After Becoming the Family Head, I Got an Unofficial Fiancée (GL) - Chapter 1
The heavy, oppressive weather of August came with a suffocating pressure in the air, and the restless elements in the atmosphere seemed to be bouncing around wildly.
It was just like Gu Weiyan’s mood right now.
“President Gu,” the assistant turned in the front passenger seat and said to Gu Weiyan, “We’re almost at the destination. Do you really not need me to buy something for the meeting, like a small gift?”
Gu Weiyan was sitting in the back of the car, looking up at the starlit ceiling—her favorite car feature. She even sealed off the sunroof just to keep it. But today, not even her favorite accessory could lift her mood, not even a little.
A month ago, Gu Weiyan was elected as the new CEO of Guo Rui Group at the shareholders’ meeting, a position she had dreamed of for 27 years. She had finally achieved her goal.
But just yesterday, a family elder called her and told her something that left her completely puzzled: “If you want to secure your position as CEO, you need to go along with the arranged marriage, marry someone from the Jiang family.”
Gu Weiyan was stunned. Though same-s3x marriage was legal now, and Gu Weiyan did indeed prefer women, the sudden pressure to marry a complete stranger left her feeling unsettled.
What was this?
This was the forced marriage of a feudal society!
It didn’t fit with the modern social atmosphere. It was the kind of outdated thinking that needed to be eradicated!
Despite her objections, she found herself sitting in her beloved Maybach, being dragged like livestock to meet this unfamiliar “Miss Jiang.”
“Don’t worry about buying anything,” Gu Weiyan muttered, staring out the window at the gloomy weather, which matched her mood. She said calmly, “Just call and find out where the Gu family is.”
When the car finally pulled into the hotel parking lot, the assistant hung up the phone and said, “Old Master Gu says they’re still on the way. They’ll probably be here in about half an hour. The Jiang family is coming with him. The private room has been reserved, so you can go ahead and rest for a bit.”
Gu Weiyan had lost all her temper. She stepped out of the car and was immediately hit by a wave of scorching heat.
The weather today was incredibly abnormal. Gu Weiyan looked up at the sky, which was as dark as night. It was only a little past five, but the sky looked as though it were already seven or eight in the evening. The earthy smell in the wind signaled that a storm was coming soon.
A black swallow flew low across the sky, cutting through the air in front of Gu Weiyan, before it abruptly soared into the darkened heavens.
Since it was a family gathering, Gu Weiyan didn’t bring her assistant or driver. She told them to take it easy and rest. Dinner would be taken care of at the hotel buffet, and she’d call them when she needed the car again.
Gu Weiyan didn’t like to have her assistant constantly following her. Unless absolutely necessary, she usually didn’t bring them along when she went out. Today, however, she had to go out for something important, and family gatherings often involved drinking, so having a driver seemed like the safest choice.
Not going to the reserved private room, Gu Weiyan looked around the lobby and walked over to the lounge area to sit down on a sofa and check her phone.
She opened WeChat and saw her friends mocking her, sending her all sorts of advice on blind dates. Gu Weiyan felt like blocking this person right then and there.
Just then, she felt a gaze staring at her relentlessly. She had always been very sensitive to being watched, and her business instincts made her especially sharp. She looked up and met the eyes of the person who had been secretly watching her.
Caught red-handed.
Gu Weiyan’s eyes met those of a young girl. She was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt, holding a magazine in her hands. Apparently, she hadn’t expected Gu Weiyan to suddenly look up. When she realized she had been caught staring, she froze for a moment, nervously clutching the magazine with her eyes darting around.
There were only two people in the entire lounge area, and Gu Weiyan and the girl were separated by a coffee table, making it easy to see the girl clearly.
The girl was quite pleasant to look at, with a sweet and innocent look, still holding on to a strong childish vibe. She appeared to be in her teens. The magazine she was holding had Gu Weiyan’s photo on the cover—an interview she had given after becoming the president of Gu Rui last month. It seemed that the issue had been published quickly.
The girl kept nervously looking at Gu Weiyan, which amused her. She put away her phone, leaned forward slightly, and asked, “Do I look good?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl’s face turned bright red. She gripped the magazine tightly and whispered, “Y-Yes, you’re… beautiful.”
Gu Weiyan asked again, “Do you think I look good in the magazine, or do I look better in real life?”
The girl’s face turned even redder, all the way down to her neck. She looked down at the magazine and softly said, “Y-You’re… beautiful both ways…”
Gu Weiyan instantly felt her mood lift. The gloomy feeling from earlier disappeared as if a cloud had parted. She couldn’t resist teasing the girl a bit more, “Next time, you can just say hi to me. No need to keep staring.”
The girl nodded without saying a word.
Thankfully, Gu Weiyan wasn’t the type to flirt around with anyone. She just thought the girl was cute and teased her a little. After all, the girl seemed so young—she probably hadn’t even finished middle school yet. Gu Weiyan wasn’t interested in this type.
