Chapter 15.15 The Marriage Partner

Gu Zhaoqian seemed to have gotten used to He Peiru's attitude. He simply shook his head and said, "It won't make a difference if it's just a little longer."

She didn't know how to answer, but she felt her heart pounding in her chest.

The Star Ferry in Victoria Harbour turns back and forth between the two large islands, and the red sails of the Cheung Po Tsai yacht are lit up with eye-catching lights, making the yacht look like starlight on the sea.

The bustling activity on the sea surface seemed to be a microcosm of the city's prosperity, and all of this captivated her.

"Miss, I've taken care of things here."

Assistant Li finally emerged from the auction hall, followed by several auction house staff members responsible for transporting the collectibles.

“Okay, let’s go back.” The silence was broken. She exhaled softly and turned to Gu Zhaoqian, saying, “Thank you for waiting with me for so long.”

"It's nothing." He nodded. "Then I'll be going now."

After saying that, he immediately walked in the opposite direction.

The elevators or escalators here lead to the parking lot, but Gu Zhaoqian left without looking back, which made He Peiru suspicious.

However, she also understood that she had no right to interfere.

Staring blankly at his receding figure, He Peiru's previous feelings were replaced by a sense of loss, which seemed to be a subtle reminder not to succumb to despair.

Gu Zhaoqian's actions over this period of time have made her unknowingly develop a dependence on him, which is like a poison eroding her heart.

As a result, the number of things she wanted to know about Gu Zhaoqian also increased.

With mixed feelings, He Peiru returned to the Jiang family ancestral home, where the two elders and Jiang Yici sat together in the living room.

Seeing her come in, Zheng Wanqiao looked over with a kind smile: "Aru is back?"

"Mother-in-law." She had been trying to compose herself in the car, and now she smiled and ran to sit down next to Zheng Wanqiao. Although she was secretly pleased, she restrained herself and said, "I brought back everything I filmed tonight."

Jiang Yaozong spoke before his wife could, saying with a smile, "My dear daughter, I knew you could do it."

Although her words were cut off, Zheng Wanqiao was not annoyed. Instead, she gently patted He Peiru's hand and asked with concern, "Tell your mother-in-law what you bought for yourself?"

She smiled shyly and replied, "I bought a few pieces of jewelry."

Sitting to one side, Jiang Yici watched as his assistant directed people to bring in the items. Judging from the boxes, he identified them as belonging to He Peiru. He picked them up one by one and handed them over, asking, "Is this it?"

“Yes.” He Peiru nodded vigorously, took the package, opened it, and placed it in front of Zheng Wanqiao. “These are the items.”

After seeing them, she nodded several times and commented, "You have great taste, and these all suit you very well."

Feeling a little embarrassed by the praise, He Peiru awkwardly turned her head away and smiled, then reminded her, "Let's take a look at the collections we auctioned for you first..."

"No rush, you'll be fine as long as you get the shots you like tonight."

Zheng Wanqiao picked up the jewelry from the box, showed it to her one by one, and finally nodded in satisfaction.

His expression was full of praise for her.

He Peiru once again experienced the feeling of being surrounded by love in Zheng Wanqiao's eyes.

After a while, Zheng Wanqiao put the jewelry back into the box before slowly opening the jade bracelet and beginning to examine it closely.

Taking advantage of the break, Jiang Yici said, "Aru, the Jiang family has established a scholarship at the University of Hong Kong. I hope that when it is awarded this year, you can go on stage and give a short speech."

"May I?" He Peiru realized she shouldn't have reacted that way after she said it, and quickly followed up, "...Has the topic of this speech been decided?"

"There's no specific theme, just say something positive and uplifting." Jiang Yici shook his head. "If you don't know how to write it, you can ask Aqian. I used to call him over to help me a lot."

It didn't sound difficult, and she couldn't possibly refuse such a simple request.

So he nodded and replied, "Okay, I'll think about how to write it myself first."

After all this was over, Jiang Yici had the Filipino maid take the collections back to their rooms. It was almost time for the two elderly people to rest, so they didn't stay in the living room any longer.

After returning to her room, she leaned back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling, still feeling a sense of unreality about her current dreamlike life.

Especially tonight... Gu Zhaoqian seemed to be completely focused on her, paying close attention to her constantly.

