Sheng Aiyi, the Matriarch, was sitting in the study room, contemplating deeply as she flipped through the photo album.
She was getting old.
She was also getting tired.
So very, very tired.
She had ever despaired that there would be an heir worthy enough to take the mantle of the Shengs, and had even resigned to the fact that this magnificent family would crumble after their deaths.
That is, until they found Sheng Wenyu.
Her hands, full of wrinkles, brushed over the picture of Kai as a baby, and then Kai after they had found him.
To think that they had nearly lost this gem when that weak woman ran off with him. Though, she had to give that woman some credit for being able to hide from them for so long.
But to be fooled and fallen to the traps given?
Pathetic.
Wenyu took after her mostly.
In terms of intelligence and capabilities.
Even her son was not as good as her grandson.
Now, he had a woman he wanted to marry?
She had not liked that woman her son had taken, but she did give her Wenyu. If she had been adamant and forbid the marriage then, Wenyu would never have been born.
Thus, Sheng Aiyi was in a dilemma.
On the one hand, she was one that believed greatly in Fate.
If this woman truly was the one for Wenyu, then it would be disastrous if she fought against Fate by rejecting the woman.
But …
What if this woman does turn out to be completely useless and trash?
What if her instincts tell her that this woman would only bring her grandson down?
Sheng Wenyu was the hope that came after she had given in to despair.
How could she allow him to be with a woman that is not worthy of him?! That would bring the Shengs down?!
The Matriarch slammed the photo album closed.
From what she had gathered, her grandson was completely head-over-heels over this woman. Not only had he been blatantly obvious about his feelings for her to the world, he had been staying over at her apartment all this time!
Preposterous!
Kids nowadays!!
Could this be that vixen's plan to marry into the family. If she got knocked up, then they couldn't deny her, right?
Hah.
They could always take the kid and get rid of the mother.
Then the Matriarch sighed.
If only.
Problem was, the Shengs also seemed to have a curse of some kind.
They hardly had any emotional attachments or feelings of love, but when they did fall in love, then it seemed to be on the other extreme.
Hence, it was the source of their problem and also a source of strength.
Lack of emotion meant family ties meant nothing to them.They'd scheme, kill and so forth in order to get what they wanted. Those who survived were the best of the best. So the Shengs could go up.
But, it also meant that when they lost a loved one, they would go into despair. Performance could be affected. Of course, there were some that went towards the other end - they became emotionless robots that became more heartless.
It was a risk and a gamble if one was to target a loved one of the Shengs.
If anything happened to this woman, Sheng Wenyu could either become stronger - or weaker. She was not going to rock the boat in that sense.
Didn't mean the others wouldn't.
She sighed.
Sheng Aiyi had actually been happy that her grandson never showed any interest to any woman. That was why they were going to push him to get married. Once he was married, there would be no danger of him meeting anyone else and perhaps, even fall in love.
He would do his duty as a grandson, fulfil his obligations to his wife and devote his time to the company.
It had been perfect.
Yet, now this woman comes out of goodness-knows-where.
She sighed again.
Things had been going smoothly since Wenyu took over. Now, this complication.
She was not looking forward to meeting this woman.
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Upon reaching the Sheng Ancesteral Home, Lianne's eyes glazed over for a bit and she took several deep breaths as she looked at the manor. Kai reached over and took her hand in his, and said softly, "You'll be fine. I will be with you at all times."
Even with the pacemaker, Lianne felt like her heart was beating fast - she knew it was just her imagination as the pacemaker regulated her heartbeats but it still felt like it!
Perhaps it didn't, because the pacemaker was placed due to her heartbeat being slow and irregular. Whenever her heart rate was too slow, the the pacemaker will emit an electrical signal to the heart muscle to start a heartbeat.
Her low heart rate was only discovered after she had done the heart surgery to close her leaking valve - which resulted in a second operation two days after the first, in order to place the pacemaker in.
Lianne patted her chest, thinking that even her physical heart had a problem. That was fixed, so now, she had to face and fix the 'emotional' aspect.
She looked at Kai with a gentle gaze, patting his hand.
"I know," she said softly.
Biting her bottom lip, then licking them out of nervousness, she said after taking a deep breath, "Let's do this."
Kai leaned closer and said, "After a kiss."
Lianne blinked rapidly, slightly in a daze as Kai kissed her softly at first before deepening the kiss. She closed her eyes, letting herself go as he continued his gentle care.
When he broke apart, he gave a small smile then kissed her nose, "Something for the road."
Lianne laughed, feeling slightly better.
"Okay," she answered, then gave him a light peck on the lips, "Thank you."
Giving Lianne's hand a final squeeze, they then got out of the car.
At the door, was a butler.
Even though Lianne already knew this before hand, she was still surprised by this as the Shengs were supposed to be a traditional type of family. This butler was like the typical English butler, complete with suit and all.
"Alfred," Kai said with a smile.
Lianne still had to hold back her laughter at hearing his name. It was all Kai's fault, too.
From what she gathered, when the young Kai had come to the Shengs for the first time, he had been so fascinated by the bulter that he had inadvertently called him as 'Alfred', the butler from Batman.
After he had successfully charmed his grandmother, she had ordered the butler, whose original name is Chen Wu, to be renamed 'Alfred'.
"Master Wenyu," the butler, Alfred, replied, "The Matriach has been waiting for you. She is in the living room."
Kai leaned over and whispered to her as they passed, "He's such a darling, don't you think?"
Lianne smiled, not answering.
For now, they were entering the living room and she could see clearly Kai's grandmother. She was sitting on the sofa, looking as imposing as ever.
Dignified.
Stern.
A no-nonsense lady.
Lianne took a deep breath and walked into the Lion's Den.