Chapter 27 Seeking Medicine in the Dead of Night! The Old Man's Pride is Worthless!
The dinner ended in a cold and unpleasant atmosphere.
Lu Zhenguo's angry rebuke still seemed to echo on the wall of the dining room.
Liu Yuzhen and Song Tingyu exchanged a glance, both of them harboring an barely suppressed schadenfreude.
Lu Zhanting gripped Su Wanqing's hand tightly.
The warmth of his palm was firm and burning, silently telling her that he was here and that he trusted her.
The old lady sighed deeply and said to Lu Zhanting, "Zhanting, your grandfather is just stubborn. He'll be sharp-tongued even when he's upset. Don't take it to heart. Help me back."
“Yes, Grandma,” Lu Zhanting replied.
Su Wanqing also got up and, together with Lu Zhanting, helped the old lady away from this oppressive place.
No sooner had they left than Lu Zhenguo's bodyguard walked in, his gaze fixed straight on Lu Zhanting, his voice devoid of any warmth.
"Young Master Zhan Ting, the commander requests your presence in the study."
These words instantly froze the smug expressions on Liu Yuzhen and Song Tingyu's faces.
Lu Zhanting stopped in his tracks.
Su Wanqing gave him a reassuring look, then turned to the old lady and said softly, "Grandma, let Zhan Ting go. I can help you back by myself."
The old lady looked at Lu Zhanting, then at Su Wanqing, and finally nodded.
"Go ahead and talk to your grandfather properly."
Lu Zhanting released his grip and turned around.
Without the slightest hesitation, he straightened his back and strode towards the study that represented the supreme power of the Lu family.
The lights were off in the study.
Behind the enormous mahogany desk, Lu Zhenguo's tall figure almost completely blended into the darkness.
He sat there, motionless, only the glow of the cigar in his hand flickering in the darkness, the air thick with the cigar's strong aroma and a heavy, oppressive anger.
Lu Zhanting went inside without touching the light switch.
He stood quietly in front of the desk, his figure like a javelin.
After a long while, Lu Zhenguo's hoarse voice finally came from the darkness.
"You've got guts."
“In front of the whole family, you talked back to me and made her give you a massage.”
"You have utterly disgraced me and the Lu family."
“Grandpa, I’m just stating the facts,” Lu Zhanting replied, neither humble nor arrogant. “As for Wanqing, she is simply fulfilling her filial duty as a granddaughter-in-law.”
"Filial piety?"
Lu Zhenguo let out a short, cold laugh, full of sarcasm.
"Stop making it sound so nice! Just tell me, what exactly do you want?"
"What's the point of all this charade, pretending to cure your grandmother and then offering to treat my illness?"
He never believed that there was anything good in this world without a reason.
Behind every action, there is inevitably a price tag.
"What do you think we're after?" Lu Zhanting asked rhetorically.
What's the point?
Lu Zhenguo slammed his hand on the table with a loud thud and stood up abruptly.
He walked a few steps to the window and pulled back the heavy curtains with a whoosh.
The rain and lights outside the window rushed in instantly, illuminating half of his pale and distorted face.
"You want the position of matriarch of the household? You want to take over everything rightfully after I die?"
His voice was full of suspicion, and a sense of disappointment at being betrayed by his most valued heir.
"I thought you were just bewitched by a country woman, but I never expected you to have learned these scheming tricks too!"
"Grandpa, in your eyes, is this the kind of person your grandson is?"
A hint of pain finally crept into Lu Zhanting's voice.
"Then tell me, who exactly is she?" Lu Zhenguo suddenly turned around, his gaze fixed on him. "Don't give me that 'barefoot doctor from the countryside' nonsense! That massage technique, that insight into the root of the illness, and the incredible medical skills she displayed when she saved your grandmother... these are not skills that a country girl could possess!"
Who she is is not important.
Lu Zhanting met his gaze and spoke slowly and deliberately.
"The important thing is that she is my wife, Lu Zhanting, and your granddaughter-in-law, Lu Zhenguo."
"That's enough."
"you!"
Lu Zhenguo was so angry at his stubborn attitude that his chest heaved violently.
“Grandpa, I know you don’t trust her.” Lu Zhanting’s tone softened a bit. “You’ve spent your life on the battlefield, and you’ve seen more conspiracies and schemes than I’ve eaten meals. You don’t trust anyone, you only trust yourself. But you should know your own body best.”
"What did it feel like to endure those decades of torment, day and night?"
"Do you intend to continue enduring this?"
This last sentence precisely pierced through all the defenses Lu Zhenguo had built with his toughness and pride.
The anger on his face quickly faded, replaced by an unmaskable, deep-seated weariness.
He waved his hand, turned around, his back to Lu Zhanting, his voice old and hollow.
"You can leave now."
