4. Marriage
"Then I'll go see your husband."
Aside from business, this person was mostly quiet, without any unnecessary chatter, eliminating the need for awkward small talk, which made Song Chiyu feel much more at ease. After dinner, she prepared to leave, but Qi Yanzhou called out to her, "Miss Song, are you about to go back now?"
"Yes, is there anything else?" Song Chiyu turned around.
"There are a few things, but they're not very important," Qi Yanzhou paused, "Get in the car first, I'll take you home, we can talk on the way."
This greatly reduced the amount of time Song Chiyu needed to spend alone with him. She gladly opened the passenger door.
Qi Yanzhou gave her two cards.
One was his salary card, and the other was his resettlement allowance. Song Chiyu dared not accept them, yet she couldn't refuse either, and stood there hesitantly in a stalemate.
"Are you worried about anything?" he asked upon hearing the voice.
"I feel like we haven't reached that point yet."
Qi Yanzhou chuckled, lowering his hand from the steering wheel and placing it on the back of the seat behind her: "Miss Song, isn't it a bit too late for you to tell me we haven't reached that point yet?"
Song Chiyu was speechless for a moment, then turned her head and muttered, "I didn't expect you to get into character so quickly."
He heard her, but still wanted to confirm with her again: "What?"
"It's nothing," Song Chiyu took the card from his hand. "Since you're giving it to me, I'll keep it. How much money is in it?"
"One million?"
Without a word, Song Chiyu threw the card back into his arms, saying, "Are you trying to scam me?"
Luckily, she hadn't taken the card back yet. If it hadn't been a million, wouldn't she have been blamed? Song Chiyu refused to take it back no matter what. She said she wasn't that lucky to marry a good man so easily. It turns out this was what was waiting for her.
“You can keep this money yourself,” Song Chiyu said, feeling a little more at ease knowing that he wasn’t as honest as he seemed. “If you really want me to manage the money, just transfer it to me every month when you get your salary.”
Qi Yanzhou had no idea what she was thinking, so he simply put the card back into her hand and said, "Our Qi family can't do something so petty."
Song Chiyu: "..."
This makes it sound like the Qi family owns a huge business empire.
When she left home this morning, Ms. Li had gossiped with her about his family situation. His family was indeed a wealthy family, but it declined by his grandfather's generation. It took several generations for the two brothers to finally make it.
Song Chiyu didn't expose him, "But you have to show me how much money you have in your card."
He finally realized: "Afraid I'll try to extort you?"
Song Chiyu looked a little embarrassed, but did not deny it.
He smiled slightly, opened his bank account on his phone: 230,000 yuan for the resettlement allowance, and over 1.2 million yuan in his salary account. Song Chiyu was surprised: "How many years have you been working?"
"About four or five years."
"You don't spend a single penny of the money you earn?" Song Chiyu had never seen him save so much money in all the years he had worked.
He answered truthfully, "There were no expenses."
"You didn't spend any money on this car?"
"I don't drive it much normally."
"So where do you live?"
"Teachers' apartments".
Song Chiyu hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back. True to her humble origins, she was genuinely appreciative. However, this open and honest nature, so lacking in guile, was completely different from her expectations of this marriage. They had no emotional foundation; why would he willingly entrust her with managing his savings accumulated over so many years? She had a feeling there was some trap waiting for her. After all, in this era, the probability of meeting a good man was about the same as believing she was Qin Shi Huang, let alone someone she had chosen so casually.
"Mr. Qi."
"Qi Yanzhou," he corrected again.
"You don't even know what kind of person I am, yet you dare to entrust me with such a large sum of money?" Song Chiyu worried for him: "What if I really believe you and let you use most of it? If you want me to pay it back later, I won't be able to."
He was amused by her serious tone, but had to take it seriously: "Ms. Song, although you haven't truly accepted the idea of marrying me yet, that's the fact. You are my wife, and I have an obligation to do so."
"But what are you trying to achieve by doing this?" Song Chiyu blurted out.
"Then what are you after?" he countered.
"I just want to give my parents an explanation."
"So you think getting a marriage certificate is the explanation they want?"
Song Chiyu was speechless.
His indifferent expression revealed a rational detachment, yet his tone was gentle, and he patiently explained to her, "I believe that their intention in making you marry is not simply to get you married, but to ensure your happiness. I also respect your wishes and will not make you feel uncomfortable in this marriage. Similarly, I do not want to disappoint your parents, making them feel that you have suffered in this marriage to put their minds at ease."
Song Chiyu began to believe that he really was a good person.
Regardless of whether the other person was her, he would do the same. He wouldn't let himself be criticized, nor would he let her feel wronged in the marriage, and she would feel genuine gratitude, saying, "Thank you."
“You’re welcome,” he said, handing over his phone. “Just enter your number.”
He only asked for her phone number, didn't even add her on WeChat, and drove away.
Song Chiyu was left holding his bank card, stunned for a long time.
I'm home.
Li Li was just about to lie down when she heard her return. She opened the bedroom door and asked, "Where have you been? Why are you only coming back now?"
"We went to get our marriage certificate."
"What certificate?" Li Li sat down on the sofa.
Marriage certificate.
Li Li didn't speak, assuming that her mother was still dissatisfied with her because of yesterday's incident and was taking every opportunity to tease her today. She said irritably, "Making fun of your mother?"
"Really." Song Chiyu took a sip of water.
"Then show me the marriage certificate you got."
Song Chiyu drank her water without moving. She only wanted to test Ms. Li's reaction, not to actually confess. Li Li became even more convinced that Song Chiyu was teasing her, and her displeasure deepened.
