Chapter 5

"I formally announce the engagement of Huo Mingche and Gu Jiuci!" Grandfather Guo immediately took out a pair of rings he had prepared much earlier and handed them to the two of them solemnly. "Che'er, are you not going to put the ring on Jiuci?" "I will." Gu Jiuci stared blankly as Huo Mingche picked up her hand and gently slid the ring onto her ring finger as warm applause immediately rose up around them. In this life, she had finally succeeded in becoming engaged to Huo Mingche, with the approval of their elders and the blessings of their friends. At this time, a mellow and romantic tune came on and everyone moved in unison to the dance floor. Before Gu Jiuci could come back to her senses, a warmth enveloped her waist and she was swept forcefully into Huo Mingche's embrace. Her left hand rested lightly on his shoulder and her right hand was naturally clasped by his. The warmth against her palm dazzled her momentarily. In her last life, every moment she spent with Huo Mingche had been tense and aggressive, yet in this life, they could hold each other while dancing. Memories flashed through her mind in a torrent: all of her nonsensical pestering, his initial silent acceptance, the end of his endurance, his spiral into darkness, and finally, his hopeless letting go. "You're not focused." An icy voice suddenly came from above her head. The devil had immediately noticed her change in emotion. "Huh?" Gu Jiuci felt a habitual pang of fear and her body trembled instinctively. However, this minute movement lowered the surrounding air pressure and a coldness filled the air. Gu Jiuci raised her eyes and saw that he had once again become that icy, prejudiced man from hell. Suddenly, the music changed to jazz downtempo. The man tugged her forcefully and wrapped her tightly in his embrace. Lowering his head, he looked at her. "Are you afraid of me?" "How could I be? I just thought of all the silly things I did and felt that I had been very stupid." Gu Jiuci scrambled for an excuse. Whenever she lied, she tended to ramble on. The moment she lied, she regretted it. Such pitiful tricks, Huo Mingche would be able to see through them before she even said anything. How could she possibly hide it from him? As expected, the invisible darkness surrounding him immediately wreaked havoc around them, even the dancers and guests nearby unconsciously moved a meter away. Gu Jiuci closed her eyes and, without thinking anything more, voluntarily hugged him and rested her head against his chest. "If you keep being so intimidating, I might truly become afraid of you!" Gu Jiuci's heart beat wildly after telling the truth but the almost out of control darkness from a moment ago largely dissipated. "You're not allowed to be afraid of me." "All right, then you're not allowed to scare me." Gu Jiuci spoke softly and, at the same time, let out a breath from the bottom of her heart. Who would have thought that a few words and a coquettish act could immediately turn the irascible devil into a soothed giant beast, silent and even gentle? Why did she always argue with and go against Huo Mingche in her last life? At this moment, Gu Jiuci suddenly felt a gaze filled with hatred and jealousy coming from behind her. Without needing to turn her head, she already knew whom this gaze belonged to. "Xu Yun'er, you're going crazy with jealousy, aren't you?" After the dance ended, Huo Mingche was unwilling to let go of Gu Jiuci. It wasn't until his personal assistant, Zhan Ying, came and said something in a low voice by his ear that he finally let go of her hand. However, his searching gaze still did not leave her face. "Relax, I'm engaged to you. I won't run away!" Gu Jiuci was about to raise her hand to swear an oath but she suddenly remembered the peal of thunder as she swore her oath in the morning and she awkwardly put her hand down again. Watching the devil Huo Mingche go up the stairs to the second story, Gu Jiuci counted silently in her mind. "Three, two, one!" "Ah Ci! Are you all right?" A sickly sweet voice rang out right on time from behind her. As expected, Xu Yun'er was always able to accurately pinpoint her location within three seconds. A mocking smile tugged on the corners of her mouth, but when she turned around, she looked at Xu Yun'er with a calm expression. "What could possibly be wrong with me?" Xu Yun'er stared at Gu Jiuci. She could feel that something wasn't right. Uneasily, she grabbed Gu Jiuci's hand to demonstrate their closeness. "It was my fault earlier. I couldn't think of any other good excuse for your lateness. I could only think of preparing a gift as an excuse. Fortunately, you managed to resolve the situation. You won't blame me, right?" Xu Yun'er put on her signature expression of innocence. Her eyes seemed to gaze guilelessly at Gu Jiuci. In her previous life, whenever Gu Jiuci felt that something was wrong, once she was faced with this expression, she would always choose to believe Xu Yun'er. Gu Jiuci laughed coldly to herself. "I'm sorry, but in this life, my intelligence is back online so that I can see through you." "Of course I don't blame you. I actually need to thank you properly!" Gu Jiuci spoke meaningfully. She would not immediately reveal Xu Yun'er's true colors; that would be letting