"Yes, yes, co in!"
Zhao Hongjuan put down the rolling pin sowhat awkwardly and said, "I’ll make you a cup of water."
"Thank you."
Zhao Yi walked into the living room and plonked down on the couch. As he looked up, he saw Lin Xudong and for so reason detected a sense of ’grievance’ in his eyes.
Grievance?
How could such a feeling erge from a grown man, a manly police captain no less—a tough guy?
Zhao Yi shook his head, took the tea, and sipped it lightly. He adjusted his mood before slowly beginning, "About getting married..."
"Actually... I’m fine with it. It all depends on what Xiaoqing thinks."
A look of doubt appeared on Zhao Hongjuan’s face, "Qingqing said the sa thing."
"Really? Haha, then we really are on the sa wavelength."
"It’s best not to be on the sa wavelength with this kind of thing," Zhao Hongjuan said. "Don’t I know you two? You just don’t want to think about it or face it, but look, Yi, let tell you, marriage is a major event in life, the earlier you get married, the better..."
"You’re not early for marriage now; you’re both over the legal age."
"And another thing..."
Zhao Hongjuan began her sermon-like guidance.
Zhao Yi’s head began to ache from listening, but fortunately, there was a knock on the door. He hurried to open it. There stood Li Renzhe with a smile on his face, "Zhao Yi, I knew it was you by the sound of your voice."
"Dog ears, huh! So sharp."
"What do you an!"
Li Renzhe said with dissatisfaction, "Holidays are coming up again. I was just packing. I’ll stay for a few more days before heading back. I didn’t expect to run into you."
"Oh."
"What were you talking about? Oh right, your future father-in-law... I an, your girlfriend’s parents are here." He said, peering inside, not standing on ceremony as he walked in and greeted Lin Xudong.
"You know each other?" Zhao Yi followed him inside, sowhat surprised.
Zhao Hongjuan said, "We know each other; you went to school with him, right? We t on the first day we arrived. Renzhe is a good talker and sensible, a really good kid."
"What the heck?"
Zhao Yi looked at Li Renzhe in confusion; he couldn’t associate ’good talker’ and ’sensible’ with him.
Li Renzhe’s arrival did not interrupt Zhao Hongjuan’s train of thought; she continued to discuss marriage as if giving a lecture titled ’The Many Benefits of Marrying Early,’ covering many issues in one breath.
For example, she ntioned that both Liu Jing and Zhao Zhenxi hoped Zhao Yi would get married soon.
For example, she talked about having children early so one could ’be free’ earlier, citing herself and Lin Xudong as examples; they were in their early forties with a daughter in her twenties ready to be married, leaving them a much more relaxed second half of their lives. As a contrary example, she brought up a neighbor who had their second child at forty and must still work at sixty to pay for their son’s college.
The whole process allowed Zhao Yi to witness Li Renzhe’s ’sensibility.’
Whenever Zhao Hongjuan said anything, while Zhao Yi was still following the conversation, trying to figure out how to respond, Li Renzhe had already nodded and agreed, saying, "Aunt Zhao is right!"
Li Renzhe wasn’t just talking; he also wore an expression of ’wholehearted agreent.’
"That makes so much sense!"
"Yes, exactly that!"
Zhao Yi glared at Li Renzhe through gritted teeth and mouthed exaggeratedly, "You—little—!"
Ultimately.
Li Renzhe won Zhao Hongjuan’s wholehearted approval, while Zhao Yi, who was seriously contemplating the marriage issue, only received doubtful glances, as if his disagreent with imdiate marriage made him the proverbial bad guy.
But Zhao Yi did not compromise. In the end, he just said, "Aunt Zhao, Uncle Lin, I’m going to take a nap and think things over. I’ll discuss it with Xiaoqing."
"...Alright then."
"You just got ho. Rest first."
...
Zhao Yi lay in bed, pondering seriously for a while. He had never brought up the topic of marriage, partly out of avoidance.
Even having lived for thirty years in his last life, he had never entered the halls of matrimony.
Now, the sudden ntion of marriage instinctively made him reluctant to consider it. He always said, "Let Lin Xiaoqing decide," knowing that she would say the sa.
But marriage had to be considered. After careful thought about their ti in high school, college, and all the monts he shared with Lin Xiaoqing, he felt it was ti to reach a conclusion.
Lin Xiaoqing was a truly innocent girl. She had given him her whole heart. They were childhood sweethearts and had been together for over four years, occasionally living together and accustod to each other’s presence.
So, what was there to hesitate about?
Zhao Yi picked up his phone and called Lin Xiaoqing, starting with the words, "Xiaoqing, why don’t we just register our marriage first?"
A pause.
After a long silence on the other end of the phone, a voice tinged with a sobbing tone replied, "Okay, I’ll listen to you."
Zhao Yi put down the phone.
At that mont, he realized a gooey, sweet phone call wasn’t fitting. Instead, thinking of the other person from afar, quietly pondering the matter of registering the marriage felt like a harbinger of a new beginning.
The next day was no longer quiet.
Early in the morning, Lin Xiaoqing ca over. She went straight to Zhao Yi’s room, completely ignoring her parents’ looks, and stayed for over twenty minutes.
Then the two of them ca out together.
Lin Xiaoqing spoke up, "Dad, Mom, we’ve made our decision."
"What?"
"We’re going to register for marriage today. We won’t pick a special date, nor think about a wedding ceremony for now. Let’s just get the certificate," Lin Xiaoqing said, looking toward Zhao Yi with a sweet smile on her face.
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