Perfect Match, Secret Marriage

The old woman held onto AnLing"s hand, trembling. Tears did not fall from her eyes but they reddened considerably. It was as if there was a quota on how many tears a person could cry and now, she had none left.

AnLing"s heart began to hurt and guilt nagged at her conscience.

"I missed you too, grandmother. Sorry I didn"t come by earlier. I had to get some things in order." AnLing said caressing the woman cheek.

Grandma Lu began to pout.

"Hmph! You mean you didn"t want to visit the main house but now that I"m in the hospital you can visit me."

AnLing was quiet.

Yes, there was that, but it wasn"t the main reason why she never visited.

Two months had pa.s.sed since AnLing had arrived in T City. Originally, she hadn"t planned to stay in the country long. Her plans were simple; visit her grandmother a few times, renew her pa.s.sport and then leave without problems but, she should have known that plans never work out.

Mostly when you"re dealing with the Lu family.

On her first day back, she requested to see Grandma Lu but Mr. Jing kept telling her that Grandma Lu was not accepting visitors and this continued week in and week out until her current hospitalization.

Because she was being kept away, AnLing had to make new living arrangements and to do that she needed money. These past two months were spend finding jobs, three to be exact, and working so hard that sometimes she barely slept.

Just yesterday she went to a nonnegotiable get together with her co-workers from her day-job and hadn"t slept a wink since.

All this was a certain "someones" fault, and despite not having any tangible proof, AnLing knew, but there was no way she would tell Grandma Lu this.

"Forgive me?" AnLing coaxed.

Her big dark eyes pierced the old woman"s heart. She gave in so easily to her granddaughter that she didn"t know whether to laugh or cry.

No one could blame her, though.

For six years she hadn"t laid eyes on AnLing.

Seeing her now made Grandma Lu"s heart swell up. She brought her hand up to touch her granddaughter"s ink black fringe, moving it away from her eyes so it perfectly framed her beautiful oval shaped face.

"Of course, but from now on, please, don"t leave the country. At least not until I die…" The woman"s words were so straightforward that AnLing"s heart squeezed.

She tightened her grip on her grandmother"s hand.

"Grandma, please stop saying things like that. You won"t die." AnLing said as she lowered her head.

Grandma Lu smiled wryly before laughing. "Stupid child. Your grandmother isn"t an idiot. I know I"m dying, everyone dies; you, me, your grandfather… We"re all headed to the same place but the only difference is that the elderly know that their time is limited.

But that"s unimportant. What"s important is now and that you stay and enjoy your precious time with those who love you. So for once, do please as I say and stay."

Midway through her speech Grandma Lu"s smile disappeared and turned serious. Her eyes glazed over and slightly darkened but she wasn"t rueful. Her eyes were on AnLing the whole time, begging her in the special way she did.

AnLing could only sigh. There was no refusing.

Seeing AnLing lacking in words, Grandma Lu smiled.

"Fine. I promise I"ll stay." AnLing verbalized.

Grandma Lu grew more and more pleased. AnLing never made a promise she didn"t keep.

"Ah, such a filial granddaughter I have!" Grandma Lu laughed.

Her weak demeanor from before had completely disappeared. She was no longer trembling, just smiling as she squeezed her granddaughter"s hand twice as hard.

Grandma Lu had gotten what she wanted but there was one thing she still had to discuss with the girl.

AnLing felt the jewel of the ring on her middle finger dig into her index finger. She winced and then gave her grandmother a look of disbelief.

"This. Woman. Just. Tricked. Me."

Seeing the look on AnLing"s face, Grandma Lu knew she was in for a verbal lashing. Dreading the thought, she knew she couldn"t allow it... she needed to bring back a more controllable mood.

"Ahh!" Grandma Lu screamed in pain holding her stomach. AnLing bolted up from her chair and held the woman who violently jolted forward.

Worry grew in AnLing"s eyes.

Grandma Lu saw this and tried her best not to smile. Poor AnLing, having a self-indulgent grandmother such as herself.

"My dearest AnLing, please sit. I"m fine. I really am. Trust me. Just sit. I have something to discuss with you. It"s most likely— no, it is, the most important thing I"ve ever discussed with anyone. Will you listen to this old woman"s dying wish?"

