Wei Ying followed Jiang Fengmian into the conference room, and Director Shi, who was chatting with Baoshan Sanren, stood up and beckoned to Wei Ying, “Wei Ying, come and sit down.”
The first thing Wei Ying saw was the two old people sitting on the sofa.
He stood by the door at a loss, bent down lightly and politely called out “Hello grandpa and grandma” to the two old people, and then greeted Gu Yihan and Director Shi respectively.
Baoshan Sanren stood up with the help of Gu Yihan, put on his glasses, and was stunned for a moment when he saw Wei Ying’s face. He exchanged a glance with his wife Hong Shu, both saw a little shock in each other’s eyes.
Gu Yihan, who had already met Wei Ying several times, reduced the sadness on her face and showed a little smile to Wei Ying.
Wei Ying cautiously walked to the empty seat next to Director Shi and sat down.
Director Shi patted him on the shoulder and introduced him: “Wei Ying, these are Jiang Cheng’s grandparents, they came here today to talk to you about your competition.”
Director Shi had handled many disputes between students and often welcomed parents, so he said this in an extremely subtle way, taking care of the face of the parents present.
Wei Ying pursed his lower lip when he heard these words. He put his hands on his legs properly, and quietly raised his eyes to look at the two old people sitting opposite, his eyelashes trembling with nervousness.
This was the first time he saw his grandpa and grandma in front of him.
The expressions of the two old people showed a little tiredness, Baoshan Sanren’s expression was solemn and silent, and the corners of Hong Shu’s eyes were a little red, as if she was sad.
After Jiang Fengmian entered the door, he went to the water dispenser to pour a glass of water.
At this time, he walked over with the water glass. Hong Shu took the initiative to take the glass of water from Jiang Fengmian’s hand and handed it to Wei Ying.
Wei Ying stood up hurriedly and saw the hands covered with brown spots were a bit trembling. He respectfully took the cup from Hong Shu with both hands and heard his grandmother kindly say to him:
“Child, drink some water first.”
He didn’t know why…
Hearing this “child”, he lowered his eyes hastily, said “thank you” in a low voice, then sat back on the chair with the water glass in both hands, and drank slowly with his head down.
They were a little embarrassed to speak directly about Jiang Cheng. Hong Shu saw the nervousness of the child in front of her and asked Wei Ying in a warm voice:
“I heard that you transferred from the school in Yanping County?”
Wei Ying looked up at Hong Shu, nodded and said, “I came from Yanping County High School.”
Director Shi on the side smiled and said, “Wei Ying is ranked first in Yanping County, so he was rewarded to come here to study for a year, his grades here are also very good.”
Hong Shu smiled kindly and praised, “A good child who is smart and hardworking.”
Wei Ying’s eyes suddenly widened at her words.
Under the leadership of Director Shi, the atmosphere in the conference room eased a lot, but the business still had to be discussed.
Jiang Fengmian considered it for a while meeting and said sincerely to Wei Ying:
“Wei Ying, we came here this time mainly to apologize to you. I didn’t expect Jiang Cheng to do something like this. If he had come today, I would definitely let him apologize to you now.”
With a sad expression on Hong Shu’s face, she said to Wei Ying:
“Our child did something wrong. We parents also did not educate him well, so we have to apologize to you.”
Wei Ying’s back slowly shrank, his eyes dropped into the water glass in his hand, he didn’t speak.
Seeing that Wei Ying had been silent, Director Shi had no choice but to say with a dry smile:
“When Jiang Cheng comes to school tomorrow, let him apologize to Wei Ying properly. How deep of a hatred can children have, just untie the knot.”
He just finished speaking when he saw Wei Ying raise his head suddenly and said, “I will not accept Jiang Cheng’s apology.”
The tone was determined, and there was a stubborn intent in his eyes, without the slightest room for concession.
The atmosphere in the conference room instantly stagnated.
The parents looked at each other, Director Shi scratched his hair in embarrassment. He had some personal friendships with Professor Sanren. This time he wanted to help the parents to resolve the dispute privately, but now he found it a bit tricky.
Baoshan Sanren, who has not spoken all the time, frowned at the words and said solemnly to Wei Ying:
“Not only are we apologizing, we will try our best to make up for your loss on behalf of A-Cheng; we will compensate you, as long as you stop pursuing this matter.”