The girl, seeing that Gu Weiyan had gone back to playing with her phone, seemed to be frustrated by something on it. She frowned and poked the screen repeatedly, and then muttered under her breath, “I think you’re asking for trouble.”
That was pretty harsh…
The girl didn’t dare look at Gu Weiyan again. Instead, she focused on the magazine in her hands. The interview with Gu Weiyan had taken up four pages in the issue. One page introduced Gu Weiyan’s background, another covered her achievements, and the remaining two pages were the interview with her.
Her eyes landed on the final part of the interview.
Editor: “We’ve talked quite a bit today, and I imagine you’re getting tired. Let’s discuss something that might interest everyone. For someone as exceptional as you, do you have very strict requirements for a partner?”
Gu Weiyan: “I hold myself to high standards, but not my partner. As long as they are a good fit, that’s what matters to me. Everything else doesn’t really matter.”
Editor: “Of course, being a good fit is the best, but I think our readers would prefer to know something more specific. Could you satisfy our curiosity?”
Gu Weiyan: “If I had to be more specific, I would want my partner to be around the same age as me, someone who loves their family, doesn’t have too many complicated past experiences, and someone I can communicate with. If possible, I’d want her to be gentle and for us to only have eyes for each other.”
Jiang Man gently ran her fingers over the page with Gu Weiyan’s interview and couldn’t help but glance up at the woman sitting across from her.
Same age, loves her family, shares common interests, and is gentle enough.
Unfortunately, Jiang Man didn’t have any of those qualities.
When Gu Weiyan looked up, she noticed the girl had started gathering her things. She saw the girl smoothing out the creases in the magazine she had accidentally wrinkled but didn’t look up to meet Gu Weiyan’s gaze.
At that moment, Gu Weiyan caught sight of a group of people entering the lobby. She quickly recognized her grandpa, her parents, and other relatives from both the Gu and Jiang families.
She stood up and walked over, calling out, “Grandpa!”
Grandpa Cheng turned around when he heard her, and with a smile, he said, “Weiyan, we got stuck in traffic and arrived late. Why weren’t you waiting upstairs?”
Gu Weiyan smiled as she supported her grandfather, “It doesn’t matter where I wait. If I wait in the lobby, I can greet you as soon as you arrive.”
Grandpa Cheng smiled so widely that the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes showed. He turned to the couple beside him and said, “Old Jiang, this is my Weiyan. I hope she didn’t disappoint you?”
Old Jiang laughed with his eyes squinting, “Old buddy, you’re teasing me! How could we be disappointed in Weiyan? She’s so outstanding!”
Gu Weiyan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Turning back to her grandfather, she said, “Grandpa, let’s stop chatting here. We’re blocking the way for others to do business. Let’s head upstairs.”
“Right, right, let’s go up. The private room is ready.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
As a group of people were making their way toward the elevator, a figure suddenly darted out from the lounge area. Gu Weiyan recognized that it was the girl who had been staring at her earlier. The girl rushed over, but she lost her grip on what she was holding, and with a loud crash, everything spilled onto the floor.
“Jiang Man!”
A middle-aged woman from the Jiang family, seeing the girl acting so clumsily, couldn’t help but glare in frustration: “What are you doing, child? Stop crouching down to pick things up and come over here to greet people!”
Jiang Man hurriedly grabbed her bag, but in the process, she tripped and knocked everything over again, causing a loud clatter.
For a moment, everyone stood there awkwardly, as though frozen by an invisible spell.
Gu Weiyan was the first to snap out of it and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on here…?”
The middle-aged woman gave a nervous smile and explained, “Weiyan, this is Xiao Man, the youngest in our family. She’s usually quite well-behaved, just a little inexperienced and clumsy. She’s not used to meeting people, so she gets embarrassed and acts awkwardly.”
Then she turned to the girl and said, “What are you standing there for? Come over here.”
Jiang Man didn’t speak. She just shyly glanced at Gu Weiyan before running behind the middle-aged woman to hide. Gu Weiyan caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye as the woman pinched Jiang Man’s arm. She frowned slightly but said nothing. Instead, she walked over and picked up the items that had fallen.
Five years of high school exams, three years of practice tests.
Must-do questions for the college entrance exam.
A complete set of senior-year past papers.
And a few textbooks and test papers—Gu Weiyan gathered everything and walked over to hand them to Jiang Man.
Jiang Man looked at her for a moment. For the first time, they were so close, and she noticed that Gu Weiyan’s eyes were a unique shade of sea green, just like the clear water in Phuket, where she’d gone as a child. It was so clear that it almost felt like she could get lost in them.
So beautiful.
Jiang Man took the books, and in her heart, she quietly thought about something. The interview had mentioned that her grandmother was foreign and that she had one-quarter foreign bl00d. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now, up close, she could see how special Gu Weiyan’s eyes really were.
“Let’s go.” Gu Weiyan didn’t look at Jiang Man and turned to speak to everyone else. “The elevator’s here.”