The calendar on her computer only had one week left.
Previously, she had spent a whole week ceaselessly finding out what Yi Wenze’s parents, younger sister, and younger brother liked, even taking three whole days just to pick out toys. Now in this final week when everything was settled, she instead felt restless.
Such nervous emotions directly affected her sleep quality.
It was just past 7 am and she was already struggling to get up to face the early morning sunlight, groggily making her way to the kitchen to fry an egg for him. In the end she smelled something burning and the spatula was taken from her hands by the person behind her: “Let’s fry a new one?”
And so…another obsequious attempt successfully turned into abuse towards her seasoned idol.
The fragrant egg was served on the table, paired with very light congee.
He handed her chopsticks: “Do you have work today?” She concentrated hard to think: “No, I don’t have any work this month.” Yi Wenze set down a spoon in her bowl: “Why did you get up so early then?” She struggled hard to think again: “Couldn’t sleep, kept having all kinds of dreams.”
He smiled without speaking.
Jia He drank a mouthful of congee, extremely apprehensive as she looked at him: “Will your mother ask me questions? My English isn’t great, barely enough for listening, and I think my Cantonese is probably…” Alright, she admitted that just now she had dreamed about meeting his mother, a very refined woman. But she had only spoken languages Jia He didn’t understand to her, even though Jia He knew it was a dream, she was so anxious she couldn’t wake herself up.
This wasn’t something that could be crammed for.
He took out a classical music CD.
Then he walked back in to the sound of the music and sat down across from her: “My Chinese was taught by my parents. Communicating with them shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
Jia He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and very quickly finished eating the congee and fried egg before going back to sleep.
Around noontime, the phone rang. She had slept poorly all night and was too lazy to pick up, just letting it ring over and over until Yi Wenze answered it and said something. Then he placed his hand on the side of her body and softly said beside her, “Wife, your friend on the phone.”
Jia He grunted twice and flipped over: “Tell her to wait until I wake up.”
Yi Wenze helplessly wrapped an arm around her and brought the phone to her ear: “She said she wants you to be her bridesmaid.”
Bridesmaid…bridesmaid?!
Her eyes widened and her heart was even shocked painfully. She was wrapped up in the blanket like this as she sat on Yi Wen Ze’s lap and trembled as she said to the phone, “Who… who wants me to be bridesmaid?”
“Me! Your bestie!” Qiao Qiao’s voice carried excitement.
She took a deep breath and carefully asked her: “Is it that Weibo guy of yours?”
Ever since Xiao Xiao had jokingly called him that, she had followed suit for a long time too, which actually rendered Qiao Qiao momentarily speechless.
Then she seemed to hear on the phone Qiao Qiao say to the person beside her, “You got renamed to Weibo guy.” After saying that, Qiao Qiao continued talking to her, “Weibo guy won an award, to celebrate we decided to get married.”
She was silent for a long time, tilting her head back to look at Yi Wenze, wanting to say something but her mind completely blank.
A flash marriage flashing into existence like this was truly frightening.
“The only ones qualified to be my bridesmaid are you and Xiao Xiao, but Xiao Xiao is taller than me and prettier than me, definitely ruled out,” Qiao Qiao happily continued saying, “So congratulations, you’ve been promoted to being my bridesmaid.”
She unconsciously mumbled in agreement, then very quickly reacted: “When?”
“This weekend.”
This weekend? She was completely awake now: “Is there enough time to book the hotel, wedding gown and everything?”
Qiao Qiao laughed. “He prepared everything before coming to Japan, only waiting for me to go back and be the bride.”
Every word was so matter of course, but strung together it was absolutely not something a normal person would do. Before Cheng Hao went to Japan, when they weren’t even dating yet he had proposed, not only buying the diamond ring but even the hotel and wedding gown had been completely prepared. Her mind was simply chaotic, but the person involved actually felt it was perfectly normal.
“I’ll go back today and tell you the details.”
Those eight words and she had hung up the call.
Yi Wenze set aside the phone. “Still sleeping?”
How could she still sleep.
She nestled against his chest twice, trying hard to get a sense of reality. Then she mumbled, “Qiao Qiao is getting married and wants me to be bridesmaid, this weekend.” His voice carried laughter. “Do you want me to go with you to buy the dress? Or should I get the costume department to directly make one?”
Dress?
It wasn’t even the key issue.
“Aren’t we going to New Zealand?” She held it in for a long time before bringing up the crucial point.
“We’ll go after the weekend, no rush.”
She calculated the schedule. “Won’t you be in Kuala Lumpur this weekend?”
He wasn’t overly concerned either, pulling apart the blanket to put her sleeping clothes on her as he said, “I’ll do my best to hurry back.”
She laughed. Qiao Qiao and Cheng Hao were industry people to begin with, if he could attend the wedding it would definitely delight that girl to no end. Thinking this, she was already dressed in athleisure by him and very happily pecked him at the corner of his mouth. “Thank you.”
Somehow he hadn’t expected she would be so happy. “Looks like I really have to rush back.”