They discussed for a long time before and knew that the key to the matter lies in Wei Ying.
As long as the child was no longer pursuing the matter, then what Jiang Cheng did would not be known to everyone, and the school could also impose a lighter punishment on Jiang Cheng on the grounds of Wei Ying’s understanding.
Although they were angry with their child, they still couldn’t sit back and watch Jiang Cheng be drawn into the whirlpool.
Hong Shu felt that Baoshan Sanren’s tone was a bit too serious. She was afraid of frightening Wei Ying, so she said softly to Wei Ying:
“Child, it’s not easy for you to come from Yanping County. As a compensation, we can fund you to continue studying in Gusu High School until you finish high school. We will also pay you the expenses after you enter the university until you graduate from university. Do you think this is okay?”
Wei Ying heard the “child” from her grandmother again, only to feel stagnant breathing and pain in his chest.
He opened his mouth to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something rough, no sound could come out.
When parents saw Wei Ying lowered his head and did not speak, they thought he was hesitating.
Director Shi actually thought this compensation was very good.
After all, Wei Ying’s family was poor, and it was also a problem to go to university in the future. There was no need to let go of such a good opportunity for a while.
He whispered to Wei Ying: “Wei Ying, would you like to consider it?”
Wei Ying shook his head, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse: “I don’t want to accept it.”
Hong Shu didn’t expect this child to be so stubborn, so she sighed softly and looked at Jiang Fengmian, who had been holding his forehead without speaking.
Seeing that he didn’t respond, she looked at Gu Yihan helplessly, thinking that Gu Yihan knew Wei Ying, so maybe her words would work better.
Gu Yihan sat closer to Wei Ying and persuaded him in a soft tone:
“Wei Ying, don’t you like to paint and want to apply to a foreign art school? We can also pay for you to study abroad, you and Zhan are so close, so you can go to America together, isn’t it good?”
Wei Ying heard the word “Zhan” in his blurred vision, was silent, but still shook his head stubbornly.
Baoshan Sanren was stubborn all his life, and his daughter was also stubborn. He looked at the child in front of him, who seemed to be even more stubborn than he was, and lessened the seriousness on his face and said to Wei Ying in a slower tone.
“Child, I can understand your anger. To be honest, I still feel angry and don’t want to believe that my grandson would do such a ridiculous thing.”
He began to cough heavily in the middle of his sentence, and Wei Ying couldn’t help but raise his eyes to look over.
Hong Shu hurriedly handed the water to his husband.
Baoshan Sanren took a few sips of water before he calmed down his cough. He looked at Wei Ying, and a bit of pain appeared in his already muddy eyes, as he said bitterly:
“His mother left early and he grew up weak and sick, so we all spoiled him, and were reluctant to let him suffer so he has developed an arrogant and self-willed character. Now he has made a mistake and done something wrong. We parents have also made a mistake. I want to apologize to you and really want to compensate you.”
Wei Ying lowered his head, swallowed hard on his dry throat, grabbed his fingers into his palm, and listened to Baoshan Sanren continuing to speak.
“Everyone makes mistakes. Children will make mistakes and adults will too. They have to pay for their mistakes. I once paid an irreparable price for a mistake. Now that I am old and there are not many days left, I can’t bear to watch my only child pay too much for the mistakes.”
As if recalling something from the past, Baoshan Sanren’s dim eyes were filled with tears of grief.
Hong Shu on the side couldn’t help but look away, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of her moist eyes.
Baoshan Sanren stood up tremblingly from the sofa. The old professor who had almost never begged anyone, crouched down.
Stretching out his trembling hand, he handed a piece of paper to Wei Ying and pleaded:
“Child, it is our family’s child who has wronged you. We come to pay for him, you can ask for whatever you want, as long as I, an old man, can do it, I will do my best to accomplish it.”
Wei Ying’s vision had been completely blurred, he could not see what was on that piece of paper, he could only see the old hands that were constantly trembling.
Once he had longed for countless times, longed to be like his sister Wei Yanli. After making mistakes, after being wronged, there would always be grandparents who could favor him and protect him.
