Chapter 54 — The Qin Family Calls

As the topic of Qin Jiran's life experience continued to spread, the result was contrary to what the Wang family had hoped for. They had a feeling that they had lost the bait along with the fish. Currently, the public held a very high opinion of Qin Jiran, as well as the Su family. Although the Wang family was the main instigator, they felt as though they had nothing to do with the affair!

Then, three days after the news went out, the other instigator finally showed a reaction. It was not a public reaction; rather, Old Master Qin had his assistant give Qin Jiran a call.

Old Master Qin, named Qin Enci, was Qin Jiran's biological grandfather. Although the old man was very ill, he was still clear-headed. After he was informed about the news, he had investigated and confirmed Qin Jiran's identity before deciding to contact him.

Actually, it wouldn't be accurate to say that Old Master Qin hadn't known about what his son did to Qin Jiran all those years ago. He did, but he had done nothing to stop it. Qin Zhenyi's conservative and prideful personality had been inherited from him, after all, so he naturally wouldn't have tried to prevent Qin Zhenyi from trying to hide the existence of an illegitimate son.

But now that the old man was on his deathbed, his attitude had changed. He wanted to see Qin Jiran, a grandson who was a stranger to him, at least once in his life.

Qin Jiran was somewhat surprised when he received the call because although he had guessed the Qin family would contact him, he hadn't expected the first person to be the old Master Qin.

To go, or not to go? Qin Jiran hesitated for only a moment before rejecting. He really didn't want to be involved with the Qin family in any way or degree.

"Heh, if that old man Qin was actually sincere, it wouldn't have taken him this long to think of finding you," Su Yanyi automatically defended him. She was sitting nearby and had heard the entire conversation.

"I know." Qin Jiran wasn't stupid, so naturally, he had figured it out too. However, he was still very touched by her concern, and the current her seemed so cute that he suddenly got an urge to hug her.

But in the end, an urge was still just an urge, and not something he dared to actually act upon.

"What do you want to do?" she asked suddenly. At the same time, she noticed that his expression seemed a little off.

"Most likely, they'll try again." He quickly suppressed the urge and changed the subject.

"Hmph. You're mine, so even if they want to make a move, they wouldn't dare." She couldn't be more dissatisfied with the Qin family.

Hearing the words "you're mine," Qin Jiran's heart began to beat at an abnormal rate. He thought, it seemed like he now had another "untreatable disease" on top of his auditory hallucinations…

"Mhm."

As long as you're by my side, I'm not afraid of anything!

Some people would abandon everything for power, while others would abandon the whole world for love. Qin Jiran, a man who had grown up without knowing love, obviously belonged to the latter.

…..

Sure enough, Old Master Qin persisted. This time, instead of using his assistant, he chose the biological father card and sent out Qin Zhenyi.

When Qin Zhenyi called, Qin Jiran was in the middle of talking to a makeup artist and a stylist about how he wanted a specific character to look. Jiang Xiaobin was in charge of handling his business calls.

"Mister Qin Zhenyi is calling. Will you answer?" Jiang Xiaobin asked with concern.

For a second, Qin Jiran was confused, almost as though he was trying to remember who this "Mister Qin Zhenyi" was. It was a name that he learned a long time ago, and yet it felt so foreign to him.

"Hello, this is Qin Jiran."

Some things, he had to face. Escaping wouldn't solve the problem, and he wasn't someone who liked to escape from his problems anyway. He just didn't like to be bothered.

"Since your grandfather wants to see you, you should go visit him. Don't let others think you're childish and ignorant." The man spoke with a cold and firm tone of voice, leaving Qin Jiran chilled beyond words.

Qin Jiran fell silent, wondering… did this man think they were close? What made him think he could command him like this?

"Who's this? Wrong number?" Qin Jiran retorted harshly. He refused to show respect to those who didn't deserve it. Should an orphan who was abandoned since birth be expected to obey the one who had abandoned him? Qin Jiran certainly didn't think so.

At the other end of the phone, there was a brief silence, caused by either speechlessness or anger, but what did it matter?

"Since it's a wrong number, don't call again," Qin Jiran said before hanging up and handing the phone back to Jiang Xiaobin. Then, as if nothing had happened, he resumed what he had been doing before. The shooting for his new film was starting soon, so he was very busy—too busy to be dealing with calls from strangers.

Sometimes, Qin Jiran would wonder, just how cruel did a man have to be to throw his own newborn son into an orphanage? If it was because he couldn't afford to raise a child, then fine, but the Qin family clearly had more than enough money to raise a child with. Even so, they had thrown him into an orphanage, forcing him to grow up as though he were a real orphan. Every time he thought about it, his heart would fill with bitter disappointment.

When he was ignorant, he would come up with excuses for his parents, convinced that they must've been forced to make such a choice, but years later, he stopped thinking so naively. The one who was abandoned had once tried to find excuses for the people who abandoned him… how ridiculous.

Jiang Xiaobin held the phone, slightly speechless. He asked hesitantly, "If Mr. Qin calls again, should I answer?"

"Answer when you have to, ignore it if you don't. As my assistant, it's your job to filter out unimportant calls1More specifically, he said "useless calls." for me." Qin Jiran didn't directly say no because he knew that the Qin family wouldn't give up so easily, but if they tried to use that commanding tone to talk to him again, then… they shouldn't blame him for being equally impolite!

(Kiss) Countdown: 5

RELEASE SCHEDULE: 1x a week, 3x every other week.