Seeing that Lu Qianshan agreed, Shen Qingqing continued, “Alright then, let’s talk about the payment for the treatment.”
Before Lu Qianshan could speak, the door creaked open.
Lu Qianshan quickly closed his eyes.
He didn’t want to expose himself so soon.
“Shen Qingqing, hurry over here and help me take the teacup! If you delay the young master from drinking water, I’ll tell the old madam to punish you!”
Shen Qingqing turned to look at the doorway. A plump woman was standing there it was Aunt Shen, the nanny of the villa.
Although Aunt Shen was only a nanny, she acted as if she were the mistress of the house. The original Shen Qingqing had suffered plenty under her hands being forced to kneel while cleaning the bathroom, washing clothes, cooking, and so on.
“What did you just call me?” Shen Qingqing stood up from the bedside and slowly walked toward Aunt Shen step by step.
Aunt Shen trembled slightly under Shen Qingqing’s imposing aura, but soon regained her arrogance.
“You’re just a country bumpkin from the countryside. Being able to marry into the Lu family is already a blessing from heaven. Why should I address you respectfully?”
“I’m telling you ”
Before Aunt Shen could finish speaking, Shen Qingqing had already slapped her across the face.
“And what gives a nanny the right to order me around?”
“I’m Lu Qianshan’s wife. I’m your employer. As a nanny, you should have the self-awareness of a nanny. Understand?”
“This slap is for disrespecting your master!”
Aunt Shen was momentarily dizzy from the slap. When she recovered, anger filled her heart.
Shen Qingqing, a country bumpkin, dared to hit her?
“I’m the good friend of Old Madam Wang Lanhua! Believe it or not, I’ll go to the old madam right now and have you divorced!”
Aunt Shen shouted fiercely, though her confidence was shaky.
Shen Qingqing raised an eyebrow. “Not convinced?”
Slap!
Another slap rang out.
“This slap is for talking back to your master!”
“This slap is for your arrogance!”
“And this slap is for a servant bullying her master!”
After three consecutive slaps, Aunt Shen’s cheeks swelled immediately. Her already round, pancake-like face puffed up into something resembling a large loaf of bread.
After finishing, Shen Qingqing shook her hand and stepped back toward the doorway.
“I… I’m the old madam’s good friend,” Aunt Shen repeated dizzily, repeating the same words again.
That reminded Shen Qingqing of something. She keenly sensed that something was off.
Keeping her expression calm, she said, “Oh? A good friend? If you’re really her good friend, then why did the old madam send you here to work as a nanny?”
Shen Qingqing looked at Aunt Shen with a faint smile.
“Could it be… there’s some kind of secret behind this?”
As she spoke, Shen Qingqing strode over quickly and asked sharply, “Lu Qianshan’s car accident shouldn’t have left him a vegetable. Yet he became one. Does that have something to do with you?”
Aunt Shen remembered what Wang Lanhua had said earlier and swallowed nervously, taking a step back.
Seeing this, Shen Qingqing immediately understood. She steadily snatched the teacup from Aunt Shen’s hand.
“Ah! You can’t take that!” Aunt Shen panicked.
Shen Qingqing glanced sideways at her. “Why can’t I?”
She dipped a finger into the tea and tasted it lightly. After confirming her guess, she said calmly.
“Snake Immortal Grass, One-Hu Flower… If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been poisoning Lu Qianshan from the very beginning.”
“Am I right? Hmm?”
Hearing Shen Qingqing’s words, Aunt Shen felt as if she had heard a call from hell.
Wasn’t this Shen Qingqing supposed to be an ignorant country girl? How could she know something so secret?
The more Aunt Shen thought about it, the more frightened she became. She stepped back twice, trying to suppress the storm of panic inside her.
Ignoring the pain on her face, she forced out a stiff smile.
“What nonsense are you talking about? The old madam treats the young master very well. How could she possibly ”
Shen Qingqing raised an eyebrow and set the teacup on the table.
“Treat him well? I’m afraid that’s just what outsiders believe.”
According to the original storyline, Lu Qianshan was the illegitimate son of Old Master Lu. After his mother gave birth to him, she was removed while the child was kept.
As for the male lead Lu Kai, he was the son of Lu Qingshan, Old Master Lu’s eldest son. Lu Qingshan’s wife, Wang Lanhua, was the “old madam” Aunt Shen mentioned.
Because Lu Qianshan was too outstanding, Lu Qingshan failed to become the heir. How could Wang Lanhua possibly treat Lu Qianshan well?
Even Lu Qianshan’s car accident was probably not so simple.
While Shen Qingqing was thinking this, Aunt Shen spoke again, intending to report the matter to Wang Lanhua.
“Madam, I’ll take my leave now. You should rest early.”
