It was a bit outside of Ye Zhen's expectations that Lu Shaoren would be directly arrested.

In the novel, after Lu Beichuan had woken up, he had toyed around with Lu Shaoren as if he was a cat and his father was a mouse. For a while, Lu Shaoren was kept frantically busy after his son secretly exposed his father’s illegal insider trading as well as his tax evasion and other crimes. However, on the night before Lu Shaoren's trial, Lu Beichuan seemingly helped him out by getting the verdict reversed. During this time, he also arranged for Lu Shaoren to get into a few car accidents. Of course, other than suffering from fright during those incidents, Lu Shaoren wasn't physically harmed.

Lu Shaoren had no idea that Lu Beichuan was behind all of his troubles. He mistakenly thought that his son had repeatedly saved him. Just as Lu Shaoren was prepared to turn over a new leaf and return home, he was proven guilty of murder, which severed any chances of him reversing his fortunes. In the end, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and he eventually died in prison.

But now, he was going directly to prison without any foreshadowing?

Ye Zhen doubtfully looked at Lu Beichuan. "Why don't you seem surprised or worried at all?"

Lu Beichuan had no intention of letting Ye Zhen know about the rotten things that Lu Shaoren had been up to in the past years. He simply answered, "He's only getting what he deserves."

As he adjusted his tie around his collar to neaten it, he looked at Ye Zhen as if he didn't know what to do with her. In a low voice, he advised, "Today's conversation ends here. I hope that you can keep your interactions with your older sister at a minimum before the wedding day. Don't try to mess around by switching places with your older sister again."

Ye Zhen furrowed her brow. Her growing anger was about to erupt.

"You're pregnant. It's bad for the baby if you keep getting angry." Lu Beichuan smiled as he looked at her flat belly. "I confided with the old butler about your condition, so nothing too oily will appear on the dining table. If you're not used to the food or if you want to eat something specific, you can directly tell the old butler."

Ye Zhen's expression sunk. Pregnancy hormonal caused her mood to fluctuate a lot. She suddenly felt gloomy and wasn't in the mood to say anything.

They heard the honking of a car from downstairs. Old Master Lu had probably come back.

By the time the two of them walked downstairs, Old Master Lu had already come inside. He was holding his cane, and he had an air of quiet authority. The servants on the side didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.

Mother Lu was sitting on the couch. Although she wasn't taking the news too seriously or feeling desperate, she still had to pretend to feel a bit anxious in front of Old Master Lu.

In Mother Lu's opinion, Lu Shaoren was simply suffering the consequences of his bad deeds. It served him right that he had been arrested!

Lu Shaoren had been in his office when he had been arrested by the police. The procession of police cars parked in front of the company had attracted a lot of attention. Good news didn't leave home, but bad news easily spread thousands of miles. Without even knowing what Lu Shaoren was guilty of, rumors about him had already flown out as he was led into a police car. Old Master Lu couldn't stand by and do nothing once he heard this news.

"Beichuan, have this matter investigated. Why was Shaoren arrested?"

The old butler brought over a cup of tea to Old Master Lu, then he retreated to the side.

Lu Beichuan swept his gaze across the gathered crowd and said in a low voice, "Grandfather, let's talk upstairs."

With too many people around, there would be too many differing opinions. Old Master Lu looked at the people gathered in the living room and deeply nodded. With Lu Beichuan supporting him up the stairs, they went to the study.

Inside the study, Lu Beichuan handed the information that had been prepared in advance to Old Master Lu.

"What's this?" Old Master Lu looked at the thick folder.

"This is evidence that he transferred assets when I was in a coma, and he took over management of the company." The "he" that Lu Beichuan was referring to was of course Lu Shaoren.

"Transferred assets?"

"Right now, the Lu family's company is only an empty shell. I received the news this morning that Lu Shaoren was planning on promoting Lin Zhan to the top once he finished transferred the remaining assets. He was going to use Lin Zhan as his fall guy." Towards Lu Shaoren, his so-called father, Lu Beichuan didn't have a single drop of respect.

Old Master Lu's expression was grave. "How daring of him! How dare he do such a thing right under my nose!"

