It was already ten o’clock when they walked out of the Civil Affairs Bureau. Looking at the red booklet in her hand, An Ning felt a bit dazed.
She had never imagined that something like marriage could happen to her.
Her earliest memories were of the orphanage.
Back then, she spent each day wavering between hope and disappointment—hoping someone would adopt her and give her a home, only to hold back tears and return to the classroom when she wasn’t chosen.
Even after being adopted by the An family, the way her adoptive parents interacted made her feel that if marriage was nothing but trivial conflicts, it would be better not to marry at all.
If it weren’t for the fact that marriage was the only way to transfer her household registration, An Ning wouldn’t have considered it.
Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, she met Lu Qingze.
Even more unexpectedly, he agreed to her absurd proposal.
And from this moment on, he and she had become the closest people in the world to each other, aside from family.
An Ning lowered her head again to look at the photo in the marriage certificate.
In the photo, both of them wore white shirts and had identical faint smiles.
Remembering the teasing from the staff, who said they were the most attractive young couple he had handled in all his years of work, An Ning couldn’t help but look up at Lu Qingze.
Lu Qingze was also looking at An Ning.
Her long, straight black hair cascaded softly, accentuating her jade-like fair skin.
Beneath her delicate willow-leaf eyebrows were eyes that were both charming and coquettish when she smiled, yet clear and serene when she wasn’t smiling.
Looking into those eyes, one could almost see her pure and transparent heart, making others naturally feel calm along with her.
Below the corner of her left eye was a tiny cinnabar mole, so small it could only be seen when standing right in front of her.
As she smiled, the mole traced a faint arc, like a leaf falling from a willow tree, drifting gently into his heart.
He had never been interested in romantic love between men and women.
But if that person was An Ning, it seemed like it might not be such a bad thing after all.
Lu Qingze took a step forward with a smile. “Mrs. Lu, please take care of me for the rest of our lives!”
Marrying him and being called “Mrs. Lu” by him seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
Yet hearing it still made An Ning feel overwhelmingly shy.
When she looked up again, she saw Lu Qingze’s smiling face.
His handsome face suddenly drew close, and An Ning instinctively took a step back.
Her back pressed against the car door.
And the man leaned in, planting a kiss at the corner of her lips.
Her heart skipped a beat.
The next moment, it began pounding wildly.
But the man didn’t take any further action.
When An Ning opened her eyes, she saw Lu Qingze smiling as he gently ruffled her hair. “Let’s go, time to go home!”
In the driver’s seat, Ji Cheng only dared to look up when he heard the sound of the car door opening.
Remembering the scene he had just witnessed, he could only think to himself, “Boss is amazing.”
So many wealthy and refined young women in Didu dreamed of getting close to Young Master Lu.
The elders of the Lu family had also racked their brains scheming about his marriage, thinking they could control him through it.
These people probably never imagined in their wildest dreams that all their thousands of calculations would come to nothing, right?
Just thinking about it made Ji Cheng want to laugh up at the sky.
When he looked up again, he met Lu Qingze’s casual glance in the rearview mirror.
Remembering his own position, Ji Cheng’s face stiffened slightly as he said with a smile, “An Ning, Qingze, congratulations on your marriage!”
“Thank you, Second Uncle!”
An Ning’s thanks made Ji Cheng’s heart tremble.
With a press of the accelerator, the Huiteng shot out of the Civil Affairs Bureau like an arrow.
Seeing that the car wasn’t heading toward Jiayu Haoyuan, An Ning turned to look at Lu Qingze. “Where do you live? Are we going to your place now?”
Lu Qingze was taken aback.
Ji Cheng quickly spoke up, “Qingze, your second uncle didn’t know what to give you as a wedding gift, so consider the villa at Jiayu Haoyuan as your wedding home. Don’t… think it’s too little!”
???
So generous?
An Ning instinctively glanced at Lu Qingze and saw that he showed no sign of embarrassment, nodding calmly. “Thank you, Second Uncle.”
