Chapter 59: The Wedding Scene
"Are you doing this on purpose?! This meal was supposed to thank you. If you don't want to eat, then don't! We can each go home and stop annoying each other like this!"
Hearing that also made Ye Dong feel upset.
Clearly, the whole thing happened because she was speeding, so how did all the blame end up on him?
"Gao Ming's wedding is coming soon, and we're both the best man and bridesmaid. I don't want him worrying that people around him will cause trouble on his big day."
"Then what do you want?!"
"I want to settle this mess between us!"
Both of them raised their voices once they got angry. Every table nearby stopped what they were doing and looked over at them.
When people came to watch the drama, they really came in groups.
Both of them were usually thin-skinned people, and both were normally the "boss" type. They were used to watching others get scolded, not being watched themselves.
They angrily paid the bill and walked out. When they reached a quiet park nearby with no one around, the argument exploded again like thunder.
"You want to solve this? Fine, let's solve it! No one else is here now, so how do you want to do it? Compete with knowledge until one side loses, or use fists to completely settle it?"
Thinking about how everything started, Bai Xi really could not hold back anymore.
At the same time, Ye Dong looked at her like an angry gorilla and could not understand the real reason behind her anger.
"Teacher Bai, can you stop being so angry for a second? Can't we talk normally?"
Bai Xi originally did not want to say anything, but the words reached her mouth and she could not hold them back anymore.
Cheng Fei's wedding was close, and she did not want to bother her with more problems. Zheng Qi was already crushed by the cheating boyfriend issue and could barely take care of herself. Her parents were older and traveling outside the city.
There was no one she could truly talk to, so she had kept everything buried inside.
But the more she held it in, the harder the pressure pushed back at her.
"If a family has enough food to live on, they would never become teachers for children. Being a teacher is tiring, stressful, and often thankless. That's what my father warned me before I entered teachers college..."
Bai Xi slowly told him everything that happened that day, piece by piece, breaking every detail apart.
The glasses were expensive, yes. When they cracked, she felt bad. But compared to the wound caused by that misunderstanding, it was nothing.
Driving fast was only her way of dealing with the pain in her heart. And who caused that pain?
Obviously not Ye Dong, who appeared later.
He had simply become the unlucky target for her anger at the wrong moment.
As Ye Dong quietly listened to Bai Xi's story, his expression slowly changed too. His face became so dark it almost looked like water could drip from it.
Like a car with broken brakes sliding toward a cliff, his mood became even heavier than Bai Xi's.
"Since graduation until now, both my eyes are already over 500 degrees near-sighted. Chalk dust covers my face every day. Sometimes, without makeup, I look like an old worn-out woman. Maybe I really should have listened to my dad back then. Then none of this would've happened. Honestly, one thing that parent said was right, I was meddling in other people's business. Heh... maybe this is my punishment..."
Only after speaking did Bai Xi realize she had said too much.
Some things she normally only shared with Cheng Fei and Zheng Qi had also slipped out.
After finishing, Bai Xi took off her glasses and lightly wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand.
But once tears started coming, they rarely stopped quickly.
Hidden pain always had to come out eventually.
A tissue was held out in front of her, but even though she saw it, she did not want to take it.
Ye Dong walked past her and sat beside her. Because of the misunderstanding between them, Bai Xi instinctively moved a little farther away again.
The back of her hand was no longer enough to wipe her tears, and without tissues she started using her fingers and palms.
Neon lights and car lights mixed together and shined across their faces.
Before, the misunderstanding had covered up everything.
But now, looking at her like this, Ye Dong suddenly thought she looked beautiful.
"If you keep wiping like that, are you going to use your sleeves next?"
Bai Xi fiercely glared at the man teasing her, then immediately did something unexpected.
Her hands, carrying a few small wrinkles from age and stress, reached out.
Ye Dong thought she was finally taking the tissues.
Instead, Bai Xi grabbed his arm and lowered her face to wipe her tears on his sleeve.
Ye Dong froze on the spot.
After putting her glasses back on, Bai Xi quickly stood up from the uncomfortable bench.
She straightened her slightly messy clothes while Ye Dong finally came back to his senses.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. If you want to laugh, then laugh. In your eyes, do I look like an angry King Kong?"
"If King Kong looked like you, the species probably would've gone extinct the moment it appeared."
When Bai Xi shot him an even sharper glare, Ye Dong awkwardly added,
"Can I see the glasses I broke?"
Bai Xi looked at him with a different expression now and quietly stared at him.
……………………………
The moon hung high in the night sky, and the city slowly became peaceful again.
The room was quiet except for the nonstop sound of keyboard typing.
The door creaked open.
Even sexy clothes could not hide the tiredness in her eyes.
After changing out of her hot sneakers into comfortable flip-flops, she walked toward the fridge with slap-slap footsteps, grabbed a bottle of water, and gulped it down.
Refreshing, energizing, and good for thirst. It was not as smooth as the drinks she usually had before, but she still enjoyed it.
She was still not used to all these sudden changes, but when she first started out, was she not living like this too?
Zheng Qi softly sighed. Looking at the reflection in the fridge, she saw her own confused and lost-looking figure, then smiled bitterly.
Back on the sofa, she continued chatting with her fans online.
After being busy nonstop for the whole day, she was extremely tired. But thinking about her current situation, she simply could not fall asleep.
She only wanted to sit quietly like this and let her heart calm down a little more.
