"Did Second Brother pick him up?" Jiang Yuning asked even though she felt that Lu Jingzhi didn't need to do that.
"Did he mention that he was going to pick Grandpa up?" Ku Jie quickly asked. He sounded extremely nervous and worried.
"No, he did not mention anything to me. Don't panic, I will just give him a call to ask him right now," Jiang Yuning replied as she hung up the phone. She was just about to give Lu Jingzhi a call when she saw several missed calls from an unfamiliar number on her phone. Jiang Yuning suspected that the calls might be related to her grandfather's affairs and so she quickly returned the phone call.
As soon as she heard the voice on the other side of the line, Jiang Yuning wanted to hang up.
"Jiang Yuning, you can try to defame me and ruin my reputation further, but I promise that you will never see your grandfather again," Lu Zongye's repulsive voice sounded on the other side of the line.
Jiang Yuning tried hard to control her own emotions even though she was fuming inside. "Where is my grandpa?"
"I brought him to the Lu family mansion to enjoy life. I know that you are retaliating and plotting against me because you are angry and jealous that I annulled our engagement because I wanted to get engaged with Huo Yuxi instead. If you desperately want to get married to me and be a part of the Lu family, just move into the Lu family mansion now. I promise that I will marry you immediately."
"You've got to be kidding." Jiang Yuning could not help but curse at Lu Zongye. "What made you think that I am jealous and want to get back with you?"
"You are such a cunning and manipulative woman. You really belong in the entertainment circle because only you can resort to using such tricks. Move in to the Lu family mansion as soon as possible. I don't have anymore time to waste." Lu Zongye hung up immediately after he had spoken.
Jiang Yuning felt ridiculed after the conversation with Lu Zongye. She felt as though Lu Zongye was treating her like a joke. However, she also knew that Lu Zongye had always been this arrogant ever since he was a child. He was always eager to win, and he was extremely confident and vicious because he had been spoiled since he was young.
When she was sixteen years old, Lu Zongye called her one day to ask her to wait for him at the maple forest next to the school. She went to the maple forest as told, and as a result of that, she was bullied and cornered by three other boys who suddenly appeared at the forest. Fortunately, she was rescued by a gardener who happened to pass by at that moment. If it weren't for the gardener, Jiang Yuning would have been physically abused by the boys. She later found out that the three boys were Lu Zongye's good friends.
Lu Zongye felt that he should share all the good things that he had with his friends and letting them play around with her was nothing to him.
Ever since that day, Jiang Yuning hated Lu Zongye from the bottom of her heart.
After she returned home, she told her grandfather what had happened and she requested to annul the engagement but her grandfather thought that Lu Zongye only acted that way because he was still young and immature. Lu Zongye and his mother subsequently apologized to her, and therefore, her grandfather did not allow her to annul the engagement.
As she thought about those bad memories, Jiang Yuning quickly picked up the phone and called Ku Jie. "Brother, Grandpa was picked up by Lu Zongye. He thought that I was doing everything to get his attention because I want to marry him and be a part of the Lu family."
"Is he retarded?" Ku Jie replied coldly. "That scumbag is so despicable and hopeless. I don't think anyone in the world can save him now. I did some digging and found out that Lu Jingzhi had suspended Lu Zongye as the chairman of Lu Enterprise. I believe that Lu Zongye intends to use our grandpa to get you back to his side, in order to pacify the Lu family elders. Ask Lu Jingzhi to send our grandpa back now."
"Brother, why are you still so prejudiced against him?" Jiang Yuning reluctantly asked. "Even if Lu Jingzhi did not suspend Lu Zongye, he would still retaliate and do something to us sooner or later because we have been pushing him into a corner."
"So, he is absolved from any blame then?" Ku Jie's tone indicated that he was very dissatisfied with Jiang Yuning for siding with Lu Jingzhi.
"Anyway, I will head over to the Lu family mansion now and see what other tricks Lu Zongye can come up with. Don't worry, I assure you that I will get Grandpa out of there."
Jiang Yuning hung up on the phone immediately after speaking before calling Lu Jingzhi. "Second Brother…"
"Yes?" Lu Jingzhi was still in the car on his way to the institution.
"That scumbag, Lu Zongye brought my grandpa away," Jiang Yuning quickly said.
