Today marked the beginning of summer, a sudden downpour descended from the sky, seemingly on the verge of flooding the whole city of South Jiang.
Chu Ning was soaked to the bone, her long hair stuck to her pale face. Her makeup was somewhat smudged as well. With trembling lips, she attempted to maintain a polite tone, "I am here to attend Mr. Lu's engagement ceremony. I am the child he sponsors, really. Please can you let me in?"
"Just like this?" The security guard scoffed, his eyes full of disdain. He glanced at her muddy and torn dress and impatiently waved her away. "Mr. Lu is not someone you can fool so easily. I've seen plenty of freeloaders like you before, get lost immediately!"
"Please, I beg you to allow me inside."
Chu Ning felt a sudden onset of dizziness. She had hastily cycled all the way from the school, unaware that she would encounter a heavy rain halfway, which led her to slip and fall. Her invitation and wallet were crushed by a passing vehicle, leaving them unrecognizable...
In her situation, it seemed like the phrase "it never rains but it pours" was quite fitting — she was most definitely the epitome of bad luck.
"Get lost already, don’t mistaking your place! Honestly, I don’t know what you're thinking, you’re clearly dreaming if you think you can leech off someone successful..."
The security guard's patience had reached its maximum, his face turned rough, as if he was about to throw a punch at Chu Ning the next moment.
Chu Ning tightly clutched the damp invitation in her hand, like holding onto a wet lump of clay.
Looking at the large congratulatory sign cycling the words "Congratulations to Mr. Lu Chen and Miss Chen Xueran on their Engagement, a Match Made in Heaven" in front of the hotel...
There was a stinging sensation in her eyes. She raised her hand to wipe them, unsure if it was tears or rain.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark figure. Chu Ning, seeing it as a lifeline, hurriedly ran over to him.
"Secretary Wu, Secretary Wu!"
Upon hearing the call, Wu Sheng turned his head, frowning slightly.
When he saw a bedraggled girl rushing towards him, he got a shock. However, upon seeing her pale complexion and her pure, deep black eyes, he paused for two seconds before finally snapping back to reality.
"Chu Ning?"
"It's me, it's me! Secretary Wu."
"What's this about?" Wu Sheng glanced at Chu Ning with a puzzled look.
Ten years ago, Lu Chen established the WE Charity Fund, helping numerous orphaned children. As of now, there are at least a hundred, but for Chu Ning, Wu Sheng has a deep impression - that girl with dry, yellowish hair and severe malnutrition, who was not afraid of strangers and was always polite with a smile to everyone.
That smile, touched the soul.
"I rushed here from school, I didn't expect it to rain, and my invitation got ruined. The security guard wouldn't let me in... I'm very sorry, Secretary Wu..." Chu Ning lowered her eyes, guiltily said, "Today is Mr. Lu's big day, and I don't want to miss it."
Wu Sheng gently coughed and comforted her, "It's fine, you just come in with me."
Chu Ning's eyes lit up and she quickly nodded, obediently following behind Wu Sheng into the luxurious hotel.
Today was the engagement ceremony of WE corporation's president Lu Chen and Chen Corporation's heiress, Chen Xueran. These two people, each coming from a reputable family, were considered the golden boy and jade girl of Nanjiang City.
On this engagement ceremony, it seemed as if every beautiful blessing about "marriage" and "love" had been said again and again.
Wu Sheng arranged Chu Ning in the furthest position from the center, where there were three tables filled with children supported by Lu Chen over these ten years.
They differed in age, gender, and background, but without exception, they all sweetly called Lu Chen - "Uncle Lu".
Compared with them, Chu Ning seemed out of place as she always referred to Lu Chen as "Mr. Lu".
People who stand out always tend to be disliked and excluded.
"Yo, isn't this Chu Ning? Tsk tsk, what a shame... for such an occasion, she just showed up like this."
"Absolutely, what a disgrace. If it were me, I'd hide away, all grimy and dirty."
"Ugh, doesn't she always like to attract attention? She can't wait for Uncle Lu to notice her. It's disgusting."
These sarcastic and snide comments were nothing new to Chu Ning. She was long used to letting them in one ear and out the other, politely ignoring them entirely.
She sat in her seat, one hand steadying her slightly woozy head, looking at the environment around her. From the moment she entered, the luxurious and splendid engagement scene had taken her aback.
The venue was adorned as beautifully as a dream, like a scene straight out of a fairytale for girls - pink heart-shaped balloons, vibrant roses, resplendent crystal chandeliers, neat towers of champagne, and a well-orchestrated symphony orchestra.
What was even more dazzling was the couple at the center of the stage.
Lu Chen was dressed in a high-end custom black suit. The collar and cuffs of his white shirt were meticulously and crisply folded. His figure perfectly straight, almost statue-like. His handsome face, with perfectly chiseled features and thin lips, always curved into a polite and gentle smile. He shone as if radiating a divine light, making Chu Ning's heart pound.
From the first time she saw Lu Chen 10 years ago, Chu Ning had never seen anyone more handsome than him.
Lu Chen, to Chu Ning, was a god-like figure.
He who had taken her from the orphanage, saved her from the darkness of her blindness.
He had given her life again, brought her the light again. How could she not be grateful, and how could she...not fall in love with him?
But this love...
With the passage of time and her growth into a young woman, little by little, it evolved into a different kind of love.
A deep love that was to be buried in her heart, the kind that cannot be put into words.
"The engagement ceremony begins now... Please welcome Mr. Lu Chen to the stage to give his speech. Let's give him a big hand..."
"Papapa-" A round of applause erupted, thunderous and enthusiastic, pulling Chu Ning back from her reminiscences.
She composed herself, focusing her attention on Lu Chen at the center of the stage, an infatuated yet bitter expression reflected in her eyes.
Her head seemed to hurt a little more. However, compared to her head, her heart seemed to hurt more.
Lu Chen was holding Chen Xueran's hand, a soft smile in his eyes: "I'm really grateful for everyone who attended Xueran and my engagement party. To encounter and fall in love with her, is my fortune..."
Chu Ning thought in her heart, Mr. Lu and Miss Chen are indeed well-matched. The prince and the princess have always been together. You, Chu Ning, what are you? Don't even daydream about being part of their world, it is like a toad wishing to dine on swan meat, not knowing one's place.
Since receiving the invitation, half of her heart had been dead. She knew she shouldn't be entertaining any false hope, but still, it was heartbreaking.
Originally, she didn't want to attend the engagement party. Attending the wedding of the man she loved, moreover, she would have to congratulate them with a smile, how tormenting.
She didn’t have an extra heart like others did, why would she want to bear such a blow?
Despite it all, she was unable to control her impulse and hustled over, albeit disgracefully.
“Chu Ning, Chu Ning, are you a masochist?''
She laughed at herself internally, stole another glance of the doting couple on the stage, grabbed the wine glass in front of her, and downed it in one gulp, like a person severely dehydrated in the desert.
After gulping down the wine, before the people around her could laugh at her crudeness,
they heard a "Thud-" sound, as Chu Ning collapsed flat on the ground like a radish.
"Holy shit, what happened to her?"
"Could she be… dead?"
"Someone, someone! A woman's collapsed…"
There was commotion all around, and everyone hurriedly stood up from their seats, forming a circle around the fallen Chu Ning, faces full of a ghoulish excitement.
Just as Chu Ning was about to lose consciousness, she couldn't help but mumble internally, 'Stop yammering, I wouldn't kick the bucket just like that.'
Even more so, at Lu Chen's wedding.
