In the luxurious, imposing living room of the Gu family residence.
“Uncle, I… I’d like to borrow a hundred thousand yuan from you…”
Gu Kuankuan bit her lip and forced herself to speak.
A month ago, her father had been struck by a car on his way to work. After emergency treatment, he had been admitted to the ICU.
The driver responsible had fled the scene.
To pay the enormous medical bills, she and her mother had discussed their options and had no choice but to sell their still-mortgaged home for far less than it was worth.
But the ICU was frighteningly expensive. After barely more than half a month, all that money was gone.
“Wait a minute!” Her uncle, Gu Rongsheng, feigned disbelief. “Kuankuan, didn’t you just get fifty thousand yuan from our family a few days ago? You’ve already spent it all?”
A week earlier, when Gu Kuankuan had come to borrow money, her aunt had somehow taken a fancy to her jade pendant.
Her aunt had offered fifty thousand yuan for it. Desperate to save her father, Gu Kuankuan had no choice but to sell it to them.
Gu Kuankuan explained, “The ICU costs eight or nine thousand yuan a day. Fifty thousand is only enough for a week.”
“Kuankuan, my company’s been having some cash-flow problems lately…”
Gu Rongsheng let out a troubled sigh, pretending he wanted to help but couldn’t.
In reality, Gu Rongsheng wished his elder brother would die in the hospital.
Because he was the driver who had hit Gu Kuankuan’s father and fled the scene.
“Uncle, you’re a well-known wealthy businessman in A City. And just yesterday, I saw Xueyan showing off a new Hermès bag on her Moments…”
Gu Xueyan was Gu Kuankuan’s younger paternal cousin.
The Gu family was wealthy.
Gu Kuankuan’s father was the son of her grandfather and his first wife.
But as the saying went, once a man had a stepwife, his children might as well have a stepfather too.
Old Master Gu had married into a better social position. After his first wife died of illness, he married the woman who had always held a place in his heart, and they had Gu Rongsheng.
After Gu Kuankuan’s father married, Old Master Gu proposed dividing the family household. He sent her father out on his own without giving him any share of the family assets.
Instead, Gu Rongsheng inherited the Gu family’s vast fortune.
His lie exposed, Gu Rongsheng flew into a rage. “So what if Xueyan bought a bag? Just because I have money, does that mean I have to lend it to you?”
Gu Kuankuan knew that lending money was a kindness, not an obligation.
But she truly couldn’t bear to give up on her father’s life.
She stepped forward, seized her second uncle’s arm, and pleaded, “Uncle, please…”
“Your father’s unconscious in the ICU. His medical bills are a bottomless pit! Lending you money would be like throwing meat buns to a dog—I’d never see it again! I’m not lending you anything!”
With a cold snort, Gu Rongsheng forcefully flung her away.
“Ah!”
Caught off guard, Gu Kuankuan fell to the floor. The side of her waist struck the corner of the coffee table, leaving her face pale with pain and her skin covered in cold sweat. She couldn’t get up.
“Kuankuan, your aunt just thought of something. You’re old enough to get married, and I happen to know quite a few wealthy men.” A calculating, malicious glint flashed through Lin Shumin’s eyes. “I’ll introduce you to someone. Once you’ve married a rich man, your father’s medical expenses won’t be a problem.”
Gu Kuankuan froze and looked up at Lin Shumin.
She was only twenty-three. She had never even been in a relationship, much less imagined getting married.
“Older Cousin, don’t you want to save Uncle?” Gu Xueyan asked in a soft, sweet voice, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
Gu Kuankuan clenched the hands she had braced against the floor into fists.
After struggling with herself, she made a decision.
She would marry someone in exchange for the money to pay her father’s medical bills!
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Aunt.”
“All right. Go home and wait to hear from me.” Lin Shumin waved her away.
Gritting her teeth against the pain in her waist, Gu Kuankuan got to her feet and slowly left the Gu family residence.
Gu Xueyan asked her mother curiously, “Mom, what kind of rich man are you going to introduce to Gu Kuankuan?”
“Lu Zhikun,” Lin Shumin replied.
