Chapter 45 Jin Zhao signed the prenuptial agreement at the Civil Affairs Bureau.

When Jiang Xiliu saw the message Jin Zhao posted, she almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The thought of Jin Zhao repeatedly opening the chat window, only to casually hint at her birthday in the end, just in case she forgot, made her laugh.

A normal person would know when to stop, but the young lady wouldn't. She pretended not to understand: "Birthday? What's wrong with your birthday?"

"Do you want me to give you a birthday present?"

Jin Zhao replied with an ellipsis.

Yisile was feeling sad because the young lady was leaving, but when she looked up, she saw the young lady smiling happily at her phone.

"Young Miss, I can't bear to part with you." Yisiler, sensing the impending crisis, moved from opposite the young lady to beside her, gently leaning on her arm. "Will you come to see me again?"

Jiang Xiliu put down her phone: "Of course I will. Study hard and come back soon. I'll need you a lot in the future."

Yisiluo pushed aside her phone, which had only been lit for a second, and blinked: "Miss, don't you need me now?"

Jiang Xiliu looked down at her.

Isle is no longer the skinny child she was when we first met. With the improved nutrition over the past few months, she has grown quite a bit.

Her face was flushed, and her chubby cheeks were pressed against Jiang Xiliu's arm, like a cute apple.

She's a very likable little girl.

Jiang Xiliu wanted to pinch it, so she reached out her hand and gently rubbed it: "I need you. Let's go. The season is about to change. I'll buy you some more things before I leave."

She is never stingy with her future employees.

Of course, Yi Sile didn't covet Jiang Xiliu's things. She herself had very low material desires. As long as she could study peacefully with enough to eat and drink, she had no other pursuits.

She just didn't want the young lady to pay any attention to Jin Zhaoge.

Yi Sile only knew that Jin Zhaoge wanted to rise in rank, but she didn't know the true relationship between the young lady and Jin Zhaoge, so she still regarded Jin Zhaoge, who was equally smart in her eyes, as her rival.

Jiang Xiliu didn't notice, stuffed her phone into her bag, and continued shopping with Yi Sile in the mall after dinner.

Just before Jiang Xiliu boarded the plane, she replied to Jin Zhao's six points: "Let me adjust my time zone, and we'll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get our marriage certificate tomorrow afternoon."

She landed at night and deliberately chose to return to China today, just so she could suddenly appear on Jin Zhao's birthday.

There's a small plot point tonight. The original plot describes it in more detail: System 0777, who can't understand human speech, has been reminding her to do tasks every day for the past week.

The message "The other party is typing..." immediately appeared above the dialog box.

Jiang Xiliu spoke first: "Just reply with 'good' or 'bad,' don't send any more long posts or anything else."

If he dares to send her a message, she'll reply with "I don't want to see it" and then block him.

Jin Zhao seemed to be deliberately going against her, yet his question also seemed genuine.

Instead of choosing between the two answers, he sent a simple five-word message: "Which civil affairs bureau?"

Jin Zhao lowered his eyes and waited for a few minutes, but received no reply, so he turned off his phone.

He was discharged from the hospital a week ago, and the day after his discharge, he returned to school to resume his campus life.

His body had not fully recovered, but he could walk normally without any problems. In addition, he didn't have many courses in his senior year, and his work in the lab was coming to an end, so he adapted relatively quickly.

To celebrate the successful completion of their project and Jin Zhao's recovery and discharge from the hospital, the people in their lab chose to have a meal together on Jin Zhao's birthday.

"Jin Zhao, what are you doing standing at the door? They've called our number." It's the weekend, and all the good restaurants in the mall are calling out numbers.

Jin Zhao put his phone in his pocket: "It's here."

The lab supervisor paid for the meal, and the other senior students chipped in to buy Jin Zhao a cake.

For Jin Zhao, this was a rare and lively birthday celebration, something he almost never did before.

