Four home-style dishes were laid out on the table: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried shredded potatoes with chili, tofu with scallions, and pickled vegetables. The staple food was rice porridge.
"Why isn't there any meat dish?" Yin Long complained. "You promised to improve our meals this week, but you call this 'improved meals' just scrambled eggs with tomatoes?"
"You still have the nerve to mention meat and vegetables?" Jiang Sui said fiercely, hands on her hips. "You lecherous second-generation rich kid, how long has it been since you paid your food bill? If it weren't for the fact that you're the vice-captain, I would have kicked you out onto the street to starve long ago."
"Damn it, this rice is thinner than the rice gruel used for disaster relief in ancient times!" Hu Xiao said, unable to bear looking at it. " Xiaoya, next time you cook rice, could you put in more rice?"
Huyan Ya retorted angrily, " Brother Hu, don't you know your own limitations? You're a big eater, you can eat twenty or thirty bowls of rice in one meal. If I don't put in enough rice, this family will go bankrupt from your eating."
Zhou Keyu said, his voice filled with despair, " Suisui, surely our family isn't so poor that we can't even afford a decent meal?"
" Zhou Keyu, don't you know our family's financial situation?" Jiang Sui was furious. "If it weren't for Yaya and me working part-time to support your whole family, you would have been homeless and sleeping on the streets long ago."
Zhou Keyu was speechless.
A few years ago, their parents' inheritance savings were all spent. Not counting daily living expenses, they had to pay more than 2,000 yuan Yueguang the mortgage. Jiang Sui, the younger sister who was in junior high school, and Huyan Ya, who lived at home, took the initiative to shoulder the burden.
They went to school during the day and became "workaholics" at night, working odd jobs in various shopping malls, milk tea shops, and restaurants in Jiangbei District. During the most terrifying period, the two of them had to work four jobs in one night.
Zhou Keyu picked up his bowl of porridge and muttered to himself, "But we shouldn't be so poor that we can't afford to eat."
" Zhou Keyu, have you lost your conscience?" Jiang Sui slammed her chopsticks on the table, her chest heaving. "Everything you wear, everything you eat, and your university tuition—wasn't it all earned by me and Yaya working ourselves to the bone?"
Have you ever earned money yourself?
Zhou Keyu forced a smile and said, "During the summer vacation in July and August, I also made money by livestreaming King of Glory on Douyin."
Jiang Sui asked coldly, "How much money did you make?"
Zhou Keyu scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed, and said, "I'm just two yuan short of the 100 yuan withdrawal threshold."
Jiang Sui crossed her arms and coldly said, "If it weren't for [ Grandpa Zhou ]'s sake, I would have kicked you, my brother who has no blood relation to me, out the door long ago."
Zhou Keyu's expression was complex, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
He was adopted by Jiang Sui's grandfather. Ten years ago, his biological parents died unexpectedly, and he became an orphan. He originally thought that he would be sent to an orphanage by the police.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Sui's grandfather suddenly appeared, insisting that Zhou Keyu was his long-lost grandson, and directly processed the adoption procedures.
Although a kinship test later revealed that Zhou Keyu was not related to Jiang Sui's grandfather by blood, they still lived together as the older brother.
On August 31, 2025, just one month ago, Grandpa Zhou, who had been working in Kyoto, Japan for many years, suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and was admitted to the ICU. He and Jiang Sui rushed to Kyoto, Japan to see Grandpa Zhou one last time.
Despite their haste, they were too late; Grandpa Zhou Grandpa Zhou had passed away. While sorting through his belongings, they discovered dozens of medals, which were immediately sent to the Huaxia Kyoto Consulate General Beijing for authentication. They were all found to be counterfeit.
Zhou Keyu hesitated for a moment before asking, " Suisui, was Grandpa Zhou a soldier before?"
"No," Jiang Sui said indifferently. "I remember my grandfather mentioning to me when I was very young that our family had a bad class background; we were considered wealthy landowners. Back then, my grandfather wanted to join the army, but he didn't pass the political review."
