A live stream that dramatically transformed a depressed schoolgirl shocked netizens across the count

Gu Qingshang looked at the marriage contract confirmation on the stone table.

Three pages of paper were placed under a dark red cover, with the engagement date, dress style, guest list, and post-wedding address neatly arranged.

The last page has a signature area, next to which is a fountain pen with the cap removed.

She even decided on the exact height of the heels she would wear for her wedding, but no one asked her if she was willing to sign the agreement.

Gu Qingshang picked up the pen.

He Wenzhou, standing outside the door, glanced at the watch face, and his older assistant casually placed the inkpad on the door frame.

"After signing, we got on the bus. The medical team was waiting; Mr. Gu couldn't afford to delay any longer."

The pen tip rests above the paper.

Su Niannian gripped the spatula in reverse, her shoe soles bracing against the threshold.

Bai Weiwei held onto the door latch, while Ye Xingyu gripped the other side of the door frame, the veins on the back of her hand bulging.

Shen Qingci stood to Gu Qingshang's right, the string of black sandalwood beads clinging to her sleeve, her breath caught in her throat.

Chen Lang leaned against the blue brick wall, his wood-chopping axe standing at his feet.

He kept his eyelids half-closed and remained silent.

Gu Qingshang stared at the blank signature field.

"At seventeen, my second uncle arranged for me to have dinner with the eldest son of the Jiang family. At nineteen, my grandmother selected riding clothes for me to meet the heir of the Zhou family. At twenty-one, the board of directors sent me seven sets of documents, including family background, education, and personality, all of which were selected."

She looked at He Wenzhou outside the door.

"Every time they say it's just a meeting, but after the meeting they say that the Gu family's daughter will eventually go down this path."

The firewood in the stove crackled and popped, sparks flying onto the ashes.

The sour soup bounced up and down against the pot lid, and the steam mixed with the spiciness of the Sichuan peppercorns seeped out through the gaps.

Su Niannian glanced at the stove but didn't move an inch.

Gu Qingshang capped the pen.

"I know my surname is Gu. I will go back when my grandfather is sick, I will see the medical team, and I will continue to look for Cheng Shou-chou. I will take on all the responsibilities that my family needs to shoulder."

She pushed the page forward.

"But I don't want to sign this marriage contract today."

A blank signature bar was prominently displayed beside her hand.

He Wenzhou stared intently at her.

"If you don't sign today, when are you planning to?"

Gu Qingshang picked up the leather cover of the garden shears, unfastened the buckle, and fastened it back in the center.

"I don't know. Maybe Cheng Shouzhou won't be able to find it, maybe Grandpa won't live to see me gather all the clues, maybe when I return to the Gu family and sit in the meeting room, I'll still have to bow my head to this piece of paper in the end."

The wind swirled bamboo leaves past the door frame, and puddles dripped from the tips of the leaves onto the stone steps.

Gu Qingshang picked up the pearl-white helmet.

"I didn't block the road; I just wanted to take advantage of Grandpa's last breath to find it for myself."

He Wenzhou pressed down on the edge of the marriage contract, pressing a deep crease into the page.

"What are you looking for? Someone willing to marry? Or are you trying to figure out if you actually want to get married?"

Gu Qingshang looked back at him.

"For the past 23 years, the Gu family has picked out clothes for me, schools for me, and people for me to get to know. I've heard this too many times, but I want to hear it later this time."

He Wenzhou's jaw tightened.

"Old Gu is lying in the emergency room, and you still want to waste his time pursuing these meaningless things?"

Gu Qingshang hugged his helmet tightly.

"It's because Grandpa is still alive that I dare to stay a few more days. As long as he's still lying there, there's still someone in the Gu family willing to listen to me say I don't want to."

"Once he falls, his cronies will come in, the board of directors will swarm around me, and they'll shove whatever chair I sit in and whatever form I sign into their hands. By then, I might not even be able to walk out of there."

She turned her head to look at Cangshan Mountain.

A sliver of sunlight cut through the eaves fell onto the helmet.

"So, let me be willful for a little while longer. I'll go back to be with Grandpa, I'll take over the mess the Gu family is in, and the engagement will remain here."

The live stream chat was filled with comments.

She didn't say she would never get married; she just wanted to keep the choice in her own hands.

[She only dared to fight for these few days because her grandfather was still alive.]

She was even willing to take the blame from the Gu family, just hoping they wouldn't lock up the engagement.

Is it wrong to want to find a path you're willing to take?

He Wenzhou stared at the blank signature field.

"Qingshang, the Gu family won't wait for you forever."

"Know."

"The engagement?"

Gu Qingshang fell silent.

The sour soup boiled even more violently, and the pot lid rattled loudly.

A red bougainvillea leaf fell and landed right on the edge of the marriage contract.

She picked up her pen again and wrote a line in the blank space on the last page.

I agree to return to visit him in the hospital. The engagement will be postponed until Mr. Gu's treatment plan is confirmed.

The signature was written as Gu Qingshang, and the date was added.

"I can only sign here. I will go back to save Grandpa if he wants to. Once his condition stabilizes, I will sit down and listen if you want to talk about marriage."

Gu Qingshang capped the pen.

"But today, I will not sign the marriage certificate."

He Wenzhou took the document and stared at the word "postponed".

Do you think the Gu family will admit it?

"Grandpa is awake; he'll let me finish what I have to say."

"What if he disagrees?"

Gu Qingshang hugged his helmet tightly.

"Then let me hear him say it with my own ears. Don't use my illness to pressure me, and don't put my name on the print. This is the last bit of favor I can ask my grandfather for."

Shen Qingci took a step forward and stood beside her.

The mud from the soles of the shoes left a mark on the bluestone slab.

Several bodyguards outside the door turned their gazes toward her, but she stood straight and didn't back down an inch.

