In the end, Zhang Xiyue still gave Cheng Mingjiao an unforgettable proposal.
It was grand, beautiful, and… expensive.
Money from the real world and money from the world of the novel couldn’t be transferred between the two, and she had already given Cheng Mingjiao the wages she’d saved while working at Yuhuang. For a poor person like her, putting together an expensive proposal ceremony was truly a challenge.
Fortunately, she knew a few rich people.
“How much do you want to borrow?” Guo Fengnian asked.
“How much do you have?” Zhang Xiyue countered.
Guo Fengnian checked his savings and named a figure.
Zhang Xiyue was stunned. “How can you have so little?”
“…A seven-figure savings account isn’t exactly little.” Seeing her reaction, Guo Fengnian hesitated. “You don’t even have thirty thousand yuan right now.”
Zhang Xiyue cleared her throat. “I was just surprised. Your family is so wealthy. Logically speaking, you should have more savings than that.”
“It’s precisely because my family is wealthy that I have so little saved.” After saying this, Guo Fengnian lovingly stroked his brand-new car. “Savings are meant to deal with future risks. Unless something unexpected happens, I probably won’t encounter any risks in this lifetime.”
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
Fine. He was impressive.
“Do you want me to lend you all of it?” Guo Fengnian got down to business.
After thinking it over, Zhang Xiyue borrowed one-third of his money, leaving him with more than half.
Guo Fengnian approved. “Very decent of you.”
“I’ll pay you back in a while.” The moment Zhang Xiyue got the money, she turned to leave.
Guo Fengnian couldn’t help asking, “Hey, you haven’t even told me what you’re borrowing the money for!”
“I’m proposing to Cheng Mingjiao. Remember to keep it a secret.” Zhang Xiyue didn’t even look back.
Guo Fengnian said, “Oh, a proposal… A proposal?!”
He sucked in a sharp breath and was about to question her further, but Zhang Xiyue had already gone.
She then went to Liang Xiao and Zhou Ce to borrow some money as well. In the end, she managed to gather enough for her budget.
She didn’t ask Chen Mingjiao for money because ever since she’d returned, he had been hounding her nonstop, insisting on transferring his entire fortune to her. There was no way she could accept it, but he simply wouldn’t listen, so she had no choice but to avoid him for the time being.
If she really asked him for money, Zhang Xiyue was afraid he might convert all his assets into cash and bury her alive under it.
In any case, once she had borrowed enough money, she began researching proposals. When the day finally arrived, she managed to move Cheng Mingjiao to the point where his eyes turned red. He held her tightly and refused to let go.
“Thank you. I really like it…” Cheng Mingjiao choked out his feelings in the midst of the regret he had once experienced in that sea of flowers.
But words alone clearly weren’t enough. He lowered his head and nuzzled and kissed Zhang Xiyue.
The cheers of their friends and family rang in her ears. Zhang Xiyue’s face flushed from all the commotion, and she hurriedly pushed Cheng Mingjiao away.
Cheng Mingjiao was displeased. “Why won’t you let me kiss you?”
“…There are so many people here.” Zhang Xiyue had no idea what to say.
Cheng Mingjiao gave a soft hum. Seeing all the guests who had come to support them, he became even more unhappy. “I shouldn’t have invited them.”
Everyone: “…”
Zhang Xiyue laughed helplessly. “I thought you liked lively occasions.”
“It’s all right, I suppose. A grand celebration does need a few NPCs to set the mood, but today I’d rather be alone with you… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have let you arrange this proposal ceremony.”
He said this without the slightest concern for the feelings of the guests present. He even sounded faintly regretful, behaving like a thoroughly ungrateful brat.
Yet Zhang Xiyue found him adorable.
Especially today. He was dressed to the nines in a beautiful, crisp formal suit, paired with the little tie she had bought for him. And after Guo Fengnian and the others had egged him on, he even had a veil perched on the back of his head. Every time he spoke, the thin fabric swayed with the movement of his head.
He was simply too cute.
A smile blossomed in Zhang Xiyue’s eyes. She rose onto her toes and kissed him.
Cheng Mingjiao froze for a moment, and all his resentment vanished.
“Then next time, I’ll propose to you privately,” Zhang Xiyue said.
Cheng Mingjiao’s eyes lit up, but then he hesitated. “Twice? I’ve already said yes this time. Would proposing again be bad luck?”
Zhang Xiyue reassured him. “Of course not. I think it would be especially lucky.”
The corners of Cheng Mingjiao’s lips curled up. “You just love me too much.”
That was why she didn’t care whether it was lucky or not. She simply wanted to make him happy.
Zhang Xiyue nodded. “That’s right. I just love you too much.”
The others, who had been completely ignored, exchanged glances. Feng Shan was still holding a confetti popper and had no idea whether she should set it off.
Guo Fengnian sidled over and asked in a low voice, “Auntie, did you hear Cheng Mingjiao call us NPCs just now?”
Feng Shan nodded. “I heard him.”
“After hearing that, is there anything you’d like to do to him?”
Feng Shan replied, “I want to beat him up.”
Guo Fengnian smiled in satisfaction. He was just about to celebrate the success of his attempt to stir up trouble when Feng Shan sighed.
“But he has a wife now. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to hit him anymore, would it?”
Guo Fengnian opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Cheng Hanting offered a suggestion.
“Then have Xiyue beat him up.”
The moment he said this, they all looked toward the stage.
Cheng Mingjiao was complaining that the clothes he was wearing were uncomfortable. However, in order to impress Zhang Xiyue, he was willing to endure the discomfort and wear the outfit anyway.
