Chapter 166: Chapter 159: Slap, Slap, Slap
Yin Bowen’s heart skipped a beat!
"I can watch the surveillance myself, and I will draw my own conclusions. After I’ve finished watching, if it really turns out that my granddaughter was pulling a scam, I, this old man, will personally kneel before your grandpa and apologize!"
"Grandpa Bai..."
Upon hearing these words, Su Xiaomeng was dumbfounded...
No matter what, Grandpa Bai didn’t need to make such strong guarantees, right...
"But if it’s you guys deliberately making things difficult for my granddaughter, hmph, if your grandpa doesn’t bring you to me to explain, this matter won’t be resolved."
"Mr. Bai, it’s not a big deal, it’s unnecessary... It’s your granddaughter, we didn’t know. If we had known—"
Bai Fengmao raised a hand to motion him to stop, "Weren’t you in a hurry to go up the mountain? Apparently, you’re not in much of a hurry?"
Yin Bowen saw Bai Fengmao’s serious expression, clearly protective, understanding that the matter couldn’t be resolved here.
To the side, Zhu Lan still found it strange that Su Xiaomeng, such an ordinary girl, was actually Bai Fengmao’s granddaughter.
Both the couple were really snobbish, and beyond that, also very complacent and proud.
Even though Bai Fengmao was impressive, that was in the past; it is their father Yin Shiqing who is making waves in politics now.
Just based on that, if indeed they bullied his granddaughter, so what?
Besides, the girl was persistent from the start.
"If that’s the case... then Mr. Bai, Uncle Zhengxiang, we’ll head back first then..."
Bai Fengmao put an arm around Su Xiaomeng’s shoulders, and while passing by Zhu Lan, he said coldly, "Pick up the money, don’t dirty this place."
Zhu Lan’s body stiffened, glaring at the messy bills on the floor, her brows furrowing.
She wasn’t short on money, but the money on the ground, just because she didn’t want to bend down to pick it up...
Bullying Bai Family’s little girl, she wasn’t afraid, but if she disregarded money, once it reached Grandpa’s ears, her status as granddaughter-in-law...
Yin Bowen understood that the whole point was Bai Fengmao wanting Zhu Lan to bend down and pick up the money herself.
Feeling quite upset, but he still kneeled down to pick up the bills one by one.
Who would’ve thought it wasn’t over after picking them up, only to hear Bai Sixian coolly say, "Knowing earlier you had to bend down and pick them up one by one, why throw them at others’ faces in the first place. Couldn’t really humiliate others, now you’re in such an ugly situation... ha."
"And who are you?"
Zhu Lan asked, furrowing her brows.
Bai Sixian glanced at her casually, said nothing, and followed the father and Su Xiaomeng into the car.
Bai Zhengxiang himself was puzzled, couldn’t manage Yin Bowen and Zhu Lan, hastily got into the car.
Bai Sixian sat in the front passenger seat...
"Grandpa?"
When Bai Sixian finally told Su Xiaomeng that Bai Fengmao was indeed her biological grandfather, Su Xiaomeng stared wide-eyed at Bai Fengmao for a long, long time...
So long that Bai Fengmao himself felt a bit embarrassed.
"What’s wrong, Meng Meng... Don’t you like Grandpa?"
Su Xiaomeng shook her head hurriedly, "I like him! I really like Grandpa Bai! It’s just..."
"Just what?"
"Just that Mom once told me she didn’t have parents, said she has always been living with her elder brother; later, Mom’s brother relentlessly separated her from Dad, after which Mom eloped to Chengdu with Dad!"
She exclaimed loudly!
Bai Fengmao’s face instantly darkened, reaching out to knock Bai Sixian on the back of the head, "You ungrateful girl!"
Bai Sixian rubbed her head, "Made it up as I went along, made it up as I went along..."
Bai Zhengxiang took a shallow breath, "So... in my sister’s mind, it was the big evil brother who forced you apart..."
Bai Sixian’s body stiffened slightly.
"Brother, don’t take it to heart, at that time Xiao Meng was still little, asked about my grandparents, I couldn’t say much..."
Bai Zhengxiang only focused on driving, said nothing more.
Bai Sixian looked outside the window, the story was fabricated, but at the time, instinctively making up things for Xiao Meng to hear, there was indeed unspoken resentment towards her brother.
In those days when she left home, who treated her well, who hoped she wouldn’t fare well, she knew full well.
Returning now was coincidental, she wasn’t purposely targeting anyone, nor did she want to cling onto things from twenty years ago any longer.
Bai Sixian’s one wish was that matters of the past should no longer be brought up or dwelt upon.
Continuously reopening old wounds would only lead to new ones.
Due to Bai Sixian and Bai Zhengxiang’s dialogue, a brief silence ensued in the car.
Su Xiaomeng looked at the uncle driving and her mom beside him, pursed her lips, then leaned towards Bai Fengmao and quietly asked, "Did I... say something wrong?"
Bai Fengmao patted her head, "No."
Su Xiaomeng thought the atmosphere felt rather strange, but Bai Fengmao said it wasn’t wrong, so she chalked it up to her being oversensitive, and didn’t continue dwelling on it.
But this didn’t mean she just accepted the matter of Bai Fengmao being her biological grandfather.
"But I still have a question..."
"What is it?"
