Chapter 565: – Engagement
The next morning, Lin Jin was woken up really early and pushed around like a mannequin.
She was pulled aside by a few of her mom’s best friends to reapply yesterday’s makeup, put on the red qipao her mom had prepared, and then a group of people tied her hair into some strange, but really beautiful, style. It took almost an hour to get prepared, and they were still not done.
But then there was already knocking at the door. Outside, Xia Tian was surrounded by a bunch of classmates, friends, and relatives, banging on the door and loudly shouting Lin Jin’s name.
Teacher Lin, who had been off to the side watching Lin Jin suffer but was actually really envious, was the first to rush out. Together with Lin Jin’s mom’s friends and Chen Xinya, they tried their best to give Xia Tian a tough time.
When picking up the bride, apparently it was completely normal to make things difficult for the groom?
Lin Jin had never attended anyone else’s engagement before, so she didn’t really know about these things. She just thought that only the actual wedding was complicated, she didn’t expect that the engagement would give her such a headache.
Lin Jin’s mom was off to the side, burning incense while bowing and muttering to some Buddha statues temporarily placed on the table. Every now and then, she would look back at Lin Jin.
Lin Jin still hasn't finished dressing up yet. On Xia Tian’s side, he used money to bribe the greedy Teacher Lin. With a red packet in hand, Teacher Lin happily pointed Xia Tian in the right direction and then ran off to the side to count the money.
“Xia Tian’s coming! Block the door! Don’t let them in!”
Lin Jin didn’t know which of her mom’s friends shouted that, but everyone inside immediately charged forward to block the door. The makeup artist beside Lin Jin obviously started to get anxious. She scrambled to get Lin Jin’s headpiece on and finish up the makeup in those last few moments.
“Oh right, have you put on the lipstick?” The makeup artist was so nervous her hands were shaking. After all, she was just one of her mom’s friends and this was probably her first time dealing with this kind of situation, so she kept forgetting things. “Are your nails done yet? Not yet!”
Lin Jin looked at her own increasingly glamorous reflection in the mirror and sighed.
It was clearly just an engagement, why did it feel like she was going into battle? She hadn’t felt very nervous initially, but seeing everyone else so nervous around her had made her nervous too. Right now, her heart was pounding and her hands were so tightly clenched they were trembling.
“Quick quick quick! We can’t hold them!”
A few more money hungry people were bought off by Xia Tian and moved out of the way. Only three of the initial five or six people were still blocking the door. They were also all just women, so their strength naturally could not compete with those strong men outside.
When the door was finally pushed open and Xia Tian led his group in, Lin Jin’s makeup artist finally managed to finish everything up and slowly stepped aside.
Xia Tian pushed his way through the crowd and came to Lin Jin, blankly staring at her side profile. Lin JIn was currently wearing a qipao and white silk stockings.
Lin Jin finally got up from her chair and turned towards Xia Tian, only to see Xia Tian suddenly stagger back two steps, and then exaggeratedly bow down like a gentleman: “Beautiful lady, who might you be?”
“Cut it out. Let’s go.” Lin Jin rolled her eyes at him.
Just as she was about to take Xia Tian’s hand, the people around them started clamoring.
“Carry her! Carry her!”
Xia Tian froze, then bent down without any hesitation. With Lin Jin screaming in surprise, he carried her in his arms and then ran out with a smile on his face.
Did Xia Tian go crazy?
Lin Jin had never seen him act so crazily before. He carried her and ran all the way downstairs. Lin Jin tightly held onto Xia Tian’s shoulders with both of her hands, terrified that Xia Tian might accidentally drop her.
Once Lin Jin calmed down a bit, she noticed the strong smell of alcohol on Xia Tian.
“You’ve been drinking?”
“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I drank a bit with some friends.”
Okay, no wonder she felt Xia Tian was so weird today.
Lin Jin sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on tight.
The car Xia Tian drove up in was a Mercedes he had borrowed from a rich classmate. In addition to the Mercedes, he also rented five more cars.
Lin Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief after sitting in the Mercedes.
What if the slightly drunk Xia Tian accidentally dropped her?
“Let’s wait for them a bit before going.”
People also gradually boarded the other five cars. After about ten minutes, the cars started driving towards Xia Tian’s restaurant.
The two’s engagement was taking place in Xiamen, so a lot of friends and family on both sides couldn’t make it. Because of that, the dozen or so tables on the restaurant’s second floor was enough. So Xia Tian moved the fan meet up forward by more than half a month, turning the first floor into a gathering for the fans.
By the time they arrived, about half the fans were already seated on the first floor. The moment they saw Lin Jin in her qipao and Xia Tian in a handsome high end suit, the pair walking hand in hand, everyone got all excited and started cheering.
This group of fans contained all sorts of people, men, women, young, and old. But every single one of them were from her group of community moderators and basically everyone had donated over a hundred yuan in gifts before. Around fifty or so fans had said they would come this time, and scanning the room, there seemed to be thirty or so already here.
“Enjoy the food and drinks. We’re heading upstairs first. The engagement will start in about ten minutes. The chef’s already started cooking, and in a bit, the first floor TV will show what’s going on upstairs. You guys can also go up and watch from the side.”
Xia Tian gave them a nod and a bow, then took Lin Jin’s hand and led her upstairs.
Upstairs were all Lin Jin and Xia Tian’s friends and family. One table sat Lin Jin’s classmates, another sat Xia Tian’s old classmates, and the rest of the ten or so tables were mostly filled with Lin Jin’s relatives.
When Lin Jin arrived, she saw that aside from her mom and the others who had been in the car with them, everyone else was already here. The emcee hurried over and guided Lin Jin and Xia Tian onto the makeshift stage.
A moment later, her mom and her mom’s friends showed up too.
Standing on stage, Lin Jin looked out at the familiar faces in the audience and felt a little dizzy.
She recognized about half of them. Although most of their looks were filled with blessings, a few occasionally showed looks of disbelief.
For example, Yuli, who had always thought that Lin Jin was a guy. And Chen Hao, who had been miserably tricked by Lin Jin.
If he had known that Lin Jin was a girl, then maybe he would be the one standing on stage now.
Even though he was doing quite well now, dealing with his family’s power struggles wasn’t easy.
Lin Jin had a smile on her face, but her mind was completely blank. She just robotically held Xia Tian’s hand and let the emcee direct her. She nodded no matter what she heard, and did whatever she was asked to do.
In a daze and not knowing what the emcee had said, Lin Jin suddenly heard a thunderous cheer
“Kiss! Kiss!”
Lin Jin blankly turned to look at Xia Tian beside her, then glanced down at her hand and realized that the ring Xia Tian had given her that day was already on her finger.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Tian gently looked at Lin Jin, slightly smiling and said “Let’s kiss?”
“Ah?”
Lin Jin, who had been distracted the entire time, had no idea what was happening.
The nervous Lin Jin raised her head towards Xia Tian, only to see his face suddenly zoomed in. Then, amid even louder cheering, she realized that her lips had already pressed up against something warm.
Eh?