Shi Nuan looked at Fu Chengyan with a shocked expression on her face. Seeing this, the latter shook his head and stroked her hair before driving away.
“Ling lived with the Fu family for a while, but her status in the Fu family isn’t high because she’s not recognized by them!” As Fu Chengyan explained, he suddenly thought of something and shook his head slightly. “When Shaoqing came to me, Ling was being pranked. She had been left on a tree by someone. It was Shaoqing who rescued her. Maybe it was from then on that Ling started to feel something for Shaoqing!”
Shaoqing nodded her head. “So she has had a secret crush for Shaoqing for many years after that? But she—”
“She was sent away and returned to her birth mother when she was a teenager. Since then, I hadn’t seen her again for a long time.” Fu Chengyan paused and went on, “I went abroad back then, so I didn’t know what happened between her and Shaoqing. When I saw her again, it was already when she was in university. Because of Li Heng and Huan, only then did I know that she had a crush on Shaoqing!”
“What about Shaoqing? What does he feel for her?”
Fu Chengyan had one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand by the car window. He lapsed into silence for a long while before he replied, “He doesn’t love her, perhaps.”
“If so, how can he and Ling…” Shi Nuan furrowed her brows, feeling torn.
She wasn’t a gossipy nor nosy person, but seeing Fu Ling in such a state still made Shi Nuan feel a little sorry for her. Although she was closer to Su Shaoqing, she was actually biased toward Fu Ling, probably because she empathized with her as a woman.
“It was an accident!” Fu Chengyan then added, “Ling is not a good fit in the Su family.” This was the reason why Fu Chengyan had stood his ground back then.
Fu Ling could not understand it, but Fu Chengyan believed it to be the best for her. But now, it seemed that none of the choices back then were the best choice for Fu Ling.
Fu Ling had been the one making sacrifices for Su Shaoqing back then, even though the latter didn’t have any feelings for the woman. Even if Su Shaoqing accepted her, it would have probably ended in tragedy.
“Whether it’s suitable or not, only the people who experienced it would know. Yan, in fact, you should understand this very well. She’s just like me. I’m not a good fit for the Fu family, but I’m working hard to change it, aren’t I?”
Hearing this, Fu Chengyan gave her a faint smile. “Okay, I know what you mean. You think I shouldn’t have done such a thing back then, don’t you? In fact, I have also been reflecting on this issue in the past few years. What will happen if the same thing happened again?”
“Such things are unknowable. Since time can’t be reversed, we can only make the present more fulfilling. Since Shaoqing wants to make it up to her, why not give him a chance?”
“But have you asked for Ling’s opinion? What if she doesn’t want to? Will it be like you’re forcing her, just like how you forced her back then?”
Fu Chengyan suddenly froze and turned his head to look at Shi Nuan. “Do you think we will hurt her?”
Shi Nuan shook her head. “You definitely won’t mean to hurt her, but she’ll inevitably be hurt to a certain degree. For example, what she wanted back then was Shaoqing’s love, but what kind of feelings does Shaoqing have for her now? Is it guilt or love? If it isn’t love, what’s the point of him doing so much?”
Fu Chengyan lowered his head and fell into deep thought while Shi Nuan forced a smile. “It’s not that I don’t want to help Shaoqing, but I just hope he can understand that feelings of sympathy and guilt are not love. Women are very sensitive, and they sometimes can’t tolerate even a minor imperfection. You should ask Shaoqing to think about this carefully!”
A fraught silence descended on the car once again. Shi Nuan took out her phone. When she saw Song Rongrong online, she chatted with her for a while. Then, she received a notification from a group chat and clicked to view it. She found that a new member had been added to the group chat set up by Su Shaoqing – it was Fu Ling!
Shi Nuan was a little surprised. Seeing that the person who added her was Pei Huan, she couldn’t help but raise her brows. “Does Huan also know Ling is back?”
“Yeah!” Fu Chengyan nodded his head. “They’re close friends from university.”
“In that case, you can ask Huan to help persuade Ling. I guess Ling is someone who values her relationships with people, so she’ll probably listen to Huan’s advice!”
“You’re one smart girl!” Smiling, Fu Chengyan could not help but shake his head after seeing Shi Nuan’s reaction.
While the two of them were busy chatting, Shi Nuan’s phone rang. It was a call from Jiang Shizheng, so she answered it immediately, “Hello, Grandpa!”
“So you still remember that I’m your grandpa, huh?” Jiang Shizheng sounded a little displeased, so Shi Nuan raised her brows slightly and asked, “What’s the matter, Grandpa? Who made you angry?”
“Who else could it be if not you?” Jiang Shizheng went on, pretending to be angry, “The old man from the Shi family called this morning, and he actually bragged that he’s going to be a great-grandfather because you’re pregnant. What’s going on? How could you not tell me you’re pregnant? How could you tell that old man and actually let him show off? Humph. He shouldn’t forget that I’m your grandpa – the real one!”
Shi Nuan was stunned and said nothing for a while.
Jiang Shizheng froze as well; he probably realized that he had said something wrong, so he hurriedly changed the subject, “That old man keeps competing with me! He deserves no respect!”