"There's been internal dissatisfaction in the corporation. Not only has Lu Shaoren's decisions in the past year led to financial losses for the company, the company's creditworthiness has been called to question because of him. I've contacted a few banks in the past few days, and the people in charge have said they're unwilling to do business with the Lu family's company."

"One of the financial losses is from the real estate projects that were being developed by the company. They've been left unfinished, and there's no way to get back the funding for those projects."

Seeing the growing anger on Old Master Lu's face, Lu Beichuan handed over the data from another investigation.

"What's this?"

"These are the investigation results from the car accident a year ago."

"Car accident?"

A year ago, Lu Beichuan had gotten into a car accident on the way to the airport. At the time, there was an investigation done, and the results was that it was just an ordinary car accident.

Old Master Lu opened the file. There was a report that clearly showed that it wasn't an accident. Everything had been deliberately planned.

Someone had bribed the chauffeur that had gotten Lu Beichuan into the car accident.

Lu Beichuan was supposed to die in that car accident, but he had luckily survived.

Looking at the report in his hand, Old Master Lu breathed heavier and heavier. His face was flushed. The anger in his heart was about to explode.

"That bastard!" Old Master Lu slammed his hand against the table. "Even wild animals won't hurt their children. He actually... He was willing to kill his son for a small bit of profit!"

Old Master Lu was so furious that his entire body was shaking.

Any discerning person could see how highly he valued Lu Beichuan. The Lu family had many descendants, but Lu Beichuan was the only one that he thought was good enough. He had felt reassured handing over the Lu family's business to Lu Beichuan.

Old Master Lu had a clear understanding of his son's abilities. He had done right by the family by handing over the control of the family business to his grandson instead of his son. He hadn't expected that his painstaking efforts at doing best for the family would become biased oppression in Lu Shaoren's eyes.

If Lu Shaoren had the tiniest bit of ability, Old Master Lu would have given him opportunities to show it. But, his son had always let him down, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Reality had proven that Old Master Lu had judged his son correctly. During the past year when Lu Beichuan had been in a coma, the Lu family's company had been given to Lu Shaoren to manage. Lu Shaoren had made countless big and small investments, but they were practically no returns on any of them. He miscalculated the market, and a very large sum of money had been flushed down the toilet. If the Lu family didn't have a strong foundation, only an empty shell would have remained after only one year of Lu Shaoren's management.

Lu Beichuan offered Old Master Lu a cup of tea that had been prepared a while ago. "Calm down."

Old Master Lu took a sip. The anger in his heart had faded a lot. It was replaced by overwhelming disappointment and abhorrence towards his son.

"So, why exactly was Shaoren arrested?"

Lu Beichuan directly looked at Old Master Lu's muddy eyes. In a deep voice, he answered, "For premeditated murder."

Old Master Lu was silent for a moment. He turned the pages in the folder, then he said, "You could have chosen to tell me about this first. Why did you send the evidence to the police station instead?"

It didn't matter what the reason was. Once the news spread that Lu Shaoren had tried to kill his son, it would only bring embarrassment to the Lu family.

Lu Beichuan thought of that bright voice that seriously warned him to do not anything against the law.

"Grandfather, he committed a crime. It's only right that's punished in accordance to the law. I don't have the right to judge or sentence him."

Old Master Lu looked at Lu Beichuan. His grandson was like a sharp, shining sword that had been pulled out of its sheath. Although he was displeased that Lu Beichuan hadn't discussed this with him before taking action, he was gratified that a child he had raised was able to take charge and not need his input to take care of things.

However, no matter what horrible things Lu Shaoren did, he was still his son.

It didn't matter who he chose. Having to choose between his son and grandson, it felt like a piece of his heart was being sliced off.

After contemplating for a while, Old Master Lu tiredly waved his hand. "Since there's conclusive evidence, let the police handle this matter. Sort out the Lu family's company as soon as possible. Don't let our family become a laughing stock."

Lu Beichuan understood that this was the compromise that Old Master Lu had decided on. In a low voice, he said, "I understand."

***

In the living room, Mother Lu wasn't upset at all that Lu Shaoren had been arrested. She continued to leisurely and elegantly plan her son's wedding for him.

