After Becoming a Full-Time Employee, I Signed a Romance Contract with My Ice-Cold Boss - Chapter 40

“It’s over, Grandmother has truly gone mad!”

Jiang Xuan spread her hands. “Why would I lie to you?”

“The shares have been transferred to Jiang Fengyi,” Jiang Xuan said truthfully. “She wasn’t willing to attend your birthday banquet last time, so I traded the shares for her attendance.”

Jiang Xuan had a self-satisfied expression that practically said, ‘Look how good I am to you.’

Across from her, Old Mrs. Zhao was shaking with rage. “You, you.”

The fury in her eyes turned entirely into resentment; she had clearly regarded Jiang Xuan’s shares as the property of the Zhao family. Of course, this delusion was inseparable from Jiang Xuan’s constant indulgence over the years.

Old Mrs. Zhao was so angry she couldn’t speak a complete sentence. Her face turned a purplish-red, her lips grew cyanotic, and the corners of her mouth twitched.

How could there be someone as stupid as Jiang Xuan in this world!

Jiang Xuan, sitting opposite her, didn’t understand why Old Mrs. Zhao, who had been chatting with her normally, suddenly changed her expression, looking as if she were on the verge of a stroke.

Jiang Xuan looked toward the Zhao sisters, who were also dazed, only to see stunned disbelief in their eyes as well.

Zhao Ruofei was the first to react. To avoid arousing Jiang Xuan’s suspicion, she quickly comforted her grandmother while addressing Jiang Xuan. “Grandmother is old; sometimes when she’s talking just fine, she suddenly…”

She racked her brain to make up an excuse, looking appropriately embarrassed. Sure enough, Jiang Xuan didn’t press further.

“Have you taken her to the hospital?”

Jiang Xuan glanced at Old Mrs. Zhao’s ashen face and speculated, “Could it be Alzheimer’s? Her emotions fluctuated so much during a normal conversation.”

“Or maybe a sign of a stroke? Look at her mouth, isn’t it crooked?”

Zhao Ruofei didn’t want to say more, and Zhao Ruxuan was still immersed in shock, so for a moment, no one replied.

For the first time, Jiang Xuan whose words usually never hit the ground without a response encountered a cold silence.

The exasperated Old Mrs. Zhao deliberately ignored her. Had she been flattering Jiang Xuan for so long because she actually liked chatting with someone who had neither emotional intelligence nor situational awareness?

No!

In the past, Jiang Xuan held actual power; flattering her meant some scraps might fall from her fingers to the Zhao family. Now that Jiang Xuan had nothing, why should she keep rushing to flatter her?

She wouldn’t endure it anymore! She had long been tired of Jiang Xuan’s foul temper!

Old Mrs. Zhao suddenly glared at Jiang Xuan viciously. “You’re the one with senile dementia!” Her ears were sharp; she hadn’t missed Jiang Xuan’s insult about Alzheimer’s.

Jiang Xuan took a few steps back, putting distance between herself and Old Mrs. Zhao.

She counted the symptoms: “Slow reactions—taking so long to respond after a sentence is finished—and changing from being kind and gentle to irritable and prone to cursing.”

She was certain Old Mrs. Zhao had senile dementia.

Jiang Xuan didn’t forget to urge Zhao Ruofei: “Take your grandmother to the hospital for treatment early.”

If Jiang Xuan had cursed back, Old Mrs. Zhao might have calmed down, but instead, she maintained this high-and-mighty posture. What she had always hated most was Jiang Xuan’s unconscious air of condescension.

Who was she putting on this hypocritical act for? The Zhao family didn’t need such fake and useless things!

“I think you’re the one who should go to the hospital to fix your brain!”

Zhao Ruofei kept pulling her grandmother toward the door, but her grandmother—who knows what she usually ate—was surprisingly strong. Even with all her effort, she couldn’t pull the old lady away.

Zhao Ruxuan looked from one to the other.

