"I'll say it one more time. Let go of me!"

“Sister-in-law, why are you being so obstinate? If you follow me, I can give you everything. What's the point in staying with a comatose person?" Lu Beifan took a few rough breaths. "Ye Qing, sweetheart, be with me. Be with me, okay? I can give you anything. I can even give you my life!"

A voice mockingly whispered by Lu Beifan's ear, "You can even give me your life? Really?"

At the same time these words were said, an extremely furious voice traveled into the room, "Bastard!"

Startled, Lu Beifan let go of her.

There was an old man standing in the doorway and leaning on his cane for support. He was wearing traditional Chinese clothing, and his hair was meticulously brushed back. His piercing eyes looked as if he was going to kill someone.

Although he was advance in age, Old Master Lu was someone that had weathered through major upheavals. When he was furious, he wasn't someone that Lu Beifan, a hedonistic second generation, could handle.

As soon as Lu Beifan saw him, his legs felt weak.

"G-Grandfather, let me explain. It's not what it seems. It's... Sister-in-law, she's the one that's trying to seduce me!"

Old Master Lu harshly knocked his cane against the floor. He severely said, "Drag this bastard out!"

Two bodyguards that had been standing in the hallway came forward. They each grabbed one of Lu Beifan's arms and forcefully dragged him out of the room.

The villa was flooded with the sound of Lu Beifan's miserable wails.

"Grandfather, I haven't done anything!" Ye Zhen looked at Old Master Lu. Her gaze was firm. She met Old Master Lu's eyes without any hint of timidity, but her body was trembling involuntarily.

Old Master Lu sighed. Although he had been away in the ancestral home during the past period, he had heard about Lu Beifan's vile conduct. He understood that this young woman didn't have anyone to rely on. Even when she was being humiliated and wronged, she could only stay silent.

"Don't be afraid. Grandfather knows that this has nothing to do with you. The fault lies entirely on that shameless creature, Lu Beifan. Don't worry. Grandfather will definitely right this wrong for you!"

Ye Zhen was silent for a long time before finally nodding.

Old Master Lu glanced at Lu Beichuan, who was still unconscious, and let out a deep sigh. "Take good care of Beichuan. Don't worry, the Lu family won't mistreat you."

Ye Zhen quietly answered, "En."

Gripping his cane, Old Master Lu turned around and left.

Ye Zhen sat back down again.

If Lu Beifan had left her alone, she wouldn't have bothered with crushing him.

Lu Beifan was an idiot. He flaunted the fact that he had entered the Lu family and acted without restraint. He thought that he was above everyone else just because Lu Shaoren accepted him. However, Lu Shaoren had someone above him, a father that was in charge of everything.

Old Master Lu didn't care that Lu Shaoren thought highly of this bastard son. What Old Master Lu cared about was having a qualified successor to carry on the Lu family's enterprise.

Moreover, Old Master Lu had set down the Lu family’s pedantic rules. Could a person that cared so much about rules and propriety allow a disgraceful matter like a brother-in-law lusting after his sister-in-law to exist?

Ye Zhen looked at the person on the bed and smiled. "Lu Beichuan, I got rid of one of your rivals today. Even though it was only squishing an ant, it was still my finger that did the hard work."

Lu Beichuan's eyelids fluttered. The eyeballs underneath his eyelids moved. It looked as if he was going to open his eyes. However, his eyes returned to serenity in the next moment instead.

In the villa's living room, Lu Beifan was currently kneeling in front of Old Master Lu and had almost lost his voice from crying in pain. He said that he had only touched Ye Qing because he drank too much and momentarily lost his conscience because of her seduction. He pleaded with the Old Master Lu to give him another chance.

Old Master Lu was sitting in the head seat with both of his hands resting over his cane. He expressionlessly cast a glance over Lu Shaoren's face and furiously said, "Shaoren! This is your son. Discipline him yourself!"

