Chapter 2 Seeing Each Other
◎Do you agree to this marriage?◎
"Zhao Yan?" Zhang Ying was pleasantly surprised. She stood up and tried to pull Zhao Yan's arm, but he dodged her. She awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ears and said, "Didn't you have something urgent to do? Why are you back?"
Zhao Yan said casually: "Let others handle it."
Another round of lively greetings followed, and Jiang Siyue stood in the corner, unsure whether to leave or stay. If she suggested leaving now, it would seem a bit disrespectful to Zhao Yan.
"Are you going out?" Zhao Yan saw the bag in her hand.
Zhou Hong's glare shot over, and Jiang Siyue loosened her grip on her bag and smiled politely, "No rush, I'll tell my instructor."
Zhao Yan nodded, and without further ado, he walked over to the round table and sat down. Since there was no one around, Jiang Siyue sighed quietly before turning around and sitting down at her original seat.
Another polite nod.
When Zhao Yan arrived, the parents of both sides started chatting animatedly again. When Jiang Siyue noticed that Zhao Yan took out his mobile phone, she also took it out to chat with her best friend Meng Zhuqing.
[Jiang Siyue: This Zhao Yanchang is quite good, and has an excellent family background. How could he be someone who can't get married?]
Now during the New Year holiday, Meng Zhuqing replied immediately.
[Meng Zhuqing: Who knows? Just because the skin is fine doesn't mean everything else is fine.]
【Jiang Siyue: For example?】
[Meng Zhuqing: Infertility.]
These four words made Jiang Siyue chuckle successfully, but then she suddenly realized that the occasion was not right. She glanced at Zhou Hong secretly, and when she found that she didn't notice, she suppressed the smile on her lips and said the words with a serious face.
[Meng Zhuqing: I have to say, your family is truly incredible. With that little money, I'm sure we can earn more once we graduate from this profession! I just can't wrap my head around it.]
Jiang Siyue squeezed her hand gently. Meng Zhuqing's family was above middle class, and she was the only daughter who had been spoiled since childhood. She really couldn't understand Zhou Hong's behavior.
[Jiang Siyue: I can't come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars right now, what else can I do?]
[Meng Zhuqing: No, I'll take you to elope. Let's find a cave to live in.]
Jiang Siyue moved her hands again. She was afraid of the cold, and in winter the blood circulation in her fingers was poor, so they became stiff at any time. After opening and closing them several times, Meng Zhuqing sent another message.
[Meng Zhuqing: Or we could take out a loan. That's better than marrying a stranger. No matter how talented this stranger is, he's still a stranger!]
[Meng Zhuqing: Well, you don't really have much choice in this matter.]
[Meng Zhuqing: I feel sorry for you, Xiao Yueyue. If you are unhappy, please tell me. Don't always fight it alone.]
Jiang Siyue felt a lump in her throat, and she smiled as she typed.
Jiang Siyue: I'm very happy. He's rich and handsome. Marrying him means I'll have 20 years less to work for. I'm secretly happy.
The moment the message was sent, Jiang Siyue was CUEed.
"Siyue, your Aunt Zhang and I still have a long chat to do. Why don't you and Zhao Yan go out for a walk and have some conversation." Zhou Hong had just finished speaking when Zhang Ying said something similar to Zhao Yan.
"Do you want to go out?" Zhao Yan tilted his head to ask her opinion.
Jiang Siyue threw her phone into her bag, was stunned for a moment and then nodded, "Okay."
The two of them left the box one after the other. I hadn't noticed it just now, but now that I was walking behind him, I realized that he was very tall and that he was walking in front of me, completely blocking my view.
"Is there somewhere you want to go?" Zhao Yan suddenly turned around. Jiang Siyue almost bumped into him, but luckily she braked in time. She was relieved, "I'm fine with anything."
She didn't really want to go out, but since both sets of parents had spoken, it would be too embarrassing to refuse. She just begged Zhao Yan not to take her out to walk on the street in the cold wind.
After leaving the floating house, a cold wind blew in her face, and the moisture seemed to penetrate into her bones. Jiang Siyue shivered violently.
"How about going for a cup of coffee?" Zhao Yan asked her opinion again.
