"wedding"
Senior Wu Mingyi's wedding was held in a hotel garden on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by sunshine and green plants.
The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers, the scent of green grass, and the sweet sound of a bustling atmosphere. Beneath the vast white tent, guests thronged like clouds, elegantly dressed, overflowing with happiness and well-wishes. This was a grand wedding for two brides: Wu Mingyi and her girlfriend of five years, Lin Wei.
The wedding venue was romantically and uniquely decorated, with thoughtful details evident throughout. The guests, mostly from the couple's mutual circle of friends, created a relaxed and casual atmosphere filled with laughter and joy. However, within this sea of joy, Gu Yansheng stood out like an isolated island.
He sat at the round table in the back, next to the imposing Jiang Lin. Jiang Lin was still wearing his well-tailored dark suit, his expression as indifferent as a frozen lake.
The bustle around him, the applause of blessing, even the touching moment of the newlyweds exchanging rings on stage, failed to stir the slightest ripple in his deep eyes. He seemed to be in an invisible isolation shield, isolated from all worldly emotional noise.
His eyes occasionally fell on the boy in the light-colored suit next to him.
Gu Yansheng's heart, however, felt heavy, like it was filled with cold lead. The scene in the underground parking lot that night—Jiang Lin's undisguised, deep-seated disgust—was etched deeply into his mind like a brand, lingering.
At this moment, looking at the two brides on the stage wearing white wedding dresses and with bright smiles, watching them exchange rings and kiss passionately amid the blessings of their relatives and friends... Gu Yansheng felt not moved, but a kind of panic that was almost suffocating.
Will Jiang Lin feel disgusted?
This thought coiled around him like a venomous snake. He couldn't help but glance at Jiang Lin from the corner of his eye. Jiang Lin's expression remained the same indifferent expression he had always maintained. He watched the ceremony calmly, his calmness almost cold, without a trace of emotion.
But this excessive calmness, in Gu Yansheng's eyes, made him more uneasy than any clear expression of disgust. Was it the calm before the storm? Was it the ultimate forbearance?
Would he find this grand, public same-sex wedding more obtrusive and unbearable than the couple of doctors kissing in the shadows of the parking lot? After all, Jiang Lin's enthusiasm for everything around him was always stingy with giving even a little warmth.
Gu Yansheng was gripped by a deep sense of unease. He lost his appetite, and could only manage a forced smile to meet the friendly chatter of his table mates, his gaze drifting blankly off into the distance.
He subconsciously kept a subtle distance from Jiang Lin, as if any closer would remind Jiang Lin of the "disgusting" scene that night, and thus...dislike him.
The cold aura that Jiang Lin exuded, which kept strangers away, was now more like a silent warning in his sensitive interpretation.
"Yansheng! Master Jiang!" An energetic voice broke Gu Yansheng's trance. Several familiar faces gathered around, glasses of wine in hand, grinning. They were all old friends from college clubs, and they had a good relationship with Wu Mingyi.
"Wow! You're still inseparable!" A boy named Chen Yu patted Gu Yansheng's shoulder exaggeratedly, his eyes moving ambiguously between Gu Yansheng and Jiang Lin?
"After so many years, your 'conjoined twins' status hasn't changed at all! Senior Mingyi is getting married, and you two are sitting here. People who don't know would think you are the protagonists!" He tried to use exaggerated jokes to bring them closer, and even wanted to pat Jiang Lin on the shoulder to show his familiarity.
However, before his hand touched Jiang Lin's sleeve, Jiang Lin didn't even turn his head to look at him, but the icy lines of his profile seemed to become even colder and harder, and the air pressure around him suddenly dropped. He gave him a very light but very intimidating look, with an undisguised alienation and a warning of "get away".
Chen Yu's smile froze, and he awkwardly withdrew his hand, his movements stiff and awkward. The laughter of his friends around him also faded, becoming a bit cautious.
"That's right!" Another girl, Su Rui, seemed to have drunk a little too much. Her cheeks flushed and her voice became louder. She tried to liven up the atmosphere again, but ignored Jiang Lin's invisible ice wall.
"Yansheng, Master Jiang, the chemistry and aura you two have is simply amazing! We've already made eight hundred bets within our club on when you'll make the official announcement!"
