"Grandfather Yang."

No matter how s.p.a.cious this place was, it only took a few steps to gather together.

"Zhining, you"re here." Grandfather Yang acknowledged with a smile.

As soon as Sheng Jiaoyang turned around, she met Shen Zhining"s eyes.

Sheng Jiaoyang immediately looked away, and for some reason, she felt that there was a dangerous glint concealed within Shen Zhining"s eyes. He was seemingly mulling something over.

Noticing Sheng Jiaoyang behind Grandfather Yang, Mr Liang curiously asked, "Mr Yang, who"s this?"

"Jiaojiao is my granddaughter," Grandfather Yang replied with a smile.

"No wonder you exude such a cla.s.sy aura! Please forgive me for not greeting you earlier, I"ll punish myself with this gla.s.s of wine." Mr Liang was indeed good at social networking. He held up a gla.s.s of wine and downed it in one gulp while he secretly wondered where this granddaughter had come from because he"d seen Grandfather Yang"s granddaughter before.

"Uncle Liang, you"re too polite. As a junior, I should be the one proposing a toast to you," Sheng Jiaoyang said and raised her gla.s.s. She then smilingly added, "Uncle Liang, here"s to you!"

Her generous bearing left a good impression on Mr Liang. He could see at a glance that she was a well-educated girl.

Mr Liang grinned before saying, "Since everyone is acquainted, you can chat while I go and say h.e.l.lo to others. Feel free to call me if you need anything."

"Go ahead, I"ll call you if you"re needed," Grandfather Yang smiled.

Ning Xiaoruan, who was standing next to Shen Zhining, saw the smile on Grandfather Yang"s face and secretly heaved a sigh of relief. "It looks like Grandfather Yang has already come to terms with Jiaoyang"s death. The speed of his recovery is unmatched."

Shen Zhining"s expression darkened as he stared at the girl whispering something in Grandfather Yang"s ear. If demagogic witches existed in the world, then he had no doubt that she was one of them.

Sheng Jiaoyang wasn"t aware that Shen Zhining had secretly placed a bounty on her head. She followed Grandfather Yang while the latter introduced her as his granddaughter to the other guests. She consequently drank several gla.s.ses of wine, one after another.

Seeing that Sheng Jiaoyang had consumed quite a few gla.s.ses of wine, Grandfather Yang instructed, "An Jing, take Jiaojiao to the hotel room to rest first."

Jiaojiao was a wine lover to begin with, and no matter how abstemious she was, she"d inevitably drank more than she"d expected. For instance, people who love to eat spicy sticks would still buy and eat them even if they knew that eating too many spicy sticks wasn"t healthy. How could they possibly resist, especially if they were sent to their door?

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked her eyes in an effort to stay sober. Without a doubt, the alcohol had gone straight to her head as even keeping her eyes open required a lot of effort.

She didn"t put on any pretences and followed An Jing outside.

When they arrived to the hotel room, Sheng Jiaoyang finally relaxed. She was so drowsy that she wanted to lay down right away and sleep. As soon as An Jing had left, she locked the bedroom door and plopped down on the bed, falling asleep straight away.

In the banquet hall, Shen Zhining suddenly said, "Grandfather Yang, I have a friend who wants to see you."

"Oh? Where"s your friend?"

"She"s waiting in a hotel room."

Grandfather Yang stared fixedly at Shen Zhining. After a while, due to his trust in Shen Zhining, he followed the latter upstairs.

When they entered the room, Grandfather Yang saw a blonde woman sitting on the sofa playing with her cell phone and muttering to herself, "d.a.m.n it, I was only a step away." At this moment, he was somewhat dumbfounded.

"Zhining, is this your new girlfriend?"

Hearing this, the woman hurriedly stood up and beamed. "You"re here!"

Shen Zhining nodded meaningfully. He then turned to Grandfather Yang and answered, "Her name is Ruth, and she"s a psychiatrist."

"A psychiatrist?" Grandfather Yang repeated before solemnly asking, "What? You suspect that I have a mental illness?"

"Grandfather Yang, that"s not what I meant. I"m just worried that you"ve been hypnotised."

"Hypnotised? By who? Jiaojiao?" Grandfather Yang didn"t know whether to laugh or cry.

He glanced at Shen Zhining, who tacitly acknowledged this with his silence. Afterwards, he s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the psychiatrist, who seemed quite unprofessional, and said, "If that"s the case, then how are you going to verify whether I"ve been hypnotised or not?"

"If Grandfather Yang cooperates with Ruth"s examination and answers her questions accordingly, we can find out soon enough."

Seeing Shen Zhining"s determination, Grandfather Yang indifferently said, "Alright, let"s start."

An hour later.

Grandfather Yang looked at Ruth with a smile that wasn"t quite a smile and said, "What are the results? Have I been hypnotised?"

Ruth wiped off the invisible sweat from her forehead and gave Grandfather Yang a thumbs up. "Mr Yang, your willpower is amazing."

"If I could be hypnotised so easily, my family businesses would"ve been seized long ago. Zhining, sometimes you have to be more open-minded to see more wonders," Grandfather Yang warned meaningfully before leaving the room.

Shen Zhining looked at Ruth and asked, "Are you certain that Grandfather Yang hadn"t been hypnotised?"

"Mr Yang"s willpower is very strong. Even if my teacher was here, he wouldn"t be able to hypnotise Mr Yang. And, I don"t believe that there"s anyone in this world who is better at this than my teacher," Ruth a.s.sured.

