Inside the innermost private room of the restaurant, footsteps came and went in the corridor outside the door.
An Xiaoyi, with a rare look of disdain, watched the old man gesticulate wildly, sighing with emotion.
“The food here is good, but the soy sauce taste is too strong. I heard the head chef was hired from a five-star hotel, but to be honest, there are still flaws. How can you pair caviar with cocktails? Cold champagne is at least basic common sense…”
The old man chattered on.
An Xiaoyi sighed.
“I had the champagne changed because you tend to get drunk easily. And when you’re drunk, you’re just too… out of line.”
He held back the word ’embarrassing,’ he would never say his family was embarrassing.
“Yiyi…” The old man saw An Xiaoyi’s lips twitch and quickly corrected himself, “Xiaoyi has finally grown up. He’s really like a teacher, and her attire is much more mature than before.”
“How long have you been waiting?”
“Not long. I asked your principal, who said you were in the library. It took me a while to find the library’s location.” The old man smiled, “I came to see you and to give you your birthday present, which I owe you.”
An Xiaoyi took a small gift box.
A belated birthday present, then.
He pursed his lips, “Tha… thanks.”
The old man frowned, “Why thank family? Don’t be so reserved when talking to Grandpa. Be closer, show some happy expression, or even be a bit tsundere and say, ‘I don’t want it at all.'”
“Oh, I don’t really want it, but for Grandpa’s sake, I can reluctantly appreciate it.”
“Open it,” the old man raised his eyebrows.
It was a silver necklace.
An Xiaoyi was slightly surprised, then immediately his face darkened.
“This seems like a gift for a girl.”
“Oh, don’t you think the gift box is quite large?” The old man gestured that there was something else on the lower layer of the box.
After removing the middle partition, there was a handgun.
The old man’s gift had two parts.
An Xiaoyi’s eyes grew stranger.
He picked up the black handgun and waved it at the old man, indicating that he didn’t understand.
The old man waved his hand, “I think watches are too tacky. As gifts for men, don’t you think a handgun is more dashing?”
“Please, I’m a professor, a teacher. What do I need a gun for?” An Xiaoyi rubbed his forehead, “You might as well give me a watch. Only enforcers can carry firearms. The Discipline Department of the Enforcement Bureau will come looking for me soon… And where did you get the gun?”
“Ah! Are you not an enforcement professor?” The old man finally realized.
“Vampire history professor…”
“Didn’t that fellow Farrow tell me he wanted you to be an enforcement professor? I thought you were going to join the Enforcement Bureau, that’s why I let you come. If I had known you were just an ordinary professor, why would I have come?” The old man’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You should also consider that I can only stare blankly in the Enforcement Bureau.”
“That’s not necessarily true. You were quite formidable last night.”
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
“You know everything,” An Xiaoyi no longer concealed it.
He didn’t need to think to know that Principal Farrow had informed him.
He was one of only two humans who knew his identity.
“The principal told me. A count-level vampire died last night, and I knew it was my granddaughter who did it.” The old man, however, had a smug look on his face.
An Xiaoyi lowered his head, continuously gently tapping the edge of the table with his forehead, deeply troubled.
The old man took out a cigar from his pocket, lit it, and exhaled smoke, sighing: “Don’t worry too much, child. I came this time to help you clean up the mess. The Blood Party has taken action, and in the future, Honghu City will become a target closely watched by vampires. To be honest, what you did this time was indeed too sudden.”
An Xiaoyi looked up and thought, “What grudge do the Blood Party and we have?”
“You killed a vampire, and then you ask what grudge the Blood Party and we have.”
“What’s past is past; don’t dwell on it. That’s what Grandpa once told me.”
An Xiaoyi paused, glanced at the closed door, and confessed in a low voice.
“That night, I just happened to want to drink blood, that’s all.”
The old man was silent for a few seconds, then opened his eyes completely and looked at him. “I understand. It was the residual bloodlust because you didn’t replenish your blood in time that night of the Blood Rite. I hope it wasn’t a retaliatory impulse.”
An Xiaoyi took out his phone, went into a forum, and became absent-minded.
“I don’t really care if there’s a Blood Rite or not. I’ve been through it for over ten years; I’m already used to it.”
“Child…” The old man sighed.
An Xiaoyi had no desire to play on his phone, so he put it down, poured a glass of cocktail, and drank it in one gulp.
“Hey,” the old man found it hard to say anything more.
Both looked out the window, neither speaking first, just as in the past.
When An Xiaoyi talked to his family, he would always bring the conversation to a halt.
He always acted as if he cared about everything, but then he would inadvertently complain.
Grandpa coughed twice, and An Xiaoyi turned his head back.
After all, it had been over a month since they last met.
He took a deep breath and apologized softly, “It’s my fault; I caused trouble.”
“Trouble? What trouble?” The old man smiled, “I didn’t say there was any trouble.”
“Oh, that’s good then.”
“There are only a few old guys left in the Blood Party; there’s nothing fun for them to do with us. They need to worry about themselves first.” The old man squinted and smiled.
“The principal told me about your performance this month. Since it’s good, then I’m relieved.”
“Do you have anything else to do?” An Xiaoyi saw Grandpa constantly checking the watch on his wrist.
“I still have to meet someone, many, many things to do. The train back is tomorrow morning, so I have to finish everything in this half-day.” The old man pushed the box containing the silver necklace closer.
“I hope you like this gift.”
“I like it very much,” An Xiaoyi’s expression was cold.
“Your expression doesn’t look like you like it.”
“Because I’m a bit uncomfortable saying it with this identity. Also, I don’t want to hear the words ‘granddaughter’ anymore.”
“Don’t deny yourself. You are who you are; you can’t change it, and you don’t need to hide it.” The old man patted An Xiaoyi’s shoulder.
He took his umbrella and walked out the door, but An Xiaoyi called him back.
“Grandpa, is there something else you forgot to say?”
“About your parents, there’s no need to rush.” The old man left with that remark.
An Xiaoyi held the necklace in his hand, idly playing with it, as well as the handgun.
Finally, he put them into the box, intending to take them to his dorm.
Walking to the door, he suddenly paused, picking up a photo on the ground that looked like Grandpa had accidentally dropped.
In the photo, with the garden of a manor as the background, two girls, one tall and one short, sat on chairs at night.
The garden was overgrown with untrimmed thorny vines.
Side by side, they twisted the de-thorned vines into braids, as if it were their only pleasure.
The taller girl wore a nightgown, her figure blurry, making it impossible to tell who she was.
The shorter girl wore a delicate black dress, with a vibrant red rose tucked into her hair.
It was An Xue during her childhood.
The night in the photo was her birthday.
Her only gift that night was an accidental encounter with the lost girl in the nightgown.
She received a bouquet of roses and never saw her again.
This photo was secretly taken by his aunt at the time.
An Xiaoyi didn’t want it when he later found out.
“Long time no see,” An Xiaoyi said softly, looking at the photo.
“Even though I don’t know who you are.”
He put the photo away, not intending to return it to Grandpa, and covering his trench coat, he ran back to the dorm in the rain.
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