Lu Rang occasionally chimed in, and A Ying chimed in with jokes, which kept the atmosphere from getting too awkward.
Halfway through the meal, Shang Wu suggested taking a family photo.
Everyone stood up and moved to the front of the backdrop.
Lu You deliberately stood in the position furthest away from Cheng Zhou, with Lu Rang and Shang Wu between them.
The camera froze this moment; everyone had a smile on their face, but behind those smiles lay unspoken emotions that no one could understand.
Cheng Zhou spoke very little during the meal, simply drinking his wine in silence.
After a few drinks, the alcohol amplified his inner turmoil and repression.
He looked at Lu You across from him, whose smile couldn't hide her aloofness, and then at Lu Zheng, who sat in the main seat with an imposing presence. A surge of emotion welled up inside him.
Cheng Zhou suddenly put down his wine glass, his voice not loud, and looked directly at Lu You: "Youyou, in front of Dad and Lu Rangrang, I'll ask you one more time, is there really no possibility for us? You really don't want to reconcile at all?"
In an instant, the entire dining table fell silent.
All eyes were on Lu You.
Lu You's fingers tightened slightly as she gripped the chopsticks.
She raised her eyes and met Cheng Zhou's gaze, which was filled with drunkenness and pain. Instead of looking away, she asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for a long time.
"Cheng Zhou, answer me in front of everyone, do you really want a child? A child with both your and my blood?"
Cheng Zhou was taken aback by her question; under the influence of alcohol, his thinking was somewhat sluggish.
But he still spoke on instinct, almost blurting it out urgently: "I want you! We can adopt the child, Youyou. I swear, I will never let you have the baby. I can't bear to see you suffer like that, and I will never let my mother force you again!"
This answer surprised everyone.
Even Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow slightly.
Adoption? That would be a compromise, but it would also mean that Cheng Zhou would need to completely convince his mother and abandon the traditional concept of continuing the bloodline.
Lu You fell silent.
She looked at the urgency, pain, and pressure in Cheng Zhou's eyes and had nothing to say.
She had considered adoption before.
But this is also a major decision, and she needs time to process and weigh the pros and cons.
After a long silence, Lu You finally spoke in an almost inaudible voice under everyone's gaze: "...I'll think about it some more."
She neither explicitly refused nor accepted. This ambiguous attitude dimmed the hope that had just ignited in Cheng Zhou's heart.
He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but in the end he just slumped back in his chair, shook his head with a bitter smile, and had nothing more to say.
Cheng Zhou ultimately couldn't stay for the entire meal.
He sat silently for a while, then got up, said goodbye to Lu Zheng and Shang Wu, and left early, citing company matters as the reason.
After he left, Lu Zheng put down his chopsticks with a sullen face, glanced at the empty seats left by Lu You and Cheng Zhou, and spoke in an unhappy tone.
"You've ruined a perfectly good 100-day celebration! What kind of behavior is this!"
Although he did not name names, the accusatory tone in his words was obvious.
Lu You kept her head down and didn't say anything.
After the banquet, she found Shang Wu with an apologetic look on her face: "A Wu, I'm sorry, I made such a mess of things today."
Shang Wu took her hand and patted it gently: "Sister You, don't say that. The banquet itself was very nice, and Yu Wu was very happy. What Lu Rang and I care about is not this. We just hope that you and Cheng Zhou can be happy together."
"We hope that whatever decision you ultimately make, as long as it is a well-considered choice that is good for both of you, we will support you."
Looking into Shang Wu's sincere eyes, Lu You felt a mix of emotions. In the end, she simply squeezed Shang Wu's hand tightly and whispered, "Thank you."
After leaving the hotel, Lu You did not go straight home.
She was in a lot of turmoil and needed to find a quiet place to calm down.
She drove to her usual quiet coffee shop, chose a window seat, ordered a black coffee, and stared blankly at the endless stream of cars outside.
After an unknown amount of time, a gentle male voice, tinged with surprise, sounded beside her: "Lu You? Is it really you?"
Lu You snapped out of her daze and turned to look. She saw a man in a casual suit, with a refined air, standing by the table with a surprised smile on his face.
It's Fu Mingyuan.
"It's you?" Lu You was also a little surprised, and forced a smile. "Long time no see."
"Yes, it's been a long time." Fu Mingyuan sat down opposite her naturally, his gaze lingering on her slightly tired face for a moment before he asked with concern, "You don't look well. Are you having coffee here alone? Something's bothering you?"
Lu You simply smiled faintly and did not deny it.
Fu Mingyuan was incredibly clever. Connecting this with some rumors he had vaguely heard recently, he guessed about 70-80% of the truth.
He said, half-jokingly and half-probingly, "I heard you and that guy from the Cheng family didn't have a good time? Sigh, if I had known it would be like this, you would have been better off marrying me. At least no one in my family would dare to pressure you to have children."
Lu You was taken aback.
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