Get the marriage certificate quickly
In the apartment.
Lin Tingyue's eyes were swollen like walnuts from crying. Between sobs, she gritted her teeth and cursed, "Chi Zhuo is a bastard! A cold-blooded animal! I never want to see him again in my life!"
She grabbed her phone, ready to add his number to her blacklist.
Just then, her phone screen lit up first; it was a call from her mother.
Lin Tingyue sniffed, trying to make her voice sound normal: "Mom..."
“Yueyue,” Lin’s mother’s voice was unusually serious and tinged with barely perceptible panic, “no matter where you are right now, come home immediately. Your father… has something very important to discuss with you.”
Lin Tingyue's heart skipped a beat for no reason.
We rarely speak to her in this tone at home.
Half an hour later, in the Lin family's living room.
The atmosphere was so heavy it was suffocating.
Lin's father sat on the sofa, his brows furrowed, with several documents spread out in front of him.
Seeing his daughter's red and swollen eyes, a complex emotion flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a resolute expression.
"Yueyue, sit down."
"Dad, what's wrong? What happened?" Lin Tingyue sat down anxiously.
"The company has encountered a bit of an unexpected situation."
Mr. Lin tried to keep his tone calm, but his tense jawline betrayed him, "We need...we need the Chi family's help to get through this difficult time."
The Chi family?
Lin Tingyue's nerves tensed up instantly, a bad premonition washing over her like ice water.
"The Chi family? Why the Chi family? We're not familiar with the Chi family."
Why the Chi family?
"Chi Zhuo just called me personally."
Lin's father interrupted her, looking calmly at his daughter, "He made a condition. A... the only condition that would make him act."
Lin Tingyue's fingers instantly turned icy cold; she could almost guess what the condition was.
That man had just humiliated her utterly on the street with the coldest words.
"What...what does he want?" Her voice trembled without her even realizing it.
"Are you trying to drive our family to our deaths?"
After a moment of silence, Lin's father finally spoke with difficulty: "He wants you to marry him."
Despite having a premonition, when Lin Tingyue heard it with her own ears, she still found it absurd and laughable, followed by overwhelming anger and humiliation.
"Has he gone mad?! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
She stood up abruptly, her emotions running high. "He just told me to get out! To disappear forever! What right does he have to make such a demand now? He's humiliating the Lin family! I won't agree!"
"Yueyue!" Mr. Lin's tone became more forceful, tinged with weariness and helplessness. "This isn't a discussion. This is an ultimatum. Without the Chi family's financial injection, the Lin family won't survive this week. This is no joke!"
"So you're going to sell your daughter for personal gain?!" Lin Tingyue blurted out, tears welling up in her eyes again.
"Yueyue!" Lin's mother hugged her daughter tightly, tears streaming down her face. "It's not like that... Your father had no choice... Chi Zhuo... He said this wasn't a deal."
"What else could it be but a transaction? Is it because he likes me?" Lin Tingyue retorted through tears, feeling that this was the most ironic joke in the world.
Lin's father took a deep breath, took out his phone, and played a recording.
Chi Zhuo's calm, almost cold voice echoed clearly in the living room:
"...Uncle Lin, I'm not taking advantage of your misfortune. I have my own plans for Tingyue. This marriage is a necessary condition, there's no room for negotiation. You can understand it as a guarantee of a deep bond between the Chi and Lin families, or you can understand it as..."
The voice in the recording paused, seemingly carrying a hint of something elusive.
"...This is the only way I can pursue her."
Pursue?
Lin Tingyue was stunned. Was there anyone who pursued someone like that? Using the survival of his family to force marriage?
"He's forcing me into marriage!" Lin Tingyue was trembling with anger.
"I will not marry him!"
“He said he’d give you a choice.” Lin’s father looked at his daughter, his eyes filled with complex emotions. “Option one: Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau with him to register your marriage. Option two…”
Lin's father seemed somewhat reluctant to speak, but he still said it: "He sent people from the Civil Affairs Bureau to our door..."
Lin Tingyue was completely stunned.
What kind of choice is this?!
Option one is to jump into the fire immediately. Option two is still to jump into the fire! There's simply no choice!
That man is not only cold-blooded, but also a madman! A paranoid!
Meanwhile, in the president's office of Zhuoyue Building.
Chi Zhuo stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a lit cigarette between his fingers, but he didn't smoke it.
Lu Tingyuan stood behind him and reported, "Mr. Lin has conveyed your message. Miss Lin's reaction... seems quite intense."
Chi Zhuo gave a very faint smile, as if it were expected.
That kitten, pushed to its limit, will definitely bristle.
“President Chi, I don’t quite understand,” Lu Tingyuan rarely asked, “Since you are dealing with Miss Lin… why do you use this method? It seems… it will only make her more afraid of you and hate you more.”
Lu Tingyuan didn't dare to say the second half of the sentence.
Chi Zhuo stubbed out his cigarette, his voice low and calm, carrying a sense of absolute certainty: "She's like a frightened bird; she'll fly away if you get too close. Ordinary pursuit will only send her flying further away."
That night at the bar six months ago is proof of that.
