At the glass-veiled threshold of Departure Hall 3, Gu Chen gripped a patinated smartphone and a sheaf of timeworn vellum scrolls, their edges curling like autumn leaves.
"Strapped for silver? Pierce foreign vaults—your grandsire's ciphercraft could harvest empires from binary streams."
"Abandon takeout tribalism! The culinary alchemy I instilled conquers modern nymphs' palates ere their affections stir."
"Let not our ancestral healing arts decay. This age breeds mountebanks; guard your lineage's jade purity."
"Your martial sinews approach transcendence, yet silence remains your truest blade. Breathe my tutelage to none beyond these peaks."
"..."
Gu Chen's mirth crackled through the receiver like pine resin in flame. "Fear not, honoured sages! This mountain-cast exile kneels to no man's scorn."
Reverberant laughter cascaded. "Aye! Should gutter vermin dare bite, summon our spectral blades. Ancient steel still cleaves modern sinew."
Memory-tides surged—six-year-old Gu Chen, river-flung, salvaged by five recluses: a cabal mastering guqin harmonics, Go's infinite permutations, ink-soul calligraphy, and Sichuan's numbing fire. Now, the hermitage's chrysalis ruptured.
The scrolls in his grasp exhaled obligations. "Five betrothals, five severed threads... Must celestial machinations meddle in mortal clay?"
"Ling or Bai? Let Joss decide." A copper yuan spiralled skyward. Sunlight kissed its obverse—destiny's nudge toward Junli Group's alabaster ziggurat.
**Taxi Dialectics**
The cabbie's rearview gaze dissected him. "Junli's trials shatter ex-marines. That ice queen Ling Meixue—her guards are Titan-forged."
Gu Chen's brow quicksilvered. "*Gatekeepers? I come to shred contracts, not ink them.*"
The driver's breath fogged the windscreen. "*Another corporate moth.*"
**Corporate Coliseum**
Gu Chen's frayed sneakers and mended satchel drew hyena grins. "CEO's tenth 'fiancé' today! Grind this pretender to pulp!"
Before three breaths could escape, Marble drank the groans of fallen sentinels. Gu Chen tsked, "City courtesy withers like plucked chrysanthemums."
**Pinnacle Gambit**
Ling Meixue's stiletto heel fissured Carrara. "*Grandsire's 'Earth Phoenix-Celestial Dragon' augury? I'll not incubate some backwater warlock's spawn!"
Her adjutant's knock splintered the tempest. "Madam CEO, an intrusion—"
The oak door yielded with a thunderous report. A silhouette slouched against the frame, grinning ferally. "Hail, bound bride. Shall we unknot destiny's noose?"
The Intruder Who Claimed Matrimony
**Scene I: Uncharted Waters of Intimacy**
"By the nine heavens, this thirst could parch dragons!" Gu Chen seized the porcelain vessel before Ling Meixue's desk. After draining its contents, his brow arched theatrically. "A concoction of jujubes, lycium berries, and codonopsis? My dear, does the lunar cycle plague you? Allow this physician-husband to administer relief."
**Tempest Behind Frost**
"You vile serpent!" Crimson fury stained Ling Meixue's jade complexion. This brazen interloper had violated her chrysanthemum-patterned teacup, dared to utter "wife", and now presumed to diagnose her womb's mysteries. "Guards! Expel this madman!"
Her spectacled aide trembled like autumn's last leaf. "Madam... The security detail—even those decorated veterans from yesterday's recruitment—currently occupy hospital beds."
---
**Scene II: Revelations Wrapped in Silk**
Collapsing into her mahogany throne, the heiress hissed through clenched pearls, "Declare your true purpose!"
"Your betrothed," Gu Chen bowed with mocking grace, "as decreed by Elder Long. Though truth be told—"His gaze swept her willow-waisted silhouette"—your" pallor speaks of nourishment neglected. When we wed, I'll personally oversee your tonic regimen."
The 2-million-yuan cheque fluttered between them like a dying moth. He chuckled, thumb brushing the millennia-old qiankun satchel at his hip—its violet threads shimmering with protective seals. "Shall I demonstrate how this humble pouch once emptied Zurich's vaults? Petty cash holds no sway where destiny intervenes."
**Scene III: Polygamous Prophecies**
As ivory hands clawed at the vermilion marriage scroll, four identical parchments cascaded across the desk. "Render them all," Gu Chen purred. "Five contracts bind me—though your shrewish tongue may yet relegate you to fifth concubine."
"Then nullify it!"
"Ah, but flawed jade still holds value." His fingers traced her jawline, avoiding the slap. "Thirty dawns to make your heart flutter like a caged sparrow... or become a mere footnote in my ancestral registry."
**Scene IV: Crisis Beyond Romance**
The jadeite phone shattered their duel. "Gu Laoshi?" crackled an aged voice. "The Bai family's pledge—"
"Naturally!" Gu Chen's baritone swelled for his audience. "My medical ethics honour all covenants."
Ling Meixue's snort could frost glass. "Another desperate annulment?"
