The Abandoned Daughter's Second Chance

After New Year’s Day, Grandma Tang threw herself into planning the 100-day banquet for her two precious grandsons. She would corner anyone she saw to ask for their opinion. When Xiao Man got home at night, she became her grandma’s most loyal audience—as long as she wasn’t studying—and was expected to help brainstorm new ideas and offer suggestions. Xiao Man was great at planning menus and could even lend a hand in the kitchen for these kinds of celebrations, but she was useless for anything else. As a result, she took to carrying a book and pretending to study, just so her grandma wouldn’t bother her.

’It wasn’t really my place to be making decisions, anyway,’ she thought. ’There are plenty of other people at home.’

However, Mrs. Ai was even better at feigning disinterest than Xiao Man; she showed no enthusiasm for the 100-day banquet at all. Grandpa Tang, on the other hand, had given it much thought and was outright against the idea. He tried to persuade his wife, "Let’s just have two or three tables at home for close friends and family. Isn’t that enough of a gesture? The full moon celebration was already extravagant enough. We sent out three hundred invitations, but we ended up with far more than thirty tables of guests, didn’t we? They came in unstoppable waves, like a tide. The situation nearly spiraled out of control. We had to book three extra hotels at the last minute just to handle everyone. The whole street was buzzing with gossip. It created a very bad impression."

"That’s because..." Grandma Tang glanced at her daughter-in-law, then stopped herself. She suddenly shot Grandpa Tang a glare. "Hmph! What do I care about a ’bad impression’? Who am I bothering by throwing a party for my own grandsons? I’m going to do whatever I please. If people want to gossip, let them! They’ve clearly got too much time on their hands!"

"Look at you," he retorted. "Can’t you be a little more reasonable? You’re less sensible than my baby grandson."

As he spoke, Grandpa Tang snatched the quiet, well-behaved grandson from Grandma Tang’s arms. He watched as the baby swiveled his jewel-black eyes to meet his, looking as if he were pondering some profound problem. The baby then reflexively blew a milk bubble, which suddenly popped. Startled, the little guy’s eyes flew wide in utter confusion. The sight made the old man roar with laughter.

Ai Wenli came over with a handkerchief to wipe the baby’s mouth. Smiling at her mother-in-law, she said, "I agree with Dad, Mom. Let’s just have a couple of tables at home. I don’t think it’s a good idea to throw a huge party for every little thing."

Grandma Tang huffed. "You all didn’t let me finish! That was my plan from the start: our family, the Gu family, and my... my mother’s side of the family. Just four tables, right here at home. It’s just that society now expects everything to be simple and frugal. Back in the day, the 100-day banquet was an incredibly important event!"

Ai Wenli breathed a sigh of relief to hear her mother-in-law say she wasn’t planning a big banquet. But then she heard the rest of the sentence. When her mother-in-law faltered while mentioning her "mother’s side of the family," Ai Wenli involuntarily lowered her head and frowned. Grandpa and Grandma Tang didn’t notice their daughter-in-law’s emotional shift, but Xiao Man, who was sitting by the other cradle with her book trying to lull the other baby to sleep, saw it all.

Xiao Man sighed to herself. ’Don’t be fooled by Ai Wenli’s usual bubbly, radiant confidence. Her heart is covered in scars from unspeakable suffering. Her family fell apart when she was sixteen, and she endured countless hardships. She once told me that such life experiences can be converted into intangible assets that serve you for a lifetime, and for that, she holds no resentment. But she could never forgive the betrayal of family.’

That was why she never spoke of her father. When she and Tang Qingshan were getting married, her father was deliberately left out of the discussions and the wedding itself. Grandpa Tang, worried she would be upset about it later, had tried to talk to her about it twice. But Grandma Tang and Tang Qingshan had been her staunchest supporters, and the wedding proceeded without a hitch. As it turned out, the mother of the bride was all that was needed; the father’s presence wasn’t required.

The father in question had kept quiet at first. But after Ai Wenli gave birth to twins, he made a forceful comeback, asserting his status as their maternal grandfather. The chaos at the full moon celebration—the sudden surge of uninvited guests who were blocked by security, nearly causing a riot—had been instigated by him.

At the time, full of righteous indignation, he had bellowed at the security guards blocking his path: "I am Tang Qingshan’s father-in-law! The babies’ maternal grandfather! I have more right to be at this celebration than anyone! On what grounds are you stopping me?"

Gu Qifan, who was in charge of perimeter security, was scratching his head in frustration. ’He’s not wrong,’ he’d thought. ’This man is the patriarch on Ai Wenli’s side. How can I not let him in? If we block him any longer, the whole of Beijing will gather to watch the show. The situation will just escalate.’ Left with no other choice, he had let him through.

What he hadn’t considered, however, was just how many people in Beijing were desperate to attend a Tang family banquet. Unable to get invitations, they were all trying every trick in the book to get in. It’s a mystery how they learned about the troubled history between Ai Baoguo and Ai Wenli, but they all rallied under the banner of being "friends of the Ai Family." A whole swarm of them surged into the hotel right behind Ai Baoguo, scrambling over each other to hand over their red envelopes and gifts... Afterward, Grandpa Gu absolutely tore into Gu Qifan for it, berating him for being so careless and thoughtless.