Li Yuchen was feeling bored. He preferred playing games or coding a hundred times over parties, especially since there were no children of his age present. Added to that, his grandmother had been busy chatting with Grandaunt for quite a while, so he had been unable to speak to her.
He was already fidgeting when Fu Mengyao came. Looking at the way her eyes darted to his father's face every now and then, he quickly identified her as his Goddess's rival.
He felt a sense of crisis, but quickly calmed down. He had read that to win a battle, he had to know the enemy and, and.... something else*
Anyway, he decided to observe Fu Mengyao a bit so that he could come up with an appropriate plan.
The result: She was a total airhead. Even he knew that it was rude to ask about the gifts someone else gave, unless it was given publicly. Besides what would she do with such information?
Grandaunt was hiding her smile, but he didn't even bother to pretend and just plainly laughed at her. She wanted to be his stepmother? She could forget about it!
After she stomped off in humiliation, he finally had the chance to speak to his grandmother. He tugged on her hand gently to draw her attention.
One look at Li Yuchen, and Zhang Heying could tell he wanted to speak to her. So she excused herself from the table and took his hand.
"Grandma", Li Yuchen called when they had gotten into the house. "My Goddess is such a good person. I-I want her to b-be my m-mother."
That didn't come out the way he wanted. He wanted to list out all the good qualities of his Goddess and make his grandmother fall in love in her, but he sounded like an idiot instead. Sigh.
Zhang Heying's mind leaped, and she almost laughed out loud. She was just thinking about how to introduce the topic and ease him into it but he just straight up said what she wanted to hear. She hugged him tightly.
"Chen'er, are you sure? Do you really like her that much?"
"Yes I do. I think she will be really good to Dad and I." He was surprised that she didn't look angry but rather pleased.
"Good, good, good." Zhang Heying continued, "Chen'er, I support you. I know her, and she's a good person indeed. But, I don't think your father wants to get married again. And you may not know, but they are currently not on good terms. That's probably why your Dad has been moody recently."
Li Yuchen looked like he had just been enlightened. So that's why his Dad had been moping around, looking like someone owed him a billion yuan! But the fact that they knew each other and were close was great. He was so excited.
"You're right Grandma, but I think we can help them. Can you find a way to get both of them into the same place, so that they can have time to talk? For example, I can pretend to be sick, and you will call them over."
Zhang Heying, whose original plan was to directly drug the both of them and turn raw rice to cooked*: "...."
Thankfully she hadn't planned to tell Li Yuchen that.
"Yes Chen'er, that's a good plan. I'll do that now", she quickly said, bringing out her phone to first of all text the waiter she had told to drug them, to stop.
The waiter sent her two messages.
The first was that he had already served both of them the drugged wine.
The second was that he caught someone ordering another waiter to drug their wine, but that he blocked it already.
Zhang Heying, who was already regretting her actions, was very angry. It was bad enough that she had foolishly planned to drug her son, but how dare another person plan to drug her son? Preposterous!
She commended the waiter and told him to keep the evidence. Now she was anxious, they had collected the wine already. She hoped they hadn't drunk it.
She quickly dialed Li Chuanmo's number. When he picked, she went into 'Best Actress Mode'.
"Chuanmo, where are you? Come quickly to your room. Li Yuchen is rolling in pain and is shouting your name. I've called the doctor already and he is on his way. Hurry!" Zhang Heying said anxiously and quickly cut the call.
First target was settled. Now she had to bring Pei Yueran in as well.
Li Yuchen that was said to be rolling in pain and shouting: "..."
Okay, he too will be 'seriously sick' now.
He immediately went to the room to lie down on the bed. The room was Li Chuanmo's when he was still living with his parents, and nothing had changed within. It was the room he had stayed in the last time he visited.
Meanwhile, Zhang Heying told Butler Nan to go and escort Pei Yueran into the house, telling her that her attention was needed.
Everything was set.
When Li Chuanmo saw his mother's call, he was suspicious. What was she up to now? But all rational thought flew away when he heard that Li Yuchen was sick.
The wineglass he was just about to drink from fell down and shattered into pieces, alarming the people around. Without a word, he bowed to his company and left in quick strides.
Pei Yueran, who was standing next to him, was worried. They had not spoken to each other at all throughout the evening, but she was acutely aware of his presence. When he left just like that, she put down her half-full wineglass, apologized and excused herself as well, planning to ask him if something happened.
Li Chuanmo had already walked far away. As she walked a few steps forward, Butler Nan came to her and told her that the Madam wanted to see her, and that she should follow him.
Pei Yueran suppressed her worry and followed him. Maybe Auntie needed her for something important.
When they got into the house, Butler Nan led her straight to Li Chuanmo's room, bowed and left.
"Ran'er, you've come. Come and take a look. He's been asking for you." Zhang Heying said, feigning worry.
Li Chuanmo was currently on the bed, holding his son. Li Yuchen was not feverish, neither was his face flushed. But he kept crying in pain. Li Chuanmo was too worried to notice that his cries were clearly fake.
Pei Yueran moved closer and touched his head. "Have you called the doctor?"
Zhang Heying replied, "Yes, he's on his way. Let me go and wait for him downstairs." She quickly left before Pei Yueran could say there was no need.
Now, she hoped Li Yuchen could play his part very well and find a way to leave them alone.
*He was trying to quote Sun Tzu's "Art of War": If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
*"raw rice cooked into cooked rice". It means making things irreversible because once the rice is cooked, you cannot uncook it. So ZH wanted to make them sleep together.