Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 360; Chaos 2

And Shuyin slept on, undisturbed, peaceful.

Lu Yuze slid into the bed beside her, the mattress dipping slightly under his weight. He pulled the covers over himself and then, carefully, drew Shuyin close. She came willingly even in sleep, her body recognizing his presence, curling naturally into his side. Her head found his shoulder, one of her hands coming to rest against his chest.

He wrapped his arm around her, holding her securely, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Good night, wifie," he whispered against her hair, the words barely audible even in the quiet room.

She made a small sound, not quite a word, just a soft exhalation that might have been contentment.

Lu Yuze let his eyes close, let his own exhaustion finally claim him. They were safe. The children were safe. Shuyin’s mother and Qiao were recovering in a private hospital. Yu Shou stood guard, ancient and powerful despite her youthful appearance. The concealment spell wrapped them all in protective invisibility.

Tomorrow would bring new challenges, Lin Feng’s inevitable return, questions about Yu Shou’s sudden appearance, and the ongoing mystery of the "missing" baby that was actually an ancient guardian spirit currently sleeping in the east wing.

But that was tomorrow’s problem.

Tonight, with his wife safe in his arms and the children sleeping peacefully nearby, Lu Yuze let himself drift into sleep.

The last thought that crossed his mind before darkness claimed him was simple and clear: whatever came next, they would face it together.

Always together.

— — — — —

The following morning arrived with violence.

Not physical violence, but the auditory kind, harsh, aggressive banging that shattered the peaceful silence of the guest room like a hammer through glass. The sound echoed through the space with jarring insistence, loud enough to wake the dead, certainly loud enough to wake everyone sleeping within.

Lu Yuze was the first to surface from sleep, his eyes snapping open with the instant alertness of someone trained to respond to threats. For a disoriented moment, he couldn’t place what had woken him, then the banging came again, three sharp raps against the door that reverberated through the room.

"Damn it!" The curse tore from his throat before he could moderate it, low and vicious. He hated this. Hated being woken like this, hated the presumption of whoever was on the other side of that door thinking they had the right to disturb him this way.

Beside him, Shuyin stirred but didn’t fully wake, making a small sound of complaint and burrowing deeper into the pillows. In the other bed, he could hear the children shifting, their sleep disrupted by the noise.

Lu Yuze threw back the covers and swung his legs out of bed, his movements sharp with irritation. He crossed the room in several long strides, yanked the door open just enough to see who dared disturb them, and stopped it from opening fully with his body blocking the entrance. No one was getting a view into their private space. No one was getting past him to Shuyin or the children.

One of the Lin household maids stood in the hallway, her face pale and nervous, hands twisted anxiously in her apron. She took an involuntary step backward when she saw his expression, cold fury barely contained, the kind of controlled rage that was far more dangerous than shouting.

"What?" The single word came out clipped, sharp as a blade. "And it better be important."

If it wasn’t important, if this woman had woken him, woken Shuyin, woken the children, for something trivial, he didn’t trust himself to respond with any degree of civility. The urge to violence was surprisingly strong, his hands flexing with the desire to make someone pay for this disruption. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The maid swallowed hard, clearly reading the threat in his posture. "Master Lu, I apologize for the disturbance, but...." She hesitated, then rushed on before losing her nerve. "The master was taken into police custody last night. He’s been calling the mansion repeatedly since early this morning. He’s demanding, he wants to speak with Miss Lin. He says she needs to handle the situation immediately."

Lu Yuze’s expression went even colder, if that were possible. "Can’t they call a lawyer?" His voice was dangerously quiet now, the kind of quiet that made smart people back away. "What exactly does Shuyin have to do with this? They made their choices. They assaulted hospital staff. They’re facing the consequences of their own actions."

"Master Lin said..."

"I don’t care what Lin Feng said." The interruption was brutal. "Don’t disturb us with that nonsense again. If Lin Feng wants legal assistance, he can contact his attorney. If Madam Chen needs help, she can do the same. Shuyin is not responsible for cleaning up their mess."

The maid’s face went even paler. "But Master Lin insisted...."

"Insisted?" Lu Yuze’s laugh was harsh and entirely without humor. "He’s in a jail cell. He doesn’t get to insist on anything. Now leave. And tell whoever else might consider knocking on this door that we are not to be disturbed unless the mansion is actively on fire. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Master Lu. I’m sorry, I..."

He didn’t wait for her to finish. He stepped back and slammed the door with enough force to make the frame rattle, the sound echoing through the hallway like a gunshot. Let her report that back to whoever sent her. Let the household staff learn that he and Shuyin were not Lin Feng’s servants to be summoned at will.

He stood there for a moment, breathing deliberately, forcing his anger back under control. Getting this furious over a maid’s interruption was irrational. She was just a messenger. But the presumption behind it, Lin Feng’s assumption that he could make demands from a jail cell, that Shuyin would drop everything to bail him out, it ignited something cold and vicious in Lu Yuze’s chest.

When he turned back toward the bed, he found Yuyan and Chen Xiao sitting up in their bed, both wide awake and watching him with cautious eyes. They’d heard everything, the banging, his cursing, the exchange with the maid, the slammed door.