CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER 87; TRAGIC INCIDENT 4

"Madam Liu, I’ve already spoken with the police and provided all relevant information. Your son’s death was a tragic accident, and I....."

"Don’t insult my intelligence," she cut him off, her voice dropping to something venomous. "My son visited your estate looking for his wife. You refused him entry. He forced his way in anyway. Your security assaulted him and threw him out. And thirty minutes later he’s dead in a mysterious accident with a convenient medical emergency that no one can explain."

"Your son trespassed on my property," Lu Yuze replied evenly, his tone hardening. "He forced his way past security, made demands, and became aggressive. My security did what they were trained to do: remove a hostile intruder with appropriate force. All of this is documented. All of this is legal. And all of this has nothing to do with a tragic accident that occurred after he left."

"You humiliated my son!" Madam Liu’s voice rose, the control cracking. "You had your thugs beat him and throw him out like garbage! The last moments of his life were spent being degraded by you and your people!"

"The last moments of his life were spent driving recklessly at excessive speed after illegally entering someone’s private property," Lu Yuze corrected coldly. "I’m sorry for your loss, Madam Liu, truly I am. But your son made choices that led to his death. I won’t accept responsibility for those choices."

"You will accept responsibility," Madam Liu said, and now her voice was ice. "If not voluntarily, then I will make you. I have resources, Sixth Master Lu. Connections. People who owe me favors. And I will use every single one of them to destroy you. You think you’re powerful? Untouchable? You’re about to learn otherwise."

"Is that a threat, Madam Liu?"

"It’s a promise. I’m going to take everything from you. Your business. Your reputation. Your freedom. And when I’m done, you’ll understand what it feels like to lose everything, the way you took everything from me."

"I didn’t take anything from you," Lu Yuze said quietly, dangerously. "Your son came to my home uninvited and paid the consequences of his own actions. I had nothing to do with his death, and no amount of investigation or legal maneuvering will change that fact."

"We’ll see," Madam Liu hissed. "We’ll see what the truth reveals when I’m done digging. Sleep well, Sixth Master Lu. While you still can."

The line went dead.

Lu Yuze stood holding his phone, a cold feeling settling in his stomach. The Chen family, and Madam Liu in particular, weren’t going to let this go. She sounded like a woman on a mission, dangerous, determined, and with resources to cause serious problems.

He glanced at the couches where both Shuyin and Yuyan still slept peacefully, both completely unaware of the storm gathering around them.

Or perhaps Shuyin was aware and simply didn’t care. After all, what could the Chen family really do to her? They didn’t even know she existed to begin with, as anything more than a name on a marriage certificate that no one had paid attention to.

And that’s exactly how it needed to stay.

"Ah-Ling," Lu Yuze said quietly, "I need you to do something."

"Yes, Master?"

"Scrub everything. Any mention of my wife in connection with tonight’s events. Any security footage that might show her. Any records that might indicate she was present. I want her completely removed from the narrative."

"It’s already done, Master," Ah-Ling confirmed. "The internal security footage from the mansion has been edited. The staff who might have seen her have been... compensated for their discretion. As far as any investigation will show, your wife was never in the sitting room when Chen Ting arrived. She was in the bedroom, resting, completely unaware of any confrontation."

"Good. Keep it that way. If the Chen family investigates, and they will, all they’ll find is that Chen Ting arrived, spoke with me briefly, became aggressive, was removed by security, and left. Nothing else. No one else."

"What about Mrs. Chen Wan? If they find out she’s here..."

"She stays hidden," Lu Yuze said firmly. "The west wing is completely separate from the main house. No staff have access except those we trust completely. As far as anyone knows, she’s still missing from the hospital. If the Chen family comes looking for her, we know nothing about her whereabouts."

"Understood, Master."

Lu Yuze looked at his watch. 9:30 PM. Hardly dinner time, but neither Shuyin nor Yuyan had eaten since... since when? The hospital? That had been hours ago, and Yuyan especially needed proper nutrition after six months of intravenous feeding.

"It’s time to wake them," he decided. "They need to eat."

He walked over to his daughter’s couch first, kneeling beside her and gently brushing her silver hair back from her face. "Yuyan? Sweetheart, wake up. You need to eat something."

Yuyan stirred, her eyes fluttering open. "Daddy? What time is it?"

"Late," he admitted. "But you haven’t eaten since the discharge from the hospital, and I want you to have something before you sleep properly. Can you sit up for me?"

She nodded groggily, letting him help her into a sitting position. She looked better already, color in her cheeks, strength returning to her movements. The healing Shuyin had performed was holding, getting better with each passing hour. It truly felt miraculous.

Lu Yuze moved to Shuyin’s couch next. She was harder to wake, her sleep was deeper, her body still recovering from the massive energy expenditure of healing Yuyan and then... well, and then eliminating Chen Ting, though no one but the three of them and Ah-Ling would ever know that.

"Shuyin," he softly called her, touching her shoulder. Her skin was still cold, though less alarmingly so than before. The frost had melted from her features. "Wake up. You need to eat."

Her jade eyes opened slowly, focusing on him with that unnerving intensity. For a moment, she looked at him as if trying to remember who he was, where she was, and why this human was disturbing her rest.

Then awareness returned. "Food?"