"Yes, I'm here," Chen Chaojiang replied crisply.
Then, Ye Wan and Chen Chaojiang slipped in from outside the courtyard gate. Ye Wan glared at Xu Zhengyang and said, "Drink, drink! If you get drunk and pass out, let's see how you celebrate your wedding night!"
"Cough cough..." Xu Zhengyang choked, his face full of embarrassment. He waved his hand and said with a forced smile, "Yes, yes, I'm sorry to bother you. It was my fault. Hey, Ye Wan, why don't you come and have a drink too?"
"Where's your wife? Is she coming?" Ye Wan asked without the slightest hesitation.
"She can't, haha, she's in Rouyue's room. You should go over there and chat with them." Xu Zhengyang smiled and pointed to the living room outside Xu Rouyue's bedroom in the west wing. Originally, his earlier invitation for Ye Wan to come in for a drink was just a polite formality. In Xu Zhengyang's old-fashioned, traditional, and feudal mindset, he had never considered having a woman sit at a men's table.
Unexpectedly, Ye Wan turned around and awkwardly walked towards the west room, saying, "I've called Bingjie over too. The bride and groom have been toasting others today, but they haven't toasted us yet..."
Xu Zhengyang was stunned for a moment. After watching Ye Wan enter the house, he turned to Chen Chaojiang and asked, "Can you control this wife?"
Chen Chaojiang smiled and said, "She has a very kind heart."
"Damn!" Xu Zhengyang laughed and cursed, then put his arm around Chen Chaojiang's shoulder and walked into the house.
The brothers sat down together, naturally, for nothing more than drinking; we were happy today. It's been quite a while since we brothers had been able to gather together like this and drink so heartily; this was a rare treat.
Xu Zhengyang naturally wanted to sincerely toast his brothers, as they had really put in a lot of effort for him these past few days! The brothers waved back repeatedly, saying there was no need for formalities; they were brothers, after all. Everything was in the drinks.
Alright, let's drink.
Ye Wan and Li Bingjie didn't come over there.
This put Xu Zhengyang at ease a little. After all, when men get together for a drink, they can't really relax if their wives are around, right? Xu Zhengyang knew that Li Bingjie probably didn't want to come. With her personality, she blushes easily in front of everyone, let alone on this joyous day, her wedding night.
Just as they were getting into the swing of things, Ye Wan, along with Li Bingjie, and Ouyang Ying, along with Xu Rouyue, arrived—four stunningly beautiful girls, each more beautiful than the last.
Okay...
The men were all a bit stunned and embarrassed. They weren't as relaxed as Ye Wan and Ouyang Ying. They casually pulled out chairs and pushed aside Chen Chaojiang and Xu Zhengyang, who were sitting next to them, and the four girls squeezed themselves onto the table.
Fortunately, the table is big enough.
However, with so many people, it got quite crowded, so the men had to squeeze in with each other to make sure the girls had a more spacious and comfortable seat.
"Well, today is your big day, Xu Zhengyang and Bingjie. You toasted everyone, but you didn't toast us, right?" Ye Wan said, standing up.
"Okay, I'll go get you some juice." Xu Zhengyang quickly got up.
Xu Rouyue got up and walked out first, giving her brother an apologetic smile, and said, "I'll go get it, and also the red wine and drinks, bring them all..."
The men thought to themselves, "That's right! The newlyweds haven't even offered them any drinks yet; only Xu Zhengyang has toasted us." "It's our big day, and they think they can just get rid of us like this? No way!" They reasoned, "We're going to have a wedding night celebration soon anyway, so it's only natural for the newlyweds to offer us a few toasts."
So everyone present smiled and agreed with Ye Wan's words, while also looking at Chen Chaojiang with a meaningful and amused gaze.
Chen Chaojiang held her wine glass, took a small sip, and Ye Wan stood beside her.
