Chapter 59: Marriage First, Love Later, and a Side of Scum-Bashing 37
Everyone arrived one after another. The host greeted and introduced everyone individually, then everyone took their seats.
The conversation at the beginning was almost entirely about business. Until business matters were mostly concluded, the host, President Jiang, looked at Gu Youchen and couldn’t help sighing, “President Gu has been riding the crest of success lately. I heard from your father that the wedding date is set?”
Gu Youchen nodded. “There is still one month left. We’ve been preparing for the wedding recently.”
President Jiang took a sip of tea and laughed. “Don’t save money for me on this wedding. Even if you don’t give me an invitation, I’m going to thicken my skin and go!”
Many people present chimed in.
Gu Youchen took out the invitations from his bag and said, “I sincerely invite everyone.”
His gaze swept around, and he handed the first invitation to Shen Zhiqian.
Four eyes met, sparks seemingly flying.
Shen Zhiqian and Gu Youchen both thought of that sentence from the past simultaneously—
“I will definitely hand the invitation to President Shen personally at the first opportunity!”
The words of the past were still ringing in his ears. At this moment, looking at the red invitation handed over, Shen Zhiqian’s pupils contracted.
Beside him, Shen Yeyuan, afraid he would do something irrational, nudged his leg under the table.
But Shen Zhiqian didn’t move. The atmosphere in the club’s private room seemed to suddenly become awkward.
Just as President Jiang was preparing to smooth things over, Shen Zhiqian reached out and took the invitation, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
Shen Yeyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want Shen Zhiqian’s behavior today to become gossip for others after tea and dinner.
Gu Youchen gave invitations to the others with a normal expression and sat back down.
He could sense a gaze falling on him from Shen Zhiqian, carrying knives, but it was retracted very quickly.
At this moment, Shen Zhiqian held the red invitation in his hand but never opened it.
Sounds of admiration from others came from the side: “President Gu, this invitation design is nice! When my wife and I got married, the inner page just had some patterns. I didn’t expect there to be a pop-up picture now!”
“Yeah, once this picture opens, it’s a garden with your names printed inside. It looks different! Young people are getting more and more romantic now!”
Listening to this, Shen Zhiqian’s fingers tightened, but he couldn’t control himself from flipping open the page.
Instantly, he saw an exquisite 3D garden, and in the garden were the names of Ning Qingqing and Gu Youchen.
It was as if a knife stabbed into his eyes. He stared blankly at the two names side by side, unable to breathe for a long time.
Shen Yeyuan’s polite voice came from beside him. “We will naturally attend President Gu’s wedding…”
Listening to those words, Shen Zhiqian suddenly laughed lowly.
But behind the smile was sheer desolation.
Li Lan was busy with almost everything for the wedding because Ning Qingqing had been following up on projects on both sides recently.
Her own company’s cultural entertainment project had begun layout, and on the other side, cooperation with the Si family was also unfolding intensely.
The wedding time drew closer and closer. A week before, the wedding dress and suit were delivered.
Ning Qingqing discovered that she really had gained a little weight; the chest area was tighter than when she tried on the wedding dress before.
The designer took it back to let out the bust slightly. That night, seeing the dinner Gu Youchen ordered, Ning Qingqing fell into an internal battle.
Until the man said a sentence: “Qingqing, if you are afraid of getting fat, we can exercise a while longer at night.”
Ning Qingqing: “…”
That night, she ate less than usual, while a certain someone worked harder than usual.
In the following days, Ning Qingqing wrapped up most of the company matters and prepared to take a day off to welcome the wedding two days later.
There was a custom in the Imperial City that the bride and groom shouldn’t see each other the night before the wedding, so two days in advance, Ning Qingqing was picked up by Ning Ruojun to go to her newly bought villa.
The villa was fully furnished, basically move-in ready. President Ning wasn’t very particular about these material things, so she didn’t request changes to the decoration or layout and just moved in directly.
That morning, Ning Qingqing went shopping with Ning Ruojun and bought a lot of things. In the afternoon, she received a call from Zhou Linghang, saying they booked a big private room at ‘Night Charm’ tonight to throw a bachelor/bachelorette party for her and Gu Youchen.
It was called a bachelor party, but in reality, the two had already registered their marriage, so it was just a formality.
Moreover, the trend in the Imperial City was for the groom to play with his friends and the bride to gather with hers the day before the wedding.
But this morning, when Zhou Linghang invited Gu Youchen to play ball and mentioned the gathering tomorrow night, Gu Youchen directly said to change it to tonight and to invite Ning Qingqing and her friends.
