Chapter 25 A Shocking Gamble! Husband and Wife Join Forces, Aiming at the Head of the Lu Family!
The night was as dark as ink, swallowing up all the courtyards of the Lu family mansion.
In the Jing Si Courtyard, only a dim oil lamp was lit.
Su Wanqing did not sleep.
She sat at the table, holding a book in her hands, but her gaze kept drifting to the path leading to the courtyard gate outside the window.
After being rescued, the old lady was in poor spirits and soon fell asleep.
Su Wanqing did not stay in Songhe Hall for long. She politely declined the old lady's suggestion that she move out of Jingsi Courtyard and returned alone to this dilapidated but quiet little courtyard.
She knew that after this incident, Liu Yuzhen and Song Tingyu would not dare to openly cause her trouble for the time being.
But this is only temporary.
The sharpness she displayed tonight was like a thorn that pierced their eyes.
The next time they strike, they will be even more covert and ruthless.
But her true purpose is far from being achieved.
She needed an opportunity, a chance to be alone with Lu Zhanting and discuss countermeasures together.
The old lady's recovery was the first stepping stone she offered.
She was betting that this brick would be able to open the door to the ancestral hall for Lu Zhanting.
Time passed second by second, the oil in the lamp gradually ran out, and the flame began to flicker, making a faint "crackling" sound.
Just when Su Wanqing thought that her wait for tonight was going to be in vain, a steady and familiar set of footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.
The voice was neither hurried nor slow, each step seeming to tread on her heartbeat.
Su Wanqing suddenly stood up, walked quickly to the door, and pulled it open.
Under the moonlight, a tall and imposing figure stood outside the door.
It's Lu Zhanting.
He seemed to have just come out of the ancestral hall, still wearing that thin shirt, which was covered in dust and grass clippings.
His face was pale, and there was a dark stubble on his chin. He looked extremely tired.
But the moment those eyes saw Su Wanqing, they flashed with a terrifying light.
Their eyes met, and a thousand words were left unsaid, all turning into silence.
Lu Zhanting strode into the courtyard, closed the door behind him, and then pulled Su Wanqing into a tight embrace.
He held her very heavily and with great force, his strong arms making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Su Wanqing did not struggle.
She buried her face in his cold, firm chest, her nose filled with his unique, comforting scent, mixed with the smell of old sandalwood and dust from the ancestral hall.
All the grievances, forbearance, and feigned strength of the past few days found an outlet at this moment.
Her eyes welled up with tears, which silently soaked his clothes.
"I'm back."
Lu Zhanting spoke repeatedly and stubbornly in her ear in an extremely hoarse voice.
"I'm back, Wanqing."
He released her, cupped her face in his hands, and gently stroked her cheeks again and again with the rough pad of his thumb, his eyes filled with an overwhelming sense of heartache and lingering fear.
"Did they... give you any trouble? Did they bully you?"
Inside the ancestral hall, he knew nothing and could do nothing.
He could only lean against the cold wall, imagining over and over again how she, alone, would face that whole family of wolves and tigers.
That feeling of helplessness and worry was more agonizing to him than any form of punishment.
He was even prepared that if she suffered the slightest injustice, he would risk being kicked out of the house to seek justice for her.
Su Wanqing looked at his bloodshot eyes, shook her head, took his cold hand, and walked into the house.
"I'm fine."
She asked him to sit down and turned to pour him a glass of hot water that she had prepared beforehand.
"Warm yourself up first."
There was no stove in the room, but the thick quilt that Su Wanqing took out from her spatial storage prevented the room from being too cold.
Lu Zhanting held the warm enamel cup, greedily absorbing its warmth.
He looked around. Although the house was simple, it was tidy and organized. There was a book she had only read halfway on the table.
He then realized that his perception of being "isolated and helpless" was somewhat different from reality.
"What exactly happened?" He looked at Su Wanqing and asked in a deep voice, "Why did Grandpa suddenly let me out?"
"Because I saved Grandma." Su Wanqing's answer was calm and direct.
Lu Zhanting's pupils suddenly contracted.
Su Wanqing did not hide anything and recounted to him everything that happened after he was locked in the ancestral hall.
From Liu Yuzhen instructing her servants to cut back on her food, to how she subtly declared that she wouldn't go hungry with a meal of braised pork and rice.
From how the maid Xiao Cui came to provoke them, to how she turned the tables and used a bottle of hot water and a box of ointment, employing both kindness and threats, to subdue her first spy.
When Lu Zhanting heard that Su Wanqing had been deliberately harassed and only received leftovers, the atmosphere around him suddenly became tense, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the cup.
When he heard Su Wanqing casually say, "I scalded her hand with hot water and then healed it with ointment," the anger in his eyes turned into deep shock.
