"Turn it off! Shut it down NOW!"
Zhuo Xuan lost all composure, shrieking on stage as if on the verge of collapse. The bridesmaids, meanwhile, watched with detached amusement—*serves her right for showing off.*
The screen went dark. The emcee, drenched in cold sweat from the relentless "hiccups," mentally cursed this gig.
"Jin-ge, those photos were photoshopped! That's not me! Someone's jealous—they're framing me!"
Zhuo Xuan clutched Yu Jinwen's arm, her tiara askew, a strand of hair falling loose. Her heavily blushed face twisted in panic, now as pale as wax.
Yu Jinwen could tell the photos weren't edited. Doubts swirled, but concern for her health overrode them.
"Calm down. You're unwell—we'll discuss this after the wedding."
His words seemed to trigger her. She went limp, clutching her stomach, lips trembling as she swayed in his arms like a fainting damsel.
"Jin-ge, I can't hold on... Can we hurry this along?"
Formalities be damned—she just wanted this disaster to *end*.
Yu Jinwen nodded to the emcee, who scrapped all pretense of charm and fast-forwarded to the ring exchange.
"Wait!"
The interruption came again—not from Yu Zeyu this time, but his sister, Yu Fanyin, who'd picked up the discarded documents.
Cool and composed in her apricot dress, she stepped onto the stage and leveled Zhuo Xuan with a quiet but cutting question:
"Miss Zhuo. Do you *actually* have stomach cancer?"
The words struck like a slap. Zhuo Xuan froze.
Without a microphone, only those onstage heard. The bridesmaids gaped at their friend.
"Xuanxuan, since when did you have cancer? Wasn't it anorexia?"
"Anorexia?" Yu Jinwen's brow furrowed. "I thought it was gastric cancer."
The conflicting accounts from best friend and fiancé left the emcee speechless. *Is this wedding even happening?*
Truth, like fire, always burns through paper.
With her lies unraveling, Zhuo Xuan panicked. Each "hiccup" today had peeled away another layer, leaving her exposed.
*Who's doing this to me?!*
"Jin-ge..." She gripped his arm desperately. "Let's just finish the ceremony. I'll explain everything later—don't humiliate me like this. *Please.*"
Yu Jinwen studied her—this woman he'd cherished for years—and felt nothing but strangeness.
The heartbeat he'd once felt for her? Gone.
---
Nan Song shot up from the sofa, startling Bai Luyu. Onscreen, Yu Jinwen and Zhuo Xuan locked eyes—
And something inside her snapped.