Lu Yanzhi

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood kidnapping

At ten years old, Lu Yanzhi was kidnapped by an organ-trafficking gang, drugged, and confined in a basement. He was eventually anesthetized and placed on an operating table to have his liver and kidneys removed, but Jiang Yao rescued him while working undercover 106.

Lu Yanzhi did not know who had saved him. He associated Jiang Yao with the criminals, while his older sister, Lu Chenxi, claimed that she had rescued him and taken a bullet from Jiang Yao. Believing that he owed her his life, Lu Yanzhi repeatedly yielded his parents’ affection and his inheritance rights to her 106 109.

The kidnapping left him with lasting psychological trauma. The narration describes him as having suffered severe autism afterward, and his parents increasingly favored Lu Chenxi. From the age of ten onward, they stopped celebrating his birthdays 109 110.

Education and career

Lu Yanzhi encountered Jiang Yao again at eighteen and later studied under him. Jiang Yao made him revise his graduation thesis three hundred times, privately using the revisions as an excuse to see him more often. Lu Yanzhi, already frightened of him, avoided his supervisor whenever possible 106 109.

He became a practicing psychologist and had graduated more than a year before accompanying Jiang Yao back to the university in January. Despite belonging to the Lu family, he never participated in the Lu Group’s business affairs 110 111.

Appearance

Lu Yanzhi has a handsome, refined face and a slender build 105 111.

• Eyes: Peach-blossom-shaped eyes with long lashes 107 110.
• Build: A slender waist and long, slender neck 105.
• Relative height: Approximately half a head shorter than Jiang Yao 106.

Personality

Lu Yanzhi is sharp-tongued and irreverent with people he knows well. He trades insults with Jiang Chiyan, jokes about Xiao Cheng’s possessiveness, and maintains a sarcastic inner commentary even when intimidated by Jiang Yao 12 104 106.

His fear of Jiang Yao is rooted in his childhood kidnapping rather than simple shyness. Physical proximity and discussion of the incident can leave him pale, trembling, or desperate to withdraw. Nevertheless, he instinctively shields Jiang Yao during the airport attack and tries to prevent him from killing the attacker 106 107 108.

Although he deeply wants familial affection, Lu Yanzhi eventually refuses to keep sacrificing himself for his relatives. He challenges his parents’ favoritism, defends his relationship, and gives the police the USB drive his father wanted him to use against Jiang Yao. He is also capable of calculated retaliation: he admits that he allowed himself to receive a minor injury at the family home so that publicizing it could damage the Lu Group’s stock price 109 110 111.

Abilities & Skills

Psychological Counseling

Lu Yanzhi provides ongoing counseling to Xiao Cheng and advises Jiang Chiyan about his behavior 12 98 101.

• Identifies Jiang Chiyan as the likely emotional trigger behind Xiao Cheng’s obsessive and violent reactions 12.
• Warns that Xiao Cheng’s blood-drinking delusions could develop into a belief that he is a vampire and that Jiang Chiyan is his only salvation 98.
• Maintains a close relationship with Xiao Cheng after counseling him repeatedly over the years 101.

Hypnosis

Lu Yanzhi uses hypnosis during Xiao Cheng’s treatment 12 99.

• Previously hypnotized Xiao Cheng several times but could not safely penetrate his psychological defenses 12.
• Refused to force deeper access because he feared causing neurological damage 12.
• A later session provokes Xiao Cheng’s violent, bloodthirsty state, requiring Jiang Chiyan’s intervention 99 100.

Equipment / Items

• Electronic collar — Forced onto him by Jiang Yao at the wedding. It tightens when he struggles and sounds an alarm if he moves more than five meters away. Jiang Yao later changes its announcement from “master” to “husband.” It remains in use after they become a couple 105 111.
  • Jiang Yao’s name is engraved on it 106.
  • It contains twenty concealed anesthetic needles; this is revealed through Jiang Yao’s thoughts, not Lu Yanzhi’s knowledge 111.
• Initial diamond ring — A women’s wedding ring Jiang Yao places on his left ring finger before they mutually acknowledge their relationship. It is too tight for Lu Yanzhi to remove 106.
• Matching diamond rings — Found in the final unopened birthday present. Jiang Yao kneels before him while holding one 111.
• Jointly owned villa and assets — Jiang Yao decorates the villa to Lu Yanzhi’s tastes and places both names on its deed. The narration also states that he adds Lu Yanzhi’s name to all his assets 110.