“Don’t mention it, don’t mention it!”
Ji Cheng nodded, noticing no dissatisfaction in the boss’s eyes and knowing he had gambled correctly.
Lu Qingze turned to An Ning and took her hand. “Even though we won’t have a wedding, we can’t skip the wedding rings, right? What, you don’t even have that little expectation of me?”
Wedding rings?
The 100,000 he gave to her adoptive parents last night was already beyond the plan.
If they bought wedding rings now, she would owe him even more.
Besides, his grandmother’s surgery would cost who knows how much.
“No wedding rings!”
An Ning squeezed Lu Qingze’s hand back, looking into his eyes. “Since we’re not having a wedding anyway, things like wedding rings and dresses don’t matter. Really, there’s no need to buy them!”
The girl’s gaze was clear, making her true thoughts easy to read.
Lu Qingze felt a stir in his heart. “Alright.”
Sure enough, he saw her secretly let out a sigh of relief.
“An’an…”
When Lu Qingze spoke again, An Ning looked over.
The man said solemnly, “Shall we set some ground rules?”
???
An Ning was stunned.
Lu Qingze had already wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “First, no matter when, you are not allowed to let yourself be wronged. If someone makes you feel wronged, tell me immediately. Can you do that?”
An Ning remained silent.
Lu Qingze reached out and ruffled her hair. “From this moment on, we are each other’s closest person in this world. Since we’re husband and wife, we should be honest with each other. Don’t you think so?”
“I think Mr. Lu is right!”
With a charming smile, An Ning nodded. “Okay, I agree. What else?”
“From now on, your money and your person are your own. But my money and my person are yours. Buy whatever you want.”
Lu Qingze placed a bank card in An Ning’s palm.
“How much is in here?”
An Ning glanced at the bank card and looked up at Lu Qingze.
Lu Qingze was momentarily speechless.
He instinctively looked at Ji Cheng, who wore an expression of helplessness, as if saying: On the surface, I’m your second uncle; behind the scenes, I’m your assistant. As your second uncle, I can’t possibly know my nephew’s private savings, and as your assistant, I certainly wouldn’t dare know my boss’s account balance!
Although he didn’t know the exact amount, there should be at least a few hundred million, right?
Lu Qingze paused. “500,000.”
“Then how much is your monthly salary?”
An Ning asked again, not waiting for Lu Qingze to answer before continuing, “My salary is 6,500. After deducting social security and housing fund, plus my part-time jobs, I take home around 10,000 a month.”
Lu Qingze recalled a pop-up window that had appeared on his computer one day.
In the dating market, the most suitable salary ratio between men and women was said to be 2.5.
In other words, when a man’s salary was 2.5 times that of a woman’s, the success rate of matchmaking was the highest.
The woman believes the man has the ability to support the family, and the man also feels they can work hard together.
“Thirty thousand.”
Lu Qingze blurted out.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
From the driver’s seat, Ji Cheng couldn’t help but cough upon hearing this answer.
Ignoring that jarring cough, Lu Qingze looked at An Ning, “However, my salary increases a bit every year-end. Don’t worry, I won’t let you suffer hardships with me.”
Suffer hardships?
What exactly is your misunderstanding of the phrase “suffer hardships”?
An Ning snapped out of her shock, unable to hide her excitement, “You earn thirty thousand, I earn ten thousand. Together, that’s forty thousand a month.”
“Darling, forty thousand—we don’t have to pay rent, and cooking doesn’t cost much. At the very least, we can save thirty thousand a month.”
“Saving thirty thousand a month means three hundred and sixty thousand a year.”
Just thinking about that number made her so excited she could jump. An Ning turned to look at Ji Cheng, “Second Uncle, you work in Didu, right? What’s the approximate housing price in Didu?”
Ji Cheng was still pondering how to answer appropriately.
After all, the price difference between the first ring and the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth rings is quite significant.
Just then, Lu Qingze stared intently at An Ning, “An’an, what did you just… call me?”