Chapter 281 - Secret of Mushrooms.

Xu Nuan was about to pick the food to put on her plate when her hands halted in the air upon seeing the dishes. Her complexion turned pale upon seeing 'Mushrooms' in every single dish. 

There were about more than five main dishes on the table and all of them included mushrooms. Not only that, there are stir-fried mushrooms too as a side dish.  ​​

She hates mushrooms and doesn't like the sight of them near her food, yet the whole table was full of mushrooms only. 

Since she was young, she was allergic to mushrooms. Whenever she eats them, she tends to get rashes and feel itchy all over her body. However, after her family moved to the new city, to the Jiang Mansion to live with Grandfather and the whole family, she started to eat mushrooms.

Her new school serves mushroom soup almost daily for lunch and she started to eat it as well. Slowly, her allergy also started to get better as well. She was not itchy like before after eating mushrooms or mushroom soup.

However, she never thought that things will take a nasty turn and will make her hate the mushrooms more than before. 

Although moving to the new city was hard, she thought that everything would get better since her cousin, Jiang Ru was at the same school as her. Even though she was two years older than her, her existence in the same school will give her courage at least. 

However, rather than helping her to adjust to the new school, Jiang Ru avoided her completely. She never said a word when her friends made fun of her, teased her, or caused trouble for her. 

Whenever they pass by each other in the school corridor or playground, she looks at her indifferently as if they're strangers. However, after everyone found out that both of them are cousins, things didn't become better either. 

It became worse. 

The things that used to be small teasing, jokes started to build up into server bullying. And Jiang Ru never said a word to her friends to stop doing this to her. 

Because she never cared. 

She simply watched from afar and enjoyed seeing them bullying Jiang Yue.

Jiang Ru didn't do anything even when her friends sneakily put disgusting worms in her mushroom soup. The soup that she had eaten at first thinking it as mushroom pieces, turned out to be disgusting worms. 

Even though she spit it out right away, she still cannot forget about that horrendous incident that haunts her every time she sees mushrooms. To others, they're simply mushrooms that are healthy to eat, but to her, they look like those insects that move whenever she sees them, creeping the hell out of her. 

Not only that, after that incident, she went to the bathroom to throw up and cried for the first time in her life. She has cried many times but it was her first time crying out of anger, frustration, and helplessness. 

The thing that hurt her the most was the way her cousin, who was present when that happened and didn't warn her before eating that soup, nor she came to help afterward. 

'Hah! Her sisterly love at home is just a facade that she puts in front of Grandfather.'

'How stupid she was to think that they can solve their issues and change this complicated relationship.'

It can never be the same. 

After she fainted in the bathroom, she was taken to the infirmary. It was too much for her to take, physically and mentally as well. 

She was unconscious for two days straight as she got a high fever which didn't go down easily. Her condition worsened and she had to be admitted to the hospital. 

However, when she opened her eyes in the hospital, she found Mrs. Yang, who works as the kitchen staff at the Jiang Mansion, beside her bed instead of her parents. She was close to her since the old woman always looked at her with a warm smile and treated her like her granddaughter. 

Jiang Yue looked at Mrs. Yang weakly, " Where are my Mom And Dad? Why are they not here?"

She was sad. Their daughter is at the hospital, how can they leave her alone like this. 

She wanted to see them and tell them about what happened at the school. She wanted to convince them to leave this house and go back to the city where they used to live before. 

She hates it here. 

However, rather than answering her, Mrs. Yang looked at her pitifully and started to sob while c.a.r.e.s.sing her face. 

She still remembers the way she looked in her eyes at that time. That look….scared her. 

When she found out about what happened in the past two days, she couldn't believe it. 

The day she was bullied at school and went to the school infirmary, the nurse called her parents to inform them about her medical condition and told them to come to the school to take her to the hospital. 

However, it was raining hard that day. Despite that, her parents did their best to reach her as soon as possible and got into the accident on their way. 

They died on the spot. They failed to make it to the hospital alive. 

In just two days, she lost the two most precious people in her life and she didn't even know. 

Her parents died and she failed to make it to their funeral. She couldn't even see them for the last time. 

After that day, whenever she saw mushrooms, she was reminded of her horrendous fate. How she lost her parents and couldn't even give her final greetings to them. 

If that incident didn't happen to her and they weren't in a hurry to come to the school, this wouldn't have happened. She would have been living happily with her family and eating the food made by her Dad. 

-

As Xu Nuan was lost in her dark thoughts and was fighting with the storm of emotions inside her, Grandfather Jiang was observing the change in her expressions. 

Her eyes became watery and her pale complexion was revealing how the simple dishes of mushrooms were affecting her. Her claiming herself as Jiang Yue after waking up in the hospital and her hatred towards mushrooms, everything is just too coincidental to be true. 

Seeing her expressions, he was reminded of the way Jiang Yue used to look at mushrooms after her parents died. 

At first, he used to think that it was because Jiang Yue was allergic to mushrooms and didn't want to eat them anymore since she got sick after eating them at school and couldn't even see her parents for the last time. 

She didn't say anything about the school or what happened that day. Nor he couldn't find anything strange about the school even after he tried to investigate, they all said that she got sick after eating mushroom soup. 

She didn't say anything and just like her, he was also mourning over the loss of his eldest son and daughter-in-law. On top of that, he has to look after Jiang Yue and the Jiang Corporations which needed his supervision as well. 

He didn't even get the time to mourn for losing his son and daughter-in-law properly. Engrossed in his work and responsibilities, he failed to notice the way Jiang Yue was isolating herself from everyone. 

She was staying at the Jiang Mansion as if she didn't belong there. She was waiting to get out of that place. 

It was only recently he found out about what happened at the school that day when he overheard Jiang Ru talking to her mother. 

He was shocked and was helpless that he found out about this only after he lost Jiang Yue. It was at that time, that he realized that he failed to fulfill his responsibilities as Jiang Yue's grandfather. 

He failed to protect her or do justice to her by punishing those who were in the wrong. 

The girl must have felt miserable after so much happened, in such a short period. No doubt she became rebellious against him and everyone in the house. 

Jiang Mansion didn't give her anything but pain. 

-

A bitter smile appeared on his lips as he watched her dull expressions, ' I knew it. I knew it.'

'My Jiang Yue is not dead.'

However, he didn't let his emotions show on his face. He pressed the button under the table and called the waitress to remove the dishes and change with the new ones, and this time, with no mushroom. 

Xu Nuan frowned at him upon seeing him removing all the dishes " How do you know that I don't eat mushrooms?" 

" Your eyes were telling your hatred against them, especially stir-fried mushrooms. Why? Do you want to eat them?" He asked. 

She shook her head, " No. It's fine. I just...hate mushrooms because of the way they look. They look ugly." 

He laughed and said, " You're an interesting girl. I am glad that I decided to meet you."

Xu Nuan sighed and asked, "Why did you want to meet me? I mean, there is no reason for you to meet an ordinary girl like me." 

There is no reason for him to look for her, then why?

Grandfather Jiang looked at her indifferently and clenched his fists under the table before saying, " Because I was planning to work with Gu Corporations and I heard a lot about you. So I just wanted to clear the rumors with you before going ahead with it." 

She frowned at him. " And why do I think that I will tell you the truth? Since I am also Gu, I can lie about it, don't you think?" 

The old man chuckled upon hearing her sassy response and said, " Well, you can try lying to me. However, I have greyed my hair all these years for nothing. I think now I have enough experience to tell between a lie and the truth."

Xu Nuan stared at the man and didn't say anything. 'Xu Nuan, focus on food. He is trapping you, so just….eat and leave.' she reminded herself before she started eating.