Chapter 253 Unexpected Visitor
The afternoon at the Lu family compound the following day was as quiet as ever.
Meng Wan was looking at picture books with Lu Jingyue in the living room, trying to use bright colors to evoke her daughter's emotions.
"Report!" The guard stood at attention at the door, his voice breaking the silence.
"Come in." Meng Wan looked up.
"Madam Chief, there is an elderly lady at the door requesting an audience. She says she is... a distant relative of the Bai family."
Meng Wan was taken aback. The Bai family? Relatives of Wan Tang's mother? She looked at Su Wan Tang beside her, who was carefully trimming a vase of freshly arranged chrysanthemums with a small pair of scissors. Upon hearing this, she paused for a moment.
"Please let her in." Su Wantang put down the scissors, wiped her hands with a towel, and spoke in a flat tone, revealing no emotion.
A moment later, a figure was led in by a guard.
The woman was about sixty years old, slender yet very upright. She wore a dark purple silk cheongsam, with intricate begonia flower patterns embroidered in gold thread on the collar and cuffs. The fabric gleamed warmly in the light, clearly indicating its high value.
Her hair was neatly combed into a bun at the back of her head and secured with a jade hairpin. She wore light makeup, and her eyes and brows exuded the elegance and reserve of a lady from a traditional noble family.
"I apologize for my intrusion," the old woman said gently, speaking in Mandarin with a slight Shanghai accent.
“My surname is Mei, and I am Xiuzhu’s distant aunt. I have been living on Hong Kong Island for many years and only recently returned. When I heard that Xiuzhu’s daughter had married into the Lu family, I thought I had to come and meet her no matter what.”
She called herself Granny Mei.
Xiuzhu...
Upon hearing the name, Meng Wan's expression immediately warmed up, and she quickly stood up to greet him, saying...
"Oh dear, it's my aunt from my in-laws' side! Please, have a seat! We were so rude; we didn't even know you were back."
Su Wantang also stood up, nodded slightly to the old woman with a polite smile, and called out, "Grandma Mei."
Her gaze swept over the old woman almost imperceptibly. This old woman, Aunt Mei, was impeccable in both dress and speech, but there was always a sharp, inquisitive glint in her well-maintained eyes, which made her feel a strange sense of unease.
Aunt Mei's gaze quickly fell on Lu Jingyue, who was sitting in a wheelchair, and her eyes revealed just the right amount of pity and affection.
"This must be Jingyan's younger sister, right? What a lovely girl, what a pity..."
She walked up to Lu Jingyue, naturally squatted down, took Lu Jingyue's hand, and said to Meng Wan.
“When I was young, I learned a few massage techniques from an old master in Hong Kong. They are most effective for calming the mind and refreshing the nerves. If you don’t mind, I would like to try it on this child.”
Meng Wan was just wondering what to do when she heard this, so how could she refuse? She nodded repeatedly and said, "That's wonderful! Thank you so much, Aunt!"
Su Wantang didn't stop her. She wanted to see what this suddenly appearing "aunt" was really up to.
Granny Mei had the guards move Lu Jingyue to the window where the light was better, while she herself took off the jade bracelet from her wrist, rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of her snow-white wrist. Her fingers were slender, and her nails were neatly trimmed, clearly the hands of someone who had lived a life of luxury.
She began massaging Lu Jingyue's head and limbs, applying pressure with a professional touch, neither too light nor too heavy, but with a steady and firm strength.
During the massage, she unconsciously began humming some tunes. The melody was melodious and gentle, but it wasn't any local folk tune that Su Wantang was familiar with. It carried a unique exotic flavor, and Su Wantang later realized that it was a folk song from Hong Kong Island.
When she hummed a certain syllable, Lu Jingyue, who had been unresponsive, suddenly let out a faint groan, and her body trembled almost imperceptibly.
Meng Wan didn't notice, but Su Wantang saw it clearly.
Her heart sank.
It's music again.
Following the Jiangnan folk songs, a new source of stimulation has emerged.
An hour later, the massage ended, and Granny Mei had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead. Lu Jingyue's cheeks actually had a healthy flush, and her breathing became much more even.
Meng Wan thanked her profusely and insisted on having Aunt Mei stay for dinner.
"No, thank you," Aunt Mei said with a smile, politely declining.
"The child just had a massage and needs to rest. I'll come see her another day. If you don't mind, I'll come every day from now on."
After seeing Granny Mei off, Meng Wan grabbed Su Wantang's hand, so excited she was almost incoherent, "Wantang, did you see that? Yueyue is having a reaction! This Granny Mei is truly a benefactor to our family!"
