"No one will be coming for a while. Follow Dad in and hurry up."
Lan Rui said in a low voice and walked into the house first.
Lan Zheng followed his father's footsteps inside.
He had some impression of this place. When he was a child, his father tried to move here with him and his mother, but his mother cried and made a fuss after leaving the familiar place because she no longer felt safe.
In desperation, the father had to take the mother and son back to the Lan family manor.
Lan Zheng didn’t understand before, but now he can understand it to some extent. Deep down in her heart, her mother knows that her daughter is lost. She doesn’t want to leave the Lan Family Manor because she is worried that her daughter will not recognize her home when she returns. So even if she is bullied and humiliated in the Lan Family Manor, she still wants to stay in the Lan Family Manor.
However, the mother ignored the fact that her sister was only half a year old when she disappeared and could not recognize her home at all.
That's just a mother's persistence.
The father and son went upstairs and entered Lan Rui's study.
Although the study is kept spotless, the furnishings inside have not been moved and remain the same as they were more than 20 years ago.
Upon entering the study, Lan Zheng saw his parents' wedding photo. When they were young, they were truly handsome and pretty, like a perfect match. Even now, with his father in his fifties, there were still girls like Hei Ruyue in their twenties eager to marry him.
Lan Rui closed the study door and said to his son, "There's a soundproof wall here. No one outside can hear what you say inside."
When this villa was built, it was thought to be a small home for a family of four, so his study was not placed in an open area, but the sound insulation was increased so that he could still speak his mind without worry.
"Why didn't your mother come back with you?"
"Dad, don't you think it would be safer for me to come back alone? My mom is not in her right mind, and it would be easy to expose her if I bring her along."
Lan Rui sat down at the desk and continued to ask his wife about her condition: "Is your mother okay? How did you see your sister? How did your mother react? Is she showing any signs of improvement?"
"I thought Dad didn't care about my mom's situation."
Lan Zheng's words were tinged with sarcasm. "For over twenty years, you've let it go, and now you're asking all sorts of questions. It strikes me as ironic."
Being ridiculed by his son, Lan Rui's face darkened, as if he was angry. He did not vent his anger on his son, nor did he defend himself.
"When my mother saw Qingqing, she didn't recognize her. She just felt that she liked Qingqing very much and wanted to be close to her. She even treated Qingqing as her peer."
"But it's still much better than being at home. I look like a normal person most of the time."
After the mother and daughter met, although Mrs. Lan was still not awake, she had obviously improved.
There was pain in Lan Rui's eyes. He asked softly, "Is Qingqing okay?"
"Qingqing is doing well. Uncle Mu and Aunt Zhang's family treat her as their own daughter and treat her very well."
Lan Zheng is full of gratitude to the Mu family.
"Dad, Qingqing is getting married."
After Lan Zheng flew to City A with his crazy mother to find his sister, it was impossible for Lan Rui to do nothing. He also sent people to secretly follow his wife and children. Although he had not seen his adult daughter in person, Mu Qing's photo had already been delivered to him.
More than one.
Ever since Lan Zheng and his mother met Mu Qing, his people helped him take a lot of shots of them interacting with each other.
Only when it was late at night and everyone was asleep would he dare to take it out and look through it.
The daughter he had finally found after more than 20 years was already married, and Lan Rui was reluctant to let her go. In his opinion, 24 was still very young, and if his daughter stayed with him and grew up, he would definitely keep her for a few more years.
Fortunately, his son-in-law made him very satisfied.
"My brother-in-law, Ye Junbo, is the president of Fengchen Group in City A. He's a calm man and treats Qingqing very well. Although he has a few infatuated and bold admirers, that's normal. It would be abnormal for a man as outstanding as him to not have admirers."
Lan Rui was silent for a long time before she spoke softly, "Beauty is a disaster. A man who is too good-looking and too outstanding is also a disaster."
He suffered greatly from it.
The tragedy that happened twenty-three years ago was really not what he wanted.
He had no good feelings towards the man surnamed Zhuang, but Zhuang, regardless of the fact that he was already a husband and a father, still pestered him and said that she would be satisfied just by sleeping with him once.
He rejected her sternly. Zhuang, who was unable to get Qingqing's love, turned his love into hatred and took revenge on him by taking Qingqing away.
In fact, the one with the surname Zhuang wanted to take Lan Zheng away. After all, for him, his son would become his heir, which was more important.
It was because Lan Zheng had just pooped and it smelled terrible, and Mr. Zhuang was disgusted by it, so in desperation, he picked up Lan Qing and ran away.
This was when he later found Mr. Zhuang's body and also found a diary from him.
Zhuang wrote down everything she was going to do and what she had done in her diary.
But who helped her? The one with the surname Zhuang did not write it down.
Lan Zheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.
"Dad, are you going there yourself or are you going to arrange for someone to bring Qingqing back?"
Lan Zheng changed the subject.
After a moment's silence, Lan Rui said, "Our whole family will go and pick Qingqing up."
"The whole family?"
"Just call your grandparents, your two uncles and aunts, and your cousins, and fly over to pick up Qingqing. This matter can't be kept low-key. If it is, it will be easier for someone to plot against us. We have to make it high-profile so that they will be wary and it will be difficult for them to carry out their nefarious plans."
"So, Dad knows who the traitor is?"
Lan Rui choked and said, "Dad is collecting evidence. When the time is right, we'll catch them all in one fell swoop."
Lan Zheng sneered a few times, "Dad, can I trust you? You know how you've treated my mother and me over the years."
"You didn't grow up safely? Were you ruined?"
Lan Zheng: “…”
"Lan Rui!"
"Dad, I'm going back to my real name, Lan Zheng. I don't want to be your substitute anymore."
Lan Rui looked at him, smiling slightly, and said, "Actually, before you were born, your mother really wanted to name you Lan Rui. Otherwise, your longevity lock wouldn't have the word 'Rui' engraved on it. After you were born, I personally went to register you and your brother, and I specifically changed your name to Lan Zheng when I did so."
"I didn't expect that after you grew up, you insisted on changing your name and even chose the character 'Rui'. You insisted on changing it to Lan Rui, trying to replace my place in your mother's heart."
Lan Zheng: ...
"Lan Zheng, you know our family is in deep trouble. Various forces are infiltrating it. Our family will soon be facing a major purge. Dad is getting older, and there will always be a day when he can no longer protect you. If you are not strong enough, Dad's life's hard work will be wasted."
A strong person cannot be born in a land of wealth and luxury. Only when surrounded by wolves can one be forced to become strong little by little in order to survive.
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