Who knew that Xian Zihao would hug her so tightly that she had no chance of escaping. His voice was heard lightly over her head, "Last night, I went to the hospital to meet the families of the civilian workers that I detained. The families of the injured migrant workers were all agitated."

When she heard his explanation, Jiang Ruolan no longer struggled. She breathed in the fresh and pleasant scent of his body.

"At that time, my phone was in the car. When I got out of the hospital, it was around 11 pm. And that's when I found my phone ran out of battery. After charging it at home, I saw a text message from you. I tried to call you, but you did not answer." Xian Zihao sighed softly in her ear.

Jiang Ruolan just leaned against his chest, unmoving. She took a deep breath and hugged him tightly. With her hands folded on his back, she said in a muffled voice, "Xian Zihao, will you leave me?"

He chuckled, "What about you? If one day someone asks you to separate from me, will you leave me?"

Jiang Ruolan said nothing. She buried her face in his chest. Facing the accusations and disgust of Old Man Xian and Xian Jian, facing Cui Liuxian's grievances, facing Jiang Bingqing's hatred, facing Jiang Guanyu and Zhan Lian's disagreement over this marriage, she had survived to this day.

Deep down, she did not want to admit defeat, but the most reason why she persisted in facing all of this was that Xian Zihao stood by her side.

She was truly afraid that one day, his heart would be filled with someone else. She was afraid that he wouldn't choose her. She was afraid that all the perseverance she cared about would all come to naught.

Jiang Ruolan folded her hands behind his back and listened to his steady, strong heartbeat. Feeling his real temperature and the familiar fresh smell, she closed her eyes. "Hubby, my stomach hurts…"

Xian Zihao's eyes quivered as he pushed her away gently and passed her the glass of water on the tea table, which was no longer hot.

***

Next afternoon —

"Little Jiang." Editor Zhang suddenly entered the office. He rarely walked to the editing office downstairs, and what surprised Jiang Ruolan were his next words that made the whole office happy, "I got news from my friends there that Solo will arrive at H City at 5:30 pm, this evening. President Xian will also be attending the banquet."

After Editor-in-Chief Zhang left, Little Lin, who had been called back from the editorial department, ran over to Jiang Ruolan's side, saying, "Editor-in-Chief Jiang, I heard that Zhou Yang has a bad temper. When you have the opportunity to interview him tonight, you must avoid asking too many sensitive questions."

"What kind of topic is sensitive?" Jiang Ruolan glanced at her with a smile, "In our Business Reporting Department, we have to meet a lot of senior executives every day. Don't they all have the same temperament? No matter how bad a person's temperament is, even if they have eyes at the top of their heads, they still need to hold back a bit when they see the media, right? Still, someone like Senior Zhou should know how to deal with the media. I guess he doesn't want anything to go wrong as soon as he comes home, right?"

"That's because you can talk, Sis Jiang. You can take care of those fierce people who threaten you at any time." Little Lin said with a smile.

"Let me tell you …" She suddenly bent her head and whispered into Jiang Ruolan's ear, "I heard from a media friend from Boston that Senior Zhou hasn't returned to China for more than twenty years. He returned this time because his granddaughter went missing. Senior Zhou only had one son, yet his son died young, leaving behind only his granddaughter."

Jiang Ruolan paused.

Did he really return because of his granddaughter?

Just based on his position in the business world, the Zhou Family was influential in the United States as well. Thinking of the Zhou Family, thinking of the Xian Family, and thinking of the Jiang Family, it seemed like they were all closely related.

Jiang Ruolan lowered her head and opened the drawer under the desk. She looked through some old information. Suddenly, her hand stopped at a brown paper bag.

This brown paper bag...

She had no idea who had placed them here a few months ago. They contained the photos of her mother committing suicide twenty years ago, and she still didn't know who put it here. What kind of person could reprint a picture from twenty years ago and send it to her?

What kind of secret was hidden in that necklace?

*****

For the first time in twenty years, Zhou Yang returned to the city. Naturally, the head of the city-wide delegation will personally arrange a banquet for him.

