The sleek black car glided through the rain-slicked streets of the city, neon signs bleeding watery reflections onto the asphalt. Inside, cocooned in leather-scented silence, Xia Yingying stared out the window, but her vision was turned inward, haunted by the specter of Yu Miyo.
' Obsessed with Lu Quinzue… yet she jumped.' The contradiction gnawed at her. Yu Miyo, from what fragmented memories remained, was calculating, ambitious. A desperate, public suicide didn't fit. Not unless… A cold certainty solidified in Xia Yingying's gut, colder than the raindrops tracing paths on the glass.' She didn't jump. Someone made her fall.' The image was visceral: a flailing figure against the brutalist facade of the Lu Corporation building, the sickening silence before the impact. 'Who? And did Yu Miyo see it coming? Did she know the abyss awaited her that day?' The questions formed a chilling latticework, a mystery buried beneath the wreckage of her own past life. Before she could delve deeper—
Beep-beep!
The sharp chime of her phone shattered the grim reverie. Xia Yingying blinked, pulling her gaze from the hypnotic blur of city lights. She unlocked the screen. Her breath hitched, sharp and audible in the quiet car. Wide, disbelieving eyes scanned the notification, then the trending topic it led to. "What in the hell?" The whisper escaped, laced with shock and a dawning sense of awe.
Lu Quinzue, who had been silently observing her profile, shifted beside her. "Wassup?" His voice was deceptively casual, a low rumble in the confined space.
"Talk like you don't know" she snapped, her voice tight. She remembered with sudden, painful clarity: his deliberate delay exiting the hall earlier. The time it would have taken… 'He did this. He leaked it.'
"I don't know" he insisted, leaning closer, his presence suddenly overwhelming. The faint scent of his sandalwood cologne mixed with the ozone smell of rain. "Really. Tell me." His gaze was steady, probing, but she saw the faintest flicker of… amusement? Challenge?
Words failed her. The short video she'd made – a tender, private tribute comparing her own recent work to her mother's rediscovered masterpiece – was now viral. Millions of views. Thousands of comments flooding in by the second. Her private world, her strong connection to her mother, laid bare for global consumption. "Thanks a lot," she managed, her voice thick. She turned her head fully towards him, eyes shimmering with unshed tears of frustration and gratitude. "Was this part of the 'contract' too?
He held her gaze, unflinching. "Well," he drawled, a slow, deliberate smile curving his lips, utterly devoid of remorse, "it's the duty of a husband to showcase his wife's brilliance. But…" He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear, his voice dropping to a velvet murmur that sent an unwelcome shiver down her spine. "I also need a reward." The deliberate flick of his tongue against his lower lip was pure provocation.
Xia Yingying's heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drum against the sudden, treacherous warmth flooding her cheeks. 'Damn him!' He was dismantling her defenses brick guiding her heart . Or was she just… crumbling too easily? The thought was terrifying.
Lu Quinzue chuckled, a low, rich sound that vibrated through the seat. He reached out, his knuckles lightly brushing her burning cheek.
"Blushing suits you" he murmured, his eyes dark with an intensity that stole her breath. "Grandma would like to see you. Tonight."
"Ohhh. Okay. That would be… nice." The words felt automatic, distant. Grandma Lu. The formidable matriarch whose fondness for Xia Yingying was the bedrock, the only pillar, upon which this entire marriage of convenience stood. In the whirlwind of revelations and Lu Quinzue's calculated games, she'd almost forgotten the original purpose. ' Yeah, almost '.
Seeking distraction, she scrolled through the deluge of online reactions, her expression a shifting canvas of disbelief, vulnerability, and morbid fascination.
>**@ArtLover42:** "HOLY HELL! That painting Xia's mom did – the woman in the black cloak?! Those red eyes are staring into my SOUL. Chills. Actual chills."
**@GothicDreamer:** "The scars look like living shadows clinging to her skin. And that bloodstain on the lower gown… deliberate placement? Feels like a silent scream about loss… a miscarriage maybe? Devastatingly beautiful."
**@ArtHistoryNerd:** "Confirming: 'Moonlight Shadow' was the elusive artist 20 years ago! Xia Yingying's mother?! This is HUGE! The textures, the sheer oppressive atmosphere… a masterpiece rediscovered!"
**@GossipGuru:** "Wait… doesn't the woman in 'Moonlight Shadow's' painting look eerily like Wen Ming? Pre-scars obviously. But the body structure, the eyes… uncanny!"
**@WenMingFan4Life:** "Don't you DARE compare that scarred specter to our perfect Wen Ming! Though… is it her? From some dark period? The resemblance is… unsettling."
**@CritiqueMaster:** "Imagine if Wen Ming had entered the gala exhibition. This 'Moonlight Shadow' piece would have obliterated the competition. Including Wen Ming's current style, frankly. Raw, unfiltered genius."