He never knew that his wife possessed such ruthless methods and a shrewd mind.
Su Wanqing continued, mentioning the Songhe Hall in the afternoon, the Feast at Hongmen where tea ceremony and poetry were the battleground.
"...Song Tingyu wanted to humiliate me with what she was best at, to make me look bad in front of Grandma. Unfortunately, her fancy but ineffective skills were really no match for her." A faint sneer appeared on Su Wanqing's lips.
Lu Zhanting listened intently.
He couldn't imagine the scene: his wife, from the countryside, standing before top socialites in the capital, quoting classical texts, commenting on the art of tea, and casually reciting such magnificent verses.
This was completely beyond his comprehension.
"And then?" he pressed.
"Then," Su Wanqing's tone became serious, "Song Tingyu, in a fit of anger and shame, thought herself clever and added warming dried ginger and red dates to Grandma's tea, unaware that Grandma had internal heat. In the midst of the conflict, Grandma was so angry that she fainted on the spot."
Lu Zhanting's heart was in his throat.
“I used acupuncture and bloodletting to relieve my grandmother’s heart fire and save her.”
After Su Wanqing finished speaking, she looked up at him with clear eyes.
"When the doctor arrived, he confirmed that my method was effective. Grandpa may still be angry, but Grandma is the only person in the family who can speak up for him. Once she speaks, you will naturally come out of the ancestral hall."
After the whole story was told, a long silence fell over the room.
Lu Zhanting looked at Su Wanqing in front of him, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
There was shock, pride, and lingering fear, but more than anything, there was a deep sense of respect and... guilt.
He always thought that bringing her to the capital had put her in danger, and that he had to protect her under his wings like a fledgling bird.
But he was wrong.
She was never a fledgling bird in need of protection.
She was a fully-fledged eagle, but in his presence, she concealed all her sharpness.
Once he is trapped, she will not hesitate to unleash her claws and fight for herself and him to carve out a place for themselves.
"I'm sorry." After a long while, Lu Zhanting finally managed to squeeze out three words, "Wanqing, I... I always thought about protecting you, but I forgot that you never needed my protection."
“You need it.” Su Wanqing walked to his side, sat down next to him, and placed her hand on his hand holding the cup. “Lu Zhanting, I’ve told you before, we’re husband and wife, we’ll face anything together. You’re the one charging ahead, and I can’t just sit idly by behind.”
Her hands were soft and warm.
The warmth traveled down the back of his hand and soothed his heart.
Lu Zhanting took her hand in his own, holding her small hand tightly in his palm.
"Thanks to you today," he said sincerely. "Grandma... has a very special position in the Lu family. Although she doesn't manage affairs, Grandpa always respects her. By saving her, you've driven the most important wedge into Grandpa's heart."
"This one wedge alone is not enough."
Su Wanqing shook her head, her expression turning serious.
"This only gives us a temporary respite. Liu Yuzhen and Song Tingyu have suffered such a great loss, they will never let it go. We are now like standing on the edge of a cliff. We seem to be stable, but if they give us even the slightest push, we will still fall."
Lu Zhanting's eyes also turned cold: "They dare!"
“Of course they dare. If they can’t do it openly, they’ll do it covertly,” Su Wanqing analyzed calmly. “Therefore, we can’t wait any longer. We must take the initiative.”
"What do you want to do?" Lu Zhanting looked at her, his eyes full of trust.
From that moment on, he completely regarded her as an equal ally who could fight alongside him.
"To gain a foothold in this family, it's useless to please Grandma or even Liu Yuzhen. There's only one key person."
Su Wanqing's gaze sharpened.
"That's your grandfather, Lu Zhenguo."
Lu Zhanting frowned: "Grandpa's temper... Once he's made up his mind, not even nine oxen could pull him back. He's convinced that our marriage is a joke, a stain on the Lu family. It's too difficult to get him to change his mind."
“A head-on confrontation is certainly difficult,” Su Wanqing said. “But what if I could do something that even he himself couldn’t do? What if what he sees as a ‘stain’ could become an indispensable ‘value’ to him?”
Lu Zhanting's breath hitched; he seemed to understand something.
"You mean...Grandpa's illness?"
"That's right."
A glint of wisdom shone in Su Wanqing's eyes.
"This afternoon at Songhetang, while I was taking Grandma's pulse, I also observed your grandfather. Although he had a strong presence, his vital energy was weak, his brow was dark, and he would unconsciously press his temples when he spoke. These are all signs that he has been suffering from chronic headaches for a long time."
“I remember you mentioned on the train that he had old war wounds that would flare up on rainy days, right?”
