The black car sped along, gradually leaving the bustling and noisy downtown area of the Imperial Capital.
It arrived at a secluded, heavily guarded mountain villa on the outskirts of the city.
Lu Xuan sat in the car, watching the increasingly desolate and unfamiliar scenery outside the window, a hint of unease flashing in her beautiful eyes.
She still spoke in that innocent tone, asking Yan Che softly:
"Where... are we going?"
"Didn't you say we were going to buy osmanthus cakes for me? Why are we going further and further off track?"
When Yan Che heard her "innocent" question, his smile grew colder.
The so-called facade had already been torn off by him the moment they left the city.
His voice became cold and triumphant!
"Miss Lu, stop acting..."
"Osmanthus cakes are indeed delicious."
"But you have other things to do."
...The engine shut off.
Yan Che personally opened the car door for Lu Xuan and made a 'please' gesture.
A smile still lingered on his face, but it was no longer the gentle one from before; it was utterly cold... "Please."
Lu Xuan knew that this was probably this guy's lair, so he had simply given up his pretense... But on the surface, she still maintained a fragile appearance.
Reluctantly, she followed Yan Che into the villa.
However!
When she walked into the extremely luxuriously decorated living room, where the atmosphere was as cold as a cellar!
She was surprised to find.
Someone else was sitting on the sofa in the living room?
A woman!
A breathtakingly beautiful queen, exuding an aura of coldness that warned others to keep their distance!
It was... Fu Yuan, who had been placed under house arrest by Fu Changqing under the guise of 'recuperation'!
At this moment, her eyes were filled with emptiness and... numbness.
She didn't even glance at Yan Che and Lu Xuan, who had just entered.
It was as if nothing in this world could pique her interest anymore... Yan Che looked at the disheveled Fu Yuan on the sofa, and Lu Xuan, who was observing everything with a 'curious' gaze.
His vanity, which had swelled immensely from controlling everything, was at this moment satisfied to an unprecedented degree!
He walked with the stride of a victor, step by step, until he stood before Fu Yuan.
"Fu Yuan, my queen."
His voice carried undisguised mockery!
"Look what gift I've brought you?"
He pointed to the 'trembling' Lu Xuan beside him, his smile growing more twisted and triumphant!
"The man you've been longing for, Lu Cheng's..."
"Sister!"
"From today onwards, you two will keep each other company here."
Seeing Lu Xuan's frightened expression, a spark of anger finally ignited in Fu Yuan's lifeless phoenix eyes: "Yan Che, how dare you!"
"I dare?" Yan Che laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke, then suddenly leaned down, his eyes filled with a crazed desire for revenge!
"What is there that I don't dare to do?!"
"For the past three years, you've treated me like a dog, ordering me around, making me imitate his every move. Do you think I didn't know?!"
"You were high and mighty, enjoying the pleasure of controlling a fake. Now, the tables have turned!"
"I want you, I want Lu Cheng, I want everyone who looked down on me to see!"
"How I, this fake, turn you, this queen, into my most humble slave!"
He paused, his smile growing even more cruel... "Oh, I forgot to tell you."
"Your father, Fu Changqing..."
"Has already... agreed to our marriage."
"In three days."
"We are holding our engagement banquet."
"So, my queen, you, and everything you have..."
"Are now in my hands."
"At that time, you'd better smile happily."
As he spoke, he thoroughly enjoyed admiring Fu Yuan's exquisitely beautiful face, which had turned ashen white from extreme shock and disbelief.
And... her eyes, which were finally no longer numb, but filled with monstrous hatred and humiliation!
He turned and looked at the pale-faced Lu Xuan.
"As for you, Miss Lu... you will be the cutest flower girl at our engagement banquet."
"If you don't behave, I can't guarantee what might happen..."
These words were a naked threat, instantly making both Lu Xuan and Fu Yuan's faces turn pale!
...After savoring their expressions of humiliation and anger, Yan Che took out his phone and, in front of them, dialed Lu Cheng's number.
He put it on speakerphone so that the entire hall could hear.
"Lu Cheng, it's me, Yan Che."
