If she could help it, Chiang Xiao truly did not want to mention him.
But this man would continue to come before her, and avoiding him was futile.
"Mm," her voice was heavy, "but in my heart, I don’t consider him my uncle. Back then, my grandparents adopted him with great reluctance. Of course, after adopting him, they were still good to him. My grandfather even spent all his savings to send him to be an apprentice, but once he left, he forgot his roots, never came home, and the one time he did come back, it was to change his surname."
Meng Xinian could detect the coldness in Chiang Xiao’s voice toward this uncle.
"He used to be called Chiang Qingjiang, now he’s Deng Qingjiang. It’s been many years since he’s returned to Siyang Village, and he doesn’t inquire about my grandparents at all. So, he’s not really a part of our family."
"No wonder my grandfather seemed so wary when he spoke of him."
Ordinarily, given Chiang Songhai’s honest and kind nature, even if a son was adopted and not his own flesh and blood, he shouldn’t have been so worried.
"I suggested to my grandfather that they should make a will first. Do you think that’s okay?" Meng Xinian asked again. He hadn’t yet discussed this with Chiang Songhai.
For older people in the countryside, the concept of a will might be somewhat hard to accept. They’re still young, without any serious illness, and making a will now could seem inauspicious to some, almost like cursing oneself to die early.
Chiang Xiao was also somewhat troubled by this issue now.
She hadn’t expected that her grandfather had been worrying about this all along.
However, Grandfather’s worries might really not be unnecessary. At first, Deng Qingjiang indeed had a hard time because of his wife’s illness, and they lived through a period of financial struggle.
That’s why, upon seeing the news reports, he started to scheme immediately, hurrying back to Siyang Village to see if he could take advantage of the situation and make some money.
If it wasn’t for her skipping a grade, the timing would have almost matched up, but she didn’t know exactly how the large tomb was discovered at that time.
Previously, Chiang Xiao’s mind was not at all focused on that matter. The discovery of the large tomb on Bai Gu Mountain in Siyang Village couldn’t stop her determination to leave there as soon as possible.
Perhaps it was because she paid no attention to external affairs that she could be so easily deceived.
Chiang Xiao even sent rent payments monthly to her granduncle, renting Chu Liang’s house together with them, also because she would always need to return. When the large tomb in Siyang Village was discovered, she wanted to see it herself after all, since the pen came from there.
Perhaps the timing was off, so despite her and Ge Dejun’s many trips up the mountain, they could never locate the tomb.
Chiang Songhai himself could no longer remember. He always said that on that day, he was in such a daze that he couldn’t recall anything clearly.
And when Deng Qingjiang returned to Siyang Village, he would definitely seek them out. Chiang Songtao and Ho Laidi, unable to extort money from them and realizing they could no longer exploit them at will, would surely exaggerate to Deng Qingjiang how much money they had made.
With Deng Qingjiang’s shamelessness, he would certainly covet those two houses when the time came.
"A will doesn’t sound good, even with a will it wouldn’t solve anything, it might just give him an excuse to pester my grandparents." Meng Xinian thought of making a will because he did not understand Deng Qingjiang.
With Deng Qingjiang’s tactics, what’s a will to him? He would think of many ways to pressure my grandparents into changing their will.
Meng Xinian furrowed his brows, sensing her deep disdain for Deng Qingjiang.
"Then I’ll find you a fake identity to put the houses under that name."
Chiang Xiao was startled, "That’s possible?"