Chapter 83
After figuring out how An Tianming took the forty million, Iris stopped caring about his life or death. Although he claimed to be acting on behalf of Heaven—making those scoundrels who committed crimes but escaped imprisonment serve as scapegoats in a sense, which proved this—on another level, he himself should also be one of those people who should be eliminated by the will of Heaven.
The news report concluded that all four criminals had been wiped out by the SDU. Iris happily went home to wait for Zhuang Zhuoyuan to get off work, packing up plenty of good food along the way. Passing a newsstand, she even bought a magazine with the Flying Tigers on the cover. After some searching, she found a few more magazines featuring Zhuang Zhuohua. The High Court case was attracting city-wide attention, and she had been so busy that she forgot to buy magazines right away. It wasn't until Pandora asked her about Zhang Zhanchao's magazine that morning that she realized how significant a gap was in her news collection.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan knew his wife loved hearing case summaries, so after dinner, he eagerly began his carefully prepared storytelling segment. Iris listened attentively at first, but her attention waned as she drifted off again. When she was lost in thought once more, Zhuang Zhuoyuan finally couldn't resist leaning over and kissing her: "Baby, are you tired today?"
Iris pinched her fingers: "A little bit, mainly because the most exciting part of the story has already passed."
Indeed, the dead end had been repeated far too many times, and it was nothing new. But in keeping with his habit of seeing things through, Zhuang Zhuoyuan still told the final ending: "With all his brothers dead, An Tianming fired his bullets upwards until the curtains of the dockside warehouse fell, then emerged from behind the stacks of crates..."
Ms. Zhou's writer's touch came to the fore here: "There is a dramatic element here. It should be good as a TV series. Add a long monologue about one's fate and then arrange a dignified death, and the character will be well-developed."
"That concludes the story." Inspector Zhuang offered no further comment, now it was his turn to be curious about his wife's day. Looking at Iris's activity data for the day, she must have visited quite a few places.
Iris was already prepared to brag about her quiz results: "An A+ that's nothing to worry about, and my group report was also praised!"
"My wife will always be this amazing!" Mr. Zhuang gave his immediate feedback. His sweet words became a daily routine after he integrated into the Zhou family. Praise, kisses, and hugs would automatically trigger the next step, whether it was him or Iris who took the initiative. As long as they were together, happiness would never leave them.
Iris now absolutely adores the time spent chatting with him, talking about his family, his friends—it's all so delightful.
"Guangzai has gone astray now. His injury is clearly not serious, but he pretends to be weak in front of Alice every day, making the shrewd and capable Alice run around like a headless chicken."
"Ah Xing is quite well-behaved, but a bit like a blockhead. When I found him to be a good person today, I even thought about introducing him to Elaine, but unfortunately, Miss Hao has her eye on another blockhead now. The photographer she likes now has a very interesting name, exactly the same as Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in Harry Potter. To be honest, that name is very popular with girls these days."
"Oh, right, the baby store also gave me a new product catalog today. I think there are several good items. BB, when you have time, let's go shopping again and buy some for Tangyuan, some for Lamy, and if there are any suitable ones, we can also give them to the two kids that Tiger takes good care of."
Where else in the world could you find such a wonderful wife? Zhuang Zhuoyuan propped his head up on the sofa, listening to Iris's arrangements, his hand gently stroking her excitedly gesturing hand. A thought suddenly occurred to him, but he didn't dare to say it directly, so he summarized it for Iris first: "So you're planning to be Xingzai's matchmaker, and also take care of all the young and old in our SDU? BB, I think you've changed a lot since you got married, you're becoming more and more like a housewife."
"What?" Iris almost jumped off the sofa. Shocked and angry, she decisively pulled her hand back, refusing to let Zhuang Zhuoyuan hold it anymore. "What do you mean by 'housewife'? How do I look like a housewife? Zhuang Zhuoyuan, don't be ungrateful! You definitely won't find another wife as gentle, generous, and wealthy as me!"
With a loud "smack," Iris slapped his thigh so hard that Zhuang Zhuoyuan felt sorry for his wife's hand. "Silly pig, force is reciprocal, how could you forget that again? Every time you get angry, you have to take matters into your own hands, and you never even listen to me finish speaking before you get angry."
He gently stroked her left hand with both of his, soothing her pain and stroking her fur. But upon hearing the last sentence, Iris pulled her hands away again: "Are you blaming me now?"
