Chapter 237: How Could I Not Love Him?
Chapter 237: How Could I Not Love Him?
Cheng Xi looked adoringly at Lu Chenzhou for a while before finally saying, “Lu Chenzhou…” A phrase suddenly came to mind: How could I not love a man like this?
She shook her head fervently. “You’re not late at all!” She wrapped herself around him in a bear hug as she gushed, “I’m so happy with this. Really, thank you.”
Lu Chenzhou maintained a calm demeanor, which only further increased his reservedness, but there was a faint shyness in his eyes that gave his demeanor a much more animated mien.
Cheng Xi kissed him forcefully, and then let go of him to run to her parents’ side.
Cheng Xi was slightly afraid that they’d immediately start scolding her—after all, she had gotten married without telling them anything. However, when her mother saw her, she merely clicked her tongue and muttered, “My goodness! You’re so happy that you look like a fool!”
They were purely happy for her.
Then, freed from worry, Cheng Xi hugged her happily.
And then she hugged everyone else in turn even as they criticized her.
“You’ve gotten a lot thinner!” her father muttered. Actually, she hadn’t; this was just his way of expressing his displeasure with his new son-in-law.
Cheng Yang offered a normal congratulations. “So you’ve finally gotten married. It seems that congratulations are in order.”
Meanwhile, Tian Rou commented, “Did Lu Chenzhou spend all of his money to buy this huge mansion? Why are you dressed like this when today’s the day of your marriage?”
Baldy added on from right beside her, “That’s right! It doesn’t fit this lovely backdrop at all.”
Cheng Xi let go of Tian Rou and stuck her tongue out at Baldy. Then, she skipped him and went to hug Shen Wei instead.
As expected, Shen Wei said something similar. “You really did rush your marriage too much, but that’s alright. We’re all here now.”
Cheng Xi suddenly wanted to tear up.
But she choked back her tears as she smiled brightly at all of them. “How did you guys manage to get here on such short notice?”
Cheng Xi had gone home and back a few times, and it took her at least a day’s travel to make the journey each time. Lu Chenzhou could have only called them over after they received their marriage license, so it should have been practically impossible for them to come tonight.
Her brother just laughed at her while her mother was the one who finally explained, “We took a plane over. Your boyfriend booked an entire plane just for us.” As she said this, she clutched her chest and a hurt expression emerged on her face. “He spent quite a bit of money…… How wasteful!”
In turns out that Lu Chenzhou had actually expended significant effort to bring everyone together. Baldy intentionally butted in, saying, “Boss Lu said something about how you wanted to be able to grant wishes. What kind of nonsense is that?”
Cheng Xi’s face went bright red. She turned around, saw the mirth in Lu Chenzhou’s eyes, and her face morphed into a 囧. Luckily, at this point, the others had all started heading over and Cheng Xi had to introduce everyone to her family. Thus, the matter of “granting wishes” was temporarily forgotten.
Lu Chenzhou had actually arranged dinner as well, but rather than ordering a banquet from a catering company, he had hired chefs to come to the mansion and cook for them.
The chefs arrived at almost the exact same time as Cheng Xi’s family. There were quite a number of people coming in, and when the delivery personnel who brought ingredients over were also taken into account, the scene was quite a mess.
But Cheng Xi wasn’t able to do anything before Shen Wei and Tian Rou pulled her into a random room to redo her makeup and dress her up properly. Halfway through the process, Cheng Xi’s mother came in, and she saw her daughter obediently sitting in front of the mirror while the other two applied makeup to her. She had just finished touring the premises, and she couldn’t help but worry. After reaffirming to herself that Shen Wei and Tian Rou weren’t outsiders, she bluntly asked her daughter, “How much did Lu Chenzhou spend to buy this place? It’s so big! Can the two of you really live here alone? You’re going to be tired from just cleaning and taking care of it! Otherwise, you’d have to hire someone to do it for you, and how much money would that cost? Is he intending to sink all of his money into this place?” The entire world knew that Lu Chenzhou was out of a job, and her mother was also clearly aware of this fact. She seriously lectured her daughter, saying, “He’s handsome, so it’s fine even if he is penniless. However, you can’t let him just throw his money away like this. When you have a chance, help him take care of his money properly.”
Cheng Xi could only tactfully reply, “Mom, it’s his money.”
Cheng Xi’s mother glared at her. “It’s not like you’re stealing it! Can’t you just help him manage it properly? And you even said that you wanted a child—if he keeps spending money like this, then are you planning on raising that child yourself?” She even dragged Tian Rou and Shen Wei into the conversation by asking for their opinions. “Don’t you think that Lu Chenzhou’s crazy to buy such a big place?”
Cheng Xi thought to herself, This really is my mother! Who else would take every opportunity they can to scold others? She’d probably still treat her children as eight-year-old kids when they were eighty.
