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Chapter 296: Looking For Dignity

Lu Yi sat down and casually crossed his legs. He looked at Fang Zhu, his face as inscrutable as a placid lake—it was the kind of bland, uninterested expression one usually directed to a stranger.

“I’ll go make us some tea. Don’t mind me.” Ye Shuyun got to her feet, relieved that she now had an excuse to get away. She had been sitting there glaring at Fang Zhu in awkward, restrained silence for some time now; if Lu Yi had returned even a second later, she was quite sure she would have lost it and gone for Fang Zhu’s throat.

“What do you want?” asked Lu Yi, his voice entirely devoid of emotion.

He had never felt anything for Fang Zhu. Some people were able to tell with a single glance that they had found their soulmate, while others dated for a while before finally realizing that they were not meant to be. The latter was precisely what had happened between him and Fang Zhu.

Lu Yi and Fang Zhu both knew that there had never been anything resembling love between them.

Fang Zhu adjusted her glasses.

“Lu Yi, I demand an explanation in regards to our relationship.”

Fang Zhu lifted her chin expectantly, like a teacher in the middle of lecturing her student.

“An explanation?” Lu Yi asked. “What exactly do you want to hear from me? I believe I’ve made myself perfectly clear—we’re just not right for each other, Fang Zhu.”

“Not right for each other?” Fang Zhu leapt to her feet, the veins in her temples throbbing furiously. “You think you can erase our history with those five words? I wasted my precious youth on you! Lu Yi! Prosecutor Lu! Are you trying to evade responsibility for your actions?”

At that moment, Ye Shuyun and her housemaid were plastered against the door, eavesdropping on Lu Yi and Fang Zhu’s conversation.

“Ma’am, that woman is entirely shameless.”

Ye Shuyun nodded vigorously in agreement. “She wants compensation for her lost youth? Well, my son wasted his youth on her, too!”

“How do you want me to take responsibility?” Lu Yi asked impassively. “By marrying you?”

“Of course.” Fang Zhu threw back her shoulders haughtily as she reseated herself. Her posture was impeccable, but it did not look natural. It looked robotic..

Lu Yi thought of Yan Huan. The young actress was careful about her image in public, but when she was at home she always made herself comfortable. She liked to lie stretched out on the sofa, with Little Bean by her feet. He remembered watching her poke Little Bean over and over again with her toes, trying to get a response out of the lazy cat. He recalled the way she had laughed at her own silly actions—like an innocent, easily entertained child.

Fang Zhu, on the other hand, was like a tough, no-nonsense man. Lu Yi did not want a man, or a “bro”—he wanted a wife, a mother to his future children. And he did not require his significant other to be a high-achiever; he only wanted to be able to pamper her and dote on her. Try as he might, he could not bring himself to feel anything for Fang Zhu—she was just a stoic, icy man in his eyes.

Fang Zhu could not even begin to guess what was going through Lu Yi’s mind. He had always been a difficult person to read, especially when he was deliberately keeping his emotions from showing on his face.

“Well?” Fang Zhu snorted condescendingly. “Are you trying to go back on your word?”

She did not actually mind having to marry someone else—breaking up with Lu Yi was not the end of the world for her. But the way the break-up had occurred annoyed her immensely: she did not like the feeling of having failed at something..

“No.” Lu Yi’s expression remained unchanged. His voice was flat and lifeless as he said, “I don’t mind marrying you.”

Fang Zhu smiled when she heard that.

Ye Shuyun, who had been hiding behind the door, rolled up her sleeves. She was about to march into the room and give Fang Zhu a piece of her mind when the housemaid restrained her. “Ma’am, let’s not be too hasty—you can still join the battle if things go south.”

Ye Shuyun let down her sleeves and settled back into her façade of being a proper lady. But the housemaid was not fooled—everyone knew that despite her lady-like name, Ye Shuyun had been notorious for her fiery temper when she was younger. She had mellowed out with the passage of time, but her temper was still very much intact; unprovoked, she was like a fine wine, but as soon as she lost her temper she turned into a boiling pot of water.

In the living room, Fang Zhu drank from the cup of water that had been set out for her on the table. The aura emanating from her was no longer sharp enough to cut—she had evidently found Lu Yi’s answer to be satisfactory.

Lu Yi turned his frosty gaze upon Fang Zhu. His expression was still entirely deadpan, but his slender phoenix eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“We’ll get married this year,” he said in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact manner, as though he were merely pointing out the sun in the sky.

“You know very well that’s out of the question.” Fang Zhu set her cup on the table. “Lu Yi, I’ve told you many times that I won’t marry before I’m 30, and I won’t have children before I’m 35. I’ve barely started on my career.”

“And I want a baby next year,” Lu Yi added.

Fang Zhu’s expression grew icy. “Lu Yi, is this your idea of a joke?”

“No.” Lu Yi looked directly into Fang Zhu’s eyes as his aura grew increasingly oppressive. “Fang Zhu, I don’t mind marrying you, but it has to happen before the year is over, and I expect to have a child from you next year. You were quick to lay out your conditions, but you never thought to ask about mine, did you? Well, if you want me to marry you, you’ll have to agree to my conditions.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Fang Zhu stood and retrieved her handbag. “Lu Yi, there isn’t a single woman on this earth who will agree to marry you this year and bear you a child by the end of next year. You underestimate what it takes for a successful pregnancy and childbirth. What do you think I am—a sow? And besides, I’m only 26. I’m not about to give up the things I’ve fought so hard just to be a housewife.”

She was a modern woman, and she was not about to waste her life like that.

Lu Yi got to his feet as well. “I gave you your chance, Fang Zhu.”

Fang Zhu was momentarily at a loss for words. She pressed her lips together as she tried to control her temper.

“There are plenty of other fish in the sea for me, you know.” With that, she turned and walked out the door, the click-clack of her high heels ringing loudly in the silence. Lu Yi’s request was entirely out of the question for her. She would rather keep her pride and dignity than give in to his demands.

“What happened?” Ye Shuyun hurried over to her son, afraid that Fang Zhu had been physically violent with him.

“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Lu Yi said reassuringly. “Don’t worry, she’ll never visit again.”

“She’ll never visit again?” Ye Shuyun sat on the sofa. She tugged dubiously at Lu Yi’s sleeve. “How can you be so sure of that?”

“She only came to reclaim her dignity, and I made sure to give her what she wanted.” Lu Yi picked up the box he had left on the table and placed it in Ye Shuyun’s hands. “Here, Mom. This is for you.”

“What’s this?” Ye Shuyun had been about to ask Lu Yi to explain Fang Zhu’s sudden change of heart, but she forgot all about it as soon as she opened the box and saw what was inside. Her eyes almost dropped out of their sockets.