Contrary to the Ou Family, that night Zhan Moxiao was in the most joyful state he had ever experienced.
After coming out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, he called his best friend Qin Qingnan, ordering him to come to his Ailan Castle to drink with him.
Qin Qingnan, dubbed "Ghost Hand" for his medical genius, arrived at the splendid Ailan Castle and saw Young Master Zhan who was usually reserved and iron-disciplined. He was sitting on the couch, drinking alone with an alluring smile gracing the corners of his mouth.
"Yo, is Master Xiao in high spirits today?"
Zhan Moxiao lifted his eyelids and tossed his marriage certificate to Qin Qingnan, saying, "I got married."
Qin Qingnan was so shocked that he was speechless, hurriedly picking up the marriage certificate to examine it. After a moment, he couldn't help but laugh, "Finally, you've married the Little Goblin you've been thinking about day and night. Congratulations."
Yes, Zhan Moxiao had been longing for Ou Lan for fourteen long years.
During these fourteen years, he had kept himself pure for her, having weathered the most youthful and impetuous times of his life.
When he was fourteen, Master Xiao suddenly learned that his grandfather had arranged a marriage for him with a girl from the slum in South City, nine years his junior.
Moreover, this marriage had been settled when the girl was just born.
Ridiculous.
Master Xiao had always been a wild Battle Wolf since childhood, unwilling to have his life controlled by others, let alone his marriage. Therefore, he was infuriated and went to his grandfather, General Zhan Juncheng, strongly demanding the annulment of the engagement.
But he was rejected; Zhan Juncheng used a military order to pressure him.
Out of rage, he drove his off-road vehicle all the way to South City and found the then five-year-old Ou Lan.
That day, the girl was dressed in a snow-white velvet sweater and a black bubble skirt. Her delicate face, like carved jade, was playing with a group of children on a bouncy castle in the simple playground of the neighborhood.
He remembered that the sunlight was exceptionally good that day, casting a glaze-like glow on her body.
She was jumping very happily, and with each leap, the sunlight would shine through her feet and onto his face.
She had her hair tied into a high ponytail that rose and fell with her bouncing, unbelievably cute.
Somehow, the rage he had felt coming there dissipated, and he stood quietly outside the playground watching her for a long time.
The girl captivated him deeply.
Later, inexplicably, he felt another kind of rage because the girl was too pretty; all the boys crowded around her, each trying to curry favor. Jealousy flared, and he was so angry he wanted to beat those pesky kids to a pulp.
Finally unable to bear it, he strode over, pulled the girl down from the bouncy castle, and dragged her into an uninhabited corner. He squatted in front of her and warned solemnly, "Listen, when you grow up, you are going to be my wife. Starting today, you're not allowed to provoke any men, got it?"
The girl didn't speak for a while, puffing out her cheeks at him. Suddenly, she swung her little paw and scratched him, "Pfft!" His face was sprayed with her saliva, "Stinky hooligan!"
Before he could react, she stomped on his foot viciously and turned to run away, disappearing at the corner of the alley in the blink of an eye like a rabbit.
Even now, there are two pale marks on Master Xiao's neck, left by the scratches from Ou Lan that year.
The Little Goblin had been quite a force even at five, with sharp little claws. She had scratched his neck so much it bled profusely, and yet he stupidly kept the bloodied shirt as a memento.
Thinking back on that sunny afternoon, Zhan Moxiao couldn't help but smile once more.
Meeting her was like spring rain that softened the snow; liking her felt as if the whole world was suffused with poetry.