Chapter 528 - Violet

Song Xin'ai knew she couldn't argue with her daughter. She was never the kind of person who liked arguing. She was a quiet person since she was young and even with age, that fact didn't change at all. If anything, her words became even lesser with age since she found arguments to be quite pointless.

"Forget it, now that you're here, go and greet your grandparents. They are resting in their courtyard right now." Song Xin'ai instructed the siblings. And while Xiang Wai was about to leave with her brother who was still silent since the beginning, Song Xin'ai called out to her, "And Violet, I hope you don't say anything to aggravate your grandparents. They are old." It sounded like she was pleading to her daughter right now. She looked at her son and added, "Wei, keep an eye on her."

Xiang Weimin gave her a nod while Xiang Wai only snickered.

"I hate it when she calls me Violet," stated Xiang Wai in a bad mood. Tonight was already not looking good to her. And she knew it could only get worse from this point onwards. It couldn't go the other way around. 

"But that's your English name," reminded Xiang Weimin as they crossed the outer courtyard where the party was organized and entered the inner courtyard. They still had to walk through the main hall before reaching the resting chambers of their grandparents.

Xiang Wai sneered. She really hated that English name of hers that her mother gave her. And no one else aside from her even called her that. But it was actually Song Xin'ai from whom she didn't want to hear that name. It reminded her of how important she was to her mother. So important that she casually gave her the name Violet just because her favorite color was violet. It was pathetic!

When the siblings entered the resting chambers of their grandparents, there were already a couple of people inside. Two of them were their cousin brothers from their eldest uncle's family and the last one was a girl from the third uncle's family. Everyone was laughing and chatting which instantly ceased once they entered the room.

"Hello, Grandfather, Grandmother," greeted Xiang Wai and Xiang Weimin plainly. "How is your health?"

Of course, Grandfather Song and Grandmother Song didn't have a good expression seeing these maternal grandchildren of theirs. Obviously, all of them were their grandchildren but the Song elders since like Xiang Wai and Xiang Weimin who had the blood of the Xiang family. Besides, these siblings never had a sweet mouth and never tried to flatter anyone.

All the other grandchildren tried to cozy up to their grandparents but neither Xiang Weimin nor Xiang Wai felt the need to do so. They both still had the blood of a military family in their veins. They never even tried to flatter their own superiors! What was the point of saying flowery words? 

"It's so hard to see Weimin Gege," spoke the daughter of the third uncle, Song Qiao.

"Qiaoqiao, don't be silly. Our Lieutenant Colonel Xiang Weimin is a busy lad. How can he have time to see you?" Hearing the words of the eldest son of their first uncle, the Xiang siblings didn't even blink. They really treated him like air. Seeing their attitude, Song Nan was infuriated so he turned to their grandparents, "Am I right, grandfather? He doesn't even have the time to come and see you."

Xiang Weimin gave him a smile, "You're right, cousin. I am a busy person. I don't have the time to serve my grandparents. After all, my mother always said how serving our country should be our priority."

Their grandparents' faces stiffened when they heard those words from Xiang Weimin. They were old but not senile and couldn't understand the sarcastic undertone behind those words.

"Enough," said Grandfather Song trying to sound powerful but of course, he lost his aura before the Xiang siblings. He was a scholar and his anger could only make his paternal grandchildren flinch in fear. These siblings on the other hand had a lot more powerful aura around them. He scowled at how unbothered they were and his mood became worse as he thought they didn't respect him, "You both don't have to come here if you don't want to. I'll only get madder if I see you."

"Then we'll disappear," said Xiang Wai with a smile and took her brother out. "Old man is half in the grave and yet wants to discipline me."

Xiang Weimin rubbed her head, "You don't have to drop his level and curse him."

"Who wants to curse him? I want him to live long enough to see how painful life can be," she spat out.

"Don't let them get to you," advised Xiang Weimin.

"If had let them get to me, I'd have already killed myself a thousand times!" 

Xiang Weimin bit his lips and said, "I'm sorry!"

"For what?"

"You had to grow up with them," said Xiang Weimin. "I wish I could take your place."

Xiang Wai chuckled, "Take my place? I wouldn't want that. Besides, my mother only chose me back then because I looked like her. She thought I'll turn out like her but I ended up being a big disappointment to her. Let's not ruin our mood because of them."

Xiang Weimin held her hand and stopped her from walking, he looked into her eyes and asked, "Do you think we let our impression of these maternal grandparents influence the impression of our paternal grandfather?"

Xiang Wai was stunned by his question and didn't speak for a good while. She looked into his eyes and said, "Even if that's true, it's already been done. What can you do about it now?"

Xiang Weimin smiled bitterly, "I want to do what Raelle told me to do. I want to apologize to grandfather." Xiang Wai continued to look at him in silence as he went on, "And I wish you'd come with me. Even if it's to see whether all grandparents are like the ones we just met or not.. I think we should go to see him."