"Patience, blossom." He swept toward the exit, the qiankun satchel chiming with concealed implements. "When I return, you'll beg to inscribe our wedding vows."
In the hospital's incense-thick gloom, Bai patriarchs prostrated before their comatose jewel. Gu Chen parted the mourners like reeds before floodwaters. "Cease this keening—'tis but qi imbalance." As the elder's forehead struck marble in supplication, the physician hauled him upright with one hand. "Preserve your dignity. I cure what Western quacks deem hopeless."
"..."
A Trivial Affliction? And the Uninvited Cohabitant
**Part I: The Miraculous Intervention**
The enigmatic "minor ailment" had confounded elite medical specialists – an unprecedented syndrome with undetectable pathology yet catastrophic organ failure. Gu Chen's casual dismissal of this terminal condition as a trifling matter sparked immediate contention.
"Boy, where's your medical accreditation?" The senior physician demanded with biting scepticism. Gu Chen unsheathed silver filiform needles from his satchel, countering sharply: "Healing requires no bureaucratic stamps. Either demonstrate your competence or silence your doubts!"
Executing the _Tremor Needle Technique_ – a virtuoso skill eluding even seasoned acupuncturists – Gu Chen's fingers orchestrated a therapeutic ballet across the Tianzhu and Qihai meridians. The maiden's ashen complexion blossomed with vitality under his ministrations, while Patriarch Bai observed the legendary _Phoenix Tripartite Nod_ method with tearful reverence.
"Three therapeutic cycles over six lunar months", Gu Chen announced, dabbing perspiration, "shall grant her three additional springs." This prognosis echoed precisely the arcane protocols his mentor Liu had rigorously drilled into him – was this entire medical drama pre-choreographed by the grandmasters?
---
**Part II: The Matrimonial Paradox**
Patriarch Bai performed a ceremonial bow. "Let the nuptials commence at dawn! All betrothal documents await merely your seal."
Gu Chen exhaled wearily. "My purpose here is dissolution, not union. Five existing engagements already burden my scroll..."
"Five consorts?" The elder interjected fervently. "Every hero merits multiple kindred spirits!" Unfazed even by the prospect of his granddaughter becoming a "secondary consort", he pressed until Gu Chen relented: "Should her essence captivate mine, let the pact endure."
---
**Part III: The Villa Intrusion**
At twilight, Gu Chen approached Rainflower Pavilion Villas – an opulent estate procured through his cyber-savvy mentor Jiang's "$1 special acquisition". The immaculate courtyard belied its unexpected inhabitant:
"Snowdrop? Hand me the lace undergarments!" A honeyed contralto reverberated from the mist-veiled ablutory chamber.
The door creaks ajar, revealing a towel-draped siren mid-stride. Their gazes collided across the diaphanous lingerie suspended from Gu Chen's fingertips. A deafening shriek tore through the magnolia grove, scattering rooks like inkblots in a tempest.
Unforeseen Cohabitation
Gu Chen clamped his palms over his ears and spun on his heel to depart, but the young woman jabbed an accusatory finger at him, her voice sharp as shattered glass. "Don't you dare move! I'm dialling the authorities this instant—you depraved stalker! Admit it—you've been trailing me, scheming to violate my sanctity!"
"Me?!" Gu Chen shot back, his voice laced with incredulous mockery. "Madam, I happen to be what society deems 'objectively attractive. ' Should I ever deign to pursue you, consider it a celestial favour!"
Though her logic seemed unhinged, the girl's physique commanded attention—a diminutive 160 cm frame boasting a waspish waist and sinuous curves that sculpted an undeniable hourglass silhouette.
"By what sorcery did you infiltrate this residence?!" she spat, clutching her terrycloth armour tighter. "Wait—you must be that deranged prowler from the police bulletins!" Her thumb hovered theatrically above her phone screen.
Gu Chen exhaled dramatically. "As you wish—I'll vanish!" Yet after two strides, he whirled like a tempest. "Blast it all! This is MY domicile! By what madness do YOU occupy it while threatening ME with legal retribution?!"
"Your...domicile?!"
Keys jangled like mocking laughter from his fingertips. "Behold the irrefutable proof."
The door's metallic sigh announced a new arrival—Ling Meixue materialised in the threshold, a grocery bag of instant noodles dangling from her grasp.
"Shiyu, shouldn't you be—" Her words evaporated mid-sentence as recognition struck. "You! What devilry brings you here?!"
Gu Chen's lips curled into a vulpine grin. "Bravo, darling. To engineer this 'chance encounter' demonstrates admirable dedication. Resorting to feminine wiles to ensnare me? While inequitable..." His eyelid dipped in conspiratorial theatrics. "I'll grant you this triumph. Welcome to the exclusive roster of my paramours—an honour few mortals attain."
"You repugnant serpent!" Ling Meixue's fingers closed around a broom handle, brandishing it like a medieval lance. "I've already denounced this farcical engagement! Cease your delusions!"
