Chapter 128 All secrets will be revealed tonight

Lu Rang threw off the blanket, sat up, and remained unusually silent.

The answer to Shang Wu's evasiveness and hesitation over the past two days has finally been revealed.

So she knew.

I know he has a twin brother who has passed away.

Qianjue looked at his face and sighed, "Young Master, I don't mean to offend you, but who would want to be with someone who is sick and suspected of murder?"

Lu Rang's eyes darkened slightly as he stared at the cup of honey water he had switched. After a long while, he got up and left without looking back.

He walked quickly, more out of fear than unease.

Yes, just like when Shang Wu found out he had a mental illness.

He was as afraid that Shang Wu would despise him and abandon him as he was now, and he was just as afraid that Shang Wu would look at him like he was a murderer after she came out of the study.

Lu Rang walked faster and faster, his expression gradually darkening and becoming gloomy.

Qianjue frowned and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Young Master may be having an attack, so keep an eye on him."

...

Upstairs study.

Shang Wu took the photo album from Lu Zheng, opened it, and flipped through the photos of the twin brothers from their first 100 days to their later appearances as teenagers.

The last photo was taken in 2012, the same year Lu Rang wrote his diary.

Holding the photo, Shang Wu looked up and asked, "His brother died in this year?"

"right."

Lu Zheng sat at his desk: "Spring of 2012."

Shang Wu understood.

No wonder the doctor said that Lu Rang's illness was more common in the spring.

It turned out that was the season when his brother passed away.

She asked, "Was Lu Rang's illness triggered by his brother's death?"

Lu Zheng gave a cold snort with an ambiguous meaning.

"It's not just his illness; you could say that every decision he's made since that year has been influenced by his brother."

He picked up the black tea on the table, took a sip, and began to speak in a leisurely manner.

"You must be wondering the same thing, why am I a member of the Yu family when Lu Rang and I share the same surname?"

Shang Wu paused for a moment, then nodded slightly.

Lu Zheng then continued, "I married into the Yu family. His mother, Yu Ruyun, is my wife. I think you should have heard of this name."

A hint of surprise flashed across Shang Wu's eyes.

It turns out that the Yu family's eldest daughter, who almost became a movie star and was said to have excellent bone structure and appearance, ended up marrying Lu Rang's father.

She looked at the middle-aged man in front of her.

Lu Zheng is over fifty years old, but his features are still very regular. It is very reasonable that he could continue the bloodline of Lu Rang, such a top-notch person, with the eldest daughter of the Yu family.

As she was thinking, Lu Zheng continued, "When I married Lu Rang's mother, she was depressed because she couldn't get into the entertainment industry to become a movie lead. She argued with Lu Rang's grandfather all day long, lost her appetite, and suffered from malnutrition."

"I was busy managing her business and neglected to take care of her emotions and health. So much so that during my busiest months, I didn't even know that my wife was pregnant."

"Her malnutrition caused the fetus in her womb to be underdeveloped, which led to a series of tragedies."

Shang Wu's breathing hitched slightly as she looked up at him.

"What does 'incomplete development' mean? Does Lu Rang's brother have a problem?"

Lu Zheng rubbed his temples: "He was born with a limp and intellectual disability. When he was born, the doctors noticed something was wrong and brought in a team of experts to assess him."

"Lu Rang's intellectual development stopped when he was about four years old. After learning about this, Lu Rang's mother was heartbroken and named him Lu Cong, hoping that he would become smarter in the future."

"But after the Yu family heard about this, they felt that our child was too shameful and didn't seem to be of the Yu family bloodline. So they forced us to hide the existence of this child."

"The news that my wife was pregnant with twins had already spread far and wide. There was no other way but to bring back a baby girl who was about the same age from outside. She is Lu Rang's current older sister. She works at the docks and manages cargo for me all year round and doesn't come back often."

Shang Wu was shocked and angry.

She couldn't imagine how the Yu family could be so heartless.

Yu Ruyun is, after all, a daughter of the Yu family, and she is a legitimate member of the Yu family. No matter what her bloodline is, she is a child of the Yu family.

