Chapter 119 - Flawless Acting
"Mom, this is not going to work." Li Yuan threw his chin over his palm, muttering under his breath.
Li Yuan had hoped to redo his losses after losing the bet against his cousin. But it was proving to be more difficult than he had expected.
God, he should have known better than involving his mother in this.
"You, just-just shut up! Don't strain my weak nerves. This kind of a bastard you are, knowing nothing better than bringing bad news for your mother? Why can't you be a little more responsible like your elder brother?" Li Shanguaan began her lecturing.
Li Yuan felt seriously wronged. "If I had not brought the news, you would have never discovered anything. You would have only learned about it when things had already spiraled out of hands." He looked like a puppy who had been kicked for innocent yapping.
Li Shanguaan did not care for Li Yuan's puppy face. Instead, the idea of having things spiraling out of hands sent her into a panic.
"That damned son of mine! If he was here, I would have sure shown him the consequences of saddening his wife!"
Even Li Yuan, who would pay money to see his brother being beaten by his Mother, experienced internal bleeding.
Even if you opt for blaming him, isn't this perspective...a little too biased?
"Mom, how are you so certain big brother is at fault for this?" He asked wimpishly.
"I don't need to hear the whole matter to know my own son must be at fault! That rascal! After so many prayers I managed to get a daughter-in-law I could have hopes in and he had to ruin it..." Li Shanguaan continued to convict her son of all the evils in the world.
Li Yuan received the shock of his life.
What had sister-in-law fed his Mother?
Li Yuan felt dizzy listening to his Mother hurling tornadoes after tornadoes of blame to his Big Brother.
The more he listened, the more he pitied his brother.
This was it! He wasn't ever getting married!
With how his mother's mentality worked, he better not venture into that dangerous zone.
"Oh, you!" Running out of the blames, Li Shanguaan placed a finger against her temple feeling hopeless. "You only learned that your sister-in-law and brother had a fight. Now, what use can it have? If I could only have known the matter of their fight, I could have at least known how to lecture them properly. If somehow your grandparents get a wisp of it, things would certainly slip out of hands." She was concerned.
Li Yuan sighed. "Mom, I am telling you again, lecturing them is not the solution to this problem." It might have been a solution for a normal couple but not for this one.
No one other than Li Yuan knew this better that his brother was not normal. And being married to his brother, sister-in-law definitely could not escape the fate of being non-normal.
How could normal methods work on this 'not-so-normal' couple?
Li Shanguaan was inherently naive and demure. Despite thinking hard, she could not come with any method for this 'not-so-normal' couple. "Use your mind. Where are all those pranks and tricks you make use of all the time; think of something!" She almost kicked her son in frustration.
"Mom, you can ask nicely!" Li Yuan grumbled unhappily.
Now when the time came to plot and trick, she could only turn to her second son. Thus, Li Shanguaan had to pacify herself and praise her son's tricking abilities to get him to help.
Li Yuan was flattered; he grinned smugly. "Now you realize the importance of my precious mind." He stroked his imaginary beard and started giving his expert advice with the demeanor of an aged, wise scholar. "Actually, it is not really difficult to have them make up. We just need to reduce the distance between them and have them spend more time together. But the first step for that is to force the target under our area of influence for our subsequent methods to be effective."
"But how are we going to do that?" Li Shanguaan felt dizzy at Li Yuan's silly terminology.
In response, Li Yuan's grin progressively turned evil. "Oh, that? That is even simpler!"
Knowing her son well, Li Shanguaan had a feeling that Li Yuan was going to suggest something very absurd...and equally very efficacious.
And she was not disappointed.
...
Chen Yi's quick steps carried her across the spacious room to the bed in the blink of an eye. She sat across the bedside, placing her hand against Li Shanguaan's forehead, a concerned frown forming over her face.
"How could this happen? Li Luxian did not tell me that you were sick. He told me you had invited us to dinner." She said holding her other hand.
Li Yuan barged into the conversation, not letting Li Shanguaan say anything. "Big Brother didn't know. Mom did not let me tell him."
Chen Yi was silent for a few seconds, her other hand squeezing Li Shanguaan's hand with affection. "You prepared the dinner while you were sick. Mother, there was no need..."
Li Yuan observed Chen Yi through the corner of his eyes, curling his lips into an indiscernible smile.
It was working! He knew he was a genius!
When he decided to look at Li Luxian, his heart pounded in fear.
The visuals from this morning emerged: Li Luxian's cold smile, an hour-long punishment, the torture he went through in front of the company's employees — Li Yuan shuddered.
Li Yuan gulped down the saliva gathering in his throat, sneaking a peek finding Li Luxian standing by the bedside with a detached expression.
Li Yuan plummeted into paranoia.
No! That was impossible! Li Yuan had hired the best makeup artist to make his mother look sickly and what more? They had gone through rehearsal a dozen times! Brother could not have found out!
Yes, yes! His brother was merely in a bad mood because of his sister-in-law! He definitely did not find out anything!
Li Yuan aggressively consoled himself. After all, in the current temper of his brother, Li Yuan would prefer being beaten by his grandfather to being discovered by his brother!
"Mother, is there anything we can do?"
"That..." Li Shanguaan broke into coughs, voicing out with great difficulty. "I don't really want to inconvenience you two."
Her act was perfect. Li Yuan was so impressed, he had to suppress an impulse to give his mother a thumbs-up.
Mother, you rock!
Chen Yi was quick to say. "Nonsense, what is there to inconvenience. Mother, if there is anything we can do, please don't hesitate. Didn't you say you see me as a daughter? Don't treat me like an outsider."
"Then...I will say it. I was hoping if you two could stay until I recover. Having you both in front of my eyes eases my heart."
Chen Yi fell into silence.