AnLing frowned at the words "dying wish" but, looking at the old woman"s determined expression, she couldn"t help but agree.

AnLing took her seat and held her breath.

What was so important that she claimed it was the most important thing she"s ever discussed?

Antic.i.p.ation filled AnLing"s eyes but also a shade of worry. She couldn"t tell what her Grandmother was thinking about and she hated that.

Grandma Lu put her hand on the girls and caressed it softly. Still trying to fight back the smile that was beginning to tug at her lips.

"I need you to do me one favor before I die… Just one small favor. Will you do it?"

AnLing was reluctant to agree so she decided not to answer.

There were many things her grandmother could ask for that she just could not (or most likely, would not) fulfill. Especially when it came to the Lu family business.

AnLing might have come into the Lu family late, but she was no less intelligent than her siblings or cousins who all studied business in some type of way, shape or form. Not like any of them had a choice, of course. It was a prerequisite for any member of the Lu Family and even as an adopted child, she had to follow the rules of the clan, whether she liked it or not.

Each and every one of the current generation was groomed for the inheritance battle of the century.

"I just need one thing. Only one thing and I can rest easy and that is…"

AnLing tried to look straight into her grandmother"s eyes but the old woman avoided it.

Is?

Is what?

Come on. Spit it out, woman!

Grandma Lu purposely took her time to speak, keeping AnLing at the edge of her seat.

"For you to marry."

The words came out like a bulldozer over AnLing"s mind. As soon as the words left Grandma Lu"s mouth, AnLing"s let out a loud sigh of disbelief and her face turned pale. A cold air began to exude from her body, like the cold breeze that announced the coming of winter.

Seeing AnLing"s attention had been grabbed, Grandma Lu continued to speak. She could see the darkness in her granddaughter"s expression but since AnLing wasn"t speaking, she took it as an opportunity to speak her mind.

With every word spoken, AnLing"s face continued to darken.

"Now, you know, I won"t force a matchmaking session on you or force you to go on blind dates but there are many suitable men than I can introduce you to.

They"re all from backgrounds similar to our own, so you won"t need to worry about someone taking advantage of you or people thinking you"re taking advantage of him." Every word that flowed out of her mouth was smooth and dripping with pride.

"And don"t worry, I checked if they are having internal struggles. It"s best to avoid families like that, they only bring more trouble

You can"t stay in this state anymore. Chast.i.ty is important and to be kept until marriage, but I heard from a friend that it"s bad for the body to abstain from se--"

AnLing knitted her eyebrows listening to the old woman"s nonsense but hearing the last sentence almost caused her to choke to death.

"Enough!" AnLing almost roared.

This old woman had no shame. Using her illness to force her into getting married?!

That wasn"t going to happen.

Grandma Lu looked at the clock on the wall. It was quarter past six.

"Ah, that"s right… it"s time for you to go."

The other relatives would be arriving at seven and she knew that AnLing didn"t want to b.u.mp into them.

AnLing gazed at the clock and gave a sigh.

She hugged her grandmother and made her way to the door but before she exited the room she turned to look at her grandmother and said:

"Can you not tell anyone about…" AnLing pointed her index finger to her grandmother and back to herself. "This."

Grandma Lu nodded.

"I"d be glad to… if you can promise that you"ll give me a cute little great-grandchild to play with, within a year."

AnLing facepalmed.

"Grandma!"

Couldn"t this old woman give her a break!? All she wanted was a peaceful life; without problems. Right now, to AnLing, family equaled problems, friends equaled problems and she knew that a husband would definitely equal problems.

Mostly within the turbulent present condition of the Lu family.

Grandma Lu couldn"t care less, though.

She wanted her granddaughter to be in good hands before she died but what she wanted the most was to see the next generation of children.

Because AnLing was the eldest of her grandchildren, her biggest hopes rested on her. This caused AnLing more problems than the old woman would ever know.

"And I bet your grandfather would agree." Grandma Lu said triumphantly before AnLing could escape.

AnLing looked at the woman, who was nodding her head vigorously before she left. It was as if the pain from before had never existed. The longer AnLing gazed at her grandmother, the quicker she began to realize the woman"s schemes.

Since the beginning, AnLing had realized, she had been played.

AnLing didn"t know whether to laugh or cry.

How could someone be so shameless?