Chapter 7#

Contract Marriage (7)#

After settling the person in the study, Lu Yi went downstairs. When he came down, Mrs. Lu was speaking gently to Fang Chuan’s mother, Qin Lan. She had been very angry, but since Lu Yi had taken this approach, she still hoped to resolve the issue peacefully, so her words were not as blunt as they had been that morning. Instead, she spoke with hidden meanings, one trap following another.

Lu Yi stood beside her and immediately saw Ms. Qin on the video call, Fang Chuan’s mother.

He gave a slight nod of greeting: “Hello, Auntie.”

When she saw Lu Yi’s face appear on the screen, Ms. Qin’s expression relaxed: “Lu Yi, you’re here. Your mother just said that tomorrow’s wedding isn’t canceled, but the groom has been changed. What’s going on?”

Mrs. Lu mouthed to her son, whispering, “I just brought up this topic.”

Lu Yi didn’t have much time to waste and said bluntly, “It’s exactly what it sounds like. I hope you can cooperate with me at tomorrow’s wedding.”

Now that the person involved had spoken, Ms. Qin’s face turned very unpleasant: “No, I mean, Lu Yi, your auntie has watched you grow up. Fang Chuan may be immature, but you know that’s just how he is—timid. And it’s only been one day; you already found someone new. If word gets out, people will think you were the one who made the mistake first, don’t you agree?”

Her words were soft on the surface but carried an underlying accusation that Lu Yi had cheated first and her son had discovered the affair and run away. Otherwise, given Lu Yi’s status, background, and personality, how could he just grab anyone to marry?

Lu Yi’s tone was very calm: “Auntie Qin, some details my mother may not have made clear to you just now, which has led to some misunderstanding about me.”

This attitude is more like it, Qin Lan thought, her expression slightly easing. Then Lu Yi dropped a bombshell: “I did find someone else, and I’ve already registered my marriage with him. My secretary is already contacting the hotel to replace all signs with wrong names and to apologize to all the uncles and aunties for the mistakes on the invitations.”

Ignoring the fact that her expression had instantly turned extremely ugly, he continued: “You should be very familiar with the other groom’s name. Yu, as in ‘Yu Meiren,’ and Ke, as in ‘Mu Ke.’”

When he said the last sentence, he deliberately changed his tone of voice, mimicking the way Yu Ke introduced himself—soft and gentle, with a hint of a hook in his voice.

Qin Lan’s eyes immediately conjured up the image of that handsome young boy smiling at her ten years ago. Her expression directly shifted from ugly to ferocious. Forgetting her mask of the kindly elder, she harshly scolded Lu Yi: “What do you mean by this? Are you trying to humiliate our Fang family?!”

At this point, she no longer doubted Lu Yi; after all, Yu Ke had only returned to the country a few days ago, and Lu Yi’s impromptu decision to register with Yu Ke was clearly a form of revenge against her son Fang Chuan.

Mrs. Lu, standing nearby, had her fiery temper ignited. She pushed her son aside: “Qin Lan, get your facts straight! My son is the victim here! What, it’s okay for your son to flee out of fear and leave my son in such an awkward position? Now that my son has come up with a solution, you won’t cooperate. How old are you, shouting at a younger generation? Acting like a senior and throwing your weight around?!”

Qin Lan’s face turned red from her friend’s barrage of words. Her chest heaved up and down, and her momentum weakened by three points after Mrs. Lu’s outburst: “Ah Fang, we’ve known each other for over twenty years. Don’t you know what kind of person I am? We’re both decent families; there’s no need to make things so unpleasant, don’t you agree?”

Though she was very reluctant to let go of the golden son-in-law Lu Yi, she had to admit that her son had made the mistake first, and he still couldn’t be found, so there was no way to remedy the situation.

Grinding her teeth, she had to take a step back: “Alright, something like this happens. We can understand Lu Yi’s anger. When that child comes back, I’ll definitely drag him to your door to apologize. If you want to find someone else, I won’t say anything. But wanting me to recognize that fox spirit Yu Ke as a godson? Absolutely not!”

Earlier, Mrs. Lu had told Qin Lan about her son’s plan, which was to convince Qin Lan to accept a godson. That way, the Fang and Lu families could have a unified story: the secretary had made a mistake, and the person Lu Yi was marrying was the Fang family’s god-relative.

In that case, the Lu and Fang families would still be considered in-laws, and their cooperation wouldn’t have to end.

Because the two families were old friends, and she was the mother of his future partner, Lu Yi had always been gentle and polite with Qin Lan. But at this moment, he dropped his usual courteous demeanor and put on a businesslike face: “Auntie Qin, asking you to recognize my new spouse as a godson was just a suggestion for your own face-saving. If you’re unwilling, it won’t be any loss to me.”

