Chapter 68 Published

The hands were strong, sliding down his shoulders to his waist and hugging him tightly.

"Ji Ruan?"

Ji Ruan turned around in horror, only to see Gu Xiuyi's anxious expression.

His chest suddenly relaxed, but his crazy heartbeat could not be calmed down in a short time, and it was still beating hard in his throat.

Ji Ruan's eyes were red, and he punched Gu Xiuyi's shoulder hard: "You scared me to death!"

Gu Xiuyi quickly hugged him in his arms and gently stroked his back: "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly scared?"

Ji Ruan's shoulders and back were still trembling slightly, and it was obvious that he was very frightened.

Gu Xiuyi didn't understand what was going on. He just put his arm around Ji Ruan's shoulders as usual. Ji Ruan was fine before, so why was he so scared today?

"What happened?" he asked softly.

The lights in the lobby came on, and after Gu Changyun's much-anticipated entrance ceremony, the entire banquet hall returned to its original brightly lit state.

Gu Changyun's situation is hopeless and only an empty shell remains, while Gu Xiuyi is in focus mode, attracting everyone's attention wherever he goes.

With so many eyes staring at her, Ji Ruan couldn't stay in Gu Xiuyi's arms any longer. She gasped and moved away: "...It's okay."

"——Our Master Fang has prepared the Night Pearl of the East China Sea!" the host said excitedly, "Look at this round, large, translucent and full pearl. It is really a good thing!"

Ji Ruan and the others looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Fang Qiming on the stage holding a small box and squatting down to present it to Gu Changyun. He said respectfully and attentively: "It is said that the night-shining pearl shines brilliantly at night and lasts for years. I wish you a life as long as this gem and as blessed as the East Sea!"

Gu Changyun was obviously pleased, and smiled kindly: "Xiao Fang is thoughtful."

Li Yuan stood beside Ji Ruan and asked quietly: "Are there really night-shining pearls in the world that can really glow at night?"

"It's just an ordinary ore," Ji Ruan smiled, his voice sounding a little weak, "It's not a priceless gem."

"Not only that," Li Suian said, "If this thing can really light up in the dark, who knows how many radioactive elements it contains. It's hard to live a hundred years if you use it every day - Lao Gu, your cheap brother is quite sensible."

Gu Xiuyi ignored Li Suian's teasing, hugged Ji Ruan, retreated to the sofa and sat down, holding his cold fingertips: "Are you a little tired?"

"No..." Ji Ruan met Gu Xiuyi's worried eyes, paused, and swallowed the subconscious denial.

He sighed and said honestly: "I seemed to see Lin Qing just now, but it should be just my eyes playing tricks on me."

Gu Xiuyi frowned, and did not follow Ji Ruan's words, thinking that he was dazzled. He thought for a moment and said, "That person is definitely not on the guest list... I'll ask Song Ling to check again."

As he said that, he took out his cell phone, edited a text message and sent it out.

Ji Ruan laughed: "It doesn't matter."

Gu Xiuyi's attitude was very serious: "Although he is not on the list, many guests today brought male companions. It is possible that he is trying to take advantage of the situation. You may not be dazzled. It would be reassuring to check it out."

In fact, Ji Ruan just mentioned it casually, and originally planned to just brush it off as a case of dazzlement, but he didn't expect Gu Xiuyi to investigate it so seriously.

Although he felt it was a bit exaggerated, he had to admit that this kind of Gu Xiuyi made him feel very safe.

Gu Xiuyi gently pinched his fingers: "It's okay, it's not an important banquet, if you don't want to stay, we can go back."

At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the stage. Gu Zhaoxu and Fang Lan went up to present gifts one after another. From time to time, whispers from Li Yuan and Li Suian could be heard from the front.

"He is really being worshipped like an emperor. If you don't know, you would think he is celebrating his birthday..."

"The Emperor's birthday is the Emperor's birthday. Now it would be our old Gu..."