"Ah, the eternal feminine paradox," he quipped, sidestepping her assault with pantherine grace. "Though I'm the prize here, your enthusiasm warrants indulgence. Don't restrain yourself on my account—I'm no hothouse blossom needing coddling!"
"Perish in flames!"
Their duel became a kinetic ballet—careening from parlour to kitchen, then exploding into the moonlit courtyard.
The clatter of falling parchment froze the combat. The bathrobed girl retrieved the dropped deed, her eyes ballooning.
"Meixue...the property records...they bear his name!"
Ling Meixue snatched the document, her gaze ricocheting between the photo and Gu Chen's smirking visage. The blood drained from her face.
"Does reality outshine the portrait, my dear?"
"You...this...this cannot be authentic!"
"Certified by Jiang Laoshi himself—my venerable benefactor."
"Jiang?!" Her phone materialised, rental app blazing. The landlord's contact—"Mr Jiang"—glowed accusingly. The offer mocked her: ¥600/month, all utilities, prime location. A gilded trap designed to evade familial matchmaking ambushes.
Gu Chen's mental gears spun—another machination from Demon Island's silver foxes. *I merely came to sever a betrothal!* he lamented internally.
"I revoke the lease!" Ling Meixue declared, chin lifted in regal defiance.
"Bon voyage!" Gu Chen's shrug could've toppled empires.
Lin Shiyu plucked her sleeve. "Meixue, where else offers subsidised luxury? Your corporate citadel and my university are both a stone's throw away!"
Thunder growled its ultimatum as rain began its siege.
"Ugh—temporary residence!" Ling Meixue capitulated through gritted teeth. "The moment I secure alternatives..."
Gu Chen's grin turned lupine. "Dwell as you will—but let's establish nocturnal boundaries. Betrothed we may be, but nuptials remain pending. Govern your...enthusiasms."
"Vile cretin!"
Lin Shiyu's noodles hissed into boiling water. The wastebin's cargo—a Pompeii of takeout containers—testified to their culinary apocalypse. Ling Meixue, scion of the Ling conglomerate, had fled gilded matchmaking parlours only to be imprisoned in this romantic burlesque.
"You call this sustenance?!" Gu Chen's nose wrinkled at the MSG-laden vapours.
Ling Meixue shielded her sodium-rich treasures. "Procure your own provisions!"
"Pitiable." He foraged the icebox, emerging with organic kale and free-range poultry.
Flames kissed the wok as Gu Chen orchestrated his culinary symphony—a maestro wielding a spatula as a baton. Garlic's golden perfume merged with Sichuan peppercorn's narcotic buzz, conjuring Kung Pao chicken that would shame five-star chefs.
Lin Shiyu's nostrils flared, her instant ramen abandoned mid-stir.
"Persisting with your sodium baptism?" Gu Chen's eyebrow arched.
"We'd sooner expire than consume your poison!" Ling Meixue hissed.
*Three minutes hence...
Chopsticks clattered like castanets as both women ravaged the feast, sauce glistening on their chins.
Lin Shiyu's muffled epiphany rose through a mouthful: "Transcendent..."
The Uninvited Listener
As predestined by cosmic irony, mortal beings remain eternally susceptible to the "Law of Inevitable Seduction"!
The ladies' gastronomic conquest extended beyond mere plate-clearing – their cutlery clattered against porcelain in zealous pursuit of residual sauce droplets, transforming dinnerware into polished canvases.
"Divine! Michelin constellations pale before this culinary cosmos!" Lin Shiyu's tongue traced vermilion lips, savouring lingering umami.
*Grandfather's wisdom rings true – conquest through gastronomy precedes dominion over hearts,* Gu Chen reflected, his inner monologue tinged with culinary philosophy.
"Must you emulate barbarians at a mediaeval banquet? You're corrupting my betrothed's table manners!" Gu Chen's rebuke carried theatrical indignation, eyes narrowing at Lin Shiyu's ravenous display.
A rosy dawn blossomed across Ling Meixue's alabaster complexion. The paragon of propriety found herself paradoxically enchanted by humble fare – golden omelette folds embracing scarlet tomato flesh, chicken diced with geometric precision, and broth whispering ancient culinary secrets.
"Your... culinary aptitude warrants provisional residency," Ling Meixue declared, throat clearing to mask vulnerability.
Gu Chen's eyebrow arched like a drawn sabre. "Provisional? This edifice bears my ancestral name!"
"Temporal precedence dictates hierarchy. Upper sanctums remain our domain; your culinary penitence shall unfold below. Nightly nourishment obligations, chambers inviolate – these are my decrees."
"Benevolence compels my acquiescence. Yet..."
"Yet?"
His smirk transformed into a crescent moon of mischief. "Madam must temper her ardour. Until nuptial vows sanctify union, refrain from clandestine schemes to claim my virtue. Chivalry remains my armour."
"Perish, you degenerate!" Velvet cushions became ballistic projectiles in her wrath.
