Five years without pregnancy means you're too weak; I remarried a powerful man and had triplets

From beginning to end, Lu Zichuan maintained the same posture: his legs crossed, his elbows resting on the sofa armrests, supporting half of his face, and tilting his head, watching this absurd farce as if he were watching a play.

After Su Manman finished crying out, the ward was quiet for a few seconds.

He slowly raised his eyelids, his gaze falling on Xu Zhesheng's pale, distorted face, and asked in a light tone, "What do you say?"

Xu Zhesheng gritted his teeth and glared at him fiercely: "What do you mean, 'how to say'? Didn't you give me that paternity test back then? Now you're asking me? Lu Zichuan, you really are a master at playing dumb!"

Lu Zichuan raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard something amusing, and a half-smile played on his lips: "When I gave it to you, didn't you swear that I forged it? Since you, as the person involved, said so, what could I do?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Su Manman, who was still sobbing on the ground, his tone carrying a hint of casual pity: "Miss Su does look pitiful crying. Besides, you just hit her, which was really wrong. If you really don't admit that the child is yours, and she actually goes to the police station to report you for intentional assault, your directing career will be over. What do you say?"

His words were ambiguous, seemingly trying to reconcile the two sides, yet also appearing to be stirring up trouble.

Xu Zhesheng couldn't figure out what he meant at all, his brows furrowing into a tight knot: "Just say what you want to say."

"bingo."

Lu Zichuan snapped his fingers, the sound ringing out crisply in the deathly silent ward.

He finally sat up straight, placing his hands clasped on his knees, as if announcing a major business decision:

"Anyway, you want a child, and Miss Su was someone you were with. Regardless of whose child it is, your family has taken good care of it. Why don't you two get married soon? It'll be legitimate, and everyone will be happy."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, not only Xu Zhesheng, but also Zhang Feng and Xu Zhi jumped up as if their tails had been stepped on.

"That child isn't even Zhe's! What would we want with him?!"

Zhang Feng shouted in a shrill voice, pointing her finger directly at Lu Zichuan, "Besides, who do you think you are? Even if you're from the Lu family, you have no right to interfere in other people's family affairs! Let me tell you, Su Manman deceived us first, and we will never let this go!"

Zhang Feng was quick-witted and spoke without any politeness, pointing at Lu Zichuan with a tone full of hostility.

Xu Zhesheng also frowned, completely unable to understand what Lu Zichuan was planning.

He said coldly, "Su Manman and I agreed that the child would stay with me after it was born, and she would go abroad on her own. Now the child isn't mine, and there's no future for us."

Lu Zichuan slowly turned to look at Su Manman: "Does Miss Su agree?"

Su Manman gritted her teeth, her tears instantly fading. Her voice, though still hoarse, carried a resolute determination: "Going abroad is fine. But not a penny less of the money you promised me. And the house, and my future resources!"

"You're dreaming!" Xu Zhesheng glared at her fiercely. "You're trying to pass off a bastard as my child? Why should I give you money? Go find the child's father!"

Now that things have come to this, Su Manman stopped pretending.

She got up from the ground, disheveled but with her back ramrod straight, meeting Xu Zhesheng's gaze without fear:

"You're the father of this child. I told you I was pregnant, and you were the one who admitted it. I still have the recordings from back then. If you're not afraid of losing face, I'll release them all. Anyway, I can't survive without money, and dragging Director Xu down with me feels great!"

Throughout their year-long relationship, Su Manman had always been gentle and compliant, and Xu Zhesheng had long thought that she was an easy target.

But her desperate, all-or-nothing attitude completely overturned his understanding.

The sheer determination in her eyes, as if she were prepared to die with him, sent a chill down his spine.

This matter will absolutely not end well.

But to expect him to be someone else's father and even have to pay him out of his own pocket? How could he possibly swallow that insult?

He bit his lower lip so hard that it bled, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Only then did Lu Zichuan slowly lower his right leg off his left, shifting his position and placing his hands on his knees. His tone carried a condescending pity: "Director Xu's current situation is truly tragic."

He tilted his head slightly, as if talking to himself, yet also to his assistant Wang behind him: "So, a man still needs to control his lower body. Otherwise, the consequences can be really dire, right, Assistant Wang?"

Assistant Wang had been working alongside Lu Zichuan for many years and had never seen his boss act like this, seemingly enjoying the drama.

He suppressed a laugh, his lips twitching slightly: "Yeah, men who can't control their lower bodies are like rotten cabbages—they think they smell good, but others find them rotten."

Xu Zhesheng, listening to the master and servant's back-and-forth banter, his temples bulging with veins, could no longer contain himself. He abruptly stood up, pointed to the door, and shouted, "If you came to see me make a fool of myself, you've had enough now. You can get out!"

"Hmm?" Lu Zichuan raised one eyebrow, a barely perceptible smile flashing in his unfathomable eyes. He looked at Xu Zhesheng with pity, as if looking at someone about to drown but still struggling:

"I'm not here to laugh at you."

He leaned forward slightly, placed his hands on his knees, and said, slowly and deliberately:

"I'm here to help you, Director Xu."

Xu Zhesheng sneered, his eyes full of mockery: "Help me? You helped Shen Zhiyi before, then you wanted to help Su Manman, and now you want to help me? I had no idea the Lu family started a charity, lending a hand to everyone in need?"

Lu Zichuan ignored his sarcastic remarks and simply gave Assistant Wang a faint look.

Assistant Wang understood immediately, took out a neatly bound document from his pocket, and pushed it across the table in front of Xu Zhesheng.

"Director Xu," Assistant Wang said respectfully, yet with an air of absolute authority, "this is the contract our CEO Lu has prepared for you. You can take a look before making a decision."

Xu Zhesheng stared at the document with suspicion. Reason told him he shouldn't accept it, but curiosity ultimately overcame his resistance.

He pursed his lips, grabbed the contract, and began to read it.

The more he looked, the darker his face became.

When he turned to the last page, he practically slammed the contract back at Lu Zichuan, his eyes bloodshot and his voice hoarse: "You want to buy my happiness with money?!"

Lu Zichuan chuckled softly, a laugh as light as a feather yet as heavy as Mount Tai: "Director Xu, please use your words more precisely. I'm trying to help you resolve this matter."

Xu Zhesheng's face was a patchwork of colors, a mixture of anger, shame, resentment, and despair.

The contract clearly stated that once his and Shen Zhiyi's cooling-off period for divorce ended, he must unconditionally cooperate with the divorce proceedings, all transferred assets must be returned during this period, and he must agree to Shen Zhiyi's conditions of 80% of the assets plus 5 million in compensation.

In exchange, Lu Zichuan will personally make up 50% of his financial losses and use Lu's resources to fully promote his film. Subsequent investments in his film will also be injected at a rate 10% higher than the market price.

But there was an additional condition at the end of the contract.

He must get a marriage certificate with Su Manman.

Xu Zhesheng stared at the words, his fingers trembling, as if he had been slapped in the face in public.