The kind of man who’d built Yuyan Conglorate, nad for his daughter, the only person he’d ever truly loved, into an empire that dwarfed even the Lu family’s considerable holdings. An empire so vast, so diversified, so strategically positioned across every major industry that even the combined might of his family’s Lu Group couldn’t match it.
They called him the Ice Prince in business circles.
The Frozen King.
The man with no heart, no rcy, no weakness anyone could exploit.
They were right about everything except the weakness part.
He had one weakness, and her na was Lu Yuyan.
And more recently, he’d acquired a second weakness, though he wasn’t quite ready to admit it even to himself, in the form of his contract wife, Lin Shuyin.
His phone buzzed on the desk, vibrating against the polished marble surface. He glanced at the screen, saw his brother’s na, and felt his jaw tighten automatically.
Lu Cheng.
The middle brother, sandwiched between Lu Yuze and their eldest brother Lu Zhentian, the CEO and patriarch of Lu Group. Lu Cheng served as Chief Assistant to Zhentian, a glorified second-in-command position that ca with significant authority within the family conglorate but ultimately answered to the eldest.
Lu Yuze had left that hierarchy years ago, choosing to build his own empire rather than operate under his brothers’ professional, emotional, and irrevocable distance, which all three brothers had learned to navigate through careful politeness and strategic avoidance.
They maintained the appearance of family unity at required gatherings and public events. But in private, they were more business rivals than brothers, each protecting their own interests with the sa ruthlessness they showed external competitors.
So a call from Lu Cheng, unexpected and outside their usual quarterly coordination etings, ant problems. And the last thing he wanted was to be associated with any of them.
Lu Yuze let it ring three more tis while he finished reading the paragraph in front of him. No need to appear too available, too eager, too concerned with whatever drama had prompted this contact.
Then he picked up, his voice cool and professionally neutral. "Brother."
"Yuze." Lu Cheng’s voice ca through sharp, agitated, carrying an urgency that imdiately put Lu Yuze on alert. "I need to talk to you about Yuyan. Right now."
Every muscle in Lu Yuze’s body went rigid, though his voice remained perfectly controlled when he responded. "What about her?"
"I just saw her," Lu Cheng said, and there was sothing approaching panic in his tone, unusual for the normally composed Chief Assistant. "At the southern branch. In Lin Shuyin’s office. Looking healthy. Completely, impossibly healthy. When did she wake up from the coma? How did she recover? And what the hell is she doing with that woman?"
Lu Yuze’s mind worked at lightning speed, processing implications, calculating responses, deciding how much to reveal and how much to hide.
After all, before marriage, he hadn’t thought Shuyin was his nephew’s ex-fiancée; now the situation was even more complicated.
"I’m not sure what you think you saw," he said carefully, his voice taking on that particular coldness that usually made people back away from topics he didn’t wish to discuss. "But Yuyan’s dical status and current whereabouts are none of your concern."
"Not my concern?" Lu Cheng’s voice rose sharply. "She’s my niece! She’s family! And I just watched her deny knowing , claim her na is Lin Yurou, and call Lin Shuyin ’Mother’ like they’ve had so kind of relationship for years! So yes, Yuze, it absolutely is my concern when my dying niece suddenly appears healthy and living under a false identity with a woman who was in prison weeks ago!"
The accusation hung in the air, charged with family politics and genuine confusion.
Lu Yuze’s expression didn’t change, his face remained an impassive mask that had been perfected over decades of high-stakes negotiations and corporate warfare. But inside, he was calculating rapidly.
His brother had seen Yuyan.
Had tried to approach her, presumably.
And Yuyan, bless her brilliant, strategic little heart, had denied the connection. Had claid a different identity. Had protected herself and, by extension, protected the secret of Lu Yuze’s marriage to Shuyin.
Smart girl.
His daughter was learning quickly.
And he applauded her for that...
"I don’t know what you think you saw," Lu Yuze repeated, his voice dropping to sothing even colder, "but I suggest you’re mistaken. Yuyan is resting at ho under dical supervision, as she has been for weeks. If you saw a child with silver hair, that doesn’t automatically an you saw my daughter. Probably there are more kids like that out there."
"Don’t insult my intelligence," Lu Cheng snapped. "I know what I saw. That was Yuyan. The hair, the face, the age, everything matched. And she was healthy, Yuze. Not pale, not weak, not dying. She looked better than I’ve ever seen her. So I’ll ask again: what the hell happened? How did she recover? And why is she with Lin Shuyin instead of with you or in a hospital being studied?"
"My daughter’s dical treatnt is confidential," Lu Yuze replied with icy precision. "Between her, myself, and her healthcare providers. Not family business. Not your business."
"Family dical privacy doesn’t apply when....."
"It applies whenever I say it applies," Lu Yuze interrupted, his voice cutting through his brother’s protest like a blade through silk. "Yuyan is my daughter. Not yours. Not the family’s... But mine. And I decide what information gets shared about her condition, her treatnt, and her life. That’s not up for debate."
Lu Cheng made a sound of pure frustration. "Yuze, I’m not trying to interfere. I’m trying to understand. The last ti I saw her, she was in a coma. The doctors said she might never wake, and if she did, the damage would be extensive. And now soone who looks exactly like her is walking around perfectly healthy, calling another woman ’Mother,’ and denying any connection to our family. Can you understand why that’s concerning?"
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