"Come on, Mr. Gu doesn't have so many tricks. Why would he want to have a nationwide live broadcast? Didn't he hold a wedding for his 30th birthday last year? He only received an ordinary shirt as a gift, but he wore it all the time. It's almost patinated, isn't it?..."

"What do you know? The cherry tree on the cuffs was embroidered by his wife. He has to show it off everywhere. I guess if he really becomes the emperor, he will probably wear it when he ascends the throne..."

"Don't make me laugh to death. We are a socialist country. Be careful with your words..."

Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, Ji Ruan quietly put her chin on Gu Xiuyi's shoulder and rubbed it intimately: "Okay, wait for Special Assistant Song to bring the embroidery over, and then you can take me back to the room."

Embroidery is his job. After handing it to Bai Yue personally, this task will be completely completed and he can go back and rest with peace of mind.

Gu Xiuyi hugged Ji Ruan and never refuted his words on these little things: “Well, listen to you.”

For some reason, Gu Xuli ran onto the stage, bringing along the extremely dignified Bai Yue.

Gu Changyun held Bai Yue's hand affectionately: "Xiao Bai, when did you return home? Grandpa hasn't seen you for a long time."

His words undoubtedly brought Bai Yue and the Gu family closer. Bai Yue smiled shyly and said, "I came back last month, but I was delayed for a while because I was preparing a birthday present for Grandpa. Grandpa won't blame me, right?"

Gu Changyun burst into laughter, but was too weak to laugh out loud, so he barely stopped: "How could that be? I watched you grow up, so tell me... eh... what have you prepared for grandpa?"

Bai Yue quickly helped him smooth his chest, looking more affectionate than his own grandson: "I know that Grandpa likes traditional handicrafts such as Han embroidery, so I specially invited a famous Han embroidery master to embroider a longevity character for you, wishing Grandpa a long life and eternal peace!"

Gu Changyun was so coaxed that he smiled happily and said repeatedly: "Good, good, good, what a good child!"

Gu Xiuli exclaimed, "Brother Bai Yue, why are you like this? I also hired a famous embroiderer and embroidered a longevity character for grandpa. But you said it first, and others thought I was copying you."

"Really?" Bai Yue covered his mouth and pretended to be surprised. He looked at the audience and waved his hands to explain: "This is really a coincidence. I didn't expect that my gift would collide with Xiaoli's."

There was no reaction from the audience, who watched the show with great interest, while the media reporters enjoyed broadcasting the event live.

Ji Ruan raised his eyebrows and basically guessed who this play was for.

It seems that he was not seeing things when he saw Lin Qing, this person might have really come.

The host smiled and tried to smooth things over: "Oh, it's a coincidence, but since you like Han embroidery, the children gave you Han embroidery. Doesn't this show that they have observed your preferences very carefully?"

An idea suddenly occurred to him: "Hey, since they are the same works, why not display them together? Han embroidery is not common, so let's see something new!"

The audience then started to boo; no one disliked watching the fun.

Bai Yue smiled upon hearing this and said, "I'm afraid Xiao Li will lose to me. The embroiderer I hired is very good. She is the last disciple of Master Cheng Yunxiu. You must know her. She is Ji Ruan."

As soon as he finished speaking, the spotlight accurately captured Ji Ruan's figure under the stage, and the same picture was simultaneously enlarged on the projection screen.

Ji Ruan was sitting on a snow-white leather sofa, being held loosely by Gu Xiuyi and fed a sip of lemon water. When the camera swept over, the tissue in Gu Xiuyi's hand had just wiped his lips.

He was not dressed up like the other guests. His hair was fluffy and his cheeks were pale. He only wore a simple white shirt.

Probably because the air conditioning in the hall was turned on very high, and he was still wearing Gu Xiuyi's coat, which was extremely large on his shoulders, and he needed Gu Xiuyi to hold it up for him to prevent it from falling off.

