Lin Yue nodded and followed him inside.
Inside, it was colder than outside the building. She rubbed her arms as she was led without pause into a private room where a table had already been prepared. The documents were arranged in a clean stack at the center as though they had been waiting for her long before she arrived.
When she stepped closer and sat down, she became aware of the absence of everyone else…no family, no representatives except Gao Hu who had brought her there, and most notably, no sign of the man whose name had been written into every line of what she was about to sign.
"Please review the contract, Miss Lin," Gao Hu said, placing the pen beside the papers with calm precision, and though his tone remained courteous, there was no suggestion that this was a matter open for negotiation.
Lin Yue lowered her gaze to the first page and began to read, and it did not take long for it to become clear, because the terms were written plainly and without ornament, each clause direct in a way that left no room for interpretation:
A legal marriage between party A and party B, recognized and binding, entered into for a fixed term;
no claim to any property or financial interest beyond what was stated;
no involvement in Gu family affairs unless required;
No sexual expectations from party A, any violations will be dealt with harshly;
Party B is subjected to sexual expectations from Party A;
Lin Yue swallowed at the condition, she was considered party B… doesn't that make her a sex toy? But she pushed the feeling down, her shoulders growing tense by each passing minute.
no actions, public or private, that would damage the family's reputation;
The marriage will be annulled in three months;
And above all, complete discretion, as though her existence within that household would be acknowledged only when necessary and otherwise expected to remain contained within the boundaries set for her.
She turned the page, her fingers steady though her attention had narrowed to a single line that stood apart from the rest, not because it was written differently, but because it was the only one that carried any real weight for her:
All medical expenses for her mother would be covered in full, effective immediately upon signing.
Her hand remained on the page for a moment longer than necessary.
"The funds will be transferred today," Gao Hu said, his voice breaking the silence without urgency. "The hospital will receive confirmation within the hour."
Lin Yue did not look up as she asked, "Who proposed this arrangement?"
"President Gu."
She paused in consideration, because she had heard the name before and often enough that it had already formed a shape in her mind, one built not from personal knowledge but from what others had said.
He was infamous for being cold and ruthless, commonly referred to as a man with a heart of stone. A man who did not involve himself in matters that did not benefit him, and yet none of that explained why she was sitting here now, why her name had been placed into a contract like this as though it had been chosen with intent.
'It must have been… but why me? When he could easily have any heiress he wished to have.'
She turned another page slowly, her gaze moving across the lines without losing focus, though the thought remained with her.
Gu Yanchen.
A man women spoke of with admiration or caution, sometimes both, a man who kept his distance and made decisions without explanation, and she could not understand why someone like that would choose her, not out of curiosity, but because it did not fit the pattern of anything she had heard, and Lin Yue did not trust things that did not make sense.
"What is required of me beyond what is written," she asked, her tone even.
"You will fulfill your role as Mrs. Gu for the duration of the contract," Gao Hu replied. "Public appearances, formal events, and any obligations deemed necessary."
"And privately."
The secretary met her gaze without change. "That will depend on President Gu."
The answer was simple.
Which meant there were things not written here.
Lin Yue lowered her gaze again and continued reading, and the further she went, the clearer it became that this was not an arrangement built on expectation or mutual understanding, but on boundaries, on limitations, on a structure designed to prevent complication, and there was nothing in it that suggested care, nothing that suggested protection, only terms that ensured everything remained contained and controlled.
She reached the final page.
Her name had already been printed, and the space beneath it awaited her signature.
For a moment, she did not move, her gaze resting on that empty line as the weight of it settled fully, because this was the point at which everything she had just read would become something she could not step away from, and there would be no returning to what had come before.
Her mother's face came to mind, the scent of the hospital room, the word comfortably spoken without hesitation, and Lin Yue understood then that whatever questions remained, whatever uncertainty still lingered, none of it would change what needed to be done.
She reached for the pen.
"Once I sign," she said, her voice steady, "the treatment begins today?"
"Yes."
"No delay?"
"No delay."
She gave a small nod, not to him, but to herself. Then she signed.
Her name settled onto the page in one clean motion, and when she placed the pen back on the table.
Gao Hu gathered the documents in one swift movement. "I will arrange the next steps," he said.
Lin Yue stood, her expression calm and soft, yet her heart had become a drumming mess, beating so fast that she even thought she would die from a heart attack.