The Engagement Is Next Week
Old Madam Mei's classmates stayed at the Mei residence for a day before leaving for another city.
Mu Wan finished filming early and went to the hospital to find Liu Qianxiu. When he got off work, the two drove to the Mei residence together.
The Mei household was as warm and harmonious as ever.
The moment Mu Wan entered, Old Madam Mei called her over, and Mu Wan was more than happy to keep the elderly woman company.
Once everyone had arrived, the housekeeper came to announce dinner, and the whole family moved to the dining room.
There were many dishes on the table, but all of them were light. The dishes placed nearest Mu Wan were all her favorites.
As Mrs. Mei sat down, she smiled and said to Mu Wan, “Your grandmother gave the kitchen instructions early this morning. She said Wanwan's food has to be both delicious and nutritious.”
It was all genuine concern.
Mu Wan felt deeply touched.
She smiled at Old Madam Mei.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
Old Madam Mei waved it off with a benevolent smile.
“You're pregnant now. Naturally, you come first.”
Then she looked toward Liu Qianxiu.
“Did you hear that, Qianxiu?”
Liu Qianxiu was sitting beside Mu Wan, carefully removing the bones from a piece of fish for her.
When the conversation turned to him, he raised his eyes and smiled faintly.
“I heard.”
Everyone at the table laughed.
The atmosphere in the Mei family was always this relaxed and harmonious. There were never too many rules to follow.
Mu Wan liked the Mei family.
She also liked the way she felt whenever she stayed with them.
Dinner passed pleasantly.
Afterward, as usual, everyone went to the mahjong room.
Mei Yaozhi brought over another bottle of red wine. The family drank wine while Mu Wan drank grape juice.
She had never cared much for red wine, but the grape juice was sweet and tart.
She liked it very much.
As they played mahjong, everyone discussed the engagement.
“Will the engagement banquet be held at the Liu residence?” Old Madam Mei asked while feeling the tiles in front of her.
Liu Qianxiu sat behind Mu Wan.
He helped arrange the tiles in her hand before raising his gaze.
“Yes. The housekeeper has already begun preparing the residence.”
Mei Yaozhi sat beside Old Madam Mei.
Looking at the tiles on the table, he said, “We're only arranging something small. Just friends and relatives.”
“Grandma, you know what Qianxiu is like. He definitely won't want anything too extravagant.”
The moment he finished speaking, Mu Wan let out a quiet laugh.
Her lips curved upward and her eyes narrowed with amusement.
Only Liu Qianxiu, sitting beside her, noticed.
He reached out and pinched her ear, silently asking what she found so funny.
Mu Wan tilted her face up toward him.
She smiled sweetly but refused to explain.
Then she turned back and continued playing.
In truth, she had simply remembered the engagement scenes she had seen while filming.
The engaged couple usually had to make speeches, toast guests, and participate in all kinds of formalities.
Imagining Liu Qianxiu doing any of those things felt completely incompatible with him.
In Mu Wan's mind, he had always been the kind of man who remained hidden from the world.
He did not need to show himself publicly.
Yet he could still control everything from behind the scenes.
The little couple exchanged only a few small gestures, but to everyone else, every movement seemed unbearably sweet.
The more Old Madam Mei watched them, the happier she became.
She was especially grateful that Liu Qianxiu had found someone he loved.
His parents' relationship had been so broken that she had once worried it might affect him.
But apparently, it had not.
Neither his temperament nor his character resembled Liu Fengmian's.
In fact, most men could not compare with him.
And Mu Wan truly was adorable.
The two of them suited each other remarkably well.
For the rest of the evening, everyone played mahjong while finalizing the guest list and discussing the decorations for the engagement banquet.
Two hours passed easily and pleasantly.
When the game ended, Mu Wan and Liu Qianxiu naturally stayed overnight at the Mei residence again.
After returning to their room and showering, Mu Wan automatically burrowed into Liu Qianxiu's arms.
“I'll notify my friends tomorrow,” she murmured sleepily while holding him. “It's next week, right?”
She had not napped at noon and had spent the afternoon filming.
She really was tired.
Liu Qianxiu gently soothed her.
He kissed the corner of her mouth.
“Mm.”
Mu Wan rubbed against him twice like a puppy.
Before long, she fell asleep peacefully.
Liu Qianxiu had work the next morning.
By the time Mu Wan woke up, he had already left.
After getting out of bed, she first went to greet Old Madam Mei and the others.
Breakfast at the Mei residence was divided into two groups.
One group consisted of people who needed to go to work.
The other consisted of those who did not.
Mu Wan ate with the second group.
After chatting with Old Madam Mei and the others for a while, she asked Uncle Li to drive her to the southern district.
It was only ten in the morning.
October was approaching, and the air near the coast was becoming cooler and clearer. The sea breeze felt especially pleasant.
Mu Wan rang the doorbell.
Lin Wei came to open it.
The moment she saw Mu Wan, she hurried over excitedly.
“Why didn't you tell me you were coming?”
Lin Wei asked as she led her inside.
“You're always home anyway.”
Mu Wan laughed.
That was true.
Lin Wei used to visit building-material markets and newly renovated properties to inspect construction progress.
Now she no longer did that.
Those places could contain pollutants that were unsafe for a fetus, so she had handed all those responsibilities to her employees and now focused only on design work in the studio.
After entering the first floor and greeting the people working there, Mu Wan followed Lin Wei upstairs.
