262 Criminal Couple

The lawyer jerked ahead and kept the documents on the desk and started reading the causalities, "The mutuality of the contract has long been severed by the representative of the second party in the liaison of breaking the clauses 13.2, 6.5 and 3.3 by cohabiting with the opposite gender, skipping the ceremony ordeal and violating the agreement, respectively.

So the second party had been the one to compromise the deal thus the consequences shall be faced by the offending party unless... the second party can offer a significant alternative. Aside from them, the first party challenges the second party of alleged deceit with an imposter."

The whole conference room silenced then and the tension brewed deep in cold waves. Both sides were warily looking between the Old General and the infamous Mafia Lord.

Ji Zhou who has been sitting there with a mask of passiveness couldn't stop the slight smirk that took over his features.

Four months his Master was just fang and claw, working like a man high on steroids but today, hardly a 24 hour of 'her' return and he was back in his game.

He propped the evidenced file he had of the alleged offenses forward to Master Lu's legal consultants. They all evaluated the facts and weighed their options in legal perimeters.

But in it they all knew Li Yuan didn't bluff nor was his size a fluff. Instead, that was the most decent of his approaches; he was giving them a negotiation chance which was obviously just a protocol. At the end of the day, it was going to be all by his rules.

A dark shadow crossed over Master Lu's face and he was trying hard to rein his rage but Li Yuan smirk showed how pleased he was with the development.

Li Yuan's eyes glinted as if he couldn't bear the stone-hard façade the man in front of him was balancing on a short stick; he gave it a much-needed push.

He raised his bro with a lazy grin and his deep voice resonated in the conference room, "In short, you owe me a daughter, one that isn't a wh*re."

Every soul felt the angst brought by the words. Some were shocked out of their wits but their professional masks of indifference let nothing slip except the sharp intake of breath in the suffocating environment. 

It was more clearer than ever it was no professional on the desk discussion, it was a domestic issue or rather a torment. Her infidelity did nothing to bruise his ego it was just that it was his leverage against the old man that bowed his hands.

He hadn't been the most faithful himself but that wasn't required of him according to the papers and his conquests were mere allegation with no concrete proofs, just rumors.

Master Lu's face turned red with rage and he slapped his hand on the desk causing several cups to fall, and stood up, "Don't you call my daughter that! Not after how you neglected her for years and brought woman after others to mortify her! Especially now that you have a woman…"

Li Yuan snorted and rolled his eyes in a bored fashion and cut him off before he crossed the line, "Phrasing isn't our priority here, even if what I say hold more weight than Atlas ever mythically carried. And please be seated for the reason you came here."

Master Lu glared at the insolent man who had changed colors faster chameleon, not long ago he used to sit on his table make small pleasant talks, all smiles. In the pursuit to curry favor with him so that witch stayed happy.

As much as he despised the man in front of him, he resented the witch who had him captive in her charm. The woman made a joke out of him and ridiculed his whole household. 

Not only that but she stayed in all the glamour and luxury when his daughter could have been rotting somewhere. And this man was sitting tall and proud in his seat like nothing could deter him just because he had that woman in his cot now.

The wheels in his head turned and his frown smoothed down clearly. Li Yuan was asking him to make everyone believe that there was no swap up and the Lei Xinyi is not the other woman, to preserve her reputation. 

As much as he would like to take his sweet time mentally mutilating them, he knew he needed to ensure his little Pumpkin safety, and here he was seeing the immunity he needed for her.

Li Yuan wanted for people to believe that she was the promised daughter as in the contract where Lu Xinyi protection was guaranteed but the Lu woman that was supposed to be his betrothed name wasn't mentioned. 

If Lei Xinyi somehow could become a Lu, she could be the woman in the bargain…without a doubt from anyone as she was really a carbon copy of Lu Xinyi. They would assume both the woman's identities were confused.

Master Lu sat down on the chair with a slump at the obnoxious statement of the young man in front of him. 

He stared at his bored relaxed stance in disbelief. Was it all just a prank to him?! Was he trying to con the entire continent?! How deranged and stubborn was this man behind that woman?! 

"You want me to adopt her as a daughter so you can marry her in a good name?" He exclaimed incredulously and shook his head, "She is a bloody criminal!"

Li Yuan raised a brow and smirked, "So was the man you wanted your daughter to marry." He rolled his eyes and swatted his hand as if shooing a fly, "It's trivial, really."

Master Lu sneered at his face, "You want me to pretend that the girl who was an imposter to my daughter is my adopted daughter. For what? To save face?"

At once hearing his statement a smug look appeared on Li Yuan's face and it didn't take long for Master Lu to realize the blunder his words had caused.

The fact that was ringing loud was that Lu Xinyi was the one gaining the most from the deal. Her security was being ensured and if her sister was associated with the Li's it would double the weight of her if something were to happen.

Not only that it would ensure the Li's would be out of their hairs for good. Lu Xinyi's reputation was in jeopardy because of her immoral stay at an unmarried man's house for months without awareness of her whereabouts.

If he was to declare or people were to know the girl who was living with them wasn't his daughter, people will question where had she been. If he was to announce that she had been missing people in the high society will disturb her mentally, her life would be subjected to disruption not to mention people will question her chastity.

The sharp socialites and feminist women will ridicule and make her life a living hell for having been a leftover of the heir of Li Household.

His little Pumpkin was too innocent and delicate for the criticism and harshness of the brutal worlds of vultures and snakes.

"Save face? Yes." His smile dropped so did all the humor, all left was coldness and indifference, "But…if you are doing anyone a favor, it's yourself and that dear daughter of yours."

He was right and the most acute of men in the room knew that. They could feel the heightened tension. Both men were set on having the upper hand out of this.

Though wounded but Master Lu was a man of pride, but even the tallest of pagoda fall for their successors. For your blood, a man could drop to the lowest he ever had. He could beg and he could grovel.

His shoulder dropped and his sharp eyes assessed the man on his promise. He knew it in his heart that anything he did or said was just for show and his amusement. This conference room was just a ruse. If he wanted he could very well force it out of him.

"Are you threatening me, Young man?" His voice was more pensive with curiosity than clouded with rage.

Li Yaun scoffed and looked away, "Eloping, scandalous dalliances with her fiancé's cousin, I have enough to ruin her,"

He took a pause for his words to register and then smirked, "But for the sake of conversation assume otherwise. What do you think will happen if things were to be 'unharmonious' and left with a loop in this meeting. I can easily shut any mouth and you or government for that matter is not that inviolable. Besides, there are hundreds of families willing to be the family to my next fiance."

It was his 'courteous' way of showing that he was doing them a favor.

Yes, he could and on a saner note, he would too then why? Why? Why bother to make sure his ex-fiance was well seated in the arrangement? It wasn't gratitude, he had repaid more than he took years ago...

With an unreadable expression, Master Lu gazed into his eyes, looking for something. "When can I meet my adopted daughter?"

"You don't get to," His expressions again faded to indifference, "I prefer my fiancé to have little to no relatives."

Master Lu stood up and so did Li Yaun, they shook hands to finalize their deal.

"It was a pleasure doing 'business' with you."

"Pleasure…it was."