Fortunately, due to Glenn's past life as an assassin, he was highly skilled at recognizing faces and matching them to information. Since they were looking for his grandfather, he scanned the crowd for middle-aged or elderly men who resembled his father.
It only took Glenn a quick glance to narrow it down to three potential candidates. Just as he was about to analyze further, one of them noticed Glenn's gaze. The man smiled warmly and waved at the two children standing amidst the group of travelers from England.
Comparing the man's features with his father's in his mind, Glenn found a striking resemblance. The man's demeanor, however, was quite different—gentler and more refined. Still, Glenn was fairly certain this was his grandfather.
Grabbing Hermione's hand to keep her from wandering off, Glenn led her toward the man. The little girl obediently followed.
With one hand holding Hermione's and the other dragging their suitcase, Glenn approached the middle-aged man.
"Glenn, and Hermione?" the man greeted them in English with a smile.
That confirmed it—this was indeed his grandfather. However, he looked much younger than Glenn had imagined, and his voice lacked the rough, booming quality of his father's. Instead, it carried a gentle and elegant tone.
"Yes, Grandpa," Glenn nodded. Beside him, the little girl stepped forward a bit nervously and greeted Glenn's grandfather.
"Haha, no need to be so tense. Come on, let's head home," the man chuckled softly and began leading them toward the parking lot.
He initially offered to help Glenn with the suitcase, but Glenn politely declined.
"It's alright, Grandpa. I can handle this myself. You just need to show us the way," Glenn replied, refusing to let an elder carry the heavy luggage.
His grandfather paused for a moment before smiling warmly and nodding, saying nothing more.
On the way, Glenn and Hermione learned that his grandfather, Antin Hawthorne, was a pure-blooded Englishman, which surprised Hermione.
Although Antin did possess the typical features of an Englishman, his English accent wasn't the standard British one. It sounded a bit off, but oddly familiar to Glenn—similar to the accent he himself had when learning English in his previous life.
As it turned out, Antin explained that he had lived in China for so long that he'd almost forgotten his mother tongue.
So this was what "Chinese-accented English" sounded like.
"Grandpa, why have you been living in China all this time?" Hermione, after receiving Antin's permission, began addressing him as "Grandpa" as well. The little girl was quite curious about his story.
"Oh, that's a long tale. It has to do with how I met your grandmother, and it's a story full of twists and turns. It's not something I can explain in just a few words," Antin said as he guided them to a car parked in the lot. "But if you're interested, I can tell you about it. After all, it's going to take quite a while to reach our destination."
Receiving an eager nod from Hermione, Antin Hawthorne began narrating his story as he drove, his tone reminiscent of a storyteller weaving a tale.
Antin Hawthorne was once the sole heir of a powerful business family. But one day, his parents fell victim to an attack orchestrated by rival companies and hostile forces targeting the Hawthorne enterprise.
The attack succeeded. By the time Antin, escorted by bodyguards, arrived at the scene, his parents were already on the brink of death.
Fortunately, before passing, they managed to reveal the identity of the attackers and gave Antin instructions for what to do next.
At the time, Antin had just come of age. With his parents gone, he was left utterly alone. Overnight, former allies of the Hawthorne family disappeared, turning a blind eye to the company's plight—or worse, actively seeking to profit from its downfall.
Antin made a decision.
He took what assets he could carry, transferring the rest to the family's ancestral estate. He then spread a message indicating his willingness to abandon his inheritance in exchange for his life, allowing the vultures to divide the Hawthorne fortune among themselves.
After releasing the message, Antin set a "little trap." He boarded a plane to China alone, leaving everyone behind. He had no intention of ever returning to England.
As expected, within days of his announcement, those who had long envied the Hawthorne family's status, including the forces responsible for his parents' deaths, gathered at the ancestral estate to discuss how to divide the wealth.
They all believed that the young and inexperienced Antin posed no threat, dismissing any concerns about retaliation.
Then, Antin triggered the explosives he had hired professional assassins to plant, obliterating the Hawthorne estate and everyone inside.
The incident sent shockwaves through England's business world, even drawing attention from certain factions within the wizarding community. Furious, the families of the victims sought Antin's whereabouts. But having used the wealth stored in the ancestral estate to erase all traces of his movements, Antin vanished without a trace—a feat made easier by the less advanced surveillance technology of the time.
