No reconciliation, no forgiveness! Mr. Pei leaves with nothing.

The moment he finished speaking, Jiang Weiguo threw a teacup toward the entrance, but Jiang Hua stepped in front of Ji Liangchuan to block it.

This scene startled Xu Qiulan, who was standing nearby. "Miss, are you alright?"

No one expected that what should have been a happy occasion for Young Master Liangchuan would turn into such a furious outburst. Jiang Weiguo had thought that Jiang Hua's offer to bring him back was just a joke, a way to vent his anger over what had happened back then. But now... it was no joke at all; she was simply spoiled, willful, and clueless.

"Don't call me Dad. Now that the Jiang family's crisis is over, you've finally acknowledged your identity and want to come back."

Jiang Weiguo isn't that senile. How could he not know what kind of schemes he's plotting?

Jiang Hua: "Dad, he has his reasons, don't you know? Liang Chuan was seriously injured and suffered so much outside, but he refused to come back because he felt he didn't have much time left."

“Dad, you said that as long as I don’t divorce Pei Zhan and continue to maintain our business relationship, you will agree to anything I ask.”

"Do you only feel satisfied if he dies out there and I never find out?"

Jiang Weiguo shook his head helplessly at her. "Dad is asking you, is it the person who saved you back in Wuchuan that you care about, or would you still protect him even if it wasn't him?"

Without hesitation, Jiang Hua blurted out, "Even if Ji Liangchuan wasn't the one who saved me back then, can Dad deny the affection he showed me for the eight years he spent by my side?"

"Didn't Dad consider him family from the very beginning?"

"Why has Dad changed now that I'm older? If it's just because I like Ji Liangchuan, Dad doesn't need to hate him and want to drive him away because of my feelings for him."

"I'm already married, and it's impossible for us to be together anymore."

"Now, to me, he is only a relative. It was because of me that he was in a car accident, and it was because of me that he was disfigured and almost died abroad."

"I don't understand why Dad is so cruel to Ji Liangchuan."

"Dad, please, I'm begging you, please don't send him away again!"

Ji Liangchuan secretly grabbed Jiang Hua's hand, pulled her behind him, and shook his head at her, "Huahua, I'm fine."

"Don't get angry with Dad because of me."

"It's okay if I don't come back."

"You... just need to take good care of yourself."

Just as Ji Liangchuan was about to let go of her hand and turn to leave…

Jiang Weiguo noticed the fluctuation in Jiang Hua's emotions, and all his words vanished in an instant. No matter what, he only had this one daughter. Hua Hua had always been spoiled since she was a child and never cared about the feelings of others. But now, for Ji Liangchuan, she was humbling herself and begging him.

In the end, Jiang Weiguo's temper softened, and he couldn't bear it after all. "Alright! Since you're back, for Huahua's sake, let her stay."

Jiang Weiguo glanced at Jiang Hua one last time and said, "I'll see how long you keep this up."

"Since the shares have already been transferred, there's nothing your father can say. These were originally meant for you anyway."

"You should explain your own situation to Pei Zhan."

Jiang Hua: "There's no need for me to explain my affairs to him."

At first, Jiang Weiguo thought Huahua was just being stubborn. But now, even he couldn't tell whether Pei Zhan's actions towards her were just a fit of pique or a genuine desire for Ji Liangchuan to come back and make amends.

All morning, the entire Royal Dragon Bay was filled with an indescribable atmosphere.

When they finished their meal, Jiang Weiguo didn't go downstairs; Xu Ma personally brought the food upstairs.

"Dad, how have you been all these years?" Ji Liangchuan said, picking up some food and putting it into Jiang Hua's bowl.

Jiang Hua regained her composure and nodded, "Yes, Dad is much better. The doctor said he'll be fine as long as he doesn't experience too much stress. It's all thanks to the newly released, highly effective drug for treating heart disease."

Ji Liangchuan: "Dad, it's good that you're alright."

At the dinner table, Ji Liangchuan would occasionally chat with her about things from the past, trying to pull her thoughts back and get her to focus on other things.

After dinner, Jiang Hua took him to the room where Ji Liangchuan had once stayed. It was a bright, light-colored room with a simple and minimalist layout. There weren't many things in the room; most of the decorations were added by Jiang Hua herself.

The walk-in closet contained the clothes they had picked out at the mall that morning, which Xu's mother had already packed up, filling the entire closet.

