Chapter 89: The Love-Brain Female Lead Awakens 32

As a future son-in-law, Yi Chen’an was practically beyond reproach, and all the relatives were very pleased with him. The meal was lively and harmonious from start to finish.

After the gathering broke up, Sang Ruo pulled him along for a walk by the river.

There was a faint little disappointment in her heart, tugging at her.

People were setting river lanterns afloat along the bank, and the tiny lights drifting across the water looked quite beautiful.

Yi Chen’an held her hand and tucked it into his pocket to keep it warm.

“Want to go set off a lantern?”

“No. I used to do that all the time when I was little, and I firmly believed the River God was really responsive. Every wish I made came true.” A nostalgic look appeared on Sang Ruo’s face. “Later, I found out that every time I went to float a lantern, my parents would split up the work. One would take me to set it afloat, and the other would fish it out to read my wish. So my wish fulfillment rate was one hundred percent. After I learned that, I stopped playing with river lanterns. If I wanted something, I’d just act spoiled with Mom and Dad directly.”

As she spoke, she hunched her shoulders and sighed again.

“Your parents love you very much. What are you sighing for?”

Sang Ruo clung to Yi Chen’an, leaning her whole body against him as she murmured, “I just feel like from now on, I won’t be Mom and Dad’s only baby anymore.”

It was a little melodramatic, but the melancholy was real too.

“I actually used to envy people who had brothers and sisters. I was really looking forward to the baby’s birth too, but…”

Yi Chen’an chuckled and lifted an arm to hold her.

“You’ll always be my only baby.”

“Ugh, isn’t that too cheesy?” Sang Ruo grumbled, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.

–

Sang Ruo’s entrepreneurial journey went fairly smoothly, though of course part of that was because she was willing to spend money on promotion.

After more than half a year of building things up, by the summer break of her junior year, she already had over a million followers.

So she was able to smoothly move into the second stage of her business.

A few months earlier, she had already set up her studio, hired patternmakers to handle design and sample making, selected fabrics, and contacted factories for production.

That summer, when Yunxiang stocked products for the first time, her parents welcomed another little darling into the family.

Sang Ruo went to take a look and saw a wrinkly little thing.

She said right in front of the baby, “Not as pretty as me.”

Her mother shot her a glare.

Fine then, the little thing was still under newbie protection for now, so she wouldn’t hold it against her.

With her parents’ energy occupied by her baby sister, they had no time to keep tabs on her and Yi Chen’an.

Sang Ruo accompanied her mother and little sister on a shopping trip.

Her mother asked, “You seem so busy, and you haven’t graduated yet. Marriage probably isn’t happening anytime soon. Do you two want to have an engagement first?”

Sang Ruo didn’t really mind either way. Yi Chen’an gave her more than enough sense of security, so she wasn’t in a hurry.

“He hasn’t even proposed yet. I can’t make things too easy for him.”

“As long as you know what you’re doing.”

While teasing her little sister, whose features had started to fill out, Sang Ruo finally asked the question she’d always wondered about.

“How come you and Dad accepted it so easily when I started dating him? What exactly did he say to Dad?”

Her mother smiled.

“Fate really is a strange thing.”

“Hm?”

“Your dad met Yi Chen’an when you were still in high school. Back then, weren’t you into that Zhou Yan? Your dad really couldn’t stand him. At the time, he already felt Yi Chen’an would make a suitable son-in-law, and he even talked to me about it. But you were too young then, and there was quite an age gap between you two, so we never brought it up to either of you. Still, your dad kept thinking about it all the time. He said that out of all the young people he’d met over the years, only Xiao Yi was truly reliable.

“Then, after you finally broke up with Zhou Yan, your dad actually called Xiao Yi on purpose to ask if he was single. He wanted to match the two of you up. But then, in the blink of an eye, we heard from you that you were dating someone again. At the time, we had no idea the person you were dating was Xiao Yi. Your dad sighed about it at home for days, saying the two of you just weren’t fated to be together. Such a wonderful son-in-law, and he couldn’t get him into our bowl.

“Who would’ve thought the one you were dating was Xiao Yi all along?”

