I Am Already A Queen

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Neglected Her Eldest Son

"Where exactly do you think you are going?" Feng Lan’s voice instantly sharpened into a demanding maternal tone the moment she saw Qiao Meixia pushing back her chair. "It is already dark outside."

"Walking to help the digestion." Qiao Meixia answered flatly, offering zero room for argument.

Feng Lan’s lips tightened, but she fell into an annoyed silence upon hearing the flawless, unarguable excuse. Yet, before anyone else at the grand table could utter another word, Jiang Suhan smoothly pushed back his own chair and stood up.

"And where are you going now?" Feng Lan asked once more, her frustration mounting at her eldest son’s unpredictable behavior.

"I am also going for a casual walk to aid with digestion." Jiang Suhan replied with effortless, casual indifference.

Without giving the matriarch a chance to object, his long strides easily closed the distance between himself and Qiao Meixia near the doorway.

"Qiaoqiao, wait up. Let’s walk together." Jiang Yanna shouted.

"Hmm..." Qiao Meixia gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

Under the sharp, heavily watchful eyes of the remaining family members in the dining room, the brother and sister exited the grand mansion side by side, their silhouettes disappearing into the manicured estate gardens.

"Mom..." Jiang Yanna spoke softly, her tone dripping with fragile, melancholic vulnerability the moment they were entirely out of sight. "Why... why does Eldest Brother suddenly care so deeply about Sister Meixia? He has never looked at me that way."

Feng Lan did not offer an immediate response. Instead, triggered by Yanna’s question, her thoughts unconsciously drifted away from the tense dining room, plunging deep into the shadows of the distant past.

Perhaps, deep down, she actually knew the exact, heartbreaking reason.

Back then, when the news of Qiao Meixia’s birth had first reached the estate, Jiang Suhan had been the happiest, most radiant person in the entire Jiang lineage. At that time, Suhan was already a mature nine-year-old boy. For years, he had spent his childhood desperately wishing and praying for a younger sibling to protect.

So, when Feng Lan finally delivered a healthy baby girl, his joy was boundless. He had proudly and boastfully declared to his elite classmates, cousins, and tutors that he finally possessed a cute little sister of his own. Unable to contain his excitement or wait for the official discharge date, the young Jiang Suhan had insisted on visiting the high-end private hospital to see his newborn sister immediately. Eventually, using his status as the young master, he had cleverly persuaded one of the family’s top bodyguards to secretly drive him there ahead of schedule.

Unfortunately, something happened on that day.

Jiang Suhan was later discovered by logistics staff, bleeding and unconscious near the hospital’s isolated rear supply entrance, an area strictly utilised for heavy cargo and industrial deliveries. By the time security forces located him, he had already slipped into a deep coma.

The emergency medical examination was grim. According to the lead neurosurgeon’s diagnosis, the young heir had suffered a catastrophic, localised blow to the back of his cranium from a heavy, blunt instrument, resulting in a severe, near-fatal concussion.

When Jiang Suhan finally woke up days later in the intensive care unit, the lively, cheerful, and talkative child everyone knew had vanished entirely. His core personality had fundamentally altered. He became chillingly quiet, emotionally detached, and intensely reserved. Unlike other wealthy children his age, he no longer desired to play sports outside or mingle with high-society peers. If it weren’t for his persistent cousins practically dragging him out of the mansion, he likely would have spent his entire youth locked away in his private study, silently consuming advanced texts alone.

"Mom... Mom!"

Jiang Yanna’s sharp, insistent voice suddenly shattered Feng Lan’s heavy train of thought.

"What on earth are you thinking about, Mom? I have been calling your name several times, but you completely tuned me out." Jiang Yanna said.

Feng Lan blinked rapidly, her eyes refocusing as she snapped back to the harsh reality of the dining room.

"Forgive me, Yanna. It’s nothing at all." Feng Lan gently shook her head, trying to dismiss the ghosts of the past before adding, "Mom is already quite full. Please continue eating if you are still hungry, sweetheart."

"Oh... Alright." Jiang Yanna smiled with practised, obedient sweetness. "Have a restful evening, Mom."

