Chapter 173: Like Him?

Zhu Yuan ran to Song Ci's side and placed the veil on Song Ci.

Hearing her panting, Song Ci thought she had run too fast out of anxiety, "I told you there was no rush, yet you still ran so fast."

Zhu Yuan hummed in response and continued to pant.

Her heartbeat remained unsettled for a long time; looking at the shawl in her hand, she hesitated for a moment, then unfolded it and draped it over her shoulders.

Song Ci took a glance, "Why are you wearing a shawl?"

Zhu Yuan pulled the shawl around herself and said, "I'm cold. Can we enter the venue soon?"

"Two more minutes," the usher replied to Zhu Yuan.

Inside the venue, the bride had not yet entered, and Father Yuan glanced at Yuan Fengye's side, saying in a deep voice, "Where is your best man?"

Yuan Fengye, wearing a black suit, felt bitter inside, "Don't ask, there is no best man."

"You were the one who wanted to get married. With so many guests here today, including people from the Sheng Family, are you trying to kill me with anger by not even having a best man? Don't you know it's unlucky not to have a pair?"

Father Yuan was so angry he wanted to hit him.

Was he doing this on purpose to lose face for the old Yuan Family?

Suddenly, a cold voice came from behind, "The best man is here."

The moment Sheng Yu stood beside Yuan Fengye, the surroundings went quiet.

Father Yuan was stunned.

Sheng Hongyao narrowed his eyes.

Ning Huaiqing frowned slightly.

Qi Jing suddenly realized.

Yuan Fengye was shocked and begged for mercy, "Yu Ge, don't joke around."

The man pinned the best man's boutonniere onto his suit jacket without changing his expression, saying with great seriousness, "I was the one who told you to remove the best man. I didn't know it would be unlucky before; I will take responsibility for my actions."

Yuan Fengye cursed silently: I don't believe a word of it!

A conspiracy!

This is definitely a conspiracy!

He wouldn't believe even if he died that Sheng Yu would be his best man just because it was unlucky.

It seems he is here for Zhu Yuan!

Yu Ge, oh Yu Ge, how can you be so repressed?

With the switching of music and lights, everyone knew it was time for the bride to enter.

The wedding venue was decorated to be lush and green; Yuan Fengye told everyone he met that Song Ci liked green.

Since he couldn't wear a green suit to disgust Song Ci, he had to put effort into other areas; this carpet of green grass under their feet was prepared specifically for Song Ci.

At first glance at Sheng Yu standing beside Yuan Fengye, Zhu Yuan felt dazed; she knew what that position meant.

It wasn't that she was narcissistic, but she just knew that Sheng Yu was here for her.

"Why are you more nervous than me?" Song Ci asked in a low voice.

"I'm not, it's not like I'm the one getting married." Zhu Yuan's heartbeat was so fast that her steps felt light; meeting Sheng Yu's deep, dark eyes through the rising mist, her palms began to sweat.

She hadn't been nervous originally, but Song Ci's words made her nervous.

On the contrary, Song Ci was indeed, as she had said, just going through the motions.

It was a loveless marriage from the start; she had threatened Yuan Fengye to expose his scandalous photos, but Yuan Fengye had turned the tables on her, demanding she marry him to use the cage of marriage to take revenge on her.

Yuan Fengye had even specially arranged three tables for women he had been with in the past, specifically to disgust Song Ci.

Amidst the cheering of the guests, Yuan Fengye lowered his head and kissed Song Ci on the lips.

His thin lips pressed against her ear, his voice playful and low: "Others say marriage is the grave of love; we have no love, so there will be no grave, only the crematorium I have prepared for you."

Song Ci curled her lips, "It's hard to say whose crematorium it will be."

"Don't think that just because you have Zhu Yuan backing you, I can't do anything to you."

"Then you really can't do anything, since your brother likes my sister." Song Ci's fingers brushed over Yuan Fengye's collar, "thoughtfully" straightening it.