The outcome of a child's development in the womb is beyond human control.

Instead of covering it up because it's embarrassing, they insisted on bringing back a baby girl to act as Lu Rang's older sister just to save face. Is that really necessary?

Shang Wu didn't understand.

Lu Zheng glanced at her, understood what she was thinking, and snorted softly.

“There’s nothing I can do. My wife is depressed and has been devastated by the child. I’m an outsider with an unstable foundation, so I’m more likely to be suppressed. I can only listen to them.”

"No one has ever dared to call Congcong 'Young Master' since he was a child. They only said that he was the son of a servant. Although he was not very intelligent, he was loyal."

"Over the years, although Lu Cong has only the mind of a child, he seems to know from birth that he is Lu Rang's older brother. He always stays by Lu Rang's side. No matter who it is, even if it is a tutor hired to say a word to Lu Rang, he will be unhappy and always rush to the front to protect Lu Rang."

“Lu Rang made a scene many times, asking me not to tell anyone that his brother was born to the family maid as his playmate, and I didn’t agree because of the pressure.”

"Later, when they were teenagers, Lu Rang suddenly had the idea to take his brother on an adventure to fly kites in the most remote place in Wanhu."

“There are few trees over there; it’s a wasteland. It was originally used to grow medicinal herbs to treat Lu Rang’s grandfather’s illness.”

“After his grandfather passed away, the land was abandoned. There was a dry well used for irrigation, which was covered with weeds. The two of them were not paying attention and fell in.”

"It was all mud inside, and the more you struggled, the deeper you sank. By the time I arrived with my men..."

Lu Zheng closed his eyes.

He couldn't continue speaking, and he couldn't forget that scene.

It was a dark day, the wind was strong, and muffled thunder kept rumbling in the sky.

He was working in his study, having just had an argument with his wife about the children, and was feeling quite upset.

Upon hearing the news that the child was stuck in a dry well, he was so frightened that he dropped his pen and got up to check on the situation.

When Lu Zheng arrived at the dry well, he was surrounded by bodyguards.

He pushed one of the people aside, peered into the well, and saw Lu Cong standing in the mud, which was already up to his thighs.

But he ignored everything and did his best to drag Lu Rang, making him grab onto a recessed spot on the dry well wall.

Lu Rang was crying, stuck there, unable to go up or down. When he saw people coming, he shouted, "Save my brother!"

Everyone was terrified by the scene, and Lu Zheng was also trembling with fear. He urged someone to bring a rope and throw it down.

"Xiao Rang, quickly give the rope to your brother!"

At that time, Lu Zheng still called Lu Rang by his nickname, which was very affectionate.

Lu Rang threw the other end of the rope to Lu Cong and grabbed it himself.

When Lu Cong saw Lu Rang grab the rope for survival, his puffed-out cheeks suddenly deflated.

He grinned at Lu Rang, then looked up at Lu Zheng, who was lying on top of him.

Lu Zheng still remembers it vividly; that look could never have appeared in a boy with the mental capacity of a four-year-old.

Lu Cong, however, showed a relieved expression and smiled brightly.

"I can't hold on any longer. Take good care of the young master! I won't be able to stay with him anymore, patriarch."

He called him "Patriarch," but to Lu Zheng, it sounded like he was calling him "Father."

He was so heartbroken he almost fell in, but someone pulled him back.

Lu Cong slipped and began to sink.

It turned out that he wasn't standing on the bottom of the dry well, but on a protrusion on the well wall, trying his best to keep Lu Rang from sinking into the mud, and he had persevered until now.

His strength had long been exhausted.

Upon seeing this, Lu Rang immediately grabbed the rope with one hand and tried to pull Lu Cong with the other.

But the quagmire was too deep, and Lu Cong couldn't move, not even having the strength to grab his hand back.

Lu Rang broke down crying and screaming, watching his brother's hand slowly slip from his palm, watching his brother's face sink into the mud, and he let go of his hand, wanting to go down with him.