Postprandial rituals found Gu Chen reluctantly scrubbing porcelain beneath lunar gaze. *My ancestral halls, my provisions – now indentured servitude? Is this matrimony's prologue?* He ruminated, his sigh heavy with existential contemplation. *Urgency demands annulment of other betrothal contracts. As for this tempestuous muse, let lunar cycles test her mettle.
---
**Intermezzo in the Corridor**
"Your cybernetic oracle in data surveillance – activate reconnaissance protocols," Ling Meixue's whisper carried conspiratorial urgency.
"Fascination blooms where betrothal papers bind?" Lin Shiyu's laughter tinkled like wind chimes. "Facial recognition algorithms demand biometric input."
Ling Meixue's espionage ballet unfolded – smartphone aperture capturing stolen moments between stainless steel appliances. The mechanical shutter's betrayal echoed like a gunshot in the culinary arena.
"Beauty's burden weighs heavy, does it not?" Gu Chen pivoted, intercepting photons mid-capture. "Obsession's blush becomes you, wife. How delightfully pedestrian."
"Silence, Narcissus incarnate!"
*Click.* The digital prisoner now secured, cryptographic chains transmitted through fibre-optic veins.
Three minutes later, electromagnetic waves carried an apocalyptic verdict: "Terminate inquiry. Hexagonal encryption shattered against '3S-ENIGMA' firewalls – clearance tier: Nationbreaker."
"Define 'nationbreaker'!"
"Entities who sneeze and topple GDP curves. Burn this communication." Spectral silence reclaimed the airwaves.
The heiresses' synchronised inhalation drew a vacuum in the corridor. *What cosmic jest placed this enigma in our orbit?
---
**Culinary Epilogue**
Gu Chen emerged, phalanges gleaming like polished ivory. "Observe these aristocratic hands, drained of hue by aqueous tribulations."
"Cease that appellation!"
"Alternative honorifics? Matriarch of my unborn lineage, perhaps?"
Ling Meixue's respiratory system rebelled. "State your demand!"
"My coffers mirror Sahara's aridity. Consider patronage – rejected countless dowager advances, yet your candidacy shows... promise."
"May Tartarus claim you!"
Suddenly, Gu Chen's posture transformed into a predator's crouch. "Immobilise!"
"Wha—"
*Snick.* A pearl button became a casualty to his surgical precision, circuitry sparking like angry fireflies within.
"Counter-surveillance grade 9 – sophisticated listening apparatus," he intoned, forensic detachment colouring his verdict.
---
**Subterranean Lament**
Bloodied fingers clawed at concrete as high-frequency feedback's vengeance echoed. "Ling Meixue... the debt of cochlear destruction shall be repaid in exponential suffering!"
---
**Postlude at the Villa**
The investigator's loupe trembled above forensic evidence. "Ms Ling, your resident polymath, outshines our forensic capabilities. Mark 92 NSA-grade surveillance module – beyond civilian countermeasures." His retreating figure blurred into the twilight.
Ling Meixue's gaze dissected the slouching enigma. *Can chaos truly wear the mask of mastery?
The Security Guard Gambit
Detective Liu hastily packed his equipment and fled in disarray. In the presence of true experts, gadget-reliant private investigators like him were nothing but a joke.
**"How did you know there was a listening device in the button?"** Ling Meixue asked, her gaze sharp.
Gu Chen shrugged. "My ears aren't ordinary. They pick up sounds others can't—like how you two were badmouthing me outside earlier."
**"Quit the nonsense!"** Lin Shiyu interjected, rolling her eyes. **"Human hearing ranges between 15 and 25 decibels. The kitchen is metres away, separated by two doors. Stop lying!"
**"Ah, but that's for *ordinary* people,"** Gu Chen retorted. **"Blindfolded since childhood, I trained my ears to replace my eyes. Ever wonder why some blind folks navigate streets effortlessly?"
Lin Shiyu huffed but fell silent. The training Gu Chen endured on Demon Island was beyond imagination—far harsher than even elite special forces drills. His grandparents pushed him to the brink of death, claiming, "Only near-death experiences unlock true potential."
---
**"Report to the company tomorrow for the job interview,"** Ling Meixue said flatly.
Gu Chen raised an eyebrow. **"Since when do husbands need interviews?"
"The security team is short-staffed. You're filling the gap."
**"A *security guard*?!"** The Young Master of Demon Island, reduced to patrolling a corporate building? The humiliation would fuel endless mockery from his family.
**"You hospitalised my entire recruitment batch. Earn your keep or starve."** Ling Meixue smirked, relishing the chance to humble him.
**"Clever,"** Gu Chen chuckled. **"So desperate to keep me close? How devious… But I'll play along."**
**"Get lost!"** she snapped, storming upstairs.
---
Lin Shiyu sidled up to Gu Chen, teasing, "Meixue vowed never to love any man. Why not chase me instead? I'm easy!"
He shot her a sidelong glance. "Sorry, not into big breasts but no brains."