her off too easily! She had plenty of time. She would return all the pain that she had suffered and all the bitterness she had endured in her last life to her and Xu Yun'er had to bear it! Although Xu Yun'er felt that there was something strange about her tone, she didn't have time to think about it, and actually felt rather pleased. So Gu Jiuci was as stupid as she always had been. She had thought that Gu Jiuci had become clever! "Then I can be at ease. As long as you don't misunderstand me, everything is all right!" Xu Yun'er smiled with false happiness. Gu Jiuci couldn't be bothered to act out this long and boring scene with her, so she asked impatiently, "Did you need me from something?" She had been spoiled by Xu Yun'er and her mother into a bad-tempered and arrogant person so her current tone would not arouse Xu Yun'er's suspicions at all. As expected, Xu Yun'er did not notice Gu Jiuci's attitude at all. She looked around warily and suddenly came closer. In a low voice, she spoke next to Gu Jiuci's ear. "During the day, you couldn't be reached on your phone. Senior Jiang is almost out of his mind with worry! He's waiting for you right now in the garden outside. Go quickly and find him!" Hearing these words, Gu Jiuci laughed coldly to herself. As expected, this was who Xu Yun'er was. When one plan failed, another one awaited her, going without end until it killed her! "Ah Ci! What are you hesitating for? You've finally gotten that bad guy Huo Mingche to loosen his guard. This is your last chance! "Don't you want to escape with Senior Jiang? He's already bought plane tickets!" Seeing Gu Jiuci's lack of action, Xu Yun'er continued to fan the flames and even pulled on Gu Jiuci's hand to lead her outside, forcefully taking her to the garden. "I'll keep a lookout for you inside!" After leaving these words, Xu Yun'er immediately turned and ran away as if escaping the situation. Gu Jiuci stared coldly into the dark garden. This scene was exactly as it had been in her last life. At the insistence of Grandfather Huo and Huo Mingche, the engagement was still completed even after she wreaked havoc at the engagement dinner. Just like now, Xu Yun'er had appeared and passed on a message with seemingly good intentions. Then she had gone joyously to the garden to see Jiang Yutang. Dizzy with love, she had immediately confessed her feelings to Jiang Yutang, and had even been willing to immediately elope with him. However, all of this was heard in full by Huo Mingche, who appeared shortly after. The horrifying event that this later caused... Gu Jiuci didn't want to recall any of it. She knew what had happened, but to prevent Xu Yun'er from becoming suspicious, she could not refuse. "Ah Ci!" As expected, a soft and clear voice rang out from the darkness. Yet this voice made goosebumps rise all over Gu Jiuci's body, and she trembled with a roaring rage. She wished that she could rush in and rip off this trashy man's face! But at this moment, she had to restrain herself and force herself to look calmly in the direction of the voice. "What are you doing here?" Following the sound of hurried footsteps, a young man walked out of the darkness. The faint moonlight shone on his face, as gentle as jade. Jiang Yutang's appearance fit his name; as elegant as a jade tree in the wind, magnificent in appearance. Otherwise, how could Gu Jiuci, a firm believer in appearance, fall so deeply in love with him? However, for some people, there was only a filthy heart beneath the beautiful face! "Ah Ci, I know you hate me. I hate myself too for not being able to take you away during the day today!" Jiang Yutang put on what he believed to be a sad and pained expression. "After I found out about Huo Mingche, I called you to come back to the airport so that we could leave together, but I couldn't get through to your cellphone. However, I haven't given up!" Gu Jiuci coldly watched Jiang Yutang's clumsy performance. In any case, it was dark outside and he could not see her expression. Naturally, Jiang Yutang was not aware of what Gu Jiuci was thinking right now. He continued to be enchanted with his own performance as he tossed a meaningful gaze at Gu Jiuci. "I know that everything that happened in the hall earlier was not what you wanted, right? You pretended to be so good to Huo Mingche and fooled everyone so that everyone would relax their guard. "I already have the tickets. Let's go right now!" Gu Jiuci almost threw up listening to his impassioned speech. As she was about to open her mouth, she felt a sudden chill behind her. Gu Jiuci acutely sensed an icy gaze being directed at her; that familiar chill, surpassing the darkness of the night... Huo Mingche! As expected, just like in her previous life, he had been lured here by Xu Yun'er! Seeing that she did not reply, Jiang Yutang questioned her hurriedly. "Ah Ci, what are you hesitating for? You love me deeply, don't you?" As Jiang Yutang said this, Gu Jiuci clearly felt the dark aura behind her move abruptly. It felt as if a single wrong word would result in her being immediately swallowed whole, without even a single bone remaining! It was at this moment that Jiang Yutang decided to court disaster and actually walked toward her. He even stretched out a hand to take her hand...