As the saying goes, ideals are plump, but reality is skinny.
There was definitely some truth to that phrase.
Never mind the question of when Chu Yuan would finally get to use matching couple wallpapers with her Sister Yan, first and foremost, she didn’t even have the chance to spend time with Yan Dai.
The moment her counterpart left for Kunming for work, she seemed to have completely thrown herself into her career, severing all emotional distractions. She had utterly forgotten that she still had a fiancée named Chu Yuan waiting for her back in Beijing.
Did Sister Yan really not miss her even a single bit?
Anyway, Chu Yuan refused to believe that.
Back at the family dinner, when both families brought up the marriage between the two of them, Yan Dai hadn’t shown the slightest hint of reluctance. Not only that, but she had been extremely cooperative throughout the entire process.
So, Chu Yuan simply assumed that Yan Dai liked her at least a little bit.
If Sister Yan didn’t feel anything for her at all, why would she agree so readily?
After all, if the Yan Corporation wanted to secure a powerful high-society marriage alliance, the Chu family wasn’t their only option.
If Yan Dai truly disliked her, she could have easily chosen someone else.
Besides, a normal person wouldn’t just pick a random stranger and muddle through a marriage, right? At the very least, Chu Yuan herself wouldn’t be willing to do that. If that were really the case, it would be far too unfair to herself, and it wouldn’t be fair to her fiancée either.
Yet up until now, Chu Yuan really hadn’t managed to find a single trace of evidence proving that Sister Yan liked her.
How frustrating.
Love truly was a troublesome thing.
Ever since the two of them had added each other on WeChat, Chu Yuan had tried chatting with Yan Dai.
It was just that Chu Yuan was always the one to initiate, and Yan Dai’s replies were always sparse and brief.
If Chu Yuan weren’t so deeply infatuated with Yan Dai right now, a person with that style of texting would have probably been blacklisted long ago.
The eldest young lady of the Chu family had lived for so many years, yet she had never met anyone who treated her with such cold indifference.
But who could blame her when the person on the other end was Yan Dai?
Chu Yuan naturally brainwashed herself into believing that Sister Yan was simply too busy with her business trip.
After a few attempts at chatting didn’t go very smoothly, Chu Yuan tactfully stopped disturbing her work so frequently.
Still, she couldn’t stop herself from constantly thinking about her.
Consequently, Chu Yuan had recently taken up a new hobby, studying MBTI, horoscopes, birth charts… in short, she had fully immersed herself in anything and everything related to metaphysics.
In addition to the things listed above, Chu Yuan had also become obsessed with Tarot cards.
Of course, for a Tarot novice like her, wanting to master Tarot cards in such a short period of time was practically a pipe dream.
Therefore, she basically just looked for people online who were proficient in Tarot to do readings for her.
While Yan Dai was away on her business trip in Yunnan, Chu Yuan distracted herself with these little metaphysical gadgets.
It was absolutely perfect.
Thus, over the next few days, Ji Xiran, Xue Qinghuan, and her other close friends all witnessed a highly bizarre sight:
Everyone else was living it up at Wink Bar, drinking, singing, playing board games, and making new friends.
Ordinarily, Chu Yuan would be the most energetic person in this kind of setting, the one best at hyping up the atmosphere. Instead, she was now curled up in a corner, completely detached from their revelry.
Something was wrong. This was seriously bizarre!
Several young women at the venue wanted to get to know Chu Yuan, but seeing how she lacked even a shred of interest in the party, none of them could find a good opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Ji Xiran called out to her, “Chu Yuan, come over and play with us.”
In response, she only heard Chu Yuan muttering words that Ji Xiran couldn’t understand at all.
Phrases like “Two of Cups,” “Ten of Cups,” “The Sun,” and “Pentacles” kept slipping from her lips.
Ji Xiran was a staunch materialist. She didn’t believe in ghosts, gods, or anything of the sort, so she looked at her with a face full of speechlessness. “What kind of nonsense are you babbling about over there?”
