“What?” Gu Yancheng raised an eyebrow and asked, looking at Su Mei, who had a look of terror on her face.

“Man, uh, it’s hard to believe that you would come to this kind of auction.” Su Mei said, looking at Gu Yancheng with a stiff expression.

Hearing that, Gu Yancheng was momentarily taken aback.

“Shengyuan Group acquired a piece of land in Ninghai and plans to develop it into a tourist city. Gu Group is the largest investor in the project and today is the kickoff ceremony. There was a meeting upstairs.” Gu Yancheng explained.

In short, the wise and mighty male protagonist was there on serious business. As for the auction, it was merely a side event he happened to pass by.

Su Mei nodded instinctively.

Yes, there seemed to be such a subplot in the novel.

Because Bai Xinyu was mistakenly thought to be the person who had intruded into Gu Yancheng’s room during the Gu Group’s banquet, although she hadn’t been fired from Gu Group yet, her recent time at the company had been quite difficult.

Just when things couldn’t get worse, the female protagonist’s mother was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and admitted to the hospital.

To cover the medical expenses, the female protagonist had no choice but to secretly take on another part-time job.

That’s right, she was working as an event hostess at an auction held by a certain company!

At that time, the male protagonist happened to be attending a project meeting for said company. As he was leaving, he passed by the hotel entrance and saw the female protagonist working her part-time job.

The male protagonist first derisively judged the female protagonist in his mind, then, almost as if by some strange compulsion, dragged her into the main venue of the auction. Ultimately, driven by the same odd impulse, he bid on the most expensive item of the entire auction and threw it at her, all with the intention of humiliating her.

Humiliation?

What kind of humiliation is that?

If it is, then I’d gladly take a hundred more of that kind of humiliation, thank you very much!

Su Mei thought to herself, inwardly complaining.

As for the female protagonist, an independent woman who had entered a major company like Gu Group through her own abilities, ending up taking a part-time job as a hostess— such an unscientific situation, Su Mei no longer felt like complaining about.

After all, to bring the male and female protagonists together, the novel could make anything happen.

However, what Su Mei didn’t expect was that Gu Yancheng actually took the time to explain to her in response to a random, offhand comment she made!

Shouldn’t Gu Yancheng be leaving with a cold, indifferent expression at a time like this? Or even, given that his clothes were touched by the cannon fodder stepmother, should he not be taking them off and tossing them away in disgust?

Gu Yancheng explaining things to Su Mei was entirely because she was a shareholder of Gu Group. As a shareholder, it was only natural for her to be informed about the company’s recent projects and progress.

As for what Su Mei was thinking, those thoughts didn’t exist at all in Gu Yancheng’s mind, so how could they possibly happen?

However, seeing Su Mei listening to his explanation, lost in thought for some reason, with her face shifting from realization to an expression of inward struggle, Gu Yancheng’s eyebrows arched slightly.

What on earth was this woman thinking? Her expressions are so varied.

“Is your foot okay?” Gu Yancheng asked.

“Huh?”

Foot?

Following Gu Yancheng’s gaze, Su Mei suddenly remembered that she had left Gu Group earlier that day in a wheelchair.

“Uh, haha, it’s fine. I just twisted my ankle a bit when I entered the company, but it wasn’t serious. It was Assistant Wang who exaggerated things too much, haha.”

She couldn’t blame the female protagonist for it, especially not in front of the male protagonist, so she could only apologize to Wang Qin.

“Mm.” Gu Yancheng responded, seeming not to intend to say anything more.

Su Mei, thinking that Gu Yancheng would be leaving soon, waited for a long time but didn’t see any sign of him moving.

“You—”

Su Mei was about to remind the male protagonist that his future wife was still waiting for him to accidentally encounter her at the entrance. However, when she looked up, she found that Gu Yancheng still had his previous expressionless face. The only difference was that his gaze was now fixed steadily on her.

The gaze was somewhat……

What’s going on……?

“!”

Oh no, she had been so focused on looking good that she hadn’t considered that a cannon fodder character like her might run into the male protagonist in a place like this.

At the Gu Group’s hotel, the other Su Mei had only added two sleeping pills to Gu Yancheng’s coffee. Who knew, with the male protagonist’s halo, Gu Yancheng might actually had some awareness at that time.

The evening dress she was wearing today was very similar in color and style to the one she had worn last time. With Gu Yancheng staring at her like this, could he be remembering something?

Or maybe he has already discovered her!

In the novel, what were Gu Yancheng’s methods for dealing with his cannon fodder stepmother?

Oh no, her mind was too muddled to remember.

Would he revoke her shares and inheritance? Maybe make her investments fail and leave her bankrupt? And then send her off to some foreign bigwig’s friend for ‘re-education’ or something?

Thinking this way, Su Mei’s face turned pale. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, to the point where her hand, which was holding her limited edition designer purse, began to tremble uncontrollably.

It was only when the person in front of him took a step back that Gu Yancheng noticed the strange expression on Su Mei’s face.

“What’s wrong with you?” Gu Yancheng asked, frowning.

He admitted that he had been a bit distracted earlier, but what was going on with Su Mei?

Her pale face looked somewhat abnormal.

“N-nothing, it’s just that standing here for a while made me feel a bit cold.” Su Mei explained, forcing a smile that was even uglier than crying.

To make Gu Yancheng believe her, she even crossed her arms and rubbed them.

However, come to think of it, it was indeed quite cold standing in this corridor for a long time. If she had known earlier, she would have taken Wu Fei’s advice and brought an extra shawl.

Is it cold?

It did seem so.

Gu Yancheng’s gaze darkened slightly as he stared at Su Mei’s exposed shoulders.

“Are you leaving?” Gu Yancheng asked.

Leaving?

Was the male protagonist asking if she wanted to leave with him?

“I’ll stay.” Su Mei said, waving her hand. “The auction is about to start soon, and I want to go see it.”

So, male protagonist, you go on with your plot, we’re not leaving together.

Su Mei seemed to see Gu Yancheng’s gaze drop slightly.

“Mm, then go ahead.” Gu Yancheng said, then slightly turned to the side, clearing the way for Su Mei.

Su Mei: “……”

T-t-this, was the male protagonist letting her go before him?

She didn’t want to! She can hold on a bit longer, really!

“Uhhhh, thanks.” Su Mei chuckled awkwardly, and ultimately, under the pressure, walked past Gu Yancheng.

She couldn’t help but wonder if, as a cannon fodder character, walking the path the male protagonist cleared for her would somehow shorten her lifespan.

Just when Su Mei thought she had finally escaped after walking past Gu Yancheng, she discovered that Gu Yancheng was walking right behind her. The two of them walked with just half a person’s distance between them.

So, the male protagonist was planning to leave too. Why did he clear the path for her earlier?!

Su Mei, who had been anxious about whether the male protagonist had noticed anything, now walked beside Gu Yancheng with a stiff body, feeling as if her back were about to be drenched in cold sweat.

Several times, Su Mei deliberately slowed her pace, but she noticed that Gu Yancheng also seemed to intentionally slow down, keeping their positions evenly spaced with neither of them ahead or behind.

Fortunately, the corridor wasn’t too long. Once Gu Yancheng entered the elevator to leave, she would head to her own venue, then she’d be free.

Su Mei had been holding onto a glimmer of hope, but in the end, even that last bit of hope was shattered by Gu Yancheng.