Even though he had expected that nothing good would come of Bai Yue's pretentious remarks, when the spotlight was really on him, Ji Ruan still felt unprecedentedly speechless.

He glanced around and casually raised the corners of his mouth to smile.

Perhaps this smile was a little perfunctory, and in the eyes of others it became unattainable and distant.

——She smiled indifferently, her eyes were as bright as the sea of ​​stars and as ethereal as the waves of smoke, her jaw was slightly retracted, and the smooth lines slid along her snow-white neck into the collar of her shirt, which was indescribably exquisite and luxurious.

For a brief moment, the audience was silent. Only the media reporters reacted quickly and immediately turned the camera to take pictures of Ji Ruan's face. They also moved the camera to the side to include Mr. Gu in the frame.

If Gu Xiuyi saw this picture, he would probably think it was very similar to the behind-the-scenes footage of their wedding photos, and would ask Song Ling to buy the film back.

Bai Yue tightened his fingers slightly, looked at Gu Xiuli, and forcefully changed the subject: "Xiao Li, who are you inviting?"

"Xiao Li?!"

Gu Xiuli was also stunned for a moment, and only came back to his senses after Bai Yue called him twice, and he still forgot some of the words: "Oh, I, I, I, the person I invited is also very powerful, he uh...he is also a disciple of Master Cheng."

Bai Yue was very dissatisfied with Gu Xuli's forgetfulness and glared at him. Gu Xuli then remembered that he had missed a sentence and quickly added: "Oh, by the way, in order to prepare this gift for grandpa, he also embroidered it very carefully for three months."

As Gu Xiuli spoke, he felt vaguely dissatisfied. More and more playful looks from the audience made him feel ashamed as if he was being seen through. He felt more and more that it was embarrassing for him to help Bai Yue act out this play.

But the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Lin Qing had already come out with the picture frame. The rectangular wooden frame was covered with red silk cloth, and he looked very festive.

Gu Xiuli had no choice but to stand up and introduce: "This is Lin Qing, a very talented Han embroidery master. This work is the result of his hard work that took him three months to create."

Bai Yue covered his lips in shock: "Three months is so long?"

He shook his head in shame: "It seems that I can't compete. I asked Ji Ruan to help me with the work, and it's been less than a month. How can we compare? We are not at the same starting line at all."

Ji Ruan lowered his eyes and held back a roll of his eyes.

Lin Qing stepped forward at the right time and smiled politely at Gu Changyun and the guests below the stage: "There is no distinction between high and low in artistic creation. Every one of them is the hard work of the creator. Mr. Bai, don't mind it too much."

Bai Yue smiled and said, "Mr. Lin is really considerate."

Lin Qing shook his head modestly: "Ji Ruan and I both studied under Teacher Cheng, and he can be considered my junior fellow apprentice. Even with this relationship, I won't compete with him."

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry." Bai Yue bowed slightly with an apology that tarnished the noble character of an artist. Lin Qing quickly pretended to stop him.

Gu Xiuli didn't learn anything else except that he inherited most of the old man's face-conscious personality. Watching from the side, he felt a little nauseous. Thinking of how he was just being equally pretentious, he suddenly couldn't bring himself to do it and quietly retreated to the back.

Bai Yue glanced around to make sure everyone was paying serious attention to the stage before saying to Lin Qing, "Then Mr. Lin, please let us see him."

Lin Qing nodded and said modestly, "I'm sorry for the humiliation."

He pulled off the red silk, and inside, as Gu Xiuli had said, was a large "Shou" character embroidered with dark red silk thread, with a huge golden dragon circling around it, and at the bottom were gorgeous flowers outlined with gold, silver and colored threads, the colors were bright and luxurious.

There was a small burst of admiration from the audience.

“…It looks like it’s quite expensive, huh?”

"After all, she's an artist and she's been embroidering for three months, how bad can it be?"