“Wait,” Shen Qingqing said lightly. “I’m planning to send this tea to a research institute for testing and then make the results public. What do you think will happen then?”
Aunt Shen didn’t dare imagine the consequences.
She immediately said, “Shen Qingqing, I know you’re the real daughter of the Shen family. You’ve suffered grievances. What do you want? I can tell the old madam for you.”
She had softened.
A cold smile flashed in Shen Qingqing’s eyes.
“I’m not the type to blackmail people. How about you kneel down and kowtow to me right now?”
Aunt Shen hesitated. Before she could react, Shen Qingqing lifted her leg and kicked twice, forcing Aunt Shen to collapse to her knees with a thud.
Seeing this, Shen Qingqing finally let out a breath of relief, feeling a sense of satisfaction.
It was the lingering emotion of the original body finally getting revenge after enduring so much torment.
Shen Qingqing murmured softly, “Don’t worry. I’ll avenge you.”
Aunt Shen knelt on the ground, feeling deeply humiliated. She had expected Shen Qingqing to do more, but instead she heard her say.
“Get lost. Oh, and don’t think about reporting this to Wang Lanhua. Do you think she’ll believe you? Or will she misunderstand you instead?”
After saying that, Shen Qingqing turned around and went straight back into the room. She didn’t intend to keep entangling herself with Aunt Shen.
After all, there was plenty of time ahead.
Aunt Shen slumped on the floor, watching Shen Qingqing return to her room, despair filling her heart.
With Wang Lanhua’s personality, if she really told her, Wang Lanhua wouldn’t believe her. Instead, she’d think Aunt Shen was trying to extort money.
Shen Qingqing had even thought of that!
She wasn’t some country bumpkin at all. Everyone had been fooled by her!
Shen Qingqing, however, knew nothing of Aunt Shen’s shock.
She returned to the room and locked the door with a click.
Then she placed the teacup carefully into a drawer for safekeeping and walked over to the bed.
“Alright, stop pretending. Aunt Shen is gone.”
Only then did Lu Qianshan open his eyes, looking at Shen Qingqing with a complicated expression.
“How do you feel after hearing all that?”
Lu Qianshan smiled bitterly. “I should’ve expected it long ago.”
Indeed, he had already stopped trusting Wang Lanhua. Because of his vigilance, he had secretly planted informants within the Lu family ahead of time.
Shen Qingqing looked at him, an involuntary trace of sympathy rising in her heart.
In the story, Lu Qianshan lost his mother when he was very young. In the rigid Lu family, he struggled to survive and was raised in his elder brother’s household, calling his sister-in-law “mother.”
Yet this very “mother” also wanted to harm him causing the car accident that left him in a coma and even poisoning him afterward just to be safe.
The violent temper Lu Qianshan showed when he woke up was actually influenced by the poison.
Shen Qingqing sighed. Looking at Lu Qianshan’s figure half-hidden in the shadows, she slowly suppressed her emotions and said nothing more.
The original body had just gone through half a day of wedding ceremonies. This body was already exhausted.
“It’s late. Let’s rest.”
After saying that, she switched off the light and lay down on the bed like flowing water.
She lay close beside Lu Qianshan’s cold body.
Feeling the woman’s warm presence, Lu Qianshan’s heart trembled. His entire body tensed, and a trace of unfathomable emotion gathered in his eyes.
After a moment, he finally exhaled, like someone who had nearly drowned but managed to reach the shore.
For so many years, because of the shadow left by his mother’s death, Lu Qianshan had never been this close to a woman.
He was about to push Shen Qingqing away, but when he heard her steady breathing, he stopped.
At that moment, Shen Qingqing turned over and lay flat on her back.
Under the moonlight, her face looked even more stunning crimson lips paired with distant-mountain eyebrows, gentle yet boldly alluring.
Lu Qianshan’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, but he suppressed the stirrings in his heart. Turning his body, he slowly lay down facing the other direction.
Hearing the movement, Shen Qingqing opened her eyes slightly and looked at Lu Qianshan’s back thoughtfully. After a moment, she closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep.
Shen Qingqing didn’t know that an hour after she fell asleep, Lu Qianshan got up again.
His movements were extremely gentle, afraid of waking the sleeping woman.
After getting out of bed, he quietly opened the drawer. Feeling around, he quickly found the laptop he had expected.
Sure enough, his planted informants had been useful.
He took the laptop and went into the bathroom.
In the silent night, only the sound of Lu Qianshan typing on the keyboard echoed.
As commands were sent out one by one, the companies under his arrangements responded rapidly.
After a while, Lu Qianshan’s lips curved slightly.
Tomorrow was the old master’s birthday banquet. He wondered whether the “big gift” from this supposedly “vegetative” son would make the old master fly into a rage.
Should he go and watch the excitement tomorrow?