Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 381; Reclaiming 6

"Where did you learn this?" she asked quietly after several minutes of silence, genuine curiosity overriding the last remnants of her embarrassment. Most men of his status wouldn’t know the first thing about washing someone else’s hair, let alone doing it with this level of skill.

"From years of tending to Yuyan," he answered simply, his hands never pausing in their work. "After she was born. She was fragile from the very beginning, always sickly, her immune system weak. Her mother died bringing her into this world, so there was no one else to do it gently. The nurses were efficient, certainly, but too rough for a newborn who seemed made of glass. She would cry until she couldn’t breathe, until her little face turned red and her body shook."

He paused, applying conditioner now with the same careful attention. "I found a nanny, then another, then several more. But it was always the same, they were competent but mechanical, treating her like a task to be completed rather than a fragile life to be protected. So I had to learn to do it myself. And this knowledge is coming in handy now."

His hands moved with quiet familiarity, the motions practiced from years of repetition. "She’s twelve now, old enough to manage most things herself. But back then she was so impossibly small I was terrified that even holding her too tightly might hurt her, might damage something vital. So I learned. Slowly. Properly. The way she needed to be cared for, with patience and gentleness rather than efficiency."

Something about that answer, about him learning a skill most wealthy men would have delegated entirely to servants, about him prioritising his daughter’s comfort over convenience, made Shuyin’s throat tighten unexpectedly with emotion. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"You’re a good father," she said quietly, the words carrying more weight than their simplicity suggested.

His hands paused briefly before resuming their work, fingers massaging her scalp in slow, soothing circles. "I try," he said softly, honestly. "I can’t say I’m perfect. I’ve made mistakes, probably more than I realize. But I try. That’s all any of us can do, try our best and hope it’s enough."

He carefully rinsed her hair one final time, ensuring no conditioner remained, then gently squeezed out the excess water before wrapping her hair in a soft towel. "All right, you can finish up now," he said, standing and offering her privacy to complete her bath. "I’ll go downstairs to see if there’s lunch prepared. You take your time."

He leaned down and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead, brief, affectionate, asking nothing in return, before turning to leave the bathroom.

When he returned to the bedroom, he found both children dressed and waiting, looking clean and comfortable in their fresh clothes. "Let’s go downstairs," he said, holding out both hands. They took them immediately, Yuyan on one side and Chen Xiao on the other, small hands trusting in his larger ones.

"Okay, Daddy," Yuyan said with a smile that hadn’t faded all day despite the exhaustion visible in her eyes. The morning had been chaotic and physically demanding, but also somehow wonderful, a day of reclaiming what had been stolen, of making the estate feel like home rather than hostile territory. Nothing was going to erase that smile from her face.

They walked out of the bedroom together, Lu Yuze closing the door quietly behind them before leading the children through the corridor toward the kitchen. The mansion bustled with controlled activity, servants busy preparing food in the kitchen, others cleaning and reorganizing rooms according to Shuyin’s new directives, some carefully moving furniture and belongings out to the parking area for eventual disposal or storage.

The atmosphere had fundamentally shifted. What had been a house run on fear and rigid control now hummed with purposeful energy and something approaching hope.

---

Meanwhile, across the city at the hospital, the situation was considerably less hopeful.

Lu Zeyan remained exactly as he’d been for days now, brain-damaged beyond any possibility of recovery, reduced to the mental capacity of a young child, his brilliant mind erased by whatever trauma had destroyed his cognitive functions. The medical team had run every test available, consulted specialists across multiple disciplines, and found themselves no closer to understanding what had caused his condition or how it might be reversed.

Lu Cheng and Mrs. Lu had managed to secure their release from police custody on bail earlier that morning, though the charges of assault and battery still hung over them like dark clouds. Their first action upon release hadn’t been to go home or rest or strategize their legal defence. It had been to rush directly to the hospital to check on their son and the missing grandson they believed still existed somewhere.

They arrived at Lu Zeyan’s private room flanked by other Lu family members who’d gathered in response to the crisis, cousins, uncles, business associates who’d become entangled with family affairs. Everyone wanted answers. Everyone needed to understand how the family’s heir had been reduced to this shell of his former self.

Dr. Chen, the neurologist who’d been overseeing Lu Zeyan’s case, met them outside the room with the exhausted expression of a man who’d delivered too much bad news too many times. "What are we supposed to do now?" Mrs. Lu demanded, her voice sharp with desperation barely contained. "There must be something. Some treatment we haven’t tried, some specialists we haven’t consulted."

"I’m afraid we’ve exhausted every avenue available to us," Dr. Chen said with genuine regret. "We’ve run comprehensive scans, consulted with colleagues internationally, and attempted various therapeutic interventions. At this point, we cannot determine the cause of his condition or identify any viable treatment path." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "I’m sorry. Sometimes medicine simply doesn’t have answers."

The words settled over the gathered family like a death sentence. Lu Cheng’s jaw tightened, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. Years of building and contributing to the Lu empire, of positioning his son to inherit at least partial, of planning a dynasty, all of it threatened by brain damage no amount of money or influence could repair.

"And what about my grandson?" Lu Cheng asked, his voice carrying the exhaustion of someone who’d been fighting losing battles all day. They left Lu Zeyan’s room and made their way to the elevator, heading down to the maternity and neonatal wing where the search for the missing infant continued. "Has there been any progress in locating him?"

Dr. Chen’s expression grew even more uncomfortable. "The baby hasn’t been found yet," he admitted carefully. "The police investigation is ongoing, but currently there are no leads whatsoever. The security footage shows... well, it shows something impossible. Something the investigators can’t explain rationally."

"What do you mean, impossible?" Mrs. Lu pressed, her voice rising with frustration.

"The footage shows the infant in the incubator one moment, and then..." Dr. Chen hesitated, clearly struggling with how to explain something he himself didn’t understand. "Then the baby appears to transform into stone, then jade, then simply vanishes. No one was seen entering or leaving the room. No explanation that makes medical or physical sense."

Lu Cheng had been briefed on this earlier by the police, but hearing it stated so boldly by the doctor made it no less frustrating. How could their grandson just disappear? How could their son’s lineage simply vanish as if it had never existed?

"Doctor," Lu Cheng said slowly, an idea forming that he’d been avoiding because of its implications. "Is there a way for Lu Zeyan to father another child? In his current condition?"

Dr. Chen’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the question. "You’re asking about assisted reproduction? Given his mental state?"

"I’m asking about preserving the family line," Lu Cheng said bluntly. "My son may be brain-damaged, but he’s still physically capable of reproduction, isn’t he? We have all kinds of medical technology. We could find a suitable surrogate, or use in vitro fertilization..."

"Mr. Lu," Dr. Chen interrupted carefully, "what you’re suggesting raises significant ethical concerns. Lu Zeyan cannot provide informed consent in his current state. Any such procedure would be...."

"Would be necessary," Lu Cheng finished coldly. "We’ve already lost one grandson under impossible circumstances. I won’t allow the Lu family line to end because of ethical quibbling. If there’s a medical possibility, I need to know about it."