“What I meant to say,” Zhuang Zhuoyuan forcefully pulled both hands back, “is that you are the best wife, the cutest friend, and the best mommy in the world. Being managed by our little mommy is the luckiest thing in the world, and every word you say makes me feel especially happy.”
“Fine then,” Iris said, still a little haughty, but she had been coaxed. “But you can’t call me ‘housewife’ anymore! And I’ve decided that for a while, I won’t call myself Mrs. Zhuang in public. You wouldn’t believe it, the other day when I went shopping, I told the saleswoman my surname was Zhou, and she called me Mrs. Zhou. I told her my husband’s surname was Zhuang, and she called me Mrs. Zhuang. She never called me Miss Zhou. Does that mean I have to depend on my husband after I get married? It’s so strange!”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan now realized he had just walked right into a trap. It was just a form of address; if Iris was unhappy, then so be it, he didn't care. This wasn't a foreign country; there was no distinction between "Miss" and "Mrs." No one stipulated that a woman couldn't be called "Miss" or "Ms" after marriage. Iris had her own world, and she was the shining protagonist in that world; using her own name was the proper thing to do.
“Iris Chow, your brilliance will never be overshadowed, and you will never be irreplaceable.”
Iris felt relieved and smiled, "I will always be Mrs. Zhuang."
With this matter settled, Chong Cheuk-wah will be heading to England. Everything else is manageable; what worries Chong Cheuk-yuen and his wife most right now is Chan Hon-tao's marriage proposal. Last time they made such a big fuss, only to return empty-handed, without even having dinner. Now, whether to replicate the proposal plan, Chan Hon-tao has no instructions. Iris tries to find out the inside story from Chong Cheuk-yuen, but the only information Chong Sir receives is that the entire A Team went to the hospital to visit Chung Wai-yan after work the next day.
In the battle at the container yard, the Flying Tigers were initially suppressed by the ambushing bandits. It was Zhong Wei'en who discovered the bomb on the delivery truck and desperately tried to stop them, turning the tide. Logically and morally, Team A should go. Iris was already interested in Zhong Wei'en; she had initially planned to get to know him through Pan Zilong when he was less busy. Now, with such a ready-made opportunity, how could she not seize it? She immediately raised her hand: "Honey, I want to go too!"
Zhuang Zhuoyuan had never seen a pregnant woman go to the hospital every day. He wanted to postpone Iris's plans to make new friends, but Iris insisted, so he had no choice but to comply. To put his mind at ease, Iris took out her complete set of protective gear from her bag—alcohol, mask, goggles, hand sanitizer, and everything else. She was perfectly sober and wouldn't let anything happen to Tangyuan or herself.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan accepted the order and left. Iris had originally planned to go shopping with Zhuang Zhuohua the next day to buy some things that she really needed to bring to England, but she added an extra activity at the last minute, so he, as her husband and younger brother, was responsible for inquiring and relaying the message.
Zhuang Zhuohua had just returned from a date with Zhan Hantao and was heading to wash up with her clothes. After hearing Zhuang Zhuoyuan's purpose, she nodded, indicating she could go with him. She valued talent and had a good impression of Zhong Wei'en.
"OK!" Receiving a positive reply, Zhuang Zhuoyuan blinked and turned to go back to report to his wife. Just then, he caught a glimpse of a light flashing from Zhuang Zhuohua's dressing table. He looked closely and immediately called out towards their room across the street, "Baby, my sister brought back a diamond ring!" He had a pretty good idea of where the ring came from, and seeing Zhuang Zhuohua's expression, he was almost certain he was right. Zhuang Zhuoyuan's face lit up with joy. He excitedly hugged his sister and jumped twice, then quickly pulled away and ran towards his room, saying, "Sister, I'm going to help Iris up; I'm worried she'll get too excited!"
Iris was so eager to know what had happened that night that as soon as Zhuang Zhuoyuan arrived, she handed over the task of moving the pregnancy pillow to him, clearly intending to share a bed with Zhuang Zhuohua again. Zhuang Zhuoyuan pretended not to hear, put his arm around her and walked out, saying only, "I didn't expect A-Tao to act so quickly. We worried for nothing for so long."
As her younger brother and sister-in-law bombarded her with questions, Zhuang Zhuohua's face flushed crimson, resembling that of a young woman. The three sat in a circle in the room, their conversation increasingly like a late-night dormitory chat from their university days. Iris struggled to suppress the urge to interject. She felt her blood boiling; she wanted to understand every single detail Zhuang Zhuohua mentioned.
