News from Taiwan

Chapter 19: Bow down and admit your mistake
The outside of the iced Americano cup was dripping with water due to the temperature difference, and the water was dripping down the cup onto the black tabletop of Starbucks, leaving a small dark water stain.

A loud "bang" was heard.

Lin Wan opened the can of Tsingtao beer that had just been delivered by a Meituan deliveryman. The hot weather caused the foam to burst out and soak the back of her hand.

"If you're feeling stressed, have a drink."

Lin Wan took a tissue to wipe the foam that had splashed onto the back of her hand, looked up at the towering office building across the street, and squinted as the dazzling sunlight reflected off the long glass curtain walls. "I need to muster up my courage to see my aunt."

Jiang Guier sighed, took a can of beer out of the takeout bag, and tossed it around in her hand, but wouldn't open it.

"My mom found out I'd been drinking, and I went over smelling like alcohol, which made things even worse."

Lin Wan poured the beer into the ice glass she had asked the waiter for, and took a big gulp.

The bitterness and coolness of the beer rolled on the tip of my tongue. "You need some external help right now, otherwise, with all the anger you just felt, how can you admit your mistakes? Don't let it escalate into a major disaster and explode."

Jiang Guier kept her head down and didn't say anything. She reached out and took the can of beer that Lin Wan had opened, poured less than half a glass into the ice glass in front of her, and the can of beer was gone.

She squeezed the empty can in her hand until it deformed slightly, and the aluminum sheet made a sharp, grating sound.

She remained silent, pouting, "I feel like no matter what I do, I'll be criticized."

Lin Wan sighed, crumpled the tissue in her hand into a ball and threw it on the table. "You're so stubborn. Why are you backing down now? You were just arguing with your grandma in the hospital room. Your aunt isn't a man-eating tiger. She's much more reasonable than your grandma."

"You have no idea how many things I've messed up lately."

Jiang Guier's voice lowered, sounding somewhat deflated. "That day... I had a really bad argument with my mom." She phrased it somewhat tactfully.

"It's just sending you abroad to study. Is it really worth worrying about? If you really don't want to go, your aunt won't force you, so what's the rush?"

Lin Wan wanted to smash open Jiang Guier's brain to see if it was stuffed with cotton recently. Given her aunt's doting on Jiang Guier, all she had to do was act cute or play the victim, and she would land safely.

Jiang Guier slumped into her chair, her fingers unconsciously digging into the table. "I mentioned my dad that day..."

Lin Wan froze, her movements as she opened the beer bottle.

"You...you've got guts!" She didn't even need to ask for details to know that she had definitely stepped on a landmine, and the most explosive one at that.

She raised her glass and clinked it against the ice glass that Jiang Guier had been keeping in front of her. "To you, warrior."

Jiang Guier picked up the ice glass and took a few sips of beer. The bitter taste made it hard for her to swallow. "Since we're here, let's make the best of it and go."

"Don't worry, I'll stay with you." Lin Wan was very loyal.

When Jiang Guier stood up, she accidentally bumped her head on the table, and she winced in pain.

What an unlucky year!

Lin Wan helped her up so she wouldn't fall. The two walked together to the office building across the street and went directly to the elevator through the revolving door. As the elevator numbers slowly ticked up, Jiang Gui'er counted her heartbeats. The number on each floor was higher than the one on the previous floor.

With a "ding" sound, the elevator door opened.

The secretary, who was sitting in the outer room, looked up when she heard the sound and saw the two people standing at the elevator entrance. She immediately put on a smile and stood up to greet them, "President Jiang is in his office now."

As they reached the door, she whispered, "President Jiang seems to be in a pretty good mood today." Jiang Gui'er thanked her softly, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open. When she saw them come in, Jiang Yun only glanced up before lowering her head to continue reading the documents in her hands.

Pretend you didn't see it.

The two did not stand still at the door, but went inside together.

"mom."

"Aunt."

After exchanging greetings, Jiang Yun made no response.

Jiang Guier stood there, her head lowered, her bangs falling down to cover her beautiful eyes. "Mom, I'm sorry, I was wrong."

"Snap." Jiang Yun closed the folder in her hand. "Raise your head." Her voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable authority.

Jiang Guier immediately did as instructed.

"to be honest."

“I shouldn’t have argued with Grandma just now.” Jiang Guier paused and said, “I didn’t expect that Great-Grandma’s letter would make Grandma so disgusted, and I also underestimated the conflict between them.”

"Mom, I was wrong."

Jiang Yun leaned back, stretching out in her leather office chair, and looked at her daughter and former niece with a sneer, "Couldn't handle it, so they came to me."

"No, Mom, I really came to apologize. I shouldn't have argued with you that day. I acted too impulsively without considering the consequences or preparing a plan beforehand. So, after it happened, I was completely overwhelmed."

As she spoke, Jiang Guier's eyes reddened with grievance. She sniffed, and tears welled up in her eyelashes.

"I oversimplified things. I thought that since my great-grandmother was already in a hospital bed, she should have let go of all her problems. But I didn't expect my grandmother to be so stubborn... I've never seen my grandmother so angry before. She even tore the letter to shreds." Thinking about all the unexpected situations she had encountered these past two days because of that letter, she felt extremely aggrieved.

"Didn't I tell you to take care of yourself first? Read more books and use your brain when you do things." Jiang Yun was quite disappointed in him, but the cold expression on her face melted away.

"Aunt, please don't be angry. Gui'er only meant well." Lin Wan thoughtfully made Jiang Yun another cup of coffee.

“She’s in trouble now. If you don’t help her, Auntie, who will?” Lin Wan’s eyes were meaningful.

Jiang Yun's composed expression paused for a moment. "What did your grandmother tear up?"

"I took a picture with my phone, Mom, take a look." Hearing that things had taken a turn for the better, Jiang Guier put aside her sadness, took out her phone, opened the photo album, and handed it over.

Jiang Yun stared at the screen for a long time, then sighed, "Actually, I saw this letter when I was little. Your great-grandmother held me and read it to me."

"Ah! So... Mom, you knew what was written in this letter from the beginning, why didn't you tell me?" Jiang Guier's eyes were filled with a slight accusation and confusion.

"That's all ancient history..."

Jiang Yun clearly didn't want to say more. "When you first said the letter was destroyed, I thought some things should just be let go. But I didn't expect you to go to such lengths to restore it. Maybe it's fate. No matter how hard you try to hide or forget something, it will eventually be remembered and brought up again."

Jiang Yun's words seemed to have another hidden meaning.

(End of this chapter)