Chapter 4

Chapter 4

During our junior year of college, Fu Chi’s father died of illness. Overnight, the company behind him was exposed as a wreck riddled with holes, and his mother was driven by creditors to swallow pills and take her own life.

In a single night, the favored son of heaven was dragged down into the mud. For nearly a month, I couldn’t see Fu Chi at all.

Until that day, when he finally walked out of the house, gaunt and hollow, his shoulders slumped. The first thing he said was, “You should go. I won’t hold you back.”

I stared at him through gritted teeth. “What do you think I like about you? Your money? Your family background?”

“Fu Chi, you’re such a bastard.” My eyes were red, tears falling one after another, no matter how hard I wiped them away.

He stepped forward, bent down, and gently brushed my tears away. “Don’t cry, Manman. I can’t bear to let you go, but how could I dare… let you stay with me like this…”

Back then, Fu Chi was all alone. Behind him, there were no parents to turn to. Ahead of him, there was no light.

But no matter what happened, his wish had never changed. Fu Chi still wanted to grow old with Xu Man, to have a house full of children and grandchildren.

When Fu Chi first started his business, he struggled to get funding, so I secretly gave him the dowry money my mom had saved for me.

After he found out where the money came from, he rested his head on my shoulder, but one hand pressed against the back of my neck, stopping me from turning around to look at him.

“Silly girl. Even if I’m useless, I haven’t fallen so low that I’d use this money of yours.

“Keep it safe. One day, it will be used where it truly belongs.”

Later, when his career had only just begun to improve, he ran into trouble with investors. One glass of baijiu for one hundred thousand. That night, he secured two million in investment and was sent into an ambulance with a perforated stomach.

Back then, he was often busy until midnight. Sometimes, when he stayed up so late that his stomach hurt, he would come into the bedroom to find me, press his ice-cold face against my palm, and call out softly, aggrieved, “Manman.”

I had always slept so deeply that thunder couldn’t wake me, yet every time, I woke the moment he called my name.

When he was utterly exhausted, he would bury his head in my arms and close his eyes to rest.

At those times, I would always gently rub his stomach with one hand and pat the back of his head with the other. His hair there was cut so clean and short, each strand dark as ink. It was the place I loved most on ordinary days.

He said, “Manman, I won’t let you regret staying with me.”

Later, on the summit of a snowy mountain, endless, biting winds played accompaniment for him. At Shengnipei Bay, towering waves became my veil.

Fu Chi’s proposal shook the world. Countless netizens desperately dug for the protagonists behind that grand proposal.

“Xu Man, will you marry me?”

How did I answer back then?

I remember now. My eyes were filled entirely with him, my hands covering my mouth, happiness leaping from my gaze.

Reason collapsed. Faith became a sweeping fever, earnest and devout: I will, Fu Chi. I love you so, so much.