*Who could have told him that Yuyan could act? And this professionally?* The thought ford clearly in his mind, and he had no answer.
Behind him, Chen Xiao stared at Yuyan with his mouth hanging open. He didn’t understand what was happening, not really. He just knew Yuyan had been fine five minutes ago and now she was crying on the floor and it was confusing.
In the sitting room, the silence stretched.
Lin Feng looked at his daughter. At Yuyan. At the burns on Shuyin’s hands, the tears on both their faces, the quiet devastation radiating off the two of them like heat from a wound.
And sothing in him, sothing small and human that Chen Madam and years of marriage hadn’t quite managed to kill, cracked.
"Get up," Lin Feng had said. "Both of you. Please."
Shuyin rose slowly, Yuyan beside her, neither of them letting go of the performance completely. Not yet. Shuyin kept her shoulders hunched, her burned hands cradled against her chest. Yuyan kept her eyes down, lashes still damp.
The silence in the room was thick enough to choke on.
It was Chen Madam who broke it, because of course it was. She couldn’t let the mont breathe. Couldn’t let Lin Feng sit in that guilt any longer than necessary.
"Well," she said, clasping her hands together with forced brightness. "The poor things have been through quite an ordeal. We should get them settled, don’t you think?"
A redirect. A way to move forward without anyone having to address what had just happened.
Lin Feng nodded slowly, still looking at Shuyin. At the burns. At Yuyan’s red-rimd eyes.
"The mansion sank very suddenly," Shuyin said, her voice still unsteady, still fragile. She gestured vaguely, as if the details were too painful to recount. "There was no ti to make arrangents. And Mr. Lu has been so kind to ... I couldn’t possibly let him and the children stay in so impersonal hotel when my own family has this beautiful ho with so many empty rooms..."
She turned those tearful eyes on her father. "Unless... unless you don’t want here? I understand if I’m not welco. After everything. After the prison, and the scandal, and....."
"No." Lin Feng’s voice was firr now, but quieter too. The guilt hadn’t left his face entirely. "No, you’re welco. You’re my daughter."
The words cost him sothing. Shuyin could see it, the way his jaw tightened after he said them, the way his gaze dropped for just a mont before he pulled it back up.
She savored it like fine wine.
"And Mr. Lu and his... children... are naturally welco as well," Lin Feng continued, turning to Lu Yuze. He straightened and bowed slightly. The gesture was respectful, almost obsequious. "It would be an honor to host you, Mr. Lu. Please, make yourself comfortable."
Lu Yuze returned the bow with impeccable politeness, his face betraying nothing. "You’re very generous, Mr. Lin. We won’t impose for long. Just a few days while we sort out the situation."
"A few days?" Lin Yueling’s voice ca out strangled. She recovered quickly, forcing a smile onto her face. "Of course. We have plenty of room."
But Shuyin could see the calculation behind her half-sister’s eyes. She was pregnant, and now Shuyin had appeared, battered, burned, broken-looking, with the most powerful man in the business world standing behind her.
The dynamic in this house had just shifted, and Lin Yueling knew it.
"I’ll have the servants prepare rooms," Chen Madam said, already moving. "The east wing has several suites...."
"Oh, we couldn’t possibly take the best rooms," Shuyin interrupted softly, her voice humble. "Whatever’s available is fine. Even my old room would work. I don’t want to be any trouble."
"Your old room?" Chen Madam’s smile tightened. "That room is currently being used for storage, dear."
"Storage," Shuyin repeated. Quietly. As if the word had weight.
It did. The original Shuyin’s bedroom, her childhood bedroom, was reduced to a storage room within a few weeks of her imprisonnt. Shuyin let the silence sit on that for a beat longer than comfortable before adding: "I see. Well, anywhere is fine. We’re just so grateful for your kindness."
She turned to Lu Yuze, and their eyes t. His expression was carefully neutral, but she could read the amusent buried underneath. He was letting her run this entirely. Trusting her, even when the story made no sense on the surface.
Chen Xiao, pressed tight against Lu Yuze’s leg, whispered loudly, "Why is Mama Shuyin crying? Are the monsters here too?"
The room went still.
"Monsters?" Lin Yueling’s voice climbed.
"He’s had nightmares since the incident," Shuyin said quickly, kneeling down to Chen Xiao’s level. "Sweetheart, there are no monsters here. You’re safe."
"But you said...." the little boy started.
"Shh." Shuyin pulled him into a hug, pressing her lips to his hair. "No more talk about monsters, okay? We’re with family now. Everything’s going to be fine."
Over Chen Xiao’s head, she caught her stepmother’s eyes. Chen Madam was watching her with barely concealed suspicion, trying to piece together what was real and what wasn’t, what Shuyin wanted, what she was hiding.
Good. Let her wonder. Let her lie awake tonight trying to figure out the angle.
By the ti she did, it would be far too late.
"I’ll show you to the guest rooms myself," Lin Feng said, clearly eager to move this strange situation along. "Mr. Lu, if you’ll follow ?"
"Actually," Shuyin interjected sweetly, "could Yuyan and Chen Xiao stay with ? They’re frightened after everything. It would comfort them."
Lin Feng hesitated. His gaze drifted to the children, Yuyan standing quietly, Chen Xiao still half-hidden behind Lu Yuze, and whatever he saw there made the hesitation dissolve.
"Of course," he said.
Lu Yuze nodded. "Ting Fei, Ah Ying, and Ah Ling can take rooms in the staff quarters. They’re used to making do."
"The *staff quarters*?" Chen Madam looked scandalized. "Surely Mr. Lu’s security team should have proper accommodations..."
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