Bride of the Yu clan

“What are you still doing here?” Wang Yase asked, leaning lazily against the doorframe. “Isn’t your bride-to-be coming home today?”

Yu Yuchen did not look up.

He sat behind his desk, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit that made his already cold aura feel even more untouchable.

His wavy black hair fell neatly around his sharp features, framing a handsome face that looked as though it had never once been moved by joy, fear, or surprise. His expression remained unreadable as he flipped through the file in front of him and adjusted his tie with calm precision.

“How should that concern me?” he asked flatly.

Yase chuckled and walked into the office

Unlike Yuchen’s cold, polished elegance, Wang Yase carried a more reckless kind of charm.

He was tall, handsome, and effortlessly striking, with long dark hair tied loosely into a short ponytail at the back. A few strands framed his face, giving him a careless, playful look that matched the shameless smile he wore.

“Eh? What do you mean, how should it concern you?” Yase dropped into the chair opposite him. “You should be there receiving your bride.”

Only then did Yuchen raise his eyes.

His gaze was cold enough to freeze blood. “Do you not have better things to do?”

“I do,” Yase replied with a smile.

“Then go do them. Putting your nose in other people’s business is a trashy attitude, Yase.”

“I know,” Yase said brightly. “I love trashy things.”

Yuchen returned his attention to the file, refusing to waste more energy on him. When Yase was done entertaining himself, he would leave.

Probably. Hopefully.

“Do you even know what your bride is like?” Yase asked.

“No.”

“You don’t care?”

“I don’t.”

Yase rested his chin on his hand, clearly enjoying himself. “What if it is an ugly bride?”

“I don't care.”

“What if it is pretty?”

“Still do not care.”

“What if... ”

Yuchen slammed the file shut. The sharp sound cut through the office, and Yase immediately stopped talking.

For one rare second, silence fell.

Then Yase swallowed, leaned back in his chair, and raised both hands slightly. “Fine, fine. I will stop. I was only curious about who will be wedding the great and broody icy prince of the Yu clan.”

Yuchen rubbed his temple. A headache.

If Yase had not been his childhood friend, he would have shot him dead already.

No, scratch that.

Today marked the six thousand, seven hundred and eighty-ninth time he had considered not shooting Wang Yase simply because they were friends.

Yase tilted his head. “Are you thinking about killing me?”

“Yes,” Yuchen answered without hesitation.

“Why? I did not even do anything this time.”

Yuchen looked at him, and Yase smiled.

“Why are you even still here?” Yuchen asked coldly.

“To pick you up.” Yase clicked his tongue and pulled out his phone. He turned the screen toward Yuchen, showing him a message from Old Man Yu. Yuchen’s grandfather.

Old Man Yu: Get that mangy rat to the mansion. Now!!!

Yase sighed dramatically and lowered his head in a mournful manner. “Old Man Yu is persistent. If I do not leave with you, I am afraid my head will be off.”

Yuchen stared at the message.

Then he sighed.

Again. Perhaps for the seventieth time that week.

“Fuck me,” he muttered.

Yase stood, walked around the desk, and stretched out his hand with a grin.

“I would, but let us leave that to your new bride.”

Yuchen slowly lifted his eyes.

Yase’s grin widened. “Come on. Let’s go.”

For a moment, Yuchen simply stared at the hand stretched toward him, as if considering whether to take it or break it.

In the end, he took it.

Yase pulled him up with exaggerated cheerfulness, while Yuchen looked very much like a man being dragged toward his own execution.

✦ ✦ ✦

The black BMW pulled up in front of the Yu family mansion.

The moment the car stopped, the driver stepped out and opened the door. Madam Zhi emerged first, elegant and composed, while Zhi Xuan followed behind her, already regretting every decision that had led him there.

“Mother,” he said quietly as a maid came forward to receive them, “can’t we do this later?” he asked as a maid hurried forward to receive them and guide them toward the mansion.

Madam Zhi shot him a warning look.

“Stop talking nonsense. The old man will nag me to death if he does not see you today.”

Zhi Xuan wanted to vanish on the spot.

“Now,” Madam Zhi continued as they followed the maid toward the mansion, “be on your best behaviour. And for heaven’s sake, be polite when you meet the old man.”

Before Zhi Xuan could respond, the mansion doors were pulled open by two guards.

A middle-aged man in a dark suit stood between them. He wore glasses and carried himself with quiet authority. He adjusted the frame over his nose before bowing respectfully.

“Welcome, Madam Zhi. The old patriarch has been waiting.”

His name was Felix. He oversaw the Yu family mansion and served as the right hand of the old patriarch of the Yu family.

“Oh, has he?” Madam Zhi laughed lightly. “Lead the way.”

Felix bowed once more before turning to guide them inside.

They walked through the mansion toward the grand hall, where the old patriarch was waiting.

The moment they entered the Yu family living room, every pair of eyes turned toward them.

