Chapter 160

Chapter 28: The Second

　　Uncle Yuan gave a deeper speculation, after all they were still in Chunhai City, not in Tianhai, so they had no personal experience with what happened here and could only speak up to this point.

　　”What’s Grandfather going to do?” Yuan Xiaoling was a little curious.

　　”Condemn.”

　　”…Huh?”

　　”To put it bluntly, curse them, use the harshest words possible, until the Yun Family can’t take it anymore and comes to pick a fight in Chunhai City,” Uncle Yuan said helplessly, “But the Yun Family aren’t fools, so… it’s just venting.”

　　There’s nothing to be done; neither side are fools. One won’t go out, the other won’t come in, might as well just let off some steam through cursing.

　　”So is grandpa really feeling frustrated?” Yuan Xiaoling asked.

　　Uncle Yuan bitterly laughed on the other end: “More than frustrated, these past few days at the training forest I haven’t seen Yuan Tong and the others, when I asked around, turns out they’ve been running off to play video games with you, every day puffing their cheeks and glaring.”

　　When he went to report earlier, he saw the mulberry tree in the middle of the yard, its long branches swaying without wind, trembling in the air like the old man’s beard.

　　Thinking about it carefully, from Grandfather’s perspective, Yuan Tong and the others weren’t practicing diligently but instead sneaked out to play video games with their cousin.

　　”I think it’s just a misunderstanding caused by lack of understanding,” Yuan Xiaoling suggested, “We should let grandpa try playing our game, once he plays for a bit, he’ll understand.”

　　Lingling’s reasoning made perfect sense; if the elder experienced it once, all misunderstandings would melt away like snow.

　　But Uncle Yuan just silently sighed.

　　”Xiaoling, your grandpa, I’m afraid he can’t play video games.”

　　”Why not?”

　　”Because wood doesn’t conduct electricity.”

　　”…Huh?”

　　Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes, her sharp mind quickly came up with a solution: “But wet wood conducts, right?”

　　”Yes, so either it’s completely insulated or it shorts out.” Uncle Yuan said helplessly.

　　”…”

　　That does seem right.

　　Upstairs, in Ding Shumei’s room, she and the old lady met and chatted for a while, both sighing deeply.

　　However, this way, the elderly Mr. Li somewhat let down his guard.

　　Bai Ling wanted to give them some time to catch up, but Grandma Li was rather experienced, having weathered many storms, and recovered relatively quickly.

　　Especially when Ding Shumei mentioned that providing information could help Bai Ling eliminate her enemy, she enthusiastically pulled Bai Ling into a conversation.

　　”This kid, before and after he became two different people. Before, he hesitated in everything, later he became reckless.”

　　”How did he change? Well, back then, there was a period where he met a girl, he hesitated when proposing, thinking he needed more preparation. Right at that time, the company assigned him to work elsewhere for two years, offering labor fees and bonuses, so he went. After two years, when he returned, he found the girl had already married someone else.”

　　Grandma Li calmly narrated, Bai Ling listened with a racing heart.

　　”After that incident, he fell into a slump for a while, later somehow got over it, saying he wanted to change himself. I was pretty happy at first, but then realized he did change, but became reckless, doing things on impulse.”

　　”Especially over a year ago, when the leader of Four Squares Academy approached him with generous conditions, he agreed immediately, couldn’t be persuaded otherwise.”

　　Bai Ling hesitated for a moment, interjected: “He probably wasn’t really crazy about that woman… the type who couldn’t live without her.”

　　Otherwise, the confidential and beneficiary names on the documents wouldn’t have been Grandma Li alone, there would have been another name.

　　”Of course, they hadn’t known each other long enough to reach that level. He just felt defeated in that situation, feeling he lost a lot due to his own reasons in life.”

　　Grandma Li sighed: “So, when he gained power, and heard the conditions offered by Four Squares Academy, he was very excited and agreed without hesitation. At that time, he was like a gambler making his last bet, thinking that if this worked, he could win back everything he’d lost before.”

　　Bai Ling raised an eyebrow.

　　In a certain sense, if the Four Squares Academy incident hadn’t happened, he really could have won everything back. Of course, that had nothing to do with Four Squares Academy, because half a year later, the Chamber of Commerce would intervene, ensuring a decent profit regardless.

　　Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as “if”.

　　Seeing Grandma Li had finished speaking, Bai Ling asked: “What do you think is the most profound, most beautiful memory in your son’s heart?”

　　Grandma Li remained silent for a long time, pulling out a small round copper object from her chest.

　　Bai Ling examined it carefully, it looked somewhat like a hammerhead.

　　”What is this…?”

　　The best times surely weren’t spent pounding nails on construction sites, right?

　　”This is a children’s bicycle saddle, I kept it in the attic. When you collapsed the building, the bicycle broke. I searched for a while, and only found this.”

　　”…”

　　”During the time before he left, sometimes he would quietly sit at the entrance of the attic, looking at these childhood items,” Grandma Li slowly said, “His most cherished memories were the carefree, happy times when he received new toys as a child. Especially the day he got the children’s bicycle, back when his father was still around. We, as a family, accompanied him from our home to the Tianhai Overpass.”

　　Bai Ling looked at the children’s bicycle saddle in her hand, silently pursed her lips.

　　She remembered, according to the records, this person joined at the age of 34…

　　Alright, if it fits, it works.

　　After putting away the bicycle saddle, Bai Ling considered this visit’s Wu Bian acquisition complete. She promised Grandma Li some subsidies, then turned and walked out the door.

　　”Call some people… construction workers, go dig around our previous place, look for anything resembling bicycle parts,” she told the guards at the door.

　　It’s difficult to imagine solely based on verbal descriptions, having a physical reference is better.

　　Anyway, with telekinesis, it’s just like assembling building blocks later.

　　Walking downstairs, Bai Ling saw Yuan Xiaoling sitting on the couch, spacing out. For some reason, she couldn’t help but recall what Grandma Li had just said.

　　Especially that story of hesitation leading to loss…

　　”Bai Ling, are you ready?”

　　Yuan Xiaoling noticed her, excitedly rushing over, “Let me tell you, I may have discovered the Yun Family’s secret! Those weirdos today revealed a lot of information!”

　　But Bai Ling shook her head, “We’ll talk about that later, there’s something more important now.”

　　”What is it?”

　　”The wedding photo shoot thing,” the White-haired Maiden grabbed the Blonde-Haired Maiden’s delicate hand, “I’ve decided to bring it forward, let’s contact someone to make custom outfits right away, and take the photos once they’re ready.”