“Something this huge, and you actually kept it hidden the whole time?”
After hearing Zhu Shiyu’s brief summary, Zhu Jinxiao instantly took a deep breath, so furious she was practically blowing smoke, and immediately started hunting around for her phone.
“Lu Ge, that scumbag! I’m definitely going to settle the score with him. I’ll expose all his disgusting deeds in the class group chat so he can never lift his head again for the rest of his life…”
“Xiaoxiao, it’s all in the past, don’t.” Zhu Shiyu pressed down on her hand to stop her. “After all, we’ve been friends for so many years.”
“After all that, you still treat him as a friend?!” Zhu Jinxiao demanded in agitation.
“Mm.” Zhu Shiyu nodded calmly. “Even if the deal falls through, the basic decency remains.”
“Just consider it leaving a shred of dignity for all our years of friendship.”
“……” Zhu Jinxiao fell silent for a moment, unable to resist mentally giving her a thumbs-up.
“Little Yu, I really don’t know whether to praise you or scold you.”
She finally calmed down. After thoroughly digesting the matter, she remembered the current situation.
“Then what is the deal with this guy you’re marrying now?”
“Don’t tell me you were so discouraged by your family rushing you that you completely buckled under the pressure, gave up, and just randomly found someone to marry.” Toward the end, Zhu Jinxiao was practically gnashing her teeth. She looked entirely ready to personally charge out to the front lines and carve out a path to freedom for Zhu Shiyu if her cousin was too afraid to act.
“No,” Zhu Shiyu shook her head. Thinking it over carefully, she said, “He’s a very good person.”
“Oh? Like what?” Zhu Jinxiao crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.
Zhu Shiyu gave a general rundown of Meng Siyi’s situation, including their interactions from the time they met until now. Zhu Jinxiao’s defenses didn’t drop; she remained highly skeptical.
“With such great qualifications, why doesn’t he have a girlfriend yet? Is it because he’s not much to look at, so he’s trying to poach a fresh flower like you?”
Zhu Shiyu hesitated for a second, then took out her phone and pulled up the photo her elder aunt had sent her before their first meeting.
Zhu Jinxiao leaned in for a look, her eyes widening.
“Holy… crap…” It took a good long while before she could squeeze those two words out of her mouth.
“Looking like that and still going on blind dates? Now I’m even more convinced there’s something wrong with him.”
“Plus, his attitude is way too cooperative. It’s like he has no temper at all—getting married whenever you say so.”
“When things are this abnormal, there’s definitely a catch,” Zhu Jinxiao declared decisively.
“I talked to him about this before, and he said…” Zhu Shiyu frowned, but still found it reasonable, “…he’s reached the age to get married.”
“And that my qualifications in every aspect are very suitable.”
“I still think it’s weird.” Zhu Jinxiao rested her chin on her fist, wearing a solemn expression of deep thought.
“Little Yu, you said you guys have known each other and dated for this long, but you’ve only held hands once, right?” She launched into a wave of rational analysis, peeling back the layers of the dating process Zhu Shiyu had just described.
“Have you looked into his past relationship history?”
Zhu Shiyu froze. “No…”
“Actually, we haven’t talked much about personal matters.”
“See? There’s the problem.”
“You are attempting to step into marriage with a man you know absolutely nothing about aside from his surface appearance.”
“What if he’s gay? Do you know how huge the number of ‘beards’—wives of gay men—is in China right now?”
“But Elder Aunt works in the same hospital as him and has basically checked him out. There shouldn’t be any issues…” Zhu Shiyu looked hesitant.
“Most people are completely different privately than they are in front of their coworkers. That’s why there’s a saying: ‘You can know a person’s face, but not their heart.'”
“But…” Zhu Shiyu was about to say more, but Zhu Jinxiao interrupted her with a grand wave of her hand.
“Leave this to me for now. I promise to investigate this guy thoroughly before I can feel at ease letting you marry him.”
Zhu Jinxiao and Zhu Shiyu were cousins. Born in the same year, they grew up together, went to school together, and were lucky enough to be placed in the same class every single time until they were separated in their second year of high school due to the arts and sciences division.
