ask, “A stranger suddenly came to live in the Jiang family’s old house in Sea City, so I had to find out the details. After all, Fifth Master, you are living here now.”
“Where did she live before she was ten years old?”
“I couldn’t find out.”
Jiang Lin’s expression became more serious when he said this.
Jiang Hai had reported that there would be a guest staying in the old residence. Even though he didn’t hear much from Jiang Hai about this matter at that time, he had sent people to investigate it in detail afterward.
However, even though he personally sent people to investigate, he couldn’t find out where Shi Yan lived before she was ten years old.
No one in the neighborhood knew where the old lady and her granddaughter Shi Yan lived before they returned to their hometown. Other than the deceased old lady, Shi Yan was the only person who knew.
“You can’t find out?”
The man repeated his words, but there was not much surprise on his face.
Perhaps it was because he was used to not showing his emotions, or perhaps… He already had a guess.
Without saying anything else, Jiang Lin pushed him into the house.
After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Lin asked, “Fifth Master, do you need me to send people to investigate further?”
In fact, the people he had sent out had not returned yet and were still continuing to investigate. The main reason he asked this was because he could tell that Fifth Master had a different attitude towards Miss Shi. He wanted to know if those people who had already been sent out to investigate should stay behind and continue to investigate, or should they be called back.
Speaking of the fifth master’s different attitude toward Miss Shi, Jiang Lin couldn’t help but recall the scene outside the door just now.
It was one thing to have Miss Shi send him back, but the fifth master had actually invited her into the house to drink tea.
When had the fifth master ever taken the initiative to invite anyone into his courtyard? Even the number of people from the Jiang family who had set foot in this courtyard so far could be counted on one hand.
“There’s no need,” the man said indifferently.
In other words, he could call back all the people he had sent out.
Jiang Lin immediately understood.
*
Xiao Zhao poured a cup of warm water for Shi Yan and placed it beside her hand. Seeing that Shi Yan’s smile was brighter than usual, she could not help but ask with a smile, “Miss Shi, I see that you’re in a good mood. Is today’s food especially appetizing?”
“Yes, it’s especially appetizing,” Shi Yan replied with a faint smile. “Sister Zhao, have you eaten? Do you want to sit down and eat?”
“I’ve eaten, so you don’t have to care about me. Are today’s dishes to Miss Shi’s liking? In that case, I’ll have the kitchen prepare these few dishes every few days and send them to Miss Shi?”
“Sure. Thank you, Sister Zhao.”
Good-looking people were very pleasing to the eye. Good-looking people who liked to smile were even more pleasing to the eye.
Xiao Zhao felt that every moment she spent with Shi Yan was a feast for the eyes, and her mood improved as well.
“Oh right. Miss Shi, why are you only back now? Did you run into something? Or did you run into someone that delayed your return?”
After spending so many days together, Xiao Zhao already understood that Shi Yan was a person who had a very good sense of time. She never procrastinated on her work. Every time she asked her to come back for dinner, if she was reading at the Lotus Pond Pavilion, she would be back in fifteen minutes at the latest.
Today, from the time she called Miss Shi to the time she came back, about forty minutes had passed. It was just that the weather was relatively hot. Otherwise, the dishes would have been cold.
“I did meet someone,” Shi Yan said with a smile.
There was nothing to hide. Unless she did not have any contact with him in the future, someone would find out sooner or later. Rather than hiding, it was better to be generous.
“Who did Miss Shi meet? Is it someone else from the family who came back for tonight’s banquet, or a guest?”
The Jiang family’s old residence was very large and had many owners. Little Zhao was not very clear about when a guest would come to the house. She also did not think that the person who could delay Shi Yan’s return for dinner would be a servant of the family, so she had asked.
“I’m not sure if it was a guest or someone else who came back to attend the family banquet. I didn’t ask much, but that person was sitting in a wheelchair.”
With a clang, Little Zhao’s phone fell from her hand to the ground in shock.
“S- Miss Shi, you said that the person you met was… Was sitting in a wheelchair?!”
After spending so much time with Shi Yan, Little Zhao was more stable. Now that she had such a big reaction, Shi Yan could not help but raise her eyebrows.
“Yeah. What’s wrong?”
She glanced at Xiao Zhao’s phone that had fallen to the ground and said, “Pick up the phone first and see if it’s broken.”
‘Who would still be in the mood to care about a phone now?!’ Xiao Zhao screamed in her heart, but she was afraid that her big reaction would scare Shi Yan. She tried hard to suppress the shock and worry in her heart and picked up the phone first.
“It’s okay. It’s not broken,”Shi Yan said as she looked at the phone in Xiao Zhao’s hand.
Xiao Zhao really wasn’t in the mood to care about the phone. She put the black screen aside and asked anxiously, “Miss Shi, is the person you saw a man or a woman? How old were they? What did they look like?”
In fact, she already had a guess in her heart, but Xiao Zhao still wanted to ask one thing. What if she was wrong and Miss Shi didn’t meet the person she thought she had met?
“A man in his twenties. He looked… Very good-looking.”
In fact, the word “good-looking” was not enough to describe that person.
Even she, who had never been affected by beauty, was amazed. How could he be as simple as good-looking?
Xiao Zhao was anxious.
“Then, Miss Shi, you delayed your time and came back late because… Because you bumped into the other party and were left behind?”