In the lobby of the most famous hotel in H City, chandeliers were lit, and red carpets covered the floor. Since Jiang Ruolan was a reporter with a job, she took a small camera with her and walked to a crowded place to record the rare scene in front of her.

On the other side of the crowd, Cui Liuxian and Old Man Xian were standing together. Old Man Xian was happily chatting with a middle-aged man in military uniform, while Cui Liuxian was quietly listening to their conversation without interrupting them.

Xian Jian was standing in front of them. Coincidentally, when he glanced over, he saw Jiang Ruolan and his face immediately didn't look good.

Out of politeness, Jiang Ruolan slowly walked towards them. "Dad. How are you?"

Xian Jian glanced at her coldly. A few people were standing close to him, so he answered indifferently. However, seeing that there were people around who were giving her face and responding to her, Jiang Ruolan immediately gave a gentle smile and slowly walked forward, handing him a glass of juice that she had just held in her hand.

"Senior Zhou is coming to H City tonight. I'm afraid that everyone will be accompanying him until late tonight and you seem to have rushed over this afternoon. You didn't eat dinner yet, aren't you? So why don't you drink some juice first?"

"Thanks, no need." Xian Jian rejected it indifferently.

Jiang Ruolan wasn't discouraged. She held the glass in her hand and a natural smile showed on her lips. "Dad, what happened during Mid-Autumn Festival, actually, I did something wrong too. I made you and grandfather unhappy. I want to apologize to you." She blinked and looked at Xian Jiang, whose face didn't soften at all. "For the sake of being your daughter-in-law, please don't take it to heart, okay?"

Xian Jian looked at her coldly. At that time, he had slapped her without investigating the truth.

Although there was an unwillingness in Jiang Ruolan's eyes, she had also calmed down a lot, not defending herself, only waiting and allowing the facts to speak. Although she was being mistreated, she did not cry, not acting wildly, always moving forward and even more so not bearing a grudge in her heart. Yet now, she lowered head and trying to apologize,

A hint of appreciation flashed across Xian Jian's eyes, but he still said in a stern voice. "Jiang Ruolan, it's a good thing you know your limits, but if you use this little trick again, you won't know what consequence you will face!"

Jiang Ruolan's lips curved into a reserved smile. How could she not understand what he meant? The meaning of his words was that she had played some tricks to marry Xian Zihao. She had used a little trick to sneak into Xian Family, which was why she did not have the right to call him father.

It seemed that Cui Liuxian had already penetrated and poisoned their minds. Her act of using public opinion to climb up a high branch can be used to nail the boards.

As for what had happened at the Mid-Autumn Festival, Cui Liuxian was too sad at that time. She admitted that she fell down by herself and because she couldn't get over her anger, she pushed the blame onto you." Xian Jian suddenly said.

Jiang Ruolan, however, wasn't happy because of his final sentence. Xian Jian didn't have the slightest intention of blaming Cui Liuxian. He looked at her coldly and said in a very indifferent tone, "People get married occasionally due to negative emotions. Cui Liuxian is ignorant, and the reason she did that is also due to her love for Xian Zihao."

Jiang Ruolan chuckled. She could even blame this kind of framing on the Xian Family. It's because they loved and pampered Cui Liuxian too much, these things happened.

But instead of blaming her, Xian Jian rather blamed Jiang Ruolan. He even had a nerve saying that it was because of her appearance, Cui Liuxian had become like this.

At this moment, Jiang Ruolan didn't know what to do other than laugh. Her heart was cold.

"Dad." She raised her eyes and fearlessly looked into Xian Jian's dignified eyes. "Every girl in this world grows up from ignorance. Maybe I'm not more sensible than her, but I'm more tolerant than her."

Jiang Ruolan smiled and met Xian Jian's frosty gaze without fear.

"You mean, you still want to try to enter our Xian Family?" Xian Jian squinted, his eyes filled with displeasure.

"I have always believed that we will meet again in the future." Jiang Ruolan smiled back.

Xian Jian took a deep breath in anger. He just stared at her as if she was the kind of woman that was hard to deal with. Perhaps if she wasn't a woman, he might just shoot her.

At this moment, there was a commotion in front of the hotel's front door. People's voices could be heard. "Senior Zhou has arrived!"