In Jiang Yuyan's room.
Jiang Peizhi and Mo Ruolan stood behind their kids with small smiles adorning their faces. "Do you like it, Yuyan?" she asked. Her eyes were watery as she turned to hug her parents.
"I love it. Thank you so much," she said hoarsely.
Mischievously, Jiang Yang pulled his sister by the arm to extract her body, replaced her by placing himself in his position and copied her words, down to the tone. "I love it, too. Thank you so much!" Despite being startled by the show of affection, the parents smiled warmly.
"Hey!" Jiang Yuyan frowned. "What are you thanking them for? This is my room. Why are you being a drama queen?" she said with a pout on her face.
Jiang Yang turned to look at her and boldly said, "I am thanking them for my room, little crybaby!"
"Who are you calling a crybaby?" she sneered. "You drama queen, why did you scream earlier?" she asked.
Jiang Yang smiled and spoke casually, "You screamed too. I thought that would be the proper reaction, to express my joy just like you." He stuck his tongue out at her. "Now, tell me, who is the real drama queen?"
"You—" She always fell short for words when it came to banter with her brother.
"Let's go inside," Jiang Peizhi interjected, hoping to force the two into quitting their silly argument.
Everyone stepped inside. The room was spacious, bright with the sunlight that filtered through the glass window in the room. The room was painted white and had a huge shelf covering one wall, filled with a plethora of colors. The room had various wooden stands with canvases attached to it, and all kinds of accessories to aid her in her act of creation. The floor to ceiling glass window covered one side, giving an excellent view of the outside. On the other side of the glass, one could see decorative plants, giving the room a taste of flora and fauna. It was perfect; any artist would love it.
Jiang Yuyan was a bright student. While she could have gone into any technically challenging stream like medicine or engineering, she had opted to paint.
When she was young, she traveled with her parents to different countries that were famous for their artistic cultures like Greece, France, Italy, and other European countries. She was mesmerized by the beautiful paintings of the legends.
It was her dream to put to canvas the experiences she had gained from her travels. She wanted to experience the world. Out of all the places she had traveled, she liked Greece and wished to settle there someday. When she was in New York, she would often spend her time at art exhibitions by different artists. Her favorite place was "The Painting Center", a non-profitable art gallery that provided opportunities for emerging, mid-career, and established artists.
"Mom, I thought you want me to just study here. But this..." Jiang Yuyan trailed off, unable to find the words to express her feelings.
"How can I keep you away from what you want to do? Keep doing it. And about studying business management… you can just do it on the side," Mo Ruolan replied.
Both Jiang Peizhi and Jiang Ruolan were aware that Jiang Yuyan was quite unhappy about coming to China. They wanted her to keep painting as it was her lifelong dream. This was why they had prepared such a room for her. With her talent, she could finish the business management course with ease.
Later, they went downstairs for breakfast made by Mo Ruolan. They finished their breakfast and sat in the living room together. It had been a while since the four of them were together, and there was a lot they had to discuss. As they conversed, Jiang Peizhi suddenly spoke out, "I hope you remember that we are going to attend the celebration of elder Lu's marriage anniversary."
"Yes, dad!" they said in unison.
"We're excited to meet grandpa and grandma Lu," Jiang Yuyan spoke brightly. Jiang Yang simply nodded to show his enthusiasm.
"Everything has been prepared, but if you need something for tomorrow, you can go shop for it… only if you are not tired," she said in a firm but affectionate manner, knowing that her kids were particular about such things.
"It's been years since we last visited. We should go out for a walk. What say, sis?" He glanced at his sister.
"Why not," she replied instantaneously.
"Take the driver with you. He will take you wherever you need to go," Jiang Peizhi said with satisfaction.
At Lu Mansion.
Lu Qiang and Lu Lijun were busy admiring the latest piece of technology. A servant knocked on the door to catch their attention and asked Lu Qiang to go downstairs as everyone was waiting for him.
"I'll be there in a few minutes," he said, wondering what had come up all of a sudden. He turned to Lu Lijun. "I need to go to the office; you can continue with your gift." He put on his jacket was headed out when his brother stopped him.
"Brother, I have something for you, too. It's in my room. I'll bring it downstairs." And he dashed out of the room, not waiting for a reply.
When Lu Qiang went downstairs, everyone was waiting for him with gift boxes at their side.
Lu Qiang's birthday had passed a few days ago. Actually, the two brothers shared their birthday. Though Lu Qiang found it childish to celebrate himself, he made grand preparations for his younger brother's birthday.
He took the presents and passed them onto the servants to keep in his room. "I'll open them when I come back from office. I'm a little late, you see…"
"Where do you think you are going? I am not done with you yet." It was elder Lu Huan's voice. He got up and picked a white paper packet and passed it to Lu Qiang. "Here is my gift for you," he said.
Lu Qiang stopped in his track and turned to receive to gift. "Thank you, Grandpa." He was about to place the gift with the others when elder Lu spoke up.
"I went through a lot of trouble to search through my old stuff. This is one of the things from my collection. It is from when I was as young and energetic as you."
Hearing this, the expression on everyone's face changed. They knew for a fact that it would be something gross.
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