Lin Yu noticed the change in Miao Haixin's expression.
A pang of sorrow struck his heart.
During all those years when the grandmother and granddaughter only had each other to rely on,
scenes like this must have happened many times, right?
Facing a once-beloved family member who suddenly doesn’t recognize you, treating you like a stranger—
That feeling… must be unbearable.
“You are… Xiaochun? No, Xiaochun should be older than you, no no.”
“Jianjun’s daughter? But you’re much fairer than her…”
“Heh, I’m getting old, my memory isn’t what it used to be.”
Granny Miao struggled to guess her granddaughter’s identity.
Failing to recall, she gave an awkward, embarrassed smile.
Miao Haixin quickly stepped in to help:
“Grandma, don’t worry, let me give you a hint. How many granddaughters do you have?”
Granny Miao raised a finger:
“Just one. My son only had one precious daughter—I only have one granddaughter.”
Miao Haixin continued guiding her:
“Then do you remember what your granddaughter’s name is?”
Granny Miao patted Miao Haixin’s arm and chuckled while looking at Lin Yu:
“Hah, listen to this kid—how could I forget my granddaughter’s name?”
“My late husband was surnamed Miao, called Miao Dashan. My son is Miao Chenggong, and my granddaughter—she’s Miao Haixin, Xinxin!”
Lin Yu maintained a gentle smile and nodded at the elderly woman.
Yes.
She remembered everything clearly.
Yet she had forgotten that her granddaughter had just been sitting beside her, watching TV.
No—
It wasn’t that Granny Miao had forgotten.
It was just that time had stolen her memories away.
Miao Haixin leaned closer to her grandmother, turning her face toward her:
“Now look at me again. Who am I?”
Granny Miao studied her for a long moment.
Then she poked Miao Haixin’s cheek lightly:
“Oh! Xinxin!”
“My granddaughter Xinxin! See how my memory fails me, heh.”
Her words seemed directed both at Lin Yu and herself.
When the three of them finally sat down to chat,
Granny Miao suddenly stood up again, clapping her hands:
“Ah! A guest is here, and I forgot to make tea!”
“Xiao Song, you two sit and talk. I’ll go to the kitchen and get the teapot.”
With that,
Granny Miao shuffled slowly toward the kitchen.
Lin Yu rose to stop her, but Miao Haixin signaled with her eyes for him to let her go.
He could only watch as the elderly woman moved at a snail’s pace toward the kitchen.
“It’s fine, let her go. Keeping busy is good for her mind—slows down… the forgetting.”
“When the nanny and I aren’t home, she’s often alone anyway.”
Miao Haixin motioned for Lin Yu to sit back down.
Lin Yu asked curiously:
“Nanny? You hired someone?”
Miao Haixin pushed the fruit tray toward Lin Yu.
Picking up an apple, she handed it to him:
“Yes, when I’m at work, I have a nanny come over.”
“She watches over Grandma for a few hours, cooks for her, keeps her company.”
“Sometimes, when I’m too busy, Grandma has to stay alone.”
As she spoke to Lin Yu, Miao Haixin’s gaze kept drifting toward the kitchen.
Clearly,
she wasn’t as at ease as she appeared.
On the contrary,
she was deeply cautious about Granny Miao’s daily movements.
Lin Yu felt even more moved.
In his past life, he hadn’t known much about his advisor’s family situation.
He never imagined that her job barely covered so many expenses—
Rent, hiring a nanny, daily living costs…
How could she possibly have savings under such circumstances?
Yet she still lent him five thousand yuan?
How much could she even have left for herself?
Miao Haixin’s optimistic demeanor seemed untouched by hardship.
She even joked with Lin Yu:
“So, how’s the actor? This extra’s performance giving you a headache?”
Lin Yu quickly shook his head:
“Not at all! Grandma’s spirit is amazing.”
“Elderly people her age rarely have such vitality.”
But Lin Yu wasn’t here just to visit.
He was here to diagnose a problem!
Earlier, when shaking Granny Miao’s hand, he had taken her pulse.
Truthfully,
Miao Haixin had taken excellent care of her grandmother.
Her pulse was steady and strong—no signs of serious illness.
The likelihood of a sudden health crisis in the coming months was low.
So then…
how could something happen to her?
Considering that Granny Miao was often left alone, Lin Yu made a bold guess:
The accident likely occurred when neither Miao Haixin nor the nanny was home!
But when? And what kind of accident? Lin Yu couldn’t imagine.
Food poisoning? Gas leak? Fire?
For an elderly woman with a fading memory, any mishap was possible.
Lin Yu changed his approach and asked:
“Advisor, how old is Grandma this year?”
Miao Haixin answered without hesitation:
“Sixty-eight. Her health’s not bad, right?”
Lin Yu nodded and pressed further:
“Sixty-eight? She doesn’t look it at all. If my grandmother were still alive, she’d be sixty-eight too.”
“Do you remember Grandma’s birthday?”
Miao Haixin gave him a slightly puzzled look.
But he had to ask.
If this wasn’t illness but fate,
perhaps metaphysical methods could reveal some clues.
With her birth details, he might be able to calculate something.
His knowledge of Zi Wei Dou Shu (a Chinese astrological system) might actually help.
Yet reality dealt Lin Yu a harsh blow.
His advisor shook her head regretfully:
“Ah… I don’t know Grandma’s birthday. Even she doesn’t remember.”
“I asked her long ago, before her mind started fading.”
“She said her family only remembers she was born during cabbage harvest—no one noted the exact day.”
“Back then, families had too many children. Many didn’t keep track of birthdays.”
Lin Yu’s heart sank.
Right—
Many elders from rural areas didn’t know their birthdays.
And just like that,
his hope of using her birth chart for divination was dashed.
“Drink, drink! Chat while you sip.”
Granny Miao returned from the kitchen, carefully balancing a small teapot in one hand and two tiny cups in the other.
Setting them on the table,
she placed no cup for herself but arranged one each before Lin Yu and Miao Haixin.
Then she poured tea for both with painstaking care.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
Lin Yu expressed his gratitude, but as he looked at the cups, his heart twisted.
No steam rose from the tea—in fact, the liquid looked no different from plain water.
Miao Haixin touched the cup and immediately realized it was cold.
She began to say,
“Grandma, you—”
Before she could finish,
Lin Yu lifted the cup and began sipping slowly,
as if the water inside was scalding hot.
...
(Extra chapter delivered! More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading—your support means the world to a small-time writer like me. If you enjoyed it, consider sending a little love my way. Grateful to you all!)
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
