In this area of the villa estate, there were not many vehicles, but the road junctions branched out endlessly.
She stepped on the accelerator, her hands continuously turning the steering wheel.
Lu Jingming watched the car weaving ahead, knowing the other person had spotted him.
Seeing that the car was about to vanish from his sight, he dared not speed up any further.
That car accident had left a shadow over their entire family.
An accident had happened last time; it could not happen again this time.
Yet if he didn't speed up, his destined sister-in-law was going to slip away!
Lu Jingming was caught in a dilemma, and by the time he snapped out of it, the other vehicle had completely vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, his own car had driven onto a road that was under repair.
"Damn it!" Lu Jingming cursed.
Over at the Gu family residence.
"Gu Ruo, it's almost time. Shouldn't you go on stage to host the banquet?"
"That's right! Didn't you say that once the banquet starts, you'll pick a dance partner to open the ball? I can't wait to find out who your mysterious partner is."
Several friends began urging Gu Ruo.
Gu Ruo certainly knew the time had come, but Lu Jingming hadn't arrived yet.
She needed everyone present to know that Lu Jingming had come here specifically for her birthday banquet.
Gu Ruo looked at them with a smile at the corner of her lips. "Oh, just wait a little longer. I still have a guest who hasn't arrived."
Her friends looked surprised. "What kind of guest is so important?"
Gu Ruo bit her lip, putting on a coy expression.
One sharp-eyed girl gave a suggestive smile. "Ooh~ Gu Ruo, your face is blushing. I'm guessing that guest is probably more than just a regular guest, right?"
Gu Ruo couldn't help nodding inwardly, but maintained a reserved demeanor on the outside.
She gave the girl a gentle nudge and said with feigned nonchalance, "That guest is the second young master of the Lu family, so you must not go spreading it around~"
What?!
As soon as those words left her mouth, the surrounding people fell silent for a fraction of a second, before immediately wearing expressions of astonishment and envy.
"Is it true? Lu Jingming is coming?"
"Did I hear that right? Apart from his friend Yang Bin, Lu Jingming practically never attends anyone's birthday banquet."
"Gu Ruo, confess! How far have things progressed between you and Second Young Master Lu?"
A group of young female peers looked at Gu Ruo with intensely suggestive gazes.
Remembering how Lu Jingming had praised her for being kind-hearted, Gu Ruo had previously been somewhat unsure of his attitude toward her. But hearing them talk this way, she formed a small guess in her heart.
Guys liked innocent and kind girls, and Lu Jingming wasn't the type to put on false pretenses. He must harbor a favorable impression of her.
Thinking this, Gu Ruo's powdered cheeks grew even redder.
About half an hour passed, but Lu Jingming still hadn't arrived.
The girls who had been envying her earlier now began to gossip in low whispers.
"What's going on? Didn't she say Second Young Master Lu was coming? It's been this long and there's not even a shadow of him."
"Goodness, don't tell me Gu Ruo got stood up?"
"Shh, keep it down. Don't let her hear you."
Gu Ruo was not far from them. Hearing the content of their conversation, the heart that had been wrapped in boundless anticipation was now consumed by humiliation.
She clenched her hands tightly, swallowed the embarrassment in her heart, and forced a sweet smile on her face as she went about to toast the guests.
After finishing a glass of red wine, Gu Ruo walked over to the balcony and dialed Lu Jingming's number.
Meanwhile, Lu Jingming was still trapped on the construction road.
It was sparsely populated here, and the dark night made it even harder to distinguish directions.
Lu Jingming had no choice but to call someone to come pick him up. The moment he hung up, his phone rang again.
He pressed answer, and before he could speak, the person on the other end anxiously asked, "Young Master Lu, my birthday banquet is about to start. How much longer before you get here?"
Lu Jingming had finally managed to cross paths again with the person he considered the most suitable eldest sister-in-law, only to have her shake him off and end up stuck on a road under repair.
Having lost the sister-in-law and gotten lost himself, he was already in a very irritable mood.
And now Gu Ruo was calling him, hounding him like a ghost demanding his life.
Lu Jingming's temper flared, and he said impatiently, "I can't come. As for the plan to frame Gu Qing, I'll have Yang Bin cooperate with you. Just contact him directly."
Lu Jingming and Yang Bin were close friends and practically inseparable from an outsider's perspective. Knowing that Lu Jingming was attending Gu Ruo's birthday banquet, Yang Bin had also said he would tag along.
Hearing this, Gu Ruo knitted her brows tightly together.
What was this supposed to mean?
Lu Jingming wasn't coming?
Yet just moments ago, she had sworn up and down in front of those people that the second young master of the Lu family would attend. With things turning out like this, where was she supposed to put her face?
Gu Ruo forced down her rising anger and asked gently, "Young Master Lu, is there some important matter holding you back? Didn't we agree to join forces? The plan hasn't even started yet, so why are you suddenly backing out?"
The trapped Lu Jingming was filled to the brim with gloom and too lazy to humor her further, so he simply hung up the phone.
Hearing the busy tone in her ear, Gu Ruo gripped her phone so hard her knuckles turned white, her eyes full of utter disbelief.
Her chest heaving rapidly, she wanted to throw a tantrum.
However, she knew this was not the time to lose her temper.
The most important thing right now was dealing with Gu Qing and disrupting the marriage alliance between her and Lu Jingyan.
Pushing down her anger, Gu Ruo turned and called Yang Bin.
The call connected quickly, and Gu Ruo stated concisely, "Hello, Yang Bin, this is Gu Ruo. Have you arrived?"
In truth, Yang Bin had only met Gu Ruo a few times and didn't know her well, though he had heard his good friend Lu Jingming mention her.
In short, she was no good news.
Yang Bin had no favorable impression of her, but out of courtesy, he explained, "I'm sorry, Miss Gu. My grandfather suddenly fell ill just now, and I have to stay by his side to take care of him, so I can't get away. Don't worry, I'll have someone send a gift over."
Under normal circumstances, if a man of Yang Bin's stature couldn't make it to her birthday banquet but specifically instructed someone to send her a gift, Gu Ruo would have been thrilled.
Yet at such a crucial moment for dealing with Gu Qing, he couldn't show up.
Gu Ruo's mood was obviously sour. "Fine, I understand."
She hung up the phone and gritted her teeth.
Great, when the critical moment arrived, everyone had an excuse.
It seemed she would have to rely entirely on herself now.
Gu Ruo lifted her feet and walked upstairs, stopping at a room at the end of the third-floor corridor.
She knocked on the door. "Elder sister, it's me. My birthday banquet has started, hurry down."
Silence was her only reply.
A bad omen stirred in Gu Ruo's heart. She pressed down the door handle and pushed the door open from the outside.
It was deathly quiet inside. Gu Ruo walked in, calling out Gu Qing's name, but no one answered at all.
A suspicion formed in her mind, yet she was unwilling to spare a single corner of the room.
She opened the bathroom and the walk-in closet, but there was no sign of anyone.
Her tightly clenched fists were trembling. She walked to the doorway in her high heels and called out to a servant passing by in the corridor.
"Did you see where my elder sister went?"
The servant shook her head, saying she hadn't seen her.
Hadn't seen her?
Could people just fly away out of thin air?
When on earth had Gu Qing left, and how had she failed to notice even a single bit of it?!