Dating should happen after get off work.

"Grandpa! I also want to toast you!"

Xia Xiaoman immediately stood up, laughing loudly as she toasted her grandfather. She lowered her head slightly to clink glasses with him and took a small sip.

Then he sat down in the chair and put his hand to his forehead.

"Ugh, I suddenly feel like I can't hold my liquor. I wish someone could help me drink some more."

After saying that, she looked at Jiang Sheng with her big eyes and blinked repeatedly.

"?"

Li Youhe, standing to the side, stared at Xia Xiaoman with her mouth agape.

Is such an exaggerated performance acceptable?

Then look at Grandpa's expression—he's all smiles and he's urging Jiang Sheng to help Xia Xiaoman drink.

Li Youhe bit her lower lip and glanced at Jiang's father sitting opposite her. He gave her an affirming look and nodded gently.

It's as if it's saying...

"Go for it, your uncle will back you up."

Li Youhe held up a wine glass, toasted her grandfather, and after clinking glasses, looked at Jiang Sheng expressionlessly.

"I'm allergic to alcohol; I'll die if I drink."

"..."

Everyone knows she's acting, but no one blames her; instead, they find it endearing.

Jiang Sheng was thus forced to drink another cup.

After toasting Grandpa, it was Jiang's father and mother's turn. These two were much more cunning than Grandpa. After clinking glasses with the girls, they didn't even drink, but just stared at Jiang Sheng.

It means you don't need to go through the formalities; you can just drink it directly.

Of course, that was just a joke.

Li Youhe couldn't possibly let Jiang Sheng drink so much. She stopped him after just the first cup and regretted her jealousy.

But she was reserved and introverted, and with the tacit approval of her elders, she didn't know what to do for a while.

"Snap—"

A sound of slamming the table came from behind.

Jiang Qingyue squinted, rested her chin on her hand, and looked over here with dissatisfaction in her eyes.

"That's about enough." Then, she glanced at the three girls sitting opposite her. "You three."

"If you don't know how to cherish him, then don't sit in that seat; plenty of people want to sit there."

Xia Xiaoman stuck out her tongue somewhat embarrassedly, realizing that she seemed to have gone too far.

Li Youhe lowered her head, inwardly agreeing with Jiang Qingyue's statement.

Lu Sanqian shrank his neck... This older sister has such a strong aura, she's so scary.

"Come, have a drink with me, darling."

The last three words were not pronounced; the speaker simply mouthed them to Jiang Sheng.

Jiang Qingyue resumed her smiling demeanor, raising her cup to Jiang Sheng like a little fox wagging its tail for praise.

Jiang Sheng glanced at his grandfather and saw that he was still eating his food without asking any questions, tacitly allowing everything to happen.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You drink it all, I'll just drink whatever." Jiang Sheng clinked glasses with Jiang Qingyue.

After drinking, I looked at the three girls sitting on my right. They all looked like they had done something wrong, and they were silent with their heads down.

Xia Xiaoman and Li Youhe were acting strangely today. Why did they suddenly want to show off?

Thanks to Xiaoyue, the situation has been stabilized for the time being.

Grandpa wiped his mouth with a tissue, and finally spoke.

"Jiang Sheng."

"Here it is!"

"After you finish eating, come to my room." He looked at Jiang Sheng. "There are some things... I need to ask you about."

......

After the meal.

Mr. Jiang refused to let Li Youhe help tidy up the table, saying that it was enough for her to come along and play.

Jiang's mother led Xia Xiaoman and Lu Sanqian to Jiang Sheng's room—after all, they hadn't been able to go before for some reason.

The girl sat helplessly on the sofa in the living room, but at least she saw Jiang Sheng on the stairs, who was about to go to his grandfather's room.

She jogged forward, tugged at Jiang Sheng's sleeve, lowered her head, and apologized to him in a dejected tone.

"sorry."

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Sheng softened his voice as much as possible, reached out to touch Li Youhe's head, and gently tidied her messy hair.

"I want to make a good impression on my uncle and aunt."

"This is normal, no need to apologize."

Li Youhe shook her head, looked up into Jiang Sheng's eyes, as if she were about to cry at any moment.

"But I should cherish you even more, just like that girl said."

That girl... Xiaoyue?

