“Grandpa, how about we throw a small party at our place sometime?” Mei Jin sat, massaging the old man’s arms and legs.
The old man was Chen Jiancheng’s father and Chen Licheng’s older brother.
This year, the old man was over 80 years old, but his body was still healthy.
The good looks of Chen Jiancheng and Chen Licheng must have been largely inherited from the old man, because even in his old age, he still possessed a dashing, handsome charm.
The old man raised an eyebrow, looking at his granddaughter. He knew this granddaughter of his all too well.
The family had two sons, but only this one granddaughter, so from a young age, she had been doted on by him, placed at the very top of his heart.
“What? What’s going on?” he asked.
“Grandpa, do you want to hold a grandchild?”
“You want to get married already?” The old man was surprised.
Mei Jin blushed and shook her head vigorously.
“No, not that.
I’m talking about *your* grandchild, Grandpa. Do you want to hold a little grandchild?”
The old man understood her meaning. He lowered his voice and spoke softly to Mei Jin.
“What? Your uncle has a partner?”
“Not exactly, but someone likes Uncle. I think she’s alright, so I wanted to sound things out for Uncle. If Grandpa wants to check her out, then Grandpa should throw a party. I’ll invite her over for you to see.”
“How can you invite her?”
“She’s my friend!”
The old man pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
“Then she might be a bit too young.”
“It’s fine, Grandpa. It’ll let Uncle experience something new.”
Mei Jin smiled at him.
The old man indulged his granddaughter and didn’t object. He even discussed how to make the plan seem a bit more natural.
Meanwhile, Li Wanru was busy juggling her studies and her part-time job.
Rent and tuition fees were due soon, so she didn’t know what to do.
It had been over four months since she transmigrated here, but the original owner’s family hadn’t contacted her at all.
Currently, she was wondering how she could call home and demand tuition money from that wretched father.
She wasn’t the original owner, so she couldn’t humble herself or lower her voice to endure it.
But the original owner hadn’t done anything wrong to that family. It was a father’s responsibility, so tuition fees were something the original owner deserved to be provided with.
She pondered for a long time and finally decided to send her father a message: “Dad, send me the tuition money.”
The other side didn’t reply immediately, but she didn’t have the patience to wait.
Her part-time job salary was only enough to cover rent and daily living expenses.
The original owner was truly miserable.
But she didn’t care. Everything had to be calculated. She couldn’t act recklessly.
Wanru brightened up and messaged Chen Jiancheng.
“Uncle, are you free today?”
A moment later, the reply came: “I’ll only be free in the late afternoon/evening!”
“Great! I’ll borrow your free time this evening then.”
“What for?”
“I’m inviting you to a meal I cooked myself. Come over to my place tonight, Uncle.”
“Okay!”
Li Wanru cleaned her house until it sparkled. She rushed to the supermarket to buy cooking ingredients and picked up a few small flowers while she was there.
She busied herself in the kitchen, cooking many dishes.
Although they weren’t fancy dishes, she focused on the presentation, so it took a little longer.
Around 7 PM, the doorbell rang. She opened the door.
Chen Jiansheng arrived, carrying a bag of fruit.
He offered it to her as a thank you for the meal.
Li Wannu noticed that all the fruit was fresh and imported. It looked appealing and expensive.
But she didn't comment.
The two of them ate together like that, chatting a little occasionally, but not much.
Ring ring ring.
Wannu's phone rang. She saw "Dad" displayed and hesitated slightly, but slowly answered the call.
Just as she expected, her "mother's" furious tirade echoed from the other end.
"If you're so great, why are you coming back to this house begging for money? Why don't you learn from your mother and earn money? You're coming back to ask *me* for money? I'm not responsible for giving you money. If you can study, study. If not, then quit!"
The voice was quite loud; Chen Jiansheng, sitting beside her, heard it and frowned.
The call disconnected before she could say a word. She blushed, looking at Chen Jiansheng, utterly humiliated.
"I'm so sorry, please don't mind it."
Wannu forced a crooked smile, inwardly cursing the original owner's entire family.
She felt incredibly uncomfortable. Such a humiliating incident had never happened to her before, and it had to happen right when Chen Jiansheng was here.
Was this trying to ruin her path to being a good person?
"Are you short on money?" Chen Jiansheng asked.
"Mm, tuition fees."
Tuition fees at school were tens of millions, and she didn't know how the original owner managed her living expenses, but her part-time job only earned her five to six million. After paying for everything, she barely had enough for food.
In her original world, she had studied business administration and was working for a rather large company. Her income was sufficient for a comfortable life. But in this world, she was studying an unrelated field: tourism and travel. Without a business administration degree, she couldn't apply for jobs that matched her original qualifications.
There were a few times she wanted to quit her current major and choose a different path, but everything was too new, and she didn't know where to start. Besides, the field she was studying was also very new, a new path for her to take, and she had already studied for over two years, so quitting now would be a bit of a waste of money.
Chen Jiansheng saw her dazed expression and made a suggestion.
"Do you need my help?"
"No!" she quickly replied.
He was a little puzzled by her hasty reaction, but Wannu truly didn't want to act like the original owner. The original owner had taken advantage of Chen Meijin, and it would be even worse if she, after transmigrating here, switched her target from Chen Meijin to Chen Jiansheng. More than anything, in the past months, she wanted to win him over, not approach him only to take advantage of him. If she agreed to let Chen Jiansheng help now, all her initial intentions would be twisted in a different, very bad direction.
"Why not?" he asked.
She was silent for a moment, then decided to be honest.
"I like you, not your money!"