Before he died, my grandfather forced me to marry the richest man in the capital.

April is about to quietly creep up. The weather at the end of March was very comfortable, with plenty of sunshine, a gentle breeze, and no continuous rain. As a result, everyone's face was filled with smiles.

Both Tang Junyao and Ji Hancheng spent the day with heavy hearts, essentially waiting for time to pass.

Perhaps Tang Junyao was waiting, while Ji Hancheng wanted to press the pause button and didn't want time to continue.

Time is always merciless; it won't turn back time or freeze at a certain moment just because you're unhappy. Time that's meant to pass will still pass. You can remove the batteries from an alarm clock to stop the hour and second hands from moving.

This is just self-deception. What's meant to slip away will slip away. By the time you wake up, a whole day may have already passed. Time is so ruthless; you have to accept it.

Yixinyuan.

Because Tang Junyao was unsure what was in the diary, while Ji Hancheng knew what it contained, he suggested that they stay at Yixinyuan for the next few days.

Tang Junyao naturally believed Ji Hancheng's conditions after he had read the contents, and thus agreed to return here to deal with the emotions that were about to unfold.

In the master bedroom, Ji Hancheng and Tang Junyao were both wearing the same pajamas and sitting on the bed. Tang Junyao had her legs curled up and crossed, looking like she was ready to go into battle.

Ji Hancheng glanced at her, then sat down next to her and let out a sigh of relief.

With a complex look in her eyes, she asked, "Yaoyao, are you really sure? The contents of this might not be something you can accept."

One sentence reveals several pieces of information. First, he had seen it, or even knew the cause and effect. Second, the content was not happy, but sad.

She took a deep breath. Never one to live life in a daze, she was determined to see what was going on and find out the truth. "I've thought it through. Let's see."

Without a word, he pressed his lips together, and with his well-defined knuckles, he unlocked the diary's combination lock. Quickly, in just a few seconds, the lock proved to be child's play for him. "Should I stay with you or leave?"

He respects her. If she wants peace and quiet, he will disappear. If she needs company, he will quietly stay with her.

She paused for a second, the diary still unopened, then looked up and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm not crispy, I'm probably meaty. It's okay, go to the study, I'll call you when I'm ready."

"Okay." Ji Hancheng said, turned around, got out of bed, opened the door, and left the room.

Inside the room, Tang Junyao carefully opened the first page of the diary and reached out to touch her grandfather's handwriting. Outside the door, Ji Hancheng leaned against the door with his arms crossed, not leaving.

He didn't want to leave even for a moment.

Three hours later.

Tang Junyao, who was in the room, could no longer hold back her emotions. She hugged the diary to her chest, clutched her heart, curled up with her legs together, and buried her chin between her knees.

One hand is bent, the index finger is pressed against the lips, the lips cover the entire bent index finger joint, and the teeth even bite the index finger, in order to suppress the emotions and not dare to cry out loud.

A bloody mark appeared on her finger from being bitten. A complex mix of emotions welled up inside her, each one surging forth: disappointment, sadness, disbelief, and longing for her grandfather…

As droplets of water soaked the pajamas at the knees, staining the colors, only a tiny bit, perhaps just a tiny bit, was released.

She thought she was speaking very softly inside the room, and that the people in the study wouldn't hear her.

Little did they know that Ji Hancheng had not left for several hours, but had been leaning against the door with his back to it.

Faint sobbing could be heard from inside the room. Although the sound was very soft, Ji Hancheng, who had been standing outside the door, heard it. He did not open the door, but stood motionless with his eyes slightly red, his back pressed tightly against the door, sharing her burden.

Invisible companionship.

Once the person inside had finished crying, Ji Hancheng reached out and grasped the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside. He saw that she had composed herself and was staring blankly at him.

Ji Hancheng felt uneasy under her gaze. After a moment, she asked seriously, "Could I see the contents of your study's safe?"

The sudden request stunned him. He wondered where he had slipped up, but then realized how clever she was and that he couldn't hide it anymore. Since he couldn't hide it, he would share the burden. "Okay, but I have one request."

Tang Junyao responded faintly, her voice slightly nasal, her red and swollen eyes unable to conceal the fact that she had been crying, "Mm."

"I must accompany you to see the documents and videos. After you've seen them, you must stay by my side at all times and tell me where you're going." This was the condition Ji Hancheng gave her for showing them to her.

There are more videos?

In just a few seconds, she readily agreed, "Okay."

Seeing that she agreed, he suggested, "There's a video; let's go to the study to watch it."

Without much thought, Tang Junyao immediately got off the bed. Ji Hancheng put his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms, patiently wiping away the tears left in the corners of her eyes, feeling extremely sorry for her.

When they arrived at the study, he helped her sit down in the main chair, patted her hair, and then went to the safe to retrieve the file folder he had taken from Han Yue last time.

After taking it out of the safe, he held it in his hand for a while before finally turning around and placing it on the table. He then helped open it, and the yellowed documents were presented to Tang Junyao without reservation.

She glanced at the time in the lower right corner and realized it was 15 years ago, the year she was ten years old, the year her mother jumped off the building, and the year her maternal grandparents had a car accident.

Before she even looked, her back stiffened, as if she already knew what it was.

With her eyes fixed on the USB drive, Ji Hancheng naturally noticed her hesitation and said in a low voice, "If you don't want to look, then we won't. Yao Yao doesn't necessarily need to know everything about the past. If being a little confused makes you happier, then I hope you are confused."

The silence lasted for several minutes, but Ji Hancheng did not use a stopwatch to measure the exact duration.

Her eyes were resolute, devoid of the hesitation and timidity from before. "Hancheng, I want to see. I don't want to pretend to be confused. I want to figure things out so we can spend the rest of our lives together."