Xu Zhengyang was happy to see everyone here, so he turned his head and whispered a few words to Li Bingjie beside him. Li Bingjie didn't object, and the couple got up to toast everyone.
Speaking of poor Li Bingjie, she really is a woman who follows her husband wherever he goes, and when asked to toast and drink, she actually picked up the glass and took a small sip of the liquor.
Xu Zhengyang drank it all in one gulp.
Everyone present, including Ye Wan, had to express their satisfaction.
Well, after three toasts, the young couple finally sat down. With this toasting tradition established, all the men present relaxed. What's the big deal? They're all married men, what's there to be shy about? Besides, they're all family from now on…
The banquet was filled with laughter and cheerful conversation.
Although the men relaxed, it was still just men laughing and drinking together. No one actually tried to strike up a conversation with the girls like they used to. Everyone knew that, didn't they?
Meanwhile, Ye Wan would occasionally exchange winks and whisper a few words with Chen Chaojiang.
Li Bingjie sat silently next to Xu Zhengyang with a shy smile on her face; sitting next to Li Bingjie was Ouyang Ying, and between Ouyang Ying and Ye Wan was Xu Rouyue.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. After several rounds of drinks, Xu Zhengyang and his sister had changed the dishes several times, and everyone had eaten and drunk their fill.
At this moment, Ouyang Ying, her eyes slightly glazed with drunkenness, raised her glass and said with a smile, "Brother Zhengyang, Sister-in-law Bingjie, Yingying, let me toast you all. Today, I haven't even had a chance to say anything to you as my blessings..."
"Yingying," Xu Rouyue whispered, trying to comfort her.
It turns out that no one had noticed that Ouyang Ying was drinking baijiu (Chinese liquor).
"Thank you, thank you!" Xu Zhengyang smiled and nodded, raising his glass in acknowledgment.
Surprisingly, without Xu Zhengyang's prompting, Li Bingjie picked up her glass, which she hadn't touched since the initial toast, and smiled, saying, "Thank you, and I wish you happiness soon."
Ouyang Ying was taken aback, then broke into a bright smile. Two crystal tears welled up in her beautiful, misty eyes. She raised her glass and drank the wine in one gulp, then smiled and said, "Bless you!" After saying that, Ouyang Ying stood up. "Rouyue, I... I'm sleepy. I'm going back to my room to sleep."
"Oh, let me help you back." Xu Rouyue quickly got up and helped the slightly unsteady Ouyang Ying out.
This little incident didn't affect the mood of the men, and even Xu Zhengyang didn't think much of it. As for Ouyang Ying laughing and crying earlier, well, firstly, she drank too much, and secondly, not all women are like that—they cry when they're happy, and they cry when they're sad…troublesome.
However, women understand women best.
Ye Wan had a general idea of what was going on, while Li Bingjie knew perfectly well what was happening. Even with her seemingly serene and unambitious nature, she harbored a strong sense of vigilance and a touch of jealousy in this matter. Therefore, her earlier statement, "I also wish you happiness soon," was, of course, a subtle warning.
Unfortunately, the men, of course, wouldn't understand the deeper meaning behind it.
"Brothers...have you all eaten and drunk your fill?" Xu Zhengyang asked before they could bring up the wedding night pranks.
"Okay, okay, okay..."
Xu Zhengyang smiled and looked at them all, then said, "Tonight, I'm going to shamelessly ask you guys to discuss something."
"Hey, what's the matter? Just say it!" Cao Gangchuan said loudly with a hearty laugh.
The group was quite tipsy, and naturally, they reverted to their usual rough and unruly nature.
"Tonight, let's skip the wedding night pranks... Bingjie isn't feeling well..."
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
Zhong Zhijun grinned, then leaned down mysteriously and asked, "Really? You're pregnant?"
Xu Zhengyang waved his hand with a smile, and Li Bingjie blushed and lowered her head, tightly gripping Xu Zhengyang's sleeve.
