Chapter 5: Immediate Surveillance

Lu Yingchi was in a bad state, and his so-called friends were also affected. Accidentally bumping into him while he was sleeping nearly got them kicked to the ground.

“What’s wrong, Lu Shao?” the person quickly moved to another seat, “Have you been eating firecrackers these past couple of days? You’re so easily triggered.”

Lu Yingchi, lying on the table, didn’t even open his eyes: “I’ve been eating nuclear bombs, get lost.”

“Wow, who’s the blind fool with the guts to piss off Lu Shao? Give me a name, and I’ll take care of him for you.”

Lu Yingchi ignored him. Being suppressed by a mere housekeeper, how could he save face if this got out?

Not discouraged by the lack of response, the friend cheerfully leaned in, “Don’t be like that. I’ve arranged for many girls to join us for drinks tonight. Are you coming?”

As long as he didn’t have to go home, Lu Yingchi was willing to go anywhere.

He took out his phone, about to send a message as usual, but seeing the pinned name at the top made him furious, and he promptly unpinned it.

Screw notifications!

Not only would he not notify, but from now on, he wouldn’t sleep at the old mansion anymore!

Meanwhile, at the private hospital under the Lu’s group.

When Qiao Zhiyi entered with some fruits, Lu Jiang was flipping through some documents. Hearing the noise, he looked up and smiled, “If you’re not feeling well, you should rest. You’ve just retired, why come all this way?”

Qiao Zhiyi walked over and put down the fruits, “I’ve been feeling much better these past couple of days, thought I’d come see you. You should smoke less…”

He noticed the uncovered documents in Lu Jiang’s hands, with the name “Qiao Wu” particularly prominent. His body stiffened slightly.

“It’s a habit, just a little now and then. Sit down,” Lu Jiang said, as if unaware, continuing in a conversational tone, “Old Qiao, it’s been almost forty years since you’ve been by my side, hasn’t it?”

Qiao Zhiyi: “Yes, I’ve been with you since I was 19.”

“You’ve got white hair now,” Lu Jiang sighed lightly, “You’ve worked hard, and it’s taken a toll on your health.”

“You’re too kind, I should be thanking you for all the opportunities you’ve given me.”

“You’re always so formal,” Lu Jiang waved his hand, then added, “But it’s good now, with your daughter back, you don’t have to worry too much. It’s always good for a family to be together and happy. The mansion is big, and it’s hard for her to manage alone. Your health isn’t great either, so maybe she should spend more time with you, what do you think?”

This was quite euphemistic. Having done business with Lu Jiang for so many years, Qiao Zhiyi understood perfectly.

What the Old Master meant was that he didn’t plan to let Xiao Wu continue as the Chief Butler, otherwise he wouldn’t have deliberately placed the documents in plain sight.

This was also what Qiao Zhiyi had hoped for, but he suddenly remembered what his daughter had said in the past couple of days and hesitated, “Sir, Xiao Wu she…”

“Don’t worry,” Lu Jiang placed the documents in front of him, “Little Qiao grew up under my watch, and I don’t want to be too harsh on her. But ability and emotions can’t be mixed. You should know how the house has been this past week.”

After a pause, he smiled bitterly, “I’m getting old and can’t hold on much longer, but the family is still in disarray. The hearts of the brothers aren’t aligned, and you can’t continue to help me. So as long as I have a breath left, I can’t let the family continue like this.”

At this point, Qiao Zhiyi truly felt a bit guilty.

Even though Xiao Wu had shown some changes in the past two days, he dared not risk the entire Lu Family to teach Xiao Wu how to grow up.

“Sir,” Qiao Zhiyi straightened up, “I understand your concerns. As her father, it might not be objective for me to judge Xiao Wu’s abilities, but I humbly ask you this once: before you decide not to employ her anymore, could you personally talk to her?”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock at the door: “Old Master, Little Qiao Butler is here.”

Both men were startled.

Qiao Wu had not visited the hospital once since her return to the country a week ago. Why had she suddenly come today?

Lu Jiang glanced at Qiao Zhiyi.

The latter quickly explained, “She said she was busy these past two days, so I didn’t tell her about my visit.”

“What a coincidence,” Lu Jiang smiled, “Let her in.”

The door was gently pushed open, and Lu Jiang looked up. For a moment, he couldn’t reconcile the person before him with the one in his memory.

In his impression, Qiao Wu had been quite adorable as a child. There were times when he liked her even more than his own sons. But as she grew older, she became more difficult to handle than his sons, often exuding an uncomfortable shrewdness in her eyes. Coupled with her deliberate or unintentional avoidance of him, he had stopped paying attention to this child.

Human hearts are like that; some people can never be tamed.

