"Darling, I know what you're thinking." Leng Yuchen held the ring in one hand and pulled An Qi out of bed with his other hand.
He knew that this may not be the perfect place for him to propose, but An Qi's facial expression showed him that this was at least the perfect time to propose.
"Yuchen, I feel guilty that I couldn't agree to marry you wholeheartedly when we first registered for our marriage license," An Qi apologized.
An Qi was telling the truth, as she really was filled with regret. At that time, she had just met Leng Yuchen, and had she not been upset over the matter with Auntie Sun, she would not have made such a hasty decision.
"Silly girl, at least to me, the registration for a marriage license is just a formality. Hence, I never took it too seriously. Besides, being the first one you thought of when something happened to you, that alone meant so much to me." Although Leng Yuchen's actual hand was hanging in mid-air, holding the ring, at the same time, his proverbial hand was tugging at An Qi's heart.
As she looked at the dazzling diamond ring, she was smitten. It was so gorgeous, any woman would be touched when she saw such a diamond. It was no wonder why people always said that diamonds were women's best friends.
An Qi was no exception. After all, that diamond ring, besides being of great value, was also a symbol of Leng Yuchen's affection and sincerity toward An Qi.
It was the first time that Leng Yuchen had chosen a diamond ring for a woman, and as such, he spared no expense and went to great lengths to ensure that it was perfect. In fact, ever since he had been reunited with An Qi, when he wasn't dealing with company matters, he was communicating with his South African counterparts via the Internet, designing an exquisite diamond ring.
In fact, from its design to its material selection, right down to the finishing touches, every single detail was handled under the command of Leng Yuchen. Imagine a man, who usually could think of nothing but his work and who was too lazy to even care about his attire, for the sake of An Qi, spent such a long time in finding that perfect diamond ring. This was evidence enough that it was indeed love that filled his heart and spurred him to do so for An Qi.
An Qi looked at Leng Yuchen with sincerity and recalled a saying that she had once heard... "The life you are leading now is the sum of all of your previous choices." She had obviously wasted a lot of time by choosing Yu Hao before.
Since God had given her another chance to make better choices, An Qi's was determined to to not waste them this time around!
"Yuchen, I am willing. In fact, I'm not only willing to marry you, but I am also willing to face all of life's possible storms with you in the future." As An Qi spoke, she clasped her hands around the black suede box that contained the diamond ring, her eyes remaining always fixed on Leng Yuchen, her gaze firm and resolute.
In this moment, An Qi was acting totally different from her usual self. This astounded Leng Yuchen. In fact, for a few moments, he even saw shadows of himself in An Qi's behavior.
In fact, it was natural that couples, who had been together for a long time, would start to develop more and more similarities to one another in terms of personality and appearance. This fact was probably due to the sharing of daily life in such close proximity. It even included habits, like the food that each preferred and their manners of dressing.
But, it was still quite surprising how An Qi was now able to get along so well with Leng Yuchen. One had to wonder how she had managed to make such a remarkable transformation. Regardless, besides An Qi's own stubbornness, it could be said that they were really made for each other.
At that moment, Leng Yuchen raised the corners of his mouth into a satisfied smile. He could clearly see that he had done well in choosing this perfect ring, as An Qi really seemed to be all in.
"Little thing, you have only just accepted my gift, how dare you look at me in such an adoring way? It is quite shocking!" After a while, Leng Yuchen took An Qi into his arms and whispered jokingly in her ears.
In reality, Leng Yuchen absolutely loved An Qi's firm and intense look of adoration. But, in order to maintain his dignity as her husband, he pretended to be calm and somewhat unaffected by it.
Upon hearing him tease her in such a playful way, An Qi raised her eyebrows. She knew that Leng Yuchen was not truly angry with her.
"Humph, how dare you say that to me?" she quipped back as she took the diamond ring and broke away from Leng Yuchen's embrace. "The reason why I dare to be so bold is because I have been spoiled by you!"
After An Qi revealed what was really hidden in her heart, it was like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She became playful and happy when she was talking to Leng Yuchen.
Leng Yuchen was delighted with this change, as compared with An Qi's previous meek and obliging demeanor, Leng Yuchen much more preferred to see her lively and cheerful side. At least it proved that the relationship between him and An Qi had developed a step closer toward the ideal intimacy he desired for them to share.
However, Leng Yuchen was careful to hide his inner joy as he said, "Oh, little girl, I think that I need to teach you a lesson to show you how powerful I really am..."
"Um... Ah..." Then, with the increase of Leng Yuchen's strength, the temperature in the room rose rapidly, leaving only ambiguous voices and intimate sounds...
At the An family's old house.
Gu Xiaonan had lost her temper due to Yu Hao's sudden departure. Due to this, none of the servants in the house dared to go near her. It was only when Zeng Xuerou hurried over that the servants quickly followed behind her.
"Xiaonan, are you crazy? Your father is resting downstairs!" Once Zeng Xuerou stepped in, she immediately reproached Gu Xiaonan.
But, unexpectedly, Gu Xiaonan started to wail and threw herself into her mother's arms. Zeng Xuerou was shocked at first, but then asked in her unique tone and dialect, "What's wrong? How many grievances has our Xiaonan suffered to allow herself to be so overcome with tears that she allows it to mess up her eye makeup?"
After hearing Zeng Xuerou's mocking question, Gu Xiaonan began to cry even louder. She then cried out through her sobs, "Mom! Yu Hao doesn't want me anymore!"
"What happened? Didn't you both agree to get married? Child, did you put too much pressure on him?" Zeng Xuerou asked.
She had always been very good to Yu Hao. It was not necessarily because she appreciated him, but over the years, in order to be able to endure the humiliation of remarrying and settling down, she had been accustomed to subconsciously place all of the blame for everything on Gu Xiaonan. She did this no matter which of her children was actually to blame.
In order to achieve her goals, she had treated her daughter quite abominably, deliberately letting her get drenched in the rain to cause her to have a fever, making her eat seafood that she was allergic to, and so on.
Clearly, Zeng Xuerou was a woman who appeared to be weak on the surface, but was actually quite hard-hearted. Unfortunately, her daughter Gu Xiaonan did not inherit this same quality at all. Hence, she was highly sensitive and things affected her greatly.
"It is not my fault! Everything was fine! I even ordered rose petals to be placed on the hotel bed to surprise him!" Gu Xiaonan sobbed as she recalled her thoughtful gesture, while Zeng Xuerou patted her on the back.
"Could it be that something suddenly happened at the company?" Zeng Xuerou suggested.
"Mom, think about it... Does his company really matter more to him than me?" Gu Xiaonan asked, clearly incredulous that she would even think of such a thing, as regarding her position in Yu Hao's heart and mind, Gu Xiaonan had always been absolutely confident.
Unaffected by her daughter's irate response, Zeng Xuerou replied, "Well... Yu Hao did not work in vain for so many years for nothing. Do you think it's so easy for him to support a company all alone by himself? It requires constant attention and dedication!"
"Mom! Why what are you saying? I could understand your initial fawning over An Qi and Yu Hao, but you have been married and settled into the An family for so many years now. Moreover, Daddy An listens and gives in to you always. Why should you care about the feelings of the two of them? Just say what you want to say!"
Gu Xiaonan's focus at this time was no longer on Yu Hao. In fact, from beginning to end, her focus had really not been on Yu Hao. This was because the real reason for this drama was just to attract the attention of the whole family!