"How did it go? Did my grandson agree?" asked Old Madam Liu as soon as her son entered her room.
"I think we should give him some more time, Mother," Thom answered. He dropped by their ancestral mansion to check on his mother"s condition.
"Thom, time is very crucial… I"m already old, and I want to have my grandson with me. He is a Liu, Thom! He is one of us!" insisted Old Madam Liu with a dark face. Zach was her own blood. She wanted him to have everything that she had once she was gone from this world.
Thom and Jeru would need Zach in the family to keep and manage everything she had put her life into. It was because of her own sweat and blood that the Liu Empire was able to reach its pinnacle and be where it was right now. Charles" son deserved to have it, but why did he refuse it?
Thea had already told her that Zach might decline, but she didn"t believe it. Why would Zach refuse to have the name of one of the most powerful and well-known families in their society? She let out a distressed sigh and thought of the plan that was previously proposed by Thea.
"So I have to accept Thea in our family, then?" She sneered inwardly. But then, she would do anything to get her grandson, Zach, into her family. Including accepting Thea as Jeru"s wife…
"Mother?" Thom asked when he noticed his mother seeming to be deeply absorbed in thought.
"Oh yeah… Alright, Thom, maybe we should give him more time then. Son, could you please call Thea for me and ask her to bring my meal?" Old Madam Liu requested, which left his son totally flabbergasted.
Since when did his mother care for Thea?
"Thom!" Old Madam Liu called her son with an arched brow. Then she amusingly murmured, "What? What"s with that surprised look on your face?"
Thom couldn"t help but release a cackle of laughter and answered, "I"m indeed surprised, Mother… But it"s good that you are trying your best to adjust because the fact still remains that Thea is Jeru"s wife now. She"s already part of our family, so I"m hopeful that the two of you can get along well."
Thom immediately left the room when his mother dismissed him with her favorite hand gesture of shooing someone away...
Old Madam Liu grabbed her mobile phone and quickly dialed her most trusted a.s.sistant.
"Let"s proceed to plan B. Release all the lab results as soon as I arrive at the hospital and make sure to do it discreetly. I don"t want any loose ends, understand?" She firmly instructed.
Upon hearing her a.s.sistant"s confirmation, she ended the call.
Then she heard a knock on her door, and she a.s.sumed it was Thea, so she answered, "Come in."
Thea entered the room with a tray of breakfast in her hand. She smiled at Old Madam Liu and greeted, "Good morning, Grandma… How are you today?"
Old Madam Liu sighed. She knew Thea was trying her best to gain her approval, but it was still hard to accept her due to her past involvement with the underworld. Old Madam Liu had experienced having her family crumble from her late husband"s connection with those dregs of society, and now Thea? She would need to wipe out everything about Thea"s past to make sure the name Liu would not get dragged down with it in the future.
"Geez, another troublesome thing to do!" She mused helplessly as she looked at Thea.
"We will proceed with your plan, so make sure you do your part to convince my grandson to accept and embrace his real ident.i.ty as a Liu," Old Madam Liu casually said.
Thea"s lips curled up, forming a big smile, which made Old Madam Liu"s mouth twitch.
"You look so excited… Remember, you will only get your reward if this plan of yours succeeds," Old Madam Liu scoffed.
"Noted, Grandma. I understand. I"ll just have to make sure the plan will be successful," Thea said with determination as she put down the breakfast tray on the bedside table.
Old Madam Liu raised an eyebrow and said, "Off you go now because I"m supposed to faint in about an hour. We must not waste time and execute everything with precision. Act naturally, and you must convince Zach later..."
Thea nodded in agreement and tried to hide the twitching of her mouth as she walked out of the room.
After an hour, Thea instructed Old Madam Liu"s private nurse, who was in the middle of watching television, to check on her grandmother-in-law in her room.
Then...
"Madam Thea!!!" She heard the private nurse shouted from upstairs, so she hurriedly went up to the room.
"What happened?" She asked with a worried look on her face.
"The old madam has fainted… I already called for an ambulance." The private nurse answered with a shaky voice.
Thea quickly got her phone to dial her husband"s number. Then she called Senior Liu, who just left the mansion a bit more than an hour ago.
"The ambulance is here. Yes, I"ll be with her, Dad..." reported Thea to her father-in-law as she heard the sound of the sirens.
Thea watched her grandmother-in-law being transferred with a stretcher to the ambulance. She went inside the ambulance with her.
She tried her best not to smile nor chuckle as she marveled, "Wow, she"s a great actress…"
"How does she do that?" she wondered as she observed Old Madam Liu"s closed eyes. It didn"t move nor flinch at all.
"Old Madam Liu… You can open your eyes now and relax while we"re on our way to the hospital," said the doctor, who was also in league with them.
Old Madam Liu opened her eyes instantly and looked at Thea, who was sitting beside her. She asked, "Did you inform Keira already?"
Thea nodded. "Yes, she messaged me saying she will inform Zach and let me know as soon as they are on their way to the hospital."
"Okay, that"s good then…" said Old Madam Liu with a smile.
Thea scratched her head and wondered what would happen if Zach found out about their plan. Then she sighed… As long as she would not have to harm anyone, she would do anything to be on the good side of Jeru"s grandmother.
She did not want to see news about her husband being on a blind date set up by his grandmother, just like the one she heard from Lana. Nor did she want to be separated from Jeru, ever. So her goal was for her grandmother-in-law to accept her as Jeru"s wife, no matter what…