The cold rain began to knock on the car windows, winding on the dark gray glass, blurring the luminous but particularly indifferent urban night scene outside the window. Lin Wei leaned in the back seat, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the smooth screen of her mobile phone. The last message on the screen was like a poisoned needle, which made her fingertips numb: [Wei, the bank's last ultance, you must see the money before three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise...] The cruel reality omitted later, she knows better than anyone else - the "Lin's Textile", which her father has exhausted all his life's efforts and carries the memory of the family for generations, will be completely reduced to a cold number on the list of auction houses.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to suppress the bitterness in her throat. The air was filled with the smell of expensive leather and car aromatherapy, which should have been relaxing, but at this moment it only made her feel a kind of suffocating oppression. This Rolls-Royce Phantom, which came to pick her up, is the most insignificant footnote of the man's huge wealth empire, and it is also a symbol of the unknown fate cage that she is about to step into.
The driver was as silent as a sculpture, and drove the car smoothly into the top CBD of the city center, parked in front of a skyscraper. The huge "Gu's Group" LOGO exudes a cold metallic luster in the rain, just like its owner's reputation - cold, efficient and unquestionable.
"Miss Lin, the president is waiting for you on the top floor." The driver opened a huge black umbrella and opened the car door respectfully.
The high heels stepped on the bright marble floor, making a crisp and lonely echo. In the amazingly empty lobby, the front desk's well-trained smile is uncontrollable curiosity and scrutiny. Lin Wei straightened her back, ignored those eyes, and walked to the exclusive elevator like a green bamboo that was still stubbornly standing in the cold wind. The mirror elevator door reflected her figure: a well-cut beige professional skirt, her long hair was meticulously tied behind her head, revealing her clean forehead and slightly pale face. Only she herself knew that under the seemingly calm appearance, her heart was beating wildly because of the coming storm.
The top floor. The elevator door slid open silently. The vision is suddenly open, occupying the huge space of the whole floor, which is a perfect combination of minimalism and top luxury. The cold metal lines, the gray rain curtain outside the huge floor-to-ceiling window and the panoramic view of the whole city, like stepping on the clouds, but you can't feel the slightest temperature.
A man in a high-end custom-made suit stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with his back to her. With a straight figure and broad shoulders, just standing there exudes a strong aura that controls everything and the coldness that rejects people for thousands of miles. He seems to blend in with the gloomy sky outside the window, becoming the most core and most intimidating existence in this cold space.
"Mr. Gu." Lin Wei opened her mouth with a clear and steady voice, with professional restraint. This is her last weapon - stay calm.
The man turned around slowly.
Time seemed to stagnate for a moment. Gu Heng. The name itself represents power, wealth and... ruthless iron fist. At this moment, this face, which has been magnified countless times in financial magazines and gossip weekly, is truly presented in front of Lin Wei. The carved facial features are perfect and almost distorted. Under the deep eye sockets are a pair of cold pool-like eyes. There is no temperature, only a bottomless examination. His thin lips pressed tightly, forming a cold and hard line, and a cold breath lingered around him.
He spread his long legs and approached silently. The expensive Italian handmade leather shoes stepped on the thick carpet without making any sound, but brought an invisible and suffocating sense of oppression. He walked to the wide desk and did not sit down. He just looked at her condescendingly. The eyes were as sharp as a scalpel, as if they could easily cut off her carefully maintained calm and look directly at her inner embarrasss and struggle.
"Lin Wei." His voice was low, with a metallic texture, without any ups and downs, directly cutting into the core. "Your father's Lin's Textile owes Gu's bank a debt that you can't imagine, and he personally signed a high-risk joint guarantee." He stated the facts, like reading a cold financial statement, without any emotion. 3:00 p.m. tomorrow is the deadline.
Lin Wei's heart suddenly shrank. Of course, she knew, but when he said it himself, the sense of despair was a little heavier. She forced herself to meet his calm eyes: "Mr. Gu, I ask..."
"Request for grace? Or reduction?" Gu Heng interrupted her, and the corners of his mouth evoked a faint and cold arc. It was not a smile, but a mockery of naive ideas. Banks have bank rules. The debt must be paid off.
Lin Wei's nails were deeply pinched into the palm of her hand, reminding herself to stay awake with pain. She can't break down. Her father is still in the hospital, and Lin is her father's only thought. I know the rules. But Lin's still has value, its brand, its customer resources..."
"In today's market environment, it is worthless." Gu Heng's judgment was cold and direct, shattering her last illusion. The only thing waiting for it is bankruptcy liquidation.
The cold sense of despair grabbed Lin Wei in an instant, almost suffocating her. Is there really... no hope? Her straight shoulders trembled slightly imperceptibly.
Just when she thought she was going to be completely swallowed up by this despair, Gu Heng's bottomless eyes firmly locked her. He slowly opened his mouth, and every word he spit out was like an ice drop hitting the ground:
"But, I have a proposal."
Lin Wei raised her eyes suddenly, and her heart almost stopped beating. There is no pity or warmth in those eyes, only a hunter's precision and... evaluation like locking the prey.
Gu Heng went around the wide desk and walked to her. The distance was so close that she could feel the cold cedar smell on his body, with absolute control. He leaned slightly, and his eyes fell on her face as if it were the essence, looking at every inch of her subtle change in expression.
"A proposal that can solve all your difficulties." His voice was deep and clear, which undoubtedly penetrated the sound of rain and Lin Wei's last psychological defense line, "A transaction that only works for you."
He paused, and in the depths of the cold pool-like eyes, there seemed to be a trace of extremely complex and difficult emotions, which was so fast that people thought it was an illusion.
Then, he announced clearly and word by word:
"**Marry me. **"
"I need a wife."
"And you, Lin Wei, I need you to be this 'Mrs. Gu'."
Time seems to have been paused. The sound of rain outside the window and the hustle and bustle of the city instantly pulled away from Lin Wei's world. Her mind was blank, and she could only look at the face in front of her, which was close at hand, flawless but cold as frost. The heart beat wildly in the chest, almost breaking the ribs.
Marry him? Be Mrs. Gu? A name that she has only seen in financial headlines and gossip and is out of reach? A business king famous for his ruthlessness?
What kind of proposal is this? This is simply a fairy tale! Is it humiliation? Or... a trap that she can't understand or refuse at all?
"You..." Lin Wei's voice was so dry that she could hardly make complete syllables. "What did you say?"
Gu Heng straightened up and regained his glaring posture, as if the shocking words just now were just talking about the weather. He picked up a beautifully prepared and framed document from the table and pushed it to Lin Wei casually.
The cover of the document is a few clear and cold gold-plated characters:
**Marriage Contract Agreement**
"Don't be in a hurry to answer." His tone was indifferent, as if he was talking about an irrelevant business. "You have ten minutes. After watching it, decide whether to jump into this... 'fire pit'.
He turned around and walked back to the floor-to-ceiling window, leaving the agreement representing an unknown fate and the repressed and stormy sky outside the window to Lin Wei, who was in the center of great shock and storm.
The cold cover of the agreement is chilling. Lin Wei's fingers trembled and hovered over the file. She knew that turning it over might turn over the most unpredictable and costly page of her life.
Outside the window, a miserable white lightning tore the gloomy canopy, followed by a rolling thunder, as if it was knocking a heavy drum for the prelude to this absurd transaction.