Chapter 229: 169 Eldest Brother and the Xie Family’s Grudges and Affections (3 more chapters)
Jiang Family
Although it was already dusk, since everyone had lunch at the hotel, eating and drinking, most of them were still asleep, so there was no rush to prepare dinner.
Tang Wan, having nothing else to do, watched TV with the old lady for a while and stewed so soup in the kitchen.
Fan Mingyu hurried out of the room and only said one sentence, “The Xie Family is sending people over.”
“The Xie Family?” The old lady squinted her eyes, “What are they coming for?”
The grandfathers’ generations of the two families had a decent relationship, as did their children, but by the ti it got down to Jiang Yanting’s generation, things had beco sowhat unspeakable.
“They said the New Year is approaching and they wanted to drop off so things, to see if anyone was ho.” Fan Mingyu, while picking up the toys Jiangjiang had just scattered on the carpet, chuckled, “I’m guessing it has to do with the matchmaking from before, sending the child over to feel out the situation.”
“Probably so.”
“Jiangjiang, go downstairs and wake your dad up, tell him Uncle Xie is coming.” Fan Mingyu called out to Jiangjiang, who was still playing with his toys, and he promptly ran upstairs.
…
The Xie family called when they were almost at the community, so by the ti Jiang Yanting ca downstairs, they had already arrived.
He had thought that Shen Zhixian would be among them, and felt sowhat apprehensive, carrying his son downstairs with a flurry of emotions he couldn’t quite describe. He hadn’t even considered how to start a conversation with her or how to deal with his family.
Unprepared as he was, he still took Jiangjiang downstairs, only to find two people sitting in the living room, a man and a woman, neither of whom was her.
“Why are you so slow? Co and sit.”
“Hello, Uncle Xie, hello, sister.” Jiangjiang always knew how to charm the girls.
“There, your sister has brought you a toy, see if you like it.” The visitor was the Xie Family’s granddaughter—Xie Tongtong—whom he had t during the matchmaking.
“Thank you, sister, I like whatever you buy.”
“How adorable.” Xie Tongtong patted his head before greeting Jiang Yanting, “Second Master.”
“Miss Xie.” Jiang Yanting’s face lacked any expression, though his heart was indescribably complex; he had braced himself for soone else entirely.
“Long ti no see.” The man, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up.
“Mm.” Jiang Yanting briefly shook hands with him.
Clearly an old acquaintance, yet not quite that familiar.
Tang Wan eyed the man, dressed in a soft white shirt and neatly pressed black trousers, tall and striking, though his smile seed distant and politely indifferent.
With rimless glasses, he looked dignified and proper.
He might not have been particularly handso, but he carried himself with an exceptional poise, reminiscent of the winter plum, solitary and austere, proud and independent, the epito of character.
Even his casual attire seed carefully chosen, right down to the watch on his wrist.
Exquisite, ticulous!
When she first entered, the old lady had already introduced her to this man—the grandson of Elder Xie—Xie Duo.
His na did not match the person at all!
“Sit down, let’s talk.” Fan Mingyu poured tea for the Xie siblings, “We haven’t seen you in a long while, have we?”
“Tongtong tends to stay at ho, and I’ve been working out of town recently. With the New Year coming up, I’ve just returned.” Xie Duo spoke with a voice that was neither too light nor too heavy, every word asured just right.
“Tongtong should get out more.” The old lady chuckled as she looked at the brother and sister.
“Then, would it be alright if I ca to visit you more often?” Xie Tongtong smiled.
“Of course, I’d love for you to co, but young people like you probably find it boring to stay with us for more than a few minutes.”
“Not at all…”
Tang Wan observed Xie Tongtong; a pretty oval face, arched brows, but the features weren’t too striking.
Yet it seed like the Xie people all had good temperants and dressed well, speaking pleasingly. They were quite adept at winning over their elders, and it didn’t take long for Xie Tongtong to have the old lady chuckling with delight.
Tang Wan looked from Xie Tongtong to Jiang Yanting, feeling that this wasn’t his type. She was even more puzzled.
“Yanting, go talk with Xie Duo. Why are the two of you sitting there all dried up? Why don’t you both go upstairs to the study and stay there for a while? You probably find chatting with us boring too.” The old lady laughed.
Jiang Yanting nodded and then led Xie Duo upstairs.
At that mont, Fan Mingyu whispered in her ear, “Go upstairs and wake Xiaowu up.”
Since it was also nearly dinner ti, Tang Wan said goodbye to Xie Tongtong and hurried upstairs.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Jinsang had already woken up, just finished showering, and hastily changed clothes. Yet, being close, when he spoke, there was still a sll of alcohol.
