Madam Qi walked two steps before suddenly pulling a waiter over to say something.
“Young Master Wang, please come this way.” Papa Qi was all respectful to the person he was talking to.
A young man was beside him, with a smile on his face. He was only wearing a normal suit, but the aura he exuded definitely screamed ‘aristocrat’, and this was definitely one of the big shots in N City.
“Mr. Qi, it’s your son’s wedding today, you don’t have to mind me too much.”
Papa Qi nodded his agreement with those words, but inside, how would he dare to do so? The Wang family was different from their kind of smaller families that started from the middle in life and slowly climbed up in status. Although Wang Jun was not old, his methods were quite sophisticated, and he was already the default heir to the Wang family.
Papa Qi’s boss, a political commissar was also sitting at the table, and he was sitting in the seat of honor. The moment he saw Wang Jun, he stood up, not even daring to make a squeak of complaint as he respectfully invited him to take the seat instead.
“Qi Hao, come and meet Young Master Wang.” Papa Qi looked at his son, who was standing to the side and he couldn’t help but frown.
Was his son such an idiot? How could he have so little insight?!
Wang Jun smiled as he turned to look, at first it was just a habit for him to glance around the place, but then he suddenly saw a familiar figure.
On the other side, a waitress was looking at Mrs. Zhang apologetically. “I’m sorry madam, but Madam Qi has requested that you leave the scene.”
“Didn’t she say we could stay here?” Mrs. Zhang had a disbelief expression on her face.
“I’m very sorry, but you need to leave.” The waitress said, and seeing that they were unwilling to move, she took out his walkie-talkie as though to contact security.
Gu Xiqiao was fiddling with her phone, but she raised her head when she heard the crackling noise. She calmly put away her phone, and pressed her hand on the waitress’ arm that was holding the device. Her lips curled up, and her melodious voice floated out. “Miss, please wait a minute.”
The crystal lamp reflected the light off the earnest expression on her porcelain face, and the waitress was momentarily stunned by the dazzling smile.
Gu Xiqiao smiled brighter, and the brighter her smile, the more the rage in her heart bubbled.
“Miss Gu.” Before Gu Xiqiao could make any move, a voice suddenly called out to her from the crowd at the banquet. She turned and was faced with a figure that she had some impression of.
She thought for awhile before hesitatingly opening her mouth, “… Wang Jun?”
Hearing his name from her lips, Wang Jun perked up, a spark flashing in his eyes. “Idol Gu, you actually remember my name?”
Papa Qi had initially been pulling Qi Hao over to familiarize himself with Wang Jun, but he didn’t expect the latter to have left in the other direction.
“Who’s that?” Papa Qi asked, pointing at the group of people as he asked Mama Qi.
If it was someone that Young Master Wang was acquainted with, it was definitely someone of higher statuses. They should have been invited to have a seat at the main table, how could they have been mixed into the normal crowd?
Madam Qi looked over, and her eyes widened. She saw Mrs. Zhang was standing there, and she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Isn’t that someone from the Liu family?”
Wang Jun walked till he stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, and then stopped cold when he noticed Jiang Shuxuan beside her. Although he didn’t know Jiang Shuxuan’s identity, even the head of their second-generation rich group, Yin Shaoyuan, treated this man with careful respect that he himself would be an idiot to ignore. “Mr. Jiang, h-hello.”
Jiang Shuxuan stood behind Gu Xiqiao, and spared Wang Jun a glance. He nodded slightly at the greeting, the impassive expression on his face as usual.
When he raised his head from the nod, he narrowed his eyes at Wang Jun, and it made Wang Jun think that there was something unpleasant behind him, but then Jiang Shuxuan turned away quickly.
Wang Jun didn’t think that Jiang Shuxuan was being rude with the gesture, on the contrary, it made him excited. God knows that he had only met Jiang Shuxuan once, and had never spoken a word to him before because he didn’t dare to.
He had in fact been moody recently, he had initially wanted to turn down the invitation from Papa Qi today. However, his family had made quite a ruckus over this, and he had given in to avoid more quarrels.
He didn’t expect that he would get to see these two people here.
Gu Xiqiao kept her ear on the conversation between Papa Qi and Mama Qi, and she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She suddenly smiled at Wang Jun, and gestured. “Young Master Wang, let me introduce you, this is Auntie Zhang, she’s the mother of the bride today.”
“Auntie Zhang, nice to meet you.” The usually unruly Wang Jun gave a respectful bow to Mrs. Zhang, and when he straightened up, he looked toward Gu Xiqiao. “Idol Gu, don’t call me Young Master Wang, it doesn’t sound right and it makes me afraid.”
