Quick Wear: Love still depends on two love brains

"Master, you are finally back!"

Aunt Qin's voice trembled slightly. She stood on the steps outside the vermilion lacquered gate of the Xi family's old house, holding a half-polished copper door knocker in her hand.

The July sunlight filtered through the eaves of the carved gatehouse, casting mottled shadows on the bluestone slabs, but it could not dispel the anxiety between her brows.

The Xi family's old house is located in the core historical protection area of ​​W City. The Chinese-style courtyard with white walls and black tiles is hidden behind rows of ancient camphor trees. Although the "Xi Mansion" plaque hanging on the lintel has faded, the corners have been carefully polished, revealing the majesty of a century-old family.

This is a landmark in W City and the Xi family's roots. It's said that when the city was being planned, developers offered billions to buy this land, but Mr. Xi rebuffed them with one simple statement: "We won't sell our Xi family roots, no matter how much money we have."

Xi Lanxiu had just gotten out of a black Bentley, still carrying the unique smell of gunpowder from the e-sports stadium - the hood of his black hoodie was casually draped behind his head, revealing his neat jawline. The red rope bracelet on his left wrist was a peace amulet his mother had asked for him last year, and it swayed gently as he strode forward.

He supported Aunt Qin who was walking towards him quickly, and his fingertips touched the rough calluses on the back of the old woman's hand, which were the marks left by more than 20 years of running the Xi family.

"Aunt Qin, what happened?" His voice was much calmer than on the court, and the youthful ending tone was deliberately flattened.

Ever since he received the tearful call from Aunt Qin, his heart has been beating fast - Aunt Qin has been in the Xi family for half her life and has seen all kinds of storms. It must be no small matter to make her so panic.

Aunt Qin's eyes turned red, and she was about to speak when a roar of anger suddenly erupted from the main hall, causing the copper bells in the corridor to jingle: "Rebellious son! You!"

Then came the panicked cry of Butler Zhang: "Master!"

And the mother Su Wan's crying voice: "Dad!"

Xi Lanxiu's heart sank. He let go of Aunt Qin's hand and rushed to the main hall.

When he walked through the courtyard where the century-old Podocarpus was planted, he almost bumped into a servant holding a tea set. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the celadon teacup in the servant's hand shaking violently on the tray - the air in the whole old house was like a tightened spring, so tense that it was about to break.

In the main hall, half of the mahogany eight-immortals table was overturned, the fine Longjing tea was spilled all over the floor, and the purple clay teapot was smashed to pieces at the doorstep.

Old Master Xi Tian was half-paralyzed on the armchair, his chest heaving violently, his fingers digging into the carvings on the chair seat so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Xi Lanxiu rushed over and squatted down, placing his palm on the back of his grandfather's cold hand: "Grandpa, how are you?"

Xi Tian slowly opened his eyes, and his cloudy eyeballs brightened the moment he saw his grandson. The depression in his chest that almost knocked him over was mostly dissipated.

He grabbed Xi Lanxiu's hand tightly, his skinny knuckles rubbing against it painfully. "Xiao Xiu... you're finally back... If you were a step later, Grandpa would have been driven to death by your bastard father!"

Xi Lanxiu frowned and looked around.

His mother, Su Wan, sat on the sofa and looked at him with shining eyes.

His father, Xi Chuyou, stood aside, his expensive custom-made suit wrinkled on one side, his tie hanging askew around his neck, his chest still heaving violently, obviously he was also very angry.

Butler Zhang stood in the corner with his hands hanging down, his face a little paler than usual.

Among this group of familiar figures, there was one person whose pupils suddenly contracted.

Jiang Zhan.

Why is he here?

The man was wearing a simple white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing his smooth wrists.

He just stood in the shadow under the east window, watching the farce with seemingly calm eyes, as if the quarrel in front of him had nothing to do with him.

"Xiao Xiu, your grandfather is getting old and confused!" Xi Chuyou's voice rang out in the main hall like thunder. He pointed at Jiang Zhan fiercely.

"I don't know where they picked up this man from. His identity is unclear, and he's asking for 10% of the Xi Group's shares!"

He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling even more violently. "Tell me! You only own 12% of the Xi family's shares! You're the designated heir to the Xi family, my own son! Even if you're fooling around with esports now, I'll think you're young and naive, and you'll always come back when you're done—but what about him? A wild brat who showed up out of nowhere, why would he want 10%? It's just wishful thinking!"

Xi Lanxiu's heart skipped a beat. Ten percent?

The Xi Group’s current market value is 100 billion yuan, and 10% of it is 10 billion yuan in assets.

His own shares were forced upon him by his grandfather. His father had even been in a cold war with his grandfather for half a month because of this. How could someone suddenly appear and ask for shares?

