After My Rebirth, My Husband Pampers Me Everyday!

Chapter 192: SEAT NEXT TO GRANDPA

Being ignored by one was worse.

Being ignored in front of relatives, elders, and Shen Zihao was humiliating.

For the first time that evening, nobody laughed.

Not because they suddenly felt sympathy for him, but because the reality before them was far more uncomfortable than the jokes had been.

Guiying paid no attention to any of it as he continued walking forward without so much as a glance in Deyong’s direction, passing Zhou Meilin and the relatives who had spent the last several minutes discussing about him as though he were not even a person, his attention fixed entirely on the old man seated at the head of the table.

"Grandpa."

The change in Xue Mingzhan’s expression was immediate, and the warmth that appeared on his face was so obvious that several people around the table looked displeased before they could stop themselves, because no matter how many years passed they still could not understand why the old patriarch favored Guiying so openly.

"My boy!"

The old man looked him over carefully, his eyes moving from head to toe as though checking for injuries before a snort escaped him.

"You finally remembered that your grandfather exists."

A faint smile appeared on Guiying’s face.

"I’ve been busy."

"Busy?" Xue Mingzhan scoffed, though there was no real anger behind it. "Too busy to visit this old man?"

Although the words sounded like a complaint, the affection beneath them was impossible to miss, and the sight of the family patriarch treating Guiying with such obvious fondness caused more than one expression around the table to darken.

Guiying crouched slightly beside him.

"It’s nice to see you again."

The old man’s gaze softened immediately.

"Good. At least somebody in this family still knows how to talk."

The remark sounded casual enough, yet several people quietly lowered their eyes because everyone understood exactly where the criticism had landed, especially after the conversation that had taken place before Guiying’s arrival.

Only then did Xue Mingzhan’s attention shift toward Liuxian, and unlike many of the others present, he knew exactly who he was looking at, which was precisely why surprise briefly appeared in his eyes before disappearing just as quickly.

"Little Liu."

Liuxian inclined his head politely.

"Uncle Xue."

The exchange was brief and respectful, yet it still created a ripple throughout the table because hearing the patriarch personally acknowledge Liu Liuxian confirmed what many people were still struggling to believe.

This was not someone who merely resembled Liu Liuxian.

This was truly Liu Liuxian.

The old patriarch looked between the two young men for a moment before a smile slowly appeared on his face, and whatever thoughts crossed his mind remained known only to him.

"Good. Good."

He tapped the table lightly.

"I had seats prepared for both of you."

Several people frowned immediately, because the statement itself was harmless, yet something about the certainty in his tone made them uneasy.

Before anyone could ask what he meant, Xue Mingzhan pointed toward the empty seat beside him.

"Guiying will sit here."

Then he pointed toward the seat on his other side.

"Little Liu can sit here."

The reaction was immediate.

Several people spoke at once, their shock so obvious that they forgot to hide it, because those seats were beside the patriarch himself, and nobody had expected Guiying to be given a position of such importance in front of the entire family.

One of the older uncles was the first to recover.

"Mingzhan, that seat—"

He stopped halfway through the sentence when Xue Mingzhan looked at him.

Not glanced.

Looked.

The courtyard instantly became quieter.

Another relative forced a smile onto his face.

"Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for one of the older grandchildren to sit there?"

The moment the words left his mouth, several people nodded in agreement, because although nobody was willing to say it openly, they were all thinking the same thing.

Why should an illegitimate child sit beside the patriarch?

Why should he sit above legitimate descendants?

Why should he be placed in a position that many of them had spent years trying to earn?

The dissatisfaction spread rapidly through the courtyard, and although some people remained silent, their expressions revealed exactly what they were thinking.

Xue Mingzhan’s smile disappeared.

The change was so abrupt that the atmosphere around the table immediately cooled.

His gaze swept across the room slowly, and the pressure behind it was enough to silence people one after another until nobody seemed willing to continue speaking.

"I prepared those seats myself."

His voice remained calm.

That calmness only made him more intimidating.

"If anyone has a problem with my decision, they are free to leave."

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

The man who had compared Guiying to a stray dog lowered his head first, while the others quickly followed, because no seat at the table was worth challenging the patriarch directly.

Only after the courtyard had become completely silent did Xue Mingzhan turn back toward Guiying, and the sternness on his face vanished so quickly that it was difficult to believe it had ever been there.

"Come."

He patted the seat beside him.

"Sit next to Grandpa."

Xue Mingzhan had not finished adjusting the seat beside him before his attention returned fully to Guiying, and when he spoke again his voice had lost the hardness it used when addressing the rest of the table, replaced instead with something far quieter, almost cautious, as though he were speaking to someone he feared might disappear if handled too roughly.

"You look thinner," he said, studying him properly now, and the observation carried a weight that made the surrounding noise feel suddenly irrelevant.

"Have you been eating properly, or have you been letting people decide things for you again?"

Guiying paused slightly before answering, not out of hesitation but because the tone of the question carried more than simple concern, and when he finally spoke his voice remained steady in a way that did not invite pity or correction.

"I eat when I have time to eat, and I have been managing everything myself, so there is no need to worry about that."

The old man clicked his tongue immediately, not in annoyance but in a kind of long-standing frustration that seemed directed more at time itself than at the answer he had received.

"You always say things like that," he muttered, leaning back slightly as though trying to settle into the reality of Guiying sitting in front of him.

"You always act as though you are fine even when you’re not, and then I only hear about these things from people."

The last part shifted slightly, and for the first time there was something like regret in his expression, as though the memory of missing things had become heavier with age than the things themselves.

"I was sick for a while," Xue Mingzhan said more quietly, his gaze dropping for a moment before returning to Guiying.

"I believed what they said, not bothering to source for the real truth. I believed without ever confirming. That was foolish."