"There's a story behind this?"
Xu Yanxia asked eagerly.
Her grandfather continued to tell her, "Minister Li's wife passed away early on. When he was sent down to the Northwest, his two children were left in Jingbei with no one to look after them. I did what I could, sneaking them some food from the kitchen every day to go check on them."
"But they were two children under ten, without their father around, and people in the courtyard would constantly bully them. Things couldn't go on like that! I remembered they had an uncle working as a technician at a cotton mill over in Hangcheng. The political climate in Hangcheng was less severe at the time, and the factory was relatively safe, so I found a way to send a letter to their uncle."
"Later, their uncle quickly rushed to Jingbei and took them to Hangcheng."
"So that's what happened,"
Xu Yanxia suddenly understood why Mrs. He had said on the phone earlier that her grandfather was their benefactor.
"What happened next?"
Her aunt, standing to the side, asked, "Is that why you returned to Qingcheng back then?"
Even though her aunt was already in her forties, this was the first time she had heard her father talk about the past.
"More or less,"
her grandfather said. "When those people realized they couldn't find the two children, they started interrogating me, both openly and in secret. I simply found an excuse to resign and went home."
"So, you went home to protect Minister Li's two children?" Xu Yanxia asked.
Her grandfather replied, "It was also for my own protection. You have to understand, once you were targeted by that group back then, life became very difficult. Besides, as an outsider, I wasn't very well-liked to begin with. Rather than letting them pin some label on me, it was better to resign and leave with a clean slate."
"That's true."
Her aunt nodded.
Xu Yanxia asked her grandfather, "Did you know that your old minister was later rehabilitated and returned to Jingbei?"
"I knew,"
her grandfather said happily. "That's what they call heaven's justice! Later on, Minister Li did a lot of practical good for the country!"
He then asked her, "Why bring this up all of a sudden?"
Xu Yanxia explained, "Because your old leader and his two children have been looking for you ever since. They went to our provincial capital and even came to Qingcheng. But since you didn't use your current name when you went to Jingbei, they were never able to find you."
"But last week, his child saw the video of you making stir-fried liver slices and quick-fried pork kidneys, and that's how they recognized you."
"Is that so?"
Her grandfather was a bit surprised. "Then... was it Xiaohua or Xiaoliang?"
Xiaohua was Mrs. He's name, and Xiaoliang was her younger brother, who had followed in his father's footsteps into politics and held quite a high position.
Xu Yanxia smiled and said, "You even remember their names?"
"Of course,"
her grandfather chuckled. "Minister Li was busy back then, so those two kids ate at my place from a young age. I still remember Xiaohua loved sweet and sour fish the most, and Xiaoliang liked pork intestines."
"Then there's no mistake,"
Xu Yanxia said with a smile. "Just now, Mrs. He, who is Xiaohua, specifically mentioned this to me."
"Wait a moment, I'll let Xiaohua speak to you directly."
Saying that, she took out her phone and started a video call with Mrs. He.
...
Needless to say what happened next.
Even though the old friends had been separated for many years, the memories of the past remained, and they had plenty to talk about.
They exchanged greetings about their current situations and chatted about the siblings' experiences after moving to Hangcheng.
Upon learning that Minister Li, now in his nineties, was still in good health and had always kept him in his thoughts, her grandfather immediately declared that he would go with Xu Yanxia to visit him when she went to Jingbei to record a program next week.
Mrs. He smiled and said to Xu Yanxia, "Xiao Xia, don't call me Mrs. He anymore. Just call me Auntie. For your engagement party this Sunday, I'll be sitting at the bride's family table."
After all, Jingbei and Rong City were far apart, and with a ninety-something-year-old father at home, Mrs. He had originally planned to just attend their wedding later on.
But now that there was this additional connection, she naturally had to come and show her support for Xu Yanxia.
Xu Yanxia immediately smiled and nodded, "Rest assured, Auntie, it's our honor to have you. We'll definitely save a good seat for you."
...
By the time the video call with Mrs. He ended, it was getting late, so Xu Yanxia didn't go to try on dresses.
A few busy days passed, and by the time she finally went to the boutique, it was already Thursday.
"Welcome, Miss Xu!"
It was a weekday afternoon, and traffic had been relatively smooth. As soon as Xu Yanxia parked her car and entered the store, the senior client manager personally came up to greet her, saying, "The gown from Europe just arrived at noon today. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."
"It's fine,"
Xu Yanxia smiled gently. "There are still a few days until Sunday, so I'm not in a great rush."
She wasn't sure if there had been a miscommunication at the store. On Monday, Ms. Shen had told her that the dresses she ordered were ready. But when she was about to come on Tuesday, the senior client manager who had been assigned to her said that one of the gowns wouldn't arrive until today.
To save time, she decided to just come today.
As they spoke, the client manager led her up to the VIP fitting area on the second floor.
Just as they were heading to her designated VIP room, the door of a nearby VIP room opened, and a store assistant led two customers out.
One of them saw Xu Yanxia and immediately greeted her, "Isn't this Xiao Xu? Hello, Xiao Xu. Are you here to try on clothes today too?"
Xu Yanxia stopped and politely greeted her back, "Yes, hello Auntie Tao. You're here today too."
This Auntie Tao was an acquaintance of her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Lu. Xu Yanxia had met her back when she went for high-altitude French dining with the three Lu siblings.
Only back then, she wasn't together with Lu Jingming yet, so she wasn't very familiar with this Auntie Tao.
Later, when Nine Meals opened, Auntie Tao visited a few times, and through Mrs. Lu's introductions, they gradually became acquainted.
Coincidentally, the other lady beside Auntie Tao today was someone Xu Yanxia had also met before.
It was Mrs. Qu, the woman who, during Xu Yanxia's early days working for the Lu family when she temporarily acted as Mrs. Lu's assistant to meet Mrs. He, had made sarcastic and passive-aggressive remarks toward Mrs. Lu and tried to mock Xu Yanxia as well, just because the Lu Corporation had snatched a business deal from them.
Of course, since it was cold now, she wasn't wearing a qipao. Instead, she wore a long-sleeved velvet dress with a ruby brooch pinned to the collar and a diamond-encrusted watch on her wrist. She was dripping in so many jewels it was almost blinding.
"Oh, look who it is. Isn't this the former chef of the Lu family?"
After Xu Yanxia finished greeting Auntie Tao, Mrs. Qu also spoke to her.
Probably because their business still hadn't managed to beat the Lu Corporation in the second half of the year, her words were still dripping with that same passive-aggressive tone.
