Zhao ii had arranged to et Zhang Xin downstairs in the residential area. She got ready and arrived early to wait, ending up waiting for a full half hour before Zhang Xin showed up fashionably late.
As soon as Zhao ii got into the car, she heard Zhang Xin apologizing, "Sorry, ii. I’m late. You’ve been waiting quite a while, haven’t you?"
Just as Zhao ii was about to speak, she looked up and was taken aback. "Sister Xin, what happened to you?" she asked.
To her surprise, Zhang Xin was bare-faced without any makeup, her eyes swollen like peaches, clearly having just cried.
Unable to suppress a smile, Zhang Xin said, "ii, your Brother Chao proposed to just now at the hospital." Saying this, she raised her hand to show Zhao ii the diamond ring on her finger.
Zhao ii’s eyes widened in surprise, screaming with joy, "My Brother Chao proposed to you!! Oh my! Congratulations, congrats!! Sister Xin, this ti I really have to change how I call you, sister-in-law! Oh my! Really, congratulations!!"
Zhang Xin smiled sweetly, warmly clutching Zhao ii’s hand, overwheld with happiness and unsure how to express it, cheerfully saying, "Thanks, I’ll give you a big red envelope later as a fee for changing the way you call !"
Zhao ii totally understood Zhang Xin’s excitent and joy at this mont, smiling and responding, "That’s aweso! Oh, this is so good, I’m really envious of you two."
Zhang Xin laughed so much she couldn’t close her mouth, "Honestly, I feel like I’m dreaming myself. Your Brother Chao’s proposal was so sudden, I wasn’t prepared at all."
Zhao ii was genuinely curious. She and Shi Yang had never formally experienced a proposal. Looking back, it seed from the start of their relationship, Shi Yang would just ask, and she’d agree imdiately. They followed a natural course, without focusing on these superficial formalities.
Zhao ii asked, "Sister-in-law, tell , how did my Brother Chao propose to you?"
Zhang Xin chuckled, with sweet arcs in her brows and eyes as she talked about Qu Chaozong suddenly kneeling with a ring. Zhao ii gasped sincerely from her heart, "Oh my! My Brother Chao even knelt for you. Sister-in-law, you’re just so happy!"
Zhang Xin casually asked, "And how did Shi Yang propose to you?"
Zhao ii thought for a mont before saying, "He just asked , ’How about we go get our marriage license on May 20th?’"
Zhang Xin was visibly surprised, "That simple?"
Zhao ii hadn’t felt anything about it before; now that Zhang Xin asked, she suddenly thought it did seem too simple. One sentence, and Shi Yang seed to have fallen short, so she couldn’t help defending Shi Yang a bit, "But when we got engaged, my brother knelt to my parents."
Now it was Zhang Xin’s turn to be surprised, "Really? Shi Yang knelt to your parents?"
"Yeah, just so my parents would agree to us being together," Zhao ii said proudly, as they childishly compared their n’s affection for them, laughing happily.
While driving to the shopping street, Zhang Xin asked, "Why did you suddenly decide you wanted to go shopping?"
Zhao ii truthfully told Zhang Xin, "During winter break, I worked with a friend at a foreign language school and earned sixteen hundred yuan. I want to use the money to buy a gift for each of my parents and my brother."
Zhang Xin laughed and praised, "You’re quite thoughtful, have you decided what to buy?"
Zhao ii said, "I’ve decided, I’ll get my brother a branded lighter, a belt for my dad, and a set of costics for my mom."
Zhang Xin grinned, "You plan to spend the entire sixteen hundred yuan?"
Zhao ii nodded, "Yes."
Zhang Xin laughed, finding Zhao ii quite amusing, "Alright, today I’ll make sure you get all your gifts."
When Zhang Xin said she’d help her shop well, she guided Zhao ii directly to the brand counters she knew, helping her choose styles and calculate costs. Zhang Xin had VIP cards that offered discounts. With the discount, Zhao ii finished buying the gifts and unexpectedly had three hundred yuan left.
Zhao ii was thrilled with the remaining money.
Seeing her beaming, Zhang Xin couldn’t help laughing, asking, "You used your work earnings to buy gifts for your family, didn’t you think of buying sothing for yourself?"
Zhao ii candidly replied, "I didn’t expect to have any money left, Sister-in-law, if it weren’t for your VIP card discount, I would’ve spent it all."
Zhang Xin playfully tapped her forehead, "Well, since you have money left, buy yourself a gift too."
Zhao ii thought carefully, "Sister-in-law, I don’t know what to buy."
Zhang Xin chuckled, "I also want to buy sothing for myself, let’s go have a look together."
Zhao ii followed Zhang Xin to the third floor of the mall by elevator, faced with a row of branded lingerie stores, dazzled by what she saw.
All kinds of bras were displayed throughout the store. Zhao ii, who had been here before, told Zhang Xin, "Sister-in-law, I have bras, I just bought two new sets last month."
Zhang Xin grinned mysteriously, asking, "You bought items from the front half of the store, right?"
Zhao ii asked, "Lingerie stores have a front and back section?"
Knowing the place, Zhang Xin led Zhao ii straight to the back counter, pointing at the semi-transparent, fully transparent, lace, leopard print, thin bra designs hanging, saying, "Do you have this type of bra?"
Following Zhang Xin all day truly opened Zhao ii’s eyes. To her, bras were for body protection. Those that were appealing were called swimwear, but she never knew there were designs purely intended to allure others.
At that ti, people were relatively conservative. Wearing a belly-exposing top on the street could turn quite a few heads.
Zhang Xin opened a door labeled ’sensuality’ before Zhao ii, becoming her teacher in this area.
As Zhang Xin chose styles, she educated Zhao ii, "A woman, it’s not enough to just be pretty with a good figure. Couples face each other from morning till night; one year is fresh, two years sweet, but after four or five years, it’s like touching one hand with the other, feeling nothing at all. When love turns into kinship, that’s quite a scary thought."
Zhao ii had never thought about this before. Hearing Zhang Xin talk about it now, she felt a sense of crisis for the first ti, asking, "But isn’t it true that all love eventually turns into kinship? Because kinship is the strongest, most stable form of affection."
Zhang Xin scoffed at this conclusion, "Silly girl, only when a woman lets herself beco a dowdy housewife and her man feels nothing for her does the marriage get chalked up to being sustained by kinship."
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