Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 398; Lin mansion

Shuyin stared at him, processing this revelation. She’d suspected he had connections there, the ease with which Lin Feng and Madam Chen had been transferred, the speed of the arrangements, the director’s willingness to accommodate special requests. But suspecting and hearing it confirmed directly from his mouth were entirely different things.

"Forty percent," she repeated slowly. "You own nearly half of that prison."

"Yes." Lu Yuze’s thumb traced circles on her hand, a gesture of comfort that acknowledged the weight of what he was revealing. "I acquired the shares years ago, after..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "After my wife died. I needed certain capabilities. Places where people could be held under specific conditions. Where justice could be administered when the legal system failed to provide it. Black Water Ridge serves that purpose."

The implications settled over Shuyin like a heavy blanket. Lu Yuze wasn’t just wealthy and connected, he owned a significant portion of the city’s most notorious maximum security prison. He had the power to decide who went where, who got what treatment, what happened behind those concrete walls where official oversight was minimal and corruption flourished.

"You’ve used it before," she said, not a question. "For people who wronged you or your family." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Yes," he admitted without hesitation or shame. "Not often. But when necessary, yes. The legal system has limitations. Sometimes justice requires... alternative methods."

Shuyin thought about the original Shuyin dying in that ring. Thought about Lin Feng and Madam Chen being sent there now, placed in cells with people who had every reason to hurt them, about to be forced into that same ring where the original owner of this body had breathed her last. The symmetry was almost poetic.

"The director is asking for authorization because you’re the actual authority there," she said, understanding clicking into place. "Not just making a request to influential clients, but genuinely seeking approval from one of the facility’s owners."

"Exactly." Lu Yuze watched her carefully, trying to gauge her reaction to this revelation. "I wanted you to know before you made any decisions. This isn’t just arranging a favor through connections. This is me offering you direct control over what happens to them in that place. You say yes, and it happens. You say no, and they’re treated like any other prisoners. But the choice is genuinely yours."

Shuyin looked down at their joined hands, thinking. She’d been in that ring. She’d felt the terror of being forced to fight while a crowd jeered and bet on her suffering. The original Shuyin had died there, alone and broken and convinced that no one cared enough to save her.

Now Lin Feng and Madam Chen would experience that same terror. Would stand in that same ring. Would understand what it felt like to be completely powerless while people who hated them decided their fate.

"Yes," she said, her voice steady and certain. "Tell the director to arrange it. And we’ll be there to watch."

Lu Yuze studied her face for a long moment, then nodded and relayed the authorization to Ting Fei.

"You want to attend in person?" Ting Fei asked, surprise evident in his voice despite his professional training.

"Yes," Shuyin said firmly. "They need to see me there. Need to understand that I’m the one who arranged this, that I survived what they tried to do to me, that I’m the one holding power now. That’s important."

She paused, practical considerations asserting themselves. "We’ll need to put the children to bed first and make arrangements for their care while we’re gone. Can you have the car ready in ninety minutes?"

"I’ll make all the arrangements," Ting Fei confirmed, bowing before stepping away to begin preparations.

The call ended. Shuyin looked at Lu Yuze, seeing understanding and something else in his expression, respect, perhaps, for her strength in facing a place that held such traumatic memories. "You think I’m being cruel," she said, though her tone suggested she didn’t particularly care if he did.

"I think you’re being just," he corrected gently. "There’s a difference. They inflicted worse on you. Letting them experience a fraction of that fear and helplessness isn’t cruelty, it’s education. Maybe the only education that will actually reach them. And you have more right than anyone to decide their fate in that place."

Because he knew. He might not know all the details of what the original Shuyin had endured in Black Water Ridge, but he understood that her reaction to the mention of the ring had come from personal experience, not abstract knowledge.

Yuyan had approached during this conversation, her expression serious beyond her years. She’d been quiet, listening, absorbing more than a twelve-year-old probably should. "What’s happening with the bad people who hurt Mama?" she asked directly.

Shuyin gently ruffled her hair, deciding that honesty was better than evasion. "They’re in prison now. At a place called Black Water Ridge. And tonight, they’re going to be forced to fight in a ring where other people and guards can watch. It’s going to be frightening and painful for them. I arranged it to happen because I want them to understand what it feels like to be powerless and scared. The way they made me feel."

"Good," Yuyan said with surprising vehemence. "They should be scared. They were scary to you for a long time. It’s fair that they feel the same way."

From the mouths of children came simple, uncomplicated moral clarity that adults often lost in their complicated reasoning about mercy and proportional justice. Shuyin pulled Yuyan into a hug, grateful for her daughter’s understanding and for the fact that Yuyan would never have to experience the kind of helplessness that had killed the original owner of Shuyin’s body.

The mansion’s dining room had been hastily set for the family, Shuyin, Lu Yuze, Yuyan, and Chen Xiao. The kitchen staff had prepared a quick but nourishing meal, something that could be eaten efficiently before they needed to prepare the children for bed and themselves for departure to a prison where justice would be administered in ways the legal system never acknowledged.