**@XiaYingyingFan:** "But Xia Yingying's own piece! 'Divine Intersection'! It's transcendent! Hauntingly beautiful. That central figure – it's her, right? Suspended in agony and grace…"
**@DeepDiver:** "Look closer! The legs, jade-smooth but brutally bruised. Every mark tells a story. And the face… LEFT EYE PIERCED, bleeding crimson tears? RIGHT EYE weeping clear tears that literally form the sea beneath her? Half the sea is blood-red, half crystal clear?! The symbolism is crushing."
**@WhodunitWatcher:** "OMG! The couple standing on the clear sea! The man holding the woman who just rose from a wheelchair! Their faces are blurred but… THAT SMIRK at the corner of their mouths! Doesn't the man look EXACTLY like Tang Qing?! And the woman… Hu Mingyou?! IS XIA PAINTING HER TORTURERS?!"
**@TeamLuAllTheWay:** "What horrors did this poor girl endure?! Tang Qing is TRASH. Lu Quinzue is a GOD in comparison. Protect Xia Yingying at all costs!"
**@FutureGazer:** "Forget the past! Look to the FUTURE! Lu Quinzue + Xia Yingying = Quiying. GENETIC PERFECTION. I NEED to see their babies! Like, STAT!"
**@HopelessRomantic:** "Imagine little raven-haired toddlers with Lu Quinzue's intense eyes and Xia's ethereal beauty… running around Lu Manor… swoons"
**@PracticalFan:** "Okay, but realistically… when's the little heir arriving? [••] Six months? A year? The people demand timelines!"
Xia Yingying's face cycled through a kaleidoscope of emotions – shock, embarrassment, a pang of grief for her mother and a strange, fluttering warmth at the public's protective fervor… and the persistent, unsettling focus on hypothetical children.
She stole a glance at Lu Quinzue. He sat opposite her in the spacious backseat now, face a stoic mask, gazing out at the passing cityscape, the intermittent streetlights casting dramatic shadows across his sharp features. The contrast between his outward calm and the storm he'd unleashed online was jarring.
She sighed, a soft, weary sound. 'A child… with him.' The thought wasn't entirely unwelcome, which was perhaps the most frightening thing. But the reality check was brutal: 'What am I to him? A contract wife fulfilling a temporary role? A convenient incubator for the Lu heir? Or… something more? Does this intimacy, this maddening attraction, mean anything real to him?'
"What are you thinking about" his voice cut through her turmoil, low and observant, "that has your face flushing like a summer peach?" He turned his head, his dark eyes pinning her, sharp and discerning.
"Ermm... Nothing!" She ducked her head, focusing intently on her phone screen, a futile attempt to hide the renewed heat in her cheeks.
"Have you read the comments?" he pressed, his gaze deepening, holding hers captive. "The ones that seem to have lit a particular spark?"
"Yes" she admitted, her voice small. The blush deepened, spreading down her neck. "Don't listen to them. People… people will always talk nonsense."
"Indeed, they will," he agreed smoothly, a hint of that infuriating amusement back in his tone. "But why, Xia Yingying, does talk of our hypothetical progeny make you behave so… strangely?" He leaned forward slightly, invading her personal space, his presence magnetic and unsettling. "We are married, after all. The speculation is… logical."
"Why wouldn't I be strange?" she retorted, finally meeting his eyes with a spark of defiance, her lower lip jutting out in an unconscious pout. "They're dissecting our future family like lab specimens! It's… invasive!"
A slow, predatory smile spread across Lu Quinzue's face. He closed the remaining distance between them in the seat, his voice dropping to a husky, intimate whisper that seemed to vibrate directly against her skin.
"Invasion implies unwanted entry" he murmured, his breath warm on her ear, his fingers brushing a stray strand of hair from her temple. "But creating that future… making that child…" His lips grazed the shell of her ear, sending jolts of electricity down her spine. "That wouldn't be unpleasant. In fact, the process promises to be… exceptionally rewarding. Perhaps we should start practicing? Ensuring optimal… compatibility?"
"You—!*" Mortification and a traitorous thrill warred within her. She reacted instinctively, shoving hard against his solid chest. "Pervert!"
He barely budged, catching her wrist effortlessly. His chuckle was dark, rich, and utterly shameless. "Violent too. I appreciate the spirit." His thumb stroked the delicate skin of her inner wrist, sending fresh waves of heat through her. "But it makes me intensely curious…" His gaze dropped deliberately to her lips, then back to her wide, furious eyes, glistening eyes "...if you fight this fiercely in all arenas, Yingying? Especially… the bedroom?"
Xia Yingying yanked her wrist free, scrambling back against the door, wishing the plush leather seat would swallow her whole. Speechless, flushed from head to toe, she could only glare, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. He just laughed, the sound echoing in the luxurious confines of the car, a conqueror utterly pleased with his prey's reaction.
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