Chapter 007: Lu Yiqing’s Resolve!

At this moment, Su Yunjin had no idea that she had become the target of Lu Yiqing’s schemes. Having skipped the meeting, her afternoon unfolded with a simple tranquility: after returning to the hotel, she completed her evening prayers, then went for a run in the central park across from the hotel as dusk settled.

Upon her return, she called her grandparents. Years ago, during her school days, a landline had been installed at Seven Peaks Mountain. When she returned after her studies, it lay unused—until now. With her having left the mountain, the phone had found purpose once more.

She chatted with her grandparents for about an hour, and by 8:40 p.m., she was already asleep. The afternoon had passed quietly, uneventfully.

At that very same moment, far away in the Lu household, Lu Yiqing had just returned home when his father, Lu Yuanhang, called out to him.

“What did you do today?”

In the vast living room, warm light bathed the luxurious decor, creating an air of cultivated comfort. On the sofa, Lu Yuanhang’s voice was as cold as a polar glacier.

“In the morning, I met with a few partners. Had lunch. Then, well… meetings, and more meetings, and more meetings…” Lu Yiqing stood in the corridor, counting off his schedule on his fingers.

Smack!

Before he could finish, Lu Yuanhang slammed the report in his hand down onto the coffee table.

Lu Yiqing blinked in surprise, glancing at his father. Beside him sat a woman who looked at least a decade younger than Lu Yuanhang, and she now spoke up in a languid, syrupy voice.

“Honey, if you have something to say, say it nicely. Why get upset? Yiqing’s a grown man—he has his own ideas.”

Her tone was so cloying it made one’s skin crawl. But for Lu Yiqing, the feeling was one of pure disgust—she was not his biological mother, but Wang Caijuan, one of his father’s unknown number of wives.

The old adage of “a man with three wives and four concubines” was embodied to perfection by his father. As a child, Lu Yiqing was revolted; as an adult, he had grown numb, turning a blind eye to the endless parade of women at his father’s side.

A free housekeeper—who would say no?

“This doesn’t concern you. Go to your room,” Lu Yuanhang ordered the elegant woman at his side coldly. Obediently, she rose and left.

Once her back was turned, the mask of servility vanished; her face was now all smug satisfaction. That afternoon, when Lu Yuanhang returned, he had heard from Zhang Zhichang about the meeting. Hearing Zhang’s evasive tone, she immediately sensed there was more to the story.

She sent an informant within the company to investigate and soon learned that Lu Yiqing had publicly berated Zhang Zhichang at the meeting.

For years, the old man had tried to arrange a match between Lu Yiqing and the heiress of Seven Peaks Sect, but Lu Yiqing refused to cooperate. In the past, there was little to be done, but now, even with the girl having left the mountain, Lu Yiqing remained defiant.

To berate Zhang Zhichang at the meeting was as good as publicly slapping the old man in the face. If he had been her own son, she might have tried to cover for him—but he was not. She had a son of her own, and if she didn’t seize the moment to fan the flames, who could say when her foolish boy would catch the old man’s eye?

With such a vast family fortune, how could she let her son have no share?

She hummed softly and went upstairs.

“Why did you berate Zhang Zhichang at the meeting this afternoon? And I hear you told his team to work through the night, picking out troublemakers for the show—is that true?” With Wang Caijuan gone, Lu Yuanhang got straight to the point.

“Dad, didn’t you say you wouldn’t interfere with my show business?” Lu Yiqing sat on the sofa, his tone equally serious. “But this time, you undermined me and invited Su Yunjin as the lead mentor. In all fairness, as executive producer, I have every right to question it.”

“Question it? Since when does ‘questioning’ mean berating someone?” Lu Yuanhang snapped.

“Dad…”

“Don’t deny it. None of us are fools—don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking.” Lu Yuanhang gritted his teeth, his voice sharp. “I just don’t get it—what exactly do you find lacking in Yunjin? Seven Peaks Sect! So many prestigious families want to attach themselves to them, and there are plenty with more power and influence than the Lu family. Anyone else would be overjoyed at such an opportunity.

“If your grandfather hadn’t saved Old Master Qi years ago, you’d never have the chance to marry into Seven Peaks Sect. I watched Yunjin grow up—she’s outstanding in every way, in both knowledge and appearance. Is she really not as good as that online singer?

“What’s so special about her?”

Lu Yiqing fell silent.

His infatuation with the singer Wildfire was no secret in the Lu family. Everyone was curious—even Pei Xuan thought he was mad, obsessed with someone he’d never met.

But who really knew? After his brother’s accident, not even a month later, his mother died in a car crash.

From then on, the two people he loved most and who loved him most were gone.

He drifted through his days in a daze, as if caught in a dream, at a time when he needed comfort most. But when tragedy struck, the Lu family’s misfortunes gave their enemies the perfect opening.

His mother’s seven-day memorial wasn’t even over when the family’s stocks plummeted overnight, their businesses thrown into turmoil. The Lu family was beset on all sides. His father was consumed with staving off disaster and had no attention to spare for him.

Back then, some would have liked nothing more than to see him utterly destroyed. He still remembered how, overnight, his security detail swelled to a dozen or more. No stranger was permitted within half a step—no matter where he was.

On the surface, he was Lu family’s young master. In truth, he was little more than a stray dog.

No friends. No family.

It was then that Wildfire appeared—her wild, unrestrained music filled his inner emptiness.

She gave him salvation, and with it, courage. For her sake, he’d even considered entering the entertainment industry.

But he couldn’t.

He was the Lu family’s eldest son, and the weight of duty was inescapable. Fate was a chain he could not break. He was sent abroad to study, and by the time he returned, Wildfire had vanished from the music scene.

He never knew why a singer who once set international charts ablaze would vanish so willingly. Some said she was dead; others claimed she’d been forced to leave.

But no matter the reason, he couldn’t accept it.

He couldn’t accept that the one who saved him had simply disappeared. He couldn’t accept that he’d never even had the chance to say thank you.

He had too much left unsaid, too much gratitude to express.

So, upon his return, the very first thing he did was to inherit the family business. Once he had power, he began searching for Wildfire.

He always said it was for his brother’s sake, but who at the top of the pyramid would believe such an excuse?

And yet, even if everyone saw through him, so what?

He hadn’t chosen his family, but couldn’t he at least choose the person with whom he would face the future?

Should he, as the Lu family’s eldest son, follow in his father’s footsteps, swapping stepmothers endlessly?

He refused to believe in fate. He refused to accept it.

He would not retreat—not even a single step.