Gu Qingjiao had just reached the entrance of the hall when a Marriage Agreement flew out from inside, landing limply on the floor.
The unfolded content was the first page, the paper fluttering somewhat messily in the wind, but at a single glance, she could spot her name and Shi Lijin’s name on it.
Gu Qingjiao picked up the Marriage Agreement and walked into the hall.
Aside from a few bodyguards, there were also an unfamiliar man and woman dressed in black suits inside the hall. Their expressions were awkward, and they were clearly not a little shaken by Shi Lijin’s recent action.
“Mr. Shi, the inheritance left behind by your late father requires direct blood relatives to inherit it, and we are simply trying to fulfill our mission.”
“According to Madam Shi’s wishes, she hopes you can marry Miss Gu, so that not only can the Shi family’s lineage be continued, but your children can also enjoy that inheritance sooner.”
“The Shi Group holds an extremely high status in the business world. Even if you have no feelings for Miss Gu, you should consider the bigger picture.”
Shi Lijin sat with aristocratic elegance in the main sofa, toying with a carving in his hand, maintaining his usual arrogant and aloof posture.
“If you understand the bigger picture so well, why don’t you come and be my son? I’ll give the inheritance right to you.”
“Ah, no, no, no. How could I possibly be worthy?” The man sitting nearby waved his hands nervously.
At this moment, someone noticed the girl who had just stepped through the door and immediately called out, “Miss Gu.” The gazes of everyone else shifted over to her in unison, only to turn shocked one after another:
Why was Miss Gu dressed so lightly?
Gu Qingjiao was currently wearing only a light gray knitted sweater that reached her knees, leaving the rest of her fair, jade-like skin bare. She did have a pair of cotton slippers on her feet, but everyone had the lingering suspicion that she wasn’t even wearing socks.
Now, not to mention the others losing their composure, even a flash of confusion crossed Shi Lijin’s eyes.
The man who had just been speaking abruptly stood up and greeted her, “Are you Miss Gu Qingjiao? Hello, Miss Gu. My name is Chen Shuo, and I am the witness to the marriage between you and Mr. Shi.”
The other woman beside him also stood up and continued, “My name is Ran Yan. Miss Gu, why are you standing out there instead of coming in?”
Gu Qingjiao stood far away near the door, politely giving them a nodding bow, and then cast a frail look toward Shi Lijin, lowering her head to whisper, “Fiancé, I’ve already cooked the meal, mopped the floor, and washed the clothes. Can I go back to sleep now?”
The marriage witnesses: ??
What is going on here?
The second young master of a top-tier wealthy family, instead of using the dozens of servants in his household, was actually ordering his own fiancée to do chores?
They turned their gazes back to Shi Lijin, waiting for an explanation.
Shi Lijin considered himself familiar with Gu Qingjiao as a person, so he didn’t react too strongly to what she said. Instead, he felt that what she was wearing today… clearly, he had only told her not to wear socks and an outer coat, so how on earth did it turn into this kind of outfit by the time it reached her?
Chen Shuo, the witness, felt somewhat indignant on behalf of the female party. No matter how one looked at it, Miss Gu was the descendant of a wealthy family; he hadn’t expected her to face such mistreatment in the Shi household, treated not only like a servant to be ordered around but also forced to wear such shabby clothes.
He glanced at the calm and unflappable Shi Lijin, then looked back at the gentle and pitiful Gu Qingjiao. No matter how he looked at it, the two of them didn’t look like a couple. The courage to protect the vulnerable welled up instantly in his heart, and he cared, “Miss Gu, hurry and come in. It’s freezing outside, what will you do if you catch a cold!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Qingjiao gave a very timely sneeze, her voice trembling slightly as she said, “No, I wouldn’t dare.”
The witness turned his gaze back to Shi Lijin once more.
The few bodyguards of South Manor stationed throughout the hall were desperately holding back their laughter.
“Mr. Shi, Miss Gu is your fiancée after all. It is truly freezing outside, and if she stands there looking like this and ruins her health, how will you explain it to her family?”
“Indeed, ever since the head of the Gu family passed away, only Madam Gu and her two daughters are left at home. If Miss Gu catches a cold and anything happens to her, how can her mother possibly bear it?”
Suddenly, with a crisp crash, the witness instantly shut his mouth, because they saw Shi Lijin fling the carving knife in his hand onto the table, the blade pointing squarely and precisely at him.
Shi Lijin stood up, picked up his outer coat, and walked toward Gu Qingjiao.
He stopped firmly in front of her and said softly, “It doesn’t matter whether you are putting on an act or not, but you still need to put on your clothes properly.”
With that, he prepared to drape the coat over Gu Qingjiao, only to have her sidestep and dodge it.
Gu Qingjiao: “How could this be an act? You wouldn’t let me wear socks, and you wouldn’t let me wear an outer coat. I obeyed you, but why are you still unhappy?”