"But who is this person? I've never heard of him. Aren't Ji Ruan and her daughter the only disciples that master often brings out in public? When did a person named Lin appear?"

"Who cares? The technology is there."

Lin Qing listened to the discussions in the audience, and it seemed as if the humiliation of the past few months had been washed away. He unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth and raised his chin.

Bai Yue covered his mouth in amazement: "This is too exquisite. If I had known that a master like Mr. Lin would be here, I would never have given the same gift. Oh... I am so embarrassed."

On the surface, he was blaming himself, but in reality, he was implying that Ji Ruan's skills were not as good as others and that it would bring shame to him. The guests in the audience were not stupid, so they could naturally hear the meaning of his words and did not dare to agree with him.

Looking to the side quietly, Mr. Gu was still hugging Ji Ruan, and indeed, he looked a little worried.

Bai Yue said to Ji Ruan with a hint of apology: "I'm so sorry, Xiao Ruan, I shouldn't have asked you to design a work for me."

Lin Qing took a few steps forward and said with a smile: "It's okay, Ji Ruan is also my junior brother, so just treat it as a technical exchange within the sect. I also want to see if his acupuncture skills have improved recently."

Bai Yue was relieved: "Okay, come to think of it, I haven't seen this work yet - Xiao Ruan, it's okay, just show it, no one will say anything."

Ji Ruan sat upright as usual, with a calm expression, as if the two people's concerted action just now did not cause him any emotional fluctuations.

But he didn't say anything and didn't make any expression. As time passed, strange sounds gradually came from all around.

"Is it true that we can't compare?"

"I guess so. Others have pushed them to the point of no return. If you really have something to show for it, why don't you show it earlier? Why are you enduring this injustice?"

"But those two people are not very smart. After all, she is Gu Xiuyi's lover. If they embarrass him, it will be the same as embarrassing Mr. Gu, which is not a good thing..."

"Yes, I heard that the relationship between Mr. Bai and Mr. Gu is not that good. Last time, someone wanted to use him to get close to Mr. Gu, but Mr. Gu didn't give him any face at all."

"Can you take hearsay seriously? Just look at the old man's attitude just now, and you can tell that the relationship between the two families is not ordinary!"

"How can the old man's words count now? Isn't it Gu Xiuyi who has the final say in everything? It's well known that Mr. Gu and him have a bad relationship..."

The guests were chattering more and more loudly, and no one could really convince anyone else.

Lin Qing smiled and said, "It's okay, Ji Ruan. We are from the same school. We are just exchanging skills with each other. Don't be embarrassed."

"Yes," Bai Yue agreed, "Mr. Lin is your senior brother, so he can give you some advice, right?"

Li Yuan couldn't help it: "How do you know that others can't embroider as well as him when you haven't even seen it? I'm asking, if Ji Ruan takes it out later and embroiders it better than you, will it hurt your face?"

Lin Qing smiled and said, "Ji Ruan is my junior fellow apprentice. I am of course happy for him as his embroidery skills have improved."

"What are you bragging about?" Li Yuan rolled her eyes. "She only worked for a month, and you worked hard for three whole months. How can you be so arrogant? You keep saying that you don't care about the skills, and you're trying to comfort her before you even see her."

"And I don't understand. Aren't they all birthday gifts? Just give them to the owner to make him happy. Why are you suddenly comparing them? Are you really Mr. Cheng's apprentice? Who are you? I've never heard of you before?"

Li Yuan spoke quickly and without giving Lin Qing a chance to interrupt. She made his face turn red and white, but he was speechless and unable to refute.

He tried to save face by saying that he and Ji Ruan were from the same school, but in fact he was just playing word games, hiding the fact that he had been expelled from the school. He also shamelessly called Ji Ruan his brother in the school, using his status as a famous family to give himself face.

That's why he didn't dare to give a direct answer to Li Yuan's words, for fear of being exposed if he said too much, so he secretly winked at Bai Yue.

