After becoming a legally married couple.

The two decided to head to Jiaxing immediately.

Jiacheng is some distance from Jingnan. After calculating the time in his mind, Zhang Youye looked up at the sky again.

Even in late autumn, the sky can change inexplicably. The clear blue sky of the past disappears and turns into a gray haze caused by the raging autumn wind.

Judging by this, it looks like it's going to rain.

The autumn wind was biting, and the temperature seemed to have dropped sharply. Zhang Youye took off his coat and handed it to Shu Yi before getting into the driver's seat.

"Judging from the sky, it looks like it might rain this afternoon. Should we tell Grandpa?"

“We’ll just go for a short trip and come right back. We’ll be back tonight anyway, and I’ll drive on the way back.”

As she spoke, Shu Yi fastened her seatbelt and handed her coat back to Zhang Youye.

"I'm not cold, you put it on first, be careful not to catch a cold."

Starting the car, Zhang Youye took out his phone and turned on the navigation: "It's okay, you can take this first, put it on if you get cold. It'll take us at least two hours, you can use it as a blanket if you're sleepy, let's go now."

...

It's a two-hour drive.

It's neither long nor short.

With her mind preoccupied with the small, locked wooden box her father had left behind in her room's drawer, Shu Yi remained silent the entire way.

Seeing her deep in thought, Zhang Youye lightly pressed the accelerator and glanced at the scenery outside the window.

Outside the window, towering buildings rushed past and were left far behind.

The car was already on the highway, and according to the phone navigation, it would take another hour and a half to reach Jiaxing.

The journey was silent, with only melodious music lingering in the carriage.

Perhaps this is the unspoken understanding between the two; what was supposed to be a silent scene was unexpectedly harmonious.

There was no awkwardness between the newlyweds, only lingering smiles on their lips.

And the music that was deliberately played by Zhang Youye.

"To be intimate with you after we've gotten drunk"

Do you remember?

A heart fluttering with unbridled emotions.

Why is this the only song?

"It will make you whisper in response."

"Drunken Breeze"

"......"

The familiar melody falling beside her ears paused the fragments of memory piecing together in her mind, as Shu Yi pressed down on it.

Following the familiar melody, Shu Yi hummed a few lines, then leaned slightly towards Zhang Youye.

"You really like this song?" she asked.

Perhaps recalling the regret of not finding Shu Yi immediately, a look of melancholy crossed Zhang Youye's eyes, and he sighed inwardly.

"You sang it, that's why I like it."

"But I regret not meeting you sooner, otherwise I would definitely be your most patron."

Shu Yi always believed that Zhang Youye's claim of falling in love at first sight occurred in the ancestral home.

She naturally categorized the remark as Zhang Youye's teasing, and following his lead, Shu Yi explained with a smile.

"When I think about where I work, I think of the night when Wei Bo found me."

“That day, Wei Bo brought a lot of men in black to stop me. I thought they were bad guys who wanted to cheat me out of money or had something on my mind. The next day, when no one was paying attention, I just grabbed my bag and ran away.”

“I thought they wouldn’t be able to find me if I went back to the place where I lived when I was a child, but I didn’t expect that after only a week, Uncle Wei found me again.”

No wonder I couldn't find it no matter how hard I looked.

Recalling the frenzied state he was in when he sent people to search for Shu Yi, Zhang Youye raised the corners of his mouth and nodded with a faint smile.

"If it were me, I would have run away too."

"Right? That's why Grandpa said I was bad."

Shaking her head helplessly, the locked wooden box flashed through her mind once again, and Shu Yi changed the subject.

"Do you know what that marriage contract Uncle Qin mentioned before is?" she asked again.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Youye explained in a deep voice.

"The marriage contract is a tradition of marriage alliance between our two families that has existed since our ancestors."

“By my grandfather’s generation, he gave the marriage contract to my father for safekeeping. But you heard what your grandfather said, your family’s marriage contract may have been lost by accident.”

"Is this important to both of our families? Will it have any impact?" Shu Yi pressed.

“It should be important, after all, it was left by our ancestors, and the older generation will always care about these things.”

After a pause, Zhang Youye continued.

"As for the impact, I'm not really sure. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter whether there's a marriage contract or not, since you're already my young mistress."

"However, for our Zhang family, the fact that my father kept the marriage contract so well means he must have valued it highly."

“But our family’s marriage certificate is missing, so…” Shu Yi said with a worried expression.

"Honey, don't overthink it." Zhang Youye interrupted her, gently comforting her, "It's not that serious."

“We’ve already registered our marriage, and my dad has always been very supportive of me pursuing you. If I tell him now that we’ve registered our marriage, he’ll definitely slap his thigh and praise me for doing a great job.”

"Really? Don't try to fool me just to comfort me." Shu Yi was skeptical.

Zhang Youye glanced at her sideways, gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and held up two fingers with the other, his face serious.

"Can I swear? Our two families have always had a good relationship, so whether or not we have a marriage contract really doesn't matter."

"Don't worry, when I meet my respected parents-in-law, I will tell them that their precious daughter will definitely not be mistreated after marrying into the Zhang family."

A smile appeared on her face, and Shu Yi stopped responding.

The things left by our ancestors always have their own rules, it's not that Shuyi is being too serious.

After all, the Zhang family is a large family, and she was married into the family through a marriage alliance with the eldest son, but the status of her father and herself was so awkward.

Although she did have the blood of the Shu family flowing through her veins, unlike the brother and sister.

However, Qin Quanwei was not wrong.

Her nameless and unrecognized grandmother has not yet been moved to the Shu family ancestral cemetery.

So let's really start to discuss this.

Her father wasn't even considered a son born out of wedlock.

Thinking about it this way, Shu Yi's mind became heavy again.

Even though she and Zhang Youye are now husband and wife, he can still protect her.

But those who covet the Shu family will eventually seize this opportunity to exploit it.

If the yellowed, blank piece of paper in the locked box really is a marriage contract, then her father has truly helped her a great deal.