Chapter 149: Chapter 149: One Wrong Step, Every Step Wrong

"Mom."

"Grandma, please don’t be angry."

Old Mrs. An’s sudden outburst startled An Lizheng and An Zhiqian. An Zhiqian rushed forward to rub her back comfortingly.

Old Mrs. An didn’t speak, just stared at An Lizheng.

An Lizheng quickly said, "Mom, I didn’t send anyone to go after Zhi Han, I..."

"Then why did you send people to the mainland?" Old Mrs. An demanded, cutting him off. "They even went to the exact place where Zhi Han is. You say you have no such intentions? Do you take me for a senile old fool, to believe your words?"

"Mom, why won’t you believe your own son?" An Lizheng said hastily.

"It’s because I trusted you and your second brother too much back then! If I hadn’t, your third brother and his wife wouldn’t have died, and Zhi Han never would have left the An Family. My wonderful grandson was pushed by you and Li Kang to the point of wanting to sever all ties with us." Old Mrs. An’s chest heaved with anger. She pointed a trembling finger at An Lizheng and scolded, "Your father and I tolerated it, all because you and Li Kang are our biological sons. But because we did, Zhi Han’s heart grew cold toward me and your father. If it weren’t for that..."

Overcome with anger, Old Mrs. An suddenly felt dizzy. Before she could recover, her eyes closed, and she fell back against the sofa.

"Old Mrs. An!" Mrs. Lin, who was always by her side, saw her state and rushed forward to rub her chest. "Don’t get so agitated. Take your time and speak slowly."

An Lizheng and An Zhiqian were terrified. They rushed to her side, steadying her and calling out her name in alarm, while also sending someone to fetch the family doctor.

After a moment, Old Mrs. An’s dizziness subsided a little. She flung off An Lizheng’s hand and said angrily, "I know what you’re doing. You and Li Kang just want to anger me to death. After that, this An Family will be completely yours."

"Mom, please don’t say that. I can’t bear it," An Lizheng pleaded. He had always been a dutiful son, and her words made him feel deeply wronged.

"You can’t bear it?" Old Mrs. An fumed. "Then could Zhi Han bear it? Look what you’ve driven him to! And still, you refuse to leave him alone? Speak! What exactly did you and Li Kang send people there to do?"

"Mom, we really didn’t do anything," An Lizheng said quickly. ’I can’t possibly tell her I sent people to look for something,’ he thought. After a moment’s consideration, he said, "I just heard that Mr. Gong was also there, so I sent some people to gather information. If we could persuade Mr. Gong to come and take a look at Dad, maybe Dad would recover."

"Gong Shangqing is still in Xiyuan County?" Hearing An Lizheng’s explanation, Old Mrs. An’s tone softened. "Did you find out for certain?"

"Yes, that’s right. Mr. Gong is still in Xiyuan County." Seeing that Old Mrs. An was buying his story, An Lizheng quickly added, "I had my men make special inquiries."

"Then, does Zhi Han know about this?" Old Mrs. An asked urgently. "Can we... can we ask him to take a look at Zhi Han’s leg?"

As soon as the words were out, Old Mrs. An recalled the grudge between the An Family and Mr. Gong. She sighed and said, "I’m afraid he would refuse."

"Exactly," An Lizheng quickly agreed. "Mr. Gong still holds a grudge against our An Family. He refuses to have any contact with us at all."

Old Mrs. An sighed. "Back then, your father was the one who wronged Mr. Gong."

For a moment, everyone in the room fell silent.

After a long pause, Old Mrs. An looked at An Lizheng. "Promise me you didn’t send anyone to cause trouble for Zhi Han."

"I really didn’t," An Lizheng said hastily.

"Fine. I’ll trust you one more time. But if I find out you and Li Kang have been deceiving me, I definitely won’t let you off as easily as I did last time." Old Mrs. An stared at An Lizheng, enunciating every word.

"Mom, we won’t," An Lizheng promised, nodding quickly.

Old Mrs. An nodded. After giving An Lizheng a long, searching look, she said, "In that case, have your people pull out immediately."

"Yes, I’ll have them come back in a few days," An Lizheng said quickly.

"Good." Old Mrs. An’s expression relaxed a little. She stood up and said, "Alright, I’m going home."

Mrs. Lin hurried to support her. "Old Mrs. An, please be careful."

"It’s fine. I’m not that fragile," Old Mrs. An said.

"Mom, you should let Doctor Zhao examine you before you go," An Lizheng urged, still concerned about her earlier dizzy spell.

"There’s no need. As long as you and Li Kang don’t try to anger me, I’ll be fine."

"Mom, of course Li Kang and I wouldn’t anger you," An Lizheng said hastily.

"Remember your words." With that, Old Mrs. An said, "Alright, there’s no need to see me off. I can get home by myself."

With that, she left An Lizheng’s house.

An Lizheng and An Zhiqian quickly escorted Old Mrs. An to her car before returning to the house.

In the car, Old Mrs. An closed her eyes, her expression grim.

"Old Mrs. An, please don’t stay angry with them. Your health is what’s most important," Mrs. Lin gently advised. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Back then, I made one wrong step after another," Old Mrs. An said with a sigh.

"Old Mrs. An, it’s impossible to choose between your own children. There was nothing else you could do. You couldn’t possibly..." Mrs. Lin stopped mid-sentence.

’She had already lost one son; she couldn’t just abandon the other two.’

"It’s my fault for not raising my sons properly," Old Mrs. An said softly. "As if I couldn’t tell how evasive my eldest was being today."

"Old Mrs. An, please don’t overthink it."

"I wish I were just overthinking," Old Mrs. An said, shaking her head. "It’s just... I only want to show him that I care, but Zhi Han won’t even accept that."

Mrs. Lin said quickly, "The Third Young Master is still young, after all. In time, he will come to understand your feelings and your position."

"I won’t get my hopes up. I just pray his leg can heal," Old Mrs. An said. "Mrs. Lin, I need you to make some arrangements. Next month, Mr. An and I will go to a sanatorium for a while. We’ll use that as an opportunity to take a trip to the mainland."

"Ah, Old Mrs. An, you’re going to the mainland?"

"To see Gong Shangqing," Old Mrs. An said. "However, do not let my eldest and second son know about this. I want to go and personally find out what they really sent people to Xiyuan County to do."

"Yes, Old Mrs. An."

"One more thing," Old Mrs. An added after a moment’s thought. "Investigate that girl named Su Qing. From what I gathered from Zhiwei, it sounds like she wants to cause trouble for that girl. Find out why."

"Yes, ma’am."

Meanwhile, on a cliff face on Da Hu Mountain, Su Qing discovered a particularly large Lingzhi.

The moment she saw the Lingzhi, Su Qing’s eyes lit up. ’One this big must be very old.’

She surveyed the terrain. The Lingzhi was about three to four meters above the ground, halfway up the cliff face. A dead tree clung to the rock there, and the Lingzhi was growing from its roots.