The air in the room was tense as the Lu family exchanged glances with Shen Lian. The man remained calm, his eyes filled with a mixture of relief and affection as he looked at the girl in his arms.
Without a word, Lu Zhi moved away from ShenLian in order to hide her quicken heartbeat and headed to the washroom in running pace. ShenLian watched her retreating figure with a mixture of emotions, and the family exchanged glances, unsure of how to react to the situation.
After a while, Lu Zhi emerged from the bathroom, feeling refreshed. It was the first time in five years that she was able to take a relaxing bath, not one filled with medicinal or suspicious liquids like back in the laboratory. As she took her time, little did she know about the silent war brewing in the living room.
There Shen Lian sat on a large sofa, facing the dark and menacing expressions of Lu Zhi's father and brothers with his usual indifferent and handsome face. The tension in the room was palpable, and no one dared to make a sound as they awaited an explanation.
"Lian, can you tell me what happened to my daughter?" A soft voice finally broke the icy silence. It was Shen An, the mother of the family. Her voice carried both concern and anger.
"Auntie, I found her at Snow Valley Residence… I investigated further and discovered that this residence is one of the newly acquired properties of Han Jiming, the old master of the Han Family, but it has not been officially registered under his name yet," ShenLian replied, his eyes narrowing. In his heart, he vowed to make the entire Han family suffer twice as much as Lu Zhi had suffered in her last life when the apocalypse arrived.
"Those bastards… How dare they!" Lu Zhuli roared, her anger boiling over.
The other family members didn't say anything, as they had already suspected as much, but their expressions didn't look any less grim.
After the outburst, the room fell silent once again. Shen Lian finally spoke up, "Let's put that aside for now, because there's something more important I have to tell you. I'm sure that Zhizhi also wants to share this, but I don't want her to remember something unpleasant and hurt her."
But before Shen Lian could finish his sentence, a powerful punch landed on his face, and then someone yanked his collar. It all happened so fast that he didn't even have time to react.
It was Lu Zinzin, his face filled with rage and murder. "What do you mean by 'there's something more important I have to tell you. I'm sure that Zhizhi also wants to share this'? Say it again!" He thought, 'Is this bastard been eyeing his sister all along? Is that why he didn't treat us as his family because he has some idea about his sister?' Lu Zinzin didn't hear the last words of ShenLian; the only thing he heard was that his sister and this man had a secret!
Shen Lian was dumbfounded. 'What should I do? I want to punch this brother-in-law too!' he thought, feeling helpless in the face of the angry Lu Zinzin.
Just as the living room was about to erupt into a physical war, a smiling voice suddenly sounded from the stairs, looking on with amusement. Lu Zhi had arrived at the scene, witnessing the tense confrontation with a hint of nostalgia.
"What's happening?" she asked playfully, enjoying the sight before her.
With her arrival, the brothers quickly returned to their senses then sprang in their places and surrounded Lu Zhi, embracing her tightly and showering her with affection.
Lu Zhi felt overwhelmed with love and warmth as she was enveloped by her family. She was grateful for their concern and realized how much she had missed them during her time away.
The tension in the room eased as Lu Zhi's playful demeanor diffused the hostility, and everyone's focus shifted to her well-being.
As Lu Zhi looked around, she noticed Shen Lian staring at her with an aggrieved expression, akin to a concubine ignored by an emperor. The sight amused her, and a soft chuckle escaped her lips, her eyes glimmering with mischief.
She had discovered that Shen Lian was her cousin, although not by blood because my Mother was adopted daughter of the Shen Family. However, despite the familial connection, she hadn't known him well. He had always been distant and aloof, avoiding social interactions with others. It seemed as if he had built a fortress around himself, shutting out the world.
But now, he seemed different, as if the cataclysm had changed him in profound ways.
The once reclusive and introverted Shen Lian was now displaying emotions so vividly, and it intrigued her.