Watching his face turn cold in an instant, Song Ci softly reminded him: "Why aren't you smiling? Are you naturally incapable of smiling?"

After the ceremony ended, Zhu Yuan and Sheng Yu took their seats at a table with Qi Jing and Ning Huaiqing.

The two sat opposite each other.

Zhu Yuan glanced at Ning Huaiqing sitting beside Sheng Yu and silently withdrew her gaze; they were friends and had often sat like this before.

At this moment, a cold voice came, "I'll just sit here."

Sheng Yu coldly raised his eyes and swept a glance at the late-arriving Pei Ling.

The Pei Family was one of the Kyoto Five Great Families, ranking after the Sheng Family; the Yuan Family's happy event naturally invited people from the Pei Family. He had thought only Pei Shaoshen would attend, but he hadn't expected Pei Ling to come as well.

One had to know that Pei Ling never liked to show his face in such crowded occasions.

The chair beside her was pulled out, and the man sat down; a faint, cool fragrance drifted over. Zhu Yuan took a casual look and saw Pei Ling rolling up his cuffs, revealing those familiar cufflinks.

In an instant, Zhu Yuan sensed a cold gaze from across the table staring at her, as if it wanted to freeze a hole through her.

She began to eat in a flustered panic.

"I heard you two are back together?" Pei Ling asked out of the blue.

Zhu Yuan wanted to pretend she hadn't heard, but Pei Ling stared straight at her, "Zhu Yuan, are you playing games with me?"

"What?"

Pei Ling sneered, "Nothing, just keep eating."

"Does Second Master Pei not have any other cufflinks? The ones I gave you are too cheap and really not fit for such an elegant occasion." Zhu Yuan kindly reminded him to put them away and not be so flashy.

Pei Ling sneered, "This is a gift I received; I'll wear it if I want to, I'm happy to. What, do you want it back?"

Zhu Yuan didn't know why, but she suddenly remembered hearing Pei Shaoshen say at the Pei Family Bank on the second day of the Lunar New Year about the dog cage that had locked Pei Ling up for three years, and how Sheng Yu had cryptically asked her if she knew how Pei Ling had grown up.

Could it be that this was the first time Pei Ling had ever received a gift from someone?

She suddenly didn't dare to continue speaking.

But the gaze from across the table was so oppressive that Zhu Yuan could barely eat anymore; she found an excuse to go to the restroom and hurried away from her seat.

Qi Jing quietly observed Sheng Yu's expression and said in a low voice, "Look at how scared you've made her."

"What did I scare her with?" Sheng Yu said, displeased.

"That night was indeed your fault; you said such harsh things. You should be coaxing her properly now, not getting jealous for no reason. What could she possibly have with Pei Ling?"

"He dares?"

Qi Jing spoke earnestly, "I see her as a slow-to-warm-up girl who must be very serious about her feelings. The fact that she can trust you shows she has already let go of her prejudices, started to open her heart to you, and perhaps even likes you. Yet, after you said those things that day, how could she not feel wronged? And now you're still making her angry by getting jealous over Pei Ling's provocations."

Open her heart.

Likes.

Sheng Yu's fingertips felt as if they had been electrocuted; his entire arm, and even his whole body, went numb.

Whatever else Qi Jing said, he was no longer really listening.

He had always thought Zhu Yuan felt wronged because he hadn't agreed to help the Song Family or deal with Yuan Fengye.

That night, when she told him not to interfere in the Song Family's affairs or the wedding of Yuan Fengye and Song Ci, he had also assumed she was just acting out of spite.

When he apologized in the dressing room just now and she fled in a panic, he had thought she wasn't accepting it, but it turned out she might have been shy.

If she really liked him.

A single "I'm sorry" was far from enough!

Not nearly enough!

"Of course, these are just my analyses, but I think it's very likely..."

Before Qi Jing could finish his sentence, he heard the sound of a glass shattering, and Sheng Yu stood up and strode out of the venue.