“What do you mean babbling? The Tarot master already said that the romantic bond between her and me is incredibly strong! Although the process of realizing our mutual feelings might be a bit arduous and full of twists and turns, thankfully, our ultimate outcome is good,” Chu Yuan said, pulling out a card. “See this ‘Ten of Pentacles’? It signifies that we are a perfect match in terms of social status, with multiple generations under one roof and harmonious family relations.”
Ji Xiran replied, “Aren’t people who believe in this stuff crazy?”
Chu Yuan said with a straight face, “You are questioning me, questioning Tarot, and questioning destiny.”
Ji Xiran: ?
She was left utterly speechless, or rather, completely exasperated.
Chu Yuan added, “Actually, it’s not just the Tarot saying our marriage will be very happy. Our astrological synastry chart also indicates that we…”
“Stop,” Ji Xiran interrupted her. “Since when did you learn how to calculate this stuff?”
“I told you, I found a master to calculate it for me. I’ve consulted about…” Chu Yuan counted on her fingers, “Seven, eight, ten… forget it, I can’t count them all at once. Anyway, I spent over twenty thousand yuan to get our synastry explained crystal clear. Not only that, our zodiac signs, one is an earth sign…”
Ji Xiran rolled her eyes, wearing an expression that clearly said ‘you’re a hopeless cause.’ She didn’t bother listening any further and hurriedly slipped away, running back to the crowd of women to happily play with the other girls.
If she actually sat through Chu Yuan’s sharing of zodiac synastry, she might lose her own mind too.
Xue Qinghuan, on the other hand, had a face full of excitement, as if she had just witnessed her favorite ship sailing. She was more than willing to play along with Chu Yuan’s “playing house” routine. After listening to the whole explanation, she couldn’t help but gossip, “Hey, do you really like her that much? You guys have only met once.”
Chu Yuan tapped the Tarot card. “That’s why the heavens say we are a match made in heaven.”
Xue Qinghuan asked, “Then what did the Tarot master mean by saying your process would be rather bumpy?”
The smile on Chu Yuan’s face froze for a second, but it quickly turned bright and cheerful again. “That’s no big deal. It won’t affect us too much anyway, as long as the ending is good.”
Believing makes it real.
Chu Yuan chose to believe only the good parts, the bad parts definitely wouldn’t happen.
If anyone wanted to sell her anxiety in advance, there was absolutely no way.
Xue Qinghuan asked, “When are you getting married?”
Chu Yuan answered, “Probably when Sister Yan comes back from her business trip.”
In truth, it seemed the two families hadn’t set a specific date yet.
However, since they were destined to get married and her partner wasn’t going to run away halfway through, it was better to tie the knot sooner rather than later.
All in all, Chu Yuan naturally felt that the sooner, the better.
She would happily cooperate with whatever it took.
“When is she coming back?”
“Uh…” Chu Yuan paused for a brief moment, suddenly unable to answer.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t asked Yan Dai this question.
But Yan Dai hadn’t given her an answer.
Chu Yuan replied vaguely, “Should be soon.”
“Then I’m rooting for you two.”
“Really?” Chu Yuan’s eyes instantly lit up.
She had just gained another fan for her and Sister Yan’s ship.
Xue Qinghuan said, “Of course. You match each other in family background and looks. I’m shipping this blindly. Besides, my good friend is getting married, so of course I wish you a happy marriage.”
“Tsk, how cheesy.” Chu Yuan shook her arms to brush off the goosebumps, then complained, “Why can’t Ji Xiran think like you?”
Ji Xiran actually didn’t ship her and Sister Yan, this was truly unacceptable.
Unforgivable.
One could only say that Ji Xiran simply had no taste.
Xue Qinghuan countered, “Isn’t that because ever since you met Yan Dai, you’ve looked like you lost your soul? You don’t even hang out or party with us anymore. You completely chose a pretty face over your friends!”
“Ah, you hit the nail on the head,” Chu Yuan teased her intentionally. She pointed a finger to the center of her chest. “Sister Yan is right here, in the dead center of my heart.”
