Chapter 26

Song Yanyan's POV:

An invite to dinner from Wu Ling's fine brother? Now this was an interesting development. As we strolled out of the academy gates, I couldn't resist shooting my girl a sly grin.

"Your family sure does love spending that old money, doesn't it?" I teased, giving her a playful nudge with my hip.

Wu Ling rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Don't act like you aren't loving every second of getting wined and dined by the elite, Miss High-Maintenance."

"Oh hush, you know this full-figured goddess comes with expensive tastes," I shot back with a shameless wink.

The town car was already awaiting us curbside, engine purring like a pampered housecat. I had to hand it to Wu Haoyu - the man didn't do anything half-assed when it came to flaunting his family's opulent wealth and status.

The drive passed quickly, Wu Ling and I gossiping furiously about school drama and oblivious rich brats doing stupid shit again. Typical day in the life, really. But when we were ushered into the private dining room, an unexpected sight stopped me dead in my tracks.

There sat Wu Haoyu, ramrod straight in that obscenely expensive suit as always. But it was the ancient, wizened elder beside him that drew my gaze like a magnet. Despite his aristocratic poise, there was something...unsettling about the way his rheumy eyes drilled straight into me, seeming to drink in every last curve and angle of my face.

As if he recognized me from someplace, or someone.

Gramps didn't strike me as some creepy lech getting his kicks over an underaged piece of jailbait, though. His scrutiny seemed to run deeper, laden with heaviness and...longing?

I shrugged it off, masking my confusion as Wu Haoyu made the introductions. This was his grandfather or some revered family elder, if I had to hazard a guess. No doubt more obnoxiously wealthy dynastic nobility destined to look down their diamond-encrusted noses at a curvy commoner like me.

But as we settled in and the usual niceties commenced, Grandpa Grumpy McSilence barely spoke two words, those piercing eyes continuing to bore holes straight through my skull every chance they got.

Finally, I couldn't take the awkward tension anymore. Swiveling his way, I leveled him with my most winning smile – the one very few men seemed capable of resisting, no matter their age or status.

"Alright, I gotta ask..." I began in a low, conspiratorial tone, one brow arched in playful challenge as I met his gaze head-on. "Do I have a killer booger hanging from my nose or something? Because you've been straight-up glaring daggers at my face all night, old man."

The silence that fell over our little dining party was absolutely deafening. Even Wu Ling's mouth fell open in scandalized shock, but Wu Haoyu...ooh, if looks could kill, I'd already be six feet under from the way his eyes flashed bloody murder for my cheek.

But instead of rebuking me as they so clearly expected, Grandpa's face cracked into a ay with a rusty chuckle. "Merely admiring a study in contradictions, Miss Song. You have the audacious spirit of a firecracker, yet demonstrate respect for your elders in your own unique way."

I snorted indelicately, lazily twirling a lock of my dark tresses between two fingers. "What can I say? I'm an acquired taste. You're welcome to look your fill, by the way - might put a few years back on your ancient ass to drink in all this youthful radiance."

Sweet Christ, I could practically feel Wu Haoyu's molars grinding from across the table. But something told me this grizzled relic got его kicks out of verbal sparring rather than bland, insipid deference. Sure enough, his next words proved me right.

"Cheeky thing, aren't you?" He clucked his tongue in a fair approximation of disapproval, even as I spotted the faint sparkle of challenge glinting in his tired eyes. "Though I suppose I'll allow such brazen candor...for now. Wouldn't want to deprive an old man of his sole remaining entertainment in these twilight years."

The ensuing roll of booming laughter that shook his frail frame took me by surprise. But I couldn't deny the way it tugged at something deep within me - a part of my soul that had been starving for this kind of irreverent connection for as long as I could remember.

As dinner commenced, Wu Ling and I quickly found our conversational rhythm again, giggling over school hijinks and gossiping about everyone's latest mess. Even Wu Haoyu joined in with the occasional dry quip or observation, though he was clearly more interested in doting on his precious baby sister.

But it was the unlikely backhanded banter and roasting between Grandpa and I that ended up stealing the show.

"Tell me, girl - do all of your skimpy outfits require hazard pay for anyone forced to lay eyes upon them?" He'd ask, expression utterly impassive even as that rapier-wit sliced through me with well-honed precision. "I fear my grandfather may succumb to shock-induced heart palpitations if he glimpses much more of those...ample assets on display."

"Why, you sweet-talking silver-tongued devil!" I'd counter without missing a beat, dark eyes glittering with undisguised relish. "Are you finally shooting your appallingly rusty game my way? Can't say I've ever been one for withered ancient fossils before...but I do so love a challenge too lofty for lesser men."

Our rapid-fire exchanges would inevitably dissolve into deep peals of shameless laughter, the kind that crinkled the corners of my eyes and stole my breath in a way I couldn't recall experiencing in forever. Not that I'd ever admit the truth out loud.

There was just something about this Grandpa Huang that slipped past all my meticulously constructed defenses without even trying. An uncanny sense of comfort and lightness in his presence, like I could finally let the weight of the world's expectations and judgments slip from my shoulders for just a few blessed moments.

Before I knew it, the meal had wound down, both Wu Ling and Wu Haoyu watching our escalating shenanigans with gobsmacked awe. But it was the pensive, indecipherable gleam in Huang Jiang's eyes as they met mine across the table that sent an unexpected tremor shivering through my core. 

Like he was seeing something in me far deeper than the surface bravado. Catching glimpses of a part of myself I didn't dare acknowledge, even in my most isolated private moments.

The ride back to my new flat passed in a blur of polite small-talk and musings about weekend plans that I only half-registered. I found myself thoroughly distracted by that strange fluttering taking root in my chest - like rapacious moths batting their wings against the bars of their gilded cage, desperate for escape.

Wu Haoyu surprised me by offering to come inside for another drink or snack, stunning me into silence briefly before I managed an indifferent shrug of acquiescence. Wu Ling practically vibrated with excitement at getting to see my new digs up close and personal. But it was Huang Jiang's inscrutable regard fixed on my face that raised gooseflesh along my arms and danced electricity across my nerves.

As if sensing the shift in the atmosphere, the elderly man made no move to join us, simply favoring me with a courtly bow and requesting I keep him apprised of any need for "discreet renovations or redecorating" going forward. 

I blinked owlishly at the implications of his words, sudden understanding blossoming that this was his roundabout way of extending financial assistance without insult. A flicker of gratitude warmed the cold hollows of my chest before I tamped it down firmly.

"Never took you for the pearl-clutching society dame type, Gramps," I shot back with a roguish wink. "But I'll make sure to ping you if this stray cat's humble abode starts looking too declawed and shabby, yeah?"

Those ancient lips twitched with obvious approval at my deflecting bravado, and the moment hung fraught with unspoken...something...between us, as heady and electric as a gathering summer storm.

Then it passed with the crunch of gravel under tires as their driver pulled away from the curb, leaving me to usher my two remaining companions inside with a disquieting sense of loss gnawing at my composure.