Huo Tingzhou finished stuffing everything into the trunk before explaining, "This afternoon, both my dad's and my office phones were ringing off the hook."
Jiang Si thought that made sense.
Beijing's social circle was only so big, and news traveled fast within it. Given the Huo family's current connections, it would have been strange if no one had called to give them a heads-up.
"I actually wanted to give you a surprise."
Before Jiang Si could finish her sentence, Huo Tingzhou freed his right hand and gently squeezed hers.
"It is a surprise, and a source of pride. For Mom and Dad too."
At that moment, Jiang Si was still a bit puzzled.
That was, until they arrived home.
Seeing the table laden with fine wine, delicious food, and the entire family gathered together, Jiang Si immediately understood.
Although everyone was in Beijing this year, apart from Second Brother and his wife, the other branches of the family didn't live at the old mansion.
Everyone was usually busy with work. The last time they had all gathered like this was months ago, for Little Doujiang's first birthday banquet.
At the dinner table, Mother Huo looked at her daughter-in-law, her eyes filled with pride.
"Si, you must eat more. You look like you've lost weight recently," Mother Huo said, her serving chopsticks never pausing as she spoke.
Looking at the mountain of food piled in her bowl, Jiang Si quickly said, "Mom, that's enough, really. Any more and I won't be able to finish it."
She wasn't joking; she truly couldn't eat that much.
Yet, this joyful event wasn't the only one. Just two days later, Chris called.
As soon as the receiver was picked up, a series of ear-piercing shrieks came through: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—"
Jiang Si quickly held the receiver away from her ear. Only after Chris had calmed down did she ask, "What happened to get you this excited?"
Though she asked, Jiang Si could already guess part of it.
Six months ago, another of Chi's mother's close associates had been apprehended in France.
Following this lead, the police had finally found the ashes of Qin Grandfather and Qin Grandmother in a cemetery over seventy kilometers from Paris.
After Qin Grandfather and Qin Grandmother's ashes were returned to their homeland, Chi Heng had officially changed his nationality back to China and reverted his name to Qin Shian.
Doing the math, the two of them had been dating as agreed for over a year now.
Given Chris's current state of being too excited to speak coherently, there was clearly good news.
Sure enough, Chris was on the other end of the line, excited to the point of being incoherent, her voice trembling.
"Jiang Si! I'm getting married! I can't believe it, Qin Shian actually proposed to me!"
"Oh my god, why would he propose to me? Am I... am I dreaming?"
Jiang Si was amused by her and teased, "Pinch yourself and you'll know if you're dreaming."
But no sooner had the words left her mouth than a muffled grunt came from the other end of the line.
It was Qin Shian's voice. "Maybe I should just get a megaphone and announce it in the embassy district."
That way, she wouldn't spend the whole morning pinching herself.
"No, no, no! I believe you, I do!" Chris said, then waved at him, "Oh, hurry up and go out. I want to have a good chat with Jiang Si."
After Qin Shian left the room, Chris let out a sigh.
Jiang Si was puzzled. "Haven't you been looking forward to this day for ages? Aren't you happy now that your dream has come true?"
"It's not that, of course I'm happy!" Chris said. "It's just that my mind is in such a whirl right now. Everything feels so unreal."
"Do you have time now? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."
Jiang Si happened to have no plans for the day. "Sure. Shall we meet at the usual place?"
The usual place she referred to was the old Moscow Restaurant.
An hour later, the two arrived at the restaurant one after the other.
When Jiang Si arrived, Chris was sitting with her chin in her hands, her gaze vacant, lost in thought.
"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep last night?" Jiang Si asked in surprise as she sat down opposite her.
Chris's skin was already fair, making the dark circles under her eyes now exceptionally pronounced.
"Mhm, I haven't slept since he proposed last night," Chris said listlessly. "I'm just afraid that if I close my eyes, I'll wake up and find it was all a dream."
"Didn't you already pinch him? Still don't believe it? Should we call Qin Shian over so you can pinch him a few more times?"
