CHAPTER 123: CHAPTER 123; SCANDALS

Yuyan nodded as though this made perfect sense, her attention drifting back to the cartoon.

But Lu Yuze could see the tension in her shoulders, the way her usual sprawl across the couch had become more contained, protective.

She was worried, worried about this new mother figure she’d claimed so quickly, terrified perhaps that this happiness might be as fragile as it felt new.

He squeezed her shoulder gently. "It’s going to be okay, Yanyan.".

"Promise?"

"Promise."

She relaxed slightly, settling back against the couch cushions. Lu Yuze left his arm where it was, keeping her close, his mind already moving through calculations and contingencies even as he pretended to watch the cartoon with her.

The press conference had been broadcast live across every major platform.

Millions had watched his nephew’s carefully constructed redemption narrative collapse in real time.

The image of Lin Yueling’s pregnant belly would be everywhere within minutes, on social media, on news sites, analyzed, discussed, and dissected by an army of commentators who would tear Lu Zeyan’s character to shreds.

His nephew’s reputation was ruined. Whatever fragile sympathy the public might have extended after the initial statements had evaporated the moment that photograph appeared.

No amount of spin could recover from the mathematical proof of betrayal that a five-month pregnancy represented.

Lu Yuze pulled out his phone and scrolled through the reactions already flooding social media.

The consensus was forming rapidly and brutally. Lu Zeyan wasn’t a man who’d been deceived by false evidence, he was a man who’d framed his innocent fiancée to cover up his affair with her sister. He was a monster who’d sent a woman to prison to hide his own crimes.

The truth was more complicated, Lu Yuze knew. His nephew was many things: ambitious, weak under pressure, and desperate to prove himself worthy of the family name. Still, he probably hadn’t started the affair with the specific intention of framing Shuyin. It was more likely to have been opportunistic stupidity rather than calculated malice.

But complexity didn’t matter in the court of public opinion. Only the story mattered. And the story that was forming around Lu Zeyan now was one of irredeemable villainy.

Lu Yuze’s expression remained neutral, but something cold and satisfied settled in his chest.

Perfect. Let his nephew burn. Let every bridge turn to ash. Let every ally abandon him and every business partner distance themselves. Let the Lu family itself turn its back on him in disgust.

Because when the smoke cleared and the wreckage settled, Shuyin would still be legally married to Lu Yuze.

She would still bear his name, still be bound to him by documents she’d willingly signed in that prison cell. And with Lu Zeyan destroyed beyond any hope of redemption, she would have nowhere else to turn.

No former fiancé to run back to. No family would take her in. No public sympathy to leverage into independence.

Just Lu Yuze, offering stability and protection and a home for as long as she chose to accept it. Or even if she didn’t choose, because the marriage certificate didn’t require her active cooperation to remain valid.

He won’t allow her to slip by, and he actually hadn’t thought she was a public figure. Knowing now, things were easier; if she tried getting back to that man, he would use his own means to drag her over to his side.

Somewhere in this city, Shuyin was processing what had just happened, adjusting her plans, recalculating her next moves.

She’d walked into that press conference believing she had control, believing she’d orchestrated Lu Zeyan’s downfall perfectly.

And perhaps she had. The photograph and video had appeared at exactly the right moment to cause maximum damage. Whether she’d arranged it herself or simply capitalized on someone else’s leak, the effect was the same. Lu Zeyan was destroyed.

But Shuyin had made one critical miscalculation. She’d been so focused on destroying her former fiancé that she’d temporarily forgotten about the husband she’d acquired in prison. The man who now held legal authority over aspects of her life whether she acknowledged it or not.

Lu Yuze intended to remind her of that oversight very soon. But not yet. Not while the wounds were still fresh and her rage still hot. He would wait until exhaustion set in, until the adrenaline faded and reality settled heavy on her shoulders.

Then he would appear, calm and reasonable, offering solutions to problems she didn’t yet realize she had. Offering protection from a public that would demand more from her, more explanations, more emotional displays, and more proof of her victimhood.

He would offer her a door to close, a barrier between herself and the consuming attention of millions. And in her exhaustion, in her desperate need for privacy and peace, she might just accept it.

Or she might fight him, which would be equally interesting in its own way. Either path led to the same destination eventually. Either path ended with Shuyin exactly where Lu Yuze wanted her.

Could we say Lu Yuze was a narcissist?

SHUYIN’S BREAKDOWN — INSIDE THE CAR

The moment the car door slammed shut behind her, the world outside dissolved into a muffled roar, reporters shouting over each other, security guards yelling commands, cameras snapping with the rapid-fire intensity of gunfire in a war zone.

Inside the tinted Mercedes, everything was silent.

Eerily, impossibly silent.

Shuyin didn’t move at first.

She just sat there in the backseat, hands folded neatly in her lap like she was still at a business luncheon, staring straight ahead at the leather headrest in front of her as if her body hadn’t quite caught up with what had just happened.

Her posture was perfect, spine straight, shoulders back, the picture of composure.

But her breath came uneven and sharp, hitching in her chest in a way that wasn’t quite crying, wasn’t quite gasping, just the physical manifestation of something fundamental shifting inside her.

Ting Fei glanced at her in the rearview mirror, concerned. "Ma’am? Are you..."