Engagement
Where Plum Blossoms Meet Bamboo
My mother waited for my father her entire life.
Even when illness confined her to her deathbed, she never got the snowy stroll among plum blossoms he had promised her.
So when Second Young Master Cui and I took a liking to each other, I told him I would wait for him only three times.
The first would honor the joy of our meeting.
The second would honor the bond of truly knowing one another.
The third would honor the love we had shared.
After the third, our ties would be severed, and we would have nothing more to do with each other for the rest of our lives.
Second Young Master Cui agreed with a smile, saying that such a fine match was a blessing from Heaven and that he would never dare cast good fortune away.
Later, he rescued a young woman.
For her sake, he made me wait again and again.
The final time, he sent word that our wedding would be postponed and that we could discuss it again after he had safely brought the young woman back.
I gave a cold laugh and asked, “Whether I marry, and whom I marry, is no concern of yours, Young Master Cui.”
The wedding went ahead as planned after that.
Only the groom had changed.
Anyone who tried to steal my betrothed was certainly detestable.
But anyone who tried to steal Cui Zhaoyu’s bride was, in my eyes, utterly adorable.
Winter in the Northern City
On the day of Zhou Huaian’s engagement, a reporter held up a microphone and asked for my thoughts.
He was a man of high standing, a true blue-blood from the Imperial Wall Base in Jingcheng.
During the eight years I spent with him, no one ever approved of us.
Every time his mother saw me, she referred to me as nothing more than an “actress.”
His circle of friends would advise him behind my back, “She’s just a minor star. It’s fine to keep her around for fun.”
And Zhou Huaian? He would toy with his lighter and joke, “What are you worried about? It’s not like I’d ever marry her.”
I looked into the camera and said slowly, “Though we aren’t close, this is good news. I wish him a happy engagement.”
The video went viral online. Zhou Huaian boarded his private jet and flew through the night from Jingcheng to Shanghai.