Holding Ye Zhen's hand, she said, "Qingqing, when would be a good time for me to meet your parents so I can talk to them? I want to finish up the remaining wedding arrangements. We need a list of the family friends and relatives that your parents want to invite to the wedding."

Hearing the word “wedding” felt like hearing an invocation that would crush her to death.

It would curse her to the identity of "Mrs. Lu."

"This.... I'll go ask them."

"It's the Lu family's fault for delaying in sitting down and having a chat with your parents. How about this, I have time tomorrow. I'll come along when you and your younger sister go home tomorrow. While I'm there, I'll pay your parents a visit, and I'll talk to them then."

"This..."

The more that Mother Lu thought about it, the more that she felt it would be a good idea to see her in-laws as early as possible. They could also discuss the details of the wedding together during her visit.

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

"It's settled then. Mom will go with you tomorrow. Alright, I'm going to go prepare some gifts for the visit tomorrow." After saying this, she hummed a little ditty as she walked upstairs with a smile.

When Ye Zhen had first come to the Lu family, Mother Lu had to suffer in silence and behave obsequiously. But now, Mother Lu's life was becoming happier and more carefree. In this case, it could be seen that sometimes you were better off without a man than having one.

From the living room, Ye Zhen saw Ye Qing standing in the second floor corridor and gesturing at herself. She immediately understood Ye Qing's meaning. Ye Zhen stood up and walked upstairs. Right after she entered the room, she saw Ye Qing sitting on the couch and looking extremely anxious.

"What took you so long?!" Ye Qing got up and locked the door. She wanted to immediately change clothes with Ye Zhen and was very impatient about it.

However, Ye Zhen remained seated on the sofa and didn't even twitch. It looked like a cloud of gloom was hovering over her head.

"Let's quickly change our clothes. If we wait, we won't have time later."

Ye Zhen looked at her older sister, who's mind only had thoughts of becoming Mrs. Lu. She sighed and said, "Older sister, there's no point anymore. Lu Beichuan already knows."

Ye Qing didn't immediately connected the dots. "He knows what?"

"He knows everything. He knows that we tried to fool him and the whole story behind me taking your place in marrying him originally. He was only pretending that he didn't know." Ye Zhen quietly said, "It was all a waste of effort. All we did was give him a free show to watch."

Ye Qing's heartbeat sped up after she heard these words. After a long pause, she incredulously asked, "Are you saying that not only does Lu Beichuan know that you took my place in marrying him originally, he also knows that I was the one living in the Lu family's villa these past few days instead of you."

Ye Zhen nodded.

Ye Qing stood in place in shock. She thought about Ye Zhen's words for a while before she suspiciously looked at Ye Zhen. "How did he find out?"

Lu Beichuan had only woken up half a month ago, and he had spent almost all of his time at the hospital doing physical therapy. How could he have found out about all this?

Ye Qing stared at Ye Zhen and demanded, "Did you tell him?"

It really was Ye Zhen's fault. She had told Lu Beichuan everything back when she thought he was unconscious.

When she thought it about it, she really had brought all of this onto herself. If she hadn't blabbed this secret, Lu Beichuan wouldn't have found out about "Ye Zhen" taking Ye Qing's place in the marriage.

"It doesn't matter who told him. We can't change the fact that he already knows everything. You don't have to worry though. You want to be Mrs. Lu, right? That's still possible."

***

Since Lu Beichuan already knew the truth, there was no need for Ye Qing and Ye Zhen to play games.

Ye Zhen had Ye Qing go back to her room. She would figure out a solution on her own.

Shortly after Ye Qing was sent away, the old butler knocked on the door before coming inside with a small cart that was loaded with midnight snacks and tonics that were specially prepared for Ye Zhen. One by one, he transferred the items onto a table.

The small bowls were filled swallow's nest soup and other tonics that Ye Zhen had never seen before.

"Why is there so much?"

"Young Master wanted you to have options to choose from." The old butler looked at Ye Zhen's thin and weak body. He sighed and continued, "Your body really does need supplemental nourishments."

