Chapter 259: Secret Plot
’This third brother of mine... even though he’s usually the most talkative, he’s willing to give up a chance to chat with me for the sake of his work.’
’It seems he’s matured. When they were young, he would have done anything for her.’
’As long as "she" wanted it, he would do it, never asking why. Back then, they didn’t know they weren’t blood-related siblings.’
’Later, when his biological sister, Sheng Yueyue, came back, everything changed. Third Brother stopped paying any attention to "her".’
’He slowly grew distant from "her." And in "her" eyes, her three brothers had all become strangers...’
’Now, the Sheng Family’s eldest brother and third brother are both trying hard, hoping their sibling bond can return to how it was before.’
’But it’s a pity that everything has already changed. Their adoptive sister is gone. How could things ever go back to the way they were!’
’Even if I call them Eldest Brother and Third Brother, it can’t make up for the lost bond, because I’m not the adoptive sister they once had.’
Just then, someone took her hand. Gu Jiaojiao snapped out of her thoughts and turned to see her beloved.
Su Shuochi smiled gently. "Honey, what are you thinking about?"
"Thinking of you, of course~"
"Hehe... Come on, let’s go check out the laboratory."
"Mhm~"
Gu Jiaojiao habitually moved to push his wheelchair, though she had long since replaced it with an electric one that moved forward on its own at the press of a button.
Su Shuochi always had a lot to say whenever he was with his wife. Even a long journey felt short to him.
The couple arrived at the entrance of the newly completed laboratory, and Gu Jiaojiao pushed Su Shuochi inside.
The lab was huge, large enough to accommodate over a hundred researchers. It reminded Gu Jiaojiao of their laboratory from her previous life.
There, many people had bustled about in the busy lab, with tables full of various instruments and every computer screen displaying endless strings of data...
But now, this lab was completely empty, without even a single table or chair. Gu Jiaojiao shook her head.
Seeing her expression, Su Shuochi smiled dotingly. "Honey, are you satisfied?"
"It’s great. I love it. Thank you, Su Shuochi," Gu Jiaojiao said sincerely.
The factory building’s location was rather remote, so few people ever came here. But nestled by a mountain and water, surrounded by lush greenery, the environment was beautiful and pleasant.
Construction projects in this era were relatively simple. They hadn’t hired too many workers, but there were still several dozen people.
The construction site had hired aunties specifically to buy groceries and cook. The one in charge was Houzi’s mother, who was currently cooking earnestly with three other women.
Knowing that their boss’s wife would be eating at the site for lunch today, they pulled out all the stops.
Most of the workers were locals from Qing City, so they all went back to their own homes after finishing work in the evening.
After looking around, it was about time for lunch. Gu Jiaojiao and Su Shuochi ate at the construction site.
During the day, Mr. Su and Su’s mother sold cold skin noodles from a stall at the gates of those factories. Since the Gu Family left, they hadn’t been going home for lunch.
Since Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t moving into the new courtyard house, they decided to temporarily move back into the large compound, closing their stall early in the evenings to go home and cook for their son and daughter-in-law.
"Jiaojiao, I’m over here! Come on!" Sheng Shiwu shouted from under a large tree.
He had already washed his face, and his sun-tanned, bronze skin looked especially healthy in the sunlight.
His eyes were bright and full of life, exuding a uniquely masculine charm.
Gu Jiaojiao pushed Su Shuochi over. Sheng Shiwu had already gotten their food. There were no tables or chairs.
Sheng Shiwu had moved some bricks and stacked them to fashion a makeshift table and chairs, and he had set out the food for the three of them.
Everyone else was either sitting directly on the ground or squatting as they ate, holding their bowls.
"Well now, I didn’t expect this. Third Brother, you’re quite the talent, huh? Eating like this is actually pretty nice."
Gu Jiaojiao casually sat down on a brick stool, while Su Shuochi remained in his wheelchair.
