Well, Tang wasn't surprised, in fact she was used to it.
This was the very first mansion Tang built under their name, and her grandfather resided here. Due to his frugal nature, there weren't many servants here, only the necessary ones.
"Xixi," An old man in his early seventies folded the newspaper he was reading, and stood up the moment he saw Tang Xi.
His face had wrinkles that looked deeper at the eyes with his jovial smile, his black eyes full of happiness after seeing his granddaughter after months.
Tang Min was very old, however, the past years seemed to have been very kind to his hair, as they were as thick as ever. The thick layer of Tang Min's grey hair was neatly combed adding to his clean-shaven face and sharp features to make him look, one neat old man.
"Grandpa," Tang Xi returned an equally radiant smile, as she went forward and hugged her grandfather. "I missed you so much. How are you?"
"I'm fine, and I can see you are in good health too. You haven't eaten your dinner yet, I suppose."
"Why would I? Didn't you invite me for dinner on an urgent notice? Don't be so niggardly, grandpa." Tang Xi said candidly.
Tang Xi's light complaint was responded with a hearty laughter of her grandfather. Well, it was his way of speaking. In actuality, he had been waiting to have dinner together with Tang Xi.
"Housekeeper Zhang, set the dishes on the table."
Housekeeper Zhang bowed in front of Tang Xi, and greeted her with a gentle smile, "Young Miss, how are you?"
"I'm good, Aunty Zhang. How is your back pain?" Tang Xi asked, pulling out chairs for her grandfather and herself. She wasn't someone to wait for being served everything on a silver platter.
Moreover, Housekeeper Zhang had been working for Tang Min for more than thirty five years, and she wasn't treated like a servant here.
"After consulting with your friend's father, he prescribed some new medines, replacing my previous ones. Now it's a lot better than before." Saying, Housekeeper Zhang put the dishes on the dining table.
There were rice, two light dishes, and three non-veg dishes. Tang Min was a strict vegetarian, which meant he had the kitchen prepare the extra three dishes for Tang Xi.
It might seem very normal to outsiders, however, for someone like Tang Min, it was a big deal. Especially eating at the same table with a non-vegetarian, was the hardest thing for him. In his prime, it used to be a deal-breaker in his business. Nonetheless, he could easily compromise it, for the sake of sharing a meal with this granddaughter of his. It only highlighted how much he doted on Tang Xi.
"Do you know the Sunrise Industry in the city centre?" Tang Min asked, before putting some veggies in his mouth using his chopsticks.
"Yeah,"
"I am thinking about renovating it into a new company. Ten storey building on 1500 square metres, it's very good for a startup, no?"
"Absolutely. In fact, It can accommodate enough employees for a first-tier medium sized company." Tang Xi commented.
"Do you want it for your start-up? Free of cost." Tang Min leveled Tang Xi an obsequious stare, as if luring a child with a big candy.
Hearing the offer Tang Xi raised her eyebrow, and tried to see if her grandfather was kidding. She didn't believe any of this, knowing her grandfather's parsimonious nature, she asked sarcastically, "Really?"
"Ye-ah.." Tang Min replied, dragging the last syllable.
With just one word Tang Xi caught something amiss in Tang Min's voice. She knew it beforehand, her grandfather wouldn't just give her a building in the city centre. There had to be a condition behind it; like a few months ago when he gifted her an apartment, she had to top the entrance examination for it.
Tang Xi could count the number of times she received gifts from her grandfather with her fingers. On her eleventh birthday, it was a huge box of drawing materials, then three famous story books, a red packet of 500 Yuan, another red packet of 1000 Yuan, a laptop, iPad, cellphone, then a bike till her eighteen birthday this year.
"What is the condition?" Tang Xi asked straight to the point, without wasting her time in chewing words.
Tang Min gave his smart granddaughter a look, however, didn't say anything immediately; he turned to Housekeeper Zhang beside him and asked, "Bring the white envelope from my study, and give it to Young Missy."
After a while, Housekeeper Zhang returned with a sealed envelope, and handed it to Tang Xi with both hands politely.
Tang Xi was puzzled, but tore open the envelope, and drew out the contents from it nevertheless. It seemed to be a Bio-data of someone, including his picture.
Tang Xi stared at the picture for a few seconds. The man in the picture was indeed handsome; but his handsomeness wasn't of prince charming next door, rather it was that of a knight in shining armour. With his thick black eyebrows, sharp high bridged nose, thin light pink lips, and chiseled jawline, he looked stern yet attractive.
However, Tang Xi wasn't someone to fangirl handsome guys, thus, she put down the picture seemingly uninterested.
"He is the most eligible bachelor in the city currently. Looks, career, achievements, family background everything is just to the point. Being my granddaughter, you deserve the best. There is an auspicious date within a brief window of less than ten days." Tang Min said, his expression was serious.
Tang Xi lifted her head but was unable to see her grandfather's eyes clearly because of his spectacles.
Her face dropped, "You want me to marry him?"
Grandfather didn't answer, so Tang Xi took that as yes.
She had been wondering what the condition would be this time, and also why her grandfather called her for dinner with so much urgency. However, none of the scenarios in her mind could have fitted the bizarre happenstance now.