In the novel, Lu Beifan's mother was Lu Shaoren's true love.

The words "true love" were somewhat interesting. Usually, these two words were accompanied by an exceedingly bittersweet love story. Unfortunately, for someone like Lu Shaoren, who had countless lovers, the words "true love" was too cheaply used.

Lu Shaoren probably did have some feelings for Lu Beifan's mother. Otherwise, he wouldn't have only brought back Lu Beifan even though he had plenty of other illegitimate children. However, in front of Old Master Lu, who was in a position of power, a thing like true love was nonsense.

A son understood his father the best. Lu Shaoren knew that Lu Beifan had stepped on Old Master Lu's bottom line.

For a younger brother to to be caught red-handed with lusting after his sister-in-law while his older brother was unconscious, their family's reputation would be gone if other people found out.

Knowing that Old Master Lu's sore spot had been touched, Lu Shaoren promptly abandoned his son, "Dad, don't worry. I'll properly handle this matter."

Lu Beifan crawled over to Lu Shaoren. Sniveling uncontrollably, he said, "Dad, believe me. It really wasn't me. It was sister-in-law. She came onto me. Otherwise, how could I do something so heinous?!"

Right after these words were said, Mother Lu finally had an excuse to let out the anger that had been accumulating for a month. She harshly slapped Lu Beifan. "Came onto you? Since Ye Qing has joined this family, she's shown that she knows her place and spend her time taking care of Beichuan. She's such an honest young woman, and you still want to pour dirty water on her?"

Lu Beifan was slapped senseless. It was easy to see the red palm imprint on his right cheek swelling up. He really cut an unsightly poor figure from the combination of the swollen cheek and his tearful face.

“Ye Qing is Ye family's daughter. She's a respectable young lady. Do you think everyone ignores the rules of right and wrong like you?" After saying this, Mother Lu turned her head to face Old Master Lu and said, "Dad, you have to give Ye Qing justice. That child is too honest. Although I'm her mother-in-law, she’s too timid and doesn't complain to me about anything. Every time I see her sitting on Beichuan's bed and massaging him all day, my heart... She's our Lu family's daughter-in-law, you can't let her suffer this grievance."

Mother Lu didn't like Ye Qing because she was inarticulate, gullible, and cowardly. She had been caring for Lu Beichuan for so long, but Lu Beichuan still hadn't woken up. Still, it was only dislike.

Towards Lu Beifan, who was wrongfully trying to usurp her son's from his position as the Lu family's successor, she wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

Lu Beifan was still floundering around trying to save himself. "Grandfather, tell sister-in-law to come down here so I can confront her. If she didn't come onto me, I wouldn't have dared to do anything!"

He clearly knew that this blame had to be pushed on to Ye Qing. It hadn't been easy to enter the Lu family. If he was driven out of here, he would have nothing!

"Confront her?" Old Master Lu sneered. He suddenly stood up. "You're something that shouldn't even be seen in polite company and you want to confront the Lu family's daughter-in-law?"

Old Master Lu looked at Lu Shaoren and said, "I know that you have plenty of sons outside, and I won't bother with micromanaging you. But, in the future, I don't want to see this creature in this home. I don't want to see him outside passing himself off as a member of the Lu family and going about swaggering around and swindling other people.”

Lu Shaoren repeatedly agreed. He ordered the guards to drag the kneeling Lu Beifan, who was continuously vowing to repent and crying out that he was wrongfully accused, out of the villa.

"But." Old Master Lu handed over material that was on the side table to Lu Shaoren. "Beichuan is still unconscious, and we don't know when he'll wake up. It's better to plan ahead."

Lu Shaoren took the packet of information. Inside the packet, there was detailed information about a youth. The blurry photo couldn't suppress the hidden sharp intelligence and talent in the youth's brows and eyes.

He carefully thought it over. Wasn't this youth the stubborn child that wouldn't call him dad even when he had beaten him with a belt?