Lu Jingzhi frowned after listening to Jiang Yuning. He then calmly replied, "Just carry on with your plans for the day. I will accompany you back to the Lu family mansion tonight."
Jiang Yuning was comforted by his reply and she just nodded her head gently. "Alright then, I will be waiting for you at home."
'Lu Zongye, just you wait. Did you really think that I have no way to deal with your stupidity?'
…
Why did Lu Zongye suddenly decide to make a move on Jiang Yuning's grandfather?
In fact, Lu Zongye originally planned to retaliate and hide Jiang Yuning's grandfather away from her so that she could never see him again. However, his mother then gave him a brilliant idea instead. Since all the Lu family elders, especially Lu Jingzhi was already extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with him, even if he tried to make amends and fix things, he might not be able to regain their respect. Furthermore, Jiang Yuning was still defaming him and ruining his reputation in public.
Therefore, his mother suggested that he should bring Jiang Yuning's grandfather back to the Lu family mansion so that they could use him as a bait to lure Jiang Yuning to them. Once he brings Jiang Yuning and her grandfather into the family, he should then treat Jiang Yuning as though she was the future daughter-in-law of the Lu family. That way, Jiang Yuning would no longer be able to criticize and destroy Lu Zongye's reputation. Secondly, Lu Zongye would also be able to use this opportunity to set up some traps for Jiang Yuning and frame her so that the Lu family elders would be disgusted by her and refuse to let her enter the family.
After listening to his mother's suggestion, Lu Zongye felt that this was a brilliant plan. Otherwise, why would he waste his time to take care and support that old man who was suffering from Alzheimer's?
The only downfall was that he had to hide this fact from Huo Yuxi temporarily.
Didn't Lu Jingzhi despised him for not treating the Jiang family with respect? Now, he had even brought her grandfather over to their house to take care of him. That should be enough to appease him.
However—
Lu Zongye did not know that the person that he was trying to set up and deal with was someone that was already sharing a bed with his second brother! She might probably be his future sister-in-law.
Lu Zongye spent the whole day waiting for Jiang Yuning to turn up at the Lu family mansion. However, he got annoyed when Jiang Yuning did not show up at all. Was that shrewd woman not concerned about her grandfather at all?
"Mom, are you sure that this trick was going to work? That woman has not even shown her face here since I spoke to her on the phone this morning," Lu Zongye said as he walked around the living room impatiently. "Who does she think she is? To think that I actually waited on that old man with dementia for the whole day when she might not even be showing up!"
"You need to be a little more patient," Lu Zongye's mother said as she sat on the sofa in the living room and sipped on her coffee daintily. "You can only blame yourself for failing to get your grandfather's favor. That is why he had given all the power to your second brother. Even a blind man would be able to tell that your grandfather was biased. In the past, when we asked him to consider handing the helm over to you, he did not consider you at all. Now that you are the chairman of Lu Enterprise, they are placing so many restrictions on you. That old man must have been blind. How are you inferior to your second brother in any way?"
"What disgusted me the most was when he fixed the engagement between you and Jiang Yuning. Your second brother is free to marry whoever he wants in the political and business realm, but you had to be the scapegoat with the arranged marriage. Furthermore, he refuses to let you annul your engagement to that woman."
"Mom, say no more. I will torture Jiang Yuning once she dares to step through that door."
Both mother and child were guilty of wishful thinking and trying to frame someone innocent for their own benefit. Although they were not harming anyone's life, what they were doing showed how selfish they were.
…
Lu Jingzhi finally arrived at the entrance of the villa to pick Jiang Yuning up at eight o'clock that night. He was really a man who could not travel anywhere without any bodyguards protecting him.
Lu Jingzhi was dressed in a silver suit with a black coat around him. He had his eyes closed as he leaned back against the car seat.
"I don't care what you do but you must give me justice later," Jiang Yuning complained as soon as she got into the car.
"You should go in first after we arrived at the Lu family mansion later," Lu Jingzhi said as he looked at her with tired eyes.
"Well—"
"I would like to see how both the mother and son treat you usually."
"Alright then," Jiang Yuning replied. She had nothing to fear because she knew that Lu Jingzhi had her back.