Chapter 303 You're Too Thoughtful

"Oh dear, your place is always like a stage play, so smoky and chaotic. If I hadn't left, I wouldn't be in a hospital right now, I'd be in an urn."

"Look at what you're saying. How is this place a mess? Who did something to you? Did they go hungry or cold? You should come back. I'm worried about you being out there at your age. I'll send someone to pick you up tomorrow."

The old man's face flushed with anger, and his tone was unfriendly. "Stop your babbling. I know what you're up to. Let me tell you straight, I'm not giving it to you. Forget about it."

Qin Liang was silent for two seconds before speaking: "Dad, why do you always think I'm after your things? I'm just genuinely concerned about you. Even if you don't give it to me, I'll still fulfill my filial duties. You shouldn't think of me as such a despicable person..."

The old man was so angry that he hung up the phone and threw it on the bedside table.

"Grandpa, you're still not well, please don't get angry," Qiao Xing said worriedly.

The old man waved his hand and sighed, looking troubled. "It's nothing, I'm not angry."

"Shall I peel an apple for you?"

"No, it's too hard. My teeth aren't good. Let me peel an orange instead."

Qiao Xing nodded and peeled an orange for him from the plate.

After spending the afternoon in the hospital, it was already dark outside. Qiao Xing looked back at the door, but Qin Ce still hadn't returned.

Qin Yi walked in and said, "Sister-in-law, you should go back. I'll stay here with you."

"It's okay, I don't have anything to do anyway. If you have something to do, go ahead and do it."

Qin Yi walked to a chair and sat down. "I'm fine. Are you hungry? I'll order you some takeout."

Qiao Xing quickly stopped him, "No, Grandpa is sick, how can we order takeout? You stay here and watch over things, I'll go back and cook for Grandpa."

Qin Yi wanted to say that takeout can be hygienic, but seeing her worried and fearful look, he swallowed his words.

Qiao Xing didn't dare to delay. She left the hospital, took a taxi to the supermarket, bought some fresh spinach, and went back to prepare a pot of vegetable and lean meat porridge for Grandpa Qin.

After she got home, she called Qin Ce.

When the call connected, she asked simply, "I'm cooking at home. Are you coming home for dinner tonight? If you are, I'll cook more."

"I probably won't go back. You eat first."

"Okay." Qiao Xing hung up the phone suspiciously, wondering what he was doing outside during the Chinese New Year.

Qin Ce hung up the phone and looked up at the two young men in front of him.

He looked the two people up and down before saying, "You two are not residents of this community."

"Yes, yes, is there a problem?"

"Then why were you in the neighborhood on the 25th?"

One of them said, "Oh, there was a woman who gave us five thousand yuan. She said she wanted to take her grandfather to celebrate the New Year, but she was afraid that her grandfather would not want to go."

She asked us to do something like dragon dancing in front of her grandfather; maybe older people just like those kinds of things.

Qin Ce's gaze shifted.

When he came to Chongqing, it was the old man who tricked him into going to see the dragon, and brought him here. He never returned to Beijing.

Having been here for so many years, Qin Ce had never seen a dragon.

When he was a child, he even said the old man was a liar.

He seemed somewhat dazed, and suddenly asked, "Is there?"

"Yes, isn't this the Year of the Dragon? There are so many dragon dance teams, it's quite lively."

Xing Jiu glanced at his expression; under the streetlights, she could vaguely see the melancholy between his brows.

His gaze was fixed on some empty space, and he seemed slightly distracted.

After a while, Qin Ce's expression returned to normal, and he turned and walked upstairs.

Xing Jiu nudged the two of them, signaling them to follow.

Shi Yi wasn't sleeping in the room at the moment. She was sitting on the sofa, and the room was dark. The fireplace in front of her made her face look red.

She was startled when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

She quickly calmed down, took a deep breath, and got up to open the door.

Upon seeing the two men at the door, her face suddenly turned pale.

"Beautiful lady, do you remember us? That day you gave me..."

Shi Yi interrupted the person who was speaking, "Alright, shut up."

The man shrank back and dared not speak again.

Shi Yi's gaze passed over the two people and landed on Qin Ce and Xing Jiu's faces behind them. Even though the lights were off, the dim light made it easy to see the panic that flashed across Shi Yi's face.

"This is none of your business."

Upon hearing Qin Ce's words, the two slunk away.

Qin Ce stepped inside, and Shi Yi took several steps back into the room. The next second, the lights suddenly turned on, and she instinctively raised her hand to block them.

The man in front of her remained silent. Shi Yi shielded her eyes with her arm, staring at the man's leather shoes, her heart pounding wildly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Qin Ce's voice finally came from above, "Nothing to say?"

Shi Yi slowly lowered her arm. She bit her lip, feeling extremely flustered. Her voice even changed slightly when she spoke.

"I... I heard Grandpa Qin talk about you before. He... he mentioned when you were little that you were easy to fool, that he tricked you into coming to see the dragon..."

As Shi Yi spoke, her eyes reddened and her voice choked with emotion.

She had always been pampered and spoiled, and it was embarrassing for her to be caught doing such a small thing, especially in front of Qin Ce. Naturally, she was flustered.

"Then what?"

"Then, then he said that when you and Aunt Gu left, you left very decisively. He wondered if it was because you felt that he had lied to you, so you hated him and left without looking back."

The old man also said that he had already arranged for a dragon dance performance and planned to take Qin Ce to see it on his birthday.

He passed away, and so many years have passed since then, I never had the chance to take him to see it.

Therefore, when Shi Yi learned that there would be a dragon dance at the New Year's Eve party, she told him about it on a whim.

Unexpectedly, it really stirred up the old man's memories, and he actually went. He stubbornly stood in the square for more than three hours, just waiting for the dragon dance performance at 12 o'clock.

That's it?

Shi Yi shook her head. "That's all."

She looked up at Qin Ce, her eyes red, and said, "I just wanted Grandpa Qin to be happy during the New Year. I didn't mean anything else. I really didn't expect him to get sick."

"Then why don't you tell him yourself, instead of having someone else tell him?"

"I……"

Before Shi Yi could think of what to say, Qin Ce spoke up for her, "Because you have a guilty conscience, and do you know what will happen to an elderly person of that age if they go out to the square to be exposed to the wind for three hours in weather that is only two degrees Celsius?"

"You didn't just not think of it, you thought of it too thoroughly."

Hearing his cold words, Shi Yi burst into tears, sobbing and unable to speak.

Qin Ce stepped forward again, his gaze fixed intently on her.

Shi Yi subconsciously took a step back.

Qin Ce said, "Shi Yi, I warned you long ago to behave yourself, but you just wouldn't listen and even dared to set your sights on the old man."

"You think that by doing this, you can gain my approval, gain the old man's approval, discover your kindness, be grateful for your great kindness, and feel that you are the most suitable person for me, so that I will marry you, is that it?"

His words, like sharp needles, pierced Shi Yi's heart with every single one.

Qin Ce revealed all her little secrets in just a few words, making her completely embarrassed.