CHAPTER 852: CHAPTER 828: THROWING MY GREAT-GRANDSON UNDER THE BUS

The motorcycle rode for over an hour, and the two finally reached their destination.

Earlier, this area appeared to be an ordinary residential community, but after another half an hour on the motorcycle, they arrived at their current location.

It was obviously dirty, broken, and chaotic, with a complex mix of people, not even belonging to a regular residential district.

Here, almost dozens of households lived together in a large courtyard.

When Hao Zhigang stopped his motorcycle, the men and women in the courtyard, who were washing clothes and picking vegetables, immediately looked up.

"Oh, Xiao Hao, who did you bring back? Is it your girlfriend? Your great-grandmother hopes every day that you’ll quickly bring home a wife. Could today be the day you meet the parents?"

Hao Zhigang laughed cheekily, "Aunt Meng, you’re worrying about too much every day. Where’s my great-grandmother? Isn’t she sunning herself in the courtyard today?"

Looking around, he didn’t see a trace of his great-grandmother.

Aunt Meng laughed good-naturedly, seemingly getting along well with the neighbors.

"Your Uncle Hao came, you’d better go take a look. I’ve been worried about your great-grandmother being taken advantage of, but the two of them are behind closed doors, not letting others in, and there’s no sound either."

Aunt Meng quietly advised him.

Upon hearing this, Hao Zhigang hurriedly called Jiang Xiaoxiao, "Sister, come with me."

In a fluster, he quickly headed to a room at the corner of the courtyard, reached out to push the door, only to find it locked from the inside.

"Great-grandmother, great-grandmother! I’m back, open the door."

Hao Zhigang became anxious.

His uncle was no good. Last time, because of a shop, he caused his great-grandmother to faint and be hospitalized. Could it be that he’s upset her again this time?

The door suddenly opened.

Hao Zhigang’s knocking hand almost hit the face of the man standing in front.

It was the face of his uncle that annoyed people.

"Uncle."

No matter how much he detested this man before him, he was still his elder, so he had to call him uncle out of decorum.

"Why the clamor? How old are you now?"

His uncle rolled his eyes, didn’t even look at Jiang Xiaoxiao, turned, and walked in.

Hao Zhigang gave a look to Jiang Xiaoxiao, then went inside himself.

Jiang Xiaoxiao followed along.

This family is really strange.

Is this one of those hidden families?

The people from the Ancient Medical World are really no different from common folks outside.

The room wasn’t big; immediately upon entering was a living room, with a sofa, kept very tidy, giving a refreshing feeling.

Though it didn’t look luxurious, it reflected elegance in its simplicity.

A woman wearing a cheongsam sat on the sofa, looking not much older than forty, without a trace of grey hair at her temples.

Her brows and eyes were graceful like a painting, her gaze sharp, and her smile gentle.

She evoked a strong sense of friendliness, a desire to be near her.

That uncle sat opposite the woman; the age gap between the two was evident.

Looking around the room again, Jiang Xiaoxiao was puzzled, she didn’t see anyone else.

Could it be...

Hao Zhigang directly unveiled the mystery.

Stepping forward, he called to the woman.

"Great-grandmother, you’re not in good health, the doctor said you need plenty of rest, what if you end up in the hospital for not listening?"

Hao Zhigang lovingly chided the elderly woman, while revealing a touch of protectiveness.

Jiang Xiaoxiao’s expression of surprise made the woman smile.

She gestured with her hand, "Child, come sit!"

The uncle, on the other hand, looked irritated.

"Grandmother, think about what I said, the Wang family wants the recipe for the Youthful Appearance Pill, you should give it to them. The Hao family is already in turbulent times, barely holding on, and within the family, no one has the ability to make the pill, nor can we gather the materials. It would be better to sell it to the Wang family as a goodwill gesture. The Wang family has agreed to give our two families a store on the main street of Medicine God Street as compensation without taking our recipe for free. Think about Jianguo and the others, they’re your great-grandchildren. The family is struggling, we can’t just guard the dead recipe and watch as we starve!"

The tone was urgent, with a hint of coercion.

The elderly woman looked at her grandson, her eldest grandchild, the heir of the Hao’s legacy.

Once, she had high hopes for him as the successor.

Now he’s reduced to this, for a trifling profit, he sets his sights on the ancestral secret recipe.

She cannot make the Youthful Appearance Pill, but it doesn’t mean the Hao family will decline with her.

Short-sighted, small-minded, focusing only on immediate gain.

"Say no more, I do not agree with this. The recipe is in my mind. If anyone has the ability to extract it from my head, be my guest. If not, eating chaff and swallowing vegetables is your fate."

Uncle Hao snorted coldly and stood up.

"Grandmother, then don’t blame us for being rude. The secret recipe was passed down by the ancestors of the Hao family to the descendants of the Hao family. You are at most a caretaker. Logically, the recipe should be passed to me. If you don’t give it to me, there’s nothing I can do, but that shop belongs to the Hao family’s inheritance, the property title bears my great-grandfather’s name, and if you don’t give it to me, I can only reclaim the shop. Can’t watch your grandchildren starve to death."

Hao Zhigang was angry, "Uncle! The shop was agreed to be my dad’s during the family division, how can you now go back on your word?"

During the division, his elder and second uncles took over the best three shops in the family, leaving this small, remote shop to his father.

Now they want to snatch it too.

Is this something a person would say?

His parents aren’t here, but the great-grandmother and he rely on this shop to barely make a living.

Without the shop, do they drink the northwest wind?

Uncle Hao sneered, "That depends on your great-grandmother’s decision. If we can’t survive, we naturally have to find a way. The shop is in my father’s name, not your private property. You should persuade your great-grandmother to think openly, hoarding those dead things won’t help, they can’t feed us."

He stood up and left.

He slammed the door hard, almost breaking the glass.

Hao Zhigang was so angry his face turned green.

"Bastard!"

He kicked the pillar in the corner of the wall hard.

"Child, you are?"

Ms. Hao spoke in a soft voice, so gentle it was as if water could drip from it, reminiscent of Jiangnan’s soft Wu dialect, instantly calming those who heard it.

Only then did Hao Zhigang remember that Jiang Xiaoxiao was still there.

"Great-grandmother, this is Fan Xiao. She came to see you."

He took out the jade pendant from his holding and handed it to the elderly lady.

The woman in front of them, upon seeing the jade pendant, became immediately excited.

She grabbed it, meticulously examining it over and over.

Then filled with excitement, she looked at Jiang Xiaoxiao.

"I thought I would never see it in this lifetime, never expected it to be returned. I promised to repay the favor back then. What relation do you have to Ah Mei? Her granddaughter?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao shook her head, "I’m not, I was sent by her with a commission. How should I address you?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao didn’t know if she should address her according to Old Mrs. Song’s ranking or by Hao Zhigang’s generation.

The elderly lady laughed.

"Child! Just call me grandmother."

Hao Zhigang’s face darkened, making him a generation younger for nothing.

His great-grandmother just couldn’t be counted on, completely ignoring him.

Was she setting up her great-grandson?