They would use those old but strong hands to protect him in their arms, to shield him from all the blame and scolding, telling him, child do not be afraid, come here to grandparents.
Now he stretched out his hands and took the paper from his grandfather’s hand. He lowered his head and blinked hard, and the blurred line of sight finally became clear.
Three words were printed in the center of the first row of that piece of paper:
Letter of Understanding.
It clearly displayed the compensation they promised, and each of them was enough to make a person born in poverty move. He could even continue to write his own requirements below.
What a generous compensation, as long as he signed it.
The meeting room fell into silence again, but several adults finally realized that there was something wrong with the child.
His head hung very low, shrinking himself together, his shoulders trembled slightly and his fingers clutched the Letter of Understanding tightly.
Only the extremely low choking that was suppressed could be heard, like the wailing of an abandoned cub.
They did not expect such a reaction from Wei Ying, nor could they understand it.
From an adult’s perspective, accepting these generous compensations was the most sensible choice.
Hong Shu frowned and asked with concern: “My child, what’s the matter?”
Gu Yihan handed Wei Ying a tissue, but Wei Ying didn’t take it.
She didn’t know what Wei Ying was upset about and could only tentatively suggest, “Why don’t you discuss it with your family, call your mom and dad to ask?”
My mom and dad.
“I…” Wei Ying finally opened his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but somehow couldn’t say it.
At this moment, the door of the conference room was suddenly opened, and everyone couldn’t help but look over to see a tall young man walking in quickly with a frosty face.
His gaze fell straight on the child who was surrounded in the center and quickly walked to his side.
“Zhan?” Gu Yihan stood up in surprise, “Aren’t you still in Beijing?”
Lan Zhan didn’t answer. He saw the piece of paper in Wei Ying’s hand, there were teardrops that had not yet dried up, impregnating the words “Letter of Understanding” with a distorted ink.
At that moment, everyone in the room clearly felt deep anger from this young man.
His eyes darkened suddenly, and he didn’t say anything. He just took the “Letter of Understanding” from Wei Ying’s hand, and the bony hand instantly tore the paper.
Baoshan Sanren’s face was ugly as he stared at the child he watched growing up. There was anger in his voice: “Zhan, what are you doing?!”
Lan Zhan’s stern face was covered with deep ice. He almost never disobeyed these elders.
At this moment, he looked at them with heavy eyes, sweeping past their surprised and puzzled faces one by one, his tone was cold to the extreme:
“Do you know what you are doing?”
Gu Yihan had never seen Lan Zhan get so angry before, so she was dumbfounded and speechless.
Jiang Fengmian stood up, this was his son’s matter after all, he explained to Lan Zhan, “We want to talk to Wei Ying about what A-Cheng did wrong, and see if we can negotiate a solution.”
They just didn’t expect that Wei Ying would react so fiercely.
Negotiate a solution?
Lan Zhan glanced at the torn “Letter of Understanding” on the ground, looked at them sarcastically, and questioned:
“If it is your own child who is framed and slandered by others, and almost bears the charge of plagiarism for a lifetime, and even the future is ruined, would you choose to forgive that person?”
Several adults fell silent when they heard the words.
Jiang Fengmian frowned; this was the reason why he had always been unable to talk to Wei Ying. He knew very well that what Jiang Cheng did could almost ruin a person’s life, let alone a child with no background.
Wei Ying casually wiped his face and stood up, looked at Lan Zhan and shook his head.
Lan Zhan held Wei Ying’s hand, pulled him behind him and said in a cold voice to the silent crowd.
“Wei Ying does not need your compensation, nor does he need relatives like you.”
This sentence was like a boulder falling into the waves.
Several adults looked at Lan Zhan blankly, their expressions stagnant, as if they hadn’t heard these words clearly, they didn’t even react when they saw Lan Zhan taking Wei Ying out.
Lan Zhan held Wei Ying’s hand and led him out of this airtight conference room, with the door closed behind him.
Wang Zixuan, who was standing outside the door waiting, saw them coming out, and asked Lan Zhan:
“Do you want to tell them now?”
Lan Zhan nodded.
Wei Ying raised his head suddenly, looking at Lan Zhan with moist and reddish eyes.
