After the weekend horseback riding, Gou An had never seen He Jinxing for more than 30 minutes a day, except for occasionally seeing each other at the doorstep or hearing the sound of a phone call downstairs in the next yard in his room...
In front of He’s house, his own car is hardly visible.
Even though they lived next door to each other, it felt like they were in two different cities and they could only communicate through WeChat.
Sometimes Gou An even wondered if He Jinxing was deliberately hiding from going home.
If it wasn't for one night when Gou Yu asked his daughter with a sullen face if the engagement party could be scheduled for next Wednesday.
"It's like they're afraid that I'll regret it if I delay it for a day. It's really funny." Gou Yu complained, "I never agreed to this."
Jiang Yuan patted her husband with an expression that said, "Okay, okay, it's like this now, why are you still being stubborn?"
At this time, Gou An still had a sense of magical reality. The date of the engagement party had been set, but He Jinxing's friendship level remained at [45], neither rising nor falling.
The little cat keeps mumbling to himself, "If this continues, when will the hard times end?"
Wuxin has raised the friendship levels of the supporting characters to a very high level, but as the lucky son of this world, if he wants to resurrect Jiaojiao, it is only possible if the friendship levels of the supporting characters reach the passing line and He Jinxing's friendship level reaches [90].
Or He Ran's friendship level reaches [100].
Gou An said that there is actually nothing wrong with being a system. You won’t get sick even if you don’t eat, drink or defecate. It is a divine electronic pet.
[Jiaojiao: How can you use your 36.5°C mouth to speak -1°C cold language? ]
Putting aside He Jinxing's friendship level, which was harder to increase than stocks, He Ran's friendship level had now reached [80]. Although [100] seemed out of reach, Gou An always had the illusion that if he left him alone, he would be able to conquer him.
In fact, it seems to be true.
Just when Gou An was thinking that if she continued like this, maybe one day He Ran's friendliness would reach the standard, as if God was against her. When she was in school, Gou An accidentally heard gossip that He Ran might go abroad to study.
Everyone was confused as to why someone would suddenly go abroad to study in the middle of their graduate studies.
Gou An was stunned and couldn't believe that He Jinxing was not joking when he said he wanted to send He Ran away and that he was really going to do it. Last time he clearly told her to "treat it as a casual remark."
Unable to resist her curiosity, she sent a WeChat message to He Jinxing. But that person was so busy that it took him two hours to reply to her WeChat message.
【HJX: I was in a meeting just now. 】
But he will take the initiative to explain what he is doing.
[HJX: Has your school heard the news? They are really well-informed. When I was in college, everyone was very independent. No one cared if one or two seniors dropped out or won an award.]
Gou An wasn't sure if this could be considered a compliment, but physically it felt like it wasn't... Just when she didn't know what to say in response, fortunately the other party changed the subject and was finally willing to answer her question.
[HJX: I am just trying to find out which country is more suitable for the time being. As I said last time, sending him away still needs to be considered in the long run. After all, he grew up in my hands, and I am a little reluctant to let him go... My sister-in-law also cried several times because of this matter, and pestered me to ask what He Ran did wrong to be exiled. ]
Even through the cold text, the tone in WeChat still makes me feel helpless——
[HJX: He Yuan has been abroad for more than ten years and no one has ever mentioned such a serious word as "exile". ]
Gou An felt that this person was playing dumb with her.
If He Yuan's behavior abroad was normal, those people at the coming-of-age ceremony party wouldn't have said anything about it, and He Jinxing wouldn't have had to clean up the mess himself and come dance with her.
[Don't be afraid, I can win. The atmosphere in your house must be terrible recently. 】
【HJX: So I have been staying at my father-in-law’s hotel for three days. 】
Gou An: “…”
Knowing that Gou Yu's defense would be easily broken by these two words, he still insisted on using them. It has to be said that He Jinxing is sometimes really mean and deserves no punishment.
[Don't be afraid, I can win: No wonder I've never seen anyone before. 】
Gou An was just sighing casually. She felt that it was not an illusion that He Jinxing was avoiding going home.
Unexpectedly, the next second, the other party called her. After she answered the phone and said "Hello", the person who called fell silent.
Gou An called out "Hello" again, and He Jinxing responded somewhat slowly: "I've been looking down to send WeChat messages, and Secretary Liu's eyes are scary, so I'd better call."
There was a smile in his voice.
Gou An was sitting at the table memorizing words at this time. She was a little uneasy because of the phone call. Her attention had long been distracted. The only sound in her ears was the man's low and magnetic voice. She unconsciously drew circles on the white draft paper.
"Will it be okay if I just call?" she asked casually.
"Actually, I have something to do," the person on the other end of the phone should be maintaining a sly smile as usual, "but if I'm just going to get scolded, it's more cost-effective to call and hear the voice."