Hearing this, Zhou Linghang laughed. “Holy crap, you haven’t seen your wife for half a day, and you’re this impatient?”
Gu Youchen looked at him and said indifferently, “You’re not married; you don’t understand.”
Being despised, Zhou Linghang swore, “Fine, Brother Chen, you wait. I’ll get myself hitched this year! If I don’t, I’ll take your surname!”
Gu Youchen glanced at him sideways and called him, “Gu Linghang, you stepped on my leather shoe.”
Zhou Linghang wanted to say it wasn’t the end of the year yet, why call him that so soon, but realized he really had stepped on Gu Youchen’s shoe in his excitement, so he quickly let go.
So, the bachelor party two nights before the wedding was set. After asking for the time and place, Ning Qingqing called both Qiao Xiaomian and Wang Qian.
Wang Qian was still in the legal department of Shen Zhiqian’s company. Because of her excellent performance recently, she had been promoted to supervisor.
When she and Ning Qingqing arrived, most of Gu Youchen’s friends had arrived too. Qiao Xiaomian was still busy working overtime and said she would arrive in a while.
After introducing each other one by one, Zhou Linghang went to the front to pick a song. “Come, come, come! Today we have to hear our Brother Chen and Sister-in-law sing a duet of ‘Marry Me Today’ no matter what!”
Everyone applauded instantly, the atmosphere lively.
Ning Qingqing and Gu Youchen walked to the front. Gu Youchen took her hand naturally.
Actually, he didn’t really like deliberately showing off affection (PDA), but some things were reflected in the details and didn’t need any deliberate expression.
Midway, Gu Youchen’s friend went out to answer a phone call and didn’t close the door tightly.
So when Shen Zhiyu and her classmate came over, they saw the current scene.
Shen Zhiyu was in college this year. She didn’t do well in the exams. Originally, she wanted to go abroad, but Shen Yeyuan said it would be more troublesome if no one disciplined her out there, so he let her attend a vocational college in the Imperial City.
Worst case, she could take the exam to upgrade from junior college to university when she graduated.
Shen Zhiyu had long run out of the allowance Shen Zhiqian gave her. After being extorted out of more than 100,000 yuan by the ‘little sisters’ in the Super Topic group at the airport, she scrimped and saved, sold her previous designer bags, and used the living expenses Shen Yeyuan gave her to barely pay it off.
Today, her high school classmates arranged a gathering with friends studying at universities here, so she came out, planning to relax properly.
Who knew that just passing by a private room door, she would see Gu Youchen and Ning Qingqing holding hands and singing.
The man was obviously not familiar with this song, sometimes even falling behind the tune, but his voice was pleasant, deep, magnetic, and clean, seeming to strike directly into people’s hearts.
Shen Zhiyu stood at the door, forgetting to leave, staring blankly.
She realized she envied Ning Qingqing—envied that Ning Qingqing could stand beside Gu Youchen.
She wished she were the one singing with Gu Youchen, and even that she were the one marrying him.
At this moment, she could no longer deceive herself. No matter how much she didn’t want to admit it inside, she truly felt that she liked Gu Youchen.
She had actually fallen for her own brother’s nemesis!
But Gu Youchen had never looked at her directly, not even once. He was even married, having married the love of her own brother’s heart!
At this time, a classmate beside her bumped into her. “Zhiyu, why are you dazing out?”
“Nothing,” Shen Zhiyu recovered and said quickly.
She followed her classmates to their own private room, feeling an indescribable sense of loss in her heart.
Just then, her phone rang. It was Xue Wenlan calling.
“Zhiyu, I made some snacks you like. Are you at school? I’ll bring them to you.”
Xue Wenlan now only had the 5,000 living expenses Shen Zhiqian gave her every month. Compared to her previous lavish spending, she was simply strapped for cash.
But her son still hadn’t relented, and Shen Zhiyu also had no money to help her. Shen Yeyuan ignored her even more, so she was still trying to think of ways.
And her usual mahjong sisters, seeing her still carrying a bag from three months ago, had already started mocking her both openly and secretly.
Thinking of this, a wave of anxiety surged through Xue Wenlan.
On the phone, Shen Zhiyu said to her, “No, I’m at a gathering with high school classmates. We are at Night Charm Club.”
Speaking of this, Shen Zhiyu’s voice became a bit low. Perhaps wanting to find someone to confide in, she added, “I also saw Gu Youchen and Ning Qingqing. They have many friends around them… They are singing together, and their relationship seems very good.”