Once her thoughts wandered, He Peiru suddenly remembered what Jiang Yici had told her, and picked up her phone to ask Gu Zhaoqian.

She wanted to use this as an excuse to contact him.

He Peiru: [Brother Qian, I'd like to ask how you wrote your previous speeches?]

In the past, she could simply follow the rules when it came to speeches, but now, perhaps because of the constraints of her current position, she has begun to worry about whether she has done something wrong.

This leads to a feeling of increased pressure.

Gu Zhaoqian replied very quickly.

Gu Zhaoqian: [Those speeches in universities? They're all the same kind of positive and uplifting statements.]

Gu Zhaoqian: [It doesn't need to be too long. You can put yourself in their shoes; very few people actually listen attentively when they're sitting in the audience.]

He Peiru felt enlightened and immediately felt much more relaxed.

Her stress stems from worrying about external attention, but as long as she doesn't take it too seriously, many problems are easily solved.

He Peiru: [I understand, there's no need to make it too complicated.]

Gu Zhaoqian: [Hmm.]

Jiang Yici gave her plenty of time, so there was no need to rush. She planned to get a good night's sleep first and then make preparations during her free time in the next few days.

the next day.

Even after waking up, He Peiru couldn't forget what happened at the auction last night, and the image of Gu Zhaoqian's departing figure even appeared in her mind.

Her intuition, however, reminded her that if she had any other ideas, it would be like a moth drawn to a flame.

She sat up, shook her head, and tried to clear her mind of confusion before remembering that she had no classes today and no need to go back to school, so she could finally focus on writing her speech.

He Peiru went downstairs to have breakfast as usual.

Sophia was helping her set the table, and instead of just waiting, she went into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

This was also the first time she noticed that the number of cups neatly arranged on the bar was greater than the number of people in the Jiang family.

She could recognize her family's cups, but the extra ones were clearly unfamiliar.

Pointing to the cup, she asked Sophia curiously, "Whose cup is this?"

Sophia replied, "That cup belongs to Mr. Gu."

"His cup?"

She gripped the cup tightly, annoyed that Gu Zhaoqian had to be mentioned in this.

Sophia explained to her in full: "Mr. Gu has been a frequent visitor to the Jiang family since the beginning, and over time we stopped treating him as an ordinary guest, so we prepared a separate cup for him."

"So that's how it is."

No wonder Gu Zhaoqian not only frequently appears at the Jiang family's residence, but also seems to know the layout of the Jiang family's residence as if he has lived there for a long time.

He Peiru woke up a little late today. By then, Jiang Yici had already gone to the company. The two elderly people always had their own plans, especially after recognizing her, which seemed to fill the regret that Jiang Yiyan had brought to them back then.

Now that I can relax, life has become much richer.

When she is alone, He Peiru always finishes her breakfast quickly.

Just as I was stepping onto the stairs to go back to my room, a new message popped up on my phone.

Aside from classmates, she rarely contacts any of her new friends in the industry.

Worried that it might be something urgent, she immediately opened the package with a sense of unease, only to find it was from the daughter of a prominent family she had met at a banquet a few days prior.

Fang Xiaoxin: [Aru, Aru, I want to gossip a bit.]

Fang Xiaoxin: [What's the situation between you and Gu Zhaoqian?]

It's Gu Zhaoqian again.

He Peiru stopped going upstairs and quickly replied.

He Peiru: [Why would you ask that?]

It seems Fang Xiaoxin is waiting for her reply by her phone.

Fang Xiaoxin: [Are you aware that the Gu family's arranged marriage has been making headlines lately?]

Fang Xiaoxin: [Were you two sitting together at the auction last night? I thought his arranged marriage partner was you, but judging from your reaction, you seem unaware of the situation?]

He Peiru: [...I don't know about these things.]

Fang Xiaoxin: [So, do you want to know!?]

Judging from the punctuation, she seemed to have become agitated.

He Peiru had previously tried to piece together the general idea from what she had heard, but in the end she was still completely confused. Now it seemed that someone could answer her questions.

He Peiru: [Can you tell me?]

Fang Xiaoxin: [Of course!]

Fang Xiaoxin: [You live in the Jiang family ancestral home, right? Wait a few minutes, I'll be there soon.]