"She agreed to go back and face the Gu family, and let her see her grandfather first."

Bai Weiwei locked the door latch all the way in.

"Send me the hospital address and flight details; she'll go herself. Put the engagement away for now."

Ye Xingyu braced herself against the door frame, her heels planted firmly on the ground.

"Her willingness to go home is a completely different matter from your forcibly taking her away."

Su Niannian raised the spatula and banged it against the bamboo door, making a loud clanging sound.

"If you're here to pick someone up, you should follow the rules. Bringing bodyguards around her is called kidnapping."

He Wenzhou's gaze fell on Gu Qingshang's face.

"Come back with me, I can give you time."

Gu Qingshang looked at the SUV covered in mud outside the door.

"Time isn't something you gave me. It's because Grandpa is still alive that I dare to fight for these few more days."

"I will go back to see him and hear him tell me in person what the Gu family needs me to do."

"But today I'm only visiting you in the hospital, not signing any marriage agreement."

He Wenzhou looked at the last page of the document.

The ink on the four characters "engagement postponed" was not yet dry.

He handed the confirmation back to his assistant.

"Qingshang, Old Gu can't take this kind of nonsense from you. I've followed you all the way from Shanghai to Dali, I don't have time to discuss freedom with you."

Gu Qingshang looked up at him.

"My going back has nothing to do with marrying you."

The air outside the courtyard gate became still.

He Wenzhou raised his hand to straighten his tie clip, his face darkening.

"You're currently affected by Mr. Gu's illness, and your mind isn't clear."

He gestured with his chin toward the bodyguard behind him.

"Please get in the car, Miss Gu."

Four bodyguards stepped onto the stone steps, their leather shoes hitting the stone slabs.

Bai Weiwei pressed down on the door latch, causing the bamboo door to bend inwards into the courtyard, and the soaked bamboo leaves fell down in a rustling sound.

Su Niannian held the spatula horizontally.

"She said she'd go back, but she didn't say she'd go with you!"

The veins on the back of Ye Xingyu's hand were prominent.

"Don't touch her."

Shen Qingci took another half step forward, half of her body blocking Gu Qingshang's path, the sandalwood beads pressed against her wrist bone.

"They forcibly took them away without allowing them to pick them up."

Gu Qingshang put down his helmet, gathered his long hair with both hands, and tied it behind his head with a rubber band.

"He Wenzhou, it's my own business if I go back with you. Since you had someone attack me today, this engagement can't go through."

The bodyguard at the front gripped the bamboo door with his five fingers and pulled his shoulder back.

The latch scraped against the wooden groove, making a harsh, screeching sound.

Chen Lang raised the axe handle and slammed it onto the bluestone steps, making a dull thud.

The four bodyguards paused and turned to look at them.

Chen Lang carried his wood-chopping axe down the stone steps.

When he reached the brick wall, he casually leaned the axe against the corner of the wall, blade facing inward.

He walked slowly to the bamboo gate with his hands empty.

The black tactical vest clung to his shoulders and back, with a few wood shavings still stuck to the fabric.

Beneath the wispy hair, those obsidian-black eyes held little warmth.

He stepped past Bai Weiwei and the others, standing at the very front.

"Boss Gu is willing to go back to see her grandfather and talk to her family. She just wants to indulge herself for a few more days while the old man can still support her."

Chen Lang rotated his wrist, and his knuckles cracked twice.

The bodyguard at the front stepped forward, raised his arm, and blocked the way.

Chen Lang's gaze fell on that arm, and the corner of his mouth twitched. The light-colored beauty mark on his right cheek rose along with his brow bone, giving him a somewhat roguish and unruly air.

"She hasn't agreed to give it to you these past few days."

He stepped sideways, his high-top Doc Martens boots cutting into the cracks in the stone slabs, directly blocking the narrow passage outside the bamboo gate that was only wide enough for one person to pass through.

"So, if you want her to get in the car, ask me first if I agree."

Chen Lang looked up, his gaze passing over the bodyguard and landing on He Wenzhou's face.

The live stream chat was flooded with comments.

Holy crap! Lang Ge's imposing presence is enough to make the villain sweat buckets, bro!

[That's hard to say. I just wish you can keep your hairstyle while you're getting beaten up later.]

[Four against five? Boss He's math isn't very good, is it? I wonder if our Brother Lang could single-handedly take on an entire platoon?]

I almost cried when Shen Qingci stood in front of me; she really healed me!

Hey security guard up ahead, take my advice. He can chop wood with that axe without even breaking a sweat. Is your arm as hard as wood?

He Wenzhou frowned as he looked at Chen Lang, who was blocking the doorway.

"This is a private matter between the Gu and He families, and it's none of the business of outsiders."

"Yeah?"

Chen Lang put his hands in his work pants pockets and leaned lazily against the door frame.

"But she's standing in the Bai family's courtyard now, drinking Bai family tea. As a specially hired long-term worker for the Bai family, isn't it reasonable and legal for me to protect the guest in the courtyard?"

The bodyguard turned to look at He Wenzhou, waiting for his order.

He Wenzhou's face darkened.

"Pull him away."

Upon hearing the sound, the bodyguard at the front reached out and grabbed Chen Lang's shoulder.

Chen Lang didn't take his hand out of his pocket; he simply turned his head to avoid it.

The Martin boot slid quickly across the ground, and the shoulder slammed forward, hitting the bodyguard in the chest.

A muffled thud.

The 1.9-meter-tall strong man was forced back three steps by this seemingly casual bump, his back hitting the hood of the SUV, causing the vehicle to shake.

Chen Lang patted his shoulder, a signature nonchalant smile playing on his lips.

"Boss He, forced melons are not sweet, and people who are forced to pull each other are prone to fractures."