The old lady's eagerness was palpable; she asked questions even before entering the private room.
Given the head manager's obsequious nature, he should respond immediately.
He kept glancing back at the private rooms on the third floor, stammering and hesitant to speak, "This...it should be...there isn't one..."
The old lady's face darkened.
She straightened her back and slammed her ruyi cane hard on the wooden steps of the second floor.
Jiang Sheng, who had just walked nearby, shrank back in fright. Fortunately, the master craftsman came over and pulled her to the bottom of the wooden ladder for temporary shelter.
Just as Jiang Sheng was about to ask about the cowpeas, the head chef gestured for her to be quiet.
The area beneath the wooden stairs fell silent instantly.
A burly man in his thirties with a towel draped around his neck and a round, chubby girl around ten years old with her hair in a bun, both kept silent, their necks hunched, listening like thieves.
Above them, the head manager was equally frightened, his knees buckling as he knelt on the ground. "Madam, please calm down. This old servant knows his mistake. This old servant sent messages to all the You Ran Residences, asking them to search for Miss, but no news came."
The old lady remained silent with a gloomy face, only glancing at the guests coming and going at Youran Residence, seemingly unwilling to ask questions in public.
But the head manager didn't understand and hurriedly explained, "I didn't dare to say it just now because the young master and young lady were in the private room, and I was afraid... I was afraid."
What are you afraid of? It wasn't explained clearly.
But it was enough to make the old lady's face even more gloomy, and the entire You Ran Ju became quieter.
Seeing that things were not going well, the waiter at the door quickly saw off the last two tables of guests and closed the door of Youranju.
Even Wang Xiaosong was asked to leave, but Jiang Sheng, who was hiding under the wooden steps with the master chef, somehow ended up staying behind.
"Madam, this old servant..." The head manager wanted to say something more.
The door to the private room in the center of the third floor opened, and Jiang Chengyuan walked out with a furrowed brow, followed by Jiang Chenghuan with red-rimmed eyes and her personal maid.
"Greetings, Grandmother." The two went down to the second floor and bowed in unison.
The old lady's face darkened, and she sneered as she looked at Jiang Chenghuan's red eyes. "Your own sister is nowhere to be found, yet you're hiding in a private room at Youran Residence comforting this imposter. Jiang Chengyuan, is this how you act as an older brother?"
These words were so offensive that Jiang Sheng, standing on the wooden steps, shrank back even more.
On the wooden steps, Jiang Chenghuan suppressed her sobs.
Jiang Chengyuan felt both heartache and helplessness. "Grandmother, Chenghuan has been a pampered girl in the family for more than ten years. Even if she is not a direct descendant, does that mean the family affection of more than ten years is fake?"
He didn't understand why his grandmother couldn't tolerate Jiang Chenghuan.
If it weren't for his grandmother's overt and covert attempts to drive Chenghuan away, causing his younger sister to panic and feel wronged, he wouldn't have been so resistant to searching for his biological sister.
“Grandmother, please don’t send Chenghuan away. I will also try my best to find my sister. Our Jiang family can treat each other as if we have two daughters, and love each other fairly and justly, wouldn’t that be better?” Jiang Chengyuan said sincerely.
It's clear that he genuinely wants to coexist peacefully, to rekindle their blood ties, and to preserve the companionship they've shared for over a decade.
But, is it really possible?
Looking at her beloved eldest grandson, the old lady suddenly realized that he had been raised to be a little too naive and innocent.
“It’s difficult to treat even one’s own two children equally, let alone two children of this status. You always think about treating them fairly, but is there really any fairness in this world?” she said slowly. “You think I want to drive Jiang Chenghuan away, so you’re unwilling to find my own sister. Is that fair?”
"Are you really being fair to your own sister, whom you've never met but who shares your bloodline?"
The old lady's words were firm and resolute.
After saying this, before Jiang Chengyuan could show any shame, she walked down the stairs, leaning on her cane.
The waiter who had asked someone to close the door earlier rushed over and offered a tentative helping hand.
The old lady gave him an approving look, paused at the entrance of Youran Residence, and said, "Chengyuan, you are a good child, but you can't be too filial, and you can't always listen to your mother."
After saying this, the two doors of Youran Residence opened wide, and the old lady boarded the three-horse carriage and left calmly.
The entire restaurant returned to calm, even eerily calm.
Jiang Sheng finally managed to pop her neck out, and just as she was about to speak, she heard a noise above her head.
Jiang Chenghuan, who had been silently shedding tears, finally cried out, "Brother, don't let me, a sister who has no blood relation to you, cause a rift with Grandmother. Over the years, Mother and I have long been used to it. Grandmother has never liked us."
Jiang Chengyuan's wavering heart suddenly hardened.
Yes, my grandmother and mother didn't get along, and as a result, my mother didn't pay much attention to her most beloved younger sister. Sometimes, my grandmother would insist on doing things that my mother didn't want to do, and she would scold my mother for it.
Jiang Chengyuan had gotten used to it over the years, but he still felt somewhat aggrieved for his mother.
He whispered words of comfort to his sister, even taking out all his money, "Chenghuan, don't cry, brother will take you to play."
But they completely forgot that if the grandmother truly disliked the mother, she should never have looked for her own granddaughter again.
As Youranju opened its doors to welcome guests, the brother and sister upstairs finally left.
Jiang Sheng rubbed her sore neck, feeling happy that she had been able to see such a lively opera performance.
In the past, only the wealthiest families in Xiyang County could afford to watch opera performances. If Jiang Sheng hadn't sneaked in to steal some chicken feet, she would never have seen one.
She was as excited as a cat catching a mouse, and turned her head, but froze when she met the master chef's plump face.
"Master chef..." The little girl timidly fidgeted with her hands behind her back, "I didn't mean to come in and eavesdrop, I..."
She was about to admit her mistake.
The head chef suddenly shushed him again, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel, his voice barely audible, "Don't tell anyone what happened just now. We didn't hear anything, we don't know anything."
Jiang Sheng understood immediately, nodded vigorously, and smiled at the same time as the master chef.
Suddenly, the head manager's voice came from behind. "What do you not know?"
Jiang Sheng almost lost her mind.
She really wanted to tell the head manager not to make a sudden sound behind someone's back, as it could easily scare them to death, you know?
But feeling guilty about his earlier sneaky behavior, he couldn't say anything.
Fortunately, the head chef stepped forward and said, "He's talking to the young lady. It seems she brought something over again, right, young lady?"
Jiang Sheng remembered that her cart was full of dried cowpeas and quickly said, "I have a cart of dried cowpeas transported from Anshui County. Would You Ran Ju like them?"
In Fengjing, you can find any kind of green bean; you even need the ones from Anshui County.
The head manager scoffed and shook his head in disdain.
Jiang Sheng was already used to the arrogance of You Ran Ju, so she didn't care and calmly turned to leave.
The head chef felt a pang of guilt, "These dried green beans have been transported all this way; how are we supposed to eat them?"
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