Chapter 248 The Warm Sunshine of the Lu Family
After this violent impact, what remained for Lu Jingyue was endless fear.
She screamed and then began to tremble violently, desperately trying to burrow into Su Wantang's arms, as if she were the only piece of driftwood in a vast ocean.
"No...don't come any closer..." She looked at Meng Wan and Lu Jingyan who had surrounded her, and her eyes, which had just regained a little bit of their luster, were filled with fear and resistance again. She clung tightly to Su Wantang's clothes.
Meng Wan's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. The color drained from her face, and her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly by a giant hand, the pain almost suffocating her.
That was her daughter, the flesh and blood she had carried for ten months, but now, the way her daughter looked at her was as if she were looking at a monstrous beast.
“Yueyue…” Meng Wan’s voice trembled violently, “I’m your mother…”
Lu Jingyue ignored him, burying her head even deeper, her entire being radiating rejection.
Lu Jingyan stood to the side, his fists clenched so tightly at his sides that they cracked. The unfamiliarity and fear in his sister's eyes, along with his self-blame and pain, almost overwhelmed him.
He took a step back, then another, and silently left the room, leaving them alone. He was afraid that the lingering stench of blood on him would further agitate his sister.
Su Wantang held the trembling girl in her arms, gently patting her back, and hummed the latter half of that Jiangnan folk song in a voice only the two of them could hear. Her voice was low and soft, carrying a soothing power.
The trembling in my arms actually subsided slowly.
After a long while, Su Wantang finally raised her head and said to Meng Wan, whose eyes were also red-rimmed, "Mom, could you bring me a bowl of porridge?"
Meng Wan snapped out of her daze, nodded quickly, turned around, and strode out of the ward.
Soon, a bowl of millet porridge, carefully cooked and diluted with spring water from the space, was brought in. The porridge was cooked until very soft and had a faint aroma of rice.
Su Wantang scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and held it to Lu Jingyue's lips.
Lu Jingyue turned her head away, her face full of resistance.
"Yueyue, be good and eat some." Su Wantang patiently persuaded, "You need to eat to have strength."
She tried several times, but Lu Jingyue kept her mouth tightly shut. Meng Wan watched from the side, her heart aching and tears streaming down her face. She wanted to go forward to help, but she was afraid of frightening her daughter, so she could only stand awkwardly in place.
Su Wantang wasn't in a hurry. She just held up the spoon and hummed the little tune softly.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but Lu Jingyue was probably extremely hungry, or perhaps the familiar melody made her feel safe. She finally opened her mouth cautiously and put the porridge in.
Once you take the first bite, you'll take the second.
It took a full half hour to feed him a bowl of porridge.
After finishing her meal, Lu Jingyue felt a little better, but she still followed Su Wantang closely, like a frightened kitten. When Su Wantang sat down, she hugged her knees and sat on the carpet beside her. When Su Wantang stood up, her gaze immediately followed.
Seeing this scene, Meng Wan felt both heartbroken and gratified. She tried to take a handkerchief to wipe the rice stains from her daughter's mouth, but as soon as she reached out, Lu Jingyue flinched as if startled and shrank back behind Su Wantang.
Meng Wan's hand awkwardly froze in mid-air once again.
...
That evening, the atmosphere in the study was somber.
Looking at the detailed report on Lu Jingyue's condition provided by Dean Benjamin, Lu Zhenguo, a general who had spent his life in the military, had a face ashen with anger.
“Long-term injection of unknown drugs has severely damaged the hippocampus, causing cognitive impairment and mental regression…” He read it out word by word, and with each word he uttered, the chill on his body intensified.
"You beast!" He slammed his hand on the table.
Meng Wan's tears fell once again.
Lu Jingyan stood silently by the window, his shadow stretched long by the lamplight, exuding a sense of desolation.
“Crying won’t solve anything.” Lu Zhenguo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger. His gaze swept over his wife and son, finally landing on Su Wantang, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
“Hong Kong Island is not a place to stay for long. I have already made arrangements. We will return to Beijing first thing tomorrow morning,” he announced in an unquestionable tone.
“I have contacted the best sanatorium in Beijing. Starting tomorrow, Jingyue will recuperate there for an extended period until she is fully recovered.”