**"Who are you calling brainless?!"** She lunged at him, only for her blouse button to pop open. **"Don't look!"** she shrieked, fleeing upstairs. Unnoticed, Gu Chen flicked a razor-thin blade between his fingers, grinning.
---
**The Next Morning**
After breakfast, Lin Shiyu left for her college classes. In the garage, Ling Meixue tossed Gu Chen the keys to her Porsche Cayenne. "Drive carefully. The bumper's new."
**"Don't worry—I'm a smooth operator,"** he replied.
The engine roared as the red Cayenne shot forward like a wild stallion breaking free from its reins. Ling Meixue clung to her seat, screaming, "Slow down! I can't take this speed!"
"Relax, we're barely hitting 200 km/h!"
"I usually drive 50 km/h!"
**"No wonder you wrecked the bumper,"** he snorted.
---
At the office, Ling Meixue handed him a security uniform. "Change into this."
Gu Chen grimaced. "Your grandfather would weep seeing his heir dressed like this."
**"Stop hiding behind my family!"** She tossed him a Versace suit instead.
**"Cheap threads,"** he muttered, stripping off his custom-tailored shirt. **"But this watch stays. It's worth more than your car. Maybe I'll gift it to you… on our wedding night."
"..."
The Chronograph and the Sentinel
The timepiece lay fractured, its crystal face webbed with fissures, hands eternally suspended. A Rolex reduced to such ruin would scarcely stir Ling Meixue's interest—this trinket, unmarked by any luxury house she'd encountered in her gilded circles, reeked of provincial craftsmanship. Yet the man clutched it like Excalibur's hilt.
"Cease your preposterous 'wife' prattle at the office!" Ling's porcelain features hardened, a jade dagger unsheathed.
"By your command, *Consort Meixue*," Gu Chen countered, bowing with court-jester theatrics.
Crash!
Twin celadon teacups shattered against the doorframe he'd vacated.
"Vanish!"
---
**The Bastion of Vigilance**
Within the sentry post—an incongruously polished concrete cube—Wang Hu massaged his eggplant-hued eye socket. "That charlatan yesterday", he growled to his Marlboro-stained cohorts, "claimed betrothal to our Ice Queen CEO. Had he lingered..."
Thud!
The steel-reinforced door recoiled from its hinges, connecting with Wang Hu's occipital bone.
"Son of a—" The security chief whirled, fury dissolving into an obsequious grin. "Elder Brother... what brings you...?"
Gu Chen slouched against the vibrating doorframe, sunlight glinting off the half-healed scar bisecting his brow. "Rejoice, comrades. Your roster gains new blood."
Silence pooled like spilt mercury.
"C-Colleague?!" Wang Hu's cigarette trembled. "You... security detail?"
"Effective immediately."
The air thickened with the sour tang of usurpation. Gu Chen's palm descended – part camaraderie, part guillotine blade – onto the chief's shoulder. "Retain your title. For now."
Wang Hu proffered a golden Huazi cigarette with sacramental solemnity. "Yesterday's... misunderstanding..."
---
**The Tithe**
Their nicotine communion shattered as Liu Yang materialised – HR's weasel-faced factotum – his patent-leather shoes squeaking like mouse bones.
"Harvest moon rises," he intoned, adjusting frameless glasses.
The guards moved as marionettes, extracting three crimson bills each. Wang Hu deposited double tribute before Gu Chen.
"Why endure this extortion?"
The chief exhaled a smoke-signal sigh. "Liu's uncle controls attendance logs. Last dissenters found their wages halved – 'system errors".
Gu Chen's thumb traced the chronograph's frozen hands. "A timepiece... and time's servants... both require calibration."
The Indomitable Card Monarch of the Watchpost
Daylight hours in the security chamber offered languid respite, confined chiefly to logging visitor credentials. True vigilance commenced nocturnally at Junli Group, the jewellery conglomerate perpetually unveiling new necklaces and rings. Following a recent heist of precious gemstones, CEO Ling Meixue had bolstered night patrols – yet daylight's indolence bred card games among guards.
"Elder Chen! Favour us with your prowess!" bellowed Wang Hu toward the slouching figure exhaling cigarette smoke.
Gu Chen extinguished his cigarette beneath polished leather and rose with pantherine grace. "Your purses shall weep."
Laughter erupted. "Bluster!" Wang retorted, slapping the *Zha Jin Hua* table – the poker variant's chips already mountain-high. "I've humbled every challenger in this county!"
The deck became liquid mercury in Gu Chen's hands. Cards pirouetted midair like autumn maples before coalescing into his palm – a gambler's ballet worthy of celluloid legend. Breath stilled; time paused.
Ten minutes later, destitution wore human faces. Wang's trembling fingers hovered over mortgaged property deeds as Gu Chen's "2-3-5" humiliated triple Aces – *Zha Jin Hua*'s ultimate paradox where the weakest conquers the strongest. Trousers pooled around ankles when the door crashed open.
Ling Meixue's rehearsed reprimand died mid-syllable. Before her stood a tableau of half-clad men genuflecting toward their card sovereign.