Shi Lijin: …
Why is she suddenly like this?
The arm with which Shi Lijin was holding the coat remained frozen in mid-air, a baffling sense of tearing pain washing through the depths of his heart.
The two witnesses looked at each other, only to shake their heads in disappointment.
So this Mr. Shi was actually this cold-blooded; for all they knew, he might even resort to domestic violence against his wife later on. Forget it, this miserable chore wasn’t worth taking on anyway.
The two of them simultaneously stood up with a tacit understanding.
Ran Yan: “Mr. Shi, we apologize, but we suddenly have a temporary matter to attend to. We’ve disturbed you today, goodbye.”
The witnesses were just about to leave when, the next second, a high-pitched voice descended from overhead: “You two, may I ask what matter could possibly be more important than our Shi family’s wedding?”
Everyone followed the voice and looked up to see a woman in her forties walking leisurely down the spiral staircase from the second floor.
She was the second wife of the Shi family head and Shi Lijin’s stepmother, Shen Kewen.
Everyone’s expressions shifted in their own ways with the woman’s arrival. The entire hall fell dead silent, with only the sound of the woman stepping down the stairs step by step remaining.
Shen Kewen was naturally born with an icy and arrogant temperament that made anyone who saw her instinctively quiet down, often evoking thoughts of the masterminding empresses or villainous women from palace intrigue dramas.
She walked to the entrance of the hall, glanced casually at her brooding stepson, and then pulled Gu Qingjiao’s hand, saying gently, “Child, you’ve been wronged.”
Shen Kewen brought Gu Qingjiao into the hall and sat down in the host’s seat. She had Gu Qingjiao sit beside her, looking at her with full maternal care. “Jiaojia, you’ve lost weight. Haven’t you been eating properly?”
Gu Qingjiao, whose diet consisted entirely of spicy hotpot, barbecue, and milk tea every day: …
Did Shi Lijin’s stepmother actually care about her this much?
Gu Qingjiao suddenly remembered that the original owner was Shen Kewen’s niece. In that case, she must be taking such special care of this niece whom she had forcibly dragged into the situation purely to secure control over the Shi family inheritance.
Gu Qingjiao smiled politely.
“What’s wrong with your neck?” Shen Kewen noticed the mark on her neck.
“Er…” Gu Qingjiao silently curled her toes inside her shoes.
Suddenly, Shen Kewen’s gaze turned gloomy. “He choked you, didn’t he?”
Gu Qingjiao: ?
Talk about a quick jump to conclusions.
Following that, Shen Kewen’s expression changed instantly as she glared fiercely at the person standing by the door. “Shi Lijin, get over here.”
Shi Lijin pocketed the piece of wood and walked over slowly.
Shen Kewen: “Did you choke her?”
Shi Lijin didn’t answer directly. Instead, he looked at Gu Qingjiao with profound meaning and deliberately asked, “Did it hurt the day I choked you?”
Gu Qingjiao touched the mark on her neck and answered honestly, “It hurt quite a bit.”
Shen Kewen stood up in anger, locking eyes with Shi Lijin in a stare-down. “Even if she isn’t marrying you, she is still your younger sister. To be able to inflict such a ruthless hand on a younger sister, Shi Lijin, your temper has grown quite a bit over the years of absence.”
As soon as these words were spoken, before Shi Lijin could make any move, the surrounding bodyguards felt a strong urge to beat this woman to a pulp right on the spot.
Gu Qingjiao: “Aunt Wen, it’s fine. Since he doesn’t like me, I’m not the kind of thick-skinned person either. This Marriage Agreement doesn’t need to be signed. Aunt Wen, it’s too cold here, I want to go home.”
Shen Kewen looked at her thinly clad figure with heartache, and gently patted the back of her hand. “Jiaojia, don’t be afraid. Just listen to your Brother Jin in the future, and whenever you’re wronged, come tell me.”
In the future?
Gu Qingjiao thought to herself that Shen Kewen was truly ruthless; even when she had rejected him this openly, she still insisted on pushing her niece to the frontline.
“No, I don’t want to listen anymore,” Gu Qingjiao’s face chilled. “He isn’t good to me. Aunt Wen, I want to go home.”
Shen Kewen fell silent.
Gu Qingjiao felt she had said enough, and thinking about going back to catch up on some sleep, she tossed the Marriage Agreement onto the table, offered a polite greeting, and prepared to leave.
However, just as she turned around, she heard a harsh, jarring sound ring out from behind her.
Gu Qingjiao froze abruptly.
With the appearance of this sound, everyone in the hall who had been sitting on the sofas stood up uncontrollably, and she saw a trace of terror surface in everyone’s eyes.
A thrill of fear ran through Gu Qingjiao’s heart as she slowly dragged her feet to turn back around.
Standing before her was Shen Kewen, smiling with an amiable expression.
“Jiaojia, don’t be angry. I’ve already punished him on your behalf.”
