C14 Chapter 14

The family elders had been dreaming about the Gu heir’s wedding for so long that as long as Gu Lijue was willing to get married, they’d greenlight every single one of Mo Chiwei’s charity projects—ten of them, no questions asked!

“How—how could she possibly be the Gu family’s young madam?”

Gu Zongyue desperately wanted to ask it. Wasn’t Gu Lijue doing all this for Mo Chiwei—so much so that he wouldn’t allow even the slightest thing that might insult her?

Bai Ni’an could hardly believe it. Fine—Gu Lijue had held Bai Nuochu. She could’ve written that off as him brushing up against a piece of trash. But making her the young madam? Absolutely not.

“How can you do this? Young Master Jue, you don’t understand how filthy this woman is. She’s engaged. At school she was—she was a paid hookup. She’s even had a kid…” Bai Ni’an was practically hysterical.

“It’s not your place to tell me who she is.” Gu Lijue ignored the brief flash of irritation that hit when Bai Ni’an mentioned the word “engaged.”

As for the claim that she’d had a child? The raw tightness when he’d entered her, and the pitiful smear of red he’d caught on the sheets while tossing her around—he trusted what he’d felt far more than Bai Ni’an’s screaming.

Gu Lijue looked at Bai Ni’an coldly. “What you need to understand, Miss Bai, is who Bai Nuochu is from this moment on.”

From now on, Bai Nuochu was Young Madam Jue.

And with that status, even if Bai Ni’an had ten times the nerve, she still wouldn’t dare smear her name.

Bai Ni’an felt like she was about to pass out.

“I don’t agree.”

The scream in Bai Ni’an’s chest nearly blew the roof off—but this time, the words “I don’t agree” came from a light, quiet voice.

Only after Bai Nuochu fully realized what Gu Lijue had done to her—and what she was now facing—did she have a single, constant wish: to disappear.

If it hadn’t involved her somehow becoming a man’s wife, Bai Nuochu never would’ve spoken up in a moment like this.

“Young Master Jue, I can’t marry you.” Bai Nuochu wanted to shove Gu Lijue away, but their bodies were pressed tightly together. If she pushed him off, she’d end up exposed.

It made her words sound unconvincing, but once Bai Nuochu set her mind on something, she would see it through.

Bai Nuochu was cool-headed and tough. After enduring the humiliation of the Bai family treating her like she was nothing, she built Qinnuo with her own hands—strong enough to bring Bai’s to its knees. And she stayed so composed that, until the very last second, no one realized she was Qinnuo’s chairwoman.

“What happened tonight… you and I both understand…” Bai Nuochu and Gu Lijue both knew it was an accident. She’d lost her virginity and gone bankrupt, but she couldn’t just throw her whole life away for no reason.

But before she could finish, Gu Lijue’s flawless, strikingly handsome face moved in fast. Their noses nearly touched, and his dark eyes were like a bottomless pool, deep enough to swallow a soul.

Bai Nuochu instinctively held her breath. Her quiet words cut off mid-sentence. After what had just happened—his brutal kiss, the way he’d taken everything without leaving her any room—her body had learned a reflex: the moment he got close, she tensed up so hard she forgot how to breathe.

A faint, almost imperceptible flicker of satisfaction crossed Gu Lijue’s face. Her raw, clumsy reaction softened the darkness in his eyes—just a little. But the words he murmured against her ear were cold and merciless:

“Jian Tangye? The name you cried out without thinking while I was holding you. As far as I know, the Jian family’s uncle and nephew have been circling each other for the inheritance for years. If Young Master Jian ends up with only a widow and child left behind—and the uncle and nephew have the Gu family backing them…”

Gu Lijue’s voice was low, his handsome profile close to her ear, like a lover whispering something intimate.

But Bai Nuochu started trembling all over. The heat that had surged through her from the intense exertion vanished in an instant. Gu Lijue was exactly that kind of man—cold, sharp, and ruthless. He looked like he did whatever he pleased and kept everyone at arm’s length, but he knew precisely where to strike at the weak points of every powerful family.

Jian Tangye had already caused his father’s brutal death and driven his mother to a failed suicide attempt.

The Jian family owed him that much.

Bai Nuochu’s eyes trembled violently. What Gu Lijue had just hit was her weak spot—worse than losing all of Qinnuo. It shattered her.