Yan Che's voice was almost pathologically fervent, "Listen to something good."
He gestured to his subordinate, a burly man who stepped forward and directly lifted Lu Xuan... Lu Xuan let out a gasp.
"Did you hear that?" Yan Che laughed wildly into the phone, "Your sister really needs you right now."
Without waiting for Lu Cheng to reply, he directly revealed the ultimate purpose of his call!
"In three days, at the Imperial Capital International Hotel. My engagement banquet with Fu Yuan."
"I hope... you can witness it with your own eyes."
The smile on his lips grew more twisted and distorted!
"Also, it's best to be honest..."
"Come alone, obediently..."
On the other end of the phone, there was deathly silence.
Every second felt as long as a century.
Just as Yan Che thought Lu Cheng would hang up in a fit of rage, a chillingly calm voice came through the receiver.
"Alright. I'll come."
...After making that call, Yan Che, like a monarch inspecting his spoils of war, left contentedly.
Leaving behind Fu Yuan and Lu Xuan, two women who were once favored by heaven, now reduced to prisoners... After the initial anger and disgust at Yan Che's smug face after getting his way.
These two equally intelligent women very quickly understood the deep-seated unwillingness and... murderous intent in each other's eyes.
They shared the same enemy.
And they also shared the same ally.
Fu Yuan, at this moment, uncharacteristically showed a hint of worry.
She looked at the unusually calm Lu Xuan, her voice, for the first time, carrying a trace of vulnerability that she herself hadn't noticed.
"Your brother..."
"Will he really come alone?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Xuan, however, shook her head with extreme certainty.
Her face was filled with an almost blind, absolute trust in her brother!
"My brother..."
"He never does anything he's not confident about."
"Since he told us to wait."
She paused, her tone even more resolute.
"Then we..."
"Just have to wait and enjoy the show..."
...At the same time.
After Yan Che left, this 'Anti-Lu Alliance' leader immediately began to show off his spoils to his allies.
"Everyone!"
His voice carried a captivating magic!
"Lu Cheng's two most cherished women are now in my grasp!"
"At the engagement banquet, in front of everyone in the world, I will not only make him watch his beloved woman become my fiancée!"
"I will also make him pay the most painful price!"
"Our plan will also begin to be implemented at that time..."
"Once the behemoth that is the Fu Family falls, all of us here will become the biggest winners in this grand feast!"
He painted a beautiful blueprint, making the three family heads present listen with surging blood and immense excitement!
And sitting in the corner, the silent Immortal Emperor Ling Tian, looked at the mortals before him, controlled by worldly power and desires... "Hmph! A bunch of foolish ants."
"What commercial empire, what power and status, in my eyes, are nothing but fleeting clouds."
"Only power is the only thing..."
...Lu Family Palace.
Lu Cheng was not flustered or enraged, as Yan Che had imagined, by receiving his 'provocative call'.
He was even systematically carrying out his final 'preparations'... He met two people.
The first was Fu Yuan's ambitious paternal uncle, Fu Changbo, who had been patiently biding his time within the Fu Family.
Lu Cheng didn't waste any words; he simply placed some recent information about his 'good elder brother' Fu Changqing in front of Fu Changbo.
Then, he instructed in a calm tone.
"After the banquet begins."
"You know what to do."
The second was the travel-worn 'Anti-Lu Alliance' mole - the Wang Family Head.
Lu Cheng also didn't offer many explanations; he simply handed him a miniature device the size of a button.
"Install it on the main camera in the banquet hall."
"I need a spectacular live broadcast."
...Three days later, on the night of the engagement banquet.
Everyone was waiting, waiting for the two protagonists of the evening to make their appearance.
Suddenly!
A black Maybach, looking somewhat ordinary in this setting, slowly pulled up at the hotel entrance.
The car door opened.
Lu Cheng, alone, dressed in a simple black suit, slowly stepped out of the car.
There was no expression on his face.
He simply calmly surveyed the moving crowd before him.
Then, step by step, he walked into the trap that had long been set for him.
His solitary yet upright figure was like a monarch walking to the execution ground...