When it was time to pay, Yan Heng wanted to do it himself, but Zhu Yaya stopped him. Zhu Yaya beat him to it and paid the bill.
Her two little dimples rippled around her mouth: "I told you, let me pay."
As of now, she was a little rich woman with four hundred and forty thousand!
"Alright. Thank you, Yaya." Yan Heng's eyes were full of smiles.
"Oh, no need to be so polite."
The two of them walked out of the coffee shop, and Yan Heng walked Zhu Yaya back to the downstairs of her apartment building. After watching Zhu Yaya enter the stairwell, Yan Heng returned to the coffee shop from earlier.
Sitting behind the booth where he and Zhu Yaya had just been was an extraordinary old man with an imposing, authoritative aura.
Yan Heng sat down. "Sorry to keep you waiting." From the corner of his eye, he scanned his surroundings and spotted several bodyguards hidden in the shadows.
"Did you walk the little girl home? You are the second person to make me wait this long." The old man thumped his leg. "The first was your father."
Yan Heng's gaze turned cold.
The old man's gaze grew distant, as if recalling the past: "I remember when I met your father back then, he also made an old man like me wait for two hours because he had to walk a little girl home. Now, you are doing the exact same thing."
"Old Mr. Ling, if you have something to say, just say it directly." Yan Heng leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
Old Mr. Ling sighed. "Yan Heng, I am your grandfather."
Yan Heng lowered his eyes and sneered. "Ling Yiming is your grandson. My dad was nothing but an abandoned orphan. If you really considered me your biological grandson, why didn't you show up when our family was in danger?"
"Yan Heng, I am very sorry about that. But over the past few years, I've always gone to the West District to check on you. I've also smoothed over quite a few issues for you at school."
Yan Heng looked up, staring directly at Old Mr. Ling. "So, what is your purpose in coming to see me in person?"
"Yan Heng, I know you have suffered a lot these past few years. Now I can give you an opportunity. Are you willing to return to the Ling family?" Old Mr. Ling's gaze was affectionate. "As far as I know, you have been doing odd jobs just to make a living. That must be very hard, right? Just come back with me! I will change your name to 'Ling Yixiao' and add your name to the family genealogy. Your status in the Ling family will be equal to Ling Yiming's, and you will have the right of inheritance."
Old Mr. Ling paused. "So, my child, come back to the Ling family!"
Yan Heng's face was stern and unmoved. "My surname is Yan, not Ling."
His refusal was obvious.
"Right now, you are just someone from an impoverished background. You might spend your whole life unable to cross social classes, destined to be a nobody. Once you return to the Ling family, you will have a better platform, better resources, and it will be much easier to achieve success." Old Mr. Ling did not give up.
"With great position comes great responsibility. If I return to the Ling family, will I be able to marry the person I love?" Yan Heng suddenly asked this question.
"You can choose the one you like best from a multitude of socialites." Old Mr. Ling did not answer Yan Heng's question directly.
Yan Heng chuckled lightly. "Then that means I can't. In that case, I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no interest in anything you've said."
Yan Heng thought of something, and his eyes became very gentle. "I already have someone I want to protect for the rest of my life."
Hearing this, Old Mr. Ling's eyes stagnated.
He stared blankly at Yan Heng sitting opposite him, and through Yan Heng and the passage of time, he saw another person. Forty years ago, there was also someone who had said something similar to him—
"I'm sorry, but I already have someone I want to protect for the rest of my life."
"She has always been bullied since she was little. If I'm not by her side, I don't know how many people will try to pick on her."
"Money and status might be very important to you, but in my eyes, she is the most important."
"For her, I am willing to be a nobody."
...
"Old Mr. Ling."
Yan Heng suddenly called out to him, pulling him back from his memories.
Old Mr. Ling looked at Yan Heng with complicated eyes, and only after a long time did he spit out this sentence: "You and your father are truly alike!"
Both refused to return to the Ling family for the sake of an ordinary woman.
Both were hopelessly romantic fools.
"You should be clear about my intentions now." Yan Heng stood up and left his seat.
"Yan Heng—"
Old Mr. Ling called out to stop him.
Yan Heng turned his head, his face cold. "Is there anything else?"
"Can you call me 'Grandpa'?"
"Sorry," Yan Heng said expressionlessly, "If you want to hear that, go find Ling Yiming."
After saying that, Yan Heng left without looking back.
Old Mr. Ling muttered to himself, "Just as heartless as him!"
Not long after Yan Heng left, a middle-aged man in a formal suit stood beside Old Mr. Ling. He leaned down and whispered into Old Mr. Ling's ear, "Should we start with that girl to force Young Master Yan to return to the Ling family?"
"There's no need." Old Mr. Ling waved his hand. "Let him live the life he wants! If we use that girl to force him to submit, it will only provoke his rebellious nature, making him harder for us to control. There are illegitimate children wanting to climb the ranks of the Ling family everywhere. Let's find a new candidate!"
"Then, the plans for later..." The middle-aged man showed a hesitant expression.
"Cancel all of them." Old Mr. Ling stood up from his seat. "I am his grandfather, after all. Never mind. That child really doesn't resemble us Ling family members at all."
The middle-aged man supported him as they left the coffee shop.
When Yan Heng left the coffee shop, his heart suddenly brightened, as if he had avoided something terrible.
He breathed a sigh of relief, stood under a tree not far from the coffee shop, unlocked his phone, and dialed the string of numbers etched into his heart.
A few seconds later, a lively female voice came through the phone: "Hello, this is Zhu Yaya. Is there something you need?"
Yan Heng turned on the speaker and the recording, chuckling softly. "Yaya, it's me."
"Yan Heng? It's you! Why are you calling?" The girl's voice on the other end pitched up. Anyone could feel the girl's joy from it.
"Nothing." Yan Heng's brows and eyes softened. "I just wanted to hear your voice."
After he spoke, he slightly narrowed his eyes to look at the distant sky, as if he could see Zhu Yaya's slightly blushing face.
...
Not far away, a low-profile black private car was parked there.
Old Mr. Ling looked with a complicated expression at Yan Heng, who was on the phone with Zhu Yaya.
"Old sir?" The middle-aged man sitting in the front driver's seat asked tentatively, "Are we leaving now?"
"Wait a little longer. When a person gets old, they always like to look at pure people and things. After we go back, go and check the background of that girl Yan Heng likes! When she's in need, lend her a hand! Just consider it... consider it as atoning for the younger me. I truly let them down in the end."
"Yes, sir."