They had all been waiting.

“Old Man Yu!” Madam Zhi called cheerfully the moment she saw him.

Old Man Yu rose from the sofa and walked toward them with a frown. “You’re late.”

Madam Zhi rolled her eyes. “Is that any way to welcome an old friend?”

Old Man Yu scoffed. “Hmph.”

Then his gaze moved to Zhi Xuan, who had been standing quietly beside Madam Zhi, trying his best to ignore the many eyes fixed on him.

They are not going to eat me, right? he thought, forcing himself to remain calm. I mean, I understand that I am handsome and a lot to take in, but still… calm down, strangers.

“This must be Boy Xuan,” Old Man Yu said.

Before Zhi Xuan could react, the old man stepped forward and grabbed him by the shoulders.

Zhi Xuan immediately gave a polite bow. “Hello, sir. How do you do?”

He made his voice as respectful as possible. His mother was standing beside him, and even without looking, he could feel her glare burning into the side of his face. If he messed this up, it would be the gallows for him.

Old Man Yu stared at him for a moment.

Then, finally, he smiled. “Well, well. Not bad. Not bad at all.”

He looked Zhi Xuan over from head to toe, then turned him around in a full circle as though inspecting a rare antique.

What is it with old people and turning me around like roasted chicken? Zhi Xuan screamed inwardly.

“Of course he does not look bad,” Madam Zhi said, smacking Old Man Yu’s hand away from her son. “He is my son.”

Old Man Yu cleared his throat, then turned to the rest of the people behind him, who were still staring.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” he barked. “Come and meet the bride of the Yu clan!”

At once, the room came alive.

The Yu family members hurried toward Zhi Xuan, surrounding him with excited voices.

“Hello!”

“You are Zhi Xuan? We have been waiting for you.”

“Eh, he is really pretty.”

“He will be good for our Yu.”

“Welcome to the family, A’Xuan. We can call you that, right?”

They spoke over one another, smiling, greeting, asking questions, and studying him with open curiosity.

Zhi Xuan was instantly overwhelmed. But only for a second.

He was an actor, after all. Crowds, attention, questions, flashing smiles, this was nothing new. If anything, it was just another fan meeting.

So he straightened, lifted his most charming smile, and greeted them one after another with practiced grace.

Exactly the kind of bride the Yu family did not yet know they should fear.

“Your son is really handsome,” Lady Siliang said with a warm smile. “So graceful.”

“Oh, you praise me too much,” Madam Zhi replied, laughing softly as she looked toward Zhi Xuan, who stood a short distance away speaking to some members of the Yu family.

“He is so polite,” Madam Fu added with a sigh. She was a prominent lady and an in-law of the Yu family. “Young people these days barely know how to show proper manners. You really trained him well.”

Madam Zhi’s head nearly floated from all the compliments.

She laughed again, pleased beyond reason. Her son was indeed handsome. He could also look graceful when he wanted to.

Then Zhi Xuan’s gaze suddenly met hers from across the room.

Madam Zhi’s laugh caught in her throat.

Graceful? Polite? Fuck that.

Her son was walking trouble dressed in expensive clothes. The only reason he was behaving so well was because she had threatened him with everything she had, and thankfully, it had worked.

She inhaled quietly and turned back to the women with a smile.

Still, she could admit one thing.

Her son was a handsome drink of water.

Across the room, Zhi Xuan was getting tired of talking to people he barely knew. If not for his mother, he would have dragged himself out of this godforsaken gathering of fools already.

Marry him?

Who the hell was he even marrying?

“Um, please excuse me,” Zhi Xuan said, cutting off the man who had been talking to him.

Without waiting for a response, he walked away quickly.

I do not care where I go. I just need a few minutes away from these mad people.

He moved farther from the living room, desperate for fresh air or an escape route.

This entire thing was a mistake. Why had he not fought his mother harder? And why was everyone here so calm about it? They were greeting him, smiling at him, welcoming him like a bride.

Had everyone suddenly gone insane? Could they not see the madness?

He was supposed to marry a man.

A man.

A fellow man with the same dingly dangly as him.

Fuck my life.

He wanted to scream but forced it down.

What made it worse was how normal everyone acted, as if this entire arrangement made perfect sense. Was there something in the air here in China? Should he be worried? And who was this man he was supposed to marry anyway?

Why the fuck would a man even want to marry him?

Damn him. Damn this family. Damn his own family.

Damn everything to hell.

Lost in his thoughts, Zhi Xuan wandered down one of the long halls of the mansion until his legs carried him to a small room. Without thinking much of it, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was dim, dusty, and strangely quiet.

Zhi Xuan pulled out his phone and switched on the torch. Light cut through the darkness, revealing scattered objects, old furniture, and several things that looked like picture frames covered with large cloths.

“What is this?” he muttered.

Before he could move farther in, his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen.

Kaito.

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