"ah?"
"What? Did I misunderstand?"
"What's the misunderstanding?"
The smile on the other end of the phone diminished a little, but did not disappear completely. He just replied with a slight sigh, "Nothing", and then He Jinxing changed the subject, talked about the engagement party, and asked Gou An if he had tried on the dress that had been ordered.
Because time was too tight, there was no time to make high-end custom orders, so I could only use my connections to find other customers who had booked but wanted to cancel the high-end orders, and then send them back to the brand headquarters urgently to modify the size.
He Jinxing was so busy that he and Gou An went to try on dresses separately.
Both parties just glanced at each other's dress from a distance to make sure it matched their own.
"Can you come in person on the day of your engagement party?"
"That's a very cold question, An An."
"You are so busy, and the He family should be all present that day. By then, your aunts and uncles may grab you and cry about He Ran..."
"Maybe He Ran himself is among those crying."
The person on the other end of the phone chuckled again. He didn't really look uncomfortable or offended. He just coldly recalled the scene of his tall and strong nephew Menghu, who was in his twenties, crying a few days ago, and found it very funny.
This person is really bad.
"I don't care. If you can't come in person, the engagement party will be cancelled."
In the original novel, it was Lu Wan and He Ran's engagement party. He Ran ran away on the spot because of the coming-of-age ceremony banquet, and then the engagement party became Lu Wan and He Jinxing's.
Now, the plots of both the male and female protagonists have undergone earth-shaking changes. Gou An is not sure what the original author will do to force the system to correct it——
Maybe He Jinxing would get into a car accident on the way here, and then be rescued by Lu Wan who was passing by, which would be such an outrageous plot...
Damn, the more I think about it, the more likely it becomes.
"Or you can take the subway that day."
"?"
There was a confused silence for a few seconds on the other end of the phone, and finally the person promised, "I will come even if it rains kitchen knives all over the sky," and then hung up.
After hanging up the phone, Gou An sat in front of the table in a daze for a while, and then she realized what the other party meant by calling her immediately after she casually said that she hadn't seen He Jinxing for a long time.
“…”
My ears were so hot they almost fell off my face.
When I opened WeChat, I was still thinking about her sentence "No wonder we've never met each other", and then we had a call that lasted for more than ten minutes.
[Don’t be afraid, I can win:↑This sentence has no other meaning! ! ! !]
He Jinxing looked at his phone without putting it down and quickly replied to the message.
[Don't be afraid, I can win: I really don't miss you?! ]
【HJX: OK, OK.】
Gou An: “…”
The weather was very good on the day of the engagement party, with a clear blue sky. It was a rare sunny day since the beginning of winter in Jiangcheng. The day before, everyone was still discussing that if it continued to get this cold, the first snow of the year would be just around the corner.
The engagement party was scheduled to be held in the banquet hall of a newly opened super-standard five-star hotel owned by Gou’s family.
As the best hotel in Jiangcheng, there were constant invitations to apply for the banquet hall on the opening day. The banquet hall had not been used before because Gou Yu had been picky and rejected many requests - from the wrap-up banquet of a movie to the wedding of Jiangcheng celebrities, and even some company anniversary events...
In the end, the first prize fell on his daughter.
Although he was reluctant and said stubbornly that "there's nothing wrong with holding such a grand ceremony for the wedding of the century", everyone actually knew that Gou Yu had only indirectly refused the order for the banquet hall before. But after Gou An and He Jinxing confirmed their engagement, he became unscrupulous and said, "My daughter wants to use it, so don't bother her."
Gou Yu also asked someone to calculate the date for the engagement banquet. An auspicious time is very important, and superstition is inevitable.
So on the day of the engagement party, everything seemed to go quite smoothly.
The dress was from the "Angel·Wang" brand, the top luxury brand in the wedding dress industry. When Gou An first went to watch the fashion show of this brand with Jiang Yuan in the sixth grade of elementary school, she decided that she would wear a wedding dress of this brand when she got married.
At that time, she hugged Jiang Yuan's neck and asked urgently, "When can I grow up and wear a wedding dress?" This day came much faster than she imagined.
The lounge was bustling with people coming and going in the beginning, but in the end the makeup artist packed up their things, gave blessings and compliments and left, and Gou An was the only one left in the lounge.
There was only half an hour left before the engagement party was to start. This half hour was no longer suitable for any tear-jerking conversations from parents or for friends to play around with flowers and arrange their looks. She was left alone in the lounge, staring blankly.
Gou An stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror, looking at himself in the mirror.
The door of the lounge behind me opened and closed, and someone walked in silently.
There was a white veil in the middle between the door and this side to block the wind. Gou An could vaguely see the straight waist and broad shoulders of the person coming, but he did not turn around. He raised his hand to adjust the white veil on his head.
