Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 181; Lu Yuze’s monitoring

"I exhausted every option," Lu Yuze continued, his voice taking on a harder edge. "Every specialist, every experimental treatment, every possibility. And then someone mentioned her. Shuyin. Locked away, supposedly dangerous, but with knowledge that could save my daughter." His eyes narrowed. "I went to that prison expecting to negotiate a medical consultation. A one-time arrangement. Money, resources, whatever she needed in exchange for helping Yuyan."

On the monitor, Shuyin was now seated at her office chair while Yuyan and Chen Xiao went about their things.

"Do you know what she said when I offered her money?" Lu Yuze’s voice dropped, taking on an almost bemused quality. "She barely glanced at the figure. Millions, Ah Ling. Enough to set her up for life, to disappear anywhere in the world once she was set free. She looked at those numbers like they were meaningless."

Ah Ling could remember as he had stood close by watching his master getting seduced and lured into that trap.

Lu Yuze’s smile was sharp, and dangerous. "I offered her, thinking perhaps she wanted security, legitimate business holdings. She considered it for maybe thirty seconds before shaking her head." He stood, moving closer to the monitor. "Then she looked at me, really looked at me, and said what she wanted was a contract marriage, money, and freedom."

The memory clearly still puzzled him, even now.

"She was in prison, Ah Ling. Facing years more of her sentence. I was offering her freedom, wealth, power, everything most people in her position would kill for. And what she negotiated for was the one thing I never intended to give anyone again." His hand pressed against the screen, over Shuyin’s image. "She wanted to be my wife. Temporary, yes. Controlled, certainly. But she specifically chose that arrangement over everything else I could offer."

"Perhaps she saw it as better protection..."

"I’ve wondered about that," Lu Yuze interrupted. "About what she was really thinking. Whether she understood what she was asking for, what door she was opening." His voice took on that possessive edge again. "She brought herself into my life, Ah Ling. Not the other way around. She negotiated her way into my home, my family, and my daughter’s heart. She could have taken the money and run the moment Yuyan woke up. Instead, she bound herself to me legally, socially, and irrevocably."

He turned back to face his assistant, his expression cold and calculating.

"So when you ask if I’m being unreasonable in refusing to let her go, remember this: she made the choice to enter my world. She proposed this arrangement. She signed those papers knowing exactly what marriage means, contract or otherwise." His eyes glittered with dark satisfaction. "If she thought she could control the terms, manipulate the situation, maintain her distance while playing house with my family, that was her miscalculation, not my overreach."

"But sir, a contract marriage implies....."

"Implies nothing," Lu Yuze cut him off sharply. "She asked to be my wife. I accepted. Everything that comes with that, every right, every claim, every expectation, she agreed to when she proposed this arrangement." He moved back to his desk, pulling up more files. "Do you think I didn’t have my lawyers go over every word of that contract? Every clause she thought protected her independence actually gives me more leverage."

He brought up the document on screen, pointing to specific sections.

"Duration of marriage: ’Until such time as both parties agree to dissolution.’ She thought that meant she could walk away when she wanted. What it actually means is that I can refuse dissolution indefinitely." His finger moved to another clause. "Living arrangements: ’To be determined by mutual agreement.’ She assumed that gave her freedom to maintain her own space. What it actually means is that any arrangement requires my consent, including her living separately."

Ah Ling leaned in, reading the clauses with growing concern.

"Parental rights regarding Yuyan: ’Shuyin Lu accepts all responsibilities and privileges of a maternal role during the term of this marriage.’" Lu Yuze’s smile was predatory. "She didn’t read that carefully enough. It doesn’t say ’stepmother’ or ’guardian.’ It says ’maternal role.’ Once you accept maternal responsibility for a child, Ah Ling, you don’t just walk away. Not morally. Not legally. Not without consequences."

"You’re saying she trapped herself."

"I’m saying she walked into a cage of her own design and handed me the key." Lu Yuze closed the document with a decisive click. "She’s intelligent, calculating, and careful. Which means either she didn’t fully understand what she was proposing, unlikely, or some part of her wanted exactly this. She wanted to belong somewhere. She wanted to be bound to something, someone."

He returned his attention to the monitor, watching Shuyin’s face that was going through the files and Yuyan’s smiling face.

"She could have demanded anything else," he murmured. "Money to start over. Business opportunities. Connections, protection, resources. Instead, she asked to be tied to me, to my family, to my life. She proposed marriage, Ah Ling. Not me." His voice hardened with absolute certainty. "So if she now finds herself unable to leave, if she discovers that the contract she negotiated has become a binding contract she can’t escape, if she realizes too late that she’s locked herself into something far more permanent than she intended....."

He paused, letting the words hang heavy in the air. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Then that’s simply her learning the consequences of her own choices. She brought herself into my life. She made herself necessary to my daughter. She positioned herself as my wife, in my home, in my world." His eyes were cold, possessive, unyielding. "And now she’s discovering that some doors, once opened, can’t be closed again. Some roles, once accepted, can’t be abandoned. Some cages, once entered, have no exit."

"Even if she’s unhappy....."

"She won’t be, and she doesn’t have a reason to be...." Lu Yuze interrupted with absolute conviction. "Because I’ll make sure of it. I’ll give her everything she needs....