-||chapter fifteen - lu zhi||-

"When the Crown Prince heard about his King's visit to the First Princess, he panicked. His reaction owed to the fact that he knew what his King was capable of. The Crown Prince had himself seen lengths his King would go to achieve his goals. All these years he had suffered at the hands of his King and he did not want someone else to go through the same thing.

The Crown Princess had witnessed before as to what happens if the King is denied of something he wants. He had witnessed the crimes that his King had committed to make sure no one gets in his way. How could the Crown Prince let someone else fall in the trap of the megalomaniac King?

There was a reason why the Crown Prince had chosen to not marry. He knew what has happened before, would happen again and again."

****************

"I, I -" Yi Chen felt it hard to breathe, "I can't let him. I can't!"

Seeing his best friend's situation, Ming Ze quickly loosened Yi Chen's tie and opened the first two buttons of his shirt. He then poured Yi Chen a glass of water and began rubbing comforting circles on his back.

"Breathe, Yi Chen." Ming Ze said in firm yet gentle voice, "Take in slow, deep breaths, my friend." he continued rubbing Yi Chen's back in a comforting manner and kept telling him to take deep breaths. He turned on the small scent diffuser at Yi Chen's desk and soon the room was filled with the scent of lavender.

"Yi Chen, look around you and tell me the three things that you see." Ming Ze insisted.

Yi Chen blinked a few times while continuing to take slow and deep breaths, "You." he began, "The painting that your sister gifted me and the sofas."

Ming Ze nodded his head, "Good! Now, can you name the three sounds you hear."

"The hum of the diffuser, the tick-tock of the wall clock and your voice." this time Yi Chen's voice sounded clearer than before.

"And what about three things you can smell?" asked Ming Ze.

"Lavender, your cologne but nothing else." Ming Ze was glad that Yi Chen was able to respond better than before.

"Lastly, can you move three parts of your body?"

At this, Zhang Yi Chen stretched out his arms slowly and began clenching and unclenching his fingers. He then moved his neck in circles twice before finally looking up at Ming Ze, "Feeling better?" asked Ming Ze.

"Yeah." Yi Chen could feel the pressure from earlier leave his body and now he was able to breathe, "Thank you."

Ming Ze ruffled Yi Chen's hair gently, "Sometimes I wonder whether I picked up a friend or a son." he said that to lighten the mood and make Yi Chen laugh and when Ming Ze heard Yi Chen chuckle, he felt relieved.

He didn't want to broach the subject again but Yi Chen needed to hear this, "Now listen to me very carefully, you need not to worry about Lu Zhi."

"But -" Yi Chen tried to protest but was silenced by Ming Ze.

"Lu Zhi is not just anybody. She is not like your mother who is blindly in love with your father, she is not like me or my family who didn't have enough power to stand against that bastard. She is not like other people whom your father can crush using his money and power." Ming Ze paused for a few seconds before adding, "And she is not Xiao Xi who was helpless and powerless."

A tear rolled down Yi Chen's cheek at the mention of Xiao Xi, the girl he had once loved.

"The woman we are talking about is Lu Zhi, the elder daughter of the Lu family. The Lu family who owns the Lu Empire that holds, if not more, equivalent power to the Zhang's. Even if Zhang Dong tries to do something, I believe that Lu Zhi is more than capable to stand against and fight him."

Really?"

"Yes." Ming Ze assured, "It has happened before but I don't think it will happen again."

****************

Two days passed without any communication between Lu Zhi and the Zhang father and son. Even though she had been confused and worried after her last call with Yi Chen, Lu Zhi didn't get to ponder over it for long as she had gotten Arianna's email of approval over the sketch that she had sent her earlier.

Lu Zhi had been working with her a senior designer from her team and her seamstress to carefully create the wedding gown. It need extra TLC because of how delicate Arianna's grandmother's gown was.

Lu Zhi worked tirelessly to create the basic form for the gown so that the seamstress could finally start the sewing process. She had been staying at the estate from the past two days and was right now half lying and half sitting on her comfortable couch in her mini library. She was an ardent reader and loved reading books; her favorite genre being romance, fantasy, serial killers, murder mysteries, and history.