Qiao Qiao’s words had completely shifted her schedule for the entire week to Shanghai. When she returned home, Jia He discovered that ever since being with Yi Wenze she hadn’t come back here for a long time already and all the furniture was covered in dust. She spent the entire day cleaning the rooms spotless before calling him, “What do you think, should I keep or sell the Shanghai apartment? If keeping it, should I rent it out or leave it empty? Renting is very troublesome and leaving it empty means it’ll get dirty easily and I need to hire an auntie to come regularly clean…”
She had said a whole string of words, merely presenting the ABCD options to him. Yi Wenze listened with laughter and only said after she finished, “I have a place in Shanghai that I always go back and stay at when I’m there. As for yours, do as you like.”
She knew that asking him would only get this answer.
After silently thinking for a long time she deliberately sighed, “Then I guess I’ll keep it. In case we divorce in the future, at least I’ll have some assets left.”
“Want to sign a prenuptial agreement?”
Pre-nup? She had actually considered this herself too, that way it’d be fairer to him.
“Alright,” she answered seriously, “get a lawyer? Or have your company’s legal team draft an agreement?”
After an even longer silence he finally took a drink of water and gently said, “No need, I can do it myself. Just one line is enough–” his voice softened, “In case of divorce, Yi Wenze leaves without taking anything.”
Jia He listened blankly, sitting on the sofa hearing her own heartbeat becoming clearer and louder.
Finally she laughed, “I absolutely refuse to sign. If you end up penniless on the streets, your millions of fans will chop me to death.”
He also laughed softly, saying “wife” and that he was boarding his plane now.
The housing could be temporarily left aside. The car needed selling though.
When buying this MINI Cooper, she had gotten Xiao Yu to help order a limited edition one. She hadn’t been willing to part with it at the time and only agreed after much persuasion from Xiao Xiao. Now consigning it for sale, she discovered the upside was that she thought she’d only be able to sell it after getting back from New Zealand. She didn’t expect that just two days later, someone wanted to test drive the car.
She drove it little and had it for two years but the mileage was still less than what others did after buying a similar car for just two months.
While the girl was test driving, she very happily took it for a spin, even sighing that this car had been worth buying. Then the girl casually asked her, “Such a limited car that’s so hard to get, how can you bear to sell it? And you haven’t driven it that much either looking at the mileage?”
She was still trying to think of a good way to explain when Qiao Qiao scooped a spoon of ice cream to feed her and smiled at the girl, “She found a special edition one so isn’t interested in this limited version anymore.”
That girl was extremely envious, “A special edition? Remember to let me know first if you ever resell.”
Jia He stayed silent, glancing at Qiao Qiao whose injuries were completely tickled. By the time they were inspecting the car, Qiao Qiao lightly sighed again, “Earlier this year I’d said that if I encountered a handsome, faithful and oily romanceable man I would get over Bass Guy. Who knew, who knew that while I indeed gave up, Heaven instead gave such a man to you.”
Jia He was amused by her into laughter, “Want to trade places?”
Qiao Qiao considered it, completely expressing “spare me” on her face, “Forget it. Kissing and doing some R-rated things with the whole nation’s idol… sorry missy, I can’t accept that.”
She had actually thought similarly, but somehow it was Yi Wenze.
He was too smart, practically eliminating all obstacles and shattering every insecurity.
During the phone call that night, she casually brought up Xiao Qiao’s sigh and suddenly asked him, you don’t actually have a lolita complex right? I looked awful in middle school with my short haircut and I didn’t like wearing skirts either. Yi Wenze was waiting for a transfer at the airport, his voice a little tired, “You mean, lolita cultivation? Of bringing up little girls to become ideal partners?”
Jia He laughed, “Something like that.”
Yi Wenze seemed to sigh, “My little sister would definitely like you very much.”
Jia He asked, “Why?”
“She explained that word to me forever, telling me I must let you know.”
Jia He couldn’t help but laugh, “Tell her I understand. And I understand the spirit too.”
The two chatted about some other things and then she remembered he still hadn’t said the real reason. She just wanted to ask, why me? Out of so many people over the years who had worked with him, screenwriters alone probably numbered beyond count. If speaking of which, she was definitely the most low-key one out of all his fans, couldn’t be considered to have an inspiring backstory.
She was lying on the window ledge, resting both feet against the glass. Due to the indoor-outdoor temperature difference, two water marks were imprinted there before long. Yi Wenze was still discussing work matters with people around him and it was a long time later before he asked, “Not sleeping yet?”
Rarely, she was dissatisfied once, “I haven’t finished asking yet.”
He laughed, “Ask away.”
“Why did you choose me?”
There was silence over there for a moment, like he was pondering it over.
A little voice inside her was dissatisfied, grumbling: it takes that long to consider it?
“You’ve asked this question before,” he laughed, “If it’s the same question I ask you, how would you answer?”
Jia He hadn’t expected him to volley the question back to her. Her mind ran through many reasons which were all eliminated in the end, until she vaguely said, “Actually it’s not really because you’re my idol… why… I can’t say either.”
He seemed to have guessed her answer, “This question should be asked face to face. But if we meet up, then there’d be no need to say it.”
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