The Runaway Groom of the Gu Clan
Luxury cars rolled one after another up to the Hyatt, crowds thronging the entrance—every face bright with grins, all bound for the Gu family’s engagement banquet.
The Gu name alone meant unrivaled status. Not only did the Gu Consortium hold the commercial lifeline of the city and even the nation, a tycoon whose every move sent ripples across the country, but the Gu clan had boasted key roles in military and political circles for generations, amassing unshakable power. As their fortune solidified, more descendants joined the business world, with Gu Yicheng’s father, Gu Boming, the most accomplished of them all. The Gus bred heroes for generations—yet Gu Yicheng was the black sheep.
Fights, gang affiliations, street brawls… he’d excelled at all the wrong things since childhood, a downright hooligan. But as the youngest golden child of the clan, he was spoiled rotten: indulged by the elder Mr. Gu, doted on by his mother, no one dared discipline him. The black sheep only strayed further, growing into the city’s notorious hell-raiser.
He’d calmed down in recent years, shipped off to the military camp by the elder Mr. Gu to toughen up, fading nearly from the public eye—until last week, when news broke of his engagement to the Lin family’s heiress. The Lins couldn’t match the Gus, but it was still a well-matched union.
Many thought it a rumor, yet here the feast was laid bare for all to see, drawing elites from every circle.
“Congratulations, Mr. Gu! Young Master Gu is talented and promising, finding you such a wonderful daughter-in-law so young—you’ll be a grandfather in no time!”“Haha, I hope so, thank you for the kind words, Mr. Ding.”
He desperately hoped so.
Beneath Gu Boming’s broad smile lay sheer anxiety. This engagement was his one-sided call, every detail from the announcement to the feast planned by him alone. His worthless son, the guest of honor, had ignored him entirely. He’d tricked Gu Yicheng back home with a fake illness—without that, the whole farce would have collapsed.
“Hurry and check! Why hasn’t the young master arrived?!”
His worry was justified. The brat had fought the engagement tooth and nail, dead set on leaving. Gu Boming had lost his temper and locked him up, then rushed to hold the feast at once to avoid further trouble. He’d prayed the brat would show him a modicum of respect, not cause a scene—
“S-Sir! Disaster! The young master… he’s fled!”
“What?!”
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Lin Wan’s face drained of color, her elaborate makeup a bitter mockery now.
Gu Yicheng had escaped while being escorted to the hotel. Seated in the back seat, flanked by two bodyguards sent to drag him to the banquet, he’d seemed complacent—eyes closed, humming a tune, tapping his leg in time to the beat. He’d struck the second the guards let their guard down, slamming an elbow into each man’s chest to take them down, then seized a military dagger from his waist.
Most would have threatened the guards, but Gu Yicheng pressed the blade to his own throat. He was skilled, but these were elite bodyguards, his equal—he couldn’t outfight them outright.
“Y-Young Master, don’t do something reckless! That blade’s sharp, this isn’t a game—”“Exit here, turn right. Hand me your phone.”
He knew they’d never dare risk his life. The threat worked in an instant. He called a friend, then kicked open the car door and jumped out.
“Young Master, the master will be furious—you should just—”“Dare threaten me?”
His sharp eyes narrowed, cold fury in his gaze. Gu Yicheng slammed his foot into the guard’s face, grinding his heel down hard.“Is he mad enough to make me throw my life away for a marriage?!”
He was livid. This engagement was a joke—he’d had no say in it, hadn’t even met the Lin heiress; his father had done it all, decided she was a good match. Why should he play along?
“Tell the old man this: if he’s having so much fun with his little farce, he can finish the engagement feast by himself. He can go to the civil affairs bureau for the wedding, march that Lin tramp to the bridal chamber, and do as he pleases with her!”“This is—”“Yicheng, hurry!”“Get lost! Repeat every single word!”
Snarling the words, he leapt into the car that had pulled up across the street to pick him up. At that exact moment, an oncoming car halted nearby. In its window, a woman’s reflection—black-rimmed glasses, her hair pulled into an immaculately neat bun.
She had a delicate oval face, tiny and petite, and the oversized glasses, seemingly chosen on purpose, hid nearly half of it. The look was a little comical, like a mischievous child playing dress-up as an adult—yet no one dared question her.
This was Mu Xinian. She had no family fortune or powerful connections, but her mind was a priceless treasure, a business prodigy. Every company she touched, no matter how hopeless or dying, she breathed new life into. In the past two years, her reputation in the industry had reached legendary status.
Geniuses were meant to have eccentric tastes, after all. No matter how odd her style, how plain her clothes, her brilliance shone through. She didn’t care about dressing up like other women, so why should anyone else?
“Why have we stopped?”
Mu Xinian was notorious for her precision, for hating to waste a single second. She looked up from her papers, annoyed at the sudden halt. “You know how valuable my time is.”“It’s not that, Manager—look at that car.”
A stretched white Lincoln, a limited edition—only six in the world. Everyone knew the only one in the city owned by the Gus, the only family with the means for it. But what caught the assistant’s eye was the man stepping out of it.“Manager, look! Isn’t that Young Master Gu?”
Mu Xinian’s gaze locked on Gu Yicheng. He’d just jumped out of the Lincoln, his back to her, running for the other car—
That build. A familiar feeling washed over her, sudden and unbidden. Had she seen him somewhere before?
It must be a trick of the mind.
She’d never met Gu Yicheng, and she’d long been unwilling to have any ties to the Gu family outside of business deals.
“Hey, he looks like he’s running away! Manager, look! He’s getting in the car—he’s gone! Young Master Gu’s ditching his engagement! What do we do? Should we tell Mr. Gu? The feast’s all set, the groom’s fled—he’ll be humiliated! Should we inform him?”
“So what if he is?” Mu Xinian said flatly, her brows furrowing at the assistant’s shrill tone.
“Umm… but he’s supposed to be engaged today! Why would he—oh, the car’s gone! He really fled! What do we—”
“It’s someone else’s business. Mind your own work—that’s what’s important.”
She didn’t spare the street another glance, bowing her head to flip through her business proposals, her voice cold and quiet. “You’ve had your fun watching the show. Let’s go.”“But—”
“Hmm?”
A single syllable, sharp and formidable—Mu Xinian’s signature aura. The assistant ducked his head, daring not to speak another word. Yet when she wasn’t looking, he quickly shot a message to Gu Bolang.
Mu Xinian was deep in her work, poring over the proposals carefully. She had no idea that this little message would be the start of her feud with Gu Yicheng. She could never have guessed that the city’s notorious hell-raiser would soon barge into her life, drive her up the wall, make her want to punch his lights out.
Love is a funny thing. A single glance may spark it, but a second? It steals your heart. Even if you beat the culprit black and blue, it won’t change a thing. What’s meant to be lost is lost; what’s coming, will come.