She was the goddaughter of the Yin family, and someone had said that Tang Yanling was willing to destroy an entire family if they so much as said the wrong thing to this girl. Such a lady calling him Young Master, Wang Jun was terrified if it ever got out.
“Auntie Zhang, why aren’t you at the seat of honor? The ceremony is about to start.” Wang Jun said suddenly, as though he remembered where they were. “Please, come have a seat.”
“That’s right, my in-law.” Madam Qi had reached them at this moment, and she slid her arm through Mrs. Zhang’s own, a smile stretched out on her face. “You didn’t come out even though you’ve reached, I thought you weren’t here yet.”
No one could tell that both her legs were trembling, she had thought that it was just some poor relatives from the Liu family, but she didn’t expect people with such high statuses, or that Mrs. Zhang would actually be acquainted with such big shots.
Thinking about how she had almost sent people to chase them away, her heart pounded rapidly in fear, and the smile on her face got more stiff and forced.
Fortunately, Mrs. Zhang didn’t seem to care about this change. That Miss Gu also just glanced at her, and didn’t say anything more. Madam Qi secretly wiped the cold sweat that had leaked out.
She vowed silently to treat the Liu family properly the next time she met them, and hope that they would be able to forgive and forget their past rudeness!
If they were to pursue their actions, then it would likely be all over for their Qi family.
Since they were linked to the Wang family, how low could their status be anyway?
Papa Qi took a closer look and found that both the man and woman were sitting higher than Wang Jun, which seem to be the most natural thing to do, based on Wang Jun’s expression. Papa Qi was taken aback, not being able to hide the shock on his face. When did N City have two additional big shots?!
Forcing himself to recover from the shock, he turned a smiling face toward Papa Liu. “In-law, the ceremony is starting son. Go ahead and accompany Ying Ying, alright?”
Papa Liu had originally thought that he could only watch today as his daughter was handed over to Qi Hao by a complete stranger, he didn’t expect to have the opportunity to do it in person. Qi Hao’s parents were also completely different now, and the worry in his heart disappeared instantly. Mrs. Zhang glanced toward Gu Xiqiao who was beside her, and knew that all of this was possible because of her. She squeezed the younger girl’s wrist. “Thank you, Qiao Qiao.”
“Don’t worry about it, Auntie Zhang. Go on up, they’re waiting for you.” Gu Xiqiao straightened up, and helped Mrs. Zhang forward. She knew that Mrs. Zhang couldn’t hold herself up at this point.
Just a second ago, Liu Ying was already ready to take her parents and leave. The wedding was not worth it anymore, and she even ignored Qi Hao’s begging.
What Miss Gu said was right, you can wrong anyone else, but not your own parents. (T/L note: I don’t remember her saying that…)
Even if she had to give up on this relationship that she spent nine years in, she wouldn’t regret it. There would be heartbreak and distress, naturally, but she knew that if she compromised today, then her parents would never be able to stand tall and proud ever.
She threw the bouquet in her hands away, but it never touched the ground. Liu Ying looked up to find Gu Xiqiao in front of her, appearing out of nowhere. She couldn’t react for a while, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression.
“Your father is already here,” Gu Xiqiao said, placing the bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers back into the bride’s hands. She also smoothened down the wrinkles of the white dress at the same time. “You have to look a little happier today, the Qi family will never treat you this way ever again. You can come with Auntie Zhang to the capital and play with me next time.”
Papa Qi and Mama Qi were people who were just a little bit more powerful, but that was also exactly the reason why they wouldn’t dare to show any disrespect toward Liu Ying in the future after this.
Qi Hao was different, but after nine years of ups and downs, what other hurdles couldn’t they overcome in the future?
When Papa Liu lowered Liu Ying’s hands into Qi Hao’s, she still cried.
Gu Xiqiao returned to her seat, and then looked toward Papa Liu and Mrs. Zhang, suddenly opening her mouth to say, “Liu Ying is very blessed.”
Jiang Shuxuan took her hand silently, hearing the words that she wasn’t saying.
Wang Jun watched the proceedings for a while before he got bored, and so he turned to chat with Gu Xiqiao instead. “I was browsing Weibo this morning, and I saw the promotional video for ‘Empire Under Siege’. I’m not sure if you know the drama, but there’s someone in there that really looks similar to you.”
The reason for saying that she looked similar was because Gu Xiqiao’s face was quite recognizable, and he felt that it was familiar at first glance.
But Wang Jun honestly wasn’t able to recognize Gu Xiqiao, because when she portrayed Princess Qixia, whether it was the movement or temperament, the entire person was entirely majestic and noble. It was completely unlike her usual attitude at all. In the video, she was Qixia, from the insides of her soul all the way to her outer appearance.