Jiang Sheng placed his hand on her head, patted it affectionately, and then held it, shaking it back and forth.

"Did you become stupid after eating the beef stew my dad made?"

"Um?"

"You've done more than enough. Being a little willful once in a while is actually cuter," Jiang Sheng said with a smile. "Don't take Xiaoyue's words too seriously. She's... a bit extreme."

"Hmm, so what's your relationship with her?" Li Youhe tilted her head, and after a moment, she added, "Is it convenient for you to say?"

"There's nothing inconvenient about it," he said. "She's practically my childhood sweetheart, and now she's my mother's assistant."

Li Youhe slightly opened her mouth.

Qing means childhood sweetheart.

What a powerful title.

......

Grandpa's room is on the third floor.

Jiang Sheng knocked on the door, and after receiving a reply, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open to enter.

He knew that today's "final battle" was coming.

It's as if all the rooms of the elderly in this world don't need much furniture; a desk, a lamp, and a bamboo mat are enough.

The room was filled with the scent of aromatherapy and was spotless, as if someone had cleaned it beforehand.

Grandpa sat on the edge of the bed, reading a copy of "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk." He licked his fingertips, turned a page, and casually said "Sit" to Jiang Sheng.

The window was pushed open, and the warm summer breeze stirred the curtains and made the wind chimes by the bed tinkle.

Jiang Sheng pulled out a chair from in front of his desk and sat down somewhat awkwardly.

He hadn't had a private chat with his grandfather in a long time. Looking at his increasingly aged face and the white hair at his grandfather's temples, he suddenly realized that his grandfather had grown old.

He was no longer as heroic and extraordinary as I remembered, nor did he have that stern face that treated Jiang Sheng like a soldier.

He finally realized that his feelings for his grandfather were not out of "fear" but out of "respect".

When my grandfather was Jiang Sheng's age, he was defending the country on the battlefield.

He didn't want to disappoint his respected grandfather.

"Jiang Sheng."

"Here it is."

"You should know why I asked you to come home this week."

Jiang Sheng looked at him with a grin and said, "Actually, even if you hadn't said anything, I was planning to come back to visit you this week."

"Hmph." Grandpa casually closed the book, glanced at his eldest grandson, and said, "Then I'll ask you, when are you planning to get married?"

"It's finally here," Jiang Sheng sighed inwardly.

"I've met those three girls, and they're all quite nice. I won't pry into their family backgrounds, but you can tell Grandpa who you're planning to marry," Grandpa added at the opportune moment.

"Grandpa, let me be frank with you," Jiang Sheng said with a wry smile, "I'm still young, it's way too early for me to get married now."

After saying that, I looked at my grandfather's expression. He didn't glare or blow his beard as I had imagined; instead, he was very calm.

But the more this was the case, the more Jiang Sheng knew that his grandfather was serious.

He then went to explain to his grandfather.

"You watched me grow up, you know my personality. I'm not the kind of lazy bum who just loafs around and waits to die. I have my own pursuits."

"Yes, that's true." Grandpa nodded. "Tell me, what are you pursuing?"

"youth."

"Specifically?"

"We don't know, that's why we have to look for it."

"This is utter nonsense!"

Grandpa glared at Jiang Sheng, the overwhelming pressure making it hard for him to breathe.

Jiang Sheng immediately put on a mournful face and tried to play the victim.

"I know what you're trying to say, but getting married at 24 is just too early. It's a burden for me, I..."

"You brat! Kneel down right now!"

Grandpa suddenly let out an angry shout.

Jiang Sheng immediately slid to his knees without hesitation.

Grandpa stood up with his hands behind his back, his eyes wide open, as if he wanted to devour his good-for-nothing grandson.

"You say you have your own pursuits, fine, I'm not an old-fashioned scholar. Whether it's wanting to go into business like your parents or to go into politics like your uncles, if you can name one, I'll consider you passable."

"You tell me you want to pursue your youth. Okay, you are indeed young, unlike us back then who had no choice. Take some time to find your own path, and I'll consider you to have passed the test."

"So you say marriage is a burden for you... I don't remember ever raising you into such a weak person!"

Jiang Sheng hurriedly got up, wanting to comfort his grandfather, but was glared at and forced to kneel down obediently.

