CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 66; THANK YOU

"It means," Shuyin said slowly, her jade eye glowing brighter as she considered the implications, "that your daughter’s condition wasn’t natural. Someone or something introduced a substance into her body that nearly killed her. The question is: who had access to such a thing? And why target a twelve-year-old girl?"

The implications hung heavily in the air.

Lu Yuze’s expression darkened, his jaw clenching with barely contained fury. "Someone poisoned my daughter? Deliberately?"

"The poison doesn’t occur naturally in your world," Shuyin confirmed. "Someone had to obtain it, somehow, and administer it. Whether Yuyan was the intended target or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, I cannot say yet."

Yuyan’s small hands gripped her father’s tightly, fear creeping into her features. At twelve, she was still very much a child, a brilliant, talented child who played Chopin and excelled at school, but a child nonetheless. The idea that someone had tried to hurt her, possibly kill her, was terrifying.

"But who would want to hurt me?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "I’m just a kid. I go to school, I practice piano, and I study. I haven’t done anything to anyone."

"You’re not just any child," Ah-Ling said quietly from his position near the door. "You’re Sixth Master Lu’s daughter. His only heir. There are... many who might benefit from your absence."

Lu Yuze’s eyes flashed dangerously. "If someone targeted my daughter to get to me, to weaken my position or claim inheritance rights..." He didn’t finish the sentence, but the lethal promise in his voice was clear.

"We’ll investigate," he said, his tone dropping to something cold and calculating. "Ah-Ling, I want a full review of everyone who had access to Yuyan in the week before she collapsed. Teachers, classmates, staff, family members, everyone. Pull security footage. Interview witnesses. Find out what she ate, drank, and touched. Everything."

"Yes, Master." Ah-Ling was already making notes on his phone.

"Father," Yuyan said, her voice small, "do you really think someone at my school would try to poison me?"

Lu Yuze’s expression softened when he looked at his daughter, though the fury didn’t entirely leave his eyes. "I don’t know, sweetheart. But I’m going to find out. And whoever did this..." He paused, struggling to moderate his tone for his twelve-year-old daughter’s sake. "They will face consequences."

"Consequences" was putting it mildly, and everyone in the room knew it.

Shuyin watched the exchange with her usual detachment, though something flickered in her jade eye, perhaps recognition of a parent’s protective rage, something that transcended species boundaries.

"The poison is gone," she repeated. "Yuyan will recover fully. But you should be cautious about who has access to her going forward. If someone tried once, they may try again when they learn she’s awakened."

"No one will get near her," Lu Yuze said with absolute certainty. "I’ll increase security at the estate. Yuyan will have personal guards at all times. Her food will be tested. Everything will be...."

"Father," Yuyan interrupted gently, "I can’t live in a prison. I know you’re scared, but I can’t hide forever."

"You’re twelve years old," Lu Yuze countered, his voice tight. "You shouldn’t have to worry about being poisoned. You should be practicing piano and complaining about homework and...." His voice cracked. "You should be safe."

Yuyan’s eyes filled with tears at the raw pain in her father’s voice. "I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry Daddy."

"This isn’t your fault," he said fiercely, pulling her into a careful embrace. "None of this is your fault. Never apologize for being the target of someone’s cruelty."

Shuyin turned away from the emotional scene, moving back toward the couch. "The discharge papers," she said to no one in particular. "How long will they take?" She was exhausted and needed to rest for a few hours.

"Dr. Chen said he’d have them ready within the hour," Ah-Ling replied. "I’ll go check on the progress and arrange for Miss Yuyan’s transport home."

He left the room, leaving Lu Yuze, Yuyan, and Shuyin in temporary quiet.

After a moment, Yuyan pulled back from her father and looked at Shuyin with curiosity mixed with lingering wariness. At twelve, she was old enough to understand that this situation was strange, that her father had done something extraordinary, and possibly reckless, to save her life.

"Um, Miss... I mean..." Yuyan hesitated, unsure how to address her new stepmother. "What should I call you?"

Shuyin turned her glowing jade eye toward the girl... "Shuyin is fine. Or Mother, as I suggested earlier, if you want to maintain appearances for outsiders."

"But you’re not really my mother," Yuyan said, with the blunt honesty of any child. "You’re my father’s contract wife. That’s different."

"True," Shuyin acknowledged. "But in public, it will be easier if you treat me as a stepmother. People will ask fewer questions that way."

Yuyan considered this, her young mind working through the implications. "Okay. So in public, I call you Mother or Stepmother. But when we’re alone?"

"Whatever you wish." Shuyin’s tone suggested she didn’t particularly care either way.

"Then I’ll call you Shuyin when we’re alone," Yuyan decided. "It feels less... fake."

"Acceptable."

Lu Yuze watched this exchange with mixed feelings. His daughter, who had just woken from a six-month coma, was already trying to navigate the complex family dynamic he’d created by marrying a stranger. At twelve, she shouldn’t have to deal with such complications.

But then again, at twelve, she also shouldn’t have been poisoned and left comatose for half a year.

Life, it seemed, had stopped caring about what his daughter should or shouldn’t have to endure.

"Yuyan," he said gently, "Shuyin saved your life. Whatever else is true, remember that. She didn’t have to help us. But she did."

"I know Father," Yuyan said quietly. She looked at Shuyin again, this strange woman with glowing eyes who spoke with such coldness yet had somehow cured an impossible illness. "Thank you. Really. I don’t understand how you did it or why, but... thank you for making my father not be sad anymore."

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