Xue Qinghuan let out a scoff and asked, “Then what about me and Ji Xiran? Where are we?”
Chu Yuan offered a playful smile. “But my heart is just too small.”
Her heart was too small, so it could only hold one person.
Xue Qinghuan caught the implication immediately. She lunged forward, pinning Chu Yuan against the sofa and playfully pummeling her. “You really did abandon your friends for love! I didn’t wrong you at all!”
“Hahahahaha, save me!” Chu Yuan was naturally very ticklish. Being tickled by Xue Qinghuan like this made her burst into uncontrollable laughter, repeatedly begging for mercy.
Right in the middle of their playful roughhousing, Chu Yuan’s phone vibrated with an incoming WeChat message.
She immediately whipped it out to check. This had already become a reflex action for her lately.
As long as there was the slightest stir from her phone, she would impatiently take it out, hoping to see if it was a message from Yan Dai.
Usually, she would end up disappointed.
The probability of it being a message from Yan Dai was simply too low.
However, this time did not disappoint.
The message was from Yan Dai.
Yan Dai: I am returning to Beijing tomorrow.
Exactly six words.
Dragging the chat history upward, there were several messages that Chu Yuan had proactively sent her.
Chu Yuan: Sister, sister, when exactly are you coming back from your business trip?
Chu Yuan: [Cat peeking emoji]
Those had been sent hours ago, after what seemed like a brief internal struggle before she finally hit send.
Chu Yuan: I miss you. (blushing face)
And Yan Dai was only replying now.
Yet, Chu Yuan didn’t mind in the slightest that Yan Dai had taken so long to reply.
She was busy with work. Chu Yuan understood and could totally sympathize.
As long as she got a reply, she was already ecstatic.
Upon receiving the message, Chu Yuan became completely hyperactive. She pushed Xue Qinghuan away and sprang up from the couch.
Xue Qinghuan, who was almost knocked over, looked bewildered. “What are you doing? Why are you suddenly so excited?” It was as if she had taken some sort of upper.
This was honestly a bit startling.
Chu Yuan thrust her phone screen directly in front of her friend’s face, a massive grin plastered across her features.
She didn’t say a word, just kept grinning. She looked a bit like a foolish daughter from a wealthy landlord’s family.
Xue Qinghuan glanced at the screen. The first thing she noticed was the contact name. “Goddess”.
Xue Qinghuan didn’t even need to read the message content to know who Chu Yuan was chatting with.
How many people left on Earth could be called “Goddess” by Chu Yuan right now?
Xue Qinghuan said crossly, “You pushed me that hard just because of a text message?”
“I was too excited and didn’t control my strength for a second. My bad, my bad! Anyway, you didn’t fall, so be the bigger person and forgive me.” Chu Yuan scooped up her bag from the side with a giggle. “I’m leaving now. I won’t be staying to play with you guys.”
The way she said it made it sound as if she had actually participated in their partying while sitting there earlier.
Xue Qinghuan asked, “Where are you going?”
Ji Xiran, who still had another girl’s arm draped around her shoulder, noticed the commotion over here and also asked, “Chu Yuan, you’re leaving already?”
Without looking back, Chu Yuan dashed straight out of Wink Bar. “I’m heading to the flower shop right now!!!”
Xue Qinghuan: “?”
Ji Xiran: “?”
As Chu Yuan hurried toward the flower shop, she pondered. When Sister Yan returns tomorrow, what kind of flowers would be best to give her?
It seems like no matter what flower it is, it will pale in comparison to Sister Yan.
Chu Yuan climbed into her Porsche 911, which was a university graduation gift from her mother, Liang Mi.
When the time comes, I’ll drive my own car to pick up Sister Yan and bring her home. How wonderful would that be?
I want to be the very first person Sister Yan sees when she returns from her business trip.
While driving toward the flower shop, Chu Yuan sent a reply to Yan Dai.
Chu Yuan: Sister Yan, what is your specific flight number?
Chu Yuan: I’ll go to the airport to pick you up tomorrow.
Chu Yuan: [Cat peeking emoji]