Jinxiao went to a local college, obeying her family’s wishes to major in accounting. Who knew that upon graduation, she wouldn’t like it one bit? She completely switched fields and joined a foreign trade company, handling export businesses.
As it turned out, not long before the New Year, the company shifted all its operations back to its home country. The Chinese branch was dissolved, and every employee found themselves unemployed after receiving a handsome severance package.
Zhu Jinxiao simply didn’t bother looking for another job and started freelancing.
Over the past few years, she had been running a beauty blogger account online. Her follower count wasn’t huge, and she uploaded videos irregularly. Relying on view counts and meager advertising fees, she could barely support herself.
Coming back this time, she had also packed up all her belongings from over there, planning to stay at home temporarily with no plans to head out.
The two had grown up together, yet their personalities and looks were worlds apart.
At first glance, Zhu Shiyu looked docile and well-behaved, her almond eyes sweet and lovely. In reality, her personality was more of a tomboy’s—resolute and unwilling to admit defeat. Decisions she made were incredibly difficult to alter.
Zhu Jinxiao, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Outwardly, she was a dazzling, glamorous beauty who looked highly aggressive, but deep down, she was very obedient. On major matters, she would follow her family’s opinions. If she really couldn’t win an argument, she would just sit there and cry. Her mother had a soft heart; the moment she saw her cry, everything became negotiable again.
This was the biggest difference between Zhu Shiyu and Zhu Jinxiao.
Shiyu couldn’t learn to yield, and she rarely cried in front of others. When faced with matters she couldn’t handle, she would usually stay silent and try to figure out a solution on her own. If she truly couldn’t fix it, she wouldn’t step back either—she would just stubbornly shoulder it, watching the situation deteriorate.
That was why her former company boss always told her that while her professionalism was flawless, if she could just be a bit more tactful and smooth, her career development space would be much larger.
And precisely because of this, her relationship with her family had grown increasingly stiff over the years. The conflicts piled up, unresolved, eventually turning into a ticking time bomb just waiting to completely explode.
Zhu Jinxiao was great at socializing and had quite a few classmates and friends locally. Being the impatient type, it only took her two days to dig up some intel, and she immediately ran over to tell her.
At that time, Zhu Shiyu was selecting wedding invitation styles. Meng Siyi had sent her several sets of pictures from the wedding planning company. Zhu Shiyu had opened them and taken a cursory glance but hadn’t replied to his message yet.
“Little Yu, my college bestie’s cousin’s classmate works as a nurse at that hospital, and just happens to be in the orthopedics department! I asked around carefully, and guess what I found?”
Zhu Jinxiao pushed the door open, breezed in like a whirlwind, sat down in front of her, and intentionally kept her in suspense.
“What is it?” Zhu Shiyu cooperatively lifted her head, temporarily closing her phone screen and placing it on the table.
“Rumor has it… this Dr. Meng previously had a girlfriend. It seems she was even his first love,” Zhu Jinxiao leaned forward, lowering her voice.
“Oh?” Zhu Shiyu widened her eyes slightly, assuming a listening posture.
Sure enough, Zhu Jinxiao immediately got fired up and spilled the beans.
“That girl was his patient. I heard she had a very serious illness at the time, practically a terminal one. But somehow, she was miraculously cured. She was discharged a couple of years ago, and since then, no one heard any news of her or saw her appear at the hospital.” At this point, Zhu Jinxiao took a tactical pause before dropping the bombshell.
“But in the first half of this year, word suddenly spread that she got married. The wedding invitation was even delivered to the hospital, seemingly sent specifically to Meng Siyi—during a lunch break once, he accidentally left it on his desk, and quite a few people who went into his office saw it.”
“There’s a little nurse in their department who kept in touch with that girl, which is why they know it so clearly. The incident happened so long ago that not many people know the detailed inside story. But because it’s Meng Siyi’s one and only scandal, whenever people gossip about him in private, someone always brings it up, flipping it out to dissect over and over again.”
