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

"What's up?"

Lu Zichuan stood at the corner of the stairs, looking down at the girl in front of him.

Yuan Hongsu is a sophomore this year, just turned twenty. She has a pretty face, but her eyes are always shrouded in a layer of timidity, like a rabbit that is always ready to be startled.

He hadn't done anything wrong, yet she always acted as if he had bullied her.

Lu Zichuan flipped back a few pages of his memory.

Yuan Jiaqin used to bring Yuan Hongsu to the Lu family whenever she had free time, ostensibly to have Zichuan tutor her, but he had long seen through her true intentions.

But Yuan Hongsu was hardly intelligent.

She could spend half a day working on the questions that he could answer with a glance.

Even though he patiently explained the principles again and again, she still seemed to understand but not quite, nodding like a chick pecking at rice, and then forgetting everything when she did a problem.

What annoyed him even more was that she wasn't paying attention to the questions at all.

Every time he explained a problem to her, she would stare at him blankly, her eyes wandering, her breathing extremely light, as if she were looking at him, or as if she were looking through him at something else.

The pen tip remained motionless on the paper for a long time.

Being stupid is not a problem.

But if a person's mind is not on the matter itself, then such "teaching" is meaningless.

Lu Zichuan had neither the patience nor the interest to accompany someone who was only half-heartedly performing a one-man show.

Later, every time Yuan Jiaqin brought her over, he would find an excuse to slip away, to the library, the sports field, or the company. He would never stay in that living room and sit across from Yuan Hongsu.

Yuan Hongsu seemed to sense his resistance.

Every time he got up to leave, she would stand there with tears in her eyes, watching his back, but she never chased after him.

But Yuan Jiaqin seemed completely oblivious, or perhaps she did sense it but simply couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

She brought her daughter to the Lu family home even more frequently.

Helpless, Lu Zichuan simply bought a house near the school in his second year of high school and moved out.

After that, Yuan Hongsu could only be seen during family gatherings on holidays.

He was indifferent, and she was timid, lowering her head after just one glance from afar; there was always an unbreakable distance between them.

But Yuan Jiaqin did not give up.

She began to mention, intentionally or unintentionally, in various situations that Susu and Zichuan were childhood sweethearts and would take care of each other in the future.

She never said it outright, but that thin veil between them was as thin as paper.

Lu Zichuan understood and knew what she wanted to do: to push Yuan Hongsu to his side, preferably to his bed and onto his household registration.

Lu Zichuan was disgusted by this kind of scheming.

Fortunately, Yuan Hongsu was not like her mother. She knew he didn't like it, so she dutifully kept her distance and never took the initiative to get closer.

Today was the first time she had taken the initiative to approach him.

"Cousin, cousin's brother..."

Yuan Hongsu gripped the hem of her dress tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Her face was flushed red, and her timid eyes looked at him as if she had used all her strength to dare to stand here.

Lu Zichuan's gaze passed over her and looked out through the glass window beside him.

In the courtyard, Shen Zhiyi was taking a walk with Lu Xiaojing.

She already walked slowly, and to match the old woman's pace, she deliberately slowed down, turning her body slightly towards the old woman and nodding in response from time to time.

He Wenshu walked on the other side, and the three of them chatted and laughed.

He couldn't hear what they were talking about through the glass, but he could clearly see the gentle smile on Shen Zhiyi's face.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Fortunately, her family didn't put pressure on her.

He withdrew his gaze and looked back at Yuan Hongsu, his voice flat and devoid of any emotion: "Speak."

A single word, as precious as gold.

His mind was still mostly on the person in the courtyard; he didn't want to waste even a second longer on the girl in front of him.

Startled by his undisguised coldness, Yuan Hongsu shrank back, nervously licking her lower lip. "I...I came to congratulate you...on finding a girlfriend..."

"That girl... seems very gentle and has a great personality... For you to like her, she must have something special about her..."

Congratulations...

She spoke haltingly, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between her teeth, but she managed to finish the sentence.

But her eyes kept glancing uneasily toward the corner of the corridor.

Lu Zichuan glanced around indifferently in the direction of her gaze; the area was empty.

But he knew in his heart that Yuan Jiaqin was standing in that corner, watching all of this.

Yuan Hongsu was never a proactive person.

Given her personality, she would never take the initiative to come up to him and say a word unless he spoke first.

She only came here today because her mother forced her to.

Always.

Lu Zichuan felt no emotion whatsoever. He wouldn't pity her for this. In his eyes, if a person couldn't even decide what they wanted to do or didn't want to do, then all that remained was cowardice.

"Thanks."

He uttered two words casually, his tone as calm as if he were dealing with an insignificant stranger.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

He turned to the side, preparing to leave her.

"Wait! Uncle!"

Yuan Hongsu suddenly panicked, her hand that had been gripping the hem of her clothes suddenly loosened, and she lunged forward, trying to hug him.

Lu Zichuan reacted quickly, stepping back. Yuan Hongsu missed her target and staggered forward two steps due to inertia, about to crash into the wall.

He frowned, raised his hand, and gently pulled her back, his palm brushing past her waist.

Yuan Hongsu was supported by him, and she gasped for breath, her face pale with shock.

But then she realized that she was standing right in front of him, so close that she could smell the faint scent of pine on him. Her face flushed red instantly, all the way to her ears.

"I'm so sorry..."

Yuan Hongsu blushed and instinctively tried to back away, but her body seemed rooted to the spot, unwilling to break free from this sudden close contact. Her hands hung helplessly at her sides, and she was incredibly awkward, the blush spreading from her cheeks all the way down to her neck.

A hint of impatience flashed in Lu Zichuan's eyes. He was about to let go of her hand when he looked up and found that the people who had been strolling in the courtyard had returned.

Shen Zhiyi, Lu Xiaojing, and He Wenshu were walking into the foyer from the garden.

From this angle, his hand is on Yuan Hongsu's waist, and the two are so close that they are almost touching.

To outsiders, it looked as if he had taken the initiative to pull Yuan Hongsu into his arms.

"Hey! Zichuan, what are you doing?"

He Wenshu was the first to react. He quickly stepped forward, slapped Lu Zichuan's hand away, and then turned to look at the door with a guilty conscience.

Shen Zhiyi stood there.

She had just stepped in with one foot, while the other remained outside the threshold, as if she couldn't decide whether to go in or back.

His face was expressionless, but something in his eyes dimmed for a moment.

Lu Zichuan's heart tightened, and he almost immediately released his grip, took half a step back, and distanced himself from Yuan Hongsu.

Just then, Yuan Jiaqin finally emerged from the shadows around the corner.

A smile graced her face, her eyes crinkling into crescents, and her tone carried a feigned surprise and delight: "Oh dear, what's going on?"

"I saw you two whispering here when I passed by earlier. How come you're hugging so soon?"