Grandpa was indeed very angry.

He paced back and forth in the room, almost as if he was about to pull out his belt and whip Jiang Sheng.

"You're driving me crazy!"

"Grandpa, please calm down."

"Shut up!" Grandpa snapped again, pointing at Jiang Sheng. "You're not happy about it, are you?!"

"I accept it! I have no complaints!" Jiang Sheng quickly replied.

"Why do you think marriage is a burden to you? Have you ever been married?" The grandfather looked sternly at his eldest grandson. "What are you afraid of? What are you running away from? Or are you simply unwilling to take responsibility?"

"My grandson, whom I've always been so proud of, is so weak! He doesn't even have the courage to fall in love with someone and take responsibility! Is what you call pursuing something that can be influenced by something as trivial as marriage? Weak!"

"Instead of all those vague and unrealistic things you're talking about, first learn how to love someone! How to take responsibility!"

Jiang Sheng was stunned.

He simply couldn't imagine that his grandfather's thinking was so profound, and that he could see things so clearly.

The words were like sharp swords, piercing straight into Jiang Sheng's heart. He thought that perhaps what his grandfather said was true; he was indeed afraid.

When people prejudge things they haven't experienced as "burdens," their first thought isn't to overcome them, but to escape them.

So he doesn't want to get married, and he doesn't even want to have a girlfriend.

Because I don't want to take responsibility, and I don't want to be bound by those things.

Little did he know that what truly bound him was his own inner weakness.

He didn't even have the courage to love someone; he only wanted to protect himself.

"Please calm down, I was just saying that," Jiang Sheng said with a smile to his grandfather. "You see, I didn't say I wouldn't get married, it's just that at my age, having only graduated from university two years ago, it's really too early."

"Hmph." Grandpa sat on the bed with his arms crossed, just snorted coldly, and didn't say anything more.

That's a somewhat reluctant acceptance of this statement.

"Grandpa Zhang's grandson got his marriage certificate in May, right? Don't just look at the surface. Maybe he was forced into it by Grandpa Zhang. Perhaps he's not happy with his married life."

Jiang Sheng immediately used Plan B.

Team building won't solve the problem; he still has another trump card up his sleeve.

"How about this, I'll go and consult with Grandpa Zhang's grandson. If he's happy after marriage, I'll follow your arrangements without hesitation."

"But if marriage cannot bring happiness, you don't need to force your grandson down an unhappy path."

Jiang Sheng bargained with his grandfather, and speaking while kneeling down showed his strength.

Grandpa's temper subsided a little; he glanced at Jiang Sheng and snorted coldly.

"Do you think I'm just being stubborn with Lao Zhang?" Grandpa said. "I've noticed you've become a bit lax these past few years."

"Grandpa was wise!"

"Alright, alright, do you think I don't know what you're thinking?" Grandpa said. "Go and talk to Old Zhang's grandson. If it's really as you say, I won't force you to get married this year."

"Grandpa is wise!"

"The wedding can be postponed," Grandpa said, changing the subject. "But those three girls are all quite nice. You have to choose one to bring home as your girlfriend during the National Day holiday. You must learn to take responsibility; that's a principle. If you can't do that, then prepare to spend a few years in the army after the New Year to toughen yourself up."

Jiang Sheng was startled.

This is a case of a death sentence being commuted to a suspended death sentence.

But the consequences seem to be even more serious; they're going to send him to the army for a few years!

"Alright, get lost." Grandpa waved his hand impatiently. "Just looking at you annoys me. Go keep the guests company."

"Hey! I'm leaving then!"

Jiang Sheng left his grandfather's room with a thoughtful expression, of course, he walked.

Grandpa sat on the bed and slowly exhaled.

He gazed at the sky outside the window, remaining silent for a long time.

I don't know how much time passed.

A knock came at the door.

"Enter."

Grandpa turned around and met Lu Sanqian's eyes, who was pushing open the door with a look of astonishment.

"Um... I think I got the room wrong," Xiaolu said in a low, mosquito-like voice.

Jiang Sheng's room should be located to the left after exiting the toilet, not to the right.

Grandpa squinted; he was deeply impressed by the girl.

So he simply waved to her.

"Since you're already here, why not keep Grandpa company and talk to him?"