“…”
“Be a good girl, stop throwing tantrums. From now on, your Brother Jin will never bully you again.”
Gu Qingjiao wanted to glance sideways to check on Shi Lijin’s condition, but at that moment her arm had already been grabbed by Shen Kewen. As Shen Kewen led her toward the outside, she whispered softly in her ear, “Next time, don’t wear that kind of nude-colored thermal leggings. You are the future wife of the Shi family, you need to mind your image.”
Gu Qingjiao: …
So Shen Kewen had seen right through it all along; what she was wearing was a pair of faux-bare-leg tights.
After returning to her room, Gu Qingjiao had a bit of a headache.
She had originally intended to put Shi Lijin in his place today, but unexpectedly, she overdid it.
The agitated state of the host caused the system to experience a malfunction as well, and it hurriedly popped out to comfort her: [The villain is not worth sympathizing with.]
Gu Qingjiao: “It’s not even about sympathy, I just feel there was no need to go that far.”
System: [I told you before, everyone in this world is ruthless. But there is always someone higher than the mountain, and Shi Lijin’s true tier is far above Shen Kewen’s.]
Gu Qingjiao didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”
System: [Shen Kewen is going to die at his hands very soon. Shi Lijin is going to torture her miserably, to the point where her eyeballs won’t even be found. Yuck, disgusting.]
Gu Qingjiao froze for three seconds.
Three seconds later…
Gu Qingjiao: “I can understand that, too.”
System: [???]
Host, what is wrong with you!
The system trembled with a mechanical voice as it said: [After you transmigrate back to the female protagonist, I must reshape your three views! This thought process of yours is way too dangerous! You, you aren’t a normal person either!]
Gu Qingjiao brewed a cup of tea for herself and explained calmly, “Shi Lijin was abused by his stepmother when he was a child, so he definitely holds hatred in his heart. I’m not Shi Lijin and haven’t experienced his pain, but if anyone bullies me, I won’t spare them either, so I understand him.”
The system immediately changed its tune: [Then, dear host, do you have any other requests?]
Gu Qingjiao blew on the steam rising from her cup with an air of mock maturity and asked, “Little card machine, when is Shi Lijin planning to make his move?”
System: [Answering dear host, he’s going to tie her up tonight and lock her in the basement, torture her simply for three to five days, then slash her face, gouge out her eyes, break her legs, snap her tendons, and choose the Lantern Festival to slit her throat and dump her corpse. Finally, he’ll lock himself away and live out the rest of his life gone mad.]
Gu Qingjiao finally couldn’t help it, nearly choking on a mouthful of tea water.
“He’s that perverted?”
System: [That’s how it’s written in the original text. The author has no fear of death, you see.]
Gu Qingjiao shivered all over and immediately climbed onto the bed, wrapping herself tightly in the duvet.
Late at night, the cold wind was biting.
Outside Shi Lijin’s study, a few dark figures were moving about.
Jason wore black gloves on both hands, holding a hemp rope in his left and a syringe in his right. He shoved the study door open with his hip, only to find Shi Lijin staring blankly out the window.
“Second Young Master, we’ve got everything ready. What are you doing?”
Only then did Shi Lijin lower his head, his sluggish gaze shifting toward Jason.
He didn’t speak, simply tapping lightly with his hand against a gift box stacked nearby.
“What is this?” Jason put down the things in his hand and went over to open the gift box instead.
Inside the box lay a pair of exquisite high heels and an ethereal, fairy-like snow-white cloak.
“She doesn’t want any of these,” Shi Lijin said softly, as if talking to himself.
Jason could roughly guess how it all ended up and scratched the back of his head in distress, “Second Young Master, why don’t you go explain things to her?”
After snapping out of it, Shi Lijin promptly closed the gift box back up.
“Explain what? Tell her I wasn’t intentionally targeting her? Or tell her I’m going to deal with her family?” Shi Lijin’s gaze dimmed. “No need, this matter has nothing to do with her.”
Jason didn’t dare to reply, only letting out a sigh toward the gift box.
By now, everyone up and down South Manor knew that Miss Gu loved the Second Young Master to death, but the Second Young Master had previously refused to accept her all along. Now that his iron tree had finally blossomed, Miss Gu had been hurt too deeply by him, and even the gifts she sent had been returned. Ah, was this what people called a love-hate relationship?
Thinking about it, Jason still found it a bit regrettable, so he simply pulled out his tablet to check the location of “Gu Qingjiao.”
He originally intended to let the Second Young Master take one last look at her status just to leave a comforting thought in his heart, but before he even had time to fully process it, his whole world turned upside down at what he saw.
He slammed his hand fiercely onto the desk, let out an immediate roar of “Oh no!”, and shouted anxiously, “Second Young Master, Miss Gu has fallen into the water!”
Shi Lijin snatched the tablet away to look at it, his heart thrown into utter chaos.