I Want a Lifetime with You novel Chapter 278

It was soon New Year’s eve. Shi Nuan was feeling better emotionally. Fu Chengyan was still worried about Shi Nuan’s mood. He stayed at Wutong Residence to keep her company. As for the matter of Shi Nuan’s birth secret, Fu Chengyan had Li Heng investigate in secret. But the answers were still the same. It was clear someone was trying to keep it all hidden.

Fu Chengyan also realized that Shi Nuan’s true identity might not be as straightforward as it appeared, but it wasn’t the right time to pay a visit to Jiang Shizheng or Shi Yunsheng. Since both of them were choosing to keep it all a secret, that meant there was something about her origins that people weren’t supposed to know. After reaching this conclusion, Fu Chengyan suddenly didn’t feel like digging into it anymore.

Two days before New Year, Shi Nuan made an important decision to meet with Shi Yunsheng at Ruyi Tea House without Fu Chengyan. It had been a few years, and many of the shops in that area had closed down. Only a handful was still operating, and Ruyi Tea House was one of them.

Shi Nuan arrived very early. Su Yian wasn’t working that day. The two waiters who saw that it was Shi Nuan and just casually greeted her.

When Shi Yunsheng arrived, Shi Nuan was in a private room preparing tea. She saw Shi Yunsheng walked in with the help of Mr. Yang and quickly stood up. “Granddad!”

“Sweetie!” Shi Yunsheng was happy to see Shi Nuan, knowing that she must’ve experienced some grievance that night or she wouldn’t have left so abruptly. Even though he had asked Shi Nuan about it after and also tried to get information out of Fu Chengyan, he just couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone.

He was glad that his granddaughter had called. “It’s only been a few days. Do you miss me already?”

“That’s right! Don’t you miss me?” Shi Nuan looked at Shi Yunsheng, her eyes were tearing. She told herself to stay calm before coming here, and yet she still found herself unable to handle it.

She knew she wasn’t really from the Shi family, and Shi Jingzheng and Jiang Yu were not her biological parents. Nevertheless, Shi Yunsheng had always been genuinely nice to her. He even treated her better than Shi Wei.

“Look at you. Are you crying?”

Shi Yunsheng felt his heart aching when he looked at Shi Nuan. He sat down with the help of Mr. Yang, grabbed Shi Nuan, and sat her next to him. “Are you that happy to see me?”

Shi Nuan gave him a small smile and tried to appear as normal as possible. “Yes, very happy.”

“Sweetie.” Shi Yunsheng shook his head helplessly. “Why do you want to meet me?”

Shi Nuan fell silent and poured a cup of tea for Shi Yunsheng. “Granddad, I have something to ask you.”

Shi Yunsheng’s hand trembled as he saw Shi Nuan’s serious expression. He was both curious and uneasy, though he couldn’t say why. “Go ahead. Let’s see if I can’t help you.”

Shi Nuan fell silent again, as if she was trying to arrange her thoughts. Just as Shi Yunsheng thought she would not continue on, Shi Nuan took a deep breath and asked, “Granddad, am I your biological granddaughter?”

Shi Yunsheng’s hand, that was holding the cup of hot tea, jerked in response. It spilled and scalded him. He quickly gathered himself. “Granddad is fine.”

“Granddad, I…” Shi Nuan saw how Shi Yunsheng had reacted. She bit her lip and said, “You don’t need to hide it from me anymore. I know.”

Shi Yunsheng gripped the teacup in silence for a long time before he sighed. “What do you know? I don’t even know how or what you think you know.”

“Granddad, you don’t need to hide it from me anymore. Didn’t you want to know why I left abruptly a few days ago?” Shi Nuan smiled bitterly. “Father and Mother were talking in the study when I walked by and overheard them.”

Shi Yunsheng’s eyes darkened, and he shook his head gently. “Silly girl. Why do you assume you aren’t their child? If you aren’t a part of the Shi family, why do you think I’m so good to you?” Shi Yunsheng was about to continue, but Shi Nuan interrupted him. “Granddad, I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m an adult now. If I hadn’t known, so be it. But now that I do, I can’t pretend like nothing ever happened.” This was the line in the sand for Shi Nuan. “I’ve always found it strange when I was younger. Why the other parents could love their children so much? Why were Father and Mother so good to Shi Wei and yet treated me like an enemy? I’ve wondered if I wasn’t good enough or smart enough. So I studied harder and tried to do everything to please them. But no matter what I did, they were never pleased with me.”

“Nuan…”

“Granddad, I know you’ve always been good to me and you have treated me like your actual granddaughter. But now I know that I’m not, I want to ask you. Who are my real birth parents?”

Shi Yunsheng froze.

“Granddad, you know. Don’t you?”

Shi Yunsheng fell silent, which gave Shi Nuan her answer. “They don’t want me, do they?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s not that they don’t want you, it’s because… they’re not in this world anymore. Nuan, you shouldn’t get torn up over this. You just need to know that you are a part of the Shi family and you are my granddaughter. Everything that I have is yours. That should be enough.”