Shi Nuan was in a daze for a while before she replied with a chuckle, “Don’t be angry, Grandpa. I wanted to tell you, too, at first, but Yan said that it wasn’t confirmed yet. He didn’t want to get your hopes up, so I didn’t tell you. I planned to tell you after I got the test results!”
“Oh? So are the test results out now?”
“Yes!” Shi Nuan could not help but grin. She found it fun every time her grandpa and granddad got jealous of each other.
In fact, there was no grudge between her grandpa and her granddad. Her granddad was simply dissatisfied with Jiang Yu, while her grandpa was also dissatisfied with Shi Jingzheng. In short, the two old men were a quarrelsome pair who would fight whenever they met. Shi Nuan had gotten already used to it.
“Are you really pregnant?”
“Yes, Grandpa.” Shi Nuan went on with a smile, “I just got my test results today confirming my pregnancy.” Shi Nuan was all smiles, whereas Jiang Shizheng laughed in delight. “That’s great! I will be a great-grandfather too. Haha!”
Shi Nuan couldn’t help but raise the corners of her lips. “Grandpa, let me tell you another piece of news that even Granddad doesn’t know yet!”
“Oh, what’s it?” As long as he knew something Shi Yunsheng didn’t know, Jiang Shizheng felt that he was better – he felt that he was still the most important person to his granddaughter.
When Shi Nuan heard her grandfather’s tone, she could tell that he was really happy. She couldn’t help but shake her head at the fact that the old man acted like a child. “Grandpa, Yan’s friend, Shaoqing, did the test for me. He told me I’m pregnant with twins!”
“Really? Twins?” Jiang Shizheng let out another hearty laugh. “Come to my place for dinner tonight, Nuan. Come here now. I’ll ask Aunt Fei to go and buy some groceries. Tell me what you wanna eat. I’ll get Aunt Fei to make it for you!”
“Um… Grandpa, there’s no need to trouble yourselves with it. A simple meal will do. I’m not picky!” Why is everyone being so dramatic? I’m just pregnant; I’m not suffering from any illness!
Not only is Fu Chengyan acting so unusual, but also Granddad and Grandpa. Why is that?
“No trouble, no trouble. Being pregnant is hard work. During this time, you should take a good rest at home. If you can take some time off work, please do so. You still have Yan for anything that you can’t handle!” Jiang Shizheng didn’t care about anything else as soon as he knew Shi Nuan was pregnant. “Aunt Fei has a lot of experience. Let her go to Wutong Residence to take care of you. She will definitely do a good job!”
“Grandpa, there’s no need for that, really!” Shi Nuan was speechless, but Jiang Shizheng made the decision without allowing any objection before he hung up the phone.
Shi Nuan stared at the dimmed screen, then looked at Fu Chengyan, feeling rather helpless. “It was Grandpa!”
Fu Chengyan nodded, indicating that he had heard her. “So, do we go to Grandpa’s house tonight?”
“I suppose so!” Shi Nuan knew her grandpa very well; she knew that he had always cared deeply for her. Thus, he must be overjoyed to learn about her pregnancy. If she refused to go to his place, he would inevitably be sad.
Fu Chengyan nodded in understanding and smiled. “Grandpa has been getting more and more childish recently!”
Shi Nuan couldn’t help but smile. “Yan, you knew me when you were still a student of Grandpa back then, right?”
Fu Chengyan squinted at Shi Nuan. “Take a guess.”
Shi Nuan pouted. “I don’t want to. It’s not fair at all. How can I remember it when I was so young at that time?” Shi Nuan then gave it some serious thought, but her memory of that time was not very clear.
Shaking her head, she frowned slightly. “That’s weird. Why can’t I recall the events of those years?”
Fu Chengyan’s eyes flickered, but Shi Nuan continued to say, “My memory isn’t usually this bad. Why don’t I have any memory of that period?”
“Are you saying that you don’t remember anymore?” Fu Chengyan raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“I don’t know. I really can’t recall the things that happened during that period.” Shi Nuan was talking about the time when Fu Chengyan was a student of Jiang Shizheng. “My grandpa is a person who appreciates various talents very much. I’ve heard him talk about many excellent students, but I’ve never heard him talking about you.” When Jiang Shizheng introduced Fu Chengyan to her at that time, he had obviously been full of pride.
“Don’t think about it anymore if you can’t remember!” Fu Chengyan reached out and touched Shi Nuan’s head. He was not a person who dwelled on the past. He was happy that Shi Nuan belonged with him now.
“Tell me then, why do you only date me now when you’ve already fallen in love with me that time? You—”
“You were with Fu Xicheng back then!” Fu Chengyan interrupted Shi Nuan. “Besides, you didn’t seem to remember me anymore. Actually, it was not the first time we met after our reunion.” As Fu Chengyan spoke, he slowly turned to look at Shi Nuan.
Shi Nuan’s heart skipped a beat. “It wasn’t?” She thought that the first time she met Fu Chengyan was at Prosperous Dynasty, where she was drunk and drugged. It was Fu Chengyan who had saved her.
“So you’re saying that you already knew who I was. You also know about our subsequent encounter and the things that happened afterward!”
