The greenhouse is always warm and humid, where precious orchids unfold their petals in the temperature-controlled incubator, and the air is filled with the scent of nutrient solution mixed with soil.
Yu Jiuyuan squatted in front of a row of Venus flytraps, her fingertips just about to touch the serrated leaves, when she heard the soft sound of a glass door being pushed open behind her.
Su Jingshu walked in carrying a silver insulated bucket. The bucket reflected the light from the overhead light, making it dazzling.
She walked straight to Yu Jiuyuan's side, placed the thermos on the marble countertop, and when she opened the lid, a rich, sweet fragrance wafted out.
"I had someone stew rock sugar pears and add some calming ingredients."
Su Jingshu scooped up a piece of pear flesh with a silver spoon and handed it to Yu Jiuyuan. "Send it to my father on the night of the banquet. He's been having trouble sleeping lately, so he won't suspect anything."
Yu Jiuyuan didn't take the spoonful of pear; instead, she reached out and poked at the leaves of the Venus flytrap.
The leaf curled up as if it were alive, enveloping the nectar on her fingertip, its serrated edges trembling slightly, as if chewing on its prey.
"Something to calm the nerves?" She looked up, her eyes reflecting the warm light of the greenhouse, making her appear exceptionally innocent. "Or something that makes people tell the truth?"
Su Jingshu's hand paused in mid-air, then she laughed and put the pear into her mouth: "President Yu is indeed clever. A small amount can calm the nerves, but three times the amount will make people spill out secrets they've kept for ten years."
She swallowed the fruit, her voice filled with a strange excitement, "I want him to tell me, before he's locked in the secret room, how he pushed my mother down that night."
The pears in the thermos were still steaming, their sweet fragrance mingling with the dampness of the greenhouse, filling the space between the two of them.
Looking at the crystal-clear pear slices, Yu Jiuyuan suddenly remembered what Yuan Xu had said in the lab yesterday.
"This hallucinogen is very damaging to the nervous system."
Yuan Xu was observing something under a microscope at the time. Her voice came through the lens, with her usual focus: "If the dosage is not controlled properly, it can drive a person crazy."
She was sitting at the lab bench twirling a pen when she casually asked, "What if it were used on a specific person? Like... someone who has a lot on their mind."
Yuan Xu glanced up at her, her gaze behind her glasses calm and unwavering: "It will let him see his greatest fear. Who do you want to use it on?"
“An unimportant person.” She smiled and changed the subject, her fingertips tracing the petri dish he had placed on the table.
It contains a type of purple fungus that releases trace amounts of hallucinogenic spores when it comes into contact with air.
At that moment, Yu Jiuyuan looked at the pears in the thermos and suddenly reached out and scooped up a piece.
The pear flesh melted on her tongue, sweet to the point of being cloying, yet she could taste a very faint fishy smell, the kind that comes from purple fungi.
"You added more than three times the amount, didn't you?" she asked, her mouth full of pear flesh, her words slightly muffled. "And those fungal spores that Yuan Xu cultivated, right?"
Su Jingshu's smile froze.
"The greenhouse at Saint Sakura Academy uses a constant temperature system developed by Yuan Xu's team."
Yu Jiuyuan chewed the pear slowly, her voice as soft as a sigh.
"He placed a spore monitor in the ventilation ducts. Yesterday's data showed that some samples leaked off-campus, right in the direction of your villa."
She swallowed the pear, and when she looked up, the innocence in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold scrutiny: "Su Jingshu, you even want to scheme against me?"
Su Jingshu suddenly took a step back and bumped into the marble countertop with a dull thud.
The pears in the thermos wobbled, and some soup splashed out, leaving dark stains on the hem of her school uniform skirt.
"I didn't!" Her voice suddenly rose, then quickly fell, filled with a panicked defense. "I just... I just wanted to make my father suffer more! I never intended to scheme against you!"
Yu Jiuyuan stood up and looked down at her.
The greenhouse ceiling light shone directly on her face, half bright and half hidden in shadow, like a devil wearing a smiling mask.
Do you know why Ji Luoqin dislikes Rong Shenghan?
She suddenly spoke, her tone as calm as if she were talking about the weather, "Because Rong Shenghan's mother almost married that 'shadow shareholder' of the Ji family back then."
Su Jingshu's pupils suddenly contracted.
"You think the evidence you have is fatal?"
Yu Jiuyuan chuckled softly, reaching out to stroke the petals of an orchid, her fingertips catching a speck of purple pollen.
"Actually, that was just bait deliberately laid out by the Ji family, waiting for someone like you to stir up trouble with so-called 'secrets'."
She brought her pollen-covered fingertips close to Su Jingzhu's face: "Your mother's death was indeed related to your father, but the one who was pulling the strings behind the scenes was that old man from the Ji family. He needed a reason to completely kick his younger brother out of the game."
Su Jingshu's face turned deathly pale, her lips trembled, but she couldn't utter a single word.
“But it’s alright.” Yu Jiuyuan withdrew her hand, took out a wet wipe to wipe the pollen off her fingertips, her movements as elegant as if she were performing a ritual.
"I've accepted your rock sugar pear soup. I'll deliver it 'on time' on the day of the banquet."
As she picked up the thermos and turned to leave, Su Jingshu suddenly grabbed her wrist.
The force was immense; the nails almost dug into her flesh, yet her eyes were filled with desperate pleading.
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Su Jingshu's voice trembled. "You knew from the very beginning that I was just a pawn in your game?"
Yu Jiuyuan looked down at the hand that was holding hers, which was still covered in the sweet juice of stewed pears, making it sticky and uncomfortable.
She gently pulled away, her tone still calm: "Even chess pieces have their uses. At least, you can help me completely draw out the hand of the Ji family that is hiding in the shadows."
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