The cool, smooth, and soft touch made Pei Jingyan’s heart tremble intensely. He almost instinctively wanted to let go, but his rational mind stopped him.

His grip was neither too tight nor too loose, and he locked eyes with Su Qingran, who had her path blocked.

He persisted, “Miss Su, will you marry me?”

This time, Su Qingran really heard him.

The absurdity of the question echoed in her ears, causing a hint of rationality to return to her mind.

She instinctively asked, “Why?”

Pei Jingyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Many thoughts had crossed his mind countless times before, but at this moment, he found himself unable to speak them aloud.

What Su Qingran needed now wasn’t love, but reassurance.

So he said, “Because the venue is already set up; it shouldn’t go to waste.”

Su Qingran stopped crying and tilted her head slightly, as if pondering the meaning of Pei Jingyan’s words.

She then turned her head and took in the scene.

In those few seconds, which seemed to stretch endlessly, Pei Jingyan, though much taller than Su Qingran, felt like a child waiting for fate’s favor.

Perhaps, at this moment, time rewound to many years ago, when he had stood humbly at the window of the Jiang family attic, overlooking her.

The boiling blood in his veins began to cool bit by bit due to Su Qingran’s silence. Pei Jingyan comforted himself—it’s alright, he still had a chance. The situation now was already better than it had ever been in the past.

His hand on Su Qingran’s arm was brushed aside, but in the next moment, her soft hand directly grabbed his, which now felt suddenly empty.

Su Qingran pulled him toward the banquet hall.

At the entrance, she seemed to suddenly realize something, lifting her head to seriously ask him, “You won’t back out of the engagement too, will you?”

Pei Jingyan looked into Su Qingran’s reddened eyes and felt a sharp stab in his heart, so painful it made him momentarily forget to breathe.

He said, “I won’t.”

Heaven knows how long he had waited for this day.

Afraid that Su Qingran wouldn’t believe him, he gripped her hand tightly and repeated, “I won’t back out of the engagement.”

Only then did Su Qingran seem satisfied. “Alright, I don’t want to get married, but I do want to be engaged. Let’s announce now that the groom has changed!”

With that, she pulled Pei Jingyan and headed straight inside.

After a few steps, Pei Jingyan took control, walking half a step ahead of her and leading her to the stage.

Su Zhen and Lu Ruolan were completely dazed by this turn of events and hurried over. “Qingran, you and President Pei—”

Su Qingran said, “The engagement party continues, with a different groom.”

The tear streaks on her cheeks had dried, and if not for her slightly swollen eyelids and the redness around her eyes, no one would have known she had been crying.

“Mr. Su, Mrs. Su, I’ll explain everything later,” Pei Jingyan said to Su Zhen and Lu Ruolan.

With that, he held Su Qingran’s hand and walked onto the stage.

He picked up the microphone. “Thank you all for attending the engagement party for Miss Su Qingran and me.”

The entire room was stunned.

Many of the guests weren’t necessarily acquainted with Pei Jingyan, but they certainly weren’t unfamiliar with him.

Born into both the Pei and Jiang families, he was originally raised with a silver spoon. But after his father passed away early, and Jiang Ruo remarried, his status became rather awkward.

However, regardless of that, both the Pei and Jiang families stood behind him.

Most people assumed that after graduating, he would secure his position in the companies founded by his parents, but instead, he chose not to inherit anything. He started his own company specializing in applying AI technology to medical devices.

With the rapid development and widespread application of AI in recent years, Pei Jingyan’s company had expanded significantly.

The company went public three years after its founding, and now, with several technology patents and top-tier research, it had become a global leader in its field.

Yet, Pei Jingyan wasn’t fond of superficial socializing, so the only people who interacted with him were his business partners.

His name might be widely recognized, but most people’s impression of him came from the dry, four-character phrase in the financial news: “a prodigious talent.”

And now, this man, the half-brother of the groom who had just fled, was about to get engaged to Su Qingran.

At the engagement party, the groom was being switched on the spot?!

“The situation here is a bit chaotic. Please bear with us while we reset everything, and the engagement party will continue,” Pei Jingyan said before leading Su Qingran back down from the stage.