Lu Zhikun had had his eye on Gu Kuankuan for quite some time.
Lin Shumin knew Gu Kuankuan was desperately short of money. She had already made a deal with Lu Zhikun: as long as Gu Kuankuan married him and they obtained their marriage certificate, Lin Shumin would receive ten million yuan as a matchmaking fee!
Gu Xueyan exclaimed in shock, “H-he’s almost fifty! And didn’t he beat his wife to death just recently?”
After that abusive man had beaten his wife to death, her family had confronted him. In the end, they accepted a large sum of money and let the matter drop.
Marry Gu Kuankuan off to Lu Zhikun?
With Gu Kuankuan’s slight build, who knew how many beatings she could withstand?
“Keep your voice down!”
Lin Shumin glanced nervously toward the doorway. Gu Kuankuan was already far away and nowhere to be seen…
That evening.
While working her part-time job delivering takeout, Gu Kuankuan received a call from her aunt, Lin Shumin.
“Kuankuan, President Lu wants to meet you tomorrow morning at ten thirty, at Yunshui Café. Table 017. Don’t be late!” Lin Shumin told her.
Gu Kuankuan was riding her electric scooter to make a delivery, with the wind roaring around her.
“I understand, Aunt.”
“Dress nicely tomorrow, and remember to bring your household registration booklet, understand? Once you get your marriage certificate, your father can be saved!”
After giving these instructions, Lin Shumin hung up.
Gu Kuankuan continued making deliveries until after two in the morning, then pushed her scooter home after its battery ran out…
The following day.
Gu Kuankuan got up early and washed.
To scrape together money for her father’s medical bills, she had sold all her makeup cheaply. All she had left was one lipstick.
She put on the lipstick and changed into the new dress her father had given her for her birthday two months earlier. It had cost more than four thousand yuan—over half a month’s wages for him.
Once she was ready, she rode her fully charged electric scooter to Yunshui Café.
It was already 10:25 when she arrived.
The upscale café was large, so Gu Kuankuan went straight to a server.
“Excuse me, where’s table 017?”
“Over there.” The server pointed it out.
Gu Kuankuan looked across the room, but there was no one at table 017. Had she misheard the table number?
Then she happened to notice a man in a suit sitting at table 077…
She checked the time. It was nearly ten thirty.
Frowning, she thought, Aunt must have said table 077 last night. The wind was so strong that I mistook it for 017.
With that thought, Gu Kuankuan walked straight over. “Excuse me, are you Mr. Lu?”
“Mm.” The man’s tone was icy as he raised his head.
The young woman before him looked very young. Slightly wavy, ink-black hair fell loosely around her delicate, palm-sized face. Her skin was exceptionally fair and smooth, and her peach-colored lipstick made her lips look sweet and inviting…
The instant Gu Kuankuan saw his face, she went still.
How could anyone in the world be this handsome?
His hair was swept back from his forehead in a side part. His face had clean, sharply defined lines, a straight nose, thin lips pressed lightly together, angled brows like swords, and cold, piercing eyes.
His features were breathtaking, and he radiated an intimidating air of looking down on the world.
“Do you need something?”
His thin lips parted, his voice indifferent.
Gu Kuankuan quickly collected herself and sat down opposite him. “Hello, Mr. Lu! I’m Gu Kuankuan. I’ve brought my household registration booklet. If you’re satisfied with me, we can go to the Civil Affairs Bureau right now and register our marriage.”
She had no idea whether the man was satisfied with her.
But she was more than satisfied with him!
Although it was Saturday, the Civil Affairs Bureau was open for half the day and could register marriages.
The man knew the young woman had mistaken him for someone else.
But something came to mind, and his lips curved into an inscrutable smile.
“Let’s go.”
He rose from the sofa.
“Huh? Where to?” Gu Kuankuan asked blankly, not quite catching on.
“The Civil Affairs Bureau,” he answered tersely.
“I-it’s… it’s settled that quickly?”
Gu Kuankuan stared at him in disbelief.
His brows drew together slightly, and his cold gaze swept over her. “You don’t want to?”