Placing her hand over her stomach, she said, “You are making me worry what kind of a father you will be after these two are born.”

“Two?”

Ye Zhen placed his hand on her stomach and leaned into his ear. She whispered into his ear softly, “The doctor said I am carrying twins.”

His big and wide palm covered the flat stomach. Two lives laid inside there.

He had mixed feelings. All of a sudden, it was as though something had exploded in his head. He was drawing blank.

“Twins?”

“Yes. The doctor had triple checked before they told me. Mr. Lu, you carry a lot of responsibilities. You have three children to raise. You are going to need to work extra hard to support them. Naturally, I will work hard and not drag you down. Nevertheless, I think, starting now, you need to start figuring out how to be a good father and how to bond with your children. Otherwise… Oh!" She loudly cried out when her feet were off the ground. Throwing her arms around Lu Beichuan’s neck, the abrupt princess carry made Ye Zhen pound him hard on his arm. “What do you think you are doing? Let me tell you, the doctor had also said that the first few months into the pregnancy is the most vulnerable time.”

“I know.” Lu Beichuan put her down on the couch and placed his hand over her stomach. Looking at those eyes who were looking at him brightly, he leaned down and kissed her.

He knew he shouldn’t touch her, but he couldn’t help but want to hug her, kiss her, and to let her know how happy he was at this very moment, and to tell her how much he loves her. He only wished that he could show her his heart.

“Ye Zhen… Ye Zhen…” Lu Beichuan mumbled her name and made her a serious promise. “Don’t worry. I will never let what happened today happen ever again. I promise.”

Ye Zhen smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted her burning lips onto his without a shred of doubt. “I trust you.”

The door to the study opened up abruptly and Zhouzhou’s choked back voice rang by the door, “I’m sorry, Daddy, about what happened today……”

Zhouzhou, encouraged by his grandmother, came back to Lu Beichuan, wanting to apologize once again for his behavior today. As soon as he walked inside, he saw Mommy sitting on the couch and Daddy’s long face.

The lingering emotion stopped, and Ye Zhen pushed him away while staring at him angrily. Lu Beichuan sighed and looked over at the door. “Didn’t I teach you to knock before you come inside?”

Zhouzhou, who was rubbing his teary eyes, stopped in his motion. Looking up at Lu Beichuan, he pouted and finally gave in to his feeling of being wronged and started to bawl. “WAH! WUWUWUWU, Grandma. Daddy is so mean!”

“Lu Beichuan, what is wrong with you? It’s not just once or twice with you now. Zhouzhou is still young. Can’t you just reason with him nicely? What kind of a father are you?” Ye Zhen kicked Lu Beichuan.

Lu Beichuan sighed and waved at Zhouzhou.

Zhouzhou buried his head in his grandmother’s arms and refused to go over. Lu Beichuan sighed to himself again, walked over, and squatted down in front of Zhouzhou.

“Hasn’t Daddy taught you in the past that it is polite to knock before you walk inside a room?”

Zhouzhou, sniffling, said, “Yes… I am sorry, Daddy. I should have knocked.”

“Alright. Daddy will forgive you this time, but you must remember to knock next time before you go inside a room, even if you are home, okay? That’s basic courtesy.”

“Okay, I will keep that in mind…” Looking at Lu Beichuan with tears in his eyes, he finally gathered up enough courage and said, “And, about what happened today, Daddy… Don’t be upset at Zhouzhou. Zhouzhou knows that he is wrong now. I shouldn’t have…”

Zhouzhou had already apologized a few times today but had never gotten a response from Lu Beichuan. He worried that his daddy would not forgive him.

Lu Beichuan reached his hand out and wiped away his tears. “Daddy isn’t mad at you about what happened today, and it was not your fault. It was Daddy who failed to keep an eye out on you. Can you forgive Daddy’s carelessness?”

“Huh?” Zhouzhou’s eyes widened and he didn’t know how to react to that one.

It wasn’t his fault? How come Daddy apologized to him?

“Zhouzhou is a man, right? And he should be forgiving. What are you going to say to Daddy when he apologizes to you?”

Zhouzhou cocked his head and gave it some thought. “It’s alright?”

