Lu Ting Zhou took a step forward, the tremble gone from his hands now. "Why are you here?" His voice cracked like a whip. "Just go on and do what brought you over, just assume we aren't here or you don't know us...." He dismissed her and saw her as a distraction.
Song Yuyan inhaled softly, then let the façade crack—just a little. "I didn't come to hurt you. But if we are speaking truthfully…" Her gaze slid to Lu Zhi Hao. "Then maybe it's time the truth comes out. About how you were born." If possible, she wanted to use all kinds of means to destroy their father-son bond. When it had cracks, it was the easiest way to get closer to them.
The words cut through the air like a blade.
"What…?" Ting Zhou blinked, uncertain of what she wanted to say, but probably it was something they knew already.
Wan Ruyi's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. She already knew this part of the story, but she wasn't going to spare the boys the pain of hearing it directly from the woman who had abandoned them.
Song Yuyan stepped forward, her voice deceptively soft. "You two weren't conceived out of love. You weren't born from some grand romance. You were a… project. A plan I had curated."
The silence roared louder than any scream.
"I took Lu Zhi Hao's sperm," she continued. "From his private genetic safe bank—he didn't even know. I used a surrogate to carry you. I never planned on becoming a mother… but I needed heirs. Just in case." She looked at the boys. "You were my insurance. My bloodline. My future backup."
Lu Ting Cheng stared at her as though seeing a stranger and didn't care, if she openly admitted it, then who were they to mask things? "You stole it, you are saying you are a thief and openly admitted it. That's not taking! So over ambitious."
"Call it what you want. I call it a strategy."
Lu Zhi Hao finally stepped forward, his voice low and dangerous. "And when you thought my empire was collapsing, you fled. Left the children you had no hand in raising. You didn't just betray me—you abandoned them. What you created, you decided to abandon them.... what a good woman you are."
Yuyan's lips twitched. "I wasn't going to stay and sink with a dying dynasty."
"You miscalculated," Zi Zhen said icily from the side. "Because this 'dying dynasty' built itself back stronger and richer without you. And I am glad you vanished, my momma got the best man."
Ting Zhou couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. Everything he knew about his identity, his family, was cracking and shifting.
"Is that all we ever were to you?" he asked, barely louder than a whisper. "An insurance policy?"
Song Yuyan looked at him—and for a brief, shattering moment, something genuinely flickered behind her eyes.
But she didn't deny it.
Instead, she said, "I came to offer peace. No regrets. We can always start all over again. I'm still your Mother."
Gabriel Shaw stepped forward again, a hand on her back. "We will leave you to your celebration. But consider this—when the storm comes, it won't matter who loved whom. Only those who are still standing."
"Humph! We will see about that..." Lu Zi Zhen waved his hand, and the shadow guards showed up, guiding them away from the Lu brothers and his mother.
Yuyan didn't resist. She lifted her chin and walked away like a queen, unrepentant, but no longer victorious.
As the ballroom doors closed, the music resumed, and the gala moved on, like nothing had happened.