“Why bring her up during New Year’s?”

Grandmother Yu’s expression immediately soured.

Fortunately, these words came from her beloved grandson. Had it been Xu Zhongyi speaking, she would have surely thrown the buns to the dogs.

“Tina is young, she’s just temporarily unable to accept the family changes. She’s alone in Pengcheng now, with no one to spend Spring Festival with… I think she’s pitiful, and my heart aches for her,” Xu Changle said softly.

“If the family doesn’t care for her, people with ill intentions will. Her values haven’t fully formed yet, and I’m worried she’ll be deceived by others.”

Xu Changle had remembered Xia Xiaolan’s warning.

Mrs. Wilson didn’t want money, which made Xu Changle more worried about what else she might desire.

Grandmother Yu turned her head away. “If you want me to acknowledge her as family, bring her for a DNA test. If she’s truly your father’s daughter, I’ll naturally find a way to make her accept the Xu family.”

Xu Changle remained silent.

Grandmother Yu sneered, “What’s wrong? Did I guess your thoughts? Are you also afraid she’ll turn out not to be your father’s daughter?”

The old lady was sometimes progressive and modern, yet sometimes particularly stubborn:

“Even if she were an outside child, after raising her for so many years and developing feelings, if you treat her as your dear sister and bring her home, I wouldn’t object. I would treat her well. But since she came from your mother’s womb, we must have a DNA test. Only if she’s a Xu family child can I accept her!”

She had to be Xu Zhongyi’s child.

Even if she wasn’t Zhang Jiadong’s, what if she was Cui Yiru’s child with some other man?

Cui Yiru’s one instance of infidelity had destroyed Grandmother Yu’s trust in her.

—If she were the offspring of Cui Yiru and some random man, the old Xu family would become true cuckolds!

Absolutely not!

The old lady stood up, unable to focus on the Spring Festival Gala anymore.

What were they singing on TV, “A Fire in Winter”?

There was a fire burning in her heart, blazing flames that completely ruined Grandmother Yu’s mood.

“Grandmother, don’t be angry, I’ll stop! I understand your wishes now, I’ll figure something out,” Xu Changle quickly tried to pacify her.

But the old lady had become vigilant. “Don’t you dare try to fake a DNA test report to deceive me? I can’t even trust you now. If we’re doing a DNA test, I’ll have Xiaolan oversee it for me.”

Yes, she only trusted that girl Xia Xiaolan.

That girl would never deceive her, unlike Changle who was uncertain.

Xu Changle developed an instant headache.

His grandmother wasn’t some unsophisticated old lady.

This matter would have to be handled according to circumstances, seeing how things developed.

…

While Xia Xiaolan’s family spent a warm and festive New Year’s Eve,

Ji Ya’s new year had no holiday spirit.

Ji Ya’s seemingly good solution was flatly rejected by Sheng Xuan. Not only did they fail to reach an agreement, but Sheng Xuan also demanded she repay the loan before the Lantern Festival, or else they would handle it strictly by the book!

What would handling it strictly by the book mean?

It meant Elegance would be seized!

Seeing Ji Ya like this, George felt terrible too.

“I could secretly mortgage two properties in America…”

“And then what? It would just further prove I’m with you for your money. The moment you mortgage properties in America, your parents will pressure us to divorce, don’t you believe it?”

She had signed that agreement – she wouldn’t get anything in a divorce.

Even if George mortgaged properties for money, she’d still have to pay it back!

She could hold her head high owing money to the bank, but owing money to George, even after divorce she would face Mrs. Wilson’s mockery. That shrewd old woman would still take away her Elegance…

Losing Elegance would mean losing to Xia Xiaolan.

No, it would mean being inferior even to Liu Fen, that village woman.

At least Xia Xiaolan had the brains to get into Huaqing University. How much education could Liu Fen, a village woman, have? She barely attended school, yet she managed to open several clothing stores in Beijing, and business seemed good.

If she couldn’t even match up to a village woman, others would think Tang Hongen made the right choice in remarrying.

Ji Ya felt she had entered a vicious cycle. George held her in his arms:

“We’ll get through this difficult time together. This is the most challenging period for both of us.”

It wasn’t just Ji Ya’s crisis, but also his and his parents’. The situation in America had worsened, and his parents couldn’t retain most of their assets. Before he came to Beijing, his mother had discussed with him the possibility of selling the Broadway theater.

That theater had just been renovated!

In Chinese terms, it was his mother’s dowry when she married into the Wilson family.

Considering selling the theater proved things had reached their worst point.

Even George thought his mother brought Tina to China to borrow money from her.

But Fern had put Tina’s money in a trust, and his mother didn’t seem particularly disappointed… What was it all for? George couldn’t figure it out.

All he knew now was that Harold would soon come to China.

Would that be the turning point?

When everything was in chaos, George couldn’t remain just a love-struck optimist anymore.

Though he held Ji Ya, his thoughts weren’t on romance. He was more worried about his parents’ situation. If his parents declared bankruptcy, his assets would become the family’s last resort. At such a time, his parents watched every penny extremely carefully and would not allow him to lend money to Ji Ya.

It wasn’t that George had completely stopped loving Ji Ya – the more a devoted pursuer invests in their idol, the deeper their love grows. Such feelings couldn’t be withdrawn in an instant.

His reluctance to insist on lending Ji Ya money to repay the bank loan was also because he felt she lacked business acumen.

If Elegance’s business couldn’t succeed, they would have to admit defeat.

Perhaps Ji Ya truly wasn’t suited for such a large business. She had talent – wouldn’t it be better to be a pure fashion designer and run a small design studio?

If it failed, then let it fail.

Investing more money in Ji Ya’s business at this point wouldn’t be a rational choice.

As long as he preserved his assets, Ji Ya would still live comfortably in the future.

George gently patted her back.

Ji Ya’s heart grew cold. She had thought after her initial refusal, George would support her more firmly, but he gave in so easily.

George truly didn’t love her anymore…

While their thoughts had clearly diverged, what surprised Ji Ya was that Ji Jiangyuan rushed back to Beijing on New Year’s morning and gave her a bank check.

“This is all I have, though it might not help much.”

“This is—”

“Repayment of your upbringing bill.”

Ji Ya held the check, unable to process it.

“Where did you get so much money…”

It was a check for 100,000 US dollars.

Although it was a drop in the bucket compared to Ji Ya’s loan, Ji Jiangyuan was just a student – he couldn’t possibly have this much money. He wasn’t like Xia Xiaolan who ran her own business.

Setting aside where the money came from,

Even as an upbringing bill, this amount was more than Ji Ya had initially asked for.

The original calculations only came to 69,000 US dollars. With Ji Lin as a witness, after removing the rent item, Ji Jiangyuan couldn’t even pay 69,000 US dollars, let alone 100,000!