Chapter 6 - The Scallion Counter
The silence stretched until the crackle of the birch logs sounded like bone snapping.
Lu Guowei smirked, stepping forward like a dog that had smelled blood. "Of course he paid her! Look at her clothes, Grandfather! She's a professional imposter hired to—"
"Yes," Lin Chen said.
She didn't look at Lu Zongheng. She looked straight into the milky, terrifying eyes of the old man.
"He paid me twenty yuan," she said clearly.
Lu Miaomiao let out a high-pitched laugh. "Twenty yuan? Is that your hourly rate for fraud?"
"No," Lin Chen said, her voice dropping into a quiet, steady rhythm that filled the high-ceilinged room. "I gave him twenty yuan this morning because he was sitting on the curb behind the fish market looking like he hadn't eaten in three days. He offered me a fake check for three million to test if I was greedy. When I told him to take his fake check and buy himself some steamed buns, he brought me to a tea shop and offered me a deal."
Old Man Lu didn't interrupt. He leaned back against the mahogany chair, his fingers tapping the silver head of his cane.
"Go on," the old man said.
"My mother is in St. Mary's with end-stage renal failure," Lin Chen said, her chin lifting as she spoke the truth without an ounce of self-pity. "My uncle is trying to steal her house. I need money for her dialysis. Your grandson needs a wife who doesn't work for his board of directors. So we signed a paper. He pays her medical bills; I stand here and take the insult from your family for twelve months. It's a trade, Mr. Lu. Clean, legal, and honest."
Lu Guowei looked like he was about to explode. "Grandfather! She admits it! It's a fake marriage! It's an invalid contract under—"
"She didn't lie," Old Man Lu said softly.
He looked at Lu Zongheng, a dark, dangerous smile flickering across his old lips.
"In forty years," the old man said, "you are the first person in this family to bring a truth into this room, Zongheng. Everyone else who walks through those rosewood doors tells me they love me, they love the company, they love the family honor—while they're checking my pulse to see when the inheritance clears."
The old man stood up slowly, leaning heavily on his cane. He reached out and picked up the two red marriage books, slipping them into his own cardigan pocket.
"The marriage is valid," Old Man Lu declared, his voice cutting through the hall like a final judgment. "She stays in the East Wing. She eats at the main table. And if I hear that anyone in this house—including you, Guowei—has spoken to her like a maid again, I will transfer the five percent voting pool in the logistics division directly into her name."
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Lu Guowei’s eyes went wide with pure horror. "Grandfather—you can't give voting shares to an outsider!"
"She's not an outsider," the old man said, turning his back on them as he began walking slowly toward the rear courtyard. "She's Lin Shan's daughter. She knows the value of steel."
