Pancreatic Cancer (Bonus Chapter)
The old house remains unchanged from when Lu Zhenyu left.
Over the years, even the most luxurious furniture can feel dusty, dark, and desolate, lacking any human warmth.
Lu Zhenyu looked down at the quiet second floor. "How...is she?"
The old butler sighed, "It's bad. The doctor said this disease is almost incurable. If she cooperates with treatment in the early stages, she might be able to live for a few more years. But Madam is delaying treatment and is barely clinging to life. Now she's even caused this illegitimate child scandal."
"Where's Dad? Haven't you contacted him?"
"On the day of the incident, the lady called the master, but no one answered. After that, she could not be contacted. After one or two attempts, the lady was completely heartbroken."
Lu Zhenyu ultimately failed to reach the second floor.
Although I've taken the step into the old house, I still can't take the step in my heart.
The butler waved goodbye to the Maserati that drove out of the compound, then turned back to look at the figure on the second-floor balcony.
The evening breeze rustled.
Under the hazy moonlight, the slender Chen Mu stared intently at the car body that was gradually disappearing from sight.
There was a knock on the door behind her. "Madam, it's time to take your medicine."
She reluctantly turned her eyes away, dragging her thin body, which looked as if she would fall over in the wind, and walked back.
The sound was so soft that it was easily dispersed by the wind.
"They're here."
-
When Shen Jingsi called, Lu Zhenyu was having dinner with her children at the restaurant.
As expected, a melancholy face appeared on the screen when the video call connected.
"Is the work finished?"
Where?
The couple spoke together.
They looked at each other, and Lu Zhenyu smiled, turning the camera around to focus on the little faces in front of the dining table.
"You're having dinner with the kids and your supposed brother, but let me tell you, he can eat way more than you, his supposed older brother. He's already eaten four bowls of rice. My wife and I are worried he'll get too full."
Shen Jingsi was initially in a low mood, but Lu Zhenyu's teasing made him smile more.
He sighed again, pinched the bridge of his nose, and said, "He's not."
It means they are not biological brothers.
Lu Zhenyu knew perfectly well that she was just trying to make her husband laugh.
"It's not yours, how do you know? Did you personally do a paternity test?"
Shen Jingsi said, "Dad told me."
"Dad?" Lu Zhenyu became serious in a second. "Didn't Butler Li say he couldn't get in touch with you?"
Lu Zhenyu never doubted the child's origins.
Especially in the afternoon, when she had Wang Kai pretend to kidnap the child to test the woman.
The woman didn't react when she heard that she was going to kill the child; she was only focused on getting money. Lu Zhenyu knew that she had never cared about the child.
Besides, one knows one's own father best.
Shen's father was not a coward who dared to do something but not admit it; if this were true, he would definitely admit it.
He must have known about his mother's illness, and it's impossible that he would let his wife be in such a precarious situation and disappear without a trace.
The only plausible explanation is that something happened.
Shen Jingsi fell silent and looked at Lu Zhenyu quietly, his expression suggesting hesitancy, wondering whether he should tell the truth.
Lu Zhenyu immediately realized that she had guessed correctly.
“Sinking in the capital.”
He hadn't been called by his full name in so long since their marriage, and he responded reflexively.
Lu Zhenyu's expression gradually turned serious. "The first rule of marriage."
Shen Jingsi immediately said, "Husbands and wives should not hide things from each other."
"Then why aren't you telling me?"
He frowned. "Zhenzhen, I don't want these troublesome things to bother you."
It's always like this.
Lu Zhenyu felt a sense of helplessness, as if she couldn't reach through the screen to unscrew her husband.
"Do you want to see what Zhenzhen looks like when she's giving you the silent treatment?"
"..."
Finally, under Lu Zhenyu's persistent questioning, Shen Jingsi confessed.
"Something's happened in Texas, Dad. He's in an international prison now."
Fearing she would worry, Shen Jingsi didn't give her any specific details.
Two weeks ago, a murder occurred at the factory.
It was Shen's father's personal secretary who was murdered without cause, and the real target of the perpetrator was Shen's father.
The international police took Shen's father away, which subsequently led to a series of events involving an arms factory.
Shen Jingsi's trip abroad was originally for this matter.
The international situation has been severe in the past two years. It's not as simple as just the death of a secretary. If you dig deeper, the scope involved is much larger.