"Let's not do that."
"I knew you couldn't bear to."
Jiang Si laughed, but she was genuinely happy for them. "It's common to feel insecure before getting married. You'll feel better in a few days. By the way, have you set a date for the wedding banquet?"
At this, a smile finally appeared on Chris's lips. "Yes, New Year's Eve!"
Thankfully, Jiang Si wasn't drinking anything at that moment, or she would have surely sprayed it. "New Year's Eve?"
Chris nodded. "That day is the Chinese New Year and also Valentine's Day in the West. Two holidays in one, a perfect blend of East and West. Such a wonderful meaning!"
Of course, choosing this date also involved a little bit of her own cunning. "In the future, whenever it's New Year, Qin Shian will remember it's our wedding anniversary!"
Hearing it explained that way, Jiang Si also felt the date sounded quite good indeed.
"Right? I think so too!"
After a moment's thought, Chris sighed again. "It's just a bit of a pity that you guys can't come."
Can't come?
Jiang Si asked, "Are you holding your wedding in France?"
"Not exactly," Chris explained. "We plan to have it in Shanghai."
Although Qin Grandfather and Qin Grandmother were no longer there, the Qin family still had many relatives in Shanghai.
A few months ago, Qin Shian had asked Third Granduncle for help and had already bought back the old Qin family house.
"Sigh, maybe I should just change the date."
Chris didn't have many friends in China.
If possible, she still hoped Jiang Si could attend her wedding.
But just as this thought emerged, Jiang Si said, "Thank you for considering changing your wedding date just for me, but it's not necessary. We're also going back to Shanghai for New Year's this year."
"Really?" Chris instantly perked up.
Jiang Si said with a smile, "Of course it's true!"
Previously, due to the work on the foreign-related hotel and because the two little ones were still very young, they had stayed in Beijing for the New Year these past two years.
Now, the work at hand was basically finished.
She and Huo Tingzhou had discussed it a long time ago; they would return to Shanghai for New Year's this year.
They would also take the two children back to see their maternal grandmother and their great-grandparents.
"That's wonderful!" Chris was so excited she nearly jumped up from her seat, quickly clasping her hands together. "In that case, could Suisui and Zhaozhao be our flower girl and ring bearer?"
To be honest, she had been coveting Jiang Si's two children for a long time.
They were so beautiful, so clever, and exceptionally well-behaved!
Every time she saw the two little treasures, she wanted to take them back to her own place to look after for a while.
It was hard for Jiang Si to refuse Chris's request, especially since over the past year or more, the two little ones had certainly eaten their fair share of the small cakes and cookies Chris had made.
So, she nodded in agreement.
The two chatted for a while longer about the wedding.
Jiang Si didn't ask too much about the details of their relationship.
But she couldn't stop Chris from sharing.
Thus, Jiang Si learned that in the past year, Chris seemed to have developed a rivalry with the activity of mountain climbing.
Every time I made a date with Qin Shian, it was to go hiking.
But her and hiking... well, let's just say their compatibility was off.
Whenever the two of them went hiking, she would inevitably take a tumble!
According to incomplete statistics, over the course of a year, Chris had fallen no less than ten times!
Of course, she was never seriously hurt, because at the critical moment, Qin Shian would always catch her.
That lasted until the last time she asked Qin Shian out and mentioned they'd be hiking Mount Hua.
Qin Shian fell silent for nearly ten full minutes.
At this point in the story, Chris laughed heartily, "He probably felt so backed into a corner that he proposed to me."
"Why would you think that?"
"I don't know either," Chris suddenly deflated like a balloon. "Tell me, did he marry me out of a sense of obligation? To repay a kindness?"
"Can't you think about it in a more positive light?"
They say a woman in love has an IQ of zero. Jiang Si never used to believe it, but now she did.
"If he didn't care, why would he be afraid? After all, you're the one who keeps falling, not him."
With that one sentence, Chris had a sudden moment of clarity. "Oh! You're right! How did I not see that before!"