Hearing this, Xue Wenlan shook all over.
Opportunity knocks! Her previous apology to Ning Qingqing might have lacked sincerity, so Shen Zhiqian was still angry with her.
But now, if she went over to apologize earnestly again—really humbling herself this time—her son would surely understand her painstaking efforts and raise her living expenses again, right?
Moreover, maybe she could really help Shen Zhiqian!
So she immediately said, “Zhiyu, don’t be sad. I’m coming to find you right now! I heard Ning Qingqing and her husband are holding their wedding in two days, but as long as it hasn’t happened yet, anything is possible!”
Shen Zhiyu was startled. “Auntie, what are you going to do?”
Xue Wenlan was confident. “You’ll know when I get there.”
In the private room, after Ning Qingqing and Gu Youchen finished singing a song, she watched the light from the bar fall on the man’s face, swaying gently with the rotation of the lights.
She felt her heart swaying gently along with it.
She liked the feeling of being with Gu Youchen more and more.
When he loved her unrequitedly, she felt no pressure.
Now that they had completely clarified their thoughts, only sweetness remained.
He liked to be clingy with her, and she discovered she actually liked this kind of clinginess very much.
She might still have some insecurity deep in her bones because of her parents’ divorce in her original family. Being with Shen Zhiqian in high school seemed okay; the feeling wasn’t obvious.
But after graduation, if Shen Zhiqian was busy on a business trip, he might not call for two days. Ning Qingqing knew he was busy, so she didn’t demand anything.
However, if Gu Youchen was really busy, he would have Zhou Luo send his schedule over, telling her what he was doing at any time.
And as long as he was free, he would call her, even if the call wasn’t long.
In all the time they had been together, there had never been a day where there was no news from Gu Youchen.
Ning Qingqing really liked this feeling of being thought of at all times. She felt safe and didn’t worry about gains and losses.
She realized that the anxiety she felt on the day she registered her marriage had been healed. She had truly found a partner who suited her well and whom she also liked very much.
At this time, Zhou Linghang went to order another song and asked if Ning Qingqing and Gu Youchen wanted to sing.
Seeing the song title, Ning Qingqing remembered something and laughed. “Zhou Linghang, why did you pick this funny song?”
Zhou Linghang was confused. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Ning Qingqing said, “Didn’t you see the joke Youchen posted on his Moments the day before yesterday? It used this music. That joke about selling melons is the funniest joke in the last few days; I watched it no less than ten times!”
Zhou Linghang still looked confused. “What joke? Brother Chen posted a joke again?”
Saying that, he had already taken out his phone to check Gu Youchen’s Moments.
“No—” Zhou Linghang handed his phone to Ning Qingqing. “Isn’t Brother Chen’s recent Moments still the photo of you two in Qingtang Town?”
Saying that, he scrolled up again and found that even the funny jokes Gu Youchen posted before were gone.
Ning Qingqing stared at Zhou Linghang’s screen in shock and asked, “You weren’t blocked by Youchen, were you?”
“Holy crap.” Zhou Linghang looked hurt. “Brother Chen, did you block me? Does this do justice to our friendship of wearing the same pair of pants since childhood?”
Gu Youchen looked disgusted. “I never wore your pants. You, on the other hand, wet the bed when staying at my house at age 5 and wore mine.”
“Damn!” Zhou Linghang felt stifled. “Can we not mention this in front of everyone?”
With that, he snatched Gu Youchen’s phone. “Let me see. You didn’t block me, did you?”
If he didn’t get an answer, he would die in front of him… oh no, he would cry in front of him.
Gu Youchen pinched the center of his brows, unlocked the phone, and clicked on his own Moments.
So Zhou Linghang saw it full of various jokes.
He felt his heart take a critical hit of ten thousand points. “Brother Chen, you really blocked me—”
But before he finished speaking, he clicked in and realized that every joke Gu Youchen posted was set to be visible to a specific group.
So Zhou Linghang, refusing to admit defeat, familiarly found the tags to check the group.
The next second, he saw that Gu Youchen’s contacts actually only had one group. The group name was a heart, and inside was only one person—Ning Qingqing.
He instantly didn’t know what to say.
Brother Chen only showed it to his wife alone. What was a grown man like him trying to join in for?
But seeing this scene, Ning Qingqing’s heart flew up uncontrollably!
T/n: OMG, he handed the invitation. LOL. Serves him right. Ahahahaha.
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