All I can say is that the other party is threatening Shen's father.
As for the mother and son kneeling in the old house, they were the secretary's mistress and illegitimate child in Texas.
With the secretary dead, the mother and son's source of income for the rest of their lives was cut off. She deliberately came back after learning that Shen's father had been arrested, hoping to extort money from the Shen family.
The child, who had been starving for days, ate five bowls of rice the very night Lu Zhenyu brought him back.
She was so thin that she was just skin and bones. She had just turned five years old, and Lu Zhenyu couldn't bear to look at her for long when she took a bath.
"Madam, do you intend to keep this child?"
Whether he stays or not is another matter, but Lu Zhenyu has no intention of sending him away anytime soon.
"Let him stay put for a few days to recover. We'll decide his fate once Jing Si returns."
As for that woman, she will be dealt with by Shen Jingsi's men.
Give her two hundred million?
Oh.
That Lu Zhenyu must have lost her mind.
The boy was quiet and reserved, not one to talk to. He must have suffered a lot growing up with a mother who only cared about embellishing her own image.
Ever since Lu Zhenyu brought her back to the manor, she has never mentioned looking for her mother.
Like a frightened fawn, it nestled in a corner without making a sound after it had eaten its fill.
Fortunately, there are many children in this family.
The little ones were very curious about the handsome new little brother, surrounding him all night and asking him a barrage of questions.
Lu Xinsen didn't get a little sister from his mother's belly, but suddenly having a little brother a few months younger than him isn't so bad.
She was overjoyed. As soon as she heard her mother say that her younger brother had some indigestion and needed to go for a walk, she quickly stepped forward.
She took her friend to the neighboring Qingshui Manor to introduce her to her good friend Xixi's handsome new younger brother.
The siblings, hand in hand, had just arrived outside the villa.
Lu Xinsen looked up and saw two people sitting side by side at the desk in front of the window of the study on the second floor, doing their homework and occasionally leaning closer to each other to say something...
Lu Xinsen swallowed back the shout that was about to come out.
"What’s wrong with you?"
The little guy, who had been silent all night, asked his older sister, who had suddenly stopped and wasn't moving.
Lu Xinsen withdrew his gaze from Shen Xinyi, who was wearing a crisp white shirt. "It's nothing. I just suddenly don't want to go see them anymore. Let's go back."
Xu Chong, who was about the same age as Lu Xinsen but half a head shorter, obediently let his older sister pull him away.
Just as Shen Xinyi finished teaching his younger sister arithmetic, he glanced up and caught a glimpse of a pair of people walking away hand in hand downstairs.
...
The Charity Gala of the Precious Foundation is scheduled for three days later.
Shen Jingsi was originally scheduled to attend.
However, since things couldn't be resolved with Shen's father in the short term, Lu Zhenyu didn't plan to wait for Shen Jingsi any longer.
She felt that she could handle all of this on her own.
"real?"
"certainly."
A soft, deep laugh came from the other end. Shen Jingsi asked again, "Are you really not waiting for me to go back?"
Lu Zhenyu raised an eyebrow, "You don't believe me?"
A look of affection appeared in Shen Jingsi's tired eyes. "I was afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it."
"It's just a charity auction dinner, what's the big deal?"
Lu Zhenyu turned the camera to the back and, with Shen Jingsi on the other end of the video, surveyed the scene.
"I told Siwei and the others to contact them if anything comes up."
"Okay, go back to the hotel and rest early after you finish your work. Xiao Shuo told me that you had a high fever of 39 degrees last night."
"I know, you little nagging wife." It was heartwarming to be cared for by his wife, but Shen Jingsi's smile quickly turned into a dark expression.
After staring at Lu Zhenyu on the screen for a long time, she said, "Zhenzhen, I'm sorry."
Lu Zhenyu looked over, "Why the sudden apology?"
Shen Jingsi said earnestly, "At this time, as your husband, I should be with you."
"..."
Lu Zhenyu was quite helpless.
"Brother, weren't you there with me during the early stages of guest coordination, venue selection, and so on?"
Without giving Shen Jingsi a chance to continue reflecting on his actions, Lu Zhenyu continued:
"Alright, you can just focus on dealing with Dad's situation over there. If you want to apologize, wait until you come back. I don't listen to empty apologies."
Shen Jing laughed, "Fine, I'll go back and apologize to you with a bundle of thorns on my back."
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