Early the next morning, the atmosphere at the Gu family breakfast table was a little tense. Zhu Mother shot a glance at Gu Ansheng, her expression still tight and sour.
Gu Ansheng finished eating quickly, didn’t linger, said a quick goodbye to his father, and wheeled his bicycle off to the Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Seeing him leave like that, Zhu Mother was furious. She barely ate a few bites before putting down her chopsticks and returning to her room. In the afternoon, even when her friends came to ask her out shopping, she made an excuse not to go.
The day passed quickly. The Bureau closed early, and by around five o’clock, Gu Ansheng was already waiting downstairs at Zhu Queqi’s building. At that time, Zhu Queqi was still sweeping the street outside and only finished close to six. Luckily, her home wasn’t far, and it took her just over ten minutes to walk back.
Dragging her tired body home, she saw a familiar figure standing straight and tall under the building. Didn’t they just meet yesterday? Why is he here again today? Zhu Queqi was genuinely surprised. Surely it wasn’t that his mother had already agreed to their marriage?
Before she could get close, she blurted out: “Gu Ansheng, what are you doing here?”
Gu Ansheng didn’t answer her question. His previously indifferent expression softened when he saw her like this, concern immediately showing in his eyes. He stepped forward, voice full of care: “What have you been doing? Why do you look like this?”
Following his gaze, Zhu Queqi glanced down and noticed dirt smudges on her chest, sleeves, and pants. She looked completely disheveled. Normally, she was very meticulous about her appearance, so it was no wonder Gu Ansheng asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she explained casually. “The street office gave me a job—just sweeping the streets. This dirt probably got on me while I was working.”
“How long have you been doing this?” he asked.
“Today’s my first day.”
“Stop,” Gu Ansheng said decisively, his tone leaving no room for discussion. “You can’t do this job. Just stay home and focus on getting married.”
Zhu Queqi snorted inwardly. So he was trying the same old trick—keep her from working. This time, she wouldn’t fall for it! No more running around to curry favor with his mother just to get her blessing. This time, Gu Ansheng would have to figure it out himself.
“Getting married?” she said, her tone tinged with disdain. “Who knows when you’ll manage to convince your mother?”
“I’ll see about the date tomorrow,” he said, matter-of-factly. “This week we’ll get the certificate, and we’ll aim to have the wedding next month…”
Hearing him, Zhu Queqi could hardly believe her ears. She stared at Gu Ansheng, already planning the banquet, and interrupted him in disbelief: “Your mother agreed to our marriage?”
Gu Ansheng sighed helplessly. “Queqi, why do you always worry about what my mother thinks? This is our business. Right now, your first task is to resign from the street office and tell your parents about the marriage. I think this Saturday is good—we can have both families meet at the state-run restaurant, talk over the details, and plan the wedding.”
Listening to Gu Ansheng lay out the whole plan, Zhu Queqi was stunned. Was getting married really going to be this easy?
In reality, if Zhu Queqi hadn’t interfered in the past life, they could have married long ago. In the Gu family, Gu Ansheng had always been decisive; once he made a decision, no one could change it—except Zhu Queqi.
No matter how unwilling Zhu Mother was, she couldn’t resist his determination for long. But Zhu Queqi, being cautious, always insisted that a perfect marriage required the blessing of both parents, so she would go out of her way to please Zhu Mother and never let Gu Ansheng push things through. As a result, he could only watch her run back and forth.
And Zhu Mother was clever. Ever since realizing Zhu Queqi could “tame” Gu Ansheng, she deliberately avoided him, leaving Zhu Queqi to deal with the frustration alone. Zhu Queqi swallowed her grievances silently, never complaining. Whenever Gu Ansheng asked, she always said everything was fine, which kept him in the dark, thinking her mother was at most a little sharp-tongued like with his sister-in-law.
Eventually, the back-and-forth dragged on too long. Seeing Zhu Queqi look a bit dejected, Gu Ansheng decided to take matters into his own hands—turning the uncooked rice into cooked rice, so to speak.
Back in the present, Zhu Queqi stared blankly at Gu Ansheng and blurted out: “My parents don’t even know we’re dating yet.”
Hearing this, Gu Ansheng’s face darkened.
After taking several deep breaths to calm himself, he forced his voice steady and said to Zhu Queqi: “Then we’ll tell them when we go up.”
He finished by reminding her a few more times not to go back to work, then hurried off on his bicycle.