The moment the candles on the cake were lit, Jin Zhao made a wish amidst the cheers of the crowd, the cheerful "Happy birthday" ringing in his ears, but his mind went completely blank.

He didn't seem to crave good health, smooth sailing in everything, or success in his career.

As the song drew to a close, his only wish was to be able to smoothly register his marriage with the young lady.

He cut the first piece of cake and handed it to his mentor.

The mentor asked with a smile, "What wish did Jin Zhao make? You seem to have thought about it for a long time."

Jin Zhao had nothing to be embarrassed about saying it, since the young lady wouldn't hear anyway.

"I want to get married this year."

Everyone at the table fell silent.

In particular, his advisor had been trying to persuade Jin Zhao to stay and pursue his graduate studies, but Jin Zhao's family situation was indeed quite special. Although entering the workforce early would be a waste of his talent, it was a more pragmatic choice for him at this stage.

But marriage?

The tutor shook his head: "He's jumping from one fire pit to another."

"Why did you suddenly decide to get married?" The professor put down his teacup, his tone tinged with surprise. "I've never heard of you having a girlfriend before."

The students in the lab knew more or less about the inside story.

After news spread that Jin Zhao brought his girlfriend to class, many people on campus tried to find out her identity and which college she was from.

As they continued digging, someone suddenly recognized that Jin Zhao's girlfriend looked a lot like Jiang Xiliu, the entrepreneur who was supposed to attend the school anniversary awards ceremony last time.

Although Jiang Xiliu was unable to attend due to an accident, a photo of her flashed by during the awards ceremony.

So, in the eyes of his classmates in the lab, if Jin Zhao could really marry that person, it would be like avoiding twenty years of detours.

Jin Zhao was unaware of what his mentors and senior classmates were thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

He's obsessed with Jiang Xiliu and marriage right now, and no one can persuade him otherwise.

Although they were all students, with their professor present, the formalities at the dinner were still necessary. The round table spun around, and everyone was given a glass of baijiu (Chinese liquor). The students took turns rising to toast their professor according to their seniority.

Just two minutes after the toasting ceremony ended, the mentor called Jin Zhao to his side and earnestly advised him.

"Marriage is not as good as pursuing a master's degree..."

"Ten benefits of pursuing a master's degree..."

"You read after me! I certainly won't let you down!"

The remaining bottle of liquor was placed next to the mentor, who then refilled Jin Zhao's glass.

Jin Zhao listened silently.

It was quite late when the dinner party ended.

Several students got together and shared a ride back to school. There was a faint smell of alcohol in the car. Everyone was a little tired, and no one said much.

The screen of Jin Zhao's phone lit up and then went dark.

There has still been no reply.

The ride-hailing car was parked at the school gate.

The autumn wind was already quite cold, and the group couldn't help but hunch their shoulders after getting off the bus.

The dormitories for undergraduates and graduate students are located on the east and west sides of the school, not very close together. The senior students turned to look at Jin Zhao; his steps were steady, and his eyes were clear, showing no signs of being drunk.

"Shall we go first? Are you okay on your own?" One of the senior students patted Jin Zhao's arm.

Jin Zhao shook his head: "I'm fine, goodbye, senior brother."

The senior students waved and quickly walked towards the graduate student dormitory. Jin Zhao slowly turned around, walked to the milk tea shop that was still open at the entrance, and ordered a Lemon Forest.

The moment the sour taste exploded in his mouth, Jin Zhao saw Jiang Xiliu outside the glass wall.

The lingering alcohol in his system completely clouded Jin Zhao's judgment, causing him to hallucinate.

His gaze was fixed on Jiang Xiliu outside the window, and he walked out of the milk tea shop in a strange, straight line.

Before the hallucination could react, Jin Zhao strode forward and hugged the person tightly, bending down in the darkness to kiss a hallucination he had imagined.

