"Oh my, after all these years, you're still every bit as grand as ever, my dear older sister."
As the voice drifted into the hall from outside, Grandmother Ji's hand stilled over her prayer beads.
When a figure in a black-and-gold phoenix-patterned qipao and a green shawl slowly walked in, Cheng Yue's eyes went wide.
Cheng Wenqing swept her smiling gaze around the room. The moment it landed on someone, her eyes lit up, and she strode over with a briskness that gave no hint she was nearly seventy.
"Yueyue!"
Cheng Yue blinked in disbelief. "Grandma Cheng!?"
Taking his hand, Cheng Wenqing chided him in a tone of playful reproach. "Look at this child! He's so happy to see me, he doesn't know what to do with himself!"
"By rights, you should be calling me Great-aunt!"
At those words, astonishment flashed across every face in the hall.
Grandmother Ji's already surprised eyes suddenly narrowed.
Seemingly oblivious, Cheng Wenqing continued chatting with Cheng Yue, holding his hand with an easy smile. "Your grandfather and I shared the same mother, and you're his only grandson."
"But Great-aunt sounds far too distant. Listen to me-just call me Grandma!"
Cheng Yue had yet to recover from her sudden appearance. After a few stunned seconds, he looked into the elderly woman's expectant eyes.
Almost instinctively, he murmured, "Grandma..."
"Yes!"
Cheng Wenqing's eyes immediately grew wet. Her warm palm stroked his hand again and again with tender affection.
Cheng Yue lowered his eyes to the back of her hand, etched with the marks of time, and repeated clearly and firmly, "Grandma."
Cheng Wenqing nodded, choked with emotion. "Good boy. Such a good boy."
When they had brought Cheng Wenzhuo home, Cheng Yue had never once called her Great-aunt. She knew he was deliberately drawing a line