But the child who walked in now had a serene and gentle demeanor. Even with Lu Jiang’s long experience of observing young ladies from prominent families, he was instantly struck by her beauty. She was quite different from the person he had just seen in the documents.

“Dad?” Qiao Wu first saw her father and asked in surprise, “When did you arrive?”

“Just a moment ago,” Lu Jiang regained his composure and smiled, “We were just talking about you. It’s been so long, Little Qiao, you’ve really changed a lot.”

“My mistake,” Qiao Wu put down the thermal container she was holding. She had arranged all the household affairs for the day and found a technician to fix the small speaker in Lu Yingchi’s room before coming.

As a housekeeper, it was only right and proper to visit when the master of the house was ill.

She explained, “There were quite a few things to sort out these past few days, so I forgot to come and visit the Old Master. I’ll come every day from now on.”

“Why call me Old Master? Didn’t you used to call me Uncle?”

“Now you’re my boss, and during work hours, our roles are different,” Qiao Wu joked.

Lu Jiang was genuinely surprised by her composure: “What’s in there?”

Qiao Wu opened the thermal container: “I wasn’t sure if the hospital kitchen’s food would suit your taste, so I asked the old chef at home to prepare some of your usual favorites. I checked with the doctor beforehand; it’s all safe for you to eat.”

“You even know what I like to eat?”

“It’s only right,” Qiao Wu arranged everything on the table, “The nutritionist said you haven’t eaten yet. I came at mealtime, and it’s still warm. Would you like to try it?”

Even a seasoned man like Lu Jiang found it hard to read the young girl before him. The contents of the thermal container were indeed his usual favorites, but in the past, it was Qiao Zhiyi who took care of his daily needs. He had been too busy with work to pay attention to these details.

Now, seeing that Qiao Wu could handle it so well, if it weren’t for the fact that Qiao Zhiyi had just seen the documents, Lu Jiang would have suspected that the father and daughter had conspired to put on a show in front of him.

Lu Jiang didn’t bring up the dismissal. Since she was here, he would honor Qiao Zhiyi’s request and talk to her first: “Little Qiao, take a seat. How have you been adapting to the work this week?”

“The past couple of days were a bit chaotic, but things have settled down now,” Qiao Wu said gently. “This morning, I dismissed the head chef.”

Qiao Zhiyi’s heart leapt to his throat, thinking to himself that a new broom sweeps clean, but his daughter’s approach was quite alarming.

Lu Jiang didn’t react much: “You have the authority to do so. Why did you dismiss him?”

Qiao Wu then recounted the events of the morning.

Lu Jiang’s initially relaxed expression gradually turned grave. He looked at the dishes before him, his voice almost inaudible: “The children have these dietary restrictions…”

He hadn’t known.

The documents hadn’t mentioned these things. He continued to ask: “And then?”

Qiao Wu spoke calmly: “I mobilized the family’s legal team and even resorted to threats to intimidate the Fourth Young Master, forcing him to trigger the entire house’s alarm system.”

With a clatter, Lu Jiang’s chopsticks fell onto the table.

When had this happened? The documents hadn’t mentioned it either!

“…What?”

Qiao Wu then recounted the events of the past two days. She wasn’t trying to tattle, but she hoped to gain the Old Master’s approval.

Moreover, if the Old Master also disapproved of her methods, she would change her approach.

Unexpectedly, after she finished speaking, the Old Master remained silent for a long time. Only after he finished the soup in his bowl did he finally speak: “So they went to school obediently?”

Qiao Wu paused for a moment: “Not entirely obedient, but they went.”

Lu Jiang grabbed a tissue, but his hand trembled slightly.

Over the years, he had argued countless times with the children and had even resorted to physical altercations. But the children had become increasingly rebellious, and now they barely interacted. Once, when he had forced Lu Yingchi to study, the boy had jumped from the third floor in desperation and broken his leg.

Yet, Qiao Wu had gone to such lengths and had emerged unscathed from the house?

Why?

Was it because he hadn’t resorted to using a saber with the children?

That shouldn’t be the case.

He looked up and scrutinized the young girl again, but he saw no trace of cunning or deceit in her eyes. In fact, she seemed even more resolute than her father.

“Do you mind?” Qiao Wu asked.

Without hesitation, Lu Jiang replied: “Not at all! You haven’t even resorted to physical force yet. No, you’re too slight; it’s better not to engage in physical confrontations. If you get hurt, it won’t do. If you need to use force, call the bodyguards.”

Qiao Zhiyi: “…”

Qiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled softly: “I won’t resort to force easily. I just hope you don’t think I’m overstepping by managing the Young Master and Young Miss.”

“They need to be managed.”

Qiao Wu: “Then I’ll continue? If you feel it’s inappropriate, you can stop me at any time.”

