Lu Yuze was the lastborn, an unexpected late-life addition to a family that had considered itself complete. The Old Madam Lu had beco pregnant years after declaring she was finished bearing children, giving birth to Lu Yuze when the sibling closest to him in age had already turned twelve years old. The other children had been born in quick succession, each about a year apart. But Lu Yuze had arrived over a decade after his nearest sibling, creating a gap that had always made him sowhat separate from the rest.
"Father and Mother have already tried reaching him," Lu Cheng said with barely suppressed frustration. "Multiple tis. His secretary receives the calls and takes ssages, but Lu Yuze never returns them. Our parents have no more access to him than anyone else does."
"Then what about contacting the eldest brother?" Mrs. Lu suggested, grasping for any remaining option. "Lu Chen holds the highest position in the family. If anyone could compel Lu Yuze to cooperate, surely it would be the patriarch. He has authority that even Lu Yuze might respect."
Lu Cheng considered this suggestion, hope flickering briefly across his exhausted features. "Yes. Lu Chen. He might be able to reach him."
He pulled out his phone and dialed his eldest brother’s number. After three rings, the call connected.
"Brother...." Lu Cheng began.
"Lu Cheng." The voice that interrupted him was sharp with anger barely contained. "I don’t know what’s happening in your life right now, but you are dragging down everything I have worked for over the last several years. Every scandal that attaches to your na damages the family’s reputation and by extension damages our business standing. Can’t you maintain a peaceful existence for even a few months?"
Lu Cheng moved his mobile phone slightly away from his ear, wincing at the volu and venom of his eldest brother’s rebuke. "Brother, it’s not that I enjoy being at the center of scandals," he defended himself, though his voice carried none of its usual confidence. "But everything is going wrong simultaneously. My grandson disappeared from the hospital under impossible circumstances. My son’s condition continues to deteriorate. You know the situation I’m facing."
"What do you want?" Lu Chen’s voice had lowered slightly but hadn’t lost its edge of irritation. "I’m in the middle of conducting a board eting at the mont."
"I need you to contact Lu Yuze," Lu Cheng said quickly, before his brother could hang up or refuse. "His daughter Yuyan recovered from a six-month coma, a miraculous recovery with no brain damage. She’s functioning completely normally. He must have found so specialist, so treatnt that worked. I need the na of that doctor. For Lu Zeyan. If there’s any chance the sa treatnt could help...."
"I’ll call him," Lu Chen interrupted, his tone suggesting he had serious doubts about success but was willing to make the attempt. The line went dead before Lu Cheng could express gratitude or provide additional context.
"He said he’ll call him," Lu Cheng reported to his waiting family mbers, trying to project more confidence than he felt. "Let’s go ho. I need to shower and change. We ca directly from the jail cells to the hospital."
The assembled relatives nodded and began moving toward the hospital exit. They boarded their various vehicles and departed the facility in a small convoy, exhaustion and worry visible on every face.
---
In a different part of the city, in a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the financial district, Lu Chen excused himself from the boardroom where executives waited for his return.
"Give a mont," he said to his leadership team, mobile phone already in hand. "There’s a family matter I need to address imdiately."
He walked to the expansive windows, gazing down at the streets far below while considering how to approach his youngest brother. He rarely called Lu Yuze. In fact, he couldn’t recall when he’d last spoken to him directly rather than through interdiaries or during mandatory family gatherings. Lu Yuze had never called him, never initiated contact, never sought advice or assistance or even casual conversation.
He dialed the number and waited. On the third ring, soone answered, but it wasn’t Lu Yuze’s voice.
"Hello, you are speaking with Ting Fei, Master Lu’s personal assistant. How may I direct your call?"
"This is Lu Chen calling," he said, allowing his position to carry weight in his tone. "I need to speak with Lu Yuze directly. There’s a family matter requiring his attention."
"One mont please." Ting Fei’s voice remained professionally neutral, giving nothing away about whether he would grant access or create another barrier.
Ting Fei was currently outside the mansion coordinating with contractors about the garden restoration, but he imdiately headed inside toward the kitchen where he’d last seen his employer. He found Lu Yuze there with Chen Xiao and Yuyan, teaching the children how to properly chop vegetables for the al they were preparing together.
"Master," Ting Fei said quietly, mindful of the children’s presence. "There’s a call for you from Lu Chen."
Lu Yuze’s expression hardened imdiately. "I told you I don’t want any disturbances with phone calls today," he said loudly enough that his voice carried through Ting Fei’s phone speaker to where Lu Chen waited on the other end. "Especially not from family."
Despite this clear dismissal, Ting Fei handed over the phone, and Lu Yuze pressed the speaker button with deliberate force, setting it on the counter while continuing to guide Chen Xiao’s small hands in proper knife technique.
"What can I do for you?" His tone was cold, professionally distant. They had never been close, had never cultivated any kind of brotherly relationship beyond what was absolutely necessary for occasional business dealings. Lu Yuze saw no reason to pretend otherwise.
"Lu Yuze....." Lu Chen began.
"I’m currently busy cooking food for my children and wife," Lu Yuze interrupted without ceremony. "Whatever this is about, make it quick."
There was a pause on the other end, surprise evident in the silence. "Wife? Children? When did you remarry? When did you have more children?"
"You have exactly one minute of my ti," Lu Yuze said, ignoring the questions entirely. "I suggest you use it efficiently."
"I’m your eldest brother," Lu Chen said, as if that should carry automatic weight and respect.
"You now have forty-five seconds remaining."
Lu Chen seed to realize that appealing to family hierarchy would accomplish nothing. He shifted to a direct request instead. "I’m calling to ask about the specialist who treated Yuyan. Your nephew Lu Zeyan is in serious condition, with brain damage, complete loss of cognitive function. If the sa doctor who helped your daughter could potentially help him...."
Lu Yuze let out a short, humorless laugh. Why would he extend courtesy to people who had never shown him or his daughter any consideration? And why would he tell them the truth, that it had been his wife Shuyin who’d used her rmaid magic to heal Yuyan? That the sa wife had been responsible for causing Lu Zeyan’s condition in the first place through her own defensive actions? They were dreaming if they thought he’d help reverse what Shuyin had done to take revenge on herself.
"I don’t have any way to reach the specialist," he said, his voice carrying obvious dismissal. "Soone showed up, perford the treatnt, and disappeared. I have no contact information, no ans of reaching them again. Perhaps they’ll appear on their own if they’re needed, but I certainly can’t summon them."
It was technically true, if one accepted that "soone" referred to his wife’s magical abilities rather than an external doctor.
"And what about Lu Cheng’s grandson?" Lu Chen pressed, his tone carrying notes of suspicion. "The infant that vanished from the hospital under impossible circumstances. What do you think happened there?"
"Vanished?" Lu Yuze laughed again, genuine amusent coloring his voice this ti. "How can a human being simply vanish? Are you people practicing witchcraft now? Have the Lu family fallen so far that they’re attributing normal events to supernatural causes?"
He ended the call before Lu Chen could respond, setting the phone down with finality. After all, that grandson had transford into jade and beco Shuyin’s guardian Yu Shou, but there was no reason anyone in the Lu family needed to know that truth.
"Don’t accept any more calls from them," he instructed Ting Fei....
User Comments
0 comments from readers