Su Wantang smiled in agreement, but didn't say anything more.
In the afternoon, she made an excuse to go to the company to handle some business, and dialed Zhou Jimin's number from her study.
Soon, Zhou Jimin's signature voice, tinged with the impatience typical of a tech geek, came from the other end of the phone.
"Chairman Bai!"
"Engineer Zhou, it's me." Bai Shu's voice was calm and even. "How is the project progressing?"
"Smoothly! It went so smoothly!" Zhou Jimin's tone was filled with barely suppressed excitement.
"That 'oscillation heating method' you mentioned last time was simply a stroke of genius! We have successfully purified single-crystal silicon to a purity of 99.99%! Mr. Bai, you are simply..."
"Let's get down to business," Bai Shu interrupted his flattery.
Zhou Jimin on the other end of the phone choked for a moment, then his tone became serious, "Chairman Bai, there's something I must report to you. Recently, someone contacted me through a former colleague from my research institute."
"Um."
“The price he offered… was terrifying.” Zhou Jimin’s voice was a little hoarse.
"A three-courtyard siheyuan in the center of Beijing, a car, and... a settling-in allowance of one million. As long as I nod, I'll bring my technology there."
In the 1980s, this price tag was enough to drive any scholar crazy.
Bai Shu held the microphone, remaining silent and listening quietly.
“I refused.” Zhou Jimin’s voice was firm and resolute.
“Chairman Bai, although I, Zhou Jimin, have been poor before, I haven’t fallen into the trap of greed. You pulled me out of the mire, and Haitang Technology is my second home. Those people, they don’t understand technology, they only understand money. They are insulting me!”
These words were spoken with resounding force, carrying the unique pride and stubbornness of a scholar.
This is the Zhou Jimin that Su Wantang truly values.
"I understand." Bai Shu's tone carried a hint of warmth.
"Zhou, I trust you. What they can't buy with money, Haitang Technology will give you. Focus on your research, and I'll protect you from the storms outside."
After hanging up the phone, Su Wantang sat quietly at her desk for a long time.
Could the people who wanted to poach Zhou Jimin be the same group as this suddenly appearing Granny Mei?
She picked up another phone and dialed Qin Zheng.
"Young Miss".
"Qin Zheng, help me investigate someone. Her surname is Mei, she is a woman around sixty years old, and claims to be my mother Bai Xiuzhu's distant aunt. She just returned from Hong Kong Island."
"Yes." Qin Zheng's voice was as concise and forceful as ever.
The call was very efficient; Qin Zheng called back in the evening.
"Miss, no such person has been found."
Su Wantang's heart turned completely cold.
“I’ve had someone check the Bai family’s genealogy. There’s no one with the surname Mei in the five generations. The address she gave the guard was a short-term suite at the Beijing Hotel, and she registered it with a fake identity. This person just appeared out of nowhere.”
"knew."
Su Wantang hung up the phone, looked out at the deep night, her eyes filled with icy coldness.
Mr. Shadow's movements were faster and more bizarre than she had imagined.
Abandoning military force and technological infiltration, this time he chose to use the "family ties" card to directly penetrate the Lu family compound.
Night had fallen, and the Lu family compound was completely silent.
Su Wantang quietly pushed open Lu Jingyue's door. Wang Ma was already asleep, and only a dim wall lamp was on in the room.
A faint, lingering scent of medicine and cosmetics, left by Granny Mei, still lingered in the air.
She walked to the bedside, assuming that Lu Jingyue was already fast asleep.
But by the moonlight, she could see that Lu Jingyue's eyes were wide open, her pupils unfocused in the darkness, which looked somewhat frightening. Her body was twisting restlessly under the covers, her lips moving as if she were saying something.
Su Wantang leaned down and put her ear close.
A series of broken, indistinct murmurs entered her ears.
"Plum...flowers...fragrance..."
"plum bossom……"
It's not Granny Mei, it's Plum Blossom.
Su Wantang sat up abruptly, as if struck by lightning.
She understood instantly. Aunt Mei's name, the begonia pattern on her cheongsam, the folk songs she hummed, the aroma of the special medicated oil she used for massages... all of this was a meticulously designed combination of stimuli!
"Plum blossom" is the key, and "flower" is the password.
The enemy's goal was not to cure Lu Jingyue, but to use this method to retrieve what they wanted from the depths of her chaotic memories!
For example... the half of the core experimental data that Mother "Haitang" took away back then!
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