He paused briefly before finishing: “You’ve watched me grow up, so you know what kind of person I am. Once I’ve made a decision, I won’t change it. In fact, taking this long to explain things to you is out of respect for you. Later, I will personally inform Uncle Fang, and I believe he will understand my difficulties.”

After saying this, he signaled his mother to hang up the phone.

Lu Fang had always seen how Lu Yi treated Qin Lan on a daily basis. Seeing him suddenly so cold and ruthless toward her made her a bit uncomfortable, but whether she was comfortable or not, she was definitely on her son’s side: “Is that it? Do you want me to try to persuade her a bit more?”

She felt the situation had become too tense. Qin Lan was such a proud person; she would definitely disagree.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Mom. Although I haven’t known her as long as you have, trust me—I know her better than you do.”

For Fang Chuan’s sake, he had spent a lot of effort studying Qin Lan’s preferences, including, of course, everything she detested, feared, and valued.

The Fang family valued tangible benefits more than face. Qin Lan valued face, but she valued her husband even more.

The reason he took the time to personally say so much to her was partly, as he had just said, for the sake of both families’ dignity. The other reason was that he wanted to enjoy the sight of her embarrassment and anger.

Seeing the Fang family unhappy would ensure he had a good mood at tomorrow’s wedding.

A doting mother raises a failure. Fang Chuan’s parents’ failure in raising him had brought him such great humiliation. It wouldn’t be fair to let them off lightly without any consequences, would it?

His tone was calm and firm: “Don’t worry, she’ll cooperate.”

After confirming the progress with his secretary and making a personal call to Fang Chuan’s father, he returned to the study exactly two hours later.

When he pushed open the door, Yu Ke was memorizing the contents of the document. After graduating, he had rarely used such a fast pace to memorize things.

While fully focused on memorizing, he subconsciously made some habitual movements and completely failed to notice the sound of the door opening.

So when Lu Yi walked in, his hair was already tousled into a very artistic mess, and on his right ear was clipped the fountain pen Lu Yi had left on the desk.

He stood up like a schoolboy caught daydreaming by a strict homeroom teacher, stammering, “Lu… Lu Yi, why are you here?”

“Two hours have passed.” Lu Yi pressed the switch on the wall. “The light is so dim. Why didn’t you turn it on?”

“I was too focused on memorizing and forgot.” He fumbled to take the pen off his ear, his face flushed a faint red, and he lightly bit his lower lip, looking very embarrassed.

“Sit down. I’ll ask you a few questions.” Yu Ke wasn’t the only one playing mind games in front of him, but good-looking people always had an advantage. Lu Yi didn’t expose his act; he pulled out a chair and sat down, his tone quite flat.

“I’ve finished memorizing everything before page 57. Quiz me.”

With such confidence, Lu Yi mixed up the order and picked out over thirty details, and Yu Ke answered them all.

“That’s enough for today. Let’s go downstairs for dinner first. Don’t waste the carefully prepared food from Wang Ma.” He closed the document in his hand and added considerately, “Are there any foods you’re allergic to? Do you eat spicy food?”

“No allergies. I can eat spicy food.” In truth, after being hospitalized for eating too much spicy food, he had given up chili peppers, but at social events, he would still take a bite or two.

“Our family’s taste is relatively light. If you find it bland, you can go to the kitchen and get some chili sauce.” After all, they had only met once; Lu Yi couldn’t immediately treat him as his spouse. Treating a guest who had been invited with politeness was a basic courtesy of the Lu family.

Yu Ke quickly added, “I actually prefer light food too. I can only handle a little spice.”

Lu Yi nodded. “If there’s no issue, let’s go downstairs first.”

“Wait, I have one more question.” The young man’s voice stopped him mid-turn.

Lu Yi paused and turned his face. “What else?”

“I wanted to ask about the wedding procedure. Aside from changing the groom, everything else follows the plan, right?”

“Yes. Is there a problem with the procedure?” This was a procedure he had confirmed multiple times; there shouldn’t be any issues.

“I saw in the schedule that there was supposed to be a rehearsal, but due to time constraints, I can’t do a full rehearsal. However, this is my first wedding, so I’m bound to be nervous. I was thinking… could we maybe rehearse the steps only we two need to do?”

Lu Yi raised an eyebrow. “You mean?”

“The part where the priest reads the vows, we exchange promises, and then the next step.”

He imitated the priest’s tone from movies and recited the rehearsal script’s lines with cadence: “Now, Mr. Lu may kiss his groom.”