Time had passed by so quickly; this child had already grown up.

After Lu Beifan was kicked out the Lu family, Old Master Lu and Mother Lu came to see her a few times. As usual, Old Master Lu sought her out to say a few comforting words. He told her to be at ease and to not let this incident cast a shadow on her heart. He told her to continue properly caring for Beichuan. The Lu family wouldn't treat her unfairly.

As for Mother Lu, her former misgivings towards her daughter-in-law had been dispelled. In a great mood, she would come by and hold Ye Zhen’s hand as she inquired after her welfare. Not only did she buy her many expensive skin care products and clothes. She acted as if they were very close and didn’t have any ill-feelings between them. She even promised that if something came up in the future she could ask her for help.

All of these words were said in hopes that Ye Zhen would turn big problems into small ones and small problems into no problems at all. If word got out about this incident, it wouldn't be good for the Lu family's reputation.

Although no one would dare to publicly bring up this matter, the rumors were getting worse. The red marks on Ye Zhen's neck were conclusive "proof" of Lu Beifan's crime.

---

After returning to their room, Ye Zhen heard Lu Beichuan's caregivers gossiping by his bed.

"Hey, did you see those red marks on Miss Ye's neck?"

"How can I not see? He didn't even avoid such a conspicuous spot. It had to be done by second young master."

"It can't be. Miss Ye is the second young master's sister-in-law..."

"So what if she's his sister-in-law? First young master is already in such a state. We don't even know if he's going to wake up. Mr. Lu has taken second young master to the company. That’s covertly acknowledging second young master's position, which means the entire Lu family will belong to him. It takes two to tango. One hand can't make any noise by itself. Miss Ye is so beautiful. Is she really willing to watch over a comatose person? If this matter hadn't been discovered by Old Master Lu..." The following words didn't need to be said.

"You mean... OMG, it can't be. Miss Ye doesn't seem like that type of person..."

"Doesn't seem like it? Isn't it very normal for this type of thing to happen in wealthy and powerful families? You can know a person for a long time without understanding her true nature."

Ye Zhen stood outside the door and silently listened for a while. Feeling sleepy, she ended up yawning.

She had that dream again last night. It seemed as if she had been dreaming all night too. When she woke up, she felt very tired. Her body ached as if it had been run over.

Perhaps, it was because the mattress was too soft.

Once she pushed open the door, the conversation immediately came to a halt.

The two caregivers looked at her and stiffly smiled. "Miss Ye."

"The two of you can leave. I'll take it from here."

The two caregivers looked at each other. They didn't know if Miss Ye had heard their conversation. They would be dismissed from their duties if she heard them gossiping.

"Okay."

The two caregivers apprehensively left the room. Ye Zhen stood by the bed and looked at the unconscious Lu Beichuan. She wasn't able to hold back her impulse; she slapped him. The slap was neither too heavy nor too light.

Very quickly, a mark appeared on his pale cheek.

"They said that one hand can't make any noise. Listen, didn't I just make a sound with one hand?” Ye Zhen patted Lu Beichuan's face. Her anger faded and her mood improved a lot as she looked at the red palm-sized mark. "I can only walk the path of a virtuous person in the Lu family. Your younger brother bullied me so badly, but I could only compromisingly agree to let the matter go. So what if he was kicked out of here? Is there anyone here that's not calling me a fickle woman? Since you can't wake up and right this wrong for me, you'll just have to suffer from me venting my anger out on you."

Anyways, he was going to be a great villain. She would just treat this as attacking a public threat.

Ye Zhen rubbed her left hand as she murmured, "Your skin is too thick. My hand hurts..." However, she failed to notice that Lu Beichuan's right hand was clenched, and the blue veins on the back of his hand was protruding.

Her phone buzzed as four messages in a row were received.

Ye Zhen tapped her phone to check her messages. A carefree smile appeared on her face.