Bai Yue turned his eyes away, pursed his lips, and seemed to be thinking about how to respond.

The protagonists on the stage were all silent, but the audience was chatting animatedly. They all felt that what Li Yuan said made sense, and were unwilling to offend Gu Xiuyi because of Lin Qing, whose name they had never even heard of, so they all flattered her.

In fact, even if Ji Ruan's embroidery turns out to be not as good as Lin's, they can still praise it with their eyes closed. After all, this is the Gu family's territory. Only a person with a confused mind would choose to cause trouble here.

Gu Xiuyi had heard enough of the flattery and raised his hand: "Everyone, please be patient."

Ji Ruan's work was embroidered bit by bit every day while he held Ji Ruan in his arms and watched her embroider it. He knew very well what level of embroidery Lin Qing had. Lin Qing's fancy skills were not even a finger behind Ji Ruan's.

It's not that they are embarrassed to show it, nor are they deliberately keeping it a secret from the guests.

Just because - Song Ling is a little slow.

Of course they couldn't hold a painting frame that was nearly half a meter wide in their hands at all times, so they waited for the banquet to start and asked Song Ling to bring it to them. However, Song Ling was a few minutes late, and someone was jumping around and making trouble, which led to this situation.

So much so that when Song Ling arrived two minutes later with the painting frame, he received the whole audience's attention.

When the boss holds a banquet, the busiest person is the worker. He has to help Gu Xiuyi keep an eye on the treasure in his hand, and investigate how Lin Qing got in. He didn't have time to watch the live broadcast the whole time, and naturally didn't know what a big drama was going on in the gorgeous banquet hall.

So, Special Assistant Song, who was illuminated by the spotlight, was a little flattered for a moment. He adjusted his tie uncomfortably, found the camera among all the eyes, raised his hand and smiled brightly, revealing eight big white teeth.

Ji Ruan: “…”

Gu Xiuyi: “…………”

All guests: What is this person doing?

This guy can be the first special assistant? Then I can do it too.

Li Suian held his forehead with his hand and said, "How stupid! How could I know such a stupid person? No wonder he can't find a girlfriend even though he has classes here every day."

Li Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and poked her boyfriend's elbow: "Okay, how can you say that to your own people?"

Fortunately, Song Ling still had some professionalism and was not overwhelmed by the sudden attention. As soon as he felt that the atmosphere was not right, he immediately stopped laughing, handed the picture frame to Ji Ruan, and leaned over to whisper in Gu Xiuyi's ear:

"Lin Qing came in with Gu Xiuli, but they used a pseudonym at the time, so they were not noticed."

Gu Xiuyi nodded, covered his lips and said a few words, then waved his hand and told him to get busy.

The long-awaited picture frame finally arrived. Everyone stretched their necks to look at it. The banquet director tactfully aimed the camera at Ji Ruan's hand.

The nearly half-meter-wide painting frame was covered by a translucent dust cloth, appearing to be looming, making everyone want to take a glimpse of the scenery inside.

Ji Ruan remained calm and waved his hand towards Bai Yue: "Mr. Bai, the gift you ordered has arrived. Do you want to inspect it now?"

The doubts from the audience were growing louder and louder, and Bai Yue could no longer wait to embarrass Ji Ruan and let him have the feeling of being laughed at by everyone.

"Okay," he snatched the picture frame from Ji Ruan without saying a word and lifted the dust cover: "I also want to see the work I ordered--"

The voice stopped abruptly.

The guests rushed to look at the screen, wanting to see whether it was a more exquisite and gorgeous work of art or just an ordinary and unremarkable embroidery.

But at the same time, everyone paused and the scene was silent for a while.

The works on the screen are different from what everyone imagines, neither gorgeous nor ordinary.

It was very simple, with only a large "Shou" character embroidered in gold thread on the dark silk with a dragon pattern. Apart from that, there were no other decorations. There were no clusters of flowers or circling dragons, but it shone with a delicate and luxurious light under the light.