There was a kiss in tonight's original episode, but it should have been Jiang Xiliu forcefully holding his wrist and forcing him to cooperate.

Now, Jiang Xiliu's hand is pressed against Jin Zhao's chest, and she is being kissed so hard that she wants to lean back.

"I want to get our marriage certificate." Before Jiang Xiliu could slap him, Jin Zhao released her, his voice a little hoarse, "I want to go right now."

On the very first day he reached the legal age, he couldn't wait to marry her.

Jiang Xiliu's tongue, numb from being sucked, only tasted a hint of lemon's refreshing flavor. She had a stuffy nose from a cold and didn't smell the faint scent of alcohol on Jin Zhao.

She asked curiously, "Why didn't you say what you wanted on WeChat? Were you afraid of leaving evidence?"

Jin Zhao shook his head: "No."

He choked up a little: "You'll just laugh at me if I tell you."

The system kept incrementing the progress in its mind.

Although the process was completely wrong, the result seemed to be completely right.

Jiang Xiliu sensed that Jin Zhao was acting strangely tonight: "Then why are you bringing this up now? Aren't you afraid I'll laugh at you?"

"I'm even more afraid that you won't marry me." Jin Zhao's voice was muffled, his breath pressed against her neck, accusing her, "You didn't even tell me where the Civil Affairs Bureau is."

Jiang Xiliu:......

Jin Zhao seems to have gone mad.

The wind was still blowing, and stray strands of hair clung to Jiang Xiliu's cheeks, making her carefully styled curls a mess. She irritably ran her fingers through her hair and sniffed.

Without dwelling on what had just happened, she walked towards the school gate: "Let's talk in the car, and we can sign the prenuptial agreement then."

Jin Zhao gave a vague "hmm" and obediently followed behind Jiang Xiliu toward the car parked at the school gate.

The car door was opened, and warm air rushed out.

The car was well-heated, and Jiang Xiliu took off her heavy coat after getting in, wearing only a thin knitted sweater underneath. She took the pen she had prepared beforehand and handed the thick file bag next to the seat to Jin Zhao.

Jin Zhao closed the car door, his gaze never leaving Jiang Xiliu. He sat up straight, and when Jiang Xiliu gave him something, he took it with both hands and continued to stare at it.

Jiang Xiliu shoved the pen into his hand: "Stop looking at me, hurry up and sign."

For this prenuptial agreement, Jiang Xiliu hired three top-notch legal teams, meticulously scrutinizing every clause, from the division of daily expenses to the definition of property ownership.

—There is absolutely no way I will give Jin Zhao any chance to take a single penny from me.

Jin Zhao held the pen without moving it. He asked, "If we sign, can we get our marriage certificate?"

“Yes.” Jiang Xiliu nodded. “If you want to get your marriage certificate quickly, you’d better sign it as soon as possible.”

Jin Zhao shook his head and said, "Beautiful women all lie. You're so beautiful, I can't believe you."

Jiang Xiliu didn't know whether to laugh or be speechless: "What's wrong with you today? Never mind, what do you want me to do to get you to sign this?"

"I need to go to the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau." Jin Zhao stared at her, reaching out to grab her hand. "Tell me the address of the Civil Affairs Bureau."

Seeing his serious expression, Jiang Xiliu had no choice but to raise the barrier and instruct, "Go to the nearest Civil Affairs Bureau."

Twenty minutes later.

The reassuring and sacred Civil Affairs Bureau that Jin Zhao felt was truly before his eyes.

Jin Zhao looked carefully through the car window several times and finally confirmed that what he was seeing was not an illusion, and the hand he was holding really belonged to Jiang Xiliu.

At the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau, with the lawyer sitting in the passenger seat as a witness, Jin Zhao signed the prenuptial agreement without even looking at it.

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Author's Note: [Crying emoji] Why is it still so late today...? (Because I went home to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival early [Pity emoji]) Apologies for the continued red envelope rain [Please]