"It seems not possible." Jiang Siyue felt something was wrong after she finished speaking. She had just said it was all right, but now she was refusing. It seemed a bit unreasonable. She hurriedly explained: "Mr. Zhao, it's like this. There are no coffee shops open during the New Year in Wanjiang."
Zhao Yan stared at her quietly. After a moment, a faint smile appeared on his lips. This smile was like the winter sun, very faint, but it just right to dispel his aloof and indifferent temperament.
"You don't have to be so polite. Just call me Zhao Yan."
"Okay." Jiang Siyue nodded.
Zhao Yan: "Then what do you recommend? Preferably indoors with air conditioning."
Jiang Siyue thought for a moment, then said hesitantly, "How about we go to an internet cafe?" As soon as she said that, she felt a wave of regret. Zhao Yan's demeanor didn't look like someone who would go to an internet cafe. She must have been crazy to come up with this idea.
As expected, Zhao Yan was silent for a long time, and finally said, "Is there a shopping mall nearby?"
…
There were almost no people in the shopping malls during the New Year holiday, and only a few shops were open, but as long as there was air conditioning, Jiang Siyue was satisfied, and her fingers, which had been almost frozen stiff, gradually regained sensation.
Jiang Siyue is not a talkative person, and obviously Zhao Yan is not either. The two of them walked around twice and finally sat down at the KFC in the mall.
After they met face to face, there was no chance to look at each other. Jiang Siyue held the hot drink in her palm and racked her brains to think of a topic.
"I heard from Aunt Zhou that you're studying in Yunjing?" Zhao Yan's sudden question made Jiang Siyue breathe a sigh of relief. She smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, I'm in my second year of graduate school."
Zhao Yan: "Master's degree?"
Jiang Siyue: "Yeah."
The day seemed to be dying because of her own conversation. In order to save the precarious topic, Jiang Siyue spoke again, "Are you working?"
"Well, it's been a few years." Zhao Yan had just finished speaking when a notification sounded. Zhao Yan took out his mobile phone to reply to the message with a serious expression, as if there was something important. Jiang Siyue felt as if she had been pardoned and quickly drank her drink.
The atmosphere was so awkward that he had to send a message to Meng Zhuqing, asking her to call him and ask him to leave. But unexpectedly, Zhao Yan was the first to leave.
"Sorry, I have something urgent to deal with. Add me on WeChat and we can chat if you have anything to say."
Zhao Yan left in a hurry and took a taxi to the high-speed rail station. Jiang Siyue looked at the message on the mobile phone screen and clicked add.
Zhao Yan was a handsome, wealthy man, and he was very tactful in his dealings with others. He didn't seem like a sleazy person, so why was he on a blind date? Was he really infertile, as Meng Zhuqing had said?
Jiang Siyue thought carefully and felt that this was also an advantage among modern people's requirements for choosing a spouse.
After Zhao Yan left, Jiang Siyue felt confident enough not to return to the private room. After saying hello to Zhou Hong, she went home to revise her own paper. Zhang Min'an had already sent the annotated version.
*
On the high-speed train, after Zhao Yan finished his work, he closed his computer and called Zhang Ying back.
"What do you think? This girl is pretty good, right?" Zhang Ying's proud voice came from the other end of the phone. Zhao Yan guessed that the meeting should be over.
"You are my biological son, and I, your mother, will definitely check on you. The Jiang family sent the photo early in the morning, and I agreed to it because I thought you were well-behaved and pretty. Let me tell you..."
Zhao Yan listened quietly without commenting.
"Are you listening?"
"I'm listening." Zhao Yan leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes and rubbed his eyebrows.
"Listen to what you have to say!" Zhang Ying was a little dissatisfied.
"What do you want me to say?" Zhao Yan opened his eyes, sat up straight, and looked at the scenery flashing by outside the window.
Zhang Ying choked for a moment, then angrily said, "Of course my arrangement makes sense. Grandma saved our lives back then, how dare you be so ungrateful?"
Zhao Yan chuckled. "The Jiang family is just after the 300,000 yuan betrothal gift. For you, this money is just a matter of buying a few fewer clothes! I told you to give it to me directly, but you refused. I know exactly what you're thinking."
"What do you want to know?" Zhang Ying was completely furious. "I'm telling you, don't try to do anything shady. We agreed that we can get divorced after a year. If you dare to do it before then, I..."
