Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 327; Lin family 6

A young servant stood in the hallway, her arms laden with neatly folded items. She bowed quickly, her eyes darting nervously between Lu Yuze and the room behind him.

"I brought necessities, sir," she said, her voice respectful but rushed, as if she’d been ordered to deliver these and leave quickly. "Toiletries, towels, indoor sandals. Chen Madam thought you might need them."

"Thank you," Lu Yuze said, taking the items from her arms. His tone was polite but dismissive.

The servant bowed again and hurried back down the hallway.

Lu Yuze closed the door and locked it with a decisive click.

He set the items on the dresser and pulled out his phone, the one that had been tucked in his pajama pocket all evening, forgotten in the chaos. The screen was cracked, spiderwebbed from corner to corner from when he’d crashed through the window carrying Shuyin during the Leviathan Spawn attack.

But it still functioned.

He dialed Ting Fei’s number.

The security chief answered on the first ring. "Sir."

"Send someone to purchase clothes and other essentials for all of us," Lu Yuze said, his voice low. "We need....."

"Already done, sir," Ting Fei interrupted smoothly. "I placed the order before we arrived at the Lin mansion. The items will be delivered to the staff entrance in approximately ten minutes. I’ll bring them up personally."

Lu Yuze’s mouth quirked slightly. Efficient as always.

"Good. Make sure no one from the household sees what you’re bringing up."

"Understood."

Lu Yuze ended the call and pocketed the damaged phone.

He walked over to the bathroom door and knocked gently. "Yuyan?"

The door opened a crack. Yuyan’s face appeared, her silver hair damp at the edges but still mostly dry. Behind her, Chen Xiao stood near the sink, looking at the running water with quiet fascination.

"Here," Lu Yuze said, holding out the toiletries and towels the servant had brought. "You can use these to shower. There’s shampoo, soap, and...." He paused, eyeing the towels with suspicion. "Actually, no. Don’t use the towels."

Yuyan blinked. "Why not?"

"You don’t know how clean they are," Lu Yuze said flatly. He pulled the towels back and tossed them onto the couch in the sitting area. "Just continue washing with the shampoo and soap, that should be safe enough. But when you’re done, wait. Don’t dry off with anything they’ve provided. Ting Fei is bringing our own things in a few minutes."

Yuyan’s expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker of understanding in her eyes. She was used to this, her father’s meticulousness, his obsessive attention to what touched her skin, what she consumed, what might carry contamination.

It had been this way since she was a baby.

"Okay, Father," she said simply.

The door closed again.

Lu Yuze stood there for a moment, listening to the sound of water running, the quiet murmur of Yuyan’s voice as she spoke to Chen Xiao in soothing tones.

Then he turned and walked over to the window.

Shuyin stood there, silhouetted against the darkened glass, her arms wrapped loosely around herself. She was staring out at the gardens below, her expression distant, unreadable.

Lu Yuze moved up behind her, silent as a shadow.

Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest.

Shuyin stiffened for just a fraction of a second before relaxing into him.

"Do you know what it means," she asked, her voice amused despite the exhaustion threading through it, "for someone to accept a back hug?"

Lu Yuze rested his chin on her shoulder, his breath warm against her neck. "What?"

"It means they trust that person," Shuyin said, tilting her head slightly so she could see his reflection in the window glass. "Completely. Because you can’t see them. Can’t keep their hands. Can’t anticipate their next move."

She smirked, though there was something softer underneath it.

"You’re leaving yourself vulnerable." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Good," Lu Yuze murmured. He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, just below her ear, then another to her shoulder. "You should trust me."

"I haven’t showered yet," Shuyin protested weakly, though she didn’t pull away.

"I know," Lu Yuze said. He tightened his arms around her, holding her close, his gaze drifting to the window where their reflections overlapped, two figures in the dim light, battered and bruised but still standing.

Still together.

"I don’t care," he added quietly.

For a long moment, they just stood there. The sound of running water from the bathroom. The distant murmur of voices somewhere deeper in the mansion. The faint rustle of wind against the windowpane.

Shuyin’s burned hands rested over his arms, careful not to press too hard on the blisters, but the gesture was there. Acceptance. Trust.

"This house," she said after a while, her voice barely above a whisper. "I used to dream about burning it down. When I was in prison....."

Lu Yuze said nothing, just listened.

"I imagined every room going up in flames," Shuyin continued. "Watching them scramble. Watching them lose everything the way they made her lose everything."

She paused.

"But now that I’m here," she said, her reflection smiling coldly in the glass, "I realize burning it down would be too quick. Too merciful."

"So what will you do instead?" Lu Yuze asked.

Shuyin’s smile widened, sharp as a blade.

"I’m going to hollow it out from the inside," she said. "Take everything they value. Everything they’ve built on stolen foundations. And when there’s nothing left but an empty shell, when they’re broken and desperate and clinging to the last scraps of their dignity....."

She turned her head slightly, meeting his eyes in the reflection.

"Then I’ll let it collapse."

Lu Yuze studied her face, the cold determination there, the barely restrained fury that she kept leashed so carefully. Most people would have been afraid of that look. That certainty. That ruthlessness.

But Lu Yuze had never been most people.

"Good," he said simply. He kissed her temple, gentle despite the violence simmering between them. "I will always be here."