CHAPTER 99: CHAPTER 99; YOU MARRIED YOUR NEPHEW’S EX-FIANCE

"Let’s go to the Lu Group in the South," Shuyin said suddenly, her jade eye fixed on something distant that only she could see.

Ting Fei glanced at her in the rearview mirror, surprised. "The Lu Group South, Mistress? That’s... the family conglomerate headquarters."

"I know exactly what it is," Shuyin replied, her voice cold and flat. "And I know exactly who runs it."

This was the place the original Shuyin had dedicated her entire youth to. The company she’d helped build, only to watch it be reaped by some other people beneath her feet. The man she’d trusted, loved even, who’d betrayed her so thoroughly that she’d ended up in prison while he prospered on the foundation she’d laid.

Without doubt, she wanted to meet that man.

To see his face when a woman he’d thought safely buried, literally and figuratively, walked through his door.

"All right, Madam." Ting Fei adjusted their route, merging onto the highway that would take them to the southern business district where the Lu family’s original conglomerate maintained its gleaming headquarters.

As the Mercedes glided through morning traffic, Shuyin closed her eyes and allowed the inherited memories to surface more fully. Each revelation made her ancient soul coil tighter with cold, methodical fury.

She couldn’t believe that this man had betrayed the original Shuyin like this!

While she struggled to deal with clients and being in some projects, Lu Zeyan has been sleeping around with her half sister.

"Men aren’t worth much!" She coldly muttered maintaining her closed eyes.

Lu Estate - Sitting Room - 9:15 AM

Lu Yuze was settled comfortably on the plush leather couch, his daughter curled up beside him like a contented cat. The television played some animated movie Yuyan had chosen, something colorful and innocuous that required minimal attention. She was steadily working her way through a plate of sliced fruit, her appetite returning with remarkable speed now that the poison had been purged from her system.

It was peaceful, domesticated, and normal.

The kind of quiet family moment Lu Yuze had been denied for six agonizing months while his daughter lay comatose in that sterile hospital room.

He was savoring it, this simple pleasure of watching television with his child, when Ah-Ling approached from the study, tablet in hand. The assistant’s expression was carefully neutral, the particular kind of neutral that meant he had uncomfortable information to share and was bracing for his master’s reaction.

"Master," Ah-Ling said quietly, positioning himself so his voice wouldn’t carry to Yuyan. "There’s something you should know about the Mistress. Your wife... Something... significant."

Lu Yuze glanced at his daughter, who was absorbed in her movie, then muted the television and turned his full attention to his assistant. "What is it?"

"Did you know..." Ah-Ling paused, as if uncertain how to phrase it delicately and understandable, then apparently decided there was no delicate way to go about it. "Did you know Shuyin was engaged to your nephew before being sent to prison?"

The coffee cup halfway to Lu Yuze’s lips stopped mid-motion. His hand froze. His mind stuttered over the words, trying to process them into something that made sense.

"What?" The word came out flat, carefully controlled despite the shock rippling through him.

"Your nephew, Lu Zeyan. He runs the southern division of the Lu Group, the family conglomerate." Ah-Ling pulled up information on his tablet, though he barely glanced at it. "Apparently, he and the Mistress were engaged for several years before her arrest. The wedding was planned, invitations sent, and venue booked. It was supposed to be quite the society event."

"She is the one?" Lu Yuze set his coffee cup down with exaggerated care, as if any sudden movement might shatter his composure. "The girl Zeyan was supposed to marry?"

His mind was racing now, pulling up fragmented memories of family gatherings he’d barely attended, conversations he’d deliberately tuned out. Yes, he remembered now, vaguely, distantly, that his nephew had been engaged to someone who’d ended up in prison. There had been a scandal, family gossip whispered over expensive dinners, his relatives simultaneously horrified and titillated by the drama.

But Lu Yuze had never paid attention to the details. Had never asked the girl’s name, never inquired about the circumstances.

After his wife’s death, he’d deliberately and systematically distanced himself from the Lu family’s endless drama. The grief had been too raw, their judgment too cutting. Move on, they’d said. Stop mourning. Find a new wife. Yuyan needs a mother.

They had even said his wife was unworthy of entering their Lu mansion. He should find a better woman to marry to expand the Lu Conglomerate.

As if love could be replaced like a broken appliance.

So he’d withdrawn. Built his own empire, the Lu Group under his control was entirely his own creation, separate from the family conglomerate that bore the same name. He’d poured his grief and rage into creating something that owed nothing to his relatives, that couldn’t be touched by their machinations or influenced by their expectations.

He had built this wealth solely for his daughter to inherit and no one else.

He rarely associated with people from that side of the family anymore. After his wife’s funeral, where they’d spent more time networking than mourning, he’d made his position clear: he would attend mandatory holiday gatherings out of obligation to his daughter’s heritage, but nothing more.

He hadn’t spoken to his nephew in over a year. Hadn’t kept track of Lu Zeyan’s business dealings or personal life. Hadn’t cared.

And now he’d married the woman his nephew had been engaged to.

The woman his nephew had apparently destroyed.

"Interesting," Lu Yuze murmured, though the word was inadequate for the complex mix of shock, irony, and dark amusement swirling through him.

He should have done his due diligence. Should have investigated Shuyin’s background thoroughly before marrying her, contract or not. But his mind had been singular in focus, save Yuyan, nothing else matters, do whatever it takes.