He Peiru was about to ask if she should type it out slowly, or if she should just call.

She had no choice but to turn back down the stairs and sit in the living room waiting for Fang Xiaoxin to visit.

About five minutes later.

The bell rang at the Jiang family's gate, and Fang Xiaoxin entered as expected.

When Fang Xiaoxin saw her, she showed neither the awkwardness of suddenly appearing at the Jiang family's house nor the unease of not being very familiar with her. Instead, she quickly stepped forward, took her hand, and said, "Can we go to your room? It doesn't seem appropriate for us to talk here."

Curiosity about Gu Zhaoqian made her equally anxious, and she pulled Fang Xiaoxin towards her room on the second floor.

It wasn't until Fang Xiaoxin sat down and eagerly spoke that she finally understood the current situation.

The Gu family is also a long-established wealthy family in this city. Gu Zhaoqian's father is quite capable, but his chaotic private life forced Gu Zhaoqian to start fighting openly and secretly with his illegitimate children at an early age.

Ultimately, no one knows how much effort he put in, but he finally gained control of the Gu family.

Now that the Gu family's situation has stabilized, it's still true that there is an unbreakable blood relationship between Gu Zhaoqian and his father.

His father, taking advantage of his status, acted recklessly and, under the guise of doing what was best for the Chiang family, began to force him into a marriage alliance.

Fang Xiaoxin kept talking, and He Peiru had Sophia bring in some tea and snacks, and continued to listen attentively as she continued: "My parents told me that his father has been introducing him to potential marriage partners recently, forcing him to go on blind dates. The Gu family and the Jiang family are evenly matched, so I thought this was possible, which is why I asked you directly."

After hearing Fang Xiaoxin's words, He Peiru felt even more dazed.

Even before she had officially entered society, Gu Zhaoqian had already begun to face the next stage of her life.

The gap between them could not be bridged by familiarity alone, and she found more and more things that she was powerless to change.

Since Fang Xiaoxin knew about the rumors sparked by the auction, there must be many more people who had heard about them.

If you know each other, you can clear up the misunderstanding, but if you don't know each other, such rumors will probably only intensify.

How will Gu Zhaoqian react?

After Fang Xiaoxin finished speaking, she didn't plan to stay long. Before leaving, she said to He Peiru, "I was a bit presumptuous today. We can meet up to talk about other things or hang out together in the future."

He lowered his voice again and said, "There's no end to the gossip in this circle."

She couldn't help but laugh out loud and replied, "Okay, see you next time."

After seeing Fang Xiaoxin off, a new message popped up on my phone.

Gu Zhaoqian: [Have you got any ideas about the speech draft? Do you need my help?]

After hearing what she had just heard, she suddenly didn't want to reply to Gu Zhaoqian's messages, fearing that the misunderstandings might cause him further burden.

and.

According to Fang Xiaoxin, Gu Zhaoqian will eventually have a marriage partner.

She and he should maintain a proper distance.

He Peiru put her phone aside, turned on her computer and began preparing her speech. Writing was her forte, so it was effortless for her.

The day passed quickly, and by the time she finished finishing her speech, she realized that the sky was slowly darkening.

Looking around, it was almost dinner time, so she pressed the save button and quickly went downstairs.

As soon as He Peiru reached the top of the stairs, she saw Jiang Yici coming in through the front door and immediately said, "Uncle."

"Aru." He walked inside, but didn't close the door.

However, the next second, she saw Gu Zhaoqian following behind her uncle.

The steps forward suddenly came to a halt.

Jiang Yici didn't notice anything amiss. Instead, he turned to Gu Zhaoqian and said, "Come in and sit down. I'll go to the study and get the documents for you."

She quickly realized what was happening, composed herself, and forced a smile: "Brother Qian."

"Aru." Gu Zhaoqian sat down on the sofa as if he were back in his own home. Sophia took out the glass she had seen earlier that day from the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, and after he took a sip, asked, "Any progress on the speech? Haven't you seen my message?"

He Peiru tried her best to suppress the possibility of speaking rashly and becoming incoherent, and after taking a deep breath, she replied, "No, it's just that I don't want to trouble you."

A note from the author:

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There will be a random giveaway of red envelopes in this chapter!

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