“Did you wake up?” Tang Wan smiled at him.
“Mm.” Living on the third floor, with the windows shut tight, they could hardly hear any noise from downstairs.
“We have visitors.”
“Who’s co over?”
“The Xie Family.”
Jiang Jinsang’s fingers paused slightly as he was fastening his buttons, “Xie Duo?”
“Right, the one with glasses, looking all well-behaved and scholarly.”
“Scholarly…” Jiang Jinsang took a breath.
“That’s right, the girl who went on the blind date with Second Master is here too. She has quite the temperant.”
“Xie Tongtong? Or is it…”
“Yeah, it’s just the two siblings.”
Jiang Jinsang narrowed his eyes, swiftly fastened his buttons, put on his jacket, and prepared to go downstairs. His movents were hurried, which was uncharacteristic for him. Perhaps because of his natural frailty, he had a slow and deliberate way about him, even when speaking in his soft and gentle voice. It was rare for him to be this agitated.
“Does Second Master like Xie Tongtong?” Tang Wan couldn’t help but ask.
“How could that be? If he liked her, it would have happened long ago. It’s not like he’s never seen her before. What my brother likes isn’t her. He t two people on the day of the blind date; the one he has his eyes on is soone else, soone you’ve t before…”
Tang Wan wasn’t very concerned about Jiang Yanting’s blind date and couldn’t rember much of it. She blurted out without thinking, “Teacher Shen?”
“Right!”
What a coincidence?
So Jiang Jinsang actually understood everything. Then why were they playing Tai Chi in the car earlier? But before Tang Wan could ask more questions, he had already patted her head, “I’ll go downstairs first, we’ll talk about this later.”
“Okay.” Tang Wan was startled. Could it be that Second Master liked the sa person she did? Had she worried for nothing?
Had the blind date encountered Jiangjiang’s biological mother?
What kind of unfortunate fate was this?
“Are my brother and Xie Duo still downstairs?” Jiang Jinsang stepped onto the stairs and looked back to ask.
“They went to the second-floor study.”
“Just the two of them?” Jiang Jinsang furrowed his brows.
“Yeah.”
“Trouble!” Jiang Jinsang hurried downstairs after speaking, really in a rush.
What’s going on? This is so sudden.
“Miss Tang…” A deep male voice suddenly ca from behind, startling Tang Wan so much she nearly scread out loud. Turning her head, she saw Jiang Cuo, with a fox-like grin on his face. His sudden appearance was indeed quite frightening.
She composed herself a bit and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Cuo simply laughed, “I’ve always been here.”
Jiang Jinsang spent most of his ti on the third floor, so he and Jiang Jiu mainly hung around on the sa floor.
Tang Wan forced a laugh.
“Actually, Fifth Master and Mister Xie have known each other for a long ti. You don’t have to worry too much.”
“Worry?” Tang Wan frowned. What did she need to worry about?
“Mister Xie and Second Master have always been at odds.”
“At odds?”
“The two of them are close in age. They’ve been in the sa school since junior high and fought each other until Second Master went abroad. After Second Master joined the company, they continued to clash over various projects, both openly and in secret. It’s just that this year Mister Xie has spent most of his ti out of town, so there haven’t been as many opportunities for their confrontations,” Jiang Cuo explained.
“They started in junior high?” Tang Wan was surprised.
“There’s only room for one tiger on a mountain, and with both of them being of similar age, it’s inevitable they’d be compared.”
“If one wasn’t so excellent, it would be fine, but they both are. Neither wants to be second-best, so their relationship has always been strained, kind of a ‘if there’s Mingyu, why need Liang?’ situation.”
“But no major incidents will co out of it, as both of them are rather restrained and rational. It’s just verbal sparring, and they won’t actually co to blows.”
Tang Wan bit her lip. Shen Zhixian was arranged by the Xie Family for the blind date, and although she doesn’t bear the Xie surna, there must be close ties.
So now Second Master and Mister Xie are archenemies?
What a tangled relationship.
How could Second Master and the Xie Family have such a grudge!
“Oh, right…” It seed as if Jiang Cuo suddenly recalled sothing.
“When they were in school, they actually did fight, but I’m not clear on the details because I hadn’t joined the Jiang Family at that ti. I only heard about it. Anyway, neither of them are pushovers. Every ti they confronted each other, even if Second Master won, he didn’t gain much advantage. That’s more or less the situation.”
They fought?
It’s hard to imagine the cold and restrained Second Master Jiang and the elegant Mister Xie actually coming to blows.
No wonder Fan Mingyu suddenly asked her to go upstairs to call Jiang Jinsang. She probably knew about their relationship and wanted him to diate to prevent any issues.
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