Jiang Chengzhou was away for six months. By then, Shen Man had been transferred back to the capital, where she resumed her studies and work.
It was inconvenient to make phone calls from the border region, so the two of them could only keep in touch by writing letters.
Neither of their families knew that they were together.
Lin Zhilan was concerned only with Jiang Chengzhou’s safety. When it came to his marriage, the person who was truly anxious was Jiang Jinzhu.
Given Jiang Chengzhou’s circumstances, no matter how anxious Jiang Jinzhu became, he had no way to contact him.
All Jiang Jinzhu could do was call Lin Zhilan and Su Lang, fretting that he might die before he got to see Jiang Chengzhou married.
The old man was getting on in years, so Lin Zhilan didn’t dare upset him. She merely told him that they would discuss Jiang Chengzhou’s love life after he came home.
Only then did Jiang Jinzhu let the matter go.
However, age had made him somewhat senile. He often forgot things, and even went to Xu Yueyun and Su Bingcheng, saying that he wanted to go to the island and bring Jiang Chengzhou back.
He seemed to think Jiang Chengzhou was still a child.
After Jiang Yinzhu was transferred away from the capital, he married a woman who already had a child. They never had a child of their own, but he loved his stepson as if he were his biological son.
When he heard that Jiang Jinzhu had fallen ill, he brought his wife and son back to the capital once.
The moment Jiang Jinzhu saw him, he became furious. Every time they met, he would jab at him with his cane.
The incident back then had caused a huge stir in the capital. Everyone except the younger generation knew what a massive cuckold’s hat Jiang Yinzhu had been forced to wear.
Jiang Yinzhu’s life was going well now, and he didn’t particularly want to return to the capital. Since Jiang Jinzhu refused to acknowledge him, he simply stopped bothering with him.
Jiang Jinzhu had no other children. With Jiang Chengzhou away, it was Linlin and Yan Yuan who visited him frequently.
Whenever Jiang Jinzhu saw them, he would start talking at length. He no longer even remembered what he had eaten that morning, and kept repeating the same stories about Jiang Chengzhou’s childhood.
After talking for a while, he would begin to cry and say that he was sorry to Chengzhou.
Hearing how hard her brother’s childhood had been, Linlin felt both heartbroken and angry. But when she saw the old man’s tear-filled eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to lose her temper and had to soothe him instead.
Shen Man sometimes came to the little Western-style house to eat with them, so she had heard a little about Jiang Jinzhu’s current condition.
“Grandpa Jiang only wants Brother to get married now, but Brother could be somewhere deep in the mountains. How is he supposed to get married?”
Shen Man placed a piece of greens in her bowl. “You never know. Perhaps your brother has already found someone he likes.”
“Really?”
Linlin’s eyes lit up. She secretly transferred the vegetables into Yan Yuan’s bowl.
Yan Yuan cooperated by moving his bowl over. Then, under Shen Man’s gaze, he put on a stern face and nodded.
Shen Man gave a quiet snort. Without exposing Linlin’s little trick, she added another serving of vegetables to her bowl.
“Where does Grandpa Jiang live? Can I go visit him?”
Linlin looked miserable as she ate the greens. “Sure. We can go together this weekend.”
When the following weekend arrived, Shen Man indeed accompanied them to visit Jiang Jinzhu.
The nanny was helping him sun himself in the courtyard. When she saw Linlin and the others, she hurriedly stood up to greet them.
“Linlin’s here, and Comrade Yan is here too.”
Then she looked at Shen Man. “And this is?”
Before Shen Man could answer, Jiang Jinzhu smiled and said, “I know. You’re our Chengzhou’s wife.”
“Grandpa Jiang,” Linlin said as she helped him stand. “Please don’t say things like that. She’s my good friend, and she’s here to visit you today.”
Jiang Jinzhu grew upset. “I’m not saying nonsense. She is Chengzhou’s wife.”
His mind was muddled, and Linlin couldn’t correct him. She gave Shen Man an apologetic look.
Shen Man gently shook her head, indicating that it was fine.
Jiang Jinzhu asked again, “Why didn’t Chengzhou come today?”
Linlin had no idea how to answer, so Shen Man spoke up. “Chengzhou is away on a business trip. He won’t be back for a while.”
Jiang Jinzhu gave a quiet “oh” and murmured, “Work is important. Work is important.”
In the past, whenever Linlin and Yan Yuan came over, they were there mainly to listen.
The old man simply wanted someone to talk to. He considered the nanny an outsider and wouldn’t speak to her.
But whenever Linlin and Yan Yuan visited, he would repeatedly tell them stories about his youth.
Now that Shen Man was there, she could carry on a proper conversation with him. No matter what he said, she always knew how to respond, which only stirred up his enthusiasm even more.
Linlin secretly gave Manman a thumbs-up.
Manman was far too good at “making things up”!
Linlin was now a junior in college, with grades that placed her head and shoulders above everyone else. She had displayed extraordinary talent, especially in high-speed fluid mechanics and aircraft structural mechanics.
Though she had not yet graduated, her supervisor had already brought her into his research group to work as an assistant at the research institute.
Her supervisor had even given her his word: once she graduated, he would directly apply to have her assigned to the institute.
The research institute at the main campus was a national key aeronautics research institution and a top-secret, first-level defense research facility. It held an extraordinary status and possessed immense capabilities.
This was Linlin’s goal, so she had never slacked off in her studies.
Naturally, she wasn’t about to pass up such an opportunity.
Thus, beginning with the summer vacation of her junior year, she even went to the laboratory on weekends, working under her supervisor on long-term military-industrial research projects. It was essentially an early internship in her future position.
She visited Jiang Jinzhu less often now.
Fortunately, Yan Yuan was there. His career had already gotten on the right track, and he had plenty of free time.
Because he was with Linlin, several of their elders treated him very well, regarding him as one of their own children.
Whenever Linlin was busy, he was usually the one who went to visit the old man.
However, after running into Shen Man at Jiang Jinzhu’s place several times, Yan Yuan began to feel that something was off.
“Yan Yuan,” Shen Man said before he could speak, taking the initiative, “aren’t you indulging Linlin a little too much in certain areas?”
Shen Man was happy to see how well Yan Yuan treated Linlin.
But sometimes he went too far in spoiling her, and Shen Man simply couldn’t stand by and watch.
Take eating vegetables, for example. Shen Man believed that giving in to Linlin was not good for her, but Yan Yuan would let her have her way. If Linlin didn’t want to eat them, he simply wouldn’t make her.
Yan Yuan was silent for a moment. “Actually, there are already too many people trying to manage Linlin.”
Before Su Li was born, Linlin had been the youngest child in the family.
And she wasn’t merely the youngest in her immediate family. In the entire extended family, she was the cherished little sister everyone doted on.
Her grandparents in the capital, her second uncle and aunt’s family, Shen Man and Jiang Chengzhou—even Yan Yuan in the past—all treated Linlin like the apple of their eye.
Among their generation alone, she had older sisters such as Shen Man, Su Pei, and Su Yao.
Her older brothers included Jiang Chengzhou, Li Xuan, and Yan Yuan back when he was still only a friend.
It was only after Yan Yuan got together with Linlin that he realized something was wrong.
The affection Linlin received was also a kind of control.
From major matters, like not being allowed to do anything dangerous, to minor ones, like eating vegetables—everyone wanted to give her what they believed was best for her.
Linlin was sensible, and she knew that everyone meant well, so she accepted it all without complaint.
She had never really gone through a rebellious phase. It was just like when she was little, when Jiang Chengzhou would cling to her and go out to sea with her by boat.
