Li Xingda tilted his head back, downed the wine in one gulp, placed the glass on the windowsill of the small balcony, took a small box from his pocket, and stuffed it into her hand, saying, "Xiang Lan, I wish you happiness."
She frowned. Fang Zi had taken all the gifts he had given her last time, and she hadn't seen them at all.
Open the box, and inside is a colorful blue-tailed swallowtail butterfly, also known as the Cupid butterfly.
Two years ago, she and Deng Yifan were making Mid-Autumn Festival display boards in the logistics office, with Li Xingda supervising. She casually said to Deng Yifan, "The colors of the swallowtail butterfly are very beautiful. If you have the chance, you must go see it. It would be even better if you could get a specimen."
Surprisingly, he listened to it.
"I can't accept your gift; I'm already married. Besides, you already gave me one last time."
“This is a gift to congratulate you on your pregnancy—” Li Xingda leaned against the wall, “I knew it would suit you as soon as I saw it, I hope you like it.”
"Thank you," Xiang Lan said, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Fang Zidu approaching from afar. She quickly called out, "Zidu—"
Fang Zi had his hands in his jeans pockets and wore a light-colored T-shirt. He looked young and had a student-like air about him, appearing even younger than Li Xingda. He smiled and waved when he saw the two of them.
“This is a wedding gift from the president, and I’m thanking him.” She handed him the box.
"Really?" Fang Zidu smiled. "Thank you."
He took it and looked at it; the butterfly's wings trembled, exuding a fragile beauty. "It's beautiful—"
"You're welcome," Li Xingda replied dryly.
"Xiang Lan, it's almost time. You should go back to sleep," Fang Zidu said gently.
"Okay, I'll go get my bag." She immediately turned around and went back to the private room.
Li Xingda looked up at Fang Zidu, "Will you treat her well?"
Fang Zidu smiled broadly, "When you decided not to show her your love, you no longer had the right to ask these questions, you coward—"
“You—” Li Xingda said angrily.
"What? Isn't that right?" Fang Zidu turned his head and placed the small box on the windowsill. "We won't accept this gift. As long as it's something she likes, I can find it myself."
As Xiang Lan left with her schoolbag, Fang Zidu passed by Li Xingda. He reached out and put his arm around her waist, forcefully pulling her out of the store. She glanced back at Li Xingda; he seemed very sad, leaning against the wall with his head down, silent.
“Hey, Xiang Lan—” Fang Zidu said.
"how?"
"You seem to have too many suitors." His voice was cool and smooth, like ice cream on a summer night.
"But it's okay, none of them are as good as me."
Chapter 54
The sad graduation ceremony has passed, and the wedding date is approaching.
The wedding dress was airlifted from the city to Haicheng, and Fang Zidu accompanied Xiang Lan and her group by high-speed train two days in advance.
Everything was ready for the wedding except for the main characters. After arriving, they were immediately accompanied by the wedding company to the hotel to check out the venue, rehearse their positions, and confirm the process. The two bridesmaids and the groom's two best men were in charge of the rings, bouquets, welcoming guests, and so on, keeping them extremely busy.
The groom's family had some etiquette to follow, so Xiang Lan had to stay in the hotel room alone. Many strangers came and went around her, but fortunately, her two bridesmaids were very responsible and shielded her from a lot of trouble. After that, the rest of her family arrived, and after settling in, the wedding day finally arrived.
I was woken up at 5 a.m. to shower, get dressed, and put on makeup. The groom came to pick me up early in the morning, and after all that, we said goodbye to my parents. The wedding car took the newlyweds for a drive around the city, receiving admiring glances from passersby, before returning to the hotel. Photos and signs of the couple were already displayed at the entrance and in the banquet hall. The couple stood at the entrance to greet guests, while the best man and maid of honor accompanied family members to sign in and receive red envelopes.
The Fang family has too many relatives. Fang Haoping and his mother's business partners, colleagues, and friends are all over the country, so people are constantly being brought to Xiang Lan. She calls out "uncle," "aunt," "brother," and "sister" in a daze, forgetting what they look like in the blink of an eye. Only when her grandfather, who was helped to the scene, finally came, did she perk up and greet him properly.
When the auspicious time arrived, the newlyweds performed the wedding ceremony, and the guests began their banquet.