Lu Beichuan smiled and rubbed his fuzzy little head. “Thank you for forgiving Daddy.”

Lu Beichuan was a man of action, especially once he was certain of his enemies’ intentions. He had always been a ruthless one.

The Shen and the Lu families were no longer maintaining a friendly front. If Old Mr. Shen could barge into the board of directors meeting with the intention of taking Lu Beichuan down, then there was no reason for Lu Beichuan to put up a front with him anymore.

The Lu Corporation had terminated all contracts that they had with the Shen Corporation and had further pulled out all of their investments in the Shen Corporation. They retracted all of their technical workers that they had sent to work at the Shen Corporation and ceased all of the projects. They pressured the Shen corporation in areas of human, material, and financial capitals.

Without the backing of the Lu Corporation, the fact that the Shen Corporation was nothing but an empty shell was revealed and no bank would loan them any money nor would anyone else invest in or make guarantees for them. Their management levels were messy and nepotism among different departments was complicated. When the upper management acted wildly, those below followed their leads. A 1,000-mile embankment would be brought down by just one ant’s nest. With a series of mistakes in investment, the reputation of the company had been damaged and a company of its magnitude was unable to recover itself.

Upon hearing the news, Old Mr. Shen had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. Shen Weiyin took off from her filming location and travelled all the way back to visit her grandfather who was suffering from serious illness. That very night, Old Mr. Shen held her hand and tears rolled down his eyes.

“Weiyin, what happened to the company was Grandpa’s fault. Grandpa will not be able to shelter you anymore.”

The EKG machine continued making its beeping noises, and the line on the display went up and down. Old Mr. Shen had heart problems for a long time and had always been on medication to keep things under control.

Shen Weiyin sat on the edge of the bed. Holding Old Mr. Shen’s wrinkled hand, she said in a low voice, “Don’t worry, Grandpa. You will recover from this.”

Old Mr. Shen looked up and sighed. “So what if I can recover? The company… look at how the company is right now. It was all my fault. I wasn’t able to give birth to a good son to take over the company! Weiyin, wouldn’t it have been so nice if you had taken over the company from me? Then the company would not end up where it is right now. What if you are bullied in the entertainment circle after the Shen family has gone bankrupt?”

Shen Weiyin forced a smile on herself and said, “Don’t worry, Grandpa. That won’t happen. I have already established myself in the entertainment circle. As for the company… We still have options. We had befriended the Lu family for many years and Beichuan won’t just sit by and watch. Besides, you were used by Lu Shaoyan when you… Don’t worry, Grandpa. I’ll go look for Beichuan. I’ll clear things up with him. I trust that he won’t just sit idly by.”

Old Mr. Shen held her hand tightly and shook his head tiredly. “It won’t work. I know what kind of a person Lu Beichuan is. He never cared about any of these and they had been much worse to use since Old Mr. Lu’s passing. I know that Lu Beichuan only offered us assistance for the sake of his grandfather. Now that his grandfather has passed away, he doesn't care about us anymore.”

“But… we can’t just sit around and do nothing. Do we really not have any other options other than turning to the Lu family?”

Old Mr. Shen let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“It would have been so nice if you could have married Lu Beichuan.”

Shen Weiyin swallowed up the rest of her words in a sigh. Old Mr. Shen closed his eyes to rest, and nobody else said anything else in the patient room.

After Old Mr. Shen had fallen asleep, the butler walked out of the patient room. Looking at the quiet Shen Weiyin in the corridor, he sighed and said, “Miss, don’t mind what Old Mr. Shen had said earlier.”

The butler had been with the Shen family for many years. Most of the time, they would not avoid him when they have discussions. He heard it when Old Mr. Shen said, “It would have been so nice if you could have married Lu Beichuan.”

Shen Weiyin forced a smile on herself and said, “Don’t worry, I am fine. I won’t let that bother me.”

“I’ll be here to take care of Old Mr. Shen. You can go get some rest if you are busy with work. I will have the chauffeur take you back.”

It was late, and the butler would worry if Shen Weiyin was to take off on her own.

“Thank you."