Xi Tian was so irritated by his son's words that he started coughing violently. His face instantly turned the color of liver, and his breathing made a noise like a bellows.

Xi Lanxiu quickly reached out to help his grandfather calm down. His palm could clearly feel the protruding joints on the old man's back - but after not seeing him for half a year, his grandfather seemed to have lost a lot of weight.

"Grandpa, don't be anxious." He whispered to comfort him, then looked up at his father, "Dad, if you have something to say, please talk to me nicely. Don't make me angry."

Xi Chuyou snorted coldly, took the cup of water handed to him by Su Wan, and swaggered to sit on the rosewood sofa next to him, legs crossed, his eyes piercing Xi Tian like a knife:

"Sister Qin, go prepare dinner. Wanwan is hungry."

Aunt Qin's mouth twitched, and she replied "yes". When she turned around, she secretly glared at Jiang Zhan and hurriedly retreated.

Xi Tian coughed for a long time before he recovered. He leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. The sigh seemed to come from the depths of his lungs, carrying a strong sense of fatigue, making him seem to have aged ten years in an instant.

He looked at Xi Lanxiu, his voice hoarse as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper: "This child... is Juanzi's grandson."

"I don't care about silk handkerchiefs!" Xi Chuyou interrupted without thinking, "Even if you are the grandson of the Jade Emperor, don't even think about taking a penny from the Xi family!"

"Unfilial son! You unfilial son!" Xi Tianqi was shaking with anger. He grabbed the teacup at hand and wanted to throw it at his son. However, his hand lost its strength halfway into the air and the teacup fell to the ground with a clang. The scalding tea splashed on Xi Chuyou's trouser legs.

Xi Chuyou frowned and brushed off his trousers. Just as he was about to speak, Su Wan pushed him and he shut his mouth.

"Dad." Xi Lanxiu glanced at his father helplessly, then turned to his grandfather, "Juanzi...is that the Grandma Liu you mentioned to me before?"

Xi Tian nodded, and a layer of tears appeared in his turbid eyes.

"That was a time of war..." The old man's voice drifted far away, as if it had penetrated through the passage of time.

"I was only sixteen at the time, fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains with the army. During a breakout, I was shot and fell off a cliff. It was Juanzi who pulled me out from the pile of dead bodies."

He paused, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the marks on the armrest of the armchair:

"She was two years older than me, a girl from a village at the foot of the mountain. She carried me on her back and hid in a cave, applying herbs to my wounds. She would even chew tree bark and give me the steamed bread she saved. At night, when wild animals howled, she would hold a wooden stick and guard the cave entrance for seven days and seven nights..."

Xi Lanxiu didn't say anything.

He had heard many stories about the war years from his grandfather since he was a child, but when it came to Grandma Liu Juan, his grandfather always spoke very briefly, saying only that she was his savior and that they had lost contact later.

"Later, when the troops returned, I went looking for her, but the village had already been burned down and everyone was nowhere to be found." Xi Tian's voice trembled. "I always thought that when peace returned, I would find her and repay her well... But this wait lasted a lifetime."

He looked at Jiang Zhan under the east window with a complex expression in his eyes: "Yesterday I went to the old teahouse in the west of the city and saw this kid sitting by the window drinking tea. His eyebrows and eyes... are exactly the same as Juanzi's when she was young.

I went up to him and asked, only to find out his name was Jiang Zhan, and he was Juanzi's son. Juanzi passed away twenty years ago. Before she died, she was still talking about me, saying that if it weren't for the money I left her, she wouldn't have been able to support her child..."

Xi Lanxiu was slightly stunned.

Only then did he take a closer look at Jiang Zhan - he did look somewhat like the young woman in the yellowed photo in his grandfather's study.

He had secretly looked at that photo when he was a child. On the back of the photo was written "Zeng Tian Ge, Juanzi". The girl in the photo had two pigtails and her eyes were curved into crescents with a smile.

"So you're crazy?" Xi Chuyou sneered, "You're claiming kinship based on a face alone? What if he's a liar? What can't liars do these days?

Besides, even if he is really the grandson of that Juanzi, the money you left him back then has already repaid the favor, so why should he give him shares? "

"What do you know!" Xi Tian suddenly raised his voice, and his chest began to feel stuffy again.

"If it weren't for Juanzi, I would have been dead long ago! Half of what the Xi family has today is due to her! Is giving her son 10% of the shares too much?"

"Too much!" Xi Chuyou slammed the table and stood up. "I have the final say in the Xi family now! The company's articles of association clearly state that shares can only be passed on to immediate family members! Why should he, an outsider with no connection at all, get the upper hand?"