Old Master Lu’s fingers tapped once against the armrest before stilling again. "The question now is whether this operation was designed to pressure the Lu family..." He paused slightly. "Or divide it."

Lu Shaohan’s gaze shifted toward him. "There’s no difference."

Old Master Lu considered the response quietly before nodding once. Perhaps there wasn’t. Not anymore. Because once succession became unstable, division followed naturally. The Lu family had survived for decades through centralized control, but pressure applied directly to inheritance created fractures faster than any external business attack ever could. Especially when children became involved.

Old Master Lu leaned back slightly in his chair, his thoughts visibly reorganizing themselves. "The women must be isolated properly," he said. "Not threatened. Not frightened. If they panic now, they become unpredictable."

Lu Shaohan understood immediately. Women in their condition, especially those tied to prominent families, could not simply be detained aggressively without consequences. If word spread that the Lu family had confined pregnant women connected to influential households, the narrative could turn dangerous very quickly.

"We need to know how much they understand," Lu Shaohan said quietly.

"Yes."

"And whether they volunteered."

That question remained hanging between them. Because if the women had knowingly participated, then this became a conspiracy. But if they had been manipulated—the situation became even worse.

Old Master Lu’s gaze sharpened slightly. "You think they were deceived?"

"I think they were selected," Lu Shaohan replied.

That distinction mattered. Selected implied usefulness rather than agency. Carefully chosen women from the right backgrounds, carrying the right social value, introduced at the right moment. Not random participants. Assets.

The room fell quiet again.

Then Old Master Lu spoke more slowly. "And Su Wan?"

Lu Shaohan’s expression did not visibly shift, but his attention sharpened immediately at the mention of her name.

"She’s injured," he said.

It was not an answer.

Old Master Lu noticed that at once. "You are avoiding the question."

Lu Shaohan’s gaze lowered briefly before returning to the older man. "She believes I orchestrated both the attack and the women."

"And do you care?"

The question was direct enough to cut through the room’s careful restraint.

For several moments Lu Shaohan did not answer. Not because he lacked one. Because he was choosing the correct version of it.

Finally, he spoke. "She reacts to pressure differently than expected."

Old Master Lu watched him carefully. "That was not what I asked."

"No," Lu Shaohan agreed quietly. "It wasn’t."

The silence that followed stretched longer this time. Because beneath the larger crisis unfolding around them, another shift had already begun—smaller, quieter, but no less dangerous. Su Wan was no longer merely a temporary arrangement carrying an heir. Somewhere between the attack, the hospital, and the confrontation in the corridor, she had stopped behaving like someone protected by the Lu family and started behaving like someone negotiating with it.

Old Master Lu recognized the shift clearly. "She is beginning to establish a position," he said.

Lu Shaohan did not deny it. The memory surfaced almost immediately in his mind: her standing in the corridor despite the pain in her arm, looking at him without retreat, without softness, without fear. Even her accusation had not sounded emotional. It had sounded evaluative. As though she were measuring whether he belonged among the threats surrounding her.

Old Master Lu continued watching him. "That can become troublesome."

"It already is."

The answer came more quickly than intended.

A faint pause followed. Then Old Master Lu’s eyes narrowed slightly with interest rather than surprise. "You’re more affected by her than you realize."

Lu Shaohan’s expression cooled immediately. "This is not personal."

"No," Old Master Lu replied calmly. "Not yet."

The study fell silent again. Outside, faint movement continued somewhere deeper in the residence—guards repositioning, servants whispering, doors opening and closing softly. The entire estate had entered a state of quiet instability, where everyone understood something serious had happened, but no one yet understood where the real danger lay.

Then a knock came at the study door.

Both men looked toward it at once.

"Enter."

The door opened carefully, and one of the senior household attendants stepped inside. His posture remained respectful, but tension ran beneath it.

"Old Master. President Lu."

His eyes lowered briefly before continuing. "One of the women is refusing an examination."

The atmosphere inside the study changed instantly.

Lu Shaohan’s gaze sharpened. "Which one?"

"The third woman, sir. Chen Ru."

Of course. Not the frightened one. Not the silent one. The composed one. The woman who had spoken most carefully in the hall.

Old Master Lu’s expression darkened slightly. "What reason did she give?"

The attendant hesitated. "She said..." He paused carefully. "She said she will only speak once she receives assurance that neither she nor her child will be discarded after verification."

Silence settled heavily through the room. Because that statement revealed something important immediately.

Chen Ru understood exactly what kind of house she had entered.

And worse—she understood what she represented inside it.

The study remained silent for several moments after the attendant finished speaking. The weight of Chen Ru’s words lingered in the room long after the door had closed behind him.

Neither Lu Shaohan nor Old Master Lu responded at once, because the statement itself revealed far more than a simple refusal. It revealed awareness—not panic, not confusion, not desperation, but a clear and calculated understanding. Chen Ru had entered the Lu Residence already knowing exactly what position she occupied and exactly what could happen to her once that position was verified. A frightened woman would have asked for protection first. An uncertain woman would demanded explanation. But Chen Ru had spoken about disposal, which meant she already understood the structure she had stepped into.

Old Master Lu’s expression hardened slightly as he considered the implication. "She anticipated verification," he said quietly.

Lu Shaohan’s gaze lowered briefly in thought before lifting again. "Yes."

"And she expected resistance afterward."

The room grew still again, because that changed the nature of her involvement at once. Whether manipulated or not, Chen Ru was not completely blind to the situation surrounding her. She understood enough to negotiate before offering cooperation, and that alone separated her from the other two women.

Old Master Lu folded his hands slowly on the desk. "She may know more than the others."

"Or she knows enough to survive," Lu Shaohan replied.

The distinction mattered. People in vulnerable positions often learned quickly where leverage existed, and pregnancy inside a family like the Lus was not merely emotional value—it was strategic value. Chen Ru clearly understood that once her child’s legitimacy was established, her own treatment would become dependent on how useful—or how dangerous—she remained.

Old Master Lu studied Lu Shaohan carefully. "You should speak to her personally."

Lu Shaohan’s eyes shifted toward him. "You think she’ll talk to me?"

"I think she expected to."

That possibility settled quietly between them, because women like Chen Ru did not arrive in powerful households without preparing themselves psychologically first. If she had already anticipated being questioned, isolated, and possibly removed afterward, then she had also anticipated who would eventually come to confront her directly.

Lu Shaohan remained silent for a moment before nodding once. "I’ll handle it."

Old Master Lu watched him rise from beside the desk. "And Shaohan."

Lu Shaohan paused near the door.

Old Master Lu’s expression had grown colder now, more deliberate. "Do not approach this emotionally."

The warning was subtle but unmistakable, because the situation surrounding the women had already begun bleeding into the situation surrounding Su Wan, and emotional miscalculation inside a succession conflict could become catastrophic very quickly.

Lu Shaohan’s expression did not shift. "I know."

But whether he truly did remained uncertain even to himself.

He left the study quietly, the door closing behind him with the same controlled softness as before.

Outside, the atmosphere inside the Lu Residence had changed completely from the earlier chaos of the morning.

The corridors remained calm on the surface, yet tension lingered everywhere now, woven into the silence itself.

Servants moved carefully, lowering their voices instinctively whenever footsteps approached.

Guards stationed along the hallways appeared outwardly composed, but their attention had sharpened noticeably. The house had entered containment mode, and everyone inside it could feel it.

Lu Shaohan walked through the eastern corridor without slowing. As he passed one of the side hallways, two attendants immediately straightened and lowered their heads.

"President Lu." He acknowledged neither greeting.