Ji Hancheng didn't say another word, but spread out the documents and placed them in front of her in order. She seemed to be looking at someone else's documents, and occasionally asked questions. "So, according to the documents, Grandpa knew fifteen years ago that my mother's death was due to Chen Lan and Tang Xin, and that my mother didn't cheat on him. Grandpa also found evidence of my maternal grandparents' deaths, but he just couldn't bring himself to betray his own family, right?"

Ji Hancheng remained silent. He was terrified of Yao Yao's current reaction. He would rather Yao Yao cry like she did before, venting all her dissatisfaction. However, she clearly had no intention of crying. There was a bitter smile on her lips, along with helplessness and a hidden emotion.

His heart ached, the pain reaching every part of his body, and his chest felt as if it were stuffed with cotton, causing a tightness in his chest.

Ji Hancheng's reaction had already made Tang Junyao realize that this was the truth. Ji Hancheng had told her everything that Tang Xin and Chen Lan had done when they were in prison, including why he treated her so badly, why he misunderstood her mother's infidelity, why Chen Lan was allowed to enter the family, why her maternal grandfather and the others passed away, why her mother jumped off the building, and why Tang Xin had only liked Chen Lan all these years—everything.

The only thing she didn't mention was that her grandfather had known the truth all along, which surprised her and left her speechless.

After she finished reading all the materials and waited expressionlessly for the video to start, Ji Hancheng inserted the USB drive into the computer's USB port, clicked the mouse to open the folder, and said, "Should I look at them one by one... or should I look at the last one? The last one is Grandpa's autobiography."

She was no longer surprised that he had seen it, and he no longer hid what he had been hiding.

"The last one."

She double-clicked the left mouse button, and an old man with black and white hair appeared on the computer screen. In just a second, Tang Junyao, who had been holding back her tears, burst into tears. She missed her grandfather, but this longing was no longer so pure; it was as if something was changing.

Do I hate it? No.

Do you complain? Yes.

She didn't want to deny it, but she did harbor resentment towards her grandfather. If her grandfather had been able to put aside his own family for the greater good, would she have been spared the beatings and ridicule she received as a child? Would she have been spared the training sessions in the basement? There were many possibilities, but no answers, only possibilities.

Ji Hancheng moved closer to her, pressing her head into his chest. One stood while the other sat, silently soothing her emotions and giving her a sense of security, assuring her that she wasn't alone and that he was there for her.

The old man's deep voice came through the screen, "Yaoyao, by the time you see this video, Grandpa will have already passed away. I believe Attorney Li has already given you everything he was entitled to. This document is the last thing Grandpa left for you. I told Attorney Li that if that beast tries to take this inheritance from you, Attorney Li will help you get it back. You don't need to lift a finger. As long as that beast sees this document, he won't bother you anymore."

"Yaoyao, after watching the video you can hate Grandpa, but you don't have to hate Grandpa. Every day, Grandpa hates himself for a moment. Grandpa can't be that incorruptible. I was soft-hearted and protected him. The only right thing I did was to take you from him and raise you. Grandpa made a deal with that beast. I can not report him, but you must be raised by Grandpa. From now on, we will sever our father-son relationship and you will never be allowed to step into the Tang residence. Chen Lan will never be included in the Tang family's genealogy. We signed an agreement, so he has no right to inherit my estate."

"Grandpa is sorry for you, and I won't ask you to forgive me. While I was alive, I watched you become more sensible and outstanding every day, and I was very gratified. Sometimes I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was too timid and afraid that you would hate me. I was too cowardly to tell you the truth, so I could only choose this way to tell you."

"You can accept this inheritance without worry. When the Tang family was in decline, it was actually your mother who brought the Jiang family's funds to the Tang family, which made the Tang family what it is today. This is all owed to you and your mother by the Tang family."

The video lasted for more than half an hour. The rest of the video consisted of Mr. Tang praising Yao Yao, reminiscing about her, and expressing his reluctance to part with her. During the video, Mr. Tang also mentioned that he had actually done a paternity test between Yao Yao and Tang Xin and shown it to Tang Xin, but Tang Xin did not believe it and thought that his grandfather had faked it.

It turns out that Grandpa and Tang Xin broke off contact because they had reached an agreement long ago. No wonder Tang Xin had followed Grandpa's rules so well all these years. That's how it was.

No wonder Chen Lan can't be included in the Tang family's genealogy; her name is still listed as Jiang Rui, her mother's name, as her daughter-in-law.

Tang Xin was unaware that her grandfather had kept these videos and documents behind, making her feel a little amused when she recalled how Tang Xin had made her inherit the herb.

After watching the video, she remained motionless, staring at the computer screen in deep thought. She pondered for a long time, and Ji Hancheng stood beside her for a long time without offering any advice.

The next moment, she stood up, sighed, and said to Ji Hancheng, "I'm going to sleep. Could you help me tidy up? Thank you, I'm a little sleepy."

His arm was grabbed, and Ji Hancheng's dark eyes deepened as he suppressed his emotions. "Yao Yao."

"It's okay, I'm really okay. Look, I'm just sleepy. I'll take a nap and process this information." Her tone was relaxed, but Ji Hancheng knew that she wasn't really relaxed; she hadn't found an outlet for her emotions yet.

Watching her departing figure, he rubbed his temples, tidied the documents on the table, and locked them back in the safe, intending never to take them out again.

After finishing everything, it was already past 11 o'clock. He called Xu Mingkai and said, "From now on, I will report all my work to my father. I won't be going to the company recently, so don't call me. Report any project-related matters to my father."

Before Xu Mingkai could react, Ji Hancheng had already hung up the phone.

After the wedding date was set, Ji Hang stayed at the company to work so that he could focus on preparing for the wedding, which now seems to have been a good idea.