The stitches are so fine that they are almost invisible to the naked eye. From a distance, they look like large characters written in gilded ink, or even as if they have not yet dried, and are full of brilliance.

People have only seen calligraphy so powerful that it can be seen through the back of the paper, but they didn't know that the most sophisticated embroidery can also penetrate into the wood to the point of being so profound, as if the golden threads were not embroidered on, but were rooted in the silk, accumulating power for a hundred years to take root and sprout, and finally grow into towering pines and cypresses that are rare in the world.

Lin Qing, who was familiar with embroidery, was the first to change his expression.

The guests did not understand Han embroidery, but they all expressed admiration from the bottom of their hearts.

“…What the hell?”

"So this is Han embroidery... our cultural heritage..."

"It's a waste to use it as a gift. I'll auction it off for a fortune..."

"This handwriting is so beautiful, did you write it yourself? Do you need to know calligraphy to do embroidery these days?"

"It's more than just understanding. This skill can't be acquired without more than ten years of practice. How many people can write to this level with a pen? Not to mention that they use needles to prick!"

"...Wozhi..."

"Then why would someone who has been embroidering for three months look down on someone who has been embroidering for only one month? Isn't that awkward..."

Gu Xiuli, who was hiding in the crowd, felt his face burning and painful when he heard these words. He was glad that he had slipped away early, otherwise he would be the one feeling embarrassed now.

In order to see clearly, Lin Qing also came to Bai Yue, and at this moment he and Bai Yue looked at each other in surprise.

His face looked very ugly, and even though he tried his best to control it, he could hardly stop the slight trembling of his facial muscles.

The two works were put together and appeared on the big screen. In comparison, Lin Qing's flying dragons, dancing phoenixes and clusters of flowers seemed too vulgar.

He clenched his fists tightly and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "You have indeed made a lot of progress."

Ji Ruan smiled: "Thank you."

Bai Yue's expression changed dramatically, but he finally succumbed to the praise from everyone around him and forced a smile: "Xiao Ruan, you are amazing. You can hand in such a fine work in less than a month."

Lin Qing hung his head in silence for a while, then straightened his back and stepped forward: "That is to say, a work with such dense stitches usually takes two embroiderers three months to complete, but you actually finished it in one month, which is really amazing."

He seemed to have changed his tactics and began to follow the crowd in praising you: "Compared to the last time I saw you, you are like a completely different person. You have improved so much that I can't recognize you anymore. You are indeed a student taught by Teacher Cheng."

His words seemed like a compliment, but somehow made people feel uncomfortable. Ji Ruan held his chin with his hand, smiling: "It's not that exaggerated. It's not a complicated process. Of course, one person can complete it."

Li Yuan covered her mouth and laughed, "This is so funny. Some people think that two people can't finish it in three months, while others think that one month per person is more than enough. It's a dimensionality reduction attack on talents, hahahaha——"

She laughed for a while, then realized something was wrong: "Wait, is he implying that Ji Ruan didn't do it herself?"

Li Suian rolled her eyes at her: "You just realized it?"

Some of the guests started to speculate about the meaning of that sentence. They all felt that for an embroidery of that level, a month seemed a bit short. However, after all, no one was an expert and they did not dare to jump to conclusions. They could only whisper to each other.

Li Yuan got angry again when she heard this: "You are really sick in the head, you believe everything others say? Open your eyes and look, those are words! They are not just flowers or plants. You have to recognize the handwriting when you read a book. They are embroidered. Can anyone write calligraphy of that level?"

"Even if there is, how could two people embroider the same words?"

The spectators who were just watching the fun did not understand embroidery, but they were all wealthy and well-connected people. When it came to calligraphy, everyone could say a few words, and there were also experts who came out to express their opinions.

"Indeed, that makes sense. It would be a bit awkward if several people embroidered the same word together..."

