Lu Tingchen's earth-shattering guess, like a bomb dropped into deep water, stirred up huge waves between the two of them, and the aftermath lingered for a long time without subsiding.
Su Wanwan was completely stunned. Her mind went blank. The words "It might involve my background" kept echoing over and over again. She felt cold all over and her blood seemed to have frozen. This is too absurd and terrifying, far beyond the bottom line she can bear!
"No..." No... This is impossible..." She shook her head, tears welling up uncontrollably. It was shock, it was fear, and even more so, a sense of nausea that had defiled the most precious memories. Her mother, such a gentle and tenacious mother, how could she...
Lu Tingchen held her tightly and could clearly feel the violent trembling of her body. His heart sank into the ice cellar as well, and this guess was equally cruel to him. But compared to Su Wanwan's pure shock and resistance, in his heart was more of an anger and coldness, entangled in a huge conspiracy and a family scandal.
If this is true, then what is he? What about his mother, Lin Wanru? Where is his father? The entire Lu family is a huge, distorted cage full of lies and betrayals!
"Wanwan, look at me." " He forced himself to calm down, cupped her tearful cheeks with both hands, his gaze aching yet resolute. "Listen, this is just the worst guess." Everything is just a hypothesis until the evidence is conclusive. But we must confront this possibility, because the enemy is clearly taking advantage of it.
His voice carried an unquestionable power, forcibly pulling Su Wanwan back to reality from the brink of collapse.
"If..." If this is true... Su Wanwan's voice was shattered, "We..." What shall we do? She couldn't imagine such consequences.
Whether it's true or not, you are Su Wanwan and I am Lu Tingchen. He repeated this sentence, as if emphasizing to her or swearing to himself, "Our marriage and our children are real and have nothing to do with the past." The truth is important, but it cannot define our present and future.
He wiped away her tears and said resolutely, "Now, what we need is calmness and courage to lift this lid." Only in this way can we truly break free from the control of "Sir" and put an end to all this.
Su Wanwan looked into his determined eyes as if she had drawn a faint yet crucial strength from them. She took a few deep breaths, struggling to suppress her surging emotions, and nodded vigorously.
Yes, evading won't solve the problem. No matter how unbearable the truth is, it's right there. Only by facing it head-on can we regain the initiative.
In the following days, the atmosphere at the manor was extremely oppressive. Lu Tingchen and Su Wanwan seem to be striving to maintain their daily routine, taking care of the child and handling work, but deep in their eyes, there is a hint of gloom and tension that cannot be dispelled.
The investigation on Qin Hao's side is proceeding almost frantically. As it involves the most core privacy of the Lu family's previous generation, the investigation must be extremely covert and of great difficulty.
But with the generous reward and the immense power of the Lu family, some long-buried fragments were still dug out with great difficulty.
A vague record of a hotel stay abroad shows that before and after the period when Lu Tingchen was predicted to be pregnant, Lu Hanhai did stay in a certain European country for as long as two months under the pretext of inspecting a project, and during that time, Lin Wanru did not accompany him.
Another vague oral account from an old servant of the Su family (under the premise of huge compensation and guaranteeing confidentiality) mentioned that in the first one or two years after their marriage, Li Qingya had been in extremely low spirits several times and even had fierce quarrels with Su's father, vaguely mentioning words like "I was deceived" and "I'm sorry to someone".
The most crucial clue comes from the data recovery of a long-abandoned overseas private email account of Yang Zhenhua. The technical team struggled to recover a draft of an incomplete email without a signature or title from a vast amount of junk data. The date was just before Jiang Yue's incident.
The content of the email is only a few words:
{" id ": 1010812," text ":" [... The plan has changed. She (pointing to an encrypted code name) seems to have sensed the old story between Hanhai and Qingya, threatening to tell Wanru and the media... she must be made to shut up... The laboratory is the best... ]"
"Vast Sea and elegant Old Stories"!
These seven words, like a poisoned dagger, pierced the bullseye fiercely!
Although there is still no direct evidence, all the collateral evidence vaguely points to that most terrifying and taboo possibility!
Lu Tingchen looked at the report summarized by Qin Hao, his face so gloomy that it could drip water. He sat in the study all night without closing his eyes, with cigarette butts piled up like a mountain under his feet.
Su Wanwan didn't sleep either. She sat in the next room, holding her sleeping son, looking out the window at the pitch-black night sky, her heart in a complete mess. She was afraid to see the final outcome, yet she couldn't escape it.
