Sweetie, don't look at him, kiss me.

The banquet hall fell silent for a moment.

All eyes were on the two of them.

Ji Linzhou looked down at her, his expression unchanged.

He didn't pull his arm away, but he didn't continue what she was saying either; he just looked at her.

Su Tingwan waited for about two or three seconds, and when she saw that he didn't speak, the smile on her lips froze for a moment.

She tightened her grip on his arm, her voice a few decibels lower than before: "Linzhou?"

Ji Linzhou finally spoke.

His voice was neither loud nor soft, as if stating something very simple: "Are you done?"

Su Tingwan's smile froze.

"If all you want is a public statement..."

Ji Linzhou pulled his arm out of her grasp. "Then I'll say it again here."

"Miss Su and I... have never had any relationship whatsoever."

"It didn't exist in the past, it doesn't exist now, and it won't exist in the future."

The banquet hall was so quiet it was as if a mute button had been pressed.

The light from the crystal chandelier fell on everyone's faces; some people's hands, holding wine glasses, froze in mid-air, while others had their mouths open and forgot to close them.

Su Tingwan stood beside him, the color slowly fading from her face, starting from her ears and spreading all the way down to her neck.

She moved her lips, as if she wanted to say something.

But looking at his expression...

There was no hesitation, no room for maneuver, not even a trace of warmth in that expression.

She couldn't utter a single word of the lines she had prepared.

Wearing that champagne-colored dress, standing under the lights, she found that all the words she had prepared, all the plans, all the designs, had shattered into pieces in the face of his few words.

Madam Ji sat in the main seat, her face ashen, her fingers gripping the microphone so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Su Tingwan stood there, maintaining that stiff smile for about three seconds.

Then she blinked, as if she had been reconnected to the power source after a brief power outage.

She raised her hand to brush a stray hair from her temple, the movement fluid and natural, as if the few seconds of blankness had never happened.

"Linzhou, what are you talking about?"

When she laughed, her voice was still sweet, with just the right amount of reproach.

"Today is a special day for Hoshino and Qingqing, don't sabotage it."

As she spoke, she took another half step forward and stood beside him again.

She raised her arm slightly, as if she wanted to take his arm again, or perhaps she was just adjusting her posture.

"I understand what you said before. You don't like me talking too much in public, and I've changed a lot since then."

Her voice was very low, so that only the two of them could hear it.

"But with so many people watching today, you have to give me some face, right?"

Ji Linzhou did not move.

He looked down at her, his eyes devoid of emotion, simply watching her perform quietly.

He spoke only after she finished speaking, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for everyone around to hear clearly.

"Miss Su, I acted in those scenes with you before out of respect for you, and also because I hoped you could understand that yourself."

"I've told you many times, I'm married."

"You know that, don't you?"

"You just don't want to believe it."

"Since you insist on bringing this up in public, then I have no choice but to make things clear in public."

It felt as if some of the air had been sucked out of the banquet hall.

People around them started exchanging glances and whispering among themselves.

Su Tingwan's smile finally crumbled completely.

Her lips drooped little by little, like the bottom piece of a carefully constructed tower of blocks being removed.

You lied to me.

Her voice trembled slightly, her eyes quickly reddened, and her eyelashes trembled a few times.

Tears rolled down my cheeks without warning.

You've been lying to me all along.

"You proposed to me, you said you'd marry me—and now you're saying you're married?"

Who is your wife?

"Bring her out so I can see her."

She raised the back of her hand and hastily wiped away her tears, then looked up at him again.

"If you don't call her out today, I won't believe you."

"You're lying to me."

"You only made up this lie because you don't want to marry me—"

Her voice was already a little hoarse by the end, and the last syllable was drawn out, conveying a sense of dishevelment that showed she no longer cared about maintaining her dignity.

Ji Linzhou looked at her and remained silent for a moment.

His gaze swept over the crowd, past the long table covered with a white tablecloth in the center of the banquet hall, over the rows of floral-decorated pillars, and landed in the corner of the entrance.

The guests in the banquet hall followed his gaze.

Lin Qingmian stood there.

She stood next to a green plant by the door, wearing a light gray knit sweater and dark trousers, her attire completely out of place at the banquet, as if she had accidentally wandered into the wrong place.

She was holding her phone, her knuckles slightly white, as if she was about to leave, but was suddenly fixed in place by a focused gaze.

Ji Linzhou's voice rang out in the quiet banquet hall, every word clear and distinct.

"She's right there."

Su Tingwan followed his gaze and seemed frozen in place.

She stared at the figure at the door for several seconds, then slowly turned her head to look at Ji Linzhou again.

Her lips moved slightly, as if she was desperately trying to piece those fragments back together in her mind.

"she?"

Her voice was so soft it sounded like it was being squeezed out from between her throats.

"You're talking to me... Lin Qingmian?"

She chuckled, a short, dry laugh, as if something was stuck in her throat.

"Lin Zhou, don't you think it's outrageous that you'd make up such a lie just to reject me?"

She took a step forward, her voice rising a few octaves again.

"She's Ji Xingye's ex-girlfriend! She almost became your niece-in-law! How could you—"

She paused, as if she herself had been choked by the possibility.

But Ji Linzhou's expression remained unchanged.

He just stood there, looking at her from a distance, as if waiting for her to finish speaking, waiting for her to finally realize that this was not a joke.

The lights in the banquet hall remained bright, and the light from the crystal chandelier fell on everyone's faces, illuminating everyone's expressions clearly.

Some people forgot to put down their wine glasses, some had their mouths open and forgot to close them, some were whispering to each other, and some were secretly raising their phones.

Su Tingwan's gaze darted back and forth between Ji Linzhou and Lin Qingmian twice before finally settling on Lin Qingmian.

Looking at Lin Qingmian's calm face, a face without panic, evasion, or smugness, the string that had been taut in her heart finally began to crack.

"When did this happen?"

She heard her own voice squeezed out of her throat, hoarser than she had expected.

"When did you two get married?"