"Qiao? Why is it not Jiang?" Old Master Jiang asked immediately, his confusion morphing into a frown. His brows furrowed slightly before he turned a sharp, questioning gaze toward his son. "What exactly is going on here, Lukang?"
"Father, you cannot place the blame on us for this. She is the one who flatly refused to change her surname. I already made it clear that she should adopt the family name." Jiang Lukang explained, shrugging his shoulders as though the matter were an inconvenient trifle that had nothing to do with him.
"That's right, Father. She even threatened to leave the moment we brought up the subject of changing her surname." Feng Lan chimed in quickly, backing up her husband's defence without a moment's hesitation.
"It's fine... It's perfectly fine... Keeping her name is not something we need to worry about at this moment." Old Madam Jiang said quickly.
Her voice acted as a balm to smooth over the rising tension before it could escalate into an argument.
Then, without warning or preamble, Old Madam Jiang reached down and removed the exquisite jade bracelet she had personally worn for decades. With a steady hand, she carefully slipped the cool, green stone onto Qiao Meixia's slender wrist.
The room fell into a stunned, breathless silence. Everyone present was visibly shocked by the sudden, monumental gesture.
Feng Lan and Jiang Yanna, in particular, stared at the bracelet with expressions of pure, unadulterated disbelief. Both of them had secretly coveted that specific jade piece for an extremely long time. Within the inner circles of the Jiang family, that bracelet was treated as an invaluable heirloom, possessing both immense monetary value and a potent symbolic weight.
Even Qiao Meixia herself looked genuinely surprised. Her mask of indifference slipped for a fraction of a second as she felt the weight of the jade on her skin.
"Mother, is it really necessary to give such an expensive piece to her so soon?" Jiang Lukang asked bluntly. His dissatisfaction surfaced through his professional veneer. "What if she lacks the sense to keep it? What if she ends up selling it off for quick cash later?"
Old Madam Jiang immediately shot her son a glare so sharp it could have drawn blood.
"Why are you commenting on my choices?" Old Madam Jiang scolded him sternly. Her voice was regaining a commanding strength. "This bracelet is my personal possession. I have every right to bestow it upon anyone I choose."
Jiang Lukang immediately pressed his lips together into a thin, tight line, choosing to swallow his remaining complaints rather than provoke his mother further.
"That's right. It belongs to your mother, so why are you being so aggressive and petty about it?" Old Master Jiang added, reprimanding his son in a tone of deep displeasure. "She can give her belongings to whoever she wants. Besides, it is not as if she gave it to some random outsider. She gave it to your own flesh and blood."
Jiang Lukang lowered his head slightly, his posture subdued after being sternly reprimanded by both of his parents. Even though he felt an intense, burning sense of unwillingness surging deep within his heart, he did not dare to argue any further or voice his dissatisfaction openly. He knew better than to provoke them while the tension in the room was still so thick.
Feng Lan and Jiang Yanna also remained conspicuously silent. However, despite their best efforts to appear composed, their gazes could not help but drift toward the exquisite jade bracelet resting on Qiao Meixia's slender wrist from time to time. That jade bracelet was more than just jewellery. It was the Jiang Family's most treasured heirloom. It had been passed down carefully and reverently from one generation to the next, traditionally reserved only for the daughter-in-law officially acknowledged and embraced by the family.
For many years, Feng Lan had been waiting patiently, and perhaps a bit expectantly, for her mother-in-law to personally hand over that symbolic jade bracelet to her. However, she never expected that, in a sudden twist of fate, the heirloom would actually fall into the hands of her biological daughter instead.
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