“And this word is indeed very personal.”

"The font is elegant, the brushstrokes are vigorous and majestic, and the overall style is smooth and elegant, and it can only be created by the same person."

"...You really think we are fools, can't we see this?"

Ji Ruan didn't care whether the comments of the guests below the stage were good or bad, nor did he care whether others would take sides.

He was already tired. Lin Qing's battle line was too long and he couldn't make any progress. Ji Ruan's initial joy in watching the show turned into utter boredom and fatigue.

He sighed and leaned towards Gu Xiuyi.

Gu Xiuyi understood immediately and hugged Ji Ruan.

This was a secret code between them. Anyone with a brain knew that Lin Qing couldn't do anything special, so he would make a scene, and if Ji Ruan found the show interesting, Gu Xiuyi would watch it with him.

But once Ji Ruan lost interest, in Gu Xiuyi's eyes, Lin Qing had no need to exist anymore.

"Take a rest." He kissed Ji Ruan's brow, gently turned off the external device behind his ear, and turned to look at Lin Qing, his eyes suddenly cold.

"Mr. Lin, I think you need to apologize for the slander you have inflicted on my lover."

The crowd around Lin Qing immediately dispersed, leaving him alone naked in public. After all, Gu Xiuyi looked serious, and no one wanted to be affected by his creepy gaze.

Lin Qing was shocked by what he saw, and said with all his strength: "What did I slander? I didn't say anything, they just guessed, why are they blaming me now?!"

Gu Xiuyi hugged Ji Ruan and pinched his eyebrows. The bright and warm light in the lobby could not suppress his innate sense of oppression at all.

It was as if as long as he was sure that Ji Ruan would not hear it, he would no longer need to show the slightest tenderness. The outlines of his facial features were dim under the light, but his eyes were staring straight and coldly at Lin Qing.

"You have to understand that I am not asking for your opinion, nor do I care about the details of the matter. I need you to give a serious and solemn apology."

If before this everyone was still chattering with the mentality of watching the fun, the scene after Gu Xiuyi opened his mouth was like a vast wilderness cleared of all signs of life, silent to the point of distortion.

No one dared to speak at this time and touch Gu Xiuyi's reverse scale.

Lin Qing staggered back half a step. He could argue with everyone shamelessly, but like everyone else, he was afraid of being stared at by Gu Xiuyi.

It was as if under that kind of gaze, one would really feel the pain of having one's skin cut by countless sharp blades. In a trance, one could clearly feel the blood draining from the body, until his cheeks and lips turned pale as he trembled with fear.

Lin Qing could no longer spot Gu Xuli in the crowd and could only look at Bai Yue for help.

But the moment Bai Yue realized that something was wrong, he folded his arms and took a few steps back, hanging himself high, and did not respond to his scorching gaze that was about to burn him.

“Hey, I found this person on the Internet!”

Suddenly someone among the guests shouted.

Then, everyone turned on their phones at the same time.

"Oh my god? He's so brilliant?!"

"So he was exposed on the Internet during the Chinese New Year for stealing works?"

"It was stolen from Ji Ruan. His expression on the stage was exactly the same as it is now. Hahahaha, so fucking funny..."

"Is he that arrogant? He still dares to cause trouble? Are you bullying me because I don't go online and don't know him?"

"In their circle, stealing works is a heinous crime. It turns out that he was fired by Master Cheng a long time ago. He still has the nerve to continue to cheat under the guise of a master."

"I have never seen such a shameless person in my life. I have learned a lot."

The mocking comments from the crowd made Lin Qing's face change drastically and his eyes turned bloodshot. He didn't expect that he would be exposed in the end. He turned around in panic and wanted to run but fell to the ground.

A lady in elegant clothes was almost knocked down and dodged in disgust: "How come cats and dogs can come to the Gu family's dinner now? Isn't the Gu family ashamed?"

