After the vow ceremony concluded, there was still a wedding banquet to attend. The bridal party and guests left Jialan High School and headed to Yansen Hotel.
The vow ceremony had only invited close relatives and good friends, but even so, there were over a hundred attendees. Add in the wedding team and photography crew, and the numbers were considerable—Jialan’s parking lot buzzed with activity.
Unlike the bridal pickup earlier, there were no strict seating arrangements for the ride to the banquet. People could simply find any available seat.
Yun Wulai boarded an empty wedding car at random. After a long day of running around, she was understandably tired. She leaned her head against the seatback and closed her eyes for a short rest.
Just as she was drifting off, the car door opened, letting in a wave of summer heat and the clamor of voices outside—someone else was about to get in.
The light outside was harsh, so bright that even with her eyes closed, she could feel it. Yun Wulai raised a hand to shield her face.
Her nap interrupted, she just hoped the person would hurry up and close the door.
But the other party lingered—neither entering nor shutting the door.
Yun Wulai gradually became more awake. She opened her eyes and peered through her fingers.
Sure enough, it was Zhu Kaixuan.
He wore a school uniform T-shirt, his left arm draped with the jacket he’d taken off.
From her angle, she couldn’t see his face.
By now, all the cool air in the car had escaped, blending seamlessly with the sweltering heat outside. Yun Wulai’s irritation flared. Unable to hold back, she snapped, “Are you getting in or not? If not, close the damn door.”
Zhu Kaixuan ducked inside and shut the door behind him.
Yun Wulai closed her eyes again, but the image from before lingered in her mind—his slightly sweat-dampened bangs pushed back, just like how he used to look after playing basketball.
Zhu Kaixuan let out a quiet, amused huff.
Years had passed, yet her grumpiness upon waking hadn’t improved. She probably didn’t realize it herself, but whenever she was half-asleep and irritated, her voice carried a faint, unintentional coquettishness. The person on the receiving end might feel scolded, but more than anything, it was like being lightly scratched by a cat’s paw—a little sting, mostly an itch.
Many guests had also boarded nearby wedding cars under the principle of convenience. Ni Dong was among the last to arrive at the parking lot. Spotting a car with an empty passenger seat from afar, he rushed over and flung the door open, plopping down with a loud complaint: “God, it’s so hot—”
Mid-sentence, he turned to see who else was in the car. First, he noticed Yun Wulai, eyes closed and dozing.
Ni Dong: “!!!”
Stiffly, he shifted his gaze to the seat behind him—where Zhu Kaixuan looked up from his phone and greeted him with a smile. “Ni Dong, you made it?”
“Sorry, bro. I’ll get out right now.” Ni Dong scrambled out in a panic.
He fled to knock on the window of Fu Xingci and Yan Sui’s lead car—a stretched Rolls-Royce. It wasn’t like there wasn’t space. Adding one Ni Dong to the mix wasn’t too much to ask, right?
He didn’t want to squeeze into a car with the Fu or Yan family elders or Jialan’s school administrators. He didn’t even know them—how awkward would that be?
Fu Xingci rolled down the window. “Get lost.”
Ni Dong wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he could see that the newlyweds were trying to play matchmaker between Zhu Kaixuan and Yun Wulai. He shamelessly threatened, “Fine, then I’ll just go be the third wheel for Kaixuan and Miss Yun.”
“…Damn you.” Fu Xingci was torn between annoyance and amusement. “Get back here.”
After letting Ni Dong in, Fu Xingci had a twinge of regret.
Those two—neither willing to engage with the other—probably wouldn’t have made progress with or without a third wheel.
Fu Xingci’s guess was spot-on.
In one of the cars, the two occupants sat on opposite sides of the backseat.
One, though no longer sleepy, kept her eyes shut in feigned rest.
The other, with nothing better to do, focused on his phone game.
A short while into the drive, Yun Wulai’s phone rang.
Caller ID: Brother.
She stared at the screen for a moment before answering. “Hello.”
“Wulai.” A deep male voice came through the speaker, clear in the quiet car. “You’re back in the country?”
Zhu Kaixuan’s fingers paused almost imperceptibly on his phone screen.
“Yeah.” Yun Wulai’s reply was brief, offering no elaboration.
Luo Zhou on the other end also fell silent for a beat before clearing his throat and forcing conversation. “You didn’t tell me you were coming back.”
“I’m just here for the wedding. Leaving soon.”
“You should still come by. Yun Shuang’s home for summer break too. We can have a family dinner.” Luo Zhou’s tone was as gentle as ever.
Luo Zhou was the son of Yun Wulai’s godparents, three years her senior. The two of them, along with her younger sister Yun Shuang, had lived under the same roof for many years.
Yun Wulai found it odd that Luo Zhou didn’t mention her dropping gifts at the security booth without entering the house—as if he had no idea.