The three friends glanced at each other before Shen Wei laughed and replied, “Lu Chenzhou really did spend more money than he should have on this place. But don’t worry, Auntie. He’s from a wealthy family, and even if he was kicked out of Donglai Pharmaceuticals, he still owns Donglai Hotel. That’s a huge golden egg, so don’t worry about his finances. The most important thing is that his feelings towards Cheng Xi are sincere.”
Tian Rou originally wanted to slander Lu Chenzhou a bit, but she reconsidered about remembering what Baldy had said. Even though she was still angry about what he had done to Cheng Xi, she had to admit that his actions tonight had been extremely thoughtful towards Cheng Xi.
Cheng Xi had experienced her mother’s scoldings countless times, so she knew when it was time to stop struggling and listen obediently. After a while, her mother did calm down and let go of her. Then, she went back downstairs to continue touring the place with Cheng Xi’s father.
The fireworks had stopped at some point earlier. Lamplight illuminated the entire villa, and the “lights” along the river slowly dissipated, just like an elusive dream.
But everyone there knew that it wasn’t just a dream, but rather a wondrous act of love from a single man.
After Cheng Xi’s mother left, Shen Wei looked at Cheng Xi. She was only half-done with her makeup, but she already looked like a blossoming rose.
Over the ten or so years that Shen Wei had known her, Cheng Xi always seemed to look her best.
Shen Wei couldn’t help herself from sighing lightly as she said to Cheng Xi, “What your mother said does make sense, Cheng Xi. After you two get married, don’t let your finances stay separated. You should try to make everything that’s his yours. It’s just a good insurance policy on your behalf. Even if you don’t actually need the money, you should still be in control of all of his assets.”
These were words spoken from the bottom of her heart, and if they didn’t have such a good relationship, then Shen Wei definitely wouldn’t have said them out loud.
And as Shen Wei advised Cheng Xi, she also spoke to Tian Rou. “Rou, listen to my words too. Don’t go around with that silly and carefree mindset! You have to stay vigilant and make sure that Baldy’s not tricking you or anything like that!”
Tian Rou pointed at herself. “Me, silly? I think that Baldy’s the silly one!” Tian Rou seemed to be very proud as she replied, “I know all of his social media account passwords, and he’s also given me his credit cards and his phones. What, do you think that I’m as silly as Cheng Xi?” Then she turned to Cheng Xi. “Do you know Lu Chenzhou’s social media account passwords?”
“......He doesn’t use social media very much—mostly e-mail. He doesn’t log into WeChat that often either.”
Evidently, she also knew his passwords.
Honestly, Lu Chenzhou had never deliberately hidden anything from her. Cheng Xi had free access to whatever he was doing and whatever he was planning to do, including his marriage proposal and wedding ceremony plans.
Of course, he had still dropped this huge big surprise on her head in the end.
Shen Wei understood their words, and eventually sighed as she said, “Alright. I see that you two can handle it just fine without me.”
Tian Rou giggled as she hugged her. “We do really appreciate your advice. Don’t we, Cheng Xi?”
Cheng Xi nodded. “Shen Wei, thank you.”
Shen Wei smiled wryly as she replied, “Alright. I know that you two don’t agree with my viewpoints, but I’m just saying.” As she spoke, she made some finishing touches to Cheng Xi’s makeup. “Go and change into something more presentable, and then you’ll be the loveliest bride I’ve ever seen.”
Tian Rou leaned over. “Wow! I bet that your Mr. Lu’s going to start salivating when he sees you.”
Lu Chenzhou had bought her a dress woven from a long red cut of silk, his favorite color.
When Cheng Xi went downstairs, although Lu Chenzhou didn’t actually salivate, he didn’t conceal his delight at all—his eyes remained glued to her body as soon as she made her appearance.
When the others toasted him, he only responded perfunctorily. Ceng Xing was envious of him, and he wanted to get Lu Chenzhou drunk out of spite. So, when he saw his disinterested behavior, he yelled out, “What’s the matter? You’re refusing our drinks like this? Is this all the sincerity that you’re going to show at your wedding feast?”
Cheng Yang was just about to nod along when Lu Chenzhou’s eyes lowered. He calmly replied, “My sincerity is to not bring additional trouble to my bride on our wedding night.” His words caused Cheng Yang to think to himself, That’s right! If Lu Chenzhou got too drunk, the person who’d suffer would be my sister! After being swayed, he slammed a bottle of wine onto the table and declared, “If you want to drink with my younger sister’s husband, then you have to get past me first.”
Unlike Cheng Xi, who had a remarkably poor alcohol tolerance, Cheng Yang would be fine even after facing off against ten people.
When Cheng Xi heard her brother’s audacious declaration, she didn’t even want to look in his direction. She secretly nudged Lu Chenzhou. Did you say that intentionally?
Although Cheng Yang brought her a lot of trouble, he always protected her when it came to other people. Cheng Xi suspected that Lu Chenzhou might have intentionally chosen those words to provoke Cheng Yang into doing exactly that.
Lu Chenzhou smiled coolly, took her hand into his own, and scratched her palm lightly.