32:

The sound of the declaration echoed along the long street, lingering for a long time.

Gu Yan did not leave immediately.

He dismissed the noisy marriage proposal procession and waved his hand, signaling the onlookers who were still pointing and unwilling to disperse to return home.

Soon, the once noisy Willow Leaf Lane returned to its usual desolation.

Only he and his horse remained, standing quietly outside the tightly closed courtyard gate.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the woman behind the door to give him an answer.

Although what he said was not a negotiation.

But this matter ultimately required her own willingness.

Inside the door, separated by just one barrier, were two completely different worlds.

Liu Ruyan leaned against the cold door panel, curling herself into the shadows of the corner.

The man's incredibly overbearing declaration outside the door was like a giant boulder thrown into a stagnant pool, stirring up towering waves in the lake of her heart.

Shock, absurdity, confusion...

All kinds of emotions eventually turned into a kind of... bewilderment that was extremely unfamiliar to her.

She did not believe it.

She dared not believe it.

Ever since her third husband, that burly butcher, had mysteriously broken his neck and died on the very night they were married.

Her life had completely plunged into the abyss.

She still remembered how the butcher's family, treating her like a piece of trash, had thrown her and her pitifully small dowry out of the house together.

She still remembered how the townspeople looked at her with both fear and disgust, as if she were covered in deadly sores.

"Jinx!"

"Witch!"

"Whoever touches her will be cursed!"

These vicious curses, like invisible knives, cut at her Soul day and night.

She had once tried to explain, tried to cry out her grievances.

But no one listened.

No one believed her.

In their eyes, she was the Incarnation of misfortune.

Gradually, she couldn't be bothered to explain anymore.

She wrapped her heart in a thick, hard shell of ice.

She learned to disguise herself with indifference and defend herself with bitterness.

All men who tried to approach her, whether out of desire or curiosity, would be mercilessly wounded by her and then retreat in embarrassment.

She thought that her life would end in this dilapidated little courtyard, amidst the endless curses and fear of the whole town, alone, rotting, and dying.

But today...

This man appeared.

This "Old Immortal Gu," whom the whole town revered like a god, the current absolute authority of Luoyun Town.

He did not look at her with the disgusting eyes that others did.

He even... never said a single tender word to her.

He simply stood in front of her door in the most direct, overbearing, and unquestionable way, declaring to the whole world in front of everyone—

He wanted to marry her.

With pomp and ceremony, a proper marriage.

Why?

Liu Ruyan could not understand.

Was it for this decent appearance of hers?

It didn't seem like it.

With his current status and position, what kind of beauty couldn't he have?

Why bother provoking her, a "jinx" that everyone avoided?

Was it for some ulterior motive?

Even less likely.

She was penniless and had nothing but this dilapidated courtyard.

Could it be...

He really wasn't afraid of death?

Liu Ruyan's heart was in turmoil.

[Beep, detected target's heart rate continuously rising, emotional fluctuation intense...]

[Analyzing brainwave activity... Data model under construction...]

[Analysis result: 78% probability in a state of "intense battle between being moved and suspicion," 20% probability in recalling "tragic past," and 2% probability in thinking "what to eat tonight"...]

[Conclusion: There's a chance! Host, keep it up, stay steady! Don't let this SSR you've got in your grasp fly away!]

Gu Yan listened to the System's real-time broadcast-like "psychological analysis" in his mind, and he became even more certain.

He knew that Liu Ruyan, this iceberg, had already been cracked open by him.

He did not speak again, just quietly, like a statue, continued to wait outside the door.

Time ticked away, bit by bit.

Inside the door, Liu Ruyan was also experiencing an internal struggle.

Through the crack in the door, she secretly watched the man's back outside.

He just stood there quietly, his posture as straight as a pine, blocking the malicious world outside the door for her.

This feeling...

This feeling of being protected, of being sheltered by someone...

She hadn't felt it for too long, too long.

When did it start?

It seemed... she had never had it since she could remember.

She was an abandoned orphan, growing up in hunger and cold glares.

For her, marriage was just jumping from one fire pit into another.

No one had ever truly cared for her.

And no one had ever been willing to speak a word for her when she was misunderstood and spurned by the whole world.

But, he...

Why?

Liu Ruyan's eyes gradually turned red.

The hard ice wrapping her heart began to show signs of melting under the gaze of that straight back.

Perhaps...

Perhaps she could trust him once?

Even if... even if he was really "cursed" to death by her...

At least it would prove that in this world, there had once been such a person who, unafraid of rumors and death, wanted to give her a home.

Thinking of this, her long-silent heart beat violently, uncontrollably.

She took a deep breath, as if using up all her strength.

She stood up, wiped away the tear stains on her face, walked forward, and pulled open the heavy courtyard gate.

Creak—

Sunlight spilled in, illuminating her tear-streaked yet breathtakingly beautiful face.

Hearing the sound, Gu Yan turned around.

Their eyes met.

"Are you not afraid of death?"

Liu Ruyan looked at him and asked the question she most wanted to know the answer to.

This was both a test and her final struggle.

Gu Yan looked at her reddened peach-blossom eyes, full of stubbornness and fragility, and smiled faintly.

"What I fear,"

"Is the Gu Family line ending."

"Not you."

This answer exceeded Liu Ruyan's expectations.

She had thought he would say some bold words like "I don't believe in fate" or "My fate is tough."

But he did not.

What he gave was a reason that was grander, yet made her feel more at ease.

He was not unafraid of death.

He just had things more important than death to protect.

And marrying her was... a part of protecting that thing.

This answer instantly diluted much of the ambiguous, romantic sentiment between the two.

Instead, it made Liu Ruyan feel an unprecedented sense of... stability.

She knew that this man was not coveting her beauty.

He truly did not care about those terrifying rumors about her.

What he needed was just a woman who could "carry on the family line" for him and the Gu Family.

And she, coincidentally, needed a roof that could shelter her from the wind and rain.

Each getting what they needed.

Fair.

Liu Ruyan's heart completely settled down.

She looked deeply at Gu Yan, as if wanting to carve this man's appearance into her bones.

Then, she slowly nodded.

"Okay."

"I will marry you."