He paused, his voice growing even colder: "During this period, no one in the Lu family is allowed to disturb us. I will personally issue an order that anyone who dares to gossip or try to use this matter against us, whoever they are, will be dealt with according to family rules, without any leniency!"
This is to provide Lu Jingyue with the strongest protective umbrella.
The Lu family will use all its resources to create an absolutely safe and warm environment for their daughter, whom they have lost and then regained.
...
Night was falling.
In an abandoned factory on the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, the basement is brightly lit.
This place has been transformed by Qin Zheng's men into a temporary safe haven and interrogation room.
Lu Jingyan compiled Anderson and Schmidt's testimonies, along with all the seized research materials, into several detailed reports. The sadness and vulnerability he once possessed had vanished, replaced by the coldness and sharpness unique to soldiers.
"Boss, sister-in-law, look here." Qin Zheng pointed to a record in the report, his expression solemn.
"According to Schmidt's confession, the core experimental data that 'Begonia' took with her when she defected was not only the theoretical basis of 'Project Luna'. It was more like a key, a key that could unlock another secret laboratory of 'Mr. Shadow'."
"The code name for this laboratory is 'Hive'."
Su Wantang took the report, her gaze falling on the word "Honeycomb," her pupils contracting slightly.
The word felt strangely familiar to her.
She closed her eyes, her mental energy sinking into the Begonia Space, rapidly searching through the vast Inheritance Library. Soon, she "saw" an ancient, rare book with a cover made of an unknown leather, placed on a corner bookshelf.
The book had no title, and its contents were neither medical techniques nor business strategies, but rather some bizarre theories about bioengineering and architectural structures. After transmigrating into the book, she had briefly flipped through a few pages while sorting through her mother's belongings, finding it difficult and obscure, and then ignored it.
At that moment, the pages of the book were flipping rapidly through her mind.
Before her lay a series of intricate architectural diagrams. They were vast underground complexes composed of countless hexagonal rooms, their structure… strikingly similar to a beehive!
The book's footnotes state that this structure is designed to achieve the highest level of physical isolation and information blockade.
Su Wantang's heart sank little by little.
Schmidt's fragmented descriptions of the "Honeycomb" laboratory in his testimony surprisingly match the architectural concepts recorded in this book by about 70-80%!
My mother... she not only knew about the existence of the "beehive," but she had even studied its structure in depth.
A chill crept up her spine. She had a strong premonition that this rare book left by her mother would be the key to finding and destroying the "Hive."
It was late at night.
When Su Wantang returned to the hospital, she was exhausted.
She pushed open the door to the ward, where only a dim wall lamp was on.
She thought Lu Jingyan would be waiting here, but she didn't see him.
The air was quiet, with only the soft sound of breathing.
Su Wantang tiptoed to the bedside, only to find it empty. Startled, she instinctively searched the room.
Then, she saw a scene that softened her heart.
Beside the sofa by the window, on the thick carpet, Lu Jingyue was curled up like a kitten, covered with a thin blanket, fast asleep. And her head was resting on Su Wantang's lap, who was asleep on the sofa... no, it was resting on Lu Jingyan's lap.
Lu Jingyan leaned against the sofa and fell asleep. One of his hands was still loosely wrapped around Lu Jingyue's shoulder, maintaining a protective posture.
Su Wantang herself had fallen asleep against the headboard at some point.
When did Lu Jingyan return?
He saw that she was asleep, but instead of waking her, he stayed by his sister's side.
As the night deepened and the dew grew heavy, fearing they might catch a cold, he found a large cashmere blanket somewhere and gently covered them both.
Su Wantang's heart was filled with a warm emotion.
She watched as the cool moonlight streamed in through the window, falling on the man's sharply defined profile and softening his hard lines.
She reached out, wanting to wipe away the weariness between his brows, but her fingertips stopped just before touching him.
Just then, Lu Jingyan, who was asleep, seemed to sense something and slowly opened his eyes.
Their eyes met.
There was no trace of the confusion of just waking up in his eyes, only an unyielding gentleness and focus.
He didn't speak, but simply reached out his other hand and pulled her into his arms, letting her lean on his shoulder. His movements were very gentle, as if he were afraid of waking his sister who was sleeping soundly on his lap.
A silent hug is worth a thousand words.
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