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

A calm voice came from the other end of the phone: "Yes, have you spoken to the landlord?"

"We've already spoken to them. As you said, the rent has been reduced to the lowest possible level. The contract is for one year, with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent paid upfront. All other terms will proceed according to the normal procedure."

Okay. Don't let her find out.

"Don't worry, I'm very tight-lipped." The agent hung up the phone, put on his professional smile again, and turned to walk back into the living room. "Ms. Shen, shall we come to sign the contract tomorrow?"

Shen Zhiyi put away her phone, nodded, and her gaze fell once again on the floor-to-ceiling window.

The sun had already set, and the city lights outside the window were just coming on, glittering brightly.

Despite the lingering sense of unease, Shen Zhiyi couldn't find any fault with the house.

The location is close to the company, the decoration style is simple and clean, and the most important thing is the price, which is so low that it's practically charity.

Especially the south-facing master bedroom and open kitchen, they were practically a one-to-one replica of the blueprints in her mind.

She took a deep breath and comforted herself, thinking that perhaps this was God's first reward for her after the divorce.

"When can we move into this house?" she asked, suppressing her unease.

The agent's face was beaming with smiles, and his tone was even more solicitous than before: "Whenever you want, it's anytime! The landlord has entrusted everything to me; he's just hoping to find a reliable tenant as soon as possible."

Shen Zhiyi thought for a moment and realized that she still had a lot of clothes and miscellaneous items scattered around Tan Gui's house. She could drag Tan Gui along to move them over the weekend.

She nodded: "Then let's set it for this weekend."

After setting the time, she slowly began her journey home, her steps lighter than usual, as if she had finally lifted a stone that had been weighing on her heart for a long time.

After hanging up the call with the agent, Assistant Wang immediately knocked on Lu Zichuan's office door.

"Mr. Lu, the apartment you left vacant in Wanhua Apartments has been rented by Ms. Shen," Assistant Wang reported respectfully.

Lu Zichuan looked up from the mountain of project documents, and upon hearing this, a faint smile flashed across his eyes. He simply gave a soft "hmm".

It went much more smoothly than he had expected.

He owns many properties in Beijing.

After learning that she wanted to rent an apartment, he specially had someone select several high-quality properties near the company.

The original plan was that if she wasn't satisfied with the first set, there would be a second and a third set as backups.

Unexpectedly, she immediately placed an order for that set.

Seeing that Lu Zichuan didn't say much, Assistant Wang hesitated for a moment before finally asking the question that had been bothering her: "Mr. Lu, you previously spent twice the market price to buy the apartment above Ms. Shen in order to get closer to her. Now that she's moved out, how... will you see her in the future?"

Lu Zichuan put down his pen and rubbed his throbbing temples.

This is also what frustrates him the most right now.

Shen Zhiyi was too vigilant.

Once she realized her feelings for him, she retreated into her shell like a startled snail.

Now she not only has to move out of Tan Gui's house, but also deliberately creates physical distance between them.

He wasn't without ways to stop it.

With just a word from him, he could refuse to rent this house, or even any house on the market, to her for various reasons.

But he didn't want to do that.

What he wanted was never to use tricks to keep her by his side, much less to take her by force.

He wanted to be her support, her strength, so that she could willingly fly towards him.

"As long as she's happy," Lu Zichuan replied calmly, his voice revealing no emotion.

He then picked up his pen again and focused his attention back on the dense text.

However, after Assistant Wang quietly closed the door and left, the office returned to deathly silence.

Lu Zichuan leaned back in his chair, only to find that he couldn't concentrate on any of the words in front of him.

He irritably loosened his tie, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally picked up his phone to dial his brother Lu Ziyang's number.

At this moment, Lu Ziyang had just finished dinner and was playing with building blocks on the carpet in the living room with his daughter, Lu Han.

He was somewhat surprised to receive a call from his younger brother and instinctively pressed speakerphone.

"Brother," Lu Zichuan called out softly.

Lu Han was snuggling in his arms, acting coquettishly, her soft little hands tugging at his shirt buttons, begging him to help her solve the riddle.

Lu Ziyang smiled helplessly and gently patted her hair: "Hanhan, be good. Your uncle called. Let's listen to what he has to say, okay?"

Lu Han nodded understandingly, leaned closer to the phone, and called out crisply into the caller ID, "Uncle~"

The voice was soft and sweet, with a childlike quality, like a breeze carrying the fragrance of flowers, instantly dispelling much of the gloom in Lu Zichuan's heart.

His tightly pressed lips unconsciously curved into a smile, and his tone softened as he coaxed, "Good evening, Hanhan."

After chatting about everyday matters, Lu Han was taken to take a bath by the nanny. Only then did Lu Ziyang pick up his phone again, his tone becoming more serious: "What's wrong? You're the kind of person who never calls me at this hour. What happened?"

Lu Zichuan held his phone, listening to his brother's concerned voice, pursed his lips, and for a moment didn't know how to speak.

The two were brothers after all, and Lu Ziyang almost instantly caught Lu Zichuan's hesitant expression. He raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile appearing in his eyes, and asked with a hint of teasing, "What, is it about that Miss Shen?"

Lu Zichuan was silent for two seconds, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he gave a low "hmm," his voice muffled as if it were being squeezed out of his chest.

"I want to know... how you managed to win over your sister-in-law."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a burst of unrestrained laughter.

"Brother!" Lu Zichuan called out through gritted teeth, his ears burning uncontrollably.

Lu Ziyang's laughter boomed through the phone, barely stopping after a long while, his breathing still unsteady: "I'm sorry, Zichuan, I didn't mean it. I just never thought that someone as arrogant as you would fall for a woman."

He cleared his throat, his tone laced with mockery: "Come on, tell me, what exactly happened between you two? Didn't you bring her home to meet your parents last time? Is the pretend-couple game getting boring? Or...did it become real?"

Lu Zichuan took a deep breath and forcefully resisted the urge to turn the phone face down.

He told Lu Ziyang everything that happened in the kitchen that day, Shen Zhiyi's hasty retreat, and how she had been avoiding him like the plague these past few days.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, broken only by Lu Ziyang's occasional soft clicks of the tongue.

"...So," Lu Ziyang concluded slowly after listening, "you think this girl is now aware of her feelings for you, and that you pursued her too aggressively before, scaring her away?"

Lu Zichuan hummed in agreement again.

This time, the sound was even more muffled than before.