Truly shameless!

This young man, who had shamelessly boasted the name of Wu Yanzhu, amicably extended his hand to Ye Zhen.

This young man had the fair-skinned and slender hands of someone born into riches. The joints of his hands were distinct. They looked nothing like Lu Beichuan's hands, which looked strong and powerful. Lu Shaoyan's hands were lazily stretched out without a hint of strength behind them.

However, people who knew how to hide their skills were often the most formidable ones.

Lu Shaoyan's mother, Old Master Lu's third wife, was twenty years younger than Old Master Lu. She was only with him for ten years before going far away and never stepping foot on this coastal city.

In the novel, Lu Shaoyan had strongly inherited all of his mother's beauty. It was precisely because of his looks, which didn't show potential for aggressiveness, that caused Old Master Lu to cherish and dote on him.

Lu Shaoyan didn't have many hobbies. Like other rich second generation young masters, he liked street racing, drinking, and hanging out at clubs. He didn't attend to proper duties, but he was very loyal to his friends and generous with them. After over ten years of this, his reputation as the hedonistic son of rich parents was firmly cemented.

Old Master Lu loved his youngest son. If his son wanted to live a hedonistic lifestyle, let him live it. Anyways, the Lu's were rich enough to support Lu Shaoyan's lifestyle.

With Lu Shaoyan having this type of character and an easy-going temperament, even Lu Shaoren, who was now in jail, never took him seriously and had eliminated him as a possible competitor for inheriting the family.

As for the kidnapping that Lu Beichuan had mentioned, Ye Zhen had no knowledge of this. After all, this matter hadn't been mentioned in the novel.

Looking at the fair-skinned hands stretched out towards herself, Ye Zhen smiled and held those hands. "Hi, I'm Ye Zhen."

"Tao zhi yao yao. Qi ye zhen zhen. Ye Zhen is a good name!"

For a period of time, Old Master Lu had kept Lu Shaoyan by his side to make sure he studied certain classical books. Although Lu Shaoyan had lived abroad for several years, the knowledge from those classical books had sunk into his bone, and he had a habit of blurting out idioms and poems.

"So does uncle know what that poem means?"

(T/N: Tao zhi yao yao. Qi ye zhen zhen. These are lines from a poem that praises a bride for her virtues and says she'll bring happiness to her family.)

Lu Shaoyan slightly furrowed his brow. He didn't look that embarrassed. He let go of Ye Zhen's hands. Smiling mischievously, he said, "Little Zhenzhen, we just met. You shouldn't bully me. I've been living abroad for over a decade."

"..." Ye Zhen truly felt that her own cultivation in literature was pretty good.

After saying that, Lu Shaoyan finally looked at Lu Beichuan. Smiling, he gave Lu Beichuan a hug. "Beichuan, it's only been a year since we last saw each other and you got married and had a kid in that time. You totally caught me off guard."

Perhaps, it was because Lu Shaoyan had brought Lin Zhan with him or Ye Zhen's words had made him more alert, Lu Beichuan realized there was something wrong after careful consideration. His smile wasn't as wide as before. After their hug ended, he said in a neutral tone, "I sent you a message, but you never responded."

Lu Shaoyan shrugged. "I must have been too busy then."

Lu Beichuan glanced at Lin Zhan, who was still standing behind Lu Shaoyan. "Why is he here? I didn't invite him."

Lu Shaoyan didn't explain. He only patted Lu Beichuan's shoulder and said, "I'll explain it to you later. He's someone I brought. You won't even give your uncle this little bit of face?"

It could be seen that Lu Beichuan wasn't very willing to give Lu Shaoyan face when it came to this matter.

On the side, the old butler smiled and said, "Old Master Lu has been waiting inside a long time to see you. Second Master, you should go in and chat with him."

His words successfully rescued them from the awkward mood.

As the group walked inside, Ye Zhen glanced at Lin Zhan, who had been silently following Lu Shaoyan this entire time. He wasn't self-conscious, and there was no trace of embarrassment in his expression.

Actually, this was quite strange. Although Lu Shaoyan was Lu Beichuan's opponent in the novel, he wasn't Lin Zhan's ally. The three of them should have antagonistic relationships with the attitude that only one of us can live. Why... were Lin Zhan and Lu Shaoyan working together now?

Lu Beichuan was holding Ye Zhen's hand. Seeing that Ye Zhen seemed lost in thought, he lightly squeezed her hand. Ye Zhen returned to her senses and tightened her grip on Lu Beichuan's hand in response.

