Chapter Fifteen: “What do you mean, great-grandfather?”

The system noticed that a “villain value” progress bar suddenly surged upward, nearly reaching one hundred percent.

But, but it wasn’t yet time for An An to come into contact with them, so even the system couldn’t tell which villain this villain value belonged to.

This troubled the system greatly.

Time hadn’t come; An An had no way to interact with them, and nothing was displayed on its end.

After some thought, the system decided not to tell An An for now—after all, it would be pointless to reveal it prematurely.

“Oh, isn’t this the little girl from Old Yin’s circle of friends? Why is she at Jin Qiao’s place? Did Yuan Xun bring the kid over to play?”

Old Master Lu saw An An sitting on the ground playing with dirt as he reached the doorway, his face full of curiosity.

“Old Chen, don’t follow me yet. I’ll go take a look first,” Old Master Lu said, hands clasped behind his back, tiptoeing over to her. He squatted down beside An An, tilting his head to see what she was doing.

An An suddenly felt as if the sky had darkened. When she looked up, her eyes met Old Master Lu’s.

An An: “!”

Startled, she fell backward, and Old Master Lu quickly reached out to support her.

He smiled kindly. “Which family’s child are you? Why are you playing here all alone?”

An An tilted her head, studying Old Master Lu carefully, then stood up, bowed to him, and said, “Thank you, grandfather.”

Then she turned and ran away.

The sudden movement caught Old Master Lu off guard, and An An quickly disappeared from his sight.

She ran to the door, glanced back as if to confirm whether Old Master Lu was following, and seeing he did not move, she felt reassured and opened the door to go inside.

[System: …] I—I didn’t even get a chance to speak.

Old Master Lu stood still, watching An An’s actions. After a moment, he burst out laughing.

“This child… such a cute reaction.”

Just then, Steward Chen came up beside him. “Old Chen, did you see that? That little girl even said thank you to me, then ran off laughing.”

Steward Chen nodded. “I saw it; she really is a very adorable little girl.”

Old Master Lu chuckled a bit more before moving on.

Meanwhile, An An was telling Uncle Lin about the strange grandfather she had just encountered. At that moment, the “strange grandfather” walked in.

Seeing Old Master Lu, An An hid slightly behind Uncle Lin, tugging his sleeve, then peeked out from behind his legs to whisper.

“Grandpa, the strange grandpa I saw was that one… but, how did he get into our house?”

Uncle Lin looked where An An was pointing and realized she was talking about Old Master Lu.

He lifted An An into his arms and approached, introducing them to each other.

“Old Master, this is An An, the gentleman’s daughter. An An, this is your great-grandfather.”

Old Master Lu looked at An An with surprise.

Upon closer inspection, he suddenly realized that An An did resemble Lu Jin Qiao in some ways, though An An’s eyebrows and eyes were softer, while Lu Jin Qiao’s were sharper.

That was why he hadn’t immediately connected the two.

Now that he saw clearly, Old Master Lu became even happier.

He reached out both hands, wanting to embrace her.

An An glanced at Uncle Lin, and seeing him nod, she leaned toward Old Master Lu.

Old Master Lu held An An, staring curiously, growing more fond the longer he looked.

“An An? Is that your full name?”

An An shook her head; she knew what a full name was because her father had told her.

“An An’s full name is Lu Yu’an!”

When she said her name, she was clear and precise—something Lu Jin Qiao had taught her before. An An learned her name quickly; after two or three lessons, she could say it and recognized the characters, though she couldn’t write them yet.

“Is that so? Such a lovely name.”

An An nodded. “Daddy chose it! It’s beautiful!”

Old Master Lu smiled, one arm around An An while tapping his knee with the other.

Teasing her, he said, “Your father didn’t tell me about you. When he comes back, I’ll have a good talk with him!”

Hearing this, An An suddenly grew anxious.

“No, don’t mention Daddy. Daddy is good! Don’t mention Daddy, great-grandpa is good too! Don’t mention Daddy, okay?”

She clung tightly to Old Master Lu’s arm, her little mouth moving rapidly, speaking clearly and fluently for the first time.

Seeing her about to cry, Old Master Lu hurriedly said, “Okay, okay, we won’t mention Daddy, we won’t mention Daddy. Don’t cry, don’t cry, darling, great-grandpa is just teasing you.”

“An An’s not crying! An An’s just, just, just blown by the wind!”

That was something An An had seen on TV.

The last time she watched a cartoon, there was an advertisement with this line, and An An had memorized it.

“Oh dear, great-grandpa didn’t know about you before, so he didn’t prepare a gift. Next time, great-grandpa will make it up to you, alright?”

An An shook her head. “No gifts, great-grandpa playing with An An is enough.”

Jumping down from Old Master Lu’s lap, An An took his hand and stood up, leading him to play with her toys.

She had a dollhouse model that Lu Jin Qiao had bought for her after noticing her fondness for it.

She had assembled a little of it herself, but her hands were soft and weak, so the construction wasn’t very sturdy.

Now, An An was taking Old Master Lu to work on it with her.

Pointing to a section on the floor cordoned off, she said, “Great-grandpa, let’s build this.”

This was a special toy room Lu Jin Qiao had set up for An An, with a thick carpet on the floor to keep her warm while sitting.

The toys were stored in a three-tiered cabinet; An An could reach the top shelf by standing on tiptoes. Frequently played toys were on the lower two shelves, while the less-used ones were on the third tier. The cabinet was huge, custom-made by Lu Jin Qiao with three surrounding walls.

Various toys were arranged atop it.

Recently, An An favored models, which were kept separately on the bottom shelf.

To divert Old Master Lu’s attention, An An had brought him over to assemble them together.

Old Master Lu sat on the carpet beside An An.

He had planned to help her with a piece, but was surprised to see how skilled she was, assembling layer by layer following the instructions.

When she couldn’t press a piece firmly, she’d ask Old Master Lu to help, even directing him to find the right blocks.

Because An An’s hands were small, Lu Jin Qiao had bought slightly larger blocks for her to handle better.

Old Master Lu happily accompanied An An in assembling the model.

Suddenly, An An looked up. “Great-grandpa, do you want some water?”

Old Master Lu was taken aback but smiled and replied, “Great-grandpa isn’t thirsty yet. An An, do you want some water?”

An An nodded. “An An wants water. Great-grandpa, wait here for a little bit, I’ll be right back.”

Old Master Lu nodded. “An An, go quickly. Great-grandpa will wait right here for you.”

An An ran off to ask Uncle Lin to pour her a glass of water. Just as she was drinking, she suddenly vanished into thin air.

An An: “Hmm?”

Turning around, she saw Lu Jin Qiao.

Her eyes lit up. “Daddy!”

“Hm, where’s your great-grandpa?”

An An: “Hmm? What great-grandpa?”