From the room inside, the sound of keyboard typing, which had stopped for a long time, could be heard again in the living room.
Zheng Qi raised her ears and looked toward that direction.
She carefully walked over. The door was not fully closed, leaving a small gap.
In the dark room, only the light from the monitor shined on the man's face, making every detail clear.
But the owner of that face was already losing the battle against sleep. His eyes were almost closed into a thin line, opening slightly again each time his head nodded forward.
Something in her heart was touched.
She turned her head away and quietly wiped the moisture from the corner of her eyes...
Pssh—
A blue flame jumped under the pot. Without the package now, the noodles and seasoning met the boiling water.
Knock knock, knock knock!
The knocking on the door matched the rhythm of a heartbeat. The extra noise gave some energy back to his tired mind.
Yawning again and again, Zhou Lin stretched lazily. Before he could speak, the person outside called out first.
"You're not asleep yet, right?"
"Not yet."
The sharp sound of the chair scraping against the floor mixed with the dull noise of a knocked-over cup, making Zheng Qi laugh softly.
She gently pushed the door open and saw him still trying to fix his messy appearance before turning around to grab the pile of clothes hanging on the chair.
"The room is... kind of messy..."
Zheng Qi smiled lightly and placed the bowl beside the computer.
"It's already so late and you're still working. You must be hungry. Eat something first."
Hot noodles, plus a soft egg with runny yolk, especially late at night when the stomach was growling...
Forget him, anyone would be tempted.
Which was more important, pride or a full stomach?
Like his good buddy Cheng Fei, Zhou Lin firmly believed that only after filling the stomach could people have the energy to seek spiritual happiness.
"It's so late. Have you eaten yet?"
"I had dinner with coworkers before coming back."
Hearing that, Zhou Lin laughed foolishly.
He picked up the bowl and, instead of swallowing the fried egg in one bite like usual, only bit off one-third of it, trying to look a little more proper in front of someone else.
But once he started eating the noodles, that dignity quickly disappeared.
An honest and simple man, very direct too.
Zheng Qi truly liked that kind of personality.
After staring for too long, she started feeling a little embarrassed, so she looked around the room instead.
Overall, it was still pretty clean. The messy parts only came from not having enough time to organize.
Model airplanes and basketball star posters. All the things a big boy liked were there. But the several lively green plants stood out the most.
"I forgot to put these in your room. If you like any of them, you can take them."
Zheng Qi smiled, but her eyes stayed on one especially unique plant.
Its pot was shaped like a cat, and the twisted cactus growing upward perfectly formed the missing cat tail.
The roots did not seem very stable, so it wobbled slightly when she held it with both hands.
It looked cute, though the tiny thorns were a little scary.
She carefully lifted it and examined it closely, already liking it so much she did not want to put it down.
"Can I really take this?"
"Of course. As long as you like it."
"Thank you! It's late, so I won't disturb your work anymore. Bye~"
Watching her leave, Zhou Lin loudly slurped a huge mouthful of noodles.
So delicious!
…………………………………
The moon set and the sun rose.
A heavy rain fell in a county city near Yunzhou, and the wind carried some of the cool air to nearby places.
Even without rain itself, receiving this cool weather still felt like a gift from heaven.
Where family exists, that is home.
Only when living under the same roof as her parents did a house truly feel like home.
Cheng Fei deeply believed this.
Appearance and material things were not unimportant, but compared to family, they could never match.
Those impossible dreams from before would never come true again.
After Gao Ming saved her, being able to still see Qin Yi and Lu Shengdong was already enough for her.
Originally, Cheng Fei planned to use the same story version she told Zheng Qi and Bai Xi, letting her parents appear on stage as godfather and godmother.
But the moment the older couple heard it, they rejected the idea.
After all, the story was not completely perfect. They were afraid something might go wrong and make others suspicious, ruining the hard-earned happiness they finally had now.
Cheng Fei had already understood their thoughts and expected this result.
Still, when she actually heard it, she could not help feeling disappointed.
The speakers roared loudly like they were creating a thunderstorm, while the host excitedly stirred up the atmosphere inside the hall.
It was impossible to know exactly how many relatives from the Gao and Guo families were present, along with many employees from Shuohua.
Cheng Fei walked in front holding flowers, while the three bridesmaids behind her carried the long wedding dress train.
Just as they reached the entrance of the hall, Gao Ming suddenly appeared from the side like a ghost.
The ceremony was about to begin. If the groom did not go to his position inside the hall, the relatives would definitely start gossiping.
But the moment they saw Cheng Fei's stunning beauty and outfit, all those doubts disappeared instantly.
The male relatives thought that calling her a fairy descending from heaven would not be an exaggeration.
If it were them, forget leaving her alone for a while, even leaving her side for half a minute would make them nervous.
After all, this was a world where there were too many wolves and too little meat. It was not just fear of someone changing their heart, but fear of others wanting what was yours.
Even some female relatives who were confident about their looks immediately lost confidence.
And those gossiping women from the company who had secretly talked about Gao Ming before now felt even more hopeless.
Forget the special glow of being a bride. Even normally, they could not compare.
Others were busy thinking their own thoughts, but Cheng Fei could not understand why Gao Ming suddenly appeared here.
Gao Ming wore his usual smile and held a small box in his hand.
If she remembered correctly, inside was the diamond ring he had bought yesterday.