The butler’s expression shifted, suppressing the fear in his heart as he quickly replied, “This morning, Old Mrs. Lu sent over a few people. I wasn’t sure how to handle them.”
After returning to the country, Lu Yanshu had only spent one morning at the Lu family’s old estate before moving out.
Mother Lu had been reluctant to let him go, but she hadn’t said a word to stop him. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t—she was afraid of pushing Lu Yanshu even further away.
The people sent over had all been carefully selected and trained by Mother Lu, the most special among them being a girl named Su Lingyi, who had been raised by Mother Lu’s side since childhood.
Officially, it was framed as financial support, but everyone knew in their hearts that Mother Lu was grooming her to be her future daughter-in-law.
That was also one of the reasons the butler couldn’t make up his mind.
“Send them back.” Lu Yanshu’s voice was low.
The butler quickly acknowledged and turned to leave, preparing to handle the matter personally and see it done properly.
But just as he reached the door, before he could even pull open the study door, he heard Lu Yanshu’s voice again, as if laced with ice.
“If there’s a next time, no one connected to the Lu family will set foot in this place again.”
It was a threat that bordered on severing ties with Father Lu and Mother Lu.
The butler’s heart trembled with alarm, and he understood that this was also a warning directed at him.
The vast study was left with only Lu Yanshu alone.
He appeared to be above it all, possessing power and wealth that others could only envy, yet his entire being radiated an indescribable sense of loneliness.
After another moment, Lu Yanshu pulled open the desk drawer and took out his phone.
Once the lock screen was unlocked, it jumped to the chat interface. Lu Yanshu tapped on the voice messages he had already listened to countless times.
The next second, a crisp, clear voice rang out in the silent, spacious study.
Her enunciation was precise, her pace unhurried, and occasionally the tail ends of certain words carried a tender, youthful softness—like sweet water steeped in honey and milk.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Lu Yanshu’s lips.
After listening to those three full sixty-second voice messages once more, Lu Yanshu tapped into Jiang Zhiwan’s Moments.
Jiang Zhiwan, who spent her days shuttling between various part-time jobs, had an unusually sparse social feed, often going long stretches before posting an update.
The most recent post was from three months ago, when Fu Baozhu had celebrated her birthday.
The two of them sat close together, facing an exquisitely vintage pink-and-white cake.
In the photo, Jiang Zhiwan smiled with her eyes curved into crescents, faint dimples appearing beside her fair, tender cheeks.
Lu Yanshu saved the photo and carefully cropped away the extraneous parts, leaving only Jiang Zhiwan’s small, blooming face.
Through the screen, Lu Yanshu gently traced Jiang Zhiwan’s little face with his finger, his slightly lowered eyelids concealing the thick, churning darkness surging beneath his gaze.
.
Jiang Zhiwan hadn’t given that peculiar “interview” on Saturday night another thought and had thrown herself back into her relentless routine.
She had to save up enough emergency funds to guard against the risk of Jiang Shuchen suddenly going back on his word, which could threaten her hospitalized mother’s life.
Amid all the busyness, Jiang Zhiwan still made a trip back to the Jiang family.
Her stepsister and stepmother had angered Father Jiang over the incident at the Bai family banquet and were busy trying to soothe his temper, leaving them no time to trip Jiang Zhiwan up or make things difficult for her.
During this period, Father Jiang had also been scrambling to reconnect with the Lu Group, afraid that competitors might seize on any weakness to make trouble. He had his secretary transfer some money over and told Jiang Zhiwan to get lost quickly.
That said, Jiang Zhiwan was more than happy to be ignored by the lot of them.
On her way back to school, she spotted a stall selling candied hawthorn skewers and bought two.
One was the classic hawthorn.
The other was a strawberry candied skewer for Fu Baozhu.
Just as Jiang Zhiwan had expected, Fu Baozhu loved the strawberry skewer.
The sugar coating was crisp and thin, and the strawberry’s natural tartness perfectly balanced out the cloying sweetness of the sugar.
“Did it go well?” Fu Baozhu asked vaguely as she ate her candied fruit, deliberately not mentioning anything specific.
At that, Jiang Zhiwan’s expression relaxed considerably. “The easiest one yet.”
That was good.
Fu Baozhu had told Jiang Zhiwan more than once that she could have Chi Chen step in to help.
But every time, Jiang Zhiwan refused.
The Jiang family was currently at the height of its power in Wangjing. If Chi Chen were to intervene, wouldn’t that be an outright declaration of opposition to the Jiang family?
Jiang Zhiwan also believed that if Fu Baozhu so much as mentioned it casually, Chi Chen—who doted on her like a precious pearl—would agree without a second thought.
And precisely because of that, Jiang Zhiwan couldn’t drag Fu Baozhu and Chi Chen into this.
The closer finals approached, the more flexible Jiang Zhiwan’s schedule became. Unworried about failing her exams, she poured most of her time into part-time work.
Fu Baozhu, however, was a different story. Studying was like pulling teeth for her. She spent her days hunched over her books, though not much knowledge actually made it into her head—the pages, on the other hand, were already getting worn and tattered from all the flipping.
During her review sessions, Fu Baozhu would grumble about how she’d definitely study hard next semester, while also wailing that if she actually failed a class, Chi Chen would probably beat her palms raw.
On Fu Baozhu’s birthday, Jiang Zhiwan went to the villa where she and Chi Chen now lived.
The ruler made of golden nanmu wood was about half the length of Fu Baozhu’s arm, and it was placed in the most conspicuous spot in the living room.
Although Chi Chen usually doted on Fu Baozhu immensely, when she truly made a mistake, Chi Chen would really raise his hand and hit her.
To save her best friend’s palm from being beaten to a pulp, Jiang Zhiwan specially set aside an entire morning to highlight the key points for Fu Baozhu.
This moved Fu Baozhu so much that her eyes welled up with tears.
After reminding Fu Baozhu to study hard, Jiang Zhiwan grabbed her crossbody cloth bag and headed out.
Today’s part-time job was at a themed café, and the recent theme was animal-themed.
As soon as she arrived at the café, Jiang Zhiwan went straight to the cloakroom and changed into her work uniform.
Outside, the weather was drizzling and overcast, making everything feel gloomy and oppressive.
Business at the café wasn’t good today either—because the lighting was poor, very few customers came specifically to take photos and check in.
After finishing the tasks at hand, Jiang Zhiwan quietly stretched like a cat.
Jiang Zhiwan had thought today would be a smooth and easy day, but unfortunately, fate didn’t have it in for her.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, a few people pushed open the door and walked in, triggering a pleasant chime from the wind bells.
The front desk staff greeted them with a smile and asked softly, “Welcome, how many of you are there?”
No one answered her.
Standing at the front of the group was a girl with striking looks and luxurious attire.
She stood still, her sharp gaze sweeping around the room, finally stopping when it landed on Jiang Zhiwan, a slight curve forming at the corner of her lips.
Jiang Zhenyue raised her hand and pointed at Jiang Zhiwan, a provocative smile flickering in her eyes: “We want her to serve us the entire time.”
The colleagues who had worked together for days, even if they didn’t know what was going on, understood by now that this visitor meant trouble, and they all looked at Jiang Zhiwan with concern.