She raised her glass with a smile and shouted half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Come on, let's have a toast in advance! I wish our great scholar Gu and the great god Jiang a happy marriage soon. You must invite us to the wedding! It will definitely be even more sensational than today! I look forward to drinking in your wedding wine!"
"wedding"!
This word was like a thunderclap, exploding on Gu Yansheng's nerves that had already been stretched to the limit!
Jiang Lin's disgusted expression in the underground parking lot, Director Liu's daughter, Dr. Shen, and the bride kissing on the stage... all the images and fears intertwined, swirled, and exploded in an instant! The string of reason was completely broken.
"No!" An almost sharp, uncontrolled denial suddenly rushed out of Gu Yansheng's throat!
The sound was so loud that it instantly drowned out the surrounding conversations and background music, making this small area suddenly quiet!
Everyone was stunned, including Chen Yu and Su Rui, who had just been laughing and joking. They looked at Gu Yansheng in astonishment, as if they didn't recognize the person who had lost his composure.
Gu Yansheng suddenly stood up from his seat, knocking over the wine glass on the table with such force that the crimson wine splashed onto the white tablecloth, quickly spreading a glaring red. His face was pale, his chest heaving violently, and his eyes were filled with panic, fear, and the embarrassment of being forced into a desperate situation.
He stared intently at Su Rui, who had just started the commotion, his voice trembling violently with excitement and panic, with an unprecedented sharpness and loss of composure:
"There's no wedding! No wedding banquet! Impossible! Absolutely impossible! We're not in that kind of relationship! Don't talk nonsense!"
His voice echoed in the suddenly quiet air, carrying a harsh, unquestionable, and decisive denial. The entire round table, and even the guests at the neighboring table, cast surprised and inquiring glances at him.
Gu Yansheng, who was always gentle, polite, emotionally stable and tolerant, was now like a cat with its tail stepped on, with its spines standing up. In front of everyone, for the first time, he so out of control and loudly denied a possibility between him and Jiang Lin.
The mask of the good man shattered into pieces due to extreme panic and stress reaction.
Su Rui was completely stunned by his yelling. Her hand holding the wine glass froze in mid-air, her face flushing red and white, embarrassed and at a loss. Chen Yu and his friends also looked at each other, completely confused as to how a joke could cause such a strong reaction.
In the suffocating silence, only Jiang Lin moved.
He stood up slowly, his tall figure carrying an invisible sense of oppression, and instantly became the absolute center of this awkward space.
He didn't even glance at the stunned, frozen crowd around him. His deep gaze, like an icy searchlight, pierced through all obstacles and locked firmly on Gu Yansheng's pale, disoriented, and slightly trembling face. His gaze was terrifyingly focused, as if Gu Yansheng was the only one left in the world, and the existence and emotions of others were nothing but insignificant background noise.
Then, under everyone's gaze, Jiang Lin stretched out his hand.
That hand with distinct joints and a controlling force did not try to comfort the frightened friends around it, nor did it blame Gu Yansheng for his loss of composure.
Instead, with irresistible strength and a matter-of-fact familiarity, he directly and forcefully embraced Gu Yansheng's waist, which was trembling slightly with excitement and fear!
He tightened his arms, and with an extremely intimate and possessive gesture, he suddenly brought the distraught and shaky Gu Yansheng into his strong and broad arms! His movements were smooth and natural, as if they had been rehearsed thousands of times.
Gu Yansheng froze, his mind blank. All his screams and panic were frozen by this sudden, overbearing embrace. He could clearly feel Jiang Lin's steady heartbeat and scorching body temperature in his chest. The force was so strong that it almost crushed him, yet it also brought with it a strange feeling of a barrier that isolated him from all the noise of the outside world.
Jiang Lin lowered his head slightly, and his cold breath brushed Gu Yansheng's ear. His low voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable declaration that penetrated the silence and was clearly heard by every guest who pricked up their ears:
"He's drunk. I'll take him to rest."
After he finished speaking, Jiang Lin no longer paid attention to anyone's gaze. He embraced Gu Yansheng, who was stiff all over and completely controlled in his arms like a puppet. He took a long step forward, ignoring all the shocked, inquiring and embarrassed looks, and walked straight through the crowd towards the hotel outside the banquet hall.
His steps were steady and powerful, his posture firm, as if he was protecting his innate territory, a territory that no one could interfere with. He left behind a dead silence of awkwardness, countless jaws dropped, and a glaring wine stain on the tablecloth that was still slowly spreading.
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