In March, the city of Qingcheng was blanketed with floating willow catkins. Overnight, the entire city was draped in these ethereal white wisps.
At the Lanxi Hotel, Gu Xicheng stepped through the entrance, his shoulders dusted with the delicate white fluff. When his gaze landed on the face of the person waiting inside the reserved room, his sharp eyes darkened slightly.
"You?"
"Mr. Gu." Xiang Ning took a quiet breath, her eyes softening as they settled on a stray willow catkin clinging to his shoulder. Unconsciously, a gentle smile curved her lips.
Yet, to Gu Xicheng, that smile reeked of sycophancy. A flicker of disdain flashed in his eyes, and his brow furrowed. "What now? Wasn’t months of pestering enough? You even tracked me down here—I’m starting to question your motives."
With a glance at his assistant, he signaled for action. The assistant stepped forward, flipping open the documents in front of Xiang Ning and presenting them to Gu Xicheng.
The records clearly stated that this woman was the only viable donor match for Jiang Jingxuan. In other words, she alone could save the life of the woman he loved.
Gu Xicheng closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, his voice was icy. "Name your price."
Xiang Ning studied him calmly, her faint smile unwavering. "Does that mean I can ask for anything?"
Gu Xicheng didn’t respond, his silence bordering on contempt.
After a pause, when it became clear he wouldn’t argue, she spoke again, her voice soft but resolute. "I want you to marry me."
Her words detonated like dynamite, igniting the tension in the room.
Gu Xicheng’s dark eyes turned glacial, the warmth in them freezing over. The woman before him was clad in plain black, her frame frail, her complexion sallow.
If not for the "physician" listed in her occupation, she could easily pass for a refugee. And this woman—this *nobody*—dared demand he marry her?
Gu Xicheng let out a cold laugh. "I knew someone like you would never be satisfied. Fine, ten million!"
Xiang Ning remained silent.
"Fifty million—enough to last you half a lifetime."
"Still not enough? Eighty million!"
Gu Xicheng kept raising the stakes, but Xiang Ning repeated the same words.
"Marry me..."
Her stubbornness ignited his fury.
In a flash, he stood up, strode past the coffee table, and seized her shoulders with a vice-like grip, his teeth clenched in warning. "Even the greediest know when to stop! I’ll only ever marry Jingxuan—who the hell do you think you are?"
His anger made his grip brutal, as if he wanted to wrench her shoulders from their sockets.
Xiang Ning bit back the pain, her voice defiant. "You promised you’d marry me!"
Gu Xicheng’s fingers stilled. "Don’t make up lies. When have I ever made promises to a woman like you?"
As he spoke, his gaze raked over her, his disgust undisguised.
No matter how hard Xiang Ning tried to stay strong, her smile slowly faded, her eyes burning with unshed tears. Yet the determination in her gaze never wavered.
Suddenly, Gu Xicheng found the whole exchange pointless and released her.
"If that’s how it is, there’s nothing left to say. I refuse to believe you’re the only match in all of Qingcheng!"
The moment he stood up, the phone rang—it was the hospital calling.
Gu Xicheng answered swiftly, accidentally hitting the speakerphone in his haste. The nurse on the other end screamed in panic, "Sir, it's bad! The hospital just issued a critical condition notice for Miss Jiang Jingxuan!"
No time to waste! Gu Xicheng hurled his phone to the ground, then turned and roughly seized Xiang Ning by the throat.
"One last time—what do you want?" His voice was a low growl, eyes burning with desperation. "Change your demand now, and there might still be time!"
Xiang Ning met his gaze calmly, a fleeting trace of something like longing passing through her eyes. After a brief pause, she clenched her jaw and spat out what she believed to be the cruelest words:
"Take me to get married right now. Otherwise, Jiang Jingxuan won't make it."
