Chapter Eleven: The Taste of Conspiracy

  The National Day arrived as scheduled, and Su Yisu ran back home without any surprise.

  Su Yisu's home is in a small town called Guyong in Jiangcheng, and it takes about an hour and a half to get back from school by bus. As the name suggests, this town is famous for its banyan trees, which can be found growing along rivers, schools, roads, temples, and villages. The ancient trees have unique shapes, with aerial roots hanging down, firmly rooted in the ground, leaning against the terrain and main trunk, entwining each other into various shapes, slowly growing into thick and sturdy pillar-like roots that support the branches extending in all directions. The banyan trees are connected to form a dense canopy, providing a natural leisure space for the townspeople. Due to these ancient trees, the town is picturesque and peaceful, without the disturbance of dust and noise from the city. People cherish this serenity, and even with the rapid development of the times, they have never thought of abandoning these banyan trees that have been protected for generations. The world here is quiet and peaceful.

  She walked quietly on the small path at a fork in the road, occasionally stepping on dry leaves and making a rustling sound. The branches of the camphor trees stretched out high on both sides, perhaps in a few more years they would touch each other. Her home was just ahead, around the corner, with a narrow courtyard in front of it, where a peach tree was planted, but since it wasn't yet in bloom, it didn't have much presence in this dull green world.

  "Mom, I'm back!" Su Yisu exclaimed happily before she even reached the door. She knew that at this time, her mom must be in the yard watering her beloved flowers, occasionally weeding, fertilizing, pruning and pestering insects. As her mom would say, she took care of Su Yisu's flowers more carefully than she took care of Su Yisu herself. Every time Su Yisu coquettishly said that her mom didn't love her, in fact, she knew that her mom was just too lonely.

  Su Yisu's father, Su Yu, was also a self-employed entrepreneur who was at the forefront of his time. Unfortunately, he was laid off during the downsizing trend back then and thought to himself that he had no special skills, making it difficult for him to find another job. So, he came back and contracted a mountain forest, relying on its superior natural ecological environment to cultivate mushrooms. After more than a decade of hard work and high-quality, trustworthy supplies, his market has grown bigger and bigger over the years, achieving some success. However, being in the wilderness requires even more effort, and Su Yu was very stubborn, insisting on cultivating in the original natural environment despite also increasing the use of large greenhouse technology. As a result, he spent less and less time at home, usually leaving his mother, Shen Xiulan, alone at home.

  As expected, Shen Xiulan emerged with a watering can in hand. In her early forties, with long black hair combed back, the passage of time had left its mark on her face due to her lack of attention to her appearance. However, the erosion of years couldn't erase her elegant and gentle demeanor, instead, it made her appear more approachable and kind-hearted. Seeing Su Yisou rushing towards her, Shen Xiulan couldn't help but reveal a doting smile, saying: "You're all grown up now, yet still so impulsive, just like an overgrown child. Who's going to want you in the future?"

  "Oh dear mom," Su Yisu suddenly hugged Shen Xiulan and sweetly replied: "As long as you're here, that's all I need."

  Shen Xiulan smiled slightly, then suddenly let out a sigh and said: "I also can't accompany you for a lifetime..."

  Su Yisu felt a bit uneasy, Ah Ma was rarely so pessimistic, what had happened? So she looked up and asked: "Ah Ma, has anything happened at home recently? Why do you seem to have a lot on your mind?"

  Shen Xiulan's expression changed slightly, but she quickly recovered and smiled scoldingly: "Silly child, what could possibly be the matter? As long as you don't cause me any trouble, everything will be fine."

  Upon hearing this, Su Yisuo didn't think much of it and simply thought that her mother was tired. She replied, "Okay okay, I'll be good and not trouble you, Mother. Let's go inside."

  The mother and daughter walked into the house laughing and chatting. Shen Xiulan suddenly remembered something and asked, "Where's your brother? Why didn't he come back with you?"

  Su Yisu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Mom, he's already in his third year of high school, when would he have the time to run back home at Beijing time? However... it seems my brother doesn't even have the time to make a phone call back home to report."

  "Also," Shen Xiulan smiled softly and then self-deprecatingly continued, "I suppose I've annoyed him so much that he doesn't dare to hit me anymore."

  When Ah-ma said this, Su Yisuo couldn't help but think of the scene where Su Yixin was furious and yelling at her because of the "love affair" incident that day. She felt a sense of schadenfreude in her heart, thinking: You always oppose me, but in front of Ah-ma, you still have to swallow your pride.

  But Su Yisu was clever and didn't take the bait, or else it would have been a disaster. So she shouted: "Mom, stop talking, I'm hungry, when can we eat?"

  Shen Xiulan smiled indulgently and said as she walked towards the kitchen: "I'll make it right away, just wait."

