She had already opened the door to the hall when Lu Ziqian leisurely said from behind,
"Jianyi, wait a minute before leaving."
Hearing this, Shen Jianyi turned around.
Strangely enough, before, Lu Ziqian couldn't wait for her to disappear from his sight forever and stay away from Lu Jinsheng.
But now, was he having a sudden conscience or what? He suddenly called her so affectionately.
Shen Jianyi felt a bit uncomfortable. She just stood there, her hand never leaving the doorknob.
Seeing this, Lu Ziqian simply walked over. He walked slowly with the help of a cane, so during this process, Shen Jianyi thought about many things.
It wasn't until this man stood in front of her that Shen Jianyi asked expressionlessly, "What do you want?"
"Thank you for what happened today..."
She couldn't take Lu Ziqian's thanks seriously. Just hearing it gave her the creeps.
When he was targeting her before, she never saw any sign of him wanting to thank her. Instead, he was quite fierce.
"You're welcome," Shen Jianyi still wanted to leave.
But Lu Ziqian said slowly, "Stay for dinner. I also want to talk to you about something."
"If you're trying to get me to leave Lu Jinsheng, then there's no need. I'm not qualified to sit down for this meal."
She had clearly expressed her inner thoughts, but Lu Ziqian's temper was surprisingly good today.
After hearing these words, not only was he not angry, but he even comforted her in return, "Jianyi, you're being too polite when you say that."
"Aren't you always treating me like an outsider?" She didn't give the other person any chance.
It was said that late - coming affection was cheaper than grass. What was Lu Ziqian doing now?
Could it be just because she had helped Lu Yuan? So his attitude changed so suddenly. But if this was the reason, it was a bit too ridiculous.
"I just wanted to help Lu Yuan. It has nothing to do with you. You don't need to say these things to me."
As soon as the words were out, Shen Jianyi directly pushed the door open and walked out, not giving the other person any chance to speak.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Jinsheng also left without saying a word.
Today, Shen Jianyi came to the main building entirely because she wanted to help Lu Yuan, and from beginning to end, it had nothing to do with Lu Ziqian.
After they left, Lu Ziqian fell into deep thought.
He turned his head, looked at the frightened girl, and walked over to comfort her, "Yuan'er, are you okay?"
"I'm... fine."
Actually, Lu Ziqian had had an idea lingering in his mind for a long time. Recently, the Lu family had been a bit unstable. He quite liked this adopted daughter, so he couldn't bear to see her get involved.
After all, the matter of inheriting the family property had nothing to do with her, but Lu Weiran had reached out to her.
"Yuan'er, later I'll ask my assistant to buy you a plane ticket. You should go abroad for a while to calm down your emotions. Come back in a year or so."
Hearing this, Lu Yuan refused without hesitation, "No, I don't want to go abroad again!"
"Why?"
"I want to accompany Father. I know Father is worried about my safety, but I'll be more careful and won't let you worry anymore."
She really wanted to stay in the country, mainly because she could be closer to Shen Jianyi here. She always felt that she had forgotten a lot of things from her childhood and wanted to remember them.
Lu Ziqian took a deep breath. This was the first time this girl had refuted him, and he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
In the end, he compromised.
"Then you must protect yourself well. I'm old, and there may be many times when I can't protect you."
Just like what happened today, if it weren't for Shen Jianyi, she might really have had an accident.
Lu Yuan nodded obediently, "I will."
After hearing this, Lu Ziqian felt physically and mentally exhausted. He wanted to go upstairs to talk to Lu Weiran, so he didn't chat with her any longer here.
Watching Lu Ziqian's back as he went upstairs, Lu Yuan hooked the corner of her lips into a smile. The pitiful look from before was long gone, as if everything was developing as she had expected.
Yes, she really wanted to get closer to Shen Jianyi. Every time she saw that woman, she would feel especially at ease.
At first, Lu Yuan even mistakenly thought that she had a crush on Lu Jinsheng, but later she found out that it was false. The person she really cared about was Shen Jianyi.
Having never received any love since childhood, she could only find that feeling of kinship in Shen Jianyi. Lu Yuan took a deep breath, and her expression returned to normal.
...
At this moment.
Lu Ziqian had already arrived at the study. The man was sitting on the sofa waiting.
"What do you want to say to me?" Lu Weiran's eyes were hollow, as if he had lost his soul and hope for life.
Lu Ziqian sat down beside him. He hung his head, and his voice was very low, which made the whole room seem extremely depressing.
"I lied to you."
Lu Weiran stared at him intently. "What did you lie to me about?"
"Actually, Shen Jianyi had nothing to do with your father's death back then."
This news was like a thunderbolt, hitting his brain directly.
So, for such a long time, he had tried every means to avenge his father and had done many things, but in the end, he found that he had been looking for the wrong person all along.
His mentality completely collapsed. Perhaps this was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
"Is this funny?"
Lu Ziqian frowned. "What did you say?"
He didn't know where he found a fruit knife. Without any hesitation, he stabbed the old man in the lower abdomen.
Then, stab after stab, he seemed to have gone crazy.
"Don't understand, right? I just want to know. Is it fun for you to lie to me like this?"
Lu Ziqian was already in so much pain that he couldn't even scream. He slumped on the sofa and tried his best to make noise with his cane so that someone would come.
"Tell me, who is the real murderer? Is it you!"
He barely managed to prop himself up, with a large amount of blood pent - up in his chest. When he heard this, he finally couldn't hold it back, and a mouthful of fresh blood gushed out.
Lu Ziqian spoke intermittently and weakly, "It... it's Lu... Lu Suo──"
Before he could finish his words, he fainted.
Just then, Lu Weiran regained his senses. Looking at the mess on the ground and the bright red stains all over his body, he was instantly stunned.
What had he done? Why was Lu Ziqian lying here? In fact, Lu Weiran wasn't very brave. After seeing this, his spirit began to collapse.
But his reason told him that if Lu Ziqian really had something happen to him, he himself would surely die. So he immediately used the landline in the study to call an ambulance, and then jumped out of the second - floor window and fled the scene.