Chapter 167

Chapter 167: The Ultimate Double Standard

Grandma Qin was also amused by her spouse suddenly shoving the card into An An’s hands.

“This is more like it. An An, aren’t you going to put it away? Here in the Imperial Capital, there are very few people who can take advantage of your granduncle, and you are probably the first one who can make him willingly pull out his bank card.”

“She’s the second, the second.” Du De Sheng chuckled, seizing the chance to confess to his wife: “The first is you.”

Du An Rao: “…” She felt like she’d been force-fed dog food again.

Grandma Qin: “…” This shameless old man!

“No need, Grandfather, I have my own money.”

She had been back with the Du Family for a few months now. Besides her basic allowance, Papa, Mama, her brother, and her sister at home would often think up different excuses to stuff more money into her card. On top of that, after she did hexagram divinations for Li Zhaoyang’s company, as well as for the mother and son from the Ye Family and the Qiu Family, they had all transferred her quite generous thank-you fees afterward.

All those bits and pieces added up, and the balance on her card had now climbed to a small eight-figure sum.

Du An Rao did not have much desire for material things, and at home she hardly spent anything on food, clothes, or housing. If she didn’t spend this money recklessly, it could probably support her for a whole lifetime.

“How much you have on hand is your own business. That’s all yours. This is your granduncle’s little token of care. I was the one who invited you here as a guest. There’s no reason for you to come all this way to have fun and still use your own money.”

Grandma Qin also spoke up to persuade her: “The cost of living in the Imperial Capital is high. Keep it on you in case of emergencies.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Tomorrow you can take your Grandma Qin out shopping. Buy some things, get some therapy treatments, watch a movie. Don’t worry, the money in there is more than enough to buy a whole mall.”

Du An Rao: “???” [Listen to him, just listen. Is that something a human should be saying?]

Acting like an invisible person behind Du An Rao, Du Yi Han could only stare as his sister hadn’t even recovered from the shock of the last card before another, even heavier bank card was shoved into her hands.

For a moment he didn’t even know what to say. He turned his head to look at Du De Sheng. Their eyes met, and he saw the smile on the old man’s face vanish as his gaze turned dark and deep. Let alone giving him a card too, he didn’t even show him a pleasant expression.

Du Yi Han: “…” Fine, so he had been overthinking it. His little sister was more than capable. She didn’t need him to protect her, and she had plenty of powerful people backing her up. Tomorrow he could go to school without worries.

“Alright, alright, it’s so late already. Stop pushing it back and forth. It’s just a card. An An, hurry and put it away. Your granduncle and I are going back to rest.”

Since the Old Madam had said so, Du An Rao couldn’t keep refusing.

Seeing her accept the card, Du De Sheng finally looked pleased. He introduced someone to the two siblings: “This is the house steward, Du Miao. If there’s anything missing at home or anything you want, you can go to him.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a round-faced man in his early fifties, with a beaming smile, stepped forward and bowed respectfully: “Eldest Miss, I am the house steward, Du Miao. I usually live in the room just inside the back courtyard entrance. If there’s anything you can’t take care of in the future, you can come to me.”

Hearing the two of them say this, Du An Rao’s thoughts drifted a little.

[Du Miao? Isn’t Granduncle’s steward supposed to be called Du Gui? And speaking of that, Granduncle’s old care attendant, Miss Qiao, also seems to be gone this time. Could it be that because Grandma Qin was found in advance, they were all kicked out?]

After thinking it over carefully, Du An Rao felt that it wasn’t impossible.

[Right, that Miss Qiao only got in here by using the name of Grandma Qin’s descendants. Now that the real one has shown up, these fake ones naturally have nowhere left to hide. That’s for the best…]

In Du An Rao’s eyes, the chaos in Du De Sheng’s household had all started with the appearance of Qiao Yi Ting. The two elders had gone through so many storms in their lives and finally reunited. Now that they could at last live peacefully, they must not be disturbed by wolves and tigers full of bad intentions.

The old couple listened to Du An Rao’s sigh, their gazes flickering slightly. They glanced at each other without leaving a trace, then immediately had the steward and a few trusted people behind him take the two siblings off to rest.

As soon as the brother and sister left, Grandma Qin’s face darkened.

“You’ve finished cleaning up all your messes, right? We can’t let those blind fools run into our precious granddaughter.”

In fact, there were quite a few people with their eyes on each of their future estates. It was just that everyone on Grandma Qin’s side who could stir up trouble had already been sent away for imprisoning her earlier. Now the only ones left were the people on Du De Sheng’s side.

Of course Du De Sheng could hear the worry and dissatisfaction in Grandma Qin’s words. He quickly admitted his fault: “It’s my problem. Before I found you, I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything I did. It’s not that I don’t know what those people are thinking. I just couldn’t be bothered to free up a hand to deal with them back then.”

“Now things are different. You’ve come back to me, and An An said we can live long lives together and grow old side by side. Even if not for our little lucky star, for your sake, I will never again let those people run around in front of you and An An.”

Since their reunion, they had been sweet as honey for days, but Qin Yan Qing still wasn’t used to this man’s open and straightforward displays of affection. She glared at him in embarrassment and anger: “As long as you understand. An An is here because we invited her. If she ends up being wronged on your turf, then these decades you’ve lived were all for nothing.”

“Yes, yes, yes, Madam is right! Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Since Du De Sheng said so, Qin Yan Qing couldn’t say anything more.

The day after Du An Rao arrived in City B, there was a major drop in temperature. Although Qin Yan Qing’s health was much better than before, for the sake of her recovery, it still wasn’t recommended that she go out casually.

So Du An Rao stayed inside and kept Qin Yan Qing company for several days, drinking tea, listening to music, playing cards, and playing chess with her every day.

Back on the mountain, Du An Rao had long gotten used to staying at home, so she didn’t feel anything was wrong. It was Qin Yan Qing who couldn’t stand it. She felt that a young person sitting at home face to face with an elder like her every day just wasn’t right, and simply chased the girl out to have some fun.

Just then, her uncle’s second son happened to have the weekend off. He asked if she wanted to go out, and said he could accompany her the whole time and act as her tour guide.

Du An Rao remembered that she still hadn’t prepared a wedding gift for Du De Sheng and Qin Yan Qing, so she agreed. She took all the little bank cards on her and happily went to meet her second cousin.

Their meeting place was Jiangyu Plaza, the mall that had almost been blown up last time. This mall wasn’t far from where Du De Sheng lived, and it only took Du An Rao ten minutes by car to get there.

In contrast, Jiang You Nian lived farther away. He was delayed longer on the road, and by the time he arrived, Du An Rao had already been waiting at the entrance for half an hour.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t expect the road next door to be even more jammed than usual on a weekend. I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, no, I only just got here. Let’s go in first.”

“Right, right, it’s too cold outside, let’s go in first.” Jiang You Nian spoke as he pulled Du An Rao toward the entrance, but they were stopped by a security guard at the door.

“What? We have to open a new membership?”