Speaking of this, Zhu Jinxiao revealed an expression of absolute marvel, her tone full of disbelief: “Can you believe it? This Dr. Meng didn’t date a single time from high school all the way through college graduation! If it weren’t for his college male dormmates confirming it, I absolutely wouldn’t have believed it. Who would’ve thought he was so innocent and deeply affectionate?”
“Wait…” Zhu Shiyu was a bit dizzy from being bombarded with such dense information. She raised a hand in a ‘time-out’ gesture.
“You’re saying he had a girlfriend before, who was apparently his first love, and then she married someone else this year?”
“Yep.” Zhu Jinxiao nodded affirmatively.
“So you’re implying that he was heartbroken, completely discouraged, and just wanted to find a random person to step into marriage with too?”
“I never said that,” Zhu Jinxiao’s eyes rolled around. “But personally, I think it’s highly likely.”
“Look, he didn’t marry earlier and didn’t wait till later—he just had to agree to a blind date right at this exact time. Did you know? I actually dug up another piece of information this time.” She mysteriously lowered her head.
“A lot of people tried to introduce matches to this Dr. Meng before, but he rejected every single one without exception, using the excuse that he didn’t have thoughts in that direction right now.”
“Yet the moment Elder Aunt went over to propose it, he agreed to meet. Isn’t this timing just a little too coincidental?”
“Mm…” Zhu Shiyu fell into thought and nodded, accepting her reasoning.
“Then it seems he’s quite pitiful,” she murmured softly after a moment.
Zhu Jinxiao: “?”
“Sis! Shouldn’t you be pulling out while you still can?! He has someone else in his heart! What do we need a man like that for?!” Zhu Jinxiao scolded, exasperated by her failure to meet expectations.
“But it’s not like my motives for marrying him are purely romantic either,” Zhu Shiyu said. “At this stage, he is my safe harbor, a place where I can temporarily catch my breath. He represents constraint, but also freedom.”
“I don’t dislike him; in fact, I even harbor a sliver of fondness for him, but right now, I don’t love him either. In a sense, if that’s the case, things between us are entirely fair.”
“His ex is already in the past tense. His desire to marry me and genuinely build a relationship is real. And so is mine. Therefore, this doesn’t affect anything.”
“Shiyu, you’re insane…” Zhu Jinxiao stared at her blankly, shaking her head, utterly astounded and in disbelief.
To someone like Zhu Jinxiao—where love always reigned supreme and romance lasted until death—any marriage that didn’t begin because of love was merely an alternative form of a slow death.
“Are you just triggered because of Lu Ge? Give yourself some more time to calm down. I’ll drag him over here to kneel in front of you and beg for mercy.”
“I am very calm right now,” Zhu Shiyu shook her head peacefully. “But it does have a little bit to do with Lu Ge.”
“Thanks to the years I spent with him, I finally realized that I am just not suited for dating. If getting married can put my parents at ease and solve the majority of the problems in my current life, I think it might bring me more happiness than dating ever could.”
“Oh, right, you came at the perfect time. Meng Siyi just sent me a few invitation styles. Have a look and see which one is better.” Zhu Shiyu picked her phone back up, opening the pictures inside for Zhu Jinxiao to help consult on.
“………” Zhu Jinxiao’s eyes bugged out, speechless. A moment later, she grabbed her bag, aggressively slung it over her shoulder, and stood up. Looking down at her from above, a cold harrumph escaped her nose.
“Zhu Shiyu, you are hopelessly incurable. I’m leaving. Contact me again on your wedding day.”
“Ah, I originally wanted to set a time for you and Meng Siyi to have a meal together. After all, as my best friend and my future partner, you two have to meet eventually.”
“What time, which day, and where?” Zhu Jinxiao demanded in rapid-fire succession, dropping her bag and plopping right back into her seat without changing her expression.
“I am free anytime.”
Translator’s Anecdote: Every girl needs a bestie like Zhu Jinxiao: ready to ruin a cheating ex’s life, investigate a new fiancé like the FBI, and dramatically storm out—only to sit right back down the second free food and gossip are involved! 🕵️♀️🍱