It’s over, Grandmother has truly gone mad!

It’s over, the shares are gone too!

The Zhao family is completely finished!

Zhao Ruofei shouted sharply, “What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and help!”

It took the two of them working together to barely hoist Old Mrs. Zhao outside.

Old Mrs. Zhao could only be pushed along, but her mouth didn’t stop shouting: “How can someone be so stupid!”

“To actually trade such important shares for Jiang Fengyi to attend a single birthday banquet!”

Inside the house, hearing this, Jiang Xuan stopped caring that Old Mrs. Zhao was a “patient.” Having lived the first half of her life smoothly, she had never been spoken to like this, and she immediately shot back.

The sadness of years of betrayal hadn’t had time to set in before it was replaced by anger.

“Wasn’t that so your birthday banquet would look better?”

“The Zhao family has been on a downward slope; other families stopped caring about you long ago. If I hadn’t leaked word beforehand that Jiang Fengyi would attend, do you think anyone would have gone to your banquet?”

“Truly, kindness treated as a dog’s liver and lungs!” Jiang Xuan was fuming. “I must have been blind all these years not to realize your Zhao family was like this!”

Old Mrs. Zhao hated nothing more than people saying her family had declined. Having her “lung pipe” poked directly by Jiang Xuan, her anger surged, and losing all reason, she began a shouting match with Jiang Xuan.

“And how are you, Jiang Xuan, any better than me?” Old Mrs. Zhao sneered. “You just had better luck with your reincarnation, that’s all!”

“Relying on your parents in the first half of your life and your daughter in the second half—you yourself are just a piece of rotten wood that can’t be carved!”

Zhao Ruofei gripped Old Mrs. Zhao’s arm tightly, saying repeatedly, “Grandmother, please say less.”

Zhao Ruxuan, clutching the other arm, was watching the scene with her mouth hanging open; today was truly an eye-opener.

The bodyguards were waiting in the car. Aside from the two sisters, there wasn’t a single person to intervene or stop the fight.

Old Mrs. Zhao turned a deaf ear to Zhao Ruofei’s pleas. The resentment she had harbored for a long time tore open a gap and came pouring out like a flood.

Jiang Xuan didn’t get angry but laughed instead. “Yes, and what if I am lucky? Unlike you, who tossed and turned for half a lifetime and got nothing!”

“You…” Old Mrs. Zhao broke free from Zhao Ruofei’s restraint and lunged toward Jiang Xuan.

Her movements were so fast that even Zhao Ruxuan was amazed at how flexible the old woman was for her age.

But the Jiang family’s maids were no wallflowers either. Seeing Old Mrs. Zhao rush over, they pulled Jiang Xuan away while other maids stepped in to block the old lady.

Seeing that she truly couldn’t stop her grandmother, Zhao Ruofei resignedly signaled the bodyguards to come in. Fortunately, because the two families had been close in the past, the Zhao bodyguards encountered no resistance entering.

When Jiang Fengyi and Xu Que arrived at the Jiang family’s old residence, the first-floor drawing room was already a mess. Many items had left their original places and were scattered everywhere, as if a great battle had just taken place.

Old Mrs. Zhao was tired from running and sat slumped on the floor with her hair in disarray. Jiang Xuan, who had been chased around, finally caught her breath and collapsed onto the sofa, panting heavily and discarding all her usual poise.

Jiang Fengyi stood at the door, looking at the floor where there was nowhere to step, and asked knowingly, “What happened here?”

After speaking, she tilted her head to look at Xu Que, her expression seemingly saying: See? I told you there would be a show to watch today.

Xu Que had never seen such a scene. These people, who usually held their heads so high, were now looking toward them in a state of utter disarray.

Old Mrs. Zhao didn’t like the low-EQ Jiang Xuan, and she liked this frost-faced, impenetrable Jiang Fengyi even less; she had never gained an advantage over her in all these years.

She gave her a cold look and did not reply.