  The kitchen soon heard Shen Xiulan's busy voice, Su Yisuo was bored alone and thought that her father hadn't come back yet, so she ran into the kitchen and asked: "Mom, I want to go to Dad's greenhouse to see if he is there?"

  Upon hearing this, Shen Xiulan paused for a moment, her eyes slightly flustered, but she quickly calmed down and hastily lifted her head, saying: "He'll be back soon too, so you don't have to go. We'll be having dinner in a bit."

  "Okay." Su Yisu helplessly shrugged her shoulders, looking at busy Ah Ma, and had the idea of wanting to help, but also just thought about it and gave up. Ah Ma never let her help, saying that she was afraid of getting busier...

  When dinner was served, Su Yu really came back on time. His parents naturally asked him a lot of questions, but Su Yi didn't notice that her father had added a lot more white hair.

  After dinner, the three of them sat in the living room watching TV and chatting. Before they knew it, night had fallen.

  The wall clock had just struck half past ten, and Shen Xiulan urged Su Yisuo: "Go to bed early, you're also tired from the car ride back, go to sleep early tonight."

  Su Yisu was also a bit tired, so she nodded and yawned before returning to her room.

  The quiet night. The moon was tired, and all things were asleep. However, the Su Yu couple's room still had a faint light coming from it. At this moment, the two of them sat under the light with worried faces, at a loss for what to do. Shen Xiulan sat on the edge of the bed, sighing long and short as she stared at Su Yu, her heart anxious and unable to think of anything. Su Yu was sitting in front of the desk, quickly clicking the mouse as he checked how bad things had become. In order to more conveniently and systematically manage affairs, Su Yu had also learned how to use a computer, and this moment was just right for using it - to see how others were slandering him!

  Su Yu looked more and more frightened, thinking left and right but couldn't figure out who he had offended.

  Suddenly, there were posts everywhere online attacking Su Yu, saying that he was shoddy and unscrupulous, passing off inferior products as good ones, and even mixing poisonous mushrooms into packages multiple times, resulting in dozens of people being poisoned and hospitalized, and even causing several deaths. It was said that he prioritized his own interests over human life, and that everyone should condemn him. The accusations were made to sound mysterious and convincing, with evidence and witnesses, and even photos, making it hard not to believe them. As a result, rumors spread quickly, and Su Yu and his production line suffered unprecedented blows and doubts, their credibility and reputation plummeting overnight. What's worse, business clients believed the rumors and cancelled most of their orders.

  "What's going on now?" Shen Xiulan finally couldn't help but ask.

  "Alas," Su Yu's brow was furrowed with unrelenting worry, "it's still the same, I really don't know who I've offended."

  "Is it an injury from a fellow practitioner?"

  Su Yu thought for a moment and felt that it was impossible, so he said: "There are not many people in the entire Jiang City who cultivate mushrooms, and there is no threat between us. Who would recognize me Su Yu outside of Jiang City?"

  "Is there really no clue at all?"

  "It was too sudden, the publisher seemed to be not in Jiang City, and his information couldn't be found at all." By saying this, Su Yu's eyebrows furrowed even deeper. The other party targeted him alone, came with a strong momentum, and hid in the dark, making it impossible for him to defend himself.

  "Alas, let's sleep," Shen Xiulan sighed. "It's useless to keep looking at it like this. We're old and can't keep up with the internet age. Let's ask a younger person to check it tomorrow."

  "Hmm." Su Yu responded faintly and shut down the computer. He didn't tell Shen Xiulan that he had actually asked someone to help him investigate earlier, but the other party's technology was too advanced, and their preparations were too thorough, making it impossible to find any breakthrough points.

  At this time, Su Yisu had already entered the dreamland. In her dream, there was a person in front of her who laughed wildly. The figure was too vague, and Su Yisu couldn't see her face clearly, only identifying that it was a woman from the voice. That person tore all her precious things to shreds like crazy, and Su Yisu cried so hard on the side that she couldn't stop it at all. In the end, that person still destroyed everything of hers, laughing loudly and leaving... Su Yisu's face and palms kept sweating, her nerves were tense, even breathing was heavy, and she shouted "Don't, don't" desperately in her mouth, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wake up. The dream finally destroyed the last bit of her consciousness, and she fell into a deep sleep.

  The next morning, Su Yisu stretched and got out of bed lazily. After a night's digestion, the nightmare from last night had been completely forgotten by her, and she didn't even know that she had had such a terrible dream.

  The Su couple tacitly avoided mentioning the online attacks, but due to consecutive sleepless nights, both of their faces looked haggard. Even the usually careless Su Yisuo didn't notice.

  "Dad, Mom, good morning." She greeted cheerfully.

  "Good morning. Come and have breakfast." Seeing Su Yisou come out, Shen Xiulan still maintained her elegant smile.

  A new day's sun is slowly rising...