Chapter 6: Pretending to be Mute

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

However, Fang De smiled. He was clearly in a good mood. With Jiao Yuebai’s help, he slowly got up and instructed her in a serious manner. “Come with me to the collection room to find a few things to send to the Lu family. Miss Lu is still in university. Let’s invite her over for dinner this weekend and I’ll call Fourth Son over for them to get to know each other.”

Jiao Yuebai had collected herself then and nodded. “I don’t understand much about your antiques. However, I can choose some jewelry for Miss Lu as a betrothal gift. I happen to have an appointment with Mrs. Lu to play mahjong tomorrow. Leave it to me.”

The Lu family.

In her thick pajamas, Lu Youyou kept wiping her nose. The air smelled faintly of shower gel. Her long hair had been blown dry, and her face was delicate and fair. Only the tip of her nose and her eyes were red. She had obviously caught a cold from being caught in the heavy rain.

Sun Xiangyi held the electronic thermometer and touched her daughter’s forehead. Her heart ached upon seeing the reading on the thermometer – 38 degrees Celsius. “Lie down and drink some hot water. I’ll get you some fever medicine.”

Lu Youyou wiped her nose and was about to lie down when her father walked in with a bowl. “Drink ginger soup before you sleep.”

“I don’t want to!” Lu Youyou picked up the blanket and covered her head with it. She refused to drink it. “That thing is spicy and disgusting. I’ll just take the fever medicine!”

Lu Youyou laid under the blanket and scrunched up her nose. But her ears were perked up as she listened carefully to the commotion outside.

Her father, Lu Qisheng, said, “Medicine can be poisonous as well. You just have a small cold. Drink more water and keep warm. You’ll be fine after drinking some ginger soup.”

Her mother, Sun Xiangyi, said, “She has a fever. It’s safer for her to take fever medicine.”

Her father, Lu Qisheng, then chimed in. “In that case, drink the ginger soup first before taking the fever medicine.”

Her mother, Sun Xiangyi, added. “You know she doesn’t like bad-tasting food. Why give her ginger soup?”

Her father, Lu Qisheng, also said, “Just close your eyes and drink it. Medicines contain a lot of antibiotics which are not good for the body.”

Her mother, Sun Xiangyi, was furious. “It was all your fault. You insisted that our daughter go to the mountain road to stop the Fang family’s Fourth Young Master’s car! That was so dangerous! Youyou wouldn’t have caught a cold otherwise!”

Her father, Lu Qisheng, felt wronged. “I didn’t know it would rain out of the blue…”

Seeing that her parents were about to quarrel, Lu Youyou couldn’t hold it in anymore. She lifted the blanket and sat up before looking at them plaintively. She didn’t want to drink ginger soup, nor did she want to watch her parents quarrel. As such, she could only change the topic. “I wonder if the Fourth Young Master of the Fang family would suspect me today. They say that his temper is unpredictable, and it’s difficult to guess. But I did not expect him to pretend to be mute! Isn’t it said that he was born mute? If he had been pretending all this while, won’t he lose his ability to speak thereafter?”

Of course, what surprised Lu Youyou the most was that he wasn’t angry when he heard her insulting him? He even calmly told her that he was mute and disabled.

The more Lu Youyou thought about it, the more she felt that this person was difficult to deal with. He was also terrifying and unfathomable.

Lu Qisheng put down the ginger soup and smiled. “Do you remember that we had returned to Jiang City on your 18th birthday? When you saved a man with crippled legs at the Jiang City Reservoir?”

The meaningful look in her father’s eyes caused Lu Youyou’s big eyes to widen further and she suddenly said, “So the man that day was Fang Yichu?” Such a coincidence? Lu Youyou found it unbelievable.

Lu Qisheng explained. “Large families often have internal strife which is very serious, especially when it involves the fight for the position of the head of the family. It is comparable to the fight for the imperial throne in the past. The Eldest Young Master of the Fang family and the Second Young Master were from the same mother, so they have a closer relationship. Therefore, they deliberately tested Fang Yichu’s legs to see if he was really a cripple.”

Lu Youyou nodded. “When people are in a life-and-death situation, they will subconsciously save themselves. Therefore, this is the most direct and effective way to test Fang Yichu. But they have the same father after all. If Fang Yichu is really disabled, won’t he drown?”

Lu Qisheng stroked his daughter’s head lovingly. “The internal strife in some big families is like this. Blood won’t be shed but everyday, it would feel as though there was a knife hanging overhead. One false move and all would be lost. However, you happened to appear on that day and you saved him. I only came to know about it recently as well that the person you saved back then was Fang Yichu, and that was because he had his assistant, Gu Cheng, to look for you for the past year. I only received the news a few days ago when I returned to Jiang City.”

Sun Xiangyi’s gaze changed slightly. “As long as his disability is real, I’ll be relieved if Youyou marries him.”

Lu Qisheng hugged his wife and comforted her. “Don’t worry. At least for now, it’s all within our plan.”