Lu Zhaoye’s voice turned cold and hard, deliberately putting on a reckless, defiant front.
“Su Wan, the reason I’m not touching you isn’t because I’m some kind of gentleman. It’s simply because I think you’re not in your right mind right now.”
Su Wan wasn’t annoyed at being pushed away. She simply stepped back to the shabby desk, leaning against it with her arms crossed. That lazy, casual posture there wasn’t a trace left of the meek, bullied woman she used to be.
“I’m very clear-headed.”
She lowered her gaze, hiding the surging hatred in her eyes.
In her previous life, after Lu Zhaoye was driven away, Lu Ming had “magnanimously” allowed her into the family.
But that beast of a man used the excuse of her being “involved” with Lu Zhaoye on their wedding night to claim she was tainted. For ten whole years, he never touched her.
She worked like a servant in the Lu household serving her in-laws, taking care of her sister-in-law but because she never became pregnant, her mother-in-law called her a “hen that couldn’t lay eggs,” and the whole family looked down on her.
She endured ten years of both mental and physical torment, until she accidentally discovered that embroidered dudou with Zhang Xiulian’s name on it and only then realized Lu Ming didn’t avoid her because she was “dirty,” but because he had long been having an affair with that widow.
Those ten years had completely destroyed the timid, cowardly Su Wan.
After the divorce, she fought on her own, starting from nothing, struggling through the business world for thirty years until she became a wealthy businesswoman.
Yet unexpectedly, at a major trade conference, she was attacked and the one who saved her again was Lu Zhaoye, whom she hadn’t seen for forty years.
He had been one of the attendees, his status far above hers. But to save her, he once again stood in front of her…
At the moment the gun was fired, she watched him fall before her eyes…
“Lu Zhaoye.”
Snapping out of her thoughts, Su Wan lifted her head. Her face wore that familiar faint smile, but her tone was unusually rational.
“I know you’re suspicious right now. You’re wondering why I suddenly changed, wondering if I have some ulterior motive.”
Lu Zhaoye raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying, though the tight line of his jaw revealed his vigilance.
“Let’s be straightforward.”
Su Wan pointed outside.
“You’ve seen what kind of person Lu Ming is. I may not be capable of much, but I’m not someone who goes back to the past, and I definitely won’t jump into that pit of fire again. Right now, all the relatives and neighbors think there’s something between us. Other than marrying you, I don’t have another way out.”
“And…”
She paused, meeting his gaze with a gambler’s all-or-nothing resolve.
“I also know you’re your father’s first wife’s child, and you haven’t been treated well in this family since you were young. If the two of us make do together, it can shut people up and besides… I’ve heard that you came back this time to reclaim the inheritance your mother left behind. I can help you.”
Lu Zhaoye stared at her silently, his fingers unconsciously brushing the corner of his eye where she had touched him earlier.
The logic was sound. The reasoning was solid.
It was true everyone in the Lu family believed he had been expelled from the army and returned because he couldn’t survive outside, coming back to fight for his mother’s inheritance.
It was only natural that she thought the same.
But something still felt off.
Her gaze was too deep too deep for a girl barely twenty. It was more like someone who had lived through countless hardships.
“Fine.”
Lu Zhaoye suddenly grinned, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“If you want to marry, then marry. But let me make this clear once you enter my house, where you sleep and what you do will all be up to me.”
He was testing her.
If she had a mission, she would definitely try to get into his bed or probe his movements.
But unexpectedly, after hearing this, Su Wan seemed almost relieved. She casually pulled out an old quilt from the cabinet and spread it on the brick floor.
“No problem.”
As she made the bedding, she said casually,
“We’ll register the marriage tomorrow. As for the rest… we’ll take it slow. We’re just partners living together. If one day it doesn’t work out, or if you meet someone you truly like, we can divorce anytime.”
“What did you say?”
Lu Zhaoye’s hand froze mid-motion as he was drying his hair. His gaze turned sharp as a blade.
Divorce?
In this era, marriage was for life who talked about “divorcing anytime” before even getting married?
It was like going to war and thinking about desertion before even firing a shot.
He frowned.
This girl had no sense of reverence toward marriage at all. If anything… there was a casual attitude, like she planned to “use and discard” him.
“I said, if it doesn’t work, we divorce.”
Su Wan finished laying out the bedding and turned to face him calmly, still smiling.
“The law allows freedom of divorce now. Big brother, this is a ‘contract marriage,’ understand?”
Lu Zhaoye was so angry he laughed.
A “contract marriage,” huh.
Not only had this girl changed her audacity had grown beyond limits.
This indifferent attitude toward marriage only deepened his suspicion.
She had no feelings for him. She was only tying herself to him for some purpose.
Was it to escape Lu Ming?
Or… to monitor him more conveniently?
Lu Zhaoye threw the towel in his hand into the basin, splashing water everywhere.
“Su Wan, do you think I’m some revolving door you can enter and leave whenever you want?”
He strode over to her. His tall frame cast a heavy, oppressive shadow, completely enveloping her small figure.
Though he doubted her and guarded against her, deep down, that long-standing obsession of his roared wildly at the mention of “divorce”
Su Wan, since you’ve delivered yourself to my door, whether you’re human or something else, a spy or an informant once you fall into my hands and become my woman, don’t think you’ll ever leave whole.
“Want a divorce?”
He leaned down, his hawk-like eyes locking onto hers, a dangerous curve forming at his lips.
“Unless I die or you become a widow. Otherwise, in this lifetime, don’t even think about escaping from me.”
After saying that, he straightened up without another glance at her and walked to the bed, sitting down with authority. He patted the bedframe, his voice cold as ice.
“You sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor. Don’t catch a cold and blame me.”
He wouldn’t touch her.
At least, not until he figured out whether she was someone else’s “sugar-coated bullet.”
But he would keep her under his watch right in front of him until he uncovered what she was really up to.
Su Wan looked at the man’s awkward yet domineering back and smiled faintly.
The path had been a bit twisted, but at least…
In this life, she was finally on the same side as him.
As for his suspicions?
There was plenty of time.
Lu Zhaoye… they could take it slow.