"Coercion?" Her voice crackled winter frost.
"Volition!" they chorused, eyes shining with defeat's strange euphoria. The CEO's gaze darted between yesterday's brawlers and today's acolytes.
"By what sorcery?!"
Gu Chen's lips quirked. "Perhaps your corporate governance... inspires devotion."
"The truth. Now."
His mien shifted – philosopher-king contemplating mortality. Then, sunlight through storm clouds:
"Must I articulate the obvious?" His hand swept from chiselled jawline to broad shoulders. "Behold: genetic supremacy."
Laughter quaked the walls as Ling retreated, her audit of flaws reduced to ash.
Matrimonial Mayhem on the Freeway
Ling Meixue pressed slender fingers against her throbbing temples, neural pathways crackling with the aftershocks of Gu Chen's latest psychological ambush. His tactical brilliance in dismantling her composure now bordered on artistry.
"Attend to your responsibilities!" Her rebuke emerged half-hearted, dissolving into the sterile office air like mist before sunrise.
"Farewell, beloved consort!" His baritone reverberated through the vaulted lobby. Colleagues were petrified mid-stride as Ling's alabaster complexion ignited into aurora borealis hues.
"_Terminate this charade!_ No nuptial covenant binds us!"
"Affirmative, paramour."
"Incurable reprobate!" Her stilettos struck marble with ballistic precision as she fled. Gu Chen pivoted toward his freshly sworn acolytes, lupine grin widening. "Having acknowledged my patriarchal authority, how shall you designate..."
"Matriarch! Safe passage!" The thunderous salutation reverberated. Ling's ankle executed an involuntary arabesque—a biomechanical protest against conjugal theatrics.
---
**Twilight, Haibo Road Intersection**
The Porsche Cayenne purred outside the pedagogical university's gates. Lin Shiyu glided into the leather embrace of the passenger seat, cataloguing Ling's ivory-knuckled steering wheel stranglehold.
"Snow Queen, your electromagnetic field suggests overcooked cephalopod."
"That anthropomorphic migraine! Violating workplace..." Ling's diatribe crystallised mid-articulation. Darkness congealed in the rearview's silvered plane.
"_Eternal bride_, why deny cosmic design?" Gu Chen manifested between headrests like quantum foam coalescence. "Rivals pine for your essence—I'll content myself with material..."
"_Poltergeist!_ Chronology of infiltration?!" Their duet of dismay harmonised perfectly.
Lin's retreating motion liberated a shoulder strap in silk avalanche. Gu Chen's ocular analysis remained clinically precise. "Strategic décolletage deployment requires..."
"Vermiculate sewer spawn!" Lin's counterassault faltered as her wrists encountered titanium restraints.
---
**200 km/h Across Qiantang Suspension Bridge**
The Cayenne executed its gravitational waltz between freight leviathans. Lin's protests transmuted into avant-garde kinetic sculpture. Ling's synaptic epiphany detonated: "Surveillance!"
"Twin Audi spectres since corporate egress," Gu Chen confirmed, irises mirroring dashboard constellations. "They petition for cremation, coveting my rightful..."
The V8 engine articulated its chromatic manifesto as rubber shrieked operatic falsetto. Beneath the suspension cables, the river mirrored this automotive pas de deux—nature's primordial cadence juxtaposed against engineered predation.
Shadow Pursuit and the Mysterious Visitor
**1. Pursuit on the Overpass**
As Gu Chen exited the corporate plaza, he witnessed Ling Meixue's sedan departing, flanked by two shadowing Audi vehicles maintaining a precise thirty-metre interval. Ling Meixue's vehicular ineptitude—evidenced by her infamous bumper collision at a modest 50 km/h—allowed Gu Chen to pursue with ease, his motorcycle weaving through traffic like a phantom.
"Snow, have you provoked adversaries recently?" Lin Shiyu whispered, her voice trembling. "First surveillance devices, now this..."
Ling Meixue's brow furrowed. The recent unveiling of Junli Group's avant-garde jewellery collection had undoubtedly unsettled rivals—a motive sufficient to justify both electronic espionage and physical tracking.
**2. High-Speed Evasion**
"Brace yourselves—we purge these hounds," Gu Chen declared, flooring the accelerator until the speedometer needle quivered at 200 km/h. The Audis dissolved into distant specks within moments, their drivers no match for his audacious manoeuvres through the serpentine overpass traffic.
Upon reaching Rainflower Terrace Villas, Ling Meixue and Lin Shiyu staggered from the vehicle, retching into the hydrangeas. "You... *wretched*... Never again shall you command a steering wheel!" Ling Meixue rasped, her pallor matching the moonlit gravel.
**3. Domestic Tensions**
That evening found Ling Meixue rigidly perched on the chaise longue, her laptop glowing like an accusatory beacon. "Consult your husband if dilemmas arise," Gu Chen taunted, emerging from steam-clouded bathrooms clad only in board shorts. Moonlight etched his Hellenic torso into chiaroscuro relief, each abdominal contour a marbleised testament to discipline.
