A Beijing socialite stole my boyfriend; she went crazy after I got married.

Jiang Chu had lunch at the restaurant on the top floor of the club.

This space is exclusively for VIP members. The floor-to-ceiling windows face the outline of a rolling green mountain range, and the light is clean and clear.

The mother and son next to me were discussing fitness.

She glanced silently at the plate in front of Sigrid.

A grilled salmon with quinoa salad, a bowl of clear beef tendon soup, and a main course platter with brown rice as the base and several different plant protein sources.

It contains no refined sugar, no heavily seasoned dishes with rich sauces, and uses seasonings sparingly.

Jiang Chu: "..."

For a moment, she wanted to hide her little scoop of ice cream.

We said goodbye after lunch.

Sigrid had a keynote speech scheduled for the afternoon. She twirled her car keys twice in her hand, nodded casually to the two of them, and then turned and left.

Xie Jing was used to this, and put his arm around Jiang Chu. "Let's go."

"Hmm? Where to?"

The car drove back to the city from the outskirts of Beijing, turning into a deep alleyway hidden by tall old locust trees, almost invisible on the map.

This land seems to be imbued with an ancient atmosphere, truly rooted in the bricks and soil.

At the end of the alley stood an extremely tall vermilion gate.

The bronze door knocker on the door has been oxidized to a dark brown over time, and above the lintel is a plaque with the two characters "Xie Mansion" neatly engraved.

Jiang Chu stood in front of the gate, looking up at the plaque for several seconds. "Is this the Xie family's old residence?"

"Yes."

Xie Jing pushed open the heavy vermilion door, the copper hinges emitting a deep and resonant hum.

This is a well-preserved traditional courtyard house, but it is larger in scale, with four courtyards, from the hanging flower gate to the covered corridor, from the east wing to the west courtyard, and from the main hall to the back garden.

The traditional blue brick floor, the carved windows, and the remaining painted decorations on the pillars have faded with time, leaving only blurred background colors and outlines.

In the center of the courtyard stood several extremely thick old locust trees, their trunks requiring two people to encircle them. Their bare branches stretched out their gnarled outlines against the winter sky, and the ground was covered with a carpet of fine, withered leaves.

Jiang Chu looked around and asked, "When was this built?"

"This place was originally the private property of a high-ranking official from the previous dynasty. It was bought by our family two hundred years ago, and we have since expanded upon it. Look at that row of buildings in the west wing—"

He pointed to the window frame of the west corridor.

"The window frame uses the mortise and tenon structure of the 'Step by Step Brocade' style, but the window frame is finished with Western-style arched moldings. This approach was very typical in Beijing in the last century. They wanted to highlight their Chinese roots while also moving towards the West in form, so this kind of mixed aesthetic appeared in the house."

Jiang Chu looked in the direction he pointed.

Sure enough, above the window frames of that row of corridors, I saw an extremely delicate Western-style arched relief trim, which contrasted with the Chinese-style latticework below.

"Wow, that's quite interesting," she said with interest. "Do you know anything about architecture? Did you study it when you were a kid?"

"No, I had very few entertainment options when I was a child here, so I know a lot about things in the house..."

Xie Jing walked along the corridor. "Think about it, back then there were no cell phones. Computers could only play Minesweeper and Solitaire, and my husband didn't like me playing them. We argued about it many times."

Jiang Chu watched his retreating figure in silence.

Jiang Chu: "What minesweeper?"

Xie Jing turned around.

Xie Jing: "...The games that come pre-installed on the computer can be played without an internet connection."

He led her through the hanging flower gate and into the second courtyard.

The layout here is more private than the first courtyard. The main hall's door is tightly closed, and several pots of withered herbs that have survived the winter are placed under the corridor. There is a pot of cycad that is still alive, silently sprouting a few dark green leaves next to the steps of the main hall.

Jiang Chu looked around the yard. "I'd like to hear more funny stories about your childhood!"

