After getting home, Xiao Keyi went straight to her room and locked herself in without coming out.

When Old Master Xiao saw his granddaughter come back, she didn’t speak to anyone and just went straight in.

So he picked up his teacup and asked the butler beside him.

The butler shook his head in confusion. The young miss had just come in, hadn’t she gone out to relax? This "relaxing" clearly hadn’t worked.

The bodyguards who had followed behind her knew they were doomed, so they hurried over to confess: "Old Chairman, we were following the young miss, but after she went into the Xiao Group’s branch once, she stormed out in a rage. We don’t know what happened—maybe the project department over there didn’t do a good job."

The bodyguard quickly came up with an excuse, afraid the old master would pin all of this on them.

Old Master Xiao sighed. As soon as he heard "Xiao Group’s branch," he could only think that his granddaughter had definitely gone to see Xu Ke again. Who knew when she would finally grow up.

He feared his granddaughter wouldn’t be able to let that kid go anytime soon. But in the end, the two of them were impossible. His granddaughter’s destined person simply wasn’t Xu Ke. Right now they only looked sweet on the surface.

Even if his granddaughter hated him in the future, in order to keep her safe for the rest of her life, he could only play the villain. Steeling his heart, he grabbed his cane and thumped it hard on the floor.

"Since she wants to keep throwing a tantrum, then let her. Don’t pay her any mind. I want to see how long this temper can last. She’s not a child anymore, how can she still act like one? All of you, go down."

The bodyguards were uneasy at heart. The old master doted on Xiao Keyi the most—could it be that he didn’t anymore? That wasn’t something they could meddle in; they could only retreat, trembling.

The butler, however, shook his head. The old master was probably going to fall out with the young miss this time, for her own sake.

But the trouble was, the young miss simply didn’t understand the old chairman’s painstaking good intentions, and even misunderstood him. Why did the old chairman have to do all this?

At dinner that night, the young miss still didn’t come down, and her door remained tightly shut. Even the nanny she was usually closest to stood outside looking troubled, coaxing her softly.

"Miss, if you don’t eat you’ll ruin your health. Please don’t spite yourself. Whatever the problem is, we can talk to the old chairman. He loves you the most; I’m sure he’ll solve it for you."

"Please just come out and eat a little. Otherwise your body really won’t be able to take it, and you’ve just recovered from a serious illness."

But this time, no matter how the nanny coaxed, the door never opened, and there was no sound from inside either. The butler was extremely worried and looked toward the old chairman seated at the head of the table.

The old chairman must have been the most worried of all, but right now he was holding it down.

In the end the nanny shouted herself hoarse and still couldn’t get her out. The old butler shook his head and told the nanny to go rest.

He knocked on the door himself. "Child, your grandfather is doing this for your own good. Why can’t you understand his苦心? Come on, hurry and eat. Otherwise the old chairman won’t be able to eat either."

Looking at the delicious dishes before him, Old Master Xiao had no appetite at all. He put down his chopsticks and sighed.

He walked to the staircase and looked at that tightly closed door. "Since she doesn’t want to eat, then clear the dishes. And you go have something yourself. I’ll go up first."

After Old Master Xiao finished speaking, he seemed to have aged more than ten years in an instant, as if he couldn’t react anymore.

The butler watched his old master with a pang. In the past the young miss had been so obedient, the one who couldn’t bear most to see the old master upset. But now she had changed.

He had just stepped down from the stairs when, unexpectedly, that tightly closed door suddenly opened. Xiao Keyi looked at the old man on the stairs and couldn’t bear it.

"Grandpa, I’ll go have a little dinner with you."

Old Master Xiao, one hand on the railing, suddenly felt much happier. It seemed his granddaughter was still the same as before, just a bit upset. He quickly leaned on his cane and slowly came down.

A clear smile hung on his face, and the butler was much relieved. It seemed the young miss still cared about the old chairman. It was just that the conflict between the two of them...

"Now’s exactly when you should eat. The moment I heard you were going to eat, I suddenly felt my stomach was starving. We’ll have a bit together, and then Grandpa will chat with you for a while. Your mood will naturally brighten."

After the meal, Old Master Xiao looked at his granddaughter. She hadn’t eaten much, and she had been gloomy the whole time, as if all her spirit had been crushed.

Now she sat in the chair, silent, and as her grandfather, he really felt distressed.

"Yiyi, whatever you’ve got on your mind, you must say it out loud. Don’t bottle it up. If it really feels unbearable, you still have Grandpa."

After he spoke, he sighed. His granddaughter was always so sensible.

Xiao Keyi only felt a deep bitterness in her heart. Of course, Grandpa definitely didn’t want her to be with Xu Ke. Even if she told him, he would certainly clap his hands in approval.

So why should she go looking for trouble for herself? With that thought, she pushed back her chair.

For several days in a row, the whole house was steeped in this sort of atmosphere. Even the nanny, who normally didn’t concern herself much with anything, now knew what was going on, and everyone worked with extra care.

Meanwhile, Xu Ke had been constantly inquiring about Wang Cuixia’s whereabouts. But no matter how he asked, it was as if this person had vanished from the human world. Even down below in Taohua Village, there were hardly any people who even knew someone lived up there.

This made Xu Ke even more puzzled. It seemed that during the ten-odd years in Taohua Village, Wang Cuixia had never interacted with the original villagers here. Afraid of having her identity discovered, she had hidden herself away.

"Young man, I think you’ve really got the wrong place. There’s simply no such person here. And you people are really strange—within just half a year, several groups have come here looking for this Wang Cuixia."

"Exactly. Did she do something that makes you chase her so relentlessly? We’re just mountain villagers; we don’t know her at all. And from your clothes you clearly aren’t from our village, are you?"

The villagers spoke with especially wary looks in their eyes, afraid Xu Ke might do something to them. Seeing how guarded they were, Xu Ke couldn’t bring himself to keep asking.

He then left Taohua Village with his bag. Looking at the men of Taohua Village, so full of suspicion, Xu Ke knew they really probably didn’t know where Wang Cuixia had gone. Yet half a year ago, Wang Cuixia had been living right here.

It seemed all the clues had been cut off. Unless Wang Cuixia appeared on her own, no one else would be able to find her. And there was no surveillance here either.

He could only get on a bus, jolting along the mountain road, letting the shaking wear away his feelings for this place, like a kite whose string had suddenly snapped.