The next morning, Lu Tingchen pushed open the study door and came out. He looked extremely exhausted, his eyes bloodshot, but his gaze was a near-destructive calmness, as if he had made some major decision.
He walked up to Su Wanwan, looked at her, his voice hoarse but clear: "I need to have a DNA test done." "
The simplest, most direct and also the cruelest way.
Su Wanwan's heart gave a sudden jolt and she instinctively hugged the child tightly.
With whom? Her voice trembled.
And my father's old things, or... "With grandpa." Lu Tingchen's voice had no fluctuations at all, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. "I'll let Qin Hao do it secretly."
This is the only way that can make a final decision. No matter what the outcome is, they must know.
Su Wanwan looked at his expression as if he were about to be sent to the execution ground, and her heart ached beyond words. She put down the child, walked forward and hugged his cold body tightly.
"I'll be with you." " She only said these three words. No matter what the outcome is, she will always be by his side.
Just then, Lu Tingchen's encrypted mobile phone suddenly rang urgently. It was the emergency line of the nursing home's monitoring team!
He picked it up immediately.
"Mr. Lu!" The condition of the old lady is not right! She has refused to eat since last night and has been sitting by the window in a daze. Just now... Just now she suddenly started packing up, as if she was about to leave!" The other person's voice carried anxiety.
Is Lin Wanru leaving the sanatorium? At this critical juncture?
Lu Tingchen and Su Wanwan exchanged glances and both saw the surprise and suspicion in each other's eyes.
Stop her! I'll be there right away!" Lu Tingchen immediately gave the order.
He had a strong premonition that his mother must have sensed something, or... A new "instruction" has been received again!
Without worrying about the DNA test, the two immediately set off for the sanatorium.
All the way, Lu Tingchen's expression was extremely gloomy. If the mother goes missing or is silenced at this critical moment, all the clues might really be cut off!
When Lin Wanru arrived at the sanatorium, she had already been "persuaded" back to her room by medical staff and bodyguards. She was sitting on the sofa, her face pale and her eyes vacant, with a simple suitcase beside her.
Seeing Lu Tingchen and Su Wanwan come in, she just raised her eyelids, showing no reaction at all, like a puppet without a soul.
"Mom, where are you going?" " Lu Tingchen tried his best to make his voice sound calm.
Lin Wanru remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, her voice as ethereal as a wisp of smoke: "He said..." The last minute is up... Let me go to a place... "Get that piece of evidence back..."
Who is he? Where to go? What kind of evidence should we exchange?" Lu Tingchen pressed further.
Lin Wanru just shook her head, her eyes filled with desperate fear: "I can't say..." Once it's said, it's really over... Leave me alone... Let me go... This is the debt I owe..."
It's "Sir" again! He came into contact with his mother again! And gave the final ultimatum!
Lu Tingchen's heart kept sinking. The other side clearly sensed that their investigation was approaching. This was to get ahead of them, either taking Lin Wanru away or... Silence!
She mustn't be allowed to leave!
Just then, Su Wanwan's mobile phone vibrated slightly. She lowered her head and took a look. It was a message from Qin Hao. The content made her pupils contract sharply!
She immediately handed the mobile phone to Lu Tingchen.
On the screen was an extremely blurry old photo that had just been technically restored - it seemed to be a corner of a charity dinner. Lu Hanhai, much younger, was slightly turning his head and whispering to a young woman in a formal dress beside him. The profile of that woman... It's about seven or eight parts similar to Li Qingya! And the date of the photo happened to be about nine months before Lu Tingchen was born!
There is also a line of notes by Qin Hao below the photo
[Photo source: Private collection of a late senior financial journalist. It is suspected that he was warned to keep silent due to noticing something abnormal back then. It was just found from his belongings.]"
The final piece of the puzzle seems to be about to be completed.
Lu Tingchen looked at the blurry yet glaring photo, then at his mother in front of him who was as lifeless as a withered tree. The last trace of hesitation in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by a cold determination.
He put away his phone and said in a deep voice to the medical staff and bodyguards around him, "Keep an eye on the old lady. Without my order, no one is allowed to approach her, and she can't leave the room even a step!"
Then, he looked at Su Wanwan, his eyes sharp as a knife:
It seems that someone doesn't want us to investigate further.
"Since that's the case, let's close the net in advance!" "
The storm has come ahead of schedule.
(To be continued...)"