Zhou Keyu stammered, "How do you explain those dozens of medals among Grandpa Zhou's belongings?"
"Didn't the consulate staff say they were all counterfeit goods?" Jiang Sui said impatiently. "Grandpa must have been too obsessed with being a soldier and bought these cheap knock-offs from street vendors."
Jiang Sui didn't have much affection for her grandfather, after all, he had disappeared without a trace after adopting Zhou Keyu.
Zhou Keyu continued, "So, is our grandpa's surname Zhou or Jiang?"
"Zhou is his surname, and Zhou is also his given name," Jiang Sui said, picking up some pickled vegetables. "Grandpa's name is written in black and white on his ID card, just like a top-tier single-character ID in the game Honor of Kings."
Zhou Keyu persisted, " Suisui, doesn't our family have anything like a family tree?"
Although the pile of medals was identified as fake, the stern and imposing aura that Grandpa Zhou exuded on the day he was adopted ten years ago, much like that of a seasoned veteran, remains vivid in my memory.
"Yes, there is a family genealogy." Jiang Sui said with a look of reminiscence in her eyes, "Grandpa treasured it like a precious gem, and even made a small wooden box to store it, placing it in the locked master bedroom, forbidding anyone from entering."
"Master bedroom?" Zhou Keyu was stunned. You see, their house is 150 square meters, with a layout of 5 bedrooms, 1 living room and 2 bathrooms, and there has never been a so-called master bedroom.
"It's the storage room now."
Jiang Sui looked towards the locked room on the east side, her brows furrowed with worry. Just recently, Liuli, in a fit of madness, rushed into the storage room, locked the door from the inside, and warned everyone not to approach.
Huyan Ya stirred the porridge in her bowl with her chopsticks, lowered her eyes, and said, " Sui Bao, don't you find Sister Liuli's strange words and bizarre behavior familiar?"
"Familiar?" Jiang Sui was slightly taken aback.
Huyan Ya's eyes flashed with heartache as she said, "Ten years ago, my sister [ Huyan Lan ] also spoke in a language we couldn't understand, bursting into the storage room crying and screaming, locking herself inside, and forbidding anyone to approach."
"Oh, I remember now."
Jiang Sui's memory gates opened.
Ten years ago, 11-year-old Huyan Lan suddenly barged into their house, acting crazy as if she had hysteria, talking nonsense, rushing into the storage room, rummaging through something, and then grabbing something and running out the door.
Jiang Sui recalled for a moment and said, " Yaya, I remember Sister Lan is recuperating on [ Imperial Crown Island ] right now."
"Uh-huh."
Huyan Ya nodded. Their family was happy and prosperous, a large household on the grassland with cattle and sheep roaming everywhere and vast pastures. But ever since her older sister Huyan Lan was diagnosed with mental illness ten years ago, the family began to fall apart.
In an effort to cure her older sister Huyan Lan's mental illness, her parents took her to major hospitals all over the world. However, not only did they fail to cure her, but her symptoms actually worsened [paranoia][schizophrenia][autism][depersonalization disorder][paranoid personality disorder]...
Ultimately, with no other option, conservative treatment was chosen.
However, the parents were unwilling to send their older sister, Huyan Lan, to a mental hospital, so they spent all their family fortune to buy property for Huyan Lan in the world's best health resort, [ Imperial Crown Island ], for her to recuperate and live a good life.
Jiang Sui said excitedly, "Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary offline gathering on Imperial Crown 'Imperial Crown Island. I should be able to see Sister Lan then."
Huyan Ya waved her little fist and said, "Although I've been texting and calling my sister, she hasn't replied or answered. But this time, we're going to just show up at her door. Whether she wants to see us or not, she'll have to."
Jiang Sui and Huyan Ya exchanged a smile.
Sudden!
Just then...
The door to the storage room opened.