Just this one sentence completely infuriated Gu Changyun, who had remained silent for a long time.

People only heard a sudden hoarse cough and wheezing coming from the stage. Gu Changyun's face turned red from coughing and he couldn't speak. He slapped the armrests of the wheelchair with his hands. The caregiver looked calm and skillfully patted his back.

Seeing this, the bodyguards around stood up straight, and the captain turned his gaze to Gu Xiuyi.

Gu Xiuyi had long lost his patience. After such a long stalemate, his remaining patience had been exhausted. He casually raised his hand with his palm facing inward.

The bodyguard captain immediately understood, stepped forward, picked up Lin Qing with one hand, and threw him out like garbage.

At this point, even if Lin Qing was dealt with, the banquet would be difficult to continue as usual. Gu Changyun was still sitting on the stage with a stern face, and the guests could not leave immediately.

While pretending to be nonchalant and chatting lively in the audience, he couldn't help but surf the Internet to browse the news to see how netizens were gossiping and making up stories about the troublemakers.

Gu Changyun was about to cough out his lungs on the stage, so Gu Xiuyi had to bring a doctor up to check on the situation.

Ji Ruan felt a little dizzy and dazzled by this lame show, and while the scene was becoming lively again, he went to the bathroom to wash his face. Still feeling a little stuffy, he walked a few more steps to the deck to get some fresh air.

I actually saw Lin Qing again.

The bodyguards seemed to think it was bad luck and threw him onto the deck and no one cared about him anymore.

As soon as Ji Ruan saw him, he turned around and didn't want to have any contact, but was quickly stopped by Lin Qing.

Ji Ruan finally couldn't help but frowned fiercely: "What on earth do you want to do?"

Lin Qing must have cried just now, her face was covered with tears: "You ask me what I want to do, then why don't you ask yourself why you want to steal my things?"

He just watched the news and everyone was scolding him, saying that he was sick and mentally ill.

It doesn't matter, he doesn't mind. His reputation has been ruined anyway. But what he can't stand is that others are scolding him while praising Ji Ruan.

He couldn't accept that Ji Ruan was stepping on him and getting higher and higher in the sight of outsiders.

He stepped on the work he had worked hard for three months to give to Ji Ruan as a wedding dress, devalued him as worthless, and then said that Ji Ruan was a natural talent.

Ji Ruan was almost amused: "What did I steal from you?"

"I was obviously Teacher Cheng's last disciple, but you snatched me away."

"The fame and fortune you have now were originally mine!"

"You just stepped on me to get to the top. Are you proud of taking away everything that belongs to me?"

Ji Ruan really wanted to say, even without me, you wouldn’t be able to get any fame or fortune with your level.

But he felt that there was something wrong with Lin Qing's mental state, like a mad dog that had been cornered.

He was not sure what a person would do if he went extremely crazy, so he did not dare to provoke the madman rashly. He could only step back a few steps and move away quickly.

Lin Qing refused to let him go no matter what, and held on to his clothes and wrists tightly.

In the chaos, Ji Ruan tripped and fell to the ground, hitting his head on the railing and knocking off the external machine.

His eyes went dark for two seconds.

The surge of adrenaline kept him from losing consciousness.

He was afraid that Lin Qing would catch up and do something, so he used his reason to force himself to wake up quickly and stretched out his arm to reach the external machine that had fallen not far away.

One second, two seconds, but Lin Qing did not catch up to fight him.

Ji Ruan picked up the external device as quickly as he could and the moment he put it behind his ear, he heard a "bang" sound.

It was the sound of a heavy object falling into the water.

He turned back suddenly, but could no longer find Lin Qing.

At the same time, a scream came from downstairs:

"Someone fell into the water!"

Ji Ruan was startled and subconsciously held onto the railing to look down, but his eyes suddenly met with that of a crew member on the next floor who had an anxious look on his face.

His heartbeat suddenly quickened.