Six months Later,
Q'ling woke up bright and early as she had always done from the first week of her arrival.
After her first dinner with the family that day, it had been one hell of a ride. Feng Peng barged into her room the next morning with Lu Anya who gave her a full lecture on how to be a good daughter in-law to the family.
Emphasising on the roles a daughter in-law should play (more like slavery). She was taken to the kitchen to assist the chef in preparation of their meals even though the ones whose jobs were to do just that were present.
Not just that, she found out that the Lu's threw business parties every once in two weeks. And all of these preparations had to be supervised specially by her.
Anna used to be the one in charge of preparations and hosting, but now Q'ling was now in charge of it. Not to talk of her chores.
They had dumped their entire responsibilities to her and expected her to carry them out every day.
She hurriedly brushed her hair and looked proper, rushing through the halls which lead to the kitchen swiftly.
Her entire focus was arriving there to hand over the menu which Lu Anya had prepared the previous night to the chef. The meal that was supposed to be served that morning...
She had forgotten to give it to him the previous day as she was severely tired.
Her steps were rushed. Too rushed infact, and her slippers were way too big and wasn't the right fit for her tiny feet, making it more difficult to move in – Another thing she had forgotten to change too.
She had already gotten to the main family halls but was running out of time, as she gasped, hastening her steps even more, almost running.
It was the first mistake she made that morning because in the next second, the large frontals of her slippers clasped together, causing her feet to jumble. She tried to balance her steps but it only slipped her even more because her slippers was already flying on the air as her body took the other way, clasping harshly on the floor.
She fell with a thud.
"Urgh... Ouch". She exclaimed painfully, although not so loud.
Q'ling struggled to stand through the pain as she shuffled on the floor, grunting from the ache on her body when suddenly she heard the faint mumbling sound.
It wasn't loud, but it was loud enough to grab ones attention and it was coming from a room at a distance in the same hallway she stood.
Or was it her imagination?
It sounded like someone.
Swiftly, She stood, wiping her body before taking slow calm steps forward.
It was still quite early and everyone should be asleep at this hour. This wasn't their waking time. So who was it?
Her steps weren't audible as all. She moved like a weightless cat.
The further she strolled, the louder the and clearer the voices became and came from the office of her Father in-law.
It sounded like an argument, and she was able to recognize Anna's voice first.
"What do you mean wait for a few more days? He's still very much unconscious".
"You need to calm down, child... ".
"Calm down? I'm running a campaign and I need money or I'm going to lose to that stupid girl, Xia shi. My career depends on that lunatic in coma".
"The doctors said he made progress so far".
"Tsk, they said the same thing in the past months but nothing has changed".
Q'ling furrowed her brows to their words as she tried to process their words.
Who were they talking about and what did it have to do with Anna?
She kept on listening when Lu Anya's voice sprang up. They were not just two in the room... It seemed like everyone was present.
"Anna even if he wakes up, nothing is going to change... We still need to bring Q'ling on board".
And what makes you think she'll concore to our plans? That pig looks like a goody-two-shoes... She might ruin everything ".
"Still, we need her onboard or our plans are useless. After all, that's what she's here for and what she is... A wife slave".
Q'ling's eyes deemed to their words. She already suspected from the start... All the errands and their pretentious smiles kind of gave it away. But she was still lost.
She stood silently in the hallway listening further to their plans. There was no way she could go back kow, she was already too interested in whatever they planned.
Everything they said could give her a clearer view of what her days there would look like.
Suddenly, the voice of Lu Gaoshen aired,
"Tsk, I think you're missing out on the main point here. Lu Jiangsu... When are you going to tell your daughter in-law that your son who she is married to is mad?"
"Wait, she doesn't know?" Anya questioned.
"You need to prepare her for the reality, Jiangsu".
At that moment, the small physique who was listening to everything they said because lifeless.
She was weak in the knees, unable to stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
Q'ling's entire body grew number as she struggled to breathe. She trembled uncontrollably, leaning onto the walls for support.
M- my husband is mad?
~~~~
Back at Lu's Medical Institution,
Beep Beep Beep.
The heart monitor machine was the only sound in the room and a proof that a living person lay there, breathing with the support of oxygen.
His forehead was covered slightly with a light bandage, his lips dry, and his eyes shut closed.
He had been completely still for six month, unconscious and in that state. Left untouched and undisturbed.
But in a fleeting moment, as though released from a frozen room, a finger on his hand twitched, accompanied by another.
And in the next second, his shut lids opened slightly.