Sang Ruo had never known there had been something like that in the middle of it all.

She absolutely had to say it, Old Sang really did have good taste.

It was just that in the dream, she hadn’t been able to live up to Old Sang’s good judgment.

Now, by a twist of fate, Yi Chen’an and Old Sang had become son-in-law and father-in-law.

Fate really was a marvelous thing.

Sang Ruo’s little brand shop was doing well. It had become mildly popular in e-commerce circles, and in just this short year or two, she’d learned more than she had in the previous ten-plus years of her life, even adding on the decades she’d lived in that dream.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one in college who had started a business and succeeded.

In their senior year, the school arranged a forum for a few of them and had them talk about their experiences of success.

But as the person involved, Sang Ruo actually felt that a lot of those experiences and insights sounded more like correct but useless platitudes to people who had never gone through anything similar. The listeners might not even think they were worthwhile lessons.

And that was indeed true. Not every success could be replicated.

If Sang Ruo had been penniless, without her family’s resources and without Yi Chen’an to guide her, she might not have made it.

During senior year, a wave of entrepreneurial enthusiasm swept through the school.

Of course, most of it withered in the cradle. Only a very small handful survived, and even they struggled to keep going.

Sang Ruo’s brand was developing very well, and the school even helped her secure a round of funding support, which was an unexpected bonus.

For her graduation thesis, she directly wrote about her entrepreneurial experience, and she passed her graduation project with no pressure at all.

Of the four girls in the dorm, only Yin Xiaoxin had secured graduate school recommendation and would stay in Qingyang. The other two had both passed exams for bank jobs and civil service positions and would be returning to their hometowns for work.

Once they graduated, who knew how long it would be before they saw each other again.

On the day they received their graduation certificates, Sang Ruo deliberately cleared her schedule and arranged no work at all. The night before, she had even gone back to sleep in the dorm on purpose.

The girls held one last late-night heart-to-heart and stayed up until the second half of the night before finally going to sleep.

Since they were taking graduation photos, they still all got up early the next day and put on beautiful full makeup.

When she was receiving her graduation certificate in the lecture hall, she discovered that not only had Yi Chen’an and her parents come, even Yi Chen’an’s parents had come too.

She was unbelievably touched. What kind of lucky little angel was she? It was just a graduation, and the whole family had turned out for it.

But they had already agreed earlier to take graduation group photos, so after receiving her certificate and coming out, Sang Ruo had no time to properly host Yi Chen’an’s parents, who had come from far away. She only greeted them briefly before hurrying off to stay busy. Fortunately, with her own parents there to keep them company, it didn’t count as a breach of etiquette.

The class, the department, the dorm, the clubs… every little group wanted a commemorative photo. After they finally finished taking all of them, the class monitor came over to Sang Ruo and said they still needed to film a video later.

“It’s a graduation commemorative video our class is putting together. Basically, under different backgrounds, we’ll film everyone turning around and glancing back, then edit it all together. It’ll have a really great mood to it.”

Of course Sang Ruo cooperated.

Behind the class monitor, someone was carrying an extremely professional-looking camera.

Sang Ruo casually remarked, “This is pretty professional.”

The class monitor said, “If we’re doing it, we’re doing the best version, the kind that’ll still make our hearts surge when we watch it decades from now.”

Then he added, “Sang Ruo, you’re filming first.”

“Me?”

“Of course. Your startup is such a success, you’re our class’s outstanding graduate, and you’re pretty too. You’ll be the first one in the video.”

That really did sound flattering.

With this kind of group activity, the faster everyone cooperated with the process, the faster it would go. Anyway, the class monitor was directing things, so she just had to be a good prop.

The class monitor said, “You’re first, and your background will be Wenze Lake. Face the lake, then turn and smile at the camera. The script is very simple. No problem, right?”

Sang Ruo told him not to worry.

The class monitor added, “Don’t wear the mortarboard. Everyone’s showing their forehead when we film, it makes us look more spirited. But remember, only turn around when I clap the slate¹ and call action. Otherwise the mood will be gone.”

The class monitor was usually very meticulous, so even though it was just a tiny shot, he explained everything in great detail.