Along with the room's partition, there's also a white, collector's edition piano. This was... Jiang Hua bought it at an auction for 200 million yuan as a gift for Ji Liangchuan's eighteenth birthday.

Back then, his father always groomed him to be the heir of the Jiang family and didn't like Ji Liangchuan getting involved in anything related to music.

This piano makes his father angry and he will severely criticize him whenever he touches it.

He wouldn't even let Jiang Hua touch him.

If he hadn't come back, Jiang Hua wouldn't have had the chance to have Xu Ma clean out this long-unused piano room.

"After all these years, this place... is still exactly the same as when I left, it has never changed."

Ji Liangchuan stroked the familiar table, as if he could vaguely see Jiang Hua when she was still a child. "Do you remember when you were little, when you had just learned to read and write, you always liked me to hold you while you did your homework?"

"It's right here..."

The off-white curtains were gently lifted and lowered by the breeze, while the leaves outside rustled.

remember.

Eight-year-old Jiang Hua, holding her homework, ran up to the person returning and said, "Hey, you good-for-nothing, come here and teach me how to write this character. Dad made me do my homework today, and I couldn't do it this time, so he hit my hand again. We agreed that if anyone bullied me, you would help me fight back. But he's my dad, so I let it go. Next time... if you see it, you'll make my dad hit you, you understand?"

Ji Liangchuan was fifteen or sixteen years old at that time. Because of his father's arrangement, Ji Liangchuan attended the best private school, with a tuition fee of more than 300,000 yuan a year. He was wearing the school uniform of the private school. As soon as he came back from get out of class, Ji Liangchuan heard the little princess's complaints.

Ji Liangchuan chuckled and squatted down in front of Xiao Jianghua, gently pinching the tip of her nose. "Little princess, swearing is a bad thing. Have you finished your homework?"

"Brother, will you help me with my homework?"

Xiao Jianghua took Ji Liangchuan's hand and said, "You have to hold me while I write, otherwise I won't write."

"I won't call you a loser anymore. Can you come with me to the amusement park this weekend?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Sitting at his familiar desk, Ji Liangchuan reminisced about the past, his eyes filled with a gentle smile and tender nostalgia.

"Would you like to hear the piano again?" Ji Liangchuan took Jiang Hua's hand and led her to the piano room next door, pulling her to sit down. "Do you remember when I helped you finish the second half of the piece?"

Jiang Hua: "I remember."

Ji Liangchuan did indeed have great talent and achievements in music, but his father forced him to study business administration, which he disliked the most. When his father saw the original songs he had written in his notebook, he burned them all in a fit of anger.

That unfinished first half of the song was the only thing Jiang Hua begged her father to leave her, as she cried and pleaded with him.

Jiang Weiguo was on the phone with Pei Zhan, discussing company matters.

Pei Zhan couldn't possibly be unaware of anything related to Huahua in the capital, including her unauthorized transfer of 15% of the Jiang Group's shares.

"...Regarding the shares, I can transfer all of my shares to you as a reward for your hard work for the Jiang family over the years."

The voice on the other end of the phone was icy cold: "Does Chairman Jiang think I'm good enough for the Jiang family business?"

"Yes, it was my oversight. Please feel free to tell me what you want and what your conditions are..."

As the heir of the Huo family, Jiang Shi is merely the tip of the iceberg, an insignificant presence within the Huo family.

In his study on the second floor, Jiang Weiguo could clearly hear the piano music cascading down from upstairs, slowly rising into the air.

What's going on upstairs?

Wang Qi: "It should be that the young lady and young master Liangchuan are playing the piano."

A dozen seconds passed, and when Jiang Weiguo focused his attention on the phone again, he found that the person on the other end had already hung up.

A bad feeling welled up in my heart.

Since he cares so much about Huahua, Pei Zhan couldn't possibly be unaware of Ji Liangchuan's return to China, and he should have foreseen what would happen between Ji Liangchuan and Huahua. Pei Zhan clearly had the ability to stop Ji Liangchuan from returning, yet he didn't. What exactly is he planning to do?

At 8 p.m., Wuchuan was deserted. The familiar streets had hardly changed.

On a stone bench under a streetlamp, a little girl in a pink lace princess dress wiped away her tears and walked up to a man, crying, "Big brother, I can't find my mom."

Do you know where my home is?

"I am really scared."

"Could you take me home?"

Pei Zhan looked at the little girl in front of him, who was only five or six years old, his eyes deep and his mind filled with memories hidden deep within him, and images that suddenly surfaced in his mind.

