Song Jing's actions successfully defused Yan Qiao's awkward situation.
But the awkwardness didn't disappear; it simply shifted to Zhang Shuyun.
She awkwardly withdrew her hand. "Get in the car."
Grandpa Song glanced at her and said, "Since you miss Xiao Jing so much, then let Xiao Jing travel with us in one car."
The three of them took a taxi, one of them in one car, and headed to the restaurant that Yan Shu had booked.
As soon as she got in the car, Yan Shu's face fell.
“Let me tell you, Song Yinsheng, I won’t hold a grudge against an old woman like her for how she treated me, but she can’t treat my daughter like this! I’ve tolerated it this time, but there’s no such thing as ‘third time’ here. I’ll only tolerate it this once.”
Zhang Shuyun could tell at a glance that it was intentional.
Before even meeting Yan Qiao, she already harbored resentment towards her, guessing that Yan Yaoyao had mentioned something to her.
Zhang Shuyun repeatedly tried to put on airs as a mother-in-law in front of Yan Shu, but failed each time, and gradually developed a dislike for her.
Yan Shu naturally wouldn't indulge her; if Zhang Shuyun found one fault, she could retort with ten.
Song Yinsheng's expression was also not very good. Yan Qiao was now his bottom line. He wanted to cherish her as the apple of his eye and couldn't bear to see her suffer even the slightest grievance.
“I’ll mention it to my dad and ask him to talk to Aunt Zhang. Anyway, we don’t live together, so if she doesn’t like it, then we shouldn’t invite her to our house.”
Whenever Grandpa Song came to Yancheng, he would stay in a neighborhood near Yan Shu's house. They were very close, but each had their own space so they wouldn't disturb each other.
Having multiple houses makes things so convenient.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Zhang Shuyun saw Yan Shu calling for the waiter to serve the food and asked, "Why is the food already served? Yao Yao hasn't arrived yet?"
Yan Shu's voice was slightly cold: "Of course she's not coming. This is a family dinner."
Zhang Shuyun looked displeased. "That won't do. Since we're family, we should sit down and eat together."
“Aunt Zhang, Yan Yaoyao is someone else’s child. She has nothing to do with us and we can’t be considered family.”
Zhang Shuyun said unhappily, "She has been raised by you for so many years, and you just want to abandon her like that?"
Yan Shu was too lazy to argue with her about this issue, and said, "Aunt Zhang, since you like her so much, why don't you skip eating with us and go find her? Don't make yourself suffer here."
Zhang Shuyun's expression was not good. "I just said something casually, why do you have so much to say?"
Yan Qiao smiled sweetly, "Because some things need to be made clear at once, Grandma Zhang may have thought that since she is an outsider, she can invite another outsider to our family dinner. Now that it's made clear, you will know that we do not welcome outsiders."
She emphasized the word "outsider" with particular force.
Zhang Shuyun's face darkened, and she slammed her hand on the table.
"What are you talking about? Who's the outsider here!"
Old Master Song tapped his fingers on the table and said emphatically, "Say less."
Zhang Shuyun was still somewhat intimidated by him and dared not say anything more, so the meal was tasteless.
After finishing her meal, Yan Qiao answered a call from Pei Xiang.
"Are you available for an interview right now? My uncle... arranged for someone to come over today."
That is, the cameraman Pei Xiang helped her find.
Yan Qiao asked first, "How much is the salary?"
Pei Xiang said weakly, "Three...three thousand, as long as it includes food and lodging."
Yan Qiao raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, three thousand?"
"Yes, I'm sure!"
Yan Qiao agreed: "I just finished having lunch with my grandfather. How about we meet at 2 PM?"
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, Grandpa Song said, "If you need anything, just go over there. You don't need to stay here with us. Young people have their own things to do. You'll get bored keeping us old folks company."
Yan Qiao smiled and said, "Grandpa knows a lot of things, so I'm not bored! My mother gave me a courtyard house, which is filled with some old things. Ying Tiantian said he's not sure what era they are from, so he doesn't dare to deal with them casually. I was just thinking of asking Grandpa to come with me to take a look."
However, they just arrived today, so they probably aren't in very good spirits.
Who knew that Old Master Song's eyes would light up as soon as he heard about old things.
"Then let's go take a look today, since there's no time like the present!"
Yan Shu said, "Dad, how about another day? You just got off the plane, you should get some rest today."
Grandpa Song waved his hand, "It's nothing, it's nothing. When I used to collect scrap, I could work from morning till night without any problem."
Song Yinsheng smiled helplessly, "Let Dad go over there, otherwise he probably won't be able to sleep tonight."
While it was called "collecting junk," only Song Yinsheng knew that if he took out any of the items in Old Master Song's house that had any weight, he could easily buy a house in Yancheng.
Unfortunately, he was a low-key person, and most people only knew him as a junk collector.
Yan Qiao especially enjoyed listening to the old man talk about antiques; it seemed that every old item had a story to tell when it came into his possession.
“It just so happens that there are a lot of old things in my house, so Grandpa can help me take a look.”
Zhang Shuyun looked disgusted, genuinely unable to understand what was so appealing about the dilapidated house.
"You're obsessed with tinkering with that junk all day long. Yan Qiao, you too, why don't you leave your perfectly good home and insist on renovating this dilapidated house? Isn't that a waste of money?"
Zhang Shuyun was a woman who hadn't received much education. All she knew in her life was to serve her employers well and make money. She never thought about how valuable the things the old man had were, and she looked down on the junk in his room that he treated as treasures.
Grandpa Song said without any politeness, "Why don't you go back first? I'll go with Qiaoqiao to take a look."
Zhang Shuyun stopped talking and got into the car with him.
She was initially uninterested, but when she arrived at the courtyard house, she realized how big it was.
She couldn't help but look shocked and exclaimed, "I've heard that houses in Yancheng are very expensive. Your courtyard house is so big, it must be worth a lot of money, right?"
Yan Qiao smiled and said, "Grandma Zhang, there are no cheap houses in Yancheng, but this is nothing, after all, this is a dilapidated house, and it's full of junk."
Yan Qiao retorted with the same words, which made Zhang Shuyun shut her mouth in embarrassment.
Yan Qiao now understood why Yan Shu hesitated when talking about Zhang Shuyun.
From what we've seen so far, Zhang Shuyun isn't such a bad person.
But it's like a fly, flying in front of you every now and then to annoy you, it's really annoying.
Grandpa Song smiled indulgently and tapped her forehead.
"Your personality is just like your mother's; you can't stand being wronged at all."
Yan Qiao puffed out her chest. "I have my grandpa and grandma, and my parents to back me up, so of course I can't let myself be wronged."
She endured it before because she needed to be independent.
Even if she's in pain and cries, no one will stand up for her.
Things are different now.
When Grandpa Song thought of her past experiences, he felt a pang of heartache.
"That's right, Grandpa will back you up."
Thinking about it this way, he wished he could open his storeroom and bring all those treasures to his granddaughter to coax her.
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