So a whole crowd from the class headed toward Wenze Lake in a grand procession.

The class monitor marked out a spot for her to stand in, then took away her mortarboard. “Remember, don’t turn before I clap the slate, or we’ll have to reshoot.”

Sang Ruo said helplessly, “Got it, class monitor.”

While the equipment was being set up, the girls from her dorm even took the chance to touch up Sang Ruo’s makeup.

“Do we really have to make this such a big production?”

Yin Xiaoxin said, “You’re the first one in the video. You’re the face of our class, so you have to carry it.”

Honestly, they were already graduating, and their class pride was still this strong.

Sang Ruo let them fuss over her.

They even redid her hair. She reached up and touched it. “A half-up princess style?”

Yin Xiaoxin said, “It looks pretty this way!”

The others nodded emphatically too.

It took forever, but they were finally ready.

Sang Ruo felt as if every single strand of her hair was smooth and in place, and there wasn’t the slightest wrinkle in her graduation gown.

She faced the shimmering lake surface and waited for the class monitor to clap the slate.

But the wait seemed a little too long.

The area around her was quiet too.

Something felt strange. Up ahead, some students passing by the lakeside were taking pictures with their phones.

Sang Ruo wanted to ask if the slate cue had been too soft for her to hear, but then she remembered all the repeated reminders from the class monitor and forced herself to hold back.

Just as her pose was starting to go stiff, she finally heard the class monitor’s voice.

Following the posture and angle they had rehearsed earlier, Sang Ruo turned around with a smile.

But when she saw the scene behind her clearly, the smile on her face froze and gave way to shock.

Her heart started pounding wildly, and tears fell before she could stop them.

Three feet in front of her stood Yi Chen’an, dressed in a white suit and holding flowers.

In the crowd behind Yi Chen’an were her classmates, teachers, parents, and friends.

Along with his parents and friends.

She finally understood what kind of moment she was standing in.

They had hidden it so well. Until the instant she turned around, she had really believed they were filming a graduation video.

Yi Chen’an smiled so gently, his eyes full of nothing but her.

“Bubu, happy graduation.”

Sang Ruo nearly blew a snot bubble and quickly covered her nose with her hand.

“You made such a huge production just to say that to me?”

Good-natured laughter broke out all around them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sang Ruo saw Yin Xiaoxin run over carrying something in her hand.

She quickly clipped it into the back of Sang Ruo’s hair. The lake breeze lifted it, and Sang Ruo realized it was a white veil.

Yi Chen’an said, “I actually wrote a draft, and I even memorized it in private for a long time. But when I saw you, I forgot all of it. I don’t know whether I count as a qualified boyfriend. I even make you angry all the time. I know that behind my back, you call me a damn dog of a man.”

A burst of laughter rose from the crowd.

Sang Ruo wanted to scold him again.

The camera was recording, so what nonsense was he spouting?

Yi Chen’an smiled too. “I only know that when you’re happy, I’m happy too. When you’re upset, I get anxious right along with you. When you cry, my heart twists with pain. I didn’t expect you to start crying the moment you turned around, so I’m not going to recite my draft anymore. I just want to hurry up and hold you, comfort you properly, and make you stop crying.”

Sang Ruo cried even harder. “No, don’t. I’ll cry if I want to, you say what you want to say. Besides, aren’t you the one making me cry?”

Yi Chen’an said helplessly, “Alright, it’s all my fault. I’m the one making you cry.”

The crowd of family and friends around them let out a chorus of teasing sounds.

But neither Sang Ruo nor Yi Chen’an paid anyone else any mind. At this moment, they only had eyes for each other.

Yi Chen’an dropped to one knee and took out a ring from inside his suit. Looking into Sang Ruo’s eyes, he spoke each word slowly and clearly.

“Miss Sang Ruo, the rest of life is long. Will you let me accompany you through it?”

Sang Ruo nodded frantically and reached out her hand to pull him up.

She was willing, of course she was willing. In that dream, in her previous life, she had already said yes to his proposal.

The rest of life is long. I will be by your side.

Translator’s Notes