Shen Weiyin took a week off from the production team after she had taken off from the hospital. As much as she was the main lead and had a lot of scenes, having someone sick at home was also important. Even though everybody was aware of the situation that the Shen family was in right now, as Shen Weiyin had said, she had already established herself in the entertainment circle and was not a pushover that everyone would walk over.

Shen Weiyin was also aware that if the Shen family was to go under now, she would certainly not have as much pull as she did now in the entertainment circle going forward.

She thought a lot in the backseat and finally placed a call to Lu Beichuan. As she had expected, she wasn’t able to get through to him.

Looking at the darkness of the night with her cellphone in her hand, she had no idea what her next move should be. She wasn’t able to get through to Lu Beichuan, and she definitely could not reach out to Lu Shaoyan. The wolf’s ambition could not have been more obvious ever since he had tricked Old Mr. Shen.

What Shen Weiyin didn’t understand was: Why?

Why did Lu Shaoyan do what he did? Wouldn’t he be better off working with Shen Corporation silently and to face off Lu Beichuan when he had better chips in hand?

What good would it do him to ruin the Shen Corporation ahead of time?

Shen Weiyin’s hands tightened. She finally dialed Lu Shaoyan.

“Hi, Miss Shen.”

“I don’t understand why you did what you did. Hadn’t we already had an agreement?”

“Oh, pardon me.” Lu Shaoyan did not sound regretful at all over the phone. “It’s too bad that you didn’t know me sooner. Had you known me for a few more years, you would know that I am a despicable and shameless man who changes his mind often.”

“Lu Shaoyan!”

A quick chuckle came over the phone. “If Miss Shen wanted to know so badly why I did what I did, then I shall tell you, Miss Shen. I am a petty one. Some ten years ago, Old Mr. Shen, you grandfather, fudged the result of the paternity test between my father and I and made me a b*stard child with no father. I had no idea why he did what he did to this date, but alas, what goes around comes around. Nobody who was involved in that incident will be spared.

“It was never my intention to use the Shen family for my benefit, okay? All I cared about was to find out when your family will go belly up. I am particularly unhappy that Lu Beichuan did nothing when he found out that I had been in contact with your family. That being said, it was the old man’s fault for not being able to see things clearly at his old age. I dug a hole and he couldn’t wait to jump inside and wanted to bring Lu Beichuan down as quickly as he could. Did he really think that nobody knew of what he had done back then?”

Shen Weiyin had heard about what had happened back then. She was also aware that Old Mr. Shen was the one who handled the paternity test but...

“Yes, what happened then was my grandfather’s mistake, but he was also tricked by someone else. It wasn’t all his fault!”

“Miss Shen is still so naïve. If Old Mr. Shen was not a willing participant, then how would you explain the kidnapping then?”

Shen Weiyin trembled uncontrollably and she felt a chill travelling down her spine. “What… What kidnapping?”

“Perhaps Miss Shen should ask Old Mr. Shen about that. He probably knows more details than I do.”

“That’s impossible! Lu Shaoyan, you b*stard!” Shen Weiyin shouted, losing her composure. “You are just making all this up!”

“You don’t need to believe me, Miss Shen. I figured that the Shen family won’t last for another three days. B-rated and b-rated. Even when you have risen up with the help of others, you are still B-rated deep down inside. I am guessing that Old Man Shen’s biggest regret from his hospital bed was not marrying you off to Lu Beichuan, right? Ridiculous.”

Lu Shaoyan paused a little before he carried on. “Miss Shen, now that the Shen family has gone belly up, my beef with you is over. I certainly hope that Old Mr. Shen would live out the remainder of his life so he could watch the fortune that he had spent his entire life guarding go up in flames. And, Miss Shen, I wish you all the luck at your future endeavors in the entertainment circle. Try not to let those animals in the entertainment circle swallow you whole after the Shen’s have gone belly up. I am going to hang up now if you have nothing else to say. You don’t need to contact me again in the future and I won’t pick up even if you do anyway. Finally, thank you for everything you have done for me over the years, Miss Shen. Bye.”

“Go to h*ll, Lu Shaoyan!” Shen Weiyin screamed into the phone then. She rolled down the car window and tossed her phone out to alleviate some of her anger.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Shaoyan sought comfort rolling around empty wine bottles. His bedroom door was pushed out. Not surprisingly, Lin Zhan frowned when he saw the mess.

