"Lu Shuya. It"s your grandmother"s birthday today, this isn"t the time to be fighting and mostly, in front of honored guests." Mother Lu gestured to Chong Feng and Old Chong. Then, the woman turned her gaze towards Lu Jiayi. "And you, I know your parents haven"t been teaching you bad manners. Come to the main house someday soon and properly introduce your fiancé to us."Listening to this, Lu Jiayi"s parents felt as if they could die of shame. Her mother looked her sister right in the eyes and bit her lip.
That sister of her"s knew exactly what she and her daughter were trying to do so she was trying to cast shame on them so the elders wouldn"t recognize their future marriage?!
She couldn"t have that.
Lu Jiayi"s mother shot her daughter a warning look.
Feeling the eyes on her, Lu Jiayi smiled shyly. "Yes. I"m sorry, auntie. I was so excited about getting engaged that I lost my head."
Lu Jiayi leaned against her fiancé and smiled.
The man kissed the top of the woman"s head and smiled down at her sweetly.
Lu Jiayi looked happy and serene but in truth, she wasn"t. She couldn"t help herself from looking at Lu AnLing who sat quietly beside Chong Feng. They weren"t acting intimate in the slightest but in Lu Jiayi"s eyes, the two were on the same level as her and her fiancé.
She needed to push the wedding date up and marry before Lu AnLing ever had the chance.
Catching Lu Jiayi"s glance, Lu AnLing didn"t say anything. She just internalized it and ignored the woman.
A silence spread through the table. Feeling this, Grandpa Lu cleared his throat.
"Let"s have a toast." Grandpa Lu said holding the hand of his wife lovingly. "To health, and to the family!"
Everyone raised their gla.s.ses.
During the entirety of the dinner, Lu AnLing didn"t say much. Every time she met her family, in front of the elders, it was like that but nothing could be done.
No one dared start a real fight in front of Grandma and Grandpa Lu unless they wanted to be cut out of their will.
For the Lu"s, what happened between Lu Shuya and Lu Jiayi was just a small discussion.
So awkwardness loomed over everyone"s heads but there were some small conversations here and there.
At some point, because she was feeling sick, Grandma Lu left to go to the bathroom. Grandpa Lu offered to go with her but Grandma Lu was hard headed and refused the old man straight out.
But after a while of being gone, everyone began to get worried.
Quickly, everyone who sat at the table dispatched to try to find the old woman.
Walking around alone, Lu AnLing b.u.mped into Old Chong who gave her a strange look but she didn"t reciprocate it. She had acted stupidly before by making it seem as if she disliked him. Instead, what she should have been doing was pretend that nothing was wrong.
Now, she would rectify that.
"Grandpa Chong, did you find granny yet?"
Hearing Lu AnLing call him "Grandpa Chong" made Old Chong"s skin crawl. He began to feel as if he was going to be sick but he still managed to answer her.
"No, not yet. We must keep looking."
Trying to separate himself from the girl, Old Chong headed down a hall but because he was heading down the hallway Lu AnLing was about to check and because the girl was trying to provoke the old man. She followed him with a sullen expression.
Suddenly a call came in. Without any hesitation, Lu AnLing grabbed her phone and saw that it was a call from Lu Duyi.
Answering the phone, Lu AnLing felt her hairs stand on end.
Something was wrong, she could feel it, and as soon as she heard Lu Duyi"s shaky voice on the other end of the phone, it confirmed her suspicions.
Lu Duyi: "G-granny fainted. We"ll need to bring her to the hospital."
***
At the hospital, the members of the Lu Family flooded through the hallway. Once they reached the door of the ICU, they met with Lu Duyi.
The boy sat silently. His expression filled with complete and utter dread.
As soon as they reached the boy, his grandfather, aunt, uncle, and father began to berate him with questions but the boy didn"t answer a single one of them. It was if he was stuck in time.
From the end of the hallway, Lu AnLing ran up to them.
She had taken a separate car with her mother, Lu Shuya, Chong Feng and Old Chong. It could have been the most awkward moment of her life but she didn"t feel it because of the worry that grew in her belly.
Seeing her family members, surrounding her brother, Lu AnLing"s heart began to hurt.
"Lu Duyi, snap out of it!" His grandfather said with anger.
Hearing this, Lu Duyi looked up but his eyes were still clouded. Once Lu Duyi"s head was lifted, he averted his eyes from his grandfather. When he did that, they landed on the five people walking towards them.
He had been completely overwhelmed by those around him.
As soon as he laid eyes on Lu AnLing, the boy felt his emotions reach a peak, so much so, that he ran into Lu AnLing"s arms.
Feeling the boys embrace, Lu AnLing was shocked. When he was a kid this used to happen a lot, since he was used to getting bullied, but she"d been gone for so long that she believed that his familiarity to her must have dissipated also...
This wasn"t the case.
Watching the scene, none of the family members approached, though Grandpa Lu shook as he stood.
"Is granny okay?" Lu AnLing asked calmly as she touched the boys head gently.
The boy"s sobs made him almost inarticulate.
Seeing that her family members were impatiently watching her, Lu AnLing lifted Lu Duyi"s head from her shoulder and cupped his face.
"Duyi, please, breathe."
Lu Duyi listened to his sister and he began taking deep breathes.
Giving him a moment to calm down, she wiped the tears from his face and smiled sweetly at him. It wasn"t the time to smile, but she was trying to help the boy relax his heart.
Once his breathing was calm, Lu AnLing lifted Lu Duyi"s chin.
"What happened?"
Tears began to emerge from the boy"s eyes and once he began to speak, his words came out like whispers.
Lu Duyi: "S-she ju… just fell… t-there was so… so much blood…"