Su Jinli watched her grandfather holding his daughter, his graying beard brushing against the top of her head, and suddenly her eyes felt warm. The vague image of her mother in her memory suddenly became clear between her grandfather's eyebrows and eyes - they both had eyes that looked like crescent moons when they smiled, and they both liked to tap their palms when they talked.

"Grandfather, why are you here?" she couldn't help but ask, her eyes fixed on the old man's washed-out cuffs. Why was this legendary figure, who could once buy out an entire commercial street in three days, wearing a patched gown?

Lin Canghai sighed and waved for them to follow him: "It's a long story, let's go to the teahouse and talk it over." He led everyone into a quiet alley. The blue brick wall was lined with potted gardenias. The snow-white flowers were covered with morning dew, just like the one on his mother's temples.

In a private window-side room on the second floor of the teahouse, Lin Canghai accepted the Biluochun tea from the waiter, gazed at the buds unfurling in the tea soup, and slowly recounted his story. It turned out that twenty years ago, he had been plotted against by his partner, not only destroying Jiangnan's largest silk shop but also saddled with a massive debt of one hundred thousand taels. To spare his sixteen-year-old daughter, he had no choice but to ask a matchmaker to marry Wanqing off to the Su family in Beijing. He then took his remaining belongings and lived in seclusion in Hangzhou, secretly investigating the truth behind the incident and seeking news of his daughter.

"It was not until three years ago that I learned from a merchant from the capital... Wanqing..." Lin Canghai's voice choked, and his fingertips pinched the bamboo teacup, "They said that she was depressed after marrying into the prime minister's mansion, and soon after giving birth to you..." He couldn't continue, so he just picked up the teacup and took a big gulp, but accidentally burned his tongue.

Su Jinli held her grandfather's hands, which were covered with age spots but still strong: "Grandfather, mother said before she left that she doesn't blame you." This was what her wet nurse told her before she died. Her mother always looked south on her sickbed, saying that her father had his own reasons.

Lin Canghai burst into tears and held her hand: "My good child, you have suffered a lot... I heard that you are in the prime minister's residence..." He didn't say anything else, but Su Jinli understood what he wanted to say - the difficulties caused by her stepmother Liu, the infighting in the harem, although she lived a free life in these years, she was also inevitably attacked by both open and hidden attacks.

"It's all in the past, Grandfather." Su Jinli shook her head and looked at Jiang Yan beside her. He was gently wiping the tea stains from the corners of Si Yan's mouth. "I have Jiang Yan now, Nianli and Si Yan, as well as my father and my younger brothers and sisters. They are all very kind to me."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan took her hand and squeezed it gently, his eyes filled with tenderness. Si Yan suddenly spoke up, "Grandfather, have you found the person who harmed you? A debt of one hundred thousand taels...at an annual interest rate of three percent, how much should I pay back now?"

Lin Canghai was so amused by his money-grubber grandson that he burst into laughter. "I paid it off a long time ago! Grandfather is a rich man now!" He pulled out an oilcloth bag from his sleeve, which contained neatly folded land deeds and house deeds. "The shops on half a street in Hangzhou are all the dowry that Grandfather saved for you!"

Su Jinli looked at the yellowed deeds and suddenly remembered that her mother's dowry also contained half a faded blueprint for a silk shop. It turned out that her grandfather had never given up. He had spent twenty years not only seeking revenge but also building a huge fortune for her.

"Let's go!" Lin Canghai suddenly stood up and stuffed the deed back into his sleeve. "Grandfather will take you home!"

They followed Lin Canghai through winding alleys to a courtyard outside Hangzhou. The gate was made of mottled mahogany, and above it hung a faded plaque with the characters "Wanxiangju." The moment Su Jinli pushed open the gate, her breath hitched—gardenias filled the courtyard, blooming in the twilight. The snow-white blossoms bent the branches, their fragrance so thick it felt like a mother's embrace.

"Qing'er loved gardenias the most..." Lin Canghai's voice was filled with melancholy. "After she left, I planted them all over the yard." He bent down to pick a flower and pinned it in Su Jinli's hair. "Exactly the same as your mother's."

Nianli had already run off, chasing fireflies among the flowers, while Siyan squatted in the corner, researching the cost of grafting gardenias. Jiang Yan walked over to Su Jinli, gently put his arm around her shoulders, looked at the white flowers on her temples, and whispered, "From now on, we will come to accompany Grandpa often."

Su Jinli nodded, the familiar floral scent lingering around her nose, tears welling in her eyes. In this life, she had not only rediscovered her lost happiness but also unexpectedly found her grandfather, to whom she was related by blood. The evening breeze blew, and the gardenias rustled, a few petals drifting into Lin Canghai's busy kitchen. He rolled up his sleeves, butchering fish, humming a Jiangnan tune, as if to transform twenty years of debt into this sumptuous dinner.

"Grandpa, I want to eat sweet and sour fish!" Nianli shouted while clinging to the kitchen door frame.

"Grandpa, I want to eat West Lake vinegar fish!" Si Yan also came over, holding a pen and paper in his hand to record the amount of ingredients.

"Both! Both!" Lin Canghai responded with a smile, and the fish tail in his hand splashed water, splashing on the blue brick floor like scattered pearls.

Su Jinli leaned on Jiang Yan's shoulder, watching the sunset gild the figures of her grandfather and the children. Suddenly, she felt that the Jiangnan evening breeze was gentler than ever. The regrets of past lives and the search of this life had finally blossomed into the sweetest reunion in the fragrance of the gardenias that filled the courtyard. And the white flower on her temple trembled gently with her smile.