Right now she was reading a book that detailed the ancient torture practices' for criminals and serial offenders. Lu Ying would always call her crazy whenever she brings up the latest criminal case that she had taken an interest in. Lu Zhi was one of those girls who watched serial killer documentaries to relax. Yeah. To relax.

"Noice!" she spoke the word 'nice' in an accent to express her appreciation for Lingchi, also known as death by thousand cuts. A torture practice, a form of execution that was practiced in ancient China reserved for certain criminals who committed heinous crimes.

"Messy, time consuming but really torturous." commented Lu Zhi as she moved onto to read about the other brutal form of ancient punishment. She was about to start reading the next method when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in." Lu Zhi said loudly as she placed the bookmark in the book and closed it before placing it aside.

It was Dai Xi who came in, "Ma'am, Mr. Sean Wu has come to meet you."

Lu Zhi sat up straight on the couch and said, "Let him in. And please tell someone to bring in some refreshments."

"Yes, Ma'am." responded Dai Xi and went away.

Soon, a tall man dressed in all black entered the room carrying a suitcase. His long hair were tied in a bun at the back of his head and he had a scar running through his left eyebrow and ended up really close to his eye.

"Welcome back, Sean." Lu Zhi grinned up at the man in front of her who gave her a bow before taking a seat on the bean bag in front of her.

Sean was a friend that she made during her brief visit to Country B a few years back. She had helped him during his hard times and also arranged a job for him in her maternal grandfather's company. Lu Zhi changed his life completely and Sean would forever be grateful for that. This is why whenever he meets her, he bows to her first before saying or doing anything else.

"It's good to see you." greeted Sean, "How are you doing?" he asked.

"It's good to see you too. And I am perfectly fine" replied Lu Zhi, "How did the meeting go? Were you able to crack the deal?"

"Yeah, we did it. All we needed was to crack a few eggs, it was an easy job." commented Sean, "I just came back and wanted to meet you first and see if you were alright after all that mess."

Lu Zhi just waved her hand, "Ah, it was nothing! Just some flies that I swatted away."

"Good." smiled Sean. He then opened his suitcase and took out a package, "Here are the things that you needed. It has all the important documents including a USB drive with further details. I have already gone through these and I think these are more than enough."

"Cool!" exclaimed Lu Zhi while grabbing the package from Sean's hands.

Not only was Lu Zhi responsible for handling her own fashion and jewelry business, she was also the heir to the Bai family business.

Her maternal grandfather had only one daughter, her mother Bai Yan, who didn't want to continue running the family business after she got married to Lu Zhi's father. Lu Zhi's grandfather's hopes crashed as his only daughter refused to carry on the family business. But when Lu Zhi got old enough, she started taking keen interest in the Bai family business, he couldn't be happier

While the Lu Empire was very diverse and including businesses in different industries, the Bai family business, on the other hand, was all about construction and interior designing. StarBuild Infrastructure was a company that her maternal grandfather started from scratch.

While Lu Ying inherited the Lu Empire, Lu Zhi is running her own company and is also the major shareholder and heir of StarBuild Infrastructure. Lu Zhi learned her business ethics from her maternal grandfather while Lu Ying was taught by their father, Lu Feng.

Sean is the current Chief Operating Officer of the StarBuild and reports directly to Lu Zhi who is the CEO while Grandfather Bai is the Chairman.

Lu Zhi and Sean were discussing the projects StarBuild was currently handling when an attendant came inside with refreshments. Sean took the tray from the attendant and himself poured a cup of tea for Lu Zhi.

"You didn't need to do that." commented Lu Zhi and she took the cup from Sean.

Sean smiled as he took a sip from his cup and said, "I wanted to."

It has always been like this with Sean since she helped him when he was in a really depressing state and helped him start anew, "You know I would go to any lengths if it is about you. If I had to I would sacrifice my life for you and if you ask for it, I would not hesitate to kill even."

"Aye!" Lu Zhi grinned, "You won't have to do that ever!"