Xie Jing hesitated for a moment, "When the old man brought me from Reykjavik..."

The man's voice sounded particularly deep in the quiet courtyard.

"I don't speak Mandarin very well. I can understand it, but there are some things I can't express. When I see a dish I like at the dinner table and want the kitchen to make another one, he pretends not to understand. My older brother asks someone to make it for me, and then the old man gets angry and says that he spoils me. Then they start arguing."

"My God, you're only five years old," Jiang Chu followed him, "...sigh, he's gone, otherwise we would definitely have argued too."

"What a pity," Xie Jing chuckled lightly, "I was actually looking forward to you calling him 'old turtle'."

Jiang Chu was speechless. "...You haven't forgotten this, have you? Just because I curse my dad like this doesn't mean I'll curse your dad like this!"

"That's true, after all, turtles live quite long."

"..."

Xie Jing stopped in front of the main hall steps, looked up at the heavy, tightly closed door, and his lips twitched silently.

"After I became fluent in Mandarin, we argued more. He complained that my handwriting was bad, that I was bad at Go, and that I was lazy when learning piano."

He paused.

"Of course, I argued with my older brother the most. They would shout in the main hall, and the old man's voice could be heard through the crack in the door and even reach the back garden. My older brother didn't have that much strength, and he got annoyed after a while..."

They turned past the main hall and walked along a winding path paved with blue bricks toward the third courtyard.

"When I grow a little taller, the old man will start hitting me, but I usually run away whenever I can. I usually run from the west wing to the back garden, then from the back garden to the east courtyard, running a whole circle around the yard..."

Xie Jing thought for a moment, "He'll have someone stop me, but it'll just be a show..."

Jiang Chu couldn't hold back anymore. The scene seemed somewhat comical, and she also thought Old Man Xie was really too irritable. "How could someone like him hit a child so easily?"

Xie Jing raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Jiang Chu was taken aback.

"Indeed, he was the head of a top-tier industrial family in the north, had met the top leader, and had tea with dignitaries from many countries. He received the best education from childhood to adulthood, spoke eloquently, and behaved with propriety. You couldn't find a single fault in any formal occasion."

Xie Jing shook his head slightly, "Otherwise, my mother wouldn't want to go on a date with him either."

He turned his head and glanced at Jiang Chu. "But these things are different from how he treats his children at home."

"The more education a person receives, the more trouble they sometimes become. Some people may hit their children just to vent their anger, and there's a chance they'll regret it afterwards."

Xie Jing continued, "But he has enough knowledge to find a self-consistent logic for every action he takes. When he hit me, he didn't think it was out of control; he thought it was discipline, and he had a whole set of reasons to support this judgment—rules, responsibility, and what kind of people the next generation of the Xie family should be. He has read enough books, so he can explain this logic quite well. The more he explains, the more he feels he is right."

Jiang Chu nodded, "...Indeed."

She subconsciously thought of Xie Qingyang.

Although Xie Qingyang and Old Man Xie are certainly far from being the best in terms of real skill, they both seem to fit this statement.

"So," Xie Jing said casually, "don't have any romanticized notions about wealthy and powerful families."

Jiang Chu was silent for a few seconds, "Actually, I didn't have much left to begin with, after all, there are examples like Qiao Yi, whose academic performance wasn't very good either."

Even if something is good, it may not be useful. Money and education can coat a person with a very thick shell, but what is inside the shell is another matter.

Xie Jing walked along a covered walkway at a leisurely pace. "If an ordinary father loses his temper and hits his child, the neighbors might hear it, some might gossip, and some might knock on the door to try and calm him down. But living in a place like this—"

He slightly raised his chin, gesturing towards the quiet, four-courtyard mansion.

"The courtyard wall is so high that nothing can be heard outside. Apart from my eldest brother who would protect me, no one in the family dares to say a word. He also has his own rationalization system for this matter. So he never thinks there's anything wrong with it."