“This is way too embarrassing. It’s my first time seeing a fiancé run away from his own engagement banquet…”
“I heard the Jiang family’s eldest daughter was in a car accident before. Could she have some kind of lingering health issue, which is why her fiancé ran away?”
“Didn’t I hear that she stole her cousin’s boyfriend in the first place?”
“…”
Listening to the murmurs and gossip below the stage, the girl standing at the center of the storm suddenly opened her eyes. A delayed, dull pain throbbed at the back of her head, making her frown as she instinctively reached up to rub it.
She looked down at the crowd in confusion, only to find everyone wearing expressions of eager curiosity. Then she glanced around and realized that she was clearly standing inside a banquet hall.
She remembered now.
She had just stepped in to help an old lady get her wallet back, and then she ended up fighting with the thief. Somehow, someone had struck the back of her head, and now she was hallucinating…?
Still lost in thought, she turned around and nearly collided with the host, who had approached her and was startled by the sudden movement.
“Jiang… Miss Jiang, what should we do now?”
Jiang Die felt utterly baffled. The pain at the back of her head was becoming increasingly intense, yet when she touched the spot, there was no wound. A terrible thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she asked, “Where am I?”
The panic immediately disappeared from the host’s face. Instead, he looked at her with pity, as though he were wondering whether the shock had left her mentally disoriented.
“Miss Jiang, why don’t I announce that today’s engagement banquet has been canceled due to force majeure? Then you and Mr. Xing Yiming can discuss another date and hold it again later.”
Xing Yiming.
The moment she heard that name from the novel, combined with the gossip from the crowd and the obvious engagement dress she was wearing, Jiang Die finally understood what had happened.
She had transmigrated into a novel.
However, could pain from reality really carry over into a novel? Jiang Die had no idea.
This was the engagement banquet of the heroine who shared her name in a tragic novel she had once read.
The entire story could be summed up like this: she loved him, he loved her, and she hated her.
The male lead, Xing Yiming, had grown up with Jiang Die. Jiang Die had always been in love with him, but Xing Yiming liked her uncle’s daughter instead, her delicate and helpless cousin, Jiang Weiling.
So why were Xing Yiming and Jiang Die getting engaged if that was the case?
It was because Jiang Weiling was an adopted daughter of the Jiang family. What was that word again?
A simp.
In order to help his goddess obtain the Jiang family’s fortune, Xing Yiming had worked with others behind the scenes and reluctantly agreed to marry Jiang Die.
However, Jiang Weiling was unwilling to accept their engagement after seeing the two of them together. She even threatened to hang herself at home, so Xing Yiming decisively abandoned Jiang Die and left.
Although the Jiang family was not among the top wealthy families in S City, rumors that Jiang Die had bullied her weaker cousin and stolen her man quickly spread. Combined with even more malicious gossip, Jiang Die became the laughingstock of the entire city.
It took Jiang Die only three seconds to accept her situation.
Many of the guests present today were business partners of the Jiang family. Jiang Weiling had deliberately chosen this occasion to ruin the engagement banquet, causing people to question Jiang Die’s character. Even the company directors who had previously supported Jiang Die would be deeply disappointed because of this.
However, Jiang Weiling did not truly love Xing Yiming either. She simply hated Jiang Die and wanted to take everything that belonged to her, including the Jiang family’s fortune.
Tsk!
Leaving aside the fact that they had actually treated her as part of their little game, everything required evidence. She could not explain the truth with nothing but her own words, so today’s engagement banquet could not be ruined.
It had to go ahead.
She swept her gaze across the crowd, and it quickly landed on a cold and aloof figure.
At this moment, filled with malice and hostility, the man seemed completely out of place. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his presence cold yet composed. Although his profile was partially obscured, his extraordinary appearance could still be vaguely seen.
He sat alone at a distant table beside the champagne tower, gently swirling a goblet in his hand as the rich wine inside swayed slowly, seemingly paying no attention to the commotion around him.
“As the Jiang family’s eldest daughter, it shouldn’t matter if I get engaged to someone else instead, right?”
In the novel, Xing Yiming genuinely disliked her. Therefore, even though he had agreed to get engaged to her for the sake of his goddess, he had secretly added a condition. His name was not allowed to appear at the engagement banquet.
Jiang Die, completely blinded by love at the time, had not thought much about it and agreed.
Who would have thought that it would now make things so convenient for her?
She was a reporter who covered the entertainment industry, after all. Making up nonsense was practically her specialty. She could simply announce that their relationship had fallen apart two months later, and the whole problem would be solved.
But she could not let herself suffer today either.
She might as well find an unbelievably handsome man to cooperate with her.
The host had waited for Jiang Die to speak, only to hear those words instead.
“?”
There was a problem with that plan, wasn’t there?
“Miss Jiang, where are you going?”
Jiang Die walked straight through the rows of guests and headed toward the man.
As the distance between them gradually shortened, his exceptionally handsome profile became clearer and clearer.
“Sir, do you have a female companion?”
The man remained silent, his expression as cold as frost.
“Can you get engaged to me?”
Every gaze behind her fell upon Jiang Die. As the seconds passed, she began to feel increasingly awkward.
Heh.
It seemed her eyes really were sharp. She had immediately picked out someone on nightmare difficulty.
Just then, the man lifted his eyelids and glanced sideways at her.
His voice was as cold as ice.
“What makes you think I would help you clean up your mess?”
An oppressive aura swept over her, making Jiang Die realize that this was a dangerous man. However, since he had not completely rejected her, there was still hope.
She had already drawn the bow, and there was no turning back.
Although she also thought this whole situation was absurd, returning to the stage alone now would only make her look even more ridiculous. Still, judging by the man’s noble bearing and the fact that he clearly did not seem short of money, he was probably no ordinary person in S City. Offering him money as thanks did not seem appropriate either.
Besides, what if he was only pretending to be wealthy? If she offered him a tip afterward, he might think she was humiliating him.
After thinking it over, Jiang Die let out a quiet breath and decided to rely on her words.
After all, saying a few nice things could not hurt.
Soon, her clear eyes curved with a slightly ingratiating smile as she said, “I can tell from your upright features and extraordinary bearing that you must be a very righteous person. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have spotted you at first glance in such a huge banquet hall…”
She continued searching her mind for more compliments, completely unaware of the sharp glint that flashed through the man’s eyes.
Lu Liyan set down his wineglass and rose to his feet. His dark eyes were cold and piercing as his thin lips parted.
“Take my arm.”
Wait, was he really that easy to persuade?
She had only said a few words, and he was already convinced?
“You don’t need to hear anything else from me? If that’s the case, thank you so much. You really are so good…”
Jiang Die immediately took advantage of his agreement, but her words suddenly came to a halt when the man’s face fully entered her field of vision.
Her eyes widened slightly.
So handsome.
It was a face that seemed to have been favored by the heavens themselves. His cool, elegant brows resembled distant mountains emerging from the morning mist, while his dark, ink-like eyes were so cold that the air around him seemed to freeze. His nose was high and straight, and the curve of his thin lips was flawless.
Seriously?
He was ridiculously handsome.
Jiang Die silently marveled at him. Aside from being completely satisfied with his appearance, she was even more impressed by her own excellent judgment.
It was not until the man frowned slightly and repeated those two words in a cold voice that she finally snapped out of it.
She hurried forward and took his arm, not forgetting to finish what she had been saying.
“You really are such a good person!”