She didn't even dare to ask his name, and ran away after leaving behind a ridiculous "compensation payment".
When they met again at a blind date banquet six months later, the resistance and fear in her eyes were equally clear.
He waited for half a year, but he lost patience to play childish games of cat and mouse with her anymore.
He wanted absolute certainty.
"Only by cutting off all her escape routes and leaving her nowhere to run will she obediently fall into my arms."
His gaze swept across the window, as if he could already see the bird that had finally been caught in his palm. "Whether I hate it or fear it, I'll keep the person by my side for now."
"As for her heart..." He paused, a determined glint in his eyes, "we'll just have to work it out slowly. One day she'll realize that she had no choice, neither marriage nor... me."
The next day, at the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Looking at the glaringly red marriage certificate in her hand, Lin Tingyue still felt that it was all absurd, like a dream.
In the photo, her expression is stiff, and she even has dark circles under her eyes, but the man next to her is still outrageously handsome.
The whole process was as fast as lightning.
She even suspected that Chi Zhuo had already taken care of everything.
As Lin Tingyue stepped out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, a cold wind blew, and she shivered.
Chi Zhuo glanced at her, took off his suit jacket, and draped it over her shoulders without a word, his actions carrying an undeniable force.
The cool, woody scent of his coat still lingered on her clothes, mingling with Lin Tingyue's icy mood.
“Chi Zhuo,” Lin Tingyue raised her head, her voice hoarse, filled with resentment and confusion, “What exactly do you want? You clearly…hate me, don’t you?”
Chi Zhuo did not stop walking. Upon hearing this, he merely lowered his eyes slightly to look at her, his emotions as deep as the sea, making him completely unfathomable.
He leaned down, close to her ear, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe. His voice was deep and magnetic, but the words he spoke made Lin Tingyue stiffen:
"Lin Tingyue, you think you can get rid of me with three thousand yuan?"
"Who do you take me for, Chi Zhuo?"
“You owe me,” he straightened up, his gaze lingering on her pale face with an almost cruel tenderness, “you’ll have to pay it back slowly.”
Chi Zhuo's driver was driving a black Bentley with a cold, hard design, and the interior was spacious enough to separate the two people into an invisible chasm.
Lin Tingyue sat close to the car window, wearing Chi Zhuo's expensive suit jacket.
The cold, woody scent stubbornly penetrated her nostrils, reminding her how utterly absurd everything that had just happened was.
She watched the street scene rushing past the window, the city lights just coming on, their brilliance unable to penetrate her cold heart.
She clenched her fingers, her nails digging into her palms, trying to use the pain to resist the boundless panic and humiliation.
The car eventually drove into a top-tier luxury apartment complex with extremely tight security and stopped in front of a standalone high-rise building with a great view.
Chi Zhuo got out of the car first, without waiting for her, and went straight to the elevator.
Lin Tingyue hesitated for a moment, but gritted her teeth and followed.
The driver silently took one of her simple suitcases out of the trunk and handed it to the respectful property manager at the door.
The elevator ascended silently and rapidly, the atmosphere in the cramped space oppressive and suffocating.
Lin Tingyue stared at the constantly changing numbers and could clearly feel the powerful aura emanating from the man beside her, with an undeniable sense of control that made her unconsciously lower her breathing.
"bite--"
We've reached the top floor.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a spacious, modernly-styled, and minimalist apartment.
The main color scheme is black, white, and gray, with clean-lined furniture and huge floor-to-ceiling windows offering unobstructed views of the dazzling city. It is luxurious, but devoid of any human warmth, as cold as a high-end hotel showroom, or perhaps more like a meticulously crafted cage.
Chi Zhuo took off his coat and casually tossed it onto the sofa, his movements seemingly effortless yet exuding an imposing aura.
He loosened his tie, glanced sideways at Lin Tingyue who was still frozen in the entryway, and said in a flat tone, "Your room is the second one from the right. Your necessities have been prepared. The left side is my area. Do not go in without my permission."
The tone was businesslike and the distinctions were made very clearly.
Lin Tingyue pursed her lips and didn't respond. She just pulled her small suitcase and walked quickly toward the room he indicated, as if she would suffocate if she stayed for even a second longer.
The room is large and also in cool colors, but it has more essential furniture than the living room.
She locked the door behind her back, and only dared to breathe heavily when she leaned against the door panel.
My phone kept vibrating; it was a barrage of messages from Xia Xiaoran.
[How did it go?! Where did he take you?!]
[Are you alright, Yueyue? Did he do anything to you?!]
[Reply! I'm so anxious!]
Seeing her friend's concern, Lin Tingyue felt a lump in her throat and quickly typed.
It's okay, we'll sleep in separate rooms once we get to his apartment.
Xia Xiaoran's messages immediately bombarded me:
[Sleeping in separate rooms?! I knew it! This jerk is no good! Or he's hiding something! Yueyue, don't be afraid, hold your ground! Just treat it as sharing an apartment, even if it's with an iceberg!]
Lin Tingyue gave a wry smile.
Shared accommodation? What kind of shared accommodation is that terrifying?
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