In China, Antin settled in a remote village. Though he couldn't understand the language, and the villagers couldn't understand English, he managed to communicate through gestures—and gold, which was universally understood. The villagers, being honest and kind-hearted, harbored no ill intentions toward the foreigner.
After purchasing a piece of land, Antin began rebuilding his life. Using his business acumen, he started trading between towns and gradually improved his circumstances.
Then, one night, Antin Hawthorne met Glenn's grandmother, Lin Yingqing.
"It was late one evening when I first met Yingqing. Good heavens, she scared me half to death," Antin recounted, a hint of lingering fear in his voice. "I'd been delayed on my way back from a business trip and returned home late. When I opened the gate to my yard, I found your grandmother lying there, covered in blood. She was unconscious, and her body was riddled with wounds."
Though Antin had orchestrated the deaths of nearly fifty people in a fiery explosion, he considered himself a fundamentally kind person. Seeing a girl—no older than ten—gravely injured and bleeding out, he didn't hesitate. Dropping everything, he rushed to fetch medical supplies. After confirming that moving her wouldn't worsen her injuries, he carried her to his bedroom, laid her on the bed, and began treating her wounds.
He also cleaned up the bloodstains in the yard, hoping to avoid drawing unwanted attention.
Over the next several days, Antin devoted himself to caring for the girl. He cooked porridge, cooled it, and fed it to her. He ensured she stayed hydrated and changed her bandages daily. Despite her alarming condition, her steady temperature and gradual recovery reassured him that she was still alive.
For seven days, the girl remained unconscious. But on the eighth day, she finally woke up.
Hearing this, Hermione let out a long sigh of relief. Even though she knew the injured girl was Glenn's grandmother, she couldn't help but fear for her fate while listening to the story.
At the same time, Hermione voiced the question that had been nagging at her.
"Why was Grandma injured like that?" she asked, her face still etched with concern.
At that moment, the car came to a stop at a red light.
A fleeting coldness crossed Antin's face, but it quickly disappeared, unnoticed by Glenn and Hermione. Turning to them with a smile, he said, "Glenn, Hermione, you both know that in this ordinary world, there exist not only people like me but also those with extraordinary abilities, don't you?"
A flash of understanding crossed Hermione's face, while Glenn remained expressionless. Though surprised by parts of his grandfather's story, he had already anticipated the answer.
The strange wounds on his grandmother's body were, without a doubt…
Magical injuries.
"Were they caused by Chinese wizards? Does that mean Grandma is a witch too?" Hermione exclaimed, her voice rising in shock before she quickly covered her mouth, apologizing for her outburst.
Antin chuckled and waved her concerns away. Nodding, he said, "That's right. Yingqing's injuries were inflicted by wizards who were hunting her. But in China, we don't call them wizards. We refer to them as…"
"Sorcerers."
Hermione hadn't expected to learn about Chinese magical practitioners so soon, but she suppressed her curiosity and waited patiently for Antin to continue.
"When Yingqing woke up, she was understandably terrified. After all, any young girl who had been chased, injured, and left for dead would be frightened to find herself in an unfamiliar place, naked, with a strange man nearby. Even someone as strong as your grandmother wasn't immune to such fears."
Fortunately, the girl was mature beyond her years. After a brief moment of fear and contemplation, she listened to Antin's explanation, examined her treated wounds, noticed the warm porridge and water on the table, and took in her surroundings. She quickly realized there had been a misunderstanding and apologized for her earlier reaction.
Through their subsequent conversations, Antin learned that Lin Yingqing was actually a year older than him. Her youthful appearance was due to the magical—or rather, sorcerous—practices passed down in her family.
"That was how I first met your grandmother. As for what happened afterward, well, we're almost home, and this chapter is nearly over, so I'll save the rest for another time. Suffice it to say, we fell in love over time, and I decided to settle in China."
Antin quickly wrapped up the story with a cheerful smile. "Oh, and as for what happened after I saved your grandmother—how we wiped out the forces hunting her and later returned to England to clean up the businesses that had divided the Hawthorne fortune—those are just trivial details. Nothing worth mentioning."
He said this with a casual smile, but for some reason, Hermione shivered.
Trivial details? Grandpa, how can you say such terrifying things so calmly?
Still, that was brilliant! Hermione Granger officially approves!
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