Wang Yingjie closed the door behind him as silently as he entered. Only Iris noticed him when he entered. The others didn’t notice him at all, including Jin Liwei who was too preoccupied with his stubborn grandmother. Wang Yingjie was wearing his doctor’s uniform and white lab coat. His naturally aloof expression warmed up when he smiled at them.
After greeting each other, Grandma Li called Wang Yingjie over to sit beside her on the hospital bed. She treated him like her defender against the villains (Huang Yuyan, Jin Liwei and Iris) who were trying to stand in her way. Everyone looked amused at her childish behaviour, especially since the elder was an elegant lady.
“I’m currently on break from my rounds. I heard from some of my colleagues that you came because of Grandma Li, so I immediately headed here.” Then he turned to the elder. “Grandma Li, I hope you’ll forgive me for accessing your medical files before I came here.”
The elder dismissed his concern with a wave of her hand. “No problem. I also consider you as my grandson. You’re the doctor who I trust the most with my health and life.”
Wang Yingjie smiled gently at her. “I saw from your files that you’re generally healthy. I can also see with my own eyes that you look fine. So I see no reason why you can’t attend Xiulan’s launch tomorrow.”
Grandma Li faced the other three with a smug expression on her face. She didn’t say anything but it was obvious that her expression meant, ‘See, I told you! The doctor has spoken so let me attend!’
“Are you sure your Grandma Li will be okay?” Huang Yuyan still asked Wang Yingjie.
“I think she’ll be fine. And like I said, if Grandma Li would allow me, I’ll be her escort for the event,” Wang Yingjie replied.
Grandma Li chuckled. “Of course! I would love to have a handsome young man like you to escort this old woman tomorrow.”
“I trust Second Brother. Fine,” Jin Liwei said.
Later, Wang Yingjie used his connections in the hospital to take over Grandma Li’s case. He personally examined the elder again before officially discharging her from the hospital. He even walked them out to the main lobby.
While they were all walking together, Grandma Li shifted the conversation to an unpleasant topic.
“Liwei my dear, you should be careful of Jin Chenggong. I don’t like the look in his eyes when he was yelling at you earlier,” she said.
“Mother, let’s not talk about this right now. Didn’t the doctor earlier and even Yingjie here said that you must avoid being emotionally distressed?” Huang Yuyan pleaded her mother-in-law.
“Don’t worry, Yuyan. I’m fine.”
“Oh Mother.” Huang Yuyan sighed helplessly.
Wang Yingjie remained quiet. He was curious about the topic, wanting to listen more about it. The others didn’t treat him like an outsider. In fact, he was like family to them. All of Jin Liwei’s brothers were like family to them. This was why Grandma Li wasn’t cautious at all in talking about such a private family topic in front of Wang Yingjie.
“I understand, Grandmother. I’ll keep an eye on Uncle Chenggong,” Jin Liwei replied.
“Your Uncle Chenggong is a member of the board of directors at Jin Corporation. What if he makes trouble for you at work?” Huang Yuyan asked him.
Grandma Li’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re right! How can we forget? Let me be the one to call the old gorilla. He needs to hear about what happened today. I’m sure he’ll be as furious as I am!”
Huang Yuyan: “Mother, please take it easy…”
Grandma Li: “Don’t worry, Yuyan my dear. I will not die that soon. There’s no way that I’ll allow myself to die earlier than that old gorilla. The two of us promised my dear husband that we’ll live for as long as we can and watch over all of you in his stead.”
Huang Yuyan’s eyes watered, touched at what her mother-in-law said.
###
Back at the Jin Family’s Old House, Iris and Jin Liwei waved at Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan before driving away. Two cars followed behind them filled with their bodyguards.
Iris leaned back on her seat, closed her eyes and sighed.
Jin Liwei glanced at her. “Tired?”
“Mmn…”
She opened her eyes and thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, Meimei told me that Auntie Jiahui has been looking forward to this dinner. I’m not that tired. Are you?”
“Not really. But I’m concerned about you. You’ll be busy tomorrow for your launch.”
“I’m fine, darling. If you’re okay with it, let’s go to dinner at the Longs tonight and get it over it. After the launch tomorrow, both of us will be extremely busy at work again. We won’t have time to eat dinner with them anytime soon.”
“Alright, love.”
The red coupe and the two cars following behind all drove to the direction of the Long ancestral residence. In the distance, the sky glowed with a beautiful gradient of warm colours from the sun setting on the horizon.
###
The father and daughter arrived home at the mansion with matching dark expressions on their faces. Jin Jiali immediately ran to her room upstairs and banged the door close.
Jin Chenggong’s wife already heard about what happened before they even arrived home. Some members of the branch families who personally witnessed what happened in the Jin Family’s Old House earlier called her and informed her that their branch family had been disowned by Jin Liwei.
“This is completely unacceptable! Why did you let this happen?! What are we going to do now?! You should’ve apologized to the clan head right away!” she scolded her husband.
As the husband and wife fought with each other, their entire branch family all felt anxious about being disowned and cut off from the Jin clan. Without the clan’s backing, what would become of them?