Feng Lan gave a stiff nod before rising from her seat and exiting the dining room. As her heels clicked slowly up the grand marble staircase, her mind effortlessly slipped back into the unsolved mystery of that decade-old incident.

She vividly remembered demanding answers from Jiang Suhan countless times, begging him to recount what he had witnessed at the hospital that day. Unfortunately, every single time she pressed, his response was an unyielding, flat line. He couldn’t remember a single thing. Not a face, not a motive, not a single detail. Retrograde amnesia from the trauma had wiped the ledger clean.

Naturally, the family patriarch, Jiang Lukang, had been utterly furious back then. His brilliant eldest son had slipped away with only a single guard, and the entire Jiang network had nearly turned the city upside down in a panicked manhunt. However, after weeks of intensive questioning yielded absolutely nothing due to Suhan’s genuine memory block, Jiang Lukang eventually grew frustrated and permanently halted the investigation, burying the scandal from the media.

Fortunately, aside from the severe concussion and the sudden shift to a colder personality, Jiang Suhan did not suffer any permanent cognitive defects. In fact, his strategic intelligence remained exceptionally superior.

In the end, the only individual who paid a physical price for the lapse in security was the elite bodyguard responsible for protecting the young master that day. He was instantly blacklisted and dismissed from high society. He was not able to work as a bodyguard anymore.

Feng Lan did not have much time for Jiang Suhan after giving birth. She poured a lot of her time into her daughter at that time because she actually liked her daughter a lot. Only after she got pregnant and had Jiang Chinan did she remember that she neglected her eldest son.

Later, when she became pregnant again and gave birth to their youngest son, Jiang Chinan, she gradually, subconsciously realised that she had entirely neglected her eldest son’s emotional development for over a decade.

By the time she finally attempted to bridge the chasm and repair their maternal bond, Jiang Suhan’s response had become disappointingly, impeccably lukewarm. He remained flawlessly polite. He remained deeply respectful. But he was fundamentally distant, an unapproachable fortress.

That frozen emotional distance had persisted throughout his adulthood, extending all the way until today. Over the years, Jiang Suhan had evolved into a cold, indifferent titan who viewed the family through a lens of corporate obligation. Yet, the moment Qiao Meixia stepped back across the threshold of this house, for the very first time in over ten years, Feng Lan had witnessed her cold eldest son display a genuine, radiant smile.

"Mom?" A cracking, familiar teenage voice suddenly echoed from above, breaking her reverie. "What are you doing just standing there like a statue on the staircase?"

Feng Lan lifted her head. Jiang Chinan was standing a few steps above her landing, his expression a mix of lingering teenage anger and sheepish embarrassment, having just snuck out of his room.

"Oh..." Feng Lan quickly composed her features, flashing her youngest a doting smile. "It’s nothing, Chinan... Mom was just reviewing some thoughts."

She paused, her eyes softening as she looked at his swollen cheek. "By the way, where are you heading? Are you finally ready to come down and eat your dinner?"

"Yeah..." Jiang Chinan scratched the back of his cheek awkwardly, his eyes darting away as his pride warred with his empty stomach after his earlier explosive outburst.

"Just head straight into the gourmet kitchen and ask the chefs." Feng Lan said gently, reaching out to tenderly pat his shoulder. "I already gave explicit, personal instructions to the staff to keep your prime steak and side dishes perfectly warm."

"Oh... Cool." Jiang Chinan grinned sheepishly, the lingering childish tension finally leaving his shoulders as his appetite took over. "Thanks, Mom."

Feng Lan smiled faintly, her maternal worries temporarily placated, before turning around on the landing and heading back to the quiet sanctuary of her master suite.

Meanwhile, completely detached from the stifling atmosphere of the main house, Qiao Meixia and Jiang Suhan were still leisurely strolling around the sprawling perimeter of the estate gardens.

The main Jiang Residence boasted a remarkably beautiful, expertly designed, and spacious botanical garden. Countless exotic flowers, sculpted hedges, and rare ornamental plants had been carefully cultivated across the manicured grounds by a team of full-time horticulturists.

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