As they were passing through the lawn, Lu Shaoyan exchanged greetings with many people. He seemed very familiar with them.

The more that Ye Zhen saw, the more her apprehension grew.

Outsiders might find nothing wrong with this. They would just think Lu Shaoyan had a big circle of friends. It didn't matter since he didn't attend to proper duties. However, although Lu Shaoyan had been abroad for several years and only kept in touch with his friends through phone calls and video calls, his friendships remained as close as before. As a person that was able to keep his temper for so long, it was no wonder that he was able to keep a low profile for several years and land the fatal blow on Lu Beichuan.

In the living room, Old Master Lu was sitting on the couch with a straight back and with both hands on his cane.. His face showed that he was trying to suppress his happiness..

"Old Master, Second Master is back."

Old Master Lu said in a deep voice, "What are you standing around for?! Hurry up, come in!"

Although these words were sharp, anyone could hear the affection in his voice. Having gained this son at an old age, it was only normally that Old Master Lu would want to spoil him.

Lu Shaoyan walked inside. With a mischievous grin, he walked to Old Master Lu, knelt down, and touched the ground with his forehead three times. "Dad, I'm back."

Old Master Lu had wanted to give Lu Shaoyan a beating with his cane. But as soon as he saw his son's smiling face, he couldn't bear to. He sighed and said, "You haven't sent me any news for the past several years. Were you trying to worry me to death?!"

"Dad, don't be angry. Haven't I come back? I'm perfectly fine."

"I thought you were waiting until I died to come back!"

Those words were out of line. The old butler hastily tried to reassure and persuade Old Master Lu in a low voice.

Old Master Lu wasn't that angry. He was just worried. And yet, he stubbornly refused to say that.

"Get up."

Lu Shaoyan stood up with a smile.

Old Master Lu was looking at his son with an affectionate gaze when he suddenly caught sight of Lin Zhan standing behind Lu Shaoyan. Furrowing his brow, he asked, "Why is he..."

Lu Shaoyan hastily went over to Old Master Lu's side and whispered several sentences in his ear. Old Master Lu's expression changed a lot as he listened as if he had heard something exceedingly awful. Finally, after Lu Shaoyan was done whispering, he asked in a sunken voice, "Really?"

Lu Shaoyan solemnly nodded.

As a result, the furrow between Old Master Lu's brows deepened. He carefully looked at Lin Zhan from top to bottom. His gaze held incredulity.

"He can stay for now."

Once Old Master Lu said those words, Lin Zhan would naturally be allowed to stay.

"I wasn't able to come back when Beichuan got married or when he had a kid. Now that I'm back, as his uncle, I have to do something for that." He took a black box from a servant that had been following behind him. He handed it to Ye Zhen. "Please take my meager gift."

Ye Zhen didn't act coy. She magnanimously took the box. Smiling, she said, "Thank you, uncle."

"Open it and see if you like it."

Ye Zhen opened the box. There was a watch inside it. It didn't have an expensive brand's logo or a complicated design. Still, the workmanship was exquisite. Since this was a gift from Lu Shaoyan, it must have been expensive.

"... This watch must have been very expensive, right?" Ye Zhen kept her smile as she said, "Thank you uncle for your thoughtfulness.

"It's nothing as long as you like it."

Ye Zhen truly didn't like this gift one bit.

If her guess was right, this watch was custom-made with a GPS tracker secretly installed inside of it. No matter where she went, as long as she was wearing this watch, he would be able to find her location.

The feeling of being monitored really wasn't very good.

"Where's my great-nephew?" Lu Shaoyan smiled again as he said, "I'm not even 30 yet and I have a great-nephew. How strange and rare."

Mother Lu brought Zhouzhou over. She didn't have much negative feelings towards this flippant and glib-tongue brother-in-law. They had only interacted for a short period of a few years before he went abroad, so she didn't have much of an impression of him.

Lu Shaoyan held Zhouzhou in his arms. Zhouzhou stared at him with his big black eyes. He didn't cry or smile. He was a quiet and well-behaved baby.

"Zhouzhou, I'm your..." Lu Shaoyan furrowed his brow. "Great-uncle... this sounds..."

He shivered. "I'll introduce myself to you when you grow up."

As Ye Zhen watched from the side, her hands felt cold, but her palms were sweaty.