"Let me be alone for a while."
Lu Zhanting did not say anything more.
He silently gave his grandfather a standard military salute as he watched his back turn, then turned and left the suffocating study.
When he returned to Jingsi Courtyard, Su Wanqing was sitting under the lamp waiting for him.
On the table, a bowl of ginger soup was steaming.
"Did he believe it?" Su Wanqing handed over the ginger soup and asked softly.
"He believed us three-tenths, but was seven-tenths suspicious." Lu Zhanting took a sip, the warmth instantly dispelling the chill. "He suspects we have ulterior motives."
“That’s normal.” Su Wanqing was not surprised at all. “A person who is used to being in control is most afraid of variables that he cannot control. In his eyes, I am that biggest variable.”
"He asked me, 'Who exactly are you?'" Lu Zhanting looked at her.
"how do you say?"
“I said, you are my wife.”
Su Wanqing smiled.
The smile, under the dim light, had a comforting warmth.
“That’s a good answer.” She took Lu Zhanting’s hand. “We don’t need to do anything, just wait. The bait has already been swallowed, and it will take the hook deeper and deeper on its own.”
Meanwhile, in Liu Yuzhen's room.
"Smack!"
A valuable blue-and-white porcelain teacup was smashed to the ground by Song Tingyu, shattering with a crash.
"How could he! How could he let that country woman touch him!"
Song Tingyu was trembling with anger. Her usually proud and beautiful face now looked somewhat ferocious due to jealousy.
"Now look what's happened! Even Lu Zhanting has been called to the study for a private talk! Auntie, we can't wait any longer!"
Liu Yuzhen sat on the sofa, her face gloomy.
She was calmer and had a broader perspective than Song Tingyu.
Su Wanqing's medical skills have become her sharpest weapon. The old lady's change was the first signal, and now, even Lu Zhenguo, the most stubborn fortress, is beginning to waver.
If Su Wanqing really cures Lu Zhenguo's headache, then her position in this family will be unshakable!
By then, let alone kicking her out, even he and his son Lu Zhanwen would probably have to live at her mercy.
"Of course we can't wait."
Liu Yuzhen's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth, carrying a fierce tone.
"Since we can't find any flaws in her medical skills, then we'll turn them into harmful witchcraft!"
Song Tingyu's eyes lit up: "Auntie, what's your plan?"
"Doesn't the old lady personally prepare her medicinal meals every day?"
A sinister smile curved at the corners of Liu Yuzhen's lips.
"Since it's medicine, all medicines have some degree of toxicity. If the old lady takes her medicinal food and suddenly has some serious health problems... do you think the old man will believe this granddaughter-in-law of unknown origin, or the most famous national doctor in the capital?"
Song Tingyu instantly understood her meaning, and a smile of excitement and malice appeared on her face.
“Auntie, you’re brilliant! As long as something happens to the old lady, Su Wanqing will be unable to defend herself! At that time, the old man will only think of her as a treacherous liar, and might even send her to jail!”
“That’s right.” Liu Yuzhen picked up her teacup and elegantly blew on the steam. “This matter must be handled cleanly and efficiently. Find a way to tamper with her on the way she delivers the medicinal food.”
"I see."
A venomous glint flashed in Song Tingyu's eyes.
Su Wanqing, this time, I will make sure you never recover!
For the next two days, the Lu family mansion appeared calm on the surface.
Su Wanqing continued to prepare medicinal meals every day and personally delivered them to Songhetang.
Lu Zhanting obtained permission to leave the house under the pretext that his injuries needed to be checked again, and began to investigate Liu Yuzhen's business dealings with the Song family without making a sound.
Lu Zhenguo never contacted them again.
However, the treatment at the Jing Si Institute is quietly changing.
Every day, servants would deliver the finest silver charcoal on time, and hot water was always plentiful. Even the three meals a day were personally delivered by the kitchen manager, and they were as sumptuous as those served at the main table.
All the servants realized that the Lu family's fortunes were truly about to change.
On the third night, the rain intensified.
Large raindrops pounded against the eaves, making a loud, irritating noise.
Lu Zhenguo tossed and turned in bed, his head throbbing with pain.
That familiar, excruciating pain, as if it were about to drill through his skull, struck again.
The pain of the past, mixed with his inner turmoil and suspicion, gnawed at his every nerve like countless tiny venomous snakes.
He sat up abruptly in bed, unable to bear it any longer.
He put on a coat and went out of the room.
The guard tried to follow, but was stopped by a look from him.
He needs to be alone for a while.
No, what he needs is relief.
The Lu family mansion was silent on a rainy night. He held up a black umbrella and let his footsteps lead him forward.
The excruciating pain that penetrated to his very bones prevented him from thinking; he could only instinctively search for a possible way out.