Relationships

• Jiang Yao — Former teacher, childhood rescuer, and eventual romantic partner. Lu Yanzhi initially mistakes him for an accomplice of the kidnappers; their relationship changes after the truth emerges. Jiang Yao is five years older than him 106 109 110.
• Jiang Chiyan — Childhood friend who introduced him to Xiao Cheng six years before the main counseling discussions. Their friendship includes frequent teasing and blunt exchanges 12 104.
• Xiao Cheng — Long-term counseling patient and friend. Lu Yanzhi serves as his groomsman and later confides in him about his fear of Jiang Yao 101 104 106.
• Lu Chenxi — Older sister whose false account of his rescue earns his trust and deference for years. Her claims unravel when Jiang Yao confronts her; she is detained after the kidnapping investigation reopens 109.
• Father and Mother Lu — Parents who favor Lu Chenxi and reject his relationship with Jiang Yao. After their arrest, his father attempts to exploit him to obtain Jiang Yao’s business secrets 109 110 111.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Xiao Cheng’s Treatment

Jiang Chiyan consults Lu Yanzhi after witnessing Xiao Cheng’s brutality and bloodlust. Drawing on previous hypnosis sessions, Lu Yanzhi suggests that Jiang Chiyan himself is Xiao Cheng’s “untouchable point”—the trigger whose disturbance produces extreme violence 12.

As Xiao Cheng’s blood-drinking behavior develops, Lu Yanzhi warns Jiang Chiyan about its possible escalation and suggests confinement for study. Jiang Chiyan refuses to deprive Xiao Cheng of his freedom. Xiao Cheng subsequently agrees to psychotherapy, but hypnosis triggers a violent episode in which he grabs Jiang Chiyan’s throat 98 99 100.

After Xiao Cheng takes Jiang Chiyan to a secluded island, Lu Yanzhi anxiously questions him over a video call before handing the phone to Jiang Yun 101.

Wedding and Coercive Courtship

Jiang Chiyan assigns Lu Yanzhi, Xi Hanchu, and Fu Man to Xiao Cheng’s wedding party so that no one will look down on Xiao Cheng’s background. During the preparations, Lu Yanzhi jokes that Xiao Cheng would imprison Jiang Chiyan if he ever cheated, earning himself removal from their group chat 104.

At the wedding, Jiang Yao uses Lu Yanzhi’s confiscated payroll card and a previously written pledge to lure him away. He takes his wallet and ID, forces an electronic collar onto him, and restricts his movement. He later places a tight wedding ring on his finger and ties his wrists while questioning why Lu Yanzhi fears him 105 106.

Lu Yanzhi tells Xiao Cheng about the kidnapping and his belief that Jiang Yao belonged to the trafficking gang. Separately, Jiang Yao tells Jiang Chiyan that he was the undercover rescuer and had assumed Lu Chenxi had explained this to her brother 106.

Airport Attack and Recovered Truth

At the airport, Lu Yanzhi asks whether Jiang Yao genuinely likes him or merely wants his body. Before Jiang Yao can answer, an attacker approaches in the darkness. Lu Yanzhi shields Jiang Yao and receives a six-inch knife wound to his arm, then persuades him to stop strangling the attacker and take him to the hospital 106 107.

A fever brings back nightmares of the kidnapping. Through his mind-reading ability, Jiang Yao enters the dream and witnesses a boy calling himself “Jiang Yao” abusing the young Lu Yanzhi. He realizes how the childhood trauma shaped Lu Yanzhi’s fear and later explicitly confesses his feelings 108.

When Lu Chenxi repeats her rescue story over the phone, Jiang Yao challenges it. Lu Yanzhi finally learns that Jiang Yao saved him. He makes clear that he wants their relationship out of love, not gratitude, and Jiang Yao remains abroad with him for nearly a month while his arm heals 109.

Break with the Lu Family

On returning home, Lu Yanzhi faces his parents’ demand that he leave Jiang Yao so Lu Chenxi can marry him instead. He refuses. His father throws an ashtray, and flying glass cuts his face. Jiang Yao arrives to take him away as the reopened kidnapping case leads to Lu Chenxi’s detention 109.

Lu Yanzhi then learns that his parents knew of the Lu Group’s drug dealing and that its restaurants served food containing addictive poppy products. His parents and sister are taken away by police. Jiang Yao brings him to their shared home and, at midnight, celebrates his birthday with cakes and presents intended to make up for sixteen neglected birthdays 110.

Loyalty and Proposal

Jiang Yao publicly identifies Lu Yanzhi as his partner during a university examination. Later, Lu Yanzhi visits his detained father, who offers him the Lu Group in exchange for inserting a data-stealing USB drive into Jiang Yao’s work laptop 111.

Jiang Yao overhears the plan and mistakes Lu Yanzhi’s subsequent request to borrow his computer for betrayal. Lu Yanzhi reveals that he has already surrendered the drive to the police; he used the laptop only to add a couple wallpaper and defend their relationship online. After the misunderstanding is resolved, they open the final birthday present containing matching rings, and Jiang Yao goes down on one knee 111.

Notable Quotes

“I don't want to be with you out of gratitude.”
“We both want this.” 109

“Home? I haven't had a home since I was ten.” 109

“Jiang Yao, are you stupid? How could I hurt you to save a scumbag worse than an animal?” 111

Trivia

• He has extremely low alcohol tolerance; one glass is described as enough to knock him out 106.
• He charges psychological consultation fees by the minute and is not short of money 110.
• His three birthday wishes all concern Jiang Yao: his safety and longevity, the fulfillment of his wishes, and their growing old together 110.