Now, thinking more clearly with his daughter awake and recovering beside him, the full picture of what he’d done was crystallizing.
He had married his nephew’s ex-fiancée.
A woman whom his nephew had sent to prison.
A woman who was now sothing far more dangerous than human.
Lu Yuze exhaled loudly, a sound caught between a laugh and a sigh.
"Find out everything that had transpired back then..." he ordered, his analytical mind engaging fully now. "What happened? Why was she sent to prison? What evidence was used? I want the complete story, not just the public narrative, but the truth behind it."
Because even when her case was being handled, he didn’t bother to check out anything; he only knew he had let three convicts out of prison.
"Master, it’s sothing that went viral at the ti. The case was all over social dia, news outlets, everywhere." Ah-Ling’s fingers moved across his tablet, pulling up archived articles, court docunts, and public records. "She was convicted of multiple serious cris, corporate embezzlent, fraud, and most damning of all, the murder of her grandmother through poisoning."
Lu Yuze’s eyebrows rose in surprise, "Grandmother Lin? She died around that ti, didn’t she?"
"Yes, Master. Approximately that night before the big wedding day, the following day." Ah-Ling’s tone carried a weight of implication. "The prosecution claid Shuyin had been stealing from the family business for years, and when Grandmother Lin discovered the theft, Shuyin poisoned her to keep her silent. The evidence presented at trial was... comprehensive. Overwhelming, even."
"Too comprehensive?" Lu Yuze asked shrewdly. He knew how these things worked, had seen enough corporate backstabbing to recognize a setup when described.
"Perhaps," Ah-Ling acknowledged carefully. "But Master, this is not just your nephew’s company we’re discussing, it’s the Lu Conglorate implications. The Lu Group South has had nurous financial irregularities over the years that the family has swept under the rug. Accounting discrepancies, unexplained transactions, and deals with questionable partners. It’s entirely possible...."
"That they were engaged in money laundering or other illegal activities," Lu Yuze finished, his voice dropping to sothing cold and analytical, "and used her as a convenient scapegoat. Pinned their cris on soone who couldn’t effectively fight back."
"That would be my assessnt, yes," Ah-Ling said. "The evidence against her was almost too perfect. Every cri ticulously docunted, every witness testimony aligned, every paper trail leading directly to her. In my experience investigating corporate fraud, Master, real criminals make mistakes. They leave contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies. This looked more like soone had carefully constructed a narrative and then filled in every supporting detail."
Lu Yuze leaned back against the couch, his mind processing this information with the sa ruthless efficiency he applied to hostile business negotiations. His nephew had frad his fiancée. Had manufactured evidence, bribed or coerced witnesses, created an airtight case against an innocent woman.
Had used her to cover up his own cris and eliminate soone who knew too much about his operations.
And now that sa woman, or rather, the supernatural entity currently inhabiting her body, was Lu Yuze’s wife.
The woman who could kill entire families with her mind while appearing to sleep peacefully.
Who had just eliminated the Chen family overnight without leaving a trace of evidence.
She was currently on her way to confront the man who’d destroyed her predecessor’s life.
"Hehe..." The sound escaped Lu Yuze’s throat, dark, amused, laced with irony. "Is she going to see him?"
When she’d said earlier that morning she was going to see soone, he’d wondered vaguely who warranted Shuyin’s personal attention. Now the answer was obvious. Of course, she was going to confront Lu Zeyan. How could she not?
"Yes, she’s headed there now. I’m tracking the car through the security system." Ah-Ling’s nervousness was evident in the way he gripped his tablet. "Master, given what she’s capable of, given what happened to the Chen family, should we... intervene? Stop her? Your nephew is family, after all."
"Tsk." Lu Yuze made a dismissive sound, his expression unreadable.
He should care. Should be worried about his nephew’s safety, about potential investigations if another convenient death occurred so soon after the Chen family tragedy. Should be thinking about family obligations, about protecting his relatives regardless of their cris.
But he found himself thinking instead about the woman who’d died in that prison cell. The original Shuyin, who’d been betrayed by soone she loved, frad for cris she didn’t commit, had her life stolen before ’dying’ broken and forgotten.
Did his nephew deserve protection after that?
Lu Yuze found he couldn’t summon any familial loyalty to answer that question affirmatively.
He didn’t press for more details. Didn’t ask what Ah-Ling thought might happen. Didn’t issue orders to warn Lu Zeyan or increase security at the Lu Group South.
Instead, he unmuted the television and returned his attention to the animated movie, as if this conversation about potential murder and supernatural revenge was just another mundane business matter.
Ah-Ling lingered for a mont, clearly expecting more instruction, then quietly retreated when none ca.
"Does that an I will soon be losing the stepmom you just found for ?"
Yuyan’s voice cut through the comfortable silence. She’d been sitting so quietly that Lu Yuze had almost forgotten she was there, but of course his perceptive daughter had been listening to every word despite Ah-Ling’s attempts at discretion.
She was looking at him with an expression that was equally parts of concern and anger, jaw set stubbornly, eyes slightly narrowed, the sa face she made when teachers tried to give her less challenging assignnts than she deserved.
"Why would you find a woman who’s in love with another man and marry her?" Yuyan demanded, her twelve-year-old logic cutting straight to what she perceived as the core issue. "That’s stupid, Daddy. She’s just going to leave us and go back to him."
Lu Yuze looked at his daughter, this brilliant, perceptive child who’d survived six months of supernatural poisoning and woken up sohow more mature than before. She genuinely liked Shuyin, he realized. Had latched onto her new stepmother with an enthusiasm that was both touching and slightly desperate.
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