Volume 1, Chapter 154: Giving You a Chance to Join the Elite

"What's wrong?"

The Maybach headed toward the hillside villa. Lou Ye looked back at Sang Wan, who was unusually quiet in the passenger seat, and reached out to hold her hand. "It's not worth it for the sake of Lou Jing!"

"Then is it worth it for the sake of me?" Sang Wan asked softly.

Only then did Lou Ye realize that Sang Wan wasn't angry, but rather blaming herself. He feared that if she thought about it any longer, she would even start questioning whether she should have eaten that bowl of wontons at the shop.

He turned the steering wheel to the right and pulled the car over to the side of the road. Lou Ye looked into Sang Wan’s eyes, his expression calm. "Of course it's worth it!"

"Besides, it's not just for your sake!" Reaching out to stroke her cheek, Lou Ye told her the truth about the current situation of the Lou family. "The old man wants an obedient puppet. Lou Jing returning to the Lou family was only a matter of time."

"Rather than having a group of people bickering and fighting to the death, making us a laughingstock for others, it's better if I just hand it to him voluntarily."

"Sang Wan..."

Waves of emotion suddenly surfaced in his eyes. Lou Ye smiled at her, his brow and eyes full of unbridled spirit. "Even though your man is the number one playboy of the Imperial Capital, at Lou Corporation, my words still carry weight! It’s not like just any stray cat or dog can simply ride roughshod over me."

"The number one playboy of the Imperial Capital?" Sang Wan smiled, pressing her face against his palm. "I don't know any number one playboy. I only know that the person I love is the Crown Prince of the Imperial Capital."

"Is there any difference between those two titles?" Lou Ye raised an eyebrow. But seeing Sang Wan’s relieved expression, his smile grew brighter. "Fine! Whatever my wife says goes!"

*Your man.*
*Wife!*

Her face grew warm, and Sang Wan turned away to avoid his intense gaze, completely forgetting what she had meant to ask. It wasn't until bedtime, as the floor lamp dimmed and the darkness descended, that she remembered.

"Lou Ye..."

"Hmm?" He pressed against her back, pulling her snugly into his arms. Lou Ye asked in a husky voice, "What is it?"

"Since you don't need to go to the company, don't bother picking me up or dropping me off anymore. I can drive myself, or we can use a driver," she said drowsily.

"How could that be?" Lou Ye turned to kiss her cheek. "I finally have the chance, I have to cherish it!"

She wanted to say that when he was the President of Lou Corporation, they had commuted together every day anyway. Such opportunities happened every day; this short period wouldn't make a difference. But Lou Ye held her tightly, his warm palm resting gently on her lower abdomen, and Sang Wan drifted into a deep sleep.

Early in the morning, everything outside the window was a vast expanse of white.

***

He didn't want Lou Ye to run back and forth, but he insisted. After breakfast, the Maybach drove straight from the hillside apartment toward the Lou Corporation.

"Sister Sang, it's time to eat!" When Xiao Bai reminded her, Sang Wan realized that several hours had flashed by.

"You go ahead, I'll finish this part..." She didn't want her train of thought to be interrupted, and even though her stomach was growling, she didn't look up.

People came and went. The office gradually grew quiet.

"Ms. Sang..." A shadow fell over the sketches on her desk. Sang Wan looked up to see a man dressed like a bodyguard in a black suit standing beside her desk. "The Old Master would like you to join him for a meal."

She knew this day would come, but she hadn't expected it to arrive so soon. Sang Wan stood up and followed the man to the restaurant. As soon as she entered, she saw the old man sitting by the window, pouring tea at a yellow pear-wood table.

His hair was silver-white, but Old Master Lou’s complexion was excellent; he didn't look like a man in his late eighties or nineties at all. The black Tang suit he wore made him look benevolent, though there was still a hidden sharpness in his eyes. At a glance, he looked like a mafia boss who had lived in seclusion for many years.

"So you are Sang Wan..." Old Master Lou looked up. She was very different from what he had imagined. He had expected a woman with a stunning figure and a seductive, fox-like charm to walk in. Instead, it was the exact opposite.

Sang Wan was wearing a navy blue suit with a pair of white sneakers. Her black hair was loosely coiled with a disposable chopstick, which, at a glance, looked like a high-quality white jade hairpin. The illusion was perfect, all because of her indifferent and composed temperament.

"Hello," Sang Wan greeted him, her attitude neither servile nor overbearing.

Old Master Lou pointed to the seat directly opposite him. "Sit."

Sang Wan stepped forward and sat down. The door behind her closed silently.

"Do you know why I asked to see you?"
"I do."
"And can you give me the answer I want?"
"I'm sorry, I cannot."

***

Old Master Lou looked at Sang Wan, a flash of knowing sharpness crossing his eyes. "Has Lou Ye ever told you why he likes you?"

Sang Wan was stunned. Old Master Lou said in a low voice, "Then he must not have told you about his mother, either."

To be precise, it wasn't just his mother. It included his father and everyone else in the Lou family. Lou Ye had never mentioned them to her, as if he had been born alone, living a solitary life in the hillside villa.

Amidst Sang Wan's silence, Old Master Lou continued, "You are very much like his mother!"

"His mother was... a very beautiful and very resolute woman." He seemed to be contemplating how to describe the young daughter-in-law he hadn't spoken of in years. Old Master Lou pointed to the dishes on the table. "Eat, let's talk while we eat..."

Sang Wan picked up her chopsticks. Old Master Lou began, "Lou Ye is exactly like his father—stubborn, with a personality that demands whatever he wants. His father was the same back then; he liked that woman, so he married her. In the end, they became a pair of bitter enemies."

"As for you, you have more personality and courage than his mother. You dare to let go and leave the person you don't love. But she didn't dare. And the final result..." He didn't continue, as if not wanting to spoil Sang Wan's appetite.

But Sang Wan could hear the sigh in his words and the meaning behind them.

"So, are you trying to tell me that Lou Ye likes me because I resemble his mother? Or to put it bluntly, because he has an Oedipus complex?" Sang Wan asked in return.

Old Master Lou didn't speak. Sang Wan knew that was exactly what he meant.

"The eldest daughter of the Ming family, Ming Qing—do you know her?" He used serving chopsticks to place a piece of white jade cake on Sang Wan's plate. Seeing that she didn't touch it, he didn't seem to mind. "She will be the future young mistress of the Lou family. How much chance of winning do you think you have against her? Or, how certain are you that you can make Lou Ye love you for a lifetime? After all... you have nothing. Relying only on that pathetic thing called 'love' is too ethereal; it simply cannot tether his heart."

A lifetime is so long, and things change in an instant.

Seeing that Sang Wan had fallen silent and that the calm composure she had when she first entered was gone, Old Master Lou spoke again, his voice sounding even more benevolent. "I heard that your mother passed away recently?"

Sang Wan looked up. Old Master Lou’s gaze was full of pity. "My condolences."

"I have heard quite a bit about your situation. It hasn't been easy to hold on all by yourself for so many years, has it?" Looking at her eyes, which could not hide the sorrow, Old Master Lou asked, "If you had a choice—to marry into a wealthy family or to *become* a wealthy family—which would you choose?"

That was a question to which the radiant, top-tier queen of the entertainment industry had already provided the standard answer many years ago.

Sang Wan looked up. "What exactly do you mean?"