Ling Meixue's cheeks bloomed peony red. *Since when had this rogue cultivated Adonis' frame?
"Does the view please milady?" He purred. "Yet recall—four other consorts vie for my favour. Though adjacency grants you... tactical advantage."
"Cease!" The laptop snapped shut like a guillotine. "Appear decently attired henceforth!"
"Shall I disrobe entirely?"
"Perish!"
**4. Dawn's Reckoning**
Morning's first light saw Ling Meixue's deserted driveway, the women having absconded before dawn. Gu Chen pedalled to headquarters astride a shared bicycle, arriving to find security personnel agog near the sentry booth.
"Who is this glacial goddess?" murmured a guard.
"Some frostier executive than our CEO?"
Recognition struck Gu Chen like a thunderbolt. The woman in the obsidian moto jacket pivoted, her Arctic poise thawing instantaneously. "Elder Brother Chen!"
**5. Martial Entanglements**
Before the dumbstruck sentries, Murong Wan'er launched herself at Gu Chen, limbs coiling about his torso like martial silk. "The Jiangzhou garrison alerted Central Command. General Yang demands an audience."
"My watchtower duties bind me," he demurred.
Murong Wan'er's sigh carried centuries of unspoken history. "That you debase yourself as a corporate sentinel for some merchant princess..."
His palm silenced her lips. "Very well. Depart."
As their convoy vanished into smoggy horizons, Ling Meixue observed from her aerie, the phone trembling at her ear. "Grandsire, he absconds with another paramour! I renounce this farce!"
"*What?* You bid me pursue? Even... *bear his progeny?!"
The Iron Pact and the Gilded Masquerade
**Jiangzhou City, Southwestern Military Garrison**
Murong Wan'er strode with purposeful elegance through the stone-clad corridors, her silhouette cutting through the morning mist as Gu Chen followed with predatory grace.
In the summit chamber perched atop the garrison's spine sat a silver-haired strategist, twin stars glinting on his shoulders like frozen constellations. The creak of oak doors stirred him from contemplation. "At last," he murmured, rising with the measured cadence of a man who'd bargained with death itself. His bow held the precision of a sheathed blade. "The Northern Viper graces us."
Gu Chen's laughter ricocheted off vaulted ceilings as he claimed the central seat. "Ceremonies are for men who need validation. Let us dispense with the theatre, General." The porcelain teacup between his fingers steamed like a dying man's breath.
The old warrior's throat tightened. Six moons past, this same man had painted the Khalkha steppes crimson, leaving six warlords' skulls grinning from birch branches—then vanished like a desert mirage, leaving armies trembling. Now classified as **Code: Eclipse** by seven nations' intelligence networks, his presence alone could shift tectonic plates of power.
"They seek... assurances," the general ventured, tracing the map's blood-inked borders. "Your operations in Jiangzhou mustn't destabilize the—"
"Porcelain shatters when handled by clay hands," Gu Chen interrupted, swirling his tea. "Worry not for your earthenware bureaucrats."
The air crystallised when the general whispered, "And the Forbidden City?"
Ice flashed in Gu Chen's smile. "Three years of restraint I swore to Granny Hua. But when I breach those vermilion gates..." His thumb drew a line across his throat, leaving imaginary rubies in its wake. "Three heads will merely whet my appetite."
As the general blanched, Gu Chen's finger arrowed toward Murong Wan'er. "The sparrow hawk flies where I command now."
"But her clearance—"
"Negotiations concluded." Gu Chen's boots echoed like war drums on marble. "Send my regards to your trembling masters."
---
**Dawn's Crucible: Junli Corporate Plaza**
The armoured limousine disgorged Gu Chen into a carnival of false outrage. Ling Meixue stood besieged—a snow heron amidst shrieking gulls.
"Charlatans!" roared a serpent-tattooed provocateur, dangling a gilded chain that bobbed like corkwood. "Your gold mocks gravity itself!"
A crone collapsed in operatic convulsions, froth painting her chin. "My son's burial money... *cough*... defiled!"
Ling's voice cut through the cacophony. "These forgeries bear no seal of—"
"Enough!" Gu Chen's baritone froze the spectacle. His palm revealed a necklace dissolving in aqua regia, liquid gold dripping like demon's tears. "Copper theatrics? How... pedestrian."
Tempest and Deliverance
The throng remained deaf to Ling Meixue's entreaties. A sea of spectators coagulated at the corporate threshold, their susurrations swelling to an ominous crescendo.
"Vile exploiters! Let's dismantle this den of greed!" bellowed the tattooed instigator, hefting a steel truncheon that gleamed ominously under fluorescent lights.
"Raze it all!"
A human tsunami of over a hundred rioters breached the perimeter. The skeletal day-shift security detail proved as effective as paper guardians against the onslaught.
"Cease this madness!" Ling Meixue's plea dissolved into the metallic cacophony of Wang Hu's team clashing with assailants, the sickening percussion of polycarbonate meeting flesh underscoring her desperation.
