Volume 1, Chapter 6: The Daughter is the Second Female Lead in a CEO Romance Novel (6)

“Wow! Chocolate, you’re amazing!” Outside on the lawn, Jiang Ruoxue was chasing after Chocolate.

Inside the house, Shi Yan and Madam Jiang watched the scene unfold.

“What did the doctor say?” Madam Jiang knew that Shi Yan had taken Jiang Ruoxue to see a doctor.

“Ruoxue’s condition is pretty good now. She’s back to normal. As long as we pay more attention to her and care for her more, there won’t be any problems,” Shi Yan answered honestly.

Hearing Shi Yan’s response, Madam Jiang breathed a sigh of relief. If the shadow in Ruoxue’s heart didn’t lift, she would never forgive herself in this lifetime.

It was all her fault for inviting trouble inside. If she hadn’t sent Li Yanhong to Shi Yan’s villa, her precious granddaughter wouldn’t have been bullied. If she had paid more attention, Li Yanhong wouldn’t dare to be so blatant.

“How’s the matter with Li Yanhong being handled?” Just mentioning that name made Madam Jiang’s heart ache.

“Seven years in prison is definitely unavoidable. Mom, don’t overthink it. This isn’t your fault; if anyone is to blame, it’s Li Yanhong for having bad intentions,” Shi Yan said gently, placing his hand on Madam Jiang’s shoulder to comfort her.

“If I had visited Ruoxue more often, Li Yanhong wouldn’t have dared to treat her that way.”

“Mom, your health hasn’t been good. You’ve often stayed in the sanatorium before. How could you have cared for so much? If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I was so busy with work that I didn’t notice anything wrong.”

“Mom, the past is the past. Li Yanhong has received her due punishment. The most important thing now is for the two of us to spend more time with Ruoxue and care for her. You need to take care of your health so you can be there for her.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. I’ll definitely take better care of myself—I still want to see our Ruoxue get married someday!”

“Mom, please don’t say that.” At the mention of this topic, the smile on Shi Yan’s face immediately vanished.

“Children have to grow up eventually. Some things you don’t want to face, but you still have to,” Madam Jiang said, indifferent to whether Shi Yan liked hearing it or not.

*

In the blink of an eye, little Jiang Ruoxue had graduated from kindergarten and become an elementary school student.

To discover Jiang Ruoxue’s interests, Shi Yan took her to try out various extracurricular classes. They found that she especially liked math competitions, martial arts, and the guzheng, and Jiang Ruoxue even took the initiative to ask to learn them.

For this reason, Shi Yan hired a renowned teacher to give her private lessons at home.

Jiang Ruoxue showed a natural talent for martial arts. After just one summer vacation, she had learned many moves and could already do a cartwheel.

“Dad, look! Master Guan just taught me this new move. He said I’m really talented.” Jiang Ruoxue took a running start, leapt lightly, and raised her leg to a full 180 degrees. She executed two kicks in midair so fast that afterimages lingered.

“Awesome!” Shi Yan gave a thumbs-up. As long as Jiang Ruoxue was happy, whatever she chose to do, Shi Yan would support her.

Shi Yan thought the best thing about Jiang Ruoxue learning martial arts was that he no longer had to worry about her being bullied. The only downside was that after one summer, she almost got sunburned.

It was only because Shi Yan applied sunscreen every day and helped protect her that she was spared.

“Come, let me put on some sunscreen.” Shi Yan picked up the sunscreen, opened it, and squeezed out an amount about the size of a coin onto his hand.

Jiang Ruoxue came over and offered her face. Shi Yan skillfully applied sunscreen to her face, then rubbed some on her arms.

“Dad, I’ll put on sunscreen by myself from now on. I’m already a big elementary school student—not a little kid anymore.”

“All right. So, Ruoxue, can we go out now? Today’s your first day at elementary school—you don’t want to be late, do you?”

“Yes!” Jiang Ruoxue slung her little backpack over her shoulder, took Shi Yan’s hand, and headed toward the car.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!” Chocolate even came outside to see her off for a short distance.

“Chocolate, sister is going to school now. I’ll play with you again when I come back.” Just as she had promised back then, Chocolate had always been cared for by Jiang Ruoxue all these years.

Feeding the dog, walking the dog, cleaning up after it—all were her responsibility.

The school Shi Yan chose for Jiang Ruoxue was the same bilingual private school as her kindergarten. It was among the top in the city in terms of facilities, faculty, and campus environment, offering a variety of extracurricular classes for students to choose from.

Accordingly, the tuition fees were surprisingly high, well beyond the means of ordinary families.

Shi Yan chose this school largely because of its strong security measures. The high tuition guaranteed that students attending came from well-off families, so the school invested heavily in security to ensure student safety.

They spent a fortune hiring a group of retired special forces soldiers to oversee campus security.

Barring any unexpected events, Jiang Ruoxue would spend the next twelve years of her education at this school, which included elementary, middle, and high school divisions.

*

For better teaching, the elementary, middle, and high school divisions were separate, each with independent teaching and activity areas, so students at different stages rarely crossed paths.

After about a ten-minute drive, Shi Yan and Jiang Ruoxue arrived at the school.

Shi Yan opened the car door and got out. He reached into the car, and Jiang Ruoxue placed her hand in his. With his support, she successfully got out.

“Wow, Dad, is this my school? It looks like a castle!” Jiang Ruoxue couldn’t help but marvel at the tall building before her.

“Do you like it here, Ruoxue?”

“Yes!” Jiang Ruoxue nodded.

“Jiang Ruoxue!” A child’s voice called out. Shen Tingyu, wearing the same school uniform, saw his old classmate and excitedly ran over.

“You’re going to school here too! We’ll be classmates again!” Shen Tingyu grabbed Jiang Ruoxue’s hand.

Jiang Ruoxue pulled her hand free and coolly stated a fact. “We might not be in the same class.”

Even in kindergarten, although they were in the same big class, they were divided into several smaller classes: Seedling Class, Moon Class, Morning Star Class.

“I’m sure we’ll be in the same class. I have a good feeling about it,” Shen Tingyu said with a grin, not offended.

Shen Tingyu ran over as soon as he got out of the car. His parents, who had just arrived, followed behind.

“Mr. Jiang,” Mr. Shen extended his hand toward Shi Yan.

“Mr. Shen,” Shi Yan politely shook Mr. Shen’s hand and then let go.

Both were businesspeople. No matter how much Shi Yan disliked the Shen family, he still had to keep up appearances.