Lu Zheng was terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat. He shouted, "Your life was bought with your brother's sacrifice! Do you want your brother to die with his eyes open in disgrace?!"

Lu Rang froze, gripping the rope tightly.

But when he came up, he kept his head up, staring at Lu Zheng with eyes full of hatred, as if he resented him for saying such words, which prevented him from going into the mud with his brother.

After coming up, Lu Rang immediately fainted, and when he woke up, he was mentally unstable.

He locked himself in his room, refusing to eat or drink, until he finally fainted.

That period was the darkest moment for Lu Zheng.

He brought in countless psychologists to treat Lu Rang, and secretly arranged his eldest son's funeral without revealing the news.

He once again ignored Lu Rang's mother, the young lady whose dream of making movies was shattered. Upon learning the bad news, she felt even more pain and guilt and jumped off the viewing platform on the west side of Wanhu Lake.

Yu Ruyun's head hit a rock at the bottom of the lake, and she died without even struggling.

He was still reeling from the blow of losing two loved ones in succession.

Lu Rang fell seriously ill and was bedridden with a persistent high fever.

Two weeks later, I don't know how he came to his senses, but he started living like a normal person.

However, Lu Rang began to say that he was guilty, that he had caused the death of his brother and that his mother had died as a result.

He said he wanted to study law so he could know how such a thing should be judged and punished under the law.

From then on, he was determined to become a lawyer and leave Anhui.

When Lu Rang was eighteen years old, he was admitted to the law department of university and left the Yu family after that.

Every spring, he would return to the cemetery to visit his brother and mother.

But every year, without exception, he would fall ill frequently in the winter and spring, in a recurring cycle.

As Lu Zheng finished speaking, his hands, which were resting on the table, trembled uncontrollably.

"Alright, that's all. Miss Shang, you should keep your promise and leave Lu Rang."

Shang Wu lowered her head, and the light shone down, but it did not illuminate her expression.

Seeing that she was just staring at the floor without saying a word, Lu Zheng composed himself and raised his voice.

"Are you even listening to me! Leave Lu Rang as agreed!"

Shang Wu then looked up, her eyes terribly red.

Even Lu Zheng was taken aback when he saw it.

She laughed, but her voice trembled: "What makes you think I'll keep my word?"

"What did you say?" Lu Zheng looked at Shang Wu, more surprised than angry.

With such a heavy past, anyone who sees Lu Rang would think he's an incurable mental patient, trapped in the shadows of the past.

It's easy to imagine how difficult the future would be if you were with someone like that.

Shang Wu slowly walked up to Lu Zheng and looked directly at him across the table.

"You've been having Qianjue spy on us all along, haven't you? After he saw that I found Lu Rang's diary, he reminded me that Lu Rang wasn't my savior. He was only helping me to do some good deeds to gain peace of mind."

Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes: "I didn't ask Qian Jue to say this, but I agree with it."

“What I’m trying to say is that there might indeed be redemption and salvation between us, but… aren’t you mistaken?” Shang Wu raised an eyebrow.

Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes: "What do you mean?"

“When Lu Rang has an attack, he becomes lucid when he sees me. He doesn’t recognize anyone but me. He studied law to judge himself, but in the end, he used his profession to do the warmest and most righteous thing to help me.”

Shang Wu's eyes were gentle yet bright. "He dared to face the darkness of his family and came back to you to take over the business in order to help me overturn the case. Everything shows that my existence is the salvation for Lu Rang and the source of his hope. Why do you think that Lu Rang and I are not suitable for each other? Why do you think that the fiancée you chose will make Lu Rang better and better?"

Under a barrage of questions, Lu Zheng opened his mouth, only to be stunned into silence.

Shang Wu slammed her hand on the table: "There are only the two of you left in this family. His mother only has this one child. Are you going to force Lu Rang to his death before you're satisfied?!"

Lu Zheng said coldly, "Don't talk nonsense! I never intended to force him!"

"Admit it, I am his hope for survival, I am the only one who can save the heir of the Yu family."

Shang Wu smiled brightly, her red lips slightly parted:

“I, Shang Wu, am determined to marry your son.”