Xiang Lan was pulled away to change into a dress for the toasting before she could even catch her breath. If Deng Yifan and Wang Runqiu hadn't been supporting her, she would have almost knelt down. After the toasting was over, she hadn't even had a few bites of food when some guests who lived far away had to leave early, so she had to get up and see them off.
Xiang Lan tearfully said to Liu Zewen, "Mom, when there's a banquet in the city, I only need to offer toasts during the meal; I don't participate in the earlier or later parts."
"Dream on." Her mother, who was always gentle with her, flatly rejected her unreasonable request. "You only get married once in a lifetime. If you don't do it right, you'll regret it."
She could only tell her two bridesmaids, "This is not the wedding I wanted at all."
After the wedding in Haicheng, the rest of the group returned to their hometown first. Fang Zi took Xiang Lan home to pay respects to her parents, grandfather, and other elders again. After a private meal with her relatives, they returned to their hometown to prepare for their own wedding.
Another round of busywork gone wrong.
"I can't take it anymore, I have to go to the hospital tomorrow." The wedding banquet was completely over, and Xiang Lan, without even taking off her dress, collapsed onto her own bed. It was so comfortable being in her own place. "My belly's gotten so big, is the baby developing too fast?" She reached out and touched her lower abdomen, noticing the obvious curves. "My sister-in-law and I have different appointments, are you coming with me?"
Fang Zidu reached out and touched her stomach. "Tomorrow is fine, but after tomorrow I'm afraid it won't be possible."
"Oh." Xiang Lan knew that the two weddings had consumed a lot of their time and energy. She didn't care, but Fang Zidu's entire lab was waiting for him. Lin Li had attended the banquet today, and she had urged him to return to the team as soon as possible, so she said, "I understand."
"Take off your clothes, take a bath, and then go to sleep, otherwise you'll be very tired when you wake up tomorrow morning."
"I don't want to move."
"I'll help you."
Xiang Lan was wearing a red cheongsam, the buttons from the collar to the hem covering her body completely, meaning that if the buttons were undone, she would be nothing but a piece of cloth. She stretched out, letting him help her, and said, "Marriage is too much trouble. You only need to do it once in a lifetime. I still think it's better to just get the marriage certificate directly. We can get married however we want. After the baby is born, you won't be so busy, and we can go out and have fun by ourselves, like a honeymoon, without anyone else—"
“Okay, we’ll do it your way. This time, we’ll consider it a successful completion of their mission.” Fang Zidu carefully lifted her buttocks and pulled out her wrinkled clothes. “After the inspection tomorrow morning, you can rest at home. In the afternoon, go to the art district to see your uncle. His art exhibition has already started, and he’s selected some graduates’ works to participate, including yours. As for work, he knows someone who makes art, specializing in providing art for hotels and clubs. It’s already been arranged, and you can go there for an internship for a few months.”
Fang Zi got up, wanting to take her to the bathroom, but found she had already fallen into a deep sleep, curled up like a baby, her lower abdomen protected in the center of her body. He lowered his head, kissed her stomach, and went to make a warm towel to wipe her body.
The next morning, the two got up and went to the hospital. After checking various items, it was almost noon. Fangzi took her back to the school cafeteria to eat.
Fangzi went to buy groceries, while Xiang Lan sat at her seat looking at the results of today's various tests. Just as she was having a question about one of the data points, someone sat down opposite her.
"Hello, bride—" Lin Li said, sitting down with a tray in hand. "You look great."
"Hello." She put down her report. "You eat in the cafeteria too?"
"Delicious, convenient, and most importantly, time-saving." Lin Li lowered his head and ate a few bites of food. "Did you go to the hospital for your prenatal checkup today? How's the baby?"
"all is well."
"That's good." Lin Li took a sip of soup and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"
"how?"
"At yesterday's banquet, I think I mentioned to you that everyone was waiting for Zidu."
“Yes.” Xiang Lan nodded. When she toasted the table of Zi Du’s colleagues, Lin Li quietly asked about their arrangements, saying that he had been talking about work progress. “So he didn’t take a single day of his wedding leave and came back to work today.”
“I think you should find a job after you graduate,” Lin Li suggested. “That way, your life won’t revolve entirely around him. Haven’t you realized that you’re too dependent on him?”
Xiang Lan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I'm pregnant—"
“Of course I know you’re pregnant, but you’re also about to become a mother. You’ll need to learn to handle many things independently in the future. You can’t wait for him to come back and make decisions for everything. That would tire him out and slow down our progress.” Lin Li’s businesslike attitude continued, “Every day we delay means a huge loss of money.”