In fact, Zhan Hantao's proposal was not very innovative. Zhuang Zhuoyuan's proposal example and Iris's venue setup made him realize that he was better suited to sincerity rather than novelty. So, in the short time he had to prepare, he decided to put Zhuang Zhuohua's preferences first and give her the best he could give her from her favorite things.
"So he took me to my favorite Italian restaurant and prepared everything we ate on our first date there, including the music that was playing at the time. He even asked the violinist to play it again."
"Oh!" Iris couldn't help but exclaim. She could totally picture that scene; it was so sweet!
"Then he even wrote a special message." Zhuang Zhuohua's ears turned red with sweetness.
This time, it was Zhuang Zhuoyuan who exclaimed in surprise: "Ah Tao actually wrote a love letter!"
Nodding with her lips pursed, Zhuang Zhuohua's smiling eyes shone with a captivating light: "He was probably nervous and afraid of forgetting, so he wrote it down on a piece of paper, waiting to kneel down and propose to me after he finished reading it."
There was no more surprise now. Iris and Zhuang Zhuoyuan held their breath, wanting to hear the most important part. But as Zhuang Zhuohua was speaking, she suddenly covered her eyes, and her smile seemed to deflate, losing some of its sweetness: "Then we ran into a drunk customer causing trouble. When Atao went to help, he got soaked in red wine, and we didn't even finish our meal."
What's going on? Iris and Zhuang Zhuoyuan looked at each other in bewilderment.
Zhan Hantao shared the same thought as them; he had always wanted to give Zhuang Zhuohua the most perfect proposal possible, but he hadn't expected things to turn out this way. He had been sullen ever since leaving the restaurant. Zhuang Zhuohua made an excuse to eat dessert and took a long drive, silently observing Zhan Hantao's expression the whole way. Finally, at a red light, she asked him, "Did you have something you wanted to tell me just now?"
Zhan Hantao instinctively wanted to deny it, but when he met Zhuang Zhuohua's eyes, he knew he couldn't hide anything from her, so he told the truth and revealed that he was planning to propose tonight. Zhuang Zhuohua shook her head: "You didn't answer my question correctly."
Zhan Hantao was stunned for a moment.
Chong Cheuk-wah repeated, "Did you have something you wanted to say to me just now?"
What else could he say besides stating the facts? The only thing he wanted to say but didn't was "Will you marry me?" Now that was all gone... Wait, he suddenly came to his senses and tentatively asked Zhuang Zhuohua, "What did I want to say?"
Chong Cheuk-wah stopped looking at him and stared straight ahead as the red light counted down to 15 seconds.
15, 14, 13, 12...
Zhan Hantao wasted no more time, hurriedly took out the ring from his pocket, and clumsily opened the box: "Ah Hua, will you marry me?"
"And then the ring was on your finger!" Iris smiled broadly, half-standing up to give Zhuang Zhuohua a hug. "Sister, I'm so happy! Congratulations on finally finding happiness! Don't worry, I'll definitely help you plan your wedding with Tao Ge this year. When you come back, you can hold the ceremony anytime." She really wanted to start discussing Zhuang Zhuohua's dream wedding right away, but as soon as she mentioned staying overnight, Zhuang Zhuohua patted her back, signaling her to turn around: "Iris, A Yuan just took your pillow back."
Iris immediately flew into a rage, shouting "Zhuang Zhuoyuan!" loudly. Zhuang Zhuoyuan hurriedly responded but didn't come out of his room. Zhuang Zhuohua guessed that her younger brother was trying to trick Iris into going back to catch him, so she spoke up for her and led Iris to the room: "Go back and keep him company. He can't sleep without you. During the month you weren't here during summer vacation, he wailed every night."
“Then let him wail one more time, I’d love to hear it.” Iris pouted, but her legs followed Zhuang Zhuohua’s lead and she started walking out. Halfway there, she stopped again, put her hands on her hips, and shouted into her room, “Zhuang Zhuoyuan, if you don’t come out to get me, I’m leaving.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan arrived faster than anything else.
Zhuang Zhuohua stood at the door watching the two return to their room, then looked down at the ring she had put back on her finger, feeling a sweet warmth in her heart. How wonderful, everyone's hearts were filled with joy tonight.
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