That was the scene of Pei Zhan's first encounter with Zhou Xu. "Big brother, I've gotten separated from my mother. Can you take me to find my mother?"

Zhou Xu, who was only five or six years old at the time, had two pigtails and red eyes. When she saw Pei Zhan wandering on the street, she went up to him and took his hand for help. Pei Zhan was at a loss for the first time, not knowing where to go, until he met her...

Now, this kind of thing is happening again.

Suddenly, several figures hiding behind him crept up on him furtively. Pei Zhan picked up the little girl, placed her on a chair, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and covered her head with it. "Sit still and don't look back."

"Count to thirty, and then your big brother will take you home."

"Do you understand?"

The little girl nodded vigorously: "Yes."

Pei Zhan stood up and looked at the dozen or so men carrying knives who walked out from the shadows. "Brother, this is the one."

“Let’s all go together. If the man dies, we’ll split the three million equally among us.”

Pei Zhan's eyes were sinister, and his tone was icy: "Let's see if three million can take my life!"

"Stop talking nonsense. I don't believe that so many people can't handle you alone."

One of them rushed forward and swung his knife down, but Pei Zhan easily dodged it and kicked the thug hard in the chest. The thug lay on the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

The little girl: "Fifteen..."

"sixteen"

"... "

"twenty…"

"... "

"thirty."

"Big brother, I'm all better now."

When Zuo Xiangnan arrived, he saw this scene: more than a dozen people carrying weapons were all lying on the ground. He quickly stepped forward and asked, "President Pei, are you alright?"

"your hands…"

"I'm fine." Pei Zhan had a cut on his forearm, and blood was seeping through his black shirt, dripping from his fingertip to the ground. "Call the police and find out who these people are."

Zuo Xiangnan: "Yes."

He was only gone for a short while, how could something like this happen?

Zuo Xiangnan then noticed a little girl who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere not far away.

When the police arrived, all the people lying on the ground, bruised and battered, writhing in pain, were taken to the police station.

Half an hour later, in the Rolls-Royce parked on the street, Zuo Xiangnan walked out of the police station, got into the driver's seat, looked at the person in the rearview mirror, and reported: "These people were indeed bribed, but through someone else to contact them offline. The other party is very smart. There were no cameras at the transaction place, and it was nighttime, so we couldn't see the person's appearance clearly and don't know... who the mastermind is."

"The little girl's family has just been taken back home."

In addition, Pei Zhan gave them a check that would ensure they would live a life of comfort and security for the rest of their lives…

Zuo Xiangnan was a little worried about his injury. "President Pei, your wound...should we get it treated?"

Pei Zhan: "Return to the capital."

Zuo Xiangnan: "Yes."

Last night, Jiang Hua played that piece of music with Ji Liangchuan, and then watched a movie together. Later, she somehow fell asleep.

When she woke up, she opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar crystal chandelier and a scent that didn't belong in her room. She opened her eyes to find the familiar yet unfamiliar face lying next to her.

Why would she sleep with him?!

Jiang Hua glanced at her clothes; they hadn't been touched, they were still the same clothes from yesterday, nothing had happened.

Her movements probably woke him up.

Ji Liangchuan also woke up, his eyes still hazy with sleepiness. "Did you sleep well?"

Jiang Hua: "How did I end up in your bed?"

Ji Liangchuan: "You accidentally fell asleep while watching the movie yesterday, so I just let you sleep in my room."

Jiang Hua threw off the covers and got out of bed in a panic, saying, "Don't do this again next time."

"I am married."

Ji Liangchuan stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. "I can wait until you break up with him."

"I don't care about anything you've ever done with him."

"I know you don't love him."

So... I will always wait for you.

"No one knows you better than me. You won't let anyone get close except for those you're willing to accept in your heart. Yesterday, I carried you to bed, and you slept so peacefully. I watched you all night. Do you know how much I've missed you in the more than ten years since we separated? Now I'm all better. Apart from the Jiang family, I can give you anything you want."

Jiang Hua: "..."

"If I were to take you away in front of everyone on our wedding day, would you... be willing to leave with me?"

"Let go of everything, follow your heart, and go to a small town free from strife and intertwined interests, where only we..."

"Let's stay together until we grow old!"

"As long as we stay together, Dad will eventually agree."

"I know that the person you love has always been me."

At this moment, Jiang Hua's heart wavered...