Shen Zhining"s expression darkened as he said, "No matter how good you think you are, there"s always someone out there that"s better. Nothing is absolute."

When Grandfather Yang returned to his hotel suite, he saw An Jing waiting in the living room. He then looked towards the closed bedroom door and asked, "Is Jiaojiao asleep?"

"Yes."

"An Jing," Grandfather Yang suddenly called out. "You"ve probably figured it out already, right?"

An Jing glanced towards the bedroom and nodded lightly.

"Do you find this preposterous?"

An Jing didn"t answer immediately. He walked to Grandfather Yang, squatted down, and earnestly looked the latter in the eyes before saying, "Grandfather, if you hadn"t been so kind and helped me pay my family"s debt that year, I would"ve become a lonely, restless ghost long ago. You saved my life and gave me a home, so all I want to do in this life is repay your kindness. Seeing Jiaoyang come back to your side and live on in this manner, I"m happy from the bottom of my heart because your hopes and expectations for the future have also been reignited."

Hearing this, Grandfather Yang was very touched. He patted An Jing"s hand on the armrest of the wheelchair and sighed with delight. "You"re a good child!"

"In this world, I don"t have any relatives left and you"re the person dearest to me. I"m willing to do anything that makes you happy," An Jing resolutely said.

Nevertheless, Grandfather Yang sighed again. "It"s a pity, really a pity!"

"What"s a pity?" a voice asked from the direction of the bedroom.

Sheng Jiaoyang was currently standing at the door and rubbing her eyes.

"Not sleepy anymore?"

"I"ll continue sleeping when I get home. Grandfather, you haven"t answered me yet. What did you mean by that?" Sheng Jiaoyang walked over.

"It"s nothing. Now that you"re awake, let"s go home."

As they neared the elevator, they saw three people approaching from the other side of the corridor.

Sheng Jiaoyang stared at the foreign girl next to Shen Zhining and thought: Oh? Is she his new lover?

"h.e.l.lo!" Ruth waved at Sheng Jiaoyang when their gazes met.

After waving, Ruth said to Grandfather Yang, "Mr Yang, do you use WeChat? If so, can I add you?"

"I don"t think I want to see you again after this," Grandfather Yang replied.

"Why not? You even smiled when we were chatting earlier," Ruth questioned, puzzled.

"Grandfather, you know her?" Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Grandfather Yang in surprise.

"Mhmm, Zhining said that he"d introduce me to a friend."

Wow, she really is his girlfriend! Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at Shen Zhining, and their eyes met. At that instant, she felt gooseb.u.mps rising on her skin. The way Shen Zhining was looking at her was different from before. It was frighteningly calm, like the calm before the storm.

After getting in the car, Sheng Jiaoyang softly asked, "Grandfather, is that woman Shen Zhining"s girlfriend?"

Grandfather Yang didn"t bat an eyelid as he said, "Yup, why? You have something to say?"

"What can I say? It just feels weird. It turns out he likes that type of woman."

"You don"t like Zhining anyway, so it doesn"t matter," Grandfather Yang said.

"You"re right." Sheng Jiaoyang nodded.

Seeing her uncaring reaction, Grandfather Yang secretly sighed. By the looks of things, he wasn"t sure anymore if he could see Jiaojiao find love before his time was up.

The next morning, Sheng Jiaoyang received a phone call from Cen Jin. Since Cen Jin was going abroad tomorrow, they agreed to meet in a cafe this afternoon.

Sheng Jiaoyang arrived at the cafe"s entrance and was about to enter when a sudden gust of wind came from behind. She felt a sharp pain in her neck before everything went black.

Cen Jin waited for a long time, but he didn"t see Sheng Jiaoyang. So, he decided to call her, only to find that her cell phone was turned off. He then unhappily got up and left. Before leaving, he even called Gu Zhou and complained for a while.

In Grandfather Yang"s new home, An Jing immediately rushed over to Grandfather Yang"s side and reported that Sheng Jiaoyang had been kidnapped.

"Who kidnapped Jiaojiao?" Grandfather Yang"s expression was extremely gloomy as he asked.

An Jing hesitated before saying, "Qi said that it was the tall guy from Mr Shen"s side."

"Jing Weinan? Why did Zhining send him to kidnap Jiaojiao?" Grandfather Yang frowned. He then remembered that Shen Zhining had called a psychiatrist to see him last night. It seemed that since Zhining couldn"t find out anything from him, he"d decided to lay his hands on Jiaojiao directly.

He released a long sigh before immediately calling Shen Zhining.

Shen Zhining was seemingly waiting for this call since he answered on the first ring.

"Zhining, did you kidnap Jiaojiao?" Grandfather Yang asked, going straight to the point.

"Yes," Shen Zhining calmly answered.

"What do you want to do?"

"Grandfather Yang, I just don"t want you to be blinded by someone with ulterior motives. This time, I"ll get to the bottom of this through her."

At this moment, Grandfather Yang really wanted to hit Shen Zhining hard on the head and wondered when this lad would stop being so stubborn. He took a deep breath and calmly warned, "Zhining, send Jiaojiao back unscathed, right now, or else, don"t blame me for being rude and cutting all ties with your family!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Did you hear me?!" Grandfather Yang"s tone grew more severe.

"Once I"ve figured out the ins and outs of the matter, I"ll send her back. Don"t worry, I won"t do anything to her before that."

"Zhining, if you really want to know the ins and outs of the matter, I can tell you, don"t…"

Shen Zhining interrupted, "I only believe in what I see and hear with my own eyes and ears."

"Zhining, you"ll regret this!"

However, Shen Zhining had already hung up.