“Not this time. Next time.” She declined politely. “My flight’s early tomorrow.”
Truthfully, she hadn’t even booked a ticket yet.
“Then stop by after the banquet, okay?” When she still didn’t respond, Luo Zhou pressed further. “Wulai, Mom’s missed you all these years.”
Yun Wulai’s resolve wavered. It was hard to refuse now.
Yun’s father and Luo’s father had been close friends since their youth. Even after marriage, the two families remained inseparable. Yun Wulai and Yun Shuang had grown up calling Luo’s parents “Godfather” and “Godmother.”
When Yun Wulai was fourteen, Luo’s father had been tied up with work, so Yun’s parents had offered to pick up Luo’s mother and Luo Zhou from the airport on their way home. That detour led to tragedy—a car crash. Yun’s father died on impact, while Yun’s mother suffered critical injuries. Despite multiple surgeries, she never regained consciousness, remaining in a vegetative state.
The accident was ruled Yun’s father’s fault for running a red light. The other driver offered a token compensation out of goodwill, and the matter was settled.
Though the Luo family never intended for this to happen, the guilt weighed heavily on them. Luo’s parents took in Yun Wulai and Yun Shuang, raising them as their own.
Godfather and Godmother had truly treated the sisters well. What was once a comfortably middle-class household suddenly strained under the weight of two extra mouths to feed. Yet they never shortchanged the girls, even if it meant tightening Luo Zhou’s allowance. Luo’s father worked tirelessly, refusing to touch a single cent of the Yun family’s savings—all of which went toward Yun’s mother’s medical bills.
Over the years, Yun’s mother and Luo’s father passed away one after another, leaving Luo’s mother, Ji Qiuyue, to shoulder the burden alone. She never complained, never once considered abandoning her responsibility.
Yun Wulai had witnessed Ji Qiuyue’s sacrifices firsthand. By all rights, they should have shared a bond deeper than blood—a mother and daughter in all but name.
But then Luo Zhou fell in love with her.
Ji Qiuyue couldn’t understand why her son—handsome, kind, hardworking—wasn’t good enough for Yun Wulai. They’d grown up together, knew each other inside out. Shouldn’t they have been a perfect match?
But Yun Wulai only saw Luo Zhou as a brother. There was no room for romance.
Even though Ji Qiuyue adored Yun Wulai dearly, her deepest love was still reserved for her own biological son. She understood that feelings couldn’t be forced, but no mother could remain indifferent toward a woman who had broken her son’s heart—especially when that son refused to pursue relationships with other girls, seemingly determined to marry no one else.
After everything was laid bare, the relationship between the adoptive mother and daughter grew increasingly strained, at times reaching freezing point. By the time Yun Wulai started her first year of graduate school, she found an excuse to move out of the family home.
From then on, she stayed in Paris for long stretches, rarely keeping in touch with the Luo family.
But the years of nurturing Ji Qiuyue had given her weren’t something Yun Wulai could simply forget. To her, Ji Qiuyue remained a vulnerable spot she couldn’t easily ignore.
So when Luo Zhou said, "Mom has missed you all these years," an invisible hand seemed to tighten around Yun Wulai’s throat, making it impossible for her to voice a firm refusal.
Just as she was torn between conflicting emotions, Zhu Kaixuan, standing beside her, snatched the phone from her hand. "Yun Wulai rarely comes back. I’m not too keen on being apart from her. If you and your mother don’t mind, I’ll come along with her tonight."
"Who are you?" Luo Zhou asked hesitantly, voicing his suspicion. "Zhu Kaixuan?"
Zhu Kaixuan scoffed. "Who else?"
Luo Zhou sounded doubtful. "Didn’t you two break up?"
"That’s none of your concern," Zhu Kaixuan replied, his tone deceptively casual but laced with sharpness. "So, have you decided? Should we both come over?"
Luo Zhou fell silent.
Having Yun Wulai show up with her boyfriend would be nothing short of a slap in Ji Qiuyue’s face. The awkwardness of such a scene was all too easy to imagine.
"You’ve got three seconds," Zhu Kaixuan said, leaving no room for deliberation as he began counting down. "3, 2, 1. Bye."
Without waiting for a response, he hung up and tossed the phone back to Yun Wulai.
She caught it, lowering her gaze in thought.
The phone didn’t ring again.
Zhu Kaixuan’s harsh tone made Yun Wulai feel a pang of guilt over Luo Zhou’s reaction, but more than that, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
"Regretting it?" Misreading her expression, Zhu Kaixuan’s face darkened. "If you’re having second thoughts, call him back. Consider this me meddling in your business."
"No," Yun Wulai turned to look at him. "Thank you."
He let out a faint scoff and turned his attention to the window.
The back of his head looked a little too proud.
