After Being Blackened All Over the Internet, I Ruled the Military Variety Shows
Chapter 346: I Have a Grandmother and a Mother

Chapter 346: Chapter 346: I Have a Grandmother and a Mother

Six people were seated around the dining table.

The table was filled with various flavors of food.

Most of the dishes were the ones Zhang Nachuan thought the little girl might like and the ones his youngest daughter liked to eat when she was alive.

Li Wanxuan noticed this too, but seeing the teacher so enthusiastic and enjoying himself, she said nothing.

"The food in this cafeteria looks nice, but it can’t be as good as the food in your aunt’s restaurant. When the time for the official family reunion comes, Grandpa will take you there to try it."

Li Wanxuan also knew about the restaurant run by the teacher’s daughter-in-law, and she had eaten there a few times before.

It’s a private kitchen, much better than this cafeteria.

Xu Ling’an looked at the plate of sweet and sour ribs placed in front of her and met the old man’s eyes, filled with warmth and expectation. After politely thanking him, she hesitated with the chopsticks in her hand, wondering whether to take a piece.

But not only did she not have much of an appetite now, just looking at the dish...

Just as she decided to pick a piece, a hand from the side smoothly and naturally switched the plate in front of her with another dish.

The dish switched to was stir-fried yam, which she liked.

Jiang Lingxi had switched the dish for Xu Ling’an, then looked up to meet Old Zhang’s gaze, "An’an prefers lighter food."

Xu Ling’an subconsciously nodded in agreement.

Zhang Nachuan’s smile faltered slightly, and with some apology, he looked at Xu Ling’an and explained, "Your mother loved sweet and sour dishes from a young age; I thought you might like them too. Don’t worry, eat whatever you like; no need to force yourself to eat what you don’t like just because of Grandpa."

"Thank you."

Xu Ling’an said, taking a piece of yam and putting it in her mouth.

However, the dish she usually quite enjoyed tasted a bit off when being watched so closely.

Li Wanxuan noticed the atmosphere at the table had gotten a bit tense and quickly tried to lighten the mood, "When I heard the teacher call An’an his granddaughter at the door earlier, I was stunned. What’s going on? Is An’an... the daughter of little junior sister An Yi?"

"Yes," Zhang Nachuan nodded lightly, "I found out only after she passed when my wife was tidying her room and found a prenatal examination sheet in the pocket of a dress. I had thought... never expected..."

Li Wanxuan couldn’t help taking a deep breath, suppressing her surprise. She had vaguely heard about the event back then, not very clearly, and those who knew about it were cautious about discussing it, given the teacher’s fiery and inflexible temperament.

To be honest, even the face and voice of little junior sister Zhang Anyi had grown blurry over time, since it had been nearly twenty years.

Who would have thought the little junior sister would leave behind a child, alive and well grown up.

And now, nearly twenty years later, this serendipity had brought grandfather and granddaughter together.

It’s, without a doubt, the workings of fate!

"This is good news. If the master’s wife knew, she would be pleased."

"Yes, I’ll go burn incense for her when I return and tell her about this."

Before the paternity test result was out, he had wanted to share the news but managed to hold back.

Afraid of getting his hopes up only for nothing.

Now that it’s cleared, he finally had an explanation for his wife, who left with regrets!

Li Wanxuan looked at the quiet girl eating on her own, her gaze carrying a trace of nostalgia, then suddenly remembered something, "Wait, if I remember correctly, An’an should be about eighteen or nineteen this year, aren’t you still in school?"

She glanced at Jiang Lingxi as she spoke, a rare disapproval in her eyes.

This age is quite young, typically just graduating high school. But here was the child coming as Jiang Lingxi’s assistant, and she knew being a celebrity assistant wasn’t easy, which could be overwhelming pressure for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old!

This time, before Jiang Lingxi could speak, Xu Ling’an quickly put down her chopsticks to explain, "I am still in school; I just finished the college entrance exam this year, and now I’m on summer vacation."

She subconsciously turned to her sister with a smile before continuing, "Recently, I went to visit my sister on set with Grandma, and the director mentioned he had a role short of an actor. He thought I fit the role, so I joined the crew and acted with my sister for a while. This time, my sister came over to record a show, and I thought it would be fun to tag along. Zhengzheng is my sister’s official assistant; I’m just here to fill in."