The guys nodded in agreement, indicating they understood... So Zhang Hao was the first to stand up and said, "Well, that's settled then, that's about enough. Guys, let's go. We've all been through this, and we all know that on wedding day, the people involved are usually exhausted. Let them get some rest, get some rest, okay!"
"Yes, yes, yes."
The group nodded in agreement and got up to leave.
Ye Wan grabbed Chen Chaojiang, who was about to get up, and said, "What should I do?"
"Um?"
Everyone looked at Ye Wan.
"What? You want me to live at Bingjie's house?" Ye Wan stared at Chen Chaojiang.
"This..." Chen Chaojiang was embarrassed.
Ye Wan pouted, got up and walked out, saying, "I was originally thinking of playing pranks on you guys in the bridal chamber, but since we're not going to, it's no fun. Chao Jiang, let's go, let's go stay at your place..."
Everyone in the room was stunned.
Ye Wan, who had already stepped out of the house and was standing on the porch, turned around and said, "What's wrong? Your house isn't an apartment building anymore, is it? You don't even have a single spare guest room, do you?"
Hmm...
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but still cast smirking glances at Chen Chaojiang.
Chen Chaojiang took a deep breath, stood up, and walked outside.
As soon as he stepped out of the house, Ye Wan, who was waiting for him under the porch, reached out and put her arm around Chen Chaojiang's arm. The two walked intimately toward the gate.
After a while, Zhong Zhijun and his group said goodbye and left, laughing and joking.
Li Bingjie got up, hesitated for a moment, and was about to tidy up the table. Xu Zhengyang stopped her and said with a smile, "Alright, you can tidy up tomorrow. Go back to your room and rest. You must be exhausted after a busy day."
"Mmm," Li Bingjie replied softly.
Xu Zhengyang put his arm around Li Bingjie's shoulder and walked out of the west room toward the new house in the east room.
However, as they walked into the courtyard, they faintly heard suppressed sobs coming from Xu Rouyue's bedroom, along with Xu Rouyue's soft words of comfort.
Xu Zhengyang scratched his head, completely baffled.
I entered the new house, closed the door, drew the curtains, and went into the bedroom.
Li Bingjie, who had been blushing and keeping her head down, slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. Suddenly, she raised her head, looked at Xu Zhengyang, and said, "Ouyang Ying is crying."
"Hmm, I heard you." Xu Zhengyang smiled, turned around, went outside, made two cups of hot water, and placed them on the small table beside the bed.
Do you know why?
"How would I know?" Xu Zhengyang shook his head with a smile, then thought for a moment and said, "Hey, she's had too much to drink. She's probably thinking about something sad again. This girl hasn't had it easy. Don't be fooled by her wealthy family background and seemingly glamorous and happy life. She's actually carrying a lot of pain inside. Her parents divorced a long time ago, and she lives in a single-parent family. Both her parents are always busy with work and business..."
“It’s not those things,” Li Bingjie sighed softly, “It’s that she likes you.”
“Uh…” Xu Zhengyang wasn’t stupid; he had sensed this long ago. So when Li Bingjie said that, he immediately understood the scene from before. He smiled, sat down on the edge of the bed, and hugged Li Bingjie tightly, saying with a smile, “Are you jealous?”
"Um."
Don't worry.
"Um."
"Go to sleep?"
"oh……"
...
The main lights inside the room went out, and a soft, dim pink light shone through.
rustling, rustling...
Amidst tense, slight breathing, the blanket would sometimes rise and sometimes fall, each time throwing out one or two cloth objects.
"Zhengyang, I'm scared."
"Hmm, don't be nervous..."
"Slow down."
"That's slow enough," Xu Zhengyang said, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"What’s wrong with you?"
"...I'm not very good at it." Xu Zhengyang's voice grew increasingly anxious, tinged with annoyance. He cursed inwardly, "Why are women's clothes so hard to take off?" He couldn't help but say anxiously, "Bingjie, can you help me?"
"oh……"
"ah……"