Pretty and charming, dressed in the 90s, she's good at everything from making money to causing

If yesterday, Second Uncle still had a lot of dissatisfaction with Lin Ting, who ruined their plans, then now, after hearing what Eldest Brother said, he had no resentment whatsoever.

He even wanted to give Lin Ting a gift as a gesture of goodwill.

Just kidding, he's not out of his mind.

Even if Lin Ting hadn't done anything to risk being shot, he wouldn't dare to act recklessly just because Yang Libo bowed deeply to her in public.

Those boatmen wouldn't care who he was if they wanted to kill him.

Mr. Jiang closed his eyes for a while, but when he didn't get a response from his cousin, he opened his eyes and looked at him: "Is there anything else?"

Uncle suddenly came to his senses and immediately said, "Yes, yes! I just think Nannan is especially cute and wanted to ask you what she usually likes? I want to give her a gift, but I'm afraid it won't suit her taste."

Mr. Jiang: "Who are you calling 'Nannan'? Are you very familiar with Nannan?"

Second Uncle: "...?"

How did he end up pleasing neither side?

The second uncle was still confused when he heard Jiang's father say, "Xiao Zong is running his own business now, he's very busy, you know?"

"I understand! I understand!"

This question was too easy to answer. Uncle Er immediately stated, "Ayu's little business will definitely not bother Xiao Zong anymore."

"Ah."

Mr. Jiang closed his eyes with satisfaction and waved to indicate that he could leave.

The second uncle was rebuffed and left Mr. Jiang's study with a worried look on his face.

This trip was a complete waste of time; I neither got the money nor built any closer relationships.

It seems I've offended someone.

My second uncle wiped his face, looking very melancholy.

As he put his hand down, he saw Lin Ting carrying a tray up.

Upon seeing him, Lin Ting immediately flashed a bright smile and greeted him, "Hello, Second Uncle."

Putting everything else aside, just looking at her obedient appearance, her second uncle unconsciously softened his tone: "Nan... cough cough, listen to this, you've come to see your eldest brother?"

“Yes,” Lin Ting nodded, “My brother made a cup of honey milk and asked me to bring it up to Master.”

"Then go quickly."

As he spoke, his second uncle knocked on the study door for Lin Ting and opened it for her.

"Thank you, uncle."

Lin entered the study and saw Jiang's father sitting back in a recliner, looking like a helpless old man.

"Nannah."

Jiang's father looked at Lin Ting, but did not try to put on a brave face to hide his fatigue.

Lin Ting carried the tray over, placed the honey milk beside him, and said, "Master, my brother made honey milk for you."

Mr. Jiang sat up straighter, took the cup, took a sip, and a hint of nostalgia flashed in his eyes.

"Nannan, sit down for a while and talk to me."

After saying this, Mr. Jiang stopped talking and just slowly drank his milk.

Lin Ting thought for a moment and then said, "Auntie is packing her luggage; it seems she wants to go back to Hong Kong to recuperate for a while."

She met Zhong Jiaqing's nanny when she arrived, and that's what she heard from her.

"Let her go back if she wants to," said Mr. Jiang. "It will save her from being reminded of him by seeing things here."

Lin Ting looked at him, unable to help but feel a little curious.

It is obvious that the marriage between Jiang's father and Zhong Jiaqing had nothing to do with love.

Perhaps Zhong Jiaqing did love Jiang's father, but he... probably closed his heart and locked away his love long ago.

"Do you think I'm heartless?" Mr. Jiang suddenly asked.

"No." Lin Ting shook her head decisively, "It's just that I feel the person in your heart isn't her."

"Um……"

Mr. Jiang put down his milk glass, stood up, opened a safe, and took out a very thick photo album.

“Come here, little girl.”

Jiang's father, Chao Lin, waved to him.

Lin Ting immediately went over, moved a stool, and sat down next to Jiang's father.

"Look, this is your teacher's wife."

As Mr. Jiang flipped through the photo album, a smile involuntarily crept onto his face. He added with a touch of smugness, "This is the first photo I took of her. Isn't it beautiful?"

The girl in the black and white photo is about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a white dress and playing the piano.

“At that time, I had just returned to Hong Kong after finishing my rural assignment, and Ah Yuan’s family lived next door to me.”

As he reminisced about the past, Mr. Jiang's eyes softened even more.

"I had just finished the autumn harvest and was as black as a lump of coal. On the day we first met, I was wearing a sailor shirt, which I had just bought at the dock. I looked like a poor country boy."

“Ah Yuan was reading a book on the swing in her yard. When she saw me, she thought I was lost and asked if I needed help. Her voice was soft and sweet, and she even poured me some tea… We talked for a long time that day, about Chekhov and Tolstoy.”

"Later I found out that she was the fiancée my father had arranged for me."

"My dear, I'm so lucky, aren't I?"

Lin Ting nodded unconsciously.

Such an encounter is indeed wonderful.

"After we got engaged, we went to study abroad together. She was studying literature, but she was always lazy and didn't want to memorize her lessons, so I wrote lyrics for her major courses and had her sing them while playing the piano... While others were in a panic before exams, the sound of the piano filled my house."

"She loves sweets, but she always has toothaches. Every time the pain comes, she says with tears in her eyes that she will never eat them again, but once she gets better, she forgets about them all."

As the album pages turn, the photos capture Ah Yuan's every smile and gesture, eternally etching fleeting moments into the long river of time.

Lin Tingdu couldn't help but start gushing over the love story of her master and mistress.

She couldn't even imagine what kind of mess Wu Yan and Li Zhi would make if they were here.

Chiang Kai-shek's father knew every moment captured in those photos like the back of his hand.

“This is what I did with her in Utah. It was summer vacation, and I got into a fight with some thugs on the way.”

"This is a picture of her giving a speech. The theme of that speech was 'freedom.' She spent a week writing this speech and ultimately won first place."

"This is when she secretly ate too much candy on Halloween and her tooth hurt, hahaha..."

Lin Ting couldn't help but scratch his head.

Oh no, I'm about to develop a love-struck mind.

Flipping through the album further, the last page is the wedding photo.

"Later, Xiao Zong was born."

"And then..."

Mr. Jiang closed his eyes, clearly not wanting to continue recalling the past.

He closed the photo album and changed the subject, saying, "The Chung family has done my family a great favor. If it weren't for their help back then, my grandfather wouldn't have been able to move the whole family to Hong Kong so smoothly."

“When Mr. Zhong passed away, the Zhong family had already fallen into decline. On his deathbed, he asked me to marry his only daughter, whom he had helped in the past, so that I could protect her for the rest of her life. That was... seven years ago.”

"Darling, if you were me, what would you do?"

Lin exclaimed "Ah!" and frowned.

If the Chiang family hadn't moved to Hong Kong back then, they probably would have ended up living in a cowshed.

On one hand, there's the gratitude for saving her life; on the other, there's personal affection.

How do I choose one of these?

Indeed, remaining single and unmarried is the best approach.

Mr. Jiang probably didn't really intend for Lin Ting to answer the question; he just desperately needed a listener, and—

He reached out and patted Lin Ting's head, his expression unusually solemn:

"My dear, so you must become strong and never let marriage become your last refuge."

"That...won't bring happiness."