To be fair, Lu Qin and Su Muran are very smart to think of the method, a method that could rescue their ruined reputations.
However, she didn’t know if that was all they were planning. Perhaps they wanted more and schemed further.
“Do you want to go?” asked Lu Yi. “You can always choose not to. Like I said, I’ll be behind you in all matters concerning the Lu Family.”
Lu Yi never forced Yan Huan to do things, like going back to Old Master Lu’s residence. If Yan Huan didn’t want to go, he would let her have it her way. If she went, Old Master Lu might say some nasty stuff again, so he was completely fine with her not going.
This time too.
If she didn’t want to go, then so be it. He will shoulder everything so that no one would talk behind her back.
Yan Huan sat up, stretching.
“Of course I’m going. Why wouldn’t I? I am no longer the me in the past. If they want to set me up, then I would like to see them try.”
Her feet, ivory and delicate, dangled before the sofa, yet these were the same feet that walked through the paths of two lifetimes. She had soldiered through every hardship and prevailed over every trial.
Lu Yi scooped up the glass cup on the table. The milk was warm and ready to be drunk. He lifted the cup to Yan Huan’s lips and made her drink some. She was looking much better after resting for a few days, and that had put him at ease.
On the following day, Yan Huan accompanied Lu Yi to the Lu estate. She had come with the sole intention of finding out what gave Qin Xiaoyue the confidence to make such a show.
She knew the woman well enough, during her past life, to know that she was nothing but a coward when she had nothing to brag about. All talk, and greed.
What she didn’t know was the identity of the unlucky woman that was to be her daughter-in-law. Of course, the word ‘unlucky’ wouldn’t be apt if it was Su Muran. The two vile women would surely get along swimmingly.
Yan Huan walked in to find Old Master Lu waiting.
“Hello, Grandpa,” said Lu Yi with cool courtesy. Yan Huan flashed a smile at him as well.
“Hello, Grandpa,” she said dutifully. Whether he acknowledged the greeting was none of her business.
“Hmph!” Old Master Lu turned his face away. “A bitch has no loyalty, a bastard has no sincerity.”
Those words again.
Lu Yi gave her hand a squeeze. Not like Yan Huan cared. She had heard it enough in her two lifetimes to be blasé about it.
“Oh! That reminds me, Second-Aunt,” Yan Huan suddenly turned to Qin Xiaoyue, who had a shit-eating grin on her face. Yan Huan blinked and feigned innocence. “Lu Qin is an actor too. I wonder what kind of woman he found?”
Despite all his flaws, Lu Qin was going to be best actor one day. He couldn’t possibly marry an ordinary woman.
Qin Xiaoyue squinted in contempt. “My Lu Qin’s girlfriend is not someone an orphan like you can compare to. She’ll surely get best actress someday, and is way more popular than a washed-up actress like you.”
“So it’s an actress, I see,” said Yan Huan, smiling. She didn’t feel very attacked, since her being an orphan was a fact. But so what? She lived well and didn’t owe Qin Xiaoyue anything.
The word ‘actress’ clearly struck a nerve in Old Master Lu.
Yan Huan gave Lu Yi’s finger a covert squeeze, but Lu Yi was staring at Qin Xiaoyue with threatening narrowed eyes, which Qin Xiaoyue responded with an indifferent moue.
What? Gonna hit her? She was his senior.
She wasn’t afraid of Lu Yi since he was a junior and couldn’t actually hit her. However, she seemed to have forgotten that Lu Yi wasn’t the only one there.
“Mind your words, Qin Xiaoyue. Yan Huan is my daughter-in-law, and I wouldn’t tolerate any personal attacks on her,” said Lu Jin, looking up coldly. “If you can’t get along with her, you can very well move to some other place. That should give you some peace of mind.”
Qin Xiaoyue’s expression tensed. The words discomfited her.
She just came to the realization that the house still belonged to Lu Jin, who was well and alive. Even without Lu Jin, Lu Yi and Ye Shuyun were there to inherit it. The deed to the house would never be hers, unless the entire Lu Jin family ceased to exist.
She looked towards Old Master Lu for help.
He couldn’t just sit there and let the poor widow and her son get hectored, right?
But Old Master Lu only sat there with his brows furrowed. He didn’t want to interfere with the matter.
He was well aware of Lu Jin’s tempers. He was his son after all, and not someone he adopted. Unless Qin Xiaoyue went overboard, Lu Jin would never leave them high and dry. They were his niece and sister-in-law, after all.
He had never been partial to either of his sons, or treated any of the two unjustly. He granted them an estate each, and Lu Jing was the one who sold his own share, so how could they blame him?
He couldn’t possibly force his elder son to give half his estate to his niece, could he? Putting other things aside, Ye Jianguo would be the first to slap him across the face for that.
“We are here, Grandpa,” came Lu Qin’s voice from outside. His voice was a thorn that penetrated Yan Huan’s eardrums and stabbed at her heart. What followed was not just pain, but also anger.
The smile on her face was icy. In this life, we’ve finally met again.
The smug smile returned to Qin Xiaoyue’s face. Lu Qin emerged from the door. Behind him was a person who was not a stranger to any of them.
Su Muran.
It really was her.
Yan Huan wasn’t surprised. Lu Qin and Su Muran getting together was inevitable. Only it happened earlier than expected.
Old Master Lu studied Su Muran for some time.
“You are that child from the Su Family?”
“Yes, Grandpa, I am. Grandpa carried me in his arms when I was little,” Su Muran smiled sweetly. When she put on her act, she had a face that seniors found easy-to-like.
Oh. Old Master Lu did have some recollections of it. He and the other old fellas had seen these kids grow up. He remembered Su Muran a cute, doll-like girl, back when Old Master Su brought her over to play. They all found her likable. How much she had grown though. Time really flies, doesn’t it?