Jiang Fengyi didn’t expect her to. She looked directly at Jiang Xuan, wanting to see what her mother was thinking.

“Mother, you…”

Jiang Xuan spoke before Jiang Fengyi could: “Why are you here?”

Her expression was unnatural, completely different from her usual arrogant demeanor.

Jiang Fengyi had already prepared an excuse before coming: “The nursing home prescribed some calming and nourishing medicine for you. You left it in my car yesterday, so I came to deliver it this morning.”

“Yesterday… left in the car…” When Old Mrs. Zhao saw Jiang Fengyi speaking so calmly to Jiang Xuan, she connected the dots, and her eyes suddenly widened. “You were the one who proactively brought her out of the nursing home?”

Jiang Fengyi nodded naturally. “That’s right.”

“Mother didn’t want to stay in the nursing home long-term, so I naturally respected her wishes.”

To think Old Mrs. Zhao had always thought Jiang Xuan had escaped on her own and had instinctively assumed the mother and daughter had completely broken off relations.

In the end, while they were playing out a scene of deep mother-daughter affection, what was she? Had she rushed over early in the morning just to demonstrate her physical endurance?

Old Mrs. Zhao completely gave up on her image and sneered sarcastically, “I couldn’t tell you two had such a good relationship? It’s truly enviable.”

Jiang Fengyi replied with an equally thin smile, “The years of friendship between you and my mother are what I truly envy.”

This one sentence left Old Mrs. Zhao speechless.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say more, but someone’s hand covered it.

Zhao Ruofei’s head was thumping. Ancestor, please, just stop talking!

She and the bodyguards half-dragged, half-carried the old lady out of the house, apologizing incessantly. “I’m sorry, we’ve caused you trouble today.”

The Zhao family came suddenly and left quickly. Once Old Mrs. Zhao was quieted, the group departed in a flash.

Jiang Fengyi, seeing the show was over, regretted arriving too late to see the most exciting part. She turned to lead Xu Que away.

Jiang Xuan suddenly spoke: “Since you’re already here, stay for lunch.”

After saying this, as if she were afraid to hear Jiang Fengyi’s answer, she followed the maid into the kitchen.

Jiang Fengyi looked at Xu Que. Before she could ask, the person opposite her spoke first: “If you want to stay for lunch, then stay. It just so happens I can be lazy and not cook today.”

Xu Que thoughtfully provided her with an excuse.

It was the first time the three of them sat peacefully at the dinner table to eat.

Xu Que remembered the last time; Jiang Xuan had said many nasty things to her. This time, Jiang Xuan surprisingly didn’t utter a single sarcasm and ate the food before her quietly.

As for Jiang Fengyi beside her, she also seemed focused on enjoying her lunch. Was she the only one whose mind wasn’t on the food?

Since the other two were following the rule of “no talking while eating,” Xu Que remained silent.

When Jiang Fengyi was nearly finished, Jiang Xuan, who had been watching her out of the corner of her eye, noticed immediately. Realizing that if she didn’t speak now she wouldn’t have another chance, the words that had been circling in her mind finally came out.

“I was wrong before.”

Jiang Xuan lowered her eyes, her gaze fixed only on her rice bowl. “In the past, I thought things were too simple. I believed whatever the Zhao family said.”

“Looking back now, I realize how stupid I was.”

Jiang Xuan didn’t expect to repair her relationship with Jiang Fengyi, she only hoped their relationship wouldn’t continue to deteriorate.

She put down her chopsticks and looked earnestly into Jiang Fengyi’s eyes.

She said solemnly: “I’m sorry.”

“The apology isn’t to beg for your forgiveness, but to express my regret for my previous behavior.”

Jiang Xuan turned her head, her gaze looking out the window toward the distance, her eyes containing a multitude of complex emotions.

“I’ve realized that life in the nursing home actually suits me better.” She withdrew her gaze and said word by word.

“Take me back to the nursing home.”