Li Wanxuan’s expression softened as she nodded in agreement, "That’s good, getting a life experience during the break, seeing the world, and meeting people is great."

Xu Ling’an agreed wholeheartedly, her face earnest, "I think so too."

Even though this life experience brought a slightly too big surprise!

Zhang Nachuan planned to show some concern for his granddaughter’s growth, but his student got ahead with a question. After hearing his granddaughter’s explanation, he was somewhat relieved, but then he remembered the grandmother mentioned by the child, feeling an ache in his heart.

This grandmother was certainly not his late wife, but the one who had raised his granddaughter all these years.

"An’an, could you tell Grandpa what your foster parents do for a living?"

The ones who raised his granddaughter so well-behaved and polite must have put in a lot of effort, and he was full of gratitude.

So, he planned to understand more initially so that when the families meet officially, if there were any way he could help, he’d lend a hand.

Jiang Lingxi had been picking the bones out of the fish she had picked up earlier, thinking that this meal might take quite some time. Since she wasn’t the protagonist but rather keeping the ambiance, her role was just to eat quietly and leisurely.

Until she heard Old Zhang ask that question, she looked up across the table at the old man, then looked at Xu Ling’an beside her.

Xu Ling’an met her sister’s reassuring gaze and responded with a smile before putting down her chopsticks, speaking calmly, "I don’t have a father, and my mother went missing when I was very young. It was Grandma who brought me up."

This answer left both Zhang Nachuan and Li Wanxuan momentarily stunned.

This was a family situation they hadn’t anticipated.

They thought that even if not a wealthy family, a household that brought up a non-biological child like An’an would at least not lack for basic needs, with the child being carefree.

The reality, however, was far from what they had imagined, worlds apart.

"Missing? How does a grown-up just go missing?"

Xu Ling’an remembered this vividly, "One day, mom went out to play as usual. She used to come back home when she had enough playing, and Grandma got used to it, not accompanying her. But that day, she never returned. We searched everywhere nearby with Grandma but didn’t find her." She paused, "We’re still looking."

Li Wanxuan was the first to sense the peculiarity in these words, "Play?"

"Yes, my mom has a mental age of only six or seven years old, but she adopted me and loved me dearly."

Her early memories, being in a household with just one adult, were clear in her mind. Her mom, despite having the body of an adult and the mind of a child, always protected her unconditionally!

Li Wanxuan couldn’t help but cover her mouth, glancing at the teacher, whose eyes were slightly moist now.

They could not imagine what such a family must be like.

An elderly grandmother and a mother who seemed like an adult but was no different from a child, especially being missing for so long. Considering the vulnerabilities of such an adult, if left alone, one could only imagine the hardships faced.

Growing up in such a home, where would any carefree moments come from?

Life’s troubles are all unique, for each bears its own burden.

Some things, unless heard firsthand, are hard to fathom in their depth of pain.

"An’an, it’s Grandpa who has failed you. All these years you must have..."

Xu Ling’an saw that her newly met grandfather intended to comfort her, but she truly didn’t need comforting. For the first time, she impolitely interrupted what he hadn’t yet voiced, "You don’t need to apologize; Grandma is great, Mom is great, I love them both, and I’ve always lived happily."

Li Wanxuan, hearing these words, couldn’t hold back any longer, standing up and turning aside to take a deep breath, "I’ll go get some more food."

Being someone rather emotional, she found the situation a bit overwhelming.

Returning with a plate of carefully chosen light dishes, she saw Zhang Ye rushing in with a file bag.

Zhang Ye didn’t greet anyone else present; as soon as he stopped, he handed over the file bag, "Granduncle, this is the test result; I opened it to confirm."

"Thank you, have a seat and rest for a bit." Zhang Nachuan accepted the file bag, his fingers trembling slightly as he unclasped the seal, and when he saw the result column showing the enlarged and bolded five nines, he gritted his teeth to control his surging emotions, "An’an, this is the paternity test result for you and your mom. You should have a look, too."