Liu Renzhi looked in the direction Lin Wanyi was pointing.
"Fireflies?"
He was also surprised.
"There are actually fireflies here. I haven't seen them since I was a kid."
Lin Wanyi was incredibly pleasantly surprised:
"Yeah, I haven't seen fireflies for many, many years either.
"Brother Liu, we're really lucky today."
She got out of the car and walked toward the dotted lights of the fireflies.
How beautiful.
A firefly landed on her hand.
Carefully yet excitedly, she offered her hand to Liu Renzhi.
"Brother Liu, look, look quickly.
"It landed on my hand, look!"
Liu Renzhi stepped closer to her:
"Yeah, it's really beautiful."
Lin Wanyi raised her hand higher, silently praying in her heart:
"Fireflies, oh fireflies, can you bless all of us?"
The sky had turned completely dark. A crescent moon hung in the sky, and the stars blinked as if they were speaking.
Liu Renzhi watched Lin Wanyi in silence.
In that moment, he forgot everything else in the world; his heart and eyes held only Lin Wanyi.
But the next second, Lin Wanyi turned her head and said with regret:
"It flew away, Brother Liu. The firefly flew away."
Liu Renzhi was standing too close to her. As she turned, her lips accidentally brushed against his Adam's apple.
In that very instant, Liu Renzhi felt as if his entire body had caught fire.
He grabbed Lin Wanyi by the waist and leaned in to kiss her.
The nocturnal insects were singing.
Lin Wanyi's heart was pounding.
Liu Renzhi kissed her over and over again. Finally, he asked:
"Have you thought it through? Wanyi, as long as you don't hate me or reject me, just give me a chance.
"Let's give it a try, okay?"
This time, Lin Wanyi didn't refuse so quickly.
Liu Renzhi.
What a perfect man.
What a heart-fluttering man.
How on earth could she refuse him?
She thought for a long, long time before finally whispering a single sentence:
"I... I have a child."
A wave of secret joy swept through Liu Renzhi's heart. He immediately said:
"Of course I know that, Wanyi. Since I am pursuing you, it means I accept everything about you.
"Your past, your child, I accept it all.
"Rest assured, I will definitely treat Keke as my own child.
"I promise."
He paused for a moment and pecked Lin Wanyi on the lips again:
"So, are you agreeing to date me?"
"I..."
Lin Wanyi hesitated, and finally only said:
"We... can give it a try."
On the way back, Liu Renzhi wore a smile on his face the entire drive.
"Are you hungry? Let me take you out to eat."
"No need."
Lin Wanyi said instinctively:
"Keke is still waiting for me at home. Brother Liu, please take me back first."
Liu Renzhi suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
Lin Wanyi had no idea what he was doing:
"Why... why are you stopping here? It's pitch black."
Liu Renzhi turned to look at Lin Wanyi, his eyes seemingly carrying a trace of grievance:
"Wanyi, since we've agreed to give us a try, shouldn't the first thing be changing how you address me?
"Are you going to keep calling me Brother Liu forever?"
"Huh?"
Lin Wanyi was a bit bewildered: "Then what should I call you?"
Liu Renzhi simply unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, walked around the hood, and opened the passenger door.
He cupped Lin Wanyi's face in his hands:
"Come on, call me Renzhi."
Lin Wanyi blushed under his intense gaze. She found it hard to say it out loud.
Liu Renzhi patiently continued:
"Come on, say it. Renzhi."
Lin Wanyi's eyes darted around evasively, but she still whispered:
"Ren..."
Before she could get the rest of his name out, Lin Wanyi's phone rang.
She hurriedly answered it without looking, only to hear Wang Hao's voice.
He was clearly drunk and babbling nonsense:
"Wife, why aren't you at home?
"And why is the house passcode wrong? I've entered it so many times and it's always wrong.
"Wife, wife, open the door for me. Open the door."
Lin Wanyi's good mood vanished completely. She felt as if what had just happened was merely a dream.
Now, she was dragged back to reality by Wang Hao.
She was a divorced woman. She was a woman who had given birth to a child and suffered a miscarriage.
She wasn't good enough for Liu Renzhi. She truly didn't deserve him.
She quickly hung up the phone, pulled away from Liu Renzhi, and lowered her head:
"Brother Liu, let's go back."
Liu Renzhi felt a bitter ache in his heart. He knew Wang Hao's call had struck a blow to Lin Wanyi.
He didn't push her any further. Instead, he told her:
"Block this number."
Lin Wanyi obediently complied. After blocking the number, she closed her eyes and didn't say another word.
Upon returning home, Lin Jiajun was a bit surprised:
"Big Sister, didn't Brother Liu treat you to dinner? You're back so soon?"
"Mhm."
Lin Wanyi didn't say much and went back to her room, leaving Lin Jiajun standing there scratching his head.
Liu Chunlan and Wang Hao went to Lijia Village to find Wang Meijuan.
But Li Jun wouldn't even let them through the door.
Wang Hao had drunk a bottle of beer, and he smashed the empty bottle against the Li family's front gate.
Liu Chunlan shouted, "Wang Meijuan, if you don't come out right now, I'm calling the police!
"What you did counts as robbery, do you know that?
"You just got out of the police station, you don't want to go back in, do you?"
Wang Meijuan couldn't care less. From behind the door, she said:
"Mom, I'm your daughter. I'm just taking back my own bride price.
"What did I do wrong?
"Calling the police won't do you any good."
Li Jun flipped through the bankbook, looking it over, but then frowned:
"This isn't right. The numbers in this bankbook are wrong."
He handed it to Wang Meijuan: "Didn't you say your mom had seven or eight hundred thousand? I see this number only starts with a five."
Wang Meijuan also opened the bankbook. The most recent date on it was from three years ago.
It was a bit hard to see clearly now.
But she wasn't worried:
"Even if it starts with a five, that's still over five hundred thousand.
"Maybe she spent some of it. It's fine, over five hundred thousand is enough for us to spend.
"Hubby, I'll go withdraw it first thing tomorrow morning and deposit it into your account, okay?"
Of course it was okay. Li Jun was overjoyed.
He had originally just casually mentioned returning the bride price, never expecting it to actually succeed.
He hadn't expected this idiot Wang Meijuan to agree, and even help him do it.
Hahaha, the more he thought about it, the happier he felt.
Hearing Wang Hao's exasperated voice outside made him even more thrilled.
He even taunted Wang Hao through the door:
"Wang Hao, go back. I'm just taking back my own money, it has nothing to do with you."
Outside, Wang Hao picked up a rock and hurled it at the gate.
Then he said to Liu Chunlan:
"Mom, let's go back. It's nighttime, so even if they have the bankbook, they can't withdraw the money.
"First thing tomorrow morning, we'll go wait at the bank. With you, the account holder, there, it won't matter if Wang Meijuan knows the password.
"When the time comes, we'll just report it lost, and then you can transfer all the money to me.
"We'll see what Wang Meijuan can do then. I'd like to see how she manages to get a single cent."
Liu Chunlan knew Wang Hao was right, but what she was worried about was completely different from what Wang Hao was worried about.
She was worried that her secret could no longer be kept.
She was worried whether Wang Hao would beat her to death.