"Hehe, as long as you don’t mind, Jiaojiao." Sheng Shiwu chuckled sheepishly. Anyone could see he was in a particularly good mood.
"Is it tiring, carrying bricks every day?" Gu Jiaojiao asked curiously. She wanted to know how a pampered young master like him managed to stick with it.
"It was a little overwhelming at first, but I slowly got used to it. Besides, I don’t know how to make jianbing guozi, and Uncle Su doesn’t need any help selling his cold skin noodles."
Sheng Shiwu said with some regret. Dong Qiming had even learned how to sell jianbing guozi; he felt it was a shame he hadn’t thought of it at the time.
"Actually, carrying bricks not only helps you get some exercise, but you also get paid. It’s quite good," Su Shuochi said.
"Yeah, I think it’s pretty great now. Jiaojiao, you like chicken."
Before starting to eat himself, Sheng Shiwu picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks and placed it in Gu Jiaojiao’s bowl.
"Thanks, Third Brother. You eat too." Gu Jiaojiao looked at the three dishes and one soup in front of them.
The food at the construction site was good: braised pork belly, stir-fried chicken with wood ear mushrooms and green peppers, a vegetable dish, and a winter melon soup with pork bones.
"Brother Su, Jiaojiao, can I still come to your place for dinner?" Sheng Shiwu had finished eating, but as soon as he put down his bowl, he was already thinking about his next meal.
"They don’t make dinner at the site?" Gu Jiaojiao genuinely didn’t know.
"No. The workers opted out. They’d rather earn a little more and go home to eat meat with their families," Su Shuochi explained.
It really wasn’t that he was being stingy; the workers just didn’t want to eat a good meal all by themselves and preferred to take the money home to eat with their wives and kids.
"Jiaojiao, ever since Second Brother Gu and his family went back to the Imperial City, I’ve been eating dinner with Gao Xiangming and the others."
"Third Brother, why don’t you eat at home?" Gu Jiaojiao asked, feigning ignorance.
"Sigh! Before, it was because Yueyue was at our house, so I didn’t want to go home to eat. Now that Yueyue’s in the hospital, I don’t even want to go to the hospital."
"Because Yueyue’s room is right next to our second brother’s. So at night, I just go home to sleep by myself."
"Dad works during the day and goes to the hospital at night to take care of Second Brother. Mom works during the day and goes to the hospital at night to take care of Yueyue."
"Yueyue’s injuries are pretty serious this time. Song Zijin is at the hospital taking care of her day and night."
"I went to the hospital to see Second Brother the day before yesterday, and Yueyue was in his room too. She had never once gone to his room to visit him before..."
Sheng Shiwu rambled on and on. There were some things that even Su Shuochi didn’t know, so Gu Jiaojiao listened with great interest.
’She really didn’t understand why Song Zijin would hurt Sheng Yueyue. In the original book, Song Zijin was deeply in love with Sheng Yueyue.’
’Besides, the Sheng Yueyue from the book was beautiful and kindhearted. Everything always went smoothly for her, and she was never as foolish and clumsy as this one is acting.’
’Could it be that because Sheng Yueyue changed her name, her good fortune was all used up?’
Seeing that it was about time, Sheng Shiwu went back to carrying bricks. Su Shuochi also took Gu Jiaojiao to get busy with other matters.
Meanwhile, Sheng Yueyue, the very person Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t understand, was in her second brother Sheng Shiwen’s hospital room, secretly plotting how to harm her.
Sheng Shiwen had suffered a serious injury to his bones and tendons that would require a hundred days of recovery. He was still on an IV drip, so he hadn’t been discharged from the hospital.
"Second Brother~ I want Gu Jiaojiao to suffer. You have to tell Dad to ask that bitch to come to the hospital."
"What are you planning now?" Sheng Shiwen asked lazily.
"We managed to set that bitch up with that cripple before. This time, we need to make that bitch sleep with Song Zijin..."