Chapter 8.2

Grandma had been a teacher for half her life and had never been looked down upon like that before. While she couldn’t say it didn’t hurt her feelings at the time, her greater concern was how Jiang Zhe would manage in the future. Now, seeing the child change so much, she suddenly felt a bit of relief. Cheerfully, she said, “It’s no trouble at all. You two just sit tight. I’ll go downstairs to buy some peppers to make for you.”

Grandma, now older, had a slightly hunched back and walked with a bit of a tremble. Jiang Yu worried that the elderly woman might fall outside, so she immediately said, “Grandma, maybe that’s not a good idea. Let’s…”

Just as Jiang Zhe thought she was refusing to eat, she continued, “You can teach Jiang Zhe how to make the chili sauce, and let him do it for me.”

With an innocent look, she glanced at Jiang Zhe, thinking that instead of not letting her eat chili sauce, it would be better to make Jiang Zhe work a little for it.

After looking at her for a moment, Jiang Zhe also stopped Grandma, saying, “Right, Grandma, I’ll do it.”

Grandma was a bit hesitant about him cooking, so she replied, “Then you go buy the ingredients, and I’ll make it. You can watch and learn.”

She wanted to do something for them, and since they were already discussing it, she felt she couldn’t refuse. So it was settled.

As soon as they settled in at Grandma’s house, she began preparing food. Grandma’s pancakes were delicious. Although she was older now, her movements in the kitchen were still quick and efficient.

Jiang Yu wondered if Jiang Zhe had learned his cooking skills from his grandmother and, out of curiosity, asked her. While flipping pancakes, Grandma chuckled and replied, “When Xiao Zhe was younger, his mother was very busy, so she often brought him here. While I was in the kitchen, he would sit on a chair, eating pancakes while watching me and his grandfather cook. As he got older, he learned to cook for himself. He was so proud back then, saying, Grandma, I can cook now. I’ll be the one to cook from now on!’”

“Back then, he was still too short to reach the table and had to stand on a chair to learn how to cook.”

Jiang Yu imagined that scene and found it rather endearing.

When Jiang Zhe entered, she tilted her head and smiled, asking, “Jiang Zhe, I didn’t know you were this cute as a child.”

Jiang Zhe, confused, asked, “What did Grandma say?”

Grandma beamed, “Just some stories from your childhood.”

Jiang Zhe didn’t see anything interesting about childhood stories. He had never felt loved, especially compared to his sister, who was favored by their father. Listening to others pity his sister made him unwilling to stay at home, and he preferred living at Grandma’s instead.

The time spent at Grandma’s felt like it truly belonged to him.

The pancakes weren’t ready yet, and Grandma, worried about Jiang Yu waiting too long, said, “Xiao Yu, Xiao Zhe’s old room is still available. You can go take a look.”

Jiang Zhe rarely stayed at Grandma’s anymore because the room felt too small for him now, but it had been kept intact.

Jiang Yu felt that Jiang Zhe was quite different from the men she had encountered before—something about him was hard to define. So, when Grandma mentioned the possibility of seeing his old room, she was curious but wanted to get his permission first.

“Can I see your old room?” Jiang Yu asked.

With the room filled with his childhood belongings, Jiang Zhe didn’t see any reason to refuse: “Sure.”

Jiang Yu happily went to explore.

As she opened the door, she saw a bed and a neat bookshelf filled with many books.

The room was indeed small for him now, as the bed and bookshelf, along with a desk, left little space.

Naturally, what drew Jiang Yu’s attention was the bookshelf filled with an impressive array of books. She casually pulled one down and asked Jiang Zhe, “Have you read all these books?”

Jiang Zhe nodded, “I have.”

Jiang Yu’s mouth dropped open in surprise. It turned out that children from teacher families loved reading so much. She had probably read less than a third of what was on that shelf, though she had read quite a few romance novels in the past.

The room was just big enough for one person. With two, it felt a bit cramped, so Jiang Zhe stayed by the door.

After getting his permission, Jiang Yu wandered around the room, checking this and that. She came across an album filled with photos of him.

Jiang Zhe had always been good-looking, and the album contained pictures of him from his childhood, including some embarrassing ones. She didn’t pay much attention to those, instead pointing at a particularly handsome little boy in a photo and asking, “Do you think our child will be as good-looking as you were when you were young?”

Looking at his photo, Jiang Zhe felt a bit embarrassed. He had seen that album before, but he had no recollection of that particular picture.

Feeling a bit ashamed, he took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering, “Um, I think they’ll be even better looking.”

Jiang Yu wasn’t so sure: “I’ve heard that even good-looking parents can have average-looking kids. I hope ours won’t be too ordinary.”

After all, every mother hopes for her child to be a bit more attractive.

She finally flipped to the next page and saw a young Jiang Zhe, exclaiming, “You looked so quiet as a child!”

Jiang Zhe lowered his gaze, recalling that he had indeed been overly quiet back then, which led other kids to call him “sissy” and bully him mercilessly. He had told his parents about it, but it hadn’t helped. Eventually, his grandfather, unable to stand it any longer, had enrolled him in martial arts classes.

Then there were the middle school photos of Jiang Zhe, where he appeared as a refined and handsome young man. Jiang Yu, feeling a bit nosy, asked, “So, Jiang Zhe, when you were this good-looking in middle school, did you receive a lot of love letters?”

Jiang Zhe replied, “I don’t remember.”

He wasn’t lying. During middle school, he had inexplicably begun to shy away from crowded places. Unless necessary, he felt a strong urge to run whenever someone came too close. He couldn’t even remember the faces of those who approached him, which meant he had never had many friends.

Jiang Yu continued flipping through the album. By high school, Jiang Zhe looked less naive, and after university, he appeared even more mature, resembling his current self—yet… she still wanted to see more.

She opened the drawer and discovered many neatly written notebooks and a diary.

Curious, she asked, “Did you keep a diary?”

Jiang Zhe replied, “Yeah.”

Jiang Yu felt intrigued about what he might have written: “Can I take a look?”

Jiang Zhe’s expression froze slightly. Even though many years had passed, he remembered that his younger self had written some rather dark thoughts in that diary. He wasn’t keen on her seeing those troubling emotions and hesitated about whether to refuse her request. Just then, Grandma called out to them from outside, so Jiang Yu reluctantly put the diary down and went out to eat pancakes.

After she left, Jiang Zhe picked up the diary and found a hidden spot to hide it. If he could help it, he didn’t want Jiang Yu to see the part of him that had a significant resentment toward the world. She only needed to know who he was now.

**

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