Ah Ling stepped inside, carrying a tablet and a slim folder of docunts. His expression was carefully neutral, but Lu Yuze had worked with his bodyguard and secretary long enough to read the subtle tension in his shoulders.
"The quarterly reports you requested, sir," Ah Ling said, setting the folder on the desk. Then, more carefully: "And so information that’s co through channels. Not urgent, but you should be aware."
Lu Yuze looked up, his attention sharpening slightly. "What information?"
Ah Ling set the tablet on the desk, the screen already displaying a news alert. "Your nephew, Lu Zeyan, was involved in a car accident approximately a few minutes ago. He’s currently in the ergency departnt at City General Hospital."
Lu Yuze’s expression didn’t change. He glanced at the tablet screen with the sa level of interest he might give to stock market fluctuations. The headline was sensational: "Lu Family Heir in Mysterious Accident, Bizarre dical Condition Baffles Doctors."
"Condition?" Lu Yuze asked, his tone more curious than concerned.
"Non-life-threatening physical injuries," Ah Ling reported, swiping through the screens. "Minor cuts, bruising. However, there are neurological complications. He’s exhibiting severe verbal perseveration, repeating the sa phrase continuously, unable to respond coherently to questions."
He turned the tablet to show security footage. Lu Zeyan was being wheeled through the hospital on a gurney, his mouth moving, and dical staff clustered around him with concerned expressions.
"What phrase?" Lu Yuze asked, though sothing in his analytical mind was already connecting dots.
Ah Ling’s expression remained professionally neutral. "’I love you, Shuyin.’ According to multiple witnesses, those are the only words he’s been able to say since the accident. The doctors have found no physical trauma to explain it."
Lu Yuze stared at the tablet for a mont. Lin Shuyin. His contracted wife. Lu Zeyan’s ex-fiancé. Confrontation at the southern branch. And now her forr fiancé is suddenly unable to say anything except declarations of love for her.
Interesting timing.
But Lu Yuze had seen enough of the world and enough of Lin Shuyin in just one day to know that so things defied conventional explanations. And honestly, he found he didn’t particularly care about the how or why.
Lu Zeyan had made his choices. Had to face the consequences.
"Noted," Lu Yuze said simply, returning his attention to the quarterly reports. Thinking it could be probably his wife’s work.
Ah Ling waited a beat, clearly expecting more reaction. "Your brother Lu Cheng is at the hospital. He may attempt to contact you."
"If he does, tell him I’m in etings," Lu Yuze replied without looking up. "Lu Zeyan’s dical situation is his father’s concern, not mine."
Lu Yuze wasn’t close to his brother Lu Cheng. Hadn’t been for years. Their relationship was cordial at family functions, professional when business required it, but nothing more. And Lu Zeyan? His nephew was practically a stranger, soone he saw at quarterly board etings and occasionally at mandatory family gatherings.
The idea that he would drop everything to rush to the hospital was absurd.
"Understood, sir," Ah Ling said, retrieving the tablet.
"Anything else?" Lu Yuze asked.
"Mrs. Lu and the children should be arriving at the Pearl shopping center soon," Ah Ling reported. "Ting Fei confirms they’re still in traffic but safe."
"Good," Lu Yuze said. That mattered. His daughter’s safety, his wife’s wellbeing, those were his concerns. Not a nephew he barely knew suffering mysterious dical complications.
"That will be all, Ah Ling."
"Yes, sir." Ah Ling left, closing the door softly behind him.
Lu Yuze returned to his work, the matter of Lu Zeyan already filed away in the category of "not my problem."
He had quarterly projections to finalize, a company to run, and a family waiting for him at ho.
The rest was noise.
Back at City General Hospital, Lu Zeyan’s panic and pressure finally beca too much.
His mind, already fragnting under the curse’s influence, couldn’t sustain consciousness any longer. The constant loop of words he couldn’t control, the fog eating away at his mories, the terror of losing himself piece by piece, it all crashed down at once.
Lu Zeyan’s eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious.
The monitors beside his bed erupted in alarm.
Nurses rushed in, checking vitals, calling for the doctor. But his breathing remained steady, his heart rate stable. Not a dical ergency, just the body’s defense chanism shutting down to escape what the mind could no longer process.
Lu Cheng suddenly burst into the room. "What’s happening? What’s wrong with him?"
"His vitals are stable, Mr. Lu," the attending doctor assured him. "This appears to be the body’s natural response to extre stress. His brain is essentially forcing rest to protect itself from further psychological trauma."
"Psychological trauma," Lu Cheng repeated, his voice tight. "From a car accident."
"From the accident, yes, but also from whatever is causing the verbal symptoms. Mr. Lu, I’ve consulted with neurology, psychiatry, and we’ve run every test available. There is no physical explanation for your son’s condition."
"Then what’s wrong with him?" Lu Cheng demanded exasperatedly and couldn’t understand why his son, who was just perfectly fine, had beco like this.
The doctor hesitated. "I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this in thirty years of practice." Because, it wasn’t sothing you could explain dically.
Lu Cheng’s hands clenched into fists. This was unacceptable. Impossible.
His son, his brilliant, successful son reduced to a babbling shell of himself, and no one could explain why.
"Keep running tests," he ordered. "Bring in specialists from anywhere in the world. I don’t care what it costs. Fix this."
"We’re doing everything we can, Mr. Lu," the doctor said quietly.
But his tone suggested he didn’t believe there was a fix to be found.
Lu Zeyan remained unconscious, his face peaceful, his mouth finally silent.
His mother arrived shortly after, taking up vigil beside the bed. She held her son’s hand, tears streaming silently down her perfectly made-up face.
Minutes passed.....
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