CHAPTER 85: CHAPTER 85; TRAGIC INCIDENT 2

"A car accident on Highway 7. His vehicle... it crashed and exploded. There were no survivors. I’m so sorry, Master Chen."

Chen Guowei stood frozen for a long moment, the words not quite penetrating. His eldest son. His heir. The one he’d groomed for decades to take over the family business. Dead?

"How?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"The police are saying excessive speed, loss of control. The CCTV footage shows... shows Young Master experiencing some kind of medical episode while driving. He was clutching his head, swerving. And then the car went off the road."

"Medical episode? Ting was perfectly healthy! He had a full physical examination just last month!"

"I know, sir. But the footage is clear. Something happened to him while he was driving. The investigation is ongoing, but early indications suggest it was a tragic accident."

Chen Guowei’s mind was reeling. "Where was he? Where was he coming from when this happened?"

There was a pause on the other end. "According to our preliminary investigation, he had just left the Lu estate. Sixth Master Lu’s mansion. Apparently, he went there to... to retrieve his wife. There was some kind of confrontation, and he was forcibly removed from the property."

"Lu Yuze," Chen Guowei breathed, and suddenly the grief was mixing with something else. Suspicion and Rage. "My son visits Lu Yuze, gets thrown out, and then dies in a convenient accident less than thirty minutes later?"

"Sir, the CCTV footage clearly shows...."

"I don’t care what the footage shows!" Chen Guowei roared, his grief transforming into fury. "My son is dead, and the last person he saw was Lu Yuze! He threw my son out of his house! Humiliated him! And now he’s dead!"

"Sir, with respect, there’s no evidence of foul play. The crash investigators are...."

"Find evidence!" Chen Guowei slammed his fist on the desk. "I want every piece of footage from that highway reviewed. I want autopsies done on both bodies, I don’t care how badly burned they are. I want to know everything about what happened in that mansion. Everything! And find out what Lu Yuze did to my son before throwing him out!"

"Yes, sir. I’ll coordinate with...."

Chen Guowei had already hung up. He stood there in his study, surrounded by the trappings of wealth and power that suddenly felt meaningless.

His beloved son was dead.

And Lu Yuze, that arrogant bastard who’d humiliated his son in his final hours, was going to pay for it. He will dearly pay for it!

Elsewhere in the same compound, Chen Ting’s two younger brothers received the news almost simultaneously.

Chen Wei, the middle brother, was with his mistress in one of the estate’s guest houses when his phone rang. When he heard the news, he went pale, then excused himself and immediately called his lawyer. It was not out of grief, but calculation. With Chen Ting dead, the succession suddenly became very interesting.

Chen Hao, the youngest brother, was in the main house’s basement, a soundproofed room where he kept his "collection" of young women he’d coerced or bought. When his phone buzzed with the news alert, he stared at it for a long moment, then smiled.

*Big brother was dead. The golden child. The heir. The one who got everything while Chen Hao got scraps.*

Good.

But the most devastating reaction came from Chen Ting’s mother, Madam Liu.

She was in her private chambers when one of the servants came running, face pale, words tumbling out in a panicked rush about an accident, her son, and death.

Madam Liu listened in silence, her face becoming a mask of stone. When the servant finished, she simply said, "Leave me."

The servant fled without looking back.

And Madam Liu sat down at her vanity, staring at her reflection. Her son. Her firstborn. The child she’d molded, shaped, and made into the perfect heir to continue the family’s dominance.

Was now gone.

Because of Lu Yuze.

Oh, the police might say it was an accident. The CCTV might show a medical emergency. But Madam Liu knew better. Her son had been perfectly healthy. Had left the house that afternoon in full vigor, determined to retrieve his wayward wife.

And then he’d gone to Lu Yuze’s mansion.

Had been humiliated, thrown out by security, and denied what was rightfully his.

And thirty minutes later? Dead.

"Coincidence?" Madam Liu whispered to her reflection. "I think not."

She didn’t know how Lu Yuze had done it. Didn’t know what method he’d used. But in her decades of navigating the cutthroat world of high society, she’d learned that there were no coincidences when it came to powerful men and convenient deaths.

Lu Yuze had killed her son. Maybe not with his own hands. Maybe not in any way that could be easily proven. But he was responsible.

And he would pay.

She picked up her phone and began making calls. To judges who owed her favors. To police officials on her payroll. To business associates who would be very interested to know that Lu Yuze might not be as untouchable as he seemed.

And specifically, to private investigators who specialized in finding dirt on people who thought they were above scrutiny.

"I want everything on Lu Yuze," she told the first investigator who answered. "Financial records, business dealings, personal life, medical history. Everything. If he’s ever jaywalked, I want to know about it. If he’s ever had so much as a parking ticket, I want documentation."

"Madam Liu, with respect, Lu Yuze is... he’s very powerful. Very protected. This won’t be easy...."

"I’m not paying you for easy," she cut him off coldly. "I’m paying you for results. My son visited Lu Yuze’s mansion and left humiliated. Thirty minutes later, he was dead. I want to know what happened in that house. I want to know what was said. What was done. And I want proof that Lu Yuze is responsible."

"If such proof exists...."

"It does?"