Lan Zhan gently wiped away the tears that were not dry on his face with his thumb, and then held his hand again with some strength and said to him:
“Don’t be afraid, let’s go home now.”
Wei Ying nodded and followed Lan Zhan far away from this conference room.
Wang Zixuan watched them go far away before opening the door of the conference room again.
Gu Yihan who had recovered from the panic saw Wang Zixuan asked in a daze, “Secretary Zixuan, why are you here?”
Wang Zixuan smiled at Gu Yihan and said, “Mrs. Lan, Zhan asks me to tell you something.”
Director Shi, who had been so embarrassed that he didn’t know what to do, knew that they must have something important, so he stood up and bid farewell to the crowd and left the conference room.
Jiang Fengmian had a faint premonition in his heart. Lan Zhan’s words kept repeating in his mind. He couldn’t help but walked a few steps towards Wang Zixuan and asked quickly:
“What exactly did Zhan mean by what he said just now?” He was so flustered that he didn’t realize Wang Zixuan hadn’t heard Lan Zhan’s words.
Wang Zixuan took a look at several people in the room with different looks, and was a little worried about whether they could accept it, especially since there were two elderly people who were very old.
“You will know soon.”
She took out a laptop from her briefcase as the crowd stared in confusion, turned the screen in the conference room on, connected it and clicked on a video.
In the clear picture on the screen, a middle-aged woman in a medical suit was sitting in a hospital bed.
The woman had a pale yellow face, her entire face was a little abnormally swollen, and layers of sadness were sandwiched between the corners of her wrinkled eyes..
For Jiang Fengmian and Sanren’s elders, this was an old face who looked familiar.
But at this moment, none of them could recognize it.
After all, seventeen years had passed, and the woman who they had only met once was almost completely changed.
It was not until the video began, this woman with a familiar and unfamiliar heavy accent, full of regret , saying “sorry” over and over again.
Jiang Fengmian’s eyes trembled, he looked at Baoshan Sanren and Hong Shu sitting aside in panic, and saw that they also looked heavy, as if they remembered something.
Only Gu Yihan looked anxious and at a loss, and she couldn’t help but ask: “This one is?”
But no one answered her.
They all looked at the screen with heavy expressions and suspicion so she could only continue to watch the video.
At the end, she heard a name from this woman’s mouth that was imprinted into her life: Cangse Sanren.
Then a cruel truth stumbled out of the woman’s mouth without any logic, telling them how the two children were born on the same day seventeen years ago on a snowy winter night, and how their fates were exchanged at her whim.
Gu Yihan’s cochlea rumbled and her mind went blank, watching the woman lower her head and cover her face in painful tears halfway through her speech, but she still didn’t dare to believe what she had just heard.
She stared at the two old men with a stiff gaze, and grabbed Hong Shu’s hand next to her empty and helplessly.
She opened her mouth, eagerly wanting to seek some answer, but found that Hong Shu’s hands were terribly cold, shaking uncontrollably like her, while Baoshan Sanren’s pupils were staring at the woman on the screen, his face showing a strange blue and purple color as his flesh and skin aged.
They looked shocked, but no one spoke.
“She, is what she said true?”
Gu Yihan mumbled in a panic, the woman on the screen was still crying in pain, and every sound made her heart panic. She hysterically asked herself:
“A-Cheng… isn’t A-Cheng A Se’s child? Then, where is A Se’s child? Where is he?”
But no one answered her.
Jiang Fengmian lowered his head and buried his face in his palms. The joints of his hands were protruding, and the blue veins on the back of his hands were jumping suddenly, pressing out a sigh from his chest.
At this point the woman’s painful sobs in the video finally gradually stopped, her eyes looked at the camera with no energy, and said in a hoarse voice.
“I named the child I left behind, Wei Ying.”
These words exploded like a thunderbolt in the conference room.
“Baoshan!”
Hong Shu cried out, only grabbing a piece of her coat, watching her old companion fall to the ground like an old tree broken by a thunderstorm on a typhoon day.
Jiang Fengmian and Wang Zixuan rushed over to pick up the old man, holding him up and rushing towards the door.
Gu Yihan was stunned, her arms and legs were limp, she propped herself up on the armrest of the sofa and used her strength to stand up, following the panicked footsteps in hindsight.
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