The Silent Siren and Her Affectionate King

Chapter 4

The maid snobbishly looked at her and turned around, silently signaling them to follow her. "The staff here don't have manners," Grandma Hua mumbled.

Vivian didn't notice the attitude of the maid and left their bags at the entrance of the house before following her inside. They soon reached big brown doors, and the maid knocked on them. Someone from the inside immediately opened the doors in response.

Vivian and her Grandma Hua walked inside. There was a man with salt and pepper hair dressed in a suit sitting beside a woman whose face looked vaguely similar to Vivian's, wearing a snug, green dress. On another sofa, there was a girl who looked around her age swearing a flower-patterned dress sitting elegantly and a cute, younger boy in overalls around five years old playing a game on his smartphone.

The older man stood up as they approached and cleared his throat. "Hello, Vivian, Auntie Hua," he greeted. "I am Richard Zhou, the son of the head of the house. Unfortunately, Father is too weak to come, and Mother is currently taking care of him, or they'll greet you themselves. I'm glad you've finally decided to come to live with us," Richard says amiably and continues.

"This is my first child and daughter, Ashley. She's around your age, and you'll be attending the same school as her. This younger boy is my son, Alex. He just turned five years old this year," he introduced. "As you've probably realized, the lady over there is your mother, Lina," he said. Vivian just glanced at her before looking at Mr. Zhuo again.

"The place where you'll be living is located near here. Someone will be showing you the way in a while," Richard said.

"Thank you for inviting us to stay here, Mr. Zhuo," Grandma Hua finally spoke.

"Please call me Richard, Auntie Hua, and it's our pleasure to accommodate my wife's family members," he smilingly said. While they both chatted, the atmosphere between Vivian's estranged mother and her was awkward. After all these years, Lina's guilty conscience over cheating on her ex-husband and leaving her daughter slowly decreased. Ashley was the daughter anyone would want to have; intelligent, beautiful, and pleasant, she was the object of envy of both boys and girls in her school. Lina was incredibly proud to be the stepmother of someone so accomplished.

Vivian didn't mind the silence; she just sat down and watched videos on her phone. Ashley, who was observing the room, suddenly spoke to her.

"Vivian, I'm excited that we'll be attending the same school starting next week! The school campus is nice and big, so if you have any questions, you can approach and ask me about anything! The way our class system works isn't like other ordinary schools. There's a hierarchy in which students use their six years in high school to advance, with white being the top class and violet being the bottom class. There are also the gold and black classes, but that's where the best of the best are placed. The school also holds random tests and contests, which give us chances to be able to be promoted to a higher grade! I'm currently in Tier 2 red class aiming for the gold class, but since you're a transferee, you'll be placed in the violet class," Ashley said sweetly.

Vivian lifted her head and hummed in acknowledgment before going back to watching her videos again. Vivian didn't care about the school hierarchy; she mainly moved to the city so that her grandma could have better access to the medical facilities in the city if an emergency ever happened. While the hospital that cared for her father in the province was good, she knew one in the city would be better.

Ashley wasn't satisfied with her reaction. She grew up with attention and has always expected people to fawn over her. She was someone who had accumulated a lot of experiences over the years; from playing instruments to painting to joining math competitions and beauty pageants, she knew what her worth was. Vivian not taking heed of her somewhat irked her off.

"Mom, I'm going to practice my piano now. It's nearing three-thirty anyways, and Professor Huang might arrive anytime soon," Ashley told her stepmom. Lina, who was listening to the interaction earlier, also felt vexed by the lack of reaction that Vivian gave. After all these years, she thought that Vivian would have grown up, but she was the same expressionless and unfeeling girl that she left all those years ago. She initially had little guilt, which was diminished just like that, believing she made the correct choice back then.

"Alright then, I'll go with you. I want to greet Professor Huang, too," she said, smiling at Ashley. Professor Huang was a famous pianist who occasionally held seminars in various universities. After almost a year of persuading, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou finally convinced Professor Huang to give classes to Ashley just a few months ago.

Lina called out to her son Alex, who was watching a video with Vivian on her phone.

"Ah? But I still want to watch with big sister..." he worriedly said.

"Your big sister Ashley is going to learn the piano now. Don't you want to join her? And you can watch the video on your phone later," Lina cajoled. Alex thought it was true and got off the couch. "Goodbye, big sister!" Alex waved cutely and ran away.