“Congratulations to you both. Wishing you a happy marriage.”
Holding the freshly issued marriage certificate, Yu Li still felt a little dazed.
Meanwhile, her newlywed husband—now officially certified for the job—glanced at his wristwatch for the eighth time.
“I have a flight to catch in twenty minutes. Two things—I’ll keep it brief.”
The man before her had flawless, handsome features and an air of refined nobility. Every gesture he made exuded the commanding presence of someone in power.
Who would dare imagine that just yesterday, Yu Li had watched him on the television screen during an international press conference broadcast on the national news—confident and commanding, effortlessly silencing those foreign journalists who deliberately stirred up trouble and manipulated public opinion with just a few words.
He was hailed as the youngest and most accomplished press spokesperson in the history of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—
Qi Chenyan.
And now, this promising spokesperson stood right beside her, his name appearing alongside hers on the same little red booklet.
Yu Li snapped back to her senses. “Go ahead.”
“Because of the special nature of my work, and to protect your privacy, we’ll keep our marriage confidential. We won’t make your identity public. Can you accept that?”
Qi Chenyan’s current position meant that his every word and action represented the image of the entire nation.
Once his wife was exposed, Yu Li’s every word and deed would come under the scrutiny of countless cameras.
If it weren’t for the child in her belly, Yu Li wouldn’t have wanted to get married at all.
Because she was deeply and clearly aware of the gap between herself and Qi Chenyan.
So instead of getting angry at Qi Chenyan’s request, Yu Li wholeheartedly agreed. “No problem.”
“Also—”
Qi Chenyan took out a black card.
“My work requires frequent travel, flying all over the world. I’m afraid I won’t have the energy to take care of you and the child.”
“This card has no limit. Buy whatever you want—no need to save money on my account.”
Yu Li accepted the black card without any hesitation.
A husband who’s never home, plus unlimited money to spend freely? If it weren’t for the circumstances, she wouldn’t have wanted to marry him in the first place!
“It’s fine. I have a very close best friend. We usually take care of each other.”
Qi Chenyan couldn’t help but take another look at the little wife beside him.
In fact, he had anticipated that she might be unwilling to accept the two conditions he proposed.
After all, he had seen plenty of women who wanted to climb into his bed. Weren’t they all after his status, hoping to become the glamorous Mrs. Qi?
He just hadn’t expected her to accept everything so calmly. Not only was she not angry, but there was even a hint of… delight in her words?
It gave the strange impression that whether he was her husband or not didn’t matter to her—as long as she could live a good life with her best friend, that was all that mattered.
“What’s wrong? Do you have any other requests? Just say them all at once. Anything that doesn’t cross my bottom line is fine.”
Qi Chenyan pulled his thoughts back, feeling that he must be overthinking it. After all, what woman wouldn’t want to marry him?
“Nothing. Where are you heading? I’ll see you off first?”
From deciding to get married to registering at the civil affairs bureau, it had taken less than two hours.
Yu Li had come in Qi Chenyan’s Crystal Black Cayenne. The car might be ordinary among the wealthy elite, but what wasn’t ordinary was its license plate—five consecutive 9s. Low-key, yet befitting his status.
At his words, Yu Li waved her hand generously. “No need. You go about your business. My best friend is going home to meet her family today, and she’ll come pick me up later.”
Meet her family?
This reminded Qi Chenyan that two days ago he had received a call from the Old Master, in which the matter of having found his biological granddaughter had also come up.
The Old Master had wanted him to come home and meet his niece, but Qi Chenyan’s schedule was packed and he couldn’t spare the time, so he hadn’t paid it much attention.
“Leave the marriage certificate with me for now. I need to report it to the Party Committee for the record.”
Yu Li was surprised, but she quickly understood—given Qi Chenyan’s official rank, he really did need to file a report.
Getting married and having to report it like some kind of secret agent.
Yu Li didn’t mind at all, and generously handed the marriage certificate over to Qi Chenyan.
“Once it’s on record, I’ll return it to you.”
But Yu Li waved her hand. “No need, you keep it. I wouldn’t use it normally anyway.”
Her indifference made Qi Chenyan—who had always stood above others, the one everyone looked up to—frown slightly, unaccustomed to it.
But before he could speak, Yu Li’s phone rang.
“My best friend is here to pick me up. Bye!”
Seeing the incoming call, Yu Li’s eyes and brows were full of smiles—far more natural than the polite distance she’d shown around Qi Chenyan.
Qi Chenyan didn’t even have time to remind her to take care of herself—she wasn’t alone now, after all—as Yu Li was already answering the phone and heading across the street without looking back.
Traffic flowed endlessly on the road. Worried that talking on the phone while walking wasn’t safe, Qi Chenyan was about to follow when his good friend Tan Mo called.
Tan Mo immediately teased him: “So? Did the young lady agree to keep the baby? Don’t you owe me some gratitude? If I hadn’t told you right away, you’d have missed your chance at fatherhood.”
“You’re back from your business trip—you’ve got to treat me to drinks, bro?”
Qi Chenyan’s gaze remained fixed on that graceful figure crossing the street, and he gave a faint “Mm.”
“I’m back. I’ll treat you to a wedding banquet.”
A loud crash came from the other end of the line—Tan Mo, in his shock, had knocked over a teacup.
“What wedding banquet? Have I been hallucinating from doing too many surgeries back to back?”
Only after seeing her cross the street safely did Qi Chenyan relax, withdrawing his gaze and taking out his car keys to unlock the door.
“I got married.”
“Lili, over here, over here!”
Her best friend Qi Xi had been leaning out of the car window waving, and seeing Yu Li jog toward her, quickly got out of the car.
“My darling, you can’t run right now! You’ve got one tucked in your belly—did you forget?”
Yu Li smiled. She really had forgotten.
“No need to be so nervous, I don’t feel anything at all. I heard that in early pregnancy there’s terrible morning sickness, but I’ve had none. Looks like this baby is very well-behaved and knows not to torment its mother.”
Sitting in the car, Yu Li smiled as she touched her still-flat belly, though her eyes revealed a touching maternal warmth.
Qi Xi was a little worried. “Lili, do you really want to keep this baby? But don’t worry—even though being a single mother will be hard, you’ve got me by your side.”
“The baby may be born without a father, but he’ll have two mothers—he’ll be the happiest baby in the world!”
To her surprise, Yu Li blinked and said, “Not a single mother—there is a father. I went and got the marriage certificate with the baby’s dad today. It was all so rushed, I forgot to tell you.”
“A dad is great—wait, what did you say? You found that heartless man? No wait—you got the marriage certificate with him?”
“What’s his name? What does he do for work? What does he look like? Does he have any bad habits? What’s his family background like?”
Qi Xi excitedly grabbed Yu Li’s shoulders and shook her. “Baby, how could you go all the way with some random man without discussing it with me first! That heartless jerk got such a huge bargain—so infuriating!”