On Monday afternoon, there was a sudden knock at the door. Mianmian thought it was a delivery, but when she opened the door, she saw Jin Man standing outside.
Dressed in a sophisticated Chanel knit dress with light makeup on her face, she looked almost ten years older.
In her hand, she held a red invitation card, radiating joy from head to toe.
“Mianmian, I’m getting engaged!”
Jin Man hugged her tightly, her eyes sparkling when she let go. Her voice was cheerful, without a hint of shyness, carrying the self-assuredness of someone who had always been pampered.
“I came to give you the invitation! You have to be my bridesmaid, okay? You promised me when we were little!”
Mianmian was taken aback for a moment before taking the red card. On it, the words “Engagement Banquet” were embossed in gold, with Jin Man’s name printed alongside a boy’s name below.
She recognized the boy. He lived in the same luxury villa complex as Jin Man’s family; the two families were neighbors and had grown up together. She had seen him a few times—tall and thin, quiet, always following Jin Man around.
“Engaged? Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” Mianmian looked up at her. “Manman, we’re still young. What’s the rush?”
Jin Man pulled her inside and sat her down, slapping the invitation onto the coffee table. Her voice was a mix of sweetness, shyness, and a hint of resigned frankness:
“Mianmian, I’ll be honest with you, but you can’t scold me… That night after graduation, we couldn’t resist and secretly tried… you know… We thought it would be fine, but then my period never came. Last week, I went to get checked, and, well… we hit the jackpot on the first try.”
The cup in Mianmian’s hand nearly fell to the floor.
“What?! Have you told your parents? What did they say?”
“What could my parents say? Of course, they said a qipao wouldn’t look good if my belly gets too big, so we should hurry up and hold the ceremony. He and I are still far from the legal marriage age, so we’re just inviting close friends and family for a small engagement party. It’s just for show.”
Mianmian was speechless. It took her a few moments to find her voice again:
“Jin Man, are you crazy? You still have to go to school!”
“What school?”
Jin Man’s voice softened, carrying a hint of coquettishness as she laid out the logic of another world before Mianmian with unusual clarity.
“I’m not like you, with a sharp mind since childhood. With my grades, I’d be lucky to get into a third-tier private college. My mom has already arranged for us to at least get a bachelor’s degree, and we’ll come back to take over the family business after graduation.”
Mianmian grew anxious and grabbed her hand. “Who will take care of the baby after it’s born?”
“Of course, my parents and his parents—all four of them will be fighting over it.” Jin Man blinked, as if she didn’t understand why Mianmian was so worried. “My mom said our family can afford to raise ten kids. She told me to just focus on having them, and they’ll take care of everything.”
Mianmian didn’t know what to say. “…Your parents are that open-minded?”
Jin Man chuckled lightly. “Of course! Did you think everyone is as old-fashioned as you? My parents said having kids early or late is still having kids. I’m their only child, and they just want me to be happy and safe.”
Mianmian felt a wave of helplessness and tried to approach the topic from another angle:
“But that boy is still practically a kid himself. What if he turns out to be unreliable and runs off in the future? What will you do?”
Jin Man smiled, a smile that felt unfamiliar to Mianmian, as if she were laughing at her naivety.
“Mianmian, how many years have our families been in business together? Our parents know each other inside out—where could he possibly run off to? Besides, even without his family, can’t my parents support me and the child? Oh, let’s not talk about this anymore. Come with me to look at wedding dresses this weekend, okay? I saw a modified cheongsam that’s absolutely gorgeous…”
Mianmian thought of Jin Man’s family’s property on that bustling commercial street in the city center. Any words of caution felt rather feeble in the face of such solid financial backing.
She suddenly realized that what stood between her and Manman was no longer just the gap in their exam scores, but two completely different, almost incommunicable ways of living.
One was the thorny path she knew all too well—a path that required careful planning at every step, with no room for retreat.
The other was a life cushioned by substantial family wealth, gently lifted into the clouds, where mistakes were allowed and even willful flights of fancy were possible.
Well, everyone has their own way of living.
She had no right, nor could she use her own survival-anxiety-filled measuring stick to judge the rights and wrongs of another life.
She tucked away the invitation and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you to pick out a dress. We should probably try on the bridesmaid dress for sizing too, right?”
Jin Man immediately brightened up, linking arms with her and chattering away about the style of the engagement dress, the banquet menu, and where to go for their honeymoon. As she talked, the conversation drifted elsewhere.
“Mianmian, do you know what it feels like the first time?”
Mianmian blushed and tried to pull her arm back, but Jin Man held on tightly, unreservedly sharing her experience of tasting forbidden fruit.
Mianmian’s ears burned, the heat spreading down to her neck.
“And also, being pregnant is awful,” Jin Man continued. “I’ve been throwing up every day lately—whatever I eat, I just throw it right back up. His mom made me all kinds of soups, but I take one sip and end up vomiting everywhere. Plus, I sleep over ten hours a day and still feel exhausted. But my mom says it’ll get better after the first three months.”
Mianmian was forced to listen to a lot of pregnancy talk.
That evening, when Jiang Yu’an returned home from the hospital, Mianmian was sitting in the living room, lost in thought.
Jiang Yu’an spotted the red card at a glance.
“What’s that?”
“An invitation,” Mianmian said. “Jin Man is getting married because she’s pregnant.”
Jiang Yu’an frowned, his tone taking on a lecturing, almost parental edge:
“Just graduated from high school? Has she lost her mind? That girl also lacks some propriety in her upbringing. Mianmian, I don’t recommend you attend.”
Mianmian protested softly, “But I don’t think you have the right to interfere in someone else’s life.”
Jiang Yu’an’s voice turned cold and stern:
“As a doctor, I at least have the right to offer some objective, neutral advice. Young girls’ bodies, especially their reproductive systems, aren’t fully developed yet. Early pregnancy significantly increases the risks of conditions like gestational hypertension, anemia, premature birth, and low birth weight. It’s extremely irresponsible toward both herself and the next generation.”