Bab 21: Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake

Jiang Chanming couldn't help but feel anxious as he stared at Jiang Yue. He didn't have any idea about the person who orchestrated the accident, but he had his own theory. He also felt very thankful towards that person.

Honestly, he didn't really care about Jiang Yue that much. What he cared about was Wang Rou's last will as well as the property deeds. As long as he got the originals, he could always make someone change them. Then he could get rid of Jiang Yue or perhaps, even send her to a faraway place abroad.

Still, there was something bugging Jiang Chanming ever since Jiang Yue came back. It seemed as if he couldn't understand her anymore. He also feared that Jiang Yue or even the Wangs knew of his past misbehaviours.

"Jiang Yue, listen to your father. He means well. If you are not comfortable staying at our home, let Jiang Mian stay at your house for a while to take care of you." Lu Shi urged Jiang Yue.

Jiang Yue looked at the group of people in front of her. Then she looked at her grandfather.

"I'm sorry. But grandfather already told me to move back to the Wang's estate. Minghua will also start training me for the family business after the exams, so it is more convenient for me to stay there." Whatever Jiang Yue had said was the truth. In the first place, it was Grandpa Wang who had asked her to come back and help with the family business. So why couldn't she use this as a reason and stay at the Wangs?

Even though no one mentioned this after she woke up, she knew that her grandfather would want her to stay with them.

"Jiang Yue, ah...You can't depend on your grandfather forever. You are still a Jiang after all." Lu Shi wanted to insinuate this fact to the Old Man Wang. After all, it was not proper for a maternal grandfather to attach himself to his granddaughter this much.

Grandpa Wang couldn't help but scrunch his brows. It was true that he shouldn't be meddling with Jiang Yue's life, but he couldn't stop himself. He looked at Jiang Yue and was about to say something when he was stopped by his granddaughter's cold gaze.

He immediately knew that Jiang Yue was pissed this time.

Jiang Yue badly wanted to drop all the pretense. However, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that these people had something to do with the car accident. Now, if one of them had orchestrated her accident, then there was a possibility that her mother's death had also been the intent of someone.

The thought of her mother's accident being a possible murder made her eyes even colder than they currently were. If that was true, then… who could it be? She couldn't help but shiver at the thought.

Everyone in the room was watching Jiang Yue's reaction. For some reason, the longer Jiang Chanming looked at his daughter's face, the more he started feeling uncomfortable.

"I would like to stay at grandfather's house. But you can always visit me. Anytime." Jiang Yue looked at her father. Her gaze flickered, but it was quickly masked by her calm and collected expression.

She needed to know the truth. And she needed her enemies closer. She couldn't let them compromise anything before her investigation was complete.

"I'm really tired. I want to rest." She gave everyone an exhausted look. It's not that she was lying. She was indeed tired. That- and she wanted Jiang Chanming and his company to leave.

Jiang Chanming felt that he couldn't do anything to convince her, so he just nodded and made his way to the door. Lu Shi, however, felt that Jiang Yue needed another urging. She couldn't just let this opportunity pass.

"I would like to stay here and take care of you," she blurted. "As your mother, it is my responsibility." Lu Shi declared.

"No thank you. I would like to sleep and then go home when I wake up." Jiang Yue blatantly denied her. She had already warned Lu Shi not to pull this kind of act around her. It seemed that this woman didn't learn her lesson well. Still, she didn't want to beat the grass to startle the snake[1].

But she also couldn't wait to punch this woman's face. And she would do that. Soon.

"Mother, it's okay. We can always visit elder sister after she recovers." Jiang Mian convinced her mother. It seemed that Jiang Yue was slowly warming up to them. And that was their goal. As expected, she could easily fool Jiang Yue. This Jiang Yue only acted tough on the outside. But she was as dumb as Lu Shi had described.

Sensing her daughter's good mood Lu Shi agreed. Of course, she tried to showcase another 'motherly' act before leaving with her husband, her daughter and Yu Chen.

Yu Chen didn't expect to leave so soon, but he couldn't find any reason to stay. Still, he felt fine. After all, he had already decided to start wooing her.

When the group of annoying people left, Jiang Yue immediately stared at her uncle. Her tired eyes disappeared and were replaced by a hawk-like gaze.

"I want to know everything about this accident." She said. She was determined to know more about this attempt on her life.

"This is not an accident." Her uncle confirmed what she had heard while she was still in a coma.

"I know that, but… I want to know more. Also…" She looked at her cousin who was sitting languidly in the room's couch. " I want the files containing the information about the people I had asked you to find. " She needed to have her own team as soon as possible.

Wang Minghua nodded before asking Wang Bolin to get his laptop. He then gave it to Jiang Yue.

Jiang Yue opened the laptop and started typing. She then opened an encrypted folder from the desktop and read through all of its contents. She smiled to herself after reading her first target's name out loud.

Name: Bai'Li

Global Cyberlympics Champion

Location: Unknown

[1] beat the grass to startle the snake is the thirteenth stratagem out of thirty-six written by an ancient Chinese magistrate Wang Lu. It refers to the situation where a person strikes their opponent using a direct but brief attack and observes their reaction to reach a conclusion.

EDITED BY: destiny_