He listened to that voice.
Finally, his invisible gaze passed over the crowd and landed on that woman's face.
She was dressed in a white formal suit, respectable and imposing.
She just said calmly, "Gu Zhaoye, I wonder if you're tired of living."
Then, before anyone could react,
the middle-aged woman beside her had already moved forward with her words, swiftly twisting Gu Zhaoye's arms behind his back with incredible speed!
In the instant before Gu Zhaoye could even process what was happening, he was already subdued with lightning speed, violently dragged back onto the stage, and forced down hard next to Fang Yining!
Gu Zhaoye let out a yelp! His head was forced down!
This sudden turn of events shocked everyone once again!
The crowd watched the suddenly appearing middle-aged woman with horror!
Good heavens, isn't that the driver from earlier??? So she's also a bodyguard?
How is she so skilled? Before anyone could even see clearly, she had already subdued Gu Zhaoye!
In an instant, Gu Zhaoping firmly took control of the situation.
Right then, she nodded to Fang Yining and said, "My younger brother is being immature. I apologize to you on his behalf."
Fang Yining quickly said, "It's fine. I expected this all along."
Everyone was stunned again. What kind of conversation was this?
What did she mean by 'expected this all along'? Did she know all along that Gu Zhaoye would leave with someone at the engagement party, making her a complete laughingstock??
Huh?? Can someone explain?
Then, everyone watched as Fang Yining—gentle, amiable, highly educated, and always smiling at everyone—kicked aside the long hem of her dress and walked unimpeded to stand before Gu Zhaoye.
She raised her hand and slapped his firmly restrained face with full force.
Smack!
An extremely crisp sound.
The last time Gu Zhaoye was slapped this loudly was by Liang Zhiwei on the snow-capped mountain.
He was dealt a humiliating blow by a woman who had always adored him.
Gu Zhaoye was utterly dazed.
The entire hall fell silent.
Fang Yining swept her gaze around the room, looking at the Gu family members, then at the dumbfounded guests.
Her eyes passed over the stunned media personnel, finally landing on her own stunned parents.
In her heart, there was no sense of grievance, victimhood, compromise, or any other painful emotion.
All she felt now was excitement, and the thrill of completing this major event and reclaiming a new life.
Fang Yining lifted her chin. The elaborate, seemingly casual makeup and styling now made people realize that it didn't quite match Gu Zhaoye's attire; she was too eye-catching.
She scanned the room once more, then looked back and met her mother's gaze, pointing at Gu Zhaoye.
"The one who runs away is the joke, not me."
"Even if he turns his back and leaves a thousand, ten thousand times, leaving me waiting for him time and again, the one who loses face is him—this shameless, faithless, bottomless, vile, and malicious thing."
Under her mother's suddenly revealed, trembling, and disbelieving gaze, Fang Yining continued, "Mom, Dad, do you believe that whether it's him or me who runs away today, I would still end up being the joke? Can you understand that?"
Fang Yining's mother was speechless, just listening as Fang Yining spoke incessantly: "If he cheats, I'm the one who's humiliated, for lacking charm; if I cheat, I'm still the one who's humiliated, for having no principles. If he's a playboy, he's dashing and a prodigal son returned; if I'm promiscuous, I'm a loose woman who doesn't know what's good for her. If he's cheated on, countless people will pity him, want to comfort him!"
"What gives him the right!"
The old master stood up in shock, watching Fang Yining speak louder and louder.
"If he causes such a huge scandal and I still get engaged to him, plenty of people will call me a lovesick fool, say I deserve it, that any future suffering is my own fault. But if I caused such a scandal and he was still willing to get engaged to me, he'd be praised for standing by me, for being a devoted, good man, you know!"
"Since I was little, you've told me to be obedient, to learn all sorts of things, to get a high education. I thought you loved me, until the first time you said studying medicine was too busy, too tiring, bad for my health, not conducive to future pregnancy."
"That's when I realized you've been raising me to be someone else's daughter-in-law all along."
Fang Yining's face, always gentle, now looked stubborn and mocking, intimidating.
Her parents stared at her, trembling, as if not comprehending, yet trying to understand, but mostly afraid of her sudden outburst, of her saying things they never imagined she would say.
"Well, it doesn't matter. It's fine if you didn't know before. But now, every single one of you must know."
She spoke word by word.
"I don't need this grand engagement to be envied by others. I am worthy of envy myself."
She looked down at her own multi-layered, cake-like dress, curling her lips into a cold smile. "Did I put on this dress to make myself more ornamental, or to make it harder for me to run away?"
All the interactions since meeting Gu Zhaoping, all the anger recalled over these days.
All the unfairness, confusion, and indignation from growing up.
At this moment, they condensed into her final question.
She shouted with astonishing fury.
No one knew why she was so angry.
Why couldn't she tolerate it at all?
Why choose to erupt at this moment?
Right at that instant.
The space around them shook violently!
A severe sense of fragmentation instantly gripped the surrounding space. Gu Zhaoping, who had just been quietly watching Fang Yining finish her speech, suddenly realized everything around her seemed to have frozen.
The flickering camera flashes halted in a single moment, along with the media's shocked expressions, no longer changing;
Fang Yining's horrified parents reached out as if to grab her, while Fang Yining, in her long dress, stood facing them in a combative stance, her movement also stopped;
Gu Zhaoye, all the Gu family members, every action ceased.
The only ones who seemed able to move were herself and Ruan Nian, and Ruan Nian appeared dazed, sitting slumped on the floor, trembling.
Gu Zhaoping turned her gaze. At that moment, she finally heard again that voice she had only heard once before:
"Host, long time no see."
Gu Zhaoping turned slightly to the side, as if looking at a seemingly non-existent figure in the void.
It was the voice from when she first arrived in this world, the one that explained "she had become the sister of a domineering CEO from a wealthy family" and asked her if she "knew what she was supposed to do."
She looked at the disheartened Ruan Nian on the floor and said, "That is your host."
"No," the system chuckled. "You are."