"Given that Grandpa is here, why did Mom have to elope to Chengdu with Dad? Grandpa is so understanding, he would definitely be happy for Mom and Dad to be together! Isn’t that right?"
At this moment Bai Fengmao wished he could find something to block Su Xiaomeng’s mouth, cover her curious eyes.
Bai Sixian glanced at the rear-view mirror, saw her father’s awkward expression, turned to Su Xiaomeng, "At that time, Mom wasn’t good at communicating with Grandpa."
"Let bygones be bygones, you just need to know he is your biological grandpa, Mom’s dad."
"... Oh."
"Not happy? Don’t you really like your grandpa?"
Su Xiaomeng scratched her head and smiled, "Yeah, I really do, just a bit surprised. It’s like a bomb suddenly went off in my ear, I’m a bit stunned."
"Anyway, I’m very happy. Having you as a granddaughter, no wonder I felt a connection when I first met you, hahaha!"
Bai Fengmao said, holding Su Xiaomeng’s hand, looking at Su Xiaomeng’s rosy little face, liking her more and more!
With Bai Fengmao saying that, Su Xiaomeng got a bit shy, just grinning foolishly there.
What made Su Xiaomeng happier than having a grandfather was... her mom having a dad.
The car stopped at the entrance of Yijing Manor.
Four people got out of the car.
There were two servants in the manor, one of whom Su Xiaomeng had met last time.
The main gate opened, before Bai Fengmao and others went inside, Ah Bu rushed out!
Upon seeing Bai Fengmao, it immediately jumped up, pounced on the old man, Bai Fengmao supported Ah Bu’s paws with his hands, lovingly patting the little guy’s head.
Probably because it had been several days apart from Bai Fengmao and missed him so much, it cuddled for a while before getting off from Bai Fengmao.
After getting off, it went over to Su Xiaomeng, sniffed twice, lifted its head and stuck out its tongue, "haha", then jumped onto Su Xiaomeng, very warm and affectionate.
"Wow, Ah Bu remembers me!"
Su Xiaomeng was delighted, quickly squatted down to hug Ah Bu, smoothing down its fur.
Bai Sixian stood aside, at a loss for a moment.
Ah Bu... really looks just like Big Bubu...
"Ah Bu, look, who came today."
Bai Fengmao called it once.
After being affectionate with Xiaomeng, Ah Bu went around Bai Zhengxiang briefly, didn’t stop much, and then saw Bai Sixian standing at the back...
Its nose went over to sniff Bai Sixian for quite a while.
"Ah Bu, this is your grandma’s mom, haha, you should call her grandma."
Bai Fengmao said.
Su Xiaomeng glanced at Bai Fengmao, seeing his serious look, as if Ah Bu really would call out "grandma".
"Grandpa..."
"Haha! You didn’t know, did you? Your mom used to have a Labrador called Big Bubu, she treasured that dog dearly, Ah Bu is Big Bubu’s pup."
Su Xiaomeng was stunned...
Mom used to have a dog?
"Ah! I wanted to have a dog at home before, but mom said she hated dogs!"
Bai Sixian glanced at her, "Do you think having a dog is just about tying a leash, feeding it when it’s hungry, giving it water when it’s thirsty? Is it that easy?"
Su Xiaomeng pouted, "Of course I know, dogs need companionship too, I would take good care of it, play with it well!"
"Come on, it would be good enough if you can take care of yourself, wouldn’t I end up having to handle the troubles?"
Su Xiaomeng felt deflated.
Ah Bu looked up at Bai Sixian...
Bai Sixian crouched down, gently stroking its fur, eyes a bit reddened for a moment...
"Then, when mom left home for Chengdu, wasn’t Big Bubu very sad?"
Su Xiaomeng asked again.
"Dogs have feelings... after Sixian left, that poor little guy would run to the front door every evening, sit there for over an hour, then reluctantly return inside, it never stopped even on rainy or snowy days, until it finally died of old age..."
With Bai Fengmao saying this, Bai Sixian’s tears fell down.
For Su Xiaomeng, who was seeing her mom’s tears for the first time, it was quite shocking, and she somewhat understood why her mom wouldn’t keep a dog...
Bai Sixian thought,
She’s really a pretty heartless and selfish person...
Big Bubu gave her its short life, only to be abandoned in the end.
Her father gave her life, and was eventually abandoned by her too.
Ah Bu got excited as Bai Sixian patted it, eagerly pouncing on Bai Sixian.
"Ah Bu."
Bai Sixian called out Ah Bu’s name, making Ah Bu even more excited.
She looked at Ah Bu, then at the "Yijing" written at the gate beside her, then at the old, slightly hunched figure walking ahead with her daughter.
The manor named after her mother, where her father stayed with Ah Bu...
"Actually, not long after you left, big brother regretted it very much..."
Bai Zhengxiang suddenly said beside her.
"The manor was bought by Dad a long time ago, after stepping down from politics, he came to live here, only bringing Mom’s ashes and Big Bubu... he wouldn’t say it, but big brother understood in his heart, Dad was waiting for you to come home."
"Brother."
"Hmm?"
"There’s no remedy for regret in this world..."
After Bai Sixian finished speaking, she walked inside, with Ah Bu following closely, very warmly.
There’s no remedy for regret in this world, no matter how much you regret it, no matter how it tears at your heart, you can only endure it.