Song Chiyu sat down next to her, half-jokingly saying, "Mom, if I told you that Qi Yanzhou and I got our marriage certificate, would you believe me?"
Li Li was silent for a moment, then used the back of her hand to check her forehead temperature, her face showing reluctance to discourage her: "Xiao Yu, listen to what you're saying, do you even believe it yourself?"
Although Li Li and Qi Yanzhou had only met once, his good looks and the fact that he was still single showed that he wasn't the type to rush into marriage and be easily manipulated. The fact that the two got their marriage certificate just one day apart sounded like a fairy tale to her.
"Then let me tell you, he not only married me, but also gave me his salary card and settlement allowance to keep, totaling more than a million yuan. Do you believe me?"
Li Li didn't say a word, but her face clearly showed doubt about her mental state.
Song Chiyu said she wasn't alone; who wouldn't find this surreal, to be so naive and devoted to just any man? Even if he really was that good, Song Chiyu found it hard to believe she was so lucky to have met him.
"Right? This is even more unbelievable than me being Qin Shi Huang, isn't it?"
Only now did Li Li realize that she might have really pushed Song Chiyu too far. She held Song Chiyu's hand earnestly and said, "Xiaoyu, let's not think about marriage right now. Let's just focus on living our lives well."
Song Chiyu clearly didn't listen, and got up to compare her appearance in the full-length mirror on the balcony: "Mom, do you really think I'm that beautiful?"
So beautiful that it makes one eager to offer their loyalty.
Only then did Li Li believe that Song Chiyu had truly gone mad. She patted her shoulder, sighed, closed the bedroom door, and went inside. Even after Song Chiyu finished showering and went to bed, she could still hear her and Old Song chirping crickets inside. Song Chiyu didn't know what the elderly couple said, but for a long time afterward, Ms. Li never mentioned having Song Chiyu go on blind dates.
Her colleagues in the hospital knew about her meeting with her parents, and the next day they all asked her how it went. Song Chiyu answered truthfully, but no one in the hospital believed her; they just thought she was joking. Song Chiyu didn't try to explain further.
When Xie Yunjin learned about this from his colleague at the same window, he found it amusing. He came in and immediately announced his marriage—wasn't that just for show? He didn't seem to care at all.
The next time someone asked her about her marriage was half a month later.
When Song Chiyu's teacher at the academy returned from her business trip, she saw the ring on Song Chiyu's ring finger and asked, "Little Song, are you just wearing it for fun, or are you really in a relationship?"
Before Song Chiyu could answer, her colleague laughed and interjected, "Teacher Zhou, don't believe her. Who gets married without hearing a single word?"
The teacher thought about it and assumed she was joking, so she nodded.
Song Chiyu carefully used tweezers to pick up the broken fragments of the ancient book, placed them on the cloth strip beside her, and then slowly replied, "I'm married."
"Oh?" No one except the teacher believed her. She asked with delight, "What kind of person is he?"
"A very good person."
That's what I meant.
It was as if she hadn't said anything at all. Her colleagues all scoffed. It was obvious she was just making fun of them again.
"Besides that?" the teacher asked. "What does he do?"
"A teacher."
"Where do you teach?" my colleague pressed relentlessly.
“Cheng An,” Song Chiyu replied, putting down the tweezers in her hand.
When she immediately mentioned her workplace, her colleagues, who had assumed she was making fun of them, were visibly taken aback: "That Cheng An from here?"
"It should be."
"What do you mean 'should be'? You've never been there?"
"Yes." Song Chiyu nodded.
His colleague was speechless for a moment. "Which department does he teach in?"
"History Department."
"A fellow traveler?" the colleague replied. "So you're from the History and Literature Institute, right? I happen to have something to do there later, you can come with me and we can meet up."
"That's not a good idea. He should be in class right now." Or maybe he's not even at school.
“It’s always ‘should be’,” her colleague pinched her cheek hard. “Your husband is still my husband, so why can’t you be sure about either of them?”
“I’m not his student, why would I remember it so clearly?” Song Chiyu said helplessly.
Another colleague who was close to Song Chiyu and knew the inside story of her blind date laughed: "Alright, Teacher Song, stop teasing He Zhu. Everyone knows that the person you met that day was a younger brother. How come he became Cheng An's teacher when you got married?"
"My younger brother didn't come, but my second uncle did, so I had a whirlwind marriage with him."
colleague:"……"
This second uncle sounds quite old.
The younger brother, who is a year younger than the previous one, doesn't sound very reliable.
"You're just making this up," He Zhu said irritably. "Who doesn't know you talked to Professor Xie from that expert group? You're just doing this to spite him, aren't you?"
“No,” Song Chiyu said calmly, “it’s really just because the other person is a very good person.”
"Okay, let's go see just how good this second uncle is to have won over the heart of our college's most beautiful girl."
“I didn’t win him over, I just felt he was a good match for marriage,” Song Chiyu corrected methodically.
“Wow,” He Zhu pointed at her, “that’s really vicious of you!”
Song Chiyu belatedly realized that this phrase was not a compliment in modern times, and was about to argue when He Zhu put her arm around her shoulder and said, "Don't say anything, we'll find out when we go and see for ourselves."
"I haven't finished my work yet," Song Chiyu replied truthfully, picking up the tweezers.
“I knew you were going to say that,” He Zhu said, convinced that she was making fun of them and determined to get her to admit it. “Fang Yue, could you take over her work later and let her come with me to the History and Literature Institute? Okay, Teacher Zhou?”
Teacher Zhou was clearly curious as well, nodding as she sorted through the restored ancient books. "Go ahead, and come back soon."
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