“Hey! What’s the matter? I’m your uncle after all. It was just a few bottles of wine. Must you frown like that. Do you need to be so petty?”

Lin Zhan picked up a few empty wine bottles and set them aside quietly. “I don’t care if you drink yourself to death.”

“I’m an elder of yours, you know?” He was obviously drunk.

“When are you leaving?” asked Lin Zhan as he sat down.

“Leaving? Are you kicking me out?” Lu Shaoyan looked at him in disbelief. “You are kicking me out?”

Lin Zhan tossed his passport over to him. “You were the one who asked me to buy you tickets to leave the country yesterday.”

It was apparent that Lu Shaoyan had already forgotten all about it. He rested his hand on his forehead and thought about it long and hard. “I’ve changed my mind. Let’s go visit Old Mr. Lu in a few days.” He looked over at Lin Zhan. “You come too. He is, after all, your grandfather on paper.”

Lin Zhan neither agreed or disagreed to it.

“Word has it that Ye Zhen is pregnant again. Twins, I think.” Lu Shaoyan looked at him in an instigating way. “What are you going to do, Lin Zhan? Ye Zhen is getting further and further away from you.”

Lin Zhan looked at him coldly. Standing up abruptly, he left the room without another word, bringing with him most of the unfinished wine.

Lu Shaoyan laid back down onto the ground with his hand holding onto his necktie. “There’s no good people in the Lu family. Well, perhaps Zhouzhou is the only one who has yet to turn bad.”

***

Just as Lu Shaoyan had said, the Shen corporation didn’t have much time left in them. Lu Corporation didn’t even need to do anything to them, and they had already gotten themselves into financial difficulties. No more banks were willing to lend to them anymore. They were not able to finish up incomplete projects or pay their employees. Every employee was affected. As much as the Shen Corporation had stated that they would not owe any money to their employees, the employees were not paid when payday had come and gone.

The house of cards was starting to crumble.

During this period of time, Shen Weiyin had attended a banquet that Lu Beichuan had also attended.

She had dressed for the center of attention at the banquet and had moved around freely among the wealthy individuals. Everybody’s attention was on her. She purposefully tried to get close to Lu Beichuan but was ignored by him.

After all the toasts, Lu Beichuan was a little buzzed and was helped into a hotel room for some rest. The moment the door was opened, Shen Weiyin was lying in his bed, naked.

She figured this was her last chance.

Lu Beichuan was her last chance to save Shen Corporation.

If she could become Lu Beichuan’s woman, even if it had to remain in the dark, that would still be fine with her.

Lu Beichuan was drunk, but his head was still clear. The perfume that did not belong to Ye Zhen helped to clear him up more quickly. Leaning against the wall, he looked at the woman in bed through his drunken eyes. “Shen Weiyin?”

Shen Weiyin gritted her teeth. She flipped the blanket over so her curvy body could be seen.

No man could possibly resist that.

She reached out to hug Lu Beichuan. Her remaining shred of pride made her feel shameful of herself, and tears rolled down her face. “Beichuan, I don’t have any other options. Really, I don’t. I love you. I love you a lot.”

Lu Beichuan pushed her away as he rubbed between his brows. He looked over at her. His body was burning up from the alcohol yet he was still not interested in her at all.

“Do you not like me? My body, my face, my entire person. Everybody outside wants me. Each and every single one of them. Don’t you want me too?”

Lu Beichuan couldn’t even bother to look at her. He walked steadily toward the room door.

Shen Weiyin hugged him from behind him. “Don’t worry. If only you want to, nobody will know about it. Not even Ye Zhen.”

Lu Beichuan didn’t care that she was naked. He opened up the room door, pulled her arms off, and shoved her onto the floor. “Shen Weiyin, just look into the mirror yourself. See what you look like right now.”

For the sake of her, he at least closed the door behind him.

Shen Weiyin, who was trying to get up from the floor, was stunned by Lu Beichuan’s words.

The mirror on the bathroom door reflected her image clearly.

What did she look like right now?

She looked like a woman offering herself up for money.

Shen Weiyin covered her face with her hands and sobbed.