Her hair was disheveled as if she had just woken up from a nap. Cui Liuxian went down the stairs quickly, and with anger, she snatched the box from Jiang Ruolan's hand and hugged it like it was some kind of treasure that had been violated.
She glanced at her with disdain, "Grandfather and mom are right, I really don't like you, even so, it doesn't mean I will let you bully me! I just asked my friends to buy me some small gifts from abroad, but now the whole family takes great precautions against me for your sake, even this Indian perfume box must be examined by a doctor! What is your right to touch my belongings? In the future, all of my possessions will have to be kept away from you!"
Jiang Ruolan looked at the box on her arm and sighed. Although there were many things that could not be overcome, but since a doctor had strictly examined this box, then Cui Liuxian's complaints and anger were reasonable. Jiang Ruolan didn't want to argue with her, so she just pursed his lips and whispered, "I'm sorry."
"Liuxian! Didn't grandpa do this for your own good? You are used to being willful. Grandpa is afraid that you will be impulsive and do something to hurt Ruolan! What? You have scolded Ruolan, will you scold grandpa now?" Old Man Xian stood up and rebuked firmly.
Cui Liuxian looked at Jiang Ruolan coldly and rolled her eyes. She then looked at the Old Man, "I have been so quiet recently, but none of you believe me anymore! I was angry in my heart. I really can't yell at you, grandpa. Could it be that if I vent my anger at someone, you will feel sorry for her? She didn't lose a single hair on her body. Do you think this is very fair to me?"
"You dared to talk back to me!" The Old Man glared at her.
Cui Liuxian bit her lip and hugged the box tightly. She snorted coldly and said nothing. She then turned around and ran upstairs. As she ran, she kept saying, "Soon, I will let you all see Jiang Ruolan's real face. How dirty and disgusting she is. You will see it one day, and you will drive her away yourself! I swear!"
"Cui Liuxian! You …"
The Old Man was so angry that he threw his cane on the ground. Cui Liuxian had run upstairs and was nowhere to be seen.
No one paid attention to her words. Jiang Ruolan smiled and quickly went to support the Old Man. "Grandpa, I know that you are afraid that Cui Liuxian will do something to me, but that perfumes are just a gift brought by her friends from abroad. She was doubted by all of us so much, so the grievance in her heart is reasonable."
"Although this girl looked quite recently and never left Xian Residence, but who knows what kind of tricks she's up to by locking herself up in her room! Even if I've doted on her for so many years, that doesn't mean she can do anything she wants. She better not do anything to make me angry. If she dares to do anything again, my Xian Family will never let her off!"
Having said that, Old Man Xian pushed Jiang Ruolan's hand away and walked with his cane.
"Grandfather, spring has just arrived, and the wind is blowing hard outside. It's better if you don't come out!" Seeing the Old Man about to leave, Jiang Ruolan rushed to persuade him.
"It's fine. I just want to go to the ancestral hall for a while. I just want to sit alone in peace. You don't have to worry about me!" As he spoke, the Old Man took the coat off the shelf in front of the door and draped it to his shoulder. He then left the house without looking back.
"But ..." Jiang Ruolan didn't know that the Old Man had this habit. He would always be there when he wanted to calm his mind. Jiang Ruolan wanted to say something, but the Old Man had already left the room.
"Oh, Ruolan, don't worry. The Old Man is always angry. It's getting late, and he'll be back by dinner time." Zhan An said.
Jiang Ruolan nodded. She knew that Old Man Xian was so stubborn sometimes, so she could only just give up.
Then she went to visit Xian Guiying. Dr. Li had her rested since the last time she had driven into the shed and she was so quiet that no one knew what she was thinking. Jiang Ruolan had decided to go to her room to stay with her, but once she's there, she didn't know what to ask.
"Sister-in-law, you don't need to peel my apple. I'm not eating it. You are just wasting your time." Xian Guiying glanced at the apple in Jiang Ruolan's hand.
The fruit knife in Jiang Ruolan's hand didn't stop and she continued to peel the apple. She then said, "Once I am done, we will each eat half of it."
"Your brother often warned me that pregnant women should pay attention to a balanced diet. Apples are the most versatile fruit. I can't finish this one, so it would be good if you helped me eat half of it."
Xian Guiying looked at her, then her gaze glanced at the ring on her (Jiang Ruolan) ring finger and gently she said, "My brother really treated you well."
Jiang Ruolan finished peeling the apple and placed the fruit knife on the table. She smiled at her. "Isn't your brother also good at you? Don't tell me that you are jealous?"
Xian Guiying curled her lips. "Why should I be jealous? I just remembered Zhou Shufen. When my brother and she were in America, I thought my brother's care and tolerance towards her was rare. At that time I thought he wouldn't be as good to any woman as he was to Zhou Shufen. Now it seems that I was wrong. My brother treats you well. No matter how much Zhou Shufen regrets it now, if she really wants him to come back to her and leave you, I'm afraid that everything will just be her whimsical imagination."