People who watched it couldn’t find a single trace of acting in her movements, Qixia was her, and she was Qixia. Both Cheng Zhou and Xiang Kun had said that she was born to act, exactly because of this talent she displayed.
That was also the reason why Wang Jun couldn’t recognize her. To be honest, if you weren’t familiar enough with her, you would never think that she was Gu Xiqiao.
Seeing the smile on Gu Xiqiao’s face and her not denying it, Wang Jun was intrigued. “Could it be, it’s really you?”
“I see the lines on your face have deepened, has something happened back home?” Gu Xiqiao said instead, avoiding the topic entirely, and switching to something else. Wang Jun had indirectly helped her out big time today, and there was a malicious aura floating around him, so obviously she wasn’t going to just sit back and watch.
When she said that, Wang Jun’s brows furrowed. “Well, it’s not like it’ll hurt to tell you. I have an uncle who recently got into a car accident, and his legs need to be amputated. He doesn’t know whether he wants to live or die because of that, and then my cousin met a young girl from god knows where suddenly, claiming to be a descendant of Hua Tuo[1], saying that she could heal my uncle.”
“It’s fine if she could cure him, but one night passed and it clearly didn’t work. The doctor has also told my dad in private that my uncle’s life is in danger if his legs aren’t amputated soon.” That was why Wang Jun was angry and frustrated, what was wrong with his cousin’s mind?! He was completely infatuated with the women, placing his complete trust in her.
Gu Xiqiao smiled as she raised her head to look at him. “Where’s your uncle now?”
“The city hospital.” Wang Jun replied without much thought, and then he looked up in shock when he realized what she had said. “Idol, are you going to see my uncle?”
“Yeah.” Gu Xiqiao’s bright smile was still on her face, as though she had found something new to play with.
“Oh! Then how about I pick you up tomorrow then?” Wang Jun said after a thought. “I was going to bring a bunch of older family members over to talk some sense into my uncle.”
Gu Xiqiao shook her head, her smile turning mysterious. “Tomorrow? We’ll head over in a while.”
***
Wang Jincheng was lying on the bed, his both legs were a bloody mess, and some parts of it had started to blacken too.
The doctor had checked everything over once again, and his voice was grave and worried. “Mr. Wang, I’ve already said it before, you can’t be taken out of the ICU, and you can’t simply be taking random medication. It’s best if we amputate your legs, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but the bacteria has already affected the upper part of your body. You will likely end up being partially paralyzed at best, and the worst case is you will die.”
“You’re just talking nonsense! Where is Miss Hua, have her come in! Chase this man out!” Wang Jincheng’s face twisted into a nasty expression as he glared at the doctor angrily, clearly in denial of the reality.
Two black clothed bodyguards came in, and ushered the doctor out of the room.
At the same time, a young woman walked in. She opened her bag, and took out a set of needles with a solemn expression on her face.
He looked at the woman holding the silver needle with deep sunken eyes, his dark brown eyes flashed with desire to live, and he regarded Miss Hua as his greeted support in this time of need. “Miss Hua, when will I get better?”
Hua Jingya looked at Wang Jincheng’s legs with a frown. Why was it different from what was recorded in the medical books? Shouldn’t the black parts have receded today?
Hearing Wang Jincheng’s words, she furrowed her brows impatiently. “Don’t distract me while I’m doing the acupuncture, it will affect my accuracy.”
Wang Jingcheng clamped his mouth shut immediately.
When Wang Jun arrived, the doctor was anxiously pacing outside the door. If something happened to Wang Jincheng in their hospital, the Wang family wouldn’t forgive them even if it wasn’t their fault! He was the chief doctor, he would be the first one to get it!
Seeing the arrival of Wang Jun, it was like he found his resolve and savior all in one. “Young Master Wang, please go in and persuade your uncle, he will really die if it continues on like this!”
Wang Jun kicked open the door immediately, and the bodyguards at the door didn’t dare make any move to stop him.
The young woman in the room turned her head around when she heard the crash, a cold expression on her beautiful face. “I already said not to disturb me, will you be responsible for the patient’s condition if anything happens?”
Gu Xiqiao stood beside Wang Jun, looking at the familiar face in the ward. It was a surprise to find that it was the young woman they had caught the thief for the other night.
She had initially planned to be gentle, but she narrowed her eyes when she saw the girl. She then shoved her hands into her pocket and lifted her chin slightly to show a hint of arrogance. Her stunning looks and temperament completely dominated and overshadowed the woman who claimed to be a descendent of Hua Tuo.
She glanced at the silver needles that had been inserted in Wang Jincheng’s legs, and she spoke slowly with a soft voice, “Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, Yongquan, these are all dead acupoints. This miss, are you sure you’re not just hastening his death?”
[1] T/N: A famous doctor at the end of Han Dynasty.