"Okay, just stand there and don't move."
The person who came in really stopped and wanted to go inside.
Looking at the swaying figures inside through a layer of gauze, he also fell into a trance.
"I used to be determined that I would wear the brand's wedding dress with the biggest skirt of the season. It didn't matter how much it cost. I would put my hair up and look exactly like Cinderella... When the ceremony started, I would walk down the red carpet holding my skirt. My skirt and veil would be everywhere within a few meters. It would be best if the veil was so long that I would reach the main stage and the end of the veil would still be at the door of the banquet hall."
"I want my skirt to sway wherever I walk, stunning everyone and making everyone envious and in awe, just like seeing a real little princess."
She paused and chuckled again, "How fucking childish."
What is reflected in the mirror at this moment is completely different.
The slim-fitting fishtail pure white wedding dress perfectly outlines her body curves. The slender waist really looks like a mermaid's waist and tail in the streamline . The special material of the wedding dress will have a low-key luxurious pearly brilliance even if there is only a little light; the bold low-neck design on the chest generously and not revealingly perfectly shows her chest. The looming edge arc is covered by the exquisite handmade lace pattern. According to the brand sales, people like Mr. He will ask "Do you have other styles?" when they see it;
There is no exaggerated big skirt and no long hair tied up.
The long curly hair fell to the waist, and a veil as soft as a cloud was fixed on the long black hair in layers. The veil was just as long as the hair and had the same pattern as the handmade lace on the chest.
The broken hair on the forehead was combed up, revealing a smooth forehead. This made me look much more mature than myself who usually wears a sweatshirt and carries a school bag.
It may also have something to do with the lipstick color carefully selected by the makeup artist.
“What people ultimately get always seems to be different from what they imagined in their hearts.”
Gou An lifted up her soft veil, and the layered design fell down from the edge of her cheek——
"But I am a person who is easily satisfied. Even if the result is far from what I imagined, if it is good, I will feel like a lucky person who has been blessed."
Gou An turned around and looked at the bodyguard who was standing silently at the door, blocked by a layer of fog.
"If this is God's arrangement, I have no regrets no matter what the outcome is."
The latter looked no different today than in the past, still wearing the cheap black suit that a bodyguard should wear, with his fine black hair that had not been taken care of for a while hanging down, almost covering his eyes.
Now there is a barrier between them, and Gou An can't see the emotions in his eyes clearly.
But he didn't want to pursue the matter. Gou An smiled at him and said, "What are you doing here? Just stand guard at the door."
Just like the calmness one would have towards any security guard like Uncle Wang.
Miss Gou, who no longer yelled at people, made Ye Lang feel dazed for a moment. The feeling of alienation was stronger than ever before.
In fact, we were not familiar with each other, and I have no idea why I had this illusion.
Ye Lang moved his lips, but couldn't find the reason why he appeared here.
It was a sunny day outside, but he felt like a stray dog drenched by heavy rain. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had lost a piece of his memory...
The wild dog squatted in a corner in the rain, watching the glamorous guests coming and going, and felt more and more that he did not belong here.
So he turned around instinctively, awkwardly pushed open the eldest lady's door, and let his dirty claws step on the cushions in her tidy room.
——The wild dog came to the place where it felt it should come without hesitation.
However, in the tidy room, the eldest lady did not seem to always be waiting there, yelling "How did you get into this state? How dare you come back?" and then taking a bath towel to wipe it.
Just like today, she just stood far away and gently told it to stop and not come any closer.
"Wedding dress."
A male voice sounded, but it was too hoarse and unpleasant.
"It suits you very well."
A few seconds of silence.
The young lady standing in front of the floor-length mirror smiled with her eyes curved.
"Yes, thank you."
Whether it's a tutu with a large skirt that needs to be supported by fishbones, or an elegant and slim mermaid dress...
If this is God's arrangement, she will not regret anything.
At this time, the door was opened from the outside, and Zhou Yutong poked her head in and shouted "Get ready to start". She looked carefully and saw Gou An and Mr. Bodyguard standing in the two extreme corners of the room facing each other.
She exclaimed, "How did you get in? There's no one hiding under the dressing table waiting to assassinate you. Get out now. You don't have to be so diligent at work!"
While muttering to himself, he pushed the bodyguard to kick him out.
The door of the lounge was opened and then closed.
Gou An smiled indifferently and took out his cell phone.
[Don’t be afraid, I can win: Where are the people!!! Are they here!!!]
It was as if he had expected her to send him a WeChat message or something. He, who rarely checked his phone in the past, replied very quickly this time.
【HJX: Although I didn’t come here by subway. 】
【HJX: But I have been waiting for a long time. 】
(End of this chapter)