Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 163; Lu Yuze & Lin Shuyin (m)

"Master Lu," she managed, quickly wiping her eyes.

"I’m sorry, I just needed a moment....."

"Take the time you need," he said quietly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

"What’s happening out there isn’t easy."

Chen Wan let out a shaky laugh that was more a sob than a laugh.

"Easy? I just gave away my son. My baby. Like he was... like he was property to be traded."

"You made an impossible choice in an impossible situation," Lu Yuze said, moving to stand beside the desk.

"That doesn’t make you a bad mother. It makes you a survivor doing whatever it takes to save your children. You are strong..."

"I’m only saving two of them," Chen Wan choked out.

"Xiao is...."

"Xiao will be safe with my wife," Lu Yuze interrupted, his voice carrying certainty.

"She’s unpredictable, yes. But she’s not cruel to children. My daughter adores her. Your son will be protected, educated, and given opportunities you couldn’t provide even with the entire Chen fortune."

Chen Wan wanted to argue, wanted to scream that no opportunity was worth losing your mother, but the words died in her throat.

Because wasn’t that the exact calculation she’d made?

Sacrifice one to save three, herself and her two daughters?

"Does it ever get easier?" she whispered.

"Living with these kinds of choices?"

Lu Yuze was quiet for a long moment.

"No," he finally said, his voice carrying the weight of his own losses.

"But you learn to carry it. And you make sure the sacrifice means something."

He gestured to the portfolio in her hands.

"That company? It’s worth roughly thirty million yuan if managed properly. Shuyin will likely buy it from you for fair market value or close to it. That money, combined with your husband’s personal assets, will set you and your daughters up for life. Education. Security. Freedom to live without fear anywhere you would want."

"Blood money," Chen Wan said bitterly.

"Survival money," Lu Yuze corrected.

"There’s a difference."

Chen Wan clutched the portfolio to her chest, feeling the weight of it, both physical and metaphorical.

"I need to go back out there," she said finally.

"Before I lose my nerve completely."

Lu Yuze nodded and opened the door for her.

As she passed him, he spoke once more.

"Mrs. Chen. Your son stepped forward on his own. He chose to protect his sisters. That kind of courage? That came from you. Remember that."

The words lodged somewhere in her chest, painful and comforting simultaneously.

THE TRANSACTION

When Chen Wan returned to the sitting area, the atmosphere had shifted.

Shuyin had somehow taken control of the entire room without anyone quite realizing when or how it happened.

The other widows were gathered around her, speaking in hushed but animated tones, their children playing nearby with a freedom that suggested recent liberation from strict discipline.

Yuyan sat in the corner with Chen Xiao on her lap, the five-year-old boy curled against her like he’d known her his whole life.

She was reading to him from a tablet, her voice soft and soothing, one hand gently stroking his hair.

The sight made Chen Wan’s chest constrict painfully.

Her son.

Being comforted by another girl.

Already adapting.

Already beginning to transfer his trust and affection to other people. She understood that he had been living under terrible conditions, and he probably needed that....

It’s better this way, she told herself desperately.

Better he adjusts quickly than suffer missing me.

"Ah, there you are," Shuyin said, looking up with that bright, dangerous smile.

"Did you find everything?"

Chen Wan nodded mutely, holding out the portfolio.

Shuyin took it and began flipping through documents with the quick efficiency of someone who knew exactly what she was looking for. With Lin Shuyin’s past memories, she could check out the real documents..

Her jade eyes scanned pages of corporate filings, her fingers occasionally pausing to take photos with her phone.

"The manufacturing plant is in decent condition," she murmured, half to herself.

"Equipment mostly updated. Contracts with three major retailers. Outstanding debts are minimal."

She looked up.

"Who’s been running day-to-day operations?"

"My husband handled the business side," Chen Wan said quietly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"But the factory manager, Mr. Zhao, actually runs everything. He’s been with the company for twenty years."

"Good. Continuity is important."

Shuyin stared at the portfolio in her hands, at the corporate documents representing thirty million yuan worth of assets, and felt the cold reality of her situation settle over her like ice water.

She had no money.

Zero.

Less than zero, technically, until Lu Yuze’s transfer cleared.

She couldn’t make this purchase. Couldn’t fulfill her promise to Chen Wan. Couldn’t execute the plan she’d been building.

Without capital, she was powerless.

The realization was bitter, choking, a reminder of exactly how trapped she actually was.

She looked up, scanning the room until her eyes found Lu Yuze still standing near the doorway, watching everything with that calm, assessing gaze that missed nothing.

Then, their eyes met.

His expression shifted fractionally, a slight raise of one eyebrow, a question.

Do you need help?

Pride warred with necessity in her chest. She hated asking him for anything, hated giving him more leverage, more proof that she needed him.

But she’d made a promise to Chen Wan. And more importantly, she needed this company, needed to start building her own power base independent of anyone else’s control.

Even if that meant temporarily relying on the man who’d trapped her.

Shuyin stood smoothly, her decision made. "Excuse me for one moment."

She crossed the room to where Lu Yuze stood, very aware of all the eyes tracking her movement. When she reached him, she stepped close enough that her words would be private, meant only for him.

"Husband," she said quietly, the endearment feeling foreign on her tongue but strategically necessary. Her voice dropped lower, almost intimate. "My dear husband, I need your assistance."

Lu Yuze’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes, surprise, perhaps, or satisfaction at hearing her acknowledge the relationship, even if only for leverage.