Ye Zhen guessed that Lu Beichuan hadn't publicized her pregnancy yet. After all, she was a month and half pregnant, but Lu Beichuan had supposedly woken up from his coma half a month ago. The timing was off. It wouldn't be good if the news of her pregnancy was spread.

"Thank you, you can go back and get some rest."

The old butler looked at her with a smile. He sincerely liked this young woman for her kind and pure heart. "Alright, I'll leave then. Call me if there's anything you need."

"Okay."

After the old butler left, Ye Zhen picked up a bowl of soup and took a questioning sniff. It didn't have any unusual smells, and the soup's scent didn't cause nausea either. She picked up the spoon and took a sip of the soup. It wasn't bad.

Lu Beichuan pushed open the bedroom door from the outside. He saw that Ye Zhen was sitting at the table and eating late night snacks. As he walked into the room, he took off his suit jacket and tossed it on the couch. Loosening his tie, he felt that the temperature in the room was a bit low. Seeing that Ye Zhen was wearing thin pajamas, Lu Beichuan couldn't help but furrow his brows. He raised his hand and set the room temperature higher.

Ye Zhen glanced at him. She could see the outline of his v-shaped chest underneath his dress shirt. Where did he find the time to do the exercises to maintain his figure? She went back to looking at the seven or eight tonics and snacks in front of her. "Ceo Lu, are you raising a pig?"

Lu Beichuan took out a small blanket from a clothes rack and draped it over Ye Zhen. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her waist with his palm on her belly. "You're too thin. It'll be good for our child if you eat more."

Sure enough, what he actually cared about was the baby in her belly.

Ye Zhen icily said, "Making me angry won't be good for the baby either."

Lu Beichuan didn't say anything else. Holding Ye Zhen's left hand, he slipped a dazzling diamond ring onto her ring finger.

This was the symbolic wedding ring that the Lu family had given to Ye Zhen when she had married into the family.

"You're pregnant with my child, and you're my wife. You can hand over the wedding planning to me. I'll deal with the issue with your switched identity too. Don't have any other ideas. Do you understand?" He knew that Ye Zhen wanted to leave him. If he used the child as a tie between them, perhaps, it would soften her heart so she would stay.

Ye Zhen looked at the ring on her left hand. It matched the ring on Lu Beichuan's hand.

Early next morning, Lu Beichuan went to the office to take up his position as CEO while Mrs. Lu, Ye Qing, and Ye Zhen headed to the Ye's.

Mrs. Lu had prepared a lot of expensive gifts for her visit to the in-laws. Mother Lu's jubilant face showed that she wasn't at all upset that her husband had been arrested.

It wasn't just Mrs. Lu. Lu Beichuan as well as Old Master Lu, who hadn't shown his face again after returning to the villa last night, didn't show any signs of objecting to Lu Shaoren's arrest.

During the entire car ride, Ye Zhen had misgivings. How had Lu Beichuan proven that Lu Shaoren had tried to commit murder?

Since this hadn't been clearly written out in the novel, Ye Zhen didn't know. She only knew that Lu Beichuan was behind Lu Shaoren's imprisonment, but she didn't know the reason why he had done it.

There were plenty of troubles in prominent families. There was no reason for her to wade in these muddy waters.

Soon, they arrived at the Ye's.

Father Ye and Mother Ye were standing at the door and waiting. As soon as Mrs. Lu got out of the car, they greeted her with smiles.

"Mrs. Lu, I'm delighted to have the opportunity to meet you at last! It's simply the Ye family's honor to have you personally paying a visit to us.”

Mrs. Lu held Father Ye's hand and said, "We're one family. There's no need to be so polite."

Father Ye repeatedly nodded and invited her inside.

Mother Ye deliberately fell behind. She swept her gaze over Ye Zhen and Ye Qing. She had clearly seen that Mrs. Lu was holding Ye Zhen's hand when she had gotten out of the car, but she had thought she might be mistaken. But now, after another careful look, she saw that she hadn't been wrong.

She quietly asked, "What happened?"

Ye Qing lowered her head and stayed silent. She looked like she had been horribly wronged.

Mother Ye sharply looked at Ye Zhen. "Ye Zhen, what happened?!"

Ye Zhen expressionlessly looked at her. "We can wait until tonight to talk about it."