Lu Zhanting nodded in shock: "Yes. This is a decades-old ailment. He's seen countless famous doctors and tried all sorts of Chinese and Western medicines, but they can only relieve the symptoms, not cure it. When it flares up, the pain keeps him up all night, which is also the main reason why his temper has become increasingly irritable. How... how could you tell just by looking at him?"
"I only have a superficial understanding of the four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine." Su Wanqing didn't explain further; this was her biggest secret, and it wasn't the right time to reveal it all.
"The key is that I am confident that I can cure his illness."
These words struck Lu Zhanting like a thunderbolt.
How to cure my grandfather's decades-old chronic illness?
How is that possible?
If Su Wanqing had saved his grandmother before, he could have attributed it to chance and luck.
But now, she claims she's confident she can cure a headache that even the most renowned doctors in the capital can't handle!
He looked at Su Wanqing, at her confident and determined eyes, and his heart was in turmoil.
"Wanqing, this is no small matter." He suppressed his shock and said seriously, "How confident are you?"
"Ten percent."
Su Wanqing uttered two words without the slightest hesitation.
For her, who possessed the spiritual spring water and countless rare medicinal herbs, Lu Zhenguo's illness was not a difficult or complicated disease at all.
She has countless ways to make him fully recover without any lasting consequences.
Lu Zhanting was infected by her unquestionable confidence, and the last trace of doubt in his heart vanished.
His wife always seems to be able to create miracles.
"Okay!" He slammed his fist into his palm. "I believe you! Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"First of all, we can't bring this up on our own initiative."
Su Wanqing shook her head.
“A business that’s rushed isn’t a business. If we bring it up ourselves, they’ll just think we have ulterior motives, and might even suspect we’re trying to poison them. We have to create an opportunity, an opportunity that will make them come to us, or rather, an opportunity that will force them to trust us.”
"We have to find this opportunity with Grandma."
Su Wanqing's thoughts were crystal clear.
“I saved her today, but that only addressed the symptoms, not the root cause. She has been a vegetarian and a Buddhist for many years, and her body is severely weakened. From now on, I will prepare medicinal meals for her every day under the guise of ‘rejuvenation.’ These medicinal meals will naturally use my ‘secret recipe.’”
The "secret recipe" she mentioned was naturally the spiritual spring water.
"Grandma's health will improve day by day under my care. This visible change is the best advertisement. Your grandfather sees it all; he may not say it, but what do he think?"
Lu Zhanting's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he completely followed Su Wanqing's train of thought: "He will have doubts, be curious, and even... be tempted."
“Yes.” Su Wanqing snapped her fingers. “When his headaches flare up again and become unbearable, when all the doctors and medications fail again, Grandma’s ‘miracle’ will become his only lifeline. At that point, it won’t be us begging him, but him begging us.”
"A brilliant plan!" Lu Zhanting couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. "A decisive move, winning hearts and minds is the best strategy!"
"This is just the first step."
Su Wanqing's vision extends even further.
“During the treatment of my grandfather, I will be able to legitimately enter and leave the main courtyard and come into contact with the core of this family. At that time, I will no longer be a transparent person who can be bullied by others in this meditation center.”
“And you,” she turned to look at Lu Zhanting, “what you need to do is protect my flanks during this time.”
"Liu Yuzhen and Song Tingyu are the biggest variables. They will never stand by and watch me gain my grandfather's approval. They will definitely try every means to sabotage it, or even frame me."
"Your task is to keep a close eye on them and gather evidence against them. When necessary, we must not only defend but also take the initiative to strike, keeping them preoccupied with their own problems."
Lu Zhanting nodded heavily, his eyes flashing with a wolf-like sharpness: "Understood. If they dare to lay a finger on you, I will make them pay the price."
As night deepened, the oil lamp in the room had been extinguished sometime earlier.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, bathing the two people sitting side by side.
A thrilling plan quietly took shape in this dilapidated little house.
Looking at his wife beside him, Lu Zhanting was filled with mixed emotions.
He reached out and pulled her back into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, his voice filled with an unprecedented solemnity.
"Wanqing, from today onwards, we are true allies."
"It's not that I'm protecting you, nor that you're helping me."
"It is us who fight side by side, sharing life and death."
Su Wanqing leaned against his chest, feeling his strong and powerful heartbeat, and felt a sense of peace in her heart.
She knew that they had found the first crack in the capital, this massive, cold fortress.
Next, they need to work together to widen the crack until it collapses completely, revealing the warm core inside, which can be called "home".
She subconsciously placed her hand gently on her lower abdomen.
There, a new life is quietly being conceived.
That was her and his future, and also the softest and most steadfast force in her heart.
She is fearless for this future.
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