Lu Jiang, who had just been contemplating how to dismiss her, was momentarily at a loss.

But then he thought, what other options did he have? What he cared about was the chaos in the household. Now that there was a glimmer of hope, he had to give it a try.

However, when he thought of the hidden documents, he frowned. Was this decision a bit hasty?

As they were speaking, the secretary knocked on the door again and whispered a few words into Lu Jiang’s ear.

Lu Jiang’s expression immediately darkened, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. But then he suddenly remembered something and turned his gaze to Qiao Wu: “Did you know that the Fourth Young Master is planning to have someone take a yacht to the island tonight?”

There were several offshore islands near the city, popular for tourism, but it would take two hours to get there from Zhongbei City, plus the time to sail and reach the island. At this hour, they wouldn’t be able to return tonight.

This incident left an impression on Qiao Wu. In her dream, Lu Yingchi was coaxed by his so-called friends into taking his younger sister out on his yacht. However, those friends of his were a mixed bag, and some, emboldened by alcohol and Lu Yingchi’s backing, acted recklessly and bullied the girl.

They drove the girl to jump into the sea, nearly causing her death, and that girl turned out to be the future female lead.

At the time, Lu Yingchi was frantic and called “Qiao Wu” to handle the situation, but all he did was throw money at the female lead to silence her. This incident later became the catalyst for Lu Yingchi’s increasingly reckless behavior.

She spoke slowly, “Now I know.”

At that moment, Lu Jiang suddenly felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet.

“Bring him back,” Lu Jiang said. “Bring him back safely, and from now on, I’ll allow you to manage whatever you want in the Lu Family.”

The implication was that no other mishaps should occur.

Qiao Wu nodded, “Alright.”

Even without Lu Jiang’s instruction, she would have gone to bring him back.

After leaving the hospital, she called Lu Yingchi, but as expected, no one answered.

He was probably still upset about the scare he got that morning.

At this point, they likely hadn’t reached the seaside yet. Without delay, Qiao Wu drove straight to the neighboring city.

In the past, for the sake of convenience during vacations or business trips, the Lu Family had properties in many places. The yacht docked in the neighboring city was a gift Lu Yingchi had bought for himself when he came of age.

By the time Qiao Wu arrived at the seaside, the sky had already darkened, and the yacht had already set sail.

There wasn’t just Lu Yingchi’s yacht here; others had theirs as well. The Lu Family had people stationed here to oversee things. When they saw Qiao Wu arrive, they were in a dilemma: “The Fourth Young Master said no one is to disturb him.”

They weren’t sure what methods the new Housekeeper had, but the Young Master’s word surely carried more weight than the Housekeeper’s, right? The Old Butler had never defied the family too much before.

They didn’t dare to set sail or hand over the keys.

Qiao Wu glanced at the boats docked at the pier and took out her phone to make a call.

The ringing was about to end when a man’s deep, slightly hoarse voice came through, “Speak.”

The cool voice, mingled with the sea breeze, jolted Qiao Wu’s mind uncontrollably back to that night in her dream and the distant, desolate “Get lost” soaked in heavy rain.

She was momentarily lost in thought.

Until the man on the other end called out again, calmly, “Qiao Wu.”

Qiao Wu snapped back to reality and got straight to the point, “Lu Jinzhi, can I borrow your speedboat from Tsujima?”

There was a long silence on the other end.

So long that Qiao Wu’s body grew cold from the sea breeze before she heard the man utter a single, crisp syllable.

“Mn.”

“Thank you.”

Qiao Wu quickly hung up the phone. Chasing after them with the yacht would take too long, so she grabbed a set of speedboat keys.

Seeing the manager hesitate, she simply took the keys herself. She had received extensive education and skill training, and a yacht license was one of them.

The moment she stepped onto the speedboat, the manager on the shore received a call.

“What is she doing?” the person on the other end asked.

The manager stammered, “Sh-she seems to be going after the Fourth Young Master.”

Far across the ocean, Lu Jinzhi lowered his eyelashes slightly, veiling the look in his eyes.

Lu Yingchi?

Since when had she gotten involved with Lu Yingchi?

“Keep an eye on her,” he said indifferently.

A minute later, he received a video message on his phone.

The manager did as he was told and kept an eye on her—through the camera.

In the video, the woman boarded the speedboat, swiftly took off her blazer, revealing her well-proportioned figure and slender waist under her shirt.

She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt, rolled up her sleeves to her wrists, and leaned slightly forward, placing her hands on the steering wheel. The flowing water patterns reflected the pale, slender lines of her forearm, swaying rhythmically into the man’s gaze.

A few seconds later, she roared away amidst the sound of the sea and the hum of the speedboat, leaving behind the lingering shadow of her fluttering long hair and the splashing white waves.