Hearing Xian Guiying's rare words about Zhou Shufen, Jiang Ruolan carefully placed an apple on a plate and grinned, "Guiying, we are all real people and our lives are not like in novels or dramas. That kind of romantic dream where the couple will be together until the end of life is just fantasy. Maybe in one's heart, there will be a small hidden space for people in the past, but long as they can see reality clearly and grasp the happiness in front of their eyes, that's enough."
After saying that, Jiang Ruolan poked a slice of apple using the toothpick and handed it to Xian Guiying. She took it and bit it a little before smiling, "So, sister-in-law, do you have anyone in your heart? Who is he? Qin Gengxin?"
Jiang Ruolan froze and glanced at Xian Guiying. Seeing no emotion in her eyes, she shook her head sincerely, "No."
No matter how good Qin Gengxin was, no matter how much he missed and loved her, it had nothing to do with the past she hid in her heart.
In fact, Jiang Ruolan couldn't say that she still had someone in her heart. Even if she were ignorant at that time and didn't love or miss Han Xuegang anymore, that kind of unforgettable life would still be engraved in her memory. Even though that man, whom she had once sincerely loved, had used her as a stepping stone in order to achieve a meteoric rise, and even though she had treated him coldly and even spoke ill of him whenever they met after that, she knew in her heart that four years of love was not something one could forget easily.
Xian Zihao was an unpredictable warm and pleasant surprise in her life. She didn't want to lose him, and that's why she appreciated him more.
Xian Guiying bit the apple while staring at her. There was something in her mind.
"What is it?" Jiang Ruolan was also eating an apple. When she noticed Xian Guiying's eyes on her, she immediately smiled.
Xian Guiying put down her toothpick. "Sister-in-law, do you want to hear the story between my brother and Zhou Shufen?"
Jiang Ruolan's hand that was holding the plate froze for a moment. Her fingers gripped the edge of the white plate tightly as she looked at Xian Guiying without saying anything.
Xian Guiying thought that Jiang Ruolan didn't want to hear it, but when she saw her fingers gripped the edge of the white plate tightly, she couldn't hold back her smile. That showed that Jiang Ruolan actually minded about it.
"When my brother was seventeen, he was accepted at Harvard. As for the Zhou Family, they have long since moved to the United States and settled in Boston. With Zhou Shufen's family background and her outstanding achievements, it was only fitting for her to enter Harvard too. At that time, my brother was already nineteen."
"Zhou Shufen has been very arrogant since she was young, but she had a rare talent. But one day, someone called Xian Zihao suddenly beat her in almost every aspect, drowning out all her brilliance. If she was not one of Harvard's leading female students at that time, she wouldn't even have a chance to be on par with my brother. So from then on, she was often against my brother."
"However, by that time, my brother nearly graduated, and he had started single-handedly built Xian Enterprise in Boston. Xian Enterprise began to take form, and he would only occasionally go to school for some necessary courses, all the way until graduation."
"Actually, I don't know much about the things that happened back then. I only know a little about it from Qin Gengxin when I went to the United States later on, but I can imagine that there were two equally outstanding people at the beginning of their love life. My brother is also a proud man, but he isn't as sharp as Zhou Shufen."
"Of the two proud people, one was wantonly preoccupied with competing against others, while the other was busy with his studies and the company and didn't have the leisure to do so, thus he avoided her everywhere."
"About a year or two later, Zhou Shufen has started to become more restrained. She no longer messes around and helps out my brother's company. Perhaps by then, she would already like my brother a lot. At that time, the Xian Enterprise faced a very big crisis and almost failed. When my brother was in a difficult situation, after working non-stop for a few days and nights, Zhou Shufen had always been by his side."
"My brother's heart isn't made of iron. He can see through Zhou Shufen's thoughts. Zhou Shufen is very outstanding, but my brother didn't have time to entertain or have a relationship with anyone at that time, so the two of them never had a certain relationship. But after experiencing the crisis at the company, Zhou Shufen was always by his side without any complaints."
Xian Guiying glanced at Jiang Ruolan's expression and saw she was very calm, so she (Xian Guiying) relaxed and continued, "But Zhou Shufen has been spoiled since she was young. She was the precious granddaughter of Senior Zhou, and coupled with the great momentum of the Zhou Family, no one can suppress her proud personality other than my brother."
"Although my brother was usually busy with company affairs, everyone can tell that he was really good to Zhou Shufen. By that time, I had gone to the United States and had seen it personally. Zhou Shufen was very spoiled, and my brother's love and pampering for her was something I have never seen before. However, my brother was not good at expressing his feelings, and he was often too calm."