Finally, he stopped.
Before us stands the gate of the Jing Si Institute.
He actually made it this far.
The courtyard gate was ajar, and a faint light shone through the crack, like the only firefly in the darkness.
Through the silhouette seen through the window, he saw Su Wanqing sitting at the table, head down, seemingly grinding something.
A strange, herbal scent, mixed with the damp, cold rain, drifted into his nostrils.
The taste was very faint, yet incredibly, it brought a long-lost sense of peace to his chaotic and throbbing mind.
He stood in the rain, hesitating.
Going in would mean bowing down to a country girl he despised, and it would mean the complete collapse of his lifelong pride.
If I don't go in, how am I supposed to get through this excruciating pain tonight?
Ultimately, the fear of pain overwhelmed everything.
He pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside.
Su Wanqing heard the sound and looked up.
She saw Lu Zhenguo standing in the rain with an umbrella, her eyes showing no surprise, only calmness.
It was as if she had always been there, waiting for him.
"Grandpa, it's so late, why are you here?" She stood up.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk." Lu Zhenguo's voice sounded a little muffled in the rain. "What are you doing?"
"Prepare some calming powder," Su Wanqing replied. "The dampness on rainy nights makes Grandma sleep restlessly. I'll put some powder in the incense burner to help her sleep better."
Lu Zhenguo remained silent.
He looked at the herbs on the table whose names he didn't know, and at Su Wanqing's calm and composed hands under the lamplight.
The wall in my heart finally began to crumble inch by inch in the face of the severe headache and the "curative effect" I saw with my own eyes.
He folded his umbrella and walked under the eaves.
Rainwater streamed down the umbrella ribs, wetting his trouser legs; they were icy cold.
"Do you still stand by what you said before?"
He finally spoke, his voice carrying a struggle and longing that even he himself was unaware of.
Su Wanqing knew that he was asking about the treatment.
“I keep my word,” she replied.
Lu Zhenguo stared intently at her, his eyes trying to see right through her.
"What do you want?" he cut to the chase. "Don't give me any empty promises. If you can cure my illness, what do you want? Tell me. Money? Status? Or do you want me to support your family, which I don't even know where you are?"
In his view, this must be a deal.
He is willing to pay the price, as long as it is within his means.
Upon hearing this, Su Wanqing smiled.
She raised her head, meeting his scrutinizing gaze, her eyes clear and bright.
"Grandpa, I don't want anything."
Lu Zhenguo was stunned.
“I married Lu Zhanting, so I’m a member of the Lu family. It’s my duty to ensure my family’s health and well-being; I don’t need to exchange anything for it.”
Su Wanqing's voice was soft, yet every word landed clearly on his heart.
"I only have one condition."
“I knew it.” A knowing glint flashed in Lu Zhenguo’s eyes, as if this was the normal script. “Go ahead and say it.”
Su Wanqing looked at him, speaking each word clearly.
"My condition is that from now on, you can truly treat Lu Zhanting as your grandson and me as your granddaughter-in-law."
"Don't look at us with suspicion and scrutiny."
"Don't treat family ties as a transaction."
She paused, her voice becoming softer yet heavier.
"I hope this home can feel like a home. There should be arguments, care, and laughter, not just cold rules and calculations."
"This is my only condition."
Lu Zhenguo was completely stunned.
He had imagined that she would make exorbitant demands, asking for money, the position of mistress promised by Song Tingyu, and for him to use his power to pave the way for her family.
He had imagined countless possibilities.
The only thing I didn't expect was that this was what she wanted.
These are the things that sound most ethereal, yet are the hardest to give.
What does home look like?
How long has it been since he last thought of that word?
Since his wife's death, he had poured all his energy into his work, ruling his family with an iron fist and discipline. He thought that giving his descendants the most glorious surname and the most stable life was enough.
But now, this granddaughter-in-law, whom he considers a "stain," is telling him that the home he built doesn't resemble a "home" at all.
This humiliated him more than any accusation.
And...heartache.
The rain pattered softly, and the night breeze was slightly cool.
Lu Zhenguo stood there, silent for a long time.
For the first time, a hint of confusion and wavering appeared on his face, which was usually as hard as steel.
He looked at Su Wanqing in front of him. The lamplight illuminated her young and serene face, and her eyes seemed to be able to see into people's hearts.
He suddenly realized that he might have made a lot of mistakes in his life.
"……I see."
After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out those four words.
Then he turned around, opened his umbrella, and stepped back into the rain.
His back remained straight.
However, it lacked the arrogance it had when it arrived, and instead possessed an indescribable sense of desolation and heaviness.
Su Wanqing stood under the eaves, watching his figure disappear into the night, and gently exhaled.
She knew.
She has already breached the most crucial corner of the Lu family's most fortified stronghold.
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