CHAPTER 757: CHAPTER 757: CHERISH

"Don’t cry." Gu Chun frantically wiped her tears, but her tears were like floodwaters that had breached a dike, impossible to dry completely.

Gu Chun felt a pain in his heart, and in the end, resorted to the old method.

His lips pressed against those soft ones, which, despite the many years apart, still felt familiar.

As their lips met, a soul-stirring tremble spread through their limbs.

For Lian Tong, all she could breathe in was his scent, his lips were cool and refreshing, making her forget her tears, leaving her with only shock.

This kiss, this man, she had been yearning for twelve whole years.

From the time she was eighteen, the best of her youth, to now crossing thirty.

In this day and age, it was nearly unheard of for a woman to be unmarried at thirty.

As soon as she returned to the Lian Family, those relatives of the extended family and even Grandpa Lian and Lian He would ask her about her marriage status or try to set her up with someone.

Lian Tong dismissed them all. Sometimes, when alone in solitude, she wondered whether waiting was worthwhile.

But now, Gu Chun’s kiss made her understand the meaning of her wait.

Apart from Gu Chun, surely there was no one else who could make her heart race, who could stir her long-stagnant heart back to life, right?

"Tongtong."

Gu Chun couldn’t bear to move his lips away and was about to pull back.

Lian Tong raised her hand to clasp his neck, leaning in proactively. Without experience, she did nothing but nibble, unwilling to let Gu Chun go, fearing that once he left, he would disappear again.

Gu Chun paused for a moment, the woman he loved kissing him proactively, and him, after abstaining for so many years, was instantly aroused.

The kiss, from a light peck at first, gradually deepened.

Outside the room, Tang Yue blushed and did not listen any longer.

Who knows how much time had passed when the kiss ended, and all that was left in the room were the sounds of heavy breathing.

Lian Tong’s bright eyes were fixed on Gu Chun. With her rosy lips slightly parted, she said, "Gu Chun, you love me, your body still loves me, so why push me away? Why refuse to see me?"

"I’m not afraid of dying; to put it bluntly, I’m now just a lone individual, not really the Miss of the Lian Family. Whatever it is you want to do, I can help you."

Lian Tong’s hands tightly clasped Gu Chun’s neck, as though afraid he would escape, totally casting aside her pride, everything, just to be with him.

"Now I have nothing. Doesn’t that make you want to be with me?" Lian Tong’s eyes pleaded with Gu Chun.

In her eyes was a lowly prayer.

"Tongtong, it’s not worth it." Gu Chun looked at her with a heartache.

Lian Tong threw herself into his arms, tilting her head to look him in the eye, and said, "I say it’s worth it. If I can’t be with you, this lifetime, my life would lose all its luster."

"If you disagree, then I will never return to the Lian Family again." In front of Gu Chun, Lian Tong didn’t consider herself a thirty-year-old woman; she acted completely like an eighteen-year-old girl, very willful.

"No way."

Gu Chun refused.

"Then you agree to me." Lian Tong brazenly kissed his chin, his unruly stubble showing, presumably from not shaving today, looking somewhat disheveled, the stubble a bit prickly and ticklish, but she was in such a good mood, not minding it at all, even finding this stubble extremely cute.

She said, "We’ve already wasted over a decade. Do you still want to waste another decade?"

"Life is short, who knows when something might happen to me; I could die any time." Lian Tong hadn’t finished her sentence when Gu Chun cut her off.

"Don’t talk like that."

A hint of panic flashed in Gu Chun’s eyes as he said, "Tongtong, you must live well and happily."

"Without you, how could I possibly be happy or joyful?" Lian Tong took the opportunity to retort.

Gu Chun fell silent.

Lian Tong nestled her face against his chest, clearly able to hear Gu Chun’s heartbeat.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Time is so short, we both love each other, why waste time?"

Lian Tong muttered to herself, not knowing whether she was speaking for Gu Chun to hear or for herself. She said, "To know the Dao in the morning and to die in the evening would be enough; even if we are only together for one day of happiness and joy, even if I die, I have no regrets."

"If I don’t have you, even if I live to be a hundred, I wouldn’t be happy."

Lian Tong’s voice was tinged with a slight choke.

...

Outside, Tang Yue was anxiously waiting, not knowing how her aunt’s talk with Gu Chun was going.

The door opened.

Gu Chun and Lian Tong came out hand in hand, Lian Tong’s eyes swollen like walnuts, but there was a smile on her face.

"Congratulations, Auntie, Uncle, I didn’t get it wrong this time, did I?" Tang Yue playfully said, feeling the weight inside her lift.

Lovers have finally become spouses; her crying her heart out yesterday wasn’t in vain.

Thinking back on it now, she feels embarrassed...

"You’re right." Lian Tong said with a smile: "Your uncle and I are going to register our marriage now."

"Ah..."

Tang Yue looked at them, bewildered. They had just come to an agreement, and they were going to register their marriage already?

Isn’t that a bit too fast?

Until they left, Tang Yue still couldn’t snap out of her shock.

Registering the marriage?

Even a rocket isn’t that fast.

But registering is a good thing, Tang Yue thought, and went to the market to buy a lot of ingredients.

She planned to have a firepot at home.

It’s winter now, the perfect time for firepot.

Using lamb as the base of the pot, it would be warming in the winter, followed by slices of lamb, which would surely taste great, as well as a variety of vegetables, tofu, and white radish, which are indispensable. Glass noodles also taste good in it.

Tang Yue bought a bunch of ingredients and started simmering the base first, then slowly prepared the side dishes.

In the afternoon, when Lian Tong and Gu Chun came back, they already had two red marriage certificates in their hands.

"Congratulations, Auntie and Uncle, on your happy union." Tang Yue cheerfully handed over a red envelope.

Jin City doesn’t have much of anything, so whatever Tang Yue gave wouldn’t seem quite right, so she gave US$ 990, which symbolizes everlasting.

"Thank you, Xiao Yue." Lian Tong was in a good mood, seeing Tang Yue preparing the firepot and enthusiastically helped.

*

"Si Yu, I don’t care, I must eat the food cooked by your wife today." Qin Anhao followed Meng Siyu every step of the way.

It’s been several days, and Qin Anhao still hasn’t had the chance to eat the food he longed for, so today he insisted.

Meng Siyu looked at him helplessly and said, "An Hao."

"Si Yu, don’t be so stingy, I’m not going empty-handed."

Qin Anhao said smilingly, determined to follow and had bought quite a lot of fruit early on.

Meng Siyu had no choice but to let Qin Anhao follow him.

Back at home, seeing Tang Yue’s smiling face, Lian Tong who should have been going crazy, and Gu Chun sitting together, the two so intimate, appeared just like a newlywed couple.