Saturday morning brought the smell of lotus root soup and sweet red bean buns wafting from the Zhou kitchen. Luo Xinyi stepped off the stairs, wearing a simple lavender kurta and jeans—not designer, but clean, confident, and quietly beautiful.
Her grandfather was already waiting in the tea lounge, seated in his carved wooden chair by the window. The morning sun caught the silver streaks in his neatly combed hair. He looked up the moment she stepped in.
"There's my girl," he said, eyes softening. "Come. Sit with me."
Xinyi smiled, walking over. This part of the mansion—the tea lounge with its aged teapots, bonsai plants, and hand-painted calligraphy scrolls—felt more like home than anything else here.
"I hope it's not too early," she said, folding her hands behind her back playfully.
"You're the one who used to wake with the birds. Don't pretend to be a city girl now," he teased.
She sat beside him. "It's… different, being back."
He poured her a cup of osmanthus tea and offered her a plate of her favorite sesame cookies.
"I asked the kitchen to prepare all the things you used to like," he said gently. "I knew you'd come home on weekends. You've always kept your word."
Xinyi felt something in her throat tighten. "Thank you, Grandpa."
He nodded, sipping his tea. "How was college?"
"Loud. Crowded. But…"—she hesitated—"…it felt like I belonged. For once."
"Did you make any friends?"
She smiled faintly. "One. Her name's Yuan Shuang. She talks a lot. And swears more than I do."
Her grandfather laughed—a real, belly-deep chuckle. "Good. Every girl needs a friend who keeps her on her toes."
Then, he reached for his phone.
"Your brothers have a group chat. 'Zhou Siblings 🧊🔥🎮💰'—don't ask me about those emojis. I don't understand half of them." He typed something slowly with his thick fingers, then looked up.
"I'm adding you."
Xinyi blinked. "What?"
"you are my family too, aren't U? They might not have welcomed you yet, but give them time. Let them see you."
A moment later, her phone vibrated.
Zhou Siblings 🧊🔥🎮💰Grandpa added: Luo Xinyi
"Now they can't ignore you," he said with a grin.
Later That Day – Charity Gala
The gala was held at the Orchid Crest Hotel ballroom—glass chandeliers, polished marble floors, and society elites dressed like walking bank accounts.
Xinyi clutched her beige clutch tighter as she entered with her grandfather. She wasn't nervous, but the stares came like clockwork.
"Zhou Weilin brought his granddaughter?""Isn't she the one raised in the village?""She walks like she owns the floor."
Exactly.
Xinyi walked with perfect posture, head high, her almond eyes scanning the room without apology. She didn't need anyone's approval—not in this life.
Her grandfather greeted old friends with ease, introducing her as "my pride and firecracker." She smiled politely, bowed when needed, and reserved her biting wit for later.
Near the refreshment table, an older gentleman with kind eyes waved. "Ah, Weilin, this must be your granddaughter."
"Xinyi, this is Shen Cheng—an old comrade from my army days."
"And this is my grandson," Shen Cheng added. "Shen Mu."
Xinyi turned.
Shen Mu stood slightly behind, tall and effortlessly confident. He had the kind of presence that wasn't loud but impossible to ignore. Clean-cut, with a thoughtful face and mischievous eyes—he looked like someone who both aced calculus and got into trouble just for fun.
He extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot—some of it scary."
Xinyi raised an eyebrow but shook his hand. "Let me guess, Grandpa said I used to fight chickens as a child?"
"He said you used to win," Shen Mu grinned.
She laughed. "Then he's right."
Shen Cheng and her grandfather moved to chat by the windows, leaving them alone. Shen Mu leaned against the pillar beside her.
"You seem... different from most girls at these things," he said.
"How so?"
"You're not trying to impress anyone."
"I'm not here to impress," she replied. "Just to remember who I am."
Something in her voice must have struck him. Shen Mu nodded, a slow smile forming. "Good. Then maybe you'll let me hang around you. People who don't try too hard are rare."
Xinyi smirked. "Only if you stop flirting."
"I'm not flirting. Yet."
Across the Room
A figure passed by.
Xinyi's breath caught.
He was tall, dressed in sharp black, talking to a group of adults—likely his family's business connections. His face was sharper now, more grown than the boy she remembered. But it was him.
Jin Yuan.
His presence hadn't changed. That calm indifference. That silent strength. Even in a crowd, he seemed to carry a space around him that others didn't enter easily.
She stepped back behind a pillar instinctively.
Shen Mu followed her line of sight. "You know him?"
Xinyi didn't answer.
She wasn't ready to explain how she once held his hand during a terrifying night. How they'd both cried in silence in that basement. How he once promised to protect her if they ever got out alive.
He had forgotten.
But she never did.
Back at the Table
Her phone buzzed again.
Zhou Xian: "So she really joined?"
Zhou Hao: "Grandpa added her, lol. Not me."
Zhou Minghao: "Keep chat clean."
Zhou Yuxi: "🙂"
Luo Xinyi: "Hi boys. Try not to gossip about me here. I can read now."
A pause.
Then,
Zhou Hao: "LMAO"
Xinyi smirked.
The war had just begun.
But this time, she wasn't the same girl who was pushed aside.
She had memories no one else did.
And she wasn't afraid to make them remember.