Early autumn, late at night.
With the night breeze carrying a hint of cold air, Gu Zhi Xia pulled her jacket tighter around herself, clutched her handbag close to her chest, and quickened her pace.
The night had deepened, and there were barely any cars on the road. She had been waiting for a while yet had been unable to hail a taxi. Suddenly, her phone rang.
The sharp ringing startled Gu Zhi Xia, causing her heart to skip a beat reflexively.
Please... don't let it be him.
She gingerly pulled out her phone. The caller ID read: Lu Jiang Lin.
It's not him.
Gu Zhi Xia breathed a sigh of relief, suppressing a strange sense of disappointment in her heart, and answered the call.
"What's up?"
"Zhi Xia, I still can't believe it... Are you really... going to marry me?" Lu Jiang Lin asked cautiously.
He had liked Gu Zhi Xia since their college days and had been rejected by her before. He never thought that he would actually get to marry her one day.
The image of a tall man, imposing yet eerily intimidating, flashed across Gu Zhi Xia's mind. She clenched her teeth and said, "Yes, I'm going to marry you. I've brought my household registration with me. I'm coming over now to see you. Tomorrow, let's go register our marriage!"
She had to get married as soon as possible; otherwise... her relationship with him would grow increasingly unmanageable.
"Really?" Lu Jiang Lin's spirits lifted, and he quickly stood up from his bed and promptly gave her his address.
As Gu Zhi Xia noted it down, she spotted an approaching taxi and hurriedly waved it down, saying at the same time, "Alright, wait for me. I am coming right over...ah!"
Before she could finish speaking, the wrist holding the phone was suddenly twisted by someone, with a force that was rough and fierce, as if her delicate wrist was being crushed on the spot.
"Gu Zhexia, what are you up to?" From behind her, a deep yet icy voice suddenly rang out.
Gu Zhexia's slender body tensed up in an instant. An uncontrollable look of fear flashed across her pretty face. Stiffly, she turned her head and slowly lifted her gaze.
Fu Wangchuan... It was really him.
"You...Didn’t you go abroad?" Gu Zhexia's voice tensed, and a cold sweat unknowingly broke out on her back.
Because he was not around, she had dared to secretly contact Lu Jianglin and desperately claimed to want to marry him.
Fu Wangchuan leaned slightly forward. He was already tall and imposing, exuding a natural dominance around him. At this moment, he deliberately suppressed his expression, and his pair of finely-crafted, handsome eyebrows were filled with an intimidating murderous aura, as if he wished he could slice the woman in front of him into pieces just with that gaze.
"As soon as I leave, you want to run?" He tightened his grip on Gu Zhexia's fingers. Her delicate skin turned a patchy white from the pinch, and his voice was icy, "Gu Zhexia, you certainly have guts."
Gu Zhexia's heart shrank in fear, feeling both guilty and terrified. Her clear and innocent eyes darted away in a panic, trying to cover up her lies by saying, "I wasn't trying to run."
No sooner had she spoken, than a shout came from the open line on her phone.
From the other end, Lu Jianglin faintly heard strange noises. Worried, he called out loudly, "Zhexia, are you there? What's going on?"
Feeling guilty, Gu Zhexia promptly tried to hang up, but Fu Wangchuan lifted her wrist high, forcing her to awkwardly lift up the arm holding the phone. She had no choice but to tell Lu Jianglin, "I'm alright. I'll talk to you later, please hang up the phone."
She feared that if she let anything slip and Fu Wangchuan heard it, he would harshly deal with her.
However, fate loved to play these kinds of tricks; the more you feared something, the more likely it would happen.
"Why? Zhi Xia, do you regret agreeing to marry me?" Lu Jianglin asked uneasily, "Or, was what you just said about having the Household Register ready to register our marriage with me, just a prank?"
With each word from Lu Jianglin, the man before him grew chillier and fiercer.
It was as if he was freezing Gu Zhi Xia to the bone.
"Gu Zhi Xia!" Fu Wangchuan bellowed furiously, shattering her phone on the roadway with a swift blow. After a loud crash, it broke into pieces.
Gu Zhi Xia's shoulders trembled in fear.
Whenever Fu Wangchuan was angry, he would torment her terribly.
She had upset him last month, and it had taken her two days to get out of bed.
"Fu Wangchuan, you... Ah!"
Before she could finish her sentence, she found herself hoisted in the air. He held her slender waist and roughly slammed her against a roadside lamppost.
