“Please come in, Miss Wen.”
The voice was so deep it seemed to emerge from an ice cellar, sending shivers down Wen Mingzhu’s spine.
Turning to look at the man’s face, he was indeed handsome, yet his coldness was like that of a ghostly Yama.
However, Wen Mingzhu was no pushover.
Gathering her spirits, she followed Lu Jun into a small reception room with poise.
When it came to dealing with men and capturing their hearts, from middle school to university, she had always been the belle of the ball, a perfect fairy in the eyes of men, the darling chased and admired by all.
What did a man’s coolness matter when it could not withstand a woman’s gentle charm?
A perfectly icy smile was fixed at the corner of her mouth like a pearl.
——”The Late Hours of a Grand Wedding”——
Manman felt very satisfied.
She never asked for much; after enduring many hardships, she understood that even a bit of happiness should be tightly grasped in the palm of her hand.
All it took was a turn of her head for Jiang Yan to see the soft, cloud-like smile beneath her large glasses; her smile was reflected in his dark, shining pupils, lighting up his chest with delight, making his hormones surge and his heart thud with excitement.
People in love were probably like them.
The sky, the clouds, the earth—everything they could see took on the colors of that person, saturated with joy in a kaleidoscope of hues.
The two of them sat on a small flower bed on the outskirts of the university, facing the busy traffic on the main street, with cars zooming by one after another.
In Imperial City, traffic was dense with constant comings and goings—a traffic jam was nothing unusual.
Seeing a camouflage green jeep enter the university gate, Manman suddenly had a thought and her lips curled into a sly smile.
She asked softly, “I heard people say that in your job, you can’t come home for most of the year, but you do get leave to visit your family, right?”
Sensing that the beauty was looking for an opportunity to understand more about him, Jiang Yan was overjoyed, answering earnestly and meticulously, “Yes.
Being married to one of us requires a lot of patience.”
“Is it dangerous?”
The focus of their conversation shifted to a more serious topic.
His eyebrows were firm; his gaze resolute as his teasing tone became low and powerful, “Personally, I believe that protecting our country is the responsibility of every Chinese person.
We’ve simply made this mission our profession.
When someone tries to invade our homeland, everyone should stand up to defend the nation; there’s no such thing as danger or no danger.”
Her legs, which had been swinging leisurely, stopped.
The man before her was no child, but a mature man, his steady and charming presence wafting towards her and causing a fine layer of sweat on the tip of her nose.
She almost believed that his previous teasing demeanor was all an act.
Her heart thumped wildly.
The delicate arch of her eyebrows lifted, “Do you always talk to girls like this?”
A travesty!
With a displeased twitch of his mouth, he took the matter seriously, his eyes suddenly glaring fiercely at her, “Unless it’s a girl I like, I can’t even be bothered to talk to her.”
Her lips slightly pursed, she wore an ambiguous smile.
“Manman!” he “got angry,” his handsome face darkening, “you can doubt anything about me, but don’t ever doubt me on this.”
Was she doubting him?
He was playing with her, and she was just playing back.
But such things should be done in moderation.
She gave a small nod, “I believe you.”
The crafty lift in his brows showed that he knew very well she was doing it on purpose as well, cradling her face in his hands, he suddenly planted a kiss on her forehead.
A man must never miss an opportunity to catch his prey within the target’s circle.
Jiang Yan understood this principle all too well.
She was kissed!
Manman’s heart skipped wildly, feeling somewhat dizzy, possibly because it seemed so unreal.
This was the first time in her life she had been kissed by a man.
Seeing the little woman in his arms looking utterly dazed, his pride as a man swelled tremendously with satisfaction.
He wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders and easily pulled her into his embrace.
Who would have thought that suddenly a voice would call out, “Jiang Yan!”
His fingers tensed sharply on her delicate shoulders.
The increased pressure was painful.
Following his gaze, she saw a silver sedan parked at the curb, and a woman in her thirties or forties wearing glasses stepped out from the driver’s seat, dressed in a simple and plain shirt and work pants.
As she wondered, she heard his firm voice whispering in her ear, “Don’t be afraid, that’s my second sister, she might have come to see me.
My second sister’s name has the character for ‘Mei,’ so just call her Sister Mei.”
If she is his second sister, doesn’t that make her a future sister-in-law?
He told her not to be nervous, but how could she possibly not be?
Adjusting her glasses, she and he leaped down from the raised garden bed’s seating step, and while coming down, she also straightened her clothes.
Jiang Mei watched her brother approach with a woman’s shoulder in his grasp, continually fidgeting with the delicate rimless glasses on the bridge of her nose, her eyes filled with surprise.
She had been driving by when her five- or six-year-old son suddenly exclaimed, “Mommy, it’s Uncle, Uncle’s hugging a woman.” She didn’t believe it at first, thinking her son might have been mistaken, but a glance confirmed her brother was indeed planting a kiss on a stranger’s forehead.
Startled, she hit the brakes hard, reversed, then got out of the car for a closer look, indeed it was her brother, before she dared to call out.
Nowadays, society has become more open-minded, and it is not unusual to see young men and women being intimate on the streets, but Jiang Mei knew that her brother was a bona fide monk.
Before, under their mother’s orders, she had introduced to her brother countless candidates with good family backgrounds, attractive appearances, and excellent jobs—a whole host of fine young women and female officials—but her brother, with sky-high standards, hadn’t taken an interest in any of them, leaving her to offend all her friends in the process.
But she understood; aside from their elder brother, they had only this younger brother at home, and the whole family cherished him.
Her five- or six-year-old son, Little Dongzi, also slipped out of the car, curiously eyeing his uncle’s woman with even more interest.
Lifting the glasses on his little nose that were just like his mother’s, he pursed his lips: “This sister isn’t as pretty as the one Mommy introduced last time.”
Manman felt awkward: Children tend to speak their minds without filters, and she didn’t mind.
But this little imp appeared to be her second sister’s child, and she felt a slight blow to her ego to be frowned upon by her potential nephew even before she had officially entered the family.
Compared to Manman, Jiang Mei felt more embarrassed, what was her son saying?
It was fine when her friends introduced someone, and her son could say whatever he wanted, but the person in front of them was completely different; a girl she didn’t know at all.
Children could be ignorant, but adults could not.
She reached out and twisted Little Dongzi’s ear: “Apologize to the sister!”
Little Dongzi reluctantly pouted his lips, “Sorry.”
Jiang Yan, not pleased with what he heard, held his lady in one hand and began lecturing his little nephew on the need to respect his future aunt, “You’re just a few years old, what do you know about what makes a woman beautiful?”
“What makes someone beautiful?” Little Dongzi scrunched his nose, ready to argue with his uncle.
“Beauty is about what’s inside.”