Chapter 1 The Replacement Bridegroom

River City, Early Summer In Peony Hall of the seven-star hotel Imperial Prosperity— An awkward debacle had just been played out in front of thousands of guests. The marriage between the children of the Xie and Hua families should have been a great, joyous occasion that everyone in the city knew about, yet the bridegroom, Xie Dongyang, had fled. In fact, he did not even turn up for the banquet. That was not all. Just as the bride arrived, a piece of news was flashed across the huge screens, showing images of Xie Dongyang staying overnight in the apartment of a C-list female actor. It shook the entire hall. The Xies, who were hosting the banquet, were disgraced and panicked... "How can we possibly resolve this?" they thought. The bride, who was left on stage in her pristine wedding gown and a white veil draped over her head, had also become a laughing stock. Madam Hua was unable to remain seated at the VIP table. "Dear, what should we do?" she asked her husband, looking worried. Chairman Hua wore a gloomy expression on his face and remained silent. To be honest, it was the first time he had ever been in such a situation. Who else would dare to treat marriage so lightly? The Huas, Wangs, Xies, and Jiangs were the Four Great Families of River City, having established themselves in the eastern, western, southern, and northern districts respectively. The fallout from such a bad move could not be handled easily. He could not understand why the second Young Master of the Xies would have tried to escape from his marriage in such a manner. The Huas had even purposely fetched their Fifth Young Mistress back from Mount Zhongcui for the marriage; she had not been back home for more than a decade. Who would have expected such a scandalous thing to have happened on this very day? Just at this moment, the decision-maker of the Xie Family walked over hurriedly to Hua Zhenyue and patted his shoulder. "My friend, we sincerely apologize for this issue. Could you please postpone the wedding ceremony? I'll give you and your family a satisfactory explanation after I've gotten hold of that unfilial son of mine..." Just as Hua Zhenyue was about to reply, the bride spoke... The guests immediately quieted down. Everyone was impatiently looking forward to seeing how the greatly embarrassed bride would pick up the pieces after her wedding had been dashed. Hidden beneath her veil, Hua Sheng swept her gaze calmly across the guests, a microphone in hand. Her gaze was eventually fixed on a man seated in the first row of the VIP section. His head was lowered as he occupied himself with his phone. "He's the one. There's no mistake about it, it should be him..." "I'd like to interrupt the gentleman seated at the fourth table in the first row, who's wearing a black suit and playing with his phone, for a moment," she said softly into the microphone. Jiang Liu's eyelids twitched involuntarily, his head still lowered. "Is she referring to me?" he thought. He was a little surprised as he lifted up his head to look at the woman dressed in her wedding gown on the stage... No one could see how she looked like beneath the white veil. The Huas had five daughters, and he had seen all of them except for the youngest one. It was said that she had been living with her grandmother on Mount Zhongcui since she was young. It was also rumored that she was vegetarian and had been immersed in Buddhist scriptures. In fact, she had only arrived back at the Hua residence three days ago. There were rumors that the Fifth Young Mistress was ugly and stuttered when she spoke, causing her family to be reluctant to allow her to appear in public. From the way she just spoke, however, this did not seem to be the case... Hua Sheng continued speaking in a clear, crisp voice as she saw the man lifting his head up. "An unexpected event popped up today suddenly... however, I don't wish to spoil everyone's celebratory mood. In this context, I have a bold request to make of you, Sir. Would you be brave enough to step up onstage and act as my replacement bridegroom to complete this wedding ceremony?" A commotion rang out among the guests immediately after she spoke. Was she trying to get a last-minute replacement to become her bridegroom? They had heard of replacement actors and substitutes in a football match, but who had ever heard of a replacement bridegroom? Both the Xies and Huas were shocked and speechless. None of them had expected her to act so wilfully! Jiang Liu was a little stunned as well. "Replacement bridegroom? Me? Is she daring me? Or trying to use reverse psychology on me?" Deep in his heart, he felt her request to be especially contrived, but he could not stop his legs from leading him toward the stage. In fact, Jiang Liu was also rather curious as to what this woman would do next. In this time and age, there were few people left who dared to do something so unique like this. What's more, she was the daughter of a reputable and influential family! Waves of emotion rippled through his heart again; it had been such a long time since he had felt so emotional... Her son's abnormal behavior caused Madam Jiang, who was sitting beside him, to stamp her feet. "Come back here this very instant, Jiang Liu," she ordered.