The ringleader's sneer cut through the chaos: "Should've acquiesced when warned, Ling Meixue."
Abruptly, a familiar warmth encircled her waist. Before her startled gasp could form, that velvety baritone purred, "Fear not, my dulcet dove."
Gu Chen materialised with his trademark roguish smirk. "What can one man achieve against this horde?" she countered, diamond-bright tears clinging to her lashes.
Without retort, he advanced with pantherine grace. "Parley," he declared, the single word resonating with glacial authority.
"Parley?" The brute spat phlegm on the marble tiles. "By what right?"
"You desecrate my sanctuary." Gu Chen's voice dropped to subzero temperatures. "Have you contemplated retribution?"
Wang Hu, crimson rivulets coursing down his temple, produced a Huazi cigarette with trembling devotion. The ceremonial gesture left Ling Meixue thunderstruck – how had this enigma domesticated her security detail within days?
The brute's laughter boomed: "I'll do more than desecrate! I'll—"
Crack!
Gu Chen's hand became a raptor's talon, smashing the lout's face into terrazzo. Blood bloomed across fractured marble like some macabre chrysanthemum.
The ensuing shriek could've shattered crystal.
"Your masochistic entreaty..." Gu Chen ground the smouldering cigarette into the whimpering man's palm. "...is hereby gratified."
As the vanquished cur crawled away, Gu Chen pivoted with theatrical flourish: "Your reticule, milady."
Banknotes erupted into airborne confetti. "Plunder and disperse!"
The metamorphosis proved instantaneous – matrons transformed into rapacious harpies; even the "infirm" octogenarian twitched with acquisitive vigour. Within moments, the rabble dissolved like morning mist.
Silhouetted against a solar aureole, Gu Chen's form merged with Ling Meixue's youthful fantasies of chivalric saviours.
"Gratitude", she breathed, the admission escaping like a captive songbird.
Gu Chen's solemn mien lasted precisely three Mississippis before dissolving into mischief: "Shouldn't this scene conclude with 'This damsel vows lifelong—'"
"Degenerate!" Her airborne stiletto found unintended quarry – the already concussed Wang Hu collapsing like a marionette with severed strings.
"Medic!" Ling Meixue's command sliced the air. Her ocular daggers at Gu Chen promised nocturnal retribution.
His wink could've charmed snakes: "Anticipatory rapture."
"..."
Twilight Intrigues at Yuhuatai Villa
The evening draped Yuhuatai Villa in deceptive calm, its tranquillity fractured by unspoken tensions. Gu Chen orchestrated culinary symphonies in the kitchen, copper pans clattering until the rasp of a turning key pierced the domestic cadence. Ling Meixue crossed the threshold with Lin Shiyu, their weary gazes mirroring the corporate storms—economic sanctions clawing at jewellery empires, protesters' chants immortalised in Jiangzhou's evening broadcasts. Reputation, that fragile alabaster of commerce, lay in fragments.
"Dearest," Gu Chen hailed, though Ling MeiXue swept past like winter's first frost, sinking into velvet cushions. Undaunted, he unveiled his gastronomic arsenal: amber-glazed crustaceans dancing with caramelised edges and ribs lacquered in pomegranate-hued perfection. Lin Shiyu's fingers darted like sparrows. "Divinely insufferable!" she proclaimed, grease glistening on parted lips.
"Gluttony becomes no suitor's bride," he chided, swatting air where her wrist had been.
"Who covets nuptial chains?" Her laughter chimed. "I'll feast eternally at your table!"
"Four betrothed await their turn," he countered, eyes glinting with performative arrogance.
Their verbal duel stilled at the chime. The door yielded to Murong Wan'er—military precision etched in her stance, starlight caught in her obsidian irises. "Beloved", she breathed, the endearment hanging like unsheathed steel.
Beyond moon-kissed pines, she proffered a vermilion-lacquered casket. "The council anoints you Tiger Marshal—key to three provinces' arsenals."
"Trinkets for a routed legion?" His chuckle held a winter edge.
The black card gleamed like a raven's wing. "Yang Lao's carte blanche—limitless indulgence."
"Velvet-gloved coercion," he mused, the card vanishing into shadows. The medallion teetered toward oblivion until her grip stayed its fall.
"My new mandate", she continued, "observer and confessor of your Jiangzhou odyssey."
"—Or informant?" His smirk carved truth from evasion.
Her fingers grazed his sleeve—a battlefield ghost's caress. "That night in the trenches..."
"Not while my lawful bride keeps vigil," he parried, though his gaze thawed. "Another moonrise?"
"Fool." Gravel crunched beneath retreating heels, the word a promise and elegy.
"Some Valkyrie from your past?" Lin Shiyu pounced as he re-entered.
"Mere comrade-in-arms," he shrugged, Ling Meixue's silence weaving thicker than spoken accusations. Their unspoken accord thrummed—a swordsmith balancing blade and scabbard, chaos and order locked in eternal dance.
"..."
To be continuous…