Before Mu Wan arrived, Lin Wei had not gone downstairs either.
She had been eating breakfast upstairs.
There were small wontons, steamed buns, millet porridge, and several plates of side dishes that were obviously homemade.
The two sat down at the dining table.
“Want some?” Lin Wei asked. “Lu Feng made it.”
Mu Wan had not expected Lu Feng to know how to cook.
And judging from the food, he seemed pretty good at it.
She shook her head.
“I already ate.”
Her gaze remained on the table.
Then she commented, “Your tastes have gotten much lighter too.”
“I don't have a choice.”
Lin Wei looked thoroughly troubled.
“He lectures me all day long like Tang Sanzang. My head hurts just listening to him.”
“So if I want some peace and quiet, I have to behave.”
She complained with her mouth, but her eyes were full of smiles and affection.
Mu Wan noticed and laughed.
“You seem pretty happy about it.”
“If your mother knew she'd spent years trying to fix your eating habits, only for her future son-in-law, whom you've known for less than a month, to succeed, what do you think she'd say?”
“Hmph.”
Lin Wei laughed.
“She can get over the fact that I got pregnant before marriage first.”
“Your parents are angry?” Mu Wan asked more seriously.
“Of course they're angry.”
Lin Wei ate a wonton.
“They said I never think about the consequences.”
She planted both hands on the chair and imitated the way her mother had yelled at her.
Halfway through the imitation, she started laughing herself.
Then she resumed eating.
“But my parents are coming in a few days. They want to meet Lu Feng.”
“His parents are coming too.”
Lin Wei really had walked a tightrope this time.
Fortunately, things had turned out well.
Lu Feng was an actor and earned a decent income. His family also ran businesses and was financially comfortable.
In terms of family background, he and Lin Wei were well matched.
Although Lu Feng had also grown up as a wealthy second-generation heir, he was not spoiled.
He had a gentle temper.
Sometimes he was even endearingly naïve.
He could cook.
He could give massages.
Apart from his occasional hopelessly masculine taste in aesthetics, Lin Wei liked almost everything about him.
Her parents had initially been furious.
But after meeting Lu Feng through video calls and investigating his family background, they were actually quite satisfied with him.
Besides, Lin Wei had spent years living wildly.
Now she had finally met someone she was willing to marry.
To her parents, it practically felt like divine intervention.
Thinking of this, Lin Wei looked up at Mu Wan.
“What about you?”
“How far have you two gotten?”
Mu Wan had no parents and no real family except Auntie Wu.
There was probably no need to formally meet her elders.
She had only been proposed to a few days ago.
The next step should have been slowly preparing for the engagement and wedding.
“Engagement next week.”
Mu Wan smiled.
“That's actually why I came.”
“You should bring Lu Feng with you.”
Lin Wei immediately spat out the hot wonton in her mouth.
She stared at Mu Wan in disbelief.
“Next week?”
“Isn't that ridiculously fast?”
“Liu Qianxiu and I already got our marriage certificate.”
Mu Wan smiled even more broadly.
“Yesterday.”
Lin Wei: “...”
Mu Wan laughed harder at her expression.
“You're moving even faster than I am.”
“We're fast because ours was an accident,” Lin Wei immediately defended herself.
“But you two actually went through every single step.”
“You met, fell in love, dated, got proposed to, got engaged.”
“You didn't skip anything.”
“And you've done it all in less than three months.”
Mu Wan had never seriously calculated the time.
Her relationship with Liu Qianxiu had developed slowly and naturally.
Even now, she felt as though they had already been living together for a very long time.
It was almost as though they had never been apart.
Their bodies and souls fit each other almost perfectly.
Other than the time Liu Qianxiu faked his death, nothing truly serious had ever happened between them.
Everything else had been sweetness.
After speaking, Lin Wei sighed.
“You probably just met the right person.”
“A lot of couples have to keep learning about each other and adjusting.”
“But the longer you two are together, the more suitable you seem for each other.”
“Not completely.”
Mu Wan thought about it.
“Most of the time we're compatible.”
“But whenever there's something that doesn't fit...”
She smiled.
“He's always the one adjusting himself to fit me.”
Liu Qianxiu was usually quiet.
But when it came to accommodating someone, he could be devastatingly romantic.
Lin Wei still remembered some of the things Mu Wan had told her he had said.
In the end, none of that mattered as long as they were happy.
Whether it was Lin Wei or herself, Mu Wan felt that everything had turned out beautifully.
After Lin Wei finished breakfast, she and Mu Wan moved to the sofa.
A laptop was still open on the table.
They sat on the carpet with their backs against the sofa.
Mu Wan noticed the design drawing on the screen.
“A nursery?”
She smiled.
“Yeah.”
Lin Wei nodded.
“I'll design it now. By the time the renovation is finished, the baby should be almost here.”
Then she added cheerfully, “We don't know whether it's a boy or girl yet, so I'm preparing designs for both.”
“Lu Feng wants a daughter.”
“I want a son.”
“I absolutely want one of each eventually.”
Then she turned toward Mu Wan.
“What about you?”
“Do you and Daoist Liu want a boy or a girl?”
Mu Wan realized that she and Liu Qianxiu had never discussed the baby's sex.
To her, either was fine.
She would love either one.
“I don't mind,” Mu Wan answered. “But I don't know whether Liu Qianxiu prefers boys or girls.”
— To be continued in Part 2 —
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