"You mean, you can't work without him?"
"Don't look so disbelieving; this is the truth." Lin Li tapped the rim of the soup bowl. "Most of the pressure on the project rests on him, but he's never used to complaining to anyone. Has he never been angry? Do you know why?"
Xiang Lan bit her lip and glared at Lin Li.
"Because he doesn't treat himself like a human being. I've said it before, he's a machine. When there's too much to do and too much pressure, his soul detaches, he sheds human emotions, and mechanically uses thinking and execution to achieve high efficiency. Although your task isn't particularly difficult, it takes up a lot of his time, causing him to become even more—"
"This is not something you should be telling me."
“If I don’t tell, and he doesn’t tell, you’ll never find out,” Lin Li shook his head. “You need to give him more time.”
“He is the father of my child. He must be involved in everything from prenatal checkups and childbirth to raising the child,” Xiang Lan said calmly. “How we arrange our lives and work is our business, and you have no right to interfere. Don’t you think you’re meddling too much?”
"Of course, I'm being a bit too nosy. Do you know why?" Lin Li said seriously, "He's a talent I strongly recommended to my teacher. He's still too young and needs to produce results as soon as possible to convince those who oppose him and gain a foothold. He needs to use facts to slap those who question his research in the face, instead of wasting time on these personal matters—I don't want him to come in shining brightly and leave in disgrace."
Xiang Lan was furious, but Lin Li had already seized the moral high ground, leaving her with no way to refute him.
“He’s a nice guy, he won’t object to your coquettishness. So, don’t be coquettish, be more mature, okay? That way, you won’t hold him back.” Lin Li finished his soup in one gulp, stood up and picked up his plate. “I’m full, I have to go back to work right away, you enjoy your lunch.”
Xiang Lan kicked the table leg, and when she saw Fang Zidu return with the food, she quickly composed herself.
"Did Lin Li come over just now?" He put down the bowls and plates and placed her favorite dishes in front of her. "What did he say?"
"I sat for a while, and they said you were all very busy with work." She looked at him earnestly, a small flame igniting within her, yet she knew it had nothing to do with him. She was impulsive and willful, but that didn't mean she wasn't perceptive. Lin Li's attitude towards Fang Zidu was currently in a strange, contradictory state—a mixture of love, hate, and concern. Given their long hours together every day and their shared interests, it was natural that those negative emotions would be directed at her.
"Yes." Fang Zidu sat down and quickly ate his meal.
"How did your job application go?"
"It's alright." He glanced at her. "Someone did mention that I'm too young, but the old professor deflected their comments."
"I don't know anything about this, how can I help you?"
“No need, I can handle it myself.” Fang Zidu is very independent in his professional work. “She shouldn’t bother you with these things. Everyone has their own things to do. She overstepped her bounds.”
"But you didn't tell me any of this—"
“Even if I tell you, will you be able to solve it?” Fang Zidu shook his head. “The problem is still there. We might as well spend more time learning and figuring out solutions. Even if we can’t solve the problem, we need to know the right methods.”
"Oh, so confiding in your wife is the wrong approach?"
Don't get hung up on that, that's not what I meant.
"How long will it take you to catch up on the work you've been working on lately?"
He thought for a moment and said, "About half a month."
Xiang Lan nodded. "Okay."
"What's wrong?"
"I won't bother you for the next two weeks."
Fang Zi laughed, "You didn't bother me at all."
She shrugged. "I'll try to handle some things myself. In the future, you, as a great scientist, will be busy, and I'll have to take care of the child's meals, bedtime, bathing, and outings myself."
"Starting this afternoon?"
"Of course." Xiang Lan picked up her chopsticks and ate angrily. "I can make my own decisions. I don't like or want anyone to come up to me and point fingers at me, asking me to do things so I won't hold them back. I hate that kind of behavior. I don't like it."
"Lin Li brought this up?" Fang Zidu's expression turned serious.
Xiang Lan said, "Don't go talking to her. I'm going to handle this myself. Hmph, and also, you have to tell me about your own affairs. I can't let someone else come up to me and swagger around, talking about your husband's affairs that you didn't even know about. This is a wife's dignity, do you understand?"
"Is it that serious?"
"Of course, this is a woman's war."
"Okay, I understand. How about we schedule a family meeting every week to catch up on things?"
"Can."