Zhang Ying fell silent because she realized that she really had nothing that could threaten Zhao Yan.
"Alright, alright." Zhao Yan took the initiative to give Zhang Ying a way out, "You go ahead and do your work."
Zhang Ying finally put her mind at ease. Knowing Zhao Yan well, she accepted it. It was worth it that she had chosen a perfect angle to photograph Jiang Siyue today.
After a few emotional sighs, Zhang Ying said, "Actually, you have feelings for that girl, right? I saw you peeking at her at the dinner table today—"
Zhao Yan hung up the phone.
peep.
Zhao Yan recalled the scene at the dinner table in his mind. He listened perfunctorily to the conversation between the parents of both sides. Suddenly, he heard a burst of laughter in his ears. Out of curiosity, he looked towards the source of the sound.
Jiang Siyue smiled foolishly at the phone, which was different from the forced expression in the video and the politeness when they first met.
Cunning and vivid.
Zhao Yan lowered his head and sneered.
He looked quite open and honest in that glance.
*
The Zhao family was very quick and immediately transferred some of the money. When Jiang Siyue was typing on the keyboard in the room, she heard Zhou Hong excitedly calling Jiang Lingling in the living room, asking her to pay the deposit quickly.
A door separated two emotions. Jiang Siyue wanted to laugh, but couldn't.
During dinner, there was a knock on the door. Jiang Siyue looked at Jiang Mingfeng lying on the sofa, and had a vague idea in her heart.
They have all discussed it and are just waiting for me to execute it.
Jiang Siyue sat down smoothly on the sofa, grabbed a handful of peanuts and began to shell them. Zhou Hong nudged Jiang Mingfeng, signaling him to speak.
"Siyue, if you don't want to get married, forget it."
Zhou Hong's eyes widened as she spoke, and she pushed Jiang Mingfeng hard. Jiang Mingfeng also became stubborn and slammed the table, "I'm asking Siyue's opinion now, don't argue!"
Unable to sit idly by, Jiang Siyue threw two peanuts into her mouth and said vaguely, "Oh, I don't want to."
It was visibly obvious that the anger on Jiang Mingfeng's face had stagnated, neither rising nor falling, which looked inexplicably funny.
Jiang Mingfeng had always acquiesced to this old matter, but now he has stepped out to do good deeds, but unfortunately Jiang Siyue doesn't want to appreciate it.
"How can you not marry?" Zhou Hong was anxious. "The Zhao family has sent some of the betrothal gifts. If you don't marry, how will we end up like this? How can you be so selfish?"
Jiang Siyue paused while peeling peanuts, raised her eyes and smiled brightly, then asked, "Then why are you asking me?"
The couple was speechless at her question. Jiang Siyue was still smiling and said casually, "I'm just kidding. I want to get married. I'm going back to school tomorrow. Let me know on WeChat if you have anything to say later."
Jiang Siyue grabbed another handful of peanuts, walked around the corner of the table, and headed towards her room. When her hand touched the door handle, the cold touch made her shiver.
"Dad." Jiang Siyue spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, enduring the soreness in her throat, "Sometimes you have to admit that your heart has drifted to the Pacific Ocean."
"How dare you talk like that!" Jiang Mingfeng was so angry that he grabbed a handful of candy and threw it at Jiang Siyue. The candy was not much, but when it hit her, her heart hurt more than her body.
Jiang Siyue entered the room, and after the door closed, the cursing gradually faded.
The phone on the table lit up and went out. Jiang Siyue calmed down and picked it up. There were two red dots, one was Zhang Min'an, and the other was -
Yan: Sorry for leaving you behind today. Did you get home safely?
It took a while before I remembered this was Zhao Yan. She'd just added her, and she hadn't changed the note yet. The message had been sent an hour ago. There was a sudden knock on the door, followed by Zhou Hong's muffled curses. It was fuzzy, barely audible, but she managed to piece together the words through muscle memory.
"Jiang Siyue, you've learned such a bad temper from your grandma! You even learned to lock the door! Open it for me quickly..."
Jiang Siyue's heart hardened as she looked at the dialog box between her and Zhao Yan, an emotion called "revenge" growing wildly in her heart.
[Jiang Siyue: Mr. Zhao, do you really want to marry me? ]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com