Zhang Xiyue nodded repeatedly. “You look stunning. Absolutely stunning.”
Everyone else: “…”
If they were counting on her to hit him, Cheng Mingjiao would have to commit an enormous blunder first.
The newly engaged couple had no interest in what the NPCs thought. After being affectionate onstage to their hearts’ content, they walked home hand in hand.
“Oh, right.” Zhang Xiyue suddenly remembered something. “I borrowed quite a lot of money for this proposal. Help me pay everyone back when you have time.”
“All right.”
Cheng Mingjiao didn’t think there was anything wrong with her using his money to propose to him. In fact, when he heard that she had borrowed money from other people, he felt a little distressed.
“If you didn’t have money, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was afraid you’d ask questions. If you kept pressing me, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from telling you what I needed the money for. Then the surprise would have been ruined, wouldn’t it?” Zhang Xiyue explained.
Hearing this, Cheng Mingjiao realized that her thought process had been much the same as his own before he proposed. His heart softened even further.
“I’ll transfer some money to your account,” Cheng Mingjiao said, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “That way, you won’t have to borrow from anyone else if something comes up.”
Zhang Xiyue thought that, since they were going to get married anyway, there was no need to remain overly formal with him. She readily agreed.
Early the next morning, she found an extraordinarily long string of digits in her bank account in the novel’s world.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands…
Zhang Xiyue counted carefully, then silently fell back onto the bed.
Good heavens. This was far more than any reward she had ever received.
She lay there for two hours. It wasn’t until Cheng Mingjiao urged her to get up that she finally accepted the fact that she had become rich overnight.
Given Cheng Mingjiao’s personality, the wedding should have followed immediately after the proposal. But before he could even put it on the agenda, Zhang Xiyue brought up the idea of going home to visit.
Her home in the real world.
When Cheng Mingjiao heard this, it felt as if the sky had fallen. Every ten minutes, he asked whether she would come back after returning there.
Zhang Xiyue was utterly helpless. She explained it to him over and over again, but none of it seemed to work.
After Cheng Mingjiao spent three days in a daze, Zhang Xiyue suddenly had an idea.
“How about I take you with me?”
Cheng Mingjiao’s eyes lit up. “Can I?”
“It should… probably be possible?” Zhang Xiyue was a little uncertain herself.
The first time she came to this world, she had brought along a work bag. The first time she returned from this world to the real one, she had taken this world’s phone with her.
If objects could be brought over, then people… shouldn’t be a problem either, right?
But the moment Zhang Xiyue finished speaking, she began to have second thoughts. “Forget it. What if you come to the real world and turn into three words?”
“What three words?” Cheng Mingjiao asked, not understanding.
Zhang Xiyue: “Cheng, Ming, Jiao.”
Although he wasn’t a character in the novel, he did exist in a world made up of written words. If he were still alive and breathing here, only to become Song typeface, size small-four, with thirty-three-point line spacing over there, that would be downright hellish.
“…You’d better not go.” Zhang Xiyue’s tone was solemn.
But Cheng Mingjiao refused to listen. He pestered her relentlessly, insisting on coming along.
Zhang Xiyue had no choice but to give it a try. If he turned into three words, she would bring him straight back.
Once she had made up her mind, she took Cheng Mingjiao’s hand and concentrated on trying to return home.
A minute later, the two of them appeared in an empty, dilapidated stairwell.
Zhang Xiyue immediately beamed. “It worked!”
The corners of Cheng Mingjiao’s lips lifted. He had just raised a hand to high-five her in celebration when his expression crumpled the next second.
“Zhang Xiyue, run! We seem to be in a condemned building that’s about to be demolished!”
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
After she carefully explained everything, Cheng Mingjiao finally accepted that this was Zhang Xiyue’s home.
Strictly speaking, one of the apartments in the building was Zhang Xiyue’s home.
With an expression of deep solemnity, Cheng Mingjiao followed Zhang Xiyue home. He listened just as solemnly as she introduced him to everything in the house, then sat solemnly on the cramped sofa, waiting for Zhang Xiyue to pour him some water.
Having Cheng Mingjiao come home with her left Zhang Xiyue in a strange state of mind. For the first time, she truly realized that they were about to become a family.
A real family.
Her heart was beating fast. When she sat down beside Cheng Mingjiao, she even felt a little flutter of excitement that didn’t quite belong to someone her age.
Cheng Mingjiao, on the other hand, seemed somewhat distracted.
After a pause, Zhang Xiyue asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“I always thought suffering was fair, that the weight falling on each person was the same, that it didn’t distinguish between social classes. But only now have I realized that isn’t true,” Philosopher Cheng said gravely.
Zhang Xiyue’s eyelid twitched. She had a feeling that whatever came next wouldn’t be pleasant.
“When I’m suffering, I go ice diving in Siberia, camp in the deserts of Morocco, or shut myself away on a private island in the South Pacific named after me. But when you’re suffering, all you can do is cry in a ramshackle place like this.” Cheng Mingjiao let out a long sigh. His eyes were filled with sympathy as he looked at her. “The suffering of the poor really is so much heavier than the suffering of the rich.”
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
Wonderful. Just when she thought she had completely grown accustomed to Cheng Mingjiao’s outrageous remarks, he had once again managed to offend her with his own unique talent.
She drew a deep breath and was just about to speak when the sound of the front door opening, along with voices, suddenly came from the entryway.
It sounded like Xiaobai and An’an.
Zhang Xiyue’s eyes lit up. She was just about to run over and greet them when Cheng Mingjiao asked in a tone brimming with sympathy, “Your poor friends are here?”
