lcionline Chapter 601 A Do-or-Die Strategy, or Another Plan?
Chapter 601 A Do-or-Die Strategy, or Another Plan?
Lu Ge'er took a deep breath, and the confusion and pain in his eyes were gradually replaced by a resolute determination.
He got up, pushed open the door, and went straight to his younger sister Lan'er's room.
Lan Jie'er was hugging her knees, curled up in the cold corner of the bed, silently shedding tears.
There were no lights in the room, only moonlight filtering through the window, making her figure appear thin and pitiful.
"Lan'er." Lu Ge'er's voice was hoarse.
Upon hearing her brother's voice, Lan Jie suddenly looked up, as if grasping at the last straw, and threw herself into his arms.
"Brother! I don't want to get married! I'm scared!"
Lu Ge'er held his trembling sister tightly, his heart breaking.
He gently patted her back and said, word by word, "Don't be afraid, I'm here. I won't let you marry that beast."
Lan Jie'er raised her tear-filled face: "But...but Grandmother..."
“We can’t count on Grandmother anymore.” Lu Ge’er held her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. His usually gentle eyes were now burning with a mad flame.
"Lan'er, listen to me, only we can save ourselves now."
“Starting tomorrow, you will pretend to be sick.”
Lan Jie'er was stunned: "Pretending to be sick?"
“Yes, fake illness. And it has to be very serious, very strange.” Brother Lu spoke quickly and urgently, a bold plan rapidly taking shape in his mind.
"Just say you've been having nightmares all night, your body is cold, and you've seen unclean things. When the doctor in the manor comes to see you, don't let him see you, or make sure he can't figure it out."
"Just say you're possessed by an evil spirit or have offended something. The doctors in the manor can't cure you, so we have to call in a highly skilled doctor from outside."
Lan Jie'er was frightened by the madness in her brother's eyes and hesitated, "Brother, is this...is this okay? Aunt said she would help me..."
"Whether it works or not, we have to try!" Lu Ge'er grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. "After all, this is the third branch of the family, and it's not appropriate for Auntie to interfere..."
"Only by making a big scene, until the doctors in the manor are helpless, will we have a chance to bring in outsiders, and only then will we have a chance... to escape!"
Seeing the resolute look in her brother's eyes, Lan'er's fear was gradually replaced by a glimmer of hope. She nodded vigorously, tears streaming down her face again: "Brother, I'll listen to you."
Meanwhile, the study in the main courtyard of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was brightly lit.
Chu Ruohan sat upright behind her desk, with a stack of documents neatly arranged in front of her.
That was something Haitang had painstakingly researched; every single one of the Wang family's sordid affairs in the south of the city was recorded clearly.
She gathered all the evidence and placed it in an exquisite nanmu box, intending to present it to the third master of the Gu family first thing tomorrow morning.
She believed that as long as the Third Master saw these things, saw what a cesspool the Wang family was, and saw how ruthless and vicious Madam Gu was, he would understand.
For the sake of Lan Jie'er's reputation and the Gu family's face, they would never agree to this marriage.
Everything seemed to be under her control.
Chu Ruohan looked out the window at the deep night, her eyes cold.
She thought she had laid a flawless trap, just waiting to close it down the next day, to kill Madam Gu and get justice for Lan Jie'er.
Little did she know that in another dark courtyard, a brother and sister, driven to desperation, had already ignited another fire.
I'm prepared to burn myself out of the way in the most horrific way.
Just as dawn was breaking, a piercing scream shattered the tranquility of the courtyard.
Immediately afterward, a maid responsible for sweeping scrambled out of the courtyard, her face ashen, and ran incoherently toward the main courtyard.
"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened! Miss Lan... Miss Lan has gone mad!"
When the physician from the manor was hurriedly summoned to the third room, he was forced to leave in a disheveled state after only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
He covered his face, which had been scratched and bled, and shook his head repeatedly at Madam Gu, who looked anxious.
"Third Madam, I am incompetent. Miss Lan's pulse is extremely disordered, not like an illness, but rather like... rather like she has suffered a great shock and lost her composure."
Upon hearing this, Madam Gu was furious.
She wasn't concerned about her granddaughter's illness, but rather about the marriage that was about to take place.
She shoved the doctor aside and stormed into the inner room, yelling, "I think she's faking illness! She's trying to ruin this good marriage. I'll beat her awake today!"
Inside the room, Lan Jie'er was curled up in the corner of the bed with her hair disheveled, her eyes unfocused, and she was muttering some incomprehensible words.
Lu Ge'er spread his arms wide, like a young eagle protecting its fledglings, and stood firmly in front of his sister.
"Grandmother!" Seeing Madam Gu rush in with a feather duster, Lu Ge'er knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the cold bluestone bricks hard, his voice filled with sorrow.
"Grandmother, my sister isn't faking illness! She must have offended something unclean!"
"Please, please let your grandson take my sister out of the manor to the Qingxu Temple outside the city to see the Taoist priest! If this continues, my sister will die!"
Zhenguogongfu
Just as Chu Ruohan finished putting down the nanmu box containing all the Wang family's sordid affairs, Haitang rushed in like a gust of wind, her face showing a hint of panic.
"Madam, something has happened to the third branch of the family!"
Chu Ruohan raised her eyes, her brows furrowing slightly: "Tell me slowly."
“This morning, Miss Lan went crazy, grabbing anyone she saw and talking nonsense. The doctor in the manor took a look and said she was frightened,” Haitang said anxiously.
Chu Ruohan paused slightly in her hand holding the teacup, and she instantly understood.
Lu Ge'er, that usually gentle and quiet young man, was eventually driven to a dead end.
He chose the most dangerous path.
This risky move completely disrupted her original plan.
She originally intended to expose everything to the Third Master with overwhelming force, leaving Madam Gu with no chance of recovery.
But now that things have escalated to this point, it has given the other party the opportunity to throw a tantrum.
"Let's go take a look." Chu Ruohan put down her teacup and immediately stood up.
When she arrived, she witnessed a scene that infuriated her.
Madam Gu put one hand on her hip and raised the feather duster high in the other, about to lash out at Lu Ge'er, who was kneeling on the ground.
"You treacherous little beast! Did you instigate your sister to feign madness? I'll beat you to death!"
Lu Ge'er clung tightly to the door behind him, his neck stiff, letting the harsh curses fall into his ears, but his eyes were full of stubbornness.
"stop!"
Chu Ruohan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority that made Madam Gu's raised hand freeze in mid-air.
She turned around and, upon seeing Chu Ruohan, her eyes instantly turned venomous: "Hmph, you've come at just the right time!"
Chu Ruohan didn't even look at her, and went straight to Lu Ge'er, helping him up.
"Get up, the ground is cold."